La eficacia erosiva de la acción nival y su relación con la herencia geomorfológica: macizo de Peñalara, Sistema Central

[Resumen] [Abstract] An automatic station for monitoring bedload transport has been installed in a gravel-bed river. The station has two slot samplers with the pressure-pillow system (Birbeck-type) that allow a continuous measurement of bedload transport. The paper shows the bedload sampler operation, the load tests and the first results obtained. It is the first time that bedload transport is registered continuously in a river of the Iberian Peninsula.[Abstract] This article examines how snow plays a role in current erosive processes in a high mountain area (1800-2400 m a.s.l.) known as Peñalara, located in Spain's Central Range (40º 50' N; 3º 58' W). Snow depth and the movement of selected blocks at each site were recorded from October 1990 to June 1995. The relationship among late-lying snowpatches, geomorphologic heritage and current erosive processes was deternúned

Graphene-coated holey metal films: tunable molecular sensing by surface plasmon resonance

We report on the enhancement of surface plasmon resonances in a holey bidimensional grating of subwavelength size, drilled in a gold thin film coated by a graphene sheet. The enhancement originates from the coupling between charge carriers in graphene and gold surface plasmons. The main plasmon resonance peak is located around 1.5 microns. A lower constraint on the gold-induced doping concentration of graphene is specified and the interest of this architecture for molecular sensing is also highlighted.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Final version. Published in Applied Physics Letter

The Fifth International Little Owl Symposium, 4–6 February 2011, Vic, Catalonia (Spain)

The First International Little Owl Symposium took place in Champ–sur–Marne (France) in November 2000, organized by the International little owl Working Group (ILOWG). It was the first international meeting regarding a sole owl species in Europe. Since then, efforts have been made to improve our knowledge and develop management plans for little owl conservation, and every new advance has been shared among all of us, owl researchers and owl friends, at regular international meetings. The Fifth Symposium gave continuity to the series of previous meetings held in France, England and Belgium. The most recent meeting was held in Herzele, Flanders, and the highlight was the presentation of the latest little owl monograph of Van Nieuwenhuyse et al., 2008. This meeting demonstrated the need to promote future gatherings of researchers.The First International Little Owl Symposium took place in Champ–sur–Marne (France) in November 2000, organized by the International little owl Working Group (ILOWG). It was the first international meeting regarding a sole owl species in Europe. Since then, efforts have been made to improve our knowledge and develop management plans for little owl conservation, and every new advance has been shared among all of us, owl researchers and owl friends, at regular international meetings. The Fifth Symposium gave continuity to the series of previous meetings held in France, England and Belgium. The most recent meeting was held in Herzele, Flanders, and the highlight was the presentation of the latest little owl monograph of Van Nieuwenhuyse et al., 2008. This meeting demonstrated the need to promote future gatherings of researchers.The First International Little Owl Symposium took place in Champ–sur–Marne (France) in November 2000, organized by the International little owl Working Group (ILOWG). It was the first international meeting regarding a sole owl species in Europe. Since then, efforts have been made to improve our knowledge and develop management plans for little owl conservation, and every new advance has been shared among all of us, owl researchers and owl friends, at regular international meetings. The Fifth Symposium gave continuity to the series of previous meetings held in France, England and Belgium. The most recent meeting was held in Herzele, Flanders, and the highlight was the presentation of the latest little owl monograph of Van Nieuwenhuyse et al., 2008. This meeting demonstrated the need to promote future gatherings of researchers

Voluntary suppression of associated activity decreases force steadiness in the active hand

Unilateral muscle contractions are often accompanied by the activation of the ipsilateral hemisphere, producing associated activity (AA) in the contralateral homologous muscles. However, the functional role of AA is not fully understood. We determined the effects of voluntary suppression of AA in the first dorsal interosseous (FDI), on force steadiness during a constant force isometric contraction of the contralateral FDI. Participants (n = 17, 25.5 years) performed two trials of isometric FDI contractions as steadily as possible. In Trial 1, they did not receive feedback or explicit instructions for suppressing the AA in the contralateral homologous FDI. In Trial 2, participants received feedback and were asked to voluntarily suppress the AA in the contralateral nontarget FDI. During both trials, corticospinal excitability and motor cortical inhibition were measured. The results show that participants effectively suppressed the AA in the nontarget contralateral FDI (-71%), which correlated with reductions in corticospinal excitability (-57%), and the suppression was also accompanied by increases in inhibition (27%) in the ipsilateral motor cortex. The suppression of AA impaired force steadiness, but the decrease in force steadiness did not correlate with the magnitude of suppression. The results show that voluntary suppression of AA decreases force steadiness in the active hand. However, due to the lack of association between suppression and decreased steadiness, we interpret these data to mean that specific elements of the ipsilateral brain activation producing AA in younger adults are neither contributing nor detrimental to unilateral motor control during a steady isometric contraction

Possibilities of recovery for different digested sewage sludges

La legislación actual en la Unión Europea recomienda que los lodos de depuradora de aguas residuales se utilicen como fertilizante. Sin embargo, la presencia de metales pesados puede limitar esta aplicación, lo cual es más probable en caso de lodos de aguas residuales industriales. Por lo tanto, una segunda opción es la recuperación energética de los lodos. En el presente trabajo, se han analizado lodos digeridos procedentes de siete distintas depuradoras de aguas residuales españolas y se ha estudiado su viabilidad para usarse como fertilizantes, como combustible derivado de residuos o ser enviados a vertedero. Para determinar el poder fertilizante se ha realizado el análisis elemental (C, H, O, N y S) además del contenido en carbono orgánico asimilable, metales pesados, PO4 y potasio. El poder calorífico (Poder Calorífico Inferior) y el contenido en cenizas se han determinado también para evaluar la posibilidad de recuperación energética. Además, conocer el contenido en metales pesados, Cl, F, C, N y S es fundamental para estimar las emisiones atmosféricas generadas durante su incineración. Por otro lado, se incluye una comparación de estos lodos con otros tipos de combustiblesThe current European legislation regarding digested sludge from wastewater treatment plants recommends its use as a fertilizer. The presence of heavy metals, however, may limit this application and this clearly becomes even more important in the case of industrial wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, another option is the recovery of energy from the sludge. In this work, digested sludge coming from seven different wastewater treatment plants belong to an industrial estate in Spain are analysed. These sludges, either separately or altogether, can be used as fertilizers or refuse-derived fuel or sent to a landfill. In order to determine the fertilizing power, an elementary analysis (C, H, O, N and S) was conducted to establish the content in readily assimilated organic carbon, heavy metals, PO4 and potassium. The calorific value (lower heating value) and the ash content must be known in order to assess the possibility of energy recovery. Furthermore, analysis of heavy metal, Cl, F, C, N and S content is compulsory to be able to estimate atmospheric emissions generated during their incineration. A comparison of the sludges with other sorts of fuels is also provide

Influencia de las variables climáticas y socio-económicas en la generación de residuos urbanos en España

This paper analyses the generation of household waste in Spanish towns and cities with more than 5000 inhabitants. Data were obtained from questionnaires sent out to 216 town councils that were selected at random and from a previous study. The total composition of the household waste and the values of the annual generation rate of the total amounts of urban waste (AGRuw) were calculated using 53 % of the towns and cities in the sample. Additionally, variables concerning the size of the towns and cities, the climatic zones and the tourist areas were also defined in order to determine whether there were any significant differences as regards the generation of waste according to those variables. Results of comparisons revealed that the size of the town or city was the only variable that did not have an effect on the AGRuw. Linear regression models were also calculated in order to model the generation of urban wastes according to the socioeconomic variables (foreigners, unemployment and people/car) by zones. Find- ings showed that the model with the best fit was the one related to the touristic area.En este estudio se analiza la generación de los residuos domiciliarios en las ciudades españolas mayores de 5000 habitantes. Los datos se han obtenido mediante cuestio- narios enviados a 216 ayuntamientos seleccionados aleatoriamente y mediante un estudio anterior. Con el 53 % de las ciudades de la muestra se ha calculado la tasa de generación anual del total de los residuos urbanos (TGAru). Además se han definido variables relativas al tamaño de los municipios, las zonas climáticas y las zonas turís- ticas para determinar si existen diferencias significativas en cuanto a la generación de los residuos según dichas variables. Con los contrastes realizados se ha obtenido que el tamaño del municipio es la única variable que no influye en la TGAru. También se han calculado modelos de regresión lineal para modelizar la generación de residuos urbanos en función de variables socioeconómicas (extranjeros, desempleados y hab/ coche) en cada una de las zonas consideradas. Con ello se ha obtenido que el modelo que da mejor ajuste es el relativo a la zona turística

Evolution of sorted waste collection: a case study of Spanish cities

This work analyses how selective collection evolved over the period 1998–2007 in Spanish towns and cities with more than 50 000 inhabitants. To do so, both the legislation in force during the years included in the study and logistic factors, such as the radius of action of the pick-up points, were taken into account. Information about the towns and cities was obtained from a survey sent out in 1998 and 2007 to the councils of the municipalities included in the study. The results obtained in the two years show that the most widely implemented separate collection system in 1998 no longer existed in 2007 but, in order to comply with the law, had been transformed by adding new fractions, above all that of lightweight packaging. To determine whether the targets set by law as regards recovery and recycling were met in the two years, an efficiency indicator was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the collection systems. Results show how separation increased in the paper/board and glass fractions