The inverted arches foundation of “la Fábrica de Tabacos”, an University of Seville historic building

El presente trabajo ratifica las conclusiones de un anterior trabajo nuestro publicado por la revista Informes de la Construcción (Vol. 63, nº 521, 2011), referente a la cimentación de la Real Fábrica de Tabacos de la Universidad de Sevilla. Por otra parte, este nuevo trabajo describe las investigaciones llevadas a cabo in situ posteriormente, durante la realización de galerías subterráneas bajo el edificio, y aporta nuevos datos sobre la cimentación de la Fábrica. Las principales conclusiones del presente trabajo son la constatación de la inexistencia de restos arqueológicos anteriores a la construcción del edificio; y el descubrimiento de que la cimentación por zapatas de ladrillo aisladas se complementa con una cimentación reticular profunda, de arcos invertidos que ayudan a las zapatas prismáticas a ampliar sus áreas de contacto con el terreno, al tiempo que acodalan y conectan entre sí las citadas zapatas de ladrillo, evitando asientos diferenciales y reforzando la cimentación frente a movimientos sísmicos.This paper aims to ratify the conclusions of a work first published by the journal Informes de la Construcción (Vol. 63, issue 521, 2011), that described the existence of foundations made of brick, and ruled out the existence of archaeological remains under the foundations of the “Fábrica de Tabacos” of the University of Seville. This new work also describes the researches carried out “in situ” during the excavations of those galleries, which have increased the studied foundations knowledge. The main conclusions of this study are two: the inexistence of underground archaeological remains; and the knowledge of the real foundation, formerly designed as isolated prismatic brick piles, but complemented by lattices of inverted arches that help prismatic foundations to expand their contact areas on the ground. This foundation system is also braced and connected by the brick arches, to avoid differential settlements, and to strength the building against earthquakes

The foundation of “la Fábrica de Tabacos”, an University of Seville historic building

Una de las principales obras a llevar a cabo en la rehabilitación del edificio de “La Fábrica de Tabacos” de la Universidad de Sevilla, es la ejecución de galerías subterráneas para el tendido de las instalaciones necesarias para sus nuevos usos. Para poder realizar estas galerías se necesita conocer las dimensiones y tipología de las cimentaciones del edificio, lo que nos podría desvelar la posibilidad de existencia de restos arqueológicos en el subsuelo. El objetivo del presente trabajo persigue, tanto a través del estudio de la historia del edificio como mediante prospecciones, conocer la tipología de sus cimentaciones para determinar las posibilidades físicas de ejecutar dichas galerías, y para deducir de ello la posible existencia de restos arqueológicos que pudieran afectar a las futuras obras a desarrollar por la Universidad de Sevilla. De todo ello se deduce que el edificio se asienta sobre un terreno antiguamente deprimido, que fue además excavado en toda la extensión de su planta, y cuyos cimientos fueron ejecutados desde la rasante inferior como fábricas aparejadas, rellenándose posteriormente el solar hasta la rasante actual mediante la aportación de tierras.One of the main works to be developed by the University of Seville in the building of “La Fábrica de Tabacos” restoration, consists of an underground galleries net to pass by installations and other facilitites for the new uses of this historic building. To execute these galleries, we need to know the dimensions and typologies of the building foundations and also the history of its construction, because it could reveal us the possible existence of archaeological remains. This paper investigates, both through the building history and through some specific underground explorations, the knowledge of this building foundations and the real possibilities to carry out these galleries without archaeological incidences. The building sits on a land formerly depressed and later excavated to the full extent of the plant, and whose foundations were executed from below as walls and pillars, and being later all the plant filled to the ground level by providing current soil

Competencias desarrolladas con la elaboración de un informe técnico en Estadística Aplicada mediante Moodle

El aprendizaje de técnicas de muestreo se planteó con diferentes actividades del alumno y utilizando la plataforma Moodle. De las actividades realizadas, el informe técnico es la que permite un mayor desarrollo de competencias. La participación de los alumnos en la actividad fue numerosa (un 80%). Los resultados fueron satisfactorios. Las calificaciones fueron buenas y los alumnos mostraron su satisfacción con la actividad. Los peores resultados fueron en el desarrollo de la capacidad de expresión y de trabajo en grupo

La extensión universitaria como acción académica de trascendencia social y de relevante potencial para la gestión ambiental sostenible en paises en desarrollo.

El estudio se orienta al diseño de una estrategia de cooperación académica para el desarrollo sostenible, desde una perspectiva de triangulación de enfoques teóricos e integración de propuestas metodológicas provenientes de diversas áreas del conocimiento; operacionalizada desde la educación universitaria. Se trata de una investigación de naturaleza socioambiental, aplicada, de campo, no experimental, con diseño transeccional, evaluativo y retrospectivo, presentada bajo la modalidad de proyecto factible y con marcado énfasis en el análisis causal de tres problemas específicos: la crisis ambiental, la gestión ambiental y la cooperación universitaria para el desarrollo; cuyo estudio posiciona a la investigación en el nivel descriptivo y explicativo. En su momento proyectivo, aborda la crisis ambiental como problema social de necesaria atención; delimitando su análisis a espacios insulares y/o costeros del Caribe y Centroamérica; centrando su foco estratégico-operacional en aprovechamiento del potencial académico del sector universitario, en búsqueda de una eficiente promoción del desarrollo sostenible, posicionando a la extensión ambiental como estrategia de articulación intra y extrauniversitaria. Como unidad experimental académica, se toma el espectro universitario del Estado nueva Esparta, Venezuela; estableciendo como institución coordinadora a Universidad de Margarita. La investigación, caracterizada como una propuesta de utilidad conceptual y metodológica de carácter socioacadémico, se orienta hacia la formulación de lineamientos de acción que dispongan al servicio de las ciudades: herramientas y procedimientos interuniversitarios de elevado valor y aplicabilidad local, nacional y transfronteriza, orientados a aportar soluciones sistemáticas, permanentes y efectivas, en el tema de la crisis ambiental, desde la sinergia generada en cooperación interinstitucional surgida en los espacios de aprendizaje universitario, bajo las distintas modalidades de sus áreas funcionales. En el ámbito estrictamente académico del estudio, la propuesta introduce planteamientos que sugieren una transformación del enfoque educativo tradicional, sin implicar cambios estructurales profundos, hacia un modelo dinámico, estrechamente justificado, articulado y viabilizado con el contexto social. Ello implica la adopción de modelos pedagógicos/andragógicos, inspirados en las corrientes constructivistas, que procuren la autogestión y la construcción colectiva de un conocimiento útil socialmente. El estudio forma parte de una línea de investigación orientada al diseño de un modelo de cooperación para el desarrollo sostenible en ambientes urbanos insulares y costeros del Caribe y Centroaméric

Four-neutrino oscillations at SNO

We discuss the potential of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) to constrain the four-neutrino mixing schemes favored by the results of all neutrino oscillations experiments. These schemes allow simultaneous transitions of solar {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}'s into active {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}'s, {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\tau}}'s, and sterile {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{s} controlled by the additional parameter {\mathrm{cos}}^{2}({\ensuremath{\vartheta}}_{23}){\mathrm{cos}}^{2}({\ensuremath{\vartheta}}_{24}) and they contain as limiting cases the pure {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}-active and {\ensuremath{\nu}}_{e}-sterile neutrino oscillations. We first obtain the solutions allowed by the existing data in the framework of the BBP00 standard solar model and quantify the corresponding predictions for the charged current and the neutral current to charged current (NC/CC) event ratios at SNO in the different allowed regions as a function of the active-sterile admixture. Our results show that some information on the value of {\mathrm{cos}}^{2}({\ensuremath{\vartheta}}_{23}){\mathrm{cos}}^{2}({\ensuremath{\vartheta}}_{24}) can be obtained by the first SNO measurement of the CC ratio, while considerable improvement on the knowledge of this mixing will be achievable after the measurement of the NC/CC ratio

Análisis estadístico comparativo de series cronológicas de parámetros de calidad del agua: valoración de diferentes modelos de predicción

ESTE TRABAJO TIENE POR OBJETO CONTRASTAR LA VALIDEZ DE LAS TECNICAS DE ANALISIS DE SERIES TEMPORALES DE MODELOS ARIMA EN EL TRATAMIENTO DE UN EXTENSO GRUPO DE MEDIDAS DE PARAMETROS DE CALIDAD DEL AGUA DE LA CUENCA DEL RIO GUADIANA. LA ELECCION DE LA METODOLOGIA BOX-JENKINS PARA DICHO ANALISIS HA SIDO CONSECUENCIA DE UNA AMPLIA REVISION Y SUBSIGUIENTE CLASIFICACION DE DIFERENTES TECNICAS DE TRATAMIENTO DE SERIES DE TIEMPO Y EN PARTICULAR LAS RELACIONADAS CON LA CALIDAD DEL AGUA. SE HACE ENFASIS ESPECIAL EN LOS CONTRASTES Y HERRAMIENTAS EMPLEADAS EN CADA ETAPA DE CONSTRUCCION DE LOS MODELOS Y EN TRABAJOS SOBRE APLICACION A SERIES INCOMPLETAS DE DATOS. A CONTINUACION, SE ANALIZAN MAS DE CIEN SERIES, OBTENIENDOSE MODELOS DE PREDICCION QUE REPRESENTAN Y CARACTERIZAN EL COMPORTAMIENTO DE LAS MISMAS. SE COMPARAN Y EVALUAN LOS DISTINTOS TIPOS DE MODELOS OBTENIDOS CLASIFICANDO LOS PARAMETROS: (1) SEGUN EL COMPORTAMIENTO DE SUS SERIES Y (2) MEDIANTE OTROS METODOS ESTADISTICOS. LA OBTENCION DE UN INDICE DE SIMILITUD ENTRE AMBAS CLASIFICACIONES PERMITE AGRUPAR LAS ESTACIONES EN BASE A LA ESTRUCTURA ESTOCASTICA DE SUS SERIES, MEDIANTE TECNICAS DE CLUSTER, RESULTANDO GRUPOS DE ESTACIONES CON CARACTERISTICAS SIMILARES EN LA CALIDAD DE SUS AGUAS. The aim of this work is to test the validity of ARIMA models as Time Series Analysis method on a wide number of water guality data parameters from the basin of Guadiana river. Box-Jenkins methodology has been selected after a large revisión and subsequent classification of different time series methods concerned with water quality parameters. Special emphasis is made on test and tools used in each of the building model steps and on works concerning applications to data series with missing valúes. More than one hundred time series are analysed. The estimated models represent and characterize the behaviour of the data series. After that, models are compared and evaluated, and the parameters are clustered as follows: (1) according to the behaviour of the data series, and (2) with other statistics methods. This point allows to build a similarity index between the two classifications. Finally, control stations are grouped according to the stochastic structure of their data series using "cluster" techniques. The groups of the cluster are similar to water quality conditions in stations

Equity pricing in the mining sector: evidence from NYSE and LSE

The study examines the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) for the mining sector using weekly stock returns from 27 companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for the period of December 2008 to December 2010. The results support the use of the CAPM for the allocation of risk to companies. Most companies involved in precious metals (particularly gold), which have a beta value less than unity (Table 1), have been actuated as shelter values during the financial crisis. Values of R2 do not shown very explanatory power of fitted models (R2 < 70 %). Estimated coefficients beta are not sufficient to determine the expected returns on securities but the results of the tests conducted on sample data for the period analysed do not appear to clearly reject the CAP

Development of Interactive Materials by Engineering Students Using the Descartes Applets.

In a degree course such as Forestry Engineering, the general teaching objectives consist of explaining and helping students to understand the principles of Mechanics. For some time now we have encountered significant difficulties in teaching this subject due to the students' lack of motivation and to their insufficient prior preparation for the topic. If we add to this the discipline's inherent complexity and the students' preconceptions about the subject, these teaching difficulties become considerable. For this reason a series of didactic activities have been introduced sequentially in the teaching of this subject. This work describes the methodology, procedure and results for the action of developing a work project in groups using Descartes software. The results of this experiment can be considered very positive. Some of the critical preconceptions for learning the subject can be corrected, and the tutoring process in the classroom contributes to an improvement in teacherstudent communication. Since this scheme was established, the number of students taking part each academic year has increased, and this is the group with the greatest percentage of passing scores

Tools in Spanish Universities to facilitate the transmission from High School to University and their assessment.

Incoming students in the University have education deficiencies, so universities studies require a sound basis of scientific knowledge. In this project are analysed instruments to reinforcing knowledge in those areas related to the studies that students are about to embark on public Spanish universities. There are important differences among universities and, in each university there are great differences among titles. Initial courses (cursos cero) are widespread (in 50% of universities) that selfevaluation instruments (14 % of universities). It is necessary to improve diffusion of those instruments because it is not possible to evaluate them. So are proposed the next actuations: to make regular standard surveys for professors and students; to publish results of surveys; public universities should institutionalize their basic training offer and improve the dissemination of this offer especially through the web. This paper presents a questionnaire to assess student opinion about these tools. To analyze the effectiveness, and make an initial estimate of the evaluation of these tools, we conducted a pilot test of the questionnaire with 68 students at the University of Extremadura. The results of preliminary statistical analysis conducted on the pilot test indicate that the survey results are reliable. A global evaluation of both tools, with a scale of 1 to 5, gave an average score of 3.29 for initial courses and 3.41 for selfevaluation. The 72.9% of the students consider the "self assessment" more effective than the "initial course

The complete HEFT Lagragian after the LHC Run I

The complete effective chiral Lagrangian for a dynamical Higgs is presented and constrained by means of a global analysis including electroweak precision data together with Higgs and triple gauge-boson coupling data from the LHC Run I. The operators' basis up to next-to-leading order in the expansion consists of 148 (188 considering right-handed neutrinos) flavour universal terms and it is presented here making explicit the custodial nature of the operators. This effective Lagrangian provides the most general description of the physical Higgs couplings once the electroweak symmetry is assumed, and it allows for deviations from the SU(2)L doublet nature of the Standard Model Higgs. The comparison with the effective linear Lagrangian constructed with an exact SU(2)L doublet Higgs and considering operators with at most canonical dimension six is presented. A promising strategy to disentangle the two descriptions consists in analysing (i) anomalous signals present only in the chiral Lagrangian and not expected in the linear one, that are potentially relevant for LHC searches, and (ii) decorrelation effects between observables that are predicted to be correlated in the linear case and not in the chiral one. The global analysis presented here, which includes several kinematic distributions, is crucial for reducing the allowed parameter space and for controlling the correlations between parameters. This improves previous studies aimed at investigating the Higgs Nature and the origin of the electroweak symmetry breaking