Investigating Fatigue Performance on the Foamed Asphalt Specimens Generated Using Different Foam Properties

An evaluation of fatigue resistance for foamed asphalt mixture is very demanding since the binder is not continuously distributed on the aggregate surface and this mixtures contains water, the content of which dramatically affects the mechanical properties. This paper discusses the results of laboratory fatigue testingon the foamed asphalt mixtures in which the specimens are generated using three different foamed bitumen properties. Foamed bitumen as the binder was produced at three different foaming water content (FWC) at a temperature of 180oC using a 70/100 pen. The aggregates were mechanically mixed with foamed bitumen using a Hobart mixer. The resulting mixtures were then compacted using a gyratory compactor to generatespecimen with diameter of 100 mm. The specimens were fatigue tested at various stress levels at a temperature of 20oC following a curing period of 3 days at 40oC. Overall, fatigue performance of foamed asphalt can be identified based upon both stress and strain for mixtures produced at FWC 1%, 5%, and 10%

Novel SNP markers in InvGE and SssI genes are associated with natural variation of sugar contents and frying color in Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja

This study contributes to the understanding of the genetic architecture of tuber sugar contents and frying color at harvest in Group Phureja. The objective was to identify novel genetic variants related with potato frying quality in loci with key functions in carbohydrate metabolism, with the purpose of discovering genetic variability useful in breeding programs. Results suggest that some genes involved in the natural variation of tuber sugar content and frying color are conserved in both Phureja and tetraploid germplasm

Headache of recent onset in adults: a prospective population-based study

One hundred consecutive adult patients with headache of recent onset were prospectively studied. Every patient was examined by craneal CT scan. Their mean age was 46 years (range 17-82). Neurological examination was normal in 80 patients. Organic headache represented 39% of the entire group, and 26% of them had a normal neurological examination. The yield of CT scan in patients with headaches and a normal neurological examination was 22.5% (95% IC: 14%-33%); of which we encountered the following pathologies: intracranial tumors (13), hydrocephalus (2), arachnoid cyst (l), toxoplasmic abscess (1) and parenchymal hemorrhage (1). The clinical characteristics of the headache on their own was insufficient to rule out the possibility of an intracranial tumor. Neuroimaging studies should be performed in all adult patients with non-vascular headache of recent onset, I and previously headache-free individual

DESTRESS: Um jogo para treinar competências de gestão de stress relacionado com o uso da tecnologia

A saúde e a segurança no local de trabalho fazem parte das políticas de âmbito social e de emprego da União Europeia, sob os Princípios e Direitos Fundamentais no Trabalho. No entanto, apesar de existir um vasto investimento na prevenção de riscos, ainda há grandes desafios no que diz respeito aos riscos psicossociais e ao stress no trabalho. O impacto negativo dos riscos psicossociais e do stress no bem-estar e na produtividade representa um custo para muitas organizações, mas especialmente para as pequenas e médias empresas (PMEs). O projeto “Desenvolver competências de resiliência face ao stress @PMEs” (DeSTRESS) pretende desenvolver uma formação inovadora para responder a este problema. Baseando-se no estado da arte da investigação científica, está a ser desenvolvida uma formação com base num jogo inovador e utilizando uma plataforma digital. Este jogo está a ser desenvolvido usando as técnicas mais recentes de gamificação e formação baseada em jogos, complementadas por um conjunto de ferramentas e recursos práticos que facilitarão a transferência do conhecimento para o local de trabalho.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The dependence of oxygen and nitrogen abundances on stellar mass from the CALIFA survey

We analysed the optical spectra of HII regions extracted from a sample of 350 galaxies of the CALIFA survey. We calculated total O/H abundances and, for the first time, N/O ratios using the semi-empirical routine HII-CHI-mistry, which, according to P\'erez-Montero (2014), is consistent with the direct method and reduces the uncertainty in the O/H derivation using [NII] lines owing to the dispersion in the O/H-N/O relation. Then we performed linear fittings to the abundances as a function of the de-projected galactocentric distances. The analysis of the radial distribution both for O/H and N/O in the non-interacting galaxies reveals that both average slopes are negative, but a non-negligible fraction of objects have a flat or even a positive gradient (at least 10\% for O/H and 4\% for N/O). The slopes normalised to the effective radius appear to have a slight dependence on the total stellar mass and the morphological type, as late low-mass objects tend to have flatter slopes. No clear relation is found, however, to explain the presence of inverted gradients in this sample, and there is no dependence between the average slopes and the presence of a bar. The relation between the resulting O/H and N/O linear fittings at the effective radius is much tighter (correlation coefficient $\rho_s$ = 0.80) than between O/H and N/O slopes ($\rho_s$ = 0.39) or for O/H and N/O in the individual \hii\ regions ($\rho_s$ = 0.37). These O/H and N/O values at the effective radius also correlate very tightly (less than 0.03 dex of dispersion) with total luminosity and stellar mass. The relation with other integrated properties, such as star formation rate, colour, or morphology, can be understood only in light of the found relation with mass.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 20 pages, 19 figure

Aperture effects on the oxygen abundance determinations from CALIFA data

This paper aims at providing aperture corrections for emission lines in a sample of spiral galaxies from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area Survey (CALIFA) database. In particular, we explore the behavior of the log([OIII]5007/Hbeta)/([NII]6583/Halpha) (O3N2) and log[NII]6583/Halpha (N2) flux ratios since they are closely connected to different empirical calibrations of the oxygen abundances in star forming galaxies. We compute median growth curves of Halpha, Halpha/Hbeta, O3N2 and N2 up to 2.5R_50 and 1.5 disk R_eff. The growth curves simulate the effect of observing galaxies through apertures of varying radii. The median growth curve of the Halpha/Hbeta ratio monotonically decreases from the center towards larger radii, showing for small apertures a maximum value of ~10% larger than the integrated one. The median growth curve of N2 shows a similar behavior, decreasing from the center towards larger radii. No strong dependence is seen with the inclination, morphological type and stellar mass for these growth curves. Finally, the median growth curve of O3N2 increases monotonically with radius. However, at small radii it shows systematically higher values for galaxies of earlier morphological types and for high stellar mass galaxies. Applying our aperture corrections to a sample of galaxies from the SDSS survey at 0.02<=z<=0.3 shows that the average difference between fiber-based and aperture corrected oxygen abundances, for different galaxy stellar mass and redshift ranges, reaches typically to ~11%, depending on the abundance calibration used. This average difference is found to be systematically biased, though still within the typical uncertainties of oxygen abundances derived from empirical calibrations. Caution must be exercised when using observations of galaxies for small radii (e.g. below 0.5R_eff) given the high dispersion shown around the median growth curves.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Tiger sharks support the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem

Seagrass conservation is critical for mitigating climate change due to the large stocks of carbon they sequester in the seafloor. However, effective conservation and its potential to provide nature-based solutions to climate change is hindered by major uncertainties regarding seagrass extent and distribution. Here, we describe the characterization of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, located in The Bahamas. We integrate existing spatial estimates with an updated empirical remote sensing product and perform extensive ground-truthing of seafloor with 2,542 diver surveys across remote sensing tiles. We also leverage seafloor assessments and movement data obtained from instrument-equipped tiger sharks, which have strong fidelity to seagrass ecosystems, to augment and further validate predictions. We report a consensus area of at least 66,000 km and up to 92,000 km of seagrass habitat across The Bahamas Banks. Sediment core analysis of stored organic carbon further confirmed the global relevance of the blue carbon stock in this ecosystem. Data from tiger sharks proved important in supporting mapping and ground-truthing remote sensing estimates. This work provides evidence of major knowledge gaps in the ocean ecosystem, the benefits in partnering with marine animals to address these gaps, and underscores support for rapid protection of oceanic carbon sinks

The dependence of oxygen and nitrogen abundances on stellar mass from the CALIFA survey

Context. The study of the integrated properties of star-forming galaxies is central to understand their formation and evolution. Some of these properties are extensive and therefore their analysis require totally covering and spatially resolved observations. Among these properties, metallicity can be defined in spiral discs by means of integral field spectroscopy (IFS) of individual H ii regions. The simultaneous analysis of the abundances of primary elements, as oxygen, and secondary, as nitrogen, also provides clues about the star formation history and the processes that shape the build-up of spiral discs. Aims. Our main aim is to analyse simultaneously O/H and N/O abundance ratios in H ii regions in different radial positions of the discs in a large sample of spiral galaxies to obtain the slopes and the characteristic abundance ratios that can be related to their integrated properties. Methods. We analysed the optical spectra of individual selected H ii regions extracted from a sample of 350 spiral galaxies of the CALIFA survey. We calculated total O/H abundances and, for the first time, N/O ratios using the semi-empirical routine Hii-Chi-mistry, which, according to Pérez-Montero (2014, MNRAS, 441, 2663), is consistent with the direct method and reduces the uncertainty in the O/H derivation using [N ii] lines owing to the dispersion in the O/H-N/O relation. Then we performed linear fittings to the abundances as a function of the de-projected galactocentric distances. Results. The analysis of the radial distribution both for O/H and N/O in the non-interacting galaxies reveals that both average slopes are negative, but a non-negligible fraction of objects have a flat or even a positive gradient (at least 10% for O/H and 4% for N/O). The slopes normalised to the effective radius appear to have a slight dependence on the total stellar mass and the morphological type, as late low-mass objects tend to have flatter slopes. No clear relation is found, however, to explain the presence of inverted gradients in this sample, and there is no dependence between the average slopes and the presence of a bar. The relation between the resulting O/H and N/O linear fittings at the effective radius is much tighter (correlation coefficient ρ = 0.80) than between O/H and N/O slopes (ρ = 0.39) or for O/H and N/O in the individual H ii regions (ρ = 0.37). These O/H and N/O values at the effective radius also correlate very tightly (less than 0.03 dex of dispersion) with total luminosity and stellar mass. The relation with other integrated properties, such as star formation rate, colour, or morphology, can be understood only in light of the found relation with mass.E.P.M., J.M.V., C.K., S.P., and J.I.P. acknowledge support from the Spanish MICINN through grants AYA2010-21887-C04-01 and AYA2013-47742-C4-1-P and the Junta de Andalucia for grant EXC/2011 FQM-7058. R.G.B., R.G.D., and E.P. acknowledge support from grants AYA2014-57490-P and JA-FQM-2828. Support for L.G. is provided by the Ministry of Economy, Development, and Tourism's Millennium Science Initiative through grant IC120009, awarded to The Millennium Institute of Astrophysics, MAS. L.G. acknowledges support by CONICYT through FONDECYT grant 3140566Peer Reviewe