Konposatu organiko lurrunkorren bidezko kutsadura Bilboko atmosferan

Konposatu Organiko Lurrunkorrak (KOL) atmosferako kutsatzaile atmosferiko nagusien artean daude, ingurumenean eta giza osasunean izan ditzaketen aurkako eraginak direla-eta. Bilbo bezalako kokalekuetan, industriaz inguraturik dauden hiri-zonaldeetan, arreta handia eskaini behar zaio KOLen monitorizazioari, bertako eta inguruko iturrien ekarpena nabarmena izaten baita. Gainera, Bilbo orografia konplexuko eremuan kokaturik dago, kutsatzaileak sakabanatzeko aurkako baldintzak ohikoak izaten direlarik. Lan honetan Bilbon neurtutako KOL toxiko batzuen kontzentrazioak aztertuko dira, 1997-2001 eta 2006-2008 urteetan zehar luzatu zen etengabeko, on-line eta ordukako neurketa-programaren barnean. Denbora-eskala desberdineko kontzentrazio-profilak erabiliz eta kokalekuaren sakabanatze-baldintzak kontuan hartuz, KOL bakoitzaren ustezko jatorriak eta jasandako atmosferako prozesuak aztertzen dira. Emaitzen arabera, ibilgailuen isuriak dira KOL aromatikoen jatorri nagusia Bilbon, baina badaude trafikoaz gain industria-jatorria duten konposatuak, bentzenoa esate baterako. Azken hau, oraingoz, Europar Zuzendaritzak arautzen duen KOL bakarra da. Aztertutako neurketa-epean, bentzenoaren kontzentrazio-muga ez zen gainditu Bilbon eta, gainera, haren kontzentrazioa era nabarmenean murriztu zen 1997tik 2008ra. KOL kloratuen iturri nagusiak industria eta dendak dira. Azkenik, egiaztatu zen neurketa-epean zehar KOLen inhalazioak ez duela giza osasunean berehalako eragin kaltegarririk, baina minbizia sortzeko arriskua areagotzen duela

Desarrollo y aplicación de técnicas avanzadas de medida de compuestos orgánicos volátiles en la atmósfera

331 p.El gran número de compuestos orgánicos volátiles (COV) presentes en el aire ambiente y el amplio rango de concentración en están presentes, dificultan su correcta identificación y cuantificación. Además, la medida especiada de COV es necesaria; ya que las características de éstos como precursores de ozono y de partículas finas, su contribución al cambio climático y toxicidad varían para cada COV individual. Por estos motivos, es necesario revisar las técnicas de muestreo y análisis de COV disponibles. Asimismo, la vigilancia y control de COV y de sus productos de oxidación requiere que su medida sea continua, lo que dificulta aún más la selección de la técnica analítica adecuada. La presente tesis se fundamenta en el desarrollo de técnicas avanzadas para la medida continua y en línea de COV, mediante la adaptación y puesta a punto de un sistema de cromatografía de gases con detector de espectrometría de masas (GC-MS)

Aprendizaje basado en problemas en química: estados de agregación y disoluciones líquidas

El hilo conductor de esta experiencia ABP es la erupción del volcán islandés Eyjafjallajökull, que tuvo lugar en marzo de 2010. La primera consecuencia, fue el deshielo del glaciar que cubre el volcán, que provocó inundaciones y la evacuación de habitantes de localidades cercanas. La segunda consecuencia, debida a la expulsión de ceniza volcánica a la atmósfera, fue el cierre tráfico aéreo en el noroeste de Europa. La predicción catástrofes naturales es muy difícil, pero es habitual cuestionarse si sus consecuencias podrían haber sido menos devastadoras. Los futuros graduados en “Tecnología de Minas y Energía” y en “Ingeniería Civil”, en el contexto de la asignatura Química, deberán entender el comportamiento de los materiales que expulsa el volcán y los procesos que provocan las consecuencias descritas. La pregunta motriz formulada es: ¿Se puede explicar el comportamiento de los materiales que expulsa un volcán a partir de la forma en que se agrupan y organizan sus partículas

AC amplifiers with ultra-low corner frequency by using bootstrapping

A novel architecture for an AC (i.e. high-pass) amplifier is proposed allowing a drastic reduction of the cutoff frequency to the sub-Hertz range. It builds upon the classic AC configuration with a high gain amplifier and a parallel RC circuit in the feedback loop, by increasing the feedback resistance through bootstrapping. Resistance multiplying factors higher than four orders of magnitude are easily achievable. The basic principle can be applied to several practical implementations, though in this letter it is demonstrate with measurement results of an op-amp based discrete implementation.This work was financially supported by the following grants from the Spanish Research Agency: TEC2016-80396-C2-1-R and PID2019-107258RB-C32 (AEI/FEDER). M.Martincorena Arraiza was funded by the Ministry of Universities under grant BES-2017-080418

Fault detection of planetary gears based on signal space constellations

A new method to process the vibration signal acquired by an accelerometer placed in a planetary gearbox housing is proposed, which is useful to detect potential faults. The method is based on the phenomenological model and consists of the projection of the healthy vibration signals onto an orthonormal basis. Low pass components representation and Gram–Schmidt’s method are conveniently used to obtain such a basis. Thus, the measured signals can be represented by a set of scalars that provide information on the gear state. If these scalars are within a predefined range, then the gear can be diagnosed as correct; in the opposite case, it will require further evaluation. The method is validated using measured vibration signals obtained from a laboratory test bench.Grant PID2019-107258RB-C32 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. M.M.-A. has a predoctoral grant BES-2017-080418 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by ESF Investing in your future

Social organisational LCA for the academic activity of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

Purpose This article aims to estimate the social footprint of a higher education institution (HEI) and its potential contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. The social organisational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA) of the academic activity of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), in northern Spain, has been performed, in order to estimate its social impacts. Method The assessment has been run using openLCA software and supported on the PSILCA-based Soca add-on for the Ecoinvent v3.3 database, covering 53 social indicators for almost 15,000 industrial sectors and goods in 189 countries. Results and discussion The analysis undertaken reflects social impacts and associated risk levels for four stakeholders: Workers, Local Community, Society, and Value Chain Actors. Labour activity in the UPV/EHU is the sub-process with the greatest social impact, followed by processes related to transport, energy, materials, and waste management. Among the socio-economic context which supports the academic activity of the UPV/EHU (indirect impacts), the existence of traces of child labour and illiteracy outside the Basque Country stands out. Further analysis would be required in order to more accurately determine the geographical location of such impacts, and also to better tackle the concept of social debt. Conclusion SO-LCA may have great potential for HEIs, helping them to identify hotspots, reduce their social footprint, and raise awareness among the academic community, which undoubtedly contributes to the knowledge, progress, human values, and sustainability these HEIs stand for.This research has been supported by "Ekopol: Iraunkortasunerako Bideak" research group, recognised by the Basque Government (IT-1365-19) and the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (GIC-18/22

Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown in a European Regional Monitoring Network (Spain): Are We Free from Pollution Episodes?

The impact of the lockdown, during the period from March to June in 2020, upon the air quality of the Basque Country in northern Spain is analyzed. The evaluation accounts for the meteorology of the period. Daily and sub-daily analysis of aerosol and ozone records show that the territory was repeatedly affected by episodes of pollutants from outer regions. Three episodes of PM10 and ten of PM2.5 were caused by transported anthropogenic European sulfates, African dust, and wildland fires. The region, with a varied orographic climatology, shows high and diverse industrial activity. Urban and interurban road traffic of the region decreased by 49% and 53%, respectively, whereas industrial activity showed a lower reduction of 20%. Consequently, the average concentrations of NO2 in the cities during the period fell to 12.4 µg·m−3 (−45%). Ozone showed up to five exceedances of the WHOAQG for the daily maximum 8-h average in both rural and urban sites, associated with transport through France and the Bay of Biscay, under periods of European blocking anticyclones. However, averages showed a moderate decrease (−11%) in rural environments, in line with the precursor reductions, and disparate changes in the cities, which reproduced the weekend effect of their historical records. The PM10 decreased less than expected (−10% and −21%, in the urban and rural environments, respectively), probably caused by the modest decrease of industrial activity around urban sites and favorable meteorology for secondary aerosol formation, which could also influence the lower changes observed in the PM2.5 (−1% and +3% at the urban and rural sites, respectively). Consequently, in a future low NOx traffic emission scenario, the inter-regional PM and ozone control will require actions across various sectors, including the industry and common pollution control strategies.This research was funded by the Basque Government and the University of the Basque Country (GIC15/152 and GIU13/03) and by the Environment Vice-Department of the Basque Government for the measurement of biogenic volatile organic compounds in Valderejo Natural Park

Galernas: A history of coastally trapped disturbances (2003−2020) with hidden frontogenesis in the Bay of Biscay

Galerna is the term accepted for an abrupt westerly change that affects the north coast of Spain. The wind surge travels from the mid-north coast of Spain to France, generally reaching their maximum intensity at the Basque Coast, and cuts off a period of hot weather, clear skies, and calm conditions at sea. The galernas have a large history of shipwrecks and fishermen deaths. They have been characterized as coastally trapped disturbances (CTD) and their propagation, enhanced with the local formation of a micro-front, was documented to behave like a density current. Alternatively, synoptic fronts have also been reported to cause galernas, considered to be more intense than those generated by a local micro-front. In this article we have generated the first climatology (2003–2020) of these events based on an objective identification methodology. The developed Event Identification Software (EIS), based on both 10-min surface station data and hourly ERA5 reanalysis fields, together with a new Front Identification Scheme (FIS) have enabled a deeper study into the origin and development of these micro-fronts, and a more comprehensive exploration of the interaction of the oceanic fronts entering the Bay of Biscay. Our results show that the area receives an average of four to five relatively intense galernas (Vmax > 50 km h−1) per year. Their number shows a great interannual variability (from one to seven) and a marked seasonality: May and June concentrate the largest fraction (almost one episode each year) and practically no episodes in winter. They occur more frequently between noon and the late afternoon, where the most intense wind records concentrate. Very strong galernas (Vmax > 72 km h−1) have occurred in all 18 years, can happen in any month from February to November, and their monthly distribution does not show the mentioned seasonality. On the contrary, the highest rates of temperature decrease across the galerna front in the coastal stations (−∆T/0.5 h > 4 °C) do have a stronger seasonality, with May and June concentrating a relatively large number of cases with a more abrupt temperature drop. The FIS shows that most of the galernas (83.5%) have a local origin inside the Bay of Biscay, and only a few ones (16.5%) are caused by oceanic fronts initiated out of the region. The local frontogenesis is more frequently initiated by the relatively cold marine southwesterly pre-frontals preceding a parent oceanic front and blowing against the warm continentals inside the Bay of Biscay, after being ducted along the north and northwestern coast of Spain. This hidden local frontogenesis, first revealed by the FIS, seems to be enhanced by the observed lee troughing, which could have both a thermal and dynamic origin, acting simultaneously after the intense Foehn at the coastal strip, preceding the formation of the galerna front. The local front enhancement appears to be the reason for the apparent jump of the primary front, which may eventually weaken, and even disappear, as the galerna front sharpens. Even during the more occasional frontal galernas, directly caused by the westerlies or north-westerlies behind the oceanic front, their eastward propagation is more rapid over the coastal area. The front deforms in shape and may cause its characteristic unexpected/abrupt irruption. All the EIS detected galernas, even the frontal ones, are wind reversals caused by a coastally trapped marine boundary layer. The upper-level ridge over Europe, observed in all of them, seems to be a synoptic ingredient for their development, preventing the eastward propagation of Atlantic depressions and enhancing at the same time the temperature and pressure gradients between the marine and continental air masses.The authors wish to thank the Basque Government and the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU as the source of our main financial support: GIA consolidated Research Groups (https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/gia) IT1057-16 (GIC15/152) and GIU13/03. These financing bodies have played an exclusively economic role in the study

The environmental and social footprint of the university of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

This work has calculated the organisational environmental and social footprint of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 2016. First, input and output data flows of the UPV/EHU activity were collected. Next, the environmental and social impacts of the academic activity were modelled, using the Ecoinvent 3.3 database with the PSILCA-based Soca v1 module in openLCA software. In order to evaluate the environmental impacts, CML and ReCiPe LCIA methods were used. The Social Impact Weighting Method was adjusted for the assessment of specific social impacts. The modelling has identified some hotspots in the organisation. The contribution of transport (8,900 km per user, annually) is close to 60% in most of the environmental impacts considered. The life cycle of computers stands out among the impacts derived from the consumption of material products. More than half of environmental impacts are located outside the Basque Country. This work has also made it possible to estimate some of the impacts of the organisational social footprint, such as accidents at work, only some of which occur at the UPV/EHU. Traces of child labour and illiteracy have also been detected in the social footprint that supports the activity of the UPV/EHU. Some of the social and environmental impacts analysed are not directly generated by the UPV/EHU, but they all demand attention and co-responsibility. Based on the modelling performed, this work explores alternative scenarios and recommends some improvement actions which may reduce (in some cases over 30%) the environmental and social impacts of the UPV/EHU's activity. These scenarios and improvement actions will feed a process with stakeholders in the UPV/ EHU based on the Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology.To the Sustainability Directorate and the Educational Advisory Service, both belonging to the Vice-Chancellor's Office for Innovation, Social Commitment and Social Action of the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, in the context of the Campus Bizia Lab programme (2017/18, 18/19 and 19/20 calls) for the financing of the EHU-Aztarna project. This research has also been supported by 'Ekopol: Iraunkortasunerako Bideak' research group, recognised by the Basque Government (IT1365-19) and the University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU (GIC-18/22)