Influence of shielding arrangement on ECT sensors

This paper presents a full 3D study of a shielded ECT sensor. The spatial resolution and effective sensing field are obtained by means of Finite Element Method based simulations and are the compared to a conventional sensor's characteristics. An effective improvement was found in the sensitivity in the pipe cross-section, resulting in enhanced quality of the reconstructed image. The sensing field along the axis of the sensor also presents better behaviour for a shielded sensor.This job was financed for the Spanish Education and Science Ministry with a CICYT grant (reference DPI2002/04550/C07/04)

Contextual determinants of induced abortion: a panel analysis

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE Analyze the contextual and individual characteristics that explain the differences in the induced abortion rate, temporally and territorially. METHODS We conducted an econometric analysis with panel data of the influence of public investment in health and per capita income on induced abortion as well as a measurement of the effect of social and economic factors related to the labor market and reproduction: female employment, immigration, adolescent fertility and marriage rate. The empirical exercise was conducted with a sample of 22 countries in Europe for the 2001-2009 period. RESULTS The great territorial variability of induced abortion was the result of contextual and individual socioeconomic factors. Higher levels of national income and investments in public health reduce its incidence. The following sociodemographic characteristics were also significant regressors of induced abortion: female employment, civil status, migration, and adolescent fertility. CONCLUSIONS Induced abortion responds to sociodemographic patterns, in which the characteristics of each country are essential. The individual and contextual socioeconomic inequalities impact significantly on its incidence. Further research on the relationship between economic growth, labor market, institutions and social norms is required to better understand its transnational variability and to reduce its incidence

Influencia de algunos parámetros del procesamiento tiempo-escala sobre la reducción del ruido en END por ultrasonidos

6 pp.-- PACS nr.: 43.35-Zc.-- Comunicación presentada en los siguientes congresos: II Congreso Iberoamericano de Acústica. XXXI Congreso Nacional de Acústica – TecniAcústica 2000. II Jornadas Iberoamericanas de Ultrasonidos. II Congreso Ibérico de Acústica. EAA Symposium on Architectural Acoustics (Madrid, 16-20 Octubre 2000).Publicado también en número especial de la Revista de Acústica, Vol. XXXI, año 2000.[EN] The wavelet transform is used for the reduction of coherent noise, of the type induced in NDT ultrasonic inspections of specimens with coarse granular microstructure. Some influences of processing parameters, such as the mother wavelet, type of thresholding and threshold selection rules are evaluated using synthetic noise registers generated with different values of the signal to noise input ratio.[ES] En este trabajo se utiliza la Transformada Wavelet para la reducción de ruido coherente, del tipo generado en las inspecciones no destructivas (END) por ultrasonidos de materiales con microestructura granular. Se evalúa la influencia de algunos parámetros de procesado, como el tipo de ondícula madre, el tipo de umbralización y las reglas de selección de umbrales, utilizando registros sintéticos de ruido generados con diferentes valores de la relación señal ruido de entrada.Este trabajo se ha realizado con financiación del proyecto CICYT Ref. TAP1999-0864.Peer reviewe

Upper Carboniferous at the Frontal Cordillera (San Juan province, Argentina): characteristics and regional significance

Previous dating of the limestones at the upper part of the Agua Negra in the Quebrada de las Ánimas provided an unconclussive age of Silurian-Devonian. A palynological analysis has been carried out with the aim of improving the existing dating, particular attention has been paid to collecting samples from the partially metamorphic limestones at the top of the succession. The palynomorphs found accumulated during the Upper Carboniferous and they are in association with other palynomorphs and younger chitinozoa (Devonian) reworked from previously accumulated sediment. During the Condwana Cycle this region of the Frontal Cordillera passed from being a retroarc basin (Ramos 7 988), in which the sediments come from eroding relieves of the Precordillera and the Sierras Pampeanas, to a position in which the growing relieves of the volcanic arc that provided sediments also caused the partial cannibalisation of previously accumulated sediments. Previous interpretations of the Frontal Cordillera (Chilenia Terrane) being placed in a paleolatitude away from Condwana were based in the presence of Silurian-Devonian hot water stromatolithic limestones. Our results suggest that previous geodynamic interpretations should be reviewe

Importancia de la estadificación mediastínica, sistemática en mujeres con carcinoma broncogénico, no microcítico

Objetivo: Investigar la importancia específica de la estadificación mediastínica de mujeres con carcinoma broncogénico, no microcítico. Pacientes y métodos: Entre julio de 1981 y septiembre de 2003 estadificamos quirúrgicamente a 2.172 pacientes con carcinoma broncogénico no microcítico que cumplían criterios de resecabilidad y operabilidad. Se realizó mediastinoscopia cervical de forma habitual, y mediastinotomía anterior en caso de afectación del lóbulo superior izquierdo. Todos los pacientes tenían una tomografía axial computarizada de tórax preoperatoria. Se estudió al subgrupo de 108 mujeres. Resultados: Realizamos mediastinoscopia cervical en 108 casos y mediastinotomía anterior en 26. Fueron positivas 44 (40,7%) --39 (36,1%) mediastinoscopias, 9 (34,6%) mediastinotomías y en 5 (19,2%) casos ambas--. Se objetivó afectación ganglionar en un 13% de los casos en estadio IA y en un 30,8% en estadio IB. El porcentaje de positividad fue significativamente mayor en caso de adenocarcinoma o carcinoma de células grandes (p < 0,05). Realizamos 67 toracotomías: 46 (42,6%) lobectomías, 7 (6,5%) bilobectomías, 9 (8,3%) neumonectomías y 5 (4,6%) toracotomías exploradoras. La concordancia entre estadificación clínica posmediastinoscopia y patológica postoracotomía fue del 47% (IA) y del 57% (IB). Conclusiones: La mediastinoscopia sistemática está indicada en todas las mujeres con carcinoma broncogénico no microcítico independientemente del estadio clínico

RESEARCH ARTICLE Body-size structure of Central Iberian mammal fauna reveals semidesertic conditions during the middle Miocene Global Cooling Event

We developed new quantitative palaeoclimatic inference models based on the body-size structure of mammal faunas from the Old World tropics and applied them to the Somosaguas fossil site (middle Miocene, central Iberian Peninsula). Twenty-six mammal species have been described at this site, including proboscideans, ungulates, carnivores, insectivores, lagomorphs and rodents. Our analyses were based on multivariate and bivariate regression models correlating climatic data and body-size structure of 63 modern mammal assemblages from Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent. The results showed an average temperature of the coldest month higher than 26ÊC for the Somosaguas fossil site, a mean annual thermal amplitude around 10ÊC, a drought length of 10 months, and an annual total precipitation greater than 200 mm per year, which are climate conditions typical of an ecotonal zone between the savanna and desert biomes. These results are congruent with the aridity peaks described over the middle Aragonian of Spain and particularly in the local biozone E, which includes Somosaguas. The aridity increase detected in this biozone is associated with the Middle Miocene Global Cooling Event. The environment of Somosaguas around 14 Ma was similar to the current environment in the Sahel region of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the boundary area between the Kalahari and the Namib in Southern Africa, south-central Arabia, or eastern Pakistan and northwestern India. The distribution of modern vegetation in these regions follows a complex mosaic of plant communities, dominated by scattered xerophilous shrublands, semidesert grasslands, and vegetation linked to seasonal watercourses and ponds.Peer reviewe

Cliff Coast of Asturias

International audienc

Células solares de banda intermedia

Las células solares de banda intermedia se inventaron en España. Constituyen una propuesta para aumentar la eficiencia de las células solares por encima del límite de Shockley y Queisser para células de un solo gap. El número de ideas para llevarlas a la práctica (desde la utilización de puntos cuánticos a la implantación selectiva de impurezas) se ha ido expandiendo a medida que nuestra comprensión ha ido aumentando. En este artículo repasamos el concepto de célula solar de banda intermedia y algunas de estas ideas para llevarla a la práctica