A New Affordable Masonry System Based on Unfired Clay Sandwich Panel

Nowadays, construction is one of the main sectors that produces waste and consume more materials and energy, so there is a growing need for alternative construction technologies that allow us to modify this situation. In this context, this paper presents the development of an innovative proposal for an industrialized outdoor enclosure. This solution is based on a constructive system with prefabricated insulated sandwich panels, produced on the basis of a new eco-efficient composite material, based on raw stabilized clay. In this way, it is possible, prioritize environmental issues to significantly reduce the environmental impact generated during the manufacture of the piece. The use in the construction of buildings material such as stabilized raw clay can be an alternative to achieve buildings of nearly zero energy consumption. They are known both from a thermal comfort and ability to regulate temperature and humidity, as well as being materials that contain much less embodied energy. This study is a comparative analysis of building systems, as well, as a serie of selected patent systems and copyrighted materials. On the other hand, it also analyzes their enforcement against the values established by the Spanish building code

Arquitectura de la cromatina de los complejos Six en el desarrollo y la evolución

The vast morphological variability observed across the animal kingdom is thought to be mainly achieved by modifying the expression patterns of a common toolbox of genes during development. Cis regulatory elements (CREs) are small DNA sequences scattered throughout the non-coding genome and are responsible for the spatio-temporal control of transcription through physical interaction with core promoters. They harbor binding sites for proteins such as transcription factors and chromatin organizers like CTCF and cohesin. The chromatin of multiple bilaterian species is compartmentalized in topologically associating domains (TADs), genomic regions within which sequences preferentially contact each other. This organization has been proposed to be essential to organize the regulatory information contained in animal genomes, bringing together CREs and their target promoters and avoiding promiscuous contacts. However, the impact of this spatial chromatin organization on gene expression, its degree of evolutionary conservation and the molecular mechanisms responsible for its formation are still poorly understood. In this thesis we have tried to contribute to the understanding of these aspects of chromatin spatial organization through the analysis of chromatin architecture of a specific locus: the Six cluster. Six homeobox genes are essential developmental regulators organized in gene clusters conserved during evolution. By using 4C-seq technologies on the Six genes presents in zebrafish, mouse and sea urching we reveal that the Six clusters share a deeply evolutionarily conserved 3D chromatin organization that predates the Cambrian explosion. This chromatin architecture generates two largely independent regulatory landscapes (RLs) contained in two adjacent TADs and it is maintained stable during development. By disrupting the conserved TAD border in one of the zebrafis Six clusters, we demonstrate that this border is critical for preventing competition between promoters and enhancers located in separated RLs, thereby generating different expression patterns in genes located in close genomic proximity. Moreover, evolutionary comparison of Six-associated TAD borders reveals the presence of CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) sites with diverging orientations in all studied deuterostomes. Genome-wide examination of mammalian HiC data reveals that this conserved CTCF configuration is a general signature of TAD borders, underscoring that common organizational principles underlie TAD compartmentalization in deuterostome evolution.Peer Reviewe

Análisis, diseño e implementación de un prototipo de software para el seguimiento del cáncer en población infantil en la Fundación Sanar de Pereira

En este trabajo se desarrolló el análisis, diseño e implementación de un prototipo de software para el seguimiento del cáncer en población infantil en la Fundación SANAR de Pereira. Esta propuesta surgió por sugerencia inicial de dos docentes de la Facultad de Medicina de la Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira, quienes han sido muy cercanos a las instituciones oncológicas de la ciudad y por consiguiente sabían de las falencias que se tenían con respecto al manejo de información en los casos de Cáncer en esta Ciudad. debido a las mencionadas falencias que había en la Fundación, se hizo necesario crear una nueva idea de software que pudiera ayudar a los niños a tener un mejor estudio de su caso e igualmente un mejor tratamiento

Exploring the Interplay between CAD and FreeFem++ as an Energy Decision-Making Tool for Architectural Design

The energy modelling software tools commonly used for architectural purposes do not allow a straightforward real-time implementation within the architectural design programs. In addition, the surrounding exterior spaces of the building, including the inner courtyards, hardly present a specific treatment distinguishing these spaces from the general external temperature in the thermal simulations. This is a clear disadvantage when it comes to streamlining the design process in relation to the whole-building energy optimization. In this context, the present study aims to demonstrate the advantages of the FreeFem++ open source program for performing simulations in architectural environments. These simulations include microclimate tests that describe the interactions between a building architecture and its local exterior. The great potential of this mathematical tool can be realized through its complete system integration within CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software such as SketchUp or AutoCAD. In order to establish the suitability of FreeFem++ for the performance of simulations, the most widely employed energy simulation tools able to consider a proposed architectural geometry in a specific environment are compared. On the basis of this analysis, it can be concluded that FreeFem++ is the only program displaying the best features for the thermal performance simulation of these specific outdoor spaces, excluding the currently unavailable easy interaction with architectural drawing programs. The main contribution of this research is, in fact, the enhancement of FreeFem++ usability by proposing a simple intuitive method for the creation of building geometries and their respective meshing (pre-processing). FreeFem++ is also considered a tool for data analysis (post-processing) able to help engineers and architects with building energy-efficiency-related tasks

Ultrasonic, Molecular and Mechanical Testing Diagnostics in Natural Fibre Reinforced, Polymer-Stabilized Earth Blocks

The aim of this research study was to evaluate the influence of utilising natural polymers as a form of soil stabilization, in order to assess their potential for use in building applications. Mixtures were stabilized with a natural polymer (alginate) and reinforced with wool fibres in order to improve the overall compressive and flexural strength of a series of composite materials. Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and mechanical strength testing techniques were then used to measure the porous properties of the manufactured natural polymer-soil composites, which were formed into earth blocks. Mechanical tests were carried out for three different clays which showed that the polymer increased the mechanical resistance of the samples to varying degrees, depending on the plasticity index of each soil. Variation in soil grain size distributions and Atterberg limits were assessed and chemical compositions were studied and compared. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) techniques were all used in conjunction with qualitative identification of the aggregates. Ultrasonic wave propagation was found to be a useful technique for assisting in the determination of soil shrinkage characteristics and fibre-soil adherence capacity and UPV results correlated well with the measured mechanical properties

On the Influence of Shade in Improving Thermal Comfort in Courtyards

This study analyzes the thermal performance of courtyards in traditional buildings in the city center of Córdoba (South of Spain), one of them displaying a shading component, to determine the influence of this precise element. The courtyards have been monitored simultaneously during a summer period when temperatures during the day reached over 45 °C. The obtained data was contrasted, and we confirmed that the shading element provided an improvement of the thermal performance of the courtyard which doubled the thermal leap between outdoor and inside the courtyard temperatures when the shading element was installed, in comparison to the courtyard without shade. Therefore, the tempering effect of courtyards can be significantly improved by means of using these simple elements

Bias free magnetomechanical coupling on magnetic microwires for sensing applications

In the present paper, we report a systematic study of the magnetoelastic resonance of amorphous magnetic microwires of composition Fe73Si11B13Nb3. The study was performed for samples annealed at different temperatures. It was observed that such microwires present the key feature of performing magnetoelastic resonance in the absence of applied field. This fact, in addition to their small size, gives the microwires unique advantages over the widespreaded ribbons, currently in use as magnetoelastic sensors. Beyond the study of the resonance, magnetic properties of the samples were studied by means of Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) measurement in order to find an explanation to their bias-free resonance property. Finally, we show two possible applications of microwire based magnetoelastic sensors, a fluid density sensor and a mass-loading sensor

A ferrocement patent for emergency housing: the technological hut

This article focuses on the comparison between the Spanish architects de La Hoz (Madrid,1924) and José María García de Paredes (Seville, 1924) projects for ‘ultra-cheap’ housing in Cordoba,how it evolved from a British patent named Ctesiphon, and the study of some of existing building serected following this construction system. The aim of this article is to stablish the evolution of the system from the original patent into a new possibility for low-income social housing. This system was used to erect new developments in the 1950s that would relocate people living in huts during thedictatorship era in Spain, thus new “technological huts” were proposed and erected. The research process includes an analysis of the documents and literature available of the patent and the projects themselves, and in situ tests (infrared thermography and samples extraction) will allow to establish the relation between its original inventor, the dissemination of his works in publications from thatera, and the Spanish company that subsequently, as a concession of the original patent, introduced that system in Spanish architecture. Analysis of the original patent document allows to study the primitive system as it was invented and for what uses it was conceived. Thus, such a methodology supports an establishment of the technical innovations achieved in order to adapt the system to the Andalusian environment at that time and its use for housin

Use of Natural-Fiber Bio-Composites in Construction versus Traditional Solutions: Operational and Embodied Energy Assessment

During the last decades natural polymers have become more and more frequent to replace traditional inorganic stabilizers in building materials. The purpose of this research is to establish a comparison between the most conventional building material solutions for load-bearing walls and a type of biomaterial. This comparison will focus on load-bearing walls as used in a widespread type of twentieth century dwelling construction in Europe and still used in developing countries nowadays. To carry out this analysis, the structural and thermal insulation characteristics of different construction solutions are balanced. The tool used for this evaluation is the life cycle assessment throughout the whole lifespan of these buildings. This research aims to examine the environmental performance of each material assessed: fired clay brick masonry walls (BW), concrete block masonry walls (CW), and stabilized soil block masonry walls (SW) stabilized with natural fibers and alginates. These conventional and new materials are evaluated from the point of view of both operational and embodied energy

Regulatory landscape of the vertebrate six2/six3 locus

Resumen del póster presentado al IX Meeting of the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology celebrado en Granada del 12 al 14 de noviembre de 2012.Peer Reviewe