Using concept maps to assess the "oral communication" competence within the "Materials for Energy Applications " course

Technical skills, even for technical positions, are insufficient for subsequent success beyond an entry-level position, since it usually requires proficiency in soft-skills areas such as: communication, leadership, conflict resolution and self-management, amongst others. Hence, helping technical students to develop and improve such soft-skills areas is of real need, and that is why generic competences are included in technical syllabus. However, the assessment of such competences is not an easy task, not to mention if we are not from such area of expertise. The aim of this manuscript is twofold. First, to present the use of ‘concept maps’ as a useful strategy to support the students’ learning process. Second, and more specifically, to show the usability of a methodology to develop and assess the “oral communication” competence within a technical optional subject (Materials for Energy Applications), offered in two different Masters at the School of Industrial Engineering of Barcelona at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech.Postprint (author's final draft

Simulation of the behavior of a refuse landfill on a laboratory scale

The characteristics and properties of waste in a landfill, and its evolution over time, are difficult to estimate because of the heterogeneity of materials, biomass degradation, density, cover material, and infiltration of water. In this work, a lysimeter was used to simulate how refuse from mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) plants evolved in a landfill over a 45-day period. Water was added as a way to imitate the effects produced during rainy seasons. Field capacity and changes in the physical and chemical properties (volatile solids, biomass, and heating value) were analyzed. The results of this research show that the percentage of biomass lowers, and the heating value increases, after bringing about infiltration and percolation of water in the waste mass. Therefore in order to stabilize waste in a landfill, employing irrigation or leachate recirculation could be advisable. As the heating value increases after percolation, it could also be a good idea to recover the fuel material after stabilization

Application of inert wastes in the construction, operation and closure of landfills: calculation tool

Waste from construction and demolition activities represents one of the highest volumes of waste in Europe. 500 million tonnes are produced throughout the whole EU every year. In some EU members like Spain, approximately 83 per cent of such waste is disposed in landfills. The remaining part is classified and processed in treatment facilities so that it can later be used as recycled aggregates in the construction sector (sand, gravel, aggregates, etc.) but without much commercial success. The aim of this study is to use recycled aggregates from inert wastes (IW) in the different phases of a landfill (construction, operation and closure) with the aid of a new computer tool called LABWASTE.14. This tool incorporates the mathematical relationship among the activities of the landfill and provides as a result the economic viability of using recycled aggregates compared to aggregates from quarries. Therefore, knowing the needs of aggregates in landfills (dams, drainage layers, covering layers, collection wells, etc.) may determine the amount of IW that could be recovered. These calculations can be obtained from some of the data that is introduced (population, land physiography, etc.). Furthermore, the use of LABWASTE.14 makes it possible to reduce the demand for aggregates from quarries

Influence of the design on slope stability in solid waste landfills

This paper presents, firstly, the influence of the geometry of a slope in the safety factor (SF). In order to do this, the SF is compared among three types of slopes: with berms every 7 m high and a dam at the toe, without berms and with a dam at the toe, and without berms nor dams. It was observed that, for the same inclination, the berms do not significantly influence the stability. However, the construction of an earth dam at the base increases safety, especially with little height and slope in waste with poor mechanical properties. On the other hand, a set of diagrams to learn, quickly and easily, the safety factor of a landfill slope has been developed. Thus, this set of diagrams allows calculations from the SF height (from 17 to 80 m) and slope inclination (from 45° to 14°) with values of effective cohesion of the waste (C'o) from 1 to 3 t/m2 and effective friction angle (F') of 10° to 25°

Transcription factor binding site detection through position cross-mutual information variability analysis

Regulatory sequence detection is a fundamental challenge in computational biology. One key process in protein synthesis starts with the binding of the transcription factor to its binding site. Different sites can show binding to the same factor. This variability found in binding sequences increases the difficulty of their detection using computational algorithms. In this manuscript, a method for the detection of binding sites is proposed, based on the correlation between binding sequence positions through information theoretical measures. Efficiency values of the method are reported in the form of Receiver Operating Characteristic curves on the detection of different transcription factors of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae organism. We compare our results with other known motif detection Motif Discovery scan (MDscan).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Search of phenotype-related candidate genes using Gene Ontology-based semantic similarity and protein interaction information: application to Brugada syndrome

This work presents a methodology for finding phenotype candidate genes starting from a set of known related genes. This is accomplished by automatically mining and organizing the available scientific literature using Gene Ontology-based semantic similarity. As a case study, Brugada syndrome related genes have been used as input in order to obtain a list of other possible candidate genes related with this disease. Brugada anomaly produces a typical alteration in the Electrocardiogram and carriers of the disease show an increased probability of sudden death. Results show a set of semantically coherent proteins that are shown to be related with synaptic transmission and muscle contraction physiological processes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Environmental evaluation of a self-compacted clay based concrete with natural superplasticizers

[EN] Cement concrete is the most widely used construction material worldwide due to its favourable mechanical characteristics. However, it is responsible for 8% of the total carbon emissions in the world, which are generated mainly during the production of clinker. Due to that fact, finding alternatives to cement for some applications in which it is not strictly needed should be a priority. In this study, a self-compacted clay-based concrete with natural superplasticizers based on natural tara tannins is presented. The main objective of the study is to determine if this clay-based concrete can be a sustainable alternative to conventional cement concrete as the main component in structural slabs. The methodology of the study is divided into two parts. First, the self-compacting clay concrete is characterized to determine its mechanical properties. Secondly, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment is conducted to determine the difference between the impacts generated by one square meter of self-compacting cement concrete and one of self-compacting clay concrete. The characterization of the material showed that this self-compacting clay concrete is suitable for some building elements such as structural slabs while avoiding the energy consumption needed to produce conventional concrete. The environmental impact results showed that using self-compacting clay concrete instead of the cement-based material decreases 90% of the carbon emissions and 80% of the overall environmental impact. After the completion of the study, it can be stated that the presented material is a sustainable alternative to conventional concrete for building structural slabs.Romero Clausell, J.; Quintana-Gallardo, A.; Hidalgo Signes, C.; Serrano Lanzarote, AB. (2021). Environmental evaluation of a self-compacted clay based concrete with natural superplasticizers. Materials and Structures. 54(1):1-16. https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-020-01586-611654

Effect of ultra-high pressure homogenization (UHPH) and conventional thermal pasteurization on the volatile composition of Tiger nut beverage

Tiger nut beverages are non-alcoholic products that are characterized by their pale color and soft flavor. Conventional heat treatments are widely used in the food industry, although heated products are often damaging to their overall quality. Ultra-high pressure homogenization UHPH) is an emerging technology that extends the shelf-life of foods while maintaining most of their fresh characteristics. The present work deals with the comparison of the effect of conventional thermal homogenization-pasteurization (H-P, 18 + 4 MPa at 65 °C, 80 °C for 15 s.) and UHPH (at 200 and 300 MPa, and inlet temperature of 40 °C), on the volatile composition of tiger nut beverage. Headspace-solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) was used for detecting volatile compounds of beverages, which were then identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A total of 37 different volatile substances were identified in tiger nut beverages, which were primarily grouped into the aromatic hydrocarbons, alcohols, aldehydes and terpenes chemical families. Stabilizing treatments increased the total amount of volatile compounds (H-P > UHPH > R-P). H-P was the treatment that produced the most changes in the volatile composition of RP, while treatment at 200 MPa had a minor impact. At the end of their storage, these products were also characterized by the same chemical families. This study evidenced the UHPH technology as an alternative processing of tiger nut beverages production that minimally modifies their volatile composition.This research was funded by MALTA-CONSOLIDER project (CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 Program, Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, funding number: CSD 2007-00045).Postprint (published version

Testing the degree of biostabilization in the refuse from composting plants

In composting plants, aerobic fermentation could not to be complete and therefore, the fate of unstabilyzed wastes from the compost refining, uses to be landfill. This fact provokes an extra biogas generation in landfills, which contributes to greenhouse effect. In this work, the refuse of compost refining process has been subjected to an anaerobic fermentation. For that, in order to analyze their biogas generation, three samples of different composting plants have been selected. In one of these plants, the amount of biogas generation has been considerable, which involves a not complete stabilization of biowaste in the composting process

Meconio y exposición prenatal a neurotóxicos

6 pages, 1 figures, 2 tables.[ESP] Introducción. La ubicuidad con la que se encuentran la mayoría de las substancias neurotóxicas en el medio ambiente implica a los pediatras en la necesidad de desarrollar métodos para medir la magnitud de la exposición durante los periodos vulnerables del desarrollo. Una forma útil de abordar este problema consiste en analizar muestras biológicas que acumulen las substancias neurotóxicas o sus metabolitos durante el periodo fetal.Método. Revisión bibliográfica sistemática de los últimos 20 años obtenida principalmente de Medline; Science Citation Index y Embase sobre los estudios con meconio como matriz de exposición prenatal a substancias neurotóxicas. El perfil de búsqueda utilizado fue: meconium, prenatal exposure, biological markers, matrices, environmental pollutants, nervous system poisonings, neurotoxicity sindromes. Hemos seleccionado los trabajos más importantes y de sus referencias se han obtenido los más relevantes de los años previos a la búsqueda.Resultados. Tradicionalmente, los esfuerzos para determinar la exposición fetal se han centrado en el análisis de sangre de cordón u orina de la madre o el neonato. El meconio es fácilmente disponible, es inerte, acumula los neurotóxicos y/o sus metabolitos desde la semana 12 de gestación donde quedan “fosilizados” hasta el nacimiento. Puede constituir un instrumento muy importante para investigar la exposición fetal a los distintos contaminantes ambientales y en particular a neurotóxicos.Conclusiones. Las exposiciones fetales a los distintos neurotóxicos estudiados a través de sangre materna, de cordón, pelo, uña, placenta y orina parecen ser menos predictivas sobre los efectos neurológicos que las mediciones de los mismos realizadas en meconio. Son necesarios más estudios en este campo.Implementar y desarrollar la medida en meconio de una amplia gama de sustancias neurotóxicas ayudará en la práctica pediátrica a una intervención e identificación temprana mostrando las exposiciones que puedan provocar daño y facilitando el desarrollo de medidas preventivas y rehabilitadoras.[ENG] Brackground. The environmental ubiquity of most neurotoxicants implies the pediatricians in the development of methods for exposure measurement during the vulnerable periods of development. The analysis of biological samples able to accumulate the neurotoxicant substances or its metabolites during the fetal period is a useful approach to fulfil this objective.Material and methods. A systematic literature review of the last 20 years in Medline, Science Citation Index and Embase on the studies with meconium like womb of prenatal exposure to neurotoxicants has been undertaken. The search profile was: “meconium”, “prenatal exposure”, “biological markers”, “matrices”, “environmental pollutants”, “nervous system poisonings”, “neurotoxicity sindromes”. We selected the most relevant articles and retrieved more from their references.Results. Traditionally, the efforts to determine the fetal exposure have been centered in the analysis of cord blood, urinates of the mother or of the neonato. Meconium is easily available, inert, accumulates the neurotoxicants and/or its metabolitos from week 12 of gestation where they are "fossilized" until the birth. It can constitute a very important instrument for the investigation of the fetal exposure to the different environmental pollutants and in particular to neurotoxicants.Conclusions. Foetal exposure to different neurotoxicants monitored from maternal blood, cord blood, hair, fingernail, placenta and urinates seem to be less predictive for neurological effects than meconium. However, more studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.Implementation and measurement in meconium of a wide range of neurotoxic substances will be of help in the pediatric practice for intervention and early identification as it will reveal harmful exposures and facilitate the implementation of preventive measures.Los autores quieren expresar su agradecimiento a los miembros de la red de Investigación Colaborativa INMA, y en especial a Amparo Quiles Latorre, Elena Romero Aliaga y Sandra Pérez Aliaga, por su apoyo y colaboración en la realización del trabajo de campo; al equipo de enfermería de la 7ª, 8ª y 9ª de la maternidad del Hospital Materno-Infantil Universitario La Fe y a los recién nacidos y sus felices padres que con su colaboración y entusiasmo hacen posible llevar a término estos estudios.Peer reviewe