Laboratory Assessment of Water Permeability Loss of Geotextiles Due to Their Installation in Pervious Pavements

During the last decades, the importance of sustainable development in society has increased considerably. Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are a group of techniques that aim to improve the management of rain and run-off water while reducing their pollution. Many of these systems incorporate geotextiles in their structures, which act as a layer separation and water filter. Some authors defend the idea that by simply being installed, geotextiles partially or totally lose their separation and filtering capacities. This study proposes a testing methodology that can reproduce this effect and obtain a reduction factor for the water permeability of the material after its installation, which is defined here as the ?new condition factor?. The procedure simulated the real installation conditions in the laboratory by causing the specimen to undergo both mechanical and hydraulic damage and subsequently measuring the loss of water permeability that it provoked on the geotextile. Two different nonwoven geotextiles were tested in order to validate the procedure and to obtain initial results that could confirm the need for the new condition factor in the design of pervious pavements with geotextiles. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the statistical significance of the test variableshis research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, grant number BIA2012-32463, and by the Dirección de Investigación of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, fund FAA 02/2018. The authors would like to thank the support and collaboration from the Construction Technology Research Group (Grupo de Investigación de Tecnología de la Construcción - GITECO), the Geosynthetics Laboratory of the University of Cantabria (LAGUC), Grupo de Caminos de Santander (GCS) and the Geotechnical Group of the University of Cantabria

Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy student's motivation. A Comparative study in the University of Malaga, Spain

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to know and compare motivational facts and vocational behaviour among students of physical therapy and occupational therapy. Other secondary objectives are: • To know the satisfaction these students report with their university studies • To analyze the level of academic decision about their professional future. • To know if these students have an effective academic behavior. Participants. Participants were 141 Spanish collegue students who volunteered for the study. They were students of second and third year of Physical therapy (69) and Occupational therapy (72) in the University of Malaga. Methods: Cross-sectional design. Paticipants completed in one setting the “Cuestionario de Biodatos Universitarios - CBU- The CBU is a 9 item scale that offers information about student academic motivation, academic decisions, satisfaction or future professional purpose. Each questionnaire response is assigned a value with a maximum possible total score of 26. Results: Regarding student satisfaction, 68.1% of physical therapy (PT) student are very satisfied with the career choices they made in thei day, like the 56.95% of students in occupational therapy (OT). Regarding the degree of academic decision on the professional expertise they would like to pursue in the future, 44,9% doe not have anything decided in PT, similar to the 36,1% found in OT. After completing his studies, 48,62% of OT students planning to do a Master or postgraduate course compared with the 81.1% referring this intention in PT. In relation to the exercise of the profession immediately obtained similar results in both degrees, 56.95% in OT and 66.2% in PT. Only 6.95% of repondents in OT and 14.49% in PT have not decided yet. Among the difficulties or problems for a decision by a specialty or area of works, 57.9% highlights the lack of information on the characteristics of that product in PT and 31.95% at OT, whereas only 2.9% and 5.56% refer to that no option would fully satisfied respectively. Comprehensively analyzed, and pre-vocational behaviour of respondents was fully efficient, so that in all cases there is an effective career development, slightly better in pupils PT. Conclusions: The descriptive analysis of a sample CBU draws us highly satisfied with their university studies, with an efficient vocational behaviour, who knows the need for specialization through graduate school, but lacks sufficient information in making their decisions.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Higher COVID-19 pneumonia risk associated with anti-IFN-α than with anti-IFN-ω auto-Abs in children

We found that 19 (10.4%) of 183 unvaccinated children hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia had autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs (IFN-alpha 2 in 10 patients: IFN-alpha 2 only in three, IFN-alpha 2 plus IFN-omega in five, and IFN-alpha 2, IFN-omega plus IFN-beta in two; IFN-omega only in nine patients). Seven children (3.8%) had Abs neutralizing at least 10 ng/ml of one IFN, whereas the other 12 (6.6%) had Abs neutralizing only 100 pg/ml. The auto-Abs neutralized both unglycosylated and glycosylated IFNs. We also detected auto-Abs neutralizing 100 pg/ml IFN-alpha 2 in 4 of 2,267 uninfected children (0.2%) and auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-omega in 45 children (2%). The odds ratios (ORs) for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia were, therefore, higher for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-alpha 2 only (OR [95% CI] = 67.6 [5.7-9,196.6]) than for auto-Abs neutralizing IFN-. only (OR [95% CI] = 2.6 [1.2-5.3]). ORs were also higher for auto-Abs neutralizing high concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 12.9 [4.6-35.9]) than for those neutralizing low concentrations (OR [95% CI] = 5.5 [3.1-9.6]) of IFN-omega and/or IFN-alpha 2

Shear strength characterization of fresh MBT and MSWI wastes from a Spanish treatment facility

ABSTRACT: A laboratory shear strength characterization of the landfilled materials of the Municipal Solid Waste integral treatment plant from the Meruelo Environmental Complex in Cantabria (Spain) was performed. The materials tested come from the rejection of the Mechanical and Biological Treatment (MBT-MSW) and the slags produced in the energy recovery plant (MSWI). Laboratory characterization consisted of direct shear and consolidated drained triaxial testing. Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion parameter values were obtained and compared to reported values in the literature. In some tests, failure was not reached due to the reinforcement effect for fibrous particles; thus, the mobilized shear strength parameters for different values of axial strain were obtained. The triaxial test results showed strain-hardening in MSW-MBT but not in MSWI. Failure was reached on both materials in direct shear testing, with MSWI showing peak and ultimate strengths, whereas MBT-MSW exhibited only ultimate strength. Direct shear test obtained strength can be characterized by a cohesion of 20 kPa and a friction angle of 33% for MBT-MSW ultimate strength, while cohesion and friction angle varies from 13.4 to 29 kPa and from 38.5º to 42.3º for MSWI ultimate and peak strength, respectively. The mobilized cohesion and friction angle obtained for MBT-MSW in consolidated drained triaxial tests ranged from 15.1 to 62.7 kPa and 20º to 28.7º, corresponding to a strain level of 5% and 25%, respectively. In triaxial testing of MSWI specimens, failure was reached, and the material showed a cohesion of 51.3 kPa and a friction angle of 32.8%.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant number BIA2012-34956]; the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports [grant number FPU12/05530]; and the Dirección de Investigación of the Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción [grant number INIDIN 07/2019]. The authors would also like to thank Tircantabria S.L.U. for their support during the investigation, especially on sampling

Highway A-8, stretch: Solía-Torrelavega

Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puerto