Exploring the relation between the structure strategy and source attention in single expository text comprehension: a cross-sectional study in secondary education

[EN] Organisational signals and sources can be considered metatextual cues that guide the processing of the discourse. Organisational signals encourage readers to use the structure strategy, while source information reveals the epistemic and formal properties of texts. This study addressed three gaps in prior research about these topics: (1) whether organisational signals were useful for 12–14/14–16-year-old students reading causal and sequential texts, (2) the role of sources in single-text understanding, and (3) the relationship between sensitivity to organisational signals (rhetori cal competence) and attention to sources. Participants read causal and sequential texts with or without these metatextual cues and wrote a summary. Summary quality was considered an indicator of understanding and using the structure strategy. The number of sources translated into the summaries was considered an indicator of source attention. The results indicated that (1) organisational signals had an efect on summary quality in both age groups and texts; (2) sources did not afect summary quality, but when participants read signalled texts, the number of sources mentioned made a unique contribution to summary quality beyond decoding, general reading comprehension and rhetorical competence; and (3) the number of sources mentioned correlated with rhetorical competence among participants who read the signalled texts. These results suggest that 12–16-year-old students need the aid of organisational signals to launch the structure strategy with causal and sequential texts and that sources may be more useful in combination with organisational signals, but only for students with some level of rhetorical competence, illustrating the intricacy of literacy development.Organisational signals and sources can be considered metatextual cues that guide the processing of the discourse. Organisational signals encourage readers to use the structure strategy, while source information reveals the epistemic and formal properties of texts. This study addressed three gaps in prior research about these topics: (1) whether organisational signals were useful for 12–14/14–16-year-old students reading causal and sequential texts, (2) the role of sources in single-text understanding, and (3) the relationship between sensitivity to organisational signals (rhetorical competence) and attention to sources. Participants read causal and sequential texts with or without these metatextual cues and wrote a summary. Summary quality was considered an indicator of understanding and using the structure strategy. The number of sources translated into the summaries was considered an indicator of source attention. The results indicated that (1) organisational signals had an efect on summary quality in both age groups and texts; (2) sources did not afect summary quality, but when participants read signalled texts, the number of sources mentioned made a unique contribution to summary quality beyond decoding, general reading comprehension and rhetorical competence; and (3) the number of sources mentioned correlated with rhetorical competence among participants who read the signalled texts. These results suggest that 12–16-year-old students need the aid of organisational signals to launch the structure strategy with causal and sequential texts and that sources may be more useful in combination with organisational signals, but only for students with some level of rhetorical competence, illustrating the intricacy of literacy development.Publicación en abierto financiada por el Consorcio de Bibliotecas Universitarias de Castilla y León (BUCLE), con cargo al Programa Operativo 2014ES16RFOP009 FEDER 2014-2020 DE CASTILLA Y LEÓN, Actuación:20007-CL - Apoyo Consorcio BUCLE

Fabrication of gold nanowires on insulating substrates by field-induced mass transport

A method for the fabrication of nanometer size gold wires on insulating surfaces is presented. An oscillating gold-coated atomic force microscope tip is brought into close proximity of a silicon dioxide surface. The application of a negative sample voltage produces the transport of gold atoms from the tip to the surface. The voltage is applied when there is a tip–surface separation of ∼3 nm. The finite tip–surface separation enhances the tip lifetime. It also allows the application of sequences of multiple voltage pulses. Those sequences allow the fabrication of continuous nanowires. The atomic force microscope gold deposition is performed at room temperature and in ambient conditions which makes the method fully compatible with standard lithographic techniques. Electron transport measurements of the wires show a clear metallic behavior. Electrical resistivities of ∼ 3×10−7 Ω m and current densities of up to 5×1011 A m−2 are reported.This work was supported by the Dirección General de Enseñanza Superior e Investigación (PB98-0471) and the European Commission (MONA-LISA, GRD1-2000-25592). One of the authors (M.C.) acknowledges financial support from the Comunidad de Madrid.Peer reviewe

A generalized smith predictor for unstable time-delay SISO systems

[EN] In this work, a generalization of the Smith Predictor (SP) is proposed to control linear time-invariant (LTI) time-delay single-input single-output (SISO) systems. Similarly to the SP, the combination of any stabilizing output-feedback controller for the delay-free system with the proposed predictor leads to a stabilizing controller for the delayed system. Furthermore, the tracking performance and the steady-state disturbance rejection capabilities of the equivalent delay-free loop are preserved. In order to place this contribution in context, some modifications of the SP are revisited and recast under the same structure. The features of the proposed scheme are illustrated through simulations, showing a comparison with respect to the corresponding delay-free loop, which is here considered to be the ideal scenario. In order to emphasize the feasibility of this approach, a successful experimental implementation in a laboratory platform is also reported.This work was partially supported by the projects PROMETEOII/2013/004, Conselleria d'Educacio, Generalitat Valenciana; TIN2014-56158-C4-4-P-AR, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad; and the FPI-UPV 2014 PhD Grant, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.Sanz Díaz, R.; García Gil, PJ.; Albertos Pérez, P. (2017). A generalized smith predictor for unstable time-delay SISO systems. ISA Transactions. 72:197-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isatra.2017.09.020S1972047

San Pedro Martir observations of microvariability in obscured quasars

Fast brightness variations are a unique tool to probe the innermost regions of active galactic nuclei (AGN). These variations are called microvariability or intra-night variability, and this phenomenon has been monitored in samples of blazars and unobscured AGNs. Detecting optical microvariations in targets hidden by the obscuring torus is a challenging task because the region responsible for the variations is hidden from our sight. However, there have been reports of fast variations in obscured Seyfert galaxies in X-rays, which rises the question whether microvariations can also be detected in obscured AGNs in the optical regime. Because the expected variations are very small and can easily be lost within the noise, the analysis requires a statistical approach. We report the use of a one-way analysis of variance, ANOVA, with which we searched for microvariability. ANOVA was successfully employed in previous studies of unobscured AGNs. As a result, we found microvariable events during three observing blocks: in two we observed the same object (Mrk 477), and in another, J0759+5050. The results on Mrk 477 confirm previous findings. However, since Mrk 477 is quite a peculiar target with hidden broad-line regions, we cannot rule out the possibility that we have serendipitously chosen a target prone to variations.Comment: Research note, 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Robust Predictive Extended State Observer for a Class of Nonlinear Systems with Time-Varying Input Delay

[EN] This paper deals with asymptotic stabilisation of a class of nonlinear input-delayed systems via dynamic output feedback in the presence of disturbances. The proposed strategy has the structure of an observer-based control law, in which the observer estimates and predicts both the plant state and the external disturbance. A nominal delay value is assumed to be known and stability conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities are derived for fast-varying delay uncertainties. Asymptotic stability is achieved if the disturbance or the time delay is constant. The controller design problem is also addressed and a numerical example with an unstable system is provided to illustrate the usefulness of the proposed strategy.This work was partially supported by: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain (TIN2017-86520-C3-1-R); Universitat Politècnica de València (FPI-UPV 2014 PhD Grant); and Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 1128/14).Sanz Diaz, R.; García Gil, PJ.; Fridman, E.; Albertos Pérez, P. (2020). Robust Predictive Extended State Observer for a Class of Nonlinear Systems with Time-Varying Input Delay. International Journal of Control. 93(2):217-225. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207179.2018.1562204S217225932Ahmed-Ali, T., Cherrier, E., & Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, F. (2012). Cascade High Gain Predictors for a Class of Nonlinear Systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 57(1), 221-226. doi:10.1109/tac.2011.2161795Artstein, Z. (1982). Linear systems with delayed controls: A reduction. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 27(4), 869-879. doi:10.1109/tac.1982.1103023Basturk, H. I. (2017). Cancellation of unmatched biased sinusoidal disturbances for unknown LTI systems in the presence of state delay. Automatica, 76, 169-176. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2016.10.006Basturk, H. I., & Krstic, M. (2015). Adaptive sinusoidal disturbance cancellation for unknown LTI systems despite input delay. Automatica, 58, 131-138. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2015.05.013Bekiaris-Liberis, N., & Krstic, M. (2011). Compensation of Time-Varying Input and State Delays for Nonlinear Systems. Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, 134(1). doi:10.1115/1.4005278Besançon, G., Georges, D. & Benayache, Z. (2007). Asymptotic state prediction for continuous-time systems with delayed input and application to control. 2007 European control conference (ECC) (pp. 1786–1791).Engelborghs, K., Dambrine, M., & Roose, D. (2001). Limitations of a class of stabilization methods for delay systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 46(2), 336-339. doi:10.1109/9.905705Fridman, E. (2001). New Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals for stability of linear retarded and neutral type systems. Systems & Control Letters, 43(4), 309-319. doi:10.1016/s0167-6911(01)00114-1Fridman, E. (2014). Introduction to Time-Delay Systems. Systems & Control: Foundations & Applications. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09393-2Fridman, E. (2014). Tutorial on Lyapunov-based methods for time-delay systems. European Journal of Control, 20(6), 271-283. doi:10.1016/j.ejcon.2014.10.001Furtat, I., Fridman, E., & Fradkov, A. (2018). Disturbance Compensation With Finite Spectrum Assignment for Plants With Input Delay. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 63(1), 298-305. doi:10.1109/tac.2017.2732279Germani, A., Manes, C., & Pepe, P. (2002). A new approach to state observation of nonlinear systems with delayed output. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 47(1), 96-101. doi:10.1109/9.981726Guo, L., & Chen, W.-H. (2005). Disturbance attenuation and rejection for systems with nonlinearity via DOBC approach. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 15(3), 109-125. doi:10.1002/rnc.978Karafyllis, I., & Krstic, M. (2017). Predictor Feedback for Delay Systems: Implementations and Approximations. Systems & Control: Foundations & Applications. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-42378-4Krstic, M. (2008). Lyapunov tools for predictor feedbacks for delay systems: Inverse optimality and robustness to delay mismatch. Automatica, 44(11), 2930-2935. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2008.04.010Léchappé, V., Moulay, E., Plestan, F., Glumineau, A., & Chriette, A. (2015). New predictive scheme for the control of LTI systems with input delay and unknown disturbances. Automatica, 52, 179-184. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2014.11.003Léchappé, V., Moulay, E. & Plestan, F. (2016). Dynamic observation-prediction for LTI systems with a time-varying delay in the input. 2016 IEEE 55th conference on decision and control (CDC) (pp. 2302–2307).Manitius, A., & Olbrot, A. (1979). Finite spectrum assignment problem for systems with delays. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 24(4), 541-552. doi:10.1109/tac.1979.1102124Mazenc, F. & Malisoff, M. (2016). New prediction approach for stabilizing time-varying systems under time-varying input delay. 2016 IEEE 55th conference on decision and control (CDC) (pp. 3178–3182).Mondie, S., & Michiels, W. (2003). Finite spectrum assignment of unstable time-delay systems with a safe implementation. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 48(12), 2207-2212. doi:10.1109/tac.2003.820147Najafi, M., Hosseinnia, S., Sheikholeslam, F., & Karimadini, M. (2013). Closed-loop control of dead time systems via sequential sub-predictors. International Journal of Control, 86(4), 599-609. doi:10.1080/00207179.2012.751627Najafi, M., Sheikholeslam, F., Hosseinnia, S., & Wang, Q.-G. (2014). Robust H ∞ control of single input-delay systems based on sequential sub-predictors. IET Control Theory & Applications, 8(13), 1175-1184. doi:10.1049/iet-cta.2012.1004Sanz, R., Garcia, P., & Albertos, P. (2016). Enhanced disturbance rejection for a predictor-based control of LTI systems with input delay. Automatica, 72, 205-208. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2016.05.019Sanz, R., García, P., & Albertos, P. (2018). A generalized smith predictor for unstable time-delay SISO systems. ISA Transactions, 72, 197-204. doi:10.1016/j.isatra.2017.09.020Sanz, R., García, P., Fridman, E. & Albertos, P. (2017). A predictive extended state observer for a class of nonlinear systems with input delay subject to external disturbances. 2017 IEEE 56th annual conference on decision and control (CDC) (pp. 4345–4350).Sanz, R., Garcia, P., Fridman, E., & Albertos, P. (2018). Rejection of mismatched disturbances for systems with input delay via a predictive extended state observer. International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, 28(6), 2457-2467. doi:10.1002/rnc.4027Shustin, E., & Fridman, E. (2007). On delay-derivative-dependent stability of systems with fast-varying delays. Automatica, 43(9), 1649-1655. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2007.02.009Suplin, V., Fridman, E., & Shaked, U. (2007). Sampled-data H∞ control and filtering: Nonuniform uncertain sampling. Automatica, 43(6), 1072-1083. doi:10.1016/j.automatica.2006.11.024Yao, J., Jiao, Z., & Ma, D. (2014). RISE-Based Precision Motion Control of DC Motors With Continuous Friction Compensation. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, 61(12), 7067-7075. doi:10.1109/tie.2014.2321344Zhong, Q.-C. (2004). On Distributed Delay in Linear Control Laws—Part I: Discrete-Delay Implementations. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 49(11), 2074-2080. doi:10.1109/tac.2004.83753

Enhanced extended state observer-based control for systems with mismatched uncertainties and disturbances

[EN] This paper presents an enhanced Extended State Observer (ESO)-based control strategy to deal with the disturbance attenuation problem for a class of non integral-chain systems subject to non-linear mismatched uncertainties and external disturbances. The proposed control strategy does not assume the integral-chain form and it is formed by a state-feedback plus a dynamic disturbance compensation term, which is designed to reject the disturbance effect in the system output. From a theoretical point of view, the proposed strategy is reduced to the conventional ESO when the integral chain form and the matched condition hold. In this sense, this paper is presented as an extension of the ESO principles to cover a wider class of systems. The theoretical results show that the internal zero-dynamics plays an important role in ESO-based control design. Also, the closed-loop stability is analyzed and some numerical simulations show the effectiveness of the proposal in comparison with previous ESO-based techniques.This work was partially supported by projects FPU15/02008, FPI-UPV 2014 and TIN2014-56158-C4-4-P-AR, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain.Castillo-Frasquet, A.; García Gil, PJ.; Sanz Díaz, R.; Albertos Pérez, P. (2017). Enhanced extended state observer-based control for systems with mismatched uncertainties and disturbances. ISA Transactions. 73:1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isatra.2017.12.005S1107

Application of an unsteady flamelet model in a RANS framework for spray A simulation

[EN] In the present investigation the Spray A reference configuration defined in the framework of the Engine Combustion Network (ECN) has been modeled by means of an Unsteady Flamelet Model (USFM) including detailed parametric studies to evaluate the impact of ambient temperature, oxygen concentration and density. The study focuses on the analysis of the spray ignition delay, the flame lift-off length and the internal structure of the spray and flame according to the experimental information nowadays available for validating the results provided by the model. Promising results are obtained for the nominal case and also for the parametric variations (temperature, oxygen...) in terms of liquid and vapor penetration, ignition delay (ID) and lift-off length (LOL). The model permits to predict the ID and the LOL which constitute two parameters of key importance for describing the characteristics of transient reacting sprays. Valuable insight on the details of the combustion process is obtained from the analysis of formaldehyde (CH2O), acetylene (C2H2) and hydroxide (OH) species in spatial coordinates and also in the so-called phi-T maps. Important differences arise in the inner structure of the flame in the quasi-steady regime, which is closely linked to soot formation, when varying the ambient boundary conditions. Additionally, the auto-ignition process is investigated in order to describe in detail the spatial onset and propagation of combustion. Results confirm the impact of the ambient conditions on the regions of the spray where start of combustion takes place, so the relation between the local scalar dissipation rate and mixture fraction variance is also discussed. This investigation provides an insight of the potential of the USFM combustion model to describe the physical and chemical processes involved in transient spray combustion.Authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 14/03278) belonging to the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad del Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain. Also this study was partially funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad from Spain in the frame of the COMEFF (TRA2014-59483-R) national project.Desantes, J.; García-Oliver, JM.; Novella Rosa, R.; Pérez-Sánchez, EJ. (2017). Application of an unsteady flamelet model in a RANS framework for spray A simulation. Applied Thermal Engineering. 117:50-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.01.101S506411

Partial oxycombustion-calcium looping hybridisation for CO2 capture in waste-to-energy power plants

The integration of bioenergy and carbon capture and storage (BECCS) presents a great opportunity for power production with global negative CO2 emissions. This work explores a novel synergetic system that integrates membranes, partial biomass oxycombustion and the calcium looping (CaL) process. Polymeric membranes generate oxygen-enriched air (OEA) with an O2 concentration of 40%v/v, which is used for partial oxycombustion of biomass waste. The CO2-enriched flue gas evolves from the waste-to-energy plant to the CaL unit, where CO2 concentration is increased up to 90-95%v/v, ready for purification and sequestration. Compared to only oxycombustion systems, the proposed concept presents fewer technological challenges in retrofitting boilers to waste-to-energy plants. Moreover, this new approach is highly efficient as integrating membranes to produce OEA instead of cryogenic distillation systems significantly reduces energy consumption. A novel integration concept is modelled to evaluate the whole process efficiency and the effect of key parameters on the system performance, such as the temperature of the reactors, the membrane surface area, and the partial oxy-combustion degree. The results show that the novel system has an energy consumption associated with CO2 capture below 4 MJ/kg CO2 (a 31% lower than that for a conventional CaL process), with a higher CO2 capture efficiency than oxycombustion and the CaL process separately. On the other hand, the economic analysis shows a higher CO2 capture cost for the novel configuration than for the typical CaL configuration due to the additional investment cost of the membrane system. Improvements in membrane performance, mainly by increasing its permeance and diminishing the required surface area, would significantly reduce the economic cost of this novel integration. Using membranes with permeance over 400 GPU would boost the competitiveness of the system.Este ítem es la versión preprint del artículo. Se puede consultar la versión final aquí https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.136776Junta de Andaluci

Modulation of European air quality by Euro-Atlantic weather regimes

CRUE-CSIC (Acuerdos Transformativos 2022)This paper analyses the dependency of regional air pollution in Europe on the atmospheric circulation as represented by a set of 8 weather regimes (WRs). For this purpose, daily average PM2.5 concentrations and daily maximum concentrations of O3, NO2 and CO obtained from an atmospheric composition reanalysis have been used. The results indicate that the pollutant concentrations change substantially with the occurrence of each WR according to the associated circulation patterns. In the extended winter, the responses of PM2.5, NO2 and CO are quite similar, with zonal circulation regimes leading to better air quality than anticyclonic regimes linked to steady flows over Europe. On the other hand, the spatial patterns of O3 anomalies under most WRs resemble those of temperature in the extended summer as temperature enhancements favour the photochemical production of O3. The WR characterized by anticyclonic anomalies over Scandinavia leads to the highest concentrations at continental scale and is concurrent with an increased probability of exceeding the poor air quality limits of winter PM2.5 and summer O3 in most European countries. It is also found that a multiple linear regression model on the monthly frequency of WRs can explain a considerable fraction of the intermonthly variability of concentration anomalies over large parts of Europe regardless of the pollutant, with R2 values around 0.6–0.8 over large regions. Overall, the application of these models to sub-seasonal weather forecasts does not seem to bring major improvements to the prediction of month-ahead concentration anomalies as compared to the climatology. The poor skill of sub-seasonal forecasts in predicting the WRs for lead times beyond 15 days limits the forecast capability. However, these results open the possibility of extending current air quality forecast to scales of 5–10 days at a low cost in a near future.Depto. de Física de la Tierra y AstrofísicaFac. de Ciencias FísicasTRUEMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte (MECD)pu

Influence of the n-dodecane chemical mechanism on the CFD modelling of the diesel-like ECN Spray A flame structure at different ambient conditions

[EN] Encouraged by the diversity of n-dodecane chemical mechanisms currently available, this investigation focuses on analysing the impact of using different fuel oxidation schemes on the diesel-like Engine Combustion Network (ECN) Spray A flame structure, simulated by means of an Unsteady Flamelet Progress Variable (UFPV) combustion model. The present research discusses systematically the characteristics of four n-dodecane chemical mechanisms in perfectly stirred reactors and counterflow laminar diffusion flames (flamelets) before the final evaluation in turbulent reacting sprays in order to describe the effects of adding different physical levels of complexity to the ignition of the mixtures. In addition, this analysis is complemented with the description of the effect of the boundary conditions on the flame structure. Results evidence the extreme importance of the low temperature chemistry including the period for which the cool flame extends. The different prediction of this stage between mechanisms leads to noticeable different laminar flame structures which in turn produce substantially distinct turbulent flames, especially in the vicinity of the lift-off length (LOL) in terms of reactivity and positioning in the Z-T map. Finally, simulations confirm the strong effect of the boundary conditions, especially for the ambient temperature, on the ignitable mixtures which directly impacts on the soot precursors formation. (C) 2019 The Combustion Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Authors acknowledge that this work was possible thanks to the Ayuda para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 14/03278) belonging to the Subprogramas de Formacion y de Movilidad from the Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte from Spain. This work was partially funded by the Government of Spain through CHEST Project (TRA2017-89139-C2-1-R).Payri, F.; García-Oliver, JM.; Novella Rosa, R.; Pérez-Sánchez, EJ. (2019). Influence of the n-dodecane chemical mechanism on the CFD modelling of the diesel-like ECN Spray A flame structure at different ambient conditions. Combustion and Flame. 208:198-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.combustflame.2019.06.032S19821820