Assessment of heritage rammed-earth buildings. The Alcázar of King Don Pedro I (Spain).

The conservation and maintenance of earthen buildings is crucial, especially when dealing with heritage sites. This normally involves considerable effort in preliminary studies, which must be well planned in order to efficiently manage any restoration. This case study proposes a methodology to briefly assess the current state of a historical rammed-earth wall, to bring to light specific information regarding approaches for subsequent studies or decisions. This methodology is based on the study of damage and risk as a tool to swiftly discern critical areas or issues needing immediate attention. The procedure is illustrated on an outstanding heritage building: the Alcázar of King Don Pedro I in Carmona (Seville, Spain). Our conclusions confirm that this methodology constitutes an efficient and straightforward means to obtain not only a preliminary assessment of rammed-earth walls, but also objective and useful criteria for decision-makers

Use of macroalgal waste from the carrageenan industry as feedstock for the production of polyhydroxybutyrate

The industrial waste generated in the extraction of carrageenan from red seaweed, Eucheuma spinosum, was tested in this study to produce fermentable sugars that could be used for the production of high-value-bioproducts with a biorefinery approach. A sequential process was used: thermochemical pretreatment with HCl and enzymatic hydrolysis. Hydrogen chloride concentrations in the range from 0 mol L−1 to 0.5 mol L−1 and pretreatment times from 15 to 100 min were assayed. The best conditions found for pretreatment were HCl 0.3 mol L−1 for 60 min, leading to reducing sugar concentrations of 21.4 g L−1 (274 mg of reducing sugars per gram of algal residue). The hydrolysates coming from the sequential process under the pretreatment conditions of HCl 0.3 mol L−1 for 60 and 80 min have been used successfully for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by Cupriavidus necator. The yields of polyhydroxybutyrate were 0.21–0.26 g PHB g−1 reducing sugar consumed and the accumulation of the biopolymer was of the order of 58% dry cell weight. © 2023 The Authors. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining published by Society of Industrial Chemistry and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Propuesta de valoración de la condición biológica en jugadoras Sub-13 de la Comunidad de Madrid

En el presente trabajo, las jugadoras de fútbol de la categoría Sub-13 fueron sometidas a diferentes pruebas de valoración a lo largo de la temporada 2013/2014 con el objetivo de determinar su condición biológica y además, conocer la evolución de su rendimiento deportivo y de su salud. Para dar cumplimiento a estos objetivos, se plantearon una serie de pruebas que permitiesen valorar la condición motora y fisiológica. Siguiendo ese orden, fueron medidas utilizando el Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test 1 (resistencia), Counter Movement Jump (fuerza explosiva), test de velocidad de 30 metros lanzados, Zig-Zag Run Test (agilidad) y goniometría de cadera (flexibilidad). La muestra estuvo conformada por 11 niñas que practican fútbol durante 1 hora 2 días a la semana y con rangos de edad entre 12 y 13 años

Effect of Music Therapy as a Non-Pharmacological Measure Applied to Alzheimer’s Disease Patients: A Systematic Review

The objective of this research was to learn about the effects of music as a non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention applied to Alzheimer’s disease. To this aim, we evaluated its results regarding symptomatology and caregiver burden. Methods: This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria. We searched Pubmed/Medline (NLM), Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane and Google Scholar, including articles from 1 January 2011–20 July 2021, using the keywords “Alzheimer’s disease”, “Music therapy”, “Caregivers overload”, “Amnesia retrograde” and “Clinical evolution”. To select the articles our criteria included complete text availability, quantitative research of an experimental nature and studies which, at least, figured in SJR or in JCR. Results: We found a relationship between the application of music therapy in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and an improvement regarding symptomatology, as it smoothed down the progress of the disease. Using music therapy in Alzheimer’s patients also led to a decrease in caregivers’ burden and an increase in their well-being. Conclusions: Our results showed the benefits of music therapy, as it improved both patients’ symptomatology and caregivers’ burde

Caracterización de suspensiones de partículas nanométricas para el desarrollo de piezas porosas con alta interconectividad

El objetivo de este trabajo se centra en la creación de una suspensión estable de nanopartículas de hematita para fabricar estructuras porosas con alta interconectividad. Para ello se realizaron varias muestras compuestas de nanopartículas de hematita, canfeno, poliestireno y con diferentes porcentajes de dispersante, variando del 8 al 20% en peso respecto al polvo. También se realizaron ensayos de viscosidad a diferentes tiempos de agitación con los cuales pudimos caracterizar las mezclas. Utilizamos un modelo matemático para representar la influencia del dispersante en la estabilidad de las supensiones que nos permitió obtener un óptimo para la cantidad de este aditivo. Tras el estudio anterior, las muestras solidificaron mediante freeze casting a una temperatura de solidificación de 42,5ºC. A continuación, se dejó que el canfeno sublimara al aire y posteriormente las muestras fueron sometidas a un tratamiento térmico de sinterización y reducción para obtener finalmente estructuras de hierro. Las muestras finales fueron caracterizadas mediante microscopía óptica y procesadas con la ayuda de un software para obtener el tamaño de poro.Universidad de Sevilla. Grado en Ingeniería Aeroespacia

Análisis de un disipador térmico de aletas tipo pin e influencia de metales líquidos para altas disipaciones térmicas

La gestión térmica de los dispositivos electrónicos se ha convertido en un problema importante en los últimos años. Junto con la tendencia actual de miniaturización y la rápida mejora del rendimiento computacional, la generación de calor de estos dispositivos se ha incrementado. Esto ha generado una creciente necesidad de investigación en el campo de nuevos materiales y fluidos innovadores, capaces de refrigerar a un ritmo suficiente para evitar el sobrecalentamiento o fallas del sistema. En este trabajo, se investigó la transferencia de calor de un disipador de calor con pines refrigerado con metales líquidos (EGaInSn, EGaIn, GaSn y GaIn) mediante fluido dinámica computacional. Se realizaron varias simulaciones variando ampliamente el número de Reynolds, considerando flujos laminar y turbulento, y aplicando un flujo de calor constante. Se estudiaron la caída de presión, la potencia de bombeo y la resistencia térmica total que ofrece un disipador de calor con pines, y se comparó su comportamiento con el de otros estudios que empleaban disipadores de mini canales, arrojando los resultados una respuesta subóptima de los pines, tanto en capacidad de refrigeración como en demanda energética.Thermal management of electronic devices has become a major problem in recent years. Along with the current trend of miniaturization and the rapid improvement of computational performance, the heat generation of these devices has increased. Therefore, there is a growing need for research in the field of innovative materials and fluids, capable of cooling at a sufficient rate to prevent overheating or system failure. In this work, the heat transfer of a pin fin heat sink with liquid metals (EGaInSn, EGaIn, GaSn and GaIn) has been investigated using computational fluid dynamics. Various simulations were performed varying the Reynolds number, considering laminar and turbulent flow, and applying a constant heat flux. The pressure drop, the pumping power and the thermal resistance of the pin fin heat sink has been studied and the results were compared with other studies that used mini-channel heat sinks, yielding the results a suboptimal response of the fin pin, both in cooling capacity and in energy demand.Universidad de Sevilla. Máster en Ingeniería Aeronáutic

La cal de Morón en la arquitectura tradicional andaluza

En la aldea de Las Caleras de la Sierra de Morón de la Frontera, en la campiña sevillana, se encuentran en activo unas de las caleras más antiguas de Andalucía y los hornos productores de una cal artesanal de reconocido prestigio a nivel nacional e internacional. Esta importancia se vio acentuada cuando en el año 2011 la UNESCO declara la cal de Morón patrimonio Inmaterial Cultural de la Humanidad. Diversas entidades, subrayando al Museo de la Cal, promocionan las cualidades de este producto de alto nivel y promueven su incorporación y uso dentro del mercado de la construcción. Numerosas y destacadas intervenciones en Andalucía, tanto en el campo de la conservación del patrimonio construido como en la renovada arquitectura popular, son testimonios de la apropiada compatibilidad de la cal artesanal, principalmente con los sistemas y materiales constructivos tradicionales o poco industrializados.In the village of Las Caleras de la Sierra of Morón de la Frontera, in the Sevillian countryside, there are located several of the most ancient traditional lime factories, whose lime kilns produce nationally and internationally recognized handcrafted lime. This significance was highlighted in 2011 when UNESCO declared the traditional craftsmanship of lime–making in Morón as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Likewise, several organizations led by the Lime Museum of Morón are promoting this high quality product towards its integration within the construction market. A number of outstanding interventions carried out in Andalusia, both in the field of heritage conservation and new traditional architecture, are samples of the suitability of handcrafted lime for traditional or low industrialized constructive systems and materials

Preparation of Decoherence Free Cluster States with Optical Superlattices

We present a protocol to prepare decoherence free cluster states using ultracold atoms loaded in a two dimensional superlattice. The superlattice geometry leads to an array of 2*2 plaquettes, each of them holding four spin-1/2 particles that can be used for encoding a single logical qubit in the two-fold singlet subspace, insensitive to uniform magnetic field fluctuations in any direction. Dynamical manipulation of the supperlattice yields distinct inter and intra plaquette interactions and permits to realize one qubit and two qubit gates with high fidelity, leading to the generation of universal cluster states for measurement based quantum computation. Our proposal based on inter and intra plaquette interactions also opens the path to study polymerized Hamiltonians which support ground states describing arbitrary quantum circuits.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure