Viabilidad de la implantación de sistemas de cerramiento total para reducir las emisiones difusas de partículas

Tras la entrada en vigor de la Directiva de Prevención y Control Integrados de la Contaminación (Directiva IPPC) las actividades afectadas por la misma, incluidas las del sector cerámico, se han visto obligadas a controlar la emisión de partículas difusas mediante la implantación de medidas correctoras, que en muchos casos suponen un impacto económico significativo. En los casos más exigentes, las Autorizaciones Ambientales Integradas (AAIs) otorgadas a empresas del sector cerámico requieren el cerramiento total de las operaciones de gestión de materias primas. En el presente trabajo se evalúa la viabilidad técnica, económica y ambiental de la implantación de un sistema de cerramiento o confinamiento total como medida de reducción de emisiones difusas al considerarse una de las Mejores Técnicas Disponibles (MTDs). El estudio se ha realizado sobre una instalación de fabricación de gránulo atomizado considerando las operaciones de recepción, gestión y almacenamiento de materias primas.Peer reviewe

Adaptive Function and Brain Evolution

Contains fulltext : 108558.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

O Processo de coloração a seco de porcelanato. Parte 1: Variáveis envolvidas e influência sobre as propriedades das peças

Dentre as tipologias de revestimentos cerâmicos atualmente produzidos o porcelanato tem se destacado pela grande expansão em sua produção, observada nos últimos anos. O sucesso do produto se deve pelas propriedades técnicas e estéticas oferecidas. Dentro deste contexto a técnica de coloração a seco surge como alternativa a ser adotada no processamento da massa do material, pois confere ao produto características estéticas que podem ser obtidas através de uma simples mistura de pigmentos e grânulos atomizados. Entretanto, pouco se conhece sobre as variáveis envolvidas neste processo de mistura e a real interferência de cada uma delas nas propriedades apresentadas pelo produto queimado. Este trabalho apresenta o resultado de um estudo que revela o efeito das principais variáveis relacionadas à mistura do pigmento com os grânulos atomizados sobre as propriedades apresentadas pelo produto fina

Análise e medida de fatores que afetam as curvaturas retardadas em porcelanato

Os revestimentos cerâmicos de porcelanato, tanto os esmaltados como os não esmaltados, apresentam um fenômeno conhecido como “curvaturas retardadas”, que consiste na mudança de curvatura das peças depois da saída do forno. Este fenômeno é mais problemático a medida de aumentam as dimensões das peças. Neste trabalho se quantificou a variação da curvatura ao longo do tempo em peças industriais de porcelanato esmaltado, observando-se que a curvatura parece apresentar uma evolução em um sentido (habitualmente em direção ao sentido côncavo, ou em forma de barco) para, após transcorrido certo tempo, inverter esta tendência. A cinética deste processo foi parametrizada considerando que existem dois mecanismos, simultâneos e antagônicos, com cinéticas diferentes.As análises teóricas apontam que somente existem dois fatores que podem produzir curvaturas retardadas: as tensões residuais e a expansão dos suportes. Em ambos os casos é necessário condições adicionais para que as curvaturas efetivamente se manifestem: Deste modo, por exemplo, a presença de tensões residuais não é sinônimo de curvaturas retardadas, mais sim um mecanismo adicional que permita a liberação progressiva destas tensões; este mecanismo é chamado de fluência. Além disso é necessário que o perfil de tensões residuais não seja simétrico em relação ao plano central da peça. No que diz respeito a expansão dos suportes, também são necessárias condições especiais para que estas possam provocar curvaturas retardadas; em particular, é necessário que estas sejam diferentes nas duas faces da peça (face lisa e tardoz). Uma expansão uniforme provocaria uma leve mudança dimensional, mas não uma curvatura retardada, nem mesmo para peças esmaltadas. A medida dos fatores que influenciam sobre as curvaturas retardadas é complexa pois requer o emprego de técnicas diferentes das habitualmente empregadas para a caracterização de revestimentos cerâmicos. Foram criados, especialmente para este trabalho, procedimentos para a medida dos diferentes fatores que produzem as curvaturas retardadas e se estudou a influencia de algumas variáveis sobre estes fatoresGlazed and unglazed porcelain tiles exhibit a phenomenon known as delayed curvatures, which consists of the change in tile curvature after the tiles leave the kiln. This phenomenon becomes more problematic as tile size increases. In this study, the variation of curvature in time has been quantified in industrial glazed porcelain tiles. It was observed that the curvature usually displays an evolution in one direction (customarily in a concave direction or vessel shape) which, after a certain time has elapsed, reverses this trend. The kinetics of this process has been parameterised, assuming there are two simultaneous, opposing mechanisms, with different kinetics. Theoretical analyses indicate that only two factors can produce delayed curvatures: residual stresses and expansion of the tile body. In both cases, additional circumstances need to occur for delayed curvatures to appear; thus, for example, the presence of residual stresses is not synonymous with delayed curvatures, but an additional mechanism is needed that allows progressive release of these stresses, a mechanism known as creep. In addition, the condition that the stress profile is not symmetrical with respect to the centre plane of the tile also needs to be obeyed. In regard to the expansion of the bodies, special conditions must also occur for these to cause delayed curvatures. In particular, it is necessary for the expansion at the tile fair face and at the rib face to be different. Uniform expansion would cause a slight dimensional change, but not a delayed curvature, not even in the presence of glaze. The measurement of the factors that influence delayed curvatures is complex because different techniques from those typically used in characterising ceramic tiles are required. Procedures have been fine-tuned to measure the different factors that give rise to delayed curvatures, and the influence of certain variables on these factors has been studiedVersió editoria

Metástasis Vertebrales

La incidencia de las metástasis en columna vertebral está aumentando por el incremento de la población anciana, la mayor esperanza de vida y las mejores en el tratamiento de los pacientes con cáncer. Revi - samos el diagnóstico y tratamiento de estos pacientes.The incidence of spinal metastases is increasing with increasingly older populations, longer life expectancy and improvements in medical treatment of the patients with cancer. So, metastases to the spine repre - sent a challenging problem. We review diagnosis and treatment these patients

Correlations between Different Heavy Metals in Diverse Body Fluids: Studies of Human Semen Quality

It has been hypothesized that exposure to heavy metals may impair male reproduction. To measure the effect produced by low doses of heavy metals on semen parameters, it is necessary to clarify in which body fluids those measurements must be performed. Sixty-one men attending infertility clinics participated in our study. Concentrations of lead, cadmium, and mercury were measured in whole blood, blood plasma, and seminal plasma using spectroanalytical and electrochemical methods. Semen analyses were performed according to World Health Organization criteria. For statistical analysis, Spearman's rank correlations, mean comparison tests, and discriminant analysis were calculated. Significant correlations between the measured concentrations of the three heavy metals in the same biological fluids were observed. However, no similar relationship was seen when comparing the concentrations in different body fluids of the same metal. According to our results and previous publications, seminal plasma might be the best body fluid for assessing impairment of human semen parameters

M.A.B. Revestimientos vítreos con propiedades bactericidas y fungicidas

This report describes the mosaic M.A.B. (bactericide and fungicide) produced by Togama S.A. belonging to the group Fluidra S.A., which has been awarded with the Silver Alfa Award by the Spanish Society of Ceramics and Glass at the International Fair Cevisama 2012. This award recognizes the R & D efforts developed by Togama, SA, already started with participation in the Alpha Awards 2009 and 201

Fundamental Properties of Stars using Asteroseismology from Kepler & CoRoT and Interferometry from the CHARA Array

We present results of a long-baseline interferometry campaign using the PAVO beam combiner at the CHARA Array to measure the angular sizes of five main-sequence stars, one subgiant and four red giant stars for which solar-like oscillations have been detected by either Kepler or CoRoT. By combining interferometric angular diameters, Hipparcos parallaxes, asteroseismic densities, bolometric fluxes and high-resolution spectroscopy we derive a full set of near model-independent fundamental properties for the sample. We first use these properties to test asteroseismic scaling relations for the frequency of maximum power (nu_max) and the large frequency separation (Delta_nu). We find excellent agreement within the observational uncertainties, and empirically show that simple estimates of asteroseismic radii for main-sequence stars are accurate to <~4%. We furthermore find good agreement of our measured effective temperatures with spectroscopic and photometric estimates with mean deviations for stars between T_eff = 4600-6200 K of -22+/-32 K (with a scatter of 97K) and -58+/-31 K (with a scatter of 93 K), respectively. Finally we present a first comparison with evolutionary models, and find differences between observed and theoretical properties for the metal-rich main-sequence star HD173701. We conclude that the constraints presented in this study will have strong potential for testing stellar model physics, in particular when combined with detailed modelling of individual oscillation frequencies.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, 7 tables; accepted for publication in Ap

Influence of the activator concentration and calcium hydroxide addition on the properties of alkali-activated porcelain stoneware

Objective The aim of this research was to investigate the influence of the alkali activator concentration and calcium dosage on the fresh behavior, compressive strength and microstructure of the binder produced by the alkali activation of porcelain stoneware waste, using NaOH and sodium silicate solution as activators. Materials Porcelain stoneware waste, NaOH and sodium silicate. Method Tested properties of mortars were the compressive strength and the setting times. Thermogravimetric analyses, microscopic studies, pH measurements, XRD and FTIR tests were used to assess the evolution of the microstructure developed. Results The results show that the activator concentration and calcium to sodium molar ratio strongly influence the fresh behavior and the hardening process of mortars. A linear evolution of compressive strength with sodium addition was observed when keeping the SiO2 concentration constant. Mortar samples with up to 36 MPa under compression were obtained after curing for 7 days at 65 °C.The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for supporting this study through Project GEOCEDEM BIA 2011-26947, and to FEDER funding.Reig Cerdá, L.; Soriano Martínez, L.; Borrachero Rosado, MV.; Monzó Balbuena, JM.; Paya Bernabeu, JJ. (2014). Influence of the activator concentration and calcium hydroxide addition on the properties of alkali-activated porcelain stoneware. Construction and Building Materials. 63:214-222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2014.04.023S2142226

A Large Hadron Electron Collider at CERN

This document provides a brief overview of the recently published report on the design of the Large Hadron Electron Collider (LHeC), which comprises its physics programme, accelerator physics, technology and main detector concepts. The LHeC exploits and develops challenging, though principally existing, accelerator and detector technologies. This summary is complemented by brief illustrations of some of the highlights of the physics programme, which relies on a vastly extended kinematic range, luminosity and unprecedented precision in deep inelastic scattering. Illustrations are provided regarding high precision QCD, new physics (Higgs, SUSY) and electron-ion physics. The LHeC is designed to run synchronously with the LHC in the twenties and to achieve an integrated luminosity of O(100) fb$^{-1}$. It will become the cleanest high resolution microscope of mankind and will substantially extend as well as complement the investigation of the physics of the TeV energy scale, which has been enabled by the LHC