Multi-Sensor System For Level Measurements With Optical Fibres

A system for measuring liquid level in multiple tanks using optical fibre technology has been developed. The oil field service industry can benefit from this intrinsically safe technology. Plastic optical fibre (POF) sensor heads are excited by a 650 nm laser. Laser diodes are housed in ST connectors to obtain compact and rough prototypes and these connectors are also used in the fibre pigtails. Optical multiplexing is used to increase the measuring safety area. POF splitters and connectors are used to combine all the receiving sensor head fibres in a single one. Frequency division multiplexing is used to address each sensor head. The global system is controlled through a user friendly software application running in a PC connected to the system via an RS-232 port. A scalable prototype with a range greater than 2 meter, good linearity, better than 1.5% FS (full scale), high accuracy and resolution is developed using a unique lens to collimate and focus the light. Measurements are taken to validate the designs. Up to 8 sensor heads can be connected in the present implementation. But a greater number of sensors can be allocated with minor modifications in the electronics.Universidad Carlos III de MadridPublicad

Tuning alginate microparticle size via atomization of non-newtonian fluids

A new approach based on the atomization of non-Newtonian fluids has been proposed to produce microparticles for a potential inhalation route. In particular, different solutions of algi-nate were atomized on baths of different crosslinkers, piperazine and barium chloride, obtaining microparticles around 5 and 40 microns, respectively. These results were explained as a consequence of the different viscoelastic properties, since oscillatory analysis indicated that the formed hydrogel beads with barium chloride had a higher storage modulus (1000 Pa) than the piperazine ones (20 Pa). Pressure ratio (polymer solution-air) was identified as a key factor, and it should be from 0.85 to 1.00 to ensure a successful atomization, obtaining the smallest particle size at intermediate pressures. Finally, a numerical study based on dimensionless numbers was performed to predict particle size depending on the conditions. These results highlight that it is possible to control the microparticles size by modifying either the viscoelasticity of the hydrogel or the experimental conditions of atom-ization. Some experimental conditions (using piperazine) reduce the particle size up to 5 microns and therefore allow their use by aerosol inhalation. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Overview of IFMIF-DONES diagnostics: Requirements and techniques

The IFMIF-DONES Facility is a unique first-class scientific infrastructure whose construction is foreseen in Granada, Spain, in the coming years. Strong integration efforts are being made at the current project phase aiming at harmonizing the ongoing design of the different and complex Systems of the facility. The consolidation of the Diagnostics and Instrumentation, transversal across many of them, is a key element of this purpose. A top-down strategy is proposed for a systematic Diagnostics Review and Requirement definition, putting emphasis in the one-of-a-kind instruments necessary by the operational particularities of some of the Systems, as well as to the harsh environment that they shall survive. In addition, other transversal aspects such as the ones related to Safety and Machine Protection and their respective requirements shall be also considered. The goal is therefore to advance further and solidly in the respective designs, identify problems in advance, and steer the Diagnostics development and validation campaigns that will be required. The present work provides an overview of this integration strategy as well as a description of some of the most challenging Diagnostics and Instruments within the facility, including several proposed techniques currently under study

La enseñanza de las ciencias químicas en las e-learning de las universidades españolas y su adaptación al EEES

SIN FINANCIACIÓNNo data 200

Causes of human impact to protected vertebrate wildlife parallel long-term socio-economical changes in Spain

Obtaining information on the way human activities impact protected wildlife is not an easy task. Here, we analyze the news published by knowledgeable naturalists in Spain’s most prestigious and oldest magazine devoted to the study and conservation of nature, during a 28-year period (1982–2009). We studied the logarithm of the ratio of news published annually on direct (poaching, trapping and poisoning) versus indirect impacts (road casualties, electrocutions and collisions with infrastructure), and it turned out to be negative, strong (5% annual decrease) and statistically significant, suggesting an exponential decrease of the ratio. The decreasing trend was stronger (l = 9%) when considering only direct impacts excluding cases of poisoning that showed an increasing trend over time, showing a more realistic idea of the decreasing impact by hunters. Our modelling clearly showed that the decreasing trend in the ratio was explained by the decreasing number of hunting licences active on a yearly basis, controlled by the increase in indirect impacts. In order to validate our results, we compared our analysis with the trend shown by vertebrate admissions to a major rescue centre in eastern Spain from 1994 to 2011. The results of this second analysis showed a trend with a similar inversion of causes of impact but of a stronger magnitude (l = 15%). We discuss our findings within the context of a rapidly changing economy, evolving from a rural structure to an industrialized one, and provide some applied conservation recommendations. Indirect impacts caused by infrastructure should be approached, correcting technical problems, particularly black spots where mortality cases concentrate. Direct impacts, notably the rise in the rate of poisoning cases, need to be handled, managing the causes of increase of generalist predators, such as habitat structure, promoting the return of top predators and removing sources of subsidy, better than only fighting poaching by force

Empirical monotherapy with meropenem or combination therapy: the microbiological point of view

The increase in the number of clinical isolates of multiresistant Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa raises problems in decision-making on empirical treatments for severe Gram-negative bacilli-associated infections. The aim of our study is to determine the resistance of meropenem in our setting and the co-resistance of a combination of this compound with two antibiotics from different families: amikacin and ciprofloxacin. Between 2009 and 2013, a total of 81,310 clinical isolates belonging to the main species of Enterobacteriaceae and 39,191 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa isolated in 28 hospitals in the Valencian Community on the South East Mediterranean Coast of Spain were analyzed using data provided by RedMiva (microbiological surveillance network of the Valencian Community). Meropenem resistance in Enterobacteriaceae increased from 0.16 % in 2009 to 1.25 % in 2013. Very few Enterobacteriaceae strains resistant to meropenem were sensitive to ciprofloxacin; in contrast, the combination of meropenem and amikacin led to a marked decrease in the risk of the microorganisms being resistant to both drugs (RR?=?34 in 2013). In the case of P. aeruginosa, meropenem resistance also increased (from 14.32 % in 2009 to 24.52 % in 2013). Most meropenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates were also resistant to fluoroquinolones. However, the addition of amikacin led to a more than three-fold decrease in the risk of resistance. In our setting, empirical treatment with meropenem is adequate in enterobacterial infections, but poses difficulties when infection due to P. aeruginosa is suspected, in which case a combination of meropenem and amikacin has been shown to have a higher microbiological success rate