603 research outputs found

    The classroom of Physical Education and students with disabilities

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    Este estudio versa sobre el proceso de construcción y validación de un instrumento estandarizado cuyo objetivo ha sido analizar la realidad educativa de los docentes de Educación Física en la etapa de primaria ante alumnado con discapacidad motora y derivar del mismo los elementos clave que justifiquen la construcción de un plan de formación permanente del profesorado en este ámbito. El proceso llevado a cabo paso por llevar a cabo en primer lugar un juicio de expertos y expertas para posteriormente someter el borrador de aquí derivado a un pilotaje con un total de 57 docentes de Córdoba. El cuestionario definitivo goza de las suficientes garantías para ser aplicado, analizado e interpretado y ha permitido extraer como dimensiones formativas las siguientes: didáctica de la Educación Física, herramientas didáctico educativas, estrategias de trabajo en el aula, habilidades para el ejercicio de la docentes y recursos tecnológicos

    Low load Pt catalyst with surface functionalised carbon supports for PEM fuel cells: half and full cell asssessments

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    ABSTRACT: Current US DOE 2020 targets for electrocatalysts aim for a total platinum group metals (PGM) loading of 0.125 mgcm-2 on membrane-electrode assemblies. The catalysts are expected to endure an elevated number of load cycles in order to comply with the expected 5000 h stack lifetime. At the stated PGM low loading attributes of performance, power and durability, as well as costs, are simultaneously required. The present paper deals with performance assessment of new catalyst using Pt nanoparticles and a surface functionalized carbon support. Due to its relevance to fuel cell operation, the stability and durability were assessed in half cell mode, through the application of demanding aging cycling protocols (30000 cycles). Full fuel cell assessments were also conducted entailing power density curves and cell electrochemical impedance. Results denote significant improvements in cell performance as well as in catalyst stability, regarding a commercial catalyst tested in the same conditions, at Pt loadings of 0.1 mgcm-2.N/

    The aquatic ecosystem, a good environment for the horizontal transfer of antimicrobial resistance and virulence-associated factors among extended spectrum ß-lactamases producing E. coli

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    One of the main public health problems nowadays is the increase of antimicrobial resistance, both in the hospital environment and outside it (animal environment, food and aquatic ecosystems, among others). It is necessary to investigate the virulence-associated factors and the ability of horizontal gene transfer among bacteria for a better understanding of the pathogenicity and the mechanisms of dissemination of resistant bacteria. Therefore, the objective of this work was to detect several virulence factors genes (fimA, papC, papG III, cnf1, hlyA and aer) and to determine the conjugative capacity in a wide collection of extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing E. coli isolated from different sources (human, food, farms, rivers, and wastewater treatment plants). Regarding virulence genes, fimA, papC, and aer were distributed throughout all the studied environments, papG III was mostly related to clinical strains and wastewater is a route of dissemination for cnf1 and hlyA. Strains isolated from aquatic environments showed an average conjugation frequencies of 1.15 × 10−1 ± 5 × 10−1 , being significantly higher than those observed in strains isolated from farms and food (p < 0.05), with frequencies of 1.53 × 10−4 ± 2.85 × 10−4 and 9.61 × 10−4 ± 1.96 × 10−3 , respectively. The reported data suggest the importance that the aquatic environment (especially WWTPs) acquires for the exchange of genes and the dispersion of resistance. Therefore, specific surveillance programs of AMR indicators in wastewaters from animal or human origin are needed, in order to apply sanitation measures to reduce the burden of resistant bacteria arriving to risky environments as WWTPs

    The aquatic ecosystem, a good environment for the horizontal transfer of antimicrobial resistance and virulence-associated factors among extended spectrum beta-lactamases producing E. coli

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    One of the main public health problems nowadays is the increase of antimicrobial resistance, both in the hospital environment and outside it (animal environment, food and aquatic ecosystems, among others). It is necessary to investigate the virulence-associated factors and the ability of horizontal gene transfer among bacteria for a better understanding of the pathogenicity and the mechanisms of dissemination of resistant bacteria. Therefore, the objective of this work was to detect several virulence factors genes (fimA, papC, papG III, cnf1, hlyA and aer) and to determine the conjugative capacity in a wide collection of extended-spectrum β-lactamases-producing E. coli isolated from different sources (human, food, farms, rivers, and wastewater treatment plants). Regarding virulence genes, fimA, papC, and aer were distributed throughout all the studied environments, papG III was mostly related to clinical strains and wastewater is a route of dissemination for cnf1 and hlyA. Strains isolated from aquatic environments showed an average conjugation frequencies of 1.15 × 10−1 ± 5 × 10−1 , being significantly higher than those observed in strains isolated from farms and food (p < 0.05), with frequencies of 1.53 × 10−4 ± 2.85 × 10−4 and 9.61 × 10−4 ± 1.96 × 10−3 , respectively. The reported data suggest the importance that the aquatic environment (especially WWTPs) acquires for the exchange of genes and the dispersion of resistance. Therefore, specific surveillance programs of AMR indicators in wastewaters from animal or human origin are needed, in order to apply sanitation measures to reduce the burden of resistant bacteria arriving to risky environments as WWTPs

    Low-pH cement mortar-bentonite perturbations in a small-scale pilot laboratory experiment

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    This article has been published in a revised form in Clay Minerals [http://doi.org/10.1180/clm.2018.16]. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative worksA novel method to perform small-scale laboratory experiments that reproduce concrete–bentonite and concrete–groundwater interactions has been developed. Such interfaces will prevail in engineered barrier systems used for isolation of nuclear waste. With the goal of optimizing the experimental method, this work has analysed the geochemical interaction of distilled water, low-pH cement mortar and FEBEX-bentonite for 75 days. Limited but evident reactivity between the materials was observed, mainly decalcification in cement mortar, carbonation at the interface with bentonite and Mg enrichment in bentonite. These results are consistent with the state-of-the-art literature and were used to validate this small-scale pilot laboratory experiment to establish the basis for further studies comparing the behaviour of different buffer and cement materialsThe research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Training 305 Programme of the EURATOM (H2020-NFRP-2014/2015) under grant agreement n° 662147 (CEBAMA

    Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria Isolated from Different Aquatic Environments in the North of Spain and South of France

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    Due to the global progress of antimicrobial resistance, the World Health Organization (WHO) published the list of the antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens” in order to promote research and development of new antibiotics to the families of bacteria that cause severe and often deadly infections. In the framework of the One Health approach, the surveillance of these pathogens in different environments should be implemented in order to analyze their spread and the potential risk of transmission of antibiotic resistances by food and water. Therefore, the objective of this work was to determine the presence of high and critical priority pathogens included in the aforementioned list in different aquatic environments in the POCTEFA area (North Spain–South France). In addition to these pathogens, detection of colistin-resistant Enterobacteriaceae was included due its relevance as being the antibiotic of choice to treat infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria (MDR). From the total of 80 analyzed samples, 100% of the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and collectors (from hospitals and slaughterhouses) and 96.4% of the rivers, carried antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB) against the tested antibiotics. Fifty-five (17.7%) of the isolates were identified as target microorganisms (high and critical priority pathogens of WHO list) and 58.2% (n = 32) of them came from WWTPs and collectors. Phenotypic and genotypic characterization showed that 96.4% were MDR and resistance to penicillins/cephalosporins was the most widespread. The presence of bla genes, KPC-type carbapenemases, mcr-1 and vanB genes has been confirmed. In summary, the presence of clinically relevant MDR bacteria in the studied aquatic environments demonstrates the need to improve surveillance and treatments of wastewaters from slaughterhouses, hospitals and WWTPs, in order to minimize the dispersion of resistance through the effluents of these areas

    Microscopic description of d-wave superconductivity by Van Hove nesting in the Hubbard model

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    We devise a computational approach to the Hubbard model that captures the strong coupling dynamics arising when the Fermi level is at a Van Hove singularity in the density of states. We rely on an approximate degeneracy among the many-body states accounting for the main instabilities of the system (antiferromagnetism, d-wave superconductivity). The Fermi line turns out to be deformed in a manner consistent with the pinning of the Fermi level to the Van Hove singularity. For a doping rate δ0.2\delta \sim 0.2, the ground state is characterized by d-wave symmetry, quasiparticles gapped only at the saddle-points of the band, and a large peak at zero momentum in the d-wave pairing correlations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 Postscript figure

    Automatic classification of pores in aluminum castings using machine learning

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    [Resumen] La inspección de la porosidad de piezas fabricadas se ha realizado tradicionalmente mediante el uso de microscopía manipulada por parte de un técnico humano. Sin embargo, la persona involucrada necesita experiencia en esta tarea, y la cantidad de piezas que se pueden inspeccionar por unidad de tiempo es limitada. La presencia de porosidad en el material es crítica, ya que puede afectar negativamente a las propiedades mecánicas y la calidad de la pieza. En este trabajo se propone automatizar la clasificación de los defectos de porosidad que aparecen en el interior de las piezas fabricadas por fundición. En primer lugar, adquirimos imágenes a partir de piezas de aluminio fabricadas por dos métodos de fundición: uno tradicional usando molde de arena y otro más moderno con la técnica de fabricación aditiva Binder Jetting (BJ). Luego, recortamos regiones con y sin poros, que posteriormente caracterizamos usando descriptores SIFT codificados en características de BoVW para alimentar y entrenar dos clasificadores SVM: uno para predecir si la imagen contiene poro o no, y el otro para indicar si el poro detectado es debido al efecto de gases o por contracción durante la solificación.[Abstract] Porosity inspection of manufactured parts has traditionally been performed using microscopy manipulated by a human technician. However, the person involved needs experience in this task, and the number of parts that can be inspected per unit of time is limited. The presence of porosity in the material is critical, as it can negatively affect the mechanical properties and the quality of the part. In this paper, we propose to automate the classification of the porosity defects that appear inside the parts manufactured by casting. First, we acquire images from aluminum parts manufactured by two casting methods: a traditional one using sand molding and a more modern one with the Binder Jetting (BJ) additive manufacturing technique. Then, we crop regions with and without pores we later describe using SIFT descriptors encoded into BoVW features to feed and train two SVM classifiers: one for predicting if the image contains a pore or not, and the other for also indicating if the pore detected is due to the effect of gases or by shrinkage during solidification.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; DPI2017-89840-
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