Guía para la evaluación de políticas públicas

La Guía para la Evaluación de Políticas Públicas pretende ser una recopilación sistematizada de diversos modelos de evaluación, centrada en recoger los conceptos clave y las herramientas de análisis que permitan disponer de un esquema metodológi- co, amplio y flexible, para ser adaptado a la evaluación de planes y programas de intervención públic

Radon transport events associated with the impact of a NORM repository in the SW of Europe

Two radon measurement stations located to the north and south of a NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) repository of phosphogypsum (southwest of Europe) were used to monitor radon behavior during 2018. The stations are located at opposing sides of the repository, one in Huelva City to the north and other one in a rural area to the south. This setup aimed to identify the influence of the NORM repository on each station and use radon levels as a marker of atmospheric transport in the local area. To achieve this, a comparison was carried out with other coastal stations in the south of Spain, finding higher average concentrations in Huelva City, ~3.3 Bq m− 3 . Hierarchical clustering was applied to identify days with different radon patterns at each Huelva station, detecting possible local radon transport events from the repository. Three events were investigated with WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) and FLEXPART-WRF (FLEXible PARTicle dispersion model). It was found that both sampling sites required atmospheric stagnant conditions to reach high radon concentration. However, under these conditions the urban station showed high radon regardless of wind direction while the rural station also required radon transport from the repository, either directly or indirect.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, by the project ‘Fluxes of radionuclides emitted by the PG piles located at Huelva; assessment of the dispersion, radiological risks and remediation proposals’ (Ref.: CTM2015-68628- R). It is important to reiterate the significant contribution of CSN to this research providing radon measurements from the REA network. Special thanks are given to Antonio Padilla for his invaluable technical support and know-how. Resources supporting this work were provided by the CEAFMC and Universidad de Huelva High Performance Computer (HPC@UHU) funded by ERDF/MINECO project UNHU-15CE-2848.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva / CBU

Occupational, Public and Environmental Radiological Impact Caused by the Phosphoric Acid Industry: The Case of Huelva (Spain)

The production of phosphate fertilizers usually uses as raw material sedimentary phosphate rock, which contains enhanced concentrations from U‐series radionuclides about 10–100 times higher than unperturbed soils. This fact implies the need for evaluating the radiological implications of this activity. In our case, the study has been performed in a large fertilizer industrial complex located at Huelva town (SW of Spain), where sedimentary phosphate rock has been processed since 1965 to 2010, generating annually an average of about 2.5 million tons of a by‐product called phosphogypsum (PG), which has been stored in big stacks 1 km away from Huelva city, covering 1000 ha. The fluxes of the radionuclides of interest along the production process and the effective doses received by the workers have been determined. In addition, the radioecological impact associated to the waste management strategy followed has been evaluated

Radon behavior investigation based on cluster analysis and atmospheric modelling

Radon measurements were performed in Huelva, a city located near a phosphogypsum repository in the SW of the Iberian Peninsula, between March 2015 and March 2016. The mean values of this gas oscillate between 5.6 and 10.9 Bq m-3 and maximum ranges between 36.4 and 53.4 Bq m-3. Radon shows the expected monthly variation with higher levels in November and December. Typical daily evolutions were also observed, with maximum between 06:00 and 08:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) and minimum around noon. To extract daily radon patterns, the cluster technique of K-means was applied. Based on this classification, four different case study periods were analyzed in detail, describing two events with high radon levels and two with low radon. Local meteorology, back-trajectories computed with the HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model and meteorological fields from the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model, were used to analyze the four case study periods selected. Low radon periods are characterized by the occurrence of non-pure breezes and maritime air masses from the Atlantic Ocean, whereas high radon periods occur under pure sea-land breezes affected by Mediterranean air masses. Factors such as meteorology or local emission sources alone may not be enough to explain the high radon events in the area. Other factors could be playing a major role in the radon levels. The obtained results indicate the contribution of radon transported from medium-long range, suggesting that, under specific weather conditions, the Gulf of Cadiz could act as a radon trap and the continental areas around the Western Mediterranean Basin could act as a radon source.Postprint (author's final draft

Spatiotemporal evolution of U and Th isotopes in a mine effluent highly polluted by Acid Mine Drainage (AMD)

The spatiotemporal evolution of both U and Th isotopes in a mine effluent highly polluted by acid mine drainage (AMD) was evaluated. The acidic tributary, which born from the outflows of an abandoned sulfide mine, flows into the Odiel River. AMD comprises an important source of natural radionuclides, presenting concentrations of 238U and 232Th, two and four orders of magnitude higher, respectively, than the background values of surface continental waters. These natural radionuclides behave conservatively along the mine effluent (pH < 2.5) throughout the hydrological year. Under AMD conditions uranium is in the hexavalent state U(VI) and the main dissolved species are uranyl sulfate complexes. The polluted tributary has a significant impact on the Odiel River acidifying its waters during the low flow season and increasing up to one order of magnitude the activity concentrations of U and Th isotopes. U presented a conservative behavior in the Odiel River during the low flow season (pH ≈ 3), however it is removed from the liquid phase in the wet season (pH ≈ 6), probably due its coprecipitation/adsorption onto Al-phases. Th shows a high sensitivity to small increases of pH, and it is strongly coprecipitated/adsorbed with or onto Fe-oxyhydroxydizes in the river.This research was funded by the University of Huelva and the Operative FEDER Program-Andalucía 2014–2020 (UHU-1255876, UHU-202020); The European Regional Development Fund through the Agencia Estatal de Investigaci´on (research grant PID2020–116461RBC21 and 116461RA-C22), and the Andalusian government (I+D+i- JAPAIDI-Retos project PY20_00096). Jos´e Luis Guerrero thank the Spanish Ministry of Universities for the Margarita Salas research grant. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva / CBUA

A novel pathogenic mechanism for cerebellar lesions produced by Solanum bonariense in cattle

Intoxication with Solanum bonariense in cattle causes cerebellar cortical degeneration with perikaryal vacuolation, axonal swelling, and death primarily of Purkinje cells, with accumulation of electron-dense residual storage bodies in membrane-bound vesicles. The pathogenesis of this disease is not fully understood. Previously, we proposed that inhibition of protein synthesis in Purkinje cells among other altered metabolic pathways could lead to cytoskeletal alterations, subsequently altering cell-specific axonal transport. In the present study, immunohistochemical and histochemical methods were used to identify neuronal cytoskeletal alterations and axonal loss, demyelination, and astrogliosis in the cerebellum of intoxicated bovines. Samples of cerebellum from 3 natural and 4 experimental cases and 2 control bovines were studied. Immunoreactivity against neurofilament (NF)-200KDa confirmed marked loss of Purkinje neurons, and phospho-NF protein, β-tubulin, and affinity reaction against phalloidin revealed an altered perikaryal distribution of neuronal cytoskeletal proteins in the remaining Purkinje cells in intoxicated cattle. Reactive astrogliosis in every layer of the cerebellar cortex was also observed with anti–glial fibrillary acidic protein immunohistochemistry. In affected cattle, demyelination and axonal loss in the cerebellar white matter, as well as basket cell loss were demonstrated with Klüver–Barrera and Bielschowsky stains, respectively. Based on these results, we propose that neuronal cytoskeletal alterations with subsequent interference of the axonal transport in Purkinje cells may play a relevant role in the pathogenesis of this neurodegenerative disorder, and also that demyelination and axonal loss in the cerebellar white matter, as well as astrogliosis in the gray matter, likely occur secondarily to Purkinje cell degeneration and death.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

A novel pathogenic mechanism for cerebellar lesions produced by Solanum bonariense in cattle

Intoxication with Solanum bonariense in cattle causes cerebellar cortical degeneration with perikaryal vacuolation, axonal swelling, and death primarily of Purkinje cells, with accumulation of electron-dense residual storage bodies in membrane-bound vesicles. The pathogenesis of this disease is not fully understood. Previously, we proposed that inhibition of protein synthesis in Purkinje cells among other altered metabolic pathways could lead to cytoskeletal alterations, subsequently altering cell-specific axonal transport. In the present study, immunohistochemical and histochemical methods were used to identify neuronal cytoskeletal alterations and axonal loss, demyelination, and astrogliosis in the cerebellum of intoxicated bovines. Samples of cerebellum from 3 natural and 4 experimental cases and 2 control bovines were studied. Immunoreactivity against neurofilament (NF)-200KDa confirmed marked loss of Purkinje neurons, and phospho-NF protein, β-tubulin, and affinity reaction against phalloidin revealed an altered perikaryal distribution of neuronal cytoskeletal proteins in the remaining Purkinje cells in intoxicated cattle. Reactive astrogliosis in every layer of the cerebellar cortex was also observed with anti–glial fibrillary acidic protein immunohistochemistry. In affected cattle, demyelination and axonal loss in the cerebellar white matter, as well as basket cell loss were demonstrated with Klüver–Barrera and Bielschowsky stains, respectively. Based on these results, we propose that neuronal cytoskeletal alterations with subsequent interference of the axonal transport in Purkinje cells may play a relevant role in the pathogenesis of this neurodegenerative disorder, and also that demyelination and axonal loss in the cerebellar white matter, as well as astrogliosis in the gray matter, likely occur secondarily to Purkinje cell degeneration and death.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Un viaje al Cosmos en 52 semanas

230 p.Este libro se plantea como una serie de artículos que dibujan un recorrido por el Universo, desde lo más cercano a lo más distante. Constituye una herramienta útil y actualizada para los interesados en la astronomía, y combina el conocimiento básico con los resultados científicos más novedosos. La astrofísica constituye una ciencia viva y en permanente avance por ello nos encontramos con un Plutón que ya no es considerado planeta; con nuevos datos sobre la posible presencia de agua en Marte; con géiseres en Encelado, un pequeño satélite de Saturno que se creía geológicamente inactivo; con una miríada de nuevos planetas girando alrededor de otras estrellas; con, quizá, un nuevo tipo de agujero negro y fascinantes resultados sobre las explosiones cortas de rayos gamma, uno de los eventos más energéticos del Universo y, hasta hace poco, también uno de los más desconocidos; con la mision COROT, y otras, como BepiColombo, que ya se encuentran en su fase de desarrollo instrumental.Peer reviewe

Immobilization of Hazardous Wastes on One-Part Blast Furnace Slag-Based Geopolymers

: The immobilization of hazardous wastes in ordinary Portland cement (OPC)-based materials has been widely studied and implemented. OPC-based materials have a high carbon footprint associated with their production and geopolymer materials are a sustainable and eco-friendly alternative. Therefore, this work aimed to immobilize two hazardous industrial wastes: copper wastewater sludge and phosphogypsum in one-part geopolymer materials. For that purpose, the precursor was partially substituted by these wastes (5, 10 and 20 wt.%) in the formulations. The geopolymer fresh and hardened state properties were evaluated, and the immobilisation of pollutants was determined through leaching tests. In phosphogypsum pastes (PG5, PG10 and PG20) it was observed that the compressive strength decreased with the increase in its amount, varying between 67 MPa and 19 MPa. In copper sludge pastes, the compressive strength of the specimens (CWS5 and CWS10) reached ~50 MPa. The mortars, MPG10 and MCWSs10, had compressive strengths of 13 MPa and 21 MPa, respectively. Leaching tests showed that pastes and mortars immobilise the hazardous species of the wastes, except for As from copper sludge, whose the best result was found in the compact paste (CWSs10) that leached 2 mg/kg of As. Results suggest that optimized compositions are suitable for the construction sectorThis research was funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MICINN), grant number PID2020-116461RB-C21 and Agencia de Innovación y Desarrollo de Andalucía (IDEA) grant number UHU-1255876. This work was done in the scope of the project CICECO- Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020, co-financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC. This research was funded by FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology), grant number 2020.01135.CEECIND (R.M.N.) and SFRH/BD/144562/2019 (J.C.