Oxy-combustion characteristics of torrefied biomass and blends under O2/N2, O2/CO2 and O2/CO2/H2O atmospheres

The combined use of bio-fuels along with CO2 capture techniques is the basis for the so-called negative emissions energy systems. In this paper, oxy-fuel combustion of two torrefied biomasses is experimentally investigated in a lab-scale entrained flow reactor. The torrefied biomasses are fired alone, and co-fired with coal (50%). Two oxygen concentrations (21% and 35%) and four steam concentrations are tested: 0% (dry recycle oxy-combustion), 10% (wet recycle oxy-combustion), 25% and 40% (towards the concept of oxy-steam combustion). The tests are designed to get the same mean residence time for all the fuels and conditions. Burnout degrees are significantly increased (up to 9 and 16 percentage points) when the share of torrefied biomass is raised, with a slightly better behavior of the torrefied pine in comparison to the torrefied agro-biomass. C-fuel conversion to CO2 follows a similar trend to the observed for the burnout degrees. NO formation rates are reduced when oxy-firing torrefied biomass alone in comparison to the blends, with maximum diminutions of 16.9% (torrefied pine) and 8.5% (torrefied agro-biomass). As regards the effect of steam, the best results are found for the 25% H2O atmospheres in most of the cases, yielding maximum conversions along with minimum NO levels

Energy vulnerability composite index in social housing, from a household energy poverty perspective

In Europe, the proportion of social housing is high, and such houses tend to be inhabited by below average-income households, which are particularly vulnerable to energy poverty. This article proposes a new methodological approach for defining an index for household energy vulnerability assessment. This method can be used to improve the management of social housing. After establishing a heuristic framework for household energy poverty-which stems from different causes such as income, the characteristics of the residence, energy installations, and the energy-consumption habits of household members-multi-criteria analytical methods, based on the aggregation of indicators which reveal the conditions leading to energy poverty, have been applied, and effective means of intervention are proposed. The method is also applied to a sample of social houses and thus validated as a useful tool in decision-making processes which concern the management of social housing from a household energy-poverty perspective

Evaluación de la aplicación de la técnica de percusión, registro de señal sonora y posterior análisis espectral para la verificación de la adherencia de aplacados de piedra como revestimiento encolado en fachadas urbanas en altura

Desde hace años se van produciendo con alarma casos de desprendimiento al vacio de aplacados de piedra natural que revisten paramentos altos de fachadas situadas en entornos urbanos. Se trata de aplacados adheridos al soporte mediante pastas de mortero de cemento. Este tipo de anomalías se presenta sin aviso y presenta un gran daño potencial par alas vidas humanas. Se plantea pues la necesidad de disponer de una técnica simplificada para evaluar “in situ” el estado real de adherencia del resto de placas que no se han desprendido. Las técnicas derivadas de la evaluación de sonidos presentan de entrada un gran potencial de verificación de la continuidad en medios sólidos. Considerando el tema que nos ocupa, las técnicas a plantear inicialmente serian la aplicación de ultrasonidos o la evaluación del comportamiento al ruido de impacto. En este caso se ha optado por aplicar inicialmente la técnica de impacto (golpeo de la pieza en diversos puntos mediante martillo) por su facilidad para ser implementada en las técnicas de acceso a fachadas actualmente disponibles, normalmente cestas de autogrúas hidráulicas, evitando así las incomodidades que supone el uso de cableados, fuentes de alimentación, etc. que precisaría la técnica de ultrasonidos. En esta ponencia se plantea una primera evaluación de los resultados obtenidos en una fachada real situada en un entorno urbano consolidado, en la que nuestro equipo fue solicitado tras un episodio local de desprendimiento Este tipo de técnicas no destructivas presentan un gran potencial de aplicación tanto en entornos preventivos (inspecciones periódicas con el fin de detectar anticipadamente la pieza desprendida antes que se precipite al vacío) como en entornos post desprendimiento, cuando se plantea la decisión de qué piezas retirar y qué piezas mantener en el momento de proceder a la reparación

El rol de la publicidad de los medios de comunicación escritos, en la difusión de las innovaciones tecnológicas: las revistas profesionales de arquitectura en el siglo XX, en Italia, México y España

La información científico-técnica es de suficiente trascendencia como para suponer que su transmisión debe realizarse con rigor y por los canales más seguros y fiables. En esta línea, los Congresos, los libros, la Universidad, etc. formarían parte del sistema formal de transmisión del conocimiento científico-técnico. Sin embargo, su elaboración, producción, y difusión requiere de un proceso temporal en ocasiones muy dilatado. Con la llegada de la revolución industrial se produjo un aumento extraordinario de los miembros de la comunidad científico-técnica y de la cantidad y variedad de las innovaciones que esta comunidad generaba. Los sistemas anteriores de difusión y mantenimiento al día del conocimiento científicotécnico se mostraron obsoletos para dar respuesta a este incremento. En este nuevo escenario social que propició la revolución industrial, la inmediatez en la adquisición de información acerca de las nuevas técnicas propias de cada ámbito, así como los recursos y artículos de uso que lleva cada una asociada es fundamental. En este contexto la revista técnica adquiere un marcado protagonismo ya que es capaz de emitir mensajes especializados, con una periodicidad predeterminada y se dirige por igual a todos sus lectores, habitualmente suscriptores, se hallen donde se hallen, difundiendo las novedades de la técnica y también las experiencias contrastadas adquiridas en su aplicación. Rápidamente se incorporó a estas revistas la publicidad, presencia planteada como un mensaje paralelo pero insertado dentro de la revista. La publicidad en las revistas técnicas cumplía diversas funciones simultáneamente: el sustento económico del editor de la revista, la divulgación de las coordenadas de contacto con las empresas que ostentaban las patentes correspondientes a las nuevas técnicas y también una difusión complementaria, pero informal, del nuevo conocimiento, difusión basada en la capacidad de síntesis y seducción propias del mensaje publicitario que induce al uso y consumo de la técnica en cada caso publicitada

Ion distribution dynamics near the Earth's bow shock: first measurements with the 2D ion energy spectrometer CORALL on the INTERBALL/Tail-probe satellite

International audienceThe dynamics of the ion distribution function near the Earth's bow shock is studied on the basis of quasi-3D measurements of ion energy spectra in the range of 30?24200 eV/q with the Russian-Cuban CORALL instrument on the INTERBALL/Tail-probe satellite. The instrument was designed for observations of magnetospheric plasma and measures ions, in an angular range of 36°?144° from the Earth-Sun direction. Ion populations generated by the Earth bow shock are often observed upstream from the bow shock. In the solar-wind stream compressed and heated by the passing of very dense magnetic cloud (CME), two types of these ion populations were measured upstream and before the bow shock crossing on 25 August 1995 at 07:37 UT. Both populations were observed in the energy range above 2 keV. At ~06:20 UT, when the angle between the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field and normal to the bow shock VBn was ? 43° the instrument observed a narrow, fast (~800 km/s) field-aligned beam moving from the Earth. At ~07:30, when Bn ? 28°, the wide ion pitch-angle distribution was observed. A similar suprathermal ion population is observed in the magnetosheath simultaneously with the solar-wind ion population being heated and deflected from the Sun-Earth direction. The similarity of observations during the mentioned time-interval and under usual solar-wind conditions allows us to conclude that types of suprathermal ion populations upstream and downstream from the bow shock do not depend on the solar-wind disturbance generated by magnetic cloud

On the determinants of local government debt: Does one size fit all?

This paper analyzes the factors that directly influence levels of debt in Spanish local governments. Specifically, the main objective is to find out the extent to which indebtedness is originated by controllable factors that public managers can influence, or whether it hinges on other variables beyond managers’ control. The importance of this issue has intensified since the start of the crisis in 2007, due to the abrupt decline of revenues and, simultaneously, to the stagnation (or even increase) in the levels of costs facing these institutions face. Results can be explored from multiple perspectives, given that the set of explanatory factors is also multiple. However, the most interesting result relates to the varying effect of each covariate depending on each municipality’s specific debt level, which suggests that economic policy recommendations should not be homogeneous across local governments

Specific patterns of brain alterations underlie distinct clinical profiles in Huntington's disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a genetic neurodegenerative disease which involves a triad of motor, cognitive and psychiatric disturbances. However, there is great variability in the prominence of each type of symptom across individuals. The neurobiological basis of such variability remains poorly understood but would be crucial for better tailored treatments. Multivariate multimodal neuroimaging approaches have been successful in disentangling these profiles in other disorders. Thus we applied for the first time such approach to HD. We studied the relationship between HD symptom domains and multimodal measures sensitive to grey and white matter structural alterations. Forty-three HD gene carriers (23 manifest and 20 premanifest individuals) were scanned and underwent behavioural assessments evaluating motor, cognitive and psychiatric domains. We conducted a multimodal analysis integrating different structural neuroimaging modalities measuring grey matter volume, cortical thickness and white matter diffusion indices - fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity. All neuroimaging measures were entered into a linked independent component analysis in order to obtain multimodal components reflecting common inter-subject variation across imaging modalities. The relationship between multimodal neuroimaging independent components and behavioural measures was analysed using multiple linear regression. We found that cognitive and motor symptoms shared a common neurobiological basis, whereas the psychiatric domain presented a differentiated neural signature. Behavioural measures of different symptom domains correlated with different neuroimaging components, both the brain regions involved and the neuroimaging modalities most prominently associated with each type of symptom showing differences. More severe cognitive and motor signs together were associated with a multimodal component consisting in a pattern of reduced grey matter, cortical thickness and white matter integrity in cognitive and motor related networks. In contrast, depressive symptoms were associated with a component mainly characterised by reduced cortical thickness pattern in limbic and paralimbic regions. In conclusion, using a multivariate multimodal approach we were able to disentangle the neurobiological substrates of two distinct symptom profiles in HD: one characterised by cognitive and motor features dissociated from a psychiatric profile. These results open a new view on a disease classically considered as a uniform entity and initiates a new avenue for further research considering these qualitative individual differences