Risk assessment of the spanish national railway system

The principal risks in the railway industry are mainly associated with collisions, derailments and level crossing accidents. An understanding of the nature of previous accidents on the railway network is required to identify potential causes and develop safety systems and deploy safety procedures. Risk assessment is a process for determining the risk magnitude to assist with decision-making. We propose a three-step methodology to predict the mean number of fatalities in railway accidents. The first is to predict the mean number of accidents by analyzing generalized linear models and selecting the one that best fits to the available historical data on the basis of goodness-offit statistics. The second is to compute the mean number of fatalities per accident and the third is to estimate the mean number of fatalities. The methodology is illustrated on the Spanish railway system. Statistical models accounting for annual and grouped data for the 1992-2009 time period have been analyzed. After identifying the models for broad and narrow gauges, we predicted mean number of accidents and the number of fatalities for the 2010-18 time period

A first approach to the optimization of Bogotá's TransMilenio BRT system

Bus rapid transit (BRT) systems are massive transport systems with medium/high capacity, high quality service and low infrastructure and operating costs. TransMilenio is Bogotá's most important mass transportation system and one of the biggest BRT systems in the world, although it only has completed its third construction phase out of a total of eight. In this paper we review the proposals in the literature to optimize BRT system operation, with a special emphasis on TransMilenio, and propose a mathematical model that adapts elements of the above proposals and incorporates novel elements accounting for the features of TransMilenio system

Milling Process of Petroleum Coke for Sintered Steel Applications

The effect of milling on different properties of a petroleum coke has been evaluated. The material was subjected to planetary milling at two different rates (400 and 600 rev min-1) for different times up to 48 h. The milled material was characterised by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, sieve analysis, thermal analysis, chemical analysis, specific surface area and compressibility has been undertaken. The results show that the milling produces a very quick loss of the crystal structure of the coke and a rapid comminution, which lead to large increases in specific surface area and compressibility losses. The coke has shown a high activity through the milling process, absorbing a great quantity of oxygen. The increase in milling time shifts its thermal decomposition to lower temperatures.Authors want to acknowledge the financial support of Spanish Education Ministry, through Project PTR1995-0724-OP.Publicad

Effects of the inclusion of oat hulls or sugar beet pulp in the diet on gizzard characteristics, apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients, and microbial count in the ceca in 36 day old broilers reared on floor

The effects of the inclusion of oat hulls (OH) and sugar beet pulp (SBP) in the diet on gizzard characteristics, apparent ileal nutrient digestibility (AID), and Clostridium perfringens, Enterobacteriaceae, and Lactobacillus proliferation in the ceca were studied in 36 d?old broilers. There were a control diet with a low CF content (1.61%) and 2 additional diets that resulted from the dilution of this feed with 5% of either OH or SBP

El VAP-CAP: una herramienta útil para la valoración del funcionamiento visual en bebés y niños con polidiscapacidad

Las autoras exponen su experiencia de utilización durante 18 años del Programa VAP-CAP (Visual Assessment and Programming-Capacity Attention and Processing) (Blanksby, 1992) como método de valoración del funcionamiento visual en el Programa de Atención Temprana del Centro de Recursos Educativos de la ONCE en Sevilla. Describen el modelo de atención temprana de este centro y los principales aspectos de la intervención. Hacen una breve descripción del VAP-CAP, analizan sus aportaciones específicas y refieren las adaptaciones realizadas sobre la traducción (de Susana Crespo) del manual y de los materiales complementarios, así como de las actividades de divulgación del programa

El VAP-CAP: una herramienta útil para la valoración del funcionamiento visual en bebés y niños con polidiscapacidad

Las autoras exponen su experiencia de utilización durante 18 años del Programa VAP-CAP (Visual Assessment and Programming-Capacity Attention and Processing) (Blanksby, 1992) como método de valoración del funcionamiento visual en el Programa de Atención Temprana del Centro de Recursos Educativos de la ONCE en Sevilla. Describen el modelo de atención temprana de este centro y los principales aspectos de la intervención. Hacen una breve descripción del VAP-CAP, analizan sus aportaciones específicas y refieren las adaptaciones realizadas sobre la traducción (de Susana Crespo) del manual y de los materiales complementarios, así como de las actividades de divulgación del programa

Synthesis of Porous Clay Heterostructures Modified with SiO2–ZrO2 Nanoparticles for the Valorization of Furfural in One-Pot Process

The layered structure of two smectites (montmorillonite and saponite) are modified by the insertion of SiO2–ZrO2 nanoparticles, with a Si/Zr molar ratio of 5, to form porous clay heterostructures (PCHs). These PCHs exhibit a clear improvement of the textural and acid properties in comparison to the starting clays, due to the formation of a pillared structure and the presence of Zr species, which provide an increase in the amount of Lewis acid sites. These materials are studied in one-pot catalytic processes to transform furfural into valuable products, such as furfuryl alcohol, alkyl furfuryl ethers, alkyl levulinates or γ-valerolactone, depending on the experimental conditions. Thus, the use of milder reaction temperature (110 °C) favors the formation of furfuryl alcohol and alkyl furfuryl ethers, while higher temperatures (170 °C) promote the formation of alkyl levulinate and γ-valerolactone, as well as an increase in nondetected products associated to the formation of humins due to the polymerization of furfural and/or furfuryl alcohol.The authors are grateful for financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-94918-B-C44 project), FEDER (European Union) funds (UMA18-FEDERJA-171), and the University of Malaga. C.P.J.-G. and C.G.-S. acknowledge Junta de Andalucía and FEDER funds, respectively, for their postdoctoral contracts. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga/CBUA

Porous SiO2 Nanospheres Modified with ZrO2 and Their Use in One- Pot Catalytic Processes to Obtain Value-Added Chemicals from Furfural

Porous SiO2 nanospheres have been modified with different proportion of ZrO2 to obtain catalysts with Si/Zr molar ratio between 2.5 and 30. These materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, N2 adsorption-desorption at -196 ºC, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and pyridine and 2-6-dimethylpyridine thermoprogrammed desorption. The characterization of these catalysts reveals that the incorporation of a high proportion of Zr favors the formation of Lewis acid sites, which are implied in catalytic transfer hydrogenation processes, whereas the low Brönsted acidity promote dehydration reaction, in such a way that it is possible to obtain a wide range of products from FUR through consecutive reactions, such as furfuryl alcohol, i-propyl furfuryl ether, i-propyl levulinate and γ-valerolactone in a range of temperature of 110-170 ºC between 1-6 h of reaction.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities:RTI2018‐94918‐B‐C44; FEDER (European Union) funds: RTI2018‐94918‐B‐C44 and UMA18-FEDERJA-171; University of Malaga; Junta de Andalucía; Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga/CBU

Anaerobic Treatment of Swine Wastewater in Semicontinuous Clayey Support Reactors

Three micronized clayey supports in laboratory-scale tank reactors under mesophilic conditions were studied. From the results obtained in a previous work, the temperature of θ = 25 °C was chosen. The start up and performance of these bioreactors, operating on swine wastewater feed, were also studied. The anaerobic treatment in a semicontinuous regime was carried out. Four stirred tank reactors were used, one of them containing suspended biomass for reference, while the rest contained various suspended micronized clay supports. The supports chosen were zeolite, esmectite, and saponite. The higher removal efficiency (about η COD 70% to 3.6 d HRT) was obtained when HRT increased in saponite and esmectite support reactors. Esmectite support showed the best anaerobic activity of microorganisms (μmax equal to 0.576 d–1). The reactor with zeolite support and the reference (non-support reactor) showed the worst yield in methane. The methane production model proposed by Chen and Hashimoto to achieve an optimum purifying performance was carried out. It accurately predicted the performance of the process and may be used in the design of treatment units