Cuidadores de ancianos dependientes : demandas y estrategias de apoyo

La figura del cuidador está adquiriendo una importancia creciente en una sociedad envejecida. Su participación está siendo fundamental para que sus familiares ancianos -especialmente los más débiles-, permanezcan en su entorno con una calidad de vida aceptable. Por ello, es necesario que desde la sociedad se conozca su realidad, con el fin de realizar acciones de apoyo que les permitan continuar con su labor, para cuidar a los cuidadores. Esta comunicación tiene su base en una investigación realizada recientemente sobre la situación y demandas de atención por parte de los familiares cuidadores de ancianos dependientes que viven en su propio domicilio. Tras presentar un perfil de los cuidadores -mejor habría que decir cuidadoras-, se profundizará en las líneas maestras que deben de guiar la actuación de las políticas sociales para mantener su implicación y desarrollar su participación. Para ello se analiza la opinión de los propios cuidadores, los profesionales de atención directa y los gestores de los servicios sociales.The role of the careers is acquiring an increasing importance in an aged society. Their participation is essential so that their elderly relatives - specially the weakest-, may remain in their own environment with an acceptable life quality. For this reason, the society needs to know their reality, in order to carry out support actions that may allow them to continue with their work, to take care of the elderly care givers. This communication is based on recent investigation studying the situation and demands of attention from the relatives of the elderly careers that take care of of dependent elders who live in their own home. After presenting a profile of the elderly care givers – mostly women-, will explain the main guidelines that must be considered so that the social policys may keep their implication and increase their participation. It will be analyzed the opinion of the elderly care givers themselves, the professionals who offer direct assistance, and the managers of the social services

Archeometrical Study of Metallic Remains from "La Ulaña" Archeological Site

This paper shows the results of the archeometallurgical study of 31 iron pieces, 23 bronze pieces, 1 silver, and 1 gold piece found in the archeological site of La Ulaña, which is located in the north of Spain in the foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains, and that lived its period of greatest splendor coinciding with the Second Iron Age. The basic chemical and microstructural analyses of the iron- and copper-based objects provide an overview of the use of these metals in the site. The results obtained are compared with those published from other archeological sites nearby. In addition, the most unique pieces are set in their archeological context to facilitate the understanding of their chronological ascription.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature

Structural recycled aggregate concrete made with precast wastes

This paper presents the main results of the characterization of recycled aggregate concrete made with precast structural concrete wastes as a case study. The use of recycled aggregates presents two main benefits. On the one hand, there would be an economic and environmental saving because it would not need to deposit waste in landfills. On the other hand, there would be a further economic and environmental saving because it would reduce the need for natural aggregate. However, because of the need of a greater amount of cement not all degrees of substitution present advantages. The results were obtained from four degrees of substitution and different mixing proportions and methods using natural and recycled aggregates and superplasticizers. After obtaining the optimal mixing proportions, the concretes have been fully characterised performing mechanical and durability tests, the methods analysed and the results compared with the literature

Feasibility of silicomanganese slag as cementitious material and as aggregate for concrete

The need to reduce environmental impact inevitably leads to research on new, more sustainable construction materials. In recent times, the use of the main slags from the steel industry has been vigorously investigated; however, the use of other industrial by-products should also be considered. This study aims to analyze the viability of the use of value-added silicomanganese slag (siderurgical aggregates from ferroalloy industries) in two ways. On the one hand, the potential of ground silicomanganese siderurgical aggregates as a binder or supplementary cementitious material (SCM) due to their high content of silica and alumina. On the other hand, the use of silicomanganese siderurgical aggregates for the manufacture of concrete. The hydraulicity of the ground material has been determined by designing mortars with 20 % replacement of cement and comparing the mechanical performance with Portland cement and fly ash at different ages. Its application as a granulometric skeleton of concrete has been analyzed by comparing the physical-mechanical performance and docility in the fresh state with a conventional limestone aggregate concrete. The results obtained guarantee the pozzolanicity of the material, obtaining resistances similar to Portland cement mortar at 90 days. Furthermore, the material as an aggregate meets the geometric, mechanical and leaching requirements imposed by current regulations, although its use with almost total replacement leads to mechanical losses of 25-30 %. For this reason, its use is only recommended in small replacement proportions or in concrete for non-structural use.This research was financed by COBASA Grupo Logístico S.L. The research was possible thanks to the collaboration of the company FERROATLANTICA, the department LADICIM (University of Cantabria) and the company ROCACERO

Historical and metallurgical approach to the first spanish blast furnaces: the artillery works of Liérganes and La Cavada

RESUMEN. En este trabajo se presenta una somera revisión histórica del origen y funcionamiento de los primeros hornos altos que operaron en España, como parte esencial de las Reales Fábricas de Artillería de Liérganes y La Cavada. Tras describir brevemente los procesos siderúrgicos involucrados, se muestran los resultados de los análisis metalúrgicos efectuados sobre muestras de escorias procedentes de estos hornos, así como el estudio metalográfico de una bala de cañón de idéntica procedencia. Estos resultados muestran que, a pesar de la reconocida calidad de las piezas de artillería obtenidas, los procesos de reducción de mineral aplicados en el horno eran imperfectos y no estaban totalmente bajo el control del fundidor.ABSTRACT. This work presents a brief historical review of the origin and development of the first Spanish blast furnaces, as an essential part of The Royal Artillery Works at Liérganes and La Cavada. After a concise description of the siderurgical processes involved, the results of the metallurgical analysis performed on slags from these furnaces are shown. Also the metallographic study of a cannonball is included. These results reveal that, in spite of the well-known quality of the cast products, the mineral reduction in furnaces was not complete and the associated processes were not totally under the foundryman’s control

Micro- and macro-porosity of dry- and saturatedstate recycled aggregate concrete

Society is becoming aware of the environment and progressively using more recycled aggregates to produce recycled structural aggregate concrete. In addition, many researches have analysed the properties of hardened recycled aggregate concrete, but few of them have focused on the mixing method and the consequences that it has on the properties of concrete. In this research, recycled aggregate concrete using dry, with extra water supply, and saturated recycled aggregate has been prepared. The different mixing conditions induce differences the micro and macroporosity of concrete that have been evaluated by computerized axial tomography, scanning electron microscopy and a new developed methodology, based on digital image analysis, developed to analyse the distribution and size of macroporosity. The software has been implemented in Matlab© and is available to the readers of the journal for downloading and use. The results show that the dry and saturated recycled aggregate lead to very different concrete properties. On the one hand, the use of dry aggregate causes a local reduction of the w/c ratio, increasing heterogeneity and decreasing workability. On the other hand, the saturated aggregate incorporates extra water by adsorption that causes an increase in the water/cement ratio, thus increasing the porosity volume and size of the new mortar of the recycled aggregate concrete

Influence of curing conditions on recycled aggregate concrete

This paper presents the results of a study of permeability and its influence on the durability of recycled concrete exposed to an aggressive environment. Recycled concretes with 20%, 50% and 100% in weight ofrecycled aggregate and 24 effective w/c ratios have been exposed directly to a marine environment. Control specimens cured in a humidity chamber have been also tested in order to compare the influence of the curing environment. The durability of recycled aggregate concretes exposed to aggressive conditions decreases in terms of permeability, as the results show. However, the influence of the environment on the recycled concrete also depends on the quality of the cement paste. The differences between the control and the exposed concrete are lower for low water/cement (w/c) ratios. The lower capillarity obtained in the new cement paste of the recycled concretes with low w/c ratios isolates the porosity of the recycled aggregate, increasing the durability but with a rise in the cement content.The authors wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of the Environment for the funding of this research. The results contained herein have been achieved under the RECNHOR Project (funded by the Spanish Ministry of Environment) and under the CLEAM Project (funded by the Spanish Centre for Industrial Technology Development, CDTI), Code 3.2-358/200 5/3-B, led by the Economic InterestGrouping CLEAM-CENIT, AIE (Acciona, Dragados, Ferrovial, FCC,Sioux, OHL and Sacyr) and SMEs Informatica 68, Quilosa and Martinez Segovia and associates

High performance self-compacting concrete with electric arc furnace slag aggregate and cupola slag powder

The development of self-compacting concretes with electric arc furnace slags is a novelty in the field of materials and the production of high-performance concretes with these characteristics is a further achievement. To obtain these high-strength, low-permeability concretes, steel slag aggregates and cupola slag powder are used. To prove the effectiveness of these concretes, they are compared with control concretes that use diabase aggregates, fly ash, and limestone supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs, also called fillers) and intermediate mix proportions. The high density SCMs give the fresh concrete self-compacting thixotropy using high-density aggregates with no segregation. Moreover, the temporal evolution of the mechanical properties of mortars and concretes shows pozzolanic reactions for the cupola slag. The fulfillment of the demands in terms of stability, flowability, and mechanical properties required for this type of concrete, and the savings of natural resources derived from the valorization of waste, make these sustainable concretes a viable option for countless applications in civil engineerin

Método de medida de la permeabilidad de un material a un gas

Método de medición de la permeabilidad de un material a un gas, que comprende las etapas de: preparación de una probeta de un material cuya permeabilidad a un gas se va a medir; situar dicha probeta en un dispositivo configurado para mantener selladas sus caras laterales; conectar al menos un medio de almacenamiento de gas al extremo de la probeta por el cual entra el gas; conectar un caudalímetro al extremo de la probeta por el cual sale el gas; conectar la salida de un detector de flujo másico comprendido en el caudalímetro a unos medios de conversión de datos conectados a un ordenador; seleccionar al menos tres valores de presión de entrada en un manómetro-regulador; para cada presión de entrada, realizar con el caudalímetro al menos una medida del caudal que atraviesa la probeta, y obtener el coeficiente de permeabilidad K, sustituyendo el valor de caudal promedio en la ecuación de Darcy; obtener el coeficiente de permeabilidad de la probeta a partir del valor promedio de los coeficientes de permeabilidad K.Solicitud: 201300198 (19.02.2013)Nº Pub. de Solicitud: ES2406360A1 (06.06.2013)Nº de Patente: ES2406360B1 (04.03.2014

Caudalímetro para la determinación de la permeabilidad de un material a un gas

Caudalímetro para la medición de la permeabilidad de un material a un gas, que comprende una entrada (configurada para recibir un gas que previamente ha atravesado una probeta de un material cuya permeabilidad a dicho gas se va a medir. Dicho caudalímetro comprende un detector de flujo másico configurado para convertir la cantidad de flujo de gas en un determinado parámetro, donde dicho flujo de gas puede tener un caudal del orden de las centésimas de cm3/s o superior.Solicitud: 201300197 (19.02.2013)Nº Pub. de Solicitud: ES2400592A1 (10.04.2013)Nº de Patente: ES2400592B1 (11.11.2013