New Perspectives in Monitoring Drinking Water Microbial Quality

The safety of drinking water is evaluated by the results obtained from faecal indicators during the stipulated controls fixed by the legislation. However, drinking-water related illness outbreaks are still occurring worldwide. The failures that lead to these outbreaks are relatively common and typically involve preceding heavy rain and inadequate disinfection processes. The role that classical faecal indicators have played in the protection of public health is reviewed and the turning points expected for the future explored. The legislation for protecting the quality of drinking water in Europe is under revision, and the planned modifications include an update of current indicators and methods as well as the introduction of Water Safety Plans (WSPs), in line with WHO recommendations. The principles of the WSP approach and the advances signified by the introduction of these preventive measures in the future improvement of dinking water quality are presented. The expected impact that climate change will have in the quality of drinking water is also critically evaluated

The causal factors of international inequality in CO2 emissions per capita : a regression-based inequality Decomposition Analysis

This paper uses the possibilities provided by the regression-based inequality decomposition (Fields in Res Labor Econ 22:1-38, 2003) to explore the contribution of different explanatory factors to international inequality in CO 2 emissions per capita. In contrast to previous emissions inequality decompositions, which were based on identity relationships, this methodology does not impose any a priori specific relationship. Thus, it allows an assessment of the contribution to inequality of different relevant variables. In short, the paper appraises the relative contributions of affluence, sectoral composition, demographic factors and climate. The analysis is applied to selected years of the period 1993-2007. The results show the important (though decreasing) share of the contribution of demographic factors, as well as a significant contribution of affluence and sectoral composition

Empirics of the International Inequality in CO2 Emissions Intensity : Explanatory Factors According to Complementary Decomposition Methodologies

The authors acknowledge support from XREAP (DGR)This paper analyses the international inequalities in (Formula presented.) emissions intensity for the period 1971-2009 and assesses explanatory factors. Group, additive and multiplicative methodologies of inequality decomposition are employed. The first allows us to understand the role of regional groups; the second allows us to investigate the role of different fossil energy sources (coal, oil and gas); and the third allows us to clarify the separated role of the carbonisation index and the energy intensity in the pattern observed for inequalities in (Formula presented.) intensities. The results show that, first, the reduction in global emissions intensity has coincided with a significant reduction in international inequality. Second, the bulk of this inequality and its reduction are attributed to differences between the groups of countries considered. Third, coal is the main energy source explaining these inequalities, although the growth in the relative contribution of gas is also remarkable. Fourth, the bulk of inequalities between countries and its decline are explained by differences in energy intensities, although there are significant differences in the patterns demonstrated by different groups of countries. The policy implications of these results are discussed

Evaluation of safety-oriented two-version architectures

A Markov model taking into account physical and design faults for a two-version architecture oriented to safety-related applications is developed. Only a probabilistic knowledge of the initial state of the versions in relation to the presence of design faults is assumed. The model can be split into two submodels accounting separately for physical and design faults, and a closed form expression for the unsafety of the system is obtained. The parameter estimation problem is discussed and a method to predict the probability distribution of the number of related design faults at the beginning of the operational life of the system is proposed. The method uses a pool model to process fault-occurrence data collected during a “face-to-face” debugging of the two versions. It has by nature a limited capability for proving version diversity, but it is shown that the limit is of the order of the diversity reported by recent experiments on real software. Finally, the impact of version correction during operation is shown to be negligible for critical applications.Postprint (author’s final draft

The normal distribution in some constrained sample spaces

Phenomena with a constrained sample space appear frequently in practice. This is the case, for example, with strictly positive data, or with compositional data, such as percentages or proportions. If the natural measure of difference is not the absolute one, simple algebraic properties show that it is more convenient to work with a geometry different from the usual Euclidean geometry in real space, and with a measure different from the usual Lebesgue measure, leading to alternative models that better fit the phenomenon under study. The general approach is presented and illustrated using the normal distribution, both on the positive real line and on the D-part simplex. The original ideas of McAlister in his introduction to the lognormal distribution in 1879, are recovered and updated.Peer Reviewe

El uso de SIG de software libre en una práctica de Biología y Geología de 4º de ESO: los ecosistemas.

Para consolidar el conocimiento del bloque del currículo de Biología y Geología de 4º de la E.S.O. (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) relacionado con los ecosistemas, hemos desarrollado una metodología docente basada en los Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG), en la que el objetivo de los estudiantes es crear un shapefile con atributos espaciales e información ecológica sobre los distintos Parques Nacionales de España mediante su digitalización. Se ejemplifica con el procedimiento concreto del Parque Nacional de Doñana. A través del SIG, con un software gratuito para el centro, se aumenta la interactividad del estudiante con la asignatura, se desarrolla la creatividad y se mejora la capacidad de comprender el espacio, mejorando el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje.To consolidate the knowledge curriculum of thematic Block of the 4th year of Biology and Geology of the Spanish Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (E.S.O.), related with the ecosystems, we have developed a teaching methodology based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The students aim is to make a shapefile with space attributes and ecological information about the National Parks of Spain by its digitalization. We have given an example of Doñana National Park (Andalucia). Through the use of GIS and a kind of software with no additional charge to the school, student interactivity with the subject is increased, creativity is developed and their ability to understand space is improved. These skills are very useful for the teaching-learning proces

Recognition of fibrotic infarct density by the pattern of local systolic-diastolic myocardial electrical impedance

Myocardial electrical impedance is a biophysical property of the heart that is influenced by the intrinsic structural characteristics of the tissue. Therefore, the structural derangements elicited in a chronic myocardial infarction should cause specific changes in the local systolic-diastolic myocardial impedance, but this is not known. This study aimed to characterize the local changes of systolic-diastolic myocardial impedance in a healed myocardial infarction model. Six pigs were successfully submitted to 150 min of left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery occlusion followed by reperfusion. 4 weeks later, myocardial impedance spectroscopy (1–1000 kHz) was measured at different infarction sites. The electrocardiogram, left ventricular (LV) pressure, LV dP/dt, and aortic blood flow (ABF) were also recorded. A total of 59 LV tissue samples were obtained and histopathological studies were performed to quantify the percentage of fibrosis. Samples were categorized as normal myocardium (50%). Resistivity of normal myocardium depicted phasic changes during the cardiac cycle and its amplitude markedly decreased in dense scar (18 ± 2 ·cm vs. 10 ± 1 ·cm, at 41 kHz; P < 0.001, respectively). The mean phasic resistivity decreased progressively from normal to heterogeneous and dense scar regions (285 ± 10 ·cm, 225 ± 25 ·cm, and 162 ± 6 ·cm, at 41 kHz; P < 0.001 respectively). Moreover, myocardial resistivity and phase angle correlated significantly with the degree of local fibrosis (resistivity: r = 0.86 at 1 kHz, P < 0.001; phase angle: r = 0.84 at 41 kHz, P < 0.001). Myocardial infarcted regions with greater fibrotic content show lower mean impedance values and more depressed systolic-diastolic dynamic impedance changes. In conclusion, this study reveals that differences in the degree of yocardial fibrosis can be detected in vivo by local measurement of phasic systolic-diastolic bioimpedance spectrum. Once this new bioimpedance method could be used via a catheter-based device, it would be of potential clinical applicability for the recognition of fibrotic tissue to guide the ablation of atrial or ventricular arrhythmias.Award-winningPostprint (published version

Psychometric Properties of the Reynolds Child Depression Scale in Community and Clinical Samples

The factor structure of the Reynolds Child Depression Scale (RCDS; Reynolds, 1989), analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis and the scale's psychometric characteristics in a sample of 315 participants (140 boys and 175 girls) and a clinical sample of 62 participants (37 boys and 25 girls) between 10 and 12 years old, are presented. Two models are tested with confirmatory factor analysis: a one-factor model and a five-factor model. Both models show a good fit, but the one-factor model was chosen because it is the most parsimonious. The reliability coefficient ranged from .87 (at test) to .89 (at retest) in the community sample, and was .90 in the clinical sample (at test). Test-retest reliability was .66 in the community sample. Concurrent validity with other self-reports that measure depressive symptomatology was high, both in the community sample (.76) and the clinical sample (.71). There were no significant sex differences but there were differences due to age (school grade)