Earthen vernacular architecture in flood-prone areas: characteristics and typologies in the Ebro basin

[EN] Earthen architecture is one of Spain's longest-standing construction traditions, used from antiquity to the mid-twentieth century. Given its hygroscopic nature, earthen architecture is generally seen as barely resistant to water and as more associated with geographical areas with hot and dry climates. However, it is found in different places with different climate and geographical characteristics. In these surroundings, its survival over time has been ensured by a process of adaptation and modification producing architectural and constructive forms which reflect the identity of the geographical areas in question. One of the main risks to earthen architecture are floods, which have always represented a threat to this architectural heritage. The increased frequency and intensity of floods due to climate change have in turn gradually given rise to an increasing risk of disappearance for this architectural heritage. This paper aims to study the typologies and features of earthen vernacular architecture in flood-prone areas through the analysis of case studies in the Ebro basin. The study of earthen buildings in the area under study provides information on the most recurrent architectural features and vulnerabilities, as well as the inherent resistance which has enabled this earthen architectural heritage to survive. Moreover, a study of the pathologies and structural damage visible on buildings highlights those which are a direct consequence of the action of water and can potentially affect structural behaviour during a flood. Aiming to establish conservation strategies for earthen architectural heritage the data collected are analysed using a qualitative vulnerability assessment methodology, establishing the degree of influence of individual characteristics on the response of earthen structures to floods.This work is part of the research project “Earthen architecture in the Iberian Peninsula: study of natural, social and anthropic risks and strategies to improve resilience” Risk-Terra (ref. RTI2018-095302-B-I00; main researchers: Camilla Mileto and Fernando Vegas), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University.Trizio, F.; Torrijo Echarri, FJ.; Mileto, C.; Vegas López-Manzanares, F. (2022). Earthen vernacular architecture in flood-prone areas: characteristics and typologies in the Ebro basin. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 205-212. https://doi.org/10.4995/HERITAGE2022.2022.1450320521

Modelos de Empresas Sociales: Análisis Comparado

Las empresas sociales han recibido un gran impulso a partir de la “Social Business Initiative” promovida por la Comisión Europea en 2011. La empresa social surge como un nuevo modelo de empresa que trata de resolver diferentes problemas sociales, y está vinculada a la Economía Social. Sin embargo, debido a distintos factores de su origen, el concepto de empresa social difiere en los distintos países. Así en este trabajo los objetivos son: en primer lugar, examinar los diferentes modelos y características de las empresas sociales, atendiendo al modelo europeo y el modelo anglosajón. En segundo lugar, realizar un análisis comparado de la empresa social Francia, Alemania, Italia, Reino Unido y España. En tercer lugar, valorar su actual influencia en la sociedad y economía, y tratar de pronosticar hacia qué dirección tienden a converger las futuras políticas y acciones de los agentes involucrados

La presencia de mujeres en los consejos de administración de las sociedades cotizadas

El trabajo versa sobre la presencia de mujeres en los consejos de administración de las sociedades cotizadas. Abordando, por un lado, la situación en la que se encuentran las sociedades cotizadas en distintos países europeos, Noruega por ser el precursor de la política de igualdad en esta materia y el caso francés por la regulación que ha llevado a cabo. Asimismo, repasaremos la legislación que ha marcado la política de igualdad española, apoyándonos en la regulación más reciente que se ha llevado a cabo en nuestro país, en especial en la Ley Orgánica por la Igualdad efectiva entre Mujeres y Hombres y la reciente modificación de la Ley de Sociedades de Capital, así como en las Recomendaciones del Código de Buen gobierno corporativo de 2015

The Influence of Thermal History on the Multistage Transformation of NiTi Shape-Memory Alloys

The multistage martensitic phase transformation of a polycrystalline NiTi shape-memory alloy (50.3 at. %Ni-49.7 at. % Ti) has been studied by means of calorimetric measurements. After a conventional thermal treatment followed by successive thermal cycles, the initial two-step forward transformation splits into four-overlapping stages. However, the reverse martensitic transformation maintains the initial two-step sequence, usually assigned to the B19'-> R -> B2 transformation. The correlation between the forward and reverse steps has been established by means of selected thermal cycles together with an estimation of their enthalpy and thermal hysteresis. These results have also provided information about the storage of the elastic strain energy and the frictional works associated with the variants' nucleation. Moreover, the study around the forward transformation temperature range by means of uncompleted thermal cycles undoubtedly shows the presence of temperature memory effects in both stages.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO, CONSOLIDER-INGENIO 2010 CSD2009-00013, as well as by the Consolidated Research Group IT-1090-16 and the ELKARTEK-ACTIMAT project from the Education and Industry Departments of the Basque Government. The University of the Basque Country has also supported this work with the Research Group grant: UPV/EHU GIU17/071. The authors appreciate the cooperation of J. Rodriguez-Aseguinolaza in the thermal treatments of the samples

Design and Empirical Validation of a LoRaWAN IoT Smart Irrigation System

[Abstract] In some parts of the world, climate change has led to periods of drought that require managing efficiently the scarce water and energy resources. This paper proposes an IoT smart irrigation system specifically designed for urban areas where remote IoT devices have no direct access to the Internet or to the electrical grid, and where wireless communications are difficult due to the existence of long distances and multiple obstacles. To tackle such issues, this paper proposes a LoRaWAN-based architecture that provides long distance and communications with reduced power consumption. Specifically, the proposed system consists of IoT nodes that collect sensor data and send them to local fog computing nodes or to a remote cloud, which determine an irrigation schedule that considers factors such as the weather forecast or the moist detected by nearby nodes. It is essential to deploy the IoT nodes in locations within the provided coverage range and that guarantee good speed rates and reduced energy consumption. Due to this reason, this paper describes the use of an in-house 3D-ray launching radio-planning tool to determine the best locations for IoT nodes on a real medium-scale scenario (a university campus) that was modeled with precision, including obstacles such as buildings, vegetation, or vehicles. The obtained simulation results were compared with empirical measurements to assess the operating conditions and the radio planning tool accuracy. Thus, it is possible to optimize the wireless network topology and the overall performance of the network in terms of coverage, cost, and energy consumption.This work was funded by Xunta de Galicia (ED431C 2016-045, ED431G/01) and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España (MCIU/AEI/FEDER,UE), Project RTI2018-095499-B-C31Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2016-045Xunta de Galicia; ED431G/0

Building Decentralized Fog Computing-Based Smart Parking Systems: From Deterministic Propagation Modeling to Practical Deployment

[Abstract] The traditional process of finding a vacant parking slot is often inefficient: it increases driving time, traffic congestion, fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. To address such problems, smart parking systems have been proposed to help drivers to find available parking slots faster using latest sensing and communications technologies. However, the deployment of the communications infrastructure of a smart parking is not straightforward due to multiple factors that may affect wireless propagation. Moreover, a smart parking system needs to provide not only accurate information on available spots, but also fast responses while guaranteeing the system availability even in the case of lacking connectivity. This article describes the development of a decentralized low-latency smart parking system: from its conception, design and theoretical simulation, to its empirical validation. Thus, this work first characterizes a real-world scenario and proposes a fog computing and Internet of Things (IoT) based communications architecture to provide smart parking services. Next, a thorough analysis on the wireless channel properties is carried out by means of an in-house developed deterministic 3D-Ray Launching (3D-RL) tool. The obtained results are validated through a real-world measurement campaign and then the communications architecture is implemented by using ZigBee sensor nodes. The implemented architecture also makes use of Bluetooth Low Energy beacons, an Android app, a decentralized database and fog computing gateways, whose performance is evaluated in terms of response latency and processing rate. Results show that the proposed system is able to deliver information to the drivers fast, with no need for relying on remote servers. As a consequence, the presented development methodology and communications evaluation tool can be useful for future smart parking developers, which can determine the optimal locations of the wireless transceivers during the simulation stage and then deploy a system that can provide fast responses and decentralized services.Xunta de Galicia; ED431G2019/01Agencia Estatal de Investigación of Spain; TEC2016-75067-C4-1-RAgencia Estatal de Investigación of Spain; RED2018-102668-TAgencia Estatal de Investigación of Spain; PID2019-104958RB-C42Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; RTI2018-095499-B-C3