New design parameters for biparabolic beach profiles (SW Cadiz, Spain)

165 profiles of seventy-one beaches along the Gulf of Cadiz (SW, Spain) were studied to improve the formulation of the beach profile in tidal seas. Maritime climate, degree of energy exposure and size of the sand grains were taken into account to study the two sections of the biparabolic profile. The objective of the study was the determination of more accurate formulations of the design parameters for the equilibrium profile that involves tidal seas. These formulations were modelled and validated based on existing profiles to quantify the error existing between the real profile and the modelling. This comparative analysis was extended by considering the formulations proposed by other authors. The best results were obtained with the proposal presented herein

Influence of Di erent Sieving Methods on Estimation of Sand Size Parameters

Sieving is one of the most used operational methods to determine sand size parameters which are essential to analyze coastal dynamics. However, the influence of hand versus mechanical shaking methods has not yet been studied. Herein, samples were taken from inside the hopper of a trailing suction dredger and sieved by hand with sieves of 10 and 20 cm diameters on board the dredger. Afterwards, these same samples were sieved with a mechanical shaker in the laboratory on land. The results showed di erences for the main size parameters D50, standard deviation, skewness, and kurtosis. Amongst the main results, it should be noted that the highest values for D50 and kurtosis were given by the small sieves method. On the other hand, the lowest values were given by the mechanical shaker method in the laboratory. Furthermore, standard deviation and skewness did not seem to be a ected by the sieving method which means that all the grainsize distribution was shifted but the shape remained unchanged. The few samples that do not follow these patterns have a higher percentage of shells. Finally and definitely, the small sieves should be rejected as a sieving method aboard

Immobilization of enological pectinase in calcium alginate hydrogels: A potential biocatalyst for winemaking

A biocatalyst was obtained by immobilizing an enological commercial pectinase within calcium alginate hydrogels using an entrapment technique, and its catalytic activity was evaluated during different storage conditions. Hydrogel beads were stored at 4 °C in three different ways: (i) wet, in citrate buffer solution (pH 3.8); (ii) dehydrated by using a vacuum stove; and (iii) freeze-dried. Biocatalyst surface and their internal morphology were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy and a good enzyme distribution throughout alginate matrix was observed. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy results confirmed the presence of absorption bands associated with amino groups present in enzymes. Immobilization procedure did not modify the optimal pH and temperature (pH = 4.0 and 20 °C) for pectinase activity, comparing to free enzyme. Entrapped pectinase showed activity until six reaction cycles with 40% residual activity. Storage stability studies demonstrated that wet entrapped pectinase retained its initial enzymatic activity up to 11 weeks, whereas that lyophilized hydrogels retained its original activity after 8 months of storage. These results suggest that immobilized pectinase may be successfully exploited in various industrial applications, with special concern in grape juice clarification process. Thus, the turbidity of grape must decreased significantly using the immobilized pectinase during 150 min at 20 °C. This biocatalyst could be easily removed after clarification process and it can be reused, minimizing production economic costs in wine industry.Fil: Martín, María Carolina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Industria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, Olivia Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Ciolino, Andrés Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Morata, Vilma Ines. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Industria; ArgentinaFil: Villar, Marcelo Armando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Ninago, Mario Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Industria; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentin

Virtual resources for the improvement of teaching in the course of Port and Coastal Engineering (dregree in Civil Engineering)

Port and Coastal Engineering is a subject included in the third year of the degree in Civil Engineering (Civil Constructions and Hydrology specialty) taught at the Polytechnic School of Algeciras. As this is a subject with a very specific syllabus, there is no textbook (or even appropriate references) that contemplates all the related topics of the whole course. Moreover, there are many students who, for different reasons (repeaters, Erasmus, labour obligations, ...), cannot attend the regular classes. This lack of attendance has been leading to another problem: this kind of students have been leaving the subject for several years. In addition, understanding of the basic concepts becomes even more complicated for Erasmus students enrolled in the subject because of the language barrier. In order to solve this problem, a project of teaching innovation has been launched which consists of the creation of a set of evaluable tasks for the different topics addressed to be performed by the students. In this way, the students are motivated to keep up-to-date the course contents. A comparison of the last year results with those of the preceding five years is provided. Finally, an analysis of the significance of the improvement is also presented

Oxidative Degradation of Thermoplastic Starch Induced by UV Radiation

Among biopolymers, thermoplastic starch (TPS) is a good candidate to obtain biomaterials because of its natural origin, biodegradable character, and processability. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes significant degradation of starch-based materials, inducing photooxidative reactions which result in breaking of polymer chains, production of free radical, and reduction of molar mass. These changes produce a deterioration of TPS mechanical properties, leading to useless materials after an unpredictable time. In this work, changes induced on TPS by UV radiation, analyzing structural properties and mechanical behavior, are studied. TPS was obtained through thermo-mechanical processing of native corn starch in the presence of water (45 % w/w) and glycerol (30 % w/w) as plasticizers. Films were obtained by thermocompression and, before testing, specimens were conditioned to reduce material fragility. Photodegradation process was performed by exposing TPS to 264 h UV radiation in a weathering test chamber. Specimens weight loss was determined gravimetrically. Chemical changes were studied by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and morphological modifications were analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Reduction of weight average molar mass was measured by Static Light Scattering (SLS). Changes in mechanical properties were studied from tensile tests. After 96 h exposure, TPS specimens presented a weight reduction of 4-6%, mainly attributed to plasticizers lost by evaporation. SEM observations showed that UV radiation induced morphological changes on TPS, evidenced by an increment of specimens cracking. By FTIR, it was detected the presence of an additional band located at 1726 cm-1 in samples submitted to UV radiation, attributed to the formation of -C=O groups. Weight average molar mass of native starch was in the order of 107 g mol-1. TPS exposure to UV radiation decreased significantly its molar mass, confirming molecular degradation of the biopolymer. When TPS was exposed during 48 h, it was detected a considerable decrease in elongation at break values (~ 85%), indicating that TPS flexibility was reduced. On the other hand, after 48 h exposure, TPS elastic modulus was 55 times higher than those of the unexposed specimens, evidencing an increase in material rigidity. TPS maximum tensile strength was also increased by UV light, with an increment of ~ 400% after 48 h exposure. Results revealed that starch-based materials can be degraded by exposure to UV radiation, modifying their microstructure and mechanical performance.Fil: Quispe, Mayte Milenka. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Lopez, Olivia Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Villar, Marcelo Armando. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Ingeniería Química; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentin

Analyzing the main determinants of being a cultural traveler: the case of domestic cultural trips in Spain

Purpose: Analyzing the main determinants that lead a traveler to make a cultural trip is an important issue to understand where the cultural tourism market is going, and where the decision-makers should intervene. This study helps develop a profile of cultural tourism participants, and underscore the changes in this market niche. This information is crucial for the successful marketing and development of cultural tourism in the future. Design/methodology/approach: The authors estimate a binary probabilistic (logit) model to determine the probability of a tourist to travel for cultural reasons, as a function of the traveler's socio-economic characteristic (e.g. age, gender, income or level of studies), of the trip-related characteristics (e.g. distance traveled to destination or mode of transport) and of the characteristics of the province of destination (e.g. weather conditions or existence of cultural sites at destination). Findings: This study’s estimates reveal that middle-aged individuals, with a higher level of studies and with a medium level of income show a higher propensity to travel for cultural reasons. The latter finding evidences that cultural tourism has evolved from a niche market reserved for an elite clientele to a much wider range of people. Additionally, cultural travelers tend to travel statistically much longer distances. They are less prone to visit crowded destinations, prefer visiting destinations with important cultural sites, and are less sensitive to weather conditions. Finally, the authors discover a complementary effect of culture tourism and other activities carried out during the trip such as visiting cities or theme parks; and a substitution effect with “beach-and-sun” tourism. Practical implications The information given in this study can be crucial for the successful marketing and development of cultural tourism in the future. A better understanding of the main determinants of being a cultural traveler implies a better and a more efficient implementation of managerial and political measures to attract a kind of tourism characterized by a high spending capacity. Originality/value Discovering the main determinants of being a cultural traveler is a topic scarcely treated in the literature. This study has the main originality to include characteristics of the destination (pull factors) to explain the individual's decision to take a cultural trip. Moreover, the authors work at a provincial (NUTS-3) level of analysis, which makes this study original in the field of cultural touris

Outflow of hot and cold molecular gas from the obscured secondary nucleus of NGC3256: closing in on feedback physics

The nuclei of merging galaxies are often deeply buried in dense layers of gas and dust. In these regions, gas outflows driven by starburst and AGN activity are believed to play a crucial role in the evolution of these galaxies. However, to fully understand this process it is essential to resolve the morphology and kinematics of such outflows. Using near-IR integral-field spectroscopy obtained with VLT/SINFONI, we detect a kpc-scale structure of high-velocity molecular hydrogen (H2) gas associated with the deeply buried secondary nucleus of the IR-luminous merger NGC3256. We show that this structure is likely the hot component of a molecular outflow, which is detected also in the cold molecular gas by Sakamoto et al. This outflow, with a molecular gas mass of M(H2)~2x10^7 Msun, is among the first to be spatially resolved in both the hot H2 gas with VLT/SINFONI and the cold CO-emitting gas with ALMA. The hot and cold components share a similar morphology and kinematics, with a hot-to-cold molecular gas mass ratio of ~6x10^-5. The high (~100 pc) resolution at which we map the geometry and velocity structure of the hot outflow reveals a biconical morphology with opening angle ~40 deg and gas spread across a FWZI~1200 km/s. Because this collimated outflow is oriented close to the plane of the sky, the molecular gas may reach maximum intrinsic outflow velocities of ~1800 km/s, with an average mass outflow rate of at least ~20 Msun/yr. By modeling the line-ratios of various near-IR H2 transitions, we show that the H2 gas in the outflow is heated through shocks or X-rays to a temperature of ~1900K. The energy needed to drive the outflow is likely provided by a hidden Compton-thick AGN or by the nuclear starburst. We show that the global kinematics of the molecular outflow in NGC3256 mimic those of CO-outflows that have been observed at low spatial resolution in starburst- and active galaxies.Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics (accepted 29 Aug 2014 v.3, initial submission v.1 14 March 2014), 13 pages, 8 figure

β-Thalassaemia Major in a Spanish Patient due to a Compound Heterozygosity for CD39 C → T/−28 A → C

A Spanish male patient with β-thalassaemia major was studied. Compound heterozygosity was found for one of the most common β-globin gene mutations in the Spanish population (codon 39 C → T) and for a mutation in the TATA box element of the β-globin gene promoter (−28 A → C mutation). To our knowledge this is the first report of a CD39 C → T and −28 A → C change association and the first report of the −28 A → C substitution in a Spanish patient

Neuroeducación y desempeño profesional de las docentes de educación inicial de instituciones educativas públicas de La Victoria - Chiclayo, 2023

El presente estudio tuvo como objetivo determinar la relación entre neuroeducación y desempeño de las docentes del nivel inicial de Instituciones Públicas del Distrito La Victoria – Chiclayo ya que la neuroeducación se constituye como eje central de la toma de las mejores decisiones pedagógicas para optimizar el aprendizaje. La metodología utilizada fue básica, cuantitativo no experimental, correlacional, se utilizaron como instrumentos cuestionarios de adaptación de la escala neuroeducativa y del desempeño docente, la población constó de 66 docentes a la cual en su totalidad se le aplicó ambos instrumentos; los resultados obtenidos del estudio apuntan a la existencia de correlación significativa entre ambas variables habiéndose aplicado para tal efecto el Rho de Spearman, con una correlación de 0,717, así mismo se halló relación entre la neuroeducación y las dimensiones preparación para el aprendizaje con 0,663; enseñanza para el aprendizaje con 0,579; participación en la gestión de la escuela articulada a la comunidad con 0,608 y profesionalidad e identidad docente con 0,472. Las conclusiones fueron las siguientes: Existe relación significativa entre neuroeducación y las dimensiones preparación para el aprendizaje, enseñanza para el aprendizaje, participación en la gestión de la escuela articulada a la comunidad y profesionalidad e identidad docente

Estrategia de marketing para la recaudación del impuesto predial en una municipalidad distrital de Luya

La investigación titulada: Estrategia de marketing para mejorar la recaudación del impuesto predial en una Municipalidad distrital de Luya, tuvo como objetivos diagnosticar la problemática de la recaudación del impuesto predial en una municipalidad distrital de Luya, analizar la situación de los ingresos del impuesto predial en los últimos cinco años, diagnosticar los factores causantes de la problemática del impuesto predial, diseñar una estrategia de marketing para mejorar la recaudación del impuesto predial en el distrito, validar la propuesta estratégica de marketing para mejorar la recaudación del impuesto predial. La investigación es de tipo básica, con diseño descriptivo propositivo, se realizó con una muestra de 89 contribuyentes quienes fueron elegidos en forma no probabilística por conveniencia. De los resultados se concluye que el 50% de los contribuyentes de la Municipalidad de Luya conocen sobre el Impuesto Predial, es por ello que se concreta la necesidad de mejorar los conocimientos de los ciudadanos para fortalecer su cultura tributaria, a fin de que toda la población forme parte de la transformación que la ciudad necesita y no sólo conozca, sino que se cumplan con el pago oportuno de su impuesto predial.ChiclayoEscuela de PosgradoReforma y Modernización del EstadoDesarrollo sostenible, emprendimientos y responsabilidad social.Desarrollo económico, empleo y emprendimientoCiudades y comunidades sostenible