Effects of flooding on mental health: a case-control study

3rd International Congress on Neurobiology, Psychopharmacology & Treatment guidance (May 30th - June 2nd, 2013)Background: Post-disaster mental health problems may affect population in different ways. Population exposure to a natural disaster has been associated with psychological distress, in particular, in the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Most people experience distress after their exposure to an extreme event. For people with good psychosocial resilience and access to social support, mental health problems can be relatively less important since supporting relationships and inner capabilities may begin the adaptation processes. Mental disorders occur often, but less commonly than dis-tress, and in some cases they may require intensive and long term continuing interventions and treatment

Interactions between climate, growth and seed production in Spanish black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii) forests in Cuenca Mountains (Spain)

Tree growth is regulated by a combination of exogenous and endogenous factors. Such factors also interact with each other, complicating the understanding of causal links. IN particular, resource allocation is sensitive to reproductive investment, especially in masting species, which in turn is regulated by climatic variables. Both resource allocation and seed production patterns are also sensitive to tree age. This study aims to (1) evaluate the effects of tree age and local and regional climate on tree ring width and seed production by Spanish black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii) forest in Cuenca Mountains (Spain), and (2) assess the relationship between seed production and secondary growth of Spanish black pine. Seed fall was estimated using 60 rectangular seed traps (40 x\u97 50 x\u97 15 cm) from 2000 to 2014, randomly distributed across the study area. Standardized tree-ring chronologies were calculated using a random sample of 106 trees stratified into three age classes (> 80 years; 26-\u80\u9380 years, and < 25 years). Local climate data was obtained from a meteorological station, and regional climate data from the CRU-TS 3.1 dataset. Average seed production ranged over time from 2 to 189 seeds m\u88\u922(coefficient of variation = 157%). We identified four masting years (2000, 2003, 2006, and 2014) using a classification based on percentile seed production. Seed production was regulated by climate of the previous 2-3 years, while tree growth responded to precipitation and temperature in the previous and current year. Independent of climate, high seed production had a negative effect on tree ring width and weakened climate growth relationships, indicating resource depletion. Tree age modulated climate sensitivity, increasing correlations between climate and tree-ring index in older trees. P. nigra has been showed to be a climate sensitive species with a bimodal masting behaviour, which should be taking into account for management purposes and silvicultural guidelines under climate change scenarios

Estudio sobre la integracion de la prevencion en la fase de redaccion de los proyectos en España. analisis comparativo respecto de los paises - EU-15

España es uno de los países europeos con mayor índice de siniestralidad en el ámbito de la construcción, pero contradictoriamente cuenta con una normativa muy amplia y relativamente novedosa. En el ámbito europeo, también se considera esta actividad de alto riesgo, de hecho el Consejo de las Comunidades Europeas, en su Resolución de 21 de diciembre de 1987, seleccionó a la construcción entre las tres de mayor riesgo y encargó a la Comisión la elaboración de una Directiva que culminó en la identificada como 92/57 CEE, de 24 de junio de 1992, relativa a la actividad de la construcción, mientras que la transposición a nuestro ordenamiento jurídico se realizó mediante el RD 1627/97, de 24 de octubre. El estudio de las distintas transposiciones de la Directiva 92/57/CEE a cada uno de los ordenamientos jurídicos de cada uno de los países que conforman la Europa de los 15 a través de la información facilitada por distintos Organismos Europeos tales como la Agencia Europea de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo o el CEN - European Comité for Standardisation, nos ha proporcionado, mediante su análisis, contraste y discusión de dicha documentación, información de cómo llevar a cabo las distintas obligaciones de los agentes intervinientes en el proceso constructivo que emanan de la Directiva 92/57/CEE. Asimismo, hemos podido conocer las ventajas e inconvenientes legales de cada uno de ellos así como reflexionar sobre la idoneidad en la gestión de la prevención en las obras de construcción de España respecto de lo estipulado en estos ordenamientos jurídicos. De igual forma, en este estudio se ha analizado la metodología, conocimiento y gestión de los arquitectos españoles redactores de proyectos de ejecución a la hora de integrar la prevención en sus proyectos de ejecución a lo largo de las distintas fases del proceso de redacción. El estudio ha contado con la participación de 145 arquitectos redactores de proyectos de ejecución sobre una población aproximada de 11.844 arquitectos en España en la misma condición en los últimos años

Highly Versatile Coplanar Waveguide Line With Electronically Reconfigurable Bandwidth and Propagation Characteristics

[EN] This paper describes a coplanar waveguide coupled to two split-ring resonators that, in turn, are loaded with two different reactive elements. By these means, balanced composite right/left-handed-like (CRLH-like) and also dual balanced CRLH-like (D-CRLH-like) responses can be obtained with the same structure showing opposite propagation characteristics. This behavior is achieved by simply varying one of the reactive elements, i.e., the capacitive or inductive load. The physical behavior of these transmission lines has been successfully explained by means of a single equivalent circuit. Besides, the proposed transmission lines have an extended bandwidth due to the balanced nature of the structure. The bandwidth of these lines can be electronically controlled using varactor diodes reverse-biased by an external dc voltage. Thus, a reconfigurable cell with CRLH-like and D-CRLH-like propagation has been designed and manufactured. The simulated and measured results show fractional bandwidths from 0% (no transmission) to 9.3% for simulations and from 0% (no transmission) to 8.7% for measurements. Undoubtedly, these new proposed transmission lines will be useful for designing reconfigurable devices that can be used in future communication systems such as radar, wireless applications, global positioning systems, or radio-frequency identification systems, among others.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spanish Government, under Research Project TEC2013-47037-C05-3-R and Research Project TEC2013-47037-C05-1-R and by the Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte under the Fellowship Program for Training University Professors.Martinez Cano, L.; Lucas Borja, A.; Boria Esbert, VE.; Belenguer, A. (2017). Highly Versatile Coplanar Waveguide Line With Electronically Reconfigurable Bandwidth and Propagation Characteristics. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. 65(1):128-135. https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2016.2613526S12813565

Design and Performance of a High-Q Narrow Bandwidth Bandpass Filter in Empty Substrate Integrated Coaxial Line at Ku-Band

[EN] This letter presents the design and performance of a planar narrow bandwidth bandpass filter with high quality factor. The structure is composed of an empty substrate integrated coaxial line with the center conductor suspended in air. The component dimensions have been calculated by means of classical microwave filter design theory. The filter has been manufactured using standard printed circuit board fabrication processes. A measured insertion loss of 1.59 dB, 2.93% fractional bandwidth, and a Q-factor of 1505 have been obtained at 15 GHz. A Q-factor comparison with other substrate and empty substrate integrated technologies shows the advantages of the solution considered in this letter. The proposed filter proves to be suitable for the implementation of integrated microwave or millimeterwave subsystems with severe restrictions, i.e., low in-band losses, very narrow bandpass responses, low frequency dispersion, high out-of-band rejection, and low manufacturing cost.This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spanish Goverment, under Project TEC2016-75934-C4-X-R and Project TEC2016-75934-C4-1-R.Lucas Borja, A.; Belenguer, A.; Esteban González, H.; Boria Esbert, VE. (2017). Design and Performance of a High-Q Narrow Bandwidth Bandpass Filter in Empty Substrate Integrated Coaxial Line at Ku-Band. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters. 27(11):977-979. https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWC.2017.2750118S977979271

Pinus halepensis M. versus Quercus ilex subsp. Rotundifolia L. runoff and soil erosion at pedon scale under natural rainfall in Eastern Spain three decades after a forest fire

Afforestation aims to recover the vegetation cover, and restore natural ecosystems. The plant species selected for restoration will determine species richness and the fate of the ecosystem. Research focussing on the impact of vegetation recovery on soil quality are abundant, especially on fire affected land and where rehabilitation, afforestation and restoration projects were carried out. However, little is known about how different plants species affect soil erosion and water losses, which are key factors that will impact the fate of the afforested land. Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis M.) is the species commonly used for afforestation in the Mediterranean and is very successful when natural recovery takes place, however, the original forests were composed of Holm oaks (Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia L.). There is little information about the hydrological and erosional impact of this change of vegetation cover stimulated by a millennia old forest use in the Mediterranean, and a century old afforestation policies and natural recovery as a consequence of land abandonment. To get insights in the effect of plant species on runoff generation and soil erosion, individual trees should be selected. Plots of 1 m2 are necessary to identify homogeneous patches, and were installed under Aleppo pine (4 plots) and Holm oaks (4 plots) in a 30 (34)-years old plant cover recovered after a forest fire that took place in 1979. A raingauge was installed in the study site to characterize the rainfall. The soil erosion plots were built with metal borders and each plot drained to a collector (gutter) and a 60 L container to store the surface runoff. Runoff was measured after each rainfall event and sediment concentration was determined by desiccation. Results show that Aleppo pine covered soils yield six times more runoff (232 mm, 8.31%) than Holm oaks (40 mm, 1.4%) during the experimental period of 2010-2014, when rainfall amount 2,721.1 mm. Runoff sediment concentration was higher in the Aleppo pine plots (4.9 g l 1) than in the Holm oaks plots (2.6 g l 1). Soil erosion rate was ten times higher in Aleppo pine (2.6 Mg ha 1 y 1) than in Holm oaks (0.26 Mg ha 1 y 1)

Krylov's solver based technique for the cascade connection of multiple n-port multimodal scattering matrices

“© 2013 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.”In this paper, a novel technique for cascading generalized scattering matrices based on a Krylov's iterative solver is presented. This new technique is fully general, since it can be applied to solve the connection of an arbitrary number of networks, each one with an arbitrary number of ports, and it is easy to implement. This technique is able to compute, not only the modal spectra at the free ports of the global network, but also the modal spectra at the connected ports, so that the field inside the full network can be computed for an arbitrary incidence. In addition, this technique can also be used to evaluate the scattering parameters of the global network.Belenguer Martínez, Á.; Díaz Caballero, E.; Esteban González, H.; Lucas Borja, A.; Cascon Lopez, J. (2013). Krylov's solver based technique for the cascade connection of multiple n-port multimodal scattering matrices. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques. 61(2):720-726. doi:10.1109/TMTT.2012.2231696S72072661

Highly efficient heterogeneous modal superposition method for the full-wave analysis of arbitrarily shaped H-plane structures fed through rectangular waveguides

This paper is a preprint of a paper submitted to IET Microwaves Antennas and Propagation and is subject to Institution of Engineering and Technology Copyright. If accepted, the copy of record will be available at IET Digital LibraryA new fully modal characterisation procedure is proposed to reduce the number of unknowns needed to characterise the ports of an arbitrary H-plane device in rectangular waveguide, so that no equivalent currents will be involved in the characterisation of the ports. Moreover, since no currents are needed to characterise the ports, the weights of the scattered modes can be unknowns of the resulting system of equations. This is an important fact, since, to find the wanted modal weights, a subsequent projection step is not necessary anymore. The new method is then advantageous when compared to other hybrid alternatives in the literature, not only because the ports are solved using fewer unknowns, which is the main advantage of the proposal, but also because the scattering parameters can be computed directly, once the system of equations is posed.This work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spanish Government, under Research Project TEC2007-67630-C03-01 and by the Autonomous Government of Castilla-La Mancha under Research Project PPII10-0047-0220.Belenguer Martínez, Á.; Esteban González, H.; Boria Esbert, VE.; Lucas Borja, A.; Cascón López, J. (2011). Highly efficient heterogeneous modal superposition method for the full-wave analysis of arbitrarily shaped H-plane structures fed through rectangular waveguides. IET Microwaves Antennas and Propagation. 5(7):747-755. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-map.2010.0297S74775557Thiele, G., & Newhouse, T. (1975). A hybrid technique for combining moment methods with the geometrical theory of diffraction. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 23(1), 62-69. doi:10.1109/tap.1975.1141004Burnside, W.D., and Pathak, P.H.: ‘A summary of hybrid solutions involving moment methods and GTD’, Strait, B.J., Applications of the method of moments to electromagnetic fields, (SCEEE Press, St. Cloud, FL 1980), p. 629–636Theron, I. P., Davidson, D. B., & Jakobus, U. (2000). Extensions to the hybrid method of moments/uniform GTD formulation for sources located close to a smooth convex surface. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 48(6), 940-945. doi:10.1109/8.865227Dong-Ho Han, Polycarpou, A. C., & Balanis, C. A. (2002). Hybrid analysis of reflector antennas including higher order interactions and blockage effects. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, 50(11), 1514-1524. doi:10.1109/tap.2002.803952Tiberi, G., Rosace, S., Monorchio, A., Manara, G., & Mittra, R. (2003). Electromagnetic scattering from large faceted conducting bodies by using analytically derived characteristic basis functions. IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, 2, 290-293. doi:10.1109/lawp.2003.822203Belenguer, A., Esteban, H., Boria, V. E., Bachiller, C., & Morro, J. V. (2010). Hybrid Mode Matching and Method of Moments Method for the Full-Wave Analysis of Arbitrarily Shaped Structures Fed Through Canonical Waveguides Using Only Electric Currents. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 58(3), 537-544. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2010.2040353Wu, X. H., & Kishk, A. A. (2008). Hybrid of Method of Moments and Cylindrical Eigenfunction Expansion to Study Substrate Integrated Waveguide Circuits. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 56(10), 2270-2276. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2008.2004255Balanis, C.A.: ‘Antenna theory: analysis and design’, 2nd(John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York 1997)Clemmow, P.C.: ‘The plane wave spectrum representation of electromagnetic fields’, (IEEE Press/OUP 1996),ser. IEEE Press/OUP Series on Electromagnetic Wave TheoryHarrington, R.F.: ‘Field computation by moment methods’, (IEEE Press/OUP 1993),ser. IEEE Press/OUP Series on Electromagnetic Wave TheoryMorro, J. V., Esteban, H., Boria, V. E., Bachiller, C., & Belenguer, A. (2008). Optimization techniques for the efficient design of low-cost satellite filters considering new light materials. International Journal of RF and Microwave Computer-Aided Engineering, 18(2), 168-175. doi:10.1002/mmce.20264Marcuvitz, N.: ‘Waveguide handbook’, (IEE Electromagnetic Wave Series 21, London 1986)Peterson, A.F., Ray, S.L., and Mittra, R.: ‘Computational methods for electromagnetics’, (IEEE Press/OUP 1997),ser. IEEE Press/OUP Series on Electromagnetic Wave TheoryBachiller, C., Gonzalez, H. E., Esbert, V. E. B., Martinez, A. B., & Morro, J. V. (2007). Efficient Technique for the Cascade Connection of Multiple Two-Port Scattering Matrices. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 55(9), 1880-1886. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2007.90407

Novel information on the cranial anatomy of the tapejarine pterosaur Caiuajara dobruskii

Caiuajara dobruskii is a tapejarid pterosaur from the Cretaceous of the 'Cemitério dos Pterossauros' (pterosaur graveyard) site, a unique pterosaur bonebed which is located at the municipality of Cruzeiro do Oeste (Paraná, Brazil). Preliminary inferences on Caiuajara morphology were founded on a few partial skeletons, with no detail on the skull anatomy. Here we describe a new specimen from the pterosaur graveyard site, which corresponds to the most complete skull of Caiuajara dobruskii known so far. Furthermore, we describe and compare other specimens including the holotype, a paratype, and several other undescribed specimens. The new specimen preserves the posterior portion of the skull, allowing a better comprehension of its morphology and provides an appreciation of the anatomic structures of the basicranium, enabling better interpretation of this region. We also described the lower jaw of Caiuajara, reporting a unique feature of its symphyseal which adds to the diagnosis for the species. A variability in the premaxillary crest is also noted in different specimens of Caiuajara, which might be interpreted as sexual dimorphism or ontogenetic variability. Therefore, those new findings allow a better comprehension of its skull and enables a more precise comparison between the skulls of those extinct flying reptiles