Aprendre colcant. Projecte de mobilitat de l’IES Felanitx

L’article descriu una proposta d’innovació consistent a fomentar la mobilitat sostenible entre la comunitat educativa de l’IES Felanitx mitjançant l’ús de la bicicleta. Els objectius del projecte són reduir el caos circulatori que hi ha diàriament a l’entrada i sortida de l’institut i alleugerir la contaminació ocasionada pels vehicles de motor que hi acudeixen. Es desenvolupen tres actuacions diferents: «La bicicleta en Educació Física», adreçada als alumnes de 1r i 3r d’ESO i 1r de batxillerat; «Circuit natural», activitats realitzades en circuits naturals, i «Amb bici pertot», foment de l’ús de la bici entre personal docent i no docent del centre. Cadascuna de les actuacions compta amb una metodologia de treball determinada. En termes generals, ha calgut desenvolupar protocols d’actuació amb relació a la seguretat (posada a punt de la bicicleta, ús del casc, coordinació abans de cada sortida amb els serveis de policia local, etc.), els signes vials (normativa de circulació per carretera i zones urbanes) i la lectura d’instruments d’orientació (mapes, plànols, etc.). Els resultats d’aquesta innovació afavoreixen una millora de la qualitat de vida dels alumnes gràcies a l’adquisició d’un hàbit saludable; el foment de l’ús d’un mitjà de transport que respecta el medi ambient; la reducció del caos circulatori que s’origina diàriament; la incidència en els temes transversals d’educació per a la salut i el medi ambient, i la valoració i descobriment del paisatge, l’arquitectura, l’entorn i les característiques més rellevants de la ciutat de Felanitx

Mercury concentrations in lean fish from the Western Mediterranean Sea: Dietary exposure and risk assessment in the population of the Balearic Islands

The present study reports total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) concentrations in 32 different lean fish species from the Western Mediterranean Sea, with a special focus on the Balearic Islands. The concentrations of THg ranged between 0.05mg/kg ww and 3.1mg/kg ww (mean 0.41mg/kg ww). A considerable number of the most frequently fish species consumed by the Spanish population exceed the maximum levels proposed by the European legislation when they originate from the Mediterranean Sea, such as dusky grouper (100% of the examined specimens), common dentex (65%), conger (45%), common sole (38%), hake (26%) and angler (15%), among others. The estimated weekly intakes (EWI) in children (7-12 years of age) and adults from the Spanish population (2.7µg/kg bw and 2.1µg/kg bw, respectively) for population only consuming Mediterranean fish were below the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) of THg established by EFSA in 2012, 4µg/kg bw. However, the equivalent estimations for methylmercury, involving PTWI of 1.3µg/kg bw, were two times higher in children and above 50% in adults. For hake, sole, angler and dusky grouper, the most frequently consumed fish, the estimated weekly intakes in both children and adults were below the maximum levels accepted. These intakes correspond to maximum potential estimations because fish from non-Mediterranean origin is often consumed by the Spanish population including the one from the Balearic Islands

Abrupt wind regime changes in the North Atlantic Ocean during the past 30,000-60,000 years

The inputs of higher plants in Blake Outer Ridge (subtropical western North Atlantic) during marine isotope stage 3 (MIS3) have been recorded at high resolution by quantification of C23–C33 odd carbon numbered n-alkanes and C20–C30 even carbon numbered n-alkan-1-ols in sediment sections of Ocean Drilling Program Site 1060. The changes of these proxies at this open marine site are mainly related to eolian inputs. Their concentrations and fluxes exhibit major abrupt variations that are correlated with Dansgaard/Oeschger (D/O) patterns in Greenland ice cores. The ratios between interstadials and stadials range between 2 and 9 times. The intense flux increases in the D/O stadials are linked to strong enhancements of the westerly wind regime at these subtropical latitudes during stadials. The observed variation was paralleled by changes in wind-blown dust and the polar circulation index in Greenland ice, which is in agreement with previously hypothesized atmospheric teleconnections between northern and middle-low latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The close correspondence between sedimentary and ice core proxies is evidence that crossings of the glacial climate thresholds involved major reorganizations of the troposphere. The observed large rise in higher plant biomarkers indicates that climate stabilization in the D/O stadial conditions led to main increases in wind intensity

Determination of the Jenkinson and Collison's weather types for the western Mediterranean basin over the 1948-2009 period. Temporal analysis

We determined the weather type, according to the Jenkinson and Collison procedure, of the 22 646 days in the 1948-2009 period for the western Mediterranean basin. The analysis is based upon the surface pressure values of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, for a grid of nine points with extreme vertices at 45º N, 5º W and 35º N, 15º E, which provides a broad synoptic catalogue for this region. We analyzed the trends of the types and their different groupings during the same period. The most frequent type is U (undetermined), with an annual average of approximately 100 days (99.4, 27.2%), followed by type A (anticyclone), with 75.5 days/ year (20.7%), and C (depression), with 67.8 days/year (18.6%). The high frequency of type U is due to the habitual pressure of baric fields with a low gradient over Mediterranean waters in the warm half of the year. According to their directions, the types from the west are the most frequent and those from the south, the least. The monthly regime of the most frequent types and groupings is quite regular; type C groups, as well as advective and cyclonic curvature groups, present summertime minima and maxima in the cold half of the year, whereas the opposite occurs with types U and A. The main statistically significant annual trends in the 1948-2009 period involve a decrease in type A (4.19 days/decade, that is,29.0%) and an increase in type U, the cyclonic types and those presenting an easterly component. On comparing the 31-yr sub-periods 1948-1978 and 1979-2009, the tendencies of A and U were confirmed, and increases can generally be seen in the types presenting an easterly component and a decrease in those with a westerly component. The variation in type A ranged from 2490 days in the first sub-period to 2192 in the second one (p = 0.000), mainly concentrated in summer and autumn. This evident reduction of type A coincides, paradoxically, with an increase in the sea surface pressure variable (+0.31 hPa/decade) throughout the 62 years of analysis. The negative trend found in type A differs from the results of some studies. The different analysis periods, the different scales or areas of study and the variety of methods used to determine the weather types can account for the fact that these results are discordant. Moreover, warming over the last few decades in the waters of the western Mediterranean basin, as well as the clearly cyclogenetic character of the gulfs of Lion and Genoa, might account for the decrease in type A and the increase in the cyclonic curvature types

Actividad tormentosa, marítima, litoral y microcontinental en ámbitos insulares. Un análisis geográfico aplicado a Mallorca

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Excretion of hexachlorobenzene and metabolites in feces in a highly exposed human population.

A set of 53 individuals from a population highly exposed to airborne hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were selected to study the elimination kinetics of this chemical in humans. The volunteers provided blood, 24-hr urine, and feces samples for analysis of HCB and metabolites. The serum HCB concentrations ranged from 2.4 to 1,485 ng/mL (mean +/- SD, 124 +/- 278), confirming that this human population has the highest HCB blood levels ever reported. All analyzed feces samples contained unchanged HCB (range, 11-3,025 ng/g dry weight; mean +/- SD, 395 +/- 629). The HCB concentration in feces strongly correlated with HCB in serum (r = 0.85; p < 0.001), suggesting an equilibrium in feces/serum that is compatible with a main pulmonary entrance of the chemical and low intestinal excretion of nonabsorbed foodborne HCB. The equilibrium is also compatible with a nonbiliary passive transfer of the chemical to the intestinal lumen. Two HCB main metabolites, pentachlorophenol (PCP) and pentachlorobenzenethiol (PCBT), were detected in 51% and 54% of feces samples, respectively. All urine samples contained PCP and PCBT, confirming the conclusions of a previous study [Environ Health Perspect 105:78-83 (1997)]. The comparison between feces and urine showed that whereas daily urinary elimination of metabolites may account for 3% of total HCB in blood, intestinal excretion of unchanged HCB may account for about 6%, thus showing the importance of metabolism in the overall elimination of HCB. The elimination of HCB and metabolites by both routes, however, appears to be very small (< 0.05%/day) as compared to the estimated HCB adipose depots. Features of HCB kinetics that we present in this study, i.e., nonsaturated intestinal elimination of HCB and excretion in feces and urine of inert glutathione derivatives, may explain, in part, the absence of porphyria cutanea in this human population heavily exposed to HCB

Caracterización espacio-temporal de las precipitaciones intensas en la vertiente litoral oriental de la Isla de Mallorca (1930-2010)

Ponencia presentada en: IX Congreso de la Asociación Española de Climatología celebrado en Almería entre el 28 y el 30 de octubre de 2014.[ES]La vertiente litoral del SE de la isla de Mallorca se ha visto afectada repetidamente a lo largo del siglo XX y primera década del siglo XXI por procesos de inundación provocados por episodios de aguaceros importantes ligados, mayoritariamente, a advecciones del Este y a bajas centradas en la cuenca del Mediterráneo Occidental. Se han identificado los episodios de inundaciones y lluvias intensas en este ámbito geográfico, analizándose las pautas de distribución temporal y espacial de la precipitación, así como la circulación atmosférica predominante. Se comparan los resultados con los obtenidos en el análisis de características similares aplicados a otros ámbitos territoriales de les Islas Baleares.[EN]The SE coastal area of the island of Mallorca has been repeatedly affected by flooding processes during the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century. Those processes have been caused by remarkable rainfalls mainly linked to eastern advections and centred depressions in the Western Mediterranean Basin. Flooding episodes and heavy rains have been identified in this geographical area, as well as the patterns of temporal / spatial distribution of rainfall and the main atmospheric circulation have been analyzed. The results obtained have been compared to similar analysis carried out in the Balearic Islands.Trabajo financiado por el proyecto CGL2011-29263-C02-02, Estructura diaria y 10-minutal de la precipitación y su caracterización sinóptica objetiva en el mar Balear (Baleares), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Gobierno de España

Effects of pre and postnatal exposure to low levels of polybromodiphenyl ethers on neurodevelopment and thyroid hormone levels at 4years of age

There are at present very few studies of the effects of polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDEs), used as flame retardants in consumer products, on neurodevelopment or thyroid hormone levels in humans. The present study aims to examine the association between pre and postnatal PBDE concentrations and neurodevelopment and thyroid hormone levels in children at age 4. years and isolate the effects of PBDEs from those of PCBs, DDT, DDE and HCB.A prospective birth cohort in Menorca (Spain) enrolled 482 pregnant mothers between 1997 and 1998. At 4. years, children were assessed for motor and cognitive function (McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities), attention-deficit, hyperactivity and impulsivity (ADHD-DSM-IV) and social competence (California Preschool Social Competence Scale). PBDE concentrations were measured in cord blood (N = 88) and in serum of 4. years olds (N = 244). Among all congeners analyzed only PBDE 47 was quantified in a reasonable number of samples (LOQ = 0.002. ng/ml). Exposure to PBDE 47 was analyzed as a dichotomous variable: concentrations above the LOQ (exposed) and concentrations below (referents).Scores for cognitive and motor functions were always lower in children pre and postnatally exposed to PBDE47 than in referents, but none of these associations was statistically significant (β coefficient (95%CI) of the total cognition score: -2.7 (-7.0, 1.6) for postnatal exposure, and -1.4 (-9.2, 6.5) for prenatal exposure). Postnatal exposure to PBDE 47 was statistically significantly related to an increased risk of symptoms on the attention deficit subscale of ADHD symptoms (RR (95%CI) = 1.8 (1.0, 3.2)) but not to hyperactivity symptoms. A statistically significant higher risk of poor social competence symptoms was observed as a consequence of postnatal PBDE 47 exposure (RR (95%CI) = 2.6 (1.2, 5.9)). Adjustment for other organochlorine compounds did not influence the results. Levels of thyroid hormones were not associated to PBDE exposure.This study highlights the importance of assessing the effects of PBDE exposure not just prenatally but also during the early years of life. In the light of current evidence a precautionary approach towards PBDE exposure of both mothers and children seems warranted. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd

Contenidos de carácter climático en las ciencias sociales a partir de los currículos de la enseñanza secundaria obligatoria, aplicación al caso balear

Ponencia presentada en: IX Congreso de la Asociación Española de Climatología celebrado en Almería entre el 28 y el 30 de octubre de 2014.[ES]Se realiza un análisis de los contenidos de carácter climático en la educación secundaria obligatoria centrado en el ámbito territorial de las Islas Baleares. Se describen los contenidos que establece el marco legal vigente, así como su concreción reflejada en los principales libros de texto al uso. Se efectúa una revisión de los mismos a nivel de enfoque temático, recursos didácticos, elementos gráficos de apoyo y actividades propuestas.[EN]An analysis of the climatical contents in secondary education focused in the Balearic Islands is carried out. The contents established in the current legislation are described as well as its reflection on the real textbooks. Moreover, textbooks are revised regarding their thematic approach, educational resources, supporting graphics and proposed activities

Maritime, coastal and micro continental thunderstorm activity in insular areas. A geographical analysis in Mallorca

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