A New Theoretical Dynamic Analysis of Ship Rolling Motion Considering Navigational Parameters, Loading Conditions and Sea State Conditions

[Abstract] Despite the IMO’s efforts and the large quantity of research carried out over the years concerning the sudden loss of stability in fishing vessels, and even the damage done to merchant fleets due to cargo shifting, accidents with very relevant consequences continue to occur. This paper can be considered as a continuation of the recent research of authors which was carried out with ships in static conditions, with pure beam seas and without resistance. The aim of the present research is to provide a reference for ships’ operators to improve the ship’s behavior and seakeeping, to alter the ship’s loading conditions or the navigational parameters (heading and speed), and even be aware of the time available to carry out these modifications before reaching dangerous situations. For this, all sea state conditions were mathematically modelled for, including the ship’s rolling motion both in static and in realistic and dynamic conditions, with the waves influencing the vessel by coming from any direction. Relevant results of easy comprehension for ships’ operators are shown in each of the models, which were validated with a representative real case study

New Approach for Managing Sustainability in Projects

[Abstract] Despite the work done to date, project sustainability management (PSM) is still at an embryonic stage. The existing literature considers sustainability as a transversal aspect to be incorporated into the traditional management functions (scope, time, cost, quality, etc.). This article proposes sustainability as a key aspect of project management, with three essential components: principles, processes and competences. Regarding principles, the principle of sustainable development should be added to those generally suggested. As for processes, seven are proposed for (1) planning sustainability management; (2) establishing a sustainability breakdown structure; (3) defining the sustainability objective; (4) identifying project alternatives to achieve it; (5) planning and (6) implementing the sustainability strategy; and (7) monitoring and control. The main interrelationships between these processes and those of project initiation, planning, implementation, control, and closure are also analysed. In addition, the competences that the project manager should have in this field are identified, as well as the main criteria to take into account in order to adapt PSM processes to the characteristics of the project and the organisation. Finally, the results of a Delphi analysis carried out to validate these proposals are presented

Optimisation Techniques for Managing the Project Sustainability Objective: Application to a Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger

[Abstract] In addition to traditional project management objectives (cost, time, scope and quality, among others), it is now necessary to include a global sustainability objective in all projects, regardless of their nature and scale. The processes for managing this objective may include sub-processes for optimising the sustainability of some or all of the project’s deliverables. In this paper an integrated optimisation technique was applied to optimise the design of a shell and tube heat exchanger (STHE) by taking into account economic, social and environmental indicators. A case study previously analysed in the literature, although with different objectives and scope, was considered for such a purpose. Diverse sets of weights were defined for the environmental impacts, as well as two additional cases. In the first one, all the indicators where assessed in a linear way. Non-linearities were studied in the second one. Both non-nature-inspired (exhaustive search and Monte Carlo simulation) and nature-inspired (Particle Swarm Optimisation, Crow Search Algorithm and Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II) optimisation techniques were used to solve the problem. The results were presented and discussed in depth. The findings show the necessity of applying these kinds of methodologies in the design of energy systems and, in particular, STHE

Doxycycline induces Hok toxin killing in host E. coli

The antibacterial efficacy of the tetracycline antibiotics has been greatly reduced by the development of resistance, hence a decline in their clinical use. The hok/sok locus is a type I toxin/antitoxin plasmid stability element, often associated with multi-drug resistance plasmids, especially ESBL-encoding plasmids. It enhances host cell survivability and pathogenicity in stressful growth conditions, and increases bacterial tolerance to β-lactam antibiotics. The hok/sok locus forms dsRNA by RNA:RNA interactions between the toxin encoding mRNA and antitoxin non-coding RNA, and doxycycline has been reported to bind dsRNA structures and inhibit their cleavage/processing by the dsRNase, RNase III. This study investigated the antibacterial activities of doxycycline in hok/sok host bacteria cells, the effects on hok/sok-induced changes in growth and the mechanism(s) involved. Diverse strains of E. coli were transformed with hok/sok plasmids and assessed for doxycycline susceptibility and growth changes. The results show that the hok/sok locus increases bacterial susceptibility to doxycycline, which is more apparent in strains with more pronounced hok/sok-induced growth effects. The increased doxycycline susceptibility occurs despite β-lactam resistance imparted by hok/sok. Doxycycline was found to induce bacterial death in a manner phenotypically characteristic of Hok toxin expression, suggesting that it inhibits the toxin/antitoxin dsRNA degradation, leading to Hok toxin expression and cell death. In this way, doxycycline could counteract the multi-drug resistance plasmid maintenance/propagation, persistence and pathogenicity mechanisms associated with the hok/sok locus, which could potentially help in efforts to mitigate the rise of antimicrobial resistance

Assessing the risk of robbery in bank branches to reduce impact on personnel

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] According to existing literature, bank robberies can have a considerable impact on the people involved (employees, customers, and police officers), even if the direct economic losses are negligible. Consequently, this article presents a model to assess the risk of bank robbery, with the aim of reducing the impact on the people and prioritizing the investments in security measures. It is based on the MIVES (Spanish acronym for the Integrated Value Model for Sustainability Assessment) method and it was combined with Monte Carlo simulation as a way of taking into account the uncertainty. Correlations were also modeled, for simulation purposes. Indicators for addressing issues related to security features, employees, operational procedures, and physical and social environment were defined. The model was applied to two fictitious but realistic sets of cases. The first simulation provides a quick overview of the risk level of a fictitious bank, before collecting the full set of data from hundreds or thousands of branches. The second simulation analyzes the risk variation of a specific bank branch over time. The model was also used to assess the risk index of 636 real branches belonging to a Spanish bank. All the results are presented and discussed in depth. The model allows the user to identify the weak points of a branch, so that corrective measures can be taken

Quantifying the Uncertainty in the Eurasian Ice-Sheet Geometry at the Penultimate Glacial Maximum (Marine Isotope Stage 6)

North Sea Last Interglacial sea level is sensitive to the fingerprint of mass loss from polar ice sheets. However, the signal is complicated by the influence of glacial isostatic adjustment driven by the Penultimate Glacial Period Eurasian ice sheet and its geometry remain significantly uncertain. Here, we produce new reconstructions of the Eurasian ice sheet during the Penultimate Glacial Maximum (PGM), for use as input to sea-level and climate models, by employing large ensemble experiments from a simple ice-sheet model that depends solely on basal sheer stress, ice extent, and topography. To explore the range of uncertainty in possible ice geometries, we use a parameterised shear-stress map as input that has been developed to incorporate bedrock characteristics and ice-sheet basal processes. We perform Bayesian uncertainty quantification to calibrate against global ice-sheet reconstructions of the last deglaciation to rule out combinations of input parameters that produce unrealistic ice sheets. The refined parameter space is then applied to the PGM to create an ensemble of plausible 3D Eurasian ice-sheet geometries. Our reconstructed PGM Eurasian ice-sheet volume is 51.16&plusmn;6.13 m sea-level equivalent which suggests a 14.3 % reduction in the volume of the PGM Laurentide ice-sheet. We find that the Barents-Kara Sea region displays both the largest mean volume and relative variability of 26.80 &plusmn; 3.58 m SLE while the British-Irish sector&rsquo;s volume of 1.77 &plusmn; 0.11 m SLE is smallest, yet most implausible. Our new workflow may be applied to other locations and periods where ice-sheet histories have limited empirical data.</p

Modeling photosynthetically active radiation from satellite-derived estimations over mainland Spain

A model based on the known high correlation between photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and global horizontal irradiance (GHI) was implemented to estimate PAR from GHI measurements in this present study. The model has been developed using satellite-derived GHI and PAR estimations. Both variables can be estimated using Kato bands, provided by Satellite Application Facility on Climate Monitoring (CM-SAF), and its ratio may be used as the variable of interest in order to obtain the model. The study area, which was located in mainland Spain, has been split by cluster analysis into regions with similar behavior, according to this ratio. In each of these regions, a regression model estimating PAR from GHI has been developed. According to the analysis, two regions are distinguished in the study area. These regions belong to the two climates dominating the territory: an Oceanic climate on the northern edge; and a Mediterranean climate with hot summer in the rest of the study area. The models obtained for each region have been checked against the ground measurements, providing correlograms with determination coefficients higher than 0.99This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO) [Project CGL2016-79284-P AEI/FEDER/UE]S

Search for lepton-flavour-violating decays of Higgs-like bosons.

A search is presented for a Higgs-like boson with mass in the range 45 to 195 GeV/c2 decaying into a muon and a tau lepton. The dataset consists of proton-proton interactions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV , collected by the LHCb experiment, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2 fb-1 . The tau leptons are reconstructed in both leptonic and hadronic decay channels. An upper limit on the production cross-section multiplied by the branching fraction at 95% confidence level is set and ranges from 22 pb for a boson mass of 45 GeV/c2 to 4 pb for a mass of 195 GeV/c2