Manual Borehole Drilling as a Cost-Effective Solution for Drinking Water Access in Low-Income Contexts

Water access remains a challenge in rural areas of low-income countries. Manual drilling technologies have the potential to enhance water access by providing a low cost drinking water alternative for communities in low and middle income countries. This paper provides an overview of the main successes and challenges experienced by manual boreholes in the last two decades. A review of the existing methods is provided, discussing their advantages and disadvantages and comparing their potential against alternatives such as excavated wells and mechanized boreholes. Manual boreholes are found to be a competitive solution in relatively soft rocks, such as unconsolidated sediments and weathered materials, as well as and in hydrogeological settings characterized by moderately shallow water tables. Ensuring professional workmanship, the development of regulatory frameworks, protection against groundwater pollution and standards for quality assurance rank among the main challenges for the future

Estudios para la redacción del Proyecto Básico de la variante de la carretera CV-35 a su paso por el municipio de Chelva (provincia de Valencia). Alternativa Centro. Análisis del tráfico y de la seguridad vial

[EN] This work focuses on traffic analysis and road safety for the construction of the by-pass on the CV-35 road passing through the village of Chelva, located in Valencia. This analysis includes two annexes. In the first one, an analysis of traffic is done based on traffic counts performed manually. With the whole data available, the average daily traffic is determined and its evolution is predicted as well for the following years. Consequently, we can estimate the capacity and level of service which the new by-pass is expected to have, besides being able to predict its evolution depending on the percentage of traffic absorbed from the current path. In the remaining annexed, an analysis of road safety has been made in accordance with the geometric design, which basing on the speed of operation assures fulfillment of certain safety conditions and visibility. It is provided a consistency analysis as well in order to study whether the characteristics of the track see eye to eye with the expectations of users. Finally, an accident prediction for the future based on formulas that depend on the traffic intensity or consistency is done.[CA] El present treball es centra en l'anàlisi del tràfic i de la seguretat viària per a la construcció de la variant de la carretera CV-35 al seu pas per la localitat de Chelva, en la província de València. Aquest anàlisi comprén dos annexos. En el primer d'ells, es realitza una anàlisi de tràfic basant-se en aforaments realitzats manualment. Amb les dades disponibles es determina la intensitat mitjana diària i es pot predir la seua evolució durant els pròxims anys. En conseqüència, es pot estimar la capacitat i el nivell de servici que s'espera que tinga la nova variant, a més de poder predir la seua evolució en funció del percentatge de tràfic que absorvisca respecte al traçat actual. En l'annex restant s'ha efectuat una anàlisi de la seguretat viària, sempre d'acord amb el disseny geomètric, que basant-se en la velocitat d'operació garantix el compliment de certes condicions de seguretat i visibilitat. Es disposa, a més, d¿un anàlisi de la consistència per a estudiar si les característiques del traçat responen a les expectatives dels usuaris. Finalment, es realitza una estimació d'accidents per al futur basant-se en fórmules que depenen de la intensitat del tràfic o la consistència.[ES] El presente trabajo se centra en el análisis del tráfico y de la seguridad vial para la construcción de la variante de la carretera CV-35 a su paso por la localidad de Chelva, en la provincia de Valencia. Dicho análisis comprende dos anejos. En el primero de ellos, se realiza un análisis de tráfico en base a aforos realizados manualmente. Con los datos disponibles se determina la intensidad media diaria y se predice su evolución en los años venideros. En consecuencia, se puede estimar la capacidad y el nivel de servicio que se espera que tenga la nueva variante, además de poder predecir su evolución en función del porcentaje de tráfico que absorba con respecto al trazado actual. En el anejo restante se ha efectuado un análisis de la seguridad vial, siempre en consonancia con el diseño geométrico, que basándose en la velocidad de operación garantiza el cumplimiento de ciertas condiciones de seguridad y visibilidad. Se cuenta, además, con un análisis de la consistencia para estudiar si las características del trazado responden a las expectativas de los usuarios. Por último, se realiza una estimación de accidentes para el futuro basándose en fórmulas que dependen de la intensidad del tráfico o la consistencia.Martín-Loeches Romero, A. (2016). Estudios para la redacción del Proyecto Básico de la variante de la carretera CV-35 a su paso por el municipio de Chelva (provincia de Valencia). Alternativa Centro. Análisis del tráfico y de la seguridad vial. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/70587.Archivo delegad

Intercultural component of teaching Spanish as a foreign language: strategies of intercultural instruction

Concepts of teaching foreign languages haven’t cleared up the misunderstanding and difficulties which appeared because of the unsufficient level of the development of pupils’ sociocultural competence. These difficulties were closely connected with linguistic misunderstanding, striking difference in national characters, peculiarities of foreign cultures. Nowadays, while studying a foreign language, pupils realize that they should master not only a foreign language and get acquainted with other culture but get to know the other way of living. So the necessity of developing the intercultural competence alongside with the communicative one has appeared. Purpose . To give a short historical analysis of teaching within the intercultural approach, to show the connection between intercultural and communicative competences. Approaches to teaching and stages of sociocultural learning and its content are regarded. Intercultural context of teaching based on the sociocultural aspect of teaching a foreign language is described. The most important feature of such teaching is the role of a pupil and his necessity of dealing with a foreign culture. The main problems within intercultural communication are closely connected with a linguistic (language) shock (when the pupils’ level of the language competence is rather low), a cultural shock (when the problem solving strategies peculiar to the culture of the mother tongue do not hold) and the cultural stress may occur. It is connected with the change of a new social status in another culture. There are two another approaches towards skills development in intercultural teaching: The Social Skills Approach and The Holistic Approach. The scholars define three stages of intercultural competence development: monocultural (at this level a pupil watches and evaluates another culture on the grounds of his own one); intercultural (a pupil holds the position between two cultures and can compare them), and transcultural – a pupil acts as a mediator between two cultures. Different exercises and tasks for developing main strategies of an intercultural conflict resolution – to watch, understand and compare, interpret, act and interact are given

Prehistoria de la matemática y mente moderna : pensamiento matemático y recursividad en el Paleolítico franco-cantábrico

En este artículo, en primer lugar, se repasan de forma general distintos tipos de registros simbólicos realizados por los grupos prehistóricos desde los más remotos y probables orígenes de la mente humana moderna. A continuación, se revisan algunas de las más destacadas piezas de la Prehistoria relacionadas con el registro matemático, destacando la importancia (por cantidad y calidad), no suficientemente valorada, de las piezas de este tipo de la región franco-cantábrica. La información anterior, finalmente, nos da pie a destacar la tremenda importancia en este contexto de cuatro plaquitas de hueso hioides de caballo de la Cueva de Altamira, datadas en el Solutrense Superior (c. 18.500 años). Estas plaquitas, al ser un conjunto coherente de elementos interrelacionados, se proponen aquí como la representación de una recursividad, cualidad ésta que se ha considerado como propia y exclusiva del lenguaje humano

Mapping the Viability, Time, and Cost of Manual Borehole Drilling in Developing Regions

While access to water remains an issue in arid and semiarid regions across the world, aquifers have the potential to help millions of people out of poverty by providing a reliable source of drinking and irrigation water. Manual boreholes are increasingly advocated as a safe and cost-effective substitute to mechanized drilling, as well as to traditional excavation methods. This research banks on the assumption that field and remote sensing data can be integrated within a geospatial database in order to map the viability of manual boreholes based on factors such as rock type, water table depth, landforms, or water quality. The approach presents three main novelties in relation to methodological precedents: (1) outcomes are not only expressed in terms of technical feasibility, but also as a function of drilling time and cost; (2) maps refer to a specific drilling technique; and (3) results take into account borehole diameter, as this constrains both drilling time and cost. The method provides univocal outcomes that can be immediately useful for non-experts, donors, planners, or practitioners and that can be readily exported to other catchment-scale settings. Results were validated against geophysical data

Microbial Etiology of Pneumonia: Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Resistance Patterns

Globally, pneumonia is a serious public health concern and a major cause of mortality and morbidity. Despite advances in antimicrobial therapies, microbiological diagnostic tests and prevention measures, pneumonia remains the main cause of death from infectious disease in the world. An important reason for the increased global mortality is the impact of pneumonia on chronic diseases, along with the increasing age of the population and the virulence factors of the causative microorganism. The increasing number of multidrug-resistant bacteria, difficult-to-treat microorganisms, and the emergence of new pathogens are a major problem for clinicians when deciding antimicrobial therapy. A key factor for managing and effectively guiding appropriate antimicrobial therapy is an understanding of the role of the different causative microorganisms in the etiology of pneumonia, since it has been shown that the adequacy of initial antimicrobial therapy is a key factor for prognosis in pneumonia. Furthermore, broad-spectrum antibiotic therapies are sometimes given until microbiological results are available and de-escalation cannot be performed quickly. This review provides an overview of microbial etiology, resistance patterns, epidemiology and microbial diagnosis of pneumonia

How Is Sentence Processing Affected by External Semantic and Syntactic Information? Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

BACKGROUND: A crucial question for understanding sentence comprehension is the openness of syntactic and semantic processes for other sources of information. Using event-related potentials in a dual task paradigm, we had previously found that sentence processing takes into consideration task relevant sentence-external semantic but not syntactic information. In that study, internal and external information both varied within the same linguistic domain-either semantic or syntactic. Here we investigated whether across-domain sentence-external information would impact within-sentence processing. METHODOLOGY: In one condition, adjectives within visually presented sentences of the structure [Det]-[Noun]-[Adjective]-[Verb] were semantically correct or incorrect. Simultaneously with the noun, auditory adjectives were presented that morphosyntactically matched or mismatched the visual adjectives with respect to gender. FINDINGS: As expected, semantic violations within the sentence elicited N400 and P600 components in the ERP. However, these components were not modulated by syntactic matching of the sentence-external auditory adjective. In a second condition, syntactic within-sentence correctness-variations were combined with semantic matching variations between the auditory and the visual adjective. Here, syntactic within-sentence violations elicited a LAN and a P600 that did not interact with semantic matching of the auditory adjective. However, semantic mismatching of the latter elicited a frontocentral positivity, presumably related to an increase in discourse level complexity. CONCLUSION: The current findings underscore the open versus algorithmic nature of semantic and syntactic processing, respectively, during sentence comprehension