Venus a Google : Art clàssic a Internet

La tesi doctoral de Meritxell Martí, llegida al Departament d'Art i de Musicologia de la UAB, ha estudiat com apareix l'art clàssic a Internet, quins discursos s'utilitzen en aquesta aparició i quines són les pràctiques culturals que es realitzen al voltant de l'art a la xarxa. La tesi de Martí finalitza destacant la importància de l'art en la configuració de la ideologia de la societat en les noves formes de cultura sorgides arran de l'aparició dels nous mitjans de comunicació com Internet.Meritxell Martí's dissertation, read in the Department of Art and Musicology at the UAB, has studied how Classical art appears on the Internet, the discourses that are used in this occurrence and what cultural practices take place around Art in the net. Martí's thesis concludes by highlighting the importance of art in shaping the ideology of the society in the new forms of culture that emerged with new media such as the Internet

Thermal Analysis of Healthy and Ecological Friendly Flame Retardants for Textiles

Flame Retardants (FR) are a group of anthropogenic environmental contaminants used at a relatively high concentration in many applications. Currently, the largest marked group of FRs is halogenated FR, and many of them are considered toxic, persistent and bio accumulative. Non-halogenated alternatives are a possible solution for the problem, but there is a lack of knowledge concerning environmental impact, health risks during the production process and final use. The main objective of the LIFE-FLAREX project that supports this work, is the mitigation of the environmental and human health impact of flame retardants used in textiles, looking for new efficient more ecological and healthy alternatives, able to replace the most common FR’s that include toxic compounds like halogens, formaldehyde and antimony.  The aim of this work   is to determine the effect of conventional and ecological flame retardants on cotton and polyester fabrics by the application of differential scanning calorimetry DSC and thermogravimetric analysis TGA. Results have been compared with those given by the best FR applied to cotton/polyester blended fabric. The application of DSC up to 550°Cand TGA up to 600°C in N2 and O2 atmospheres give results that are in accordance with those yielded by the micro-scale combustion calorimeter. Onset temperatures  of decomposition, steps of loss of mass by temperature and final residues, enable to evaluate the thermal efficiency of the different flame retardants. Results have been compared with those given by the application of ammonium polyphosphate and guanidine phosphate on cotton/polyester 50/50 blend. Keywords: Thermal Analysis, Flame retardant, Cotton, Polyeste

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae serotype K1 clinical isolates form robust biofilms at the air-liquid interface

The prevalence of a new hypervirulent and hypermucoviscous K. pneumoniae phenotype (Hmv) is increasing worldwide, mainly linked to serotypes K1 and K2. Since capsular thickness can directly affect the capability to form biofilms, we aimed to evaluate the association between the Hmv phenotype with adhesion and biofilm formation in a collection of clinical K. pneumoniae isolates. We selected 38 Hmv clinical isolates [15 serotype K1; 9 serotype K2; 3 non-K1/K2 (rmpA+); 11 non-K1/K2 (rmpA-)] and 7 non-Hmv clinical isolates. The Hmv phenotype was assessed through the mucoviscosity test. Serum resistance was determined by bacterial viability tests in pooled human serum. Adhesion was evaluated with the Biofilm Ring Test®, and biofilm formation was identified by crystal violet staining (Solid-Liquid, SLI-biofilm) or visual examination (Air-Liquid, ALI-biofilm). This study linked for the first time the formation of robust ALI-biofilm plugs by K. pneumoniae to the capsular serotype K1, a group of hypervirulent strains which are generally highly susceptible to the antimicrobial agents. Among all the studied isolates, the capsular serotype K1 presented lower initial adhesion despite having the adhesins mrkD and fimH but higher ALI-biofilm formation than isolates with other capsular serotypes (K2 or non-K1/K2). This structure might confer increased resistance to a group of hypervirulent K. pneumoniae serotype K1

Creació d’un Dipòsit Digital d’Activitats Docents amb l’ús de les TIC a la Universitat de Vic

Avui en dia no es poden entendre els canvis socials sense pensar en les conseqüències derivades del nou paradigma digital de comunicació (Castells, 2003). Les Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació (TIC) s’han convertit en eines d’ús quotidià que afecten a tots els àmbits de la vida, des de la gestió del sistema polític, la comunicació a les organitzacions i, també, les noves metodologies d’aprenentatge en les institucions educatives

Increased Comfort of Polyester Fabrics

[EN] The hydrophilicity of fibers is directly related to the comfort of a fabric and represents one of the most important aspects of a textile. Therefore, polyester (PES) modification has focused on an increase in moisture content and a subsequent improvement of the user's experience. Based on the glycerol hygroscopic properties, the main objective has been the enhancement of the hydrophilicity of polyester by glycerol treatments. Furthermore, microwave irradiation and alkaline treatment have been applied, in order to increase glycerol adhesion. Treated PES samples were characterized by performing moisture content, negative ion, water diffusion and water vapor resistance analyses. The effect of different treatment conditions such as bath ratio (1/10 or 1/15), temperature (40, 60 or 100 degrees C), time (2 or 5 min) and microwave radiation intensity (300 or 500 W) was evaluated. The moisture content of treated PES results indicated that by decreasing the bath ratio and increasing the time and temperature the moisture gain can reach almost 14%, which can be easily related to increases in the weight of the fiber. The treatment with alkali was done and led to the highest moisture increase. Treatment with 500 W microwave irradiation led to higher glycerol retention after rinsing. Different experimental conditions were applied to the glycerol-treated PES fabrics, and a clear improvement in moisture content was obtained increasing the comfort. The results were compared with the ones obtained for cotton and wool, where the moisture is higher than non treated PES.The authors wish to thank the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (RTI2018-094014-B-100 Project), for financial support.Martí, M.; Gisbert Paya, J.; Bonet-Aracil, M.; Jovancic, P.; Lis, MJ.; Coderch, L. (2021). Increased Comfort of Polyester Fabrics. Polymers. 13(17):1-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13173010S112131

Efecto del compostaje en la germinación de semillas de Digitaria sanguinalis

Uno de los parámetros de calidad del compost es la ausencia de semillas U otros propágulos viables de malas hierbas. En este contexto, el objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el efecto del proceso de compostaje en la capacidad germinativa de semillas de garranchuelo (Digitaria sanguinalis) y mijera (Echinochloa crus-galli), dos especies de malas hierbas anuales ampliamente distribuidas. El experimento se llevó a cabo en compostadores de tipo doméstico de 330L. El llenado de los compostadores se realizó en 3 días con una mezcla 1:1 (v:v) de fracción orgánica y restos de poda de jardinería urbana triturados. Al finalizar el llenado, se enterraron en la zona media-central de los compostadores 14 bolsas de nylon por especie, con un mínimo de 200 semillas cada una. Se utilizaron semillas no latentes, almacenadas en seco desde su recolección, con una germinación superior al 95%. Cada día y durante dos semanas se extrajeron 2 bolsas por especie. Las semillas de cada bolsa se pusieron a germinar al régimen térmico y lumínico de 20ºC (12h de oscuridad) / 30ºC (12h de luz). La germinación de Digitaria sanguinalis fue nula en los 14 desenterramientos efectuados. Los resultados con Echinochloa crus-galli fueron similares, aunque en este caso se detectó cierta germinación (55ºC) y elevada humedad es letal para ambas especies.Postprint (published version