Modulation of coaxial modal interferometers based on long period gratings in double cladding fibers

This paper reports on the dynamic modulation of coaxial interferometers based on two cascaded long period gratings written in double cladding fibers. The interferometer is modulated by a piezoelectric ceramic which stretches one the gratings at tens of kHz, the output light is intensity modulated with an efficiency of 97 %. The device operates at 1530nm, has more than 50nm bandwidth, insertion loss of 0.4 dB and a temperature drift of 0.11 nm/ºC

The assurance of professional liability in practice of the podiatry

El seguro de responsabilidad civil profesional es un requisito obligatorio para la práctica de la podología en el sector privado, también es muy recomendable tenerlo aunque únicamente se trabaje en la asistencia sanitaria pública. Es un producto asegurador que cubre los daños producidos a pacientes debidos al ejercicio profesional, y también la defensa jurídica en esa circunstancia. No todos los seguros de responsabilidad civil profesional que hay en el mercado son similares, hay diferencias importantes que pueden condicionar su adecuación a nuestra actividad. Existen una serie de datos que necesariamente tenemos que conocer sobre nuestro seguro de responsabilidad si es colectivo o individual (el hecho de que se contrate a través de un Colegio Profesional no implica necesariamente que sea colectivo), si tenemos más de un seguro cubriendo la misma actividad, si nuestra sociedad en caso de tenerla está asegurada, si nuestro seguro cubre todas nuestras actividades profesionales, si la cobertura económica es suficiente y si existen franquicias, qué ocurrirá cuando dejemos de trabajar como podólogos, y, por último, asegurarnos de que no existan periodos sin cobertura. Debemos también conocer las exclusiones del seguro, esto es, aquellas circunstancias en las que determinadas actividades no son cubiertas. Por último, tenemos que saber qué hacer respecto al seguro en caso de reclamación legal o riesgo inminente de que ocurra.The assurance of civil professional responsibility is an obligatory requirement for the practice of the chiropody in the private sector, though it is very advisable to have it though only one is employed at the sanitary public assistance. It is an insurance product that covers the damages produced to patients due to the professional exercise, and also the juridical defense in this circumstance. Not all the assurances of civil professional responsibility that exists on the market are similar, there are important differences that can determine its adequacy to the activity. There exist a series of information that necessarily we have to know on our assurance of civil professional if it is collective or individual (the fact that it is contracted across a Professional College it does not imply necessarily that is collective), if we have more than one assurance covering the same activity, if our society in case of having it is assured, if our assurance covers all our professional activities, if the economic coverage is sufficient and if franchises exist, what will happen when we stop working as chiropodists, and, finally, making sure that should not exist periods without coverage. We have to know also the exclusions of the assurance, this is, those circumstances in which certain activities are not covered. Finally, we have to know what to do with regard to the assurance in case of legal claim or imminent risk that it happens

Motion-Based Design of Passive Damping Systems to Reduce Wind-Induced Vibrations of Stay Cables under Uncertainty Conditions

Stay cables exhibit both great slenderness and low damping, which make them sensitive to resonant phenomena induced by the dynamic character of external actions. Furthermore, for these same reasons, their modal properties may vary significantly while in service due to the modification of the operational and environmental conditions. In order to cope with these two limitations, passive damping devices are usually installed at these structural systems. Robust design methods are thus mandatory in order to ensure the adequate behavior of the stay cables without compromising the budget of the passive control systems. To this end, a motion-based design method under uncertainty conditions is proposed and further implemented in this paper. In particular, the proposal focuses on the robust design of di erent passive damping devices when they are employed to control the response of stay cables under wind-induced vibrations. The proposed method transforms the design problem into a constrained multi-objective optimization problem, where the objective function is defined in terms of the characteristic parameters of the passive damping device, together with an inequality constraint aimed at guaranteeing the serviceability limit state of the structure. The performance of the proposed method was validated via its application to a benchmark structure with vibratory problems: The longest stay cable of the Alamillo bridge (Seville, Spain) was adopted for this purpose. Three di erent passive damping devices are considered herein, namely: (i) viscous; (ii) elastomeric; and (iii) frictions dampers. The results obtained by the proposed approach are analyzed and further compared with those provided by a conventional method adopted in the Standards. This comparison illustrates how the newly proposed method allows reduction of the cost of the three types of passive damping devices considered in this study without compromising the performance of the structure.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RT12018-099639-B-I00Universidad de Sevilla USE-17047-

Anodic oxidation for the remediation of soils polluted with perchloroethylene

This work focuses on the removal of perchloroethylene (PCE) from soils spiked with this hazardous chlorinated hydrocarbon and oil by a combination of two technologies: soil washing and anodic oxidation with diamond electrodes. The first attains the transfer of the pollutant from the soil to a soil washing fluid (SWF), from which the organics are then efficiently removed. Results show that high concentrations of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) are required in the SWF for an efficient extraction of the chlorinated hydrocarbon and electrolysis has to be applied not only to the clarified liquid, but also to the interphase. The surfactant used interacts strongly with soil not only during the washing, but also during the electrolysis step. This interaction seems to play a protective role against the oxidation of SDS. The initial phase of the electrolysis is rather complex and there are several processes which modify the results importantly. Removal of PCE by electrolysis from soil is less efficient than its removal from synthetic solutions of this chlorinated pollutant. There are two first-order kinetic zones, which indicate an important competition for the oxidation of the different organics contained in the SWF during the electrolysis. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industr

Improvement of electrochemical oxidation efficiency through combination with adsorption processes

In this work, a three-step process (adsorption-desorption-electrolysis) is evaluated as an interesting approach for the removal of organochlorinated compounds (clopyralid, lindane and perchloroethylene) with different physical properties (solubility and vapor pressure) from low concentrated wastewater. First steps are based on the adsorptive capacity of granular active carbon (GAC) particles to retain organics and on the solvent capacity of methanol to extract them to concentrated solution and regenerate GAC. In the last step of electrolysis with conductive diamond electrodes, the degradation of pesticide is projected, as well as the recovery of methanol. Results show that clopyralid, lindane and PCE are efficiently retained in GAC, although adsorption efficiency depend on pollutant/GAC ratio and physicochemical properties of pollutant. Pretreatment allows the concentration of clopyralid and PCE solutions up to 8 times, but worse results are obtained in case of lindane solutions. Electrolysis of concentrated methanol solution seems to be more efficient than electrolysis of diluted aqueous wastes, mainly in the case of clopyralid. In all cases, electrochemical degradation fits a first order kinetics confirming mixed oxidation mechanisms with diffusion control of the direct processes and mediated oxidation. Results obtained in terms of current efficiency and energy consumption of electrolysis step point out the lower operation cost of concentrated liquid wastes and encourage further works on the development of cost-effective combined processes for the treatment of diluted solutions polluted with polar compounds (such as clopyralid)

Fiber-Optic Aqueous Dipping Sensor Based on Coaxial-Michelson Modal Interferometers

Fiber-optic modal interferometers with a coaxial-Michelson configuration can be used to monitor aqueous solutions by simple dipping of few centimeters of a fiber tip. The fabrication of these sensors to work around 850 nm enables the use of compact, robust, and low-cost optical spectrum analyzers. The use of this type of portable sensor system to monitor sewage treatment plants is shown

Taper model for Eucalyptus nitens, in volcanic ash soils of the region of The Araucanía (Chile)

Se presenta un modelo de ahusamiento para Eucalyptus nitens (Deane & Maiden) Maiden. Este es un modelo no lineal que fue ajustado con datos de 60 árboles con edades entre los 16 y 21 años, diámetros normales entre 11,5 y 52,0 cm, y con alturas totales entre 12,27 y 47,49 m. Cosechados en 6 rodales localizados en 3 comunas de la región de La Araucanía (Chile); en suelos de cenizas volcánicas. El modelo se contrastó con los existentes en la literatura, obteniendo la mejor precisión, el menor sesgo en cada fracción de altura, y la mayor eficiencia predictiva con un comportamiento gráfico flexible y estable en toda la longitud del fuste. La función de volumen obtenida de la integración numérica del modelo de ahusamiento, predice más de 99% del volumen del fuste sin corteza estimado mediante la fórmula de Smalian.Generalized taper model is presented for Eucalyptus nitens (Deane & Maiden) Maiden. A non-linear model was fitted to data from 60 trees aged between 16 and 21 years, normal diameters between 11.5 and 52.0 cm, and with total heights between 47.49 and 12.27 m. Harvested in 6 stands located in 3 communes of The Araucania region (Chile), in volcanic ash soils. The model contract with existing models in the literature, obtaining better accuracy, the least bias in each fraction high, and the higher predictive efficiency with a flexible graphical behavior and stable over the entire length of the stem. The volume function obtained from the numerical integration of the taper model predicts over 99% of the variation in stem volume without bark estimated by formula Smalian.Fil: Rodriguez Toro, Andrés. Universidad de Concepción (Chile)Fil: Rubilar pons, Rafael. Universidad de Concepción (Chile)Fil: Muñoz Sáez, Fernando. Universidad de Concepción (Chile)Fil: Cártes Rodríguez, Eduardo. Universidad de Concepción (Chile)Fil: Acuña Carmona, Eduardo. Universidad de Concepción (Chile)Fil: Cancino Cancino, Jorge. Universidad de Concepción (Chile

Hallazgo de una segunda población de Miersia chilenos Lindl. var. bicolor M. Muñoz (Alliaceae)

A second population of Miersia chilensis var. bicolor M. Muñoz was found at the Lonquén hill, which extends its distribution 15 km north and its altitudinal range in 200 m. The population abundance was estimated on years 2011 and 2015. Images of the specimens found are presented, with a description of the site and the plant community.Una segunda población de Miersia chilensis var. bicolor M. Muñoz fue encontrada en el cerro Lonquén, lo cual extiende su distribución 15 km al norte y su rango altitudinal en 200 m. Se realizó una estimación poblacional en los años 2011 y 2015. Se muestran fotografías de los especímenes encontrados con una descripción del sitio y la comunidad de plantas

Motion-based design of viscous dampers for cable-stayed bridges under uncertainty conditions

Passive damping devices are widely installed to control the vibration level of stay cables of bridges induced by wind action. The design of passive damping devices must ensure the performance for the all the life-cycle of the structure. In this sense, the design should consider the changes of the pre-fixed parameters and environmental conditions. For this purpose, the motion-based design method under uncertainty conditions is used in this study to carry out the design of a viscous damper. Following this approach, the design requirements are established according to the maximum accepted motions of the structure and the damper device is optimized. In order to validate the method, a benchmark structure is considered. The uncertainty conditions are numerically simulated following a probabilistic approach. As simulation method, the Latin Hypercube is employed. The reliability index is used as reference parameter for the probabilistic assessment.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain and the European Regional Development Fund under project RTI2018-094945-B-C21Universidad de Sevilla Ref: USE-17047-GSpanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities project SEED-SD RTI2018-099639-B-I0

Improving biotreatability of hazardous effluents combining ZVI, electrolysis and photolysis

In this work, nine types of combination advanced oxidation processes/zero-valent iron (AOP-ZVI) were tested, in order to determine if any of these combinations demonstrate good chances as pretreatment for the biological degradation processes of organochlorinated pollutants. To do this, the changes undergone in the respirometric behavior, toxicity and short-term biodegradability were compared. The three AOPs studied were anodic oxidation with mixed metal oxides anodes (AO-MMO), with boron doped diamond anodes (AO-BDD) and photolysis and they were evaluated in three different modes: without any addition of ZVI, with ZVI-dehalogenation as pre-treatment and with ZVI-dehalogenation simultaneous to the AOP treatment. Clopyralid has been used as a model of chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutant. Results show that technologies proposed can successfully treat wastes polluted with clopyralid and the biological characteristics of the waste are significantly modified by dehalogenating the waste with ZVI, either previously to the treatment or simultaneously to the treatment, being the information provided by the three techniques very important in order to evaluate later combinations of the advanced oxidation technologies with biological treatments