Improvement of fire reaction and mould growth resistance of a new bio-based thermal insulation material

In the present paper, the performance of an innovative thermal insulation rigid board is evaluated in terms of fire behaviour and fungal resistance. The board is based on vegetal pith and a natural gum (corn pith and sodium alginate) and it is completely compostable. This new composite was developed in previous work. Here boric acid, aluminium hydroxide and ammonium polyphosphate are used as fire retardants and montan wax, acetic acid and lactic acid are used as water repellent and fungicides respectively. Interactions between these different treatments is investigated. Both flaming and smouldering combustion processes of the different formulations are evaluated by small-scale techniques which include pyrolysis microcalorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. A medium-scale device is also designed in order to study the impact of the different additives to the smouldering kinetics. Fire behaviour tests show that good improvement is obtained, both in flaming and smouldering combustion when boric acid is added. Although smouldering is not avoided in any case, the addition of 8% of boric acid or aluminium hydroxide slows down the speed of combustion propagation. The effect of the different additives on the moisture content and mould growth at 97% RH and 27 °C is analysed. Under such severe conditions none of the additives is able to prevent mould growth, with the exception of boric acid. None or marginal mould growth was observed on samples containing 8% of boric acid although moisture content was higher than the other cases.Peer ReviewedPreprin

The Teaching-Learning Process of English from a Different Approach

Reflexión Crítica sobre dos de los proyectos realizados durante el Máster de Formación de Profesorado, relacionándolos con el período de prácticas en un instituto de Educación Secundaria

Effects of intake of heated mixtures of glucose-lysine and glucose-methionine on bone calcium

During food thermal treatment Maillard's reaction may occur, which implicates mainly the carbonyl groups of reductory sugars and amino protein groups. Maillard's reaction products (MRP) may interfere with mineral bioavailability because of modifications of their physical-chemical moiety in the food or the lumen, disrupting the absorption process or its normal metabolism. In this study, we sought to investigate MRP influence on issues related to Ca bioavailability in vitro and in vivo. Equimolar mixtures of glucose-lysine (GL) and glucose-methionine (GM) (40% moisture) were heated at 150º C for 90 minutes (samples GL90 and GM90, respectively). In vitro solubility was measured by additioning each samples to a 3.75 mM Ca solution at intestinal pH and ionic strength; after shaking and centrifugation, soluble and insoluble calcium was determined. Three percent of GL90 and GM90 were individually added to the AIN93-G diet to obtain D-GL90 and D-GM90 diets. Three Wistar rats groups were fed for 21 days with both diets and with AIN93-G as control, carrying out calcium balance during last week and extirpating various organs after sacrifice. GM90 did not affect calcium solubility; GL90 reduced it slightly, remaining in both cases more than 94% soluble. D-GL90 and D-GM90 did not modify calcium bioavailability, with as effective usage as with the control diet (57.6 ± 1.3%, 57.8 ± 2.3% and 63.9 ± 2.6% in control diet, D-GL90 and D-GM90, respectively). MRP intake produced, however, metabolic changes that decreased bone calcium, accumulating compensatorily in other organs.Peer reviewe

La inconstitucionalidad de la sanción a la elusión fiscal: una revisión crítica de sus fundamentos

After the incorporation of the administrative infringement in the supposed of conflict in the application of the tax norm, the Spanish General Tax Act has incorporated an administrative infringement regulated in its article 206 bis. Thus, it is needed to examine, in first place, the adaptation of this figure to the principles of the Administrative Law Penalties, which according to the consolidated doctrine of the Constitutional Court corresponding to the criminal principles, applied in a nuance form. In addition, beyond the constitutionality problems that the rule can present, it is needed to determine, in second place, if the fine to the tax avoidance, a priori, is unconstitutional. This means analyze if, independently of the specific regulation of the administrative infringement, the penalty is not compatible with the constitutional requirement. Even more, if the fine of the article 206 bis would be abolished, the tax Administration could be able to fine to the tax payer, because the 34/2015 Act, of 21 of September, has eliminated the expression in the article 15.3 GTA that excluded the penalty. Therefore, it is fundamental to analyze in a critique approach, the fundaments that are given to affirm that the Constitution does not allow to fine the tax avoidance. Also, it is needed to specify if the requirements of the prior definition of criminal principle are compatible with the regulation of an administrative illicit that punishes the tax avoidance assumption.Tras la incorporación de la infracción administrativa en los supuestos de conflicto en la aplicación de la norma tributaria regulada en el artículo 206 bis de la LGT, surge la necesidad de realizar un examen que determine, en primer lugar, la adecuación de este ilícito a los principios del derecho administrativo sancionador que, según la doctrina consolidada del Tribunal Constitucional, corresponden a los principios penales aplicados de manera matizada. Más allá de los problemas de constitucionalidad que la norma pueda presentar, en segundo lugar, es necesario establecer si la sanción a supuestos de elusión fiscal es a priori inconstitucional, esto es, si independientemente de la configuración que el legislador efectúe de la infracción administrativa en un momento concreto, la misma no es compatible con las exigencias constitucionales. Tal estudio es necesario ya que, incluso si se derogase el ilícito del artículo 206 bis, de todos modos la Administración tributaria podría sancionar al contribuyente, pues la Ley 34/2015, de 21 de septiembre, eliminó la exclusión de la sanción del artículo 15.3 de la LGT. Por ello, resulta imprescindible analizar críticamente los fundamentos en los que se basa la inadmisibilidad constitucional de la sanción y precisar si las exigencias derivadas del principio de tipicidad son compatibles con la regulación de un ilícito que castigue supuestos de elusión

Erosión y crisis de la vida universitaria. Palabras e imágenes de las y los estudiantes sobre su formación en el Grado de Maestro/a

El texto describe parte del desarrollo de un proyecto de investigación que indaga en las imágenes y percepciones que las y los estudiantes de Grado de Maestro/a proyectan de la Universidad a partir de su experiencia formativa. Analiza la relación entre institución universitaria y vida universitaria atendiendo al modo en que las y los estudiantes hablan de cómo experimentan su relación con el saber, con el aprendizaje y de cómo viven y han vivido las relaciones humanas e institucionales

Reactividad de las diazaquinonas con 1-vinilcicloalquenos y con dienos etilen aromáticos

Tesis - Universidad Complutense de Madrid.Fac. de Ciencias QuímicasTRUEProQuestpu

Characterization of the fire behaviour of tropical wood species for use in the construction industry

It is widely acknowledged that wood is a combustible and flammable material. However, not all woods have the same fire behaviour; this can change significantly depending on the type and species of wood. Usually, hardwoods have better fire behaviour in comparison with softwoods. This is often due to their physical structure (morphology), their density and hardness and also their moisture content. However, in some cases the main cause is their chemical composition. Some tropical woods with relatively low density present better fire behaviour than other with high density. This indicates that other aspects such as the content of extracts, exudates (oils, waxes, mucilage, tannins etc.) and minerals can greatly influence their fire performance. In this study, seven Mexican tropical wood were characterized in order to determine their fire behaviour. For this purpose, an extensive series of laboratory tests were conducted. The results show a different behaviour in all the species studied, in some cases, with very significant differences. It is observed that although there is some correlation between high density and hardness of the species and their good fire behaviour, these factors are not always determinant. In some species, other factors as anatomy and composition of wood are more relevant to achieve a better fire behaviour.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Calibración del coeficiente de rugosidad del flujo en un canal abierto mediante análisis experimental y numérico

El coeficiente de rugosidad es un parámetro de difícil cuantificación en los modelos de flujo de lámina libre basados en aproximaciones de aguas poco profundas. Se utiliza para cuantificar la pérdida de energía del flujo por rozamiento. Habitualmente, en condiciones turbulentas, suele asociarse un valor único de rugosidad a cada material del lecho. En este trabajo se desea evaluar la dependencia del coeficiente de rugosidad con el caudal y con la configuración geométrica del cauce.<br /

Sinorhizobium fredii Strains HH103 and NGR234 Form Nitrogen Fixing Nodules With Diverse Wild Soybeans (Glycine soja) From Central China but Are Ineffective on Northern China Accessions

Sinorhizobium fredii indigenous populations are prevalent in provinces of Central China whereas Bradyrhizobium species (Bradyrhizobium japonicum, B. diazoefficiens, B. elkanii, and others) are more abundant in northern and southern provinces. The symbiotic properties of different soybean rhizobia have been investigated with 40 different wild soybean (Glycine soja) accessions from China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea. Bradyrhizobial strains nodulated all the wild soybeans tested, albeit efficiency of nitrogen fixation varied considerably among accessions. The symbiotic capacity of S. fredii HH103 with wild soybeans from Central China was clearly better than with the accessions found elsewhere. S. fredii NGR234, the rhizobial strain showing the broadest host range ever described, also formed nitrogen-fixing nodules with different G. soja accessions from Central China. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing an effective symbiosis between S. fredii NGR234 and G. soja. Mobilization of the S. fredii HH103 symbiotic plasmid to a NGR234 pSym-cured derivative (strain NGR234C) yielded transconjugants that formed ineffective nodules with G. max cv. Williams 82 and G. soja accession CH4. By contrast, transfer of the symbiotic plasmid pNGR234a to a pSym-cured derivative of S. fredii USDA193 generated transconjugants that effectively nodulated G. soja accession CH4 but failed to nodulate with G. max cv. Williams 82. These results indicate that intra-specific transference of the S. fredii symbiotic plasmids generates new strains with unpredictable symbiotic properties, probably due to the occurrence of new combinations of symbiotic signals.España, Junta de Andalucía P11-CVI-7500España Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2016-78409-