Análisis de tecnologías apropiadas para mejorar la calidad del agua en países empobrecidos

ABSTRACT: Water is a basic need and plays an essential role in the health of the population, and its scarcity in many parts of the world highlights a critical situation that must be solved. This project is a first project directed by the Office for Development Cooperation of the University of Cantabria, whose objective is to promote sustainable human development and eradicate poverty. The study consists of providing a theoretical basis in relation to different techniques that improve water quality and conducting experimental tests to support this basis. The alternatives must be included within the concept of appropriate technology, which implies adaptation to local conditions, affordable cost, independence in terms of use and maintenance, small scale and affordable use by the local population from an environmental, cultural and technical point of view. The information collected is ordered in the study in a systematic way with common criteria. Taking into account that there are numerous indicators to determine water quality, the number of parameters studied has been limited to two: turbidity and biological contamination. Finally, the conclusions consist of a quantitative assessment and comparison of the different alternatives taking into account the experimental results, the resources used, accessibility, simplicity in assembly and operation, flexibility in relation to the water to be treated and if there is any climate requirement.RESUMEN: El agua es una necesidad básica y cumple una función primordial en la salud de la población, y su escasez en numerosos lugares del mundo ponen de manifiesto una situación crítica que debe ser solventada. Este proyecto es un primer trabajo dirigido por la Oficina de Cooperación al Desarrollo de la Universidad de Cantabria, cuyo objetivo es promover el desarrollo humano sostenible y erradicar la pobreza. El estudio consiste en aportar una base teórica en relación con distintas técnicas que mejoran la calidad del agua y realizar ensayos experimentales que respalden dicha base. Las alternativas deben englobarse dentro del concepto de tecnología apropiada, que implica adaptación a las condiciones locales, coste asumible, independencia en cuanto a su uso y mantenimiento, escala pequeña y utilización asumible por la población local desde un punto de vista medioambiental, cultural y técnico. La información recopilada se ordena en el estudio de manera sistemática con criterios comunes. Teniendo en cuenta que existen numerosos indicadores para determinar la calidad del agua, se ha acotado el número de parámetros estudiados a dos: turbidez y la contaminación biológica. Finalmente, las conclusiones consisten en una valoración cuantitativa y comparación de las distintas alternativas teniendo en cuenta los resultados experimentales, los recursos empleados, la accesibilidad, la sencillez en el montaje y explotación, la flexibilidad frente al agua a tratar y si hay algún requisito climático.Máster en Ingeniería de Caminos, Canales y Puertos (Plan 2020

Estrés hídrico en leguminosas. Puesta a punto de un método para imponer distintos niveles de estrés hídrico en placas de Petri

Este trabajo final de grado pretende en primer lugar poner a punto un método para obtener plantas de Medicago truncatula expuestas a distintos niveles de estrés hídrico en placas de Petri creciendo bajo condiciones controladas. La puesta a punto de este método permitirá su posterior uso en futuras investigaciones llevadas al cabo en el ámbito del estrés hídrico en leguminosas y también en otras especies vegetales. En segundo lugar, este trabajo pretende realizar un análisis de algunas respuestas básicas al estrés hídrico como forma de verificación del método puesto a punto. Se verifico el estado hídrico de las plantas de Medicago truncatula comprobando que mostraban diferentes potenciales hídricos entre los distintos tratamiento correspondiendo a un nivel de sequía leve y otro moderada. También se observaron respuestas a la sequía impuesta como menor biomasa, concentración de solutos y metabolismo reducido. De esta forma concluimos que el método puesto a apunto era válido para imponer este tipo de estrés bajo condiciones controladasThis final degree thesis aims to develop a method to expose Medicago truncatula plants to different levels of water stress growing under controlled conditions in Petri dishes. The development of this method will allow further use in future investigations carried out in the field of water stress in legumes and other species. Secondly, this study intended to analyse some basic water stress responses as a form of verification of the method developed. Water status of the plant Medicago truncatula was determined as water potential (MPa) in the different treatments corresponding to a mild and moderate drought. Additionally, a reduction of biomass production and changes in the solute concentration was observed as a consequence of water stress and reduced metabolism were observed. In this way, the present method was validated to impose different levels of stress under controlled conditionsGraduado o Graduada en Ingeniería Agroalimentaria y del Medio Rural por la Universidad Pública de NavarraNekazaritzako Elikagaien eta Landa Ingurunearen Ingeniaritzan graduatua Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa

Security in community sensor networks

In this Master thesis, I will introduce CommSensum, a community sensor network developed by CompNet research group. I will explain what are the needs that led to creating the platform, how is the platform until now and I will focus on the analysis and development of the security issue

Los modelos organizativos de traperos de emaús en el estado y su respuesta a la crisis

A pesar de su inspiración común en el movimiento impulsado por el Abbé Pierre en Francia en 1949, en la actualidad existen importantes diferencias entre los grupos de Traperos de Emaús. Este artículo pretende clasificar los diversos grupos presentes en el Estado español y analizar si sus características particulares les han llevado a plantear diferentes estrategias frente a la crisis. Para ello primero proponemos una tipología basada en el análisis de cinco variables (forma jurídica, existencia de vida en comunidad, liderazgo y participación, crecimiento, orientación de la acción) que ayuden a dibujar el modelo organizativo de los diversos grupos de Emaús en el Estado; lo que nos lleva a clasificarlos en cuatro categorías (Comunitaria, Fundación, Empresa Social, Mixta). En general, las diferencias entre estos modelos son previas a la crisis económica, pero hemos observado que también hay diferencias en las respuestas a la misma. Aunque todavía es pronto para poder establecer una tipología de respuestas a la crisis, sí podemos subrayar tentativamente algunas claves que parecen contrastar las diferencias entre los modelos propuestos. Creemos que es importante comprender estos diferentes modelos y sus estrategias de respuesta, ya que todas ellas están presentes en otras entidades o empresas sociales vinculadas a la Economía Social y al Tercer Sector, y por tanto, ayudan a comprender cuáles pueden ser las claves de futuro de este tipo de Economía Alternativa

Managing Multiple Projects in Uncertain Contexts: A Case Study on the Application of a New Approach Based on the Critical Chain Method

Uncertainty and change are two features of modern project management. They strongly influence the project management needs to operate in such contexts. This is the case when a complete and accurate definition of the scope of a project is not available. Those situations require a project management approach capable of dealing with the special conditions that characterise said contexts. This study focuses on the application of the progressive elaboration approach and the Critical Chain method. We analysed the implementation process of the new procedure in a company that produces capital goods for the automotive industry. The work’s main focus is on the e ect of this change from the multi-project perspective. We found that the change had a larger impact than was expected by the company. Firstly, we found that the new approach provided an opportunity to improve the performance of the company. Besides, the new approach uncovered significant problems that previously were ignored, as well as problems and obstacles to the change. Based on the results and findings of this work, we conclude that shifting to this kind of approach requires a global managerial perspective, and strong support from the management

Modern Project Management Approaches in Uncertainty Environments: A Comparative Study Based on Action Research

Change and high uncertainty levels are the main characteristics of current project contexts. Years ago, the traditional project management faced problems when operating in these environments. Thus, at the end of the 20th century, new project management approaches were conceived to provide a more effective answer to such contexts. These methods propose a different approach, aimed at promoting the project flow by focusing on the short term. However, their adoption involves certain adjustments from a managerial perspective. The influence on the way resources are used is of special interest, as it may cause unexpected behaviors and reactions. The literature vastly analyzes the features and benefits of these methods. Nevertheless, there is a lack of empirical evidence about both the practical implications of the transition process toward them and their superior performance. Thus, this research aims to contribute to filling this gap by providing real-world based evidence related to the change process from a traditional project management approach to a flow-driven one. With this objective in mind, we analyzed the transition processes experienced by two design departments from companies of different industries. The results of the study confirm that the adoption of this type of approach can improve an organization’s performance and simplify its project management system. Therefore, we consider that our findings are useful for anybody interested in these methodologies. From the academic perspective, the evidence obtained in this study contributes to supporting the research works suggested by the literature. Furthermore, it can be helpful to guide further research and extend current knowledge. Additionally, they can assist companies in the improvement of their current project management approaches

Towards Citizen Co-Created Public Service Apps

WeLive project's main objective is about transforming the current e-government approach by providing a new paradigm based on a new open model oriented towards the design, production and deployment of public services and mobile apps based on the collaboration of different stakeholders. These stakeholders form the quadruple helix, i.e., citizens, private companies, research institutes and public administrations. Through the application of open innovation, open data and open services paradigms, the framework developed within the WeLive project enables the co-creation of urban apps. In this paper, we extend the description of the WeLive platform presented at, plus the preliminary results of the first pilot phase. The two-phase evaluation methodology designed and the evaluation results of first pilot sub-phase are also presented.The work presented in this research article has been carried out within the WeLive project from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 645845

Collaboration-Centred Cities through Urban Apps Based on Open and User-Generated Data

This paper describes the IES Cities platform conceived to streamline the development of urban apps that combine heterogeneous datasets provided by diverse entities, namely, government, citizens, sensor infrastructure and other information data sources. This work pursues the challenge of achieving effective citizen collaboration by empowering them to prosume urban data across time. Particularly, this paper focuses on the query mapper; a key component of the IES Cities platform devised to democratize the development of open data-based mobile urban apps. This component allows developers not only to use available data, but also to contribute to existing datasets with the execution of SQL sentences. In addition, the component allows developers to create ad hoc storages for their applications, publishable as new datasets accessible by other consumers. As multiple users could be contributing and using a dataset, our solution also provides a data level permission mechanism to control how the platform manages the access to its datasets. We have evaluated the advantages brought forward by IES Cities from the developers' perspective by describing an exemplary urban app created on top of it. In addition, we include an evaluation of the main functionalities of the query mapper.European Union's Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (ICT-PSP CIP Programme). Grant Agreement Number: 32509