Lights and shadows of business-nonprofit partnerships: The role of nonprofit learning and empowerment in this ethical puzzle

[Abstract]: Business-nonprofit partnerships have gained increased relevance in the context of the evolution of corporate social responsibility strategies and the existence of extremely complex societal and environmental challenges. However, these collaborations are also associated with important ethical concerns. Under such a scenario, this study attempts to shed light on the effects of high value-added partnerships—i.e., those characterized by a process of nonprofit empowerment—on two potential risks of business-nonprofit partnerships: co-optation and loss of personnel’s identification with the nonprofit’s social mission. Based on a two-step survey to a representative sample of Spanish nonprofits involved in social partnerships with firms, results reveal the existence of a mixed influence in both cases, positive and negative. Several implications for practitioners are drawn, specifically about how firms and nonprofits can reduce the negative ethical consequences of partnering

Failure mechanisms and stability analyses of granitic boulders focusing a case study in Galicia (Spain)

Granitic boulders are widespread geomorphological elements, particularly found in humid granitic areas. Although they seldom represent a hazard for people or infrastructures, sometimes their location in steep or natural slopes may jeopardise their stability and potentially affect people or infrastructures. In addition, their complex geometry makes the instability mechanisms difficult to identify, so it is even more difficult to compute factors of safety regarding their stability. In this paper, the authors analyse potential failure mechanisms of granite boulders based on analytical mechanic calculations and physical tilt tests, permitting understanding the phenomena under scrutiny. Then, they study the stability of one of these boulders: the Pena do Equilibrio or equilibrium rock. To do that they resort to standard geotechnical characterization and advanced geometrical characterization derived from UAV photogrammetric and 3D Laser Scanning of the boulder. The presented results exemplify how the application of these recently available topographic technologies, in combination with rock mechanics approaches, enable a rigorous analysis of the stability of granite boulders

Semi-automatic 3D reconstruction of atheroma plaques from intravascular ultrasound images using an ad-hoc algorithm

The occurrence of atheroma plaques in the arteries can eventually obstruct them, leading to diseases such as atherosclerosis, which can cause, among others, a myocardial infarction or a stroke. As a consequence, it is necessary to shorten the time spent in locating and reconstructing the atheroma plaque that can be developed in an artery. This localization is usually conducted manually from the contours located on the cross-sectional radiographs of the artery and then reconstructed by creating the volumes using different techniques. This paper presents a 3-D reconstruction of the atheroma plaque by applying an image processing algorithm ad-hoc developed in order to obtain the boundaries of the atheroma, from a set of intravascular ultrasound images. The advantage of the approach developed in this paper is that it can be implemented in common medical procedures, as an important complementary decision-support tool. By reconstructing the atheroma instead of the artery, this work provides a different approach to improve its location and treatment. Results presented herein can be implemented in machine-learning-based algorithms, able to predict the growth and extent of incipient atheroma plaques, which ultimately contribute to an early detection of this pathology

Automatic image characterization of psoriasis lesions

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease that affects 125 million people worldwide and, particularly, 2% of the Spanish population, characterized by the appearance of skin lesions due to a growth of the epidermis that is seven times larger than usual. Its diagnosis and monitoring are based on the use of methodologies for measuring the severity and extent of these spots, and this includes a large subjective component. For this reason, this paper presents an automatic method for characterizing psoriasis images that is divided into four parts: image preparation or pre-processing, feature extraction, classification of the lesions, and the obtaining of parameters. The methodology proposed in this work covers different digital-image processing techniques, namely, marker-based image delimitation, hair removal, nipple detection, lesion contour detection, areal-measurement-based lesion classification, as well as lesion characterization by means of red and white intensity. The results obtained were also endorsed by a professional dermatologist. This methodology provides professionals with a common software tool for monitoring the different existing typologies, which proved satisfactory in the cases analyzed for a set of 20 images corresponding to different types of lesions.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad | Ref. TIN2016-76770-

Considerations Relevant to the Stability of Granite Boulders

Granite boulders are characteristic geomorphological structures formed in granitic terrains. Due to their formation process associated with typical spheroidal weathering phenomena, they tend to show more or less ellipsoidal shapes prone to instability, and they often lie on small contact surfaces. Analyzing the stability of these boulders is not a straightforward task. First, these boulders may topple or slide. Additionally, their typically irregular geometry and uneven contact with the surface where they lie makes the analysis more complex. The authors have identified some critical issues that are relevant to characterize these boulders from a rock mechanics point of view, with the aim of estimating the stability of boulders. In particular, an accurate description of the geometry of the boulder is necessary to perform accurate toppling calculations. Additionally, the contact area and the features of the contact plane need to be known in detail. The study is intended to serve as a guideline to address the stability of these granite boulders in a rigorous way, since standard rock mechanics approaches (planar failure, toppling stability, standard rock joint strength criteria, etc.) may not be directly applicable to these particular cases.The first author acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for financial support of a related project awarded under Contract Reference No. RTI2018-093563-B-I00, partially financed by means of ERDF funds from the EU. The first author also gratefully thanks the Commission for Cultural, Educational, Scientific Exchange between the USA and Spain of the Fulbright Program for financing a Scholar Visit to Colorado School of Mines, where part of this study was completed. The fourth author acknowledges funding of part of his research in association boulder geometry acquisition from EU FEDER under Project TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P and by the University of Alicante (vigrob-157 and GRE18-05)

Influence of water content on the basic friction angle of porous limestones—experimental study using an automated tilting table

An accurate evaluation of the shear strength of discontinuities is frequently a key aspect for determining the safety of mining and civil engineering works and for solving instability issues at rock mass scale. This is usually done by using empirical shear strength criteria in which the basic friction angle (φb) is a relevant input parameter. Tilt testing is probably the most widespread method to obtain the φb due to its simplicity and low cost, but previous research has demonstrated that the results are strongly affected by several factors (e.g. surface finishing, cutting speed, specimen geometry, wear, time and rock type). In this connection, despite it is well known that water significantly reduces the mechanical properties of sedimentary rocks, very scarce research has focused on assessing the impact of the variations in water content on tilt test results. With the aim to fill this gap, saw-cut slabs of three limestone lithotypes were tilt tested in dry state, wet condition (fully water saturated, non-submerged samples) and under exposure to an environmental relative humidity (RH) of 90%. The results revealed that full water saturation caused moderate φb reductions in two lithotypes and a φb increase in one lithotype. This can be explained by their different microstructure and mineralogy, which makes that lubrication effect prevails over suction effect or vice versa. However, the exposure to a high RH environment did not cause significant φb variations. In addition, some important considerations related to tilt testing are provided and discussed, such as the intrinsic variability of the sliding angle (β) and the impact of multiple sliding on the same rock surfaces on β.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was partially supported by the Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Transferencia del Conocimiento of the University of Alicante through the projects UAUSTI18-21, UAUSTI20-20 and UAUSTI19-25

Influence of microroughness on the frictional behavior and wear response of planar saw-cut rock surfaces

Saw-cut rock surfaces, classically utilized to estimate basic friction angle of discontinuities by means of tilt test and other procedures, may seem planar to the naked eye. Nevertheless, they actually present roughness at a micrometric scale. Aiming at characterizing some of these saw-cut rock surfaces and assessing the possible implications between their microscale topography and the resulting tribological behavior, the authors of this study resorted to the 3D focus-variation technique to analyze different surface-texture parameters. Tilt tests were carried out on specimens cut on three rock types, and the involved sliding surfaces were evaluated at a microscale for different testing stages (prior to any test and after two series of repeated tests). An apparently logical inverse correlation between repeated testing and friction angle has been observed, more marked for the smoother surfaces. Higher roughness at the scale of the analysis tends to produce lower friction-angle values, as otherwise observed for mismatched natural rock surfaces. In addition, saw-cut rock surfaces present systematically negative skewness and high values of kurtosis for their height distributions, indicating the occurrence of narrow and deep pits or valleys. Directional hybrid parameters and, in particular, the root mean square (RMS) of the gradient of the surface in the direction of sliding correlates rather well with the measured sliding angle. The authors concluded that the 3D focus-variation technique represents a powerful tool to assess surface-texture parameters of saw-cut rock surfaces, in addition to being useful for understanding some features of the tribological, or wear and frictional, behavior of these type of surfaces.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018-093563-B-I0

Analytical and experimental studies on toppling behavior of blocks misaligned with the slope face

Abstract The stability of potentially toppling rock blocks has been typically addressed for the case of regular block geometries showing symmetry planes and resting on surfaces aligned with the slope face, i.e., the strike of the slope is parallel to the block sides and their basal planes. However, these simple geometries with ideally oriented blocks are not often found in nature. This study aims to bridge this knowledge gap through analytical and experimental approaches, in the form of laboratory physical models, to study toppling cases for non-conventional scenarios. An engineering geology review was first conducted, identifying potential non-standard cases in nature. Then, the current analytical solutions for both the factor of safety and critical toppling angle were modified for these misaligned cases, focusing on single block and standard block toppling, and considering the effect of block-edge rounding. Physical models support the analytical approach. It is concluded that toppling stability is slightly improved when the orientation of the basal plane of the blocks differs with the strike of the slope. In this way, for single blocks, the critical toppling angle increases a few tenths of a degree when the difference between strikes is 10°, about 1° with strike differences about 20° and 2 to 3° for misalignments about 30°. Similar increases are observed for block toppling cases. Accordingly, small differences in strike of basal planes and the slope contribute to slightly increasing the factor of safety of slopes prone to block toppling. This approach improves practical engineering toppling stability analyses.Universidade de Vigo/CISU

La ventilación como elemento fundamental en la seguridad frente a incendios en túneles

La movilidad geográfica es, sin lugar a dudas, uno de los aspectos sociales que más se ha potenciado en los últimos años tanto en el ámbito nacional como mundial. Debido a las grandes dificultades orográficas que se dan en la Unión Europea es preciso desarrollar complejos proyectos donde los túneles son un elemento clave. Paradójicamente, los recientes incendios acaecidos en túneles en todo el mundo han generado dudas acerca de la necesidad de incrementar el número y, sobre todo, la longitud de túneles pero han supuesto un aliciente para profundizar en el estudio de los criterios de seguridad adoptados hasta ese momento. En concreto, dentro del conjunto de instalaciones disponibles en los túneles de carretera el sistema de ventilación juega un papel fundamental por su relación con los criterios de seguridad. En este sentido, el mayor conocimiento de los fenómenos que intervienen en los procesos de producción y evolución de los humos permiten definir criterios de dimensionamiento y funcionamiento de la ventilación más sofisticados. Sin embargo para poder asegurar la calidad del conjunto es preciso, por una parte, partir de una correcta definición a nivel de Proyecto de la solución constructiva la defmición de criterios de actuación precisos a adoptar en caso de incendio y por último el establecimiento de procedimientos de supervisión globales. En el artículo propuesto se abordan desde una perspectiva global las distintas etapas de definición y control que deben realizarse para garantizar el correcto funcionamiento de la instalación, se profundiza en los modelos numéricos empleados para el dimensionamiento y se recogen aspectos de la experiencia resultante de ensayos in-situ realizados. Como ejemplo se presentan resultados para distintos túneles de carreteras en España

Ventilation system design and large scale fire tests

The design, construction and operation of the tunnels of M-30, the major ring road in the city of Madrid (Spain), represent a very interesting project in wich a wide variety of situations -geometrical, topographical, etc.- had to be covered, in variable conditions of traffic. For that reasons, the M-30 project is a remarkable technical challenge, which, after its completion, turned into an international reference. From the "design for safety" perspective, a holistic approach has been used to deal with new technologies, integration of systems and development of the procedures to reach the maximum level. However, one of the primary goals has been to achieve reasonable homogeneity characteristics which can permit operate a netword of tunels as one only infraestructure. In the case of the ventilation system the mentioned goals have implied innovative solutions and coordination efforts of great interest. Consequently, this paper describes the principal ideas underlying the conceptual solution developed focusing on the principal peculiarities of the project