Heat transfer distribution on a discontinuously convective cooled surface

An active cooling scheme in which discrete cooling passages are used was investigated. In this scheme, the coolant passages are placed perpendicular to the main stream direction. Streamwise temperature oscillations result from the highly cooled regions, near the coolant channels, being next to regions not directly cooled between the channels. The accuracy of the heat transfer rate predictions by these approximations was evaluated by means of both experimental and numerical investigations. Experiments were conducted at free stream Mach number of 6 with several cooling passages. Heat transfer measurements were made and corresponding theoretical analysis were performed for comparison in evaluating both local and overall deviations in the heat transfer rate

Estimacion de los riesgos de lixiviation de nitratos en suelos agricolas: Enfoque numerico o analytico ?

The environmental problem of nitrate contaminant effects from agricultural sources exists in many rural regions around the world. The use of simulation models could be a way for knowing the risks of different agricultural practices on nitrate leaching. Nowadays, there is a wide variety of models capable of simulating water and solute movement in agricultural soils. The main objective of this work is to compare two models, with different approach for solving the 1D water flux and nitrate movements in soil, in relation to their ability to estimate the risks of nitrate leaching. The first model is STICS with an analytical approach, whereas HYDRUS-1D is chosen for its numerical approach. In order to reach this objective, 15 experimental trials, with different doses and kind of nitrogen fertilizers, were carried out in Baix Empordà (northeast of Spain) agricultural region during spring of 2004. The results show the good correlation between STICS and HYDRUS-1D models. However, HYDRUS-1D predicts amounts of nitrates leached greater that STICS. Considering the results obtained, we establish the first step for accepting the simulations of STICS in order to predict the risks of nitrate leaching on plots with furrow irrigation during all the crop seaso

MAO: a Multiple Alignment Ontology for nucleic acid and protein sequences

The application of high-throughput techniques such as genomics, proteomics or transcriptomics means that vast amounts of heterogeneous data are now available in the public databases. Bioinformatics is responding to the challenge with new integrated management systems for data collection, validation and analysis. Multiple alignments of genomic and protein sequences provide an ideal environment for the integration of this mass of information. In the context of the sequence family, structural and functional data can be evaluated and propagated from known to unknown sequences. However, effective integration is being hindered by syntactic and semantic differences between the different data resources and the alignment techniques employed. One solution to this problem is the development of an ontology that systematically defines the terms used in a specific domain. Ontologies are used to share data from different resources, to automatically analyse information and to represent domain knowledge for non-experts. Here, we present MAO, a new ontology for multiple alignments of nucleic and protein sequences. MAO is designed to improve interoperation and data sharing between different alignment protocols for the construction of a high quality, reliable multiple alignment in order to facilitate knowledge extraction and the presentation of the most pertinent information to the biologist

Conservation of soil organic carbon, biodiversity and the provision of other ecosystem services along climatic gradients in West Africa

Terrestrial carbon resources are major drivers of development in West Africa. The distribution of these resources co-varies with ecosystem type and rainfall along a strong Northeast-Southwest climatic gradient. Soil organic carbon, a strong indicator of soil quality, has been severely depleted in some areas by human activities, which leads to issues of soil erosion and desertification, but this trend can be altered with appropriate management. There is significant potential to enhance existing soil carbon stores in West Africa, with benefits at the global and local scale, for atmospheric CO2 mitigation as well as supporting and provisioning ecosystem services. Three key factors impacting carbon stocks are addressed in this review: climate, biotic factors, and human activities. Climate risks must be considered in a framework of global change, especially in West Africa, where landscape managers have few resources available to adapt to climatic perturbations. Among biotic factors, biodiversity conservation paired with carbon conservation may provide a pathway to sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation is also a global priority with local benefits for ecosystem resilience, biomass productivity, and provisioning services such as foodstuffs. Finally, human management has largely been responsible for reduced carbon stocks, but this trend can be reversed through the implementation of appropriate carbon conservation strategies in the agricultural sector, as shown by multiple studies. Owing to the strong regional climatic gradient, country-level initiatives will need to consider carbon sequestration approaches for multiple ecosystem types. Given the diversity of environments, global policies must be adapted and strategies developed at the national or sub-national levels to improve carbon storage above and belowground. Initiatives of this sort must act locally at farmer scale, and focus on ecosystem services rather than on carbon sequestration solely

The acute gravitational stress of parabolic flight affects red blood cell aggregation and functionality of circulating immune cells

Postprint (published version

Temperament and attachment as predictive factors for the risk of addiction to substances in adolescents.

Abstract: This study aims to relate the dimensions of temperament and attachment with the risk of addiction to substances in a group of 642 adolescents between 13 and 19 years old, and to assess which dimensions of these constructs acted as risk or protective factors. It also relates the two constructs between them. There was a positive correlation between the risk of addiction and the temperament dimension "Novelty seeking" and with those of attachment, "Self-sufficiency and parental resentment" and "Child trauma". The correlation was negative with "Persistence" (temperament) and "Security" (attachment). "Novelty seeking", "Family concern" and age, acted as risk factors; whereas “Security” in attachment was a factor of protection. The temperament and attachment profiles with a higher risk of addiction correlated with each other; they also correlated those with a low risk. Resumen: Temperamento y apego como factores predictivos para el riesgo de adicción a sustancias en adolescentes.Este estudio busca relacionar las dimensiones de temperamento y apego con el riesgo de adicción a sustancias en un grupo de 642 adolescentes de entre 13 y 19 años, y valorar qué dimensiones de estos constructos actúan como factores de riesgo o de protección. También se relacionan los dos constructos entre ellos. Hubo una correlación positiva entre el riesgo de adicción y la dimensión de temperamento “Búsqueda de novedad”, y con las de apego “Autosuficiencia y rencor hacia los padres” y “Trauma infantil”. La correlación fue negativa con “Persistencia” (temperamento) y “Seguridad” (apego). “Búsqueda de la novedad”, “Preocupación familiar” y edad, actuaron como factores de riesgo; mientras que la “Seguridad “en el apego fue un factor de protección. Los perfiles de temperamento y apego con riesgo más elevado de adicción correlacionaron entre ellos; también correlacionaron aquellos con un riesgo bajo.        

Supporting teachers’ use of data-based instruction to improve students’ early writing skills

We examined the effects of a professional development (PD) system designed to support teachers’ use of data-based instruction (DBI) to improve early writing outcomes for children with intensive needs. The PD system, called DBI-TLC, provided tools for early writing assessment and intervention, learning modules including face-to-face workshops followed by classroom application, and ongoing coaching to support DBI implementation. Special education teachers in 19 classrooms in 2 Midwestern districts were assigned randomly to receive DBI-TLC or to a business-as-usual control group. All teachers completed pre- and posttests of DBI knowledge and skills and self-efficacy, and DBI-TLC teachers’ fidelity to DBI was assessed. Fifty-three students (2 to 3 from each classroom) completed pre- and posttests of early writing using curriculum-based measures (CBM) and the Test of Early Written Language-3 (TEWL-3). DBI-TLC teachers outperformed controls at posttest on DBI knowledge and skills (Hedge’s g = 2.88) and reported a more explicit writing instruction orientation compared to controls (g = 1.63). DBI fidelity varied (on average, 84% for assessment, 79% for intervention, and 52% for decision-making). Students whose teachers implemented DBI showed a pattern of stronger early writing performance compared to control students on CBM, with effect sizes of 0.23 to 0.40, but not on the TEWL-3 (0.02 to 0.13). We discuss the promise of DBI-TLC to improve teacher practice and student outcomes, as well as the need to continue to explore ways to support teachers’ implementation of DBI with fidelity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved

Effects of rapid gravity load changes on immunophenotyping and leukocyte function of human peripheral blood after parabolic flight

One of the biological systems that suffers a physiological de-conditioning in space is the immune system. It is in charge of defending the body against pathogens and other aggressions. The aim of this work is to assess if there are any relevant changes in the aggregation of erythrocytes, cell count, immunophenotyping and functionality after parabolic flight. This effect has been assessed ex vivo using human peripheral blood, which was drawn from the radial vein (n=6 healthy volunteers) and anticoagulated with heparin and EDTA. Blood samples were split into two aliquots and maintained in two identical thermally isolated boxes; one stayed on the ground whereas the other one was subjected to parabolic flight. The parabolic flight consisted of 15 parabolas performed with a Mudry CAP-10B acrobatic aircraft. Each parabola consists of 8 seconds of hypogravity preceded and followed by 2 seconds of hypergravity. Any of the biological parameters measured showed no statistically significant differences. Altered gravity could increase aggregation of red blood cells, as demonstrated by a decrease in the number of single cells after parabolic flight exposure. No counting changes in haemoglobin concentration were observed when comparing the two different groups. Furthermore, potential functional alterations of monocytes and neutrophils cannot be rejected. Although these possible changes could be associated with hypogravity, other factors such as hypergravity and acceleration or deceleration cannot be ruled out. Our findings indicate that, under this specific experimental setup, there was no significant alteration in leukocyte immunophenotyping and functional capacity when using ex vivo blood samples and short exposure to altered gravity.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::3 - Salut i BenestarPostprint (published version