Karst Hidrology oh Mallorca

Els aqüífers carstics de Mallorca resulten d'importancia essencial per a I'abastiment d'aigua de I'llla. Es poden distingir dos tipus d'aqüifers carstics: els desenvolupats en mater ial~do lomítics i calcaris del Jurassic inferior i els que es troben en els diposits tabulars del Mioce superior. Els primers representen materials fortament aixecats i estructurats on es presenta freqüentment una doble permeabilitat, que registra una circulació a través de grans cavitats ¡/o de petites fissures. Els aqüífers carstics del segon tipus s'estenen sobre diposits subhoritzontals, lleugerament aixecats i amb una intensa relació amb les oscil.lacions del nivel1 de la mar.Karstic aquifers of Mallorca are of vital importance for the water supply of the island. Two types have been distinguished: the first one corresponds to greatly structured and folded dolomites and limestones, early Jurassic in age, which usually develop a double permeability characterized by flows both through large karst conduits and through small fissures. The second type of karst aquifers develops in tabular upper Miocene deposits gently structured and uplifted, located in the coastal zones in southern Mallorc

Field measurements of angular motions of a vessel at berth: Inertial device application

[Abstract]: The study and characterization of the oscillations of a moored vessel has a major importance in port operational efficiency, not only in the design of mooring and anchoring systems, but also in order to prevent the movement of the cargo, minimize ship and dock damage and optimizing the operations which have to take place while the ship is moored.The dynamic behavior of a vessel moored in waves has been mathematically described and interactions between ships and environmental loads such as waves, wind, currents and ice are commonly tested for different docks and mooring systems in scale models. However, field data studies of the behavior moored ships have not been properly addressed so far.This paper proposes a novel application of Inertial Measurement Units to estimate the angular movements (roll, pitch and yaw) of a moored vessel. The proposed technique has been validated in laboratory conditions and the behavior of the ship Urania Mella in the Outer Port of Punta Langosteira (A Coruña, Spain), has been analyzed, obtaining very promising results.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, R&D National Plan, within the project BIA2017-86738-

Tribological behavior of oils additised with a phosphonium-derived ionic liquid compared to a commercial oil

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the antifriction, antiwear and tribolayer formation properties of the trihexyltetradecylphosphonium bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate ionic liquid (IL) as additive at 1 wt.% in two base oils and their mixtures, comparing the results with those of a commercial oil. Design/methodology/approach: The mixture of the base oils used in the formulation of the commercial oil SAE 0W20 plus the IL was tested under rolling/sliding and reciprocating conditions to determine the so-called Stribeck curve, the tribolayer formation and the antifriction and antiwear behaviors. Findings: The use of this IL as additive in these oils does not change their viscosity; improves the antifriction and antiwear properties of the base oils, making equal or outperforming these properties of the SAE 0W20; and the thickness and formation rate of the tribolayer resulting from the IL-surface interaction is highly dependent on the type of base oil and influence on the friction and wear results. Originality/value: The use of this IL allows to replace partial or totally commercial antifriction and antiwear additives. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-05-2020-0179/

Two-step approach for occupancy estimation in intensive care units based on Bayesian optimization techniques

Due to the high occupational pressure suffered by intensive care units (ICUs), a correct estimation of the patients’ length of stay (LoS) in the ICU is of great interest to predict possible situations of collapse, to help healthcare personnel to select appropriate treatment options and to predict patients’ conditions. There has been a high amount of data collected by biomedical sensors during the continuous monitoring process of patients in the ICU, so the use of artificial intelligence techniques in automatic LoS estimation would improve patients’ care and facilitate the work of healthcare personnel. In this work, a novel methodology to estimate the LoS using data of the first 24 h in the ICU is presented. To achieve this, XGBoost, one of the most popular and efficient state-of-the-art algorithms, is used as an estimator model, and its performance is optimized both from computational and precision viewpoints using Bayesian techniques. For this optimization, a novel two-step approach is presented. The methodology was carefully designed to execute codes on a high-performance computing system based on graphics processing units, which considerably reduces the execution time. The algorithm scalability is analyzed. With the proposed methodology, the best set of XGBoost hyperparameters are identified, estimating LoS with a MAE of 2.529 days, improving the results reported in the current state of the art and probing the validity and utility of the proposed approach.Agencia Gallega de Innovación | Ref. IN845D-2020/29Agencia Gallega de Innovación | Ref. IN607B-2021/1

XMM-Newton observations of the INTEGRAL X-ray transient J17544-2619

On 2003 September 17 INTEGRAL discovered a bright transient source 3 degrees from the Galactic Center, IGR J17544-2619. The field containing the transient was observed by XMM-Newton on 2003 March 17 and September 11 and 17. A bright source, at a position consistent with the INTEGRAL location, was detected by the European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) during both September observations with mean 0.5-10 keV unabsorbed luminosities of 1.1x10^35 and 5.7x10^35 erg s-1 for an (assumed) distance of 8 kpc. The source was not detected in 2003 March, with a 0.5-10 keV luminosity of < 3.8x10^32 erg s-1. The September 11 and 17 EPIC spectra can be represented by a power-law model with photon indices of 2.25+/-0.15 and 1.42+/-0.17, respectively. Thus, the 0.5-10 keV spectrum hardens with increasing intensity. The low-energy absorption during both September observations is comparable to the interstellar value. The X-ray lightcurves for both September observations show energy dependent flaring which may be modeled by changes in either low-energy absorption or power-law index.Comment: Six pages, five figures; to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Influence of environmental conditions and oxidation on the coefficient of friction using microalloyed rail steels

© IMechE 2020. In railway systems, certain atmospheric conditions – mainly related to temperature and relative humidity – lead to the creation of iron oxides which can affect the coefficient of friction between the wheel and the rail. This can result in increased wear of the rail, reducing its service life and thus increasing replacement costs. Pin-on-disc tests were conducted in a climate chamber to study the influence of environmental conditions and iron oxides on the coefficient of friction. The iron oxides generated on the surface of specimens extracted from microalloyed rail steel during wear tests were analysed using X-ray diffraction. The results show that hematite (α-Fe2O3) is the predominant iron oxide among all the oxides generated on the worn surfaces. It was further noted that the oxide layer resulting from the rise in both temperature and relative humidity does not significantly affect the average coefficient of friction for each steel samples tested. High relative humidity combined with high temperature leads to the formation of α-Fe2O3, which tends to increase the coefficient of friction. However, a boundary lubrication effect is observed at higher relative humidity due to a condensed water film, which reduces the coefficient of friction and counteracts the increase of the coefficient of friction expected due to the presence of hematite

BIOMECHANICAL ASSESSMENT OF AERODYNAMIC RESISTANCE IN PROFFESSSIONAL CYCLISTS: METHODOLOGICAL ASPECTS

The aim of this study was to measure and compare the aerodynamic resistance (RA) in five different professional road cyclists obtained from a wind tunnel and to establish modification that into a performance improvement. Five professional cyclists from the Kelme-Costa Blanca Team were studied in five positions, four on the aerobike and one on the standard bike. From our results we conclude that establishing small modifications in the aerohandlebars, which result in a more profitable position, can reduce RA. The use of aerohelmet was not shown to be always useful. It is necessary to take into account the technique employed, corrected RA values with the anthropometric characteristics, static vs dynamic assessment when comparing professional cyclists RA

The Correlated Block Renormalization Group

We formulate the standard real-space renormalization group method in a way which takes into account the correlation between blocks. This is achieved in a dynamical way by means of operators which reflect the influence on a given block of its neighbours. We illustrate our method in the example of the tight-binding model in 1D and 2D for various types of boundary conditions.Comment: LATEX file, 18 pages, 7 figures available upon reques

SHARDS: Constraints on the dust attenuation law of star-forming galaxies at z~2

We make use of SHARDS, an ultra-deep (<26.5AB) galaxy survey that provides optical photo-spectra at resolution R~50, via medium band filters (FWHM~150A). This dataset is combined with ancillary optical and NIR fluxes to constrain the dust attenuation law in the rest-frame NUV region of star-forming galaxies within the redshift window 1.5<z<3. We focus on the NUV bump strength (B) and the total-to-selective extinction ratio (Rv), targeting a sample of 1,753 galaxies. By comparing the data with a set of population synthesis models coupled to a parametric dust attenuation law, we constrain Rv and B, as well as the colour excess, E(B-V). We find a correlation between Rv and B, that can be interpreted either as a result of the grain size distribution, or a variation of the dust geometry among galaxies. According to the former, small dust grains are associated with a stronger NUV bump. The latter would lead to a range of clumpiness in the distribution of dust within the interstellar medium of star-forming galaxies. The observed wide range of NUV bump strengths can lead to a systematic in the interpretation of the UV slope ($\beta$) typically used to characterize the dust content. In this study we quantify these variations, concluding that the effects are $\Delta\beta$~0.4.Comment: 13 pages, 11+2 figures, 3 tables. MNRAS, in pres