Influence of the Ni-Co/Al-Mg catalyst loading in the continuous aqueous phase reforming of the bio-oil aqueous fraction

The effect of catalyst loading in the Aqueous Phase Reforming (APR) of bio-oil aqueous fraction has been studied with a Ni-Co/Al-Mg coprecipitated catalyst. Because of the high content of water in the bio-oil aqueous fraction, APR could be a useful process to convert this fraction into valuable products. Experiments of APR with continuous feeding of aqueous solution of acetol, butanol and acetic acid as the only compound, together with a simulated and a real aqueous fraction of bio-oil, were carried out. Liquid products in the liquid effluent of the APR model compounds were quantified and the reaction pathways were revised. The increase of catalyst loading produced an increase of gas production and a gas with higher alkanes content. Acetol was the compound with the highest reactivity while the conversion of acetic acid was very low. The presence of acetic acid in the feed caused catalyst deactivation

Integration of a Canine Agent in a Wireless Sensor Network for Information Gathering in Search and Rescue Missions

Search and rescue operations in the context of emergency response to human or natural disasters have the major goal of finding potential victims in the shortest possible time. Multi-agent teams, which can include specialized human respondents, robots and canine units, complement the strengths and weaknesses of each agent, like all-terrain mobility or capability to locate human beings. However, efficient coordination of heterogeneous agents requires specific means to locate the agents, and to provide them with the information they require to complete their mission. The major contribution of this work is an application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) to gather information from a multi-agent team and to make it available to the rest of the agents while keeping coverage. In particular, a canine agent has been equipped with a mobile node installed on a harness, providing information about the dog’s location as well as gas levels. The configuration of the mobile node allows for flexible arrangement of the system, being able to integrate static as well as mobile nodes. The gathered information is available at an external database, so that the rest of the agents and the control center can use it in real time. The proposed scheme has been tested in realistic scenarios during search and rescue exercises

Non-Invasive Forehead Segmentation in Thermographic Imaging

The temperature of the forehead is known to be highly correlated with the internal body temperature. This area is widely used in thermal comfort systems, lie-detection systems, etc. However, there is a lack of tools to achieve the segmentation of the forehead using thermographic images and non-intrusive methods. In fact, this is usually segmented manually. This work proposes a simple and novel method to segment the forehead region and to extract the average temperature from this area solving this lack of non-user interaction tools. Our method is invariant to the position of the face, and other different morphologies even with the presence of external objects. The results provide an accuracy of 90% compared to the manual segmentation using the coefficient of Jaccard as a metric of similitude. Moreover, due to the simplicity of the proposed method, it can work with real-time constraints at 83 frames per second in embedded systems with low computational resources. Finally, a new dataset of thermal face images is presented, which includes some features which are difficult to find in other sets, such as glasses, beards, moustaches, breathing masks, and different neck rotations and flexions

EFECTO DE LA FRECUENCIA DE RIEGO SOBRE LA EFICIENCIA DEL RIEGO Y LA PRODUCCIÓN DE UN CULTIVO DE FRESA

[EN] The effect on crop yield of several daily drip-irrigation frequencies was investigated for strawberry (Fragaria x anannasa) on sandy soil for one experiment conducted during 2013 to 2014 irrigation season. T1, T2 and T3 treatments were daily irrigated with 5, 10, and 15 minutes irrigation pulses and the same overall irrigation time. Therefore, these treatments received the same amount of irrigation water. T4 was daily irrigated according to the irrigation practices of the farmer. Irrigation frequency had little effect on yield. In all treatments production exceeded 900 g plant-1 , resulting in 3% and 7% reductions of significant yield of T2 and T1 treatments with respect to T3 and T4. No significant differences were detected between T3 and T4 treatments. Probably, the fall of T1 and T2 yields were due to a water stress induced by the distribution uniformity decrease when high irrigation frecuencies were applied. These results suggest that 15 minutes irrigation pulses are adequate for this type of soils. There was no yield benefit for short time irrigation pulses and, therefore, they were not advisable. T3 irrigation efficiency was 79% versus 42% for T4. In all irrigation treatments water use effciciency were around 23 Kg m-3 .[ES] Este experimento ha permitido conocer los efectos del riego por pulsos de diferente duración y frecuencia sobre la eficiencia del riego y la producción de un cultivo de fresa. El trabajo se realizó sobre un suelo arenoso del entorno de Doñana. Se hizo un ensayo con cuatro tratamientos y cuatro repeticiones. Los tres primeros fueron regados diariamente con la misma cantidad de agua, aplicando pulsos de 5 (T1), 10 (T2) y 15 (T3) minutos de duración. El cuarto tratamiento (T4) recibió el riego de la parte comercial de la finca, con pulsos diarios de 15 minutos aproximadamente. En el tratamiento T3 se obtuvieron ahorros de agua del 44% sin pérdida de producción, con respecto a la parte comercial de la finca (T4), y pérdidas de cosecha de tan solo el 3% para el de pulsos de duración intermedia (10 minutos). El tratamiento de pulsos más cortos, T1, experimentó una pérdida de producción del 7%, probablemente como consecuencia de la menor uniformidad de distribución del riego en estas condiciones y, por tanto, un mayor déficit hídrico en algunos puntos del invernadero. Por tanto, podemos concluir que los pulsos de riego entre 10 y 15 minutos serían los más aconsejables en este tipo de suelos. Además, pulsos muy cortos, como los del T1, deberían ser evitados. La eficiencia del riego del tratamiento más productivo (T3) fue del 79%, mientras que la finca tuvo una eficiencia media del 42%. Las producciones superaron los 1,000 g planta-1 en el tratamiento de pulsos “largos” (T3) y en el T4. Además, las eficiencias en el uso del agua obtenidas en los diferentes tratamientos fueron muy similares, situándose alrededor de 23 Kg m-3 .Gavilán, P.; Ruiz, N.; Lozano, D.; Bohórquez, JM.; Molina, F. (2015). EFECTO DE LA FRECUENCIA DE RIEGO SOBRE LA EFICIENCIA DEL RIEGO Y LA PRODUCCIÓN DE UN CULTIVO DE FRESA. En XXXIII CONGRESO NACIONAL DE RIEGOS. Valencia 16-18 junio de 2015. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CNRiegos.2015.1425OC

Analysis of noise temperature sensitivity for the design of a broadband thermal noise primary standard

A broadband primary standard for thermal noise measurements is presented and its thermal and electromagnetic behaviour is analysed by means of a novel hybrid analytical?numerical simulation methodology. The standard consists of a broadband termination connected to a 3.5mm coaxial airline partially immersed in liquid nitrogen and is designed in order to obtain a low reflectivity and a low uncertainty in the noise temperature. A detailed sensitivity analysis is made in order to highlight the critical characteristics that mostly affect the uncertainty in the noise temperature, and also to determine the manufacturing and operation tolerances for a proper performance in the range 10MHz to 26.5 GHz. Aspects such as the thermal bead design, the level of liquid nitrogen or the uncertainties associated with the temperatures, the physical properties of the materials in the standard and the simulation techniques are discussed

Un estudio cualitativo sobre los diferenciales de género en la educación superior: percepciones de las académicas en contextos masculinizados

El contexto universitario refleja, al igual que la sociedad en general, la falta de equidad y equilibrio en la representación de mujeres y hombres. En la academia aún encontramos una alta presencia de hombres, especialmente, en lo que respecta a las cátedras universitarias. En este estudio presentamos y analizamos resultados de un proyecto de investigación desarrollado en la Universidad de Alicante (España). Del análisis realizado en los siete centros o unidades académicas de esta universidad, en el que aún las académicas conviven en contextos masculinizados, emergen las diferencias de oportunidades percibidas por las profesoras universitarias en su desarrollo profesional docente e investigador, aunque muchas de ellas no las relacionan con la discriminación por género. Cuando las académicas se han encontrado en situaciones discriminatorias manifiestan una actitud activa y reivindicativa, excepto en los centros altamente masculinizados donde mantienen una actitud pasiva para que el ambiente de trabajo sea óptimo. Consideramos que es necesario continuar indagando en estos espacios donde la presencia de las académicas sigue siendo minoritaria a pesar de las reformas universitarias en materia de igualdad desarrolladas en la Educación Superior

Preparation and characterization of micro-nano engineered targets for high-power laser experiments

[EN] The continuous development of ultra-fast high-power lasers (HPL) technology with the ability of working at unprecedented repetition rates, between 1 and 10 Hz, is raising the target needs for experiments in the different areas of interest to the HPL community. Many target designs can be conceived according to specific scientific issues, however to guarantee manufacturing abilities that enable large number production and still allow for versatility in the design is the main barrier in the exploitation of these high repetition rate facilities. Here, we have applied MEMS based manufacturing processes for this purpose. In particular, we have focused on the fabrication and characterization of submicrometric conductive membranes embedded in a silicon frame. These kinds of solid targets are used for laser-driven particle acceleration through the so-called Target Normal Sheath Acceleration mechanism (TNSA). They were obtained by top-down fabrication alternating pattern transfer, atomic layer deposition, and selective material etching. The adaptability of the approach is then analyzed and discussed by evaluating different properties of targets for use in laser-driven particle acceleration experiments. These characteristics include the surface properties of membranes after fabrication and the high density of the target array. Finally, we were able to show their efficiency for laser-driven proton acceleration in a series of experiments with a 3 TW table-top laser facility, achieving stable proton acceleration up to 2 MeV.The authors highly appreciate the collaboration of Radosys (Budapest) which provided CR-39 detector material, etching bath, and readout equipment. This project has been financed by the Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness within the Retos-Colaboracion 2015 initiative, ref. RTC-2015-3278-1. P. Mur has received a grant of the Garantia Juvenil 2015 program. This work has made use of the Spanish ICTS Network MICRONANOFABS partially supported by MEINCOM.Zaffino, R.; Seimetz, M.; Quirión, D.; Ruiz-De La Cruz, A.; Sánchez, I.; Mur, P.; Benlliure, J.... (2018). Preparation and characterization of micro-nano engineered targets for high-power laser experiments. Microelectronic Engineering. 194:67-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mee.2018.03.011S677019

Radiation tests on commercial instrumentation amplifiers, analog switches & DAC's

A study of several commercial instrumentation amplifiers (INA110, INA111, INA114, INA116, INA118 & INA121) under neutron and vestigial gamma radiation was done. Some parameters (Gain, input offset voltage, input bias currents) were measured on-line and bandwidth, and slew rate were determined before and after radiation. The results of the testing of some voltage references REF102 and ADR290GR and the DG412 analog switch are shown. Finally, different digital-to-analog converters were tested under radiation. (6 refs)

Multidisciplinary management of head and neck cancer: First expert consensus using Delphi methodology from the Spanish Society for Head and Neck Cancer (part 2)

Head and neck cancer is one of the most frequent malignances worldwide. Despite the site-specific multimodality therapy, up to half of the patients will develop recurrence. Treatment selection based on a multidisciplinary tumor board represents the cornerstone of head and neck cancer, as it is essential for achieving the best results, not only in terms of outcome, but also in terms of organ-function preservation and quality of life. Evidence-based international and national clinical practice guidelines for head and neck cancer not always provide answers in terms of decision-making that specialists have to deal with in their daily practice. This is the first Expert Consensus on the Multidisciplinary Approach for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) elaborated by the Spanish Society for Head and Neck Cancer and based on a Delphi methodology. It offers a number of specific recommendations based on the available evidence and the expertise of our specialists to facilitate decision-making of all health-care specialists involved.Also, special thanks to Ainhoa Torres and the Merck Health Foundation for funding and promoting the project and development of the Article.Peer Reviewe