El turismo micológico como fuente de ingresos y empleo en el medio rural. El caso de Castilla y León

Edible wild mushroom picking is becoming an important source of income in rural areas. The wide range of activitieswhich add value to mycological production (initial sale, transformation, marketing, etc.) include those related to tourismwhich can attract visitors to mushroom producing areas, leading to so-called mycological tourism. To date, no researchexists quantifying the importance thereof in rural areas endowed with such resources. The present research provides thefirst model to estimate this activity’s contribution to the economy of rural areas in the region of Castilla y León. The mainfinding to emerge evidences a close link between influx of visitors, who come principally to pick, and mycological productivityin the region. Based on this relation, we estimate four key variables to determine the impact which said activityhas on the regional economy as a whole: the number of overnight stays and trips made by mycological tourists, as wellas associated expenditure and employment created. Findings underscore the importance of this activity in the regionaltourism industry and point to its significance as a major market niche, particularly during the hotel low season. The needfor public administrators to implement a related management policy is also inferred. La recolección de hongos silvestres comestibles se está convirtiendo en un importante motor generador de rentasen el medio rural. Entre las variadas actividades que aportan valor a la cadena de producción, relacionadas con la micología (primera venta, transformación, comercialización, etc.), se encuentran aquellas de turismo capaces de atraer visitantes a los territorios productores o turismo micológico. En la actualidad no existe ninguna investigación que cuantifique su importancia en las áreas rurales con recurso. Así, en la presente investigación se desarrolla por primera vez un modelo, que se aplica para estimar esta aportación a la economía de los territorios rurales de la comunidad autónoma de Castilla y León. El principal hallazgo obtenido muestra que existe una fuerte relación entre afluencia de visitantes, cuya principal motivación es recolectar, y la productividad micológica del territorio. A partir de esta relación se estiman cuatro variables fundamentales para calcular la importancia de esta actividad en el total de esta economía: el número de pernoctaciones y de viajes realizados por turistas micológicos, así como el gasto asociado y el empleo generado. Los resultados expuestos muestran la importancia relativa de esta actividad sobre el sector del turismo rural en la región, lo que la convierte en un importante nicho de mercado de vital importancia, sobre todo en temporadas de baja ocupación de los establecimientos hoteleros, lo que hace necesario políticas de gestión de esta actividad por parte de las administraciones públicas.

Management of Renal Cell Carcinoma: Evaluation of Renal Masses by Modem Radiological Techniques

The utilty of ultrasound and computed tomography is compared to angiography and that of nephrotomography in the study of renal masses. Ultrasound and computed tomography, noninvasive methods, are replacing nephrotomography and, in some cases, angiograph

The Notch Master Curve: A proposal of Master Curve for ferritic–pearlitic steels in notched conditions

This paper presents a model for the prediction of the apparent fracture toughness of ferritic–pearlitic steels in notched conditions and operating at temperatures corresponding to their ductile-to-brittle transition zone. The model, here named the Notch-Master Curve, is based on the combination of the Master Curve of the material in cracked conditions and the notch corrections provided by the Theory of Critical Distances. In order to validate the model, the fracture resistance results obtained in 168 tests performed on CT specimens (84 for each material) are presented. These tests were carried out, for each material, in specimens with six different notch radii, from 0 mm up to 2.0 mm, and at three different temperatures within their corresponding ductile-to-brittle transition zone. It has been observed that the model provides good predictions of the fracture resistance in notched conditions for the two materials analysed

On the Line Method apparent fracture toughness evaluations: experimental overview, validation and some consequences on fracture assessments

This paper analyses the capacity of the Line Method to provide evaluations of the apparent fracture toughness, which is the fracture resistance exhibited by materials in notched conditions. With this aim, the experimental results obtained in 555 fracture tests are homogeneously presented and compared to the Line Method evaluations. It is remarked that the Line Method provides adequate estimates of the apparent fracture toughness, and also that it conveniently addresses the physics of the notch effect. All this makes the Line Method a valuable scientific and engineering tool for the fracture assessment of materials containing notches

Structural integrity analysis of notched ferritic steels operating within their ductile-to-brittle transition zone: An approach from Failure Assessment Diagrams and the Notch Master Curve

This paper provides a structural integrity assessment methodology for the analysis of ferritic steels containing notch-type defects and operating within their ductile-to-brittle transition zone. The methodology, based on the use of Failure Assessment Diagrams and the novel concept of the Notch Master Curve, has been applied to 323 experimental results performed on four different steels (S275JR, S355J2, S460M and S690Q), six different notch radii (from 0 mm up to 2.0 mm), two different types of specimens (CT and SENB), and three different temperatures within the corresponding ductile-to-brittle transition zone. The results validate the proposed assessment methodology

Application and validation of the notch master curve in medium and high strength structural steels

This paper applies and validates the Notch master curve in two ferritic steels with medium (steel S460M) and high (steel S690Q) strength. The Notch master curve is an engineering tool that allows the fracture resistance of notched ferritic steels operating within their corresponding ductile-to-brittle transition zone to be estimated. It combines the Master curve and the Theory of critical distances in order to take into account the temperature and the notch effect respectively, assuming that both effects are independent. The results, derived from 168 fracture tests on notched specimens, demonstrate the capability of the Notch master curve for the prediction of the fracture resistance of medium and high strength ferritic steels operating within their ductile-to-brittle transition zone and containing notches

Assessment of notched structural steel components using failure assessment diagrams and the theory of critical distances

When the structural integrity of notched components is analysed, it is generally assumed that notches behave as cracks, something which generally provides overconservative results. The proposal of this paper consists, on the one hand, in the application of the theory of critical distances for the estimation of the notch fracture toughness and, therefore, for the conversion of the notched situation into an equivalent cracked situation in which the material develops a higher fracture resistance. On the other hand, once the notch fracture toughness has been defined, the assessment is performed using the failure assessment diagram methodology, and assuming that the notch effect on the limit load is negligible. The methodology has been applied to 336 CT notched fracture specimens made of two different structural steels, covering temperatures from the corresponding lower shelf up to the upper shelf, providing satisfactory results and a noticeable reduction in the overconservatism derived from the analyses in which the notch effect is not considered

Light emission from a scanning tunneling microscope: Fully retarded calculation

The light emission rate from a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) scanning a noble metal surface is calculated taking retardation effects into account. As in our previous, non-retarded theory [Johansson, Monreal, and Apell, Phys. Rev. B 42, 9210 (1990)], the STM tip is modeled by a sphere, and the dielectric properties of tip and sample are described by experimentally measured dielectric functions. The calculations are based on exact diffraction theory through the vector equivalent of the Kirchoff integral. The present results are qualitatively similar to those of the non-retarded calculations. The light emission spectra have pronounced resonance peaks due to the formation of a tip-induced plasmon mode localized to the cavity between the tip and the sample. At a quantitative level, the effects of retardation are rather small as long as the sample material is Au or Cu, and the tip consists of W or Ir. However, for Ag samples, in which the resistive losses are smaller, the inclusion of retardation effects in the calculation leads to larger changes: the resonance energy decreases by 0.2-0.3 eV, and the resonance broadens. These changes improve the agreement with experiment. For a Ag sample and an Ir tip, the quantum efficiency is $\approx$ 10$^{-4}$ emitted photons in the visible frequency range per tunneling electron. A study of the energy dissipation into the tip and sample shows that in total about 1 % of the electrons undergo inelastic processes while tunneling.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures (1 ps, 9 tex, automatically included); To appear in Phys. Rev. B (15 October 1998

PseudoGeneQuest – Service for identification of different pseudogene types in the human genome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pseudogenes, nonfunctional copies of genes, evolve fast due the lack of evolutionary pressures and thus appear in several different forms. PseudoGeneQuest is an online tool to search the human genome for a given query sequence and to identify different types of pseudogenes as well as novel genes and gene fragments.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>The service can detect pseudogenes, that have arisen either by retrotransposition or segmental genome duplication, many of which are not listed in the public pseudogene databases. The service has a user-friendly web interface and uses a powerful computer cluster in order to perform parallel searches and provide relatively fast runtimes despite exhaustive database searches and analyses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>PseudoGeneQuest is a versatile tool for detecting novel pseudogene candidates from the human genome. The service searches human genome sequences for five types of pseudogenes and provides an output that allows easy further analysis of observations. In addition to the result file the system provides visualization of the results linked to Ensembl Genome Browser. PseudoGeneQuest service is freely available.</p

Notch effect on the fracture of several rocks: Application of the Theory of Critical Distances

The paper analyses the fracture behaviour of several rocks, namely a sandstone, a limestone and two marbles, one of them being a Carrara marble. The experimental program comprises in total 216 fracture specimens, tested in 4-point bending conditions and including specimens with notch radii varying from 0.15 mm up to 15 mm. The notch effect is analysed through the evolution of the apparent fracture toughness and the application of the Theory of Critical Distances. The present study aims to generalize a previous study on a granite and a limestone to a broader range of rocks. The point and line methods of the Theory of the Critical Distances successfully explain the notch effect on the fracture specimens. The value of the critical distance of these rocks is of the order of mm. Finally, the results show a correlation between the microstructural features of the rocks, specifically the grain size, and their critical distances.The authors of this work would like to express their gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for financing the National Plan Project (Ref.: BIA2015-67479-R) under the name of ‘La Distancia Crítica en la Fractura de Rocas’ (The Critical Distance in Rock Fracture)