Design strategies in facades for the reduction of housing energy consumption

This article analyzes the energy-saving potential of various facade design strategies from a life cycle perspective, including the energy needed in the use stage and the embodied energy of materials. The results provide reference data on the behaviour of these systems in Spain and make it possible to identify the best strategies for reducing energy consumption in a wide variety of potential situations that may arise in both new construction and in the rehabilitation of existing facades. The impact categories studied are fossil fuel depletion and climate change, and design strategies are linked to climate data, orientation, air change rate, facade materials and wall composition. Exchanges between the interior and exterior environments take place through the building envelope, some of whose key design parameters include lighting, ventilation and heat flux. Improving this envelope can greatly reduce environmental impact, ensuring indoor environmental quality. This analysis confirms the need to consider the interactions among the parameters studied, as it shows that there are several design solutions with similar impacts, which can be adapted to project requirements. In both new construction and rehabilitation, some of these parameters may be determined by other design decisions not necessarily aimed at reducing environmental impact, so it can be very useful to be aware of a variety of design alternatives that can be implemented in specific projects

Above ground woody community attributes, biomass and carbon stocks along a rainfall gradient in the savannas of the central lowveld, South Africa

Enumeration of carbon stocks at benchmark sites is a necessary activity in assessing the potential carbon sequestration and possible generation of credits through restoration of intensively impacted sites. However, there is a lack of empirical studies throughout much of the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. We report an estimation of species specific and site biomass and carbon stocks, and general vegetation structural attributes from three protected areas along a rainfall gradient in the central lowveld, South Africa. Estimates of biomass and carbon stocks were effected through destructive sampling to establish locally derived allometric equations. There was a gradient of increasing woody density, height of the canopy, number of species, density of regenerative stems and a greater proportion of stems in small size classes from the arid locality to the mesic locality, with the semi-arid locality being intermediate. The proportion of spinescent species decreased with increasing rainfall. The mesic locality was significantly more woody than either the arid or semi-arid sites, having double the biomass, four times the density and 40% higher basal area. Above ground carbon pools were also higher; carbon stocks were approximately 9 t/ha for the arid and semi-arid sites and 18 t/ha for the mesic site.

Retrospectiva investigativa y docencia sobre iluminación natural en arquitectura

Artículo sobre la Retrospectiva investigativa sobre iluminación natural en arquitectur

Juegos de simulación por ordenador : un útil para la enseñanza a todos los niveles

This paper enhances some of the great number of science educational applications of computers simulation games, and briefly discusses the relationship with the physical structure of computers and living world

Inventari del tresor litúrgic de l'altar de Sant Pere de la Catedral de Vic de principi del segle XIII

L'autora presenta l'inventari inèdit del mobiliari litúrgic de l'altar de Sant Pere de la catedral de Vic, possiblement de principi del segle XIII. L'inventari ocupa el marginal del f. 152 del Liber dotationum antiquarum (ACV). S'analitzen testaments amb deixes d'interès, així com les figures del sagristà Pere de Tavertet (1157-1218) i de Guillem de Tavertet, nebot seu i bisbe de Vic (1195-1233), ambdós lligats per la cronologia de l'inventari. Es fa un estudi de les peces relacionades. Un dels ítems més significatius és un calze magnum que Pere de Tavertet havia deixat a l'esmentat altar.The author presents the unpublished inventory of liturgical objects of Saint Peters altar in Vic Cathedral, possibly dating to the early 13th century. The inventory can be found in folio 152 of Liber dotationum antiquarum (ACV). This article analyzes the wills and the figures of Pere de Tavertet (1157-1218), sacristan, and Guillem de Tavertet, his nephew and bishop of Vic from 1195 to 1233. The author provides a study of the pieces included in the inventory, the most important of which is the magnum chalice which Pere de Tavertet bequeathed to the altar

Surface movement and cascade processes on debris cones in temperate high mountain (Picos de Europa, northern Spain)

Producción CientíficaDebris talus is a very common landform in the temperate high mountain, so much so that it is the most representative of the periglacial and nival processes. This work studies debris cones in the Picos de Europa, an Atlantic mountain range in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. A detailed geomorphological map was prepared, fieldwork was carried out on the debris cone surface, the ground and air thermal regime was analyzed, and a five-year Terrestrial Laser Scan survey carried out. Annual volume changes on the surface of the debris cones were detected and related to active processes and sediment transfer. Two different behaviors were observed in each cone. Cone A is linear, with equilibrium between accumulation and sediment transfer, while Cone B is concave-convex denoting accumulation processes in the upper part deriving from the greater frequency of snow avalanches. Changes in morphology surpass 50 cm/year with most of the activity taking place in the highest and lowest areas. The presence and action of the ice on the debris slope are moderate or non-existent and freeze-thaw processes are only active on the walls at over 2000 m a.s.l. The main processes on debris cones are debris flow and creep related to snowcover, but sediment transfer on the slopes involves high intensity-low frequency (debris flow, avalanches) and high frequency-low intensity processes (creep, shift, solifluction and wasting).Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project CGL2015-68144-R)Junta de Extremadura - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project GR10071

Modelling and Terrestrial Laser Scanning Methodology (2009–2018) on Debris Cones in Temperate High Mountains

Producción CientíficaDebris cones are a very common landform in temperate high mountains. They are the most representative examples of the periglacial and nival processes. This work studies the dynamic behavior of two debris cones (Cone A and Cone B) in the Picos de Europa, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Their evolution was measured uninterruptedly throughout each August for 10 years (2009–2018) using the Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) technique. The observations and calculations of the two debris cones were treated independently, but both showed the same behavior. Therefore, if these results are extrapolated to other debris cones in similar environments (temperate high mountain), they should show behavior similar to that of the two debris cones analyzed. Material falls onto the cones from the walls, and transfer of sediments follows linear trajectories according to the maximum slope. In order to understand the linear evolution of the two debris cones, profiles were created along the maximum slope lines of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of 2009, and these profile lines were extrapolated to the remaining years of measurement. In order to determine volumetric surface behavior in the DEMs, each year for the period 2009–2018 was compared. In addition, the statistical predictive value for position (Z) in year 2018 was calculated for the same planimetric position (X,Y) throughout the profiles of maximum slopes. To do so, the real field data from 2009–2017 were interpolated and used to form a sample of curves. These curves are interpreted as the realization of a functional random variable that can be predicted using statistical techniques. The predictive curve obtained was compared with the 2018 field data. The results of both coordinates (Z), the real field data, and the statistical data are coherent within the margin of error of the data collection.Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional - Agencia Estatal de Investigación (grant TIN2016-76843-C4-2-R)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant CGL2015-68144-R

Generación de preguntas sobre información no textual: una validación empírica del modelo obstáculo-meta en la comprensión de dispositivos experimentales de ciencias

Los mecanismos cognitivos de la generación de preguntas no son aún bien conocidos. Recientemente, se ha propuesto el modelo obstáculo-meta que asimila la comprensión a un proceso de resolución de un problema cognitivo, cuyos obstáculos hacia la meta pretendida dan lugar a las preguntas. Una predicción del modelo es la relación entre tipos de preguntas formuladas y tipos de representación mental que los sujetos manejan durante la comprensión de la información suministrada. Hasta ahora, esta predicción ha sido validada parcialmente y solo con información textual. En este trabajo se presenta un estudio empírico de validación más fiable de esta predicción, desarrollado en dos fases y que utiliza información no textual, como es el funcionamiento de dispositivos experimentales. Los resultados apoyan la predicción del modelo con suficiente potencia estadística