Perceptive approaches to the morphological characterization of the urban contour: The case of the peri-urban landscape of Madrid

[EN] A growing city adapts and transforms the pre-existing topography, and with its urban fabric defines an ever-changing contour throughout history; this contour is not a clear line, but rather a fringe, where city and countryside meet and create occupancy systems that are crucial to comprehend the evolution of the urban form. We can consider this fringe as ‘proximity’ landscapes: landscapes that are perceived when the city is either a destination or a point of departure. The vision from afar, or when progressively approaching the city, provides both locals and tourists with certain landscape and architectural aspects that should be studied, preserved and valued for their ability to generate meaningful spaces. In this communication we study the surrounding landscapes of Madrid by means of a Landscape Character Assessment, within the framework of the project ‘Proximity landscapes of the city of Madrid. From the 19thC to the present’ currently in process. Combining graphic analysis of historical cartography at a metropolitan scale with perceptive analysis techniques, special attention is drawn to certain axes and significant lookouts of the city, mapping them and evaluating their visual basins. This characterization leads to distinguishing three main landscape types surrounding Madrid, according to physical, natural and anthropogenic structures: one predominantly natural, one mainly industrial and service-related, and a third one with special historical relevance.This research has been developed in the framework of the State Plan Project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2014-57843-R), entitled “Proximity Landscapes of the City of Madrid. From the 19th Century to the present”. We thank the General Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation for the funding of this project. Likewise, we thank the Spanish Ministry of Education for the pre-doctoral scholarship (FPU14/05524) granted to co-author Carlota Sáenz de Tejada Granados in its FPU Program. Lastly, we thank San Pablo-CEU University Foundation for the pre-doctoral scholarship granted to co-author Rocío Santo-Tomás Muro in its FPI Program.Rodríguez Romero, E.; Sáenz De Tejada Granados, C.; Santo-Tomás Muro, R. (2018). Perceptive approaches to the morphological characterization of the urban contour: The case of the peri-urban landscape of Madrid. En 24th ISUF International Conference. Book of Papers. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1349-1358. https://doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5345OCS1349135

The role of historical green spaces in the identity and image of today’s cities: The case of Madrid

[EN] The image that a city offers when approaching it, depending on its topographical situation, the drawing of its borders or its urban form, generates a perceptive construction, for both locals and tourists, with the potential to become an iconic image and therefore play a part in the collective imagery. The character and value of those landscapes is largely determined by their green spaces, preserved in most European cities for their ecological or historical significance. Being able to recognize the worthiness of these proximity visions, in the context of today’s growing cities, is of fundamental relevance in order to enhance the sense of place, amongst other community values. In this communication we study the above-mentioned aspects in the image of the city of Madrid, within the framework of the project ‘Proximity landscapes of the city of Madrid. From the 19thC to the present’ currently in process. Through a landscape analysis of a selection of iconographic representations of the surroundings of the city, we draw special attention to the presence of historical green spaces throughout time, and its relation with architectural landmarks in the progressive construction of an iconic image of the city. From here, we can deduce the relevance that these elements have in the generation of a recognizable character and the decisive role of protection mechanisms in order to preserve it.This research has been developed in the framework of the State Plan Project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2014-57843-R), entitled “Proximity Landscapes of the City of Madrid. From the 19th Century to the present”. We thank the General Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation for the funding of this project. Likewise, we thank the Spanish Ministry of Education for the pre-doctoral scholarship (FPU14/05524) granted to co-author Carlota Sáenz de Tejada Granados in its FPU Program. Lastly, we thank San Pablo-CEU University Foundation for the pre-doctoral scholarship granted to co-author Rocío Santo-Tomás Muro in its FPI Program.Rodríguez Romero, E.; Sáenz De Tejada Granados, C.; Santo-Tomás Muro, R. (2018). The role of historical green spaces in the identity and image of today’s cities: The case of Madrid. En 24th ISUF International Conference. Book of Papers. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1647-1656. https://doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5340OCS1647165

Influence of energy paradigm shifts on city boundaries. The productive peripheries of Madrid

[EN] The promotion or access to certain energy technologies has changed the humanized landscape throughout history; cities have been born around, and because of an energy source, or have been displaced in order for energy-related infrastructures to take their spot. However, and for any city from its very beginning, energy paradigm shifts have deeply altered their morphology. Not only extraction, but especially transformation and transport of resources materializes in artefacts, often controversial and soon-to-be obsolete. This is especially patent in the ever-changing city boundaries; the fringe of ‘proximity’, where the collision between the countryside and the urban mesh embodies the relations and contradictions between urban growth, energy demand and landscape protection. In a context of growing cities (both in terms of expansion of its artificial land and in terms of energy demand), we are facing two paths which not always converge: an inevitable low carbon transition and a growing sensitivity towards ordinary landscapes. This article, within the framework of the project ‘Proximity landscapes of the city of Madrid. From the 19thC to the present’, studies the development of the city of Madrid in relation to its energy access and management, in a series of key stages: mid-19thC (before the bourgeois enlargement plan approved in 1860), early 20thC (when the introduction of electricity powered a deep urban transformation and outlaying urban cores were annexed), mid-late 20thC (when a rural exodus took place and the peripheries of Madrid grew rapidly) and today.This research has been developed in the framework of the State Plan Project of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (HAR2014-57843-R), entitled “Proximity Landscapes of the City of Madrid. From the 19th Century to the present”. We thank the General Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation for the funding of this project. Likewise, we thank the Spanish Ministry of Education for the pre-doctoral scholarship (FPU14/05524) granted to co-author Carlota Sáenz de Tejada Granados in its FPU Program. Lastly, we thank San Pablo-CEU University Foundation for the pre-doctoral scholarship granted to co-author Rocío Santo-Tomás Muro in its FPI Program.Sáenz De Tejada Granados, C.; Rodríguez Romero, E.; Santo-Tomás Muro, R. (2018). Influence of energy paradigm shifts on city boundaries. The productive peripheries of Madrid. En 24th ISUF International Conference. Book of Papers. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 719-128. https://doi.org/10.4995/ISUF2017.2017.5343OCS71912

Toxicological, enzymatic, and molecular assessment of the insecticide susceptibility profile of triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae, Triatominae) populations from rural communities of Santa Cruz, Bolivia

A wide range of insecticide resistance profiles has been reported across Bolivian domestic and sylvatic populations of Triatoma infestans (Klug, 1834) (Hemiptera, Reduviidae), including some with levels proven to be a threat for vector control. In this work, the insecticide profile of domestic T. infestans was studied with standardized toxicological bioassays, in an area that has not undergone consistent vector control. F1 first-instar nymphs hatched in laboratory from bugs captured in three communities from the Santa Cruz Department were evaluated with different insecticides. Moreover, the enzymatic activity of esterases and cytochrome P450 monooxygenases was measured in individual insects to evaluate the possible mechanism of metabolic resistance to pyrethroids. In addition, the DNA sequence of sodium channel gene (kdr) was screened for two point mutations associated with pyrethroid resistance previously reported in T. infestans. All populations showed reduced susceptibility to deltamethrin and α-cypermethrin, albeit the RR50 values varied significantly among them. Increased P450 monooxygenases and permethrate esterases suggest the contribution, as detoxifying mechanisms, to the observed resistance to deltamethrin in all studied populations. No individuals presented either mutation associated to resistance in the kdr gene. The level of susceptibility to α-cypermethrin, the insecticide used by the local vector control program, falls within an acceptable range to continue its use in these populations. However, the observed RR50 values evidence the possibility of selection for resistance to pyrethroids, especially to deltamethrin. Consequently, the use of pyrethroid insecticides should be closely monitored in these communities, which should be kept under entomological surveillance and sustained interventions.Fil: Santo Orihuela, Pablo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa. Centro de Investigación de Plagas e Insecticidas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Analítica y Fisicoquímica. Cátedra de Química Analítica Instrumental; ArgentinaFil: Vassena, Claudia Viviana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa. Centro de Investigación de Plagas e Insecticidas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín; ArgentinaFil: Carvajal, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa. Centro de Investigación de Plagas e Insecticidas; ArgentinaFil: Clark, Eva. University of Alabama at Birmingahm; Estados Unidos. Baylor College; Estados UnidosFil: Menacho, Silvio. Eiti Health Center; BoliviaFil: Bozo, Ricardo. Hospital Municipal Camiri; BoliviaFil: Gilman, Robert H.. University Johns Hopkins; Estados UnidosFil: Bern, Caryn. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Marcet, Paula Lorena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas para la Defensa. Centro de Investigación de Plagas e Insecticidas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa. Ministerio de Defensa. Unidad de Investigación y Desarrollo Estratégico para la Defensa; Argentin

Antennas for the Detection of Radio Emission Pulses from Cosmic-Ray

The Pierre Auger Observatory is exploring the potential of the radio detection technique to study extensive air showers induced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) addresses both technological and scientific aspects of the radio technique. A first phase of AERA has been operating since September 2010 with detector stations observing radio signals at frequencies between 30 and 80 MHz. In this paper we present comparative studies to identify and optimize the antenna design for the final configuration of AERA consisting of 160 individual radio detector stations. The transient nature of the air shower signal requires a detailed description of the antenna sensor. As the ultra-wideband reception of pulses is not widely discussed in antenna literature, we review the relevant antenna characteristics and enhance theoretical considerations towards the impulse response of antennas including polarization effects and multiple signal reflections. On the basis of the vector effective length we study the transient response characteristics of three candidate antennas in the time domain. Observing the variation of the continuous galactic background intensity we rank the antennas with respect to the noise level added to the galactic signal.Peer Reviewe

Techniques for Measuring Aerosol Attenuation using the Central Laser Facility at the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargüe, Argentina, is designed to study the properties of ultra-high energy cosmic rays with energies above 10(18)eV. It is a hybrid facility that employs a Fluorescence Detector to perform nearly calorimetric measurements of Extensive Air Shower energies. To obtain reliable calorimetric information from the FD, the atmospheric conditions at the observatory need to be continuously monitored during data acquisition. In particular, light attenuation due to aerosols is an important atmospheric correction. The aerosol concentration is highly variable, so that the aerosol attenuation needs to be evaluated hourly. We use light from the Central Laser Facility, located near the center of the observatory site, having an optical signature comparable to that of the highest energy showers detected by the FD. This paper presents two procedures developed to retrieve the aerosol attenuation of fluorescence light from CLF laser shots. Cross checks between the two methods demonstrate that results from both analyses are compatible, and that the uncertainties are well understood. The measurements of the aerosol attenuation provided by the two procedures are currently used at the Pierre Auger Observatory to reconstruct air shower data.Peer Reviewe

Results of a Self-Triggered Prototype System for Radio-Detection of Extensive Air Showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

We describe the experimental setup and the results of RAuger, a small radio-antenna array, consisting of three fully autonomous and self-triggered radio-detection stations, installed close to the center of the Surface Detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina. The setup has been designed for the detection of the electric field strength of air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays, without using an auxiliary trigger from another detection system. Installed in December 2006, RAuger was terminated in May 2010 after 65 registered coincidences with the SD. The sky map in local angular coordinates (i.e., zenith and azimuth angles) of these events reveals a strong azimuthal asymmetry which is in agreement with a mechanism dominated by a geomagnetic emission process. The correlation between the electric field and the energy of the primary cosmic ray is presented for the first time, in an energy range covering two orders of magnitude between 0.1 EeV and 10 EeV. It is demonstrated that this setup is relatively more sensitive to inclined showers, with respect to the SD. In addition to these results, which underline the potential of the radio-detection technique, important information about the general behavior of self-triggering radio-detection systems has been obtained. In particular, we will discuss radio self-triggering under varying local electric-field conditions.Peer Reviewe

Identifying Clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using Infrared Satellite Data

We describe a new method of identifying night-time clouds over the Pierre Auger Observatory using infrared data from the Imager instruments on the GOES-12 and GOES-13 satellites. We compare cloud identifications resulting from our method to those obtained by the Central Laser Facility of the Auger Observatory. Using our new method we can now develop cloud probability maps for the 3000 km^2 of the Pierre Auger Observatory twice per hour with a spatial resolution of ~2.4 km by ~5.5 km. Our method could also be applied to monitor cloud cover for other ground-based observatories and for space-based observatories.Peer Reviewe

The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory, located on a vast, high plain in western Argentina, is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. The objectives of the Observatory are to probe the origin and characteristics of cosmic rays above $10^{17}$ eV and to study the interactions of these, the most energetic particles observed in nature. The Auger design features an array of 1660 water-Cherenkov particle detector stations spread over 3000 km$^2$ overlooked by 24 air fluorescence telescopes. In addition, three high elevation fluorescence telescopes overlook a 23.5 km$^2$, 61-detector infilled array with 750 m spacing. The Observatory has been in successful operation since completion in 2008 and has recorded data from an exposure exceeding 40,000 km$^2$ sr yr. This paper describes the design and performance of the detectors, related subsystems and infrastructure that make up the Auger Observatory.Peer Reviewe

Muons in air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory: Mean number in highly inclined events

We present the first hybrid measurement of the average muon number in air showers at ultrahigh energies, initiated by cosmic rays with zenith angles between 62° and 80°. The measurement is based on 174 hybrid events recorded simultaneously with the surface detector array and the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The muon number for each shower is derived by scaling a simulated reference profile of the lateral muon density distribution at the ground until it fits the data. A 1019  eV shower with a zenith angle of 67°, which arrives at the surface detector array at an altitude of 1450 m above sea level, contains on average (2.68±0.04±0.48(sys))×107 muons with energies larger than 0.3 GeV. The logarithmic gain dlnNμ/dlnE of muons with increasing energy between 4×1018  eV and 5×1019  eV is measured to be (1.029±0.024±0.030(sys)).Peer Reviewe