Learning Mobility

Studying abroad has positive effects at personal, social, professional, institutional and country level. During the meeting on 29 November 2011, the Council of Ministers of Education, Youth, Culture & Sport agreed that “by 2020, an EU average of at least 20 % of higher education graduates should have had a period of higher education-related study or training (including work placements) abroad, representing a minimum of 15 ECTS credits or lasting a minimum of three months”. However learning mobility barriers still exist and according to recent statistics from OECD the shares of mobile students vary widely across Member States. Eurostat has released this year information on the number of mobile graduates for the academic year 2012/2013. This technical briefing provides first estimates on learning mobility in higher education using available data on degree mobile graduates and mobile students for ISCED 5 to 8.JRC.DDG.01-Econometrics and applied statistic

Utilización de criterios bioclimáticos y florísticos en la subdivisión biogeográfica del sector subbético (provincia Bética)

Utilización de criterios bioclimáticos yflorísticos en la subdivisión biogeo gráfica del sector subbético (provincia bética, España). Se han estudiado los distintos subsectores reconocidos hasta el momento del sector Subbético: Subbético-Maginense, Cazorlense, Alcaracense y Subbético-Murciano. Atendiendo al régimen de precipitaciones, se han observado diferencias significativas tanto en las precipitaciones anuales, como en su distribución estacional. En los tres primeros subsectores predominan las de carácter invernal; en el Subbético-Murciano las primaverales-otoñales, con mayor incidencia de las de verano. Asimismo, se han analizado los taxones característicos de cada subsector. Del análisis del conjunto de los datos, se ha detectado una gran afinidad entre los subsectores Cazorlense y Alcaracense considerando este último una variante fría del anterior, por lo que se propone la fusión de ambos en un nuevo subsector Alcaracino-Cazorlense. El subsector Subbético-Maginense, con un alto grado de singularidad, presenta mayor influencia de los sectores béticos colindantes. El subsector Subbético-Murciano engloba los territorios más continentales y de mayor influencia iberolevantina

Role of the Sulphur Source in the Solvothermal Synthesis of Ag-CdS Photocatalysts: Effects on the Structure and Photoactivity for Hydrogen Production

© 2020 by the authors.The aim of this work is to study the influence of the sulphur source (elemental sulphur, thiourea and L-cysteine) in the solvothermal synthesis of Ag-CdS over its growth, structuration and state of Ag and how these changes influence on its photoactivity. The differences in the generation rate of the S2− from the sulphur sources during the solvothermal synthesis determine the nucleation and growth pathways of CdS affecting to the silver state and its incorporation into the CdS lattice. The hydrogen production on Ag-CdS photocatalysts decreases according the sequence: thiourea > elemental sulphur >> L-cysteine. The changes in the photoactivity of Ag-CdS samples are analysed in terms of the differences in the insertion of Ag+ into the CdS lattice, the formation of composites between CdS and Ag2S and the formation of CdS crystalline domains with strong confinement effect derived from the different sulphur source used in the solvothermal synthesis.The present work was performed within the research program supported by MINECO (Spain) under the projects CTQ2016-76505-C3-1-R and PID2019-1112119RB-100 and CAM within the BIOTRES-CM (S2018/EMT-4344) project. E. Soto would like to acknowledge MINECO for the FPI research grant.Peer reviewe

Conventional and Advanced Exergoeconomic Analysis of a Compound Ejector-Heat Pump for Simultaneous Cooling and Heating

[EN] This work focused on a compound PV/T waste heat driven ejector-heat pump system for simultaneous data centre cooling and waste heat recovery for district heating. The system uses PV/T waste heat as the generator's heat source, acting with the vapour generated in an evaporative condenser as the ejector drive force. Conventional and advanced exergy and advanced exergoeconomic analyses are used to determine the cause and avoidable degree of the components' exergy destruction rate and cost rates. Regarding the conventional exergy analysis for the whole system, the compressor represents the largest exergy destruction source of 26%. On the other hand, the generator shows the lowest sources (2%). The advanced exergy analysis indicates that 59.4% of the whole system thermodynamical inefficiencies can be avoided by further design optimisation. The compressor has the highest contribution to the destruction in the avoidable exergy destruction rate (21%), followed by the ejector (18%) and condenser (8%). Moreover, the advanced exergoeconomic results prove that 51% of the system costs are unavoidable. In system components cost comparison, the highest cost comes from the condenser, 30%. In the same context, the ejector has the lowest exergoeconomic factor, and it should be getting more attention to reduce the irreversibility by design improving. On the contrary, the evaporator has the highest exergoeconomic factor (94%).This research was funded by the Southern Technical University in Iraq, and Generalitat Valenciana (APOSTD/2020/032).Al-Sayyab, AKS.; Navarro-Esbrí, J.; Soto Francés, VM.; Mota-Babiloni, A. (2021). Conventional and Advanced Exergoeconomic Analysis of a Compound Ejector-Heat Pump for Simultaneous Cooling and Heating. Energies. 14(12):1-27. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14123511S127141

Structure and photoactivity for hydrogen production of CdS nanorods modified with In, Ga, Ag-In and Ag-Ga and prepared by solvothermal method

This work studies the variation in the photocatalytic properties of CdS derived from the insertion of In, Ga, Ag-In and Ag-Ga in the CdS lattice through solvothermal methodology. Solvothermal synthesis of CdS-M photocatalysts has been succesful for the insertion of Ga3þ, In3þ, Ga3þ/Agþ and In3þ/Agþ into the hexagonal crystal lattice of one-dimensional CdS. The insertion of In, Ga, Ag-In and Ag-Ga modifies the band gap and the relative position of EVB. CdS modified with In3þ or Ga3þ shows an increase in the band gap and upshift in the relative position of the valence band energy which leads to a low efficiency hydrogen production. The co-addition of Agþ-In3þ or Agþ-Ga3þ favours the insertion of Agþ ions into the CdS lattice with narrower band gap. Of all the co-substituted photocatalysts, the CdS-AgGa was the only one that showed a higher photoactivity with respect to the CdS. The increase in the photoactivity of the CdS-AgGa photocatalyst is related to the band gap narrowing and downshift in the relative position of the valence band energy which enhance their visible light absorption and potential for oxidation. The CdS-AgGa photocatalyst shows small segregation of metallic Ag nanoparticles at the surface which also assist in the photoactivity of the sample.publishe

Evaluation of semantic segmentation methods for deforestation detection in the amazon

Deforestation is a wide-reaching problem, responsible for serious environmental issues, such as biodiversity loss and global climate change. Containing approximately ten percent of all biomass on the planet and home to one tenth of the known species, the Amazon biome has faced important deforestation pressure in the last decades. Devising efficient deforestation detection methods is, therefore, key to combat illegal deforestation and to aid in the conception of public policies directed to promote sustainable development in the Amazon. In this work, we implement and evaluate a deforestation detection approach which is based on a Fully Convolutional, Deep Learning (DL) model: the DeepLabv3+. We compare the results obtained with the devised approach to those obtained with previously proposed DL-based methods (Early Fusion and Siamese Convolutional Network) using Landsat OLI-8 images acquired at different dates, covering a region of the Amazon forest. In order to evaluate the sensitivity of the methods to the amount of training data, we also evaluate them using varying training sample set sizes. The results show that all tested variants of the proposed method significantly outperform the other DL-based methods in terms of overall accuracy and F1-score. The gains in performance were even more substantial when limited amounts of samples were used in training the evaluated methods. © 2020 International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences - ISPRS Archives

Thyroid markers and body composition predict LDL-cholesterol change in lean healthy women on a ketogenic diet: experimental support for the lipid energy model

Introduction: There is a large heterogeneity in LDL-cholesterol change among individuals adopting ketogenic diets. Interestingly, lean metabolically healthy individuals seem to be particularly susceptible, with an inverse association between body mass index and LDL-cholesterol change. The lipid energy model proposes that, in lean healthy individuals, carbohydrate restriction upregulates systemic lipid trafficking to meet energy demands. To test if anthropometric and energy metabolism markers predict LDL-cholesterol change during carbohydrate restriction. Methods: Ten lean, healthy, premenopausal women who habitually consumed a ketogenic diet for ≥6 months were engaged in a three-phase crossover study consisting of continued nutritional ketosis, suppression of ketosis with carbohydrate reintroduction, and return to nutritional ketosis. Each phase lasted 21 days. The predictive performance of all available relevant variables was evaluated with the linear mixed-effects models. Results: All body composition metrics, free T3 and total T4, were significantly associated with LDL-cholesterol change. In an interaction model with BMI and free T3, both markers were significant independent and interacting predictors of LDL-cholesterol change. Neither saturated fat, HOMA-IR, leptin, adiponectin, TSH, nor rT3 was associated with LDL-cholesterol changes. Discussion: Among lean, healthy women undergoing carbohydrate restriction, body composition and energy metabolism markers are major drivers of LDL-cholesterol change, not saturated fat, consistent with the lipid energy model

Exogenous ketosis in patients with type 2 diabetes : safety and effect on glycaemic control

Introduction Ketogenic diets have shown to improve glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. This study investigated the safety, tolerability, and effects on glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes of an exogenous ketone monoester (KE) capable of inducing fasting-like elevations in serum β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) without the need for caloric or carbohydrate restriction. Methods Twenty one participants (14 men and 7 women, aged 45 ± 11 years) with insulin-independent type 2 diabetes, and unchanged hypoglycaemic medication for the previous 6 months, were recruited for this non-randomised interventional study. Participants wore intermittent scanning glucose monitors (IS-GM) for a total of 6 weeks and were given 25 ml of KE 3 times daily for 4 weeks. Serum electrolytes, acid-base status, and βHB concentrations were measured weekly and cardiovascular risk markers were measured before and after the intervention. The primary endpoints were safety and tolerability, with the secondary endpoint being glycaemic control. Results The 21 participants consumed a total of 1,588 drinks (39.7 litres) of KE over the course of the intervention. Adverse reactions were mild and infrequent, including mild nausea, headache, and gastric discomfort following fewer than 0.5% of the drinks. Serum electrolyte concentrations, acid-base status, and renal function remained normal throughout the study. Compared to baseline, exogenous ketosis induced a significant decrease in all glycaemic control markers, including fructosamine (335 ± 60 μmol/L to 290 ± 49 μmol/L, p < .01), HbA1c (61 ± 10 mmol/mol to 55 ± 9 mmol/mol [7.7 ± 0.9% to 7.2 ± 0.9%], p < .01), mean daily glucose (7.8 ± 1.4 mM to 7.4 ± 1.3 mM [140 ± 23 mg/dl to 133 ± 25 mg/dl], p < .01) and time in range (67 ± 11% to 69 ± 10%, p < .01). Conclusions Constant ketone monoester consumption over 1 month was safe, well tolerated, and improved glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes