109 research outputs found
Towards the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through Engineering Training for Labor Market Reintegration of Older Workers
The inclusion of training in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in higher education is essential to achieve them. In addition, labor market reintegration or improvement of older workers is a goal that an increasing number of people have set for themselves, especially in countries severely affected by crises. The union of these two premises has given rise to the application of a methodology in a master’s degree in engineering. This manuscript makes a double contribution: on the one hand, it presents the methodology with its application through a practical case; on the other hand, it covers how students perceive the application of non-traditional training techniques. The methodology is based on student-centered learning, using case-based teaching and inquiry-based learning. The students’ perception of this change in training was evaluated through a qualitative methodological approach for five consecutive years and through two types of surveys carried out each year, one of which involves comparison with traditional training methodologies. The results of the surveys show the favorable acceptance of this form of teaching, surpassing the results of traditional teaching methods by more than 25%. As a practical implication, this research identifies new ways of teaching complex subjects that facilitate training in SDGs and the subsequent labor market reintegration of older people
Influence of Population Income and Climate on Air Pollution in Cities due to Buildings: The Case of Spain
Article number 1051Half of the world’s population lives in cities. In addition, more than 40% of greenhouse gas emissions are produced in buildings in the residential and tertiary sectors. Therefore, cities, and in particular their buildings, have a great influence on these emissions. In fact, they are reflected in several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Any measure taken to reach these goals has a significant impact from the point of view of reducing greenhouse gases. An understanding of these goals is the basis of greenhouse gas mitigation. This work analyzed the CO2 emissions from the buildings in cities as a function of the economic income of their inhabitants. For this, databases published by official sources were used. The origins of the CO2 are usually emitted by buildings were analyzed—electrical and thermal, in the form of natural gas. Another variable that influences these emissions is climate. To study only the income variable, the influence of climate has been eliminated. Also, to facilitate analysis, an index has been introduced. As an example of application of the proposed methodology, Spanish cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants were studied. The analysis was carried out by household and by inhabitant. The results showed the following: the higher the income of the citizens, the higher the total and thermal emissions; thermal consumption is elastic, while electrical consumption is inelastic; emissions of electrical origin are almost constant; emissions from electrical energy are greater than those from thermal energy; as income increases, the ratio between emissions of electrical and thermal origin decreases
Influence of cities population size on their energy consumption and CO2 emissions: the case of Spain
Half of the world population live in the cities. Cities energy consumption, environmental impact, and the opportunities they provide for our planet’s sustainability make them attractive for governmental authorities. Any action taken in the cities has immediate repercussions. For this reason, many statistical data are published every year. This paper makes the best use of these data to calculate cities CO2 emissions and their thermal and electric energy consumption. The methodology applied takes into consideration each city size by number of inhabitants and gets results per inhabitant and household. This will make possible to put into practice the right actions to reduce CO2 emissions and to use alternative energy. This paper also defines an index to facilitate and simplify the analysis of results. This study was applied to the case of Spain to show the methodology here proposed. In fact, this type of study has never been carried out in Spain before. With this purpose, the 145 Spanish cities with more than 50,000 people were considered. Results show that cities with larger populations present higher consumptions per inhabitant and household. The smallest the population of a city is, the less energy the city consumes. However, electric energy consumption remains constant regardless of the population size. With regard to the CO2 emissions, results bring to light that the biggest cities produce the highest emissions. Furthermore, comparing emissions produced by electrical sources to the total emissions, it was concluded that the smallest cities produce the highest electrical emissions
On the Remuneration to Electrical Utilities and Budgetary Allocation for Substation Maintenance Management
The liberalization of electricity markets has produced a great change in electrical utilities.
One of these changes has affected the methodology for setting their remuneration. Depending on the
country, these are different. Despite the wide range of remuneration methodologies for the electricity
market of each country, they all feature one common element: the remuneration of operation and
maintenance. One of the messages that this remuneration transmits is the need to extend the useful
life of the facilities to allow sustainable development. This article focuses on the remuneration
schemes of electrical utilities, the classification of substations for the definition of their maintenance
programs, and the budget allocation for the execution of maintenance in these critical infrastructures.
The particularity of these facilities, in which it is generally necessary to de-energize some of their parts
for maintenance, has also been taken into account. To this end, a simple methodology currently used
is presented based on the standardization of the bays of the substations and their classification into
levels of importance. This classification into levels enables the facilities to be grouped according to
similarities in their maintenance plans, although they differ from each other in terms of the periodicity
of the application of maintenance procedures. This methodology guarantees a similar distribution
of maintenance activities and financial needs over the years. In addition, the methodology allows
one to know the importance of each substation (since the greater the equivalent weight, the greater
the importance). Finally, the application of the proposed methodology in a real case is presented.
It shows the simplicity, effectiveness, and lamination of the budgetary allocation of the proposed
methodology, this being the main contribution of the formulation.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-116433RB-I00Agencia Estatal de Investigación AEI/10.13039/5011000110
Centralized Control of Distribution Networks with High Penetration of Renewable Energies
Distribution networks were conceived to distribute the energy received from transmission
and subtransmission to supply passive loads. This approach, however, is not valid anymore due
to the presence of distributed generation, which is mainly based on renewable energies, and the
increased number of plug-in electric vehicles that are connected at this voltage level for domestic
use. In this paper the ongoing transition that distribution networks face is addressed. Whereas
distributed renewable energy sources increase nodal voltages, electric vehicles result in demand
surges higher than the load predictions considered when planning these networks, leading to
congestion in distribution lines and transformers. Additionally, centralized control techniques are
analyzed to reduce the impact of distributed generation and electric vehicles and increase their
effective integration. A classification of the different methodologies applied to the problems of
voltage control and congestion management is presented.Unión Europea Convenio 764090Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CER-2019101
Propuesta de asignatura optativa: “Taller de profundización en actividad física y salud física, social y emocional para mejorar el rendimiento académico del alumnado”
En este trabajo fin de grado, se estudia lo importante que es la actividad física para el alumnado y cómo afecta sobre su rendimiento académico. Tras hacer la revisión, se saca la conclusión de que el ejercicio físico tiene beneficios sobre el rendimiento académico del estudiante y que en ningún caso tendrá efectos negativos, en el peor de los casos no afecta ni para bien, ni para mal, pero siempre mejorará la salud. por esta razón, se propone una asignatura optativa bajo el título: ¿taller de profundización en actividad física y salud física, social y emocional para mejorar el rendimiento académico del alumnado? y así, profundizar en aquellos contenidos que, por los pocos días asignados a la asignatura de educación física (2 horas/semana) no da tiempo a trabajar, ampliando con ello las horas en las que el alumnado puede estar en actitud activa durante la jornada escolar
Midterm outcome of patients with asymptomatic restenosis after coronary balloon angioplasty
AbstractAlthough many patients with restenosis after balloon coronary angioplasty have recurrence of angina, others remain asymptomatic. To assess the clinical implications of asymptomatic coronary restenosis, we analyzed clinical and angiographie characteristics of 277 consecutive patients with restenosis, 133 (48%) of whom were asymptomatic (group I) and 144 (52%) symptomatic (group II). Restenosis was documented 6 to 9 months after the index procedure, or earlier if angina recurred, and was defined as a >50% lumen narrowing (visual estimation). Group I (asymptomatic group) included fewer female (9% vs. 18%, p < 0.05) and hypertensive patients (38% vs. 56%, p < 0.005) and more patients with a previous myocardial infarction (48% vs. 28%, p < 0.05) and single-vessel disease (67% vs. 55%, p < 0.05).Before angioplasty, symptoms had lasted for a shorter period (10 ± 25 vs. 23 ± 42 months, p < 0.001), ischemia after a recent infarction was a more frequent indication (21% vs. 10%, p < 0.05) and total revascularization more frequently obtained (74% vs. 63%, p < 0.05) in group I than in group II patients. Only a normal blood pressure, previous myocardial infarction, singlevessel disease and a shorter duration of symptoms were independent correlates of asymptomatic restenosis. No differences were found in stenosis severity before angioplasty (90% in both groups) or after angioplasty (22% ± 12% vs. 24% ± 16%).By the time of follow-up angiography, group I patients had exercised more (9.8 ± 2.7 vs. 7.7 ± 3 metabolic exercise equivalents (METs), p < 0.05) and had achieved a faster heart rate (140 ± 21 vs. 127 ± 23 beats/min, p < 0.025), and more of them had a negative test result (33% vs. 9%, p < 0.05). Stenosis was less severe in group I patients (79 ± 15% vs. 86 ± 11%, p < 0.05), and 32% of them versus 8% of group II had <75% stenosis. After 17 ± 13 months, 15 asymptomatic patients had recurrence of angina; recurrence was considered related to restenosis in 6 (21%) of 29 patients with exercise-induced ST segment changes, in 4 (9.5%) of 42 without ST changes and in none of the 15 with ST changes and “elective” angioplasty. No group I patient died or was operated on, and only six underwent another angioplasty procedure indicated for angina. By contrast, 6 patients (4%) in group II died, 11 (8%) required surgery and 81 (56%) underwent repeat angioplasty.It is concluded that asymptomatic coronary restenosis is a frequent phenomenon with a good prognosis mainly in patients with a negative exercise test result. Prospective, randomized studies are required to determine the potential role of repeat angioplasty in asymptomatic patients with documented restenosis and evidence of exercise-induced ST segment changes
Sponyloarthritis features forecasting the presence of HLA-B27 or sacroiliitis on magnetic resonance imaging in patients with suspected axial spondyloarthritis: Results from a cross-sectional study in the ESPeranza Cohort
Introduction: Chronic back pain (CBP) is frequently the presenting symptom in patients with suspected axial
spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Presence of sacroiliitis on magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) or HLA-B27 adds to
diagnostic certainty. However, these costly tests cannot be applied in all patients with CBP. This study aims to
investigate which SpA features increase the likelihood of a positive HLA-B27 or positive MRI of the sacroiliac-joints
(MRI-SI) in patients with suspected axSpA.
Methods: Data from 665 patients with CBP within the ESPeranza Programme were analysed. Diagnostic utility
measures (LR+, LR−) for a positive MRI-SI or HLA-B27 were calculated for various definitions of inflammatory back
pain (IBP), their separate items and for other SpA features.
Results: Pretest probabilityies of a positive result was 41 % for MRI-SI and 40 % for HLA-B27. For a positive MRI-SI
result the most useful IBP characteristic was alternating buttock pain (LR + =2.6). Among the IBP-criteria, fulfillment
of the ‘ASAS criteria’ (LR + =2.1) was most contributory. Interestingly, the addition of alternating buttock pain to the
Calin/ASAS-IBP criteria (LR + =6.0 and 5.5, respectively) or the addition of awakening at second half of night to the
Calin-IBP criteria (LR + =5.5) increased the pre-test probability of MRI-sacroiliitis from 41 % to 79–80 %. Dactylitis
(LR + =4.1) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (LR + =6.4) increased this probability to 73 % and 81 %, respectively.
To forecast HLA-B27 positivity, awakening at the second half of the night, fulfillment of the ASAS-IBP definition and
uveitis were the most useful, but only marginally predictive (LR + = 1.3, 1,6 and 2.6, respectively).
Conclusions: If patients with suspected axial SpA have either 1) IBP according to Calin/ASAS definition plus alternating
buttock pain, or 2) IBP according to Calin definition plus awakening at night, or 3) dactylitis or 4) IBD, the probability of
finding a positive MRI-SI increases significantlyVNC received one of the ASAS research
grants on call 2013 to perform this study. The Spanish Foundation of
Rheumatology received funding from Pfizer to develop the Esperanza
Programme. Nowadays, the programme is supported by a restricted grant of
the Institute Carlos III (FIS PI13/02034)
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