Suelos volcanicos endurecidos

The tepetates of Mexico Highlands are indurated horizons with fragipan pr0perties. Tepetates appear among pyroclastic deposits (T1, T2, T3). A soil profile located near Texcoco, Mexico, including tepetate layers was studied. Mineralogical and microscopical features of this profile were studied using a series of methods. This report the main results of the study. Tepetates were characterized by several features: first, the nature of their parent material; second, a close matrix microstructure and third, their colloidal fraction. The latter is conformed mainly by laminated 1:1 to 2:1 mixed layer minerals made of flaky layers. These features can explain the fragipan properties of tepetates and most of their mechanical behaviour. (Résumé d'auteur)

Model testing of radioactive contamination Cs-137 of soils and bottom sediments in the Romachka river (Tomsk region, Russia)

This paper presents results of testing models for the radioactive contamination of river water and bottom sediments by 137Cs. The scenario for the model testing is based on data from the Romashka River, which was contaminated as a result of accidents at the Siberian Chemical Combine (Russia, Region of Tomsk). The input data include the following: estimates of inventories of 137Cs in the floodplain of the downstream part of Romashka River; the estimated annual runoff of 137Cs from the downstream part of Romachka River; data on the precipitation, hydrological and hydrochemical characteristics of the river. The endpoints of the scenario are model predictions of the activity concentrations of 137Cs in water and bottom sediments along the Romachka River in 2012-2013. Calculations for the Romashka scenario were performed by the Institute of radioprotection and nuclear safety (model CASTEAUR and HAMSTER. As a whole, the radionuclide predictions for137Cs for all considered models. At the same time the CASTEAUR model estimate the activity concentrations of 137Cs and in water more precisely than in bottom sediments

Medical record: systematic centralization versus secure on demand aggregation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As patients often see the data of their medical histories scattered among various medical records hosted in several health-care establishments, the purpose of our multidisciplinary study was to define a pragmatic and secure on-demand based system able to gather this information, with no risk of breaching confidentiality, and to relay it to a medical professional who asked for the information via a specific search engine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Scattered data are often heterogeneous, which makes the task of gathering information very hard. Two methods can be compared: trying to solve the problem by standardizing and centralizing all the information about every patient in a single Medical Record system or trying to use the data "as is" and find a way to obtain the most complete and the most accurate information. Given the failure of the first approach, due to the lack of standardization or privacy and security problems, for example, we propose an alternative that relies on the current state of affairs: an on-demand system, using a specific search engine that is able to retrieve information from the different medical records of a single patient.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We describe the function of Medical Record Search Engines (MRSE), which are able to retrieve all the available information regarding a patient who has been hospitalized in different hospitals and to provide this information to health professionals upon request. MRSEs use pseudonymized patient identities and thus never have access to the patient's identity. However, though the system would be easy to implement as it by-passes many of the difficulties associated with a centralized architecture, the health professional would have to validate the information, i.e. read all of the information and create his own synthesis and possibly reject extra data, which could be a drawback. We thus propose various feasible improvements, based on the implementation of several tools in our on-demand based system.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A system that gathers all of the currently available information regarding a patient on the request of health-care professionals could be of great interest. This low-cost pragmatic alternative to centralized medical records could be developed quickly and easily. It could also be designed to include extra features and should thus be considered by health authorities.</p

Andosols of the Canary Islands (X). Vitrandepts. Mineralogical characteristics. Their interpretation and classification

12 páginas, 8 gráficas.Interpretation, classification and mineralogical characteristics of Vitrandepts are given by the authors. The soils of this group are typically andosoils, with a littie differenciated profil developed on very recent vitric pyroclastic materials. Primary minerals, and volcanic glasses are very abundant in the gross and fine fractions of this soil. Secondary minerals are mainly allophane. Techniques used for mineralogical identifications include X-Ray, Infrared and electron-Microscope.Peer reviewe