Estudio de la precipitación mediante disdrómetros

A lo largo de este trabajo se abordan varios aspectos relacionados con las medidas de las gotas que llegan a la superficie terrestre, determinadas mediante el uso de los disdrómetros ópticos. Se analizan también las incertidumbres y utilidades que estos datos pueden tener a nivel práctico. Se habla primeramente de la importancia del conocimiento del número y tamaño de las gotas de lluvia para poder determinar aspectos tan diferentes como la dispersión de la señal de las ondas de radio o la determinación de la erosión del suelo por salpicadura. Así mismo, también se aborda la historia de la medición de las gotas, de los principales hallazgos al respecto, así como del funcionamiento de los disdrómetros ópticos. Los disdrómetros son los actuales sistemas de medición automática terrestre del número, tamaño y velocidad de las gotas de lluvia, y gracias a ellos se pueden calcular variables características de la precipitación como son la reflectividad, la energía cinética y el momento lineal en cada minuto de lluvia. A partir de los resultados obtenidos, los profesores de la Universidad de León han caracterizado los distintos episodios de precipitación con estos aparatos, y se han comparado cronológicamente los resultados obtenidos tanto en una misma zona como en áreas localizadas en puntos diversos. Así mismo también se han realizado diversos estudios de erosión de suelo y se han analizado posibles relaciones existentes entre las características de la lluvia y el tipo de tiempo determinado para cada uno de los días de precipitación

The Interactivity of a Virtual Museum at the Service of the Teaching of Applied Geology

[EN] In a framework in which teaching practice is a dynamic process, predisposed to continuous innovation, the Geological Collection of the University of León (CGULe), with 2000 copies of minerals, rocks and fossils, offers an opportunity for teaching innovation, in relationship with subjects of the geological disciplines that are taught in the Degrees of Mining Engineering and Energy Engineering. At http://laboratorio.wesped.es/, the first phase of development of the Virtual Museum of the CGULe is shown, where information and images of minerals and mineral deposits from León are offered. Likewise, videos of tests of characterization of minerals, made by students as a practice of the subject "Mineralogy and Petrography" (Degree in Mining Engineering), are offered as part of a teaching innovation. This teaching innovation was evaluated in two ways: a) comparing the academic results of students in this practice with equivalent results from previous courses and b) conducting a satisfaction survey. Given the small number of students who participated in this experience, the results of this evaluation are inconclusive. For this reason, teacher innovation will be extended in time and will be extended to other subjects of the above mentioned degrees.The work was partially funded by the project "Design of practical teaching-learning experiences in relation to the virtual musealization of the Geological Collection of the University of León", in the framework of the Support Plan for Teaching Innovation of the University of León (PAID & PAGID 2016). Likewise, the authors express their gratitude to D. Luis Armando Conejo Lombas, donor of copies to the Geological Collection of the University of Leon, as well as photographs of deposits to the Virtual Museum, and to the collaborators: Mr. Ángel Díez Bragado, Mr. Jesús García del Canto, Mr. Manuel Urcera Valladares and Mr. Guillermo Salazar Brugos.Gómez-Fernández, F.; Fernández-Raga, M.; Alaiz-Moretón, H.; Castañon-García, A.; Palencia, C. (2017). The Interactivity of a Virtual Museum at the Service of the Teaching of Applied Geology. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 712-719. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.5366OCS71271

The role of vertical wind shear in the great pyrocumulus of Costa del Sol (Málaga, Spain) on 30 August 2012

Poster presentado en el 17th International Conference on Clouds & Precipitation, organizado por International Commission on Clouds and Precipitation (ICCP), en Manchester, UK, durante la semana del 25 al 29 de julio de 2016On August 30th, 2012 a disastrous fire was recorded on the Costa del Sol, Spain (1) in a situation of northerly flow at low levels called "Terral". This terral creates an environment of high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds, very favorable to the forest fires spreading to the coast very quickly. During the fire started on August 30th, the NW flow at low levels changed abruptly to a east maritime wind (2) with a behavior of gravity wind and a sudden wind entrance from east (3), and very serious consequences: a sudden change in the speed and the direction of propagation, and in magnitude of the fire (4), which greatly hindered its control. The sharp increase in vertical wind shear that caused the outbreak of the density current (5 and 6) is proposed as an explanation for the extreme fire characteristics (duration, propagation speed and intensity)

The role of vertical wind shear in the great pyrocumulus of Costa del Sol (Málaga, Spain) on 30 August 2012

On August 30th, 2012 a disastrous fire was recorded on the Costa del Sol, Spain (1) in a situation of northerly flow at low levels called "Terral". This terral creates an environment of high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds, very favorable to the forest fires spreading to the coast very quickly. During the fire started on August 30th, the NW flow at low levels changed abruptly to a east maritime wind (2) with a behavior of gravity wind and a sudden wind entrance from east (3), and very serious consequences: a sudden change in the speed and the direction of propagation, and in magnitude of the fire (4), which greatly hindered its control. The sharp increase in vertical wind shear that caused the outbreak of the density current (5 and 6) is proposed as an explanation for the extreme fire characteristics (duration, propagation speed and intensity)

Satisfaction Level of Engineering Students in Face-to-Face and Online Modalities under COVID-19—Case: School of Engineering of the University of León, Spain

[EN] University education in times of COVID-19 was forced to seek alternative teaching/learning methods to the traditional ones, having to abruptly migrate to the online modality, changes that have repercussions on student satisfaction. That is why this study aims to compare the level of student satisfaction in face-to-face and “forced” online modalities under COVID-19. A quantitative, cross-sectional methodology was applied to two groups of students: Under a face-to-face modality (n = 116) and under an online modality (n = 120), to which a questionnaire was applied under a Likert scale, with four dimensions: Course design structure, content, resources, and instructor. Non-parametric statistics, specifically the Mann–Whitney U-test, were used to compare the groups. The results showed that there are significant differences in the level of satisfaction of students in the face-to-face and online “forced” modalities (p = 0.01984 < 0.05), and the dimensions of the level of satisfaction that presented significant differences were course design structure (p = 0.04523 < 0.05) and content (p = 0.00841 < 0.05). The research shows that students in the face-to-face modality express a higher level of satisfaction, which is reflected in the dimension design structure of the course, specifically in its workload indicator, as well as in the dimension content, in its indicators, overlapping with other courses and materials.S

Impact of Design Parameters on the Ratio of Compressive to Split Tensile Strength of Self-Compacting Concrete with Recycled Aggregate

[EN] Most concrete studies are concentrated on mechanical properties especially strength properties either directly or indirectly (fresh and durability properties). Hence, the ratio of split tensile strength to compressive strength plays a vital role in defining the concrete properties. In this review, the impact of design parameters on the strength ratio of various grades of Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) with recycled aggregate is assessed. The design parameters considered for the study are Water to Cement (W/C) ratio, Water to Binder (W/B) ratio, Total Aggregates to Cement (TA/C) ratio, Fine Aggregate to Coarse Aggregate (FA/CA) ratio, Water to Solid (W/S) ratio in percentage, superplasticizer (SP) content (kg/cu.m), replacement percentage of recycled coarse aggregates (RCA), replacement percentage of recycled fine aggregates (RFA), fresh density and loading area of the specimen. It is observed that the strength ratio of SCC with recycled aggregates is affected by design parameters.S

Estudio comparativo entre estudiantes de ingenierías de la Universidad de León mediante el test Force Concept Inventory

En este estudio se pretende detectar las carencias previas que tienen los estudiantes en la asignatura de Física, del primer curso y del primer semestre, cuando acceden a la Universidad. La investigación se ha realizado con alumnos de la rama de conocimiento de ingenierías, en la materia de Física. Se ha utilizado el test “Force Conccept Inventory”, desarrollado por Hestenes. Se ha realizado el test a los estudiantes al llegar a la Universidad (pre-test) y a los mismos alumnos al finalizar la materia. Los resultados de las pruebas se han comparado con las notas al finalizar la asignatura. Se ha podido observar que hay mas aprobados entre los alumnos que superaron el pre-test y el post-test. Esto quiere decir, que los estudiantes que han pasado el test presentan muchos menos preconceptos erróneos y por tanto consiguen sacar mejores notas

Diseño de una aplicación informática para procesar los registros obtenidos por el disdrómetro óptico Thies LPM

Ponencia presentada en: XXXV Jornadas Científicas de la AME y el XIX Encuentro Hispano Luso de Meteorología celebrado en León, del 5 al 7 de marzo de 2018.La obtención y gestión de bases de datos completas que recojan datos de las características de las gotas de los diferentes eventos de lluvia en cada lugar concreto resulta sumamente útil en Meteorología. La recogida de estos datos exige de instrumentos meteorológicos especializados, como los disdrómetros, y concretamente el disdrómetro óptico Laser Precipitation Monitor (LPM) de Thies Clima es uno de los más comunes. Este disdrómetro ha sido utilizado por la Universidad de León para el estudio de las gotas desde el año 2006, generando una base de datos tan grande y pesada que resulta muy complicada de gestionar y analizar. Es por tanto de alto interés para fines de investigación diseñar un programa informático que gestione las bases de datos y que permita realizar consultas de periodos de interés de una manera automática, extrayendo aquellas estadísticas y valores que resulten de mayor utilidad. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este trabajo es diseñar una aplicación que permita procesar los registros obtenidos durante más de 10 años por un disdrómetro LPM Thies clima, y almacenarlos en texto plano en datos válidos para su posterior tratamiento. Para ello, hacemos uso del lenguaje Java que lee los datos, los procesa y los sube al servidor de base de datos. Una vez estos datos son almacenados, se pasan a mostrarse en una aplicación Web que, de forma gráfica, puede presentarlos por fechas, tamaños o velocidades, aportando una información válida para estudio de las precipitaciones. Esta aplicación fue implementada con un Login de seguridad para controlar el acceso de usuarios, y con un interfaz de usuario sencillo que permite que usuarios sin conocimientos en Java puedan ejecutar la aplicación sin ningún tipo de problema.Este estudio ha sido parcialmente financiado por el Ministerio Español de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyecto TEC2014-57821-R y CGL2014-52556-R)

The Role of Weather Types in Assessing the Rainfall Key Factors for Erosion in Two Different Climatic Regions

P. 1-15This paper compares two different geographical sites, Aveiro and León, from different climatic regions, oceanic and continental, but which share the same type of weather (according to Lamb’s classification). The analysis was carried out over one year, and has revealed that rainfall in Aveiro is heavier and more abundant, with a higher number of raindrops and a longer duration of rain events (on average, 10 min longer than in Leon). Mean raindrop size is 0.45 mm in Aveiro and slightly smaller (0.37 mm) in Leon; in addition, the kinetic energy and linear momentum values in Aveiro are three times higher than those in Leon. A comparison of raindrop size distributions by weather type has shown that for both locations westerly weather presented a higher probability of rainfall, and the gamma distribution parameters for each weather type were independent of the study zone. When the analysis is done for the characteristics of rain related with erosion, the westerly cyclonic weather types (cyclonic west (CW) and cyclonic south-westerly (CSW)) are among the most energetic ones in both locations. However, comparing their five weather types with higher kinetic energy, in Aveiro a westerly component implies higher kinetic energy, while in Leon a southerly component involves more energy in the rain.S

Iniciación a la investigación de los estudiantes mediante la creación de un poster científico

FECIES. Foro sobre la Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación Superior y de la Investigación (12. 2015. Sevilla)[ES] Tanto la formación como la innovación educativa son campos que se están desarrollando continuamente en distintos ámbitos: universitario, empresarial e incluso no universitario (Sein-Echaluce, Fidalgo y García, 2014). El objetivo de este trabajo es motivar a los alumnos en la ampliación del conocimiento de una materia. Dentro de la propia asignatura, como una actividad más, se organiza un "Concurso de elaboración de un Póster científico". Se define un tema de trabajo y se dan unas normas de presentación, semejantes a las de un Congreso. Durante la realización de una Jornada técnica u otro evento similar, relacionado con la temática propuesta, se falla el premio. El grupo autor del póster ganador, expone su trabajo ante los presentes y recibe un pequeño obsequio. Durante ese día todos los pósteres están expuestos en el lugar donde se celebra el acto. Al finalizar este trabajo, se realiza una encuesta de opinión entre los alumnos. Se han obtenido siempre unos resultados muy positivos y se ha conseguido aumentar la motivación de los estudiantes hacia la asignatura (Barnett et al., 2003). El 94% opina que les ha resultado de ayuda para conocer mejor la materia.[EN] Training and educational innovation are fields that are continuously developing in different areas: academic, business and even non-academic disciplines (Sein-Echaluce, Fidalgo and García, 2014). The aim of this paper is to motivate students to expand their knowledge on a specific subject. Our proposal is the organization during the course of a complementary activity called "Student contest of scientific posters". A specific subject is defined and the presentation standards are given to the students following patterns similar to the instructions given in a conference. A technical conference or a similar event related to the topic is organized and the prize is awarded during that event. The group who has won the prize presents their poster to the audience and receives a small gift. On that day, all the posters are displayed during the workshops at the conference venue. A satisfaction survey is conducted at the end of each course. This survey has always revealed very positive opinions, as well as an increase in student motivation towards the subject (Barnett et al., 2003). According to the survey, over 94% of students feel that this experience has been helpful to improve their understanding of the subject