A review of the developments in nuclear track methodology as published in the proceedings of the International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids from 1990 to 2008

International audienceThe aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the developments in nuclear track methodology as published in the proceedings of the last ten meetings of the International Conference on Nuclear Tracks in Solids (ICNTS) from the Marburg (Germany) conference in 1990 to the Bologna (Italy) conference of 2008. Nuclear Tracks Methodology (NTM) examines the effects of the interaction between charged particles and solid materials and presents several desirable characteristics: the detectors can easily be cut into a size appropriate for any application and can be used in locations for which other radiation detectors are not suitable; the etching and reading instrumentation is relatively simple; there is a quasiinsensibility to gamma radiation for reasonable dose exposures (typically <1 kGy); after chemical etching the information recorded on the detector material is essentially permanent; and, finally, the system involves relatively low costs. These characteristics have contributed to the importance of NTM for radiation detection in an immense number of applications across a wide range of scientific and technological fields. This paper reviews the new ideas, topics, materials and applications related to NTM that have been presented over the past ten ICNTS meetings from 1990 to 2008, and analyzes the evolution of various topics. One could argue that the conferences themselves have been an important source of new ideas and applications for the nuclear track research community. Two important observations arise from this review. The first is that the contributions of the past ten international conferences can be conveniently classified into 12 categories. The second is that the number of papers published varied widely from conference to conference. Several factors contributed: the variation in the number of conference participants, the interests of local participants (who account for a disproportionate number of conference participants), the location of the conference, and the appearance of new international conferences devoted to topics similar to those covered by the ICNTS

Study of the Effect of Temperature, Relative Humidity and UV Radiation on Wet-white Leather Ageing

Since upholstery leather is considered a very high-tech product, a long service life is expected by the custumer. However, this type of leather can undergo extreme environmental conditions that may cause premature ageing. This work deals with the study of the effect of temperature, relative humidity, and UV radiation on leather ageing. Leathers with wet-white tannage were exposed to weathering effects using a climatic chamber in order to identify the most important variables affecting this weathering process and to check for interactions. Both a multilevel centralized factorial experimental design and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) have been employed as statistical tools for estimating the effects of the parameters. Resumen Ya que el cuero de tapicería es considerado como un producto de avanzada tecnología, una prolongada vida útil es esperada por el cliente usuario. Sin embargo, este tipo de cuero puede experimentar condiciones ambientales extremas que podrían causar envejecimiento prematuro. Esta obra se concierne con el estudio de los efectos de temperatura, humedad relativa, y radiación UV sobre el envejecimiento del cuero. Cueros con un curtido exento de cromo [wet-white] fueron expuestos a efectos del clima utilizando una recámara climática para así poder identificar las variables más importantes que afectan a este proceso de desgaste y para revisar las interacciones. Tanto un análisis centralizado factorial diseñado a multinivel y un análisis de la varianza (ANOVA) han sido utilizados como herramientas estadísticas para estimar los efectos de los parámetros

Drawing and conceptual method in swiss architecture

[EN] The article analyzes the drawings of several renowned Swiss architects (Herzog & de Meuron, Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, Marianne Burkhalter and Christian Kerez) and defends the existence of several common features, denoting a method of eminently conceptual work. These are: the free choice of media and materials, lack of graphic academicism, non-pictorial use of the canvas, expression of the drawing process, the inclusion of texts and annotations, the use of sets and repetitions, the dominance of two-dimensionality and diagrammatic reduction. These features are compared, in some cases, with the work of conceptual artists or close to conceptual art, justifying the thesis defended[ES] El artículo analiza los dibujos de varios arquitectos suizos de reconocido prestigio (Herzog & de Meuron, Peter Zumthor, Peter Märkli, Marianne Burkhalter y Christian Kerez) y defiende la existencia de varios rasgos comunes, que denotan un método de trabajo eminentemente conceptual. Estos son: la elección libre de soportes y materiales, la falta de academicismo gráfico, el uso no pictórico del lienzo, la expresión del proceso de dibujo, la inclusión de textos y anotaciones, el uso de series y repeticiones, el predominio de la bidimensionalidad, y la reducción diagramática. Estos rasgos son comparados, en algunos casos, con el trabajo de artistas conceptuales o próximos al arte conceptual, justificando la tesis defendidaFernández-Morales, A.; Bigas Vidal, M.; Font Basté, G.; Bravo Farré, L. (2014). Dibujo y método conceptual en la arquitectura suiza. EGA. Revista de Expresión Gráfica Arquitectónica. 19(23):138-147. doi:10.4995/ega.2014.1764.SWORD138147192

Definition and sensitivity analysis of a CFD model for the study of radon entry and accumulation in buildings

Within the framework of a research project funded by the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council, two different models will be developed to allow the study of radon entry and accumulation in buildings located in different regions of potential risk. The final use will be aimed at the prediction of radon entry rates according with the levels of available information about buildings and environmental parameters. In addition, they should be able to predict the reductions achieved by implementing different types of mitigation solutions. One of them will be developed using the finite element analysis software COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS. This paper presents the first phase of the project, describing the fundamentals of the model and a sensitivity study on some of the parameters it incorporates: radon levels in the ground and soil permeability; envelope conditions in terms of porosities, permeabilities, diffusion coefficients, discontinuities; environmental parameters such as pressure conditions, indoor and outdoor temperature, winds, moisture content of the ground. The results and the analysis of their feasibility of application will be compared later with the second model developed with the STELLA software. In a second phase, both models will be compared and calibrated using the monitored data from two real buildings located in areas with high radon exhalation potential.This project is funded by the Spanish National Research Council (RadonFlow project, PID2019-109898RB-100) and the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (RADNUM-CSN-01)

The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14 happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov 2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected

The IFAE/UAB Raman LIDAR for the CTA-North

The IFAE/UAB Raman LIDAR project aims to develop a Raman LIDAR suitable for the online atmospheric calibration of the CTA. Requirements for such a solution include the ability to characterize aerosol extinction to distances of more than 20 km with an accuracy better than 5%, within time scales of less than one minute. The Raman LIDAR consists therefore of a large 1.8 m mirror and a powerful pulsed Nd-YAG laser. A liquid light-guide collects the light at the focal plane and transports it to the readout system. An in-house built polychromator has been characterized thoroughly with respect to its capability to separate efficiently the different wavelengths (355 nm, 387 nm, 532 nm and 607 nm). It was found to operate according to specifications, particularly that light leakage from the elastic channels (532 nm and 355 nm) into the much dimmer Raman channels (387 nm and 607 nm) could be excluded to less than 2 x 10(-7). We present here the status of the integration and commissioning of this solution and plans for the near future. After a one-year test period at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos, an in-depth evaluation of this and the solutions adopted by a similar project developed by the LUPM, Montpellier, will lead to a final Raman LIDAR proposed to be built for both CTA sites

Las dificultades del aprendizaje autónomo en un contexto de ABP

Objectives: To identify the difficulties that the students have in a process of selflearning. To elaborate an inventory of the identified difficulties. To diagnose the causes of the difficulties and to point routes or possibilities of overcoming. To evaluate the impact of the difficulties in the end item. Empiric analysis data: 80 students of the two last years in law studies. Academic year 2006-2007. Faculty of Law of the University of Barcelona. Methodology: Ethnografic study. Results: For students who do not have previous experience in ABP the greater difficulty is the disorientation and the anguish that suffer because of the absence of an agenda. They exist difficulties of interaction with the tutors derived from the divergent conception and intelligence of meaning. Finally, difficulties derived from the influence of the surroundings (personal habits) and connected others with the learning styles of each student have been detected.Objetivos: Identificar las dificultades que experimentan los estudiantes en un proceso de aprendizaje autodirigido. Elaborar un inventario y una clasificación de las dificultades identificadas. Diagnosticar las causas de las dificultades y apuntar vías o posibilidades de superación. Evaluar el impacto de las dificultades en el producto final. Datos del análisis empírico: Participan en el estudio un total de 80 estudiantes de los dos últimos cursos de la licenciatura de Derecho. Curso académico 2006-2007. Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Barcelona. Metodología de trabajo: Estudio etnográfico. Resultados: Para los estudiantes que no tienen experiencia previa en ABP la mayor dificultad es la desorientación y la angustia que sufren ante la ausencia de un temario. Existen dificultades de interacción con los tutores derivadas de la divergente concepción e inteligencia de significados. Finalmente, se han detectado dificultades derivadas de la influencia del entorno (hábitos personales) y otras conectadas con los estilos de aprendizaje de cada estudiante