Developing a thermal confort index for vegetated open space in cities of arid zones

The degree of thermal comfort that people experience in open spaces is one of the determinants for use, especially in areas with extreme climates. It has a wide range of indices in the international literature. However, the study of five indices (THI, PE, TS, PMV and COMFA) regarding subjective responses presented low percentages of predictive successes in the city of study, characterized by an arid climate and intense urban vegetation. Therefore, the aim of this work is to develop a new thermal comfort index to predict more accurately the thermal sensation of the local residents. For this, there were campaigns monitoring of microclimatic parameters and field surveys about the real sensation of the people on a pedestrian street of Mendoza Metropolitan Area (MMA) in both winter and summer. The proposed new model is established through the correlation of environmental variables and individual subjective responses. The multivariate correlation is performed by linear regression. The theory of Akaike´s information is used as criterion to model selection. The new model IZA is a lineal relation of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and solar radiation, generally all available weather variables. We found a high correlation between subjective responses and the new model. Besides the Pearson coefficient which gives the new index is higher than other traditional indices evaluated. The percentage of success of the new index exceeds 85%, demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed model. In conclusion, the use of IZA as a predictor of thermal comfort will allow a fair assessment of the effect of design and composition of space on your comfort conditions, without the need to carry out thermal perception surveys. This will facilitate the evaluation and decision-making regarding the thermal rehabilitation of open spaces.Fil: Ruiz, María Angélica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Correa Cantaloube, Erica Norma. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentin

Extracurricular Program for Girls to Improve Competencies and Self-Concept in Science and Technology

The gender gap in STEM areas is still a reality that constitutes a global concern. Many initiatives have sought to strengthen the scientific-technological aspirations of girls, among them extracurricular programs such as the one we present here. Its design is based on the available scientific evidence to promote female interest and self-concept in those areas. In this study, we analyze the impact of the extracurricular activities on the development of competencies and perceptive selfevaluation skills among eight girls aged between 8 and 11 years old regarding science and technology. The results showed the effectiveness of the extracurricular activities both for the development of skills and for the improvement of levels of self-concept, interest, and participation, which leads us to highlight the need to promote initiatives of this sort in order to overcome gender stereotypes and to achieve equality.This research was funded by Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology, grant number FCT-19-15075

Low Complexity Maximum-Likelihood Detector for DSTTD Architecture Based on the QRD-M Algorithm

This paper presents a new decoder algorithm for the double space-time transmit diversity (DSTTD) system. The decoder is based on the QRD-M algorithm, which performs a breadth-first search of possible solutions tree. The search is simplified by skipping unlikely candididates, and it is stopped when no promising candidates are left. Furthermore, the search is divided into three concurrent iterations, making possible a fast, parallel implementation either in hardware or software. After presenting an analysis of the capacity and diversity of DSTTD, we present performance results showing that the proposed decoder is capable of achieving near maximum likelihood performance. We also show that the proposed algorithm exhibits lower computational complexity than other existing maximum likelihood detectors

Suitable configurations for forested urban canyons to mitigate the UHI in the city of Mendoza, Argentina

Urban heat island is a phenomenon that affects residential energy consumption, air quality and outdoor comfort, among others. This work focuses on the semi-arid city of Mendoza, Argentina defined by its wide and tree-lined streets. Our research aims to define and quantify which urban variables-urban forest, morphological, material and microclimatic-determine day and nighttime air temperatures and to identify the best urban configuration. For this purpose, we took measurements and a field survey during the summer in 19 representative urban canyons. The obtained data were processed by Principal Component Analysis and Multiple Linear Regressions. Two models (RMSE of 2.51% and 0.93%) and eight morphological expressions were obtained. The results show that daytime air temperature is more sensitive to the changes of urban variables than nighttime: 6.8 and 3.5 °C, respectively. For newer urban developments, low density configurations have the coolest performance in both periods. But, in high building densities, there is no single configuration that offers the best thermal performance for both periods. In addition, we conclude that the proper selection of materials is a good strategy. These results are useful for urban planners in order to allow them to design and renovate the city concerning thermal behavior.Fil: Ruiz, María Angélica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Sosa, María Belén. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Correa Cantaloube, Erica Norma. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Canton, Maria Alicia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Ciencias Humanas, Sociales y Ambientales; Argentin

First records of oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) from Nothofagus pumilio forests in Patagonian region, Chubut, Argentina

Se informan diecinueve primeros registros de ácaros oribátidos en suelosde bosques de lenga de la provincia de Chubut, Patagonia argentina. Los mismospertenecen a los géneros Loftacarus, Liochthonius, Sellnickochthonius, Trichthonius,Austrocarabodes, Maculobates, Tectocepheus, Austroppia, Brachioppiella, Pletzenoppia,Globoppia, Lanceoppia, Membranoppia, Graptoppia, Oppiella, Neoameroppia,Subiasella, Suctobelbella y Pheroliodes. Las especies Suctobelbella pseudomatissimay Pheroliodes roblensis se mencionan por primera vez de la Argentina.Nineteen new records of soil oribatid mites from lenga forest in Chubut, Patagonia Argentina are informed. The new species registered belong to the genera Loftacarus, Liochthonius, Sellnickochthonius, Trichthonius, Austrocarabodes, Maculobates, Tectocepheus, Austroppia, Brachioppiella, Pletzenoppia, Globoppia, Lanceoppia, Membranoppia, Graptoppia, Oppiella, Neoameroppia, Subiasella, Suctobelbella and Pheroliodes. Suctobelbella pseudornatissima and Pheroliodes roblensis are mentioned for the first time from Argentina.Fil: Ruiz, Erica Vanesa Ruiz. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad; ArgentinaFil: Rizzuto, Susana. Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia "San Juan Bosco". Facultad de Ciencias Naturales - Sede Esquel. Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Evolución y Biodiversidad; ArgentinaFil: Martínez, Pablo Antonio. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biología; Argentin

Beneficios del enfoque CTIM en la reducción de la brecha de género: fundamentación y análisis de una propuesta didáctica

En este artículo se presenta la fundamentación y el análisis acerca del impacto del enfoque CTIM sobre la actitud hacia la ciencia del alumnado femenino de Educación Primaria, estudiando su implementación a partir del análisis de su rendimiento actitudinal a través de la aplicación de una escala de actitudes y un escrito de respuesta abierta. La unidad didáctica incluye una contextualización en la realidad, así como las adaptaciones metodológicas más beneficiosas para el alumnado femenino. Partiendo de una situación problemática, se posibilita el aprendizaje de conceptos físicos (velocidad, rapidez y aceleración) y programación en Scratch, así como su comprobación experimental siguiendo la metodología diseño de ingeniería. Los resultados obtenidos de la muestra de estudio (N=25) constatan diferencias significativas derivadas del enfoque empleado: las actitudes hacia la ciencia de las alumnas son notoriamente más positivas una vez que han trabajado con enfoque CTIM

Confort térmico en espacios abiertos : Comparación de modelos y su aplicabilidad en ciudades de zonas áridas

Este trabajo presenta un estudio comparativo de diferentes modelos de confort térmico, identificando cuál de ellos puede ser usado apropiadamente para estimar o predecir el confort térmico en espacios abiertos vegetados, de ciudades de zonas áridas, cuya configuración se corresponde con el esquema de “ciudad oasis”. El método adoptado es experimental inductivo (investigación en campo de las variables climáticas a microescala) y deductivo (simulación de modelos de predicción). De modo específico se compara el grado de confort térmico alcanzado en tres configuraciones de canales viales vegetados típicos, calculados a partir de cuatro modelos distintos. Los resultados muestran que la selección del método a utilizar está condicionada al objetivo buscado. Cuando se pretende obtener un diagnóstico del grado y frecuencia en la que un espacio se halla en condiciones de confort o disconfort, los métodos inductivos de menor complejidad y número de variables resultan adecuados. Cuando se quiere intervenir sobre las estrategias de diseño urbano, con el objeto de maximizar el grado de habitabilidad de los espacios, la única posibilidad es recurrir al empleo de los métodos deductivos.This is a comparative analysis of the models of thermal comfort to identify which of them can best estimate and predict the thermal comfort of vegetated open spaces in arid cites that presents an urban oasis configuration. We have used both the experimental-inductive method (micro-scale field research of climatic variables) and four predictive-simulation models. By using the four predictive-simulation models, we compare the degree of thermal comfort achieved in three road-vegetated typical channels and conclude that the selection of the best method goes hand in hand with the goal of a given action, either research or urban planning. Indeed, the inductive methods -with their lower complexity and number of variables- are more appropriate for an accurate diagnosis of the degree and frequency in which a person feels comfort or discomfort in an open space. Nevertheless, deductive methods are the best option when the goal is the control of the urban design so as to maximize the degree of comfort achieved by a person in an open space.Asociación Argentina de Energías Renovables y Medio Ambiente (ASADES