Visión de la OCDE del rol que desempeña la educación superior para el desarrollo humano y social

En los últimos veinte años, el desarrollo de políticas en el ámbito local, nacional e internacional ha evidenciado que el desarrollo sostenible es el único marco estratégico que facilita un enfoque coordinado de problemas como la pobreza, la violación de los derechos humanos, la corrupción, la enfermedad física o mental, la pérdida de biodiversidad y el cambio climático. Las instituciones de educación superior (IES) de todo el mundo reconocen cada vez más su papel protagonista en los esfuerzos nacionales por desarrollar la sostenibilidad. Algunas de ellas aprovechan la oportunidad para hacer su contribución. Sin embargo, ni un solo país ha adoptado una orientación sistemática y estratégica a escala nacional al respecto.Peer Reviewe

L’infrastructure de l’éducation dans les zones rurales

Dans un contexte nuancé en raison des importantes disparités régionales, les pays de l’OCDE sont confrontés à des questions identiques sur l’organisation des écoles en milieu rural, sur leur rôle dans les communautés locales et sur le coût d’un enseignement de qualité : la politique scolaire rurale ne peut être dissociée d’une politique d’aménagement du territoire

Wirewall a Follow Up: Labratory and Field Measurements of Wave Overtopping

At the Protections 2018 conference, the WireWall wave overtopping research project was introduced. WireWall uses recent advances in high frequency capacitance wire technology that can measure overtopping data. Wave overtopping has now been measured in the laboratory and in the field using the WireWall system. Here we provide an update on the validation of the system in flume tests and results from the first field measurement campaign. Before deployment in the field, an extensive set of tests were carried out in one of the 2D wave flumes at HR Wallingford. These tests simulated known wave conditions from a buoy near the field measurement site, and a representation of the sea wall at the site. The structure (shown in Figure 1) underwent extensive testing and was used to validate the WireWall rig. Using traditional methods of assessing wave overtopping in the flume, the WireWall measurements were directly validated against the known volumes collected in the overtopping tanks. The WireWall field system was deployed at Crosby, Liverpool during the winter of 2018/19, where waves regularly overtop the sea wall. Comparison between the WireWall measurements and the BayonetGPE predictions for one of the Crosby deployments shows good agreement, with the predictions and the WireWall measurements being within the uncertainties estimated for the BayonetGPE predictions

Hands on Science to communicate innovations in research – engaging the public in coastal wave hazard measurements to inform management activities

Rising sea level is increasing the flood hazard from sea defence overtopping. New coastal schemes therefore need to be cost-effective and future-proofed. WireWall, with its portable, low cost measurement technology, is a system that can collect overtopping velocities and volumes to inform new scheme design and validate flood forecasting systems. Whilst the application of technology is important, it is equally vital that the scientific community actively engage with the public to raise awareness and understanding of coastal defence initiatives. To engage the public in understanding coastal hazard, how it is managed and how new advances in research informs management decisions, a portable demonstration model of the WireWall field rig has been developed. The tool is hands on, eye catching and user-friendly; and showcases new advances in technology to support coastal flood risk management thus educating the coastal community about changing hazard to promote public preparedness. This tool has successfully initiated in situ engagement between the public, coastal practitioners and researchers to develop support for a new scheme being planned at the WireWall study site. The future wellbeing of coastal communities depends on clear communication of new research that is making sense of changing seas. Here a methodology is presented that achieves just that. The communication facilitated through the design approach used to develop this tool, has turned knowledge and technological innovations into accessible information for government, business and the public

AirSeaFluxCode: Open-source software for calculating turbulent air-sea fluxes from meteorological parameters

The turbulent exchanges, or fluxes, of heat, moisture and momentum between the atmosphere and the ocean play a crucial role in the Earth’s climate system. Direct measurements of turbulent fluxes are very challenging and sparse, and do not span the full range of environmental conditions that exist over the ocean. This means that empirical “bulk formulae” parameterizations that relate direct flux observations to concurrent measurements of the mean meteorological and sea surface variables contain considerable uncertainty. In this paper, we present a Python 3.6 (or higher) open-source software package “AirSeaFluxCode” for the computation of the heat (latent and sensible) and momentum fluxes. Ten different parameterizations are included, each based on published descriptions or code and each derived from a different set of observations, or different assumptions about the turbulent exchange processes. They represent a range of current expert opinion on how the fluxes depend on mean properties and can be used to explore uncertainty in calculated fluxes. AirSeaFluxCode also allows the adjustment of the mean meteorological input parameters (air temperature, humidity and wind speed) from the height at which they are obtained to a user-defined output height. This height adjustment enables the comparison of measurements, or model-derived values, made at different heights above sea-level. The parameterizations calculate the fluxes using input parameters that are relatively easily to measure, or are available as model output: wind speed, air temperature, sea surface temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity. Where original code is available we have compared its output with that of AirSeaFluxCode. Any changes made to increase consistency across algorithms by standardizing computational methods or calculation of meteorological variables, for example, are discussed and the impacts quantified: these are shown to be insignificant except for a few cases where conditions were extreme, and AirSeaFluxCode is shown to be robust. We also investigate the impact on the fluxes caused by different assumptions about the exchange processes, or the choices inherent in the implementation of the parameterizations. For example, sea surface temperature usually refers to data typically obtained at depths of between 1 and 10 m. However, since some parameterizations require a “skin” sea surface temperature, code that adjusts temperature at depth to skin temperature is included: this has a very significant impact on the fluxes. Selecting a parameterization that is appropriate for the available sea surface temperature will avoid the need to adjust the sea temperature data and the uncertainties associated with that adjustment, and will also avoid the biases due to use of the “wrong” measure of temperature. Significant differences also resulted from assumptions about the size of reduction in sea surface humidity to account for salinity effects: the uncertainty in the reduction factor needs to be quantified in future analyses. Fluxes in extreme conditions are particularly uncertain since the transfer coefficients in the different parameterizations vary most at very high and very low wind speeds. Low wind speeds are also challenging for numerical implementation since choices have to be made regarding: convergence criteria for the iterative calculation, inclusion of a parameterization for convective gustiness, or application of ad hoc limits to various parameters. All of these choices can significantly affect the flux estimates for light winds

Wirewall a follow up: Laboratory and field measurements of wave overtopping

At the Protections 2018 conference, the WireWall wave overtopping research project was introduced. WireWall uses recent advances in high frequency capacitance wire technology that can measure overtopping data. Wave overtopping has now been measured in the laboratory and in the field using the WireWall system. Here we provide an update on the validation of the system in flume tests and results from the first field measurement campaign. Before deployment in the field, an extensive set of tests were carried out in one of the 2D wave flumes at HR Wallingford. These tests simulated known wave conditions from a buoy near the field measurement site, and a representation of the sea wall at the site. The structure (shown in Figure 1) underwent extensive testing and was used to validate the WireWall rig. Using traditional methods of assessing wave overtopping in the flume, the WireWall measurements were directly validated against the known volumes collected in the overtopping tanks. The WireWall field system was deployed at Crosby, Liverpool during the winter of 2018/19, where waves regularly overtop the sea wall. Comparison between the WireWall measurements and the BayonetGPE predictions for one of the Crosby deployments shows good agreement, with the predictions and the WireWall measurements being within the uncertainties estimated for the BayonetGPE predictions

Advances in single crystal growth and annealing treatment of electron-doped HTSC

High quality electron-doped HTSC single crystals of $\rm Pr_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ and $\rm Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ have been successfully grown by the container-free traveling solvent floating zone technique. The optimally doped $\rm Pr_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ and $\rm Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ crystals have transition temperatures $T_{\rm c}$ of $25$\,K and $23.5$\,K, respectively, with a transition width of less than $1$\,K. We found a strong dependence of the optimal growth parameters on the Ce content $x$. We discuss the optimization of the post-growth annealing treatment of the samples, the doping extension of the superconducting dome for both compounds as well as the role of excess oxygen. The absolute oxygen content of the as-grown crystals is determined from thermogravimetric experiments and is found to be $\ge 4.0$. This oxygen surplus is nearly completely removed by a post-growth annealing treatment. The reduction process is reversible as demonstrated by magnetization measurements. In as-grown samples the excess oxygen resides on the apical site O(3). This apical oxygen has nearly no doping effect, but rather influences the evolution of superconductivity by inducing additional disorder in the CuO$_{2}$ layers. The very high crystal quality of $\rm Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4+\delta}$ is particularly manifest in magnetic quantum oscillations observed on several samples at different doping levels. They provide a unique opportunity of studying the Fermi surface and its dependence on the carrier concentration in the bulk of the crystals.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

WireWall – Laboratory and field measurements of wave overtopping

In the UK £150bn of assets and 4 million people are at risk from coastal flooding, whilst the construction of sea wall defence schemes typically cost £10,000 per linear meter. With reductions in public funding and 3200 km of coastal defences, cost savings are required that do not cause a reduction in flood resistance. Increasingly there is a requirement to design new coastal flood defences with site specific tolerable hazard thresholds, with regard to wave overtopping during storms of varying severity. The traditional and preferred method for establishing these thresholds has always been physical modelling, but it is recognized that these can cost many 10s thousands of Euros. This is not always feasible, and coastal asset managers have long been looking for affordable methods that can be used to assess overtopping in the field. Recent advances in technology mean existing wave height sensors can now measure at the high frequencies (a few 100 Hz) required to obtain overtopping data, making this the ideal time to initiate a step-change in coastal hazard monitoring capabilities. By converting the existing wave measurement technology into an overtopping monitoring system "WireWall", we can measure the excursions of overtopping volumes and velocities in the lee of a structure. These then can be readily integrated to obtain wave-by-wave volumes and overtopping discharges (l/s/m). At Crosby in the north west of England, the 900 m sea wall will reach the end of its design life in the next 5 years. Deployments of WireWall at this site will provide site-specific data and calibrated overtopping that will feed into the design of a new sea wall. Before deployment in the field, an extensive set of tests were carried out in a 2D wave flume. Starting with known wave conditions from a buoy near the Crosby sea wall, and values from a joint probability wave and water level study, a representation of the sea wall has been tested. Extensive testing was performed to calibrate the WireWall rig. Using traditional methods of assessing wave overtopping in the flume, the WireWall measurements could be directly calibrated against the known volumes collected in the overtopping tanks. At the time of writing, analysis of the laboratory and the flume wave overtopping data is ongoing. The paper describes how WireWall works, describes the laboratory measurements, the field deployments and presents and compares the analysis from the two systems. A successful deployment of the calibrated WireWall rig at Crosby was during the winter of 2018/2019, where waves can be seen overtopping the sea wall is shown in Fig. 1

HARMONY: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial of a culturally competent systems intervention to prevent and reduce domestic violence among migrant and refugee families in general practice:study protocol

INTRODUCTION: Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is prevalent, harmful and more dangerous among diaspora communities because of the difficulty accessing DVA services, language and migration issues. Consequently, migrant/refugee women are common among primary care populations, but evidence for culturally competent DVA primary care practice is negligible. This pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial aims to increase DVA identification and referral (primary outcomes) threefold and safety planning (secondary outcome) among diverse women attending intervention vs comparison primary care clinics. Additionally, the study plans to improve recording of DVA, ethnicity, and conduct process and economic evaluations. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Recruitment of ≤28 primary care clinics in Melbourne, Australia with high migrant/refugee communities. Eligible clinics need ≥1 South Asian general practitioner (GP) and one of two common software programmes to enable aggregated routine data extraction by GrHanite. Intervention staff undertake three DVA training sessions from a GP educator and bilingual DVA advocate/educator. Following training, clinic staff and DVA affected women 18+ will be supported for 12 months by the advocate/educator. Comparison clinics are trained in ethnicity and DVA data entry and offer routine DVA care. Data extraction of DV identification, safety planning and referral from routine GP data in both arms. Adjusted regression analysis by intention-to-treat by staff blinded to arm. Economic evaluation will estimate cost-effectiveness and cost-utility. Process evaluation interviews and analysis with primary care staff and women will be framed by Normalisation Process Theory to maximise understanding of sustainability. Harmony will be the first primary care trial to test a culturally competent model for the care of diverse women experiencing DVA. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval from La Trobe University Human Ethics Committee (HEC18413) and dissemination by policy briefs, journal articles and conference and community presentations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ANZCTR- ACTRN12618001845224; Pre-results

A system for in-situ, wave-by-wave measurements of the speed and volume of coastal overtopping

Wave overtopping of sea defences poses a hazard to people and infrastructure. Rising sea levels and limited resources mean accurate prediction tools are needed to deliver cost-effective shoreline management plans. A dearth of in-situ data means that the numerical tools used for flood forecasting and coastal scheme design are based largely on data from idealised flume studies, and the resulting overtopping predictions may have orders of magnitude uncertainty for complicated structures and some environmental conditions. Furthermore, such studies usually only provide data on the total volume of overtopping water, and no data on the speed of the water. Here we present WireWall, an array of capacitance-based sensors which measure the speed and volume of overtopping water on a wave-by-wave basis. We describe the successful validation of WireWall against traditional flume methods and present results from the first trial deployments at a sea wall in the UK. WireWall results are also compared with numerical predictions based on EurOtop guidance. WireWall technology offers an approach for reliable acquisition of the data needed to develop resilient coastal protections schemes