Fungal microbiota from rain water and pathogenicity of Fusarium species isolated from atmospheric dust and rainfall dust

In order to determine the presence of Fusarium spp. in atmospheric dust and rainfall dust, samples were collected during September 2007, and July, August, and October 2008. The results reveal the prevalence of airborne Fusarium species coming from the atmosphere of the South East coast of Spain. Five different Fusarium species were isolated from the settling dust: Fusarium oxysporum, F. solani, F. equiseti, F. dimerum, and F. proliferatum. Moreover, rainwater samples were obtained during significant rainfall events in January and February 2009. Using the dilution-plate method, 12 fungal genera were identified from these rainwater samples. Specific analyses of the rainwater revealed the presence of three species of Fusarium: F. oxysporum, F. proliferatum and F. equiseti. A total of 57 isolates of Fusarium spp. obtained from both rainwater and atmospheric rainfall dust sampling were inoculated onto melon (Cucumis melo L.) cv. Piñonet and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) cv. San Pedro. These species were chosen because they are the main herbaceous crops in Almeria province. The results presented in this work indicate strongly that spores or propagules of Fusarium are able to cross the continental barrier carried by winds from the Sahara (Africa) to crop or coastal lands in Europe. Results show differences in the pathogenicity of the isolates tested. Both hosts showed root rot when inoculated with different species of Fusarium, although fresh weight measurements did not bring any information about the pathogenicity. The findings presented above are strong indications that long-distance transmission of Fusarium propagules may occur. Diseases caused by species of Fusarium are common in these areas. They were in the past, and are still today, a problem for greenhouses crops in Almería, and many species have been listed as pathogens on agricultural crops in this region. Saharan air masses dominate the Mediterranean regions. The evidence of long distance dispersal of Fusarium spp. by atmospheric dust and rainwater together with their proved pathogenicity must be taken into account in epidemiological studies.

FMECA application to Rainfall Hazard prevention

This paper presents a System Safety application to reduce the economical impact hazards in growings produced by Rainfall. System Safety is an engineering subdiscipline oriented to identify and mitigate the possible hazards to a system under study. Inside the System Safety area, the FMECA (Failure Mode, Effects and Criticallity Analysis) is a popular tool to analyze and identify the failures and weaknesses points of any system. Basically, it consist on identifying systematically the failure modes of a system to mitigate them as much as possible. The idea is to study three different kind of growings (stone fruits in the south of Spain, wheat production in Castilla Leon and Olive trees production in Andalucia) using this methodology in order to identify all the hazardous situations produced by rainfall. Applying the state of the art weather forecast techniques, this information would help farmers to prevent and mitigate the identified hazardous situations. The aim of the work is to prevent the economical hazards as are defined in the System Safety area: "Any real or potential condition that can cause injury, illness, or death to personnel; damage to or loss of a system, equipment or property; or damage to the environment", so the study is not reduced to the analysis of catastrophical situations but aboutany kind of economical damage produced by rainfall.

Effect of reservoir tillage on rainwater harvesting and soil erosion control under a developed rainfall simulator.

Soil erosion is a serious environmental threat in the Mediterranean region due to torrential rainfalls, and it contributes to the degradation of agricultural land. Techniques such as rainwater harvesting may improve soil water storage and increase agricultural productivity, which could result in more effective land usage. Reservoir tillage is an effective system of harvesting rainwater, but it has not been scientifically evaluated like other tillage systems. Its suitability for the conditions in Spain has not been determined. To investigate and quantify water storage from reservoir tillage and how it could be adapted to improve infiltration of harvested rainwater, a laboratory-scale rainfall simulator was developed. Rainfall characteristics, including rainfall intensity, spatial uniformity and raindrop size, confirm that natural rainfall conditions are simulated with sufficient accuracy. The simulator was auto-controlled by a solenoid valve and three pressure nozzles were used to spray water corresponding to five rainfall intensities ranging from 36 to 112 mm h-1 for 3 to 101-year return period with uniformity coefficients between 83 and 94%. In order to assess the reservoir tillage method under surface slopes of 0, 5, and 10%, three soil scooping devices with identical volume were used to make depressions in the following forms: a) truncated square pyramid, b) triangular prism, and c) truncated cone. These depressions were compared to a control soil surface with no depression. For the loam soil used in this study, results show that reservoir tillage was able to reduce soil erosion and surface runoff and significantly increase infiltration. There was significant difference between the depressions and the control. Compared to the control, depression (a) reduced surface runoff by about 61% and the sediment yield concentration by about 79%.

Modeling and optimization of frequencies on congested bus lines

In this paper some mathematical programming models are exposed in order to set the number of services on a specified system of bus lines, which are intended to assist high demand levels which may arise because of the disruption of Rapid Transit services or during the celebration of massive events. By means of this model two types of basic magnitudes can be determined, basically: a) the number of bus units assigned to each line and b) the number of services that should be assigned to those units. In these models, passenger flow assignment to lines can be considered of the system optimum type, in the sense that the assignment of units and of services is carried out minimizing a linear combination of operation costs and total travel time of users. The models consider delays experienced by buses as a consequence of the get in/out of the passengers, queueing at stations and the delays that passengers experience waiting at the stations. For the case of a congested strategy based user optimal passenger assignment model with strict capacities on the bus lines, the use of the method of successive averages is shown.

Summer rainfall variability in European Mediterranean mountains from the sixteenth to the twentieth century reconstructed from tree rings.

En este trabajo se utilizan dendrocronologías para reconstruir la precipitación estival.

Cálculo de la recarga natural en grandes áreas, en función de la litología y la precipitación = Calculation of natural recharge in large areas, as a function of lithology and rainfall

En una región amplia como España se demuestra —mediante inferencias estadísticas sobre una muestra completa de 875 manantiales en los que se conoce su caudal medio y la litología de su área de alimentación y que han sido agrupados en regiones de distinta pluviometría— que la recarga media anual es una fracción fija de la precipitación media para cada litología. Se han establecido así unas tasas de recarga respecto de la precipitación para seis grupos litológicos de diferente permeabilidad: arenas, gravas y formaciones aluviales en general, 8.3%; conglomerados, 5.6%; areniscas, 7.3%; calizas y dolomías, 34.3%; margas, margocalizas, limos y arcillas, 3.3%; otras rocas, 1.3%. Teniendo en cuenta la representatividad de España, la cual tiene una gran variabilidad de litología, pluviometría, topografía, etcétera, estas tasas de recarga respecto de la precipita-ción son probablemente valores cuasi universales que pueden ser utilizados para estimar la recarga media o los recursos hídricos subterráneos medios de regiones amplias en cualquier parte del mundo, salvo en regiones especiales, como las que tienen permafrost, por ejemplo. En todo caso, estas tasas de recarga podrían ser retocadas para cada región según sus particulares características. Los datos de precipitación y litología son muy corrientes, por lo que el método puede ser ampliamente utilizado para completar balances hidráulicos.In a region as large as Spain, annual mean recharge is shown to be a fixed proportion of the mean rainfall for each lithology. This determination is based on statistical inferences from a complete sample of 875 springs for which mean flow and catchment areas are known and which have been grouped into distinct rainfall regions. Recharge rates have thus been established with respect to rainfall for six lithological groups with different permeability: sands, gravels and generally alluvial formations, 8.3%; conglomerates, 5.6%; sandstones, 7.3%; limestone and dolomite 34.3%; marls, marly limestones, silts and clays, 3.3%; and hard rocks, 1.3%. Considering the representativeness of Spain, which is large in size and has a highly varied lithology, topography and rainfall, these recharge rates for rainfall are probably quasi-universal values that can be used to estimate average recharge or average groundwater resources of large regions in any part of the world (except in special cases such as areas with permafrost, for example). For any case, these recharge rates can be adapted to each region according to its particular characteristics. Rainfall and lithology data are very common, and so the method can be widely used to calculate hydraulic balances.

Nuevas arquitecturas de transpondedores de microondas = New transponder architectures at microwave frequencies = Nouvelles architectures des transpondeurs d’hyperfréquences

En la última década, los sistemas de telecomunicación de alta frecuencia han evolucionado tremendamente. Las bandas de frecuencias, los anchos de banda del usuario, las técnicas de modulación y otras características eléctricas están en constante cambio de acuerdo a la evolución de la tecnología y la aparición de nuevas aplicaciones. Las arquitecturas de los transceptores modernos son diferentes de las tradicionales. Muchas de las funciones convencionalmente realizadas por circuitos analógicos han sido asignadas gradualmente a procesadores digitales de señal, de esta manera, las fronteras entre la banda base y las funcionalidades de RF se difuminan. Además, los transceptores inalámbricos digitales modernos son capaces de soportar protocolos de datos de alta velocidad, por lo que emplean una elevada escala de integración para muchos de los subsistemas que componen las diferentes etapas. Uno de los objetivos de este trabajo de investigación es realizar un estudio de las nuevas configuraciones en el desarrollo de demostradores de radiofrecuencia (un receptor y un transmisor) y transpondedores para fines de comunicaciones y militares, respectivamente. Algunos trabajos se han llevado a cabo en el marco del proyecto TECRAIL, donde se ha implementado un demostrador de la capa física LTE para evaluar la viabilidad del estándar LTE en el entorno ferroviario. En el ámbito militar y asociado al proyecto de calibración de radares (CALRADAR), se ha efectuado una actividad importante en el campo de la calibración de radares balísticos Doppler donde se ha analizado cuidadosamente su precisión y se ha desarrollado la unidad generadora de Doppler de un patrón electrónico para la calibración de estos radares. Dicha unidad Doppler es la responsable de la elevada resolución en frecuencia del generador de “blancos” radar construido. Por otro lado, se ha elaborado un análisis completo de las incertidumbres del sistema para optimizar el proceso de calibración. En una segunda fase se han propuesto soluciones en el desarrollo de dispositivos electro-ópticos para aplicaciones de comunicaciones. Estos dispositivos son considerados, debido a sus ventajas, tecnologías de soporte para futuros dispositivos y subsistemas de RF/microondas. Algunas demandas de radio definida por software podrían cubrirse aplicando nuevos conceptos de circuitos sintonizables mediante parámetros programables de un modo dinámico. También se ha realizado una contribución relacionada con el diseño de filtros paso banda con topología “Hairpin”, los cuales son compactos y se pueden integrar fácilmente en circuitos de microondas en una amplia gama de aplicaciones destinadas a las comunicaciones y a los sistemas militares. Como importante aportación final, se ha presentado una propuesta para ecualizar y mejorar las transmisiones de señales discretas de temporización entre los TRMs y otras unidades de procesamiento, en el satélite de última generación SEOSAR/PAZ. Tras un análisis exhaustivo, se ha obtenido la configuración óptima de los buses de transmisión de datos de alta velocidad basadas en una red de transceptores. ABSTRACT In the last decade, high-frequency telecommunications systems have extremely evolved. Frequency bands, user bandwidths, modulation techniques and other electrical characteristics of these systems are constantly changing following to the evolution of technology and the emergence of new applications. The architectures of modern transceivers are different from the traditional ones. Many of the functions conventionally performed by analog circuitry have gradually been assigned to digital signal processors. In this way, boundaries between baseband and RF functionalities are diffused. The design of modern digital wireless transceivers are capable of supporting high-speed data protocols. Therefore, a high integration scale is required for many of the components in the block chain. One of the goals of this research work is to investigate new configurations in the development of RF demonstrators (a receiver and a transmitter) and transponders for communications and military purposes, respectively. A LTE physical layer demonstrator has been implemented to assess the viability of LTE in railway scenario under the framework of the TECRAIL project. An important activity, related to the CALRADAR project, for the calibration of Doppler radars with extremely high precision has been performed. The contribution is the Doppler unit of the radar target generator developed that reveals a high frequency resolution. In order to assure the accuracy of radar calibration process, a complete analysis of the uncertainty in the above mentioned procedure has been carried out. Another important research topic has been the development of photonic devices that are considered enabling technologies for future RF and microwave devices and subsystems. Some Software Defined Radio demands are addressed by the proposed novel circuit concepts based on photonically tunable elements with dynamically programmable parameters. A small contribution has been made in the field of Hairpin-line bandpass filters. These filters are compact and can also be easily integrated into microwave circuits finding a wide range of applications in communication and military systems. In this research field, the contributions made have been the improvements in the design and the simulations of wideband filters. Finally, an important proposal to balance and enhance transmissions of discrete timing signals between TRMs and other processing units into the state of the art SEOSAR/PAZ Satellite has been carried out obtaining the optimal configuration of the high-speed data transmission buses based on a transceiver network. RÉSUMÉ Les systèmes d'hyperfréquence dédiés aux télécommunications ont beaucoup évolué dans la dernière décennie. Les bandes de fréquences, les bandes passantes par utilisateur, les techniques de modulation et d'autres caractéristiques électriques sont en constant changement en fonction de l'évolution des technologies et l'émergence de nouvelles applications. Les architectures modernes des transcepteurs sont différentes des traditionnelles. Un grand nombre d’opérations normalement effectuées par les circuits analogiques a été progressivement alloué à des processeurs de signaux numériques. Ainsi, les frontières entre la bande de base et la fonctionnalité RF sont floues. Les transcepteurs sans fils numériques modernes sont capables de transférer des données à haute vitesse selon les différents protocoles de communication utilisés. C'est pour cette raison qu’un niveau élevé d'intégration est nécessaire pour un grand nombre de composants qui constitue les différentes étapes des systèmes. L'un des objectifs de cette recherche est d'étudier les nouvelles configurations dans le développement des démonstrateurs RF (récepteur et émetteur) et des transpondeurs à des fins militaire et de communication. Certains travaux ont été réalisés dans le cadre du projet TECRAIL, où un démonstrateur de la couche physique LTE a été mis en place pour évaluer la faisabilité de la norme LTE dans l'environnement ferroviaire. Une contribution importante, liée au projet CALRADAR, est proposée dans le domaine des systèmes d’étalonnage de radar Doppler de haute précision. Cette contribution est le module Doppler de génération d’hyperfréquence intégré dans le système électronique de génération de cibles radar virtuelles que présente une résolution de fréquence très élevée. Une analyse complète de l'incertitude dans l'étalonnage des radars Doppler a été effectuée, afin d'assurer la précision du calibrage. La conception et la mise en oeuvre de quelques dispositifs photoniques sont un autre sujet important du travail de recherche présenté dans cette thèse. De tels dispositifs sont considérés comme étant des technologies habilitantes clés pour les futurs dispositifs et sous-systèmes RF et micro-ondes grâce à leurs avantages. Certaines demandes de radio définies par logiciel pourraient être supportées par nouveaux concepts de circuits basés sur des éléments dynamiquement programmables en utilisant des paramètres ajustables. Une petite contribution a été apportée pour améliorer la conception et les simulations des filtres passe-bande Hairpin à large bande. Ces filtres sont compacts et peuvent également être intégrés dans des circuits à micro-ondes compatibles avec un large éventail d'applications dans les systèmes militaires et de communication. Finalement, une proposition a été effectuée visant à équilibrer et améliorer la transmission des signaux discrets de synchronisation entre les TRMs et d'autres unités de traitement dans le satellite SEOSAR/PAZ de dernière génération et permettant l’obtention de la configuration optimale des bus de transmission de données à grande vitesse basés sur un réseau de transcepteurs.

Assessment of insurance coverage and claims in rainfall related risks in processing tomato in Western Spain

An extension of guarantees related to rainfall-related risks in the insurance of processing tomato crops has been accompanied with a large increase in claims in Western Spain, suggesting that damages may have been underestimated in previous years. A database was built by linking agricultural insurance records, meteorological data from local weather stations, and topographic data. The risk of rainfall-related damages in processing tomato in the Extremenian Guadiana river basin (W Spain) was studied using a logistic model. Risks during the growth of the crop and at harvesting were modelled separately. First, the risk related to rainfall was modelled as a function of meteorological, terrain and management variables. The resulting models were used to identify the variables responsible for rainfall-related damages, with a view to assess the potential impact of extending insurance coverage, and to develop an index to express the suitability of the cropping system for insurance. The analyses reveal that damages at different stages of crop development correspond to different hazards. The geographic dependence of the risk influences the scale at which the model might have validity, which together with the year dependency, the possibility of implementing index based insurances is questioned.

Modelling the post-failure stage of rainfall-induced landslides of the flow type

The geomechanical modeling of failure and post failure stages of rainfall induced shallow landslides represents a fundamental issue to properly assess the failure conditions and recognize the potential for long travel distances of the failed soil masses.

Change of extreme rainfall indexes at Ebro River Basin

The purpose of this work is to provide a description of the heavy rainfall phenomenon on statistical tools from a Spanish region. We want to quantify the effect of the climate change to verify the rapidity of its evolution across the variation of the probability distributions. Our conclusions have special interest for the agrarian insurances, which may make estimates of costs more realistically. In this work, the analysis mainly focuses on: The distribution of consecutive days without rain for each gauge stations and season. We estimate density Kernel functions and Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD) for a network of station from the Ebro River basin until a threshold value u. We can establish a relation between distributional parameters and regional characteristics. Moreover we analyze especially the tail of the probability distribution. These tails are governed by law of power means that the number of events n can be expressed as the power of another quantity x : n(x) = x? . ? can be estimated as the slope of log-log plot the number of events and the size. The most convenient way to analyze n(x) is using the empirical probability distribution. Pr(X mayor que x) ? x-?. The distribution of rainfall over percentile of order 0.95 from wet days at the seasonal scale and in a yearly scale with the same treatment of tails than in the previous section.

Influence of a liquid on the natural frequencies of almost circular plates

In this work, the influence of the surrounding fluid on the dynamic characteristics of almost circular plates is investigated. First the natural frequencies and normal modes for the plates in vacuum are calculated by a perturbation procedure. The method is applied for the case of elliptical plates with a low value of eccentricity. The results are compared with other available methods for this type of plates with good agreement. Next, the effect of the fluid is considered. The normal modes of the plate in vacuum are used as a base to express the vibration mode of the coupled plate-fluid system. By applying the Hankel transformation the nondimensional added virtual mass 2 increment (NAVMI) are calculated for elliptical plates. Results of the NAVMI factors and the effect of the fluid on the natural frequencies are given and it is shown that when the eccentricity of the plate is reduced to zero (circular plate) the known results of the natural frequencies for circular plates surrounded by liquid are recovered.

Summer rainfall variability in European Mediterranean mountains from the sixteenth to the twentieth century reconstructed from tree rings.

Estudio dendrocronológico de estructuras arbóreas en alta montaña mediterránea.

Effect of reservoir tillage on rainwater havesting and soil erosion control under a developed rainfall simulator

Soil erosion is a serious environmental threat in the Mediterranean region due to torrential rainfalls, and it contributes to the degradation of agricultural land. Techniques such as rainwater harvesting may improve soil water storage and increase agricultural productivity, which could result in more effective land usage. Reservoir tillage is an effective system of harvesting rainwater, but it has not been scientifically evaluated like other tillage systems. Its suitability for the conditions in Spain has not been determined. To investigate and quantify water storage from reservoir tillage and how it could be adapted to improve infiltration of harvested rainwater, a laboratory-scale rainfall simulator was developed. Rainfall characteristics, including rainfall intensity, spatial uniformity and raindrop size, confirm that natural rainfall conditions are simulated with sufficient accuracy. The simulator was auto-controlled by a solenoid valve and three pressure nozzles were used to spray water corresponding to five rainfall intensities ranging from 36 to 112 mm h− 1 for 3 to 101-year return period with uniformity coefficients between 83 and 94%. In order to assess the reservoir tillage method under surface slopes of 0, 5, and 10%, three soil scooping devices with identical volume were used to make depressions in the following forms: a) truncated square pyramid, b) triangular prism, and c) truncated cone. These depressions were compared to a control soil surface with no depression. For the loam soil used in this study, results show that reservoir tillage was able to reduce soil erosion and surface runoff and significantly increase infiltration. There was significant difference between the depressions and the control. Compared to the control, depression (a) reduced surface runoff by about 61% and the sediment yield concentration by about 79%.

Two-dimensional direct rainfall hydraulic models applied to direct calculation of hydrologic events in dams to prevent overtopping

One of the main concerns when conducting a dam test is the acute determination of the hydrograph for a specific flood event. The use of 2D direct rainfall hydraulic mathematical models on a finite elements mesh, combined with the efficiency of vector calculus that provides CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) technology, enables nowadays the simulation of complex hydrological models without the need for terrain subbasin and transit splitting (as in HEC-HMS). Both the Spanish PNOA (National Plan of Aereal Orthophotography) Digital Terrain Model GRID with a 5 x 5 m accuracy and the CORINE GIS Land Cover (Coordination of INformation of the Environment) that allows assessment of the ground roughness, provide enough data to easily build these kind of models

Assessment of insurance coverage and claims in rainfall related risksin processing tomato in Western Spain

An extension of guarantees related to rainfall-related risks in the insurance of processing tomato crops hasbeen accompanied with a large increase in claims in Western Spain, suggesting that damages may havebeen underestimated in previous years. A database was built by linking agricultural insurance records,meteorological data from local weather stations, and topographic data. The risk of rainfall-related dam-ages in processing tomato in the Extremenian Guadiana river basin (W Spain) was studied using a logisticmodel. Risks during the growth of the crop and at harvesting were modelled separately. First, the riskrelated to rainfall was modelled as a function of meteorological, terrain and management variables. Theresulting models were used to identify the variables responsible for rainfall-related damages, with a viewto assess the potential impact of extending insurance coverage, and to develop an index to express thesuitability of the cropping system for insurance. The analyses reveal that damages at different stages ofcrop development correspond to different hazards. The geographic dependence of the risk influences the scale at which the model might have validity, which together with the year dependency, hampers the possibilityof implementing index based insurances is questioned.