Assessing construction and demolition waste on masonry works to avoid future generation

The difficulty of dealing with construction and demolition waste (CDW) on construction sites is not new and continues to be a significant environmental problem. Currently the CDW collection system in Spain is done in a decentralized manner by each sub-contracted company, being necessary to implement effective waste management measures ensuring a correct management and minimization. During the last years several measures have been launched in order to improve and encourage the reuse and recycling of CDW. A widespread solution for CDW recovery is using them as a landscaping aggregate or for road bases and sub-bases. However, measures encouraging onsite prevention still need to be enhanced. This paper studies the major work stage generating CDW and analyses the categories of CDW produced during its execution. For this, several real building sites have been analysed in order to quantify the estimation of CDW generated. Results of this study show that a significant contributor to the CDW generation on building construction sites in Spain are the masonry works. Finally, a Best Practices Manual (BPM) is proposed containing several strategies on masonry works aimed not only at CDW prevention, but also at improving their management and minimization. The use of this BPM together with the Study and Plan of CDW management --required by law--, promotes the environmental management of the company, favouring the cohesion of the construction process organization at all stages giving rise to establishing responsibilities in the field of waste and providing a greater control over the process. Keywords: construction and demolition waste, management, masonry works, good practice measures, prevention.

Motivating Young Students to Start a Career in Nuclear: The Basic Course of Science and Nuclear Technology, An Educational Activity of Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear (JÓVENES NUCLEARES)

The main objective of this course, conducted by Jóvenes Nucleares (Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear, JJNN), a non-profit organization that depends on the Spanish Nuclear Society (SNE) is to pass on basic knowledge about Science and Nuclear Technology to the general public, mostly students and introduce them to its most relevant points. The purposes of this course are to provide general information, to answer the most common questions about Nuclear Energy and to motivate the young students to start a career in nuclear. Therefore, it is directed mainly to high school and university students, but also to general people that wants to learn about the key issues of such an important matter in our society. Anybody could attend the course, as no specific scientific education is required. The course is done at least once a year, during the Annual Meeting of the Spanish Nuclear Society, which takes place in a different Spanish city each time. The course is done also to whichever university or institution that asks for it to JJNN, with the only limit of the presenter´s availability. The course is divided into the following chapters: Physical nuclear and radiation principles, Nuclear power plants, Nuclear safety, Nuclear fuel, Radioactive waste, Decommission of nuclear facilities, Future nuclear power plants, Other uses of nuclear technology, Nuclear energy, climate change and sustainable development. The course is divided into 15 minutes lessons on the above topics, imparted by young professionals, experts in the field that belongs either to the Spanish Young Generation in Nuclear, either to companies and institutions related with nuclear energy. At the end of the course, a 200 pages book with the contents of the course is handed to every member of the audience. This book is also distributed in other course editions at high schools and universities in order to promote the scientific dissemination of the Nuclear Technology. As an extra motivation, JJNN delivers a course certificate to the assistants. At the end of the last edition course, in Santiago de Compostela, the assistants were asked to provide a feedback about it. Some really interesting lessons were learned, that will be very useful to improve next editions of the course. As a general conclusion of the courses it can be said that many of the students that have assisted to the course have increased their motivation in the nuclear field, and hopefully it will help the young talents to choose the nuclear field to develop their careers

Enhancing K-12 science education through a multi-device web tool to facilitate content integration and e-infrastructure access

An effective K-12 science education is essential to succeed in future phases of the curriculum and the e-Infrastructures for education provide new opportunities to enhance it. This paper presents ViSH Viewer, an innovative web tool to consume educational content which aims to facilitate e-Science infrastructures access through a next generation learning object called "Virtual Excursion". Virtual Excursions provide a new way to explore science in class by taking advantage of e-Infrastructure resources and their integration with other educational contents, resulting in the creation of a reusable, interoperable and granular learning object. In order to better understand how this tool can allow teachers and students a joyful exploration of e-Science, we also present three Virtual Excursion examples. Details about the design, development and the tool itself are explained in this paper as well as the concept, structure and metadata of the new learning object.

The Use of Patents to Assess National Innovation Systems: Evidences from Spanish Biotechnology

Spain’s economy recorded a high rate of growth from the mid-1990s onwards. At the same time, the resources allocated to Research and Development (R&D) grew at a much faster pace than in other European Union (EU) countries. Spain’s growth recorded an average rate of 2.93% from the early 1990s to 2004. Over the same period, the average growth in the EU was 0.46%. This circumstance, together with several sound policy decisions implemented between 2004 and 2009, ushered in a “golden age of Spanish biotechnology”. In terms of the national patent licenses issued by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) between 2004 and 2009, the number in biotechnology grew from 84 to 151. However, the current economic situation in Spain, along with a series of political decisions taken over the past two or three years to cut spending on R&D, predicts a sharp downturn in the performance of Spanish biotechnology. This scenario makes Spain one of the best places to study the successes and failures of the management of science and allows transfer this experience to the other international regions. We need to analyze the influence of political decisions as a major factor with a bearing on the quality of science. Using patents as an indicator of scientific development, this paper analyzes the evolution of the biotechnology sector in Spain and its relationship with scientific policy and the management of R&D.