Hontoria’s stone (Burgos, Spain): Characteristics and weathering

This paper deals with petrological and petrophysical features of the Hontaria's stone, Burgos (Spain), with which many important monuments were built in northern Spain, in orderr to establish a basis for individual monument restoration. The study contains an historical reference to sorne buildings in which this stone was employed, geological considerations of the origin area, laboratory analysis of the samples, and results of the most common characterization tests. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the Hontoria's stone is apure limestone, with good mechanical and hydrological behaviour, resistent to weathering, easy to quarry (underground mining) and with large resources

Summer deficit irrigation strategies in hedgerow olive orchard cv. ‘Arbequina’: Effect on fruit characteristics and yield.

Maximum production in hedgerow olive orchards is likely not achieved with maximum evapotranspiration over the long-term. Thus, regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) should be considered as a management option. Four irrigation treatments were evaluated during the summer when olive is most drought resistant. Control (CON) was irrigated to maintain the rootzone close to field capacity. Severe water deficit was applied by irrigating 30% CON from end of fruit drop to end July (DI-J) and from end July until beginning of oil synthesis (DI-A). Less severe water deficit was applied during July and August (DI-JA) by irrigating 50% CON. Flowering, fruiting, abscission, fruit development, fresh and dry weight of fruits, and oil production were evaluated. There were not significant differences in number of buds initiated, number of fruits per inflorescence and fruit drop. Oil production was significantly different between irrigation treatments in all experimental years. CON produced more oil and fruit with higher oil% than DI-A and DI-JA. Oil production of DI-J was not significantly reduced compared to CON and oil% was greater. DI-J was the most effective RDI strategy; with 16% less applied water relative to CON average loss in oil production of 8% was not significantly different to CON. While DI-JA saved most water (27%), oil production was reduced by 15%. Greatest loss in oil production (21%) was observed in DI-A with water saving of 22%.

Epidemiological characteristics and diagnostic approach in patients admitted to the emergency room for transient loos of consciousness: Group for Syncope Study in the Emergency Room (GESINUR) study

Aims: To assess the clinical presentation and acute management of patients with transient loss of consciousness (T-LOC) in the emergency department (ED). Methods and results: A multi-centre prospective observational study was carried out in 19 Spanish hospitals over 1 month. The patients included were 14 years old and were admitted to the ED because of an episode of T-LOC. Questionnaires and corresponding electrocardiograms (ECGs) were reviewed by a Steering Committee (SC) to unify diagnostic criteria, evaluate adherence to guidelines, and diagnose correctly the ECGs. We included 1419 patients (prevalence, 1.14%).ECG was performed in 1335 patients (94%) in the ED: 498 (37.3%) ECGs were classified as abnormal. The positive diagnostic yield ranged from 0% for the chest X-ray to 12% for the orthostatic test. In the ED, 1217 (86%) patients received a final diagnosis of syncope, whereas the remaining 202 (14%) were diagnosed of non-syncopal transient lossof consciousness (NST-LOC). After final review by the SC, 1080 patients (76%) were diagnosed of syncope, whereas 339 (24%) were diagnosed of NST-LOC (P , 0.001). Syncope was diagnosed correctly in 84% of patients. Only 25% of patients with T-LOC were admitted to hospitals. Conclusion Adherence to clinical guidelines for syncope management was low; many diagnostic tests were performed with low diagnostic yield. Important differences were observed between syncope diagnoses at the ED and by SC decision.

Leader Rural Development Program in Spain: Profile and Functions of Workers in Local Action Groups.

Occupations in the labor market are linked with to a minimum basic training and other capacities. Hired workers should be able to accomplish required functions related to their specific job. Regarding the rural development labor market, local action groups? workers have defined performance areas?projects, strategy, organization and training & market?but specific functions within each of these areas are not as clearly defined. Neither both, basic training and capacities needed to perform each job profile within the local action group are defined. This communication analyses training and other capacities linked to each of the job profiles within the local action group. Functions within each of the performance areas previously defined are also analyzed regarding the job profiles.

Inluence of source and level of glycerin in the diet on growth performance, liver characteristics, and nturient digestibility in broilers from hatching to 21 days of age

The influence of source and level of inclusion of raw glycerin (GLYC) in the diet on growth performance, digestive traits, total tract apparent retention (TTAR), and apparent ileal digestibility of nutrients was studied in broilers from 1 to 21 d of age. There was a control diet based on corn and soybean meal and 8 additional diets that formed a 2 × 4 factorial with 2 sources of GLYC and 4 levels of inclusion (2.5, 5.0, 7.5, and 10%). The GLYC used were obtained from the same original batch of soy oil that was dried under different processing conditions and contained 87.5 or 81.6% glycerol, respectively. Type of processing of the GLYC did not affect any of the variables studied except DM and organic matter retention (P < 0.05) that was higher for the 87.5% glycerol diet. From d 1 to 21, feed conversion ratio (FCR) improved linearly (L, P ≤ 0.01) as the GLYC content of the diet increased, but ADG was not affected. On d 21, the relative weight (% BW) of the liver and the digestive tract increased (L, P < 0.01) as the level of GLYC in the diet increased, but lipid concentration in the liver was not affected. The TTAR of DM and organic matter increased quadratically (Q, P < 0.05) and the AMEn content of the diet increased linearly (L, P < 0.01) with increases in dietary GLYC. Also, the apparent ileal digestibility of DM (L, P < 0.05; Q, P = 0.07) and gross energy (L, P < 0.01) increased as the GLYC content of the diet increased. It is concluded that raw GLYC from the biodiesel industry can be used efficiently, up to 10% of the diet, as a source of energy for broilers from 1 to 21 d of age and that the energy content of well-processed raw GLYC depends primarily on its glycerol content.

Relationship among slurry characteristics and gaseous emissions at different types of commercial Spanish pig farms

This study aimed to analyse several factors of variation of slurry composition and to establish prediction equations for potential methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) emissions. Seventy-nine feed and slurry samples were collected at two seasons (summer and winter) from commercial pig farms sited at two Spanish regions (Centre and Mediterranean). Nursery, growing-fattening, gestating and lactating facilities were sampled. Feed and slurry composition were determined, and potential CH4 and NH3 emissions measured at laboratory. Feed nutrient contents were used as covariates in the analysis. Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) was evaluated as a predicting tool for slurry composition and potential gaseous emissions. A wide variability was found both in feed and slurry composition. Mediterranean farms had a higher pH (p<0.001) and ash (p=0.02) concentration than those located at the Centre of Spain. Also, type of farm affected ether extract content of the slurry (p=0.02), with highest values obtained for the youngest animal facilities. Results suggested a buffer effect of dietary fibre on slurry pH and a direct relationship (p<0.05) with fibre constituents of manure. Dietary protein content did not affect slurry nitrogen content but decreased (p=0.003) total and volatile solids concentration. Prediction models of potential NH3 emissions (R2=0.89) and CH4 yield (R2=0.61) were obtained from slurry composition. Predictions from NIRS showed a high accuracy for most slurry constituents (R2>0.90) and similar accuracy of prediction of potential NH3 and CH4 emissions (R2=0.84 and 0.68, respectively) to models using slurry characteristics, which can be of interest to estimate emissions from commercial farms and establish mitigation strategies or optimize biogas production.

Comparison of fermentation characteristics and bacterial diversity in the rumen of sheep and batch cultures of rumen microorganisms

The objective of the current study was to assess how closely batch cultures (BC) of rumen microorganisms can mimic the dietary differences in fermentation characteristics found in the rumen, and to analyse changes in bacterial diversity over the in vitro incubation period. Four ruminally and duodenally cannulated sheep were fed four diets having forage : concentrate ratios (FCR) of 70 : 30 or 30 : 70, with either alfalfa hay or grass hay as forage. Rumen fluid from each sheep was used to inoculate BC containing the same diet fed to the donor sheep, and the main rumen fermentation parameters were determined after 24 h of incubation. There were differences between BC and sheep in the magnitude of most measured parameters, but BC detected differences among diets due to forage type similar to those found in sheep. In contrast, BC did not reproduce the dietary differences due to FCR found in sheep for pH, degradability of neutral detergent fibre and total volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations. There were differences between systems in the magnitude of most determined parameters and BC showed higher pH values and NH3–N concentrations, but lower fibre degradability and VFA and lactate concentrations compared with sheep. There were significant relationships between in vivo and in vitro values for molar proportions of acetate, propionate and butyrate, and the acetate : propionate ratio. The automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) of 16S ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid showed that FCR had no effect on bacterial diversity either in the sheep rumen fluid used as inoculum (IN) or in BC samples. In contrast, bacterial diversity was greater with alfalfa hay diets than those with grass hay in the IN, but was unaffected by forage type in the BC. Similarity index between the bacterial communities in the inocula and those in the BC ranged from 67·2 to 74·7%, and was unaffected by diet characteristics. Bacterial diversity was lower in BC than in the inocula with 14 peaks out of a total of 181 detected in the ARISA electropherograms never appearing in BC samples, which suggests that incubation conditions in the BC may have caused a selection of some bacterial strains. However, each BC sample showed the highest similarity index with its corresponding rumen IN, which highlights the importance of using rumen fluid from donors fed a diet similar to that being incubated in BC when conducting in vitro experiments.

Influence of glycerin and lecithin inclusion in the diet on liver characteristics and lipid fraction in the serum of brownegg laying hens at 55 week of age

The effects of the inclusion of raw glycerin (GLYC) and raw lecithin, in the diet (23 to 55 wk) on liver characteristics and various serum lipid fractions were studied in brown egg-laying hens at 55 wk of age. The control diets were based on corn, soybean meal, and 4% supplemental fat and contained 2,750 kcal AMEn/kg, 16.5% CP, and 0.73% digestible Lys. The diets were arranged as a 2 × 3 factorial with 2 levels of GLYC (0 and 7%) and 3 animal fat to lecithin ratios (4:0, 2:2, and 0:4%). Each treatment was replicated 8 times and the experimental unit was a cage with 10 hens. At 55 wk of age, 2 hens per cage replicate were randomly selected, weighed individually, and slaughtered by CO2 inhalation. Liver was immediately removed and weighed and the color recorded by spectrophotometry. In addition, blood samples from one bird per replicate were collected from the wing vein and the concentration of total cholesterol, low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides were determined. The data were analyzed as a completely randomized design and the main effects of GLYC and lecithin content of the diet and the interactions were determined. No interactions between GLYC and lecithin content of the diets were detected for any of the variables studied. Liver characteristics and serum lipid traits were not affected by the inclusion of GLYC in the diet. The substitution of animal fat by lecithin, however, reduced the redness (a* 14.9 to 13.8) and yellowness (b* 8.60 to 7.20) values of the liver (P < 0.05) but did not affect the content of serum lipid fractions. It is concluded that the inclusion of GLYC and lecithin in the diet did not affect liver size or serum lipid fraction. However, the inclusion of lecithin reduced the a* and b* value of the liver

Modeling the Real-Time Use of Reserves in the Joint Energy and Reserve Hourly Scheduling of a Pumped Storage Plant

This paper studies the impact that different approaches of modeling the real-time use of the secondary regulation reserves have in the joint energy and reserve hourly scheduling of a price-taker pumped-storage hydropower plant. The unexpected imbalance costs due to the error between the forecasted real-time use of the reserves and the actual value are also studied and evaluated for the different approaches. The proposed methodology is applied to a daily-cycle and closed-loop pumped-storage hydropower plant. Preliminary results show that the deviations in the water volume at the end of the day are important when the percentage of the real-time use of reserves is unknown in advance, and also that the total income in all approaches after correcting these deviations is significantly lower than the maximum theoretical income.

Co-simulation Methodologies for Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Dynamics

In recent decades, full electric and hybrid electric vehicles have emerged as an alternative to conventional cars due to a range of factors, including environmental and economic aspects. These vehicles are the result of considerable efforts to seek ways of reducing the use of fossil fuel for vehicle propulsion. Sophisticated technologies such as hybrid and electric powertrains require careful study and optimization. Mathematical models play a key role at this point. Currently, many advanced mathematical analysis tools, as well as computer applications have been built for vehicle simulation purposes. Given the great interest of hybrid and electric powertrains, along with the increasing importance of reliable computer-based models, the author decided to integrate both aspects in the research purpose of this work. Furthermore, this is one of the first final degree projects held at the ETSII (Higher Technical School of Industrial Engineers) that covers the study of hybrid and electric propulsion systems. The present project is based on MBS3D 2.0, a specialized software for the dynamic simulation of multibody systems developed at the UPM Institute of Automobile Research (INSIA). Automobiles are a clear example of complex multibody systems, which are present in nearly every field of engineering. The work presented here benefits from the availability of MBS3D software. This program has proven to be a very efficient tool, with a highly developed underlying mathematical formulation. On this basis, the focus of this project is the extension of MBS3D features in order to be able to perform dynamic simulations of hybrid and electric vehicle models. This requires the joint simulation of the mechanical model of the vehicle, together with the model of the hybrid or electric powertrain. These sub-models belong to completely different physical domains. In fact the powertrain consists of energy storage systems, electrical machines and power electronics, connected to purely mechanical components (wheels, suspension, transmission, clutch…). The challenge today is to create a global vehicle model that is valid for computer simulation. Therefore, the main goal of this project is to apply co-simulation methodologies to a comprehensive model of an electric vehicle, where sub-models from different areas of engineering are coupled. The created electric vehicle (EV) model consists of a separately excited DC electric motor, a Li-ion battery pack, a DC/DC chopper converter and a multibody vehicle model. Co-simulation techniques allow car designers to simulate complex vehicle architectures and behaviors, which are usually difficult to implement in a real environment due to safety and/or economic reasons. In addition, multi-domain computational models help to detect the effects of different driving patterns and parameters and improve the models in a fast and effective way. Automotive designers can greatly benefit from a multidisciplinary approach of new hybrid and electric vehicles. In this case, the global electric vehicle model includes an electrical subsystem and a mechanical subsystem. The electrical subsystem consists of three basic components: electric motor, battery pack and power converter. A modular representation is used for building the dynamic model of the vehicle drivetrain. This means that every component of the drivetrain (submodule) is modeled separately and has its own general dynamic model, with clearly defined inputs and outputs. Then, all the particular submodules are assembled according to the drivetrain configuration and, in this way, the power flow across the components is completely determined. Dynamic models of electrical components are often based on equivalent circuits, where Kirchhoff’s voltage and current laws are applied to draw the algebraic and differential equations. Here, Randles circuit is used for dynamic modeling of the battery and the electric motor is modeled through the analysis of the equivalent circuit of a separately excited DC motor, where the power converter is included. The mechanical subsystem is defined by MBS3D equations. These equations consider the position, velocity and acceleration of all the bodies comprising the vehicle multibody system. MBS3D 2.0 is entirely written in MATLAB and the structure of the program has been thoroughly studied and understood by the author. MBS3D software is adapted according to the requirements of the applied co-simulation method. Some of the core functions are modified, such as integrator and graphics, and several auxiliary functions are added in order to compute the mathematical model of the electrical components. By coupling and co-simulating both subsystems, it is possible to evaluate the dynamic interaction among all the components of the drivetrain. ‘Tight-coupling’ method is used to cosimulate the sub-models. This approach integrates all subsystems simultaneously and the results of the integration are exchanged by function-call. This means that the integration is done jointly for the mechanical and the electrical subsystem, under a single integrator and then, the speed of integration is determined by the slower subsystem. Simulations are then used to show the performance of the developed EV model. However, this project focuses more on the validation of the computational and mathematical tool for electric and hybrid vehicle simulation. For this purpose, a detailed study and comparison of different integrators within the MATLAB environment is done. Consequently, the main efforts are directed towards the implementation of co-simulation techniques in MBS3D software. In this regard, it is not intended to create an extremely precise EV model in terms of real vehicle performance, although an acceptable level of accuracy is achieved. The gap between the EV model and the real system is filled, in a way, by introducing the gas and brake pedals input, which reflects the actual driver behavior. This input is included directly in the differential equations of the model, and determines the amount of current provided to the electric motor. For a separately excited DC motor, the rotor current is proportional to the traction torque delivered to the car wheels. Therefore, as it occurs in the case of real vehicle models, the propulsion torque in the mathematical model is controlled through acceleration and brake pedal commands. The designed transmission system also includes a reduction gear that adapts the torque coming for the motor drive and transfers it. The main contribution of this project is, therefore, the implementation of a new calculation path for the wheel torques, based on performance characteristics and outputs of the electric powertrain model. Originally, the wheel traction and braking torques were input to MBS3D through a vector directly computed by the user in a MATLAB script. Now, they are calculated as a function of the motor current which, in turn, depends on the current provided by the battery pack across the DC/DC chopper converter. The motor and battery currents and voltages are the solutions of the electrical ODE (Ordinary Differential Equation) system coupled to the multibody system. Simultaneously, the outputs of MBS3D model are the position, velocity and acceleration of the vehicle at all times. The motor shaft speed is computed from the output vehicle speed considering the wheel radius, the gear reduction ratio and the transmission efficiency. This motor shaft speed, somehow available from MBS3D model, is then introduced in the differential equations corresponding to the electrical subsystem. In this way, MBS3D and the electrical powertrain model are interconnected and both subsystems exchange values resulting as expected with tight-coupling approach.When programming mathematical models of complex systems, code optimization is a key step in the process. A way to improve the overall performance of the integration, making use of C/C++ as an alternative programming language, is described and implemented. Although this entails a higher computational burden, it leads to important advantages regarding cosimulation speed and stability. In order to do this, it is necessary to integrate MATLAB with another integrated development environment (IDE), where C/C++ code can be generated and executed. In this project, C/C++ files are programmed in Microsoft Visual Studio and the interface between both IDEs is created by building C/C++ MEX file functions. These programs contain functions or subroutines that can be dynamically linked and executed from MATLAB. This process achieves reductions in simulation time up to two orders of magnitude. The tests performed with different integrators, also reveal the stiff character of the differential equations corresponding to the electrical subsystem, and allow the improvement of the cosimulation process. When varying the parameters of the integration and/or the initial conditions of the problem, the solutions of the system of equations show better dynamic response and stability, depending on the integrator used. Several integrators, with variable and non-variable step-size, and for stiff and non-stiff problems are applied to the coupled ODE system. Then, the results are analyzed, compared and discussed. From all the above, the project can be divided into four main parts: 1. Creation of the equation-based electric vehicle model; 2. Programming, simulation and adjustment of the electric vehicle model; 3. Application of co-simulation methodologies to MBS3D and the electric powertrain subsystem; and 4. Code optimization and study of different integrators. Additionally, in order to deeply understand the context of the project, the first chapters include an introduction to basic vehicle dynamics, current classification of hybrid and electric vehicles and an explanation of the involved technologies such as brake energy regeneration, electric and non-electric propulsion systems for EVs and HEVs (hybrid electric vehicles) and their control strategies. Later, the problem of dynamic modeling of hybrid and electric vehicles is discussed. The integrated development environment and the simulation tool are also briefly described. The core chapters include an explanation of the major co-simulation methodologies and how they have been programmed and applied to the electric powertrain model together with the multibody system dynamic model. Finally, the last chapters summarize the main results and conclusions of the project and propose further research topics. In conclusion, co-simulation methodologies are applicable within the integrated development environments MATLAB and Visual Studio, and the simulation tool MBS3D 2.0, where equation-based models of multidisciplinary subsystems, consisting of mechanical and electrical components, are coupled and integrated in a very efficient way.