Subsidence damage assessment of a Gothic church using differential interferometry and field data

The Santas Justa and Rufina Gothic church (fourteenth century) has suffered several physical, mechanical, chemical, and biochemical types of pathologies along its history: rock alveolization, efflorescence, biological activity, and capillary ascent of groundwater. However, during the last two decades, a new phenomenon has seriously affected the church: ground subsidence caused by aquifer overexploitation. Subsidence is a process that affects the whole Vega Baja of the Segura River basin and consists of gradual sinking in the ground surface caused by soil consolidation due to a pore pressure decrease. This phenomenon has been studied by differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry techniques, which illustrate settlements up to 100 mm for the 1993–2009 period for the whole Orihuela city. Although no differential synthetic aperture radar interferometry information is available for the church due to the loss of interferometric coherence, the spatial analysis of nearby deformation combined with fieldwork has advanced the current understanding on the mechanisms that affect the Santas Justa and Rufina church. These results show the potential interest and the limitations of using this remote sensing technique as a complementary tool for the forensic analysis of building structures.

Numerical evaluation of the vibration reduction index for structural joints

The present paper addresses the analysis of structural vibration transmission in the presence of structural joints. The problem is tackled from a numerical point of view, analyzing some scenarios by using finite element models. The numerical results obtained making use of this process are then compared with those evaluated using the EN 12354 standard vibration reduction index concept. It is shown that, even for the simplest cases, the behavior of a structural joint is complex and evidences the frequency dependence. Comparison with results obtained by empirical formulas reveals that those of the standards cannot accurately reproduce the expected behavior, and thus indicate that alternative complementary calculation procedures are required. A simple methodology to estimate the difference between numerical and standard predictions is here proposed allowing the calculation of an adaptation term that makes both approaches converge. This term was found to be solution-dependent, and thus should be evaluated for each structure.

Actualizaciones sobre declaraciones nutricionales y de propiedades saludables

Existe preocupación por la influencia de los determinantes sociales relacionados con la publicidad, la comunicación y la información sobre la selección de productos alimenticios para conseguir una alimentación saludable y segura. Desde este punto de vista, la legislación española normaliza este aspecto, a través del Reglamento Europeo 1924/2006 (RE1924/2006). El objetivo es asegurar y favorecer el acceso a alimentos inocuos que beneficien la salud y, evitar que la información recibida por los consumidores sea inexacta, ambigua o engañosa. El Reglamento pretende impedir que se atribuyan propiedades nutritivas y declaraciones de propiedades saludables a los alimentos sin razón o sin que exista suficiente evidencia científica. En este sentido, un grupo de profesionales de la Universidad de Alicante en diciembre de 2012 llevó a cabo la Primera Jornada de Alimentación y Nutrición, organizada por el Gabinete ALINU de la Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud de la Universidad de Alicante, relacionada con actualizaciones sobre declaraciones nutricionales y de propiedades saludables y sus implicaciones en la salud pública. Por el interés y la importancia del tema, se presenta un resumen de las ponencias desde la postura de los diferentes agentes implicados: consumidores, Administración, industria alimentaria, dietistas-nutricionistas, la Academia y la Salud Pública.