Framing the Europeanization footprint: a follow-up of the EU renewable electricity directive and its impact in Spai

És àmpliament conegut que l'europeïtzació ha guanyat molt terreny en els estudis europeus. Des de finals de la dècada de 1990, ha gaudit d'una important expansió per tal d'avaluar l'eficàcia de les polítiques a escala europea en l'àmbit intern. En aquest procés la política energètica ha jugat un paper molt paradoxal, sent persistentment exclosos de l'agenda de recerca de la europeïtzació, encara que la seva creixent importància en l'elaboració de polítiques comunitàries. No obstant això, la realitat és que, tot i haver estat reconegut recentment com una àrea de la UE amb l'aplicació del Tractat de Lisboa, també ha estat influenciat, directament o indirectament, pels efectes de l'europeïtzació. Com a resultat d'això, la política energètica ha estat considerat com un "cas especial" de l'europeïtzació, portant fins al moment per a la construcció d'un sector caracteritzat la política energètica europea. En aquest context, el present treball pretén explicar l'europeïtzació de les polítiques energètiques nacionals en l'elaboració de l'actuació de la UE per mitjà de la seva competència ambiental. Més explícitament, aquesta investigació tracta de la naturalesa de la reglamentació comunitària en matèria d'energia renovable com un mecanisme d'europeïtzació amb especial èmfasi en el seu impacte a Espanya. Aquest treball sosté que (1) la lluita europea contra el canvi climàtic s'ha obert un camí per a la participació de la UE en matèria de política energètica, i que (2) encara que limitat aquest procés està produint alguns canvis en les polítiques energètiques nacionals. Universitat

Review of Alternative Distribution Methodologies for the Street Construction Fund of the Cities, December 26, 2003

Review of Alternative Distribution Methodologies for the Street Construction Fund of the Cities

eKnowledge Project: Developing and piloting a forum tool to support the collaborative construction of knowledge on the UOC's Virtual Campus

Final report of the eKnowledge's project, an online forum tool that offers consultants and students the chance to create spaces for asynchronous communication and collaboration.

Identification of the Best Practices for Design, Construction, and Repair of Bridge Approches, 2005

Bridge approach settlement and the formation of the bump is a common problem in Iowa that draws upon considerable resources for maintenance and creates a negative perception in the minds of transportation users. This research study was undertaken to investigate bridge approach problems and develop new concepts for design, construction, and maintenance that will reduce this costly problem. As a result of the research described in this report, the following changes are suggested for implementation on a pilot test basis: • Use porous backfill behind the abutment and/or geocomposite drainage systems to improve drainage capacity and reduce erosion around the abutment. • On a pilot basis, connect the approach slab to the bridge abutment. Change the expansion joint at the bridge to a construction joint of 2 inch. Use a more effective joint sealing system at the CF joint. Change the abutment wall rebar from #5 to #7 for non-integral abutments. • For bridges with soft foundation or embankment soils, implement practices of better compaction, preloading, ground improvement, soil removal and replacement, or soil reinforcement that reduce time-dependent post construction settlements.

Identification of the Best Practices for Design, Construction, and Repair of Bridge Approaches, January 2005

Bridge approach settlement and the formation of the bump is a common problem in Iowa that draws upon considerable resources for maintenance and creates a negative perception in the minds of transportation users. This research study was undertaken to investigate bridge approach problems and develop new concepts for design, construction, and maintenance that will reduce this costly problem. As a result of the research described in this report, the following changes are suggested for implementation on a pilot test basis: • Use porous backfill behind the abutment and/or geocomposite drainage systems to improve drainage capacity and reduce erosion around the abutment. • On a pilot basis, connect the approach slab to the bridge abutment. Change the expansion joint at the bridge to a construction joint of 2 inch. Use a more effective joint sealing system at the CF joint. Change the abutment wall rebar from #5 to #7 for non-integral abutments. • For bridges with soft foundation or embankment soils, implement practices of better compaction, preloading, ground improvement, soil removal and replacement, or soil reinforcement that reduce time-dependent post construction settlements.

La quête du consentement éclairé en médecine comme construction sociale [The application of informed consent in medicine as social construction].

The aim of this article is to propose an anthropological point of view about informed consent in medicine. This quest for legitimacy should be read as a relational and social construction. In the heart of clinical complexity we find on one side various techniques employed by the medical community to validate research and to obtain the consent of patients. On the other side patients offer plural and subjective answers due to the doctor patient hierarchical and long relationship. Between constraints and freedoms, informed consent brings to light social relation.

Study of adaptation and validation of the Practice environment scale of the nursing work index for the portuguese reality

Objective: Testing the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index. Method: A descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study, for the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the psychometric properties of the scale. The study participants were 236 nurses from two hospitals in the regions of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo. Results: The 0.92 Cronbach’s alpha was obtained for overall reliability and support of a five-dimension structure. Conclusion: The excellent quality of adjustment of analysis confirms the validity of the adapted version to hospital care settings, although there was no total coincidence of items in the five dimensions


Integrated Materials and Construction Practice for Concrete Pavement: A State-of-the-Practice Manual, 2006

At the heart of all concrete pavement projects is the concrete itself. This manual is intended as both a training tool and a reference to help concrete paving engineers, quality control personnel, specifiers, contractors, suppliers, technicians, and tradespeople bridge the gap between recent research and practice regarding optimizing the performance of concrete for pavements. Specifically, it will help readers do the following:

Le Bassin de Ribeira Seca de Santiago, Cap Vert - une gestion basée sur l´approche GIRE The Reservoir of Ribiera Seca de Santiago, Cape Vert - Management Exploitation GIRE

Dans cet article, l´auteur caractérise l´eau et l´agriculture des îles du Cap Vert et analyse les défis de l´eau après la construction du barrage de Poilao dans la Vallée de Ribeira Seca, sur l´île de Santiago, en se servant de l´approche GIRE (Gestion Intégrée des Ressources en Eau). Au niveau de la législation, il s´avère nécessaire de proposer de nouvelles lois, décrets et règlements qui soient en accord avec notre réalité, en opposition à un important lot d´instruments juridiques inapplicables, obsolètes et de compréhension difficile. La construction du barrage de Poilão a produit des impacts environnementaux, socio-économiques et sur l´irrigation. Il s´agit de trouver un modèle de gestion qui s´adapte à la réalité du Cap Vert et de l´île de Santiago, regroupant tous les partenaires pour une gestion durable de la vallée de Ribeira Seca et qui puisse servir d´exemple aux futurs barrages à construire.

Access to a simulator is not enough: the benefits of virtual reality training based on peer-group-derived benchmarks--a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Virtual reality (VR) simulators are widely used to familiarize surgical novices with laparoscopy, but VR training methods differ in efficacy. In the present trial, self-controlled basic VR training (SC-training) was tested against training based on peer-group-derived benchmarks (PGD-training). METHODS: First, novice laparoscopic residents were randomized into a SC group (n = 34), and a group using PGD-benchmarks (n = 34) for basic laparoscopic training. After completing basic training, both groups performed 60 VR laparoscopic cholecystectomies for performance analysis. Primary endpoints were simulator metrics; secondary endpoints were program adherence, trainee motivation, and training efficacy. RESULTS: Altogether, 66 residents completed basic training, and 3,837 of 3,960 (96.8 %) cholecystectomies were available for analysis. Course adherence was good, with only two dropouts, both in the SC-group. The PGD-group spent more time and repetitions in basic training until the benchmarks were reached and subsequently showed better performance in the readout cholecystectomies: Median time (gallbladder extraction) showed significant differences of 520 s (IQR 354-738 s) in SC-training versus 390 s (IQR 278-536 s) in the PGD-group (p < 0.001) and 215 s (IQR 175-276 s) in experts, respectively. Path length of the right instrument also showed significant differences, again with the PGD-training group being more efficient. CONCLUSIONS: Basic VR laparoscopic training based on PGD benchmarks with external assessment is superior to SC training, resulting in higher trainee motivation and better performance in simulated laparoscopic cholecystectomies. We recommend such a basic course based on PGD benchmarks before advancing to more elaborate VR training.

Globally aligned photomosaic of the Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 37°18.5’N): Release of georeferenced data, mosaic construction, and viewing software

We present a georeferenced photomosaic of the Lucky Strike hydrothermal vent field (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 37°18’N). The photomosaic was generated from digital photographs acquired using the ARGO II seafloor imaging system during the 1996 LUSTRE cruise, which surveyed a ~1 km2 zone and provided a coverage of ~20% of the seafloor. The photomosaic has a pixel resolution of 15 mm and encloses the areas with known active hydrothermal venting. The final mosaic is generated after an optimization that includes the automatic detection of the same benthic features across different images (feature-matching), followed by a global alignment of images based on the vehicle navigation. We also provide software to construct mosaics from large sets of images for which georeferencing information exists (location, attitude, and altitude per image), to visualize them, and to extract data. Georeferencing information can be provided by the raw navigation data (collected during the survey) or result from the optimization obtained from imatge matching. Mosaics based solely on navigation can be readily generated by any user but the optimization and global alignment of the mosaic requires a case-by-case approach for which no universally software is available. The Lucky Strike photomosaics (optimized and navigated-only) are publicly available through the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS, http://www.marine-geo.org). The mosaic-generating and viewing software is available through the Computer Vision and Robotics Group Web page at the University of Girona (http://eia.udg.es/_rafa/mosaicviewer.html)