Naval Station Rota reptile and amphibian survey

This report summarizes the results of a herpetofauna (reptile and amphibian) survey at Naval Station Rota (NAVSTA Rota), Spain conducted during June and October 2008, March 2009 and July 2010. The main objective of this investigation was to develop an inventory of herpetofauna, including their base-wide distribution and habitat use. Data from these surveys was used to supplement information in the 2010 Cultural/Natural Resources Management User's Guide and can also be used for environmental planning, natural resource management and conservation. Prior to this survey, only cursory field work had been conducted on the station for herpetofauna with the exception of the common chameleon (Chamaleo chamaeleon). A comprehensive population count and habitat assessment for the common chameleon was conducted in September 2001.

Tax differentials and inflow of foreign direct investments : evidence from foreign operations of U.S. multinational companies

This paper concerns the measurement of the impact of tax differentials across countries on inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by using comprehensive data on the foreign operations of U.S. multinational corporations that has been collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the U.S. Department of Commerce. In particular, this research focuses on examining: (1) how responsive FDI locations are to tax differentials across countries, (2) how different the tax effect on FDI inflow is between developed and developing countries, and (3) whether investment location decisions have become more or less sensitive to tax differences between countries over time ranging from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. Estimation results suggest that high rates of corporate income taxation are associated with reduced foreign assets of U.S. multinational firms in all industries by decreasing the return to foreign asset investment. Further, foreign assets of U.S. multinationals in all industries have become more responsive to non-income tax differentials across countries than to income tax differences from 1999 to 2004. Empirical estimates also indicate that foreign investment by American firms is associated with higher tax sensitivity more in developed countries than in those that are developing.

The Effect of Sequence of Operations on Fatigue Life of LSP Treated Open-hole Aluminium Specimens

Fastener holes in aeronautical structures are typical sources of fatigue cracks due to their induced local stress concentration. A very efficient solution to this problem is to establish compressive residual stresses around the fastener holes that retard the fatigue crack nucleation and its subsequent local propagation. Previous work done on the subject of the application of LSP treatment on thin, open-hole specimens [1] has proven that the LSP effect on fatigue life of treated specimens can be detrimental, if the process is not properly optimized. In fact, it was shown that the capability of the LSP to introduce compressive residual stresses around fastener holes in thin-walled structures representative of typical aircraft constructions was not superior to the performance of conventional techniques, such as cold-working.

Contribución a las nuevas tendencias en el diseño de tuberías en construcción naval

En la situación actual, tanto las posibilidades de contratar como los resultados económicos de un astillero, dependen de su capacidad para construir un buque en el plazo mas corto posible. Dentro de los trabajos de diseño y construcción de de un buque el trabajo de tuberías ha sido el que tradicionalmente ha condicionado los plazos de construcción. En este estudio se considerara que se han tenido en cuenta los criterios necesarios para que las instalaciones del buque funcionen correctamente y se verá como los sistemas de diseño influyen en el coste y plazo del buque y, por tanto, en la productividad del astillero. Se estudian los distintos procesos de diseño, fabricación y montaje de tuberías, la evolución de estos procesos a lo largo del tiempo, los módulos de armamento que se realizan en los astilleros, los modelos de cámara de máquinas, y los sistemas de ayuda al diseño por ordenador. El autor, en su puesto de Jefe de la Oficina Tecnológica de la Factoría de Sevilla de Astilleros Españoles en los últimos 12 años, ha tomado parte activa en esta evolución, formando parte de un equipo que ha situado a este astillero entre los mas avanzarlos de Europa. Todo lo anterior sirve de base para la segunda parte de este estudio, donde se abordan las que, en opinión del autor, son las nuevas tendencias en el diseño de tuberías en la construcción naval. V Integración del CAD/CAM o CIM : CAD = computer aided design o diseño asistido por ordenador, CAM = computer aided manufacturing o fabricación asistida por ordenador, CIM = computer integrated manufacturing o fabricación integrada por ordenador. Se estudia la integración de los procesos de diseño con el resto de los procesos de gestión y de producción de un astillero, proponiéndose un modelo de cómo el autor ve esta integración. Se comenta la actual tendencia a pasar de las automatizaciones duras con maquinas especializadas para cada proceso, a las automatizaciones blandas en las que un robot puede realizar distintos procesos modificando su programación. Se estudian las nuevas posibilidades de la normal i zacio'n, de los planos parametrizados y de la tecnología de grupos aportando algunos ejemplos. Se estudia también como los procesos anteriores conducirán a una optimización del producto en sí, es decir a conseguir mejores buques. En las conclusiones destacamos como el camino que tienen los países desarrollados, como el nuestro, para mantener una industria competitiva de construcción naval va por la mecanización de los procesos constructivos siguiendo las tendencias anteriores y obteniendo buques optimizados. vi SUMMARY Under the present situation the possibilities to contract and the economical results of a Shipyard depend on its capacity to build a ship within the shortest time. i Within the works of design and construction of a ship, piping work has traditionally conditioned the construction time. In this study it shall be considered that the necessary criteria for the ship installations to operate correctly have been taken into account and it shall be noticed how the design systems influence on the cost and time of a ship and therefore on the Shipyard's productivity. Studies are made of different design processes, manufacturing and installation of piping, evolution of these processes along the time, outfitting modules made in the Shipyard, engine room models and computerized design aid systems. The author, in his post of Chief of the Technological Office of Sevilla Shipyard of Astilleros Españoles for the last 12 years, has taken an active part in this evolution, making part of a team which has placed this Shipyard among the most advanced in Europe. All of the above is used for the second part of this study, whereby an approach is made to those who, in the author's opinion, are the new trends in the piping design of shipbuilding. vii Integration of CAD/CAM or CIM: CAD = computer aided design, CAM = computer aided manufacturing, CIM = computer integrated manufacturing. i A study is made of the integration of design processes with the remaining step and production Shipyard processes, proposing a model of how the author views this integration. Comments are made on the present trend to go from hard automations with specialized machines for each process to soft automations, in which a robot can carry out different processes modifying its programmes. Studies are made of: New possibility of standardization, parametrized drawings and group technology, bringing some examples. It is also studied how the above processes shall lead to optimize the product itself, that is, to obtain better ships. In the conclusions we stand out how the way of developed countries (as ours) to maintain a competitive shipbuilding industry is by computerizing constructive processes, following the above trends and obtaining better ships.

Control of integrated unit operations

As a thermal separation method, distillation is one of the most important technologies in the chemical industry. Given its importance, it is no surprise that increasing efforts have been made in reducing its energy inefficiencies. A great deal of research is focused in the design and optimization of the Divided-Wall Column. Its applications are still reduced due to distrust of its controllability. Previous references studied the decentralized control of DWC but still few papers deal about Model Predictive Control. In this work we present a decentralized control of both a DWC column along with its equivalent MPC schema.

Risk analysis for UAV safe operations: a rationalization for an agricultural environment

The road to the automation of the agricultural processes passes through the safe operation of the autonomous vehicles. This requirement is a fact in ground mobile units, but it still has not well defined for the aerial robots (UAVs) mainly because the normative and legislation are quite diffuse or even inexistent. Therefore, to define a common and global policy is the challenge to tackle. This characterization has to be addressed from the field experience. Accordingly, this paper presents the work done in this direction, based on the analysis of the most common sources of hazards when using UAV's for agricultural tasks. The work, based on the ISO 31000 normative, has been carried out by applying a three-step structure that integrates the identification, assessment and reduction procedures. The present paper exposes how this method has been applied to analyze previous accidents and malfunctions during UAV operations in order to obtain real failure causes. It has allowed highlighting common risks and hazardous sources and proposing specific guards and safety measures for the agricultural context.

Efficient management of available technologies. Aplication to mining operations for industry supplies

Nowadays, processing Industry Sector is going through a series of changes, including right management and reduction of environmental affections. Any productive process which looks for sustainable management is incomplete if Cycle of Life of mineral resources sustainability is not taken into account. Raw materials for manufacturing are provided by mineral resources extraction processes, such as copper, aluminum, iron, gold, silver, silicon, titanium? Those elements are necessary for Mankind development and are obtained from the Earth through mineral extractive processes. Mineral extraction processes are operations which must take care about the environmental consequences. Extraction of huge volumes of rock for their transformation into raw materials for industry must be optimized to reduce ecological cost of the final product as l was possible. Reducing the ecological balance on a global scale has no sense to design an efficient manufacturing in secondary industry (transformation), if in first steps of the supply chain (extraction) impact exceeds the savings of resources in successive phases. Mining operations size suggests that it is an environmental aggressive activity, but precisely because of its great impact must be the first element to be considered. That idea implies that a new concept born: Reduce economical and environmental cost This work aims to make a reflection on the parameters that can be modified to reduce the energy cost of the process without an increasing in operational costs and always ensuring the same production capacity. That means minimize economic and environmental cost at same time. An efficient design of mining operation which has taken into account that idea does not implies an increasing of the operating cost. To get this objective is necessary to think in global operation view to make that all departments involved have common guidelines which make you think in the optimization of global energy costs. Sometimes a single operational cost must be increased to reduce global cost. This work makes a review through different design parameters of surface mining setting some key performance indicators (KPIs) which are estimated from an efficient point of view. Those KPIs can be included by HQE Policies as global indicators. The new concept developed is that a new criteria has to be applied in company policies: improve management, improving OPERATIONAL efficiency. That means, that is better to use current resources properly (machinery, equipment,?) than to replace them with new things but not used correctly. As a conclusion, through an efficient management of current technologies in each extractive operation an important reduction of the energy can be achieved looking at downstream in the process. That implies a lower energetic cost in the whole cycle of life in manufactured product.

Environmental risk assessment in open pit blasting operations: compliance with ISO 31010:2010

All activities of an organization involve risks that should be managed. The risk management process aids decision making by taking account of uncertainty and the possibility of future events or circumstances (intended or unintended) and their effects on agreed objectives. With that idea, new ISO Standard has been drawn up. ISO 31010 has been recently issued which provides a structured process that identifies how objectives may be affected, and analyses the risk in term of consequences and their probabilities before deciding on whether further treatment is required. In this lecture, that ISO Standard has been adapted to Open Pit Blasting Operations, focusing in Environmental effects which can be managed properly. Technique used is Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), which is applied in all possible scenarios, providing to Blasting Professionals the tools to identify, analyze and manage environmental effects in blasting operations. Also this lecture can help to minimize each effect, studying each case. This paper also can be useful to Project Managers and Occupational Health and Safety Departments (OH&S) because blasting operations can be evaluated and compared one to each other to determine the risks that should be managed in different case studies. The environmental effects studied are: ground vibrations, flyrock and air overpressure (airblast). Sometimes, blasting operations are carried out near populated areas where environmental effects may impose several limitations on the use of explosives. In those cases, where these factors approach certain limits, National Standards and Regulations have to be applied.