Incorporación de residuos mineros a materiales de construcción.

El presente Trabajo Fin de Máster recoge el estudio experimental realizado para comprobar el comportamiento de CEM II/B-L 32,5 N con la incorporación, por sustitución del árido, de dos residuos procedentes de la explotación minera de la hulla y la galena, llevada a cabo hace más de 50 años en la provincia de Ciudad Real. En primer lugar se han caracterizado los compuestos minerales que tienen los residuos de los que se ha obtenido que en ambas muestras existen SiO2 (cuarzo) en altas propociones, y que la muestra de galena tiene pequeñas concentraciones de plomo y cinc, entre otros metales. En la parte experimental se realiza la incorporación de un 5%, 10% y 20% de cada uno de los residuos por sustitución de la arena de mina utilizada, con una granulometría inferior a 2 mm de diámetro y a temperatura ambiente. Mediante la realización de las probetas con dos consistencias diferentes, una seca y otra plástica para la realización de un revoco en una rasilla cerámica y comprobar su resistencia a adhesión. Después de comprobar que para utilizar el residuo de hulla hay que desprenderse del 39% de la muestra por superar los 2mm de diámetro de grano para realizar un revoco como marca la norma NTE-rpe, se comprueba que las muestras con 5% de hulla y 10% de galena son válidas para su utilización como revoco o enlucido. Respecto a las características de resistencia a flexión y compresión de ambas muestras se aprecia la tendencia en la muestra de hulla a disminuir cuanto mayor es el porcentaje de éste residuo. En el caso del residuo de galena los resultados más óptimos obtenidos han sido con el 10% de galena en la muestra, notándose una disminución de las características considerables en el 20% de la misma.

Los elementos mixtos en la teoría de elementos de contorno

En este trabajo se expone la formulación del B.I.E.M. (en problemas de potencial)con elementos mixtos, que representan una interpolación lineal en la función de campo y constante en su derivada. El objetivo primordial de dicha formulación, es el soslayar los problemas que se presentan con los planteamientos anteriores, cuando existen puntos singulares. Los ejemplos que se incluyen, resueltos mediante un programa desarrollado en un miniordenador, confirman que el método propuesto consigue mejores resultados, sin ninguna complicación adicional sobre la formulación general, y con un ahorro significativo en cuanto al número de incógnitas y ecuaciones que se han de resolver = In this paper the mixed B.I.E.M. for bidimensional potential problems is presented. The interpolation of the field variable is done by piecewise constant one. The main idea is to swep out the solution the parasitic disturbances introduced near singular points by a finite value although an important byproduct is the possibility of conexion with domain methods, as F.E.M., in which the same kind of interpolation is worked. Results are very good, as shown by the exemples, and also interesting is the reduction in computer time comparatively to the classical B.l.E.M approach.

A Prospective Surveillance Study of Candidaemia : Epidemiology, Risk Factors, Antifungal Treatment and Outcome in Hospitalized Patients

Funding This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology 097377/Z/11/Z. Data collection was supported by a grant from Pfizer. GR was also supported by a research fellowship grant from Gilead Sciences. The collection of the isolates was funded by a Gilead Fellowship to GR.

Specific binding of proinsulin C-peptide to human cell membranes

Recent reports have demonstrated beneficial effects of proinsulin C-peptide in the diabetic state, including improvements of kidney and nerve function. To examine the background to these effects, C-peptide binding to cell membranes has been studied by using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. Measurements of ligand–membrane interactions at single-molecule detection sensitivity in 0.2-fl confocal volume elements show specific binding of fluorescently labeled C-peptide to several human cell types. Full saturation of the C-peptide binding to the cell surface is obtained at low nanomolar concentrations. Scatchard analysis of binding to renal tubular cells indicates the existence of a high-affinity binding process with Kass > 3.3 × 109 M−1. Addition of excess unlabeled C-peptide is accompanied by competitive displacement, yielding a dissociation rate constant of 4.5 × 10−4 s−1. The C-terminal pentapeptide also displaces C-peptide bound to cell membranes, indicating that the binding occurs at this segment of the ligand. Nonnative d-C-peptide and a randomly scrambled C-peptide do not compete for binding with the labeled C-peptide, nor were crossreactions observed with insulin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I, IGF-II, or proinsulin. Pretreatment of cells with pertussis toxin, known to modify receptor-coupled G proteins, abolishes the binding. It is concluded that C-peptide binds to specific G protein-coupled receptors on human cell membranes, thus providing a molecular basis for its biological effects.

Distinct short-term plasticity at two excitatory synapses in the hippocampus

A single mossy fiber input contains several release sites and is located on the proximal portion of the apical dendrite of CA3 neurons. It is, therefore, well suited to exert a strong influence on pyramidal cell excitability. Accordingly, the mossy fiber synapse has been referred to as a detonator or teacher synapse in autoassociative network models of the hippocampus. The very low firing rates of granule cells [Jung, M. W. & McNaughton, B. L. (1993) Hippocampus 3, 165–182], which give rise to the mossy fibers, raise the question of how the mossy fiber synapse temporally integrates synaptic activity. We have therefore addressed the frequency dependence of mossy fiber transmission and compared it to associational/commissural synapses in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. Paired pulse facilitation had a similar time course, but was 2-fold greater for mossy fiber synapses. Frequency facilitation, during which repetitive stimulation causes a reversible growth in synaptic transmission, was markedly different at the two synapses. At associational/commissural synapses facilitation occurred only at frequencies greater than once every 10 s and reached a magnitude of about 125% of control. At mossy fiber synapses, facilitation occurred at frequencies as low as once every 40 s and reached a magnitude of 6-fold. Frequency facilitation was dependent on a rise in intraterminal Ca2+ and activation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II, and was greatly reduced at synapses expressing mossy fiber long-term potentiation. These results indicate that the mossy fiber synapse is able to integrate granule cell spiking activity over a broad range of frequencies, and this dynamic range is substantially reduced by long-term potentiation.

Derepression of human embryonic ζ-globin promoter by a locus-control region sequence

A multiple protein–DNA complex formed at a human α-globin locus-specific regulatory element, HS-40, confers appropriate developmental expression pattern on human embryonic ζ-globin promoter activity in humans and transgenic mice. We show here that introduction of a 1-bp mutation in an NF-E2/AP1 sequence motif converts HS-40 into an erythroid-specific locus-control region. Cis-linkage with this locus-control region, in contrast to the wild-type HS-40, allows erythroid lineage-specific derepression of the silenced human ζ-globin promoter in fetal and adult transgenic mice. Furthermore, ζ-globin promoter activities in adult mice increase in proportion to the number of integrated DNA fragments even at 19 copies/genome. The mutant HS-40 in conjunction with human ζ-globin promoter thus can be used to direct position-independent and copy number-dependent expression of transgenes in adult erythroid cells. The data also supports a model in which competitive DNA binding of different members of the NF-E2/AP1 transcription factor family modulates the developmental stage specificity of an erythroid enhancer. Feasibility to reswitch on embryonic/fetal globin genes through the manipulation of nuclear factor binding at a single regulatory DNA motif is discussed.

Induced intensification: Agricultural change in Bangladesh with implications for Malthus and Boserup

Bangladesh is dominated by a small-holder agrarian economy under extreme stress. Production shortfalls, increasing economic polarization, and chronic malnutrition are persistent, but major famine has been diverted in part by significant growth in agriculture. This recent history is open to both Malthusian and Boserupian interpretations—a history we explore here through a test of the induced intensification thesis of agricultural change. This thesis, framed by variations in the behavior of small-holders, has grown from a simple demand-production relationship to a consideration of the mediating influences on that relationship. The induced intensification thesis is reviewed and tested for 265 households in 6 villages in Bangladesh from 1950–1986. A time-series analysis of an induced intensification model provides relatively high levels of explained variance in cropping intensity (frequency and land productivity) and also indicates the relative impacts of household class, environment, and cropping strategies. On average, the small-holders in question kept pace with the demands on production, although important class and village variations were evident and the proportion of landless households increased. These results, coupled with evidence that agricultural growth involved intensification thresholds, provide clues about Malthusian and Boserupian interpretations of Bangladesh, and suggest that small-holder agriculture there is likely to continue on a “muted” path of growth.

The elasticity and failure of fluid-filled cellular solids: Theory and experiment

We extend and apply theories of filled foam elasticity and failure to recently available data on foods. The predictions of elastic modulus and failure mode dependence on internal pressure and on wall integrity are borne out by photographic evidence of distortion and failure under compressive loading and under the localized stress applied by a knife blade, and by mechanical data on vegetables differing only in their turgor pressure. We calculate the dry modulus of plate-like cellular solids and the cross over between dry-like and fully fluid-filled elastic response. The bulk elastic properties of limp and aging cellular solids are calculated for model systems and compared with our mechanical data, which also show two regimes of response. The mechanics of an aged, limp beam is calculated, thus offering a practical procedure for comparing experiment and theory. This investigation also thereby offers explanations of the connection between turgor pressure and crispness and limpness of cellular materials.