Water distribution networks (WDNs) are vital for communities, facing threats like climate change and aging infrastructure. Optimizing WDNs for energy and water savings is challenging due to their ...complexity. In particular, pump scheduling stands out as a fundamental tool for optimizing both resources. Metaheuristics such as evolutionary algorithms (EAs) offer promising solutions, yet encounter limitations in robustness, parameterization, and applicability to real-sized networks. The encoding of decision variables significantly influences algorithm efficiency, an aspect frequently overlooked in the literature. This study addresses this gap by comparing solution representations for a multiobjective pump scheduling problem. By assessing metrics such as execution time, convergence, and diversity, it identifies effective representations. Embracing a multiobjective approach enhances comprehension and solution robustness. Through empirical validation across case studies, this research contributes insights for the more efficient optimization of WDNs, tackling critical challenges in water and energy management. The results demonstrate significant variations in the performance of different solution representations used in the literature. In conclusion, this study not only provides perspectives on effective pump scheduling strategies but also aims to guide future researchers in selecting the most suitable representation for optimization problems.
Urban development decreases infiltration, increases the runoff velocity, and reduces the concentration times. This situation increases the flood risk in urban watersheds, which represent a management ...challenge for urban communities and authorities. To increase the resilience of communities due to modifications of the hydrological cycle produced by climate change and urban development, a methodology is proposed to delineate flood-prone areas in urban basins. This methodology is implemented in an urban subbasin of Culiacan, Mexico, and is based on stream order. A high-resolution digital elevation model was used, which was validated independently through a photogrammetric flight with an unmanned aerial vehicle and ground control points obtained with GNSS (global navigation satellite systems) receivers. Morphometric parameters related to geometry, shape, relief, and drainage network aspects of the subbasin were determined and analyzed. Then, flood-prone area zonation was carried out based on stream-order classification and flow direction. Fieldwork was also carried out for the inspection of the sewage network conditions. This methodology simplifies the identification of the flood-prone areas in urban subbasins without carrying out complex hydraulic calculations.
Mexican oregano Poliomintha longiflora Gray located in the municipality of Higueras, Nuevo Leon, Mexico was collected during the autumn (September, OCO), winter (January, OCI) and summer (June, OCV) ...seasons, under cultivation conditions. It was also collected in wild conditions during the autumn (OSO). Essential oil (EO) was extracted from leaves and the color, refractive index and density were reported. The EO yield, antioxidant activity by ORAC assay, thymol and carvacrol concentration and antibacterial activity were statistically compared (p-value = 0.05). Among the various harvests, the highest EO yield, antioxidant activity, thymol and carvacrol content and antibacterial activity against Salmonella Typhi were observed in leaves harvested in autumn. In order to compare wild oregano with cultivated oregano, analyses were performed in the season with the highest essential oil yield and antioxidant activity, recorded in autumn. The main difference found was the ratio of thymol:carvacrol in wild oregano oil, which was 1:8.6, while in cultivated oregano, it was approximately 1:2, which was maintained in all three seasons. The EO on wild conditions showed the best antibacterial activity in Salmonella Typhi. On the other hand, wild and cultivated oregano showed similar antioxidant activity. One advantage of the use of cultivated oregano is that its supply is guaranteed, in contrast to that of wild oregano.
Gamification and game-based learning (GBL) has been widely implemented in educational processes, mainly in elementary education; it has been applied less frequently in university education. The ...objective was to test the effect of game-mediated teaching strategies on mathematics teaching in first-year engineering students. A quantitative study was done within the framework of a design-based research. Eighty-one (81) students participated in the research, all from the Dif-ferential Calculus course. Twelve (12) didactic units were designed. The instru-ment used was the Synthesized Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (SIMMS), adapted to record the categories of Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction (Keller's motivational model). A significant contribution of the pedagogical strategy and the different categories of motivation was verified, whereas the significance between collaboration and motivation was also evident (intervention 2). Finally, the strategy can provide preliminary evidences in reduc-ing dropout. In conclusion, game-based learning can be used to strengthen educa-tional processes in engineering.
We report a relatively rare study of a national forest inventory in a megadiverse country with the systematic collection of herbarium specimens. The taxonomic identification of 22,659 herbarium ...collections from 6942 sites of Mexico’s national forest inventory resulted in 1464 native tree species (approximately half of Mexico’s estimated total), in 470 genera and 117 plant families. We compared visual tree-species identifications in the field by hired crews, with much more rigorous identification of submitted (mostly sterile) herbarium specimens by experienced taxonomists and specialists at the National Herbarium: for 40% of the 22,659 collections, the identification of species names from the field was confirmed, for 32% it was corrected at the herbarium, and 27% had been sent without any identification. The most commonly collected plant families were Fagaceae (oak family, 21.7% of all collections), Fabaceae (legumes, 17.7%), and Pinaceae (pine family, 13.3%). The most commonly collected tree species in six major forest-vegetation types were Pinus leiophylla in “coniferous forest”, Quercus magnoliifolia in “highland broadleaf forest”, Liquidambar styraciflua in “mountainous cloud forest”, Bursera simaruba in “lowland evergreen forest”, Lysiloma divaricatum in “lowland dry forest”, and Parkinsonia microphylla in “xerophilous scrub”. We overlapped the six major forest-vegetation types with Mexico’s 15 mainland floristic provinces, as circumscribed by Rzedowski. This resulted in 75 so-called forest-vegetation provinces, of which 35 had at least 20 collection sites. The similarity of species composition among these 35 forest-vegetation provinces was only 17–34% with the Jaccard community index, and 15–42% with the Morisita-Horn community index. The number of physically undetected species was estimated statistically for the 35 forest-vegetation provinces, which indicates that there are forest-vegetation provinces, where the number of species could be up to 8.8-fold higher than those detected in the present work. Finally, we suggest a method to distribute sites optimally among the country in future forest inventories, such as to minimize the average area represented by the sites in each forest-vegetation province.
La comparación de encuestas presenta problemas metodológicos recurrentes, dentro de los que destacan particularmente: i) las dificultades asociadas a la falta de continuidad, bien por el añadido de ...nuevas preguntas o por la eliminación de otras; ii) las dificultades propias en la selección de las variables a comparar; iii) la necesidad de recodificación entre cuestionarios no coincidentes, y iv) la discrecionalidad en las unidades de medida de las variables. Así, para la investigación en métodos cuantitativos se precisan procedimientos que permitan recuperar la estructura factorial, realizar comparaciones entre variables y recodificar las unidades de medida y en la escala, todo ello en distintos periodos. Para evaluar en qué medida se mantiene la estructura factorial, en el presente artículo se proponen medidas de bondad del ajuste y contrastes propios del análisis factorial confirmatorio, a lo que se añade una aplicación novedosa del principio de parsimonia a los estadísticos RMSEA, FIT y BIC, a través de la conocida regla del codo en el gráfico de sedimentación. La propuesta metodológica se valida a través de dos publicaciones del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS) de distintos años y centradas en el fenómeno del fraude fiscal.
In the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, it is not possible to carry out an integrated sustainability analysis because the quantification of the biophysical capacity of the ecosystems to supply ...ecosystem services is not taken into account. This paper considers a methodological proposal connecting the flow demand of a process or system product from the technosphere and the feasibility of the ecosystem to supply based on the sink capacity. The ecosystem metabolism as an analytical framework and data from a case study of an LCA of combined heat and power (CHP) plant with and without post-combustion carbon capture (PCC) technology in Mexico were applied. Three scenarios, including water and energy depletion and climate change impact, are presented to show the types of results obtained when the process effect of operation is scaled to one year. The impact of the water–energy–carbon nexus over the natural infrastructure or ecological fund in LCA is analyzed. Further, the feasibility of the biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) from this result for Mexico is discussed. On the supply side, in the three different scenarios, the CHP plant requires between 323.4 and 516 ha to supply the required oil as stock flow and 46–134 ha to supply the required freshwater. On the sink side, 52–5,096,511 ha is necessary to sequester the total CO2 emissions. Overall, the CHP plant generates 1.9–28.8 MW/ha of electricity to fulfill its function. The CHP with PCC is the option with fewer ecosystem services required.
BACKGROUND: Bovine besnoitiosis, caused by the apicomplexan Besnoitia besnoiti, is a chronic and debilitating disease considered as emerging in Europe. In Spain, Portugal and France it is endemic and ...foci of infection were recorded in Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Greece and Italy. In Italy, cases of bovine besnoitiosis were registered both in imported and autochthonous cattle, and mostly in central regions; high seroprevalence was also revealed by an epidemiological survey performed in the southern part of the country. Aiming to update information on the disease in northwestern and insular areas of Italy, where data on bovine besnoitiosis were missing, a serosurvey was designed for the present study. METHODS: Three thousand one hundred and forty bovine blood samples from both dairy and beef farms (n = 126) were collected in northwestern regions (Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria) and in the island of Sardinia. Samples were analyzed by a standardized in-house ELISA and those resulted positive were re-tested by Western Blot (WB) for confirmation. On results obtained by both ELISA and WB, apparent (AP) and true prevalence (TP) were calculated at individual and herd levels. Further, a panel of sera resulted positive to ELISA was analyzed by IFAT. RESULTS: A total of 712 animals (AP = 22.7%; TP = 18.8%) and 109 farms (AP = 86.5%; TP = 88.2%) showed a positive reaction in ELISA. Only ten (AP = 0.3%; TP = 0%) specimens proceeding from five farms (AP = 3.9%; TP = 1.7%) from Lombardy were confirmed positive to the WB, corresponding to two Holstein Friesian cows and eight beef cattle. IFAT showed a low sensitivity (44.4%) scoring positive in only four samples out of 9 positive to WB. CONCLUSIONS: The survey demonstrated that bovine besnoitiosis cannot still be considered endemic in whole Italy. In fact, independent foci of infection were registered only in Lombardy region. Therefore, a sanitary strategy aimed to increase control measures and to organize monitoring plans, by adequate diagnostic tools is necessary to avoid overestimation of B. besnoiti in Italy.
The seismic regulations for the seismic performance assessment of buildings use the maximum interstory drift, theta.sub.max, as a measure to control damage. This article presents a study of the ...seismic performance based on the theta.sub.max for steel buildings using Mexico's regulations and the RISK-UE and HAZUS guidelines. The capacity spectrum method is used to evaluate the performance of buildings with 3 different heights located in 4 cities in Mexico with different seismicity, as well as for soft and rock soil types. The HAZUS criterion is conservative in its assement of damage, while the RISK-UE criterion is more in line with the expected damage. The service state, S.sub.state, and the collapse prevention state, CP.sub.state, in Mexico's regulations are suitable for damage control, and are consistent with the damage proposed by the RISK-UE guidelines. In very high seismicity zones, the CP.sub.state for seismic actions equal to or greater than the expected, prevent building collapse; however, significant damage to buildings can still occur. The theta.sub.max of the CP.sub.state must be established for different seismic intensities and not only for building types.
PDF
