Abstract

Fibre Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) composites have been proved to be a suitable strengthening material for masonry structures in the last years. Moreover, basalt fibres are increasingly used as reinforcement of composites as a more sustainable alternative to glass fibres. The goal of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of basalt FRCM to confine masonry circular columns. A total of eighteen clay brick masonry cylinders were tested in compression. The specimens were cored from two different masonry assemblies and wrapped with one or two layers of BFRCM composite. The stress-strain curves and the gains of strength and strain capacity of confined cylinders compared to the control specimens are reported together with a description of the failure modes.

Abstract

An analysis of the impact of Covid-19 on the use of Spanish university libraries during 2020 versus 2019 is carried out in this paper. The results have been published in a web tool that allows for deeper analysis of the individual libraries as well as the libraries as a whole. This study is not an evaluation of the libraries themselves but consists of measuring, describing, and quantifying the negative impact that the health crisis had on them during 2020. Visits, loans, user training, and catalog visits are variables that were strongly affected, with a significant positive increase being identified only in visits to library web pages. The use of digital resources according to Counter-compiled data increased considerably in some private university libraries, where possible staff cuts were also identified. The paper concludes by outlining reflections that can be further studied with the experiences of people related to libraries and with additional research, including data for the following years after collection and publication

Abstract

This paper analyses the news on Covid-19 and 2019-nCov in the Spanish media. This is done by using news retrieved from My news database. The analysis includes the total amount of news in Spanish media by type of media; the evolution of the publication in digital media considering various periods of time, and the volume of news in the most used Spanish digital media. The results show that digital media are the most used among other types to publish on the topic, with a significant increase since the beginning of the alarm state. In this sense, some arguments on the function and utility of this type of media during the confinement are exposed. Also, the essential role of digital media covering the population’s information needs is discussed. The digital media with the largest number publications are abc.es, 20minutos.es, and elconfidencial.com. The value of this work is that it can serve as starting point for others in order to carry out content analysis on the subject considering different channels and digital media.

Abstract

The State of Alarm period declared by the Spanish Government due to the coronavirus crisis has had an exhaustive media coverage. However, it is observed how the visual story / narrative that has been published in the newspapers goes beyond the health field, focusing mainly on aspects of a social, political or economic nature. The types of images with the greatest presence in the representation of the harshest weeks of the pandemic determine the type of coverage, causing some relevant aspects to be minimized or invisibilized, and conditions the impact and the understanding of the severity of the disease in the society, in a particularly difficult and decisive moment such as the confinement of citizens. In the same way, the published images will have a later impact as a document by becoming part of the historical memory in the future. This article focuses on the analysis of the images published during the State of Alarm in three of the most relevant and broader scope national newspapers (El país, La vanguardia and El mundo), which is complemented by semi-directed interviews with several photojournalists who have covered Covid-19 during its first stage. The cataloging of the photographs in various categories is intended to observe the type of story that has been made visible of the Covid-19 (assessing the way in which this pandemic is being shown as an epidemic or syndemic), as well as to detect some of the most present and/or recurring visual representations and identify which are the most prominent absences.