"Prediflood" is a database of historical floods that occurred in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula), between the 11th century and the 21st century. More than 2700 flood cases are catalogued, and more than 1100 flood events. This database contains information acquired under modern historiographical criteria and it is, therefore, suitable for use in multidisciplinary flood analysis techniques, such as meteorological or hydraulic reconstructions.
In order to measure the effect on the attention of teenagers of thermal discomfort due to high temperature and humidity, two experiments were conducted in two different indoor conditions of temperature and humidity in non-air-conditioned classrooms. The participants were a heterogeneous group of 117 teenagers, aged 12 to 18 years, and the experiments reproduced the actual conditions of teaching in a classroom in the Mediterranean climate. In order to measure the attention index, a standard Toulouse-Pieron psychological test was performed on the 117 teenagers in these two conditions, and the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), the physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), the Standard effective Temperature (SET*) and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) indices were calculated to estimate the grade of discomfort using the RayMan Pro model. Conditions of greater discomfort decreased the attention index in the whole group, especially in those aged 12–14, among whom the attention index dropped by around 45 % when compared to comfortable conditions. However, teenage attention at ages 17 and 18 shows little variation in discomfort in respect to thermally comfortable conditions. In addition, the attention index for boys and girls shows the same variation in discomfort conditions. However, girls have a slightly higher attention index than boys in discomfort and thermal comfort experiments.
From wind speed data recorded hourly at 2 m high during 18 years (1993-2010) in the Llobregat Delta (15 km south of Barcelona city; northeast of the Iberian Peninsula), wind speed distributions at 10 m high were computed for the whole year and for the sea breeze period (from March 1 to September 30, from 10 to 19 local time). Weibull probability density functions fitted to the distributions were used to assess the wind energy generated by two off-grid small wind turbines: the IT-PE-100 and the HP-600W. Results from FAST and AeroDyn simulation tools were compared with those obtained by applying measured wind speeds to manufacturer power curves. Using manufacturer data, the IT-PE-100 would deliver 132 kWh during the whole year (70 kWh during the sea breeze period). From the simulations, the IT-PE-100 would deliver 155 kWh during the whole year (80 kWh during the sea breeze period). It is concluded that the sea-breeze is an interesting wind energy resource for micro-generation, not only in the Mediterranean basin but in other areas of the world with similar wind regimes, and particularly in peri-urban coastal areas where large-scale wind farms cannot be implemented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version