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This work evaluates the effect of agricultural plastic waste (APW) in two particle sizes, microplastic and film debris, and subjected to a pre-treatment by exposure to UV-C, in the development of the vermicomposting process. Eisenia fetida health status and metabolic response and the vermicompost quality and enzymatic activity were determined. The environmental significant of this study is mainly related to how can affect plastic presence (depending on plastic type, size and/or if it is partially degraded) not only to this biological process of organic waste degradation, but also to the vermicompost characteristics, since these organic materials will be reintroduced in the environment as organic amendments and/or fertilizers in agriculture. The plastic presence induced a significant negative effect in survival and body weight of E. fetida with an average decrease of 10% and 15%, respectively, and differences on the characteristics of the vermicomposts obtained, mainly related with NPK content. Although the plastic proportion tested (1.25% f. w.) did not induce acute toxicity in worms, effects of oxidative stress were found. Thus, the exposure of E. fetida to AWP with smaller size or pre-treated with UV seemed to induce a biochemical response, but the mechanism of oxidative stress response did not seem to be dependent on the size or shape of plastic fragments or pre-treated plastic.

The whole process of lignin extraction from a lignocellulosic waste streams (almond shell) by sulfur-free methods and its depolymerization by base catalyzed or solvolysis reactions have been addressed in this work. In addition, the influence of avoiding the lignin isolation stage prior to its depolymerization reaction has been studied based on the final product yields (phenolic monomers compounds, such as catechol derivatives), energy requirements and production costs. As summary, four different scenarios were approached using experimental data values from previous works and compared by the help of a simulation software (AspenTech®). The direct lignin depolymerization from black liquors equalized the phenolic monomer yields of the precipitated lignin depolymerization for the organosolv process (0.08 wt%), and increased in the soda process (0.05 wt% against 0.03 wt%). However, the bigger volume to be treated in the depolymerization reaction and downstream stages significantly increased the production costs (chemicals consumptions, energetic duties and waste stream disposal), as well as the investment cost. Regarding the depolymerization from the precipitated lignin, despite the loss of lignin during the isolation stage, the reduction of the volume to be treated led to hugely reduce the production costs and the environmental impact. Among these last two mentioned scenarios, the organosolv process presented better indicators. Even though the lignin extraction yield was poorer for the organosolv process, the depolymerization performance was improved in such level, that the most desirable product (phenolic oil) was obtained in higher amount.

Mycoviruses are a diverse group that includes ssRNA, dsRNA, and ssDNA viruses, with or without a protein capsid, as well as with a complex envelope. Most mycoviruses are transmitted by cytoplasmic interchange and are thought to lack an extracellular phase in their infection cycle. Structural analysis has focused on dsRNA mycoviruses, which usually package their genome in a 120-subunit T=1 icosahedral capsid, with a capsid protein (CP) dimer as the asymmetric unit. The atomic structure is available for four dsRNA mycovirus from different families: Saccharomyces cerevisiae virus L-A (ScV-L-A), Penicillium chrysogenum virus (PcV), Penicillium stoloniferum virus F (PsV-F), and Rosellinia necatrix quadrivirus 1 (RnQV1). Their capsids show structural variations of the same framework, with asymmetric or symmetric CP dimers respectively for ScV-L-A and PsV-F, dimers of similar domains of a single CP for PcV, or of two different proteins for RnQV1. The CP dimer is the building block, and assembly proceeds through dimers of dimers or pentamers of dimers, in which the genome is packed as ssRNA by interaction with CP and/or viral polymerase. These capsids remain structurally undisturbed throughout the viral cycle. The T=1 capsid participates in RNA synthesis, organizing the viral polymerase (1-2 copies) and a single loosely packaged genome segment. It also acts as a molecular sieve, to allow the passage of viral transcripts and nucleotides, but to prevent triggering of host defense mechanisms. Due to the close mycovirus-host relationship, CP evolved to allocate peptide insertions with enzyme activity, as reflected in a rough outer capsid surface.

The aim of this work was to study the influence of a renewable capping agent (CA) in the production of monomeric compounds from the depolymerization of an organosolv lignin (Pinus radiata) by a base catalyzed depolymerization (BCD) process. After the delignification process of the Pinus radiata sawdust, the lignin contained in the black liquor was subjected to a first mild depolymerization process, without using any catalyst, in order to obtain two different products: a lignin which was the feed in the subsequent BCD process and a phenolic oil which was used as CA in the same BCD process. This process was carried out at 230 °C in three consecutive cycles of 20 min using different amounts of capping agent dissolved in a 4% wt. NaOH solution with a lignin:solvent ratio of 1:20. The use of a renewable capping agent derived from lignin was effective not only in terms of phenolic oil production increasing but also in maximizing the monomeric phenolic compounds concentration. The use of CA: lignin ratio of 1:1 resulted the most effective with 10.64% of oil yield and almost 44% of monomeric phenolic compounds concentration while minimizing de undesired by-products yield.

Modern omics technologies allow us to obtain global information on different types of biological networks. However, integrating these different types of analyses into a coherent framework for a comprehensive biological interpretation remains challenging. Here, we present a conceptual framework that integrates protein interaction, phosphoproteomics, and transcriptomics data. Applying this method to analyze HRAS signaling from different subcellular compartments shows that spatially defined networks contribute specific functions to HRAS signaling. Changes in HRAS protein interactions at different sites lead to different kinase activation patterns that differentially regulate gene transcription. HRASmediated signaling is the strongest from the cell membrane, but it regulates the largest number of genes from the endoplasmic reticulum. The integrated networks provide a topologically and functionally resolved view of HRAS signaling. They reveal distinct HRAS functions including the control of cell migration from the endoplasmic reticulum and TP53-dependent cell survival when signaling from the Golgi apparatus.

Agricultural residues (olive tree pruning and almond shell) were subjected to different delignification treatments (organosolv and soda) and the obtained liquors were treated in a high-pressure reactor at 300 °C for 80 min to depolymerize the dissolved lignin. In this way, the step of precipitating lignin from the liquor was avoided. The phenolic oil obtained after liquors treatment was around 20% of the organic matter contained in previous liquors in all cases. However, phenolic monomeric compounds varied in function of the liquor source. Soda black liquors produced higher quantity of catechols, phenol and cresols whereas using organosolv black liquors, more guaiacol and syringol were obtained, highlighting the higher potential enabled by base catalyst for demethoxylation, demethylation and dealkylation reactions. Furthermore, the NaOH present in soda black liquors prevented undesirable repolymerization reactions by inhibiting the char formation and noticeably dropping the molecular weight of residual lignin. However, organosolv liquors presented a significant higher yield of phenolic monomers, about three times higher than the one obtained in the soda process. Residual lignin, which was not only unconverted lignin, was proved to be different from the initial lignin, pointing out the totally conversion of the initial lignin samples.

Thin 33S samples for the study of the 33S(n,a)30Si cross-section at the n_TOF facility at CERN were made by thermal evaporation of 33S powder onto a dedicated substrate made of kapton covered with thin layers of copper, chromium and titanium. This method has provided for the first time bare sulfur samples a few centimeters in diameter. The samples have shown an excellent adherence with no mass loss after few years and no sublimation in vacuum at room temperature. The determination of the mass thickness of 33S has been performed by means of Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. The samples have been successfully tested under neutron irradiation.

These data and analyses support the research article “Production of cellulose nanoparticles from blue agave waste treated with environmentally friendly processes” Robles et al. [1]. The data and analyses presented here include fitted curves for selected carbons of the 13C CP-MAS NMR analysis; SEM images of the raw and bleached fibers, graphics with chemical composition and visual images of the fibers throughout the process.

This work evaluates several co-composting scenarios based on the use of Arundo donax biomass (AD) as bulking agent for the co-composting of sewage sludge (MS) and agri-food sludge (AS), to manage these organic wastes and to produce balanced organic fertilizers by optimizing the process. For this, six piles were prepared in commercial composting conditions, using AD in a range of 40%–80% (on a dry weight basis). Physico-chemical and chemical parameters and the thermal behaviour were evaluated during the process, as were the physical and chemical parameters of the final composts. The proportion of AD in the mixtures has a significant effect on the development of the thermophilic stage of composting, showing the piles with higher proportion of AD a quicker organic matter degradation. In addition, the evolution of the thermal indices R1 and R2 was different depending on the origin of the sludge used, indicating an increase in the relative concentration of more recalcitrant materials in the piles prepared with AS. The estimation of the global warming potential showed that the use of higher proportion of AD in the composting mixture may be a strategy to mitigate the emission of greenhouse gases during the composting process. Moreover, the end-products obtained had an additional marketable value, with a balanced nutrient content and a good degree of maturity, which indicates the viability of the composting process as a method for the stabilization of these organic wastes.

This paper addresses one of the major web end-user software engineering (WEUSE) challenges, namely, how to verify and validate software products built using a life cycle enacted by end-user programmers. Few end-user development support tools implement an engineering life cycle adapted to the needs of end users. End users do not have the programming knowledge, training or experience to perform devel- opment tasks requiring creativity. Elsewhere we published a life cycle adapted to this challenge. With the support of a wizard, end-user programmers follow this life cycle and develop rich internet applica- tions (RIA) to meet specific end-user requirements. However, end-user programmers regard verification and validation activities as being secondary or unnecessary for opportunistic programming tasks. Hence, although the solutions that they develop may satisfy specific requirements, it is impossible to guarantee the quality or the reusability of this software either for this user or for other developments by future end-user programmers. The challenge, then, is to find means of adopting a verification and validation workflow and adding verification and validation activities to the existing WEUSE life cycle. This should not involve users having to make substantial changes to the type of work that they do or to their priori- ties. In this paper, we set out a verification and validation life cycle supported by a wizard that walks the user through test case-based component, integration and acceptance testing. This wizard is well-aligned with WEUSE’s characteristic informality, ambiguity and opportunisticity. Users applying this verification and validation process manage to find bugs and errors that they would otherwise be unable to identify. They also receive instructions for error correction. This assures that their composite applications are of better quality and can be reliably reused. We also report a user study in which users develop web soft- ware with and without a wi

In this work, titanium phosphate nanoparticles were modified with different electroactive metals (cadmium, bismuth, copper, silver and mercury), by a cation-exchange reaction. The amount of metal introduced into the nanoparticles depended strongly on the counter-ion used during the exchange reaction and the type of metal. Nanoparticles with a high metallic load could be generated. The electrolytic medium played an important role in the detection of these metal-modified nanoparticles, since the use of acid makes it possible to extract a large part of the introduced metal by reversing the cation-exchange reaction. The application of these nanoparticles in electrochemical detection was evaluated, the nanoparticles modified with copper and mercury proving superior in terms of sensitivity and selectivity in multiplex detection. As a proof of concept, these nanoparticles were used as labels in a multiplex electrochemical biosensor for the simultaneous detection of two analytes.

The newly built second experimental area EAR2 of the n_TOF spallation neutron source at CERN allows to perform (n, charged particles) experiments on short-lived highly radioactive targets. This paper describes a detection apparatus and the experimental procedure for the determination of the cross-section of the 7Be(n,α)α reaction, which represents one of the focal points toward the solution of the cosmological Lithium abundance problem, and whose only measurement, at thermal energy, dates back to 1963. The apparently unsurmountable experimental difficulties stemming from the huge 7Be γ-activity, along with the lack of a suitable neutron beam facility, had so far prevented further measurements. The detection system is subject to considerable radiation damage, but is capable of disentangling the rare reaction signals from the very high background. This newly developed setup could likely be useful also to study other challenging reactions requiring the detectors to be installed directly in the neutron beam.

Test phase is one of the most critical phases in software engineering life cycle to assure the final system quality. In this context, functional system test cases verify that the system under test fulfills its functional specification. Thus, these test cases are frequently designed from the different scenarios and alternatives depicted in functional requirements. The objective of this paper is to introduce a systematic process based on the Model-Driven paradigm to automate the generation of functional test cases from functional requirements. For this aim, a set of metamodels and transformations and also a specific language domain to use them is presented. The paper finishes stating learned lessons from the trenches as well as relevant future work and conclusions that draw new research lines in the test cases generation context.

The neutron sensitivity of the C6D6 detector setup used at n-TOF facility for capture measurements has been studied by means of detailed GEANT4 simulations. A realistic software replica of the entire n-TOF experimental hall, including the neutron beam line, sample, detector supports and the walls of the experimental area has been implemented in the simulations. The simulations have been analyzed in the same manner as experimental data, in particular by applying the Pulse Height Weighting Technique. The simulations have been validated against a measurement of the neutron background performed with a natC sample, showing an excellent agreement above 1 keV. At lower energies, an additional component in the measured natC yield has been discovered, which prevents the use of natC data for neutron background estimates at neutron energies below a few hundred eV. The origin and time structure of the neutron background have been derived from the simulations. Examples of the neutron background for two different samples are demonstrating the important role of accurate simulations of the neutron background in capture cross-section measurements.

A fission reaction chamber based on Parallel Plate Avalanche Counters (PPACs) was built for measuring angular distributions of fragments emitted in neutron-induced fission of actinides at the neutron beam available at the Neutron Time-Of-Flight (n-TOF) facility at CERN. The detectors and the samples were tilted 45 with respect to the neutron beam direction to cover all the possible values of the emission angle of the fission fragments. The main features of this setup are discussed and results on the fission fragment angular distribution are provided for the 232Th(n,f) reaction around the fission threshold. The results are compared with the available data in the literature, demonstrating the good capabilities of this setup.

[Abstract] Background. HIV-1 subtype B is the predominant one in European regions several, while other subtypes and recombinants are also circulating with high prevalence. A sub-epidemic of subtype F with specific characteristics and low response to treatment has been recently identified in Galicia. In this study we investigated the characteristics of the HIV-1 subtype F sub-epidemic in A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain. Methods. 420 newly HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2009–2013 were enrolled in this study. HIV-1 subtyping was carried out using automated subtyping tools and phylogenetic analysis. Molecular epidemiology investigation of subtypes B and F was performed by means of phylogenetic analysis using fast maximum likelihood. Phylodynamic analysis was performed using Bayesian method as implemented in BEAST v1.8. Results. Subtype B found to be the predominant (61.2% and 70.4%) followed by subtype F (25.6% and 12.0%) in both areas (A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela, respectively). The latter found to mainly spread among men having sex with men (MSM). The vast majority of subtype F lineages from both areas clustered monophyletically, while subtype B sequences clustered in several tree branches. The exponential growth of subtype F sub-epidemic dated back in 2008 by means of phylodynamic analysis. Most of new infections during 2009–2013 occurred within the subtype F transmission cluster. Conclusions. Subtype F circulates at high prevalence in A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain, suggesting that the HIV-1 epidemic in this region has distinct characteristics to the rest of Spain. Subtype F has being spreading among MSM and is currently the most actively spreading network. The single cluster spread of this local sub-epidemic might provide an explanation for the distinct characteristics and the low response to antiretroviral treatment.

African swine fever virus (ASFV), a large, enveloped, icosahedral dsDNA virus, is currently the only known DNA-containing arbovirus and the only recognized member of the family Asfarviridae. Its genome encodes more than 150 open reading frames that are densely distributed, separated by short intergenic regions. ASFV gene expression follows a complex temporal programming. Four classes of mRNAs have been identified by its distinctive accumulation kinetics. Gene transcription is coordinated with DNA replication that acts as the main switch on ASFV gene expression. Immediate early and early genes are expressed before the onset of DNA replication, whereas intermediate and late genes are expressed afterwards. ASFV mRNAs have a cap 1 structure at its 5'-end and a short poly(A) tail on its 3'-end. Transcription initiation and termination occurs at very precise positions within the genome, producing transcripts of definite length throughout the expression program. ASFV devotes approximately 20% of its genome to encode the 20 genes currently considered to be involved in the transcription and modification of its mRNAs. This transcriptional machinery gives to ASFV a remarkable independence from its host and an accurate positional and temporal control of its gene expression. Here, we review the components of the ASFV transcriptional apparatus, its expression strategies and the relevant data about the transcriptional cis-acting control sequences. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Despite the fact that the test phase is described in the literature as one of the most relevant for quality assurance in software projects, this test phase is not usually developed, among others, with enough resources, time or suitable techniques. To offer solutions which supply the test phase, with appropriate tools for the automation of tests generation, or even, for their self-execution, could become a suitable way to improve this phase and reduce the cost constraints in real projects. This paper focuses on answering a concrete research question: is it possible to generate test cases from functional requirements described in an informal way? For this aim, it presents an overview of a set of relevant approaches that works in this field and offers a set of comparative analysis to determine which the state of the art is.

In this study, a new in situ hybridisation (ISH) protocol has been developed to identify African swine fever virus (ASFV) genome in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. Different digoxigenin labelled ASFV-probes were tested, including single ASFV-specific oligonucleotides, an 18.5. kb restriction fragment from the viral genome and the entire ASFV genome. The latter showed the highest sensitivity in all tissues tested, independently of the virus used for challenge E75L or Ba71L. Although a similar ASFV genome distribution was observed, the number of ISH-positive cells was higher for Ba71L compared to E75L infected tissues. As expected, the monocyte-macrophage cell lineage was the main target cell for ASFV infection. Corresponding with the last stages of infection, ISH-positive signals were also found in other cell types, including endothelial cells, hepatocytes and neutrophils. Furthermore, two unexpected findings were also noticed the detection of a specific ISH-signal in lymphocytes and a tendency to find the signal in the nucleus of infected cells. In summary, the present findings demonstrate the utility of this new ISH protocol to study ASFV pathogenesis and its potential use as a diagnostic tool. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

African swine fever virus (ASFV), a large enveloped DNA-containing virus, infects domestic and wild pigs, and multiplies in soft ticks, causing an economically relevant hemorrhagic disease. Evaluation of the nuclear import ability of ASFV p10 protein was the major purpose of the present work. Two approaches were used to determine if p10 protein is imported into the nucleus by an active process: a yeast-based nuclear import assay and the determination of the subcellular localization of p10 protein in mammalian cells by fluorescence microscopy. The results obtained clearly demonstrate that p10 protein is actively imported into the nucleus, both in yeast and mammalian cells. Experiments aiming at identifying the critical residues responsible for the nuclear import of ASFV p10 protein indicate that the amino acids comprised between the positions 71 and 77 are important, although not sufficient, for the protein active nuclear import. In ASFV-infected cells, the p10 protein strongly accumulates in the nucleus at late times post-infection, indicating that p10 protein may accomplish an important function inside the nucleus during the late phase of the viral replication cycle.

This paper aims at giving a global vision of the most popular web engineering approach. Web systems have woken up a high interest in companies and in the research community in the last years. Thus, techniques and methods are being proposed in order to offer a suitable framework to deal with the special characteristics of the web. For these reasons, some years ago a new line in the software engineering appeared. This line, then named web engineering, has grown in the last years, proving that web systems have special characteristics that require a special treatment. One of the most treated characteristic is the navigation. Navigation is a critical aspect in web systems and its suitable development in the life cycle is a basic need to guarantee the project quality. This survey shows how navigation is treated in 15 web proposals, which are the most referenced ones, and it analyses the available techniques, models and the possible gaps in the treatment.

The present study describes the characterization of an African swine fever virus gene homologous to prenyltransferases. The gene, designated B318L, is located within the EcoRI B fragment in the central region of the virus genome, and encodes a polypeptide with a predicted molecular weight of 35,904. The protein is characterized by the presence of a putative hydrophobic transmembrane domain at the amino end. The gene is expressed at the late stage of virus infection, and transcription is initiated at positions −118, −119, −120, and −122 relative to the first nucleotide of the translation start codon. Protein B318L presents a colinear arrangement of the four highly conserved regions and the two aspartate-rich motifs characteristic of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthases, farnesyl diphosphate synthases, and other prenyltransferases. Throughout these regions, the percentages of identity between protein B318L and various prenyltransferases range from 28.6 to 48.7%. The gene was cloned in vector pTrxFus without the amino-terminal hydrophobic region and expressed in Escherichia coli The recombinant protein, purified essentially to homogeneity by affinity chromatography, catalyzes the sequential condensation of isopentenyl diphosphate with different allylic diphosphates, farnesyl diphosphate being the best allylic substrate of the reaction. All-trans-polyprenyl diphosphates containing 3-13 isoprene units are synthesized, which identifies the B318L protein as a trans-prenyltransferase.

The nucleotide sequence of the 6004-bp EcoRl I fragment of African swine fever virus DNA has been determined. Translation of the sequence revealed eight closely spaced open reading frames (ORFs), three of them reading rightward and five leftward. Northern blot hybridization analysis indicated that ORFs 173R and 178R were transcribed early in infection, whereas ORFsI177L, I196L, and I329L were expressed at late times. Transcripts for ORFs I215L, I226R, and I243L were detected at low levels in early RNA and at higher levels in late RNA. The intergenic regions between genes I73R/I329L and I7811/I215L were characterized by the presence of direct repeats in tandem. Direct repetitions were also found within ORF 1196L. The protein encoded by ORF I329L contained a putative cleavable signal peptide and an internal transmembrane domain, and that encoded by ORF I177L had an amino-terminal hydrophobic region with the characteristics of a “start-stop” sequence. ORF I243L encoded a protein similar to the eukaryotic elongation factor SII. The protein encoded by ORF 1215L was homologous to the family of ubiquitin-conjugating proteins.