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Noninvasive methods for assessing in-vivo skin blood perfusion parameters, such as hemoglobin oxygenation, are crucial for diagnosing and monitoring microvascular diseases. This approach is particularly beneficial for patients with compromised skin, where standard contact-based clinical devices are inappropriate. For this goal, we propose the analysis of multimodal data from an occlusion protocol applied to 18 healthy participants, which includes multispectral imaging of the whole hand and reference photoplethysmography information from the thumb. Multispectral data analysis was conducted using two different blind linear unmixing methods: principal component analysis (PCA), and extended blind endmember and abundance extraction (EBEAE). Perfusion maps for oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin changes in the hand were generated using linear multivariable regression models based on the unmixing methods. Our results showed high accuracy, with $\text {R}^{2}$-adjusted values, up to 0.90 $\pm$ 0.08. Further analysis revealed that using more than four characteristic components during spectral unmixing did not improve the fit of the model. Bhattacharyya distance results showed that the fitted models with EBEAE were more sensitive to hemoglobin changes during occlusion stages, up to four times higher than PCA. Our study concludes that multispectral imaging with EBEAE is effective in quantifying changes in oxygenated hemoglobin levels, especially when using 3 to 4 characteristic components. Our proposed method holds promise for the noninvasive diagnosis and monitoring of superficial microvascular alterations across extensive anatomical regions.

The increasing prevalence of vascular diseases encourages the development of minimally invasive approaches to assess tissue perfusion. A significant challenge facing current state-of-the-art methods is their validation against clinical data. In this study, we introduce an open-source database designed to evaluate tissue perfusion during the application of an occlusion protocol. The database comprises sequences of multi-spectral images (visible and near-infrared region) from the subjects’ predominant hand and their photoplethysmography data for validation. Our study recruited 45 healthy participants, including 21 females, with an age range between 18–24 years old (standard deviation equal to 1.73). The database was evaluated using two methods for estimating skin perfusion parameters based on multi-spectral images: a Kubelka-Munk model, and a linear regression. Meanwhile, for validation purposes, the changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin were evaluated by photoplethysmography data as baseline perfusion parameters. The Pearson correlation between plethysmography-based perfusion parameters and those extracted from multi-spectral images was evaluated in all cases as a validation metric. Our findings demonstrated a strong Pearson correlation ( $\rho >0.7$ ) between changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin and multi-spectral based perfusion parameters, suggesting that the database is useful for further research related to in-vivo perfusion assessment. The primary objective of this database is to provide open-source data from a controlled occlusion protocol to evaluate new approaches based on multi-spectral images in the visible and near-infrared regions. In addition, the validation by photoplethysmography data facilitates the development and assessment of innovative tissue perfusion estimation techniques.

Due to the increase in the amount of oil used, large volumes of hydrocarbons are released annually into the environment, constituting one of the main causes of soil pollution worldwide. The Center for Environmental Studies of Cienfuegos, Cuba; implemented an experimental project to develop an innovative technique as a resilient alternative to this environmental problem. The objective was to implement the Quality Function Deployment (QFD), to determine the design requirements of the experimental units to be used at the bench scale, for the biodegradation of different biopile treatments. The QFD offered a systematic approach to translating attributes into engineering features. The concentrations of microorganisms, nutrients, and hydrocarbons in the biopile were the characteristics that accumulated more than 50 % of the relative weights of the first level matrix. The initial concentration of hydrocarbons and the percentages of moisture and bulking agents in the mixture obtained the highest relative weights in the second level. The percentage of bulking agents was identified as an opportunity to reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of bioremediation and stimulate the circular economy. The results enabled delineating the experimental protocols for the engineering design, which ensured to build the bench-scale prototype of the experimental units for the evaluation of various treatments of biopiles ecotechnology as a resilient alternative against soils hydrocarbon pollution.

Abstract Background The vertebrate clade diverged into Chondrichthyes (sharks, rays, and chimeras) and Osteichthyes fishes (bony fishes) approximately 420 mya, with each group accumulating vast anatomical and physiological differences, including skin properties. The skin of Chondrichthyes fishes is covered in dermal denticles, whereas Osteichthyes fishes are covered in scales and are mucous rich. The divergence time among these two fish groups is hypothesized to result in predictable variation among symbionts. Here, using shotgun metagenomics, we test if patterns of diversity in the skin surface microbiome across the two fish clades match predictions made by phylosymbiosis theory. We hypothesize (1) the skin microbiome will be host and clade-specific, (2) evolutionary difference in elasmobranch and teleost will correspond with a concomitant increase in host-microbiome dissimilarity, and (3) the skin structure of the two groups will affect the taxonomic and functional composition of the microbiomes. Results We show that the taxonomic and functional composition of the microbiomes is host-specific. Teleost fish had lower average microbiome within clade similarity compared to among clade comparison, but their composition is not different among clade in a null based model. Elasmobranch’s average similarity within clade was not different than across clade and not different in a null based model of comparison. In the comparison of host distance with microbiome distance, we found that the taxonomic composition of the microbiome was related to host distance for the elasmobranchs, but not the teleost fishes. In comparison, the gene function composition was not related to the host-organism distance for elasmobranchs but was negatively correlated with host distance for teleost fishes. Conclusion Our results show the patterns of phylosymbiosis are not consistent across both fish clades, with the elasmobranchs showing phylosymbiosis, while the teleost fish are not. The discrepancy may be linked to alternative processes underpinning microbiome assemblage, including possible historical host-microbiome evolution of the elasmobranchs and convergent evolution in the teleost which filter specific microbial groups. Our comparison of the microbiomes among fishes represents an investigation into the microbial relationships of the oldest divergence of extant vertebrate hosts and reveals that microbial relationships are not consistent across evolutionary timescales. Video abstract

The Madeira River rises in the Andes, draining the southwestern Amazon basin and contributing up to 50% of the Amazon River sediment load. The Porto Velho station monitors the Upper Madeira basin and is located just downstream of the Jirau and Santo Antonio hydropower dams. At this station, decreasing trend (p < 0.10) of the surface suspended sediment concentration (SSSC) has been documented during the sediment peak season (December to February) for the 2003–2017 period. This study aims to evaluate the role of the rainfall variability on this documented decreasing trend. For this purpose, we applied correlation and trend analysis in water discharge, SSSC and rainfall time series over the main tributaries of the Upper Madeira basin. The decline of SSSC in December is attributed to the reduction of rainfall in the Madre de Dios sub-basin from the start of the rainy season in October. However, the SSSC negative trend (p < 0.10) in January and February is associated with a shift in the magnitude of rainfall during these months in the Andean region after 2008, and the dilution associated with base flow. These results reveal that the decline of SSSC in the Madeira River should not be evaluated just on the basis of the data downstream from the dams, but also of the processes upstream in the Andean part of the basin. In a context of drastic anthropogenic climate and environmental changes, understanding the combined influence of regional hydroclimate variability and human actions on erosion and sediment transport remains a critical issue for the conservation of the Amazon-Andes system.

In some applications of biomedical imaging, a linear mixture model can represent the constitutive elements (end-members) and their contributions (abundances) per pixel of the image. In this work, the extended blind end-member and abundance extraction (EBEAE) methodology is mathematically formulated to address the blind linear unmixing (BLU) problem subject to positivity constraints in optical measurements. The EBEAE algorithm is based on a constrained quadratic optimization and an alternated least-squares strategy to jointly estimate end-members and their abundances. In our proposal, a local approach is used to estimate the abundances of each end-member by maximizing their entropy, and a global technique is adopted to iteratively identify the end-members by reducing the similarity among them. All the cost functions are normalized, and four initialization approaches are suggested for the end-members matrix. Synthetic datasets are used first for the EBEAE validation at different noise types and levels, and its performance is compared to state-of-the-art algorithms in BLU. In a second stage, three experimental biomedical imaging applications are addressed with EBEAE: m-FLIM for chemometric analysis in oral cavity samples, OCT for macrophages identification in post-mortem artery samples, and hyper-spectral images for in-vivo brain tissue classification and tumor identification. In our evaluations, EBEAE was able to provide a quantitative analysis of the samples with none or minimal a priori information.

The southern Amazonia is undergoing a major biophysical transition, involving changes in land use and regional climate. This study provides new insights on the relationship between hydroclimatic variables and vegetation conditions in the upper Madeira Basin (~1 × 106 km2). Vegetative dynamics are characterised using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) while hydroclimatic variability is analysed using satellite-based precipitation, observed river discharge, satellite measurements of terrestrial water storage (TWS) and downward shortwave radiation (DSR). We show that the vegetation in this region varies from energy-limited to water-limited throughout the year. During the peak of the wet season (January-February), rainfall, discharge and TWS are negatively correlated with NDVI in February-April (r = −0.48 to −0.65; p < 0.05). In addition, DSR is positively correlated with NDVI (r = 0.47–0.54; p < 0.05), suggesting that the vegetation is mainly energy-limited during this period. Outside this period, these correlations are positive for rainfall, discharge and TWS (r = 0.55–0.88; p < 0.05), and negative for DSR (r = −0.47 to −0.54; p < 0.05), suggesting that vegetation depends mainly on water availability, particularly during the vegetation dry season (VDS; late June to late October). Accordantly, the total rainfall during the dry season explains around 80% of the VDS NDVI interannual variance. Considering the predominant land cover types, differences in the hydroclimate-NDVI relationship are observed. Evergreen forests (531,350 km2) remain energy-limited during the beginning of the dry season, but they become water-limited at the end of the VDS. In savannas and flooded savannas (162,850 km2), water dependence occurs months before the onset of the VDS. These differences are more evident during extreme drought years (2007, 2010, and 2011), where regional impacts on NDVI were stronger in savannas and flooded savannas (55% of the entire surface of savannas) than in evergreen forests (40%). A spatial analysis reveals that two specific areas do not show significant hydroclimatic-NDVI correlations during the dry season: (i) the eastern flank of the Andes, characterised by very wet conditions, therefore the vegetation is not water-limited, and (ii) recent deforested areas (~42,500 km2) that break the natural response in the hydroclimate-vegetation system. These findings are particularly relevant given the increasing rates of deforestation in this region.

The deconvolution process is a key step for quantitative evaluation of fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) samples. By this process, the fluorescence impulse responses (FluoIRs) of the sample are decoupled from the instrument response (InstR). In blind deconvolution estimation (BDE), the FluoIRs and InstR are jointly extracted from a dataset with minimal a priori information. In this work, two BDE algorithms are introduced based on linear combinations of multi-exponential functions to model each FluoIR in the sample. For both schemes, the InstR is assumed with a free-form and a sparse structure. The local perspective of the BDE methodology assumes that the characteristic parameters of the exponential functions (time constants and scaling coefficients) are estimated based on a single spatial point of the dataset. On the other hand, the same exponential functions are used in the whole dataset in the global perspective, and just the scaling coefficients are updated for each spatial point. A least squares formulation is considered for both BDE algorithms. To overcome the nonlinear interaction in the decision variables, an alternating least squares (ALS) methodology iteratively solves both estimation problems based on non-negative and constrained optimizations. The validation stage considered first synthetic datasets at different noise types and levels, and a comparison with the standard deconvolution techniques with a multi-exponential model for FLIM measurements, as well as, with two BDE methodologies in the state of the art: Laguerre basis, and exponentials library. For the experimental evaluation, fluorescent dyes and oral tissue samples were considered. Our results show that local and global perspectives are consistent with the standard deconvolution techniques, and they reached the fastest convergence responses among the BDE algorithms with the best compromise in FluoIRs and InstR estimation errors.

Study region: Upper Madeira Basin (975,500 km2) in Southern Amazonia, which is suffering a biophysical transition, involving deforestation and changes in rainfall regime. Study focus: The evolution of the runoff coefficient (Rc: runoff/rainfall) is examined as an indicator of the environmental changes (1982–2017). New hydrological insights for the region: At an annual scale, the Rc at Porto Velho station declines while neither the basin-averaged rainfall nor the runoff change. During the low-water period Rc and runoff diminish while no changes are observed in rainfall. This cannot be explained by increase of evapotranspiration since the basin-averaged actual evapotranspiration decreases. To explain the decrease of Rc, a regional analysis is undertaken. While the characteristic rainfall-runoff time-lag (CT) at Porto Velho basin is estimated to 60 days, CT is higher (65–75 days) in the south and lower (50 days) over the Amazon-Andes transition regions. It is found that 1) the southern basin (south of 14 °S) best explains low-level Porto Velho runoff, 2) in the south, rainfall diminishes and the frequency of dry days increases. Both features explain the diminution of the runoff and the Rc in Porto Velho. Moreover, the increasing dryness in the south compensates for the rainfall and frequency of wet days (>10 mm) increase north of 14 °S and explains the lack of basin-averaged rainfall trends of the upper Madeira basin. Keywords: Runoff coefficient, Rainfall trends, Atmosphere and land surface interactions

This work presents a validation of wave parameters from the new sixty years Downscaled Ocean Waves (DOW) reanalysis database. This study compares quantiles of the Gumbel distribution of Hs (significant wave height) and Tp (peak period) from simulated data with an 11 months' time series obtained from a buoy moored seaward on the Santa Catarina coast. Analysis by means of Gumbel distribution quantiles allows more weight to be given to the highest values of the time series, which are especially important in design projects. The statistical parameters used to verify the fit between the measured and the modeled data included: RMSE, BIAS, Scatter Index and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Mean direction (θm) validation was conducted qualitatively. The database showed good fit of the mean conditions, especially Hs which was well reproduced by the wave model. Underestimation of Tp, related mainly to the low spatial and temporal resolution of wind data used to generate waves, highlights this general modeling problem. Based on calculated statistical parameters, DOW data were considered comparable to the values obtained by measurements; however, such data must be cautiously used for extreme events analysis and in areas of bimodal sea conditions, where major deficiencies in the database were observed.

The Madeira River is the second largest Amazon tributary, contributing up to 50% of the Amazon River’s sediment load. The Madeira has significant hydropower potential, which has started to be used by the Madeira Hydroelectric Complex (MHC), with two large dams along the middle stretch of the river. In this study, fine suspended sediment concentration (FSC) data were assessed downstream of the MHC at the Porto Velho gauging station and at the outlet of each tributary (Beni and Mamoré Rivers, upstream from the MHC), from 2003 to 2017. When comparing the pre-MHC (2003–2008) and post-MHC (2015–2017) periods, a 36% decrease in FSC was observed in the Beni River during the peak months of sediment load (December–March). At Porto Velho, a reduction of 30% was found, which responds to the Upper Madeira Basin and hydroelectric regulation. Concerning water discharge, no significant change occurred, indicating that a lower peak FSC cannot be explained by changes in the peak discharge months. However, lower FSCs are associated with a downward break in the overall time series registered at the outlet of the major sediment supplier—the Beni River—during 2010.

The convergence of corticostriatal glutamate and dopamine from the midbrain in the striatal medium spiny neurons (MSN) triggers synaptic plasticity that underlies reinforcement learning and pathological conditions such as psychostimulant addiction. The increase in striatal dopamine produced by the acute administration of psychostimulants has been found to activate not only effectors of the AC5/cAMP/PKA signaling cascade such as GluR1, but also effectors of the NMDAR/Ca(2+)/RAS cascade such as ERK. The dopamine-triggered effects on both these cascades are mediated by D1R coupled to Golf but while the phosphorylation of GluR1 is affected by reductions in the available amount of Golf but not of D1R, the activation of ERK follows the opposite pattern. This segregation is puzzling considering that D1R-induced Golf activation monotonically increases with DA and that there is crosstalk from the AC5/cAMP/PKA cascade to the NMDAR/Ca(2+)/RAS cascade via a STEP (a tyrosine phosphatase). In this work, we developed a signaling model which accounts for this segregation based on the assumption that a common pool of D1R and Golf is distributed in two D1R/Golf signaling compartments. This model integrates a relatively large amount of experimental data for neurons in vivo and in vitro. We used it to explore the crosstalk topologies under which the sensitivities of the AC5/cAMP/PKA signaling cascade to reductions in D1R or Golf are transferred or not to the activation of ERK. We found that the sequestration of STEP by its substrate ERK together with the insensitivity of STEP activity on targets upstream of ERK (i.e. Fyn and NR2B) to PKA phosphorylation are able to explain the experimentally observed segregation. This model provides a quantitative framework for simulation based experiments to study signaling required for long term potentiation in MSNs.

Development and regeneration of the nervous system requires the precise formation of axons and dendrites. Kinases and phosphatases are pervasive regulators of cellular function and have been implicated in controlling axodendritic development and regeneration. We undertook a gain‐of‐function analysis to determine the functions of kinases and phosphatases in the regulation of neuron morphology. Over 300 kinases and 124 esterases and phosphatases were studied by high‐content analysis of rat hippocampal neurons. Proteins previously implicated in neurite growth, such as ERK1, GSK3, EphA8, FGFR, PI3K, PKC, p38, and PP1a, were confirmed to have effects in our functional assays. We also identified novel positive and negative neurite growth regulators. These include neuronal‐developmentally regulated kinases such as the activin receptor, interferon regulatory factor 6 (IRF6) and neural leucine‐rich repeat 1 (LRRN1). The protein kinase N2 (PKN2) and choline kinase α (CHKA) kinases, and the phosphatases PPEF2 and SMPD1, have little or no established functions in neuronal function, but were sufficient to promote neurite growth. In addition, pathway analysis revealed that members of signaling pathways involved in cancer progression and axis formation enhanced neurite outgrowth, whereas cytokine‐related pathways significantly inhibited neurite formation.

Studies related to the nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) of hepatitis C virus (HCV) as a bifunctional enzyme with a protease and a helicase functionality located in each of the two domains of the single peptide chain are presented. The proposed mnemonic mechanism and derived equations could be used as viable guidelines to understand inhibitor-induced stabilization of the helicase domain in a conformation that enhanced the protease activity, or an improved alignment of the catalytic triad in the protease, and could serve as a basic framework for future studies of enzymes activated by inhibitors or other ligands.

Empleando el novedoso método pirólisis de aerosol en llama (FSP) se sintetizó por primera vez un biovidrio de fosfato de calcio en el sistema P2O5-CaO-Na2O. Las muestras obtenidas se caracterizaron mediante difracción de rayos X (DRX) y espectroscopía infrarroja de reflectancia difusa (DRIFTS), sirviendo esta última para seguir la cinética de biomineralización in-vitrodurante 15 días en fluido corporal simulado (SBF). Mediante DRX se validó la naturaleza amorfa del biovidrio exhibiendo la fase whitlockita. El análisis DRIFTS reveló las bandas caracterís-ticas de los grupos fosfatos en un rango de alrededor de los 500 a 1400 cm-1. Respectivamente, la evolución de las bandas de fosfatos en las muestras sumergidas en SBF indican la formación de apatita, proceso que siguió una cinética de pseudo-primer-orden de Lagergren.

Nowadays, huge quantities of oily wastewater and oily solid wastes are associated with different industrial activities, which not only may harm the environment and human health but also a performance worsening of the installation. The goal of this study was to establish a resilient approach to cope with oily waste generation in industrial facilities. Several lessons learned from Cuban installations studied separately for ten years in the municipality of Cienfuegos were the cornerstone for the model definition. The approach included the development of a novel methodology to address integrated features of loss prevention in the operation of petroleum transport, storage, process, handling, and use. This methodology was designed and improved using the principle of convergence to integrate engineering procedures, standards, technical and management tools. The results from the methodology implementation generated a list of findings translated into industrial failures modes, that can impact both environment and human health. Then, a set of general and specific causes associated including the incidence of the natural events were deployed in different orders. The environmental monitoring around the plants offered a significant sample of points that allowed the spatial representation of how hydrocarbon pollution constitutes a complex network of permanent stress rooted in the territory of Cienfuegos. Moreover, a package of inherently safer solutions was generated as primary prevention, integrating the waste management hierarchy concept. At last, this iterative approach generated a research project to develop a bioremediation technique for the treatment of oily sludge from maintenance operations, which can be neither eliminated for the inherently safer solutions nor disposed to the environment. The lessons learned from Cuban installations enabled the conception of this resilient approach, which represents a framework to improve industrial safety performances contributing to the release reduction of oily waste. In addition, it represents a contribution to increasing the awareness of industrial vulnerabilities in the territorial resilience analysis.

Abstract Tropical forests are the largest contributors to global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere via soil respiration (Rs). As such, identifying the main controls on Rs in tropical forests is essential for accurately projecting the consequences of ongoing and future global environmental changes to the global C cycle. We measured hourly Rs in a secondary tropical moist forest in Puerto Rico over a 3‐year period to (a) quantify the magnitude of Rs and (b) identify the role of climatic, substrate, and nutrient controls on the seasonality of Rs. Across 3 years of measurements, mean Rs was 7.16 ± 0.02 μmol CO2 m‐2 s‐1 (or 2,710 g C m‐2 year‐1) and showed significant seasonal variation. Despite small month‐to‐month variation in temperature (~4°C), we found significant positive relationships between daily and monthly Rs with both air and soil temperature, highlighting the importance of temperature as a driver of Rs even in warm ecosystems, such as tropical forests. We also found a significant parabolic relationship between mean daily volumetric soil moisture and mean daily Rs, with an optimal moisture value of 0.34 m3 m‐3. Given the relatively consistent climate at this site, the large range in mean monthly Rs (~7 μmol CO2 m‐2 s‐1) was surprising and suggests that even small changes in climate can have large implications for ecosystem respiration. The strong positive relationship of Rs with temperature at monthly timescales particularly stands out, as moisture is usually considered a stronger control of Rs in tropical forests that already experience warm temperatures year‐round. Moreover, our results revealed the strong seasonality of Rs in tropical moist forests, which given its high magnitude, can represent a significant contribution to the seasonal patterns of atmospheric (CO2) globally.

Introducción: La biorremediación mediante la técnica de biopilas tiene como propósito degradar la mayor cantidad de hidrocarburo y la restauración de la calidad de los suelos tratados mediante el empleo de texturizantes, cuyo proceso es afectado por factores abióticos. Objetivo: Evaluar el comportamiento de los factores abióticos y su relación con variables climáticas y el tipo de material texturizante en el proceso de biorremediación de residuos petrolizados mediante la ecotecnología de biopilas a escala semi-piloto. Materiales y Métodos: Los factores abióticos se tomaron del monitoreo semanal durante 365 días del proceso de biorremediación de residuos petrolizados, según un diseño experimental multifactorial categórico donde de evaluaron siete tipos de tratamientos. Las variables climáticas fueron tomadas de los registros de la estación meteorológica “La Piedra” perteneciente a la provincia de Villa Clara, Cuba. Resultados y Discusión: Los cambios en el pH de los tratamientos están relacionados con la capacidad tampón del suelo y con de los texturizantes empleados y no presentan relación con las variables climáticas. Los tratamientos con mejor retención de agua fueron Thalassia testudinum y Bagazo, este último mantuvo como promedio sus valores de humedad por encima del 20% prestablecido. No se encontraron diferencias estadísticas entre las temperaturas de los tratamientos y estas tuvieron una relación directa moderadamente fuerte con la temperatura del proceso. Conclusiones: Debido a las características favorables de absorción de agua por el bagazo éste resultó el mejor tratamiento para mantener los requerimientos necesarios de humedad en las biopilas llegándose hasta valores de 35% de humedad.

La contaminación ambiental es uno de los principales problemas ambientales. El objetivo fue evaluar el manejo de las aguas residuales en el sector empresarial de Cienfuegos y proponer soluciones para mitigar la contaminación. Se aplicó el procedimiento de los ocho pasos para la solución de un problema, complementado con metodologías y herramientas para los estudios técnicos. El manejo de las aguas residuales constituye un aspecto ambiental potencialmente impactante, sobre la contaminación ambiental de las aguas y suelo. Se propuso un plan de medidas técnico-organizativas y soluciones ingenieras, teniendo en cuenta opciones de Producción Más Limpia, para minimizar en las fuentes de origen la generación de la contaminación y reducir el consumo del recurso agua. Las medidas contribuirán a mejorar el desempeño ambiental de las organizaciones.

The bioremediation of soils polluted with hydrocarbons demonstrated to be a simple and cheap technique, even if it needs a long time. The current paper shows the application of statistical analysis, based on two factors involved in the biological process at several levels. We focus on the Design of Experiments (DOE) to determine the number and kind of experimental runs, whereas the use of the categorical factors has not been widely exploited up to now. This method is especially useful to analyze factors with levels constituted by categories and define the interaction effects. Particularly, we focused on the statistical analysis of (1) experimental runs carried out at laboratory scale (test M, in microcosm), on soil polluted with diesel oil, and (2) bench scale runs (test B, in biopile), on refinery oil sludge mixed with industrial or agricultural biodegradable wastes. Finally, the main purpose was to identify the factor’s significance in both the tests and their potential interactions, by applying the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results demonstrate the robustness of the statistical method and its quality, especially when at least one of the factors cannot be defined with a numerical value.

This article presents the most important results and the sociological implications of applying fi ve meta - analysis to the leadership study in men and women developed by Alice H. Eagly et al., between 1990 and 1995, due to the existence of a big amount of contradictory information about the style of leadership between men and women. Meta-analysis is a set of statistical procedures devised to integrate results from independent studies dealing with related research issues.

La erosión hídrica de la playa Rancho Luna requiere soluciones de ingeniería sustentadas en el principio de minimizar las escorrentías de las aguas pluviales hacia la playa. El objetivo fue diseñar una zanja de infiltración como opción para mitigar dicha erosión. El diseño cumple con los requerimientos establecidos para este tipo de obra. Se corroboró que sus dimensiones permiten almacenar, infiltrar y evacuar el agua para la lluvia de diseño para el grado de protección requerido. Los resultados fueron tenidos en cuenta por las autoridades ambientales y la entidad explotadora de la playa para la toma de decisiones en el marco del proceso de ordenamiento que se realiza en la zona costera. Asimismo, en la proyección de las soluciones en correspondencia con el proceso inversionista que debe acometerse. Palabras clave: dimensionamiento, diseño, erosión hídrica, playa, zanja de infiltración.

El propósito del trabajo fue evaluar la contribución del drenaje pluvial del hotel Ancón sobre la erosión de su sector de playa y proponer un plan de medidas correctivas para su mitigación. Se diseñó un procedimiento basado en ocho pasos en la solución de un problema, complementado con metodologías y herramientas específicas. Se demostró que predomina el origen hídrico de la erosión, con manifestaciones de arroyamiento del tipo cárcavas. La erosividad de la lluvia, potenciada por deficiencias técnicas y organizativas en el sistema de drenaje pluvial, así como la influencia de la erosionabilidad del terreno y de los elementos construidos, incrementan los caudales y las velocidades de flujo. Se diseñó un plan de medidas correctivas para mitigar la erosión, basado en soluciones de ingeniería hidráulica y costera. Palabras clave: drenaje, erosión hídrica, escorrentías, ingeniería, playa.

Our Earth Planet confronts the global crisis including the environmental area and its common cause, the unconscious acting of the human being and the convergent effect to the extermination of the world and the human sort. At present environmental insufficiencies are persisted related to the environmental knowledge of the Construction technician in Oscar Alberto Ortega Lara Polytechnic Institute as well as in the development of a favourable environmental attitudes establishing a contradiction in the social practice between a model wanted in the Technical and Professional Education (TPE) - to graduate technicians of the Construction Family with good environmental behaviour. That’s why in this paper it is argued that the environmental attitudes of the TPE students constitute a social problem of the Science and the Technology, getting as a result that the application of the epistemology bases given, emits positive changes in their cognitive, affective and participative attitudes to the environmental situations.

Este artículo forma parte de un trabajo más amplio fundamentado en la aplicación de la metodología "Análisis del desarrollo relacionado con el conflicto" o CDA (por sus siglas en inglés), durante un ejercicio de diagnóstico en el departamento de Cesar, que consistió en analizar la situación del territorio para identificar las causas estructurales y las dinámicas de los conflictos, así como también las capacidades que tiene este territorio para la construcción de paz. Para dicho diagnóstico, además de sus causas y dinámicas, se tuvieron en cuenta sus impactos, sus actores y sus tendencias o escenarios posibles de evolución. Aquí se aborda la problemática de los conflictos sociales en torno a la tierra y su relación con sucesos de la misma naturaleza en el orden regional y nacional, incluido el conflicto armado.

Este es un diagnóstico que pretendió establecer relaciones concretas entre el desplazamiento forzado de la población y la posesión de la tierra en dos corregimientos del municipio de San Pablo: Santo Domingo y Cerro Azul. Para alcanzar este objetivo se tuvo como marco de referencia teórico los estudios de Daniel Pecaut y Alejandro Reyes sobre desplazamiento, conflicto armado y conflictos agrarios. A nivel metodológico se acudió a algunas técnicas rápidas y económicas (entrevistas con actores clave y observación directa) para el levantamiento de la información (Rudquivst, 1991; y Velazco y Díaz, 1999). Posteriormente, fue complementado con una recopilación de datos de archivos de prensa regional (Vanguardia Liberal y El universal) durante los años 1998-2003. Por último se consultó la información básica disponible sobre el tema de tierras en algunas entidades oficiales (Incoder y el Instituto Geográfico Agustín Codazzi) y las estadísticas sobre desplazamiento forzado existente en la Red de Solidaridad (SUR) Y Codhes. Producto de la lectura de los estudios mencionados y del análisis de la demás información (entrevistas, notas de viaje, prensa, estadísticas catastrales) se elaboró una hipótesis que sirvió como fundamento de toda la argumentación que se presenta. Esta hipótesis señala lo siguiente: en el municipio de San Pablo, durante los últimos cinco años, el conflicto armado, la economía de la coca, el auge de los cultivos agroindustriales (palma de aceite, yuca industrial, etc.) han propiciado un cambio de la concepción en la posesión y uso de la tierra en la zona rural y han presionado el desplazamiento forzado de población. Palabras Clave: Desplazamiento forzado, Tenencia de tierras, Conflicto agrario, Red de Solidaridad (SUR), Codhes, Coca, San Pablo