Search

According to the KNMI Klimaatsignaal’21, the average surface temperature in The Netherlands has increased by 2.3°C between 1901 and 2020. Moreover, The Netherlands is also experiencing more frequent and intense heatwaves. Urban development significantly impacts the environmental conditions of a city, influencing thermal comfort and human well-being. To deal with these problems, municipalities across the country have been tasked to find ways to measure, understand, and find solutions to the increasing temperatures, specifically in urban areas. Because of this, several contrasting urban heat maps have been produced using different metrics and methods by different agencies. Koopman et al. presented a methodology for a standardized urban heat map at a 1-m spatial resolution to unify the stress tests by selecting the Physical Equivalent Temperature (PET) as a metric for heat stress. The PET is a key indicator in bio-meteorology, quantifying the combined effects of various environmental factors on human thermal perception. Despite its utility, widespread adoption of PET-based assessments by municipalities remains limited. To address this gap, this paper presents the development of a Digital Twin framework using PET analysis, enabling a collaborative, nondestructive, and cost-effective assessment of urban interventions’ impact on thermal conditions. Leveraging geoprocessing workflows and geospatial data, our framework allows for real-time PET calculations and scenario testing, facilitating informed decision-making by urban planners. The framework was tested and applied for Enschede, Netherlands, demonstrating its efficacy in visualizing current conditions, projecting future scenarios, and evaluating intervention strategies. Feedback from urban planners highlighted the tool’s usability and potential for enhancing community engagement in urban planning processes.

Abstract Purpose To determine the factors influencing the likelihood of biochemical pregnancy loss (BPL) after transfer of a euploid embryo from preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A) cycles. Methods The study employed an observational, retrospective cohort design, encompassing 6020 embryos from 2879 PGT-A cycles conducted between February 2013 and September 2021. Trophectoderm biopsies in day 5 (D5) or day 6 (D6) blastocysts were analyzed by next generation sequencing (NGS). Only single embryo transfers (SET) were considered, totaling 1161 transfers. Of these, 49.9% resulted in positive pregnancy tests, with 18.3% experiencing BPL. To establish a predictive model for BPL, both classical statistical methods and five different supervised classification machine learning algorithms were used. A total of forty-seven factors were incorporated as predictor variables in the machine learning models. Results Throughout the optimization process for each model, various performance metrics were computed. Random Forest model emerged as the best model, boasting the highest area under the ROC curve (AUC) value of 0.913, alongside an accuracy of 0.830, positive predictive value of 0.857, and negative predictive value of 0.807. For the selected model, SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) values were determined for each of the variables to establish which had the best predictive ability. Notably, variables pertaining to embryo biopsy demonstrated the greatest predictive capacity, followed by factors associated with ovarian stimulation (COS), maternal age, and paternal age. Conclusions The Random Forest model had a higher predictive power for identifying BPL occurrences in PGT-A cycles. Specifically, variables associated with the embryo biopsy procedure (biopsy day, number of biopsied embryos, and number of biopsied cells) and ovarian stimulation (number of oocytes retrieved and duration of stimulation), exhibited the strongest predictive power.

Abstract Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by infectious prions (PrPCWD) affecting cervids. Circulating PrPCWD in blood may pose a risk for indirect transmission by way of hematophagous ectoparasites acting as mechanical vectors. Cervids can carry high tick infestations and exhibit allogrooming, a common tick defense strategy between conspecifics. Ingestion of ticks during allogrooming may expose naïve animals to CWD, if ticks harbor PrPCWD. This study investigates whether ticks can harbor transmission-relevant quantities of PrPCWD by combining experimental tick feeding trials and evaluation of ticks from free-ranging white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus). Using the real-time quaking-induced conversion (RT-QuIC) assay, we show that black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) fed PrPCWD-spiked blood using artificial membranes ingest and excrete PrPCWD. Combining results of RT-QuIC and protein misfolding cyclic amplification, we detected seeding activity from 6 of 15 (40%) pooled tick samples collected from wild CWD-infected white-tailed deer. Seeding activities in ticks were analogous to 10–1000 ng of CWD-positive retropharyngeal lymph node collected from deer upon which they were feeding. Estimates revealed a median infectious dose range of 0.3–42.4 per tick, suggesting that ticks can take up transmission-relevant amounts of PrPCWD and may pose a CWD risk to cervids.

Abstract Only up to 25% of the cases in which there is a familial aggregation of breast and/or ovarian cancer are explained by germline mutations in the well-known BRCA1 and BRCA2 high-risk genes. Recently, the BRCA1-associated ring domain (BARD1), that partners BRCA1 in DNA repair, has been confirmed as a moderate-risk breast cancer susceptibility gene. Taking advantage of next-generation sequencing techniques, and with the purpose of defining the whole spectrum of possible pathogenic variants (PVs) in this gene, here we have performed a comprehensive mutational analysis of BARD1 in a cohort of 1946 Spanish patients who fulfilled criteria to be tested for germline pathogenic mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. We identified 22 different rare germline variants, being 5 of them clearly pathogenic or likely pathogenic large deletions, which account for 0.26% of the patients tested. Our results show that the prevalence and spectrum of mutations in the BARD1 gene might vary between different regions of Spain and expose the relevance to test for copy number variations.

Abstract The factors that cause a preterm birth (PTB) are not completely understood up to date. Moreover, PTB is more common in pregnancies achieved by in-vitro fertilization (IVF) than in spontaneous pregnancies. Our aim was to compare the composition of vaginal microbiome at 12 weeks of gestation between women who conceived naturally or through IVF in order to study whether IVF PTB-risk could be related to vaginal microbiome composition. We performed an observational, prospective and multicentre study among two public hospitals and a fertility private clinic in Spain. Vaginal swabs from 64 pregnant women at 12 weeks of gestation were collected to analyse the microbiome composition by sequencing the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA. Our results showed that the vaginal microbiome signature at 12 weeks of pregnancy was different from women who conceived naturally or through IVF. The beta diversity and the genus composition were different between both cohorts. Gardnerella, Neisseria, Prevotella, and Staphylococcus genus were enriched genus in the vaginal microbiome from the IVF group, allowing us to create a balance model to predict both cohorts. Moreover, at species level the L. iners abundance was higher and L. gasseri was lower in the IVF group. As a conclusion, our findings were consistent with a proposed framework in which IVF pregnancy are related to risk for preterm birth (PTB) suggesting vaginal microbiome could be the reason to the relation between IVF pregnancy and risk for PTB.

Mapping trace gas emission plumes using in situ measurements from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is an emerging and attractive possibility to quantify emissions from localized sources. Here, we present the results of an extensive controlled-release experiment in Dübendorf, Switzerland, which was conducted to develop an optimal quantification method and to determine the related uncertainties under various environmental and sampling conditions. Atmospheric methane mole fractions were simultaneously measured using a miniaturized fast-response quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer (QCLAS) and an active AirCore system mounted on a commercial UAV. Emission fluxes were estimated using a mass-balance method by flying the UAV-based system through a vertical cross-section downwind of the point source perpendicular to the main wind direction at multiple altitudes. A refined kriging framework, called cluster-based kriging, was developed to spatially map individual methane measurement points into the whole measurement plane, while taking into account the different spatial scales between background and enhanced methane values in the plume. We found that the new kriging framework resulted in better quantification compared to ordinary kriging. The average bias of the estimated emissions was −1 %, and the average residual of individual errors was 54 %. A Direct comparison of QCLAS and AirCore measurements shows that AirCore measurements are smoothed by 20 s and had an average time lag of 7 s. AirCore measurements also stretch linearly with time at an average rate of 0.06 s for every second of QCLAS measurement. Applying these corrections to the AirCore measurements and successively calculating an emission estimate shows an enhancement of the accuracy by 3 % as compared to its uncorrected counterpart. Optimal plume sampling, including the downwind measurement distance, depends on wind and turbulence conditions, and it is furthermore limited by numerous parameters such as the maximum flight time and the measurement accuracy. Under favourable measurement conditions, emissions could be quantified with an uncertainty of 30 %. Uncertainties increase when wind speeds are below 2.3 m s−1 and directional variability is above 33∘, and when the downwind distance is above 75 m. In addition, the flux estimates were also compared to estimates from the well-established OTM-33A method involving stationary measurements. A good agreement was found, both approaches being close to the true release and uncertainties of both methods usually capturing the true release.

Resumen: Introducción: El virus SARS-CoV-2, que causa la enfermedad COVID-19, se transmite por inhalación de pequeñas gotas o aerosoles e inoculación por vía oronasal u ocular, lo cual hace del manejo de la deglución para los equipos de salud un desafío, dada su proximidad al tracto aerodigestivo y la alta probabilidad de generar aerosol durante la evaluación y tratamiento de los pacientes. Objetivo: Brindar orientación esencial a los equipos de salud multidisciplinarios de Latinoamérica para la evaluación y tratamiento de la disfagia orofaríngea y esofágica en los diferentes niveles de atención en salud. Este posicionamiento fue realizado con el propósito de mantener la continuidad de los servicios médicos en el contexto de una pandemia y minimizar los riesgos de propagación y contagio del virus. Métodos: Con base en la evidencia disponible y la experiencia clínica alcanzada hasta la fecha, 13 expertos en deglución convocados por la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Disfagia formularon una serie de sugerencias clínicas para el manejo de la disfagia, considerando las características de los sistemas de salud latinoamericanos. Resultados: El posicionamiento de la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Disfagia brinda a los equipos multidisciplinarios una serie de sugerencias clínicas para el manejo de personas con disfagia orofaríngea y esofágica y ofrece lineamientos para su evaluación y tratamiento en diferentes contextos, desde la hospitalización hasta la atención domiciliaria. Conclusiones: Este posicionamiento debe ser analizado por cada equipo o profesional de la salud, para reducir el riesgo de contagio por COVID-19 y lograr los mejores resultados terapéuticos, considerando siempre la realidad de cada país latinoamericano. Abstract: Introduction: The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease is transmitted through the inhalation of droplets or aerosols and inoculation via the oronasal or ocular routes, transforming the management of swallowing disorders into a challenge for healthcare teams, given their proximity to the aerodigestive tract and the high probability of aerosol generation during patient evaluation and treatment. Aim: To provide essential guidance for Latin American multidisciplinary teams, regarding the evaluation and treatment of oropharyngeal and esophageal dysphagia, at the different levels of healthcare. The position statement was formulated for the purpose of maintaining medical service continuity, in the context of a pandemic, and minimizing the propagation and infection risks of the virus. Methods: Thirteen experts in swallowing disorders were summoned by the Latin American Dysphagia Society to formulate a series of clinical suggestions, based on available evidence and clinical experience, for the management of dysphagia, taking the characteristics of Latin American healthcare systems into account. Results: The position statement of the Latin American Dysphagia Society provides a series of clinical suggestions directed at the multidisciplinary teams that manage patients with oropharyngeal and esophageal dysphagia. It presents guidelines for evaluation and treatment in different contexts, from hospitalization to home care. Conclusions: The present statement should be analyzed by each team or healthcare professional, to reduce the risk for COVID-19 infection and achieve the best therapeutic results, while at the same time, being mindful of the reality of each Latin American country.

Introduction: The SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease is transmitted through the inhalation of droplets or aerosols and inoculation via the oronasal or ocular routes, transforming the management of swallowing disorders into a challenge for healthcare teams, given their proximity to the aerodigestive tract and the high probability of aerosol generation during patient evaluation and treatment. Aim: To provide essential guidance for Latin American multidisciplinary teams, regarding the evaluation and treatment of oropharyngeal and esophageal dysphagia, at the different levels of healthcare. The position statement was formulated for the purpose of maintaining medical service continuity, in the context of a pandemic, and minimizing the propagation and infection risks of the virus. Methods: Thirteen experts in swallowing disorders were summoned by the Latin American Dysphagia Society to formulate a series of clinical suggestions, based on available evidence and clinical experience, for the management of dysphagia, taking the characteristics of Latin American healthcare systems into account. Results: The position statement of the Latin American Dysphagia Society provides a series of clinical suggestions directed at the multidisciplinary teams that manage patients with oropharyngeal and esophageal dysphagia. It presents guidelines for evaluation and treatment in different contexts, from hospitalization to home care. Conclusions: The present statement should be analyzed by each team or healthcare professional, to reduce the risk for COVID-19 infection and achieve the best therapeutic results, while at the same time, being mindful of the reality of each Latin American country. Resumen: Introducción: El virus SARS-CoV-2, que causa la enfermedad COVID-19, se transmite por inhalación de pequeñas gotas o aerosoles e inoculación por vía oronasal u ocular, lo cual hace del manejo de la deglución para los equipos de salud un desafío, dada su proximidad al tracto aerodigestivo y la alta probabilidad de generar aerosol durante la evaluación y tratamiento de los pacientes. Objetivo: Brindar orientación esencial a los equipos de salud multidisciplinarios de Latinoamérica para la evaluación y tratamiento de la disfagia orofaríngea y esofágica en los diferentes niveles de atención en salud. Este posicionamiento fue realizado con el propósito de mantener la continuidad de los servicios médicos en el contexto de una pandemia y minimizar los riesgos de propagación y contagio del virus. Métodos: Con base en la evidencia disponible y la experiencia clínica alcanzada hasta la fecha, 13 expertos en deglución convocados por la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Disfagia formularon una serie de sugerencias clínicas para el manejo de la disfagia, considerando las características de los sistemas de salud latinoamericanos. Resultados: El posicionamiento de la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Disfagia brinda a los equipos multidisciplinarios una serie de sugerencias clínicas para el manejo de personas con disfagia orofaríngea y esofágica y ofrece lineamientos para su evaluación y tratamiento en diferentes contextos, desde la hospitalización hasta la atención domiciliaria. Conclusiones: Este posicionamiento debe ser analizado por cada equipo o profesional de la salud, para reducir el riesgo de contagio por COVID-19 y lograr los mejores resultados terapéuticos, considerando siempre la realidad de cada país latinoamericano.

More and more satellites are populating the sky nowadays in the Low Earth orbits (LEO). Most of the targeted applications are related to broadband and narrowband communications, Earth observation, synthetic aperture radar, and internet-of-Things (IoT) connectivity. In addition to these targeted applications, there is yet-to-be-harnessed potential for LEO and positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems, or what is nowadays referred to as LEO-PNT. No commercial LEO-PNT solutions currently exist and there is no unified research on LEO-PNT concepts. Our survey aims to fill the gaps in knowledge regarding what a LEO-PNT system entails, its technical design steps and challenges, what physical layer parameters are viable solutions, what tools can be used for a LEO-PNT design (e.g., optimisation steps, hardware and software simulators, etc.), the existing models of wireless channels for satellite-to-ground and ground-to-satellite propagation, and the commercial prospects of a future LEO-PNT system. A comprehensive and multidisciplinary survey is provided by a team of authors with complementary expertise in wireless communications, signal processing, navigation and tracking, physics, machine learning, Earth observation, remote sensing, digital economy, and business models.

From the devices for harnessing the energy of ocean currents (In English, they are denoted as TEC “Tidal Energy Converters”. This term does not englobe all the devices for marine current harnessing), those denoted as first-generation devices are used to obtain energy from underwater currents at depths that do not exceed 40 or 50 m, which configures them as structures supported over the seabed. For the energy exploitation of this resource to be competitive, from a technical and economic perspective, it is necessary to overcome various technological challenges, and to reduce operating costs, focusing the effort on lowering maintenance costs too. Thanks to the implementation of a ballast control system, these generators are equipped with the possibility of automatically changing orientation and depth during emersion-immersion maneuvers, which can reduce these costs. This work presents the dynamic modeling of a device with two degrees of freedom and several multivariable control algorithms, all of them based on a non-linear decoupling matrix, together with the compensation of the loss of buoyancy term in the neighborhood of the free surface. The performance of these controllers is evaluated by simulating the emersion maneuver of a full-scale device, and these results are validated with a small-scale prototype in the Model Basin. Finally, the obtained results under simulation are compared, and experimental validation is presented.

Abstract Background ATLAS evaluated the efficacy and safety of the PARP inhibitor rucaparib in patients with previously treated locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic urothelial carcinoma (UC). Methods Patients with UC were enrolled independent of tumor homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) status and received rucaparib 600 mg BID. The primary endpoint was investigator-assessed objective response rate (RECIST v1.1) in the intent-to-treat and HRD-positive (loss of genome-wide heterozygosity ≥10%) populations. Key secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and safety. Disease control rate (DCR) was defined post-hoc as the proportion of patients with a confirmed complete or partial response (PR), or stable disease lasting ≥16 weeks. Results Of 97 enrolled patients, 20 (20.6%) were HRD-positive, 30 (30.9%) HRD-negative, and 47 (48.5%) HRD-indeterminate. Among 95 evaluable patients, there were no confirmed responses. However, reductions in the sum of target lesions were observed, including 6 (6.3%) patients with unconfirmed PR. DCR was 11.6%; median PFS was 1.8 months (95% CI, 1.6–1.9). No relationship was observed between HRD status and efficacy endpoints. Median treatment duration was 1.8 months (range, 0.1–10.1). Most frequent any-grade treatment-emergent adverse events were asthenia/fatigue (57.7%), nausea (42.3%), and anemia (36.1%). Of 64 patients with data from tumor tissue samples, 10 (15.6%) had a deleterious alteration in a DNA damage repair pathway gene, including four with a deleterious BRCA1 or BRCA2 alteration. Conclusions Rucaparib did not show significant activity in unselected patients with advanced UC regardless of HRD status. The safety profile was consistent with that observed in patients with ovarian or prostate cancer. Trial registration This trial was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03397394). Date of registration: 12 January 2018. This trial was registered in EudraCT (2017–004166-10).

Purpose: To investigate the prevalence of zoonotic mosquito-borne viruses in mosquitoes, and to determine the eco-biology of mosquito populations in the zoos of Thailand. Thus, to ascertain the risks of zoonotic mosquito-borne virus infections in animals and humans, and for future research on prevention and control of these viruses to minimize zoonotic transmission and prevent emergence or re-emergence of local and exotic mosquito-borne viral diseases. Methods & Materials: Mosquitoes were collected in three zoological parks in Thailand. Collection sites, six in CM, eight in KK and five in BK, were selected targeting zones hosting avian, non-human primates and ungulates. A cross-sectional adult mosquito collections were carried out during two night sessions (18:00 – 07:00 hour) and two daytime sessions (07:00 – 19:00 hour) by using BG (BIOGENT)-Sentinel in combination with the BG-Lure, during the night and daytime sessions, respectively; and CDC type miniature Light Trap baited with dry ice as a source of C02, during night time sessions. Two-step RT-PCR was performed on the viral nucleic extracts using flavivirus universal primer pairs targeting the NS5 region, then PCR amplicons were purified and the nucleotide sequences of the purified PCR amplicons were determined by automated DNA sequencing using Dye Terminator sequencing technology at 1st BASE. Results: A total of 767 mosquitoes 6 genera within 4 species were collected and identified from 3 sites during the early rainy season of May 2018. Over the three sites, 6 genera of Culex, Aedes, Anopheles, Armigeres, Toxorhychites and Mansonia were recorded. Viral RNA of Dengue virus serotype 2 where identified in Aedes aegypti and Ae. albopictus, and in Mansonia sp. and Armigeres sp.; recognized mosquito vectors and non-recognized vectors respectively. Conclusion: The findings of the study reveal the need of the establishment of a arbovirus surveillance and monitoring program in the zoological parks for the appropriated control of the mosquitoes thriving in the parks and consequently reduce the risk for the emergence of zoonotic mosquito-borne virus infection in animals and humans.

Air mass factors (AMFs) are used in passive trace gas remote sensing for converting slant column densities (SCDs) to vertical column densities (VCDs). AMFs are traditionally computed with 1D radiative transfer models assuming horizontally homogeneous conditions. However, when observations are made with high spatial resolution in a heterogeneous atmosphere or above a heterogeneous surface, 3D effects may not be negligible. To study the importance of 3D effects on AMFs for different types of trace gas remote sensing, we implemented 1D-layer and 3D-box AMFs into the Monte carlo code for the phYSically correct Tracing of photons In Cloudy atmospheres (MYSTIC), a solver of the libRadtran radiative transfer model (RTM). The 3D-box AMF implementation is fully consistent with 1D-layer AMFs under horizontally homogeneous conditions and agrees very well ( % relative error) with 1D-layer AMFs computed by other RTMs for a wide range of scenarios. The 3D-box AMFs make it possible to visualize the 3D spatial distribution of the sensitivity of a trace gas observation, which we demonstrate with two examples. First, we computed 3D-box AMFs for ground-based multi-axis spectrometer (MAX-DOAS) observations for different viewing geometry and aerosol scenarios. The results illustrate how the sensitivity reduces with distance from the instrument and that a non-negligible part of the signal originates from outside the line of sight. Such information is invaluable for interpreting MAX-DOAS observations in heterogeneous environments such as urban areas. Second, 3D-box AMFs were used to generate synthetic nitrogen dioxide (NO2) SCDs for an airborne imaging spectrometer observing the NO2 plume emitted from a tall stack. The plume was imaged under different solar zenith angles and solar azimuth angles. To demonstrate the limitations of classical 1D-layer AMFs, VCDs were then computed assuming horizontal homogeneity. As a result, the imaged NO2 plume was shifted in space, which led to a strong underestimation of the total VCDs in the plume maximum and an underestimation of the integrated line densities that can be used for estimating emissions from NO2 images. The two examples demonstrate the importance of 3D effects for several types of ground-based and airborne remote sensing when the atmosphere cannot be assumed to be horizontally homogeneous, which is typically the case in the vicinity of emission sources or in cities.

Methane (CH4) emissions from reservoirs are responsible for most of the atmospheric climatic forcing of these aquatic ecosystems, comparable to emissions from paddies or biomass burning. Primarily, CH4 is produced during the anaerobic mineralization of organic carbon in anoxic sediments by methanogenic archaea. However, the origin of the recurrent and ubiquitous CH4 supersaturation in oxic waters (i.e., the methane paradox) is still controversial. Here, we determined the dissolved CH4 concentration in the water column of 12 reservoirs during summer stratification and winter mixing to explore CH4 sources in oxic waters. Reservoir sizes ranged from 1.18 to 26.13 km2. We found that dissolved CH4 in the water column varied by up to 4 orders of magnitude (0.02–213.64 µmol L−1), and all oxic depths were consistently supersaturated in both periods. Phytoplanktonic sources appear to determine the concentration of CH4 in these reservoirs primarily. In anoxic waters, the depth-cumulative chlorophyll a concentration, a proxy for the phytoplanktonic biomass exported to sediments, was correlated to CH4 concentration. In oxic waters, the photosynthetic picoeukaryotes' abundance was significantly correlated to the dissolved CH4 concentration during both the stratification and the mixing. The mean depth of the reservoirs, as a surrogate of the vertical CH4 transport from sediment to the oxic waters, also contributed notably to the CH4 concentration in oxic waters. Our findings suggest that photosynthetic picoeukaryotes can play a significant role in determining CH4 concentration in oxic waters, although their role as CH4 sources to explain the methane paradox has been poorly explored.

Light-absorbing aerosols emitted during open biomass burning (BB) events such as wildfires and agricultural burns have a strong impact on the Earth's radiation budget through both direct and indirect effects. Additionally, BB aerosols and gas-phase emissions can substantially reduce air quality at local, regional, and global scales, negatively affecting human health. South America is one of largest contributors to BB emissions globally. After Amazonia, the BB emissions from wildfires and agricultural burns in the grassland plains of northern South America (NSA) are the most significant in the region. However, few studies have analyzed the potential impact of NSA BB emissions on regional air quality. Recent evidence suggests that seasonal variations in air quality in several major cities in NSA could be associated with open biomass burning emissions, but it is still uncertain to what extent those sources impact air quality in the region. In this work, we report on 3 years of continuous equivalent black carbon (eBC) and brown carbon (BrC) observations at a hilltop site located upwind of the city of Bogotá, and we demonstrate its association with fires detected by the MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in a 3000 km × 2000 km domain. Offline PM2.5 filter samples collected during three field campaigns were analyzed to quantify water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), organic and elemental carbon (OC∕EC), and biomass burning tracers such as levoglucosan, galactosan, and potassium. MODIS active fire data and HYSPLIT back trajectories were used to identify potential biomass burning plumes transported to the city. We analyzed the relationship between BrC, WSOC, water-soluble potassium, and levoglucosan to identify signals of the regional transport of BB aerosols. Our results confirm that regional biomass burning transport from wildfires occurs annually during the months of January and April. The seasonality of eBC closely followed that of PM2.5 at the city air quality stations; however, the observed seasonality of BrC is distinctly different to that of eBC and strongly associated with regional fire counts. The strong correlation between BrC and regional fire counts was observed at daily, weekly, and monthly timescales. WSOC at the measurement site was observed to increase linearly with levoglucosan during high BB periods and to remain constant at ∼2.5 µgC m−3 during the low BB seasons. Our findings show, for the first time in this region, that aged BB plumes can regularly reach densely populated areas in the Central Andes of northern South America. A source footprint analysis involving BrC observations, back trajectories, and remotely sensed fire activity shows that the eastern savannas in NSA are the main BB source region for the domain analyzed.

Plantain and chicory are interesting forage species since they present good nutritional quality and are more resistant to drought than many temperate grasses. The fatty acid (FA) profile in milk and meat is related to a growing concern for the consumption of healthy foods, that is, with a lower content of saturated FA, higher polyunsaturated FA (PUFA) and a favourable n-6 : n-3 FAs ratio. Our objective was to evaluate the FA content in ewe’s milk and lamb’s meat fed a plantain–chicory mixture (PCH) or a grass-based permanent sward (GBS) dominated by perennial ryegrass. Eighteen Austral ewes in mid-lactation were allocated to PCH and GBS treatments. Milk samples were obtained during September (spring). Thirty weaned lambs were finished on both treatments from November to December (7 weeks), slaughtered and their meat sampled. Fat from milk and meat samples was extracted and stored until analysed by gas chromatography. Milk fat from GBS was higher than from PCH (P < 0.05) in C18:0 (11 385 v. 5874 mg/100 g FA), 9c-18:1 (15 750 v. 8565 mg/100 g FA), 11 t-18:1 (4576 v. 2703 mg/100 g FA) and 9c,11 t-18:2 (1405 v. 921 mg/100 g FA) and lower in 18:2n-6 (827 v. 1529 mg/100 g FA) and 18:3n-3 (943 v. 1318 mg/100 g FA) FA. Total mono-unsaturated FA was higher in GBS than PCH (P < 0.05). Meat fat from PCH swards presented a higher (P < 0.05) content than GBS for 18:2n-6 (46.8 v. 28.2 mg/100 g FA), linolenic (24.6 v. 14.2 mg/100 g FA), polyunsaturated FA (119.7 v. 73.4 mg/100 g FA), n-6 (65.9 v. 40.8 mg/100 g FA) and n-3 (53.8 v. 32.5 mg/100 g FA), respectively. No effect of treatment (P > 0.05) was detected for 9c-18:1 (283.9 v. 205.8 mg/100 g FA), 11 t-18:1 (26.2 v. 19.3 mg/100 g FA) and 9c,11 t-18:2 (10.1 v. 7.6 mg/100 g FA), for PCH and GBS. These results suggest that grazing a PCH mixture results in a higher concentration of PUFA in ewes’ milk and in lambs’ fat, as compared to a GBS sward.

In this work we have analyzed the synthesis of microporous materials using sucrose as carbon source and porous clay heterostructures as template to promote a hierarchical organization of pores, which is a novelty in the synthesis of carbonaceous materials. The study comprises the evaluation of the synthesis conditions such as the addition of a base (KOH) or the variation of the pyrolysis temperature (600, 750 and 900 °C). The studied materials were characterized via X ray diffraction, Transmission Electron Microscopy, gas adsorption, Attenuated Total Reflectance, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy. Additionally, the performance of the synthesized adsorbents in terms of CO2 uptake at three temperatures (0, 25 and 45 °C) was assessed and compared with similar materials reported in the literature. The results suggested by and large that the use of the base and the highest pyrolysis temperature (900 °C) during the synthesis enhances the CO2 adsorption at the different evaluated temperatures. Nonetheless, it is at the lowest pyrolysis temperature i.e., 600 °C, where one can observe a more accentuated superior performance of the material synthesized with base than that obtained without the addition of KOH.

Currently, recycling or degradation treatments for tires are an enormous challenge. Despite efforts to dispose of or recycle it, rubber waste is increasing year by year worldwide. To create a rubber-recycling system, several researchers have proposed tire desulfurization. In this study, we compare two methods: one biological, using Acidobacillus ferroxidans in shake 250 ml flask experiments, and one chemical using, for the first time, microwaves and an aqueous solution. The results of these methods were analyzed through sulfate quantification, cross-linking differences, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy with energy disperse spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). We observed that the amount of sulfates generated by the chemical system was 22.40 (mg/L)/g of rubber, which was 22-times higher than the biological system, which generated 1.06 (mg/L)/g of rubber. Similarly, after cross-linking studies, a 36% higher decrease after the chemical treatment was observed. When using FTIR analysis, the disappearance of characteristic bands corresponding to functional groups containing sulfur bonds and metal oxides were observed by treating the sample with both desulfurization methods. Morphological changes on the rubber surface structure was also demonstrated by SEM-EDS analysis with the appearance of holes, cracks and changes in the porosity of the material. This work analyzed two different non-aggressive desulfurization approaches that might be used as methods for rubber recycling processes.

This study evaluates the extinction coefficient of light (Kd) and the Secchi disk depth (SD) in 12 reservoirs located in the southern Iberian Peninsula. These systems show differences in landscape, physical, chemical and trophic properties. The relationships found were analyzed to evaluate the utility of the SD as predictor of the photic zone (Zeu) measured with Kd.The, a new equation is proposed here as a better estimation for the photic zone in these reservoirs: Zeu (m)≈ 2·SD (m)+6. The influence of the chlorophyll-a, turbidity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration on the water transparency is studied. Both DOC concentration and turbidity affect water transparency. Finally, the capacity of SD as a Kd predictor is also assessed.

COVID-19 is a pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2. In Chile, half a million people have been infected and more than 16,000 have died from COVID-19. As part of the clinical trial NCT04384588, we quantified IgG against S1-RBD of SARS-CoV-2 (anti-RBD) in recovered people in Santiago and evaluated their suitability as COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors. ELISA and a luminescent SARS-CoV-2 pseudotype were used for IgG and neutralizing antibody quantification. 72.9% of the convalescent population (468 of 639) showed seroconversion (5-55 μg/mL anti-RBD IgG) and were suitable candidates for plasma donation. Analysis by gender, age, and days after symptom offset did not show significant differences. Neutralizing activity correlated with an increased concentration of anti-RBD IgG (p

The development of multilayered materials with engineered magnetic properties compels a deep knowledge of physical properties at the atomic scale. The magnetic anisotropy is a key property in these materials. This work accounts for the magnetic anisotropy energy and its correlation with atomic properties of Co/Pd multilayers with the number of Co/Pd repetitions. Magnetometry measurements confirm stronger perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energies as the number of repetitions increases up to 40. However, the intrinsic anisotropy, related to the Co–Pd orbital hybridization and spin–orbit coupling, saturates at 15 repetitions. This finding is supported by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism analysis that reveals a direct correlation of the atomic Co and Pd orbital magnetic moments and the effective anisotropy of the system. The proximity effect that accounts for the Pd induced magnetization, along with the increasing Co moment, provides a suitable mechanism for the observed anisotropy energy layer dependence.

Abstract In this paper we study the effective lepton flavor violating vertex of an electroweak Z gauge boson and two charged leptons with different flavor, $$l_k$$ lk and $$l_m$$ lm , that is generated to one-loop in low scale seesaw models with right handed neutrinos whose masses are heavier than the electroweak scale. We first compute the form factor describing this vertex by using the mass insertion approximation, where the flavor non-diagonal entries of the neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix are the unique origin, to one-loop level, of lepton flavor changing processes with charged leptons in the external legs. Then, by considering the proper large right handed neutrino mass expansion of the form factor, we derive a formula for the $$Z l_k l_m$$ Zlklm effective vertex which is very simple and useful for fast phenomenological estimates. In the last part of this work we focus on the phenomenological applications of this vertex for simple and accurate estimates of the $$Z \rightarrow l_k {\bar{l}}_m$$ Z→lkl¯m decay rates. Concretely, this vertex will allow us to conclude easily on the maximum allowed decay rates by present data in the inverse seesaw model. The found rates are promising, at the reach of future lepton colliders.

Abstract Background Local relapse and peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) for pT4 colon cancer is estimated in 15,6% and 36,7% for 12 months and 36 months from surgical resection respectively, achieving a 5 years overall survival of 6%. There are promising results using prophylactic HIPEC in this group of patients, and it is estimated that up to 26% of all T4 colon cancer could benefit from this treatment with a minimal morbidity. Adjuvant HIPEC is effective to avoid the possibility of peritoneal seeding after surgical resection. Taking into account these results and the cumulative experience in HIPEC use, we will lead a randomized controlled trial to determine the effectiveness and safety of adjuvant treatment with HIPEC vs. standard treatment in patients with colon cancer at high risk of peritoneal recurrence (pT4). Methods/Design The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness and safety of adjuvant HIPEC in preventing the development of PC in patients with colon cancer with a high risk of peritoneal recurrence (cT4). This study will be carried out in 15 Spanish HIPEC centres. Eligible for inclusion are patients who underwent curative resection for cT4NxM0 stage colon cancer. After resection of the primary tumour, 200 patients will be randomized to adjuvant HIPEC followed by routine adjuvant systemic chemotherapy in the experimental arm, or to systemic chemotherapy only in the control arm. Adjuvant HIPEC will be performed simultaneously after the primary resection. Mitomycin C will be used as chemotherapeutic agent, for 60 min at 42–43 °C. Primary endpoint is loco-regional control (LC) in months and the rate of loco-regional control (%LC) at 12 months and 36 months after resection. Discussion We assumed that adjuvant HIPEC will reduce the expected absolute risk of peritoneal recurrence from 36% to 18% at 36 months for T4 colon-rectal carcinoma. Trial registration NCT02614534 (clinicaltrial.gov) Nov-2015.

The magnetic properties of a Permalloy antidot array in square lattice geometry, with circular-rhomboidal hole shape and fabricated by interference laser lithography and ion-beam sputtering have been reported. Magneto-optical Kerr effect magnetometry indicated that the sample exhibits four-fold anisotropic behaviour, i.e. different magnetization loops were observed when the external magnetic field was applied along either x- or y-axis, or along the array diagonal. Broadband ferromagnetic resonance measurements revealed a rich variety of different magnetization configurations in the unsaturated state that can be controlled by the orientation of the external magnetic field. Micromagnetic simulations have been performed to explain the observed results. On the contrary, in the saturated regime the system demonstrated almost isotropic magnetic behaviour that improves with external field increase. The obtained results show the potential of interference lithography for the fabrication of large area antidot arrays.

Previous studies have provided some insight into the Saharan dust deposition at a few specific locations from observations over long time periods or intensive field campaigns. However, no assessment of the dust deposition temporal variability in connection with its regional spatial distribution has been achieved so far from network observations over more than 1 year. To investigate dust deposition dynamics at the regional scale, five automatic deposition collectors named CARAGA (Collecteur Automatique de Retombées Atmosphériques insolubles à Grande Autonomie in French) have been deployed in the western Mediterranean region during 1 to 3 years depending on the station. The sites include, from south to north, Lampedusa, Majorca, Corsica, Frioul and Le Casset (southern French Alps). Deposition measurements are performed on a common weekly period at the five sites. The mean dust deposition fluxes are higher close to the northern African coasts and decrease following a south–north gradient, with values from 7.4 g m−2 year−1 in Lampedusa (35°31′ N, 12°37′ E) to 1 g m−2 year−1 in Le Casset (44°59′ N, 6°28′ E). The maximum deposition flux recorded is of 3.2 g m−2 wk−1 in Majorca with only two other events showing more than 1 g m−2 wk−1 in Lampedusa, and a maximum of 0.5 g m−2 wk−1 in Corsica. The maximum value of 2.1 g m−2 year−1 observed in Corsica in 2013 is much lower than existing records in the area over the 3 previous decades (11–14 g m−2 year−1). From the 537 available samples, 98 major Saharan dust deposition events have been identified in the records between 2011 and 2013. Complementary observations provided by both satellite and air mass trajectories are used to identify the dust provenance areas and the transport pathways from the Sahara to the stations for the studied period. Despite the large size of African dust plumes detected by satellites, more than 80 % of the major dust deposition events are recorded at only one station, suggesting that the dust provenance, transport and deposition processes (i.e. wet vs. dry) of dust are different and specific for the different deposition sites in the Mediterranean studied area. The results tend to indicate that wet deposition is the main form of deposition for mineral dust in the western Mediterranean basin, but the contribution of dry deposition (in the sense that no precipitation was detected at the surface) is far from being negligible, and contributes 10 to 46 % to the major dust deposition events, depending on the sampling site.

Objetivo: Recordar la importancia del diagnóstico del pseudoaneurisma de Rasmussen en el contexto de un servicio de Urgencias. Materiales y métodos: Se realizó una revisión bibliográfica actualizada en base a tres pacientes que ingresaron por hemoptisis. Sus hallazgos clínicos e imagenológicos resultaron relevantes y demostrativos de la entidad. Resultados y discusión: Los tres casos tenían una historia clínica con aspectos comunes. Estos, si bien pueden resultar inespecíficos, deben hacernos considerar en un servicio de Urgencias el diagnóstico de pseudoaneurisma de Rasmussen como causa de hemoptisis. A pesar del aumento del número de casos de infección por tuberculosis, la entidad continúa siendo poco frecuente en nuestro medio. Su diagnóstico implica un manejo multidisciplinario y, en caso de complicación, este debe ser agresivo e inmediato. Conclusión: El pseudoaneurisma de Rasmussen, aunque es una causa poco común de hemoptisis, es un diagnóstico imagenológico que hay que considerar en el contexto clínico adecuado.

Along with minimizing parameter uncertainty, understanding the cause of temporal and spatial variability of the nucleated ice crystal number, Ni, is key to improving the representation of cirrus clouds in climate models. To this end, sensitivities of Ni to input variables like aerosol number and diameter provide valuable information about nucleation regime and efficiency for a given model formulation. Here we use the adjoint model of the adjoint of a cirrus formation parameterization (Barahona and Nenes, 2009b) to understand Ni variability for various ice-nucleating particle (INP) spectra. Inputs are generated with the Community Atmosphere Model version 5, and simulations are done with a theoretically derived spectrum, an empirical lab-based spectrum and two field-based empirical spectra that differ in the nucleation threshold for black carbon particles and in the active site density for dust. The magnitude and sign of Ni sensitivity to insoluble aerosol number can be directly linked to nucleation regime and efficiency of various INP. The lab-based spectrum calculates much higher INP efficiencies than field-based ones, which reveals a disparity in aerosol surface properties. Ni sensitivity to temperature tends to be low, due to the compensating effects of temperature on INP spectrum parameters; this low temperature sensitivity regime has been experimentally reported before but never deconstructed as done here.

Increased globalization of the world economy, growth in human migration, and rapid developments in science and technology have required people to develop intercultural communication skills. Teachers play a crucial role in developing intercultural competence among students in our globalized, multilingual classrooms. The need for fostering collaborative discourse among students with diverse cultural and linguistic repertoires and building intercultural competence among students is a common blind spot in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics teacher praxis. This can inhibit efforts to cultivate safe and supportive learning environments for "all" students and can ultimately threaten multilingual student success. As part of a larger study, this narrative inquiry explores the phenomenon of intercultural competence development through the lived experiences of a Midwestern secondary science teacher. Time series data were collected from the participant (11 semi-structured, in-depth, online interviews over 8 months). Field notes and artifacts served as secondary data. Informed by Michael Byram's Multidimensional Model of Intercultural Competence, interviews were designed, conducted, transcribed, and member checked. Then, transcripts, field notes, and artifacts were coded and analyzed using Jean Clandinin and Michael Connelly's three-dimensional narrative inquiry framework to arrive at synthesized stories of experience around coalescing themes. The findings revealed the participant utilized several strategies aimed at developing intercultural communicative competence, particularly in support of multilingual students. This paper focuses on the four themes that relate most directly to intercultural communicative competence development. The findings and implications are discussed within the context of Byram's model and conclusions are drawn to inform current and future work in this area.

-

In this work, we postulate, implement and evaluate modifications to the "population-splitting" concept, introduced by Nenes and Seinfeld (2003), for calculation of water-condensation rates in droplet-activation parameterizations. The population-splitting approximation consists of dividing the population of growing droplets into two categories: those that experience significant growth after exposed to a supersaturation larger than their critical supersaturation, and those that do not grow much larger than their critical diameter. The modifications introduced here lead to an improved accuracy and precision of the parameterization-derived maximum supersaturation, smax, and droplet-number concentration, Nd, as determined by comparing against those of detailed numerical simulations of the activation process. A numerical computation of the first-order derivatives ∂ Nd/∂ χj of the parameterized Nd to input variables χi was performed and compared against the corresponding parcel-model-derived sensitivities, providing a thorough evaluation of the impacts of the introduced modifications in the parameterization ability to respond to aerosol characteristics. An evaluation of the parameterization computation of Nd and smax against detailed numerical simulations of the activation process showed a relative error of −6.0% ± 6.2% for smax, and −2.7% ± 4.8% for Nd, which represents a considerable reduction in prediction bias when compared to earlier versions of the parameterization. The proposed modifications require only minor changes for their numerical implementation in existing codes based on the population-splitting concept.

Aerosol indirect effects in climate models strongly depend on the representation of the aerosol activation process. In this study, we assess the process-level differences across activation parameterizations that contribute to droplet number uncertainty by using the adjoints of the Abdul-Razzak and Ghan (2000) and Fountoukis and Nenes (2005) droplet activation parameterizations in the framework of the Community Atmospheric Model version 5.1 (CAM5.1). The adjoint sensitivities of Nd to relevant input parameters are used to (i) unravel the spatially resolved contribution of aerosol number, mass, and chemical composition to changes in Nd between present-day and pre-industrial simulations and (ii) identify the key variables responsible for the differences in Nd fields and aerosol indirect effect estimates when different activation schemes are used within the same modeling framework. The sensitivities are computed online at minimal computational cost. Changes in aerosol number and aerosol mass concentrations were found to contribute to Nd differences much more strongly than chemical composition effects. The main sources of discrepancy between the activation parameterizations considered were the treatment of the water uptake by coarse mode particles, and the sensitivity of the parameterized Nd accumulation mode aerosol geometric mean diameter. These two factors explain the different predictions of Nd over land and over oceans when these parameterizations are employed. Discrepancies in the sensitivity to aerosol size are responsible for an exaggerated response to aerosol volume changes over heavily polluted regions. Because these regions are collocated with areas of deep clouds, their impact on shortwave cloud forcing is amplified through liquid water path changes. The same framework is also utilized to efficiently explore droplet number uncertainty attributable to hygroscopicity parameter of organic aerosol (primary and secondary). Comparisons between the parameterization-derived sensitivities of droplet number against predictions with detailed numerical simulations of the activation process were performed to validate the physical consistency of the adjoint sensitivities.

Jorge Urrutia is a renowned intellectual writer, son of the more influential French thought in the half century. He appears on the literaly panorama showing the signs of the time in a period when new proposals for innovative genres are made. He also introduces a taste for novelty, characterized by a moderate and omphálico existentialism and an estrangement from silence and from that disturbing normality which used to annoy the recanters of the ‘80s. Unravelling between the classicist tradition in free verse and the novelty of the proema, the poet makes use of formal ways which keep their distance from impudence and sorrow. His poetic is a belated poetic influenced by existentialism and elegy whose horizon is represented by the pursuit of serenity. Jorge Urrutia tries, in a construcitve way, to replace the comings and goings of experience with serenity. He also tries to appease the cry of pain and control, in particular, that ‘unnoticed song’ he can never free himself from because the ‘Etrurian smile of the distance’ can both appease and control the instinct, so that experience, which is supposed to be peaceful, can be turned into elegy.

The Mediterranean reservoirs receive frequent atmospheric Saharan dust inputs with soil-derived organic components mostly during the stratification periods, when run-off inputs are particularly limited. Here, we quantified and optically characterized the water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) of the (dry and wet) atmospheric deposition in collectors placed near three reservoirs from the western Mediterranean Basin. In addition, we determined the WSOC contribution to the pool of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the reservoirs and the influence of dust-derived chromophoric organic components on the water transparency during their stratification periods. We found synchronous dynamics in the WSOC atmospheric inputs among the three collectors and in the DOC concentrations among the three reservoirs. The DOC concentrations and the WSOC atmospheric inputs were positive and significantly correlated in the most oligotrophic reservoir (Quéntar) and in the reservoir with the highest ratio of surface area to mixing water depth (Cubillas). Despite these correlations, WSOC atmospheric inputs represented less than 10% of the total DOC pool, suggesting that indirect effects of dust inputs on reservoir DOC may also promote these synchronous patterns observed in the reservoirs. Chromophoric components from dust inputs can significantly reduce the water transparency to the ultraviolet radiation (UVR). The depths where UVR at λ = 320 nm was reduced to ten percent of surface intensity (Z10%) decreased 27 cm in Béznar, 49 cm in Cubillas, and 69 cm in Quéntar due to the dust inputs. Therefore, the increasing dust export to the atmosphere may have consequences for the water transparency of aquatic ecosystems located under the influence of the global dust belt.

The salient features of mixed-phase and ice clouds in a GCM cloud scheme are examined using the ice nucleation parameterizations of Liu and Penner (LP) and Barahona and Nenes (BN). The performance of both parameterizations was assessed in the GEOS-5 AGCM using the McRAS-AC cloud microphysics framework in single column mode. Four dimensional assimilated data from the intensive observation period of ARM TWP-ICE campaign was used to drive the fluxes and lateral forcing. Simulation experiments were established to test the impact of each parameterization in the resulting cloud fields. Three commonly used IN spectra were utilized in the BN parameterization to describe the availability of IN for heterogeneous ice nucleation. The results showed large similarities in the cirrus cloud regime between all the schemes tested, in which ice crystal concentrations were within a factor of 10 regardless of the parameterization used. In mixed-phase clouds there were some persistent differences in cloud particle number concentration and size, as well as in cloud fraction, ice water mixing ratio, and ice water path. Contact freezing in the simulated mixed-phase clouds contributed to the effective transfer of liquid to ice, so that on average, the clouds were fully glaciated at T 260 K, irrespective of the ice nucleation parameterization used. Comparison of simulated ice water path to available satellite derived observations were also performed, finding that all the schemes tested with the BN parameterization predicted average values of IWP within ±15% of the observations.

The identification of 223 collections of the Lamiaceae family, from Bioko island, Rio Muni (Equatorial Guinea mainland) and Annobon, corresponding to 14 genera and 28 species, is presented. A key of genera and, in each genus, a key of species are included. The basionym and type material, a brief description, the known chromosomic numbers, the distribution area and some known popular uses from each species, also included are photographs of sheets and distribution maps. Some biogeographical aspects about the generic and specific distribution in the studied area are discussed. Calaminta pseudosimensis (Brenan) R. Morales, comb. nov. is proposed.

Objective: analysis and evaluation of a multidisciplinary approach, postoperative results and survival of a group of patients with resected pancreatic cancer after a multimodal therapy. Design: descriptive, prospective and observational study. Patients: between January 2004 and December 2004, 124 patients with pancreatic cancer were evaluated. In 30 patients pancreatic resection was performed, and they are the object of this study. Results of preoperative evaluation, postoperative morbidity and mortality, and long term survival were studied. Results: diagnostic evaluation was completed in ambulatory basis in 20% of the patients. In 63% of cases, admission was done in the same day of surgery. In 3 patients (9%), tumor resection was not achieved, therefore, concordance between radiological and surgical resectability rate was 91%. Resectability rate was 24.1%. Surgical Mortality was 3.3%, with a global morbidity rate of 56.6%. Survival at one, two, three and, four years was 76.2%, 56.3%, 43%, y 27.3% respectively. Conclusions: technological development and coordination of efforts in multidisciplinary teams offer an accurate evaluation of tumor involvement, and may reduce the number of laparotomies without tumor resection. The application of a systematic and generalized multimodal treatment in pancreatic cancer is progressively showing a tendency of progressive increase in resectability and survival rates in pancreatic cancer.Objetivo: analizar la evaluación del abordaje multidisciplinario de un grupo de pacientes con cáncer de páncreas resecado, los resultados postoperatorios y la supervivencia tras la aplicación de un tratamiento multimodal. Diseño: estudio descriptivo prospectivo observacional. Pacientes: entre enero de 2004 y diciembre 2009 se evaluaron 124 pacientes con cáncer de páncreas. De ellos, se realizó la resección pancreática con intención curativa en 30 casos que constituyen el objeto del estudio. Se analizaron los resultados del estudio preoperatorio de extensión tumoral, la morbi-mortalidad postoperatoria, y la supervivencia. Resultados: la evaluación diagnóstica se hizo en régimen ambulatorio en el 20% de los pacientes. En el 63% de los casos, el ingreso fue el mismo día de la intervención. En 3 pacientes intervenidos no se consiguió realizar la resección del tumor (9%), por lo que la tasa de concordancia entre la resecabilidad radiológica y la quirúrgica fue del 91%. La tasa de resecabilidad quirúrgica fue del 24,1%. La mortalidad quirúrgica de la serie fue de un 3,3%, con una morbilidad global del 56,6%. La supervivencia al año, dos, tres y cuatro años fue del 76,2%, 56,3%, 43%, y 27,3% respectivamente. Conclusiones: el desarrollo tecnológico y la evaluación multidisciplinar coordinada, permite realizar una evaluación precisa de la extensión tumoral, y puede reducir el número de laparotomías sin resección del tumor. Con la aplicación de una terapia multimodal sistemática combinada, la resecabilidad quirúrgica y la supervivencia a medio y largo plazo parece que están aumentando de forma progresiva.

En el trabajo se plantea la necesidad de establecer un Sistema de Mantenimiento Preventivo porcondición técnica para los pozos profundos de regadío del estado de Cojedes en la RepúblicaBolivariana de Venezuela, debido a que el alto porcentaje de sólidos por unidad de volumen deagua provoca el desgaste acelerado de diferentes elementos de máquinas de las bombas, lo quetrae consigo que se acorte la vida útil de dichas máquinas, así como se incrementen sus costos deoperación. Como resultado de la investigación se hace una propuesta de procedimiento paraconstruir los diagramas C-Q y con su uso poder determinar cuando es necesario realizar elmantenimiento de los pozos y de esa forma evitar las fallas prematuras en las bombas y minimizarlos costos de la operación y mantenimiento del sistema pozo-bomba.Palabras claves: diagnóstico, rapidez de cambio, estado técnico, mantenimiento, parámetros decondición, parámetros de salida.______________________________________________________________________________AbstractThis paper exposes the need of establishing a Preventive Maintenance System, for technicalcondition, for the irrigated artesian wells at Cojedes's state, in the Bolivarian Venezuelan Republic.Due to the high solids percentage per water volume unit, the wear of different hardware elementsof the pumps is accelerated. This fact provokes the shortening of the service life of theaforementioned hardware and consequently the increase in operating costs. As a research resultthis article presents a procedure proposal to construct C-Q diagrams to determine when it will benecessary to accomplish the well maintenance. In that way one can avoid premature faults inpumps and minimize the operation and maintenance costs of the pumping system.Key words: diagnostic, speed of change, technical status, maintenance, parameters of condition,outgoing parameters.

The objective of the study was to quantify differences in nutritive value, over four seasons, of native grasses such as Bouteloua curtipendula, Bouteloua trifida, Brachiaria fasciculata, Chloris ciliata, Digitaria insularis, Leptochloa filiformis, Panicum hallii, Panicum obtusum, Paspalum unispicatum, Setaria grisebachii, Setaria macrostachya, Tridens eragrostoides, Tridens muticus and naturalized chrus ciliaris and Rhynchelytrum repens that are used as forages for grazing beef cattle. Cenchrus ciliaris was included as a reference grass of good nutritional quality. Plants were collected in autumn 2001 and in winter, spring and summer 2002. The nutritive value was assessed in terms of nutrient content, effective rumen degradable dry matter (EDDM), metabolizable energy (ME) and metabolizable protein (MP). Most grasses had crude protein (CP) content comparable to the reference C. ciliaris grass (grand mean = 120 g/kg) and some of them had a higher content (140 g/kg). Cell wall (NDF) and lignin contents were lower in C. ciliaris (650 g/kg, 30, respectively) than in the other grasses (mean = 700 g/kg, 60, respectively). All grasses had less EDDM (mean = 420 g/kg) than C. ciliaris (470 g/kg). All grasses had the ME content (mean = 5.6 MJ/kg DM) that was lower for maintenance requirements of growing beef cattle. Conversely, mean MP values (67 g/kg DM) were sufficient. Lower content of P (annual mean = 120 g/kg DM), Na (0.3) and Cu (40 mg/kg DM) was detected in all grasses to meet the requirements of growing cattle. All grasses, in all seasons, had sufficient CP and MP content to meet the maintenance requirements of growing beef cattle. Higher levels of EDDM occurred in summer and autumn. Because of their good nutritional quality, grasses such as B. fasciculata, C. ciliata, P. hallii, P. obtusum, S. grisebachii, S. macrostachy and T. eragrostoides can be considered as good forages for ruminants.

Recently, the biomass has gained considerable attention as a feedstock for energy production because of its attractive characteristics, including its availability as a renewable resource. However, the biomass can be subjected to several uncertain factors such as the availability, market cost and composition; thus, it is worth noting that the uncertainty in the raw material can affect drastically the final supply chain configuration of the product. Therefore, this work presents a new approach for the optimal planning under uncertainty for a biomass conversion system involving simultaneously economic and environmental issues. In this context, the EcoIndicator99 method was used to assess the overall environmental impact in the entire supply chain. Additionally, the economic aspect takes into account all the costs associated to the different activities as well as the costs for raw materials and the sale of products. The proposed method considers the uncertainty involved in the supply chain through the raw material price by the stochastic generation of scenarios using the Latin Hypercube method followed by the implementation of the Monte- Carlo method for determining the optimal structure for each sample. Furthermore, with the proposed approach is possible to select the more robust structure for the supply chain based on statistical data. On the other hand, the proposed approach incorporates an analysis based on the standardized regression of the uncertain coefficients within the supply chain to determine the magnitude in which the uncertain data affect the value of the considered objectives. The proposed approach was applied to a case study for a distributed biorefinery system in Mexico, considering 6 suppliers, 6 processing facilities as well as 5 distribution centres. Besides, 9 raw materials were contemplated to obtain 5 different products through 2 processing routes.

The purpose of the present work was to optimize the addition of natural antioxidants (α- tocopherol and ascorbyl palmitate) for the stabilization of sardine oil rich in omega-3 PUFA. The optimal values for peroxide value (PV), which minimizes primary oxidation products, were obtained at low concentrations of α-tocopherol (50–207 ppm), high content of ascorbyl palmitate (450 ppm) and 50 ppm citric acid. On the other hand, optimal values for p-anisidine value (AV), which minimizes secondary oxidation products, were found at medium concentrations of α-tocopherol (478–493 ppm), high contents of ascorbyl palmitate (390–450 ppm) and 50 ppm citric acid. The conflicting effect of α-tocopherol on the individual optimization of PV and AV motivated the generation of a Pareto front (set of non inferior solutions) employing the weighted-sum multi-objective optimization technique.

Este trabajo se realiza con el objeto de ilustrar el desarrollo de simuladores para procesos industriales; como ejemplo se realizó un sistema de simulación para representar el proceso de colada continua que es el proceso más común para la producción de perfiles de acero. El sistema de simulación para colada continua (SSCC fue programado por los presentes autores en lenguaje C++; sin embargo, los procedimientos matemáticos, algoritmos y diagramas de flujo ilustrados en este trabajo pueden ser programados en cualquier lenguaje de programación. Esta primera parte del trabajo se enfoca a desarrollar herramientas de cálculo para representar lo que sucede físicamente durante el proceso de colada continua.

Predicting the occurrence of solar flares is a challenge of great importance for many space weather scientists and users. We introduce a data mining approach, called Behavior Pattern Learning (BPL), for automatically discovering correlations between solar flares and active region data, in order to predict the former. The goal of BPL is to predict the interval of time to the next solar flare and provide a confidence value for the associated prediction. The discovered correlations are described in terms of easy-to-read rules. The results indicate that active region dynamics is essential for predicting solar flares.

Aim: to analyze qualitative short-time results of a new program for multidisciplinary liver evaluation in complex cases of liver metastasis from colorectal cancer. Patients and methods: 40 clinical consecutive evaluations with liver metastasis assessed for major liver resection by a multidisplinary specialist committee. Complementary explorations performed included CT and ultrasounds, and MRI or PET for doubtful cases. Liver resection was made in a single operation or two-stage hepatectomy, or combined with other techniques. Results: postoperative mortality at 30 days was 4%. Complications occurred in 28%, with surgical wound infection being most frequent (20%); 16.6% of resections were transfused, with a mean volume of 1000 ml. Two patients needed reoperation -one for an intraperitoneal abscess and one for bile-duct stenosis. Percentage of global relapse was 36%, with 26% of relapses out of the liver. Actuarial survival at one year follow-up was 90%, and 82% at two years; 64% of patients remain free of disease two years after the operation. Conclusions: programs for liver resection for colorectal cancer metastasis may be implemented by multidisciplinary teams of recent setup. There is a need to evaluate own results and then compare them with a standard of quality previously reported.Objetivo: valorar los resultados cualitativos a corto y medio plazo de un programa de reciente implantación de evaluación hepática multidisciplinar de casos complejos de metástasis hepáticas de cáncer colorrectal. Pacientes y métodos: cuarenta evaluaciones clínicas consecutivas de pacientes con metástasis hepáticas de cáncer colorrectal valorados para resección hepática mayor, realizadas por un comité multidisciplinar de especialistas. Las exploraciones complementarias practicadas fueron TAC trifásica y ecografía intraoperatoria, junto a RMN y/o PET en casos de dudas. La resección hepática se podía realizar como gesto único o bien en dos tiempos y combinada a otras técnicas. Resultados: la mortalidad postoperatoria a los 30 días fue del 4%. Presentaron complicaciones el 28%, siendo la complicación más frecuente la infección de la herida quirúrgica (20%). Se transfundieron el 16,6% de los pacientes, con una necesidad transfusional media de 1000 cc. Dos casos precisaron reintervención (8%), en un caso precoz por absceso intraabdominal, y en otro caso tardía, por estenosis de la vía biliar principal. El porcentaje de recaídas global es del 36%, siendo más frecuente la extrahepática (26%). La supervivencia actuarial al año de seguimiento es del 90 y del 82% a los dos años. Se hallaban libres de enfermedad a los dos años el 64% de los pacientes. Conclusiones: los programas de resección hepática de metástasis de cáncer colorrectal pueden ser implantados por equipos multidisciplinares de reciente creación, si bien existe la necesidad de auditarse y situarse dentro de los parámetros de calidad.

Se caracterizó la respuesta a fractura de las aleaciones de aluminio empleadas en aeronáutica, 2024-0 (recocida) y 2024-T3 (endurecida por precipitación). El estudio de la aleación en estado de recocido se realizó a través del concepto de Trabajo Esencial Específico de Fractura, utilizando el protocolo ESIS 1995. Se utilizaron probetas DENT (Double Edge Notched Tension) variándose la longitud de ligamento con el fin de determinar el valor del trabajo esencial específico de fractura para cada espesor utilizado. Se determinó, además, la dependencia entre el valor del trabajo esencial específico de fractura y el espesor del material, encontrándose una dependencia creciente entre el trabajo esencial específico de fractura y el espesor. En el caso de la aleación 2024-T3, se determinó, sólo para bajos espesores en que predomina la tensión plana, el valor del trabajo esencial específico de fractura. Sin embargo, para esta aleación, los resultados fueron menos concluyentes debido a la alta tenacidad a la fractura que posee la aleación endurecida. Finalmente, se realizó la caracterización de la superficie de fractura de estas aleaciones encontrándose un micromecanismo dúctil en el caso de la aleación recocida y dúctil-frágil en el caso de la aleación endurecida.

This paper presents the development of a robotic solution for a problem of fast manipulation and handling of onions or artichokes in the food industry. The complete solution consists of a parallel robotic manipulatior, a specially designed end-effector based on a customized vacuum suction cup, and a computer vision software developed for pick and place operations. First, the selection and design process of the proposed robotic solution to fit with the initial requeriments is presented, including the customized vacuum suction cup. Then, the kinematic analysis of the parallel manipulator needed to develop the robot control system is reviewed. Moreover, computer vision application is presented inthe paper. Hardware details of the implementation of the building prototype are also shown. Finally, conclusions and future work show the current status of the project.