Investigations on the distribution of air transport traffic and CO2 emissions within the European Union

This study analyses the structure of air traffic and its distribution among the different countries in the European Union, as well as traffic with an origin or destination in non-EU countries. Data sources are Eurostat statistics and actual flight information from EUROCONTROL. Relevant variables such as the number of flights, passengers or cargo tonnes and production indicators (RPKs) are used together with fuel consumption and CO2 emissions data. The segmentation of air traffic in terms of distance permits an assessment of air transport competition with surface transport modes. The results show a clear concentration of traffic in the five larger countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK), in terms of RPKs. In terms of distance the segment between 500 and 1000 km in the EU, has more flights, passengers, RTKs and CO2 emissions than larger distances. On the environmental side, the distribution of CO2 emissions within the EU Member States is presented, together with fuel efficiency parameters. In general, a direct relationship between RPKs and CO2 emissions is observed for all countries and all distance bands. Consideration is given to the uptake of alternative fuels. Segmenting CO2 emissions per distance band and aircraft type reveals which flights contribute the most the overall EU CO2 emissions. Finally, projections for future CO2 emissions are estimated, according to three different air traffic growth and biofuel introduction scenarios

Ab initio studies of ethanol dehydrogenation at binary AuPd nanocatalysts

Producción CientíficaDensity Functional Theory (DFT) simulations have been performed to study ethanol anaerobic oxidation at 10-atom binary gold–palladium clusters with varying compositions, ranging from 0% to 100% gold content. For each case, we have studied the loss of two hydrogen atoms, the desorption of acetaldehyde, and recombination of hydrogen into gas-phase H2. The results show that alloying produces sizable changes in the reaction barriers and in the stability of the intermediate species, which are related to different intrinsic reactivities of palladium and gold.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project MAT2014-54378-R)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. A050U14

Viabilidad de una nueva compañía aérea de bajo coste en Brasil

El trabajo analiza la viabilidad de una nueva compañía aérea de bajo coste en Brasil, en competencia con las empresas existentes. Para ello, se analiza la evolución de las principales variables demográficas y económicas y su relación con la demanda de servicios aéreos, y como atienden esa demanda las compañías existentes. La creación de la red de rutas se efectúa estudiando el potencial de generación de tráfico de los distintos aeropuertos brasileños, comparando procedimientos clásicos (matriz GE-McKinsey) con otros de nueva creación. Para la proyección futura se asumen prognosis de tráfico ya publicadas, calculando la participación en el mercado de la nueva compañía, bajo la hipótesis de que no aparecen otras compañías competidoras en los años inmediatos. Se selecciona un único modelo de aeronave entre 100 y 130 plazas, tamaño considerado óptimo para la red de rutas creada, y se analizan los resultados económico-financieros del cuarto año de operación, en el que la actividad de la empresa se estabiliza. En conclusión, se demuestra la viabilidad de una nueva compañía de bajo coste en Brasil, con suficiente margen de factor de ocupación crítico para absorber posibles desviaciones en los supuestos de este estudio.This paper studies the viability of a new low cost airline in Brazil, competing with the incumbent carriers. With this purpose the evolution of the most relevant demographic and economic indicators is analysed and linked with air transport demand creation. Additional attention is given to the way in which that demand is served by existing airlines. The new company network is created based on the traffic generation potential of the main Brazilian airports, comparing classic methods (GE-McKinsey matrix) with other procedures developed for this work. Published air traffic prognosis are used in the calculation of the new airline market share, assuming no additional competitor appears in the immediate future. Fleet planning is based in the selection of a single type of aircraft in the 100-130 pax range, considered as the optimum size for this network. Economic and financial results are analysed for the 4th operation year, when the company system is already stabilized. As main conclusions, the viability of a new low cost carrier in Brazil is demonstrated, showing a margin over critic load factor great enough to absorb possible deviations in the basic hypothesis of this study.Grupo de Transporte Aéreo - Grupo de Ingeniería Aplicada a la Industri

Experience with ongrowing juvenile blackspot sea bream (Pagellus bogaraveo) born in captivity, in tanks at diferent temperatures

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Neuropeptide precursor VGF is genetically associated with social anhedonia and underrepresented in the brain of major mental illness: its downregulation by DISC1

In a large Scottish pedigree, disruption of the gene coding for DISC1 clearly segregates with major depression, schizophrenia and related mental conditions. Thus, study of DISC1 may provide a clue to understand the biology of major mental illness. A neuropeptide precursor VGF has potent antidepressant effects and has been reportedly associated with bipolar disorder. Here we show that DISC1 knockdown leads to a reduction of VGF, in neurons. VGF is also downregulated in the cortices from sporadic cases with major mental disease. A positive correlation of VGF single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with social anhedonia was also observed. We now propose that VGF participates in a common pathophysiology of major mental disease

Lactic acid production from biomass-derived sugars using acid or base catalysts

Póster presentado en: 19th European meeting on Supercritical Fluids (EMSF 2023), organized by the International Society for the Advancement of Supercritical Fluids, Budapest, 21-24 may, 2023Lactic acid can be produced from biomass-derived sugars, both with basic and acid catalysts, and is a stable system, as no degradation of the produced lactic acid is observed over timeThis work was supported by AEI [PID2019-104950RB-I00, PID2020-116716RJ-I00, TED2021-129311B-I00, PDC2022-133443-I00] and JCyL-ERDF [BU050P20]. ABL wants to acknowledge the Margarita Salas grant [MARSA22/03], PAR to JCyL and ESF [ORDEN EDU/556/2019] and RM the Beatriz Galindo Research Fellowship [BG20/00182]

Stable nitrogen isotope studies of the pelagic food web on the Atlantic shelf of the Iberian Peninsula

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Recent increase in tree damage and mortality and their spatial dependence on drought intensity in Mediterranean forests

Resumen de la comunicación oral presentada en XVI Congreso Nacional de la AEET, 16 al 20 de octubre de 2023, Universidad de AlmeríaLand-use and climate change are leading to more frequent and intense tree damage and mortality events. Drought-induced tree mortality is occurring worldwide leading to broad-scale events, but the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality, their underlying drivers and their variation over time is largely unknown. We investigated the spatial patterns of tree damage and mortality across Mediterranean forests of the Iberian Peninsula, the underlying effects of competition and climate, and how the spatial patterns and relationships with underlying drivers changed over time. We used the Spanish Forest Inventory to analyse the autocorrelation in tree damage and mortality across forest types, hurdle-gamma models to quantify the effect of competition and climate on tree damage and mortality, and cross-correlograms to assess their spatial dependence and its change over time. We observed a greater magnitude and a stronger autocorrelation in tree damage than mortality, with positive aggregation up to 20 kilometres. There was a spatial dependence between tree damage and mortality with their drivers, with spatial aggregation increasing with water availability, drought intensity and competition. The spatial dependence of tree damage and mortality with the underlying drivers increased over time, particularly for drought intensity. Our results suggest that the combined effect of intense competition and drought could favour more extensive die-off and tree mortality events, providing key information for identifying vulnerable areas and the planning of adaptation measures