Abundancia y distribución de la liebre ibérica (Lepus granatensis Rosenhauer, 1856) en el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Mariola (Alicante-Valencia)

Abundance and distribution of the Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis Rosenhauer, 1856) in the Sierra de Mariola Natural Park (Alicante-Valencia) The Iberian hare (Lepus granatensis Rosenhauer, 1856) is a species of great value in Spanish Mediterranean ecosystems for several reasons, such as its interest to hunters, its contribution to soil fertility and plant diversity, and its role as prey. However, factors such as fragmentation, degradation and loss of habitat and diseases, predation and high pressure hunting are having a detrimental effect on the conservation of the species. It is therefore of interest to determine the abundance and distribution of the Iberian hare in areas of the peninsula where there are insufficient data to establish guidelines for conservation and sustainable management of hare populations in the peninsula. Our goal was to assess the abundance and distribution of the Iberian hare in the most widely used areas of a mountainous Mediterranean landscape in the Iberian peninsular (Mariola Mountain Park, located between the provinces of Alicante and Valencia). Data obtained from studies conducted in transects from 2008 to 2010 showed that intra-annual abundance was highest in spring (KIA half of 0.26 hares/km) and lowest in winter (average 0.075 KIA hares/km). As to their preferences in relation to land use, abundance was highest in the matrix of dry groves (KIA half of 0.33 hares/km) and irrigated groves (average 0.2 KIA hares/km). The matrix of natural vegetation and agricultural abandonment had low numbers of hares, with values of 0.083 and 0.033 hares/km, respectively.La liebre ibérica (Lepus granatensis Rosenhauer, 1856) es una especie de gran valor en los ecosistemas mediterráneos españoles por varios motivos: por su interés cinegético, por servir de alimento a numerosos predadores, por mejorar la fertilidad del suelo e incrementar la diversidad vegetal, etc. Sin embargo, factores como la fragmentación, la degradación y la pérdida de hábitats, así como las enfermedades, la predación y la excesiva presión cinegética que afectan a la especie, están influyendo de manera negativa en su conservación. Por esta razón resulta interesante conocer la abundancia y distribución de la liebre ibérica en diferentes zonas de la península de las que no se tienen suficientes datos, para que el análisis de su conjunto proporcione pautas que permitan realizar una gestión adecuada para mantener e incrementar las poblaciones de liebres en la península. Nuestro objetivo es conocer la abundancia y distribución de la liebre ibérica en los principales usos del paisaje de una zona de montaña del Mediterráneo peninsular, el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Mariola, situado entre las provincias de Alicante y Valencia, durante diferentes periodos de su ciclo biológico anual. Los datos obtenidos en los transectos realizados entre 2008 y 2010 muestran que las mayores abundancias anuales tienen lugar en primavera (IKA medio de 0,26 liebres/km) y disminuyen en invierno (IKA medio de 0,075 liebres/km). En cuanto a sus preferencias relacionadas con los diferentes usos del suelo, las mayores abundancias se obtienen en la matriz de cultivos de secano (IKA medio de 0,33 liebres/km) y en la de cultivos de regadío (IKA medio de 0,2 liebres/km). Las matrices de vegetación natural y abandono agrícola presentan bajo número de liebres, con valores de 0,083 y 0,033 liebres/km respectivamente.Abundància i distribució de la llebre ibèrica (Lepus granatensis Rosenhauer, 1856) al Parc Natural de la Serra de Mariola (Alacant-València) La llebre ibèrica (Lepus granatensis Rosenhauer, 1856) és una espècie de gran valor als ecosistemes mediterranis espanyols per diversos motius: per l’interès cinegètic, perquè serveix d’aliment a nombrosos predadors, perquè millora la fertilitat del sòl i incrementa la diversitat vegetal, etc. Tanmateix, factors com ara la fragmentació, la degradació i la pèrdua d’hàbitats, com també les malalties, la predació i la pressió cinegètica excessiva que afecten l’espècie estan influint de manera negativa en la seva conservació. És per això que resulta interessant conèixer l’abundància i distribució de la llebre ibèrica en diferents zones de la Península de les quals no es tenen prou dades a fi que l’anàlisi del conjunt proporcioni pautes que permetin una gestió adequada per mantenir i incrementar les poblacions de llebres a la Península. El nostre objectiu és conèixer l’abundància i distribució de la llebre ibèrica en els principals usos del paisatge d’una zona de muntanya del Mediterrani peninsular, el Parc Natural de la Serra de Mariola, situat entre les províncies d’Alacant i València, durant diferents períodes del seu cicle biològic anual. Les dades obtingudes als transsectes fets entre 2008 i 2010 mostren que les abundàncies anuals més grans tenen lloc a la primavera (IKA mitjà de 0,26 llebres/km) i disminueixen a l’hivern (IKA mitjà de 0,075 llebres/km). Pel que fa a les preferències relacionades amb els diferents usos del sòl, les abundàncies més grans s’obtenen a la matriu de conreus de secà (IKA mitjà de 0,33 llebres/km) i a la de cultius de regadiu (IKA mitjà de 0,2 llebres/km). Les matrius de vegetació natural i abandonament agrícola presentes un nombre de llebres baix, amb valors de 0,083 i 0,033 llebres/km, respectivament

Identification and quantification of prosthetic mitral regurgitation by flow convergence method using transthoracic approach

The present case report illustrates the clinical applicability of the proximal isovelocity surface area (PISA) method in identifying, locating and assessing paravalvular prosthetic mitral regurgitation by transthoracic echocardiography

Photo-fenton degradation of pentachlorophenol l: competition between additives and photolysis

[EN] In the present work, the photo-Fenton degradation of pentachlorophenol (PCP, 1 mg/L) has been studied under simulated and natural solar irradiation; moreover, the effect on the process efficiency of urban waste-derived soluble bio-based substances (SBO), structurally comparable to humic acids, has been investigated. Experiments showed a crucial role of PCP photolysis, present in the solar pilot plant and hindered by the Pyrex (R) filter present in the solar simulator. Indeed, the SBO screen negatively affects PCP degradation when working under natural solar light, where the photolysis of PCP is relevant. In contrast, in the absence of PCP photolysis, a significant improvement of the photo-Fenton process was observed when added to SBO. Furthermore, SBO were able to extend the application of the photo-Fenton process at circumneutral pH values, due to their ability to complex iron, avoiding its precipitation as oxides or hydroxides. This positive effect has been observed at higher concentration of Fe(II) (4 mg/L), whereas at 1 mg/L, the degradation rates of PCP were comparable in the presence and absence of SBO.This work was realized with the financial support of the academic interchange from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange project, funded by the European Commission H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 within the framework of the research project Mat4treaT (Project number: 645551).Vergura, EP.; García-Ballesteros, S.; Vercher Pérez, RF.; Santos-Juanes Jordá, L.; Bianco Prevot, A.; Arqués Sanz, A. (2019). Photo-Fenton Degradation of Pentachlorophenol: Competition between Additives and Photolysis. Nanomaterials. 9(8):1-8. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9081157S189

Urban biowaste-derived sensitizing materials for caffeine photodegradation

[EN] Caffeine-photosensitized degradation has been studied in the presence of bio-based materials derived from urban biowaste after aerobic aging. A peculiar fraction (namely bio-based substances (BBSs)), soluble in all the pH range, has been used as photosensitizing agent. Several caffeine photodegradation tests have been performed, and positive results have been obtained in the presence of BBSs and H2O2, without and with additional Fe(II) (photo-Fenton-like process). Moreover, hybrid magnetite-BBS nanoparticles have been synthesized and characterized, in order to improve the sensitizer recovery and reuse after the caffeine degradation. In the presence of such nanoparticles and H2O2 and Fe(II), the complete caffeine degradation has been attained in very short time. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous processes were run at pH = 5, milder condition compared to the classic photo-Fenton process.This work was performed with the financial support for academic interchange by the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange project funded by the European Commission H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 within the framework of the research project MAT4TREAT (project number 645551). Compagnia di San Paolo and University of Torino are gratefully acknowledged for funding Project Torino_call2014_L2_126 through BBando per il finanziamento di progetti di ricerca di Ateneo – anno 2014 (Project acronym: Microbusters). Additionally, authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Flavio R. Sives (La Plata, Argentina) for magnetization measurements.Prevot, AB.; Baino, F.; Fabbri, D.; Franzoso, F.; Magnacca, G.; Nistico, R.; Arques Sanz, A. (2017). Urban biowaste-derived sensitizing materials for caffeine photodegradation. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 24(14):12599-12607. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7763S1259912607241

Bio-based substances from urban waste as auxiliaries for solar photo-Fenton treatment under mild conditions: optimization of operational variables

The use of soluble bio-based organic substances (SBO) obtained from urban wastes to expand the pH region where the photo-Fenton process can be applied has been investigated in this study. For this purpose, a mixture of six pollutants, namely acetaminophen, carbamazepine, amoxicillin, acetamiprid, clofibric acid and caffeine, at an initial concentration of 5 mg L−1 each, has been employed. Surface response methodology, based on the Doehlert matrix, has shown to be a useful tool to determine the effect of pH (in the range 3–7), concentration of SBO (15–25 mg L−1) and iron (2–6 mg L−1) on the performance of the photodegradation of the studied pollutants, measured by their half-life. Results indicate that, at high SBO concentration, the optimum pH shifts in most cases to a higher value (between 3 and 4) and that a significant loss of efficiency of the process was only observed at pH values above 5. An iron concentration of 4–5 mg L−1 and an amount of SBO of 19–22 mg L−1 have been determined to be the optimal conditions for the degradation of most of the studied pollutants at pH = 5.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Chloride anion effect on the advanced oxidation processes of methidathion and dimethoate: role of Cl2(center dot-) radical

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Water Research. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections,structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in WATER RESEARCH [VOL 47, ISSUE 1, (January 2013)] DOI 10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.018¨ IWA Publishing : Set statement to accompany deposit, "©IWA Publishing 2013. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Water Research 47 1 351-362 2013 DOI 10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.018 and is available at www.iwapublishing.com."The reaction of phosphor-containing pesticides such as methidathion (MT) and dimethoate (DM) with dichloride radical anions (Cl-2(center dot-)) was investigated. The second order rate constants (1.3 +/- 0.4) x 10(8) and (1.1 0.4) x 10(8) M-1 s(-1) were determined for the reaction of Cl-2(center dot-) with MT and DM, respectively. A reaction mechanism involving an initial charge transfer from the sulfide groups of the insecticides to Cl-2(center dot-) is proposed and supported by the identified transient intermediates and reaction products. The formation of chlorinated byproducts was determined. The unexpected consequences of an efficient Cl-2(center dot-) activity towards MT and DM on the degradation capacity by Advanced Oxidation Procedures applied to polluted waters containing the insecticides and Cl- anions is discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This research was financially supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Agencia Nacional de Promocion Cientifica y Tecnologica (Argentina, project PICT 2007 number 00308), and Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional (project A/8199/07). MCG, JAR and PC are research members of Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Argentina. D.O.M. is a research member of CICPBA, Argentina. This research was supported by the grant PIP 112-200801-00356 from CONICET.Caregnato, P.; Rosso, JA.; Soler Escoda, JM.; Arques Sanz, A.; Martire, DO.; González, MC. (2013). Chloride anion effect on the advanced oxidation processes of methidathion and dimethoate: role of Cl2(center dot-) radical. Water Research. 47(1):351-362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.10.018S35136247

Deux méthodes de comparaison d'images pour l'identification d'objets à partir de données prospectives

Cette étude aborde le problème de l'identification d'objets mobiles à partir de données délivrées par un senseur prospectif dont la conception est actuellement en cours. Le but est d'estimer la faisabilité d'une telle identification à l'aide d'outils disponibles à ce jour en reconnaissance des formes. On présente dans ce papier la réalisation complète d'une chaîne de simulation, comprenant à la fois la génération des données (non disponibles) et la mise en place de processus capables de les exploiter dans un but d'identification. Des paramètres variables contrôlent la nature des images (richesse, niveau de bruit) tout au long de la simulation, ceci afin de pouvoir prendre en compte des données de qualité variable

Combining ZVI reduction with photo-Fenton process for the removal of persistent pollutants

An iron-based photochemical process able to act via reductive and oxidative stages by tuning experimental conditions has been explored. In a first step, zero-valent iron (ZVI), added as steel wool, was used to reduce those pollutants reluctant to oxidative processes. Then, the iron released in the solution was employed, upon addition of hydrogen peroxide, to drive a photo-Fenton process. This procedure has been checked with a mixture of five chemicals, namely p-toluenesulfonic acid, benzoic acid, p-nitrobenzoic acid, acetaminophen and caffeic. p-Nitrobenzoic acid resulted to be the most reluctant against oxidation but it was reduced in the absence of H2O2 to form 4-aminobenzoic acid; the presence of salts (e.g. tap water) was required and best results were reached at neutral pH. As p-aminobenzoic acid can be more easily oxidized than p-nitrobenzoic, combination of both stages is meaningful: a ZVI-based reduction followed by a photo-Fenton like-oxidation was employed to remove this pollutant from tested solutions.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Humic-like substances from urban waste as auxiliaries for photo-Fenton treatment: a fluorescence EEM-PARAFAC study

In this work, analysis of excitation-emission-matrices (EEM) has been employed to gain further insight into the characterization of humic like substances (HLS) obtained from urban wastes (soluble bio-organic substances, SBOs). In particular, complexation of these substances with iron and changes along a photo-Fenton process have been studied. Recorded EEMs were decomposed by using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Three fluorescent components were identified by PARAFAC modeling of the entire set of SBO solutions studied. The EEM peak locations (λex/λem) of these components were 310?330 nm/400?420 nm (C1), 340?360 nm/450?500 nm (C2), and 285 nm/335?380 nm (C3). Slight variations of the maximum position of each component with the solution pH were observed. The interaction of SBO with Fe(III) was characterized by determining the stability constants of the components with Fe(III) at different pH values, which were in the order of magnitude of the ones reported for humic substances and reached their highest values at pH = 5. Photochemical experiments employing SBO and Fe(III), with and without H2O2, showed pH-dependent trends for the evolution of the modeled components, which exhibited a strong correlation with the efficiency reported for the photo-Fenton processes in the presence of SBO at different pH values.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Application of soluble bio-organic substances (SBO) as photocatalysts for wastewater treatment: Sensitizing effect and photo-Fenton-like process

Soluble bio-organic substances (SBO) isolated from urban biorefuses have been investigated in photocatalytic processes for wastewater treatment using a cationic dye, namely crystal violet (CV) as target compound. The SBO have been found to enhance the photobleaching of CV solutions with an optimal SBO concentration of ca. 20 mg L-1. Mechanistic investigation based on chemical probes and changes in the absorption spectrum of CV in the presence of SBO seems to indicate that a complex formed between sensitizer and substrate plays a major role in the process. SBO have also been tested for the implementation of photo-Fenton processes at circumneutral media: the observed pseudo first order rate constants for CV decoloration was higher for UV/SBO/Fe(II)/H2O2 (5.5 x 10(-3) min(-1)) than for UV/Fe(II)/H2O2 (1.5 x 10(-3) min(-1)). A modified mechanism, in which HO center dot are less relevant that at the acidic medium, is in agreement with results of experiments carried out with chemical probes. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Gomis Vicens, J.; Vercher Pérez, RF.; Amat Payá, AM.; Martire, DO.; Gonzalez, MC.; Prevot, AB.; Montoneri, E.... (2013). Application of soluble bio-organic substances (SBO) as photocatalysts for wastewater treatment: Sensitizing effect and photo-Fenton-like process. Catalysis Today. 209:176-180. doi:10.1016/j.cattod.2012.08.036S17618020