Understanding the performance of an AnMBR treating urban wastewater and food waste via model simulation and characterization of the microbial population dynamics

[EN] An anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) pilot plant treating kitchen food waste (FW) jointly with urban wastewater was run for 536 days. Different operational conditions were tested varying the sludge retention time (SRT), the hydraulic retention time (HRT) and the penetration factor (PF) of food waste disposers. COD removal efficiency exceeded 90% in all tested conditions. The joint treatment resulted in an almost 3-fold increase in methane production (at 70 days of SRT, 24 h HRT and 80% PF) in comparison with the treatment of urban wastewater only. Mathematical model simulations and Illumina technology were used to obtain in-depth information of this outstanding process performance. Both the PF and SRT factors increased influent biodegradability. The experimental results were accurately reproduced via model simulations modifying only the influent biodegradability. The high SRT and the presence of ground FW in the influent resulted in higher hydrolytic activity. Not only did the Archaea population increase 3-fold but Levilinea genera was also significantly raised. Three new genera characterised by anaerobic fermentation of amino acids (Leptolinea, Aminomonas and Aminobacterium) were among the ten most abundant of the total sequences identified during the joint treatment, indicating an improvement in the hydrolysis step of anaerobic degradation. Influent biodegradability remained at high values when FW addition stopped.This research work has been financially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2012/029 PROJECT), which is gratefully acknowledged.Durán Pinzón, F.; Zamorano -López, N.; Barat, R.; Ferrer, J.; Aguado García, D. (2018). Understanding the performance of an AnMBR treating urban wastewater and food waste via model simulation and characterization of the microbial population dynamics. Process Biochemistry. 67:139-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procbio.2018.02.010S1391466

Uso de ingeniería inversa para hacer frente al malware

Este artículo es producto del proyecto de investigación “Cyber Security Architecture for Incident Management” desarrollado en la Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito en el año 2018.Introducción: La ingeniería inversa permite deconstruir y extraer conocimiento de objetos. El uso de la inge-niería inversa en el análisis de malware es extremadamente útil para comprender las funcionalidades y los propósitos de una muestra sospechosa.Métodos: Este artículo utiliza Radare, la cual es una de las herramientas de código abierto más populares para ingeniería inversa con el objetivo de hacer frente a las amenazas de malware.Resultados: Se presenta un caso de uso relacionado al análisis de malware anti-sandbox, de forma que sea posible analizar el comportamiento de la muestra utilizando una sandbox. Además, se presenta otro caso de uso en el que se desarrolla un análisis en profundidad de una aplicación maliciosa de Android dirigida a la audiencia de un evento popular (Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2018), que permite demostrar la relevancia de las técnicas de ingeniería inversa en las estrategias de protección al usuario final.Conclusiones: Este artículo muestra cómo los resultados de un proceso de ingeniería inversa se pueden inte-grar con reglas Yara, lo que permite detectar malware, y también muestra una alternativa para generar auto-máticamente reglas Yara a través del generador yarGen.Originalidad: El uso de soluciones de ingeniería inversa de código abierto por parte de las agencias de seguri-dad del estado no ha sido discutido anteriormente, lo que hace de este artículo un elemento notable de apoyo hacia la modernización de las fuerzas militares.Limitación: Se comparten diferentes enfoques y perspectivas sobre las limitaciones en el uso de ingeniería inversa por parte de las agencias de seguridad del estado.This paper is a product of the research Project “Cyber Security Architecture for Incident Management” develo-ped in the Colombian School of Engineering Julio Garavito in the year 2018.Introduction: Reverse engineering involves deconstructing and extracting knowledge about objects. The use of reverse engineering in malware analysis is extremely useful in understanding the functionalities and purposes of a suspicious sample.Methods: This paper makes use of Radare which is one of the most popular open source tools for reverse engineering, with the aim of dealing with malware. Results: A use case related to hacking of anti-sandbox malware is presented, in such a way that it is possible to analyze the behavior of the sample using a sandbox. Additionally, another use case is presented, where an in-depth analysis of a malicious Android application aimed to the audience of a popular event (FIFA World Cup 2018) is developed, making it possible to demonstrate the relevance of reverse engineering techniques in end-user protection strategies. Conclusions: This paper shows how the results of a reverse engineering process can be integrated with Yara rules, allowing for the detection of malware on the fly, and it also shows an alternative to automatically gene-rating Yara rules through the yarGen generator. Originality: Use of Open Source reversing solutions by Colombian Law Enforcement Agencies has not been discussed previously, making this paper a notable element toward the modernization of the military forces.Limitation: Different approaches and perspectives about the limitations in the use of reverse engineering by Law Enforcement Agencies are also shared.Este artigo é produto do projeto de pesquisa “Cyber Security Architecture for Incident Management” desenvol-vido na Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería Julio Garavito em 2018.Introdução: a engenharia reversa permite desconstruir e extrair conhecimento de objetos. O uso da engenharia reversa na análise de malware é extremamente útil para compreender as funcionalidades e os propósitos de uma amostra suspeita.Métodos: para isso, utiliza-se Radare, que é uma das ferramentas de código aberto mais populares para en-genharia reversa com o objetivo de enfrentar as ameaças de malware.Resultados: apresenta-se um caso de uso relacionado à análise de malware anti-sandbox, de forma que seja possível analisar o comportamento da amostra utilizando uma sandbox. Além disso, apresenta-se outro caso de uso em que se desenvolve uma análise em profundidade de uma aplicação maliciosa de Android dirigida à audiência de um evento popular (Copa do Mundo da FIFA 2018), que permite demonstrar a relevância das técnicas de engenharia reversa nas estratégias de proteção do usuário final.Conclusões: este artigo mostra como os resultados de um processo de engenharia reversa podem ser integra-dos com regras Yara, o que permite detectar malware, e também mostra uma alternativa para gerar automati-camente regras Yara por meio do gerador yarGen.Originalidade: o uso de soluções de engenharia reversa de código aberto por parte das agências de segurança do Estado não tem sido discutido anteriormente, o que torna este estudo um elemento notável de apoio à modernização das forças militares.Limitação: compartilham-se diferentes abordagens e perspectivas sobre as limitações no uso de engenharia reversa por parte das agências de segurança do Estad

Mechanical connectors to enhance the interfacial debonding of concrete overlays

Concrete bonded whitetoppings and overlays usually fail due to a loss of bond between the layers as a consequence of direct actions (traffic loads) or indirect actions (temperature differences or shrinkage in the layers). These actions generate stresses in the interface that may exceed the strength capacity of the union between layers. This paper proposed an innovative solution for this problem that consisted of placing mechanical connectors in the overlay interfaces to provide them with post-cracking strength and maintaining the monolithic response of the pavement. Three experimental programs on real-scale pavements with two types of mechanical connectors were studied under heavy traffic in terms of structural performance. Findings reveal that this technique might be an excellent solution to the problem of interfacial debonding.The authors would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for the financial support provided by the project “Desarrollo de Mejores Rehabilitaciones Locales en Infraestructuras (MERLIN)” (Subprograma INNPACTO) IPT-2012-0313-370000. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain). The first author also wishes to thank the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the European Social Fund of the European Union for their financial support provided by the FI-DGR grant.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Bond strength of whitetoppings and bonded overlays constructed with self-compacting high-performance concrete

A bonded concrete overlay consists of a concrete layer poured over a deteriorated pavement. Its mechanical performance depends on the quality of the bond between the lower and the uppermost layers. This paper reports an extensive experimental program to evaluate bond strength between Conventional Concrete (CC) and Asphalt Concrete (AC) substrates and Self-Compacting High-Performance Concrete (SCHPC) overlays. In all, 8 interface treatments are tested under Direct Tension, pure shear “LCB”, and compressive Slant Shear tests. The results show that direct pouring of the SCHPC overlay over CC and AC substrates produces similar or higher strengths than the other treatments analyzed.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Thermophilic anaerobic conversion of raw microalgae: Microbial community diversity in high solids retention systems

[EN] The potential of microbial communities for efficient anaerobic conversion of raw microalgae was evaluated in this work. A long-term operated thermophilic digester was fed with three different Organic Loading Rates (OLR) (0.2, 0.3 and 0.4¿g·L¿1·d¿1) reaching 32¿41% biodegradability values. The microbial community analysis revealed a remarkable presence of microorganisms that exhibit high hydrolytic capabilities such as Thermotogae (~44.5%), Firmicutes (~17.6%) and Dictyoglomi, Aminicenantes, Atribacteria and Planctomycetes (below ~5.5%) phyla. The suggested metabolic role of these phyla highlights the importance of protein hydrolysis and fermentation when only degrading microalgae. The ecological analysis of the reactor suggests the implication of the novel group EM3 in fermentation and beta-oxidation pathways during microalgae conversion into methane. Scenedesmus spp. substrate and free ammonia concentration strongly shaped thermophilic reactor microbial structure. Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) remarked the resilient role of minor groups related to Thermogutta, Armatimonadetes and Ruminococcaceae against a potential inhibitor like free ammonia. Towards low-cost biogas production from microalgae, this study reveals valuable information about thermophilic microorganisms that can strongly disrupt microalgae and remain in high solids retention anaerobic digesters.This research work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Project CTM2011-28595-C02-02) jointly with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which are gratefully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to Fernando Fdz-Polanco research team (University of Valladolid, Spain) for providing the thermophilic sludge from their pilot plant to inoculate the bioreactor and Llúcia Martínez and Giusseppe D'Aria from FISABIO sequencing service (Valencia, Spain) for their technical support during the Illumina sequencing design.Zamorano-López, N.; Greses-Huerta, S.; Aguado García, D.; Seco Torrecillas, A.; Borrás Falomir, L. (2019). Thermophilic anaerobic conversion of raw microalgae: Microbial community diversity in high solids retention systems. Algal Research. 41:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.algal.2019.101533S194

Revistas académicas de arte en bases de datos bibliográficas: disponibilidad en acceso abierto y en bibliotecas de tres instituciones mexicanas

Objetivo: Identificar la presencia de las revistas académicas de arte en las principales bases de datos bibliográficas (WoS y Scopus a nivel internacional, así como Latindex, Scielo y Re- dalyc en el ámbito Iberoamericano). Método: Se describe la participación de los títulos vigentes en 2011 por país, idioma y ámbito temático. En el caso de las revistas registradas en el Arts & Humanities Citation Index –a&hci, Thomson Reuters isi– se identificó su tipo de acceso (abierto o por suscrip- ción), así como su disponibilidad en tres bibliotecas de ins- tituciones mexicanas vinculadas a las disciplinas artísticas: la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (unam), el Centro Nacional de las Artes (cna) y la Universidad Autó- noma del Estado de México (uaem). Resultados: No se re- gistra ninguna revista latinoamericana de arte en el a&hci, su disponibilidad en acceso abierto es limitada (11.3%), así como también su disponibilidad en las bibliotecas analiza- das, con una variación del 20 al 6% en los casos analizado

Acclimatised rumen culture for raw microalgae conversion into biogas: Linking microbial community structure and operational parameters in anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR)

[EN] Ruminal fluid was inoculated in an Anaerobic Membrane Reactor (AnMBR) to produce biogas from raw Scenedesmus. This work explores the microbial ecology of the system during stable operation at different solids retention times (SRT). The 16S rRNA amplicon analysis revealed that the acclimatised community was mainly composed of Anaerolineaceae, Spirochaetaceae, Lentimicrobiaceae and Cloacimonetes fermentative and hydrolytic members. During the highest biodegradability achieved in the AnMBR (62%) the dominant microorganisms were Fervidobacterium and Methanosaeta. Different microbial community clusters were observed at different SRT conditions. Interestingly, syntrophic bacteria Gelria and Smithella were enhanced after increasing 2-fold the organic loading rate, suggesting their importance in continuous systems producing biogas from raw microalgae.This research work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Projects CTM2011-28595-C02-01 and CTM2011-28595-C02-02), which is gratefully acknowledged. The Education, Investigation, Culture and sports Council from the Valencian Generality for the Post-Doctoral fellowship of the third co-author is also acknowledged (APOSTD/2016/104). The authors are thankful to Ion Pérez Baena from the Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Institut de Ciència I Tecnología Animal for gently providing the ruminal fluid use in this work.Zamorano-López, N.; Borrás Falomir, L.; Giménez, JB.; Seco Torrecillas, A.; Aguado García, D. (2019). Acclimatised rumen culture for raw microalgae conversion into biogas: Linking microbial community structure and operational parameters in anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR). Bioresource Technology. 290:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121787S1929

Effect of long residence time and high temperature over anaerobic biodegradation of Scenedesmus microalgae grown in wastewater

[EN] Anaerobic digestion of indigenous Scenedesmus spp. microalgae was studied in continuous lab-scale anaerobic reactors at different temperatures (35 degrees C and 55 degrees C), and sludge retention time - SRT (50 and 70 days). Mesophilic digestion was performed in a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) and in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). Mesophilic CSTR operated at 50 days SRT only achieved 11.9% of anaerobic biodegradability whereas in the AnMBR at 70 days SRT and 50 days HRT reached 39.5%, which is even higher than the biodegradability achieved in the thermophilic CSTR at 50 days SRT (30.4%). Microbial analysis revealed a high abundance of cellulose-degraders in both reactors, AnMBR (mainly composed of 9.4% Bacteroidetes, 10.1% Chloroflexi, 8.0% Firmicutes and 13.2% Thermotogae) and thermophilic CSTR (dominated by 23.8% Chloroflexi and 12.9% Firmicutes). However, higher microbial diversity was found in the AnMBR compared to the thermophilic CSTR which is related to the SRT. since high SRT promoted low growth-rate microorganisms, increasing the hydrolytic potential of the system. These results present the membrane technology as a promising approach to revalue microalgal biomass, suggesting that microalgae biodegradability and consequently the methane production could be improved operating at higher SRT. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This research work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Project CTM2011-28595-C02-01/02) jointly with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), which are gratefully acknowledged. The authors are thankful to Fernando Fernandez-Polanco for providing the thermophilic sludge to inoculate the reactor.This research work has been financially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2012/029 PROJECT), which is gratefully acknowledged.Greses-Huerta, S.; Zamorano -López, N.; Borrás Falomir, L.; Ferrer, J.; Seco Torrecillas, A.; Aguado García, D. (2018). Effect of long residence time and high temperature over anaerobic biodegradation of Scenedesmus microalgae grown in wastewater. Journal of Environmental Management. 218:425-434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.04.086S42543421

Assessment of fibre content and 3D profile in cylindrical SFRC specimens

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1617/s11527-014-0521-2The inductive method from Torrents et al. (Mater Struct 45(10):1577–1592, 2012, 1) is used to assess the fibre content and orientation in steel fibre reinforced concrete. Despite several advantages, the method presents limitations. On one hand, it was conceived for cubic specimens, which complicates its application in existing structures given the difficulty to obtain cubic cores. On the other hand, it only shows the fibre orientation in the three axes perpendicular to the faces of the specimen, being impossible to derive the orientation in other directions with these results. Moreover, it only gives average values without providing any information on the scatter or probabilistic distribution of the fibre orientation—a parameter that may be essential to for design and to explain differences in the behaviour of concretes apparently with the same average fibre distribution. The objective of this paper is to propose an assessment of the fibre content and orientation profile using the inductive method and cylindrical specimens. First, a modification of the method is proposed. Then, new equations are deducted to generalize the test to samples with different shapes and to assess the anisotropy level as well as the directions with the maximum and the minimum fibre contribution. An extensive experimental program and FEM simulations are performed to validate and determine the accuracy of the formulation developed. The results show that the execution of only one additional measurement per specimen is enough to determine the fibre probabilistic profile in all in-plane directions with a high accuracy.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Influence of Food Waste addition over microbial communities in an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor plant treating urban wastewater

[EN] Notorious changes in microbial communities were observed during and after the joint treatment of wastewater with Food Waste (FW) in an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) plant. The microbial population was analysed by high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and dominance of Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, Synergistetes and Proteobacteria phyla was found. The relative abundance of these potential hydrolytic phyla increased as a higher fraction of FW was jointly treated. Moreover, whereas Specific Methanogenic Activity (SMA) rose from 10 to 51 mL CH4 g(-1) VS, Methanosarcinales order increased from 34.0% over 80.0% of total Archaea, being Methanosaeta the dominant genus. The effect of FW over AnMBR biomass was observed during the whole experience, as methane production rose from 49.2 to 144.5 L CH4 . kg(-1) influent COD. Furthermore, biomethanization potential was increased over 82% after the experience. AnMBR technology allows the established microbial community to remain in the bioreactor even after the addition of FW, improving the anaerobic digestion of urban wastewater. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This research work has been financially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2012/029 PROJECT), which is gratefully acknowledged.Zamorano -López, N.; Moñino Amoros, P.; Borrás Falomir, L.; Aguado García, D.; Barat, R.; Ferrer, J.; Seco Torrecillas, A. (2018). Influence of Food Waste addition over microbial communities in an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor plant treating urban wastewater. Journal of Environmental Management. 217:788-796. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.04.018S78879621