DEVELOPING ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF FEEDSTOCKS FOR INDUSTRIAL HYDROCARBONS: OPTIMISATION OF BIOMASS AND STRESS-INDUCED LIPID PRODUCTION IN Synechocystis SR

Hydrocarbons from fossil fuels play a key role in supporting diverse socio-economic activities and growth of the global economy. Principally, hydrocarbons are used as fuels for energy generation and as raw materials for manufacturing products of high economic value, such as lubricants, packaging material, and agrochemicals. Due to greenhouse gas emissions associated with use of fossil fuel products, alternative sources of feedstocks to manufacture industrial hydrocarbons are highly sought after. This project explored the utility of a newly discovered cyanobacterial strain (Synechocystis SR) as a source of lipids for industrial applications. In experiments to optimise biomass production, a two-stage system sequencing 5 days of high light (150 μmol.m-2.s-1) followed by 2 days of low light (75 μmol.m-2.s-1) incubation of cyanobacterial cultures produced the best growth results. Because lipid production in cyanobacteria is activated by stress, the impact of NaCl and the mycotoxin fumonisin B1 (FB1) on growth was evaluated. FB1 exhibited no growth inhibitory activity against neither Synechocystis SR nor the control strain Synechocystis PCC 6803. However, salinity stress imposed by NaCl had a disproportionately higher impact on the growth of Synechocystis PCC 6803 than Synechocystis SR. The effects of salinity on cyanobacterial growth were dependent on light, with high light totally inhibiting growth while low light incubation followed by high light enabled the cultures to acclimate and survive the stress. Salinity stress activated expression of all the fatty acid biosynthetic pathway genes, with Synechocystis SR showing higher gene expression than Synechocystis PCC 6803. The activation in gene expression led to a two-fold increase in total lipid accumulation in Synechocystis SR. Even though there was an increase in the amount of total lipid, the profile of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) remained unchanged. FAMEs extracted from Synechocystis SR could be used as an industrial feedstock for production of diverse industrial hydrocarbon products

Disfunción familiar como factor de riesgo para depresión en el puerperio inmediato en el hospital Belén de Trujillo

Evaluar si la disfunción familiar es un factor de riesgo para depresión en epuerperio inmediato en el Hospital Belén de Trujillo. Material y métodos: Se llevó a cabo un estudio tipo analítico, observacional, prospectivo, de casos y controles en el Hospital Belén de Trujillo durante el período Enero – Febrero 2016, evaluando 90 puérperas quienes respondieron la Escala deDepresión Postnatal de Edimburgo para determinar su condición de caso o control paraluego ser divididas en dos grupos de 45: Grupo casos (mujeres con depresión postpartoy Grupo controles (mujeres sin depresión postparto) y se cuantificó la disfuncionalidad familiar con el cuestionario de APGAR familiar en ambos grupos. Resulltados: Del total de puérperas, 57 presentaron disfunción familiar de las cuales: e70,2% pertenece al grupo con depresión puerperal (OR= 13,176; IC al 95%= 4,35-39,89 y un valor de p<0,001) y el 29,8% al grupo sin depresión. De las 33 pacientes sindisfunción familiar, sólo el 15,2% presentaron depresión. Así mismo, del total depuérperas con disfunción leve, el 75% pertenece al grupo con depresión puerperal. Degrupo con disfunción moderada, el 66,7% tuvo depresión, mientras que aquellas con disfunción severa, el 63,6% presentó depresión. Se concluyó que la disfunción familiaes un factor de riesgo para depresión en el puerperio inmediato en el Hospital Belén deTrujillo. La edad materna, edad gestacional, paridad y el destino del recién nacido nomostraron asociación significativa con el riesgo de depresión puerperal. Conclusiones: La disfunción familiar es un factor de riesgo para depresión en epuerperio inmediato en el Hospital Belén de Trujillo. No existen diferenciassignificativas en relación a la edad materna, edad gestacional, destino del recién nacido yparidad en las puérperas de ambos grupos de estudio.To evaluate whether familiar dysfunction is a risk factor for depression in the immediate puerperium period at the Belen’s Hospital of Tujillo. Material and methods: Was conduced an analytic, observational, prospective, casecontrol study at the Belen’s Hospital of Tujillo during the period January-February 2016 evaluating 90 puerperium women which answered Scale Edinburgh Postnatal Depression to determine its case or control status before being divided in two groups of 45: Cases group (women with postpartum depression) and controls group (women without postpartum depression) and family dysfunction was quantified with the APGAR family questionnaire in both groups. Results: Of all postpartum women, 57 have family dysfunction of which: 70.2% belongs to the group with postpartum depression and 29.8% to the group without depression. Of the 33 patients without family dysfunction, only 15.2% had depression. Also, of all postpartum women with mild dysfunction, 75% belongs to the group with postpartum depression. The group with moderate dysfunction, 66.7% had depression, while those with severe dysfunction, 63.6% had depression. It was concluded that family dysfunction is a risk factor for depression in the immediate postpartum period at the Belen’s Hospital of Tujillo. Maternal age, gestational age, parity and the fate of the newborn showed no significant association with the risk of postpartum depression. Conclusions: The familiar disfunction is a risk factor for depression in the immediate puerperium period at the Belen’s Hospital of Tujillo. There aren’t significant differences in maternal age, gestational age, fate of the newborn and parity in postpartum women in both study groups

Ecophysiological performance and life cycle strategies of North Sea shrimps

The high level of digestive enzyme polymorphism in C. crangon specimens seems to be an important feature for their biological success in the North Sea. This pronounced polymorphism has different impacts on the metabolism of North Sea shrimps. On the one hand, it affects the sequence of proteins necessary for the accumulation of lipids. This change in the sequence of specific proteins is a challenge to the metabolism of C. crangon, because it results in a limited lipid storage capacity. Lipid storage is important to overcome periods of food paucity and to fuel reproduction. However, in C. crangon the midgut gland does not function as principal energy depot. Instead, the midgut gland serves as a dynamic metabolic center that directly provides dietary energy necessary for diverse biological processes including reproduction. This metabolic center seems to be supported by the expression of digestive enzyme isoforms

“Produccion de quinua en Sudamerica periodo 2010-2016”

El objetivo principal de esta investigación es determinar la evolución de la producción de quinua en Sudamérica en el periodo 2010-2016, asimismo describir la cifra exacta de cada país productor de quinua como lo es: Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia y Argentina, como también obtener una realidad problemática la cual se refiere a la expansión de quinua en el mundo, como así también la falta de tecnología para el desarrollo de la producción de quinua. Esta investigación está dividida por tres indicadores: área de cosecha, Volumen de producción y rendimiento de producción, la cual los datos obtenidos de cada país es principalmente de FAO y el ministerio de agricultura de cada país. Como así también se investigó que los mayores productores de quinua en el mundo es Perú con la región de mayor producción Puno y Bolivia como Potosí. En el momento de la siembra de este cultivo hay dos formas la cual el agricultor la puede ejercer la primera manual que no requiere de gastos en máquinas y posee menor rendimiento y la otra que es mecanizada, en esta se utiliza máquinas para el recojo del sembrío, secado del grano la cual genera una inversión, por ende el 80% de agricultores prefieren el manual, sea por falta de conocimiento o inversión lo utilizan, de la misma manera es menor el rendimiento de la producción de quinua

Herramientas tecnológicas en el pensamiento creativo de estudiantes de enfermería en una universidad particular de Cusco, 2022

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo determinar la influencia de las herramientas tecnológicas en el pensamiento creativo en las aulas virtuales universitarias, el enfoque fue cuantitativo de diseño cuasiexperimental, de tipo aplicada, se utilizó el método hipotético deductivo. Además, se realizó el análisis de estadística inferencial donde los datos obtenidos no tuvieron una distribución normal por lo tanto es una prueba no paramétrica, donde se aplicó la U de Mann Whitney, la muestra comprende 75 estudiantes en el grupo control y 75 en el grupo experimental. Se utilizó la técnica de la encuesta con 20 ítems para las cuatro variables pensamiento creativo. En los resultados, se identifica que las clases virtuales con el uso de herramientas tecnológicas desarrollan el pensamiento creativo en los estudiantes de una universidad, siendo una educación de calidad. La r de Rosenthal muestra que para el grupo control entre el pre test y post test se obtiene un tamaño del efecto pequeño (0.09), mientras que para el grupo experimental la ganancia obtenida entre el pre y post test es grande pues alcanza el valor de 0.84 para el coeficiente de Rosenthal que mide el tamaño del efecto de la variable independiente sobre la dependiente

The application of human factors in wake vortex encounter flight simulations for the reduction of flight upset risk and startle response

The current top safety risk concern for commercial air travel in Europe is known as “Flight Upset”. This term, also known as “Loss of Control in Flight”, entails the flight crew suddenly finding themselves in an unexpected, complex, and even confusing situation that if not resolved quickly can lead to a major accident. Accidents such as AF447 and the two B737 Max accidents fall into this category. An undesirable aspect of such events is known as the “startle response”, wherein one or both flight crew, finding themselves in dire and dangerous conditions, may experience ‘startle’, which temporarily affects their cognitive functioning. This may only last half a minute, but its effect can have a severe impact on the survivability of such events. A Horizon 2020 research project called SAFEMODE, which aims to integrate Human Factors techniques into a unified framework for designers in aviation and maritime domains, is exploring the use of state-of-the-art flight simulation facilities to measure pilot performance in severe wake turbulence events, which can induce the startle effect. This is part of a broader use case within SAFEMODE to validate the design of a new Wake Vortex Air Traffic Alert for the Cruise phase of flight. A tactical short-term alert to the Flight Crew, ahead of the wake encounter, is seen as beneficial to reduce the startle effect and support the appropriate management of these conflicts. The envisaged risk-alerting logic relies on a ground-based predictor, connected to the Air Traffic Control system, displaying an alert to the En-route Air Traffic Controllers, who can then provide a cautionary advisory to the Flight Crew so they can take appropriate actions.The cockpit flight simulations involve type-rated flight crews in realistic and representative cruise flight conditions, using a Type VI Boeing 737-800 full flight motion-based simulator (also used for Upset Prevention and Recovery training programs). During the simulation runs, pilots are exposed to simulated wake vortex encounters, corresponding to a strong wake-induced upset (between 30 and 40 degrees of bank), with or without prior ATC wake caution, and varying the initial direction of roll between left and right to limit the simulation training effect.Human Factors measurements include workload, situation awareness, trust, acceptability-based user feedback, as well as psychophysiological measures such as eye-tracking and Electro-Dermal Activity (EDA). In particular, eye-tracking is expected to support the refined determination of the sequence of actions before and after detection, and the reaction of flight crews to the en-route ATC Wake alert.A cockpit flight simulation, via combining the analyses of psychophysiological measures, flight parameters, expert observations and subjective pilot feedback, enables evaluation of Flight Crews performance in preparing for, managing or avoiding wake encounter upsets with the new ATC wake alerts, showing the net safety benefits. Early results indicate that the simulations can indeed induce startle effect, and that repeated exposure enables flight crew to overcome it and manage the situation in a more measured and controlled fashion