Bioenergy on islands: An environmental comparison of continental palm oil vs. local waste cooking oil for electricity generation

Producción CientíficaEnergy security on islands is a challenging issue due to their isolation from energy markets and fossil fuel dependence. In addition, islands’ average energy intensity has increased in recent years due to economic development. This research explores the environmental performance of two alternative non-variable bioelectricity feedstocks to increase energy resilience on islands. The study was developed for the Galápagos islands to address the environmental impacts from the direct use of waste cooking oil (WCO) and refined palm oil (RPO) to produce 1 MWh using the life cycle assessment methodological framework. A combination of primary and secondary data sources was used. The results show better performance for the electricity derived from WCO in all the impact categories considered when compared to RP

Classical generalized constant coupling model for geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets

A generalized constant coupling approximation for classical geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets is presented. Starting from a frustrated unit we introduce the interactions with the surrounding units in terms of an internal effective field which is fixed by a self consistency condition. Results for the magnetic susceptibility and specific heat are compared with Monte Carlo data for the classical Heisenberg model for the pyrochlore and kagome lattices. The predictions for the susceptibility are found to be essentially exact, and the corresponding predictions for the specific heat are found to be in very good agreement with the Monte Carlo results.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 2 columns. Discussion about the zero T value of the pyrochlore specific heat correcte

Critical behavior of 2 and 3 dimensional ferro- and antiferromagnetic spin ice systems in the framework of the Effective Field Renormalization Group technique

In this work we generalize and subsequently apply the Effective Field Renormalization Group technique to the problem of ferro- and antiferromagnetically coupled Ising spins with local anisotropy axes in geometrically frustrated geometries (kagome and pyrochlore lattices). In this framework, we calculate the various ground states of these systems and the corresponding critical points. Excellent agreement is found with exact and Monte Carlo results. The effects of frustration are discussed. As pointed out by other authors, it turns out that the spin ice model can be exactly mapped to the standard Ising model but with effective interactions of the opposite sign to those in the original Hamiltonian. Therefore, the ferromagnetic spin ice is frustrated, and does not order. Antiferromagnetic spin ice (in both 2 and 3 dimensions), is found to undergo a transition to a long range ordered state. The thermal and magnetic critical exponents for this transition are calculated. It is found that the thermal exponent is that of the Ising universality class, whereas the magnetic critical exponent is different, as expected from the fact that the Zeeman term has a different symmetry in these systems. In addition, the recently introduced Generalized Constant Coupling method is also applied to the calculation of the critical points and ground state configurations. Again, a very good agreement is found with both exact, Monte Carlo, and renormalization group calculations for the critical points. Incidentally, we show that the generalized constant coupling approach can be regarded as the lowest order limit of the EFRG technique, in which correlations outside a frustrated unit are neglected, and scaling is substituted by strict equality of the thermodynamic quantities.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, RevTeX 4 Some minor changes in the conclussions. One reference adde

Incorporation of Eye-Tracking and Gaze Feedback to Characterize and Improve Radiologist Search Patterns of Chest X-rays: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Diagnostic errors in radiology often occur due to incomplete visual assessments by radiologists, despite their knowledge of predicting disease classes. This insufficiency is possibly linked to the absence of required training in search patterns. Additionally, radiologists lack consistent feedback on their visual search patterns, relying on ad-hoc strategies and peer input to minimize errors and enhance efficiency, leading to suboptimal patterns and potential false negatives. This study aimed to use eye-tracking technology to analyze radiologist search patterns, quantify performance using established metrics, and assess the impact of an automated feedback-driven educational framework on detection accuracy. Ten residents participated in a controlled trial focused on detecting suspicious pulmonary nodules. They were divided into an intervention group (received automated feedback) and a control group. Results showed that the intervention group exhibited a 38.89% absolute improvement in detecting suspicious-for-cancer nodules, surpassing the control group's improvement (5.56%, p-value=0.006). Improvement was more rapid over the four training sessions (p-value=0.0001). However, other metrics such as speed, search pattern heterogeneity, distractions, and coverage did not show significant changes. In conclusion, implementing an automated feedback-driven educational framework improved radiologist accuracy in detecting suspicious nodules. The study underscores the potential of such systems in enhancing diagnostic performance and reducing errors. Further research and broader implementation are needed to consolidate these promising results and develop effective training strategies for radiologists, ultimately benefiting patient outcomes.Comment: Submitted for Review in the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR

The Digital Life of Walkable Streets

Walkability has many health, environmental, and economic benefits. That is why web and mobile services have been offering ways of computing walkability scores of individual street segments. Those scores are generally computed from survey data and manual counting (of even trees). However, that is costly, owing to the high time, effort, and financial costs. To partly automate the computation of those scores, we explore the possibility of using the social media data of Flickr and Foursquare to automatically identify safe and walkable streets. We find that unsafe streets tend to be photographed during the day, while walkable streets are tagged with walkability-related keywords. These results open up practical opportunities (for, e.g., room booking services, urban route recommenders, and real-estate sites) and have theoretical implications for researchers who might resort to the use social media data to tackle previously unanswered questions in the area of walkability.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Proceedings of International World Wide Web Conference (WWW 2015

Effects of site dilution on the magnetic properties of geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets

The effect of site dilution by non magnetic impurities on the susceptibility of geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets (kagome and pyrochlore lattices) is discussed in the framework of the Generalized Constant Coupling model, for both classical and quantum Heisenberg spins. For the classical diluted pyrochlore lattice, excellent agreement is found when compared with Monte Carlo data. Results for the quantum case are also presented and discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Root ABA and H+-ATPase are key players in the root and shoot growth-promoting action of humic acids

Although the ability of humic (HA) and fulvic acids (FA) to improve plant growth has been demonstrated, knowledge about the mechanisms responsible for the direct effects of HA and FA on the promotion of plant growth is scarce and fragmentary. Our study investigated the causal role of both root PM H+-ATPase activity and ABA in the SHA-promoting action on both root and shoot growth. The involvement of these processes in the regulation of shoot cytokinin concentration and activity was also studied. Our aim was to integrate such plant responses for providing new insights to the current model on the mode of action of HA for promoting root and shoot growth. Experiments employing specific inhibitors and using Cucumis sativus L. plants show that both the root PM H+-ATPase activity and root ABA play a crucial role in the root growth-promoting action of SHA. With regard to the HA-promoting effects on shoot growth, two pathways of events triggered by the interaction of SHA with plant roots are essential for the increase in root PM H+-ATPase activity-which also mediates an increase in cytokinin concentration and action in the shoot-and the ABA-mediated increase in hydraulic conductivity (Lp(r))

GATA2 Promotes Hematopoietic Development and Represses Cardiac Differentiation of Human Mesoderm.

In vertebrates, GATA2 is a master regulator of hematopoiesis and is expressed throughout embryo development and in adult life. Although the essential role of GATA2 in mouse hematopoiesis is well established, its involvement during early human hematopoietic development is not clear. By combining time-controlled overexpression of GATA2 with genetic knockout experiments, we found that GATA2, at the mesoderm specification stage, promotes the generation of hemogenic endothelial progenitors and their further differentiation to hematopoietic progenitor cells, and negatively regulates cardiac differentiation. Surprisingly, genome-wide transcriptional and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that GATA2 bound to regulatory regions, and repressed the expression of cardiac development-related genes. Moreover, genes important for hematopoietic differentiation were upregulated by GATA2 in a mostly indirect manner. Collectively, our data reveal a hitherto unrecognized role of GATA2 as a repressor of cardiac fates, and highlight the importance of coordinating the specification and repression of alternative cell fates.Ramón y Cajal Program, Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness, Spanish Cancer Association, FERO, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, European Social Fund, MINECO, PERIS Program of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Obra Social la Caixa-Fundacion Josep Carreras, Spanish Institute of Health Carlos III, Wellcome Trust, MRC, CRUK, NIH-NIDD

Aurora kinase A drives the evolution of resistance to third-generation EGFR inhibitors in lung cancer.

Although targeted therapies often elicit profound initial patient responses, these effects are transient due to residual disease leading to acquired resistance. How tumors transition between drug responsiveness, tolerance and resistance, especially in the absence of preexisting subclones, remains unclear. In epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-mutant lung adenocarcinoma cells, we demonstrate that residual disease and acquired resistance in response to EGFR inhibitors requires Aurora kinase A (AURKA) activity. Nongenetic resistance through the activation of AURKA by its coactivator TPX2 emerges in response to chronic EGFR inhibition where it mitigates drug-induced apoptosis. Aurora kinase inhibitors suppress this adaptive survival program, increasing the magnitude and duration of EGFR inhibitor response in preclinical models. Treatment-induced activation of AURKA is associated with resistance to EGFR inhibitors in vitro, in vivo and in most individuals with EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma. These findings delineate a molecular path whereby drug resistance emerges from drug-tolerant cells and unveils a synthetic lethal strategy for enhancing responses to EGFR inhibitors by suppressing AURKA-driven residual disease and acquired resistance