Mapping Chestnut Stands Using Bi-Temporal VHR Data

This study analyzes the potential of very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing images and extended morphological profiles for mapping Chestnut stands on Tenerife Island (Canary Islands, Spain). Regarding their relevance for ecosystem services in the region (cultural and provisioning services) the public sector demand up-to-date information on chestnut and a simple straight-forward approach is presented in this study. We used two VHR WorldView images (March and May 2015) to cover different phenological phases. Moreover, we included spatial information in the classification process by extended morphological profiles (EMPs). Random forest is used for the classification process and we analyzed the impact of the bi-temporal information as well as of the spatial information on the classification accuracies. The detailed accuracy assessment clearly reveals the benefit of bi-temporal VHR WorldView images and spatial information, derived by EMPs, in terms of the mapping accuracy. The bi-temporal classification outperforms or at least performs equally well when compared to the classification accuracies achieved by the mono-temporal data. The inclusion of spatial information by EMPs further increases the classification accuracy by 5% and reduces the quantity and allocation disagreements on the final map. Overall the new proposed classification strategy proves useful for mapping chestnut stands in a heterogeneous and complex landscape, such as the municipality of La Orotava, Tenerife

Formulation and preparation of water-In-oil-In-water emulsions loaded with a phenolic-rich Inner aqueous phase by application of high energy emulsification methods

Currently, industry is requesting proven techniques that allow the use of encapsulated polyphenols, rather than free molecules, to improve their stability and bioavailability. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied in this work to determine the optimal composition and operating conditions for preparation of water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) emulsions loaded with phenolic rich inner aqueous phase from olive mill wastewater. A rotor-stator mixer, an ultrasonic homogenizer and a microfluidizer processor were tested in this study as high-energy emulsification methods. Optimum results were obtained by means of microfluidizer with 148 MPa and seven cycles input levels yielding droplets of 105.3 3.2 nm in average size and 0.233 0.020 of polydispersity index. -potential, chemical and physical stability of the optimal W/O/W emulsion were also evaluated after storage. No droplet size growth or changes in stability and -potential were observed. Furthermore, a satisfactory level of phenolics retention (68.6%) and antioxidant activity (89.5%) after 35 days of storage at room temperature makes it suitable for application in the food industry.Junta de Castilla y León (JCyL) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through grant number BU301P18

Separation of sodium lactate from Span 80 and SDS surfactants by ultrafiltration

The ultrafiltration process for separation of sodium lactate from sorbitan monooleate (Span 80) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) surfactants using ZrO2 flat-disc ultrafiltration membranes was studied in this work. The study is focused on the influence of the nominal molecular weight limit of the membrane (NMWL), the transmembrane pressure (TMP), and initial lactic acid concentration (CA) on the permeate flux (Jp) and rejections observed to ion lactate (RA) and SDS (RS) using a full central composite experimental design and response surface methodology. Experiments were conducted in four stages: a first stage of lactic acid extraction with niosomes formulated with Span 80 (20 mol/m3) and SDS (4 mol/m3), a second back-extraction stage conducted by NaOH addition until pH > 12 for niosomes breaking and sodium lactate releasing, and a third and fourth ultrafiltration stages at 25 C to separate the lactate ions from the mixed surfactants. Membrane NMWL, TMP and their interactions presented statistically significant influence on the permeate flux. Rejections to lactate ion and SDS were lower than 4.5% and higher than 86%, respectively, whereas Span 80 rejection was 100% in all range of experimental conditions tested. The optimal conditions were established for maximum values of permeate flux, and they were obtained for a 2 bar TMP and 15 kDa NMWL membrane. Under these conditions, the rejections of SDS surfactant and lactate ion were 87.3% and 4.31%, respectively, with a permeate flux of 42.63 L/m2 h. The antagonistic effect between permeate flux and SDS rejection is also proved.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, Spain) through project CTQ2011-25239, and from Junta de Castilla y León through project BU055U16 cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDFFEDER) is gratefully acknowledge

Laboratory Experiment on Emulsions: Study of the Effect of Osmotic Pressure on Double Emulsions Preparation

Double emulsions are ternary systems commonly used in several disciplines in areas such as food technology, applied chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, pharmacology and environmental science. In several courses related to these areas, the implementation of laboratory experiment is required to strengthen the knowledge acquired by students during the theoretical lessons. However, it is difficult to find published practical experiments in this field. This work presents a four-hour hands-on laboratory experiment in which students can easily formulate and prepare waterin-oil-in-water double emulsions for vitamin B12 encapsulation. In this experiment, students can analyze the effect of the osmotic pressure produced by the addition of different NaCl concentrations in each aqueous phase, which could lead to the swelling and deswelling phenomena of the inner aqueous droplets and, therefore, affect the encapsulation efficiency of the formulated systems. The double emulsions are analyzed by the students in terms of size and encapsulation efficienc

Extraction and recovery of phenolic compounds from olive leaves

Póster presentado en: 9º congreso Internacional de Química de la ANQUE. Alimentos y bebidas, 17 a 20 de junio de 2018, MurciaThere is currently a great interest on the use of the residual biomass originated from the agricultural and food sectors as a bioresource instead as a waste, due to its high potential for the recovery of high added-value compounds. Olive leaves, an olive oil processing residue, contain high amounts of phenolic compounds with health-promoting properties, such as oleuropein, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol. These compounds can be extracted from olive leaves to be added later in processed foods and thus increase their healthy properties. In this work, the recovery of phenolic compounds present in previously ground olive leaves (size less than 1 mm) was carried out by solid-liquid extraction using several solvents (hexane, ethanol, methanol and ethyl acetate). The olive leaves used were kindly provided by the cooperative "Pagos de Benaval" from olive trees of the variety "Serrana de Espadán", endemic of the Sierra de Espadán natural park (Castellón, Spain). The total phenolic content (TPC) in extracts was determined according to the Folin- Ciocalteau method. Olive leaf extract profile and quantitative determination of oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol were performed in an HPLC-DAD system, and also in a LC-MS system. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was determined by the DPPH and ABTS assays. The best results, with a high antioxidant activity and also a high oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol content in the extracts, were obtained when ethanol and methanol were used as solvents. Finally, a central composite design was performed to determine the effect of three factors (extraction temperature (25-40 ºC), solvent volumeleaf mass ratio (5-15 mL/g) and alcohol-to-water ratio (50-90 vol. %)) on TPC, antioxidant activity, and oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol content in the extracts, in order to optimize the extraction process.Junta de Castilla y León and the European Regional Development Fund through project BU055U1

Propuesta de una plataforma web para aplicar técnicas de visualización en didáctica de la Geografía

En esta comunicación se destaca el potencial pedagógico de las TICs en la enseñanza de los contenidos sobre la estructura y dinámica de la población. Las técnicas de visualización de datos cobran especial interés debido a su auge en numerosas disciplinas científicas. A pesar de los beneficios que pueden aportar, el uso de estas tecnologías no se ha generalizado tanto como sería esperable. Esta escasa adopción por parte de los docentes en Ciencias Sociales está relacionada con la complejidad de las herramientas y la ausencia de interfaces de usuario intuitivos. En esta comunicación se han diseñado herramientas que solucionen estos problemas

Pectin methylesterase inactivation by High Pressure Carbon Dioxide (HPCD)

In the present work the effect of High Pressure Carbon Dioxide (HPCD) on the activity and structure of a commercial pectin methylesterase (PME) was studied and the results were compared to the conventional thermal inactivation technology. The use of supercritical CO2 (pressure 6–18 MPa, temperature 40–55 °C and time up to 75 min) increased dramatically the PME inactivation rate. The experimental data fitted the first order model and the inactivation kinetic study of PME was completed with the calculations of the activation energy and volume of activation. HPCD treatment induced important changes in the tertiary structure of the enzyme, as revealed the intrinsic fluorescence, KI quenching and ANS binding analyses. They showed that HPCD treatment rearranged the structure of the enzyme. These changes induced by HPCD were significantly different from those induced by mild thermal treatment. Finally, the structural changes detected correlated with the enzyme activity losses observed.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for financial support of project CTQ2015-64396-R and A.E. Illera’s contract. To Junta de Castilla y León and ERDF for financial support of project BU055U16 and O. Benito-Román’s Post-doctoral contract. To Spanish M

Un software FOSS para la gestión de las fotografías obtenidas por fototrampeo

La constante innovación tecnológica y al abaratamiento de los dispositivos, han hecho que el fototrampeo se convierta en una técnica ampliamente utilizada para la realización de inventarios biológicos, generando gran cantidad de registros de alto interés ecológico. El principal objetivo de esta comunicación es presentar una herramienta de software libre (FOSS), desarrollada para facilitar el manejo de datos, obtenidos mediante fototrampeo en un espacio protegido de la Comunidad Valenciana. Así, a partir de un estudio iniciado en 2009, se ha analizado la composición de la comunidad de vertebrados en el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Mariola. Para la realización de los muestreos se han empleado cámaras de infrarrojos con sensor de movimiento (Moultrie Game Spy I-60®), obteniendo un total de 29,941 contactos que han servido para determinar la abundancia de las especies muestreadas en las 63 cuadrículas (2*2 Km) establecidas en la zona de estudio. La aplicación FOSS, denominada “Camera Trap Manager”, se ha diseñado para agilizar el tratamiento de esta información y funciona sobre la plataforma .NET, pudiendo ser utilizada en varios sistemas operativos. Además, este software dispone de un interfaz de usuario muy intuitivo, capacidad de extraer automáticamente distintos tipos de metadatos (fecha, hora, fase lunar, localización, temperatura, presión atmosférica, etc), basados en el estándar Exif; disponibilidad de listas taxonómicas para permitir a los usuarios etiquetar fácilmente las imágenes con las identidades de las especies, capacidad de análisis y creación de informes. El uso de esta aplicación ha permitido simplificar el procesado, análisis y edición de datos, consiguiendo una significativa reducción de los costes económicos y temporales. Mientras que en el procesado manual se alcanzaba una media de 55 fotografías/hora, el uso de esta herramienta permite procesar más de 1,000 fotografías/hora, obteniendo una mayor cantidad de información. Finalmente, se pone de manifiesto la gran utilidad de esta aplicación, que puede ser adaptada a las necesidades de otros proyectos de gestión de fauna, haciendo su uso extensivo no solamente a los profesionales del sector, sino a todos aquellos que requieran procesar gran cantidad de imágenes de fototrampeo

Optimisation of an emulsification process for wheat bran oil encapsulation with proteins

Póster presentado en: 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, 1 a 5 de octubre de 2017, BarcelonaJunta de Castilla y León and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for financial support of project BU055U1

A conceptual insight on digital paralell workshops for urban planning

The educational realm in Urban Plan ning needs a review because of the global challenges that human settlements will face in the near futu re. In this scenario, international boards of research call for the development of common frameworks of research, accredita tion, and planning best-pra ctices, that need to transcend the limits of local competences, which at the same time affect educational structures. A central issue on achieving this pursued consensus is in ternational cooperation among academic institutions, seeking global awareness on urban challenges, built equally upon a variety of context-based experiences. The rise of ICT's and digital tools are widely perceived as a great field of opportunity to establish complex and de-centralized networks of knowledge-bu ilding that can be critical to address these needs