Alternative treatments in the control of psoroptic mange in a flock of organic production sheep.

Abstract The aim of the experiment was to verify the efficacy of the treatment of psoroptic mange in a flock of Churra sheep farmed under organic production conditions, using alternative methods. One group, C Control (N=9), was given no treatment, a second group, TAH Antihomotoxic (N=10), was intramuscularly administered an antihomotoxic preparation every two days, thus receiving a total of seven injections over a two-week period. The third group, TCI Citronella (N=10), was topically administered a 1% solution of 50%essential Citronella Java oil and 50% Potassium Soap twice daily, in each milking, during the two-week period. A fourth group, TCIT Citronella+Thymol (N=10), was topically administered Citronella with 1% mother tincture of Thymol to boost the acaricide activity. The results obtained were analysed by ANOVA for scores and improvement of lesions. At the end of the experiment, TCI and TCIT showed significantly fewer lesions (P<0.05) than the control group and TAH, no differences being detected between the latter two groups. Improvement was significantly higher (P<0.05) in TCI (45%) and TCTT (48%) in comparison with the control group,which only showed 3% improvement. TAH improved by 30% (P<0.05) in comparison with the control group. There were no significant differences between TCI and TCIT. In conclusion, treatment with essential Citronella Java oil and potassium soap can be used as an alternative to conventional methods to control psoroptic mange

Knowledge-based supervision and control of wastewater treatment plant: a real-time implementation

The hardware architecture and the software development of a real-time knowledge-based distributed control system for the supervision of a wastewater treatment pilot plant are presented. The operation scheme is based on an A²/O system (anaerobic, anoxic, oxic) and includes organic matter removal, nitrification/denitrification, and Enhanced Biological Phosphorous Removal (EBPR). The hardware architecture involves different supervision levels, including two autonomous process computers (plant control and analysers control) and a PLC. The software architecture includes a Knowledge-Based Expert System (KBES) as the top control system. The KBES has been developed in G2, an expert system development environment based on object-oriented structural design. This system is fed with data obtained from the plant monitoring (in-line, on-line and off-line data) and with actuation data of the lower control levels. Using this information, the KBES supervises the pilot plant in order to help with fault detection and plant maintenance, but also modifies setpoints and other variables of the local control level to adapt the system to the different influent conditions. The overall system has been implemented and validated at pilot scale.Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology (C.I.C.Y.T.) - BIO94-0679-C02, AMB97-0889-c03-01.Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG).Generalitat de Catalunya. Consell Interdepartamental de Recerca i Innovació Tecnològica (CIRIT)

Real-time expert control of a pilot WWTP with nitrogen and phosphorus removal

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; C.I.R.I.T. (Generalitat de Catalunya)

Knowledge-based supervision and control of WWTP: a real-time implementation

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG) - post-doctoral research grant.Generalitat de Catalunya. Consell Interdepartamental de Recerca i Innovació Tecnològica (CIRIT) - predoctoral fellowship

A knowledge-based distributed system for supervision and control of wastewater treatment processes

This paper presents the hardware architecture and the software development of a real-time knowledge-based distributed control system for the supervision of a wastewater treatment pilot plant with biological removal of organic matter and nitrogen. A continuous monitoring of plant and controls data is used by an expert system developed in G2, a development environment based on object-oriented paradigm. A set of rules and procedures to help fault detection, plant maintenance, and nitrification - denitrification cycle operation was implemented and validated at pilot scale. The hardware architecture includes different supervision levels, including two autonomous process computers (plant control and analysers control).Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (FCG) - postdoctoral research grant..Generalitat de Catalunya. Consell Interdepartamental de Recerca i Innovació Tecnològica (CIRIT) - predoctoral fellowship

Hydrogen Peroxide in Biocatalysis. A Dangerous Liaison

Hydrogen peroxide is a substrate or side-product in many enzyme-catalyzed reactions. For example, it is a side-product of oxidases, resulting from the re-oxidation of FAD with molecular oxygen, and it is a substrate for peroxidases and other enzymes. However, hydrogen peroxide is able to chemically modify the peptide core of the enzymes it interacts with, and also to produce the oxidation of some cofactors and prostetic groups (e.g., the hemo group). Thus, the development of strategies that may permit to increase the stability of enzymes in the presence of this deleterious reagent is an interesting target. This enhancement in enzyme stability has been attempted following almost all available strategies: site-directed mutagenesis (eliminating the most reactive moieties), medium engineering (using stabilizers), immobilization and chemical modification (trying to generate hydrophobic environments surrounding the enzyme, to confer higher rigidity to the protein or to generate oxidation-resistant groups), or the use of systems capable of decomposing hydrogen peroxide under very mild conditions. If hydrogen peroxide is just a side-product, its immediate removal has been reported to be the best solution. In some cases, when hydrogen peroxide is the substrate and its decomposition is not a sensible solution, researchers coupled one enzyme generating hydrogen peroxide “in situ” to the target enzyme resulting in a continuous supply of this reagent at low concentrations thus preventing enzyme inactivation. This review will focus on the general role of hydrogen peroxide in biocatalysis, the main mechanisms of enzyme inactivation produced by this reactive and the different strategies used to prevent enzyme inactivation caused by this “dangerous liaison”.This work has been supported by grant CTQ2009-07568 from Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. A. Berenguer-Murcia thanks the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación for a Ramon y Cajal fellowship (RyC-2009-03813). Mr. Hernandez is a holder of a MAEC-AECID fellowship

Calibration of a simplified model describing an urban waste water treatment pilot plant based on N/D and BEPR criteria

Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Plan de acción frente al consumismo global de la Nueva Economía: Revelaciones sobre economía, empresa y consumo del s. XXI

Este estudio crítico y revisionista, de corte interdisciplinario (entre Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales), alerta sobre los peligros de avanzar hacia una sociedad masa global de consumo, donde se acentúe la deshumanización y asocialización, al primarse el tener al ser (el bienestar a la felicidad, el negocio al ocio, la empresa al oficio, la pulsión a la experiencia, etc.). Se ofrece así un plan de acción que va de lo más general (retirando los velos de confusión que impiden reconocer el mundo posglobalizado y estudiarlo tal como es), pasando a centrar la atención en las complejas reglas económicas y empresariales del nuevo milenio, para terminar evaluando los riesgos de la inautenticidad del actual consumidor.This is a critical and reviewer study, under an interdisciplinary approach (between Liberal Arts and Social Sciences), which warns to move on a global mass consumer society and its dangers, by the accentuated lost of humanity and sociality, because the priority of the having-issue than the been-issue (the preference of welfare than happiness, the business than the recreation, the company than the profession, the desire than the experience, etc.). The structure of the paper goes from general view (removing the confusion veils that make impossible the recognition of the post-globalized World and its study), to particular view (focusing on the complex economic and business rules in the new millennium), and the risk evaluation of the non-authenticity of the current consumer

Preparación de moléculas híbridas con potencial antiinflamatorio

33 p.Las úlceras gástricas tienen gran importancia a nivel mundial debido a su prevalencia y especialmente a las consecuencias que puede llegar a presentar, como es el cáncer gástrico. Chile se encuentra entre los países con mayor prevalencia de cáncer gástrico, destacándose los índices de prevalencia de esta enfermedad en la región de Maule. En el tratamiento de las úlceras gástricas se emplean diversos fármacos, además de recomendaciones dietéticas. Entre estos fármacos hay compuestos de origen natural asociados a patentes, principalmente en Japón. En Chile, se ha demostrado el efecto gastroprotector de distintos compuestos naturales, la gran mayoría de ellos en la Universidad de Talca. Entre los distintos estudios originados en la Universidad de Talca, destacamos los realizados con diterpenos obtenidos de la resina de Araucaria araucana y con el diterpeno ferruginol obtenido de Prumnopitys andina (Lleuque). Se conoce muy poco sobre los efectos que se producirían al combinar dos unidades diferentes con efecto biológico complementario en una molécula única, llamadas “compuestos híbridos”. En el presente trabajo, se prepararon nuevos compuestos híbridos, uniendo diterpenos con los antiinflamatorios sintéticos ibuprofeno y naproxeno. Se consiguió la síntesis exitosa de 3 nuevas moléculas híbridas, que son ésteres de un ácido aromático (ibuprofeno o naproxeno) y el diterpeno fer6ruginol con una función alcohol. También se obtuvo una amida uniendo ácido antranílico con ácido junicédric