El impacto de los caudales medioambientales en la satisfacción de la demanda de agua bajo escenarios de cambio climático

RESUMENEl uso creciente del recurso hídrico para satisfacer las diferentes demandas de un sistema, muchas veces por encima de su disponibilidad hídrica, ha generado una reducción en el nivel de satisfacción de dichas demandas, así como una reducción en los caudales medioambientales necesarios para alcanzar el buen estado ecológico. A largo plazo, estos problemas pueden verse intensificados como consecuencia del cambio climático. La satisfacción de las demandas de un sistema sin afectar al medio ambiente es uno de los principales objetivos de una eficaz gestión del recurso hídrico. La consideración de unos requerimientos ambientales puede influir en la sensibilidad de un sistema en el momento de satisfacer adecuadamente las diferentes demandas. Este artículo se enfoca en evaluar dicha sensibilidad a largo plazo, mediante el uso de dos indicadores de eficiencia que permiten identificar los problemas de escasez de agua bajo diferentes escenarios de reducciones en las aportaciones. Los requerimientos ambientales se determinaron tomando en cuenta las distribuciones mensuales y anuales de las aportaciones para los diferentes escenarios futuros. Como resultado de aplicar la metodología a la cuenca del Guadalquivir, en España, se observa que los problemas de escasez de agua que actualmente padece la cuenca puedan verse intensificados bajo cambio climático, comprometiendo una adecuada satisfacción de las demandas de agua del sistema. Estos problemas podrían reducirse, e incluso eliminarse, si se consigue limitar el consumo de agua por debajo de la disponibilidad hídrica que presente la cuenca, especialmente en los recursos destinados a la agricultura.ABSTRACTThe increasing use of water resources in order to meet the different demands of a system, often above their water availability has led to inadequate attention to such demands, as well as, has generated a reduction in environmental flows needed to achieve good water status. In the long term, these problems may be intensified under climate change scenarios. An adequate attention of the system demands without affecting the environment is one of the main objectives of the water resources management. The consideration of the environmental flows can influence the sensitivity of a system when addressing the different demands. This paper focuses on assessing this sensitivity to long term by using two efficiency indicators, which ones allow to identify water scarcity problems under different scenarios of flows reduction. Environmental requirements are determined by taking into account the monthly and annual distributions of the flows for different future scenarios. The proposed methodology is applied to the Guadalquivir basin in Spain. The results show that the current water scarcity problems of the basin can be intensified when the environmental requirements are considered in the system. These problems could be reduced or even eliminated, if water consumption is limited below the water availability of the basin, especially in the resources for agriculture

A highly sensitive sandwich ELISA for the determination of glycomacropeptide to detect liquid whey in raw milk

Milk processing industries and distributors have problems with adulteration of liquid milk by the addition of bovine cheese whey. Recently, the detection of fraudulent manipulation of milk with whey has focused on the identification of glycomacropeptide (GMP). Current non-immunological methods to detect GMP in dairy products are expensive and time-consuming or have low sensitivity. In this study, a novel sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection and quantification of whey in raw milk was developed, using a polyclonal rabbit anti-GMP antibody. Calibration curves were constructed by analyzing raw milk standards containing different known concentrations of liquid cheese whey (0.02–20%). The method had a detection limit of 0.047% (v/v) and a quantification limit of 0.14% (v/v). The antibody showed high specificity and no cross-reaction with milk components (other than κ-casein) and was successful in detecting GMP in dairy commercial products. The recovery ratio was between 95.62% and 113.88% for all matrices tested. The intra-assay and interassay coefficients of variation were <6% and <7%, respectively. Finally, it can be stored for 3 months in the form of a ready-to-use kit, while maintaining its accuracy and reproducibility

Phosphomannosylation and the functional analysis of the extended Candida albicans MNN4-like gene family

We thank Luz A. López-Ramírez (Universidad de Guanajuato) for technical assistance. This work was supported by Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (ref. CB2011/166860; PDCPN2014-247109, and FC 2015-02-834), Universidad de Guanajuato (ref. 000025/11; 0087/13; ref. 1025/2016; Convocatoria Institucional para Fortalecer la Excelencia Académica 2015; CIFOREA 89/2016), Programa de Mejoramiento de Profesorado (ref. UGTO-PTC-261), and Red Temática Glicociencia en Salud (CONACYT-México). NG acknowledges the Wellcome Trust (086827, 075470, 101873, and 200208) and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology for funding (N006364/1). KJ was supported by a research visitor grant to Aberdeen from China Scholarship Council (CSC No. 201406055024). The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.02156/full#supplementary-materialPeer reviewedPublisher PD

Multilayered Solar Energy Converters with Flexible Sequence of p and n Semiconductor Films

Non-traditional design of multi-layered solar energy converters is proposed, with electrically independent p-i-n junctions. This new approach allows utilization of cheap and abundant II-VI, IV and IV-VI materials instead of III-V ones, using also cheap and economic deposition techniques like Chemical Bath Deposition (CBD) or Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) instead of expensive Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The CVD reactor with three atomic sources was built and used. II-VI and IV-VI semiconductor materials were prepared either in CVD reactor, or by CBD techniques. Besides, the original two-stage technology was employed: first the precursor oxide/hydroxide film of corresponding metal (like cadmium oxide/hydroxide) was prepared by some variety of CBD methods, and at the second stage, in CVD reactor the non-metallic component of precursor film was substituted by chalcogen, producing materials like CdS, CdSe, PbTe, etc. The semiconductor materials thus produced were of high quality, with basic parameters corresponding to those for the single crystals. Several experimental multilayered converters were constructed (in particular, with CdS/CdTe, CdS/PbS and Si/PbTe active bilayers). The preliminary results of their studying have shown that these and similar devices can be used in solar cells and photo sensors with satisfactory efficiency, and have great potential for improvement

Utilización de la Inteligencia Artificial en el diagnóstico patológico de edificaciones de valor patrimonial

More and more often Information Technologies occupy new areas of knowledge, and the pathological diagnosis of buildings is not an exception. In this work, we offer to construction professionals and particularly those who specialize in the topic of pathological diagnosis, an expert system that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a knowledge-based system to identify and diagnose the pathologies in the materials made of natural stone and ceramics used in construction. Thus, a computerized environment is created to search for information that facilitates the updating and integration of data on the extent of damage sustained by buildings.Cada vez más las tecnologías de la información ocupan nuevas áreas del conocimiento y el diagnóstico patológico en las edificaciones no podía ser la excepción, en este trabajo ponemos a disposición de los profesionales de la construcción y específicamente los especializados en este tema un Sistema Experto (SE) que utiliza la Inteligencia Artificial (IA) y un Sistema Basado en el Conocimiento (SBC) para que identifique y diagnostique las patologías que se presentan en los materiales de Piedra Natural y Cerámica utilizados en la construcción. De tal manera que se crea un entorno informatizado para la búsqueda de información, que facilita la actualización o integración de datos relacionados con los deterioros en las edificaciones

A novel presenilin 1 duplication mutation (Ile168dup) causing Alzheimer's disease associated with myoclonus, seizures and pyramidal features

Mutations in the Presenilin 1 (PSEN1) gene are the most common cause of autosomal dominant familial Alzheimer's disease. We report the clinical, imaging and postmortem findings of kindred carrying a novel duplication mutation (Ile168dup) in the PSEN1 gene. We interpret the pathogenicity of this novel variant and discuss the additional neurological features (pyramidal dysfunction, myoclonus and seizures) that accompanied cognitive decline. This report broadens the clinical phenotype of PSEN1 insertion mutations while also highlighting the importance of considering duplication, insertion and deletion mutations in cases of young onset dementia