Does science have a gender? Knowledge and attitudes toward the Science of girls and boys in Primary Education

La menor presencia del género femenino en las profesiones científicas y tecnológicas sigue siendo una preocupación actual. Esta investigación pretende identificar los conocimientos y actitudes del alumnado de educación primaria sobre las aportaciones de la ciencia y los/as científicos y sus proyecciones profesionales en ser científicos/as, analizadas desde una perspectiva de género. Hemos aplicado un cuestionario a 378 estudiantes de educación primaria que posteriormente se han analizado con el paquete estadístico SPSS. Los resultados indican un conocimiento medio de las aportaciones de la ciencia y de los científico/as tanto en niñas como en niños y una alta coincidencia en las visiones expresadas, estableciéndose escasas asociaciones entre conocimientos y género. En las actitudes se constata una visión positiva, aunque asoman algunas diferencias entre niñas y niños, siendo estos últimos los que dan mayor confianza a la ciencia. Asimismo, en cuanto a su deseo de ser científico o científica tampoco se constata sesgo de género.Nowadays, an important concern is the lower presence of the female gender in scientific and technological professions. This work tries to identify the knowledge and attitudes of the students of primary education on the contributions of the science and the scientists. Although, this study aims to know their professional projections in science, analyzed from a gender perspective. It was carried out a test to a sample of 378 students of primary education which have subsequently been analyzed with the SPSS statistical package. The obtained results indicate an average knowledge of the contributions of science and scientists in both girls and boys, establishing few associations between knowledge of science and gender. Students show a positive vision about science, although some differences appear between girls and boys, e.g. males give greater confidence to science. Likewise, in terms of their desire to be scientific or scientific, there is no gender gap

Effect of the type of gas-permeable membrane in ammonia recovery from air

Producción CientíficaAnimal production is one of the largest contributors to ammonia emissions. A project, “Ammonia Trapping”, was designed to recover gaseous ammonia from animal barns in Spain. Laboratory experiments were conducted to select a type of membrane most suitable for gaseous ammonia trapping. Three types of gas-permeable membranes (GPM), all made of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE), but with different diameter (3.0 to 8.6 mm), polymer density (0.45 to 1.09), air permeability (2 to 40 L·min−1·cm2), and porosity (5.6 to 21.8%) were evaluated for their effectiveness to recover gas phase ammonia. The ammonia evolved from a synthetic solution (NH4Cl + NaHCO3 + allylthiourea), and an acidic solution (1 N H2SO4) was used as the ammonia trapping solution. Replicated tests were performed simultaneously during a period of 7 days with a constant flow of acidic solution circulating through the lumen of the tubular membrane. The ammonia recovery yields were higher with the use of membranes of greater diameter and corresponding surface area, but they were not affected by the large differences in material density, porosity, air permeability, and wall thickness in the range evaluated. A higher fluid velocity of the acidic solution significantly increased—approximately 3 times—the mass NH3–N recovered per unit of membrane surface area and time (N-flux), from 1.7 to 5.8 mg N·cm−2·d−1. Therefore, to optimize the effectiveness of GPM system to capture gaseous ammonia, the appropriate velocity of the circulating acidic solution should be an important design consideration.Unión Europea (project LIFE15-ENV/ES/000284

Estudio de un proceso de compostaje de estiércol de conejo mediante técnicas espectroscópicas y análisis de ácidos húmicos y fúlvicos

El tratamiento de los residuos ganaderos se considera actualmente un importante paso, determinante para el desarrollo del sector ganadero. Un método de manejo del estiércol y enmienda del suelo de bajo costo lo constituye el uso agrícola del estiércol animal para cultivos forrajeros, pero también, existen otras técnicas como el compostaje y la biometanización.Su uso agrícola debe ser siempre la primera alternativa, ya que permite economizar en la adquisición de abonos y supone una forma eficiente y sostenible de emplearlos y optimizar el uso de la energía y la materia contenidos en ellos.La recuperación de recursos y el subsiguiente compostaje juegan un papel importante en la gestión de residuos, dado que los compost de calidad, ricos en materia orgánica estable, se podrían emplear como abono en sustitución de fertilizantes químicos, siendo fácil de producir en las explotaciones ganaderas. Las características de las deyecciones ganaderas pueden ser muy diferentes en función de la especie, la edad del ganado, el tipo de granja, la alimentación o el manejo. Sin embargo, en cualquier caso, la aplicación del compost como enmienda orgánica a los suelos, no sólo supondría un incremento de la materia orgánica del suelo, sino también conllevaría otro tipo de mejoras como en sus propiedades físicas o biológicas, importantes para el sostenimiento de su calidad.En este trabajo se propone el compostaje de estiércol de una explotación cunícola (3160 kg) con diferentes tipos de materiales estructurantes. Para ello, se conforman tres pilas dinámicas con aireación natural: pila 1 [estiércol + 200 kg cama (viruta + orina + pelo)], pila 2 [estiércol + 52 kg paja cebada], pila 3 [estiércol + 52 kg paja cebada]. Se tomó una muestra semanal durante la fase activa del proceso de compostaje que duró diez semanas y una muestra mensual durante la fase de maduración, que se desarrolló a lo largo cinco meses. Se realizaron análisis por triplicado de todas las muestras, controlando los parámetros básicos de seguimiento del proceso (temperatura, humedad, pH, CE, C/N, etc.). Además, se estudiaron las transformaciones que sufría la materia orgánica durante el proceso mediante un método espectroscópico [infrarrojo de transformada de Fourier (FTIR)], que permitía conocer la composición química de la materia orgánica, permitiendo controlar la calidad del producto final. Los espectros FTIR revelaron una transformación inicial de los compuestos más sencillos, tras la que se sucedió una descomposición y mineralización de compuestos orgánicos más complejos, para finalmente dar lugar a reacciones de polimerización de materiales orgánicos más resistentes, característicos del proceso de formación de humus.Palabras clave: estiércol cunicola, compostaje, FTIR, materia orgánica

Sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine and sulfachloropyridazine removal using three different porous materials: pine bark, “oak ash” and mussel shell

This work focuses on studying the efficacy of three different by-products to adsorb three antibiotics (sulfadiazine, SDZ; sulfamethazine, SMT; sulfachloropyridazine, SCP). These antibiotics can be considered pollutants of the environment when they reach water, as well as in cases where they are spread on soils through irrigation or contained in sewage sludge or livestock manure. In this study, batch-type adsorption/desorption experiments were performed for each of the three sulfonamides, adding 7 different concentrations of the antibiotics, going from 1 to 50 μmol L−1, and with contact time of 24 h. The results indicate that pine bark is the most efficient bioadsorbent among those studied, as it adsorbs up to 95% of the antibiotics added, while desorption is always less than 11%. However, for “oak ash” and mussel shell the adsorption is always lower than 45 and 15%, respectively, and desorption is high, reaching up to 49% from “oak ash” and up to 81% from mussel shell. Adsorption data showed good fitting to the Linear and Freundlich models, with R2 values between 0.98 and 1.00 in both cases. Kd and KF adsorption parameters showed similar values for the same sorbent materials but were much higher for pine bark than for the other two bioadsorbents. The Freundlich's n parameter showed values in the range 0.81–1.28. The highest KF values (and therefore the highest adsorption capacities) were obtained for the antibiotic SCP in pine bark. Pine bark showed the highest capacity to adsorb each of the antibiotics, increasing as a function of the concentration added. When the concentration of sulfonamide added was 50 μM, the amounts adsorbed were 780 μmol kg−1 for SDZ, 890 μmol kg−1 for SMT, and 870 μmol kg−1 for SCP. “Oak ash” and mussel shell have low adsorption capacity for all three sulfonamides, showing values always lower than 150 μmol kg−1 (oak ash) and 20 μmol kg−1 (mussel shell) when a concentration of 50 μmol L−1 of antibiotic is added. The results of this study could aid to make an appropriate management of the by-products studied, in order to facilitate their valorization and recycling in the treatment of environmental compartments polluted with sulfonamide antibioticsThis work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of science, innovation and universities [grant numbers RTI2018-099574-B-C21 and RTI2018-099574-B-C22]. It also received funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) (FEDER in Spain), being a complement to the previous grants, without additional grant number. M. Conde-Cid holds a pre-doctoral contract (FPU15/0280, Spanish Government). The research of Dr. Gustavo F. Coelho was also supported by the Improving Coordination of Senior Staff (CAPES), Post-Doctoral Program Abroad (PDE) Process number {88881.172297/2018-01} of the Brazilian Government. The sponsors had not involvement in study design; in the collection, analyses and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publicationS

Occurrence of tetracyclines and sulfonamides in manures, agricultural soils and crops from different areas in Galicia (NW Spain)

Antibiotics released to the environment are causing public health and sustainability concerns. Taking that into account, we studied the presence of tetracyclines (Tetracycline, Oxytetracycline, Chlortetracycline and Doxycycline) and sulfonamides (Sulfadiazine, Sulfamethazine, Sulfachlorpyridazine and Sulfamethoxypyridazine) in manures, soils and crops from Galicia (Spain), where a high number of cattle, pig and poultry farms exist. We used the HPLC-MS/MS technique to analyze 40 samples of cattle, pig and poultry manure, as well as 65 soil samples, and 27 vegetation samples. The presence of antibiotics was detected in 42% of the manures, 17% of the soils and 44% of crop samples, with maximum concentrations of 106.0 mg kg−1 for individual antibiotics in manures and 0.6 mg kg−1 in soils and plants. The simultaneous presence of several antibiotics was infrequent in soils (only three soils presented two or three antibiotics), and more common in manures and plants, some of them with up to five antibiotics. Pig slurries showed the highest antibiotic concentrations, as well as the highest number of different antibiotics. Crops fertilized with these slurries also showed the highest number of different antibiotics. Antibiotics were detected in 71% of grass and corn samples, and in 33% of wheat grain samples, while they were not detected in potato samples. These results can be very relevant taking into account potential environmental and public health repercussions of antibiotics in soil and water, as well as antibiotics uptake and accumulation in plants, and subsequent incorporation to the food chain.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [grant numbers CGL2015-67333-C2-1-R and CGL2015-67333-C2-2-R]. M. Conde-Cid holds a pre-doctoral contract (FPU15/0280, Spanish Government). The sponsor had not involvement in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.S

DESARROLLO DE PROTOTIPO DE MEMBRANA PARA LA CAPTACIÓN DE GAS AMONIACO EN LA ATMÓSFERA DE LAS GRANJAS

ResumenLa UE a través de su Directiva 2001/81/CE (Directiva Techos) ha fijado límites máximos para las emisiones de gases a todos Estados miembros a partir de 2010 con el objetivo de mitigar la contaminación atmosférica. Para ello, se están revisando Protocolo de Gotemburgo de 2012 y la Directiva de Techos, con una propuesta de techos de emisión en 2020 y 2030 que permitan hacer un seguimiento de las emisiones para conseguir el objetivo de 2030, la cual afecta también al NH3, gas para el que se han constatado cantidades de 375,3 Gg según el inventario de 2012, con una previsión de 396,3 en el año 2020 cuando el techo establecido es de 365,0 Gg.El sector agroganadero está muy relacionado con la emisión de NH3 a la atmósfera, especialmente aquel que se genera por la descomposición de la urea y del ácido úrico de las excretas. El NH3 emitido puede formar aerosoles, acidificar suelos y generar otros muchos problemas. Además, en la atmósfera puede formar partículas PM 2.5, que atacan al sistema cardiovascular de las personas. Por ello, es necesaria la adopción de medidas para su reducción, como la gestión del estiércol, cuidar la alimentación del ganado y sistemas de estabulación.Este trabajo propone reducir las emisiones de NH3 de la atmósfera de una instalación de ganadería porcina utilizando una tecnología de membranas permeables al gas. Para ello, se diseña y construye un prototipo a escala piloto que consiste en un contenedor metálico con forma rectangular y cerrado. En su interior se disponen 32 paneles sobre los que se sitúa una membrana tubular de ePTFE microporosa, que permite únicamente la difusión gaseosa. Además, cuenta con un depósito de 200 litros de capacidad que contiene 150 litros de ácido sulfúrico 1N. Este está conectado con las membranas mediante tuberías. De este modo, el ácido circula por el interior de las membranas mediante un bombeo continuo, permitiendo que el NH3 emitido del purín, se combine con los iones H+ del ácido, quedando atrapado en dicha solución en forma de iones NH4+, retirándolo de la atmósfera de la granja al mismo tiempo que se forma sulfato de amonio (NH4)2SO4 (fertilizante). Así, se alcanzaría un doble beneficio, ambiental y económico. A lo largo de 162 días de funcionamiento, se ha alcanzado una tasa de captura media diaria de NH3  de 128.3 mg/l*d-1, siendo el mayor valor de captura diaria de 491.5 mg/l*d-1 y el menor de 96.7 mg/l*d-1. El dispositivo propuesto funciona adecuadamente retirando NH3 del aire de la granja y recuperándolo en forma de sal y, por tanto, cumple con el objetivo planteado

Occurrence of tetracyclines and sulfonamides in manures, agricultural soils and crops from different areas in Galicia (NW Spain)

Antibiotics released to the environment are causing public health and sustainability concerns. Taking that into account, we studied the presence of tetracyclines (Tetracycline, Oxytetracycline, Chlortetracycline and Doxycycline) and sulfonamides (Sulfadiazine, Sulfamethazine, Sulfachlorpyridazine and Sulfamethoxypyridazine) in manures, soils and crops from Galicia (Spain), where a high number of cattle, pig and poultry farms exist. We used the HPLC-MS/MS technique to analyze 40 samples of cattle, pig and poultry manure, as well as 65 soil samples, and 27 vegetation samples. The presence of antibiotics was detected in 42% of the manures, 17% of the soils and 44% of crop samples, with maximum concentrations of 106.0 mg kg−1 for individual antibiotics in manures and 0.6 mg kg−1 in soils and plants. The simultaneous presence of several antibiotics was infrequent in soils (only three soils presented two or three antibiotics), and more common in manures and plants, some of them with up to five antibiotics. Pig slurries showed the highest antibiotic concentrations, as well as the highest number of different antibiotics. Crops fertilized with these slurries also showed the highest number of different antibiotics. Antibiotics were detected in 71% of grass and corn samples, and in 33% of wheat grain samples, while they were not detected in potato samples. These results can be very relevant taking into account potential environmental and public health repercussions of antibiotics in soil and water, as well as antibiotics uptake and accumulation in plants, and subsequent incorporation to the food chain.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2015-67333-C2-1-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad | Ref. CGL2015-67333-C2-2-

Estudio optimizado del diagrama de distribución y geometría de las levas de las válvulas de admisión y escape de un motor de cuatro tiempos

Este trabajo se centra en la resolución del problema de diseño o problema inverso aplicado al diagrama de distribución de un motor de cuatro tiempos (avance en la apertura y retraso en el cierre de las válvulas de admisión y escape). así como a la geometría de las levas que las accionan. Para este problema de diseño partiremos de un código CFD unidimensional. anteriormente validado y que no es objeto del estudio. que simula el comportamiento de todo el sistema de renovación de la carga en motores alternativos y que se ajusta a las necesidades del problema inverso dada su gran velocidad. Se han empicado resultados experimentales. tomados de un motor de cuatro tiempos, para ajustar los valores de determinados parámetros del modelo directo aplicando técnicas de optimización. Esta forma de operar resulta de gran valor dado que permite afinar modelos de los que ya se dispone en función de algunos parámetros no fácilmente obtenidos mediante medida directa

Sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine and sulfachloropyridazine removal using three different porous materials: Pine bark, “oak ash” and mussel shell

This work focuses on studying the efficacy of three different by-products to adsorb three antibiotics (sulfadiazine, SDZ; sulfamethazine, SMT; sulfachloropyridazine, SCP). These antibiotics can be considered pollutants of the environment when they reach water, as well as in cases where they are spread on soils through irrigation or contained in sewage sludge or livestock manure. In this study, batch-type adsorption/desorption experiments were performed for each of the three sulfonamides, adding 7 different concentrations of the antibiotics, going from 1 to 50 μmol L−1, and with contact time of 24 h. The results indicate that pine bark is the most efficient bioadsorbent among those studied, as it adsorbs up to 95% of the antibiotics added, while desorption is always less than 11%. However, for “oak ash” and mussel shell the adsorption is always lower than 45 and 15%, respectively, and desorption is high, reaching up to 49% from “oak ash” and up to 81% from mussel shell. Adsorption data showed good fitting to the Linear and Freundlich models, with R2 values between 0.98 and 1.00 in both cases. Kd and KF adsorption parameters showed similar values for the same sorbent materials but were much higher for pine bark than for the other two bioadsorbents. The Freundlich's n parameter showed values in the range 0.81–1.28. The highest KF values (and therefore the highest adsorption capacities) were obtained for the antibiotic SCP in pine bark. Pine bark showed the highest capacity to adsorb each of the antibiotics, increasing as a function of the concentration added. When the concentration of sulfonamide added was 50 μM, the amounts adsorbed were 780 μmol kg−1 for SDZ, 890 μmol kg−1 for SMT, and 870 μmol kg−1 for SCP. “Oak ash” and mussel shell have low adsorption capacity for all three sulfonamides, showing values always lower than 150 μmol kg−1 (oak ash) and 20 μmol kg−1 (mussel shell) when a concentration of 50 μmol L−1 of antibiotic is added. The results of this study could aid to make an appropriate management of the by-products studied, in order to facilitate their valorization and recycling in the treatment of environmental compartments polluted with sulfonamide antibiotics.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018-099574-B-C21Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018-099574-B-C2

Modeling the Number of People Infected With SARS-COV-2 From Wastewater Viral Load in Northwest Spain

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] The quantification of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA load in wastewater has emerged as a useful tool to monitor COVID–19 outbreaks in the community. This approach was implemented in the metropolitan area of A Coruña (NW Spain), where wastewater from a treatment plant was analyzed to track the epidemic dynamics in a population of 369,098 inhabitants. Viral load detected in the wastewater and the epidemiological data from A Coruña health system served as main sources for statistical models developing. Regression models described here allowed us to estimate the number of infected people (R2 = 0.9), including symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. These models have helped to understand the real magnitude of the epidemic in a population at any given time and have been used as an effective early warning tool for predicting outbreaks in A Coruña municipality. The methodology of the present work could be used to develop a similar wastewater-based epidemiological model to track the evolution of the COVID–19 epidemic anywhere in the world where centralized water-based sanitation systems exist.This work was supported by EDAR Bens S.A., A Coruña, Spain [grant references INV04020, INV12120 and INV05921 to MP], the National Plan for Scientific Research, Development and Technological Innovation 2013-2016 funded by the ISCIII, Spain - General Subdirection of Assessment and Promotion of the Research-European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) “A way of making Europe” [grant numbers PI15/00860 to GB, PI17/01482 and PI20/00413 to MP], the GAIN, Xunta de Galicia, Spain [grant number IN607A 2016/22 to GB, ED431C-2016/015 and ED431C-2020/14 to RC, ED431C 2017/58 to SL, ED431G 2019/01 to RC and SL, and ED431C 2017/66 to MCV], MINECO, Spain [grant number MTM2017-82724-R to RC], Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain [grant number PID2020-113578RB-100 to RC], and the Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases [REIPI RD16/0016/006 to GB]. The work was also supported by the European Virus Archive Global (EVA-GLOBAL) project that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme under grant agreement no 871029. SR-F was financially supported by REIPI RD16/0016/006, KC-P by IN607A 2016/22 and the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC) and JAV by IN607A 2016/22. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUGEDAR Bens S.A.; INV04020EDAR Bens S.A.; INV12120EDAR Bens S.A.; INV05921Xunta de Galicia; IN607A 2016/22Xunta de Galicia; ED431C-2016/015Xunta de Galicia; ED431C-2020/14Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2017/58Xunta de Galicia; ED431G 2019/01Xunta de Galicia; ED431C 2017/6