Effects of A Concentrate Rich in Agro-Industrial By-Products on Productivity Results, Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality Traits of Finishing Heifers

Finishing diets in intensive beef production systems are mainly based on cereals, which does not take advantage of the capacity of the ruminant digestive system to digest fibrous feeds, cannot be considered sustainable and does not contribute to the circular bioeconomy. Our aim was to investigate the effects of an alternative concentrate rich in agro-industrial by-products for finishing crossbred Limousine heifers. Four pens with 12 heifers and four pens with 13 heifers were randomly allocated to one of two treatments: control (CON), a commercial concentrate with a 43.3% cereal composition, and alternative (ALT), a concentrate with a composition of 26% cereals and up to 73.5% agro-industrial by-products. Growth performance data were collected along the 91 days of the experimental period. Carcass characteristics were collected after slaughter and 24 h later. Vacuum-packaged samples from longissimus muscle were aged for 7, 21 or 28 days to study meat quality traits. Feed intake was higher and feed conversion rate was lower in the ALT treatment, but no differences were found in average daily gain and feeding costs. Treatment had no effects on any of the measured carcass traits (grading, hot and cold carcass weight, dressing out, chilling losses, subcutaneous fat depth, pH, temperature and lean and fat colour) nor on the meat quality traits (drip loss, cooking loss, shear force, oxidative stability, chromatic indices and pigment contents). Ageing time decreased drip loss and shear force, increased lightness and did not affect redness or surface colour stability. In conclusion, feeding crossbred Limousine heifers a finishing diet rich in agro-industrial by-products did not have any negative effects on performance, carcass and meat quality traits, which might be considered positive from the point of view of sustainability of beef production. Under the conditions assayed, ageing for 21 and 28 days improved tenderness of meat, without detrimental effects on oxidative stability or traits related to visual acceptability

Autosuficiencia energética en la vivienda

Resumen Los edificios, junto al transporte suponen más de la mitad del consumo energético actual de combustible y de la contaminación a este asociada, de difícil solución por la dispersión de los procesos de combustión en poblaciones o carreteras. Esta distribución en la edificación de la demanda favorece el uso de energía solar, el recurso renovable más abundante y de fácil acceso sobre la superficie terrestre, especialmente adecuado en nuestro clima. El uso de tecnología solar requiere procesos de acumulación que garanticen la disponibilidad del calor excesivo del verano durante las frías noches de invierno así como la iluminación o las comunicaciones durante la noche en base a la radiación recibida en las horas de radiación solar. El trabajo describe la posibilidad de captura térmica en la cubierta con almacenamiento selectivo en el subsuelo capaz de satisfacer la demanda de energía para climatización de la vivienda a lo largo del año a un coste ,muy bajo. La energía eléctrica de "alta calidad" se genera y acumulé1localmente en forma de hidrógeno para alimentar según demanda mediante una pila de combustible. Con la tecnología actual, aún en pleno desarrollo, el balance es claramente positivo lo que significa la posibilidad de autosuficiencia energética para una parte considerable de las viviendas.El MEC ha financiado el desarrollo de nuevos dispositivos de hidrógeno en el proyecto "Diseño y realización de una nueva Pila de Combustible polimérica de bajo coste y alta eficacia" MCYT- ENE2005-09124-C04-02/ALT. y el CSIC ha financiado la generación de hidrógeno a partir de residuos orgánicos. El P.S.E. INVISO para industrialización de la vivienda sostenible financia el desarrollo integral de estos sistemas.Peer reviewe

Waterborne outbreak of tularemia associated with crayfish fishing.

In 1997, an outbreak of human tularemia associated with hare-hunting in central Spain affected 585 patients. We describe the identification of Francisella tularensis biovar palaearctica in a second outbreak of ulceroglandular tularemia associated with crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) fishing in a contaminated freshwater stream distant from the hare-associated outbreak. The second outbreak occurred 1 year after the first

Sublittoral soft bottom communities and diversity of Mejillones Bay in northern Chile (Humboldt Current upwelling system)

The macrozoobenthos of Mejillones Bay (23°S; Humboldt Current) was quantitatively investigated over a 7-year period from austral summer 1995/1996 to winter 2002. About 78 van Veen grab samples taken at six stations (5, 10, 20 m depth) provided the basis for the analysis of the distribution of 60 species and 28 families of benthic invertebrates, as well as of their abundance and biomass. Mean abundance (2,119 individuals m-2) was in the same order compared to a previous investigation; mean biomass (966 g formalin wet mass m-2), however, exceeded prior estimations mainly due to the dominance of the bivalve Aulacomya ater. About 43% of the taxa inhabited the complete depth range. Mean taxonomic Shannon diversity (H', Log e) was 1.54 ± 0.58 with a maximum at 20 m (1.95 ± 0.33); evenness increased with depth. The fauna was numerically dominated by carnivorous gastropods, polychaetes and crustaceans (48%). About 15% of the species were suspensivorous, 13% sedimentivorous, 11% detritivorous, 7% omnivorous and 6% herbivorous. Cluster analyses showed a significant difference between the shallow and the deeper stations. Gammarid amphipods and the polychaete family Nephtyidae characterized the 5-mzone, the molluscs Aulacomya ater, Mitrella unifasciata and gammarids the intermediate zone, while the gastropod Nassarius gayi and the polychaete family Nereidae were most prominent at the deeper stations. The communities of the three depth zones did not appear to be limited by hypoxia during non-El Niño conditions. Therefore, no typical change in community structure occurred during El Niño 1997–1998, in contrast to what was observed for deeper faunal assemblages and hypoxic bays elsewhere in the coastal Humboldt Current system

Bridging the Gap Between National and Ecosystem Accounting Application in Andalusian Forests, Spain

National accounting either ignores or fails to give due values to the ecosystem services, products, incomes and environmental assets of a country. To overcome these shortcomings, we apply spatially-explicit extended accounts that incorporate a novel environmental income indicator, which we test in the forests of Andalusia (Spain). Extended accounts incorporate nine farmer activities (timber, cork, firewood, nuts, livestock grazing, conservation forestry, hunting, residential services and private amenity) and seven government activities (fire services, free access recreation, free access mushroom, carbon, landscape conservation, threatened biodiversity and water yield). To make sure the valuation remains consistent with standard accounts, we simulate exchange values for non-market final forest product consumption in order to measure individual ecosystem services and environmental income indicators. Manufactured capital and environmental assets are also integrated. When comparing extended to standard accounts, our results are 3.6 times higher for gross value added. These differences are explained primarily by the omission in the standard accounts of carbon activities and undervaluation of private amenity, free access recreation, landscape and threatened biodiversity ecosystem services. Extended accounts measure a value of Andalusian forest ecosystem services 5.4 times higher than that measured using the valuation criteria of standard accounts

Micro and nano-patterning of single-crystal diamond by swift heavy ion irradiation

© 2016 Elsevier B.V.This paper presents experimental data and analysis of the structural damage caused by swift-heavy ion irradiation of single-crystal diamond. The patterned buried structural damage is shown to generate, via swelling, a mirror-pattern on the sample surface, which remains largely damage-free. While extensive results are available for light ion implantations, this effect is reported here for the first time in the heavy ion regime, where a completely different range of input parameters (in terms of ion species, energy, stopping power, etc.) is available for customized irradiation. The chosen ion species are Au and Br, in the energy range 10–40 MeV. The observed patterns, as characterized by profilometry and atomic force microscopy, are reported in a series of model experiments, which show swelling patterns ranging from a few nm to above 200 nm. Moreover, a systematic phenomenological modeling is presented, in which surface swelling measurements are correlated to buried crystal damage. A comparison is made with data for light ion implantations, showing good compatibility with the proposed models. The modeling presented in this work can be useful for the design and realization of micropatterned surfaces in single crystal diamond, allowing generating highly customized structures by combining appropriately chosen irradiation parameters and masks.GG acknowledges support from the ALBA synchrotron, W. Schildkamp for inspiring discussions on the behaviour of diamond and J. Ferrer for his help in experiment preparation. GG, MD-H, VT-M, OP-R and JO acknowledge the projects MAT-2011-28379-C03-02 of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, TECHNOFUSION(II)CM (S2013/MAE2745) of the Community of Madrid, and Moncloa Campus of International Excellence (UCM-UPM) foundation for offering a PICATA postdoctoral fellowship (OP-R). FP is supported by the “DiNaMo” project no. 157660 funded by National Institute of Nuclear Physics. PO is supported by the FIRB “Futuro in Ricerca 2010” project (CUP code: D11J11000450001) funded by MIUR and by the “A.Di.N-Tech.” project (CUP code: D15E13000130003) funded by the University of Torino and “Compagnia di San Paolo”. The MeV ion beam implantations performed at the INFN Legnaro National Laboratories was supported by the “Dia.Fab.” experiment, and those at the INFN LABEC Laboratory by the “FARE” and “CICAS” experiments. NMP is supported by the European Research Council (ERC StG Ideas 2011 BIHSNAM no. 279985, ERC PoC 2013-2 KNOTOUGH no. 632277 and ERC PoC 2015 SILKENE no. 693670), by the European Commission under the Graphene Flagship (“Nanocomposites”, no. 604391). FB acknowledges support from BIHSNAM. LL-M and CO acknowledge the Spanish MINECO through the Severo Ochoa Program (SEV-2015-0496) and MAT2013-47869-C4-1-P. CO acknowledges the specific agreement between ICMAB-CSIC and the Synchrotron Light Facility ALBA

Azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of the surface detector signals of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of signals in Auger surface detector stations is a source of information on shower development. The azimuthal asymmetry is due to a combination of the longitudinal evolution of the shower and geometrical effects related to the angles of incidence of the particles into the detectors. The magnitude of the effect depends upon the zenith angle and state of development of the shower and thus provides a novel observable, $(\sec \theta)_\mathrm{max}$, sensitive to the mass composition of cosmic rays above $3 \times 10^{18}$ eV. By comparing measurements with predictions from shower simulations, we find for both of our adopted models of hadronic physics (QGSJETII-04 and EPOS-LHC) an indication that the mean cosmic-ray mass increases slowly with energy, as has been inferred from other studies. However, the mass estimates are dependent on the shower model and on the range of distance from the shower core selected. Thus the method has uncovered further deficiencies in our understanding of shower modelling that must be resolved before the mass composition can be inferred from $(\sec \theta)_\mathrm{max}$.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO