Túnel mixto para ferrocarriles y automóviles entre Horta y el Vallès Occidental

La planificacio ferroviaria de Catalunya recull el desdoblament de la linia del Valles dels FGC mitjancant una nova linia Sant Cugat - Mundet - Llevant - Placa de Catalunya. Al mateix temps existeixen nombrosos estudis de viabilitat que preconitzen un nou eix viari entre Horta i el Valles, com a complement del Tunel de Vallvidrera. El projecte preten desenvolupar una alternative conjunta de pas sota la serra de Collserola com a eina per assolir la necesaria rendabilitat economica, ambiental i social

Assessing the value of fertilisers derived from container-based sanitation systems

It is estimated that 61% of the world population lacks access to safely managed sanitation and that in low-income countries (LICs) only 6.7% of the population is connected to a sewerage network. Container-based sanitation (CBS) systems have shown great potential for increasing access to sanitation in densely populated urban slums given that they do not require permanent infrastructures. Resource recovery is usually an essential part of CBS systems to provide sustainable faecal sludge management. Transforming human excreta into fertilisers creates value from faecal sludge while producing an organic soil amendment, addressing both sanitation and soil fertility challenges. Soil amendments made from organic residues are however known to be difficult to market profitably. This thesis therefore investigated the properties of human excreta derived fertilisers (HEDF) and the opportunities and challenges to their commercialisation in LIC. Nutrient characterisation of composts, anaerobic digestate and vermicompost from two CBS ventures showed significant differences in nutrient content between these three HEDF types. Pathogen and heavy metal analyses demonstrated that there is no pollution threat from HEDF when produced according toWHO guidelines. Field and glasshouse crop trials demonstrated the positive effect HEDF can have on crops and soil health. These benefits however do not currently translate into their commercial value. A case study approach was used to identify barriers and enabling conditions faced by two CBS organisations that successfully produce and sell HEDF. The low market value of compost prevented both organisations from recovering treatment costs from HEDF sales. One major barrier to wider adoption of HEDF use was the lack of regulations or certifications specific to this type of fertiliser. Perception challenges exist because of the potentially harmful components human excreta contain such as pathogens and heavy metals. It is therefore essential to create a way of proving or guaranteeing the quality and safety of HEDF products. The value of qualityassuring schemes for HEDF became evident when applying the Biosolids Assurance Scheme from the UK to HEDF, which helped identify a contamination issue in one of the treatment sites considered

Evaluating the efficacy of fertilisers derived from human excreta in agriculture and their perception in Antananarivo, Madagascar

Sustainable food production to achieve food security and increased access to safely managed sanitation are major global challenges. Treating human excreta and producing safe nutrient-rich soil amendments is an effective way of creating an incentive to tackle these two challenges. This research analysed the quality of fertilisers produced from human excreta and evaluated their acceptability within the local market. Antananarivo (Madagascar) was the field site for crop trial and three different fertilisers derived from human excreta were used to grow maize: digestate, compost and vermicompost, each derived from the previous one. The three fertilisers had different characteristics: nutrients were more concentrated in compost (23 g/kg) and vermicompost (11 g/kg) and mineralisation stages varied between them but did not cause any detrimental effect to crop yield. When compared to chemical fertilisers, the three human excreta derived fertilisers resulted in comparable yield which is encouraging. A series of 81 interviews were also carried out with farmers of the peri-urban area of Antananarivo, which highlighted the importance of characterising the market, identifying users’ perceived needs and developing a product responding to these. The majority of local farmers perceived human excreta derived fertilisers as acceptable and gave great importance to their texture and general appearance. In this study, both the field trials and interviews suggest that there is a good potential to produce fertilisers from human excreta, which have a positive effect on crops and can be adopted in the local market

Structure function and Multifractal spectrum applied to Digital Elevation Model

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) provides the information basis used for many geographic applications such as topographic and geomorphologic studies, landscape through GIS (Geographic Information Systems) among others. The DEM capacity to represent Earth?s surface depends on the surface roughness and the resolution used. Each DEM pixel depends on the scale used characterized by two variables: resolution and extension of the area studied. DEMs can vary in resolution and accuracy by the production method, although there are statistical characteristics that keep constant or very similar in a wide range of scales. Based on this property, several techniques have been applied to characterize DEM through multiscale analysis directly related to fractal geometry: multifractal spectrum and the structure function. The comparison of the results by both methods is discussed. The study area is represented by a 1024 x 1024 data matrix obtained from a DEM with a resolution of 10 x 10 m each point, which correspond with a region known as ?Monte de El Pardo? a property of Spanish National Heritage (Patrimonio Nacional Español) of 15820 Ha located to a short distance from the center of Madrid. Manzanares River goes through this area from North to South. In the southern area a reservoir is found with a capacity of 43 hm3, with an altitude of 603.3 m till 632 m when it is at the highest capacity. In the middle of the reservoir the minimum altitude of this area is achieved

Multifunctional albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters for the reduction of cancer stem cells

Controlled delivery of multiple chemotherapeutics can improve the effectiveness of treatments and reduce side effects and relapses. Here in, we used albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters modified with doxorubicin and SN38 (AuNCs-DS) as combined therapy for cancer. The chemotherapeutics are conjugated to the nanostructures using linkers that release them when exposed to different internal stimuli (Glutathione and pH). This system has shown potent antitumor activity against breast and pancreatic cancer cells. Our studies indicate that the antineoplastic activity observed may be related to the reinforced DNA damage generated by the combination of the drugs. Moreover, this system presented antineoplastic activity against mammospheres, a culturing model for cancer stem cells, leading to an efficient reduction of the number of oncospheres and their size. In summary, the nanostructures reported here are promising carriers for combination therapy against cancer and particularly to cancer stem cells.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2016-78454-C2-2-R, SAF2014-56763-R, and SAF2017-87305-R), Comunidad de Madrid (S2013/MIT-2850), Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, and IMDEA Nanociencia IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, Grant SEV-2016-0686

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is overexpressed in colorectal cancer onset

Background Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is an essential regulator of glycolysis used as a housekeeping marker for gene/protein normalisation. Given the pivotal role of GAPDH in tumour metabolism, our aim was to correlate its protein expression with tumour staging and prognosis of colorectal cancer. Methods GAPDH expression was immunohistochemically analysed in tumour tissues from 62 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, and validated at mRNA level in an independent dataset comprising 98 paired stage II CRC and normal samples. Staining quantification was performed by computational image analysis, and correlations between GAPDH expression and tumour progression stage were assessed. Gene expression profiling was performed using Affymetrix microarrays. Probability of patient survival and disease-free survival were analysed by the univariate product-limit method of Kaplan-Meier. Groups were compared using Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results Overexpression of GAPDH is positively associated with early stage tumours without regional lymph node and distant metastases involved. These results were reinforced by those obtained at mRNA level. Conclusion Studying the role of GAPDH in malignant transformation can shed new light on the understanding of tumour onset and lead to the design of more efficient personalised therapies

Experimental Investigation of the Secondary and Backscatter Electron Emission From New Spacecraft Surface Materials

The emission of secondary and backscattered electrons influences spacecraft surface potentials and the surrounding plasma. Modern spacecraft use new materials for which secondary emission properties have been unavailable. In this work, the total electron yield (i.e., the sum of secondary and backscattered electron yields) was measured for niobium-C103 alloy, molybdenum Titanium, Zirconium, Molybdenum (TZM) alloy, tantalum-tungsten alloy, Elgiloy®, graphite lubricant (DAG 213®), and titanium nitride. The surface properties of tungsten were also measured for comparison with past test data. The materials were readied as spacecraft flight materials and temperature-treated ( annealed ) to predicted peak flight temperatures. The yield properties for 10 eV-5 keV incident electron energies for all samples were measured. Both unannealed and annealed states were tested, except DAG 213, which was only tested annealed. Three-parameter and four-parameter models were used to fit the secondary and backscattered electron yield data, respectively. The emitted electron energy distributions are also obtained and fit with a Chung-Everhart model for secondary electrons and a Gaussian function for backscattered electrons. The secondary and backscattered electrons\u27 current densities were calculated for different ambient plasma conditions. For ready reference, the normalized primary electron, secondary electron, and backscattered electron current densities versus ambient electron temperature were computed and plotted from 1 eV to 8 keV

Análisis del impacto del sector externo e interno en las PYMES desde 2016 a la actualidad

El presente trabajo se focaliza en el estudio del impacto del sector externo e interno en las PYMES durante los últimos años. Entendiéndose por Micro, Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas aquellas que realizan sus actividades en el país, en alguno los siguientes sectores: comercial, servicios, comercio, industria, minería o agropecuario. Pueden estar integradas por varias personas según la actividad y sus ventas totales anuales en pesos no pueden superar los montos establecidos según su categoría. La finalidad de la siguiente investigación es conocer cómo se han visto afectadas las PYMES durante los años referenciados. Además, se realiza un análisis detallado sobre PYMES Mendocinas. Por medio de encuestas a dichas empresas, y de un relevamiento de PYMES especializadas en diferentes rubros; se observó cómo las mismas se vieron beneficiadas o perjudicadas por las políticas de Gobierno implementadas. A través de dichas investigaciones, podemos concluir que con la aplicación de la Ley 27.264, llamada Ley Pyme, sancionada n 2016, trajo cierto alivio fiscal para las PYMES. Sin embargo, pasado el tiempo y con la crisis económica que se fue agudizando, muchas de esas ventajas en la actualidad quedaron cortas y requerirían de una actualización normativa.Fil: Navarrete Diaz, Sofia Jimena. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Lupari, Georgina Gisel. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Aguado, Tatiana Ayelén. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Lucesoli, Brenda Balbina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas

Detection of radio interference in the UHF amateur radio band with the Serpens satellite

High packet losses when uplinking commands to small satellites have been reported in the UHF amateur band (430–440 MHz) since late 2013. Measurements of the uplink radio environment have shown high levels of in-band interference in previous works, but public measurement results are limited. Average interference levels are usually measured over some time to build heat maps. In this paper, the analysis is focused on sustained interference over a 24 ms time window using a maximum-minimum method. New heat maps and interference power distributions over Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas were obtained using this method on measurements from the Serpens satellite. One of the missions of Serpens was to test an in orbit store-and-forward communication system to exchange short messages with ground sensors for disaster monitoring. The satellite operators had difficulties commanding the satellite due to interference, causing bit errors in uplink packets. Interference power of up to −70 dBm was detected during in-orbit measurements over Europe and North America, while expected received power from the ground stations was not more than −80 dBm. High power space-object tracking radars on the ground operating in the 420–450 MHz band could be the cause, but further measurements are required to verify this. Characterizing this interference can help develop mitigation techniques for future satellite communication systems