Effect of Variety and Climatic Seasonality on Soil Intracellular Enzymatic Activities in Coffee Agroforestry Systems

Most soil physicochemical parameters do not respond immediately to changes in management when compared to microbiological and biochemical ones; the study of biological and biochemical quality of soils can serve as indicators of their general condition. Enzymatic activities are important in the biochemical functioning of soils. In this work, the activity of three intracellular enzymes of the soil was evaluated: dehydrogenase activity, florescein diacetate hydrolysis and arginine deaminase, its seasonal fluctuation and the effect of two coffee varieties Caturra and Catuaí on an agroforestry system. The soil samples were taken during the dry and rainy seasons in two contiguous plots sown with the two coffee varieties and in each one a non-systematic zigzag sampling was carried out. The physical, chemical properties and intracellular enzymatic activities of the soil were determined by the classical methods of analysis and following standard protocols. It was observed that the dehydrogenase activity and hydrolysis of fluorescein diacetate had greater activity in the rainy season regardless of the variety, whereas arginine deaminase showed more activity in the dry season and for the Caturra variety. The intracellular enzymatic activities showed sensitivity to the changes during the sampling period, in soils planted with coffee varieties Caturra and Catuaí

Reemplazo de la estabilización tartárica por frío en las bodegas: El uso de carboximetil celulosa, poliaspartato de potasio y resinas intercambiadoras de iones

El tratamiento de los vinos antes del embotellado para evitar la precipitación de las sales del ácido tartárico es un paso importante y común durante la producción del vino. La estabilización en frío es el tratamiento de estabilización más utilizado, y aunque ha demostrado ser efectiva, presenta algunas desventajas significativas. Estas son las razones por las cuales se están introduciendo otros productos y metodologías en las bodegas. Algunas de estas nuevas técnicas implican la reducción de la concentración de ácido tartárico y/o potasio en los vinos. Otras son técnicas aditivas y utilizan coloides protectores o inhibidores de la cristalización de las sales. En este estudio, se han tratado con carboximetilcelulosa, con poliaspartado de potasio y con resina de intercambio iónico vinos blancos, rosados y dos tipos diferentes de vinos tintos. Se estudiaron las características enológicas y cromáticas de los vinos y se evaluaron también sensorialmente. Los resultados indican que las características sensoriales y cromáticas se mantuvieron en los vinos (en comparación con un vino de control no tratado) con el uso de la carboximetilcelulosa y el poliaspartato, no detectándose diferencias en la mayoría de los casos en una prueba sensorial triangular en el caso de la carboximetilcelulosa y siendo los vinos tratados con poliaspartato de potasio evaluados positivamente

ONTOGENERATION: Reusing Domain and Linguistic Ontologies for Spanish Text Generation

A significant problem facing the reuse of ontologies is to make their content more widely accessible to any potential user. Wording all the information represented in an ontology is the best way to ease the retrieval and understanding of its contents. This article proposes a general approach to reuse domain and linguistic ontologies with natural language generation technology, describing a practical system for the generation of Spanish texts in the domain of chemical substances. For this purpose the following steps have been taken: (a) an ontology in the chemicals domain developed under the METHONTOLOGY framework and the Ontology Design Environment (ODE) has been taken as knowledge source; (b) the linguistic ontology GUM (Generalized Upper Model) used in other languages has been extended and modified for Spanish; (c) a Spanish grammar has been built following the systemic-functional model by using the KPML (Komet-Penman Multilingual) environment. As result, the final system named Ontogeneration permits the user to consult and retrieve all the information of the ontology in Spanish

Ontogeneration: Arquitectura basada en ontologías para la generación de textos en castellano

En este trabajo se presenta Ontogeneration, una arquitectura para generar textos en castellano utilizando ontologías lingüísticas y de dominio con la tecnología KPML de generación de lenguaje natural. Además se ha construido un sistema que genera textos en castellano en el dominio de las sustancias químicas. Para alcanzar tales resultados, se han seguido los siguientes pasos: a) se ha tomado como fuente de conocimiento una ontología en el dominio químico construida usando la metodología de desarrollo de ontologías llamada METHONTOLOGY y el Entorno de Diseño de Ontologías (Ontology Design Environment: ODE), b) se ha extendido y modificado la ontología lingüística GUM (Generalized Upper Model) para el castellano, c) se ha construido una gramática para el castellano siguiendo el modelo sistémico-funcional usando el entorno KPML (Komet Penman Multilingual). Se consigue, así, que los contenidos almacenados en la ontología de dominio sean accesibles por usuarios legos en la materia

Association of single and joint metals with albuminuria and estimated glomerular filtration longitudinal change in middle-aged adults from Spain: The Aragon workers health study

The nephrotoxicity of low-chronic metal exposures is unclear, especially considering several metals simultaneously. We assessed the individual and joint association of metals with longitudinal change in renal endpoints in Aragon Workers Health Study participants with available measures of essential (cobalt [Co], copper [Cu], molybdenum [Mo] and zinc [Zn]) and non-essential (As, barium [Ba], Cd, chromium [Cr], antimony [Sb], titanium [Ti], uranium [U], vanadium [V] and tungsten [W]) urine metals and albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) (N = 707) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (N = 1493) change. Median levels were 0.24, 7.0, 18.6, 295, 3.1, 1.9, 0.28, 1.16, 9.7, 0.66, 0.22 μg/g for Co, Cu, Mo, Zn, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Sb, Ti, V and W, respectively, and 52.5 and 27.2 ng/g for Sb and U, respectively. In single metal analysis, higher As, Cr and W concentrations were associated with increasing ACR annual change. Higher Zn, As and Cr concentrations were associated with decreasing eGFR annual change. The shape of the longitudinal dose-responses, however, was compatible with a nephrotoxic role for all metals, both in ACR and eGFR models. In joint metal analysis, both higher mixtures of Cu–Zn–As–Ba–Ti–U–V–W and Co–Cd–Cr–Sb–V–W showed associations with increasing ACR and decreasing eGFR annual change. As and Cr were main drivers of the ACR change joint metal association. For the eGFR change joint metal association, while Zn and Cr were main drivers, other metals also contributed substantially. We identified potential interactions for As, Zn and W by other metals with ACR change, but not with eGFR change. Our findings support that Zn, As, Cr and W and suggestively other metals, are nephrotoxic at relatively low exposure levels. Metal exposure reduction and mitigation interventions may improve prevention and decrease the burden of renal disease in the population

CLYC as a neutron detector in low background conditions

We report on the thermal neutron flux measurements carried out at the Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC) with two commercial 2 × 2 CLYC detectors. The measurements were performed as part of an experimental campaign at LSC with He detectors, for establishing the sensitivity limits and use of CLYCs in low background conditions. A careful characterization of the intrinsic α and γ -ray background in the detectors was required and done with dedicated measurements. It was found that the α activities in the two CLYC crystals differ by a factor of three, and the use of Monte Carlo simulations and a Bayesian unfolding method allowed us to determine the specific α activities from the U and Th decay chains. The simulations and unfolding also revealed that the γ -ray background registered in the detectors is dominated by the intrinsic activity of the components of the detector such as the aluminum housing and photo-multiplier and that the activity within the crystal is low in comparison. The data from the neutron flux measurements with the two detectors were analyzed with different methodologies: one based on an innovative α /neutron pulse shape discrimination method and one based on the subtraction of the intrinsic α background that masks the neutron signals in the region of interest. The neutron sensitivity of the CLYCs was calculated by Monte Carlo simulations with MCNP6 and GEANT4. The resulting thermal neutron fluxes are in good agreement with complementary flux measurement performed with He detectors, but close to the detection limit imposed by the intrinsic α activity