Flexible Blue-Light Fiber Amplifiers to Improve Signal Coverage in Advanced Lighting Communication Systems

Visible-light communication (VLC) based on white light-emitting diodes has recently attracted much attention to provide high-bitrate data communication in indoor environments. One of the remaining challenges to be resolved to enable the proliferation of VLC systems is related to channel attenuation and multiple path fading. Here, we introduce an advanced VLC system integrating an optical amplifier as a promising solution to overcome channel impairments, providing high bitrate coverage. The optical amplifier is a flexible fiber based on a poly(fluorene)-based lumophore doped within a di-ureasil organic-inor- ganic hybrid. Optical amplification is demonstrated for pre-amplifier and relay node scenarios, yielding a maximum gain of 5.9 G 0.2 dB and 3.7 G 0.2 dB, respectively, establishing the proposed approach as a promising cost-effective solution for VLCs. Additionally, numerical simulations show, for a realistic envi- ronment, a 207% improvement in the coverage area, using existing lighting infrastructure without extra cost.R.C.E. acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Ho- rizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 818762 - SPECTRACON)

Automatic preservation watch using information extraction on the Web: a case study on semantic extraction of natural language for digital preservation

The ability to recognize when digital content is becoming endangered is essential for maintaining the long-term, continuous and authentic access to digital assets. To achieve this ability, knowledge about aspects of the world that might hinder the preservation of content is needed. However, the processes of gathering, managing and reasoning on knowledge can become manually infeasible when the volume and heterogeneity of content increases, multiplying the aspects to monitor. Automation of these processes is possible [11,21], but its usefulness is limited by the data it is able to gather. Up to now, automatic digital preservation processes have been restricted to knowledge expressed in a machine understandable language, ignoring a plethora of data expressed in natural language, such as the DPC Technology Watch Reports, which could greatly contribute to the completeness and freshness of data about aspects of the world related to digital preservation. This paper presents a real case scenario from the National Library of the Netherlands, where the monitoring of publishers and journals is needed. This knowledge is mostly represented in natural language on Web sites of the publishers and, therefore, is dificult to automatically monitor. In this paper, we demonstrate how we use information extraction technologies to end and extract machine readable information on publishers and journals for ingestion into automatic digital preservation watch tools. We show that the results of automatic semantic extraction are a good complement to existing knowledge bases on publishers [9, 20], finding newer and more complete data. We demonstrate the viability of the approach as an alternative or auxiliary method for automatically gathering information on preservation risks in digital content.KEEP SOLUTION

Comparison between mixed liquors of two side-stream membrane bioreactors treating wastewaters from waste management plants with high and low solids anaerobic digestion

In the last years, biological treatment plants for the previously separated organic fraction from municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) have gained importance. In these processes a liquid effluent (liquid fraction from the digestate and leachate from composting piles), which has to be treated previously to its discharge, is produced. In this paper, the characteristics of the mixed liquor from two full-scale membrane bioreactors treating the effluents of two OFMSW treatment plants have been evaluated in view to study their influence on membrane fouling in terms of filterability. For that, the mixed liquor samples have been ultrafiltrated in an OF laboratory plant. Besides, the effect of the influent characteristics to MBRs and the values of the chemical and physical parameters of the mixed liquors on the filterability have been studied. Results showed that the filterability of the mixed liquor was strongly influenced by the soluble microbial products in the mixed liquors and the influent characteristics to MBR. Permeate flux of MBR mixed liquor treating the most polluted wastewater was considerable the lowest (around 20 L/m(2) h for some samples), what was explained by viscosity and soluble microbial products concentration higher than those measured in other MBR mixed liquor. (c) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work was supported by the URBASER Company. Authors thank personnel of the full-scale MBR plants for providing samples.Zuriaga Agusti, E.; Mendoza Roca, JA.; Bes Piá, MA.; Alonso Molina, JL.; Fernández-Giménez, E.; Alvarez-Requena, C.; Munagorri-Manueco, F.... (2016). Comparison between mixed liquors of two side-stream membrane bioreactors treating wastewaters from waste management plants with high and low solids anaerobic digestion. Water Research. 100:517-525. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.053S51752510

Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels

[EN] In this work some relevant processes for the preparation of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and fuel additives from cellulose, hemicellulose and triglycerides derived platform molecules are discussed. Thus, it is shown that a series of platform molecules such as levulinic acid, furans, fatty acids and polyols can be converted into a variety of fuel additives through catalytic transformations that include reduction, esterification, etherification, and acetalization reactions. Moreover, we will show that liquid hydrocarbon fuels can be obtained by combining oxygen removal processes (e.g. dehydration, hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation, decarbonylation/descarboxylation etc.) with the adjustment of the molecular weight via C C coupling reactions (e.g. aldol condensation, hydroxyalkylation, oligomerization, ketonization) of the reactive platform molecules.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government-MINECO through Consolider Ingenio 2010-Multicat and CTQ.-2011-27550, ITQ thanks the "Program Severo Ochoa" for financial support.Climent Olmedo, MJ.; Corma Canós, A.; Iborra Chornet, S. (2014). Conversion of biomass platform molecules into fuel additives and liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Green Chemistry. 16(2):516-547. https://doi.org/10.1039/c3gc41492bS51654716

Self-Care, Sense Of Coherence And Depression In Patients Hospitalized For Decompensated Heart Failure

OBJECTIVE To analyze the self-care behaviors according to gender, the symptoms of depression and sense of coherence and compare the measurements of depression and sense of coherence according to gender. METHOD A correlational, cross-sectional study that investigated 132 patients with decompensated heart failure (HF). Data were collected through interviews and consultation to medical records, and analyzed using the chi-square and the Student's t tests with significance level of 0.05. Participants were 75 men and 57 women, aged 63.2 years on average (SD = 13.8). RESULTS No differences in self-care behavior by gender were found, except for rest after physical activity (p = 0.017). Patients who practiced physical activity showed fewer symptoms of depression (p<0.001). There were no differences in sense of coherence according to self-care behavior and gender. Women had more symptoms of depression than men (p = 0.002). CONCLUSION Special attention should be given to women with HF considering self-care and depressive symptoms

Conservation and Diversity of Seed Associated Endophytes in Zea across Boundaries of Evolution, Ethnography and Ecology

Endophytes are non-pathogenic microbes living inside plants. We asked whether endophytic species were conserved in the agriculturally important plant genus Zea as it became domesticated from its wild ancestors (teosinte) to modern maize (corn) and moved from Mexico to Canada. Kernels from populations of four different teosintes and 10 different maize varieties were screened for endophytic bacteria by culturing, cloning and DNA fingerprinting using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) of 16S rDNA. Principle component analysis of TRFLP data showed that seed endophyte community composition varied in relation to plant host phylogeny. However, there was a core microbiota of endophytes that was conserved in Zea seeds across boundaries of evolution, ethnography and ecology. The majority of seed endophytes in the wild ancestor persist today in domesticated maize, though ancient selection against the hard fruitcase surrounding seeds may have altered the abundance of endophytes. Four TRFLP signals including two predicted to represent Clostridium and Paenibacillus species were conserved across all Zea genotypes, while culturing showed that Enterobacter, Methylobacteria, Pantoea and Pseudomonas species were widespread, with γ-proteobacteria being the prevalent class. Twenty-six different genera were cultured, and these were evaluated for their ability to stimulate plant growth, grow on nitrogen-free media, solubilize phosphate, sequester iron, secrete RNAse, antagonize pathogens, catabolize the precursor of ethylene, produce auxin and acetoin/butanediol. Of these traits, phosphate solubilization and production of acetoin/butanediol were the most commonly observed. An isolate from the giant Mexican landrace Mixteco, with 100% identity to Burkholderia phytofirmans, significantly promoted shoot potato biomass. GFP tagging and maize stem injection confirmed that several seed endophytes could spread systemically through the plant. One seed isolate, Enterobacter asburiae, was able to exit the root and colonize the rhizosphere. Conservation and diversity in Zea-microbe relationships are discussed in the context of ecology, crop domestication, selection and migration

Nursing and sexuality: integrative review of papers published by the Latin-American Journal of Nursing and Brazilian Journal of Nursing

This study departs from the assumption that studies addressing sexuality in the field of nursing present changes and broaden the scope of discussion to include gender and sexual rights, although a strong tendency to link sexuality to its biological aspects is still observed. This study identifies the state-of-the-art of studies addressing sexuality published by two international journals: Latin American Journal of Nursing and The Brazilian Journal of Nursing. The sources were papers published in both periodicals over a period of ten years (from 1998 to 2007). In a universe of 1,894 searched abstracts, 29 mentioned the word ‘sexuality’. The results confirm this study’s assumption showing that the studies addressing sexuality from the perspective of nursing published by these two journals broaden the understanding on the subject as they incorporate categories such as gender, but also excessively link sexuality to its biological aspects.Esta investigación partió del supuesto de que los estudios sobre sexualidad realizados por la Enfermería presentan cambios y amplían la perspectiva sobre la realidad al incluir género y derechos sexuales, a pesar de que permanezca una fuerte tendencia en la vinculación de la sexualidad a sus aspectos biológicos. El objetivo del estudio fue identificar el estado del arte de las publicaciones sobre sexualidad en dos periódicos de circulación internacional: Revista Latino Americana de Enfermería/RLAE y Revista Brasileña de Enfermería/REBEn. Las fuentes fueron artículos publicados en ambos periódicos en el período de diez años (1998 a 2007). En un universo de 1894 resúmenes consultados fueron identificados 29 que contenían en el título, palabras clave o el resumen de la palabra sexualidad. Los resultados confirman el supuesto del estudio demostrando que la producción sobre sexualidad por la Enfermería divulgada en esos dos periódicos, al mismo tiempo en que amplía la comprensión sobre la temática al incorporar categorías como género, mantiene la vinculación excesiva de la sexualidad a sus aspectos biológicos.Esta pesquisa partiu do pressuposto de que os estudos sobre sexualidade, realizados pela Enfermagem, apresentam mudanças e ampliam o olhar sobre a realidade ao incluir gênero e direitos sexuais, embora permaneça forte tendência para a vinculação da sexualidade aos seus aspectos biológicos. O objetivo do estudo foi identificar o estado da arte das publicações sobre sexualidade em dois periódicos de circulação internacional: Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem/RLAE e Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem/REBEn. As fontes foram artigos publicados em ambos os periódicos, no período de dez anos (1998 a 2007). Em um universo de 1894 resumos consultados, foram identificados 29 que traziam no título, palavras-chave, ou resumo a palavra sexualidade. Os resultados confirmam o pressuposto do estudo, demonstrando que a produção sobre sexualidade pela Enfermagem, divulgada nesses dois periódicos, ao mesmo tempo em que amplia a compreensão sobre a temática ao incorporar categorias, como gênero, mantém vinculação excessiva da sexualidade aos seus aspectos biológicos