The environmental fate of organic pollutants through the global microbial metabolism

The production of new chemicals for industrial or therapeutic applications exceeds our ability to generate experimental data on their biological fate once they are released into the environment. Typically, mixtures of organic pollutants are freed into a variety of sites inhabited by diverse microorganisms, which structure complex multispecies metabolic networks. A machine learning approach has been instrumental to expose a correlation between the frequency of 149 atomic triads (chemotopes) common in organo-chemical compounds and the global capacity of microorganisms to metabolise them. Depending on the type of environmental fate defined, the system can correctly predict the biodegradative outcome for 73–87% of compounds. This system is available to the community as a web server (http://www.pdg.cnb.uam.es/BDPSERVER). The application of this predictive tool to chemical species released into the environment provides an early instrument for tentatively classifying the compounds as biodegradable or recalcitrant. Automated surveys of lists of industrial chemicals currently employed in large quantities revealed that herbicides are the group of functional molecules more difficult to recycle into the biosphere through the inclusive microbial metabolism

Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic)

Versión del editor2,69

Palm Oil on the Edge

Internationally recognized Spanish experts in the food industry, nutrition, toxicology, sustainability, and veterinary science met in Madrid on July 2018 to develop a consensus about palm oil (PO) as a food ingredient. Their aim was to provide a useful, evidence-based point of reference about PO. Scientific evidence about the role of PO in food safety, nutrition and sustainability was analyzed. Main conclusions were: (1) RSPO foundation responded to the environmental impact of palm crops. The Amsterdam Declaration pursues the use of 100% sustainable PO in Europe by 2020. Awareness about choosing sustainable products will help to maintain local economies and environments in the producing countries; (2) evidence shows that a moderate intake of PO within a healthy diet presents no risks for health. No evidence justifies any change fat intake recommendations; (3) food industry is interested in assuring safe, sustainable and high-quality products. The use of certified sustainable PO is increasing; and (4) there is no evidence associating PO consumption and higher cancer risk, incidence or mortality in humans. Tolerable daily intake (TDI) for toxic contaminants (2-and 3-monochloropropanediols (MCPDs), glycidyl esters (GEs)) have been established by JECFA and EFSA. Consequently, the European Commission has modified the Contaminants Regulation for GEs and it is still working on 3-MCPDs’

Recent advances in the interrelationship of vegetation and climate in Spain

Póster elaborado para el WCRP Open Science Conference celebrado en Denver del 24 al 28 de octubre de 201

Palm Oil on the Edge

Internationally recognized Spanish experts in the food industry, nutrition, toxicology, sustainability, and veterinary science met in Madrid on July 2018 to develop a consensus about palm oil (PO) as a food ingredient. Their aim was to provide a useful, evidence-based point of reference about PO. Scientific evidence about the role of PO in food safety, nutrition and sustainability was analyzed. Main conclusions were: (1) RSPO foundation responded to the environmental impact of palm crops. The Amsterdam Declaration pursues the use of 100% sustainable PO in Europe by 2020. Awareness about choosing sustainable products will help to maintain local economies and environments in the producing countries; (2) evidence shows that a moderate intake of PO within a healthy diet presents no risks for health. No evidence justifies any change fat intake recommendations; (3) food industry is interested in assuring safe, sustainable and high-quality products. The use of certified sustainable PO is increasing; and (4) there is no evidence associating PO consumption and higher cancer risk, incidence or mortality in humans. Tolerable daily intake (TDI) for toxic contaminants (2-and 3-monochloropropanediols (MCPDs), glycidyl esters (GEs)) have been established by JECFA and EFSA. Consequently, the European Commission has modified the Contaminants Regulation for GEs and it is still working on 3-MCPD

Palm Oil on the Edge

Internationally recognized Spanish experts in the food industry, nutrition, toxicology, sustainability, and veterinary science met in Madrid on July 2018 to develop a consensus about palm oil (PO) as a food ingredient. Their aim was to provide a useful, evidence-based point of reference about PO. Scientific evidence about the role of PO in food safety, nutrition and sustainability was analyzed. Main conclusions were: (1) RSPO foundation responded to the environmental impact of palm crops. The Amsterdam Declaration pursues the use of 100% sustainable PO in Europe by 2020. Awareness about choosing sustainable products will help to maintain local economies and environments in the producing countries; (2) evidence shows that a moderate intake of PO within a healthy diet presents no risks for health. No evidence justifies any change fat intake recommendations; (3) food industry is interested in assuring safe, sustainable and high-quality products. The use of certified sustainable PO is increasing; and (4) there is no evidence associating PO consumption and higher cancer risk, incidence or mortality in humans. Tolerable daily intake (TDI) for toxic contaminants (2-and 3-monochloropropanediols (MCPDs), glycidyl esters (GEs)) have been established by JECFA and EFSA. Consequently, the European Commission has modified the Contaminants Regulation for GEs and it is still working on 3-MCPDs’

[All]-S,S-dioxide Oligo-Thienylenevinylenes: Synthesis and Structural/Electronic Shapes from Their Molecular Force Fields

Oligo-S,S-dioxothienylenevinylenes have been prepared by transferring oxygen atoms to the sulfur atoms using the HOF·CH3CN complex. Their photophysical properties are presented in comparison with their thio phenevinylene congeners. Together with their vibrational properties and molecular force fields, this study allows for the interpretation of the alteration of aromaticity and inter-ring exocyclic p-conjugation in this series

Evaluación continua y análisis de resultados en las asignaturas del grado de química impartidas por el departamento de química orgánica

En esta comunicación se pondrán en común las experiencias de distintos docentes del Departamento que han impartido asignaturas de Química Orgánica tanto en la antigua Licenciatura como en el nuevo Grado de Químicas. Las asignaturas en que se focaliza el estudio, debido a que son de obligada realización, son: Química Orgánica, Estereoquímica Orgánica, Determinación Estructural de Compuestos Orgánicos y Química Orgánica Avanzada. El objetivo de este estudio permitirá evaluar los cambios que se han llevado a cabo desde el punto de vista de las nuevas metodologías docentes que se han debido aplicar así como de los cambios de contenido que han sufrido las asignaturas. También se pretende evaluar los resultados obtenidos por los alumnos resaltando y comparando las ventajas e inconvenientes encontradas en el nuevo plan de estudios. Además, como fin último este estudio pretende poner en común aquellas estrategias que mejor resultado hayan dado desde distintos ámbitos docentes para aplicarlas en futuros cursos

The state of art of the drought studies in Spain

Póster elaborado para el WCRP Workshop on Drought Predictability and Prediction in a Changing Climate celebrado en Barcelona del 2 al 4 de marzo de 201

A multiobjective model for passive portfolio management: an application on the S&P 100 index

This is an author's accepted manuscript of an article published in: “Journal of Business Economics and Management"; Volume 14, Issue 4, 2013; copyright Taylor & Francis; available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/16111699.2012.668859Index tracking seeks to minimize the unsystematic risk component by imitating the movements of a reference index. Partial index tracking only considers a subset of the stocks in the index, enabling a substantial cost reduction in comparison with full tracking. Nevertheless, when heterogeneous investment profiles are to be satisfied, traditional index tracking techniques may need different stocks to build the different portfolios. The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology that enables a fund s manager to satisfy different clients investment profiles but using in all cases the same subset of stocks, and considering not only one particular criterion but a compromise between several criteria. For this purpose we use a mathematical programming model that considers the tracking error variance, the excess return and the variance of the portfolio plus the curvature of the tracking frontier. The curvature is not defined for a particular portfolio, but for all the portfolios in the tracking frontier. This way funds managers can offer their clients a wide range of risk-return combinations just picking the appropriate portfolio in the frontier, all of these portfolios sharing the same shares but with different weights. An example of our proposal is applied on the S&P 100.García García, F.; Guijarro Martínez, F.; Moya Clemente, I. (2013). A multiobjective model for passive portfolio management: an application on the S&P 100 index. Journal of Business Economics and Management. 14(4):758-775. doi:10.3846/16111699.2012.668859S758775144Aktan, B., Korsakienė, R., & Smaliukienė, R. (2010). TIME‐VARYING VOLATILITY MODELLING OF BALTIC STOCK MARKETS. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 11(3), 511-532. doi:10.3846/jbem.2010.25Ballestero, E., & Romero, C. (1991). A theorem connecting utility function optimization and compromise programming. Operations Research Letters, 10(7), 421-427. doi:10.1016/0167-6377(91)90045-qBeasley, J. E. (1990). OR-Library: Distributing Test Problems by Electronic Mail. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 41(11), 1069-1072. doi:10.1057/jors.1990.166Beasley, J. E., Meade, N., & Chang, T.-J. (2003). An evolutionary heuristic for the index tracking problem. European Journal of Operational Research, 148(3), 621-643. doi:10.1016/s0377-2217(02)00425-3Canakgoz, N. A., & Beasley, J. E. (2009). Mixed-integer programming approaches for index tracking and enhanced indexation. European Journal of Operational Research, 196(1), 384-399. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2008.03.015Connor, G., & Leland, H. (1995). Cash Management for Index Tracking. Financial Analysts Journal, 51(6), 75-80. doi:10.2469/faj.v51.n6.1952Corielli, F., & Marcellino, M. (2006). Factor based index tracking. Journal of Banking & Finance, 30(8), 2215-2233. doi:10.1016/j.jbankfin.2005.07.012Derigs, U., & Nickel, N.-H. (2004). On a Local-Search Heuristic for a Class of Tracking Error Minimization Problems in Portfolio Management. Annals of Operations Research, 131(1-4), 45-77. doi:10.1023/b:anor.0000039512.98833.5aDose, C., & Cincotti, S. (2005). Clustering of financial time series with application to index and enhanced index tracking portfolio. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 355(1), 145-151. doi:10.1016/j.physa.2005.02.078Focardi, S. M., & Fabozzi 3, F. J. (2004). A methodology for index tracking based on time-series clustering. Quantitative Finance, 4(4), 417-425. doi:10.1080/14697680400008668Gaivoronski, A. A., Krylov, S., & van der Wijst, N. (2005). Optimal portfolio selection and dynamic benchmark tracking. European Journal of Operational Research, 163(1), 115-131. doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2003.12.001Hallerbach, W. G., & Spronk, J. (2002). The relevance of MCDM for financial decisions. Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, 11(4-5), 187-195. doi:10.1002/mcda.328Jarrett, J. E., & Schilling, J. (2008). DAILY VARIATION AND PREDICTING STOCK MARKET RETURNS FOR THE FRANKFURTER BÖRSE (STOCK MARKET). Journal of Business Economics and Management, 9(3), 189-198. doi:10.3846/1611-1699.2008.9.189-198Roll, R. (1992). A Mean/Variance Analysis of Tracking Error. The Journal of Portfolio Management, 18(4), 13-22. doi:10.3905/jpm.1992.701922Rudolf, M., Wolter, H.-J., & Zimmermann, H. (1999). A linear model for tracking error minimization. Journal of Banking & Finance, 23(1), 85-103. doi:10.1016/s0378-4266(98)00076-4Ruiz-Torrubiano, R., & Suárez, A. (2008). A hybrid optimization approach to index tracking. Annals of Operations Research, 166(1), 57-71. doi:10.1007/s10479-008-0404-4Rutkauskas, A. V., & Stasytyte, V. (s. f.). Decision Making Strategies in Global Exchange and Capital Markets. Advances and Innovations in Systems, Computing Sciences and Software Engineering, 17-22. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-6264-3_4Tabata, Y., & Takeda, E. (1995). Bicriteria Optimization Problem of Designing an Index Fund. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 46(8), 1023-1032. doi:10.1057/jors.1995.139Teresienė, D. (2009). LITHUANIAN STOCK MARKET ANALYSIS USING A SET OF GARCH MODELS. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 10(4), 349-360. doi:10.3846/1611-1699.2009.10.349-36