Sustainable development city-beach in Alicante

[EN] Tourism development in recent decades has involved a large urban development in coastal areas, with different anthropogenic structural interventions on the coast such as the construction of commercial buildings and marinas, which has led to intense erosion and large imbalances in the last century. This situation also affects the city of Alicante, with the area between the port of Alicante and the Huertas Cape, one of the most depressed areas of the city, due to various actions carried out since the 70s, for anthropic example fillers for building marinas, jetties and broken in poor condition because they are made of sandstone, and a bad connection between the two parts of the city. In this work the creation of a new promenade that communicates both zones is proposed, creating new beaches eliminating anthro- pogenic fillings and the remains of breakwaters along the coast, the union of diverse marine area in one marina, and the insertion of an artificial reef multipurpose. With all this it is to improve the attraction of the area, and increase the mobility of the city on the coast.Aragonés, L.; García-Barba, J.; Villacampa, Y.; López, I.; Gómez Martín, ME.; Pagán, J. (2017). Sustainable development city-beach in Alicante. International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning. 12(4):704-712. doi:10.2495/SDP-V12-N4-704-712S70471212

Solute Effects on Spin Labels at an Aqueous-Exposed Site in the Flap Region of HIV-1 Protease.

The effects of solutes on spin-label mobility and protein conformation have been investigated with X-band continuous-wave and pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy for spin labels attached to an aqueous-exposed site in the beta-hairpin flap region of HIV-1 protease. Specifically, we examined the effects of glycerol, sucrose, PEG3000, and Ficoll400 for four commonly used nitroxide spin labels and found that the largest perturbations to the EPR line shapes occur for solutions containing PEG3000 and glycerol. From comparisons of the spectral line shapes and distance distribution profiles of spin-labeled HIV-1 protease with and without inhibitor, it was concluded that solutes such as glycerol and PEG3000 alter the line shapes of the spin label in the beta-hairpin flaps of HIV-1 PR by modulation of spin-label mobility through changes in preferential interactions with the solutes. It is noteworthy that the high osmolality of the 40% glycerol solution did not alter the conformation of the flaps as determined from pulsed EPR distance measurements

Preparation and Characterization of Polymeric-Hybrid PES/TiO2 Hollow Fiber Membranes for Potential Applications in Water Treatment

In this work, poly(ethersulfone) (PES) ultrafiltration (UF) hollow fibers (HF) were modified by introducing TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) in the polymeric dope, to endow them with photocatalytic properties. Different dope compositions and spinning conditions for producing “blank” PES UF fibers with suitable properties were investigated. PEO–PPO–PEO (Poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol, Pluronic® (Sigma-Aldrich, Milan, Italy) was finally selected as the additive and a suitable dope composition was identified. After the detection of an appropriate dope composition and the optimization of the spinning parameters, PES-TiO2 HF was produced. The optimized composition was employed for preparing the mixed matrix HF loaded with TiO2 NPs. The effect of different TiO2 NP (0.3–1 wt %) concentrations and bore fluid compositions on the fiber morphology and properties were explored. The morphology of the produced fibers was analyzed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Fibers were further characterized by measuring: pore size diameters and thickness, porosity, and pure water permeability (PWP). The photocatalytic activity of the new membranes was also tested by UV light irradiation. The model “foulant” methylene blue (MB) was used in order to prove the efficiency of the novel UF membrane for dye photo-degradation

On the development of the brown spider Loxosceles gaucho Gertsch (Araneae, Sicariidae): the nympho-imaginal period

Observations of the developmental biology of Loxosceles gaucho Gertsch, 1967, the brown spider of southeastern Brazil are scarce. The present study reports the method of individualized rearing of 18 populations of L. gaucho, kept in laboratory under varied diet conditions, and characterizes their nympho-imaginal period as well as factors related to their reproduction. Females built the first egg sac about 20 days after copulation and nymphs hatched 40 days after the laying date. Average offspring was 61.3 spiderlings and females usually built three to four successive egg sacs in a period of five to seven months. First nymphs initiated their predatory activity between the 5th and 8th days after hatching and the majority reached adulthood within six moults (range of five to eight) in approximately 15 to 17 months (male) and 15.5 to 18 months (female). The average sex ratio equaled 1.0:1.7 (male:female). The wide individual variability of this species intermoult intervals is herewith expressed by the "intermoult rate", which was fairly uniform for both intra and interpopulations and gives a relevant aspect for a general idea of the life cycles of spiders