Radioactive impact in sediments from an estuarine system affected by industrial wastes releases

A big fertilizer industrial complex and a vast extension of phosphogypsum piles (12 km2), sited in the estuary formed by the Odiel and Tinto river mouths (southwest of Spain), are producing an unambiguous radioactive impact in their surrounding aquatic environment through radionuclides from the U-series. The levels and distribution of radionuclides in sediments from this estuarine system have been determined. The analyses of radionuclide concentrations and activity ratios have provided us with an interesting information to evaluate the extension, degree and routes of the radioactive impact, as well as for the knowledge of the different pathways followed for the radioactive contamination to disturb this natural system. The obtained results indicate that the main pathway of radioactive contamination of the estuary is through the dissolution in its waters of the radionuclides released by the industrial activities and their later fixation on the particulate materials. Tidal activity also plays an important role in the transport and homogenization along the estuary of the radioactivity released from the fertilizer plants. D 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.Junta de Andalucia (España) project 1FD97-0900-C02-02 (AMB

Automating the deployment of componentized systems

Embedded and self-adaptive systems demand continuous adap- tation and reconfiguration activities based on changing quality condi- tions and context information. As a consequence, systems have to be (re)deployed several times and software components need to be mapped onto new or existing hardware pieces. Today, the way to determine an optimal deployment in complex systems, often performed at runtime, constitutes a well-known challenge. In this paper we highlight the major problems of automatic deployment and present a research plan to reach for an UML-based solution for the deployment of componentized sys- tems. As a first step towards a solution, we use the UML superstructure to suggest a way to redeploy UML component diagrams based on the inputs and outputs required to enact an automatic deployment process.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología (CICYT) SETI (TIN2009-07366

Degradable Poly(ester amide)s for biomedical aplications

Poly(ester amide)s are an emerging group of biodegradable polymers that may cover both commodity and speciality applications. These polymers have ester and amide groups on their chemical structure which are of a degradable character and provide good thermal and mechanical properties. In this sense, the strong hydrogen‑bonding interactions between amide groups may counter some typical weaknesses of aliphatic polyesters like for example poly(e-caprolactone). Poly(ester amide)s can be prepared from different monomers and following different synthetic methodologies which lead to polymers with random, blocky and ordered microstructures. Properties like hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio and biodegradability can easily be tuned. During the last decade a great effort has been made to get functionalized poly(ester amide)s by incorporation of a-amino acids with hydroxyl, carboxyl and amine pendant groups and also by incorporation of carbon-carbon double bonds in both the polymer main chain and the side groups. Specific applications of these materials in the biomedical field are just being developed and are reviewed in this work (e.g., controlled drug delivery systems, hydrogels, tissue engineering and other uses like adhesives and smart materials) together with the main families of functionalized poly(ester amide)s that have been developed to date.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Biodegradable Poly(Ester Amide)s: Synthesis and Applications

Postprint (published version

SIRENA: A CAD environment for behavioural modelling and simulation of VLSI cellular neural network chips

This paper presents SIRENA, a CAD environment for the simulation and modelling of mixed-signal VLSI parallel processing chips based on cellular neural networks. SIRENA includes capabilities for: (a) the description of nominal and non-ideal operation of CNN analogue circuitry at the behavioural level; (b) performing realistic simulations of the transient evolution of physical CNNs including deviations due to second-order effects of the hardware; and, (c) evaluating sensitivity figures, and realize noise and Monte Carlo simulations in the time domain. These capabilities portray SIRENA as better suited for CNN chip development than algorithmic simulation packages (such as OpenSimulator, Sesame) or conventional neural networks simulators (RCS, GENESIS, SFINX), which are not oriented to the evaluation of hardware non-idealities. As compared to conventional electrical simulators (such as HSPICE or ELDO-FAS), SIRENA provides easier modelling of the hardware parasitics, a significant reduction in computation time, and similar accuracy levels. Consequently, iteration during the design procedure becomes possible, supporting decision making regarding design strategies and dimensioning. SIRENA has been developed using object-oriented programming techniques in C, and currently runs under the UNIX operating system and X-Windows framework. It employs a dedicated high-level hardware description language: DECEL, fitted to the description of non-idealities arising in CNN hardware. This language has been developed aiming generality, in the sense of making no restrictions on the network models that can be implemented. SIRENA is highly modular and composed of independent tools. This simplifies future expansions and improvements.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC96-1392-C02-0

A process-based flood frequency analysis within a trivariate statistical framework. Application to a semi-arid Mediterranean case study

[EN] This paper proposes a trivariate methodology for flood frequency estimation. It combines the flood peak, storm magnitude, and initial soil moisture condition (ISMC) as the main flood-related statistical variables to be considered. The semi-arid Mediterranean "Rambla del Poyo" catchment has been used as a representative case study where the influence of the spatio-temporal variability of the storms and the ISMC on floods can lead to differences of up to two orders of magnitude in quantiles when the most commonly used methods are applied. In order to incorporate the main flood-generating mechanisms, the integrated use of a multidimensional storm generator with distributed hydrological modelling is proposed. Flood quantiles are then estimated by combining the maximum flows with the storm magnitude and ISMC in a trivariate probability distribution function through the application of Bayes' theorem and Lagrange's Mean Value theorem. Although the methodology proposed in this paper has been applied and tested in only one case study, it can be extended to other case studies due to its process-based orientation.This research was funded by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain through the research projects TETISMED (CGL2014-58127-C3-3-R) and TETISCHANGE (ref RTI2018-093717-B-I00). The authors thank both AEMET for the daily data and Jucar River Basin Water Authority for the sub-daily data provided for this research. We also thank the Associate Editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that contributed to the improvement of the manuscript.Salazar Galán, SA.; García-Bartual, R.; Salinas, JL.; Francés, F. (2021). A process-based flood frequency analysis within a trivariate statistical framework. Application to a semi-arid Mediterranean case study. Journal of Hydrology. 603(Part C):1-15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.127081S115603Part

Use of the red gypsum industrial waste as substitute of natural gypsum for commercial cements manufacturing

El objetivo de esta investigación ha sido analizar la valorización de un residuo generado en el proceso de producción de dióxido de titanio (vía sulfato), denominado yeso rojo, en la producción de cementos. Dicho residuo está compuesto fundamentalmente por sulfato de calcio di-hidratado e hidróxidos de hierro. Para ello, ha sido necesaria la caracterización físico-química del yeso rojo, así como la de los otros componentes fundamentales en la fabricación de cementos y de los cementos generados con el mencionado residuo. Además, en el caso del yeso rojo, se ha analizado su contenido radiactivo al generarse éste en una industria NORM (Natural Occurring Radioactive Materials). Posteriormente, se han estudiado las propiedades más importantes de los cementos producidos con diferentes porcentajes de yeso rojo añadido, comparando estas mezclas con las propiedades de un cemento Portland comercial, comprobándose que se cumplen todas las normas europeas de calidad exigibles.The main objective of this research has been the valorisation of a waste from the TiO2 production process (sulphate method), called red gypsum, in the production of cements. This waste is mainly formed by di-hydrate calcium sulphate and iron hydroxides. To cover this objective it has been necessary to perform the physicochemical characterisation of the red gypsum as well as the main components in the production of cements and of the new cements generated. Moreover, for the red gypsum, has been analyzed its radioactive content because it is generated in a NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) industry. Finally, the most important properties of the obtained cements with different proportions of red gypsum in their composition have been studied by comparing them with the standard ones obtained in a Portland cement. Lastly, we have demonstrated that the new cements fulfil all the quality tests imposed by the European legislation.This work has been supported by the PROFIT Project “Valorization of red gypsum from the industrial production of titanium dioxide” (CIT-310200-2007-47)

Specific Parameter-Free Global Optimization to Speed Up Setting and Avoid Factors Interactions

Meta-heuristics utilizing numerous parameters are more complicated than meta-heuristics with a couple of parameters for various reasons. In essence, the effort expected to tune the strategy-particular parameters is far more prominent as the quantity of parameters increases and furthermore, complex algorithms are liable for the presence of further parameter interactions. Jaya meta-heuristic does not involve any strategy-specific parameters and is a one-stage technique. It has demonstrated its effectiveness compared to major types of meta-heuristics and it introduces various points of interest, such as its easy deployment and set-up in industrial applications and its low complexity to be studied. In this work, a new meta-heuristic, Enhanced Jaya (EJaya) is proposed to overcome the inconsistency of Jaya in diverse situations, introducing coherent attraction and repulsion movements and restrained intensity for flight. Comparative results of EJaya in a set of benchmark problems including statistical tests show that it is feasible to increase the accuracy, scalability and exploitation capability of Jaya while keeping its specific parameter-free feature. EJaya is especially suitable for a priori undefined characteristics optimization functions or applications where the set-up time of the optimization process is critical and parameters tuning and interactions must be avoided

Evaluation of styrene-divinylbenzene beads as a support to immobilize lipases

A commercial and very hydrophobic styrene-divinylbenzene matrix, MCI GEL® CHP20P, has been compared to octyl-Sepharose® beads as support to immobilize three different enzymes: lipases from Thermomyces lanuginosus (TLL) and from Rhizomucor miehie (RML) and Lecitase ® Ultra, a commercial artificial phospholipase. The immobilization mechanism on both supports was similar: interfacial activation of the enzymes versus the hydrophobic surface of the supports. Immobilization rate and loading capacity is much higher using MCI GEL® CHP20P compared to octyl-Sepharose® (87.2 mg protein/g of support using TLL, 310 mg/g using RML and 180 mg/g using Lecitase® Ultra). The thermal stability of all new preparations is much lower than that of the standard octyl-Sepharose® immobilized preparations, while the opposite occurs when the inactivations were performed in the presence of organic co-solvents. Regarding the hydrolytic activities, the results were strongly dependent on the substrate and pH of measurement. Octyl-Sepharose ® immobilized enzymes were more active versus p-NPB than the enzymes immobilized on MCI GEL® CHP20P, while RML became 700-fold less active versus methyl phenylacetate. Thus, the immobilization of a lipase on this matrix needs to be empirically evaluated, since it may present very positive effects in some cases while in other cases it may have very negative ones. © 2014 by the authors.We gratefully recognize the support from the Spanish Government, grant CTQ2009-07568 and CTQ2013-41507-R and CNPq (Brazil). The predoctoral fellowships for García-Galán (Spanish Government) and dos Santos (CNPq, Brazil) are also recognized. The authors wish to thank Ramiro Martínez (Novozymes, Spain) for kindly supplying the enzymes used in this research. The help and comments from Ángel Berenguer (Instituto de Materiales, Universidad de Alicante) are kindly acknowledged. We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)Peer Reviewe

Effective Reduction of Radiation Exposure during Cardiac Catheterization

Exposure to ionizing radiation during cardiac catheterization can have harmful consequences for patients and for the medical staff involved in the procedures. Minimizing radiation doses during the procedures is essential. We investigated whether fine-tuning the radiation protocol reduces radiation doses in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. In January 2016, we implemented a new protocol with reduced radiation doses in the Hospital de Jerez catheterization laboratory. We analyzed 170 consecutive coronary interventional procedures (85 of which were performed after the new protocol was implemented) and the personal dosimeters of the interventional cardiologists who performed the procedures. Overall, the low-radiation protocol reduced air kerma (dose of radiation) by 44.9% (95% CI, 18.4%–70.8%; P=0.001). The dose-area product decreased by 61% (95% CI, 30.2%– 90.1%; P <0.001) during percutaneous coronary interventions. We also found that the annual deep (79%, P=0.026) and shallow (62.2%, P=0.035) radiation doses to which primary operators were exposed decreased significantly under the low-radiation protocol. These dose reductions were achieved without increasing the volume of contrast media, fluoroscopy time, or rates of procedural complications, and without reducing the productivity of the laboratory. Optimizing the radiation safety protocol effectively reduced radiation exposure in patients and operators during cardiac catheterization procedures