The use of wet-laid techniques to obtain flax nonwovens with different thermoplastic binding fibers for technical insulation applications

[EN] In this work, the wet-laid technique has been used to obtain flax nonwovens thermally bonded with different contents of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and bicomponent polyamide 6/copolyamide (PA6/CoPA) fibers in the 10-30 wt.% range. Scanning electron microscopy has been used to evaluate the formation of interlock points through melted polymer and flax fibers. Volume porosity has been estimated through determination of thickness and surface mass. Tensile strength and elongation at break have been determined on longitudinal (preferential) and transversal directions to evaluate anisotropy. The sound absorption properties of stacked sheets of flax: PVA and flax: PA6/CoPA nonwovens have been evaluated. In addition, the thermal insulating properties of individual nonwovens have been obtained. Mechanical characterization shows slight anisotropy. The absorption coefficient is interesting in the medium frequencies range, and relatively low thermal conductivity and thermal resistance values are obtained with these nonwovens (in the 0.020-0.025Wm(-1) K-1 range for flax: PVA nonwovens and in the 0.09-0.10Wm(-1) K-1 range for flax: PA6/CoPA nonwovens). By taking into account these features, these nonwoven substrates could find interesting applications as sound absorbers and/or thermal insulation materials in technical applications.This work is part of the project IPT-310000-2010-037, "ECOTEXCOMP: Research and development of textile structures useful as reinforcement of composite materials with marked ecological character", and was supported by the "Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion", with a grant of (sic)189,540.20, within the Plan Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica, Desarrollo e Innovacion Tecnologica 2008-2011 and funded by the European Union through FEDER funds, Technology Fund 2007-2013 and Operational Programme on R + D + i for and on behalf of the companies. The project is also known as "WET-TEX: Implementacion de la tecnologia wet-laid en el desarrollo de nuevos textiles medico-sanitario" with expedient number IMIDIC/2010/137 (total grant of (sic)284,400) and the project "WET-TEX II: Implementacion de la tecnologia wet-laid en la investigacion y desarrollo de paneles para aplicaciones tecnicas a partir de residuos procedentes de la industria textil" with expedient number IMDEEA/2011/167 (total grant of (sic)255,000) funded by IMPIVA and cofunded (80%) by the European Union through FEDER funds, Valencian Community Operational 2007-2012.Fages, E.; Cano, MA.; Gironés, S.; Boronat Vitoria, T.; Fenollar Gimeno, OÁ.; Balart Gimeno, RA. (2013). The use of wet-laid techniques to obtain flax nonwovens with different thermoplastic binding fibers for technical insulation applications. Textile Research Journal. 83(4):426-437. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040517512454183S42643783

Estudio de la eficacia de una vacuna frente a la Lactococosis de la trucha arco iris (Oncorhynchus mykiss) a diferentes temperaturas.

Lactococcus garvieae es el agente etiológico de la Lactococosis, considerada actualmente comouna enfermedad emergente responsable de graves pérdidas económicas tanto en acuiculturacontinental como marina cuando la temperatura del agua supera los 16ºC. En la actualidad, lavacunación con vacunas inactivadas se ha establecido como el método más eficaz para controlarel proceso.En el presente trabajo hemos evaluado la eficacia de una vacuna comercial (Icthiovac-Lg) frentea una infección experimental con L. garvieae en trucha arco iris (Oncorhynchus mykiss) habiendovacunado los peces a diferentes temperaturas del agua.Dos grupos de 50 truchas de 30-35 g de peso fueron vacunadas a temperaturas de 8 y 15ºCrespectivamente. Fueron mantenidas en estas condiciones junto con otras 50 truchas más sinvacunar en cada grupo durante 30 días, momento en el cual se procedió a realizar una infecciónexperimental vía intraperitoneal con una cepa patógena de L. garvieae. Los peces se mantuvieronen observación durante 21 días más. Al final del estudio se obtuvo un valor de RPS (PorcentajeRelativo de Supervivencia) para el grupo vacunado a temperatura alta de 96% mientras quepara el grupo vacunado a 8ºC fue de 83%

Impact of age on susceptibility to aphanomycosis diseases in signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana, 1852)

The signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana, 1852) is an American species that was introduced into Spanish rivers. This species carries the fungus responsible for aphanomycosis, Aphanomyces astaci (Schikora), and can transmit it to the native European crayfish species. Although P. leniusculus is often a carrier of this fungus, it generally does not suffer from aphanomycosis; however, if individuals are under stressful conditions, such as the presence of another pathogen or parasite, the chronic infection can develop into an acute, fatal condition. The present paper describes an experiment in which four groups of P. leniusculus, of different ages, were exposed to A. astaci zoospores, in order to compare differences in susceptibility. Our results show that P. leniusculus can die of this disease at concentrations formerly considered sublethal for this species, and also that crayfish juveniles can suffer from this disease. However, significant inter-group differences were not found.El cangrejo señal Pacifastacus leniusculus (Dana, 1852) es una especie americana introducida en España portadora de afanomicosis. Aunque generalmente los cangrejos de esta especie se encuentran infectados por el hongo causante de esta enfermedad, Aphanomyces astaci (Schikora), éstos sólo suelen verse afectados en condiciones de estrés. Entre los factores que predisponen a la afanomicosis destaca la presencia de otras especies parásitas, que pueden hacer que la infección crónica pase a ser aguda y mortal. Dado que hasta la fecha se han realizado muy pocas investigaciones sobre la sensibilidad de esta especie y la influencia de factores como la edad, se realizó un estudio con cuatro grupos de P. leniusculus diferenciados por año de nacimiento. Los cuatros grupos fueron expuestos a zoosporas de A. astaci buscando diferencias en la mortalidad entre los grupos. Los resultados demuestran que P. leniusculus puede padecer la enfermedad, incluso a concentraciones consideradas como subletales y en grupos de edad jóvenes, que hasta ahora se habían descrito como menos susceptibles a la afanomicosis. La diferencia observada entre los grupos no es significativa, lo que no permite concluir que existiera distinta susceptibilidad entre los grupos de edades establecidos.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Food-web structure in relation to environmental gradients and predator-prey ratios in tank-bromeliad ecosystems

Little is known of how linkage patterns between species change along environmental gradients. The small, spatially discrete food webs inhabiting tank-bromeliads provide an excellent opportunity to analyse patterns of community diversity and food-web topology (connectance, linkage density, nestedness) in relation to key environmental variables (habitat size, detrital resource, incident radiation) and predators: prey ratios. We sampled 365 bromeliads in a wide range of understorey environments in French Guiana and used gut contents of invertebrates to draw the corresponding 365 connectance webs. At the bromeliad scale, habitat size (water volume) determined the number of species that constitute food-web nodes, the proportion of predators, and food-web topology. The number of species as well as the proportion of predators within bromeliads declined from open to forested habitats, where the volume of water collected by bromeliads was generally lower because of rainfall interception by the canopy. A core group of microorganisms and generalist detritivores remained relatively constant across environments. This suggests that (i) a highly-connected core ensures food-web stability and key ecosystem functions across environments, and (ii) larger deviations in food-web structures can be expected following disturbance if detritivores share traits that determine responses to environmental changes. While linkage density and nestedness were lower in bromeliads in the forest than in open areas, experiments are needed to confirm a trend for lower food-web stability in the understorey of primary forests

Oxidative Stress Mediates Physiological Costs of Begging in Magpie (Pica pica) Nestlings

[Background] Theoretical models predict that a cost is necessary to guarantee honesty in begging displays given by offspring to solicit food from their parents. There is evidence for begging costs in the form of a reduced growth rate and immunocompetence. Moreover, begging implies vigorous physical activity and attentiveness, which should increase metabolism and thus the releasing of pro-oxidant substances. Consequently, we predict that soliciting offspring incur a cost in terms of oxidative stress, and growth rate and immune response (processes that generate pro-oxidants substances) are reduced in order to maintain oxidative balance. [Methodology/Principal Findings] We test whether magpie (Pica pica) nestlings incur a cost in terms of oxidative stress when experimentally forced to beg intensively, and whether oxidative balance is maintained by reducing growth rate and immune response. Our results show that begging provokes oxidative stress, and that nestlings begging for longer bouts reduce growth and immune response, thereby maintaining their oxidative status. [Conclusions/Significance] These findings help explaining the physiological link between begging and its associated growth and immunocompetence costs, which seems to be mediated by oxidative stress. Our study is a unique example of the complex relationships between the intensity of a communicative display (begging), oxidative stress, and life-history traits directly linked to viability.GM-R was supported by the Spanish Government (Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, “Juan de la Cierva” program), and TR was supported by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC; Proyectos Intramurales Especiales)

El modelo integrador y de innovación docente del Grado en Veterinaria de Zaragoza: integración en équidos

Desde hace cuatro años se ha comenzado a impartir en la Universidad de Zaragoza el nuevo Grado en Veterinaria, de 300 créditos ECTS distribuidos en 5 cursos. En el diseño de este nuevo Plan de Estudios se ha tratado de dotar a la Titulación de un enfoque basado, fundamentalmente, en las competencias que la profesión exige y la sociedad necesita de un t itulado (graduado) en veterinaria. Tras una formación inicial básica el alumno llega al CUARTO CURSO del grado, en el que las materias se han organizado en asignaturas siguiendo una estructura totalmente novedosa para los estudios de veterinaria en España. Como consecuencia de esta nueva estructura desaparecen como tales muchas de las asignaturas tradicionales que han estado presentes como asignaturas propias (con denominaciones idénticas o similares) en la práctica totalidad de los planes de estudio de veterinaria españoles desde la década de los 70 del siglo pasado. Al cursar estas asignaturas, los alumnos de esos planes, estudiábamos las particularidades de las diferentes especies animales de interés veterinario desde el enfoque, inevitablemente compartimentalizado, de esas asignaturas

Plio-Pleistocene climatic change had a major impact on the assembly and disassembly processes of Iberian rodent communities

Comprehension of changes in community composition through multiple spatio-temporal scales is a prime challenge in ecology and palaeobiology. However, assembly, structuring and disassembly of biotic metacommunities in deep-time is insufficiently known. To address this, we used the extensively sampled Iberian Plio-Pleistocene fossil record of rodent faunas as our model system to explore how global climatic events may alter metacommunity structure. Through factor analysis, we found five sets of genera, called faunal components, which co-vary in proportional diversity over time. These faunal components had different spatio-temporal distributions throughout the Plio-Pleistocene, resulting in non-random changes in species assemblages, particularly in response to the development of the Pleistocene glaciations. Three successive metacommunities with distinctive taxonomic structures were identified as a consequence of the differential responses of their members to global climatic change: (1) Ruscinian subtropical faunas (5.3–3.4 Ma) dominated by a faunal component that can be considered as a Miocene legacy; (2) transition faunas during the Villafranchian–Biharian (3.4–0.8 Ma) with a mixture of different faunal components; and (3) final dominance of the temperate Toringian faunas (0.8–0.01 Ma) that would lead to the modern Iberian assemblage. The influence of the cooling global temperature drove the reorganisation of these rodent metacommunities. Selective extinction processes due to this large-scale environmental disturbance progressively eliminated the subtropical specialist species from the early Pliocene metacommunity. This disassembly process was accompanied by the organisation of a diversified metacommunity with an increased importance of biome generalist species, and finally followed by the assembly during the middle–late Pleistocene of a new set of species specialised in the novel environments developed as a consequence of the glaciations

Desarrollo de una aplicación informática para aprender clínica y producción equina jugando al Trivial

Introducción/objetivos: esta iniciativa surge de la puesta en común de experiencias docentes en las I Jornadas de Innovación Docente en Medicina y Cirugía Animal (Córdoba, 2011). Allí se presentaron algunas actividades que utilizan el éxito de metodologías basadas en concursos y competiciones, que consiguen que los alumnos las adopten fácilmente como métodos de aprendizaje.La actividad propuesta se basa en el popular juego TRIVIAL™ en el que equipos de alumnos contestan cuestiones de una batería de preguntas sobre veterinaria equina. Las preguntas están agrupadas por sistemas/especialidades.Se persigue crear un sistema de aprendizaje y autoevaluación formativa, que permita la evaluación de conocimientos adaptados al nivel de los alumnos de S~ del Grado en Veterinaria. Además de autoevaluar sus propios conocimientos sin la presión de un examen formal, el alumno practica la dinámica de grupo. La competitividad generada entre equipos estimula el trabajo individual y de grupo (...