Development of olive stone quality system based on biofuel study parameter study

In Andalusia (Southern Spanish region), olive industry presents a high potential of solid biofuel production because of residues generated from olive groves and those by olive oil industries. In this region, 25 % of residual biomass is produced by olive sector and olive stone residues are among the most important since its production is over 450,000 tons/year. The objective of this research is to provide unambiguous and clear classification principles for olive stone residues based on their quality parameters, to serve as a tool to enable efficient trading of this biofuel and to achieve good understanding between seller and customer as well as to facilitate communication with equipment manufacturers. For this purpose, a total of 176 olive stone samples from 71 different places have been collected and analyzed in this research. Data obtained have been used to develop two quality systems. On the one hand, a classification of olive stone quality parameters has been developed and data are described in a similar way to standardized european quality label for wood pellets. On the other hand, a procedure to calculate a quality index has been designed. Both quality systems have obtained similar results. However, the first one has shown to be more strict. In conclusion, both of them could be used in order to provide a quality classification for olive stone residues

Corrosive Properties Prediction from Olive Byproducts Solid Biofuel by Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Biofuel characterization constitutes a substantial improvement in the valorization of this resource and allows a rational and controlled use of its energy potential. Corrosion and slagging are primary concerns of solid biofuels; the occurrence and extent of these phenomena depend significantly on the concentration of chlorine in the solid biofuel and the presence of elements such as potassium, sulfur, sodium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, or silicon. Solid biofuels quality parameters are being determined by official methods established by the European Standard Technology Committee. Nevertheless, their implementation in the bioenergetic industry is scarce because these methods are expensive, tedious, and time-consuming. Therefore, a faster, more reliable, and cheaper analytical technique is mandatory in order to detect high concentrations of these parameters and avoid subsequent damages in heat exchanging surfaces. Near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is an eligible technique due to its high response speed, low cost per sample, absence of sample preparation, and versatility for the analysis of many different products and parameters. In this work, 250 samples of olive stone, olive tree pruning and dry depleted olive pomace, known also as “orujillo”, have been collected, and NIR prediction model for determination of parameters such as chlorine, sulfur, and potassium have been obtained and evaluated. Correlation between actual and predicted values (R2) was used to test the performance of calibrations. Practical utility of the validation models were assessed using the ratio of standard error of prediction to standard deviation of the reference data (RPD). High accuracy in prediction for a test set has been achieved for chlorine, sulfur, and potassium content (R2 > 0.9 and RPD > 3), and standard error of prediction (SEP) values obtained in external validation with 53 independent samples are 129 mg kg−1 and 0.008% for chlorine and sulfur, respectively. This study illustrates the possibility of implementing the NIR technique in combination with multivariate data analysis to predict corrosive elements from olive byproducts in an economical and fast way

First report on natural infection with Leishmania infantum in a domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) in Spain

A pet domestic ferret (Mustela putorius furo) with a papular lesion involving the right pinna was diagnosed with chronic pyogranulomatous dermatitis by histopathologic examination. Intralesional, intracytoplasmic oval microorganisms compatible with Leishmania spp. or Histoplasma spp. were observed in macrophages and multinucleate giant cells. Leishmania infantum (L. infantum) infection was diagnosed by PCR, culture in Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle medium, and immunohistochemistry. Abnormal clinicopathological results included increased alanine transferase, alkaline phosphatase, serum gamma glutamyl transferase and polyclonal gammpathy. Anti-Leishmania antibodies were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunofluorescence antibody test and western blot using L. infantum antigen. Immunoreactivity against the 16 kDa specific L. infantum antigen fraction was observed by western blot. PCR performed in blood samples obtained from this patient after positive parasite isolation detected L. infantum DNA. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first diagnosis and isolation of L. infantum in a domestic ferret naturally infected in an endemic region (Spain) where canine and feline leishmaniosis is frequently detected. According to these findings, ferrets should be included as potential reservoir hosts of L. infantum. Future investigations should analyze the epidemiological role of ferrets in L. infantum infection including the prevalence of infection

Country-report pattern corrections of new cases allow accurate 2-week predictions of COVID-19 evolution with the Gompertz model

Accurate short-term predictions of COVID-19 cases with empirical models allow Health Officials to prepare for hospital contingencies in a two–three week window given the delay between case reporting and the admission of patients in a hospital. We investigate the ability of Gompertz-type empiric models to provide accurate prediction up to two and three weeks to give a large window of preparation in case of a surge in virus transmission. We investigate the stability of the prediction and its accuracy using bi-weekly predictions during the last trimester of 2020 and 2021. Using data from 2020, we show that understanding and correcting for the daily reporting structure of cases in the different countries is key to accomplish accurate predictions. Furthermore, we found that filtering out predictions that are highly unstable to changes in the parameters of the model, which are roughly 20%, reduces strongly the number of predictions that are way-off. The method is then tested for robustness with data from 2021. We found that, for this data, only 1–2% of the one-week predictions were off by more than 50%. This increased to 3% for two-week predictions, and only for three-week predictions it reached 10%

Study of Phases Evolution in High-coercive MnAl Powders Obtained Through Short Milling Time of Gas-atomized Particles

Gas-atomized Mn54Al46 particles constituted nominally of only ε- and γ2-phases, i.e. no content of the ferromagnetic L10-type τ-phase, have been used to study the evolution of phases during short time of high-energy milling and subsequent annealing. Milling for 3 min is sufficient to begin formation of the τ-MnAl phase. A large coercivity of 4.9 kOe has been obtained in milled powder after annealing at 355 °C for 10 min. The large increase in coercivity, by comparison with the lower value of 1.8 kOe obtained for the starting material after the same annealing conditions, is attributed to the combined formation of the τ-MnAl and β-Mn phases and the creation of a very fine microstructure with grain sizes on the order of 20 nm. Correlation between morphology, microstructure and magnetic properties of the rapidly milled MnAl powders constitutes a technological advance to prepare highly coercive MnAl powders.United States Department of Energy AR0000188Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MAT2014-56955-R, PCIN-2015-126, MAT2013- 45165-P, PEJ-2014Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid S2013/MIT-28

High intensity neutrino oscillation facilities in Europe

The EUROnu project has studied three possible options for future, high intensity neutrino oscillation facilities in Europe. The first is a Super Beam, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of pions created by bombarding targets with a 4 MW proton beam from the CERN High Power Superconducting Proton Linac. The far detector for this facility is the 500 kt MEMPHYS water Cherenkov, located in the Fréjus tunnel. The second facility is the Neutrino Factory, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of μ+ and μ− beams in a storage ring. The far detector in this case is a 100 kt magnetized iron neutrino detector at a baseline of 2000 km. The third option is a Beta Beam, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of beta emitting isotopes, in particular He6 and Ne18, also stored in a ring. The far detector is also the MEMPHYS detector in the Fréjus tunnel. EUROnu has undertaken conceptual designs of these facilities and studied the performance of the detectors. Based on this, it has determined the physics reach of each facility, in particular for the measurement of CP violation in the lepton sector, and estimated the cost of construction. These have demonstrated that the best facility to build is the Neutrino Factory. However, if a powerful proton driver is constructed for another purpose or if the MEMPHYS detector is built for astroparticle physics, the Super Beam also becomes very attractive

BRIVA-LIFE–A multicenter retrospective study of the long-term use of brivaracetam in clinical practice

Objectives: Evaluate long-term effectiveness and tolerability of brivaracetam in clinical practice in patients with focal epilepsy. Materials and Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective study. Patients aged =16 years were started on brivaracetam from November 2016 to June 2017 and followed over 1 year. Data were obtained from medical records at 3, 6 and 12 months after treatment initiation for evaluation of safety- and seizure-related outcomes. Results: A total of 575 patients were included in analyses; most had been treated with =4 lifetime antiepileptic drugs. Target dosage was achieved by 30.6% of patients on the first day. Analysis of primary variables at 12 months revealed that mean reduction in seizure frequency was 36.0%, 39.7% of patients were =50% responders and 17.5% were seizure-free. Seizure-freedom was achieved by 37.5% of patients aged =65 years. Incidence of adverse events (AEs) and psychiatric AEs (PAEs) was 39.8% and 14.3%, respectively, and discontinuation due to these was 8.9% and 3.7%, respectively. Somnolence, irritability, and dizziness were the most frequently reported AEs. At baseline, 228 (39.7%) patients were being treated with levetiracetam; most switched to brivaracetam (dose ratio 1:10-15). Among those who switched because of PAEs (n = 53), 9 (17%) reported PAEs on brivaracetam, and 3 (5.7%) discontinued because of PAEs. Tolerability was not highly affected among patients with learning disability or psychiatric comorbidity. Conclusions: In a large population of patients with predominantly drug-resistant epilepsy, brivaracetam was effective and well-tolerated; no unexpected AEs occurred over 1 year, and the incidence of PAEs was lower compared with levetiracetam

Identification of a delta5-like fatty acyl desaturase from the cephalopod Octopus vulgaris (Cuvier 1797) involved in the biosynthesis of essential fatty acids

Long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) have been identified as essential compounds for common octopus (Octopus vulgaris), but precise dietary requirements have not been determined due in part to the inherent difficulties of performing feeding trials on paralarvae. Our objective is to establish the essential fatty acid (EFA) requirements for paralarval stages of the common octopus through characterisation of the enzymes of endogenous LC-PUFA biosynthetic pathways. In this study we isolated a cDNA with high homology to fatty acyl desaturases (Fad). Functional characterisation in recombinant yeast showed the octopus Fad exhibited ∆5 desaturation activity towards saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acyl substrates. Thus, it efficiently converted the yeast’s endogenous 16:0 and 18:0 to 16:1n-11 and 18:1n-13, respectively, and desaturated exogenously added PUFA substrates, 20:4n-3 and 20:3n-6, to 20:5n-3 (EPA) and 20:4n-6 (ARA), respectively. Although the ∆5 Fad enables common octopus to produce EPA and ARA, the low availability of its adequate substrates 20:4n-3 and 20:3n-6, either in the diet or by limited endogenous synthesis from C18 PUFA, might indicate that EPA and ARA are indeed EFA for this species. Interestingly, the octopus ∆5 Fad can also participate in the biosynthesis of non-methylene interrupted FA, PUFA that are generally uncommon in vertebrates but that have been found previously in marine invertebrates including molluscs, and now also confirmed to be present in specific tissues of common octopus

VALES I: the molecular gas content in star-forming dusty H-ATLAS galaxies up to z = 0.35

We present an extragalactic survey using observations from the Atacama Large Millime- ter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to characterize galaxy populations up to z = 0.35: the Valpara´ıso ALMA Line Emission Survey (VALES). We use ALMA Band-3 CO(1–0) obser- vations to study the molecular gas content in a sample of 67 dusty normal star-forming galaxies selected from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey (H-ATLAS). We have spectrally detected 49 galaxies at >5σ significance and 12 others are seen at low significance in stacked spectra. CO luminosities are in the range of (0.03–1.31) × 1010 K km s−1 pc2, equivalent to log(Mgas/M) = 8.9–10.9 assuming an αCO= 4.6 (K km s−1 pc2)−1, which perfectly complements the parameter space previously explored with local and high-z normal galaxies. We compute the optical to CO size ratio for 21 galaxies resolved by ALMA at ∼3.5 arcsec resolution (6.5 kpc), finding that the molecular gas is on average ∼ 0.6 times more compact than the stellar component. We obtain a global Schmidt–Kennicutt relation, given by log[:ESFR/(Myr−1 kpc−2)] = (1.26 ± 0.02) × log[:EMH2/(Mpc−2)] − (3.6 ± 0.2). We find a significant fraction of galaxies lying at ‘intermediate efficiencies’ between a long-standing mode of star formation activity and a starburst, specially at LIR = 1011–12 L. Combining our observations with data taken from the literature, we propose that star formation efficiencies can be parametrized by log [SFR/MH2 ] = 0.19 × (log LIR − 11.45) − 8.26 −0.41 × arctan[−4.84 (log LIR − 11.45)]. Within the redshift range we explore (z < 0.35), we identify a rapid increase of the gas content as a function of redshift