Study of the impact of the discharges of the Vila-Viçosa small hydroelectric development (Portugal) on the water quality and on the fish communities of the Ardena river

A study of the Vila-Viçosa small hydroelectric development, situated on the Ardena river (hydrographical basin of the river Douro, Portugal) was carried out for one year, with the purpose of evaluating the existence of differences in the fish communities found downstream and upstream of the development. A characterization of the system was made, bearing in mind morphological, hydrological and physical and chemical characteristics and studying the structure and dynamics of the fish communities. With the collected data on physical and chemical parameters a study of its space-time variation was made. Moreover, with the data relative to the fish communities a study of the space-time variation of some parameters was carried out. After the analysis of the data, it is possible to conclude that the Ardena river is a lotic system with water of good quality and that the functioning of the hydroelectric plant does not produce variations of the values of the parameters measured. The results obtained for the space-time variation of the fish community reveal some alterations in its distribution.Durante un año se ha estudiado la minicentral hidroeléctrica de Vila Viçosa en el río Ardena (cuenca del Duero, Portugal), con el objetivo de evaluar la existencia de diferencias en las comunidades de peces situadas abajo y arriba de la minicentral hidroeléctrica, caracterizando el sistema desde el punto de vista morfológico, hidrológico y físico-químico y estudiando la estructura y dinámica de las comunidades de peces. Con los datos relativos a los parámetros físico-químicos y los peces se ha hecho el estudio de la variación espacio-temporal. Además con los datos de los peces se ha estudiado la variación espacial y temporal de algunos parámetros. Después de analizados los datos, se puede decir que el río Ardena es un sistema lotico con agua de buena calidad y que el funcionamiento de la minicentral no provoca alteraciones de los valores encontrados. Los resultados de la variación espacial y temporal de la comunidad de peces reflejan alteraciones en su distribución

Metabolomics profiling of strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) F1 population to characterize flavour and nutritional traits

The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) is a highly consumed fruit known for its delicate flavour and nutritional characteristics. However, as fruit quality attributes have been lost after years of traditional breeding, new technological tools, such as high throughput metabolomics, are necessary for the identification of factors responsible of these traits. Here we present the metabolomics profiling for the content of primary and secondary metabolites of a 95 F1 individuals strawberry population derived from genotype “1392”, selected for its superior flavour, and “232” (Zorrilla-Fontanesi et al., 2011; Zorrilla-Fontanesi et al., 2012). Metabolite profiling was performed on mature fruits of the strawberry population using gas chromatography hyphenated to time-of-flight mass spectrometry for primary metabolites and ultra performance liquid chromatography Exactive Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometry for secondary metabolites.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Role of production engineers in the public sector.

This paper aims to investigate the role of production engineers in the public sector. In the past, engineers used to be hired in the public sector only to work with technical issues in some departments. But nowadays, technical competency is not the only issue an engineer must have, and at the same time, there are some other approaches than technical ones that demand the presence of engineers in the government. In this scenario, production engineers rise as an important player on public affairs. It is explored in this paper the role of production engineers in public policies, technology and innovation issues, integration between technical and management approaches, and the holistic and systemic view that drives the career. This paper is constructed under some bibliographic information, as well as some empiric data and case studies. At the end of the work, one can conclude that as well as in the whole society, engineers? role in the public sector and government has been increasing and being crucial to build and sustain the competitiveness of the municipality / region / country and the effectiveness of the public services delivered to citizens

Impact evaluation of the Vila Viçosa small hydroelectric power plant (Portugal) on the water quality and on the dynamics of the benthic macroinvertebrate communities of the Ardena river

Over a two-year period a study of the Vila Viçosa small hydroelectric development, located on the Ardena river (hydrographical basin of the Douro river, Portugal), was conducted, with the objective of evaluating the impact of its operation on the water quality and on the dynamics of the benthic macroinvertebrate community. A morphological, hydrologic and physico-chemical characterization of the system was done, an analysis of the benthic macroinvertebrate communities looking into their structure and dynamics, as well as ecological and physiological characteristics. With the physical and chemical data, a study of its spatial and temporal variation was performed. With the data related to the macroinvertebrate communities, an analysis of the spatial variation of some indexes and metrics and of the (non) similarity between the samples collected were done, bearing in mind the composition of the communities, through different techniques of multivariate analysis. After the analysis of the data, it is possible to say that the Ardena River is a lothic system, with good water quality, in which the working of the small hydroelectric power plant causes alterations on the macroinvertebrate community, due to the alteration of the "natural" hydrologic regime. The impact on the macroinvertebrate communities is lower upstream of the plant, where the flow is minimal throughout the whole year leading to a change in the structure of the community. Downstream of the plant, where the flow is extremely variable, there is an impoverishment of the communities, leading to the displacement of substrate and organisms.Durante dos años se ha estudiado la minicentral hidroeléctrica de Vila Viçosa en el río Ardena (cuenca del Duero, Portugal), con el objetivo de evaluar el impacto de su funcionamiento en la calidad del agua y en la dinámica de la comunidad de macroinvertebrados bentónicos, haciendo la caracterización del sistema desde el punto de vista morfológico, hidrológico y físico-químico y estudiando las comunidades de macroinvertebrados bentónicos, atendiendo a aspectos relacionados con su estructura, dinámica y características ecológicas y fisiológicas. Con los datos relativos a los parámetros físico-químicos se ha hecho el estudio de la variación espacio temporal; y con los datos relativos a la comunidad de macroinvertebrados, se ha hecho el estudio de la variación espacial de algunos índices y medidas y de la (dis)similaridad entre las muestras recogidas, teniendo en cuenta su composición, a través de diferentes técnicas de análisis multivariante. Después de analizados los datos, se puede decir que el río Ardena es un sistema lotico con agua de buena calidad y que el funcionamiento de la minicentral hidroeléctrica provoca modificaciones en la comunidad de macroinvertebrados bentónicos, resultado de las alteraciones de caudales. El impacto en las comunidades de macroinvertebrados es menor aguas arriba de las minicentrales, donde el caudal es mínimo todo el año provocando una modificación en la estructura de las comunidades. Aguas abajo de las minicentrales, donde el caudal es muy variable, hay un empobrecimiento de las comunidades, provocando el desplazamiento del substrato y de los organismos