"Romanticizing Penniless Entrepreneurs?" The Relationship between Start-Ups and Human Wellbeing across Countries

We study the effect of entrepreneurship and its allocation between necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship on three indicators of countries' wellbeing: monetary wellbeing, non-monetary wellbeing and our own indicator of a country's ability to translate economic growth into non-monetary wellbeing. We take into consideration that there is a feedback effect from monetary and non-monetary wellbeing to entrepreneurial allocation. Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor we establish that opportunity entrepreneurship may contribute towards national wellbeing and that better wellbeing in turn may stimulate opportunity entrepreneurship. Hence, entrepreneurship may contribute towards countries' wellbeing in a broad sense, and countries with higher levels of wellbeing may contribute towards opportunity entrepreneurship

Development of a critical structure state alarm system based on the instrumentation of the Botafoc breakwater nº 8 caisson

Balearic Port Authority has developed an instrumentation system for the #8 caisson of the Botafoc breakwater that integrates 12 pressure sensors located at three surfaces, two in contact with the sea water and another with the bottom. This design was completed with an inertial system that measures the angular velocities and the accelerations over the three Cartesian axes. Consequently, the system measures actions (pressures) and reactions (movements and accelerations) experimented by the caisson, due to sea waves and/or other service loads. R+D department of the Port Authority and Polytechnic University of Madrid are working on two directions, the development of new theories on vertical breakwater design that go beyond Goda and Sainflou, and on the creation of a real-time critical structure alarm system, based on the instrumentation installed. This alarm system has two main parts: the instrumentation itself that collects data and processes it on real-time (the data processing compares the pressure law suffered by the caisson in every step process with the design critical state of the caisson, in this case the Goda pressure law for a 6.5 m wave), giving a security coefficient that points out the risk level on real-time; and the alarm system consisting of a monitoring panel located in the Port Control Center that shows the risk level and advises in case of an incidental evacuation of this critical portuary installation

Integration of modular process simulators under the Generalized Disjunctive Programming framework for the structural flowsheet optimization

The optimization of chemical processes where the flowsheet topology is not kept fixed is a challenging discrete-continuous optimization problem. Usually, this task has been performed through equation based models. This approach presents several problems, as tedious and complicated component properties estimation or the handling of huge problems (with thousands of equations and variables). We propose a GDP approach as an alternative to the MINLP models coupled with a flowsheet program. The novelty of this approach relies on using a commercial modular process simulator where the superstructure is drawn directly on the graphical use interface of the simulator. This methodology takes advantage of modular process simulators (specially tailored numerical methods, reliability, and robustness) and the flexibility of the GDP formulation for the modeling and solution. The optimization tool proposed is successfully applied to the synthesis of a methanol plant where different alternatives are available for the streams, equipment and process conditions.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CTQ2012-37039-C02-02)

A new technique for recovering energy in thermally coupled distillation using vapor recompression cycles

Even though it has been proved that a fully thermally coupled distillation (TCD) system minimizes the energy used by a sequence of columns, it is well-known that vapor/liquid transfers between different sections produce an unavoidable excess of vapor (liquid) in some of them, increasing both the investment and operating costs. It is proposed here to take advantage of this situation by extracting the extra vapor/liquid and subjecting it to a direct/reverse vapor compression cycle. This new arrangement restores the optimal operating conditions of some of the affected sections with energy savings of around 20–30% compared with conventional TCD columns. Various examples, including the direct and reverse vapor recompression cycles, are presented. Furthermore, in each example, all possible modes of distillation (direct, indirect and Petlyuk distillation) with and without vapor recompression cycles (VRC) are compared to ensure that this approach delivers the best results.The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencias e Innovación (PPQ, CTQ2009–14420-C02-02 and CTQ2012–37039-C02-02)

A rapid procedure for the isolation of plasmid DNA from environmental bacteria

The INSTA-MINI-PREP method, a rapid protocol for plasmid DNA extraction, was originally developed to prepare plasmid DNA from 1 to 3 ml miniprep Escherichia coli cultures. Direct extraction of plasmid DNA is achieved by a two-phase solution which is separated by centrifugation in the presence of the INSTA-PREP gel barrier material. This method has been successfully tested on various environmental Salmonella strains, although it was not suitable for Pseudomonas aeruginosa and enterococci strains. The INSTA-MINI-PREP method is a new alternative procedure to screen plasmid contents of Salmonella and E. coli strains rapidly and easily

Integration of different models in the design of chemical processes: Application to the design of a power plant

With advances in the synthesis and design of chemical processes there is an increasing need for more complex mathematical models with which to screen the alternatives that constitute accurate and reliable process models. Despite the wide availability of sophisticated tools for simulation, optimization and synthesis of chemical processes, the user is frequently interested in using the ‘best available model’. However, in practice, these models are usually little more than a black box with a rigid input–output structure. In this paper we propose to tackle all these models using generalized disjunctive programming to capture the numerical characteristics of each model (in equation form, modular, noisy, etc.) and to deal with each of them according to their individual characteristics. The result is a hybrid modular–equation based approach that allows synthesizing complex processes using different models in a robust and reliable way. The capabilities of the proposed approach are discussed with a case study: the design of a utility system power plant that has been decomposed into its constitutive elements, each treated differently numerically. And finally, numerical results and conclusions are presented.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CTQ2012-37039-C02-02)

Editorial: Anxiety Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence: Psychopathology, Assessment, and Treatment

Editorial on the Research Topic Anxiety Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence: Psychopathology, Assessment, and Treatment

An alternative disjunctive optimization model for heat integration with variable temperatures

This paper presents an alternative model to deal with the problem of optimal energy consumption minimization of non-isothermal systems with variable inlet and outlet temperatures. The model is based on an implicit temperature ordering and the “transshipment model” proposed by Papoulias and Grossmann (1983). It is supplemented with a set of logical relationships related to the relative position of the inlet temperatures of process streams and the dynamic temperature intervals. In the extreme situation of fixed inlet and outlet temperatures, the model reduces to the “transshipment model”. Several examples with fixed and variable temperatures are presented to illustrate the model's performance.The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish “Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación” under project CTQ2012-37039-C02-02

Contents and Spatial Distribution of Arsenic in Vineyard Soils in Mediterranean Environment

This study presents the contents and spatial distribution of arsenic (As) in vineyard soils from the Valdepeñas Protected Designation Origin (PDO) in central Spain. As content varies within the 108.40–0.03 mg·kg−1 range in surface horizons, and within 151.00–0.03 mg·kg−1 in subsurface horizons. The mean value of both horizons is similar: 4.25 and 4.88 mg·kg−1, respectively. Based on optimal spatial interpolation, the spatial distribution of As in soils was mapped by the IDV method. A simple data and map analysis suggests that pedogeogenic sources are the main sources for As (the As distribution tends to match the lithology and soil types), which indicates minor anthropogenic sources, mainly by agricultural sector activities. Only a high As concentration appears in the NE area, where sporadic moderate contamination is estimated based on Dutch criteria. The data obtained from the study area provide a broader view of the concentration, distribution, enrichment, sources, and the potential environmental contamination by As in the vineyard soils of this large winegrowing zone. The assessment of the results indicates that As does not afect agriculture (vineyards) in the study area because its concentrations are low in the soil types used by agriculture. These data can be employed as a guide to learn the range of values in vineyard soils in the European Mediterranean Region that are relatively unpolluted from industrial sources to make comparisons to more polluted areasOpen Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was supported by the Valdepeñas Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) “Denominación de Origen Valdepeñas Asociación Interprofesional” (project number UCTR180065

The Duration of the Trial Influences the Effects of Mineral Deficiency and the Effective Phytase Dose in Broilers' Diets

[EN] Two trials varying in duration (short- and long-term) were conducted to evaluate the effects of providing deficient (NC) or sufficient (PC) Ca and P levels, and different doses of a new phytase (250, 500, and 1000 FTU/kg feed), in broiler feed on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and retention, and tibia mineralization. A total of 80 and 490 male chicks (Ross) of 21 and 1 days of age were used in the short- and long-term trials, respectively. In the long-term trial, chicks fed NC diets showed a lower (p < 0.05) average daily gain and feed intake compared to chicks fed PC and a greater (p < 0.05) feed conversion ratio compared to 500 and 1000 FTU/kg feed during the starting period. Regarding the effects on minerals¿ and nutrients¿ coefficients of retention, animals fed NC showed a significantly higher digestibility for P than those fed the PC diet in the long-term trial. Additionally, feeding 250 to 500 FTU/kg diets increased most of the nutrients¿ digestibility in the short-term but only P digestibility in the long-term trial. Tibia mineralization increased linearly with phytase addition (p < 0.05) only in the long-term trial. In conclusion, the effects of dietary mineral and phytase levels on growth performance are more noticeable in young animals. In addition, the duration of the trial is key due to a possible adaptation phenomenon of birds to low P supplementary levels.This research was funded by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain.Javadi, M.; Cerisuelo, A.; Cambra López, M.; Macias-Vidal, J.; Donadeu, A.; Dupuy, J.; Carpintero, L.... (2022). The Duration of the Trial Influences the Effects of Mineral Deficiency and the Effective Phytase Dose in Broilers' Diets. Animals. 12(11):1-19. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12111418119121