The Gini index,the dual decomposition of aggregation functions, and the consistent measurement of inequality

In several economic fields, such as those related to health, education or poverty, the individuals’ characteristics are measured by bounded variables. Accordingly, these characteristics may be indistinctly represented by achievements or shortfalls. A difficulty arises when inequality needs to be assessed. One may focus either on achievements or on shortfalls but the respective inequality rankings may lead to contradictory results. Specifically, this paper concentrates on the poverty measure proposed by Sen. According to this measure the inequality among the poor is captured by the Gini index. However, the rankings obtained by the Gini index applied to either the achievements or the shortfalls do not coincide in general. To overcome this drawback, we show that an OWA operator is underlying in the definition of the Sen measure. The dual decomposition of the OWA operators into a self-dual core and anti-self-dual remainder allows us to propose an inequality component which measures consistently the achievement and shortfall inequality among the poor.Aggregation functions, dual decomposition, OWA operators, Gini index, consistent measures of achievement/shortfall inequality, Sen index, poverty measures.

Phenolic wastes valorization through bioenergy and bioactive compounds production

The agricultural and industrial processing activities produce large amounts of waste that are only partially valorised at different value-added levels (spread on land, animal feed, composting), whereas the main volumes are managed as waste of environmental worry. These by-products are rich sources of bioactive compounds, including phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity

Cork boiling wastewater anaerobic digestion process leads to biogas and valuable enzymes production

Cork is the outer bark of the cork-tree (Quercus suber L.) and it is a very important industrial sector in western Mediterranean region, being Portugal the world-leading producer and exporter (1). The anaerobic digestion has never been applied to the treatment and valorization of the industrial cork effluents (cork boiling wastewater, CBW). The goal of the present work is evaluate the role of this biological process in providing valuable biomolecules, i.e. enzymes, during the conversion of CBW. Anaerobic experiments were conducted under mesophilic conditions of temperature and the obtained results suggest that CBW is an interesting substrate to be treated and valorised through the anaerobic digestion. Besides the energy recovery through biogas production by anaerobic digestion of CBW, the increase in the reactor effluent of valuable biomolecules is an aspect of great industrial interest. The identification and characterization of such products of high added value creates a supplementary prospect of effluent valorisation, contributing to the cork sector profits. During the CBW anaerobic digestion process several important alterations on the enzymatic capacity of the digested flow were observed. For instance, the laccase activity contained in the CBW was implemented by anaerobiosis and the xilanase was formed during the process. Laccases exhibit low substrate specificity and can be used in different industrial sectors (i.e. paper manufacturing, wine stabilization and wastewater treatment) (2). Xylanases are enzymes involved in the hydrolyse carbohydrates and are used in the pulp, paper and food industries (3). The production of enzymes with commercial interest offers an additional opportunity for the biotechnological valorisation of the CBW, contributing to make the process more interesting and cheaper

Energetic and biochemical valorization of cork boiling wastewater by anaerobic digestion

In addition to energy benefits, anaerobic digestion offers other interesting advantages. The cork industry is of great environmental, economic and social significance in the western Mediterranean region, with Portugal being the world-leading producer and exporter. Cork boiling wastewater (CBW) is a toxic and recalcitrant organic effluent produced by this sector, which constitutes a serious environmental hazard. However, there is no documented research on anaerobic treatment/valorization performed with this effluent. The work presented here was developed with the aim to use the anaerobic digestion process to convert the CBW polluting organic load into an energy carrier gas and valuable molecules for industry

Un paisaje sostenible para Arnhem: la contribución de la transición energética a la neutralidad del CO2

Reseña el descubrimiento de los combustibles fósiles como fuente principal para la generación de energía, donde el paisaje se ha transformado y conformado para acomodar estas infraestructuras. Investiga sobre la generación de energía por fuentes no renovables es también responsable de la mayor cantidad de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI) en el planeta, con especial atención a dióxido de carbono (CO2). Plantea la perspectiva de un marco de diseñadores de políticas, investigadores y arquitectos paisajistas para mejorar la problemática, estableciendo una necesidad de cooperación entre, gobierno, empresas privadas y representaciones sociales para tener una transición energética efectiva y reducir el CO2.Holanda. Organización Holandesa para la Cooperación Internacional en Educación Superior (Nuffic)Tesi

Bioactive compounds through anaerobic digestion of heterotrophic microalgae residues

Several important biomolecules are available into anaerobically digested effluents that were obtained from the biodiesel production process using heterotrophically grown microalga Chlorella protothecoides. Defatted microalgae residues and crude glycerol may undergo anaerobic digestion, separately and in admixture, providing methane/hydrogen and a digestate exploitable for agriculture applications. Furthermore, industrial interesting bioactive compounds such as polyphenols provided with antioxidant activity can be obtained. Anaerobic process offers a promising chance and can be advantageously combined with algae lipid-extraction techniques in order to make it more sustainable

Evaluation of vineyard growth under four irrigation regimes using vegetation and soil on-the-go sensors

Precision agriculture is a useful tool to assess plant growth and development in vineyards. The present study focused on spatial and temporal analysis of vegetation growth variability, in four irrigation treatments with four replicates. The research was carried out in a vineyard located in the southwest of Spain during the 2012 and 2013 growing seasons. Two multispectral sensors mounted on an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) were used in the different growing seasons/stages in order to calculate the vineyard normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) was also measured up to 0.8m soil depth using an on-the-go geophysical sensor. All measured data were analysed by means of principal component analysis (PCA). The spatial and temporal NDVI and ECa variations showed relevant differences between irrigation treatments and climatological conditions

A decomposition-based uncertainty quantification approach for environmental impacts of aviation technology and operation

As a measure to manage the climate impact of aviation, significant enhancements to aviation technologies and operations are necessary. When assessing these enhancements and their respective impacts on the climate, it is important that we also quantify the associated uncertainties. This is important to support an effective decision and policymaking process. However, such quantification of uncertainty is challenging, especially in a complex system that comprises multiple interacting components. The uncertainty quantification task can quickly become computationally intractable and cumbersome for one individual or group to manage. Recognizing the challenge of quantifying uncertainty in multicomponent systems, we utilize a divide-and-conquer approach, inspired by the decomposition-based approaches used in multidisciplinary analysis and optimization. Specifically, we perform uncertainty analysis and global sensitivity analysis of our multicomponent aviation system in a decomposition-based manner. In this work, we demonstrate how to handle a high-dimensional multicomponent interface using sensitivity-based dimension reduction and a novel importance sampling method. Our results demonstrate that the decomposition-based uncertainty quantification approach can effectively quantify the uncertainty of a feed-forward multicomponent system for which the component models are housed in different locations and owned by different groups. Keywords: Aviation Environmental Impact; Decomposition; Global Sensitivity Analysis; Uncertainty Quantificatio

Olive mill wastewater anaerobically digested : phenolic compounds with antiradical activity

The recovery of phenolic compounds, present in the olive fruits and its by-products, has been intensively studied by the antioxidant properties. Olive mill wastewater (OMW) is a phenolic-rich industrial effluent that can be advantageously valorized by the anaerobic digestion to the methane and agricultural fertilizer productions. The objective of this work was to evaluate the antiradical activity of OMW after anaerobic digestion in order to maximize the valorization of this type of effluents. The digested flow was obtained from an anaerobic hybrid reactor treating OMW at different organic loading rates (OLR), from 3.3 to 7.1 kg COD m3 d-1. OLR rise was applied by increasing progressively the OMW volume fraction from 8 % to 83 % in the feed mixture. The input and output streams, obtained at different OMW volume fractions, were characterized in terms of antiradical activity and phenolic compounds identification and quantification. Despite of the fraction decrease on total phenolic compounds provided by OMW anaerobic digestion, the antiradical activity is still significantly high (EC50 = 3.24) in the digested effluent. Oleuropein was the main phenolic compound present in the substrate before and after anaerobic digestion (about 15 % of the initial value). Others phenolic compounds present are: gallic acid, hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, and quercetin. These data confirmed that, after the OMW anaerobic treatment to produce biomethane, the remaining flow yet contain useful compounds with antiradical activity

Impact of COVID-19 on the psychological health of university students in Spain and their attitudes toward Mobile mental health solutions

Producción CientíficaAntecedentes: La pandemia originada por el COVID-19 ha tenido un impacto en varios aspectos de la vida, incluida la salud mental de los estudiantes universitarios. Las aplicaciones móviles de atención mental (apps) permiten una forma de atención mental en línea que permite la prestación de atención mental a distancia. Objetivos: Este estudio tuvo como objetivo principal explorar el impacto de COVID-19 en la salud mental de estudiantes universitarios en España y explorar sus actitudes hacia el uso de aplicaciones móviles de atención mental. Metodología: Los encuestados respondieron una encuesta, que constaba de dos secciones. El primero incluía el Cuestionario de Salud General de 12 ítems (GHQ-12) que se empleó para evaluar la salud mental de los estudiantes. La segunda sección incluía seis preguntas desarrolladas por los autores para explorar las actitudes de los estudiantes hacia las aplicaciones de atención mental. Resultados: Los resultados mostraron que los estudiantes padecían ansiedad y depresión, así como disfunción social. Además, el 91,3 % de los estudiantes nunca había usado una aplicación móvil para la salud mental, el 36,3 % desconocía dichas aplicaciones y el 79,2 % estaba dispuesto a usarlas en el futuro. Conclusiones: La pandemia de COVID-19 tuvo un impacto significativo en la salud psicológica de los estudiantes universitarios. Las aplicaciones móviles de atención mental pueden ser una forma eficaz y eficiente de acceder a la atención mental, especialmente durante una pandemia