Deep eutectic solvents for improved biomass pretreatment: current status and future prospective towards sustainable processes

Pretreatment processes - recognized as critical steps for efficient biomass refining - have received much attention over the last two decades. In this context, deep eutectic solvents (DES) have emerged as a novel alternative to conventional solvents representing a step forward in achieving more sustainable processes with both environmental and economic benefits. This paper presents an updated review of the state-of-the-art of DES-based applications in biorefinery schemes. Besides describing the fundamentals of DES composition, synthesis, and recycling, this study presents a comprehensive review of existing techno-economic and life cycle assessment studies. Challenges, barriers, and perspectives for the scale-up of DES-based processes are also discussed.publishe

Os recursos tecnológicos na estadística bidimensional nos textos espanhóis do Ensino Médio

Current curriculums recommend the use of technological resources in the teaching of statistics,due to the help they represent in the calculation and production of graphs, the work with real dataand the learning of several concepts through simulation. In this research, we analyse the differenttechnological resources suggested in high school textbooks for teaching and learning bi-dimensionalstatistics in high school (organization and representation of bi-dimensional data, correlation andregression).The importance of this issue is due to the fact that it extends functional dependence torandom situations and provides students with opportunities to model numerous applications. Onthe other hand, previous research shows many difficulties of understanding and misconceptionson these topics. The researchers analysed sixteen Spanish text books, using content analysis; eightbooks of each of the two modalities that include this topic: “Humanities and Social Sciences” and“Science and Technology”. In these books was analysed the use of technological resources in theproblems and procedures proposed, the references to technological resources in Internet and thecontent of a CD that supplements most of these textbooks. The results suggest a scarce presenceof these resources in the textbooks analysed, and a large variability of the resources described. Thereference to Internet resources is often reduced to didactic units and not to data sets that can beused in projects or simulators to facilitate conceptual understanding. The CD which supplementssome of these textbooks sometimes reproduces the same text which appears in the book or includescollections of traditional exercises; there are few problems and procedures based on technology.Finally, some recommendations for improvement of these texts are presented, considering technologicalresources.Los currículos actuales recomiendan el uso de los recursos tecnológicos en la enseñanza de la estadística, por la ventaja que suponen en el cálculo y representación gráfica, el trabajo con datos reales y el aprendizaje de conceptos a través de la simulación. En esta investigación se analizan los recursos tecnológicos que los libros de texto sugieren para la enseñanza y aprendizaje de la estadística bidimensional en bachillerato (organización y representación de datos bidimensionales, correlación y regresión). La importancia de este aspecto se debe a que extiende la dependencia funcional a situaciones aleatorias y proporciona al alumno oportunidades de modelizar numerosas aplicaciones. Por otro lado, la investigación didáctica muestra dificultades de comprensión y concepciones erróneas en esta área. Mediante un análisis de contenido se han estudiado dieciséis libros de texto españoles, ocho libros de cada una de las dos especialidades de bachillerato que incluyen “Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales” y “Ciencia y Tecnología”. En dichos libros se estudia el uso que se hace de recursos tecnológicos en los problemas y procedimientos propuestos, los tipos de recursos que se referencian para trabajar con internet y el contenido de un CD que acompaña a la mayoría de estos textos. Los resultados muestran una escasa presencia de recursos tecnológicos en los textos analizados, a la vez que una gran variabilidad de los recursos descritos. La referencia a recursos en internet se suele restringir a unidades didácticas y no a conjuntos de datos que puedan usarse en proyectos o a simuladores que faciliten la comprensión conceptual. El CD que acompaña a los textos a veces reproduce el mismo texto o se reduce a colecciones de ejercicios tradicionales; son minoría los problemas y procedimientos que usan recursos tecnológicos. Se concluye con algunas recomendaciones para la mejora de estos textos, teniendo en cuenta dichos recursos.Os currículos atuais sugerem o uso dos recursos tecnológicos no ensino da estadística, pela vantagemque supõe o cálculo, a representação gráfica, o trabalho com dados reais e a aprendizagematravés da simulação. Nesta pesquisa são analisados os recursos tecnológicos que os livros detexto sugerem para o ensino e a aprendizagem da estadística no Ensino Médio (organização erepresentação de dados bidimensionais, correlação e regressão). A importância desses recursosé devida a uma extensão ou ampliação da dependência funcional em termos de situações imprevistas,o que oferece ao aluno oportunidades para a modelagem de varias aplicações. Poroutro lado, a pesquisa didática evidencia dificuldades de compreensão e concepções erradasneste tema. Através da análise de conteúdo foram estudados dezesseis livros didáticos espanhóis,oito livros de cada uma das área de Ensino Médio: “Humanidades e Ciências Sociais, Ciência eTecnologia”. Nesses livros estuda-se o uso que se faz dos recursos tecnológicos, os problemas eprocedimentos propostos, os tipos de recursos indicados para trabalhar na internet e o conteúdode um CD anexo aos livros. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciam a pouca presença dos recursostecnológicos nos textos analisados, bem como a grande variabilidade dos recursos descritos. Osrecursos na internet estão restritos às unidades didáticas e não estão relacionados com os dadosque podem usar-se em projetos ou em simulações que facilitem a compreensão conceitual. O CDque está junto aos livros as vezes reproduz o mesmo texto do livro ou está reduzido às coleçõesde atividades tradicionais, são uma minoria de problemas e procedimentos que usam recursostecnológicos. Conclui-se com algumas recomendações para a melhora desses livros tendo emconsideração os recursos tecnológicos

La probabilidad en las pruebas de acceso de matemáticas aplicadas a las ciencias sociales II en Andalucía

El objetivo principal del trabajo es analizar los problemas propuestos en la asignatura matemáticas aplicadas a las ciencias sociales II de las pruebas de acceso a la universidad (PAU) en la comunidad de Andalucía. Más concretamente se realizará el estudio sobre los ítems relacionados con la probabilidad simple, probabilidad condicional y probabilidad compuesta. De los cuatro problemas que constituyen la prueba de acceso, siempre se incluye un problema relacionado con contenidos probabilísticos. Un segundo objetivo es comprobar que el contenido de estos problemas refleja adecuadamente las directrices propuestas para la enseñanza del contenido mencionado sobre probabilidad en el bachillerato de humanidades y ciencias sociales

Convolutional Neural Networks for Olive Oil Classification

The analysis of the quality of olive oil is a task that is hav-ing a lot of impact nowadays due to the large frauds that have been observed in the olive oil market. To solve this problem we have trained a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to classify 701 images obtained using GC-IMS methodology (gas chromatography coupled to ion mobil-ity spectrometry). The aim of this study is to show that Deep Learn-ing techniques can be a great alternative to traditional oil classification methods based on the subjectivity of the standardized sensory analy-sis according to the panel test method, and also to novel techniques provided by the chemical field, such as chemometric markers. This tech-nique is quite expensive since the markers are manually extracted by an expert. The analyzed data includes instances belonging to two different crops, the first covers the years 2014–2015 and the second 2015–2016. Both har-vests have instances classified in the three categories of existing oil, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), virgin olive oil (VOO) and lampante olive oil (LOO). The aim of this study is to demonstrate that Deep Learning techniques in combination with chemical techniques are a good alterna-tive to the panel test method, implying even better accuracy than results obtained in previous wor

Investigación en docencia por contenidos (español como segunda lengua) en el proceso de internacionalización de la UA

La creciente internacionalización de nuestra universidad, junto con la experiencia acumulada desde la coordinación de programas Erasmus y la docencia a alumnado universitario no nativo, en diversas titulaciones, así como en las cinco ediciones del Curso de español académico para alumnos extranjeros, nos ha permitido constatar la relevancia de la integración académica de los estudiantes internacionales. El objetivo de la red es presentar la percepción del profesorado acerca de su presencia en las clases (cómo ha afectado a su docencia), así como la situación de los propios estudiantes, para averiguar cuáles son los retos a los que ambos colectivos se enfrentan. Nuestros informantes han sido 23 profesores del Dpto. de Filología Española con alumnado internacional y 30 estudiantes de movilidad matriculados en asignaturas ofertadas por dicho departamento, de quienes hemos recabado información a través de cuestionarios que nos han permitido obtener datos estadísticos. Los resultados finales nos indican, entre otros aspectos, la importancia del requisito lingüístico y del conocimiento de las rutinas académicas por parte del alumnado, así como la conveniencia de pautas sobre su evaluación para el profesorado. Se percibe a su vez la necesidad de una futura Guía académica para el alumnado extranjero, que contribuiría a un mejor rendimiento académico de su estancia

Medical imaging: Foundations and scope

Indexación: Scopus; Radalyc.En la actualidad es innegable la utilidad de las diversas modalidades de imagenología médica como apoyo clínico tanto en la generación de diagnósticos de un buen número de enfermedades como en la planeación de tratamientos tendientes a proporcionar una alternativa de solución a las personas que, por una u otra razón, manifiestan algún desequilibrio en su salud. Entre las modalidades imagenológicas que, frecuentemente, se utilizan en el ámbito médico se pueden mencionar: Ultrasonido (US), Resonancia Magnética (MRI), Tomografía Computarizada sencilla (CT) y multicapa (MSCT), Tomografía Computarizada por Emisión de Positrones (PET) y Tomografía Computarizada por Emisión de Fotones simples (SPECT). En este sentido, este artículo tiene como finalidad presentar una descripción ordenada, coherente y sistemática de cada una de las mencionadas modalidades y establecer la vinculación de la MSCT con situaciones clínicas íntimamente relacionadas con la anatomía cardiaca y procesos de hipertensión. La razón por la cual se hace énfasis en la MSCT es debido a que, por una parte, se cuenta con un número importante de bases de datos tanto de sujetos fisiológicos como de sujetos patológicos y, por la otra, que se tiene previsto presentar un conjunto de técnicas computacionales que serán exploradas en el desarrollo de futuras investigaciones en el contexto de aspectos anatómico-cardiológicos que influyen directa o indirectamente en la aparición, desarrollo y prevalencia de procesos hipertensivos.Nowdays, several forms of medical imaging are usefulness in clinical support for both diagnostics diseases generation and treatment planning designed to provide an alternative solution to people who, for one or another reason, manifest an imbalance in your health. Among the imaging modalities that frequently are used in the medical field may include: Ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), simple computed tomography (CT) and multilayer computed tomography (MSCT), CT positron emission tomography (PET) Computed tomography and single photon emission (SPECT). In this sense, this article presents an orderly, coherent and systematic description of these modalities and it establishes relationship with the MSCT modality and clinical situations closely related to cardiac anatomy and hypertension processes. The reason emphasis on MSCT is done is because, on the one hand, we have a large number of databases both physiological subjects and pathological subjects and, on the other, we plan to present a set of computational techniques that will be explored in future research, in the context of cardiologic anatomical aspects, with directly or indirectly influence in the emergence, development and prevalence of hypertensive processes.http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=5594990700

Physicochemical and sensorial properties of grapefruit jams as affected by processing

Jam is an effective and tasty way of preserving fruit. Jam processing procedures as well as storage conditions and duration are important factors for jam quality. Traditional jam processing involves the application of severe thermal treatments that imply undesirable changes in the product quality characteristics such as colour, texture, flavour and nutritional and functional value. In this work, osmotic dehydration (OD) and/or microwave energy (MW) was proven as adequate to obtain jam with the typical characteristics of water content, degree Brix, pH and water activity of jam obtained by conventional thermal heating. The sensory evaluation carried out to compare the product showed that samples submitted to more intense heating treatments (conventional or MW) had significantly higher scores in colour saturation, brightness, grapefruit taste and extensibility than OD or OD+MW ones. As deduced from the obtained results, OD treatment prevents grapefruit colour changes, and mild MW heating contributes to increase the consistency and decrease the extensibility of the obtained jam. In this way, OD+MW jam was preferred by assessors mainly due to its higher consistency. The sample obtained by this procedure was stable during storage.The authors would like to thank the Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia for the financial support given throughout the Project AGL 2005-05994. The language revision of this paper was funded by the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Spain.Igual Ramo, M.; García Martínez, EM.; Camacho Vidal, MM.; Martínez Navarrete, N. (2013). Physicochemical and sensorial properties of grapefruit jams as affected by processing. Food and Bioprocess Technology. 6(1):177-185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-011-0696-2S17718561AENOR (2009). Sensory analysis. Methodology. Paired comparison test. UNE-EN-ISO 5495.AOAC. (2000). Official methods of analysis of AOAC International (17th ed.). Gaithersburg: AOAC International.Baker, R.-A., Berry, N., Hui, Y.-H., & Barrett, D.-M. (2005). Fruit preserves and jams. In Processing fruits: science and technology (2nd ed., pp. 113–125). Boca Ratón: CRC Press.Bodart, M., de Peñaranda, R., Deneyer, A., & Flamant, G. (2008). Photometry and colorimetry characterisation of materials in daylighting evaluation tools. Building and Environment, 43, 2046–2058.BOE (1990). Real Decreto 670/1990, de 25 de mayo, por el que se aprueba la norma de calidad para confituras, jaleas y marmalade de frutas, crema de castañas y mermelada de frutas. BOE Nº 130 (31/5/1990), 15140–15144.Bourne, M. (1982). Food texture and viscosity—concept and measurement. New York: Academic.Cañumir, J.-A., Celis, J.-E., Brujin, J., & Vidal, L. (2002). Pasteurisation of apple juice by using microwaves. Lebensmittel-Wissenschaft und Technologie, 35, 389–392.Contreras, C., Martín-Esparza, M.-E., Martínez-Navarrete, N., & Chiralt, A. (2008). Influence of microwave application on convective drying: effects on drying kinetics, and optical and mechanical properties of apple and strawberry. Journal of Food Engineering, 88, 55–64.Dervisi, P., Lamb, J., & Zabetakis, I. (2001). High pressure processing in jam manufacture: effects on textural and color properties. Food Chemistry, 73, 85–91.Deyhim, F., Garica, K., Lopez, E., Gonzalez, J., Ino, S., Garcia, M., et al. (2006). Citrus juice modulates bone strength in male senescent rat model of osteoporosis. Nutrition, 22(5), 559–563.García-Martínez, E., Ruiz-Diaz, G., Martínez-Monzó, J., Camacho, M.-M., Martínez-Navarrete, N., & Chiralt, A. (2002). Jam manufacture with osmodehydrated fruit. Food Research International, 35, 301–306.Igual, M., García-Martínez, E., Camacho, M.-M., & Martínez-Navarrete, N. (2010a). Effect of thermal treatment and storage on the stability of organic acids and the functional value of grapefruit juice. Food Chemistry, 118, 291–299.Igual, M., Contreras, C., & Martínez-Navarrete, N. (2010b). Non-conventional techniques to obtain grapefruit jam. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 11(2), 335–341.Meilgaard, M., Civille, G.-V., & Carr, B.-T. (1999). Attribute differences test. Pairwise ranking test: Friedman analysis. Sensory evaluation techniques (pp. 103–106). Boca Ratón: CRC Press.Moraga, M.-J., Moraga, G., Fito, P. J., & Martínez-Navarrete, N. (2009). Effect of vacuum impregnation with calcium lactate on the osmotic dehydration kinetics and quality of osmodehydrated grapefruit. Journal of Food Engineering, 90, 372–379.Nikdel, S., Chen, C., Parish, M., MacKellar, D., & Friedrich, L. (1993). Pasteurization of citrus juice with microwaves energy in a continuous-flow unit. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 41, 2116–2119.Poulose, S.-M., Harris, E.-D., & Patil, B.-S. (2005). Citrus limonoids induce apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells and have radical scavenging activity. Journal of Nutrition, 135, 870–877.Sanchez-Moreno, C., Plaza, L., De Ancos, B., & Cano, M.-P. (2003). Quantitative bioactive compounds assessment and their relative contribution to the antioxidant capacity of commercial orange juices. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 83, 430–439.Shi, X.-Q., Chiralt, A., Fito, P., Serra, J., Escoin, C., & Gasque, L. (1996). Application of osmotic dehydration technology on jam processing. Drying Technology, 14(3&4), 841–857.Tárrega, A., & Costell, E. (2007). Colour and consistency of semi-solid dairy desserts: instrumental and sensory measurements. Journal of Food Engineering, 78, 655–661.Vanamala, J., Reddivari, L., Yoo, K.-S., Pike, L.-M., & Patil, B.-S. (2006). Variation in the content of bioactive flavonoid in different brands of orange and grapefruit juices. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 19(2–3), 157–166.Wicklund, T., Rosenfeld, H.-J., Martinsen, B.-K., Sundførb, M.-W., Lea, P., Bruun, T., et al. (2005). Antioxidant capacity and colour of strawberry jam as influenced by cultivar and storage conditions. LWT-Food Science and Technology, 38(4), 387–391.Yu, L.-L., Zhou, K.-K., & Parry, J. (2005). Antioxidant properties of cold-pressed black caraway, carrot, cranberry, and hemp seed oils. Food Chemistry, 91, 723–729

Particle-yield modification in jet-like azimuthal di-hadron correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

The yield of charged particles associated with high-$p_{\rm T}$ trigger particles ($8 < p_{\rm T} < 15$ GeV/$c$) is measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV relative to proton-proton collisions at the same energy. The conditional per-trigger yields are extracted from the narrow jet-like correlation peaks in azimuthal di-hadron correlations. In the 5% most central collisions, we observe that the yield of associated charged particles with transverse momenta $p_{\rm T}> 3$ GeV/$c$ on the away-side drops to about 60% of that observed in pp collisions, while on the near-side a moderate enhancement of 20-30% is found.Comment: 15 pages, 2 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 10, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/350

Daptomycin plus Fosfomycin versus Daptomycin Alone for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus 2 aureus Bacteremia and Endocarditis. A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background We aimed to determine whether daptomycin plus fosfomycin provides higher treatment success than daptomycin alone for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteremia and endocarditis. Methods A randomized (1:1) phase 3 superiority, open-label, and parallel group clinical trial of adult inpatients with MRSA bacteremia was conducted at 18 Spanish hospitals. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either 10 mg/kg of daptomycin intravenously daily plus 2 g of fosfomycin intravenously every 6 hours, or 10 mg/kg of daptomycin intravenously daily. Primary endpoint was treatment success 6 weeks after the end of therapy. Results Of 167 patients randomized, 155 completed the trial and were assessed for the primary endpoint. Treatment success at 6 weeks after the end of therapy was achieved in 40 of 74 patients who received daptomycin plus fosfomycin and in 34 of 81 patients who were given daptomycin alone (54.1% vs 42.0%; relative risk, 1.29 [95% confidence interval, .93-1.8]; P = .135). At 6 weeks, daptomycin plus fosfomycin was associated with lower microbiologic failure (0 vs 9 patients; P = .003) and lower complicated bacteremia (16.2% vs 32.1%; P = .022). Adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation occurred in 13 of 74 patients (17.6%) receiving daptomycin plus fosfomycin, and in 4 of 81 patients (4.9%) receiving daptomycin alone (P = .018). Conclusions Daptomycin plus fosfomycin provided 12% higher rate of treatment success than daptomycin alone, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. This antibiotic combination prevented microbiological failure and complicated bacteremia, but it was more often associated with adverse events

Inclusive and multiplicity dependent production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in pp and p-Pb collisions

Measurements of the production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in pp collisions at root s = 13 TeV at midrapidity with the ALICE detector are presented down to a transverse momentum (p(T)) of 0.2 GeV/c and up to p(T) = 35 GeV/c, which is the largest momentum range probed for inclusive electron measurements in ALICE. In p-Pb collisions, the production cross section and the nuclear modification factor of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays are measured in the p(T) range 0.5 < p(T) < 26 GeV/c at root s(NN) = 8.16 TeV. The nuclear modification factor is found to be consistent with unity within the statistical and systematic uncertainties. In both collision systems, first measurements of the yields of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays in different multiplicity intervals normalised to the multiplicity-integrated yield (self-normalised yield) at midrapidity are reported as a function of the self-normalised charged-particle multiplicity estimated at midrapidity. The self-normalised yields in pp and p-Pb collisions grow faster than linear with the self-normalised multiplicity. A strong p(T) dependence is observed in pp collisions, where the yield of high-p(T) electrons increases faster as a function of multiplicity than the one of low-p(T) electrons. The measurement in p-Pb collisions shows no p(T) dependence within uncertainties. The self-normalised yields in pp and p-Pb collisions are compared with measurements of other heavy-flavour, light-flavour, and strange particles, and with Monte Carlo simulations