Evaluation of the Economic, Environmental, and Social Impact of the Valorization of Grape Pomace from the Wine Industry

The increase in the world population has led to intensive food production systems that are generating increasing amounts of solid waste. In this work, the valorization of the most important waste generated during wine production, grape pomace, is evaluated. Eight processes are proposed to approach different types of valorization (production of energy and value-added products), from economic, environmental, and social points of view. The best process depends on the budget available, the production capacity, and the weight of each impact produced by the factory (economic, environmental, or social). For small (less than 0.1 kg/s) or very large (greater than 10 kg/s) capacities, the production of high-value-added products outperforms the other processes in all three impacts and in profitability. For intermediate capacities, combustion and gasification stand out as having the highest greenhouse emissions and intermediate economic benefits. Anaerobic digestion is remarkable for its low greenhouse gas emissions, while tannin production is the best-balanced process from both economic and environmental points of view. Pyrolysis is the worst process of all three impacts

Political Institutions, Policymaking, and Economic Policy in Latin America

This paper surveys selected themes in the political economy of policymaking in Latin America, with an emphasis on recent research focusing on actual decision and implementation processes, and on the political institutions and state and social actors involved in those processes. In particular, the paper addresses how political rules work for or against intertemporal cooperation among political actors. The document shows that the extent to which polities obtain the key policy features that seem to determine development depends on the workings of political institutions, which define how the policymaking game is played, on the characteristics of the arenas of interaction, which define where the policymaking game is played, and on certain characteristics of key socioeconomic groups, which define who interacts with professionalpoliticians in pursuing different policy preferences.Political institutions, Public policies, Economic policy, Government capabilities, Development, Latin America

Investor Information, Long-Run Risk, and the Term Structure of Equity

We study the role of information in asset pricing models with long-run cash flow risk. When investors can distinguish short- from long-run consumption risks (full information), the model generates a sizable equity risk premium only if the equity term structure slopes up, contrary to the data. In general, the short- and long-run components are unidentified. We propose a sparsity-based bounded rationality model of long-run risk that is both parsimonious and fully identified from historical data. In contrast to full information, the model generates a sizable market risk premium simultaneously with a downward sloping equity term structure, as in the data.

Thandarum hernandezi, a new genus and new species of sea cucumber family Sclerodactylidae (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea: Dendrochirotida) from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

A new genus and a new species of dendrochirotid, Thandarum hernandezi gen. et sp. nov., is described from Buenos Aires coast in the Southwestern Atlantic. For this species is quite significant the body U shape, up to 14.08 mm (along the trivium), with double row of podia restricted to the ambulacra. Other features are ossicles from body wall with buttons and 4 pillar tables, tube feet with rods and end plate star-shaped; the introvert with rosettes and tentacles with rods. These characteristics require the recognition of a new genus, and the new species and represents the first sclerodactylid reported in Argentinean waters.Fil: Martinez, Mariano Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; ArgentinaFil: Brogger, Martin Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”; Argentin

Disturbance history and dynamics of an old-growth nothofagus forest in Southern Patagonia

The identification of disturbance events using disturbance chronologies has become a valuable tool in reconstructing disturbance history in temperate forests worldwide; yet detailed reconstructions of disturbance history and their effect on the structure and dynamics of the old-growth Nothofagus forests in the southern Patagonia are scarce. We reconstructed forest dynamics and disturbance history of an old-growth N. pumilio forest in the Toro River Valley, Santa Cruz, Argentina using dendroecological techniques. Since a variation in the disturbance regimes was expected with changing elevation, we sampled at different elevations. We found distinct differences in forest structure, dynamics, and disturbance history with changes in the elevation. The disturbance chronologies provided robust evidence that forests in the study area have been subjected to multiple disturbance events over the last 200 years. Yet, recognizing the agent of disturbance could be difficult in these montane forests and further studies are required. Moreover, disturbances might have varied from frequent, moderate-to high-severity events to less frequent and more severe events. This study represents the first of its kind for the temperate forests of Patagonia.Fil: Amoroso, Mariano Martin. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro. Sede Andina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Recursos Naturales, Agroecología y Desarrollo Rural; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; ArgentinaFil: Blazina, Ana Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentin

Choline reverses scopolamine-induced memory impairment by improving memory reconsolidation

It is widely known that pre-training systemic administration of the muscarinic antagonist scopolamine (SCP) (0.5 mg/kg, i.p.) leads to anterograde memory impairment in retention tests. The administration of the α7-nicotinic receptor agonist choline (Ch) in the dorsal hippocampus (0.8 μg/hippocampus) immediately after memory reactivation allowed recovery from scopolamine-induced memory impairment. This effect of Ch was time-dependent, and retention performance was not affected in drug-treated mice that were not subjected to memory reactivation, suggesting that the performance effects are not due to non-specific effects of the drug. The effects of Ch also depended on the age of the reactivated memory. Altogether, our results suggest that Ch exerts its effects by modulating memory reconsolidation, and that the memory impairment induced by low doses of SCP is a memory expression failure and not a storage deficit. Therefore, reconsolidation, among other functions, might serve to change memory expression in later tests. Summarizing, our results open new avenues about the behavioral significance and the physiological functions of memory reconsolidation, providing new strategies for recovering memories from some types of amnesia.Fil: Blake, Mariano Guillermo. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Boccia, Mariano Martin. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Krawczyk, Maria del Carmen. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Delorenzi, Alejandro. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Baratti, Carlos Maria. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin