Synthesis and Characterization of LnAg(WO4)(MoO4)

Polycrystalline LnAg(WO4)(MoO4) powders, with Ln = La to Lu and Y, have been obtained by ceramic method. Rietveld refinement for all compounds reveals that they present tetragonal symmetry, space group I41/a (No. 88), where the Ln3+/Ag+ ions are located in the 4a atomic positions, since the W/Mo are randomly distributed into 4b crystal sites. In these compounds, a and b lattice parameters take values between those corresponding to tungstate and molybdate compounds. A progressive decrease in the lattice parameters is observed in going from La to Lu derivatives as a consequence of the well-known lanthanide contraction

A Mainly Circum-Mediterranean Origin for West Eurasian and North African mtDNAs in Puerto Rico with Strong Contributions from the Canary Islands and West Africa

Maternal lineages of West Eurasian and North African origin account for 11.5% of total mitochondrial ancestry in Puerto Rico. Historical sources suggest that this ancestry arrived mostly from European migrations that took place during the four centuries of the Spanish colonization of Puerto Rico. This study analyzed 101 mitochondrial control region sequences and diagnostic coding region variants from a sample set randomly and systematically selected using a census-based sampling frame to be representative of the Puerto Rican population, with the goal of defining West Eurasian-North African maternal clades and estimating their possible geographical origin. Median-joining haplotype networks were constructed using HVR-I and –II sequences from various reference populations in search of shared haplotypes. A posterior probability analysis was performed to estimate the percentage of possible origins across wide geographic regions for the entire sample set and for the most common haplogroups on the island. Principal component analyses were conducted to place the Puerto Rican mtDNA set within the variation present amongst all reference populations. Our study shows that up to 38% of West Eurasian and North African mitochondrial ancestry in Puerto Rico most likely migrated from the Canary Islands. However, most of those haplotypes had previously migrated to the Canary Islands from elsewhere, and there are substantial contributions from various populations across the circum-Mediterranean region and from West African populations related to the modern Wolof and Serer peoples from Senegal and the nomad Fulani who extend up to Cameroon. In conclusion, the West Eurasian mitochondrial ancestry in Puerto Ricans is geographically diverse. However, haplotype diversity seems to be low and frequencies have been shaped by population bottlenecks, migration waves, and random genetic drift. Consequently, approximately 47% of mtDNAs of West Eurasian and North African ancestry in Puerto Rico probably arrived early in its colonial history

A methodology to determine gaseous emissions in a composting plant

Environmental impacts associated to different waste treatments are of interest in the decision-making process at local, regional and international level. However, all the environmental burdens of an organic waste biological treatment are not always considered. Real data on gaseous emissions released from full-scale composting plants are difficult to obtain. These emissions are related to the composting technology and waste characteristics and therefore, an exhaustive sampling campaign is necessary to obtain representative and reliable data of a single plant. This work proposes a methodology to systematically determine gaseous emissions of a composting plant and presents the results obtained in the application of this methodology to a plant treating source-separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) for the determination of ammonia and total volatile organic compounds (VOC). Emission factors from the biological treatment process obtained for ammonia and VOC were 3.9 kg Mg OFMSW⁻¹ and 0.206 kg Mg OFMSW⁻¹ respectively. Emissions associated to energy use and production were also quantified (60.5 kg CO₂ Mg OFMSW⁻¹ and 0.66 kg VOC Mg OFMSW⁻¹). Other relevant parameters such as energy and water consumption and amount of rejected waste were also determined. A new functional unit is presented to relate emission factors to the biodegradation efficiency of the composting process and consists in the reduction of the Respiration Index of the treated material. Using this new functional unit, the atmospheric emissions released from a composting plant are directly related to the plant specific efficiency

Análisis del sector exterior en Méjico

La creciente apertura comercial experimentada por México en los últimos años le ha posicionado entre uno de las economías con mayor proyección en cuanto a comercio exterior se refiere. La firma de tratados comerciales se ha convertido en una estrategia para impulsar a la economía y dotar al país de herramientas que le permitan ser una potencia económica independiente. En este trabajo se va a analizar el sector exterior mediante la descomposición de los saldos de la balanza de pagos a lo largo del tiempo para intentar determinar las causas del pobre crecimiento experimentado por México. Además, se va a descomponer el PIB por el método del gasto presentando especial atención a la evolución de las exportaciones netas. Asimismo, se pretende analizar la influencia que la economía estadounidense ejerce en la economía mexicana ya sea de manera positiva o negativa

Sentiment analysis on health domain: analyzing patient comments on drugs

En el análisis de sentimiento, la mayoría de las investigaciones han sido llevadas a cabo en dominios generales tales como en el análisis de opiniones de películas, restaurantes y otros productos o servicios, con escasa representación en el ámbito médico. Cada vez más, los pacientes buscan información en internet sobre los posibles beneficios, efectos adversos y opiniones que otros pacientes tiene sobre diferentes fármacos. El objetivo de este trabajo es predecir el grado de satisfacción de los pacientes respecto a un determinado fármaco en base a sus comentarios. Para llevar a cabo la tarea, hemos utilizado una colección de comentarios sobre diferentes tipos de fármacos y aplicado una red convolucional para la clasificación de los mismos. Los resultados muestran que este tipo de redes proporciona mejores resultados en términos de precisión, recall y f1-score que empleando algoritmos clásicos de clasificación como las máquinas de soporte vectorial.Most of the research in sentiment analysis has been conducted in general domains such as the analysis of film reviews, restaurants and other products or services, but without much representation in the medical field. Increasingly, patients are searching the internet for information about the potential benefits, adverse effects and opinions that other patients have about different drugs. The aim of this work is to predict the degree of patient satisfaction with a given drug based on their reviews. To carry out the task, we have used a collection of reviews on different types of drugs and applied a convolutional network for their classification. The results show that this type of network provides better results in terms of precision, recall and f1-score than using classical classification algorithms such as vector support machines.Este trabajo ha sido financiado por el Programa de Investigación del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad del Gobierno de España (proyecto DeepEMR TIN2017-87548-C2-1-R)

Determination of the energy and environmental burdens associated to the biological treatment of source-separated municipal solid wastes

Environmental burdens of four different full-scale facilities treating source-separated organic fraction of Municipal Solid Wastes (OFMSW) have been experimentally evaluated. The studied facilities include different composting technologies and also anaerobic digestion plus composting. Home composting, as an alternative to OFMSW management, was also included in the study. Energy (electricity and diesel), water consumption and emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC), ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide have been measured for each process. Energy consumption ranged between 235 and 870 MJ Mg OFMSW⁻¹ while the emissions of the different contaminants considered per Mg OFMSW were in the range of 0.36-8.9 kg VOC, 0.23-8.63 kg NH₃, 0.34-4.37 kg CH₄ and 0.035-0.251 kg N₂O, respectively. Environmental burdens of each facility are also analyzed from the point of view of process efficiency (i.e. organic matter stabilization degree achieved, calculated as the reduction of the Dynamic Respiration Index (DRI) of the waste treated). This study is performed through two new indices: Respiration Index Efficiency (RIE), which includes the reduction in the DRI achieved by the treatment process and Quality and Respiration Index Efficiency (QRIE), which also includes the quality of the end product. Finally, a Life Cycle Assessment is performed using the Respiration Index Efficiency (RIE) as the novel functional unit instead of the classical LCA approach based on the total mass treated

Environmental assessment of home composting

In this study the environmental burdens of home composting were determined using the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool. Data used for the LCA study such as gas emissions (CH₄, N₂O, NH₃ and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)), tools and composter characteristics were obtained from an experimental home composting process of leftovers of raw fruits and vegetables (LRFV). Stable compost with a high content of nitrogen and organic matter was obtained. Neither pathogens nor phytotoxic compounds were found in the final compost. In relation to gaseous emissions, only volatile organic compounds (0.32 kg VOC/Mg LRFV) were detected, even though ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide emissions were also measured. Regarding environmental burdens, the composter was the major contributor to the total home composting process impact for the impact categories of abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion, and cumulative energy demand. Gaseous emissions (based on our own measurements and literature data) caused the greatest contribution to the acidification, eutrophication, global warming and photochemical oxidation potentials

The use of life cycle assessment for the comparison of biowaste composting at home and full scale

Environmental impacts and gaseous emissions associated to home and industrial composting of the source-separated organic fraction of municipal solid waste have been evaluated using the environmental tool of life cycle assessment (LCA). Experimental data of both scenarios were experimentally collected. The functional unit used was one ton of organic waste. Ammonia, methane and nitrous oxide released from home composting (HC) were more than five times higher than those of industrial composting (IC) but the latter involved within 2 and 53 times more consumption or generation of transport, energy, water, infrastructures, waste and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emissions than HC. Therefore, results indicated that IC was more impacting than HC for four of the impact categories considered (abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion, photochemical oxidation and cumulative energy demand) and less impacting for the other three (acidification, eutrophication and global warming). Production of composting bin and gaseous emissions are the main responsible for the HC impacts, whereas for IC the main contributions come from collection and transportation of organic waste, electricity consumption, dumped waste and VOCs emission. These results suggest that HC may be an interesting alternative or complement to IC in low density areas of population

Perspectivas desde el Trabajo Social con una visión anticolonial: Análisis crítico de la formación, práctica e identidad profesional en Puerto Rico

Historically the education, practice and identity of the profession of social work in Puerto Rico have been influenced by the political-colonial relation of this country with the United States. The colonized education and practice has been greatly influenced by the methodological and theory character of the social work in the United States. Likewise, the professional identity has been predisposed trough the education and professional practice. This article discusses the results of an investigation that reveals the real possibility to organize an anti-colonial social work in a colony. Ten professionals were interviewed to analyze notions about the education, practice and professional identity of the social work in Puerto Rico within an ethical-political base. The professional colonization evolved around the following: an academic program of social work based instandards of regulation of aforeign accreditation agency, a professional practice which centers in the application of social policies not based in the reality Puerto Rican context, and a confused professional identity in the why? and for what? the social work. The participants made a series of recommendations likethe necessity to change the actual curriculums and educational processes of social work, add more critics' perspectives and discuss their applications, intégrate the academics programs, more insertion in the political, socials and communities processes of the entire professional collective in Puerto Rico.Históricamente la formación, práctica e identidad de la profesión de Trabajo Social en Puerto Rico ha estado matizada por la relación política-colonial que tiene este país con los Estados Unidos. Se destaca el desarrollo de una formación y práctica colonizada influenciada por el carácter teórico y metodológico del Trabajo Social estadounidense. De igual manera, la identidad profesional ha sido trastocada por medio de la influencia de la formación y la práctica profesional. Este artículo reseña los resultados de una investigación que revelan que se puede gestar un Trabajo Social anticolonialista en una colonia. Diez personas entrevistadas abordaron nociones acerca de la formación, práctica e identidad de la profesión del Trabajo Social en Puerto Rico desde el marco ético-político en el contexto colonial. La colonización de la profesión redunda en: una educación en Trabajo Social que se rige por los estándares de acreditación de agencias estadounidenses, una práctica que se centra en implementar políticas sociales no basadas en la realidad social del pueblo puertorriqueño y una identidad profesional confusa sobre el ¿por qué? y ¿para qué? el Trabajo Social. Las personas participantes realizaron una serie de recomendaciones que giran alrededor de realizar cambios a los actuales currículos y métodos de enseñanza del Trabajo Social, perspectivas críticas y su aplicación, integración entre los programas académicos, mayor inserción en los procesos políticos, sociales y comunitarios del País de parte de todo el colectivo profesional

The Role of DNA Damage Response in Dysbiosis-Induced Colorectal Cancer

The high incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in developed countries indicates a predominant role of the environment as a causative factor. Natural gut microbiota provides multiple benefits to humans. Dysbiosis is characterized by an unbalanced microbiota and causes intestinal damage and inflammation. The latter is a common denominator in many cancers including CRC. Indeed, in an inflammation scenario, cellular growth is promoted and immune cells release Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Reactive Nitrogen Species (RNS), which cause DNA damage. Apart from that, many metabolites from the diet are converted into DNA damaging agents by microbiota and some bacteria deliver DNA damaging toxins in dysbiosis conditions as well. The interactions between diet, microbiota, inflammation, and CRC are not the result of a straightforward relationship, but rather a network of multifactorial interactions that deserve deep consideration, as their consequences are not yet fully elucidated. In this paper, we will review the influence of dysbiosis in the induction of DNA damage and CRC.Junta de Andalucía P18-RT-332