LORE: a model for the detection of fine-grained locative references in tweets

[EN] Extracting geospatially rich knowledge from tweets is of utmost importance for location-based systems in emergency services to raise situational awareness about a given crisis-related incident, such as earthquakes, floods, car accidents, terrorist attacks, shooting attacks, etc. The problem is that the majority of tweets are not geotagged, so we need to resort to the messages in the search of geospatial evidence. In this context, we present LORE, a location-detection system for tweets that leverages the geographic database GeoNames together with linguistic knowledge through NLP techniques. One of the main contributions of this model is to capture fine-grained complex locative references, ranging from geopolitical entities and natural geographic references to points of interest and traffic ways. LORE outperforms state-of-the-art open-source location-extraction systems (i.e. Stanford NER, spaCy, NLTK and OpenNLP), achieving an unprecedented trade-off between precision and recall. Therefore, our model provides not only a quantitative advantage over other well-known systems in terms of performance but also a qualitative advantage in terms of the diversity and semantic granularity of the locative references extracted from the tweets.Financial support for this research has been provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [grant number RTC 2017-6389-5], and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program [grant number 101017861: project SMARTLAGOON]. We also thank Universidad de Granada for their financial support to the first author through the Becas de Iniciacion para estudiantes de Master 2018 del Plan Propio de la UGR.Fernández-Martínez, NJ.; Periñán-Pascual, C. (2021). LORE: a model for the detection of fine-grained locative references in tweets. Onomázein. (52):195-225. https://doi.org/10.7764/onomazein.52.111952255

Centralized Control of Distribution Networks with High Penetration of Renewable Energies

Distribution networks were conceived to distribute the energy received from transmission and subtransmission to supply passive loads. This approach, however, is not valid anymore due to the presence of distributed generation, which is mainly based on renewable energies, and the increased number of plug-in electric vehicles that are connected at this voltage level for domestic use. In this paper the ongoing transition that distribution networks face is addressed. Whereas distributed renewable energy sources increase nodal voltages, electric vehicles result in demand surges higher than the load predictions considered when planning these networks, leading to congestion in distribution lines and transformers. Additionally, centralized control techniques are analyzed to reduce the impact of distributed generation and electric vehicles and increase their effective integration. A classification of the different methodologies applied to the problems of voltage control and congestion management is presented.Unión Europea Convenio 764090Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CER-2019101

On the Remuneration to Electrical Utilities and Budgetary Allocation for Substation Maintenance Management

The liberalization of electricity markets has produced a great change in electrical utilities. One of these changes has affected the methodology for setting their remuneration. Depending on the country, these are different. Despite the wide range of remuneration methodologies for the electricity market of each country, they all feature one common element: the remuneration of operation and maintenance. One of the messages that this remuneration transmits is the need to extend the useful life of the facilities to allow sustainable development. This article focuses on the remuneration schemes of electrical utilities, the classification of substations for the definition of their maintenance programs, and the budget allocation for the execution of maintenance in these critical infrastructures. The particularity of these facilities, in which it is generally necessary to de-energize some of their parts for maintenance, has also been taken into account. To this end, a simple methodology currently used is presented based on the standardization of the bays of the substations and their classification into levels of importance. This classification into levels enables the facilities to be grouped according to similarities in their maintenance plans, although they differ from each other in terms of the periodicity of the application of maintenance procedures. This methodology guarantees a similar distribution of maintenance activities and financial needs over the years. In addition, the methodology allows one to know the importance of each substation (since the greater the equivalent weight, the greater the importance). Finally, the application of the proposed methodology in a real case is presented. It shows the simplicity, effectiveness, and lamination of the budgetary allocation of the proposed methodology, this being the main contribution of the formulation.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-116433RB-I00Agencia Estatal de Investigación AEI/10.13039/5011000110

Evaluation of the oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalytic activity of postsynthetically modified covalent organic frameworks

The pyrolysis of organic precursors to produce heteroatomic-doped carbonaceous materials has emerged as a powerful tool to construct metal-free heterogeneous electrocatalysts due to their low cost and their environmental friendliness. However, the lack of control in the atomic positions or the location of the chemical functionalities makes it difficult to establish structure-property relationships. Herein, we report an easy strategy to compare the electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance of metal-free and nonpyrolyzed materials by postsynthetic modification of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) via click-chemistry. This method facilitates the evaluation of different active centers using materials with the same morphology and prevents active site agglomeration by covalently anchoring these moieties inside of a porous and crystalline framework. In this study we developed a series of diimide-based materials (XDI0.17-COFs) with a loading of 7.65 × 10-4 mol of active site/mg of host COF. The bulk COFs have been delaminated to perform electrode modification by drop-casting. The electrocatalytic response toward the ORR has been studied in alkaline media obtaining the best results for the NDI0.17-COF with an onset potential of 0.77 V (vs reversible hydrogen electrode, RHE) and a limiting current of 4.2 mA/cm2 by a preferred pathway toward water electroreduction. Finally, an adequate combination of density functional theory with the thermochemical Gibbs free energy formalism has been used to theoretically rationalize the ORR mechanism in these metal-free and nonpyrolyzed materials. We have obtained theoretical ORR overpotentials for each COF system agreeing with the experimental observation, which correlate with the ability of the NDI, BzDI, and PDI molecular blocks to accommodate electrons. Our work provides a guideline on how to study the electrocatalytic performance of different organic moieties in metal-free and non-pyrolyzed COFs avoiding their de novo synthesis by using the click postsynthetic methodologyTED2021-129886B-C43, PID2019-106268GB-C32, RED2018-102412-T, PID2020-116728RB-I00, PID2020-113142RB-C21, PLEC2021-007906, 2018/NMT-4349TRANSNANOAVANSENS, S2018/NMT-4367, Y2020/NMT646

Sensitive glyphosate electrochemiluminescence immunosensor based on electrografted carbon nanodots

A novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor based on electrografted carbon nanodots (CND) is developed for the sensitive determination of glyphosate in soy milk and tea. Nitrogen rich CND were synthesized by microwave radiations using mild conditions and following the principles of green chemistry. L-Arginine and 3,3′-diamino-N-methyldipropylamine were selected as precursors. CND were exhaustively characterized as well as the resulting nanostructured electrodes after CND electrografting. The high stability of CND nanostructured electrode together with the high electrical conductivity and the improvement of the electrochemiluminescent properties from the luminophore [Ru(bpy)3]2+ makes it an excellent electrochemiluminescence detection platform for biosensing assays. The application to biosensors was assessed by combination with an immunoassay based on magnetic nanoparticles, in which anti-glyphosate-IgG coupled magnetic particles (MP-Ab) was used as recognition element of the analyte, glyphosate. The developed ECL immunosensor was successfully applied for the detection of glyphosate in a wide linear range from 28.9 to 200 pg/mL, a sensitivity of 3.38 × 10−3 mL/pg and a detection limit of 8.66 pg/mL. The immunosensor response is stable and reproducible and it has been applied to the determination of glyphosate in tea and soy milk, with results that agree with those provided by an ELISA kit involving the same immunoreagentsThis work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (CTQ2017-84309-C2-1-R; RED2018-102412-T) and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (P2018/NMT-4349 TRANSNANOAVANSENS Program and 2017-T1/BIO-5435 Atracción de Talento Project

Insulin sensor based on nanoparticle-decorated multiwalled carbon nanotubes modified electrodes

Insulin sensors based on glassy carbon electrodes modified with nafion-multiwalled carbon nanotubes decorated with nickel hydroxide nanoparticles (Ni(OH)<inf>2</inf>NPs/Nafion-MWCNTs/GC), were prepared by electrochemical deposition of Ni(OH)<inf>2</inf>NPs from a dinuclear paddle-wheel Ni monothiocarboxylate complex on the MWCNTs/GC surface. The size and distribution of the Ni(OH)<inf>2</inf>NPs/Nafion-MWCNTs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that Ni(OH)<inf>2</inf> nanoparticles were electrodeposited on the surface of carbon nanotubes. Moreover, the electrochemical behavior of the modified electrodes in aqueous alkaline solutions of insulin was studied by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. It was found that the as-prepared nanoparticles have excellent electrocatalytic activity towards insulin oxidation due to their special properties, reducing the overpotential and improving the electrochemical behavior, compared to the bare GC electrode. Amperometry was used to evaluate the analytical performance of modified electrode in the determination of insulin. Excellent analytical features, including high sensitivity (5.0 A mol cm<sup>-2</sup> μM<sup>-1</sup>), low detection limit (85 nM) and wide dynamic range (up to 10.00 μM), were achieved under optimum conditions. Moreover, these insulin sensors show good repeatability and a high stability after successive potential cycling. Common substances such as ascorbic acid, uric acid and acetaminophen do not interfere. Finally, the developed sensors have been applied to the determination of insulin in pharmaceuticals and in human plasma. Efficient recoveries for pharmaceuticals and human plasma demonstrate that the proposed methodology can be satisfactorily applied to these types of samplesThe authors acknowledge Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (project No. CTQ2014-53334-C2-1-R and MAT2013-46753-C2-1-P) and Comunidad de Madrid (NANOAVANSENS Program) for financial support. E.M.P. gratefully acknowledges the FPU-2010 Grant from the Ministerio de Educació

COVIDSensing: Social Sensing strategy for the management of the COVID-19 crisis

[EN] The management of the COVID-19 pandemic has been shown to be critical for reducing its dramatic effects. Social sensing can analyse user-contributed data posted daily in social-media services, where participants are seen as Social Sensors. Individually, social sensors may provide noisy information. However, collectively, such opinion holders constitute a large critical mass dispersed everywhere and with an immediate capacity for information transfer. The main goal of this article is to present a novel methodological tool based on social sensing, called COVIDSensing. In particular, this application serves to provide actionable information in real time for the management of the socio-economic and health crisis caused by COVID-19. This tool dynamically identifies socio-economic problems of general interest through the analysis of people¿s opinions on social networks. Moreover, it tracks and predicts the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic based on epidemiological figures together with the social perceptions towards the disease. This article presents the case study of Spain to illustrate the tool.This work is derived from R&D project RTI2018-096384-B-I00, as well as the Ramon y Cajal Grant RYC2018-025580-I, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and ERDF A way of making Europe, by the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación (grant number PID2020- 112827GB-I00/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033), and by the Conselleria de Innovación, Universidades, Ciencia y Sociedad Digital, Proyectos AICO/2020, Spain, under Grant AICO/2020/302.Sepúlveda, A.; Periñán-Pascual, C.; Muñoz, A.; Martínez-España, R.; Hernández-Orallo, E.; Cecilia-Canales, JM. (2021). COVIDSensing: Social Sensing strategy for the management of the COVID-19 crisis. Electronics. 10(24):1-17. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10243157S117102

Spectroelectrochemical operando method for monitoring a phenothiazine electrografting process on amide functionalized C-nanodots/Au hybrid electrodes

Phenothiazine derivatives are extensively explored dye molecules, which present interesting electrochemical and optical properties. In recent years, the possibility of transforming some phenothiazines in their aryl diazonium salt derivatives has been proved, what allows them to be electrochemically reduced and electrografted onto conductive surfaces. This is a smart way to modify these surfaces and enable them with specific functionalities. In order to better comprehend the electrografting process and consequently have a higher control of it, in this work we have carried out an exhaustive study by operando UV–Vis spectroelectrochemistry of the electrografting of a phenothiazine aryl diazonium salt onto amide carbon nanodots. As a model of phenothiazine dye we have chosen Azure A. The electrografting onto carbon nanodots has been stablished by comparison with the results obtained on bare gold electrodes in this novel study. The presence of carbon dots improves the reversibility of the electrochemical process as derived from the results obtained by operando UV–Vis spectroelectrochemistry. In addition, to asses that the electrochemical process studied corresponds to the electrografting, the results have been compared to those obtained for the simple Azure A adsorption. This study shows the advantages of obtaining simultaneously the electrochemical and the spectroscopic evolution of an electron-transfer process in a single experiment, in a particular electrochemical reaction. This work could be the starting point for the study of the electrografting on other nanomaterialsFunding from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (project: CTQ2017-84309-C2-1-R) and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (NANOAVANSENS Program) is acknowledged. IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the 'Severo Ochoa' Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Grant SEV-2016-0686

Oxygen reduction using a metal-free naphthalene diimide-based covalent organic framework electrocatalyst

A novel naphthalene diimide-based covalent organic framework (NDI-COF) has been synthesized and successfully exfoliated into COF nanosheets (CONs). Electrochemical measurements reveal that the naphthalene diimide units incorporated into NDI-CONs act as efficient electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction in alkaline media, showing its potential for the development of metal-free fuel cellsFinancial support from the Spanish Government (projects MAT2016-77608-C3-1-P, MAT2016-77608-C3-2-P, CTQ2017-84309-C2-1-R, MAT2017-85089-C2-1-R, FJCI-2017-33536 and RYC-2015-17730), the UCM (INV.GR.00.1819.10759) and the Madrid Regional Government (TRANSNANOAVANSENS-CM (S2018/NMT-4349)) is acknowledge