Influence of cultivation conditions on the bioenergy potential and bio-compounds of Chlorella vulgaris

This study aims to evaluate the influence of cultivation conditions on the bioenergy and high value biocompounds contents of Chlorella vulgaris. Results show that the use of nitrate rich media, from 170.7 mg/L, favors a faster biomass growth, reaching values above 800 mg/L biomass. In addition, it favors higher pigments concentrations with more emphasis for the cultures with a nitrate concentration of 569 mg/L, where chlorophyll-a and carotenoids reached maximum concentrations of 6 and 2 mg/L, respectively. As regards the lipid content, nitrate deprivation (<28.4 mg/L) favors the accumulation of lipid content by microalgae (around 42%). The use of media with lower iron concentrations (0.5 mg/L) was favorable for obtaining biomass with higher concentrations of chlorophyll-a, at an initial stage, with values varying from 0.2 to 0.6 mg/L. In the tests carried out under mixotrophic conditions (addition of glucose), it was observed that contamination occurred in all the cultures, possibly due to the high concentration of carbon source that had values between 0.5 and 1.5 g/L of glucose, and consequently, growth decreased.Authors thank the financial support of the project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003 and research grants IF/01093/2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015 funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES, and project UID/EQU/00305/2013 – Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology – CIETI. This work was financially supported by: project UID/EQU/00511/2019 – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy — LEPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by national funds through FCT; Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION” — NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sustainability evaluation of a Portuguese “terroir” wine

The challenges of sustainability are transversal to all human activities, and the wine sector has its own role to play in the march for a more sustainable development. The proper definition of the most adequate measures and/or policies must be based on an objective and quantitative evaluation of the sustainability of a product or process. In this work the sustainability of a “terroir” wine is assessed taking into account its life cycle and using the following indicators: carbon and water footprint, material intensity, solid waste generated, worker turnover rate, investment in H&S training and EBITDA. All indicators are expressed per functional unit of 0.75 L of wine. The evaluation used data from the company complemented with data/information from the literature or life cycle inventory databases. To account for climatic variability, data from three consecutive years was used. Average values of 3.51 kgCO2eq and 481.4 L per functional unit were obtained for the carbon and water footprint respectively, both values within the range of values reported in the literature.To Sogrape Vinhos, S.A. for funding Project PP-IJUP2014-SOGRAPE. To FCT, for funding project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003, research grants IF/01093/2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015, and Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology - CIETI, UID/EQU/00305/2013. Financial support of POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy - LEPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by national funds through FCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preliminary petrological inferences on the high-grade metamorphic rocks exhumed by the South Rif Thrust, Prerif, Northern Morocco

The exhumation of deep crustal rocks along major shear zones is common, yet a highly debated subject, particularly when occurring during recent tectonic events. This is the case of the South Rif Thrust (SRT), a significant shear zone analogous to those described at the Betic Cordillera in Spain. The SRT separates two major geodynamic domains in Northern Morocco: a) the Prerif, to the North, mostly composed of Miocenic sedimentary units on top of a stratigraphic sequence continuously deposited since the Triassic; and b) the Western Meseta, to the South, mostly composed of Paleozoic metasedimentary units, correlated with the Iberian Variscan Belt [1]. Associated to the SRT, and exhumed by its activity, there is a dismembered and exotic high-grade metamorphic belt representative of the middle and lower crust. Also in this region, several thermo-mineral waters occur, whose deep circulation can be traced back to the SRT [2]. Detailed geological mapping, structural, stratigraphic and petrographic analyses on this dismembered and highly deformed exotic sequence reveal the presence of low- to high-grade metasediments (including migmatites and felsic granulites), but mostly high-grade metabasic and basic rocks, including amphibolites, mafic granulites and gabbros. Preliminary geothermobarometry in the mafic granulites provides an important characterization of the infra-crustal conditions of the pre-Alpine geodynamics and of the activity and exhumation along the SRT since the Miocene: a) the mafic granulites endured M1 metamorphic peak conditions of T = 1030 ºC at P = 8.5 kbar, which is consistent with typical conductive continental crust geothermal gradients (~30 ºC.km-1); b) M2 retrogression occurred by near isothermal decompression at T = 820 ºC and P = 3.5 kbar, implying an initial vertical uplift of >18 km of the granulite-facies rocks to very shallow levels; c) during this period, the geothermal gradient in the region surpassed 60 ºC.km-1; d) exhumation and retrogression continued by almost isobaric cooling at T < 750 ºC and P = 1.7 – 3.0 kbar with an M3 amphibolitization of the granulites after late water inflow. The overall metamorphic evolution of these deep crustal rocks is compatible with a clockwise P-T path, involving initial fast tectonic exhumation, followed by thermal readjustment to shallower levels. This is consistent with the currently observed geothermal gradients in the area (≤ 42 ºC.km-1) [2] which may still be a reflection of the events during the Miocene. These petrological constrains on the tectonic processes associated with the exhumation of this lower crust segment and the activity of the SRT during the closure of the Alboran Basin are key to understanding the circulation of deep hot waters, which are an important part of the economy of this region in Northern Morocco.publishe

Latin American Anatomists’ views on human body dissection and donation

Background Studies abound regarding the medical students' views on the importance of anatomy and the dissection of human bodies, but little is known about the views of Latin American Anatomists. Methods A survey was carried out to test several hypotheses among anatomists of the Americas about how they perceive their professional identity, the use and role of dissection in their undergraduate courses, and the approval degree of bequeathing their body for anatomical teaching/research; another goal was ascertaining to what extent their attitude on these topics depended on gender, length of teaching experience and belief in the afterlife. Results One hundred and forty-five anatomists from thirteen Latin American and Caribbean Countries took the survey; 79% stated the main role of an anatomist is teaching; 34% recorded their undergraduate students dissected human cadavers as part of their anatomy lab course—undergraduates dissecting less in the less experienced anatomists’ courses (p = 0.0002). Most anatomists said dissection was a training tool for undergraduate students, a tool for developing professional skills, and a tool to help control emotions—most experienced anatomists stood out from the rest saying dissection is only to teach anatomy (p < 0.001), even if such response was the least valued by them among all replies. Men differed from women in valuing dissection as a tool to help control emotions (p = 0.006); less experienced anatomists held the opposite (p < 0.0001). Approval of a close doctor-patient relationship diverged, being different between the most and the least experienced anatomists (p = 0.01). Anatomists said they would donate only their organs (44%), whole body (9%) and both organs and body (46%). Undecided anatomists about the belief in life after death were the least in favor of donation (p = 0.05)

Nonlinear Lattice Waves in Random Potentials

Localization of waves by disorder is a fundamental physical problem encompassing a diverse spectrum of theoretical, experimental and numerical studies in the context of metal-insulator transition, quantum Hall effect, light propagation in photonic crystals, and dynamics of ultra-cold atoms in optical arrays. Large intensity light can induce nonlinear response, ultracold atomic gases can be tuned into an interacting regime, which leads again to nonlinear wave equations on a mean field level. The interplay between disorder and nonlinearity, their localizing and delocalizing effects is currently an intriguing and challenging issue in the field. We will discuss recent advances in the dynamics of nonlinear lattice waves in random potentials. In the absence of nonlinear terms in the wave equations, Anderson localization is leading to a halt of wave packet spreading. Nonlinearity couples localized eigenstates and, potentially, enables spreading and destruction of Anderson localization due to nonintegrability, chaos and decoherence. The spreading process is characterized by universal subdiffusive laws due to nonlinear diffusion. We review extensive computational studies for one- and two-dimensional systems with tunable nonlinearity power. We also briefly discuss extensions to other cases where the linear wave equation features localization: Aubry-Andre localization with quasiperiodic potentials, Wannier-Stark localization with dc fields, and dynamical localization in momentum space with kicked rotors.Comment: 45 pages, 19 figure

Sustainability evaluation of a Portuguese “terroir” wine

The challenges of sustainability are transversal to all human activities, and the wine sector has its own role to play in the march for a more sustainable development. The proper definition of the most adequate measures and/or policies must be based on an objective and quantitative evaluation of the sustainability of a product or process. In this work the sustainability of a “terroir” wine is assessed taking into account its life cycle and using the following indicators: carbon and water footprint, material intensity, solid waste generated, worker turnover rate, investment in H&S training and EBITDA. All indicators are expressed per functional unit of 0.75 L of wine. The evaluation used data from the company complemented with data/information from the literature or life cycle inventory databases. To account for climatic variability, data from three consecutive years was used. Average values of 3.51 kgCO2eq and 481.4 L per functional unit were obtained for the carbon and water footprint respectively, both values within the range of values reported in the literature

The comparative responsiveness of Hospital Universitario Princesa Index and other composite indices for assessing rheumatoid arthritis activity

Objective To evaluate the responsiveness in terms of correlation of the Hospital Universitario La Princesa Index (HUPI) comparatively to the traditional composite indices used to assess disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and to compare the performance of HUPI-based response criteria with that of the EULAR response criteria. Methods Secondary data analysis from the following studies: ACT-RAY (clinical trial), PROAR (early RA cohort) and EMECAR (pre-biologic era long term RA cohort). Responsiveness was evaluated by: 1) comparing change from baseline (Delta) of HUPI with Delta in other scores by calculating correlation coefficients; 2) calculating standardised effect sizes. The accuracy of response by HUPI and by EULAR criteria was analyzed using linear regressions in which the dependent variable was change in global assessment by physician (Delta GDA-Phy). Results Delta HUPI correlation with change in all other indices ranged from 0.387 to 0.791); HUPI's standardized effect size was larger than those from the other indices in each database used. In ACT-RAY, depending on visit, between 65 and 80% of patients were equally classified by HUPI and EULAR response criteria. However, HUPI criteria were slightly more stringent, with higher percentage of patients classified as non-responder, especially at early visits. HUPI response criteria showed a slightly higher accuracy than EULAR response criteria when using Delta GDA-Phy as gold standard. Conclusion HUPI shows good responsiveness in terms of correlation in each studied scenario (clinical trial, early RA cohort, and established RA cohort). Response criteria by HUPI seem more stringent than EULAR''s