Effects of foliar fertilization of a biostimulant obtained from chicken feathers on maize yield

Due to the important contribution that it makes to human nutrition, maize is one of the most widely-consumed cereals in the world. There is, therefore, high demand for fertilizers that will maintain maize production at both high yield and quality levels. The objective of this work was to study the effect of foliar fertilization using a biostimulant, obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis from chicken feathers, on the productivity and quality of maize crops (Zea mays, L. cv PR32W86 Pioneer), located in Trujillanos (Extremadura, Spain), over two consecutive seasons. Foliar biostimulant/biofertilizer was applied three times each season and at two rates (3.6 and 7.2 l ha−1). At the higher rate and for both seasons, foliar fertilization significantly increased the leaf concentrations of macro- and micronutrients, while grain protein content and yield increased by 26% and 14%. These results suggest that the foliar use of this biostimulant could be of great interest to the farmer for improving both maize crop yield and quality.Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad CTM2015-64354-C3-1-RMinisterio de Economia y Competitividad CTM2015-64354-C3-3-RJunta de Andalucía RNM-2011-788

Rare diseases : an historical introduction

Proyectos “Investigación, redes asistenciales y empoderamiento: respuestas sociales y científicas a las enfermedades raras en la Península Ibérica (1940-2015)” (HAR2017-87318P), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and “Enfermedades raras: cultura visual de la rareza en España y Portugal en la Edad Contemporánea”, funded by the University of Salamanca (PIC2-2020-29

Biomethane production improvement by enzymatic pretreatments and enhancers of sewage sludge anaerobic digestion

Enzymatic hydrolysis is recognised as an effective pre-treatment for increasing biodegradability of sludge. In this work, isolated commercial enzymes as well as in-situ enzymes producer bacteria were used respectively as enhancers and pre-treatments of sewage sludge. Biodegradability of sample as well as biomethane potential production were studied. Results showed that depuration efficiencies in terms of CODs (73.5-85.5 %) and TVS (28.5-42.7 %) were more than twice the control value. In addition, pre-treated samples as well as enhanced samples with enzymes generated more biomethane than control. The optimal ones, were those with the isolated proteases (P) and with bacteria (Bacillus licheniformis) treatment in-situ (F), producing a total volume of 72.4 ± 2.62 ml CH4 and 114 ml ± 0.46 CH4, respectively, increasing the biogas volume in 3.65 and 5.77 times respectively compared with control

Assessing digital competence and its relationship with the socioeconomic level of Chilean university students

[EN] Digital competence (DC) is one of the key aspects in citizen development in the digital age. The DC is particularly important in forming university students and future teachers. This article presents the main results of a study to evaluate DC and its relationship with the socioeconomic level of first-year students of pedagogy in three Chilean public universities, located in the north, center, and south of the country. A quantitative research methodology was used, with a sample of 817 students, the data were collected through the DIGCOMP-PED evaluation instrument, which evaluates DC development using the DIGCOMP framework. The results were analyzed at the general and socioeconomic level on the variables of the educational establishment where they attended high school and the territorial area of the university they attended. The main results indicate that the level of DC achievement is intermediate, the areas with the highest levels of achievement were “network security” and “online communication and collaboration.” On the other hand, the lowest levels of achievement were reached in the areas “information and digital literacy,” “digital content creation,” and “problem solving.” The level of DC is higher among students of private establishments and those who attend universities located in the central area.[ES] Este artículo presenta los principales resultados de un estudio para evaluar el DC y su relación con el nivel socioeconómico de estudiantes de primer año de pedagogía en tres universidades públicas chilenas, ubicadas en el norte, centro y sur del país. Se utilizó una metodología de investigación cuantitativa, con una muestra de 817 estudiantes, los datos fueron recolectados a través del instrumento de evaluación DIGCOMP-PED, que evalúa el desarrollo del DC utilizando el marco DIGCOMP. Los resultados fueron analizados a nivel general y socioeconómico en las variables del establecimiento educacional donde cursaron la enseñanza media y el ámbito territorial de la universidad a la que asistieron. Los principales resultados indican que el nivel de logro en DC es intermedio, las áreas con mayores niveles de logro fueron "seguridad en la red" y "comunicación y colaboración en línea". Por otro lado, los niveles más bajos de logro se alcanzaron en las áreas "alfabetización informacional y digital", "creación de contenidos digitales" y "resolución de problemas." El nivel de DC es más alto entre los estudiantes de centros privados y los que asisten a universidades situadas en la zona centro.Springer Natur

Diseño y escalado de un proceso biotecnológico de valorización de suero lácteo mediante la producción de ácido láctico

Motivación: La industria quesera genera grandes cantidades de suero lácteo, líquido que queda tras la separación de la grasa y la caseína de la leche en el proceso de producción del queso. El suero lácteo es uno de los principales subproductos generados a nivel mundial, y debido a sus altas cargas de DBO y DQO de 30.000-50.000 y 60.000-80.000 ppm respectivamente, es proclive a generar graves problemas de contaminación medioambiental estando prohibido su vertido desde 1996 por el Consejo de la UE, que lo cataloga como un residuo contaminante. Estos motivos exigen a las queserías la implementación de costosos sistemas de tratamiento de residuos a los que muchas de ellas no pueden hacer frente. Por otra parte es necesario destacar que el suero conserva cerca del 50% de los nutrientes de la leche. Contiene cantidades significativas de lactosa, así como proteínas, vitaminas hidrosolubles y minerales. Esta interesante composición ha impulsado multitud de investigaciones encaminadas a la valorización de este subproducto. El objetivo de este proyecto es el diseño de una biorrefinería que permita una valorización total de las fracciones mayoritarias del suero (proteína, grasa, lactosa y sales) con la principal finalidad de producir ácido láctico que es el ácido carboxílico con mayor presencia debido a su versatilidad de uso en las industrias farmacéuticas, alimentaria y química. En una segunda fase del proyecto, el ácido láctico será usado como "building blocks" en la producción de PLA. Métodos: Se han realizado fermentaciones a escala de laboratorio en un fermentador de 2 l para optimizar los parámetros de fermentación, con vistas a ampliar la escala de trabajo en una segunda etapa del proyecto. Mediante un proceso que combina la microfiltración y una tecnología de extracción por solventes conseguimos purificar el ácido láctico del suero fermentado. Resultados: Se ha logrado la conversión completa de lactosa a ácido láctico en las fermentaciones, obteniendo entre 40 y 50 g de ácido láctico por litro de suero fermentado. Mediante la tecnología de purificación desarrollada hemos conseguido obtener ácido láctico al 90%. Conclusiones: Este proyecto se plantea como una posible vía de valorización total del suero lácteo como alternativa a los costosos tratamientos que requieren su vertido. Hemos diseñado un proceso de purificación de ácido láctico económicamente viable y ecosostenible, con un reaprovechamiento total de los subproductos generado

Large area tactile sensors for smart surfaces with low power consumption

The tactile sensors are able to detect the force applied by an object or person. Commonly, they are arrayed in matrix of force, where they act as variable resistance. The principal applications of tactile sensor are: robotic hands (to detect different slip, contact and texture), medical devices (to detect for instance breast cancer), artificial skin for robots (they can interact with the environment) This report presents results from a selection of tactile sensors that have been designed and fabricated for a large area conception. The sensor is based on piezoresistivity of the material, where it only need a conductive material and electrodes to be able to detect contact. In this work, there have been presented the results from sensor made using printed circuit board. This report provides details regarding the design of the hardware, selecting the best shape of the electrode. Furthermore, we present a novel method to measure the tactel, this novel method is based on measuring the tactels independently, inspired in the common digital camera CMOS, where is shown that the new readout circuit works perfectly and the consumption is lower than other philosophies presented in this report. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Los sensores táctiles son empleados en muchos campos actualmente, por ejemplo en manos robóticas para detectar diferentes texturas, deslizamientos y contacto, en dispositivos médicos como detección de cáncer de mama, también como artificial sking en robot, así ellos pueden interactuar con el ambiente o con humanos. En este proyecto se presenta un sensor táctil para cubrir grandes áreas, hay diferentes tecnologías para llevarlo acabo. Las más importantes son: piezoresistencia, se basa en el cambio de resistencia cuando un material està sujeto a deformaciones, capacitancia, estos sensores se basan en el cambio de la capacitancia, por ejemplo si existen dos platas horizontales y entre ellos se situa un dieléctrico como el aire, y el plato superior es presionado, la capacitancia cambia y esta puede ser medida. Tecnologìa magnética, esta se basa en materiales que son capaces de producir pequenas partículas magnéticas cuando están sujetos a deformación, tecnología piezoresistiva se basa en aquellos materiales que producen electricidad cuando estàn sujetos a deformación. Existen otras tecnologías como ópticas o fibras ópticas pero este tipo de tecnología no están aplicadas para cubrir grandes áreas.Ingeniería Industria

A FPGA Spike-Based Robot Controlled with Neuro-inspired VITE

This paper presents a spike-based control system applied to a fixed robotic platform. Our aim is to take a step forward to a future complete spikes processing architecture, from vision to direct motor actuation. This paper covers the processing and actuation layer over an anthropomorphic robot. In this way, the processing layer uses the neuro-inspired VITE algorithm, for reaching a target, based on PFM taking advantage of spike system information: its frequency. Thus, all the blocks of the system are based on spikes. Each layer is implemented within a FPGA board and spikes communication is codified under the AER protocol. The results show an accurate behavior of the robotic platform with 6-bit resolution for a 130º range per joint, and an automatic speed control of the algorithm. Up to 96 motor controllers could be integrated in the same FPGA, allowing the positioning and object grasping by more complex anthropomorphic robots.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-10639-C04-02Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-37868-C04-0

Una breve descripción del programa FSIT

"El lenguaje utilizado para realizar este proyecto es Python 3, que suele" "tener mucha aceptación en Informática Forense (“Digital Forensic”) gracias a la cantidad de librerías existentes y su gran portabilidad: puede correr en diferentes sistemas operativos. Para no restringir el ámbito del programa se decidió usar la librería PyQt4 en el diseño de la interfaz gráfica. Otras de las razones que nos llevó a elegir este paquete, es que sus componentes son de un alto nivel y también gozan de una gran aceptación en la comunidad."Como esto es solo el inicio y aspiramos a ampliar la herramienta a otros sistemas de archivos el código ha sido escrito basa´ndose en la programacio´n orientada a objetos. Y para que el programa sea más fácil de reutilizar se ha seguido el patrón MVC. Todo este esfuerzo ha permitido mejorar la "usabilidad de la aplicación."Departamento de Informática (Arquitectura y Tecnología de Computadores, Ciencias de la Computación e Inteligencia Artificial, Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos

Towards AER VITE: building spike gate signal

Neuromorphic engineers aim to mimic the precise and efficient mechanisms of the nervous system to process information using spikes from sensors to actuators. There are many available works that sense and process information in a spike-based way. But there are still several gaps in the actuation and motor control field in a spike-based way. Spike-based Proportional-Integrative-Derivative controllers (PID) are present in the literature. On the other hand, neuro-inspired control models as VITE (Vector Integration To End point) and FLETE (Factorization of muscle Length and muscle Tension) are also present in the literature. This paper presents another step toward the spike implementation of those neuro-inspired models. We present a spike-based ramp multiplier. VITE algorithm generates the way to achieve a final position targeted by a mobile robotic arm. The block presented is used as a gate for the way involved and it also puts the incoming movement on speed with a variable slope profile. Only spikes for information representation were used and the process is in real time. The software simulation based on Simulink and Xilinx System Generator shows the accurate adjust to the traditional processing for short time periods and the hardware tests confirm and extend the previous simulated results for any time. We have implemented the spikes generator, the ramp multiplier and the low pass filter into the Virtex-5 FPGA and connected this with an USB-AER (Address Event Representation) board to monitor the spikes.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2009-10639-C04-0

Lactic acid bacteria from fermented whey as a biocontrol tool against phytopathogenic microorganisms

Biological control is a bioeffector-method that uses organisms to control populations of other organisms. This method is widely used to prevent pests, diseases and weeds proving to be a viable alternative to avoid using antibiotics and pesticides in animal feed and crops. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have been identified as potencial microorganisms in the field of biocontrol. The aim of this work is identifing LAB present in whey, a byproduct generated during cheese manufacturing process, and studying their role in whey biocontrol activity against phytopathogenic microorganisms. A morphological identification by classic techniques and gene sequencing has been made in order to achieve microbiological characterization of whey from an individual cheese company. A total of 6 species of microorganisms have been identified: Pichia kudriavzevii, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus helveticus, Lactobacillus zeae and Lactobacillus hilgardii. Biocontrol activity of those identified microorganisms has been tested against different phytopathogenic bacteria and fungus. All lactobacillus identified species showed activity against different bacteria tested. On the other hand only Pichia kudriavzevii and some identified Lactobacillus showed activity against fungus tested. It should be noted that whey biocontrol capability is likely to be related to bacterial activity instead of being due to their excreted metabolites during the fermentation process. This statement arises from the different response against microorganisms tested between both microfiltered and unfiltered whey: While the first did not show any biocontrol activity, the second one did. According to this results, we can conclude that whey could be applied to biological control of crops disease