Evaluation of Citriculture Mechanisation Level in Valencia Region (Spain): Poll Results

[EN] The increase of the technology level of citrus production operations is required to improve production profitability and reduce production costs. In the framework of the project CITRUSTECH ("Technological advances for modernisation and sustainability in citrus production"), three different poll questionnaires were developed and conducted in the Valencia region to assess the citriculture mechanisation level. In total, 142 questionaries for small and medium-size plantations, 32 for cooperative technicians and 16 for large-size plantations were conducted. From a socioeconomic point of view, clear age and sex inequalities were found. From the technological point of view, relevant differences were found between plantation sizes. The role of the cooperative mechanisation services (custom cost) and other customer services was revealed, with a higher percentage of the area under cultivation at the expense of the small-size plantations. The use of some manual tools was confirmed in pruning, even in large-size orchards. In small-size orchards, the use of backpack sprayers was verified. Regarding farm machinery, besides tractors, hydro-pneumatic sprayers and agricultural shredders were employed. No farm machinery was used during harvesting operations, apart from transport equipment, due to the reduced plantation frames.This research has been funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and cofounded by the Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentacion (project GO "Avances tecnologicos para la modernizacion y la sostenibilidad en la produccion de citricos CITRUSTECH").Ortiz Sánchez, MC.; Torregrosa, A.; Martínez, JM. (2022). Evaluation of Citriculture Mechanisation Level in Valencia Region (Spain): Poll Results. Agronomy. 12(6):1-6. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy120613661612

Towards "Rapid CFD" via an Immersed Boundary Method in the CFD software by ONERA, DLR, Airbus (CODA)

In recent years, the industry has been looking for methods to simulate external aerodynamics at low overall turnaround times, such as Lattice-Boltzmann and Cartesian solvers. This paper proposes a "Rapid CFD" capability based on the Immersed Boundary Method (IBM) in the unstructured CFD software by ONERA, DLR, Airbus (CODA). The main advantage of this method is a fully automatic mesh generation, which addresses this well-known bottleneck in industrial CFD applications

Non-universality in clustered ballistic annihilation

In ballistic annihilation, infinitely many particles with randomly assigned velocities move across the real line and mutually annihilate upon contact. We introduce a variant with superimposed clusters of multiple stationary particles. Our main result is that the critical initial cluster density to ensure species survival depends on both the mean and variance of the cluster size. Our result contrasts with recent ballistic annihilation universality findings with respect to particle spacings. A corollary of our theorem resolves an open question for coalescing ballistic annihilation.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Bullying in Adolescents Practising Sport: A Structural Model Approach

This article aims to analyse the relationship between the bullying aggressor and bullying victim profile related to practising or not practising sport in adolescents living in southern Spain. The research includes male and female participants aged between 12 and 16 years in different secondary schools in the provinces of Andalusia, Ceuta and Melilla in the period between February 2022 and June 2022. The study aims to extend the existing scientific, theoretical and empirical knowledge on the influence of playing sport or not on disruptive bullying attitudes in adolescents. To this end, two initial hypotheses were designed; the first hypothesises that bullying victim behaviours are associated with future bullying aggressor behaviours when practising sport; and the second states that victim behaviours are associated with future bullying aggressor behaviours when not practising sport. To verify them, SPSS software was used for the preliminary analysis of the scale and sociodemographic profile. Additionally, the study is based on structural equation modelling methodology and variance-based methods employing SmartPLS v3.3 software. The results show the importance of sport or physical activity to reduce the chances of carrying out bullying actions on other peers and/or classmates. Therefore, it is considered necessary to prevent bullying in the classroom by implementing sports intervention programmes in educational centres

Construcción de la Planta de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales Manufacturas Eliot S.A.S.

Manufacturas Eliot S.A.S, en el año 2006 construyó su planta de producción más grande en el municipio de Cota; con la puesta en marcha de mayor maquinaria se aumentó el volumen de agua residual industrial a tratar. La PTAR que se construyó no cumplió con las expectativas, porque no logro tratar un caudal de 10 lts/seg, lo que genero rebosamientos del sistema de tratamiento y continuos paros de producción. A través de la recolección de datos históricos de consumos y la investigación de tratabilidad del agua de la industria textil, se presentó a la Gerencia General que la opción más viable para solucionar los problemas operativos es la construcción de una PTAR microbiológica para un caudal de 30 lps.The Organization Eliot S.A.S, in 2006 built its largest production plant in the municipality of Cota; With the start-up of more machinery, the volume of industrial wastewater to be treated was increased. The WWTP that was built did not meet expectations, because it was unable to treat a flow rate of 10 liters / sec, which generated overflows in the treatment system and continuous production stoppages. Through the collection of historical data on consumption and the investigation of water treatability of the textile industry, it was presented to the General Management that the most viable option to solve operational problems is the construction of a WWTP microbiological for a flow 30 lps

Utilización en el aula de herramientas de gamificación para incrementar la motivación del alumnado por la asignatura Dirección de Operaciones del Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas

Para la mayoría del alumnado universitario las lecciones magistrales impartidas en el aula son tediosas, generándole una desmotivación traducida en su pasiva actitud. La distracción de los dispositivos móviles de comunicación que portan, cuando no los utilizan con fines educativos, empeora el problema. El resultado es su falta de compromiso con su aprendizaje, demostrado con la caída de asistentes a clase, y con la obtención de resultados académicos mediocres. Una posible solución es incorporar a las clases actividades lúdicas que, implementadas con las nuevas tecnologías ya presentes en la vida diaria, trasladen al ámbito educativo las bondades del juego. Durante el curso 2018/2019, y para mejorar la motivación y las calificaciones del alumnado de Dirección de Operaciones II, asignatura del cuarto curso del Grado en Administración y Dirección de Empresas de la Universidad de Cádiz, se gamificaron las clases impartidas en los Campus de Jerez de la Frontera y de Algeciras utilizando la app gratuita Kahoot! y los teléfonos móviles del alumnado. Aun existiendo otros muchos factores explicativos, la experiencia supuso notables mejoras respecto al curso 2017/2018, aumentando la motivación (el alumnado no presentado a examen descendió un 21,7%) y mejorando las calificaciones (la media de aprobados creció un 7,41%)

A computational approach to partial least squares model inversion in the framework of the process analytical technology and quality by design initiatives

In the context of the paradigms founding the Quality by Design and Process Analytical Technology initiatives, the work herein presents a computational approach to support the decision-making process, in particular, about the feasibility of a product defined for some a priori given quality characteristics. The approach is based on the computation of the pareto-optimal front when simultaneously minimizing the expected differences between the predicted and the desired characteristics. Thus, the feasibility is tackled as an optimization problem with the novelty of doing so simultaneously for all the characteristics, preserving the correlation structure, but by separately handling each individual characteristic. With data from a low-density polyethylene production process, with fourteen process variables and five measured characteristics of the final polyethylene, solutions are found to define the Design Space for targeted quality characteristics on the product, and without the need of explicitly inverting the PLS (Partial Least Squares) prediction model fitted to the process.Junta de Castilla y León (BU012P17), and also Spanish MINECO and Agencia Estatal de Investigación under research projects CTQ2014-53157-R, and CTQ2017-88894-

Spatial location patterns of mexican manufacturing: analysis using the technique of spatial points patterns

This paper explores the spatial location patterns of firms in different sectors of the Mexican manufacturing industry. The analysi s is carried out using a continuous spatial statistic approach by employ ing a K- function for each sector that is then compared to a Complete S patial Randomness (CSR) distribution and other relevant benchmar ks. We show that Mexican manufacturing follows a bimodal distribu tion and significant spatial concentrations are present for all manu facturing sec- tors at different distances. However, using the spatial dist ribution of the complete set of manufactures as a point of reference, var iations in the spatial distribution are also found to exist.Se analizan los patrones de localizaci ́on espacial de los di ferentes sec- tores que componen las manufacturas mexicanas sobre un espa cio con- tinuo. Se hace utilizando la funci ́on K de Ripley, t ́ecnica b asada en la distancia que permite tratar el espacio como continuo. Al utilizar como referencia la CSR ( Complete Spatial Randomnes ) se encontraron concentraciones espaciales significativas para todos los s ectores manu- factureros a diferentes rangos de distancia. Asimismo, se d etect ́o que la estructura espacial de las manufacturas es bimodal. Sin e mbargo, al usar la distribuci ́on espacial del conjunto de las manufa cturas como punto de referencia se han obtenido variaciones en la distri buci ́on es- pacial

The contribution of histone crotonylation to tissue health and disease: focus on kidney health

Acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are the most severe consequences of kidney injury. They are interconnected syndromes as CKD predisposes to AKI and AKI may accelerate CKD progression. Despite their growing impact on the global burden of disease, there is no satisfactory treatment for AKI and current therapeutic approaches to CKD remain suboptimal. Recent research has focused on the therapeutic target potential of epigenetic regulation of gene expression, including non-coding RNAs and the covalent modifications of histones and DNA. Indeed, several drugs targeting histone modifications are in clinical use or undergoing clinical trials. Acyllysine histone modifications (e.g. methylation, acetylation, and crotonylation) have modulated experimental kidney injury. Most recently, increased histone lysine crotonylation (Kcr) was observed during experimental AKI and could be reproduced in cultured tubular cells exposed to inflammatory stress triggered by the cytokine TWEAK. The degree of kidney histone crotonylation was modulated by crotonate availability and crotonate supplementation protected from nephrotoxic AKI. We now review the functional relevance of histone crotonylation in kidney disease and other pathophysiological contexts, as well as the implications for the development of novel therapeutic approaches. These studies provide insights into the overall role of histone crotonylation in health and diseaseSources of support: FIS/FEDER funds (PI15/00298, CP14/00133, PI16/02057, PI16/01900, PI18/01386, PI19/00588, PI19/00815, DTS18/00032, ERA-PerMed-JTC2018 (KIDNEY ATTACK AC18/00064 and PERSTIGAN AC18/00071), ISCIII-RETIC REDinREN RD016/0009), Sociedad Española de Nefrología, FRIAT, Comunidad de Madrid en Biomedicina B2017/BMD- 3686 CIFRA2-CM. Salary support: ISCIII Miguel Servet and to AS and MS-N, ISCIII Sara Borrell to JM-M and Comunidad de Madrid (B2017/BMD-3686 CIFRA2-CM) to MF-B and DM-S

Study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in Spanish university workers

Introducción y objetivos: las enfermedades cardiovasculares (ECV) son la principal causa de muerte mundial, por ello el objetivo de este estudio es analizar los factores de riesgo de ECV en los trabajadores de la Universidad de Alicante. Material y métodos: estudio transversal descriptivo. Muestra aleatoria (n = 124), 46,6% mujeres y 53,4% hombres, de edades entre 25-68 años. Recogida de datos mediante cuestionario online autocumplimentado. Variables: sociodemográficas, peso y talla autorreferidos, consumo de tabaco, actividad física, consumo diario de aceite de oliva, hortalizas-verduras, mantequilla-margarina-nata y consumo semanal de repostería comercial y frutos secos. Se realizó un análisis descriptivo con el paquete estadístico SPSS 19.0. Resultados: el 12% de mujeres y el 10,5% de los hombres mayores de 44 años presentan obesidad; además, el 32% de mujeres y el 23,7% de los hombres no realizan actividad física. Consume aceite de oliva a diario el total de la muestra a estudio. Conclusión: los hábitos alimentarios de los estudiados se asemejan a los patrones dietéticos mediterráneos considerados saludables. Destacar el cumplimiento de las recomendaciones de consumo de aceite de oliva y la realización de actividad física habitual como protectores de las ECV. El entorno laboral de la población estudiada favorece unos hábitos saludables.Background and objectives: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of death worldwide, so the aim of this study is to analyze the risk factors of cardiovascular disease in workers at the University of Alicante (Alicante, Spain). Material and methods: Descriptive transversal study. Random sample (n = 124), 46.6% women and 53.4% men, aged between 25-68 years. On-line data collection by self-completed questionnaire. Variables: socio-demographic, self-referred weight and height, smoking habit, physical activity, daily consumption of olive oil, fruit-vegetables, butter-margarine-cream and weekly consumption of industrial baking and nuts. A descriptive analysis using SPSS 19.0 statistical package was performed. Results: 12% of women and 10.5% of men over 44 years were classified as obese. Otherwise, 32% and 23.7% of women and men respectively, do not practice any exercise routinely. Olive oil is consumed daily by all the sample studied. Conclusion: The studied eating habits are similar to those considered healthy Mediterranean dietary patterns. Daily olive oil consumption together with regular physical activity has an important role as protectors of CVD. The work environment studied has a positive influence in healthy habits