Efficient scheduling of batch processes in continuous processing lines

This thesis focuses mainly on the development of efficient formulations for scheduling in industrial environments. Likewise, decisions over the processes more related to advanced process control or production planning are included in the scheduling; in this way, the schedule obtained will be more efficient than it would be if the additional restrictions were not considered. The formulations have to emphasize obtaining online implementations, as they are planned to be used in real plants. The most common scheduling problems handled in the industrial environments are: the assignment of tasks to units, the distribution of production among parallel units and the distribution of shared resources among concurrent processes. Most advances in this work are the result of a collaborative work.Departamento de Ingeniería de Sistemas y AutomáticaDoctorado en Ingeniería Industria

Segregación sexual de la avutarda común (Otis tarda) en verano

El dimorfismo sexual en tamaño corporal determina la segregación sexual de especies gregarias; los machos y las hembras de la misma especie viven por separado y sólo conviven en la estación reproductiva. El tamaño corporal afecta a la termorregulación y explicaría en parte la segregación de machos y hembras en condiciones de estrés térmico (hipótesis de la sensibilidad térmica). Las avutardas viven en grupo (gregarismo), los machos son mayores que las hembras (dimorfismo sexual) y sólo se reúnen para la cópula (segregación sexual). En verano, los machos migran al norte y en altura, a un ambiente más fresco. Las hembras permanecen en el área de reproducción. Pero la migración estival de los machos es parcial. ¿Cómo soporta la población residente las altas temperaturas? Mediante el seguimiento de bandos de hembras y machos sedentarios se estudian las diferencias en el patrón de actividad y la preferencia de hábitat. La cobertura vegetal leñosa y de algunas herbáceas de gran porte define el hábitat estival de los machos, que se guarecen a la sombra antes de la subida de las temperaturas al mediodía. La segregación de machos y hembras en verano es espacial (por migración a las áreas estivales) y de hábitat (por uso de los elementos del paisaje). Las medidas de mejora del hábitat estival son el mantenimiento de los cultivos de leñosas de secano (olivar, Olea europaea; viña, Vitis vinifera; almendral; Prunus dulcis), las dehesas (Quercus sp.), el arbolado disperso y en hilera, e incluso los bosquetes de galería. También el cultivo de herbáceas como el girasol (Helianthus annuus). El manejo del hábitat podría reforzar la población residente y reducir la mortalidad de los machos (la principal causa de mortalidad no natural de la avutarda es la colisión contra el tendido eléctrico) e incluso mitigar posibles efectos del cambio climático.Peer reviewe

Alcotán europeo – Falco subbuteo Linnaeus, 1758

Aves - Orden Falconiformes - Familia Falconidae en la Enciclopedia Virtual de Vertebrados Españoles, http://www.vertebradosibericos.org/. Versiones anteriores: 14-06-2005; 16-01-2007; 29-01-2010; 31-03-2014A comprehensive review of the natural history of the Hobby Falco subbuteo in Spain.Peer reviewe

Assessing the extinction risk of the great bustard Otis tarda in Africa

We studied the dynamics and trend of the last extant population of great bustards Otis tarda in Africa. Moroccan great bustards are the southernmost population of this species, and thus show the characteristics of a peripheral population: small size, isolation and low gene flow. Available counts indicate a severe population decline (62% in the last 15 yr), as well as a contraction of the species' distribution. We used a population viability analysis (PVA) to evaluate the quasi-extinction risk and to identify the most important threats. The estimated geometric growth rate of the more realistic of a set of possible scenarios was 0.87 (95% CI: 0.85, 0.89). This implies a 13% annual decline over 50 yr. However, projections derived from these results should be interpreted with caution, because models have a great deal of uncertainty and vital rates from Iberian populations may be different from those of the Moroccan population. PVA showed the negative consequence of human-induced mortality. According to the model that best fits our census data and if present threats remain in the coming years, this peripheral population could go extinct in ca. yr. Agricultural intensification, infrastructure developments and new power lines in rural areas where the species occurs are causing habitat destruction and fragmentation and increasing artificial mortality. Urgent conservation measures, especially to reduce human-induced mortality, are needed to save African great bustards from extinction. We suggest that these findings can be generalized to other peripheral great bustard populations living in highly humanized landscapes.Peer Reviewe

Slots Startup Synchronization with Shared Resources Dependency

Producción CientíficaIn this work the authors present a new formulation that allows an optimal schedule of batch processes with length dependence on the synchronization of the startup of the processes. It is also keep into account the distribution of shared resources among the devices.European Union, Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 723575 (CoPro)MINECO-FEDER (DPI2015-70975-P

Comportamiento migratorio de la avutarda común en la Península Ibérica

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento de Zoología y Antropología Física, leída el 17-05-2007Depto. de Genética, Fisiología y MicrobiologíaFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEProQuestpu

Towards a calcium-based rechargeable battery

The development of a rechargeable battery technology using light electropositive metal anodes would result in a breakthrough in energy density1. For multivalent charge carriers (Mn+), the number of ions that must react to achieve a certain electrochemical capacity is diminished by two (n = 2) or three (n = 3) when compared with Li+ (ref. 2). Whereas proof of concept has been achieved for magnesium3, 4, 5, the electrodeposition of calcium has so far been thought to be impossible6 and research has been restricted to non-rechargeable systems7, 8, 9, 10. Here we demonstrate the feasibility of calcium plating at moderate temperatures using conventional organic electrolytes, such as those used for the Li-ion technology. The reversibility of the process on cycling has been ascertained and thus the results presented here constitute the first step towards the development of a new rechargeable battery technology using calcium anodes.Authors are grateful to F. Fauth for his assistance during data collection at the ALBA Synchrotron. The authors thank the Toyota Battery Research division at Higashi Fuji (M6) for their financial support.Peer reviewe

Deregulation And Liberalization In The European Electricity Sector

Since the 1990’s, we have witnessed a global process of deregulation, liberalization and privatization in key economic sectors. This paper focuses on the way this process has evolved in a key sector - electricity - in a very important region - Europe.  The paper shows that the European track record is quite mixed; i.e., increased competition in some countries and no discernible improvement in efficiency in others.  Given that in some cases the whole reliability of the electricity supply system has been challenged, serious questions should be asked about the desirability of the whole process

From general research questions to specific answers: Underspecificity as a source of uncertainty in biological conservation

P. 167-180Species distribution modelling may support ecologists in conservation decision-making. However, the applicability of management recommendations depends on the uncertainty associated to the modelling process. A key source of uncertainty is the underspecificity of the research question. Modelling specific questions is straightforward since they drive clearly the methodological choices about input data and model building. Nevertheless, when the research questions remain underspecific, modellers must choose among a wide spectrum of choices, with each decision sequence driving to a different outcome that explain partially the target question. We show how the underspecificity associated to a general research question about Great Bustard breeding success at geographic scale drives to multiple decision choices, leads to a variety of model outcomes and hampers the identification of specific conservation actions. We ran generalised linear models using multi-model inference on a set of databases built according to specific sequences of methodological choices. Then, we evaluated variations in model performance, complexity (parsimony) and nature of predictors, as well as averaged model predictions and spatial congruence among model outputs. Deviance and parsimony varied widely (11.46% to 83.33% and 7 to 18, respectively), as did model averaged mean predictions in occupied areas, contributing predictors and spatial congruence among outputs (rPearson = 0.44 ± 0.23 for models calibrated in occupied areas; 0.48 ± 0.06 for models calibrated in potential/accessible areas). We recommend to carefully fix research questions and associated methodological options through collaborative working frameworks to conceptualize modelling approaches and, thus, to mitigate problems arising from underspecificity and other forms of uncertainty in conservation applications.S