Decontamination of Diesel particles from air by using the Counterfog (R) system

The existence of particles with diameter under 10m in air is strongly correlated with respiratory diseases. These particles are profusely produced by heating systems, traffic, and Diesel engines creating a serious problem to modern cities. Natural mechanisms removing particles from the atmosphere are too slow to deal with the huge amount of particles daily released by human activity. The objective of this work is to measure the effectiveness of a new technology called Counterfog (R) to eliminate airborne particles. The results show that Counterfog (R) is able to wash out PM10, PM5, and PM2.5 Diesel-generated airborne particles quite efficiently.This work has been funded by the FP7-SEC-2012-1 program of the EU Commission under grant number 312804

El capital humano en las Micro y Pequeñas Empresas Turísticas de la ciudad de Texcoco, Estado de México

En cuanto el hombre deja de ser un recurso que se puede sustituir en la producción y se reconoce como el responsable del éxito o fracaso de una empresa, el capital humano toma sentido y se convierte en digno de inversión. Por ello, su gestión resulta trascendental para mantenerse competitiva en el mercado, independientemente de su tamaño o giro. Sin embargo, el desarrollo del capital humano en las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas (PyMEs), particularmente turísticas, es limitado debido a que éstas registran una movilidad constante de su personal, además de que capacitarlo les implica altos costos que dificultan tanto invertir en él como su adecuada gestión, lo que pone en riesgo su competitividad en el mercado. Bajo este contexto, el presente escrito expone la situación de las PyMEs Turísticas de la ciudad de Texcoco con respecto de su capital humano

Evaluation of Commercial Probes for On-Line Electrical Conductivity Measurements during Goat Gland Milking Process

The measurement of the milk electrical conductivity (EC) during mechanical milking has been widely studied for mastitis detection on cows because its improving of welfare and animal health, although research about small ruminants is scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of three commercial conductimeters to be used during mechanical milking of small ruminant halves, especially Murciano-Granadina goats. The objective of this research was to integrate the probes on the milking unit and to check the suitability of the probe selected. The results presented in this research have guided authors to discard the commercial probes and to establish the requirements of a new probe design that is briefly outlined in the conclusions of this contribution

Energy recovery in wastewater treatment systems through hydraulic micro-machinery. Case study

[EN] The wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) treat the water from domestic and industrial use so that its discharge, once it passes through them, is harmless to the environment. However, large amounts of energy are necessary to carry out this process. Therefore, energy and process optimization are a key issue within these type of plant. One of the possibilities within the WWTPs is the recovery of hydraulic energy. This paper presents alternatives for the recovery of hydraulic energy, through the use of hydraulic micro-machinery such as PATs or hydrostatic pressure wheels. This type of machinery is capable of recovering a part of that energy that until now it was not possible to recover, in a more economical way and assuming an improvement for plants that have the possibility of installing it. In the here described case study, savings of over 4% were achieved with periods of return on investment of less than 5 years.Llácer Iglesias, RM.; Perez Diaz, JM.; Satorre Aznar, JR.; López Jiménez, PA.; Pérez Sánchez, M. (2020). Energy recovery in wastewater treatment systems through hydraulic micro-machinery. Case study. Journal of Applied Research in Technology & Engineering. 1(1):15-21. https://doi.org/10.4995/jarte.2020.13766OJS15211

Effects of dietary fish oil substitution by Echium oil on enterocyte and hepatocyte lipid metabolism of gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.)

The fatty acid profile of vegetable oils (VOs), together with the poor ability of marine fish to convert polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA), lead to important changes in the nutritional value of farmed fish fed VO, which include increased fat and 18:2n-6 and reduced n-3 HUFA. Echium oil (EO) has a good n-3/n-6 balance as well as an interesting profile with its high content of unusual fatty acids (SDA, 18:4n-3 and GLA, 18:3n-6) that are of increasing pharmacological interest. The effects of substituting 50 % of dietary fish oil (FO) by EO on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) enterocyte and hepatocyte lipid metabolism were studied. After 4 months of feeding, cell viability, total lipid contents and lipid class compositions were not affected by EO. The cells clearly reflected the fatty acid profile of the EO showing increased SDA, GLA and its elongation product 20:3n-6, and only minorly decreased n-3 HUFA compared to other VO. Metabolism of [1-14C]18:2n-6 and [1-14C]18:3n-3 was also unaffected by EO in terms of total uptake, incorporation, β-oxidation and elongation-desaturation activities

RENTABILIDAD DEL NOGAL PECANERO BAJO SISTEMAS DE PRODUCCIÓN DE MEDIANA TECNOLOGÃA EN DELICIAS, CHIHUAHUA

Pecans (Carya Illinoinensis [Wangenh] K. Koch) are a native food of North America and represent a high economic crop value in the north of Mexico, mainly in the state of Chihuahua, the biggest pecan nut producer in this country. The goal of this study was to evaluate the profitability of pecan orchards in the municipality of Delicias, Chihuahua. Some microeconomic and market information from 2008 were collected from pecan growers and specialists through the technique of Experts' Panel. Standard financial analysis and a Monte Carlo simulation model were used to evaluate the probabilities of risk for net cash income (NCI) and return on capital employed (RCE). The NCI obtained was $277,000 and RC 111.7%, indicating that pecan orchards show high profitability when is produced under medium-technology conditions in the municipality of Delicias, Chihuahua.Carya Illinoinensis, production costs, Monte Carlo simulation., Agribusiness,

Sistemas para la medición, visualización y registro de la radiación solar

SE DISEÑÓ UN SISTEMA PARA LA MEDICIÓN DE LA RADIACIÓN SOLARLa luz solar es esencial para la vida, una exposición moderada a la radiación ultravioleta contribuye a la síntesis de vitamina D, pero exponerse mucho puede ser dañino para la piel, ojos y el sistema inmunitario. Uno de los mayores problemas al exponerse al sol es el cáncer de piel. En México ocurren alrededor de 1,000 casos anuales; los estados con mayor registro de muertes por cáncer son: Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Veracruz y Jalisco [1]. De acuerdo con la doctora Minerva Gómez, Presidenta de la Fundación Mexicana de Dermatología (FMD), este tipo de cáncer ocupa el segundo lugar en frecuencia en nuestro país: el primero en el caso de los hombres, y el segundo respecto a las mujeres [2]. La exposición directa al sol es una amenaza para todas las personas, de manera particular para los menores de edad, por ello es importante contar con medidas preventivas oportunas. La idea de este proyecto es proporcionar a las personas información en tiempo real de la radiación solar a la que se exponen, esto mediante dispositivos que permitan medir el nivel de radiación ultra violeta (UV) y mostrar visualmente la mediación. La propuesta realiza mediciones con múltiples sensores, y mediante un algoritmo ad-hoc mejora el nivel de precisión, el algoritmo también determina el correcto funcionamiento de sensores, haciendo al sistema más confiable; adicionalmente, se guarda un registro de las mediciones, lo cual podrá ser útil para análisis a largo plazo. Todo es implementado usando dispositivos de bajo costo

Spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene precipitation change in the Iberian Peninsula

Precipitation is a key climate parameter of vegetation and ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula. Here, we use a regional pollen-climate calibration model and fossil pollen data from eight sites from the Atlantic coast to southern Spain to provide quantitative reconstructions of annual precipitation trends and excursions and their regional patterns for the last 11 700 years. The Early Holocene (11 700 to 11 000 cal. a BP) was characterized by high precipitation values followed by a slowly declining trend until about 9000 cal. a BP in the south and about 8000 cal. a BP in the north. From 8000 to 6000 cal. a BP the reconstructed precipitation values are the highest in most records, especially in those located in the Mediterranean climatic region in the southern part of the peninsula, with maximum values nearly 100% higher than the modern reconstructed values. The results suggest a declining precipitation during the Late Holocene in the south, with a positive excursion at around 2500 cal. a BP, while in the north precipitation remained high until 500 cal. a BP. However, the Late Holocene climate reconstructions in the Iberian Peninsula are biased by intensifying human impact on vegetation. The statistical time series analyses using SiZer technique do not indicate any statistically significant high-frequency drought events in the region. In general, our results suggest regional differences in the precipitation patterns between the northern and southern parts of the peninsula, with a more distinct Middle Holocene period of high humidity in the south.Peer reviewe

Spatial and temporal patterns of Holocene precipitation change in the Iberian Peninsula

Precipitation is a key climate parameter of vegetation and ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula. Here, we use a regional pollen-climate calibration model and fossil pollen data from eight sites from the Atlantic coast to southern Spain to provide quantitative reconstructions of annual precipitation trends and excursions and their regional patterns for the last 11 700 years. The Early Holocene (11 700 to 11 000 cal. a BP) was characterized by high precipitation values followed by a slowly declining trend until about 9000 cal. a BP in the south and about 8000 cal. a BP in the north. From 8000 to 6000 cal. a BP the reconstructed precipitation values are the highest in most records, especially in those located in the Mediterranean climatic region in the southern part of the peninsula, with maximum values nearly 100% higher than the modern reconstructed values. The results suggest a declining precipitation during the Late Holocene in the south, with a positive excursion at around 2500 cal. a BP, while in the north precipitation remained high until 500 cal. a BP. However, the Late Holocene climate reconstructions in the Iberian Peninsula are biased by intensifying human impact on vegetation. The statistical time series analyses using SiZer technique do not indicate any statistically significant high-frequency drought events in the region. In general, our results suggest regional differences in the precipitation patterns between the northern and southern parts of the peninsula, with a more distinct Middle Holocene period of high humidity in the south.Peer reviewe

Millimagnitude Photometry for Transiting Extrasolar Planetary Candidates IV: The Puzzle of the Extremely Red OGLE-TR-82 Primary Solved

We present precise new V, I, and K-band photometry for the planetary transit candidate star OGLE-TR-82. Good seeing V-band images acquired with VIMOS instrument at ESO VLT allowed us to measure V=20.6+-0.03 mag star in spite of the presence of a brighter neighbour about 1" away. This faint magnitude answers the question why it has not been possible to measure radial velocities for this object. One transit of this star has been observed with GMOS-S instrument of GEMINI-South telescope in i and g-bands. The measurement of the transit allows us to verify that this is not a false positive, to confirm the transit amplitude measured by OGLE, and to improve the ephemeris. The transit is well defined in i-band light curve, with a depth of A_i=0.034 mag. It is however, less well defined, but deeper (A_g=0.1 mag) in the g-band, in which the star is significantly fainter. The near-infrared photometry obtained with SofI array at the ESO-NTT yields K=12.2+-0.1 and V-K=8.4+-0.1, so red that it is unlike any other transit candidate studied before. Due to the extreme nature of this object, we have not yet been able to measure velocities for this star, but based on the new data we consider two different possible configurations:(1) a nearby M7V star, or (2) a blend with a very reddened distant red giant. The nearby M7V dwarf hypothesis would give a radius for the companion of R_p=0.3+-0.1 R_J, i.e. the size of Neptune. Quantitative analysis of near-IR spectroscopy finally shows that OGLE-TR-82 is a distant, reddened metal poor early K giant. This result is confirmed by direct comparison with stellar templates that gives the best match for a K3III star. Therefore, we discard the planetary nature of the companion. Based on all the new data, we conclude that this system is a main-sequence binary blended with a background red giant.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, ApJ accepte