Electro- and Photoinduced Interfacial Charge Transfers in Nanocrystalline Mesoporous TiO2 and TiO2/Iron Porphyrin Sensitized Films under CO2 Reduction Catalysis

Electro-and photochemical CO2 reduction (CO2R) is the quintessence of modern-day sustainable research. We report our studies on the electro-and photoinduced interfacial charge transfer occurring in a nanocrystalline mesoporous TiO2 film and two TiO2/iron porphyrin hybrid films (meso-aryl-and beta-pyrrole-substituted porphyrins, respectively) under CO2R conditions. We used transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) to demonstrate that, under 355 nm laser excitation and an applied voltage bias (0 to -0.8 V vs Ag/AgCl), the TiO2 film exhibited a diminution in the transient absorption (at -0.5 V by 35%), as well as a reduction of the lifetime of the photogenerated electrons (at -0.5 V by 50%) when the experiments were conducted under a CO2 atmosphere changing from inert N2. The TiO2/iron porphyrin films showed faster charge recombination kinetics, featuring 100-fold faster transient signal decays than that of the TiO2 film. The electro-, photo-, and photoelectrochemical CO2R performance of the TiO2 and TiO2/iron porphyrin films are evaluated within the bias range of -0.5 to -1.8 V vs Ag/AgCl. The bare TiO2 film produced CO and CH4 as well as H2, depending on the applied voltage bias. In contrast, the TiO2/iron porphyrin films showed the exclusive formation of CO (100% selectivity) under identical conditions. During the CO2R, a gain in the overpotential values is obtained under light irradiation conditions. This finding was indicative of a direct transfer of the photogenerated electrons from the film to absorbed CO2 molecules and an observed decrease in the decay of the TAS signals. In the TiO2/iron porphyrin films, we identified the interfacial charge recombination processes between the oxidized iron porphyrin and the electrons of the TiO2 conduction band. These competitive processes are considered to be responsible for the diminution of direct charge transfer between the film and the adsorbed CO2 molecules, explaining the moderate performances of the hybrid films for the CO2R

Efficiency in Social Enterprises

[EN] The aim of this article is to offer a review of the impact the different methodologies of analysis have on social enterprises, focusing the study on processes that establish a greater universality based on the degree of success achieved in their social objectives, the social reinvestment of their benefits and their democratic organisation, parameters that should favour the creation of a clear and simple method, as well as adaptable to change. The systematics will allow to establish systems for the measurement of the efficiency of social enterprises, in order to both organise objective procedures of comparison and offer support when applying for public aid derived from European and national funds set up for this purpose. The quantification of the social impact of the companies that constitute the social economy is vital to assess and follow up on their social mission.Ballester-Miquel, JC.; Perez-Ruiz, P.; Hernandez-Gadea, J.; De Juan Jordán, H.; Guijarro García, M. (2017). Efficiency in Social Enterprises. Multidisciplinary Journal for Education, Social and Technological Sciences. 4(2):61-79. doi:10.4995/muse.2017.7329SWORD617942Chaves R. & Monzon, J.L. (2012): La economía social en la UE, CESE, BruselasComisión EUROPEA (2010): Comunicación Una estrategia para crecimiento inteligente, sostenible e integrador, COM (2010) 3/3/2010 Comisión Europea. BruselasComisión EUROPEA (2014): Comunicación Balance de la Estrategia Europa 2020 para un crecimiento inteligente, sostenible e integrador COM (2014) 130 Final, 5 de Marzo, Comisión Europea Bruselas.Comisión EUROPEA (2014): Comunicación relativa a un marco estratégico de la UE en materia de salud y seguridad en el trabajo, COM (2014) 332 Final, 6 de Junio, Comisión Europea Bruselas.Comisión EUROPEA (2015): Comunicación Programa de trabajo de 2016, COM (2015) 610 Final, 27 de Septiembre, Comisión Europea Bruselas.Comisión EUROPEA (2015): Comunicación Un sistema de imposición de las sociedades justo y eficaz en la Unión Europea: cinco ámbitos de actuación fundamentales, COM (2015) 302 Final, 17 de Junio, Comisión Europea Bruselas.Comisión EUROPEA (2016): Comunicación Iniciativa Europea de Computación en la Nube: construir en Europa una economía competitiva de los datos y del conocimiento, COM (2016) 178 Final, 19 de Abril, Comisión Europea Bruselas.Diaz, M., Marcuello, C. & Marcuello, Ch. (2012): "Empresas sociales y evaluación del impacto social", CIRIEC-Espa-a, revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativa, 75, 179-198.Enciso, M., Gómez, L. & Mugarra, A. (2012): "La iniciativa comunitaria en favor del emprendimiento social y su vinculación con la economía social: una aproximación a su delimitación conceptual", CIRIEC-Espa-a, Revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativa, 75, 55-80Freeman, R. (2010). "Does Inequality Increase Economic Output?" In Controversies about Inequality. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Gómez Urquijo, L. (2014): "El encaje de la economía social en la nueva gobernanza económica y social de la UE", CIRIEC-Espa-a, Revista de Economía Pública, Social y Cooperativa, 82, 233-252.GUÍA PRÁCTICA PARA LA MEDICIÓN Y LA GESTIÓN DEL IMPACTO. Asociación Espa-ola de Fundaciones. EUROPEAN VENTURE PHILANTHROPY ASSOCIATION. 2015Narillos Roux, HUGO (2012): "Economía social: valoración y medición de la inversión social". Editorial ESIC

On the holobiont 'predictome' of immunocompetence in pigs

Gut microbial composition plays an important role in numerous traits, including immune response. Integration of host genomic information with microbiome data is a natural step in the prediction of complex traits, although methods to optimize this are still largely unexplored. In this paper, we assess the impact of different modelling strategies on the predictive capacity for six porcine immunocompetence traits when both genotype and microbiota data are available. We used phenotypic data on six immunity traits and the relative abundance of gut bacterial communities on 400 Duroc pigs that were genotyped for 70 k SNPs. We compared the predictive accuracy, defined as the correlation between predicted and observed phenotypes, of a wide catalogue of models: reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS), Bayes C, and an ensemble method, using a range of priors and microbial clustering strategies. Combined (holobiont) models that include both genotype and microbiome data were compared with partial models that use one source of variation only. Overall, holobiont models performed better than partial models. Host genotype was especially relevant for predicting adaptive immunity traits (i.e., concentration of immunoglobulins M and G), whereas microbial composition was important for predicting innate immunity traits (i.e., concentration of haptoglobin and C-reactive protein and lymphocyte phagocytic capacity). None of the models was uniformly best across all traits. We observed a greater variability in predictive accuracies across models when microbiability (the variance explained by the microbiome) was high. Clustering microbial abundances did not necessarily increase predictive accuracy. Gut microbiota information is useful for predicting immunocompetence traits, especially those related to innate immunity. Modelling microbiome abundances deserves special attention when microbiability is high. Clustering microbial data for prediction is not recommended by default. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12711-023-00803-4

Accurate estimation of air pollution in outdoor routes for citizens and decision making

There is clear evidence of the effects of air pollution on health. In this paper, we present an innovative application designed to assess Air Quality (AQ) exposure based on the World Health Organization’s AQ Guidelines, analysing pollutants and their concentrations independently. Our aim is to provide this information to citizens based on their health profile (medical history or requirements) before and during outdoor trips of their choice, both walking and cycling, empowering them to proactively make informed personal decisions about their route choices and identifying potentially unhealthy travel environments. For this purpose, we have access to official data from AQ monitoring stations that are updated periodically every 10 min. Then, by using spatial interpolation techniques (with Ordinary Kriging), we estimate each pollutant over a grid superimposed on the city map. Once the pollutants have been mapped on each route, they are analysed in order to consider the different alternatives for deciding and planning changes in speed or trajectory. We evaluated the application in the city of Valencia (Spain) as a use case under different scenarios, and showed the results to assess exposure to pollution on the routes of citizens

Towards clinical application of RayStretch for heterogeneity corrections in LDR permanent 125-I prostate brachytherapy

Purpose: RayStretch is a simple algorithm proposed for heterogeneity corrections in low-dose-rate brachytherapy. It is built on top of TG-43 consensus data, and it has been validated with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. In this study, we take a real clinical prostate implant with 71 125I seeds as reference and we apply RayStretch to analyze its performance in worst-case scenarios. Methods and Materials: To do so, we design two cases where large calcifications are located in the prostate lobules. RayStretch resilience under various calcification density values is also explored. Comparisons against MC calculations are performed. Results: Dose-volume histogram-related parameters like prostate D90, rectum D2cc, or urethra D10 obtained with RayStretch agree within a few percent with the detailed MC results for all cases considered. Conclusions: The robustness and compatibility of RayStretch with commercial treatment planning systems indicate its applicability in clinical practice for dosimetric corrections in prostate calcifications. Its use during intraoperative ultrasound planning is foreseen

Genome data from a sixteenth century pig illuminate modern breed relationships

Ancient DNA (aDNA) provides direct evidence of historical events that have modeled the genome of modern individuals. In livestock, resolving the differences between the effects of initial domestication and of subsequent modern breeding is not straight forward without aDNA data. Here, we have obtained shotgun genome sequence data from a sixteenth century pig from Northeastern Spain (Montsoriu castle), the ancient pig was obtained from an extremely well-preserved and diverse assemblage. In addition, we provide the sequence of three new modern genomes from an Iberian pig, Spanish wild boar and a Guatemalan Creole pig. Comparison with both mitochondrial and autosomal genome data shows that the ancient pig is closely related to extant Iberian pigs and to European wild boar. Although the ancient sample was clearly domestic, admixture with wild boar also occurred, according to the D-statistics. The close relationship between Iberian, European wild boar and the ancient pig confirms that Asian introgression in modern Iberian pigs has not existed or has been negligible. In contrast, the Guatemalan Creole pig clusters apart from the Iberian pig genome, likely due to introgression from international breeds

Inference of the stability of global states in cortical networks

Poste

A simple analytical method for heterogeneity corrections in low dose rate prostate brachytherapy

In low energy brachytherapy, the presence of tissue heterogeneities contributes significantly to the discrepancies observed between treatment plan and delivered dose. In this work, we present a simplified analytical dose calculation algorithm for heterogeneous tissue. We compare it with Monte Carlo computations and assess its suitability for integration in clinical treatment planning systems. The algorithm, named as RayStretch, is based on the classic equivalent path length method and TG-43 reference data. Analytical and Monte Carlo dose calculations using Penelope2008 are compared for a benchmark case: a prostate patient with calcifications. The results show a remarkable agreement between simulation and algorithm, the latter having, in addition, a high calculation speed. The proposed analytical model is compatible with clinical real-time treatment planning systems based on TG-43 consensus datasets for improving dose calculation and treatment quality in heterogeneous tissue. Moreover, the algorithm is applicable for any type of heterogeneities