Adsorption of antibiotics on bio-adsorbents derived from the forestry and agro-food industries

Antibiotic consumption at high levels in both human and veterinary populations pose a risk to their eventual entry into the food chain and/or water bodies, which will adversely affect the health of living organisms. In this work, three materials from forestry and agro-food industries (pine bark, oak ash and mussel shell) were investigated as regards their potential use as bio-adsorbents in the retention of the antibiotics amoxicillin (AMX), ciprofloxacin (CIP) and trimethoprim (TMP). Batch adsorption/desorption tests were conducted, adding increasing concentrations of the pharmaceuticals individually (from 25 to 600 μmol L−1), reaching maximum adsorption capacities of 12000 μmol kg−1 for the three antibiotics, with removal percentages of 100% for CIP, 98–99% adsorption for TMP onto pine bark, and 98–100% adsorption for AMX onto oak ash. The presence of high calcium contents and alkaline conditions in the ash favored the formation of cationic bridges with AMX, whereas the predominance of hydrogen bonds between pine bark and TMP and CIP functional groups explain the strong affinity and retention of these antibiotics. The Freundlich's model provided the best prediction for AMX adsorption onto oak ash and mussel shell (heterogeneous adsorption), whereas the Langmuir's model described well AMX adsorption onto pine bark, as well as CIP adsorption onto oak ash (homogeneous and monolayer adsorption), while all three models provided satisfactory results for TMP. In the present study, the results obtained were crucial in terms of valorization of these adsorbents and their subsequent use to improve the retention of antibiotics of emerging concern in soils, thereby preventing contamination of waters and preserving environment quality.Project “Problemas ambientales del uso de antibi´oticos ion´oforos en producci´on animal: Diagn´ostico, adsorci´on-desorci´on, efecto sobre los microorganismos y control con bioadsorbentes - GENERACION DE CONOCIMIENTO 2021” (PID2021-1229200B–C21) of the National Spanish ProgramUniversidad de Granada / CBUA

Synthesis and Use of Silica Xerogels Doped with Iron as a Photocatalyst to Pharmaceuticals Degradation in Water

The main objective of this study was to assess the photoactive properties of iron-doped silica xerogels under solar radiation. For this purpose, silica xerogels (XGS) synthesized by the sol-gel method were doped with Fe (III) by two routes: impregnation and polymerization. XGS samples were texturally and chemically characterized by N2 adsorption, XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM-EDX, DRS, and PL, evidencing the suitability of using XGS substrates to host iron clusters on their surface with total compatibility. Chlorphenamine (CPM), ciprofloxacin (CIP), and ranitidine (RNT) were used as model compounds. The degradation of the molecules was made under simulated solar radiation testing the synthesis pad, load, material size, and reuse. It was found that XGS doped with Fe by the impregnation route (XGS-Fe-Im) were able to completely degrade CPM and RNT in 30 min and 10 min, respectively, whilst for CIP it achieved the removal of 60% after 1 h of solar radiation exposure, outperforming parent materials and solar radiation by itself. The study of the degradation mechanism elucidated a major influence from the action of HO radicals. The present investigation offers a potential route of application of XGS Fe-doped materials for the removal of emerging concern contaminants under near real-world conditions.Junta de AndaluciaEuropean CommissionSpanish Government P18-RT-4193Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) CVU 4921

Life Cycle Assessment of Cement Production with Marble Waste Sludges

The construction industry has a considerable environmental impact in societies, which must be controlled to achieve adequate sustainability levels. In particular, cement production contributes 5–8% of CO2 emissions worldwide, mainly from the utilization of clinker. This study applied Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to investigate the environmental impact of cement production and explore environmental improvements obtained by adding marble waste sludges in the manufacture of Portland cement. It was considered that 6–35% of the limestone required for its production could be supplied by marble waste sludge (mainly calcite), meeting the EN 197-1:2011 norm. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data were obtained from the Ecovent database using commercial LCA software. All life cycle impact assessment indicators were lower for the proposed “eco-cement” than for conventional cement, attributable to changes in the utilization of limestone and clinker. The most favorable results were achieved when marble waste sludge completely replaced limestone and was added to clinker at 35%. In comparison to conventional Portland cement production, this process reduced GHG emissions by 34%, the use of turbine waters by 60%, and the emission of particles into the atmosphere by 50%. Application of LCA methodology allowed evaluation of the environmental impact and improvements obtained with the production of a type of functional eco-cement. This approach is indispensable for evaluating the environmental benefits of using marble waste sludges in the production of cement.Junta de Andalucía and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) Ref. P18-RT-419

Insights into using plastic waste to produce activated carbons for wastewater treatment applications: A review

This review explores the potential use of plastic waste for the preparation of activated carbons, which can be used as adsorbent materials to remove contaminants from water. Using discarded plastics to synthesize activated carbons has several benefits. Firstly, it helps to reduce the plastic waste burden that ends up in landfills and oceans or dumped on roadsides. Secondly, it creates a potential sector for using discarded plastics to treat pollutants further and approaches a closer circular economy scenario for plastics. Polyethylene terephthalate, tire, and plastic mixtures have been the plastic polymers most studied. The superficial area of activated carbons derived from plastic waste chars varies in a wide range, from 0.1 to 2152 m2/g. KOH seems to be the most widespread activated agent used, and the one that leads to the best textural properties. In general, the adsorption capacities of heavy metals were lower than 300 mg/g. On average, plastic waste chars have higher kinetic rates for adsorbing contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) compared to heavy metals. CECs uptake varies from 2 to 659 mg/g. Although the feasibility of developing porous materials is currently under research with promising results for a successful industrial application, some flaws regarding the granulometry, possible leaching, regeneration ability, and costs, among others, have not been addressed yet

Predicción del éxito del telemarketing bancario mediante el uso de árboles de decisión

Telemarketing is an interactive direct marketing technique in which a telemarketing agent solicits potential customers over the phone to make a sale of merchandise or a service. One of the great problems of telemarketing is to specify the list of clients that presents a greater probability of buying the product that is offered. In this article, we propose a personalized decision support system that can automatically predict the decision of the target audience after making a telemarketing call, in order to increase the effectiveness of direct advertising campaigns and consequently reduce the cost and cost. campaign time. The artificial intelligence method used in this work is the decision tree evaluated with the metrics of precision, accuracy and completeness. After applying the artificial intelligence method we obtain an accuracy, precision and completeness greater than 80%. The conclusions reached by the team are that in order to improve the decision tree model it is important to carry out a prior analysis of the data using statistical techniques or diagrams, to obtain a reference to the data and apply balancing techniques to obtain the best possible model.El telemercadeo es una técnica interactiva de mercadeo directo en la que un agente de telemercadeo solicita clientes potenciales a través del teléfono para realizar una venta de mercadería o servicio. Uno de los grandes problemas del telemarketing es especificar la lista de clientes que presentan una mayor probabilidad de comprar el producto que se ofrece. En este artículo proponemos un sistema de apoyo en la toma de decisiones personalizado que puede predecir automáticamente la decisión del público objetivo luego de realizar una llamada de telemarketing, con el fin de aumentar la efectividad de las campañas publicitarias directas y en consecuencia reducir el costo y tiempo de la campaña. El método de inteligencia artificial utilizado en este trabajo es el árbol de decisión evaluado con las métricas de precisión, exactitud y exhaustividad. Luego de aplicar el método de inteligencia artificial obtenemos una exactitud, precisión y exhaustividad mayor al 80%. Las conclusiones a los que el equipo llegó son que para mejorar el modelo de árbol de decisión es importante realizar un análisis previo de los datos mediante técnicas estadísticas o diagramas, para obtener referencia de los datos y aplicar técnicas de balanceo para obtener el mejor modelo posible

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS

The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured