Chemical composition of lipophilic extractives from non-woody plants used for manufacturing high-quality papers

The chemical composition of lipophilic extractives from fibers of three annual plants, namely hemp (Cannabis sativa), flax (Linum usitatissimum) and kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) that are commonly used for high quality paper pulp production was studied. The cloroform soluble fractions of the acetone extracts of the fibers were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The main compounds identified were series of n-alkanes, n-fatty acids, n-aldehydes, n-fatty alcohols and waxes. On the other hand, free and esterified sterols and triterpenols, steroid hydrocarbons, steroid and triterpenoid ketones, as well as sterol glycosides were also found in the fibers studied here.A.G. acknowledges a "Ramón y Cajal" contract of the Spanish MCYT. We thank CELESA (Tortosa, Spain) for providing the raw materials.Peer reviewe

Chemical composition of lipophilic extractives from sisal (Agave sisalana) fibers

Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla, CSIC, PO Box 1052, E-41080 Seville, Spain. Corresponding author, E-mail: [email protected] (A. Gutiérrez)The chemical composition of lipophilic extractives from sisal (Agave sisalana) fibers, which are used for high-quality paper pulp production was studied. The lipophilic extract, which accounted for 0.5 % of total sisal fiber weight, was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) using short- and medium-length high temperature capillary columns, respectively. For a more detailed characterization, the extract was fractionated by solid-phase extraction and the fractions obtained were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The most predominant compounds identified were fatty acids (30% of total lipids) including α- and -hydroxyfatty acids, fatty alcohols (20%), free sterols (11%), alkanes (11%) and a series of ferulic acid esters of long chain alcohols and -hydroxyfatty acids (10%). Additionally, steroid hydrocarbons and ketones, monoglycerides, aldehydes, waxes, and sterol glycosides were also found together with minor amounts of diglycerides, and sterol esters.This study has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (MCYT) (projects AGL2002-00393 and AGL2005-01748) and EU project (BIORENEW, NMP2-CT-2006-026456). We thank CELESA pulp mill (Tortosa, Spain) for providing the sisal fibers.Peer reviewe

Environmental noise evolution during COVID-19 state of emergency: Evidence of Peru’s need for action plans

Producción CientíficaIn Peru, as in many countries worldwide, varying degrees of restrictions have been established on the movement of the population after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the condition of pandemic by COVID-19. In Lima, there have been different degrees of compulsory social immobilization (CSI), and the resumption of activities was planned in three consecutive phases. To analyse and evaluate the influence of such restrictions on the evolution of environmental noise, an investigation was carried out in one of the main avenues in the city of Lima during various successive mobility restriction conditions. The sound pressure level was measured, and the traffic flow was also registered. Considering that in Peru there is no environmental noise monitoring system whatsoever, in situ data are extremely valuable and allow the environmental noise problem to be depicted, even if in a limited area of the big city. The results show that in spite of the strongly restrictive social immobilization conditions, the measured noise levels have remained above the WHO recommendations and often above the Peruvian environmental noise quality standards. The results highlight the need to properly assess the environmental noise and noise sources in the city of Lima as well as the number of people exposed in order to adequately implement effective and cost-efficient noise mitigation action plans

Caracterización del fenómeno emprendedor femenino. Una revisión teórica

El sector emprendedor femenino ha recibido especial atención desde los primeros artículos publicados en los años setenta. El fenómeno fue impulsado, tal vez, por el incremento en la cantidad de mujeres que cambiaron su actividad profesional hacia el autoempleo, estimulando la creación de pequeñas empresas. Como sabemos, las mujeres participan de distintas maneras y con diferentes roles en la sociedad. Usualmente se hacen responsables del hogar, hijos si los tienen y a la vez de su desarrollo profesional como empleadas o dueñas de su propio negocio. Para cumplir con tantas y diferentes facetas, las mujeres requieren de una habilidad especial y un adecuado balance personal, que se ha incrementado con la participación del hombre en el hogar. Por ésta y algunas otras razones, el número de mujeres que han incursionado en el mundo de los negocios ha ido en aumento en los últimos años. En el presente estudio, se realiza una revisión de la literatura sobre el fenómeno emprendedor femenino, con el objetivo de exponer los elementos esenciales del espíritu emprendedor y conocer las características del individuo emprendedor como agente principal del fenómeno, poniendo especial énfasis en su aspecto de género, intentando extraer la información determinante que permita reflejar el estado de la situación pasada y actual del fenómeno a fin de profundizar en el conocimiento del mismo. Para llevar a cabo estos objetivos, se hace una exploración de las motivaciones, características y restricciones de las mujeres emprendedoras y un acercamiento al estilo de gestión que despliegan en sus empresas. Además, se analiza el concepto “espíritu emprendedor”, también llamado “entrepreneurship”, ya que se considera un importante catalizador del crecimiento de las economías, debido a la creación de empleo y la innovación que genera. Esta investigación se divide en tres secciones principales. La sección uno, introduce el tema del fenómeno emprendedor, acercándonos al concepto de “entrepreneurship”, el cual será asimilado al de “espíritu emprendedor”. En la segunda sección, el foco de atención principal se centra en las mujeres emprendedoras, incluyendo la evolución del fenómeno, sus motivaciones, recursos, obstáculos y la manera en la que gestionan sus empresas. Finalmente, en la tercera sección se presentan las conclusiones y futuras líneas de investigación.Women entrepreneurs have received special attention since the first articles published in the seventies. The phenomenon was driven perhaps, by the increase in the number of women who changed their occupation to self-employment, encouraging the creation of small businesses. As we know, women are involved in different ways and with different roles in society. They usually take care of the house, children if they are mothers and their professional development as either employees or owners of their business. In order to meet the goals of so many and different facets, women require a special skill and to be able to achieve a personal balance. This equilibrium is now easier to get due to the increasing men’s participation in housework. For this and some other reasons, the number of women that have become business owner, has been growing in recent years. In this study, a literature review about women entrepreneurs was done, with the purpose of describing entrepreneurship’s essential elements and getting to know the characteristics of the individual entrepreneur as the principal agent of the phenomenon. An emphasis on gender issues is made, trying to extract the crucial information that reflects the past and current situation of the phenomenon with the purpose of deepen the knowledge of it. An exploration of the motivations, characteristics and constraints of women entrepreneurs takes place in order to achieve these objectives. Followed by an approach to the management style they display in their businesses. Furthermore, the concept of entrepreneurship is discussed, as it is considered a major catalyst for economic growth due to job creation and innovation that it generates. This research is divided into three main sections. The first section, introduces the entrepreneur phenomenon, making an approach to the “entrepreneurship” concept. In the second section, the attention focuses on women entrepreneurs, including the phenomenon evolution, their motivations, resources obstacles and their management style. Finally, the third section, presents the conclusions and future research

Test Cases from Functional Requirements Using Model Transformations

This abstract describes the experiences and ongoing work applying MDE to the generation of test cases from functional requirements.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2007-67843-C06-03Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2005-24792-

An approach for Model-Driven test generation

The test phase is one of the most important phases in software development. However, in practice, little research has been carried out in this field. Model-Driven Engineering is a new paradigm that can help to minimize test cases generation costs and can ensure quality of results. This paper presents the application of the MDE paradigm in the systematic, even automatic, generation of System Test Software.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2007-67843-C06 03Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TIN2007-30391-

Mutagenic and genotoxic potential of pure Cylindrospermopsin by a battery of in vitro tests

Cylindrospermopsin (CYN) is a cyanobacterial toxin with an increasing world-wide occurrence. The main route of human exposure is through the ingestion of contaminated food and water. The European Food Safety Authority has identified the need to further characterize the toxicological profile of cyanotoxins and in this regard the genotoxicity is a key toxicological effect. The data available in the scientific literature show contradictory results. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the mutagenic and genotoxic effects of pure CYN using a battery of different in vitro assays including: the bacterial reverse-mutation assay in Salmonella typhimurium (Ames test) (0–10 μg/mL), the mammalian cell micronucleus (MN) test (0–1.35 μg/mL and 0–2 μg/mL in absence or presence of S9 fraction, respectively) and the mouse lymphoma thymidine-kinase assay (MLA)(0–0.675 μg/mL) on L5178YTk ± cells, and the standard and enzyme-modified comet assays (0–2.5 μg/mL) on Caco-2 cells. Positive results were obtained only when the metabolic fraction S9 was employed in the MN test, suggesting pro-genotoxic properties of CYN. Also, DNA damage was not mediated by oxidative stress as CYN did not induced changes in the modified comet assay. These data could contribute to a better risk assessment of this cyanotoxin.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (AGL2015-64558-R, MINECO/FEDER, U

Use of Porous no Metallic Minerals to Remove Heavy Metals, Precious Metals and Rare Earths, by Cationic Exchange

This chapter is related with the preliminary study of some non-metallic minerals to evaluate their cationic exchange capacity, to remove heavy and precious metals, as well as rare earths elements. The minerals and materials used to execute the ion metals removal were bentonite, phosphorite, and diatomite. The chapter shows the physicochemical behavior of all these minerals, which were used to remove the mentioned elements from solutions coming from ore leaching. It was found that in all cases, the removal of heavy and precious metals, as well as rare earths elements reached over 90%. Although, there were minimal differences in efficiency for all minerals used (bentonite, phosphorite, and diatomite), it could be pointed that the phosphorite has the best results going from 99.43% of removal of Gd, to 99.95–100% for the case of Ce, Nd, La, Yb, Eu, Er, Sm, Tb, Ge, Pd, Pt, and Au

Changes in the Concentration and Profile of Free Fatty Acids during the Ripening of a Spanish Blue-Veined Cheese Made from Raw and Pasteurized Cow and Goat Milk

[EN]Blue-veined cheeses in general undergo a pronounced lipolysis. The aim of this work was to determine the evolution of free fatty acids (FFA) in Valdeón cheese during ripening, comparing cheeses made from raw and pasteurized milk. The effect of season on the evolution of FFA in pasteurized milk cheeses was also studied. Cheeses made with raw milk showed the highest concentrations of FFA, reaching values of 23,081.9 mg 100 g−1 dry matter at the end of ripening, compared to the values of cheeses made with pasteurized milk (7327.1 mg 100 g−1 dry matter), in both cases with a predominance of oleic and palmitic acids. However, pasteurization did not affect the FFA profile of the cheeses. Regarding the cheeses made with pasteurized milk in different seasons, the highest FFA concentration was reached in cheeses made in summer after 30 days of ripening. The season also influenced the FFA profile and thus the concentration of short-, medium- and long-chain fatty acids in relation to total FFA. There were no significant differences in sensory analysis between cheeses made from raw and pasteurized milk.SIThis work was supported by project L021A12-2 from Junta de Castilla y León