Behavioural and environmental correlates of soaring-bird mortality at on-shore wind turbines

1. Wind power plants represent a risk of bird mortality, but the effects are still poorly quantified. We measured bird mortality, analysed the factors that led birds to fly close to turbines, and proposed mitigation measures at two wind farms installed in the Straits of Gibraltar, one of the most important migration bottlenecks between Europe and Africa. 2. Bird corpses were surveyed along turbine lines and an associated power line to esti- mate mortality rates. The behaviour of birds observed within 250 m of turbines was also recorded as a putative indicator of risk. The effects of location, weather and flight beha- viour on risk situations (passes within 5 m of turbines) were analysed using generalized linear modelling (GLM). 3. Mortality caused by turbines was higher than that caused by the power line. Losses involved mainly resident species, mostly griffon vultures Gyps fulvus (0•15 individuals turbine−1 year−1) and common kestrels Falco tinnunculus (0•19 individuals turbine−1 year−1). Mortalities were not associated with either structural attributes of wind farms or visibility. 4. Vulture collisions occurred in autumn–winter and were aggregated at two turbine lines where risks of collisions were greatest. The absence of thermals in winter forced vultures to use slopes for lift, the most likely mechanism influencing both their exposure to turbines and mortality. 5. Kestrel deaths occurred during the annual peak of abundance in summer. Carcasses were concentrated in the open habitats around a single wind farm and risk may have resulted from hunting habitat preferences. 6. Synthesis and applications. We conclude that bird vulnerability and mortality at wind power facilities reflect a combination of site-specific (wind–relief interaction), species- specific and seasonal factors. Despite the large number of migrating birds in the study area, most follow routes that are displaced from the facilities. Consequently, only a small fraction of birds on migratory flights was actually exposed to turbines. New wind installations must be preceded by detailed behavioural observation of soaring birds as well as careful mapping of migration routes.Peer reviewe

Uréter ectópico en el perro : a propósito de dos casos clínicos

A propósito de dos casos clínicos de uréter ectópico en una perra Fax Terrier de siete meses y un Bichón Frissé de 5 meses de edad, el autor hace un breve recuerdo de las manifestaciones clínicas, así como de los medios diagnósticos y quirúrgicos para la resolución del problema del uréter ectópico en el perro.On the finding of two cases of ectopic ureter in a female, seven months old Fox- Terrier,and five months old Bichon Frisse the author makes a short review of tbe clinical signs diagnostics and surgical procedures for the resolution and surgical correction of the ectopic ureter in the dog

Adherence to the 2018 World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research Recommendations and Breast Cancer in the SUN Project

A proportion of breast cancer cases are attributable to combined modifiable risk factors. The World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (WCRF/AICR) has recently updated the recommendations for cancer prevention and a standard scoring system has been published. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between compliance with the 2018 WCRF/AICR cancer prevention recommendations (Third Expert Report) and the risk of breast cancer in the SUN (“Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra”) prospective cohort. Spanish female university graduates, initially free of breast cancer, were included (n = 10,930). An 8-item score to measure compliance to the recommendations was built: body fat, physical activity, consumption of wholegrains/vegetables/fruit/beans, “fast foods”, red/processed meat consumption, sugar-sweetened drinks consumption, alcohol intake, and breastfeeding. A stratified analysis was conducted according to menopausal status. A non-significant inverse association was observed for overall breast cancer. The inverse association became statistically significant for post-menopausal breast cancer after multivariable adjustment (hazard ratio for > 5 vs. ≤ 3 points = 0.27; 95% CI: 0.08-0.93). The results suggested that the possible inverse association with breast cancer was attributable to the combined effects of the different nutritional and lifestyle components.Instituto de Salud Carlos III PI10/02658 PI10/02293 PI13/00615 PI14/01668 PI14/01798 PI14/01764 PI17/01795 G03/140European Union (EU) RD 06/0045European Union (EU) PI10/02658 PI10/02293 PI13/00615 PI14/01668 PI14/01798 PI14/01764 PI17/01795 G03/140Navarra Regional Government 45/2011 122/2014 41/2016University of Navarr

In vivo testing of safety and immunogenicity of new vaccine candidates against PCV2 designed for a better performance than that showed by currently marketed vaccines

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is a globally distributed virus causing considerable economic losses. It affects mainly piglets after the weaning, leading to the disease known as postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome, whose consequences are death or a significant reduction of pigs fattening rate. PCV2 also affects pregnant sows, leading to abortions. There are four commercial vaccines against PCV2, two killed vaccines and two recombinant vaccines. All of them are based on PCV2 strains of genotype a, which was predominant in the field when the vaccines were marketed. Since live replicative virus could not be used as vaccines, these vaccines lead to prevention of symptoms but not to complete viral clearance. Vaccinated and infected pigs can still infect other pigs. Today the predominant genotypes are PCV2 b and d. Although the marketed vaccines showed cross-protection against heterologous genotypes, it is suboptimal and there are increasing cases of vaccine escape by new PCV2 strains. ADL Bionatur Solutions designed and produced three new generation recombinant vaccine candidates, BNT029, 030, and 031 with two goals: improve antigenic presentation to achieve better viral clearance and to raise specific immunity against the new genotypes. In this project, the vaccine candidates have been tested in vivo for safety and immunogenicity in comparison with the current commercial leader, Ingelvac CircoFLEX® from Boehringer Ingelheim. In mice, the new candidates raised cell-mediated immunity of higher intensity than that raised by the commercial gold standard, and with a more significant Th1-specific component biased to the PCV2b and PCV2d genotypes. In an experimental trial in piglets, immunization with BNT029, 030, and 031 did not lead to any adverse effect. The three new candidates led to seroconversion, with antibody titers significantly higher than those raised by the commercial gold standard. While the antisera raised in piglets by Ingelvac CircoFLEX predominantly recognized viral antigens derived from a PCV2a strain, the antisera raised by BNT029, 030, and 031 predominantly recognized viral antigens derived from PCV2b and PCV2d strains. Therefore, we have confirmed the initial hypotheses aimed for the new candidates. Currently, we are carrying out serum neutralization assays to confirm that the immune response raised by the new candidates in piglets can neutralize effectively the infection by the currently predominant viral strains of PCV2

Propuesta de mejoramiento del proceso de compras teniendo en cuenta su integración con los procesos comercial y planeación de producción para la empresa ARTPRINT LTDA.

Ingeniero (a) IndustrialPregrad

An Evolutionary Computational Approach for the Problem of Unit Commitment and Economic Dispatch in Microgrids under Several Operation Modes

In the last decades, new types of generation technologies have emerged and have been gradually integrated into the existing power systems, moving their classical architectures to distributed systems. Despite the positive features associated to this paradigm, new problems arise such as coordination and uncertainty. In this framework, microgrids constitute an effective solution to deal with the coordination and operation of these distributed energy resources. This paper proposes a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to address the combined problem of Unit Commitment (UC) and Economic Dispatch (ED). With this end, a model of a microgrid is introduced together with all the control variables and physical constraints. To optimally operate the microgrid, three operation modes are introduced. The first two attend to optimize economical and environmental factors, while the last operation mode considers the errors induced by the uncertainties in the demand forecasting. Therefore, it achieves a robust design that guarantees the power supply for different confidence levels. Finally, the algorithm was applied to an example scenario to illustrate its performance. The achieved simulation results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades TEC2016-80242-PMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad PCIN-2015-043Universidad de Sevilla Programa propio de I+D+

A MPC Strategy for the Optimal Management of Microgrids Based on Evolutionary Optimization

In this paper, a novel model predictive control strategy, with a 24-h prediction horizon, is proposed to reduce the operational cost of microgrids. To overcome the complexity of the optimization problems arising from the operation of the microgrid at each step, an adaptive evolutionary strategy with a satisfactory trade-off between exploration and exploitation capabilities was added to the model predictive control. The proposed strategy was evaluated using a representative microgrid that includes a wind turbine, a photovoltaic plant, a microturbine, a diesel engine, and an energy storage system. The achieved results demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach, outperforming a global scheduling planner-based on a genetic algorithm by 14.2% in terms of operational cost. In addition, the proposed approach also better manages the use of the energy storage system.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad DPI2016-75294-C2-2-RUnión Europea (Programa Horizonte 2020) 76409

Estudio de eficiencia energética y elección de sistemas de climatización respecto a la ubicación geográfica

[ES] El panorama energético actual motiva la realización del presente estudio, ya que actualmente el crecimiento económico y desarrollo social están directamente relacionados con la energía, determinando un adecuado nivel de la calidad de la vida. España hoy día se encuentra sumida en una crisis económica y energética, este panorama además está marcado por el acusado aumento del precio de los combustibles fósiles, que son la principal fuente de energía hoy día, de aquí la importancia de utilizar fuentes de energía alternativas y sistemas realmente eficientes energéticamente hablando. Otro factor importantísimo a tener en cuenta es el cambio climático que se está produciendo en el planeta debido a las altas emisiones de gases contaminantes como del dióxido de carbono, limitados por el protocolo de Kioto promulgado por Naciones Unidas, por lo cual hay que potenciar el uso de energías limpias. Esto factores se toman como referencia para plantear el objeto de este trabajo fin de grado, siendo este la realización de un estudio de eficiencia energética para una vivienda unifamiliar, partiendo de la elección de los sistemas de climatización más apropiados y estudio de la repercusión económica de los mismos dependiendo de la ubicación de la misma vivienda en diversos municipios de España. Se ubicará la vivienda tipo en distintas zonas climáticas y se realizaran estudios energéticos con diversas variantes de instalaciones de climatización utilizando en la metodología las herramientas oficiales para la determinación de los niveles de eficiencia energética, por medio de la herramienta unificada líder calener promulgada por el Ministerio. Se realizará el análisis de los datos y con los resultados obtenidos se determinará cual es el mejor sistema del lado de la eficiencia energética y repercusión económica. Así determinaremos la importancia de elegir un sistema de climatización apropiado y eficiente.[EN] The current energy situation motivates the realization of this study because currently the economic growth and social development are directly related to energy, determining an appropriate level of quality of life. Spain today is mired in an economic and energy crisis, this scenario is also marked by the sharp increase in the price of fossil fuels, which are the main source of energy today, hence the importance of using alternative energy sources and really energetically efficient systems. Another important factor to consider is climate change that is occurring on the planet due to high emissions of polluting gases such as carbon dioxide, bound by the Kyoto protocol promulgated by United Nations, which must promote the use of clean energy. This factors are taken as reference for raising the object of this work to grade, this being the completion of a study of energy efficiency for a house, starting from the choice of systems most appropriate climate and study of the economic impact of the same depending on the location of the same house in different municipalities of Spain. housing type in different climatic zones will be located and energy studies were carried out with various variants of air conditioning systems using the methodology official tools for determining levels of energy efficiency through unified tool leader CALENER promulgated by the Ministry . Data analysis was done and the results will determine which is the best system side energy efficiency and economic impact. And determine the importance of choosing a system of appropriate and efficient air conditioning.Rodriguez Barrios, D. (2016). Estudio de eficiencia energética y elección de sistemas de climatización respecto a la ubicación geográfica. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/70970.TFG