Techno-Economic Analysis of Rural 4th Generation Biomass District Heating

Biomass heating networks provide renewable heat using low carbon energy sources. They can be powerful tools for economy decarbonization. Heating networks can increase heating efficiency in districts and small size municipalities, using more efficient thermal generation technologies, with higher efficiencies and with more efficient emissions abatement technologies. This paper analyzes the application of a biomass fourth generation district heating, 4GDH (4th Generation Biomass District Heating), in a rural municipality. The heating network is designed to supply 77 residential buildings and eight public buildings, to replace the current individual diesel boilers and electrical heating systems. The development of the new fourth district heating generation implies the challenge of combining using low or very low temperatures in the distribution network pipes and delivery temperatures in existing facilities buildings. In this work biomass district heating designs based on third and fourth generation district heating network criteria are evaluated in terms of design conditions, operating ranges, effect of variable temperature operation, energy efficiency and investment and operating costs. The Internal Rate of Return of the different options ranges from 6.55% for a design based on the third generation network to 7.46% for a design based on the fourth generation network, with a 25 years investment horizon. The results and analyses of this work show the interest and challenges for the next low temperature DH generation for the rural area under analysis

An ultra-low pressure pneumatic jamming impact device to non-destructively assess cherimoya firmness

[EN] The quality of cherimoya fruit is reduced by the rapid deterioration of firmness during ripening. Different methods have been developed for the measurement of firmness. The objective of this study was to use a developed impact prototype for the non-destructive assessment and prediction of cherimoya fruit firmness. The prototype has an ultra-low pressure pneumatic jamming rod used to copy the irregular fruit shape. A sample of 200 cherimoyas from Málaga (Spain) `Fino de Jete¿ were tested during 4 days. Every day all the fruits were non-destructively tested and a set of 15 were destructively tested. On the fourth day all the remaining fruits were also destructively tested. The prototype was capable of copying the irregularities of the fruit and non-destructively assessing the decrease in cherimoya firmness during ripening without causing damage. A high correlation was found between destructive firmness and non-destructive variables from the prototype. A PLS model was developed to relate destructive firmness from day 4 to non-destructive variables and diameter from day 3, with a R2 of 75.6 and a RMSECV of 0.9885. A calibration set confirmed the prediction with a R2 of 80.2 and a RMSEP of 0.0561. Firmness decay could be non-destructively predicted 24 h in advance using the variables extracted from the prototype device signal.Ortiz Sánchez, MC.; Blanes Campos, C.; Mellado, M. (2019). An ultra-low pressure pneumatic jamming impact device to non-destructively assess cherimoya firmness. Biosystems Engineering. 180:161-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2019.02.003S16116718

Ecological base line establishment in the El Aerolito anchialine system

Quantification of community structure aids in management practices by enabling objective population estimates of biota, comparisons between systems, and long-term monitoring to detect variations. In the Aerolito System, echinoderm richness and abundance are both very high, making this system possibly unique worldwide

Lesiones en cavidad oral en pacientes con VIH en un estado del sur de México

Objective: To determine the frequency of lesions of the oral cavity in people with HIV who are treated in the medical unit "Ambulatory Center for the prevention and care in AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections" (CAPASITS) of the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas; Mexico. Methods: An observational, cross-sectional and prospective study was conducted in patients with a recent diagnosis of HIV, which included oral clinical review. Results: We included 58 patients diagnosed with HIV infection who were attended in the center in the period from June 2016 to March 2017, 75.9% were men, with an average of 31.6 years, 55.2% of them admitted heterosexuality and a primary level education (42.9%). The group of oral pathologies most frequently found were mycotic (89.7%), followed by bacterial (72.4%) and viral (65.5%), the most frequent lesions were pseudomembranous candidiasis (98.1%), hairy leukoplakia (60.3%) and gingival erythema (56.9%). Conclusions: 77.6% of the patients presented from two to four lesions, so that lesions in the oral cavity can be indicative of the level of the immune status of an individual, therefore, the dentist may be the first health professional to suspect the presence of HIV infection.Objetivo: Determinar la frecuencia de lesiones de la cavidad oral en personas portadoras de VIH que son atendidas en la unidad médica “Centro Ambulatorio para la prevención y atención en SIDA e Infecciones de Transmisión Sexual” (CAPASITS) de la ciudad de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas; México. Métodos: Se realizó un estudio observacional, transversal y prospectivo en pacientes con diagnóstico reciente de VIH, que incluyó la revisión clínica bucal. Resultados: Se incluyeron a 58 pacientes con diagnóstico de infección por VIH que asistieron al centro en el periodo de junio 2016 a marzo del 2017, siendo 75,9% hombres, con 31,6 años en promedio, el 55,2% declaró ser heterosexual y con un nivel de instrucción primaria (42,9%). El grupo de patologías bucales con mayor frecuencia encontrada fueron las micóticas (89,7%), seguida de las bacterianas (72,4%) y virales (65,5%); las lesiones más frecuentes fueron la candidiasis pseudomembranosa (98,1%), la leucoplasia vellosa (60,3%) y el eritema gingival (56,9%). Conclusiones: El 77,6% presentaron de dos a cuatro lesiones, por lo que las lesiones presentes en cavidad oral pueden ser indicadoras del nivel del estado inmunológico de un individuo, por lo tanto, el odontólogo puede ser el primer profesional de salud en sospechar la presencia de la infección por VIH

NaroNet: Discovery of tumor microenvironment elements from highly multiplexed images

Many efforts have been made to discover tumor-specific microenvironment elements (TMEs) from immunostained tissue sections. However, the identification of yet unknown but relevant TMEs from multiplex immunostained tissues remains a challenge, due to the number of markers involved (tens) and the complexity of their spatial interactions. We present NaroNet, which uses machine learning to identify and annotate known as well as novel TMEs from self-supervised embeddings of cells, organized at different levels (local cell phenotypes and cellular neighborhoods). Then it uses the abundance of TMEs to classify patients based on biological or clinical features. We validate NaroNet using synthetic patient cohorts with adjustable incidence of different TMEs and two cancer patient datasets. In both synthetic and real datasets, NaroNet unsupervisedly identifies novel TMEs, relevant for the user-defined classification task. As NaroNet requires only patient-level information, it renders state-of-the-art computational methods accessible to a broad audience, accelerating the discovery of biomarker signatures.Comment: 37 pages, 4 figure

Respuesta de la respiración del suelo a la temperatura y humedad del suelo en sistemas forestales mediterráneos

La respiración del suelo es uno de los mayores flujos en el ciclo global de carbono y supone unas 80-98 Pg C año-1, por lo que cambios en las condiciones de los suelos pueden tener grandes efectos en las emisiones globales de carbono a la atmósfera. Esto hace que sea importante conocer y entender los mecanismos que influyen en la respiración de los suelos. La temperatura del suelo se ha reconocido como uno de los factores principales que influyen en la respiración del suelo aunque la humedad del suelo no es menos importante, sobre todo en climas como el mediterráneo donde es uno de los factores ecológicos más importantes. El objetivo del trabajo es determinar la relación que tienen la temperatura y la humedad del suelo con la respiración del mismo, y valorar si la gestión forestal influye en dicha relación

Biomass District Heating Systems Based on Agriculture Residues

This paper presents a methodology for analyzing the regional potential for developing biomass district heating systems combining forestry biomass and agriculture residues as fuel. As a case study, this methodology is applied to the continental region of Spain. With this analysis the potential for the implementation of biomass district heating systems based on the use of agriculture residues is applied to 501 rural municipalities in Spain. The renewable forestry biomass and agriculture residues resources availability is analyzed and the biomass required for heating is assessed. The results of applying the methodology show the interest of the combination of biomass sources in a relevant number of municipalities with estimated Internal Rate of Return (IRR) values above 10% and for the analyzed region an IRR mean value of 4.3%

The use of massive sequencing to detect differences between immature embryos of MON810 and a comparable non-GM maize variety

The insect resistant maize YieldGard MON810 was studied to assess the extent to which introduction of a transgene may putatively alter the expression of endogenous genes by comparison of various GM lines vs. their non-transgenic counterparts. To assess the extent to which introduction of a transgene may putatively alter the expression of endogenous genes, GM lines of the insect resistant maize YieldGard MON810 were compared with non-transgenic counterparts. For a more in-depth study, high-throughput deep sequencing together with microarrays were used to compare the transcriptomes of immature embryos of the MON810 variety DKC6575, with a cryIA(b) transgene, and its near-isogenic variety Tietar, grown under controlled environmental conditions. This technique also allows characterisation of the transgenic mRNAs produced. 3'UTR-anchored mRNA-seq produced 1,802,571 sequences from DKC6575 and 1,170,973 from Tietar, which mapped to 14,712 and 14,854 unigenes, respectively. Up to 32 reads from the transgenic embryos matched to the synthetic cry1A(b) sequence, similar to medium-abundant mRNAs. Gene expression analysis, using the R-bioconductor packages EdgeR and DEseq, revealed 140 differentially expressed genes mainly involved in carbohydrate metabolism, protein metabolism and chromatin organisation. Comparison of the expression of 30 selected genes in two additional MON810 and near-isogenic variety pairs showed that most of them were differentially expressed in the three pairs of varieties analysed. Analysis of functional annotation and the precise moment of expression of the differentially expressed genes and physiological data obtained suggest a slight but significant delay in seed and plant maturation of MON810 plants. However, these transcriptomic changes were not associated to undesirable changes in the global phenotype or plant behaviour. Moreover, while most expression changes in MON810 immature embryos were maintained in other transgenic varieties, some gene expression was found to be modulated by the genetic background in which the transgene was introduced through conventional breeding programs

Construcción de la Planta de Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales Manufacturas Eliot S.A.S.

Manufacturas Eliot S.A.S, en el año 2006 construyó su planta de producción más grande en el municipio de Cota; con la puesta en marcha de mayor maquinaria se aumentó el volumen de agua residual industrial a tratar. La PTAR que se construyó no cumplió con las expectativas, porque no logro tratar un caudal de 10 lts/seg, lo que genero rebosamientos del sistema de tratamiento y continuos paros de producción. A través de la recolección de datos históricos de consumos y la investigación de tratabilidad del agua de la industria textil, se presentó a la Gerencia General que la opción más viable para solucionar los problemas operativos es la construcción de una PTAR microbiológica para un caudal de 30 lps.The Organization Eliot S.A.S, in 2006 built its largest production plant in the municipality of Cota; With the start-up of more machinery, the volume of industrial wastewater to be treated was increased. The WWTP that was built did not meet expectations, because it was unable to treat a flow rate of 10 liters / sec, which generated overflows in the treatment system and continuous production stoppages. Through the collection of historical data on consumption and the investigation of water treatability of the textile industry, it was presented to the General Management that the most viable option to solve operational problems is the construction of a WWTP microbiological for a flow 30 lps