Pretreatment, Enzymatic Hydrolysis, and Fermentation to Ethanol Using a Lignocellulosic Feedstock and Subsequent Recovery of a Value Added Co-product: Pure Crystalline Cellulose

As more demand for alternatives to petroleum and the industrial world’s love of cars increase, cellulosic ethanol will become more important. The ethanol can, of course, be used in the transportation fuel sector, but there is also a potential for co-products to be developed out of the cellulose to ethanol process. Some of these co-products have the potential to replace current petrol products. These co-products may provide the extra revenue generation needed for further investment and development of this industry. This would not only provide better energy independence, but in the United States, it would better satisfy the cellulosic ethanol gallon requirement of the RFS. The present review explores the cellulose to ethanol process and a potential co-product, purified crystalline cellulose (PCC), and potential industrial applications of said co-product

La propaganda en la Edad Moderna Española: Medios, agentes y consecuencias de la comunicación política

Actas de la XII Reunión Científica de la Fundación Española de Historia Moderna, celebrada en la Universidad de León en 19-21 de junio de 2012. Fernando J. Bouza Álvarez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid ([email protected])Propuesta de estudio de la propaganda producida a lo largo de la Edad Moderna española desde la perspectiva de la comunicación política en los orígenes de la esfera pública. Comunicación política es un concepto de relativa amplitud epistemológica que permite evocar tanto las operaciones de persuasión o justificación generadas por la Monarquía como las expresiones comunitarias, faccionales o, incluso, personales que estuvieron dotadas de una voluntad de hacer/hacerse público. Tras un primer acercamiento que se pregunta por la historia de los conceptos de propaganda y propagandistas, el texto se interroga por los efectos que la creciente capacidad de acceso a la difusión impresa que es observable desde finales del siglo XVI tuvo sobre la comunicación política y sobre el surgimiento de una conciencia de la importancia práctica de la movilización de las opiniones comunes en el Barroco hispano.Carta de Pedro. Ceballos a Vicente de Heredia, Aranjuez, 9 de noviembre de 1808, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid, [AHN], Estado, legajo 3010-2(14). La investigación relativa a este texto ha sido realizada en el marco de un proyecto MINECO HAR2011-27177, beneficiándose de su financiación.Peer reviewe

Péptidos y proteínas de la leche con propiedades funcionales

La fracción proteica de la leche contiene un gran número de compuestos biológicamente activos. Además de lasproteínas de la leche, caseínas y proteínas del suero lácteo, existen también pequeñas cantidades de otras proteínasy péptidos. Estos péptidos, que son inactivos dentro de la secuencia de la proteína nativa, pueden ser liberados porhidrólisis enzimática, por ejemplo, durante la digestión gastrointestinal o durante el procesado del alimento. Estospéptidos bioactivos procedentes de proteínas lácteas presentan una actividad moduladora de numerosos procesosmetabólicos del organismo. Asimismo, las proteínas del suero lácteo representan una mezcla variada de proteínassecretadas, tales como á-lactoalbúmina, â-lactoglobulina, lactoferrina, lactoperoxidasa, inmunoglobulinas,glicomacropéptido y una gran cantidad de factores de crecimiento. Estas proteínas tienen una serie de efectosbiológicos, que van desde un efecto anticancerígenos hasta efectos en la función digestiva

A European perspective on nosocomial urinary tract infections II. Report on incidence, clinical characteristics and outcome (ESGINI–04 study)

ObjectivesTo estimate the incidence of nosocomially acquired urinary tract infections (NAUTI) in Europe and provide information on the clinical characteristics, underlying conditions, etiology, management and outcome of patients.Materials and methodsWe collected clinical information from NAUTI patients with a microbiology report on the named study day.ResultsA total of 141 hospitals from 25 European countries participated in the study. Written institutional bladder catheter guidelines were in place in 90.3% of EU hospitals and 55% of non-EU hospitals (P <0.05). The total number of new NAUTI episodes on the day of the study was 298, representing an incidence of 3.55 episodes/1000 patient-days and an estimated prevalence of 10.65/1000. The five most commonly isolated micro-organisms were Escherichia coli, Enterococcus sp., Candida sp., Klebsiella sp. and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Patients from non-EU countries were younger, with more severe underlying diseases with a higher incidence of obstructive uropathy/lithiasis. Overall, 22.8% of patients had no ‘classic’ UTI-predisposing factors. Catheter-associated UTI (CAUTI) was present in 187 patients (62.8%). A closed drainage system was used in only 78.5% of catheterised patients. The indication for bladder catheterisation was not considered adequate in 7.6% of cases and continuation of bladder catheterisation was considered unnecessary in 31.3%. Opening of the closed drainage system was the most frequent major error in catheter management (16.8%). Antimicrobial treatment was not considered adequate in 19.8% of all cases.ConclusionsThe incidence of NAUTI in a large European population is 3.55/1000 patient-days. There is clearly room for improvement in the area of bladder catheterisation, catheter care and medical management of NAUTI. We recommend that European authorities draw up and implement practical and specific guidelines to reduce the incidence of this infection

Анализ функционирования свободных экономических зон в России (на примере ОЭЗ «Янтарь» в Калининградской области

Целью работы является анализ функционирования особых экономических зон в России, на примере особой экономической зоны «Янтарь» в Калининградской области. В процессе исследования были изучены теоретические основы свободных экономических зон, так же проводился анализ состояния развития и перспектив свободных экономических зон в России, анализ состояния и эффективности особой экономической зоны «Янтарь» в Калининградской области. Кроме того, проводилось исследование деятельности таможенных органов на территории вышеупомянутой особой экономической зоны. В результате исследования были выявлены проблемы, которые препятствуют эффективной деятельности особой экономической зоны «Янтарь» и деятельности таможенных органов на ее территории.The aim is to analyze the functioning of special economic zones in Russia, in particular by the example of a special economic zone "Amber" in the Kaliningrad region. During the study in the course of research theoretical bases of free economic zones have been studied, also the analysis of a condition of development and prospects of free economic zones in Russia, the analysis of a condition and efficiency of the special economic zone "Amber" in the Kaliningrad region was carried out. In additional, research of activities of customs authorities in the territory of an above-mentioned special economic zone was conducted

Regional-scale vegetation heterogeneity in northeastern Patagonia: Environmental and spatial components

Our aim was to describe vegetation heterogeneity at a regional scale in northeastern Patagonia and to identify the environmental variables associated to it. The study area encompasses 13 144 km2 and is characterized by a mixture of species typical of Patagonian steppes and Monte Desert. We performed 48 vegetation relevés, which were randomly assigned to a training set and to a validation set (32 and 16 relevés, respectively). Training set was subjected to cluster analysis, which allowed the identification of two plant communities one related to Patagonian steppes and another to the Monte desert. We derived 3 attributes of the seasonal curve of the NDVI as indicators of ecosystem function: the seasonal amplitude (SA), the date of the maximum (DOM), and the large seasonal integral (LSI). We explored the relationship between NDVI attributes and communities by classification tree analysis. LSI was the strongest predictor among NDVI attributes, separating both communities without misclassification errors. Patagonian steppes occupy areas with higher LSI. The partial RDA analysis explained 38.1% of total data variation, of which 16.5% was ascribed to environment, 7.9% to space, and 13.7% to spatial component of environment. Patagonian steppes are closer to the coast, in areas exhibiting higher annual precipitation and lower annual temperature range than Monte deserts. Our results indicate the occurrence of two plant communities in the study area and highlight the significance of climatic variables to explain their spatial distribution. As most scenarios of future climate predict greater annual thermal amplitude in the study area, the limit between both communities could be displaced eastward

Expert System Design for Sewage Treatment Plant

Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version