Within the European project INCOVER, an experimental microalgae-based treatment system has been built for wastewater reuse and added-value products generation. This article describes this new ...experimental plant and the start-up stage, starting from the new design of three semi-closed horizontal photobioreactors with low energy requirements for microalgae cultivation (30 m
total), using agricultural runoff and urban wastewater as feedstock. The inflow nutrients concentration is adjusted to select cyanobacteria, microalgae able to accumulate polyhydroxybutyrates, which can be used for bioplastics production. Part of the harvested biomass is used as substrate for anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) with secondary sludge to obtain biogas. This biogas is then cleaned in an absorption column to reach methane concentration up to 99%. The digestate from the AcoD is further processed in sludge wetlands for stabilization and biofertilizer production. On the other hand, treated water undergoes ultrafiltration and disinfection through a solar-driven process, then it is pumped through absorption materials to recover nutrients, and eventually applied in an agricultural field to grow energy crops by means of a smart irrigation system. This plant presents a sustainable approach for wastewater management, which can be seen as a resource recovery process more than a waste treatment.
The objective of this research is to assess of heavy metal pollution and its fractionation in sediments of the Sonora and Bacanuchi rivers located in arid and semi‐arid climates. Sediment quality ...guidelines (U.S. EPA; SQGs), enrichment factor (EF) and geoaccumulation index (Igeo) were used to evaluate the extent of heavy metal pollution. Total heavy metals concentrations for both rivers were as follows (mg/kg): Cd (< BDL), Cu (2 ‐ 103), Cr (5 ‐ 27), Fe (9156 ‐ 34343), Mn (114 ‐ 573), Ni (22 ‐ 38), Pb (12 ‐ 59), and Zn (27 ‐ 111). According to sediment quality guidelines Cr, Ni, Pb, and Zn were classified as moderately polluted, while Cu and Fe were strongly polluted. Metals predominated in geochemical fractions in the following order: Residual> Fe/Mn oxides> interchangeable> organic matter. A significant proportion of heavy metals (Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn) was associated to the nonresidual fraction, proving that those metals have greater mobility and may be bioavailable to living beings. EF values indicated that Cu, Cr, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn come from enriched sources due to anthropogenic activities. In both rivers, Igeo values indicated non contaminated or moderately contaminated levels in the sediments. The present study confirms an anthropogenic source of heavy metals, which could be a danger for biota in the surrounding areas, due to its mobility and bioavailability. Therefore, it is recommended to monitor water and sediment quality periodically.
Acoustic local positioning systems (ALPSs) are an interesting alternative for indoor positioning due to certain advantages over other approaches, including their relatively high accuracy, low cost, ...and room-level signal propagation. Centimeter-level or fine-grained indoor positioning can be an asset for robot navigation, guiding a person to, for instance, a particular piece in a museum or to a specific product in a shop, targeted advertising, or augmented reality. In airborne system applications, acoustic positioning can be based on using opportunistic signals or sounds produced by the person or object to be located (e.g., noise from appliances or the speech from a speaker) or from encoded emission beacons (or anchors) specifically designed for this purpose. This work presents a review of the different challenges that designers of systems based on encoded emission beacons must address in order to achieve suitable performance. At low-level processing, the waveform design (coding and modulation) and the processing of the received signal are key factors to address such drawbacks as multipath propagation, multiple-access interference, near-far effect, or Doppler shifting. With regards to high-level system design, the issues to be addressed are related to the distribution of beacons, ease of deployment, and calibration and positioning algorithms, including the possible fusion of information obtained from maps and onboard sensors. Apart from theoretical discussions, this work also includes the description of an ALPS that was implemented, installed in a large area and tested for mobile robot navigation. In addition to practical interest for real applications, airborne ALPSs can also be used as an excellent platform to test complex algorithms (taking advantage of the low sampling frequency required), which can be subsequently adapted for other positioning systems, such as underwater acoustic systems or ultrawideband radio-frequency (UWB RF) systems.
Sixty-six new archaeological sites have been discovered thanks to the combined use of different remote sensing techniques and open access geospatial datasets (mainly aerial photography, satellite ...imagery, and airborne LiDAR). These sites enhance the footprint of the Roman military presence in the northern fringe of the River Duero basin (León, Palencia, Burgos and Cantabria provinces, Spain). This paper provides a detailed morphological description of 66 Roman military camps in northwestern Iberia that date to the late Republic or early Imperial eras. We discuss the different spatial datasets and GIS tools used for different geographic contexts of varied terrain and vegetation. Finally, it stresses out the relevance of these novel data to delve into the rationale behind the Roman army movements between the northern Duero valley and the southern foothills of the Cantabrian Mountains. We conclude that methodological approaches stimulated by open-access geospatial datasets and enriched by geoscientific techniques are fundamental to understand the expansion of the Roman state in northwestern Iberia during the 1st c. BC properly. This renewed context set up a challenging scenario to overcome traditional archaeological perspectives still influenced by the cultural-historical paradigm and the pre-eminence of classical written sources.
El presente artículo tiene como objetivo profundizar en el estudio de las prácticas colectivas del Pueblo Gitano, como forma de resistencia, frente a las demandas de la actual sociedad “moderna”, ...caracterizada por la individualización y la búsqueda de la satisfacción personal. Lo que se pretende es encontrar en ellas son maneras alternativas de entender el funcionamiento de lo social, máxime en una época en la que lo “común”, vuelve a estar en primera línea de discusión. Se trata de un estudio de revisión de la literatura publicada en las bases de datos ERIC, Web of Science, SCOPUS y Scielo. Los resultados confirman que, debido a los grandes cambios sociopolíticos de las últimas décadas, la subjetividad gitana se halla entre dos formas de ver el mundo en disputa: una, la de su propia cultura, y la otra, correspondiente a la sociedad mayoritaria, gobernada por normas que en cierta medida les son ajenas.
This paper addresses an experimental approach to the archaeological study of Roman camps in NW Iberia using ground-penetrating radar (henceforth GPR). The main goal is to explore the capabilities of ...GPR to extract datasets from ephemeral features, such as temporary camps or siege works, among others. This information aims to maximise the data available before excavation, orienting it to areas that could provide good results in terms of feature detection and contrast between soil matrix and archaeological deposits. This paper explores the potential of the GPR approach and volumetric data visualisation to improve our understanding of four ephemeral sites: Alto da Raia (Montalegre, Portugal–Calvos de Randín, Spain), Sueros de Cepeda (Villamejil, Spain), Los Andinales (Villsandino, Spain), and Villa María (Sasamón, Spain). Despite the focus of this paper, other survey techniques (namely LiDAR, aerial photography, and magnetometry) were used in combination with GPR. Further excavation of the sites provided ground truthing for all data remotely gathered.
Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic parasitic disease, and the main reservoir of the parasite is the dog, although recent years have seen an increase in other mammalian species. In the Mediterranean region, ...where it is an endemic disease, it is caused by the species
Leishmania infantum
. The Ibizan hound, an autochthonous breed of this region, appears to have a genetic resistance to parasitic infection, whereas other canine breeds, such as the Boxer, are susceptible to infection. These differences are related to the differentiated activation of the immune response, with the Ibizan hound activating the Th1 immune response, whereas the Boxer breed triggers the Th2 immune response. Cytokine levels and genomic haplotypes of several genes involved in the immune response were analysed in twenty-eight Ibizan hound (resistant canine breed model) and twenty-four Boxer (susceptible canine breed) without clinical signs in the Mediterranean region. Cytokine levels were analysed by ELISA commercial kits and haplotypes were studied using CanineHD DNA Analysis BeadChip including 165,480 mapped positions. The results show 126 haplotypes associated with differential immune response in dogs. Specifically, haplotypes in
IL12RB1
,
IL6R
,
CIITA
,
THEMIS
,
NOXA1
,
HEY2
,
RAB38
,
SLC35D2
,
SLC28A3
,
RASEF
and
DAPK1
genes are associated with serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-8, and IL-18. These results suggest that the resistance or susceptibility to
Leishmania infantum
infection could be a consequence of haplotypes in several genes related to immune response. Future studies are needed to elucidate the relationship of these haplotypes with immune response and gene expression regulation.
With the aim of exploring the source of the high variability observed in the production of perezone, in Acourtia cordata wild plants, we analyze the influence of soil parameters and phenotypic ...characteristics on its perezone content. Perezone is a sesquiterpene quinone responsible for several pharmacological effects and the A. cordata plants are the natural source of this metabolite. The chemistry of perezone has been widely studied, however, no studies exist related to its production under natural conditions, nor to its biosynthesis and the environmental factors that affect the yield of this compound in wild plants. We also used a proteomic approach to detect differentially expressed proteins in wild plant rhizomes and compare the profiles of high vs. low perezone-producing plants. Our results show that in perezone-producing rhizomes, the presence of high concentrations of this compound could result from a positive response to the effects of some edaphic factors, such as total phosphorus (Pt), total nitrogen (Nt), ammonium (NH4), and organic matter (O. M.), but could also be due to a negative response to the soil pH value. Additionally, we identified 616 differentially expressed proteins between high and low perezone producers. According to the functional annotation of this comparison, the upregulated proteins were grouped in valine biosynthesis, breakdown of leucine and isoleucine, and secondary metabolism such as terpenoid biosynthesis. Downregulated proteins were grouped in basal metabolism processes, such as pyruvate and purine metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis. Our results suggest that soil parameters can impact the content of perezone in wild plants. Furthermore, we used proteomic resources to obtain data on the pathways expressed when A. cordata plants produce high and low concentrations of perezone. These data may be useful to further explore the possible relationship between perezone production and abiotic or biotic factors and the molecular mechanisms related to high and low perezone production.
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