Wastewater Treatment Project for Palma Soriano, Cuba: Assessment of Cultural and Ecological Conditions

The Palma Project is an experiment in the use of cultural identity as a social trigger to address ecological degradation. The research methodology draws from environmental, social and urban analyses to unveil the best strategy to address the ecological, river restoration and water treatment challenges in Berkeley, California’s “Sister City” in southeast Cuba, Palma Soriano. The objective is to provide a better quality of life and to create new opportunities for the local community to reconnect with natural cycles of water and the cultivation of their own land. The project aim is to promote the strength and capacity of local communities to protect their own environment based upon a master plan, which includes natural wastewater treatment, reforestation, urban agriculture and the facilitation and utilization of a public space bordering the major river which flows by Palma Soriano, the Cauto. This project will contribute and produce healthy water recycling for Palma, provide a potable water source for the city, encourage ecological restoration of the riparian zone of the Cauto, and provide new opportunities for food production. It is designed to preserve the cultural identity of the local community, and to restore the essential balance between the community’s need to sustain both itself and the natural environment.

Connecting the Water and Carbon Cycles for the Generation of Food Security and Ecosystem Services

Water scarcity and food insecurity are pervasive issues in the developing world and are also intrinsically linked to one another. Through the connection of the water cycle and the carbon cycle this study illustrates that synergistic benefits can be realized by small scale farmers through the implementation of waste water irrigated agroforestry. The WaNuLCAS model is employed using La Huerta agroforestry site in Texcoco, South Central Mexico, as the basis for parameterization. The results of model simulations depicting scenarios of water scarcity and waste water irrigation clearly show that the addition of waste water greatly increases the agroforestry system’s generation of crop yields, above- and below-ground biomass, soil organic matter and carbon storage potential. This increase in carbon sequestration by the system translates into better local food security, diversified household income through payments for ecosystem services and contributes to the mitigation of global climate change.

A Systems Approach to the Torque Control of a Permanent Magnet Brushless Motor

Many approaches to force control have assumed the ability to command torques accurately. Concurrently, much research has been devoted to developing accurate torque actuation schemes. Often, torque sensors have been utilized to close a feedback loop around output torque. In this paper, the torque control of a brushless motor is investigated through: the design, construction, and utilization of a joint torque sensor for feedback control; and the development and implementation of techniques for phase current based feedforeward torque control. It is concluded that simply closing a torque loop is no longer necessarily the best alternative since reasonably accurate current based torque control is achievable.

Evaluating the probability and the impact of a failure in GMPLS based networks

In this paper, we define a new scheme to develop and evaluate protection strategies for building reliable GMPLS networks. This is based on what we have called the network protection degree (NPD). The NPD consists of an a priori evaluation, the failure sensibility degree (FSD), which provides the failure probability, and an a posteriori evaluation, the failure impact degree (FID), which determines the impact on the network in case of failure, in terms of packet loss and recovery time. Having mathematical formulated these components, experimental results demonstrate the benefits of the utilization of the NPD, when used to enhance some current QoS routing algorithms in order to offer a certain degree of protection

Solid waste management in metropolitan areas: barriers and opportunities for intermunicipal arrangements in Brazil

Municipal solid waste issue has acquired a growing importance into urban management discussions, particularly in metropolitan areas. Although metropolitan regions were created for integrating public functions of common interest, it appears that the structures, in general, are limited to planning  activities. In this context, the democratization process occurred in Brazil during 1980’s led to the  strengthening of inter-municipal arrangements of voluntary cooperation, acquiring great expressiveness  in metropolitan areas, responsible for 60% of waste generated in Brazil. However, despite the  consortia emergence as an alternative management of metropolitan territory, its process of setting up and operation is not free of challenges and dilemmas. This paper starts with the hypothesis that  inter-municipal consortia in metropolitan areas have high strength asymmetry and weak regional  identity among municipalities, conditions that tend to create barriers to its concretization. In this  context, this research aim  to develop a comparative study of inter-municipal arrangements for solid  waste management in the metropolitan areas of Curitiba (pr), Belo Horizonte (bh) and Salvador  (ba), by identifying influence degree of regional identity and strength asymmetry in these arrangements. The multiple case study reveals an inverse proportionality relationship between regional  identity and strength asymmetry among the municipalities, deeply influenced by political interinstitutional  arrangement and the metropolitan area in which they are is inserted.

Use of informal mobile telephony in low income households in Colombia

El acceso a la telefonía móvil en Colombia evidencia ciertas particularidades con respecto a otros países. En Colombia surgió una nueva alternativa de comunicación que consistía en la venta de minutos de celular en las calles y en pequeños negocios durante los primeros años de ésta década. En este documento se analizan las principales características de quienes usan esta modalidad de comunicación con base en una encuesta dirigida a usuarios y no usuarios de bajos ingresos. Se usa un modelo probabilístico para explicar las características de las personas que lo usan y se encuentra que las personas que están en la modalidad de contrato prepago y que viven en ciudades pequeñas tienen una mayor probabilidad de usar esta alternativa de comunicación. De otro lado se encuentra que quienes están con el operador dominante tienden a usar este servicio también de una forma más notoria. Estos resultados parecen indicar que los diferenciales de precios entre las llamadas off-net y on-net así como entre prepago y postpago son los que alimentaron el surgimiento de esta actividad

Effect of magnesium sulphate and L-tryptophan and genotype on the feed intake, behaviour and meat quality of pigs

Sixty-nine entire male pigs with different halothane genotype (homozygous halothane positive – nn-, n=36; and homozygous halothane negative – NN-, n=33) were fed with a supplementation of magnesium sulphate (Mg) and/or L-tryptophan (Trp) in the diet for 5 days before slaughter. Animals were housed individually and were submitted to stressful ante mortem conditions (mixed in the lorry according to treatments and transported 1h on rough roads). Individual feed intake was recorded during the 5-day treatment. At the abattoir, pig behaviour was assessed in the raceway to the stunning system and during the stunning period by exposure to CO2. Muscle pH, colour, water holding capacity, texture and cathepsin activities were determined to assess meat quality. The number of pigs with an individual feed intake lower than 2kg/day was significantly different among diets (P<0.05; Control: 8.7%; Mg&Trp: 43.5%; Trp: 17.4%) and they were considered to have inadequate supplement intake. During the ante mortem period, 15.2% of pigs included in the experiment died, and this percentage decreased to 8.7% in those pigs with a feed intake > 2kg/day, all of them from the stress-sensitive pigs (nn). In general, no differences were observed in the behaviour of pigs along the corridor leading to the stunning system and inside the CO2 stunning system. During the stunning procedure, Trp diet showed shorter periods of muscular excitation than control and Mg&Trp diets. The combination of a stressful ante mortem treatment and Mg&Trp supplementation led to carcasses with high incidence of severe skin lesions. Different meat quality results were found when considering all pigs or considering only those with adequate supplement intake. In this later case, Trp increased pH45 (6.15) vs Control diet (5.96) in the Longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle (P<0.05) and pH at 24h (Trp: 5.59 vs C: 5.47) led to a higher incidence of dark, firm and dry (DFD) traits in SM muscle (P<0.05). Genotype affected negatively all the meat quality traits. Seventy-five percent of LT and 60.0% of the SM muscles from nn pigs were classified as pale, soft and exudative (PSE), while none of the NN pigs showed these traits (P<0.0001). No significant differences were found between genotypes on the incidence of DFD meat. Due to the negative effects observed in the Mg&Trp group in feed intake and carcass quality, the utilization of a mixture of magnesium sulphate and tryptophan is not recommended

Aspectes físics i químics del destintatge de paper revista mitjançant tensioactius catiònics

En una tesi anterior (Puig, 2004) es varen estudiar els aspectes mecànics vinculats al desfibratge i als consums energètics associats al procés de desintegració per acabar quantificant les forces implicades en el procés d'individualització dels components de diferents paperots. Aquest estudi, ha permès conèixer les condicions de desintegració que condueixen a un mínim consum energètic, aspecte complementari al reciclatge i destintatge del paperot però molt important per aconseguir un procés realment sostenible. Degut als requeriments del mercat, hi ha un altre aspecte o vessant realment important com és l'eliminació de tinta. Aquest procés, malgrat la complexitat industrial, es pot reduir o simplificar en dues etapes: la desintegració i la flotació. Ambdues, per raons d'eficàcia i condicionades pels agents químics que s'utilitzen, es realitzen en medi fortament alcalí (entorn d'un pH a 12). Aquest fet, genera una forta contaminació (DQO elevada) i per tant, és un procés poc respectuós amb el medi ambient. Els factors que condicionen treballar en medi alcalí són principalment, el despreniment de la tinta del suport, clarament accelerat en medi bàsic i fonamental per un bon destintatge i la utilització de tensioactius aniònics. Aquests tensioactius són sensibles al pH i la seva eficàcia disminueix en medi neutre o quasi neutre. Atès el que s'ha exposat, s'ha plantejat aquesta tesi que porta per títol "Aspectes Físics i Químics del Destintatge de Paper Revista mitjançant Tensioactius Catiònics", com un estudi del procés de destintatge de paper revista recuperat parant especial atenció a les variables físico-químiques i mecàniques del procés i a la seva influència en el despreniment i fragmentació de la tinta, així com en el procés d'eliminació de la tinta per flotació per tal d'avaluar la viabilitat d'un procés de destintatge en medi neutre enfront del destintatge alcalí convencional. S'ha utilitzat, com a paperot a destintar, el paper revista ja que aquest tipus de paper representa un percentatge elevat del paper recuperat a la Unió Europea. A més, aquest tipus de paper és utilitzat habitualment en les plantes de destintatge industrials per millorar les propietats de les suspensions destintades de paper de diari. La utilització de tensioactius catiònics és deguda a que la seva activitat no es veu afectada pel pH de la suspensió. Així, durant la comparació dels processos de destintatge en medi neutre i en medi alcalí, les eficàcies dels processos no es veuran influenciades pel grau d'ionització del tensioactiu. Donada l'absència d'estudis sobre la influència de les variables del procés en les mesures de concentració efectiva de tinta residual (ERIC) i ja que s'ha emprat aquest paràmetre per avaluar el despreniment i fragmentació de la tinta durant l'etapa de desintegració. En primer lloc, s'ha plantejat un estudi fonamental de la influència que poden tenir les variables del procés (granulometria, concentració de tinta i tipus de suport) en aquest paràmetre. Pel que fa a l'etapa de flotació, s'estudiarà l'efectivitat d'aquesta etapa, posant especial atenció a la capacitat del tensioactiu per eliminar tota la tinta despresa en l'etapa de desintegració. A més, donada la poca informació bibliogràfica referida als mecanismes de flotació amb tensioactius catiònics i la influència que té l'adsorció d'aquests agents per part de la suspensió paperera en l'etapa de flotació, s'ha dut a terme un estudi de l'adsorció dels tensioactius catiònics per part dels components d'una suspensió paperera. Per tant, la tesi realitzada té com a objectius:  Estudi fonamental de les mesures de ERIC (concentració efectiva de tinta residual) amb suports específics.  Estudi de la desintegració en medi neutre i comparació amb la desintegració clàssica.  Modelització del desfibratge de paperot a l'etapa de desintegració.  Estudi de l'eliminació de tinta per flotació en medi neutre i comparació amb la flotació clàssica.  Estudi del mecanisme d'adsorció de tensioactius en suspensions de cel·lulosa sintètica i de paperot.

The GlobMODEL demonstrator: assimilation of new satellite products in an operational meteorological center

As part of its Data User Element programme, the European Space Agency funded the GlobMODEL project which aimed at investigating the scientific, technical, and organizational issues associated with the use and exploitation of remotely-sensed observations, particularly from new sounders. A pilot study was performed as a "demonstrator" of the GlobMODEL idea, based on the use of new data, with a strong European heritage, not yet assimilated operationally. Two parallel assimilation experiments were performed, using either total column ozone or ozone profiles retrieved at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). In both cases, the impact of assimilating OMI data in addition to the total ozone columns from the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CartograpHY (SCIAMACHY) on the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) ozone analyses was assessed by means of independent measurements. We found that the impact of OMI total columns is mainly limited to the region between 20 and 80 hPa, and is particularly important at high latitudes in the Southern hemisphere where the stratospheric ozone transport and chemical depletion are generally difficult to model with accuracy. Furthermore, the assimilation experiments carried out in this work suggest that OMI DOAS (Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy) total ozone columns are on average larger than SCIAMACHY total columns by up to 3 DU, while OMI total columns derived from OMI ozone profiles are on average about 8 DU larger than SCIAMACHY total columns. At the same time, the demonstrator brought to light a number of issues related to the assimilation of atmospheric composition profiles, such as the shortcomings arising when the vertical resolution of the instrument is not properly accounted for in the assimilation. The GlobMODEL demonstrator accelerated scientific and operational utilization of new observations and its results - prompted ECMWF to start the operational assimilation of OMI total column ozone data.

Diet digestibility, rate of passage, and eating and rumination behavior of Jersey and Holstein cows

Diet digestibility and rate of passage, eating and rumination behavior, dry matter intake (DMI), and lactation performance were compared in 6 Jersey and 6 Holstein multiparous cows. Cows were fed gestation diets according to body weight (BW) beginning 7 wk before expected calving and ad libitum amounts of a lactation diet postpartum. Diet digestibility and rate of passage were measured in 5-d periods at wk 5 prepartum and wk 6 and 14 of lactation. Eating and ruminating behavior was measured over 5-d periods at wk 5 and 2 prepartum and wk 2, 6, 10, and 14 of lactation. Milk yield and DMI were higher in Holsteins, but milk energy output per kilogram of metabolic BW (BW0.75) and intake capacity (DMI/kg of BW) did not differ between breeds. Holsteins spent longer ruminating per day compared with Jerseys, but daily eating time did not differ between breeds. Jerseys spent more time eating and ruminating per unit of ingested feed. The duration and number of meals consumed did not differ between breeds, but the meals consumed by Jerseys were distributed more evenly throughout each 24-h period, providing a more regular supply of feed to the rumen. Feed passed through the digestive tract more quickly in Jerseys compared with Holsteins, suggesting particle breakdown and rumen outflow were faster in Jerseys, but this may also reflect the relative size of their digestive tract. Neutral detergent fiber digestibility was greater in Jerseys, despite the shorter rumen retention time, but digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, starch, and N did not differ between breeds. Utilization of digested N for tissue retention was higher at wk 5 prepartum and lower at wk 14 of lactation in Jerseys. In contrast to numerous published studies, intake capacity of Jerseys was not higher than that of Holsteins, but in the present study, cows were selected on the basis of equal expected milk energy yield per kilogram of metabolic BW. Digestibility of neutral detergent fiber and rate of digesta passage were higher in Jerseys, probably as a consequence of increased mastication per unit of feed consumed in Jerseys and their smaller size.

Predicting the profile of nutrients available for absorption: from nutrient requirement to animal response and environmental impact

Current feed evaluation systems for dairy cattle aim to match nutrient requirements with nutrient intake at pre-defined production levels. These systems were not developed to address, and are not suitable to predict, the responses to dietary changes in terms of production level and product composition, excretion of nutrients to the environment, and nutrition related disorders. The change from a requirement to a response system to meet the needs of various stakeholders requires prediction of the profile of absorbed nutrients and its subsequent utilisation for various purposes. This contribution examines the challenges to predicting the profile of nutrients available for absorption in dairy cattle and provides guidelines for further improved prediction with regard to animal production responses and environmental pollution. The profile of nutrients available for absorption comprises volatile fatty acids, long-chain fatty acids, amino acids and glucose. Thus the importance of processes in the reticulo-rumen is obvious. Much research into rumen fermentation is aimed at determination of substrate degradation rates. Quantitative knowledge on rates of passage of nutrients out of the rumen is rather limited compared with that on degradation rates, and thus should be an important theme in future research. Current systems largely ignore microbial metabolic variation, and extant mechanistic models of rumen fermentation give only limited attention to explicit representation of microbial metabolic activity. Recent molecular techniques indicate that knowledge on the presence and activity of various microbial species is far from complete. Such techniques may give a wealth of information, but to include such findings in systems predicting the nutrient profile requires close collaboration between molecular scientists and mathematical modellers on interpreting and evaluating quantitative data. Protozoal metabolism is of particular interest here given the paucity of quantitative data. Empirical models lack the biological basis necessary to evaluate mitigation strategies to reduce excretion of waste, including nitrogen, phosphorus and methane. Such models may have little predictive value when comparing various feeding strategies. Examples include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier II models to quantify methane emissions and current protein evaluation systems to evaluate low protein diets to reduce nitrogen losses to the environment. Nutrient based mechanistic models can address such issues. Since environmental issues generally attract more funding from governmental offices, further development of nutrient based models may well take place within an environmental framework.

Alternatives to linear analysis of energy balance data from lactating dairy cows

The current energy requirements system used in the United Kingdom for lactating dairy cows utilizes key parameters such as metabolizable energy intake (MEI) at maintenance (MEm), the efficiency of utilization of MEI for 1) maintenance, 2) milk production (k(l)), 3) growth (k(g)), and the efficiency of utilization of body stores for milk production (k(t)). Traditionally, these have been determined using linear regression methods to analyze energy balance data from calorimetry experiments. Many studies have highlighted a number of concerns over current energy feeding systems particularly in relation to these key parameters, and the linear models used for analyzing. Therefore, a database containing 652 dairy cow observations was assembled from calorimetry studies in the United Kingdom. Five functions for analyzing energy balance data were considered: straight line, two diminishing returns functions, (the Mitscherlich and the rectangular hyperbola), and two sigmoidal functions (the logistic and the Gompertz). Meta-analysis of the data was conducted to estimate k(g) and k(t). Values of 0.83 to 0.86 and 0.66 to 0.69 were obtained for k(g) and k(t) using all the functions (with standard errors of 0.028 and 0.027), respectively, which were considerably different from previous reports of 0.60 to 0.75 for k(g) and 0.82 to 0.84 for k(t). Using the estimated values of k(g) and k(t), the data were corrected to allow for body tissue changes. Based on the definition of k(l) as the derivative of the ratio of milk energy derived from MEI to MEI directed towards milk production, MEm and k(l) were determined. Meta-analysis of the pooled data showed that the average k(l) ranged from 0.50 to 0.58 and MEm ranged between 0.34 and 0.64 MJ/kg of BW0.75 per day. Although the constrained Mitscherlich fitted the data as good as the straight line, more observations at high energy intakes (above 2.4 MJ/kg of BW0.75 per day) are required to determine conclusively whether milk energy is related to MEI linearly or not.

A comparative evaluation of functions for partitioning nitrogen and amino acid intake between maintenance and growth in broilers

The results from three types of study with broilers, namely nitrogen (N) balance, bioassays and growth experiments, provided the data used herein. Sets of data on N balance and protein accretion (bioassay studies) were used to assess the ability of the monomolecular equation to describe the relationship between (i) N balance and amino acid (AA) intake and (ii) protein accretion and AA intake. The model estimated the levels of isoleucine, lysine, valine, threonine, methionine, total sulphur AAs and tryptophan resulting in zero balance to be 58, 59, 80, 96, 23, 85 and 32 mg/kg live weight (LW)/day, respectively. These estimates show good agreement with those obtained in previous studies. For the growth experiments, four models, specifically re-parameterized for analysing energy balance data, were evaluated for their ability to determine crude protein (CP) intake at maintenance and efficiency of utilization of CP intake for producing gain. They were: a straight line, two equations representing diminishing returns behaviour (monomolecular and rectangular hyperbola) and one equation describing smooth sigmoidal behaviour with a fixed point of inflexion (Gompertz). The estimates of CP requirement for maintenance and efficiency of utilization of CP intake for producing gain varied from 5.4 to 5.9 g/kg LW/day and 0.60 to 0.76, respectively, depending on the models.

A comparative evaluation of functions for the analysis of growth in male broilers

Data from six studies with male broilers fed diets covering a wide range of energy and protein were used in the current two analyses. In the first analysis, five models, specifically re-parameterized for analysing energy balance data, were evaluated for their ability to determine metabolizable energy intake at maintenance and efficiency of utilization of metabolizable energy intake for producing gain. In addition to the straight line, two types of functional form were used. They were forms describing (i) diminishing returns behaviour (monomolecular and rectangular hyperbola) and (ii) sigmoidal behaviour with a fixed point of inflection (Gompertz and logistic). These models determined metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance to be in the range 437-573 kJ/kg of body weight/day depending on the model. The values determined for average net energy requirement for body weight gain varied from 7(.)9 to 11(.)2 kJ/g of body weight. These values show good agreement with previous studies. In the second analysis, three types of function were assessed as candidates for describing the relationship between body weight and cumulative metabolizable energy intake. The functions used were: (a) monomolecular (diminishing returns behaviour), (b) Gompertz (smooth sigmoidal behaviour with a fixed point of inflection) and (c) Lopez, France and Richards (diminishing returns and sigmoidal behaviour with a variable point of inflection). The results of this analysis demonstrated that equations capable of mimicking the law of diminishing returns describe accurately the relationship between body weight and cumulative metabolizable energy intake in broilers.

Winter wheat in England and Wales, 1923 - 1995: What do indices of genetic diversity reveal?

Genealogical data have been used very widely to construct indices with which to examine the contribution of plant breeding programmes to the maintenance and enhancement of genetic resources. In this paper we use such indices to examine changes in the genetic diversity of the winter wheat crop in England and Wales between 1923 and 1995. We find that, except for one period characterized by the dominance of imported varieties, the genetic diversity of the winter wheat crop has been remarkably stable. This agrees with many studies of plant breeding programmes elsewhere. However, underlying the stability of the winter wheat crop is accelerating varietal turnover without any significant diversification of the genetic resources used. Moreover, the changes we observe are more directly attributable to changes in the varietal shares of the area under winter wheat than to the genealogical relationship between the varieties sown. We argue, therefore, that while genealogical indices reflect how well plant breeders have retained and exploited the resources with which they started, these indices suffer from a critical limitation. They do not reflect the proportion of the available range of genetic resources which has been effectively utilized in the breeding programme: complex crosses of a given set of varieties can yield high indices, and yet disguise the loss (or non-utilization) of a large proportion of the available genetic diversity.