A dimensional reduction approach to modulate the core ruminal microbiome associated with methane emissions via selective breeding

The rumen is a complex microbial system of substantial importance in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and feed efficiency. This study proposes combining metagenomic and host genomic data for selective breeding of the cow hologenome toward reduced methane emissions. We analyzed nanopore long reads from the rumen metagenome of 437 Holstein cows from 14 commercial herds in 4 northern regions in Spain. After filtering, data were treated as compositional. The large complexity of the rumen microbiota was aggregated, through principal component analysis (PCA), into few principal components (PC) that were used as proxies of the core metagenome. The PCA allowed us to condense the huge and fuzzy taxonomical and functional information from the metagenome into a few PC. Bivariate animal models were applied using these PC and methane production as phenotypes. The variability condensed in these PC is controlled by the cow genome, with heritability estimates for the first PC of ~0.30 at all taxonomic levels, with a large probability (>83%) of the posterior distribution being >0.20 and with the 95% highest posterior density interval (95%HPD) not containing zero. Most genetic correlation estimates between PC1 and methane were large (≥0.70), with most of the posterior distribution (>82%) being >0.50 and with its 95%HPD not containing zero. Enteric methane production was positively associated with relative abundance of eukaryotes (protozoa and fungi) through the first component of the PCA at phylum, class, order, family, and genus. Nanopore long reads allowed the characterization of the core rumen metagenome using whole-metagenome sequencing, and the purposed aggregated variables could be used in animal breeding programs to reduce methane emissions in future generations.     

Stand-alone operation of an alkaline water electrolyser fed by wind and photovoltaic systems

Over the last few years, hydrogen technologies have established themselves as key enablers in the medium and long-term development of a new energy model that offers greater sustainability and independence than the present-day one. In this respect, the integration of water electrolysis with renewable energy-based systems can play an important part in the large-scale production of sustainable hydrogen. This paper reports on the complete experimental characterisation of a 1 Nm³ h⁻¹ alkaline water electrolyser located in the Public University of Navarre (UPNa). Specifically, a study was made of the electrical performance, hydrogen production rate, purity of the gases generated and energy efficiency, for a range of operating currents (40–120 A), temperatures (35–65 °C) and pressures (5–25 bar). Additionally, an experimental study was conducted on the electrolyser operation under conditions that are characteristic of a stand-alone wind power and PV-based renewable energy system, installed at the UPNa. The results obtained for the wind power and PV emulations showed that the electrolyser performed correctly, with regard to balance of plant and its principal electrochemical characteristics. Furthermore, the mean energy efficiency of the electrolyser was 77.7% for the wind power emulation, and 78.6% for the PV emulation on a day with stable irradiance, and 78.1% on a day with highly variable irradiance (day with scattered clouds).     

Towards a satisfactory conversion of messages among agent-based information systems

Over the last years, there has been a change of perspective concerning the management of information systems, since they are no longer isolated and need to communicate with others. However, from a semantic point of view, real communication is difficult to achieve due to the heterogeneity of the systems. We present a proposal which, considering information systems are represented by software agents, provides a framework that favors a semantic communication among them, overcoming the heterogeneity of their agent communication languages. The main components of the framework are a suite of ontologies – conceptualizing communication acts – that will be used for generating the communication conversion, and an Event Calculus interpretation of the communications, which will be used for formalizing the notion of a satisfactory conversion. Moreover, we present a motivating example in order to complete the explanation of the whole picture.     

Comparative study of the volatile composition in wines obtained from traditional vinification and from the Ganimede method

BACKGROUND: This study compares the volatile composition between wines obtained from vinification carried out by the traditional method or using a new method of vinification (so‐called Ganimede). For this, Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon musts were fermented by both vinification methods. RESULTS: The volatile compounds that were above their threshold of perception in the wines were practically the same, irrespective of the vinification method used. Most of the compounds studied did not present significant differences in their concentrations between the wines obtained from the traditional and the new vinification methods. When there were significant differences, the concentration of alcohols and acids was higher in the wines vinificated by the traditional method rather than in the wines vinificated by the Ganimede method, whereas for esters, the concentration in the wines depended on the grape variety. CONCLUSION: The Ganimede method favoured polyphenol extraction without greatly affecting the studied volatile composition of the wines. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Accessible Ubiquitous Services for Supporting Daily Activities: A Case Study with Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

ABSTRACT

Ubiquitous environments have considerable potential to provide services supporting daily activities (using public transportation to and from workplace, using ATM machines, selecting and purchasing goods in ticketing or vending machines, etc.) in order to assist people with disabilities. Nevertheless, the ubiquitous service providers generally supply generic user interfaces which are not usually accessible for all potential end users. In this article, a case study to verify the adequacy of the user interfaces automatically generated by the Egoki system for two supporting ubiquitous services adapted to young adults with moderate intellectual disabilities was presented. The task completion times and the level of assistance required by participants when using the interfaces were analyzed. Participants were able to access services through a tablet and successfully complete the tasks, regardless of their level of expertise and familiarity with the service. Moreover, results indicate that their performance and confidence improved with practice, as they required fewer direct verbal and pointer cues to accomplish tasks. By applying observational methods during the experimental sessions, several potential improvements for the automated interface generation process were also detected.     

Dietary Lipid Intake only Partially Influences Variance in Serum Phospholipid Fatty Acid Composition in Adolescents: Impact of Other Dietary Factors

The present study aimed to assess the correlation between food and fatty acid (FA) intake and the serum phospholipid (PL) FA status in European adolescents and explored the percentage of variation in serum PL FA that could be attributed to dietary habits. Participants included 528 adolescents recruited in the HELENA Study. Dietary intake was assessed by two, self-administered, non-consecutive 24-h recalls. PL FA concentrations were measured in fasting venous serum samples. Reduced rank regressions were applied to examine the combined effect of food intakes. Results indicated that the variance in serum PL FA in adolescents, that could be explained by diet varied from 7.0 % for MUFA to 14.2 % for n-3FA. The variance in the long-chain n-3FA was mainly explained by fish intake but also by coffee and tea consumption. In conclusion this study indicated that dietary intake influences the serum PL FA status to a limited amount but that also other factors interfere. However, dietary intake is important as it is among those factors that could be modified. Furthermore, the results suggest that the overall dietary habits should be considered instead of only the consumption of single foods or nutrients, as the medium of the food or concomitant intake of foods and nutrients might interact and as such influence absorption or metabolism.     

Hyperprogressive Disease: Main Features and Key Controversies

Along with the positioning of immunotherapy as a preferential treatment for a wide variety of neoplasms, a new pattern of response consisting in a sudden acceleration of tumor growth has been described. This phenomenon has received the name of “hyperprogressive disease”, and several definitions have been proposed for its identification, most of them relying on radiological criteria. However, due to the fact that the cellular and molecular mechanisms have not been elucidated yet, there is still some debate regarding whether this fast progression is induced by immunotherapy or only reflects the natural course of some highly aggressive neoplasms. Moreover, contradictory results of trials including patients with different cancer types suggest that both the incidence, the associated factors and the implications regarding prognosis might differ depending on tumor histology. This article intends to review the main publications regarding this matter and critically approach the most controversial aspects.     

Green hams electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measures and pastiness prediction of dry cured hams

The objective of this study was to assess the value of electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as a predictor of certain dry-cured ham sensory properties in green hams of different technological meat qualities and processed commercially. Measurements of technological meat quality (weight, ham conformation, subcutaneous fat thickness, pH(45) and pH(u)) and some sensory properties (adhesiveness, hardness, crumbliness, pastiness, fibrousness and saltiness) were carried out on the Biceps femoris (BF) and Semimembranosus (SM) muscles. The electrical parameters, R(o), R(inf), ratio (R(inf)/R(o)), F(c) and α, were obtained with EIS equipment applied to two different regions of the ham at 36 h post mortem (BF and SM). Principal component (PC) analysis was used to describe the relationship between sensory properties and electrical parameters. For BF muscle there were no clear relationships between the electrical parameters and the sensory properties. However, for SM muscle, pastiness was correlated positively with the ratio and F(c) obtained by EIS. None of the electrical parameters obtained by EIS were able to differentiate between groups of hams classified according to their level of pastiness in the BF muscle. However, in the SM muscle, the origin of the pastiness was related to the use of PSE meat and was predicted by the electrical impedance measurements. The EIS prototype correctly detected 69.2 and 56.0% (for SM and BF muscles, respectively) of the problem hams in terms of pastiness. These results could be of use in the selection of the raw material to reduce the incidence of dry-cured hams with defective texture.     

Use of natural antioxidants from lyophilized water extracts of Borago officinalis in dry fermented sausages enriched in ω-3 PUFA

An evaluation of the capacity of a lyophilized water extract of borage leaves to delay the lipid oxidation process in dry fermented sausages enriched with ω-3 PUFAs has been performed. Lyophilized extract (340 ppm) showed an antioxidant capacity equivalent to 200 ppm of a butylhydroxyanisol (BHA) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) mixture. Two batches of dry fermented sausages enriched in ω-3 PUFA were developed. One of them was supplemented with a synthetic antioxidants mixture (200 ppm of BHA + BHT) and the other one with natural antioxidants (340 ppm of lyophilized water extract of borage leaves). Furthermore, a traditional formulation of this type of dry fermented sausage (Control), was also manufactured. The natural extract gave rise to lower amount of volatile compounds (including hexanal), than the mixture of synthetic antioxidants (2202 and 2713 ng dodecane/g dry matter, respectively). TBARS and Cholesterol Oxidation Products (COPs) did not show significant differences between products with different antioxidants. The sensorial analysis showed that lyophilized water extracts of borage leaves did not affect the sensorial properties of the products. From the economical and safety standpoints, the use of a by-product (borage leaves) and water as extracting solvent are valuable alternatives for obtaining natural antioxidants to be added to dry fermented sausages enriched in ω-3 PUFA.     

Automated simplified analysis of analogue circuit behaviour based on fully symbolic relations between parameters

Symbolic circuit analysis provides the key for understanding the mechanisms underneath circuit operation, and it can be used to obtain predictive models of circuit behaviour. Symbolic analysis has many applications in the design of analogue circuits but is severely limited by the size of the resulting expressions. Thus an efficient approximation strategy is required for successful symbolic analysis of large analogue circuits. A fully symbolic procedure for the simplification of large expressions, which mimics the heuristic procedures followed by an experienced designer (based on the relations between the parameters of the circuit), is presented in this paper. This simplification strategy is particularly well suited to be combined with some circuit level partition algorithms, leading to a blend between simplification after generation (SAG) and simplification during generation (SDG). The algorithms have been implemented and integrated on a prototype software package for the automated analysis and design of analogue circuits.