Operational change as a profitable cleaner production tool for a brewery

The development and implementation of new procedures and operational changes in the production processes constitutes a powerful tool for the practical application of Cleaner Production in industries. In this work an operational change (new procedure) was developed for the elaboration of a type of beer which uses sugar as malt adjunct. The change consists in processing separately the three main components of the beer wort: malt extract, sugar and water, and use them properly in a different sequence than that used up to date in the traditional process. The new procedure was successfully assayed on industrial scale in Tínima brewery, located in Camagüey, Cuba, obtaining a good quality beer, technological and economical advantages with benefits for the environment, registering significant savings in energy (49%), sugar (4%), water (7%) and caustic soda (3%) consumption; and diminishing the surplus hot water (74%), waste generation (11%) and greenhouse gases emission (21%). Beer production capacity is increased also almost three times. With the application of the new technology to the Cuban beer type of 8 °P, it was achieved a total saving of US$ 481.83/1000 hL of beer produced.     

Prevalence of Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) Antibodies in Mexican Pigs

The hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of Hepatitis E, an enterically transmitted disease. HEV infections in pigs and humans have been reported worldwide, but data from Mexico are scarce. In the present study, the prevalence of anti-HEV IgG antibodies was investigated in a quite large number of swine from Mexico by means of an ELISA based on a recombinant open reading frame 2 protein of HEV genotype 3. Serum samples from 683 healthy pigs (1–48 months old), collected during 2010–2013 in 109 herds from 48 municipalities located in 9 states in the centre of the country were assayed. A 30.75 % (210/683) of the sera tested were positive, and they were distributed along all the states included in the study. The prevalence of anti-HEV antibodies varied widely between municipalities and herds, and it was higher in pigs 4–6 months of age. No relationships were detected between seroprevalences and farm characteristics. Forty individual faecal samples were analysed by RT-PCR and all resulted negative. These data indicate that HEV infection is widespread in Mexican pigs; thus, representing a potential zoonotic risk for humans.     

Interaction of alongshore sediment transport and habitat conditions at Laguna La Mancha, Veracruz, Mexico

The habitats of La Mancha Lagoon, located midway along the coast of Veracruz, Mexico, are responding to the change of sediment supply reaching its primary inlet at the Gulf of Mexico. Until several decades ago, an abundant alongshore supply of sediment created a periodic opening and closing of the La Mancha inlet. The hydrologic regime of the lagoon consisted of raised water level and lower salinity during the closures, whereas the open inlet favored lower water level, higher salinity, and sediment accumulation in the flood tidal delta. Currently, diminished alongshore sediment supply has affected the inlet morphology and the discharge regime. Associated with the reduced sediment supply, the inlet is open longer in its periodic cycle, the water level variation is reduced, the salinity contrasts are reduced, and the rate of sedimentation in the flood-tide delta is increased. This combination of alterations to the inlet area is changing the flooding regime and affecting the conditions in a very well-developed mangrove habitat at the lagoon margins as well as conditions within the aqueous portions of the lagoon. Management options produce a conflict between supporting the direction of change or preserving the existing habitats.     

Assessment of tomato Mediterranean production in open-field and standard multi-tunnel greenhouse,with compost or mineral fertilizers,from an agricultural and environmental standpoint

This study presents detailed and comprehensive inventories on the horticultural production of tomato using compost (CM) or mineral fertilizers (M), in both open-fields (OF) and greenhouses (GH), providing information on the environmental impacts and assessing the agronomic viability of the four cultivation options. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to calculate the potential environmental impacts of the tomato production cycle per ton of product. The stages in the assessment included: mineral and organic fertilizers production, fertilizers transport, cultivation stage and greenhouse stage. The data were obtained experimentally in pilot fields and in an industrial composting facility using municipal organic waste, both located in the Mediterranean area. The results indicate that replacing a fraction of the mineral fertilizers dosage with compost is a good option, as this did not alter yield or fruit size parameters. Greenhouse protection increased infrastructure materials requirements but enhanced harvest by almost 50% and reduced the water and pesticides requirement. Compost production and greenhouse stages were the most impacting stages. Without subtracting the avoided burdens by composting and not dumping organic waste, the cultivation option OF_M had the lowest and OF_CM the highest impact. When avoided burdens were taken into consideration, the environmental impacts of the four cultivation options varied, depending on the impact category, with bigger differences due to fertilization as a variable rather than the production system.     

浅议《周易·同人》的义战思想

战争在古代是"国之大事",孔子曰:"国之大事,在祀与戎。"可见在古代人们把战争看作与祭祀一样重要的大事,所以二者殊途同重,互相交结,有别有同。既有关于战争的祭祀,又有祭祀时形成的卜辞,积累了丰富的战争智慧。《周易·同人》就是此例:之所以叫"同人",是因为战亦有道,多助和同。对"同人"的理解,对于帮助我们理解孟子所说的"义战",追溯古人的战争智慧有着重要意义。     

The multidimensionality of behavioural defences against brood parasites: evidence for a behavioural syndrome in magpies?

Studies of antiparasite defences against cuckoo parasites have largely neglected the possibility that behavioural components of host defence may correlate giving rise to a behavioural syndrome. Furthermore, the different contribution of the host’s sex in nest defence has traditionally been disregarded. Here, we studied magpie (Pica pica) mobbing behaviour towards dummies of great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) and non-harmful hoopoes (Upupa epops) and egg rejection of parasite eggs in a population of colour-banded magpies. We predicted a positive correlation between the intensity of nest defence and egg rejection within each sex and that females respond more intensely than males to the threat of brood parasitism as they undertake incubation. Magpie males, but not females, defended their nests more intensely in those nests in which cuckoo model eggs were rejected. Individual magpies did significantly differ in their baseline level of nest attentiveness; however, there were no individual differences once pair identity was considered. Males and females defended their nests more intensely when it was exposed to the presence of a great spotted cuckoo dummy. Males, but not females, were more prone to appear at their nests, and females, but not males, were more prone to defend more intensely when their nests were challenged by a parasite threat. Our results thus agree with the view that mobbing behaviour and egg rejection in magpies may actually constitute a pseudosyndrome and highlight the necessity to integrate interindividual variation and the sex of the host in studies of the evolution of host defences.     

Chemosensory assessment of rival body size is based on chemosignal concentration in male Spanish terrapins

Assessment of the fighting ability of potential opponents is an essential skill to minimize the costs of agonistic interactions between males. Previous research showed that chemical cues released in the water by male turtles may convey information about body size, which is important for intrasexual competition. However, the mechanistic basis of such chemical signaling of body size remains poorly understood. Here, we aimed to experimentally examine whether the release of chemosignals is quantitatively or qualitatively dependent on body size in male Spanish terrapins Mauremys leprosa. We compared the time that turtles spent in a pool with clean water versus water containing chemical stimuli of conspecific males of different body sizes at two different concentrations (“diluted” or “undiluted”). Male terrapins avoided water with chemicals secreted by relatively larger males when these chemicals were undiluted, but not after the chemical stimuli were diluted. In contrast, male terrapins did not avoid chemicals of relatively smaller males in any treatment. Thus, male M. leprosa may assess the size of their rivals on the basis of the concentration or the amounts of their chemical cues released into the water and consequently avoid occupying these ponds with higher concentrations of chemicals. This study gives important hints about the mechanism of chemical signaling in freshwater turtles and demonstrates that male turtles may discriminate different concentrations of chemosignals of conspecifics and modify their behavior accordingly. Likewise, our results support the notion that relative body size is a key factor during male interactions in Spanish terrapins.