A Methodology Based on Machine Learning and Soft Computing to Design More Sustainable Agriculture Systems.

Advances in new technologies are allowing any field of real life to benefit from using these ones. Among of them, we can highlight the IoT ecosystem making available large amounts of information, cloud computing allowing large computational capacities, and Machine Learning techniques together with the Soft Computing framework to incorporate intelligence. They constitute a powerful set of tools that allow us to define Decision Support Systems that improve decisions in a wide range of real-life problems. In this paper, we focus on the agricultural sector and the issue of sustainability. We propose a methodology that, starting from times series data provided by the IoT ecosystem, a preprocessing and modelling of the data based on machine learning techniques is carried out within the framework of Soft Computing. The obtained model will be able to carry out inferences in a given prediction horizon that allow the development of Decision Support Systems that can help the farmer. By way of illustration, the proposed methodology is applied to the specific problem of early frost prediction. With some specific scenarios validated by expert farmers in an agricultural cooperative, the benefits of the methodology are illustrated. The evaluation and validation show the effectiveness of the proposal.

Incidencia de la infección nosocomial en pacientes trasplantados hepáticos. Factores de riesgo y rol de las enfermeras / Incidence of cross infection in liver transplant patients. Risk factors and role of nursinge

Objetivo: Conocer la incidencia de infección en pacientes trasplantados hepáticos, en el postrasplante inmediato y los factores de riesgo de infección, durante el ingreso en una unidad de trasplante hepático. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo, prospectivo realizado en la Unidad de trasplante hepático del Hospital Clínic que incluyó a todos los pacientes que fueron trasplantados entre enero de 2012 y agosto de 2015(n=241). Se realizó el análisis de datos con el paquete estadístico R Comander. Las variables cualitativas se compararon con el chi2 y las cuantitativas con la t de Student, considerándose significativa una p≤ 0,05. Resultados: La incidencia de infección fue de 34,8% (n=241). Las bacterianas fueron las más frecuentes (75,3%) y dentro de estas las urinarias (34%) causadas por Escherichia coli y Klebsiella pneumoniae. Realizado el análisis multivariado en las infecciones bacterianas, se observó que el sexo, la edad y los días de estancia en hospital fueron los factores predictivos independientes. Conclusiones: La infección bacteriana en el postrasplante inmediato es común y repercute en la recuperación del paciente, implicando más días de estancia hospitalaria y más procesos invasivos. El personal de enfermería debe conocer los factores de riesgo relacionados con la infección para extremar medidas de prevención. La correcta aplicación de las recomendaciones publicadas en la bibliografía sobre la inserción, mantenimiento y retirada precoz de dispositivos médicos y el cumplimiento de la higiene de manos son fundamentales (AU)

Objective: To determine the incidence and risk factors of infection in liver transplant recipients immediately post-transplant, during admission to a liver transplant unit during the immediate post-transplant admission. Methodology: Descriptive, prospective study performed in the Liver Transplant Unit of Hospital Clínic, Barcelona. All liver transplant recipients between January 2012 and August 2015 (n=241) were included. Statistical analysis was performed with R Commander. Variables were compared with Chi-square and Student's t-test. A value of p≤.05 was considered significant. Results: The incidence of infection was 34.8%. The most frequent infections were bacterial (75.3%), particularly urinary infections (34.6%) caused by Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Independent risk factors for the development of bacterial infections according to multivariate analysis were sex, age and length of hospital stay. Conclusions: Infections are a significant problem in the early post-transplant period, and are associated with longer hospitalisation periods. The role of nursing in preventing infections, by identifying risk factors, correctly applying nursing protocols in insertion, maintenance and early withdrawal of medical devices and fulfilling hand hygiene, is essential (AU)

Incidence of cross infection in liver transplant patients. Risk factors and role of nursinge. / Incidencia de la infección nosocomial en pacientes trasplantados hepáticos. Factores de riesgo y rol de las enfermeras.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence and risk factors of infection in liver transplant recipients immediately post-transplant, during admission to a liver transplant unit during the immediate post-transplant admission. METHODOLOGY: Descriptive, prospective study performed in the Liver Transplant Unit of Hospital Clínic, Barcelona. All liver transplant recipients between January 2012 and August 2015 (n=241) were included. Statistical analysis was performed with R Commander. Variables were compared with Chi-square and Student's t-test. A value of p≤.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: The incidence of infection was 34.8%. The most frequent infections were bacterial (75.3%), particularly urinary infections (34.6%) caused by Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Independent risk factors for the development of bacterial infections according to multivariate analysis were sex, age and length of hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Infections are a significant problem in the early post-transplant period, and are associated with longer hospitalisation periods. The role of nursing in preventing infections, by identifying risk factors, correctly applying nursing protocols in insertion, maintenance and early withdrawal of medical devices and fulfilling hand hygiene, is essential.

Sesgo de publicación: ¿existe también en estudios de metanálisis? / Publication bias: does it also exist in meta-analysis studies?

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Degradation models and ecotoxicity in marine waters of two antifouling compounds: sodium hypochlorite and an alkylamine surfactant.

Industrial wastes have a substantial impact on coastal environments. Therefore, to evaluate the impact of cooling water discharges from coastal power plants, we studied the kinetics of the degradative processes and the ecotoxicity of two antifouling products: (1) a classic antifouling product; sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) and (2) an alternative one; aliphatic amines (commercial under the registered trade mark Mexel432). To assess the persistence of both compounds the decay of sodium hypochlorite and the primary biodegradation rate of Mexel432 were determined in natural seawater at 20 degrees C. The results indicated a more rapid decay of NaClO than Mexel432. The degradation behavior of both chemicals was described following a logistic model, which permitted calculating kinetic parameters such as t(50) or t(90). The t(50) was 1h and 2d for NaClO and Mexel432, respectively. To evaluate the potential risks of the aforementioned treatments to marine organisms, the acute toxicity of both antifouling products was studied on the microalgae Isochrysis galbana and Dunaliella salina, and on the invertebrate Brachionus plicatilis, using growth inhibition and death tests as toxic response, respectively. For I. galbana, the 96-h EC(50) values were 2.91+/-0.15mg/L of NaClO and 4.55+/-0.11mg/L of Mexel432. D. salina showed values of 96-h EC(50) of 1.73+/-0.16mg/L of NaClO and 7.21+/-0.1mg/L of Mexel432. Brachionus plicatilis showed a 24-h LC(50) of 1.23+/-0.1mg/L of NaClO and 3.62+/-0.37mg/L of Mexel432. Acute toxicity was highly dependent on the chemical and species tested. NaClO presented more toxic effects than Mexel432, also B. plicatilis was the most sensitive species in both cases. The lowest NOECs obtained, 0.25mg/L for NaClO and 2.12mg/L for Mexel432, were similar to the theoretical residual concentrations of these biocides in cooling water discharges. Therefore, these discharges can cause undesirable negative effects upon the aquatic organisms present.

Biodegradation kinetics of linear alkylbenzene sulphonates in sea water.

This article reports the primary biodegradation kinetics of linear alkylbenzene sulphonates (LAS) in sea water from the Bay of Cadiz (South West of the Iberian Peninsula). The authors used the biodegradation test guideline proposed by the Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances of the United States Environmental Protection Agency; 835.3160 "Biodegradability in sea water" in its shake flask variant. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been employed for the analysis of the surfactant material. The surfactant shows a primary biodegradation kinetic in accordance with a logistic model, the kinetic parameters t (50) and lag time were calculated by means of a easy quantitative procedure introduced. Mean values of 6.15 +/- 0.45 and 6.67 +/- 0.6 days were obtained for t (50) and lag time, respectively. These results indicate that although LAS has a high primary biodegradation rate in sea water, it biodegrades slower than in similar tests conducted in river water.

Molecular structure and biodegradation kinetics of linear alkylbenzene sulphonates in sea water.

The present paper describes the results of the application of the biodegradation test proposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) "Biodegradability in sea water" Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) 835.3160, to Linear Alkylbenzene Sulphonate (LAS), the synthetic surfactant with the highest consumption volume on a world-wide basis. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has been employed for the separation and quantification of the different homologues and isomers of the surfactant. Water from the Bay of Cádiz (South-West of the Iberian peninsula) has been used as test medium. The results indicate how both lag and t (50) time shows a significant linear relationship with the length of the alkyl chain of the homologue; the effect of this is that the homologues of longer chain length not only begin to degrade first but also degrade at a faster rate. Regarding the isomeric composition, it is observed that as the percentage of biodegradation increases, there is an increase in the proportion of internal isomers, in comparison with the isomeric relationships of the original test substance.