ALBERT

Description: Materials, Vol. 11, Pages 1580: Demineralized Bone Matrix Coating Si-Ca-P Ceramic Does Not Improve the Osseointegration of the Scaffold Materials doi: 10.3390/ma11091580 Authors: Andrés Parrilla-Almansa Nuria García-Carrillo Patricia Ros-Tárraga Carlos M. Martínez Francisco Martínez-Martínez Luis Meseguer-Olmo Piedad N. De Aza The aim of this study was to manufacture and evaluate the effect of a biphasic calcium silicophosphate (CSP) scaffold ceramic, coated with a natural demineralized bone matrix (DBM), to evaluate the efficiency of this novel ceramic material in bone regeneration. The DBM-coated CSP ceramic was made by coating a CSP scaffold with gel DBM, produced by the partial sintering of different-sized porous granules. These scaffolds were used to reconstruct defects in rabbit tibiae, where CSP scaffolds acted as the control material. Micro-CT and histological analyses were performed to evaluate new bone formation at 1, 3, and 5 months post-surgery. The present research results showed a correlation among the data obtained by micro-CT and the histomorphological results, the gradual disintegration of the biomaterial, and the presence of free scaffold fragments dispersed inside the medullary cavity occupied by hematopoietic bone marrow over the 5-month study period. No difference was found between the DBM-coated and uncoated implants. The new bone tissue inside the implants increased with implantation time. Slightly less new bone formation was observed in the DBM-coated samples, but it was not statistically significant. Both the DBM-coated and the CSP scaffolds gave excellent bone tissue responses and good osteoconductivity.

Description: Water, Vol. 10, Pages 1133: Biofouling Formation and Bacterial Community Structure in Hybrid Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor-Membrane Bioreactors: Influence of Salinity Concentration Water doi: 10.3390/w10091133 Authors: Alejandro Rodriguez-Sanchez Juan Carlos Leyva-Diaz Barbara Muñoz-Palazon Maria Angustias Rivadeneyra Miguel Hurtado-Martinez Daniel Martin-Ramos Alejandro Gonzalez-Martinez Jose Manuel Poyatos Jesus Gonzalez-Lopez Two pilot-scale hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactors were operated in parallel for the treatment of salinity-amended urban wastewater under 6 hours of hydraulic retention time and 2500 mg L−1 total solids concentration. Two salinity conditions were tested: the constant salinity of 6.5 mS cm−1 electric conductivity (3.6 g L−1 NaCl) and the tidal-like variable salinity with maximum 6.5 mS cm−1 electric conductivity. An investigation was developed on the biofouling produced on the ultrafiltration membrane surface evaluating its bacterial community structure and its potential function in the fouling processes. The results showed that biofouling was clearly affected by salinity scenarios in terms of α-diversity and β-diversity and bacterial community structure, which confirms lower bacterial diversity under variable salinity conditions with Rhodanobacter and Dyella as dominant phylotypes. Microorganisms identified as bio-mineral formers belonged to genera Bacillus, Citrobacter, and Brevibacterium. These findings will be of help for the prevention and control of biofouling in saline wastewater treatment systems.

Description: Materials, Vol. 11, Pages 779: Drug Delivery Nanosystems for the Localized Treatment of Glioblastoma Multiforme Materials doi: 10.3390/ma11050779 Authors: L. Nam C. Coll L. C. S. Erthal C. de la Torre D. Serrano R. Martínez-Máñez M. J. Santos-Martínez E. Ruiz-Hernández Glioblastoma multiforme is one of the most prevalent and malignant forms of central nervous system tumors. The treatment of glioblastoma remains a great challenge due to its location in the intracranial space and the presence of the blood–brain tumor barrier. There is an urgent need to develop novel therapy approaches for this tumor, to improve the clinical outcomes, and to reduce the rate of recurrence and adverse effects associated with present options. The formulation of therapeutic agents in nanostructures is one of the most promising approaches to treat glioblastoma due to the increased availability at the target site, and the possibility to co-deliver a range of drugs and diagnostic agents. Moreover, the local administration of nanostructures presents significant additional advantages, since it overcomes blood–brain barrier penetration issues to reach higher concentrations of therapeutic agents in the tumor area with minimal side effects. In this paper, we aim to review the attempts to develop nanostructures as local drug delivery systems able to deliver multiple agents for both therapeutic and diagnostic functions for the management of glioblastoma.

Description: Sensors, Vol. 18, Pages 1795: A Mission Planning Approach for Precision Farming Systems Based on Multi-Objective Optimization Sensors doi: 10.3390/s18061795 Authors: Zhaoyu Zhai José-Fernán Martínez Ortega Néstor Lucas Martínez Jesús Rodríguez-Molina As the demand for food grows continuously, intelligent agriculture has drawn much attention due to its capability of producing great quantities of food efficiently. The main purpose of intelligent agriculture is to plan agricultural missions properly and use limited resources reasonably with minor human intervention. This paper proposes a Precision Farming System (PFS) as a Multi-Agent System (MAS). Components of PFS are treated as agents with different functionalities. These agents could form several coalitions to complete the complex agricultural missions cooperatively. In PFS, mission planning should consider several criteria, like expected benefit, energy consumption or equipment loss. Hence, mission planning could be treated as a Multi-objective Optimization Problem (MOP). In order to solve MOP, an improved algorithm, MP-PSOGA, is proposed, taking advantages of the Genetic Algorithms and Particle Swarm Optimization. A simulation, called precise pesticide spraying mission, is performed to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. Simulation results illustrate that the proposed approach works properly. This approach enables the PFS to plan missions and allocate scarce resources efficiently. The theoretical analysis and simulation is a good foundation for the future study. Once the proposed approach is applied to a real scenario, it is expected to bring significant economic improvement.

Description: Sustainability, Vol. 10, Pages 2377: Usage Behaviour of Public Spaces Associated with Sport and Recreational Activities Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su10072377 Authors: Fátima Chacón-Borrego Juan Antonio Corral-Pernía Asunción Martínez-Martínez Carolina Castañeda-Vázquez Public spaces (PS) encourage personal interaction and promote behaviours such as doing sport and recreational activities. This study analysed the characteristics of sport and recreational activities among the adult population of Seville associated with and/or determining the use of a PS for the activity. We adopted a cross sectional survey design with 1002 subjects (18+) from the municipality of Seville using a questionnaire on habits of sport and recreational activities. We then performed a descriptive, correlational and binary logistical regression analysis of the data. Results showed that the characteristics of sport and recreational activities associated with and determining the use of PS are age and gender as sociodemographic variables and the type of activity performed, high frequency and duration, on any day of the week and throughout the year.

Description: Sustainability, Vol. 10, Pages 1110: Evaluation and Improvement of Lighting Efficiency in Working Spaces Sustainability doi: 10.3390/su10041110 Authors: Ana Castillo-Martinez Jose-Amelio Medina-Merodio Jose-Maria Gutierrez-Martinez Juan Aguado-Delgado Carmen de-Pablos-Heredero Salvador Otón Lighting is an essential element for modern life, promoting a sense of wellbeing for users. However, bad illumination may produce health problems such as headaches and fatigue, among other vision problems. For that reason, this paper proposes the development of a smartphone-based application to help in lighting evaluation to guarantee the compliance of illumination regulations and to help increase illuminance efficiency, reducing its energy consumption. To perform this evaluation, the smartphone can be used as a lighting measurement tool, evaluating those measurements through an intelligent agent based in rules capable of guiding the decision-making process. As a result, this tool allows the evaluation of the real working environment to guarantee lighting requirements, helping in the prevention of health problems derived from bad illumination and improving the lighting efficiency at the same time.

Description: Forests, Vol. 9, Pages 170: Managing the Early Warning Systems of Invasive Species of Plants, Birds, and Mammals in Natural and Planted Pine Forests Forests doi: 10.3390/f9040170 Authors: María Martínez-Jauregui Mario Soliño Jesús Martínez-Fernández Julia Touza Plantations with alien forest species could be a major way for invasive plant and animal species to become introduced and naturally established in a territory, but the sensitivity of plantations with native forest species to invasive plant and animal species is still unknown. This paper studies the probability of the presence and the richness of invasive species of three different taxa (plants, birds, and mammals) in pine forests of southwestern Europe. To do so, the relative contribution from natural and planted forests is analysed to explain the presence and the richness of invasive species in 3950 cells (10 km × 10 km) covering Spain after controlling for the possible effects of variables related to geography, climate, land use, landscape, and human pressure on the environment. Our results show that man’s influence on the establishment of invasive species is notable. However, those forests that are the most intensely managed by man, such as pine plantations with native species, seem less susceptible to the establishment and propagation of invasive species. Reasons may be found in those planted pine forests being closely monitored, controlled, and managed by man. Therefore, it is argued that efforts related to the early warning systems of invasive species should be focused on natural pine forests.

Description: Remote Sensing, Vol. 10, Pages 368: Erratum: Maresma, A., et al. Analysis of Vegetation Indices to Determine Nitrogen Application and Yield Prediction in Maize (Zea mays L.) from a Standard UAV Service. Remote Sens. 2017, 9, 648 Remote Sensing doi: 10.3390/rs10030368 Authors: Ángel Maresma Mar Ariza Elías Martínez Jaume Lloveras José Martínez-Casasnovas After publication of the research paper [1], the authors noticed an error and wish to make the following correction.[...]

Description: Author(s): Yi-Chao Li, D. Martínez-Cercós, S. Martínez-Garaot, Xi Chen, and J. G. Muga We propose a method to manipulate four-level systems with specific coupling configurations by means of time-dependent couplings and constant energy shifts (detunings in quantum-optical realizations). We inversely engineer the Hamiltonian, in ladder, tripod, or diamond configurations, to prepare arbi... [Phys. Rev. A 97, 013830] Published Fri Jan 19, 2018

Description: Sensors, Vol. 18, Pages 342: Preliminary Results of a New Auxiliary Mechatronic Near-Field Radar System to 3D Mammography for Early Detection of Breast Cancer Sensors doi: 10.3390/s18020342 Authors: Ashkan Ghanbarzadeh Dagheyan Ali Molaei Richard Obermeier Andrew Westwood Aida Martinez Jose Martinez Lorenzo Accurate and early detection of breast cancer is of high importance, as it is directly associated with the patients’ overall well-being during treatment and their chances of survival. Uncertainties in current breast imaging methods can potentially cause two main problems: (1) missing newly formed or small tumors; and (2) false alarms, which could be a source of stress for patients. A recent study at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) indicates that using Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) can reduce the number of false alarms, when compared to conventional mammography. Despite the image quality enhancement DBT provides, the accurate detection of cancerous masses is still limited by low radiological contrast (about 1%) between the fibro-glandular tissue and affected tissue at X-ray frequencies. In a lower frequency region, at microwave frequencies, the contrast is comparatively higher (about 10%) between the aforementioned tissues; yet, microwave imaging suffers from low spatial resolution. This work reviews conventional X-ray breast imaging and describes the preliminary results of a novel near-field radar imaging mechatronic system (NRIMS) that can be fused with the DBT, in a co-registered fashion, to combine the advantages of both modalities. The NRIMS consists of two antipodal Vivaldi antennas, an XY positioner, and an ethanol container, all of which are particularly designed based on the DBT physical specifications. In this paper, the independent performance of the NRIMS is assessed by (1) imaging a bearing ball immersed in sunflower oil and (2) computing the heat Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) due to the electromagnetic power transmitted into the breast. The preliminary results demonstrate that the system is capable of generating images of the ball. Furthermore, the SAR results show that the system complies with the standards set for human trials. As a result, a configuration based on this design might be suitable for use in realistic clinical applications.