Psychosocial risks faced by olive workers in Spain: evaluated using the 'Mini Psychosocial Factors' questionnaire.

Background: Spain has the largest olive-growing area in Europe. The goal of the present research is to evaluate the psychosocial risks faced by workers in the olive groves of Jaén (the largest olive grove region of Spain).

Method: This method consists of 15 questions that analyse a total of 12 variables (mental load, demands, health, etc).

Post-Harvest Behavior of Seedless Conical and Mini-Conical Peppers: Weight Loss, Dry Matter Content, and Total Soluble Solids as Indicators of Quality and Commercial Shelf-Life.

This study aimed to assess the post-harvest dynamics of seedless conical and mini-conical pepper cultivars in terms of fruit weight loss, dry matter content, and soluble solid content. The above parameters were demonstrated to be effective commercial pepper shelf-life indicators. The commercial quality of pepper fruit intended for export was evaluated weekly under simulated fruit storage conditions for over 28 d.

A Conceptual Approach for the Design of New Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis: A Metal-Support Interactions Review.

The growing interest in green ammonia production has spurred the development of new catalysts with the potential to carry out the Haber-Bosch process under mild pressure and temperature conditions. While there is a wide experimental background on new catalysts involving transition metals, supports and additives, the fundamentals behind ammonia synthesis performance on these catalysts remained partially unsolved. Here, we review the most important works developed to date and analyze the traditional catalysts for ammonia synthesis, as well as the influence of the electron transfer properties of the so-called 3rd-generation catalysts.

Metal-Organic Frameworks as Formose Reaction Catalysts with Enhanced Selectivity.

The formose reaction is an autocatalytic series of aldol condensations that allows one to obtain monosaccharides from formaldehyde. The formose reaction suffers from a lack of selectivity, which hinders practical applications at the industrial level. Over the years, many attempts have been made to overcome this selectivity issue, with modest results.

Facile Synthesis of Heterogeneous Indium Nanoparticles for Formate Production via CO Electroreduction.

In this study, a simple and scalable method to obtain heterogeneous indium nanoparticles and carbon-supported indium nanoparticles under mild conditions is described. Physicochemical characterization by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed heterogeneous morphologies for the In nanoparticles in all cases. Apart from In, XPS revealed the presence of oxidized In species on the carbon-supported samples, whereas these species were not observed for the unsupported samples.

Risk of musculoskeletal disorders in pepper cultivation workers.

Agricultural workers have an increased risk of musculoskeletal disorders, mainly due to the manual nature of the work. This study assesses the level of physical well-being in pepper cultivation workers in Almería (Spain). The objective was to analyze pepper cultivation tasks performed in the Almería-type greenhouse, using the OWAS (Ovako Working Posture Assessment System) and RULA (Rapid Upper Limb Assessment) methods.

Improved Thermochemical Energy Storage Behavior of Manganese Oxide by Molybdenum Doping.

To improve the thermochemical energy storage (TCS) behavior of MnO, several Mn-Mo oxides with varying amounts of MoO (0-30 wt%) were prepared by a precipitation method. The physico-chemical properties of the solids were studied by N adsorption-desorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and H-temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), while their TCS behavior was determined by thermogravimetric analysis coupled with differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC). Apart from MnO and MoO phases, XRD revealed a mixed MnMoO phase for MoO loadings equal or higher than 1.

Musculoskeletal Risks: RULA Bibliometric Review.

The objective of this study was to reveal RULA method applications in terms of the knowledge, country, year and journal categories. The search was performed using the "Web of Science Core Collection". The period from 1993 to April 2019 was selected.

An Overview of REBA Method Applications in the World.

The objective of this work is to review literature, worldwide, in which the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) ergonomic assessment method was applied and count the number of times that REBA was applied together with other methods and subsequent incidence. The database used was the "Web of Science-Core Collection". Only scientific articles and bibliographic reviews were included, analysing a total of 314 documents and selecting only 91.

Catalytic Production of Jet Fuels from Biomass.

Concerns about depleting fossil fuels and global warming effects are pushing our society to search for new renewable sources of energy with the potential to substitute coal, natural gas, and petroleum. In this sense, biomass, the only renewable source of carbon available on Earth, is the perfect replacement for petroleum in producing renewable fuels. The aviation sector is responsible for a significant fraction of greenhouse gas emissions, and two billion barrels of petroleum are being consumed annually to produce the jet fuels required to transport people and goods around the world.

Interplay of Support Chemistry and Reaction Conditions on Copper Catalyzed Methanol Steam Reforming.

A series of Cu catalysts supported on SiO, AlO-SiO, TiO rutile, and Cu/TiO anatase metal oxides has been studied for methanol reforming in the vapor phase. The highest activity was obtained on Cu/SiO catalysts (5493 μmol H min·g ) followed by Cu/TiO rutile, Cu/AlO-SiO, and anatase. XRD and HRTEM characterization after reaction revealed that on Cu/SiO significant sintering occurred during reaction.

[Susceptibility of Aedes aegypti (L.) strains from Havana to a Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis].

Introduction: the integration of chemical and biological methods is one of the strategies for the vector control, due to the existing environmental problems and the concerns of the community as a result of the synthetic organic insecticide actions. The bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis in liquid formulation has been widely used in the vector control programs in several countries and has shown high efficacy at lab in Cuba.

[Influence of biotic factors on the efficacy of Bacillus thuringiensis var. Israelensis against Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae)].

Introduction: Bacillus thuringiensis H-14 has shown high efficacy on Aedes aegypti larvae. But a number of factors could affect its effectiveness. Knowing these factors is of vital importance for improving the application parameters in real conditions in order to guarantee the treatment's efficiency and to reduce environmental impact.

Improving the climate safety of workers in Almería-type greenhouses in Spain by predicting the periods when they are most likely to suffer thermal stress.

The humidex and wind-chill indices were used to determine the periods in which labourers working in Almería-type greenhouses in southeastern Spain are most likely to suffer conditions able to induce heat and cold stress. Over 500,000 pieces of data for wet and dry bulb temperatures and relative humidity, recorded over a period in excess of five years by a weather station located in an Almería-type greenhouse containing a grass crop, were used in the calculation of these indices. The wind-chill index results showed cold stress never to be a problem, but the humidex index results showed that conditions under which heat stress could develop were common in the warmer months.

[Conduct of the oviposition of Aedes aegypti (L.) in the presence of Macrocyclops albidus (J.) and Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis under lab conditions].

The behaviour of the oviposition of pregnant females of Aedes aegypti in the presence of biological agents: Macrocyclops albidus (Copepoda: Cyclopoidea) or Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis (Bti) was evaluated under lab conditions. Recipients containing 225 mL of dechlorinated water were placed for oviposition with three variants: water with copepods, water with Bti, and water.

[Ingestion of Culex quinquefasciatus larvae (Diptera: Culicidae) by Girardinus metallicus (Cyprinodontiformes: Poecilidae)].

Data on ingestion of Culex quinquefasciatus Say 1823 larvae by Girardinus metallicus, Poey 1854 under lab and field conditions were obtained and compared to those reported on the same species by other authors. It was observed that G. metallicus is not so aggressive as other species of larvivorus fish in capturing larvae.

[Use of the restriction analysis in the quality control of the strain of Cuban biolarvicide BACTIVEC].

The genomic characterization of the strain used in manufacturing biolarvicide BACTIVET was shown in this paper. Digestion patterns of Bacillus thuringiensis reference strain 266 from the collection of Pushkin Institute located in former Leningrad and of two strains isolated from 2 batches of biolarvicide were compared. Chromosomal DNA digestion was performed by enzymes Hindlll and EcoRI.