Organic Farming Research Support and Research Priorities in the European Union

Support for Organic Farming focused research has increased significantly in successive EU research funding frameworks. This is in line with constantly increasing consumer demand for organic foods over the last 20 years, which has accelerated again over the last 2 years in many European countries, including new member states. Under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7), the expected new increase of funds for organic farming could significantly decrease, even below the levels made available under the 5th Framework Programme (FP5). Most of the project topics listed focus on the development of methods for economic analyses of Organic Farming and/or follow a very “reductionist” one problem - one potential solution approach. On the other side, as there is no clear instruments to establish priorities in research programmes at European level. The IFOAM EU Group has developed a consultation process to set organic farming sector priorities, which could be used as a model to set research priorities in the future. This paper also presents a first assessment of the EU support to organic farming research, reviewing main achievements in organic food production systems research and proposing some changes in the current 7th Framework Programme

Unlearning school attendance and its problems: Moving from historical categories to postmodern dimensions

School attendance and its problems have been a focus of myriad stakeholders for over a century, which has led both to important advancements in this area as well as compartmentalized categorical approaches to explain at least part of the vast ecology of these issues. Recent seismic events and changes, however, have provided a unique opportunity to unlearn calcified notions of school attendance and its problems and to consider more inclusive paradigms. This article focuses on several categorical approaches that have been historically a focus of research, health-based clinical work, and educational and social policy in this area: defining school attendance problems, demarcating school attendance problems, subtyping school attendance problems, risk and protective factors for school attendance/problems, interventions for school attendance problems, and school completion. For each area, alternative dimensional approaches are discussed that are emerging from different disciplines and that may provide additional flexibility and comprehensiveness for avenues of endeavor relevant to a postmodern era. The article concludes with a call to abandon historical, discipline-specific, categorical silos in favor of a spectrum of postmodern, multidisciplinary systemic-analytic collaborations and shared alliances to better conceptualize and manage the full ecology of school attendance and its problems

School attendance and school absenteeism: A primer for the past, present, and theory of change for the future

School attendance and school absenteeism have been studied for over a century, leading to a rich and vast literature base. At the same time, powerful demographic, climate, social justice/equity, and technological/globalization forces are compelling disparate stakeholders worldwide to quickly adapt to rapidly changing conditions and to consider new visions of child education for the next century. These overarching forces are utilized within a theory of change approach to help develop such a vision of school attendance/absenteeism for this era. This approach adopts key long-range outcomes (readiness for adulthood for all students; synthesized systemic and analytic approaches to school attendance/absenteeism) derived from thematic outputs (reframing, social justice, and shared alliances) that are themselves derived from contemporary inputs (movement of educational agencies worldwide toward readiness for adulthood, technological advances, schools, and communities as one). As with theory of change approaches, the purpose of this discourse is not to provide a roadmap but rather a compass to develop multi-stakeholder partnerships that can leverage shared resources and expertise to achieve a final mutual goal

Análisis antropológico de los restos humanos hallados en la Tumba U.20 de la Necrópolis de Kom al-Ahmar / Sharuna (VI Dinastía) durante las campañas 2006/2007/2008

X Congreso Nacional de Paleopatología. Univesidad Autónoma de Madrid, septiembre de 200

Activations in temporal areas using visual and auditory naming stimuli: A language fMRI study in temporal lobe epilepsy

OBJECTIVE: Verbal fluency functional MRI (fMRI) is used for predicting language deficits after anterior temporal lobe resection (ATLR) for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but primarily engages frontal lobe areas. In this observational study we investigated fMRI paradigms using visual and auditory stimuli, which predominately involve language areas resected during ATLR. METHODS: Twenty-three controls and 33 patients (20 left (LTLE), 13 right (RTLE)) were assessed using three fMRI paradigms: verbal fluency, auditory naming with a contrast of auditory reversed speech; picture naming with a contrast of scrambled pictures and blurred faces. RESULTS: Group analysis showed bilateral temporal activations for auditory naming and picture naming. Correcting for auditory and visual input (by subtracting activations resulting from auditory reversed speech and blurred pictures/scrambled faces respectively) resulted in left-lateralised activations for patients and controls, which was more pronounced for LTLE compared to RTLE patients. Individual subject activations at a threshold of T > 2.5, extent >10 voxels, showed that verbal fluency activated predominantly the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in 90% of LTLE, 92% of RTLE, and 65% of controls, compared to right IFG activations in only 15% of LTLE and RTLE and 26% of controls. Middle temporal (MTG) or superior temporal gyrus (STG) activations were seen on the left in 30% of LTLE, 23% of RTLE, and 52% of controls, and on the right in 15% of LTLE, 15% of RTLE, and 35% of controls. Auditory naming activated temporal areas more frequently than did verbal fluency (LTLE: 93%/73%; RTLE: 92%/58%; controls: 82%/70% (left/right)). Controlling for auditory input resulted in predominantly left-sided temporal activations. Picture naming resulted in temporal lobe activations less frequently than did auditory naming (LTLE 65%/55%; RTLE 53%/46%; controls 52%/35% (left/right)). Controlling for visual input had left-lateralising effects. CONCLUSION: Auditory and picture naming activated temporal lobe structures, which are resected during ATLR, more frequently than did verbal fluency. Controlling for auditory and visual input resulted in more left-lateralised activations. We hypothesise that these paradigms may be more predictive of postoperative language decline than verbal fluency fMRI

Assessing DESS solution for the long-term preservation of nematodes from faecal samples

Preservation of biological samples is a relevant issue for many scientific disciplines. Although traditional preservers, such as formaldehyde or ethanol, imply major disadvantages related to health risks, DNA degradation and distortion of structures, they are widely used. Hence, the search for viable alternatives preserving morphometry and genetics seems necessary. Here we assess the suitability of DESS solution to preserve adult nematodes and their eggs in faeces. Concretely, faecal samples of terrestrial tortoises with oxyurids were used to: (i) compare the 1-month storage efficacy of eggs from different conservation protocols (faeces without preserver at -20 °C, faeces with DESS solution at room temperature, faeces with DESS solution at -20 °C and faeces with ethanol 70% at room temperature); (ii) address morphological nematode identification after 2 years of storage with DESS. We also corroborated that nematode DNA remained viable after 2 years. Overall, our results showed that DESS solution at room temperature is an advisable alternative to conserve both parasite eggs and adult nematodes for morphological identification and genetic purposes. It also offers the advantages of being low-cost, safe and suitable for fieldwork conditions and shipments without refrigeration for nematode preservation.MG was supported by a contract for postdoctoral researchers from the Generalitat Valenciana with reference APOSTD/2021/181. RCRC was supported by the European Union-Next Generation EU in the Maria Zambrano Program (ZAMBRANO 21-26). This research had the financial support of project PID2019-105682RA-I00, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

A New Approach to Energy Calculation of Road Accidents against Fixed Small Section Elements Based on Close-Range Photogrammetry

[EN] This paper presents a new approach for energetic analyses of traffic accidents against fixed road elements using close-range photogrammetry. The main contributions of the developed approach are related to the quality of the 3D photogrammetric models, which enable objective and accurate energetic analyses through the in-house tool CRASHMAP. As a result, security forces can reconstruct the accident in a simple and comprehensive way without requiring spreadsheets or external tools, and thus avoid the subjectivity and imprecisions of the traditional protocol. The tool has already been validated, and is being used by the Local Police of Salamanca (Salamanca, Spain) for the resolution of numerous accidents. In this paper, a real accident of a car against a fixed metallic pole is analysed, and significant discrepancies are obtained between the new approach and the traditional protocol of data acquisition regarding collision speed and absorbed energy.S

Assessing the accuracy of GEDI data from canopy height and aboveground biomass estimates in Mediterranean forests

Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) satellite mission is expanding the spatial bounds and temporal resolution of large-scale mapping applications. Integrating the recent GEDI data into Airborne Laser Scanning (ALS)-derived estimations represents a global opportunity to update and extend forest models based on area based approaches (ABA) considering temporal and spatial dynamics. This study evaluates the effect of combining ALS-based aboveground biomass (AGB) estimates with GEDI-derived models by using temporally coincident datasets. A gradient of forest ecosystems, distributed through 21,766 km2 in the province of Badajoz (Spain), with different species and structural complexity, was used to: (i) assess the accuracy of GEDI canopy height in five Mediterranean Ecosystems and (ii) develop GEDI-based AGB models when using ALS-derived AGB estimates at GEDI footprint level. In terms of Pearson’s correlation (r) and rRMSE, the agreement between ALS and GEDI statistics on canopy height was stronger in the denser and homogeneous coniferous forest of P. pinaster and P. pinea than in sparse Quercus-dominated forests. The GEDIderived AGB models using relative height and vertical canopy metrics yielded a model efficiency (Mef) ranging from 0.31 to 0.46, with a RMSE ranging from 14.13 to 32.16 Mg/ha and rRMSE from 38.17 to 84.74%, at GEDI footprint level by forest type. The impact of forest structure confirmed previous studies achievements, since GEDI data showed higher uncertainty in highly multilayered forests. In general, GEDI-derived models (GEDI-like Level4A) underestimated AGB over lower and higher ALS-derived AGB intervals. The proposed models could also be used to monitor biomass stocks at large-scale by using GEDI footprint level in Mediterranean areas, especially in remote and hard-to-reach areas for forest inventory. The findings from this study serve to provide an initial evaluation of GEDI data for estimating AGB in Mediterranean forestinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fe(II) complexes of pyridine-substituted thiosemicarbazone ligands as catalysts for oxidations with hydrogen peroxide

La reacción de tres complejos [FeII(TSC)2], donde TSC es una ligando de tipo tiosemicarbazona sustituido por piridina, con H2O2 en acetonitrilo no permitía acumular los correspondientes complejos de Fe(III), [FeIII(TSC)2]+. En su lugar, se generaba una mezcla de especies de Fe(II) diamagnéticas de bajo espín. Según los espectros obtenidos por espectrometría de masas, estas especies eran el resultado de la adición secuencial de hasta cinco átomos de oxígeno al complejo. Esta capacidad para la adición de átomos de oxígeno sugirió que dichas especies podrían ser activas para la transferencia de átomos de oxígeno a sustratos externos. Por ello, se evaluó la capacidad de estos complejos para la oxidación de tioanisol y estireno empleando H2O2 como oxidante inicial. Los complejos fueron activos tanto en la oxidación de tioanisol a su sulfóxido como en la de estireno a benzaldehído, con escalas temporales que indicaban la participación de las especies intermedias que contenían los átomos de oxígeno añadidos. Curiosamente, los ligandos libres y el complejo [Zn(Dp44mT)2] también catalizaban la sulfoxidación selectiva del tioanisol, pero eran ineficaces para catalizar la oxidación del estireno a benzaldehído. Estos hallazgos abren nuevas vías para el desarrollo de catalizadores metálicos basados en tiosemicarbazonas en procesos de oxidación de gran interés