Species diversity promotes facilitation under stressful conditions

Climate change is expected to lead to a drier world, with more frequent and severe droughts, constituting a growing threat to biodiversity, especially in drylands. Positive plant−plant interactions, such as nurse plants facilitating beneficiary communities in their understorey, could mitigate such climate‐induced stress. However, testing the real‐world relevance of nurse facilitation under drought requires accounting for interactions within the diverse beneficiary communities, which may reduce, or amplify the buffering effect of a nurse. Here, we investigated when and how the interactions among nurse plants and beneficiary community members buffered drought effects in a Mediterranean semiarid abandoned cropland. We transplanted sapling beneficiary communities of either one or three species either under a nurse or in open microsites for different soil moisture levels through watering. Net facilitative effects on survival and biomass were only observed when beneficiary communities were species‐diverse and under drought (without watering), meaning that under these conditions, facilitation provided by the nurse had larger positive effects than the negative effects stemming from competition with the nurse and among beneficiary species. Nurses appear to be generating these increases in survival and biomass in drought conditions via two mechanisms commonly associated with watering in open sites: they generate complementarity among the beneficiaries and shift traits to lower stress profiles. Contrasting with watering, which was found to enhance competitive hierarchy, our study shows that nurses appear to alter species dominance, favouring the less competitive species. Our results highlight three mechanisms (complementarity, competitive dominance, and trait plasticity) by which nurse species could mitigate the loss of biodiversity and biomass production due to water stress. Maintaining and supporting nurse species is thus a potentially pivotal approach in the face of projected increase in drought conditions for many drylands across the world

Las políticas públicas nacionales de Colombia para la formación de educadores infantiles

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo delinear el estado del arte de las políticas públicas para la formación del profesorado en los últimos quince años en Colombia, en especial la formación del educador infantil. Para tal fin se realizó una extensa revisión bibliográfica de normativas, artículos y trabajos investigativos en el área. Se apuntan algunos puntos relevantes: el aumento de la importancia de la educación infantil en las últimas décadas, principalmente en el marco de nuevas políticas para la infancia. Aunque la normativa apunta a nuevos e innovadores parámetros educativos, el asistencialismo está en primer orden. Esto se refleja en la visión social de la infancia como momento restringido al cuidado, que disminuye la importancia de las intervenciones educativas planeadas y los aspectos educativos en general, agravado por la falta de profesionales de la educación infantil que fomenten y concreten el área de la educación infantil, y que construyan conocimiento práctico. Se recomienda invertir en la formación de docentes, valorizar la realización de investigación en el área, así como promover mayor profesionalización del personal, tomando medidas para la valorización del profesional de educación infanti

The present and future of QCD

This White Paper presents an overview of the current status and future perspective of QCD research, based on the community inputs and scientific conclusions from the 2022 Hot and Cold QCD Town Meeting. We present the progress made in the last decade toward a deep understanding of both the fundamental structure of the sub-atomic matter of nucleon and nucleus in cold QCD, and the hot QCD matter in heavy ion collisions. We identify key questions of QCD research and plausible paths to obtaining answers to those questions in the near future, hence defining priorities of our research over the coming decades

Biodegradation and sorption of 17α-ethinylestradiol in submerged membrane bioreactor: Effect of initial ammonium concentration

Environmental Engineering and Management Journal11101763-176

Acute effect of three different exercise training modalities on executive function in overweight inactive men: A secondary analysis of the BrainFit study

There is currently a consensus about the positive effects of physical exercise on cognition. However, the exercise intensity-dependent effect on executive function remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the acute effects of high-intensity aerobic interval training (HIIT), progressive resistance training (PRT), or combined training (PRT + HIIT) on executive function indicators in overweight inactive adult men (aged 18–30 years old). The participants were screened and excluded for medical conditions known to impact cognitive functioning, which was measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) screening cognitive test. A randomised, parallel-group clinical trial was conducted among 36 adults who were randomly assigned to a HIIT (n = 12), PRT (n = 7), PRT + HIIT (n = 7), or control group (n = 10) until the energy expenditure of 400–500 kcal. Cognitive inhibition and attention capacity were examined using the Stroop test and d2 test of attention, respectively, and were obtained pre-exercise for baseline measurement and 1 min post-exercise for each exercise training modality. Cognitive inhibition measured by the Stroop test was improved after the HIIT protocol for the domains of reading by +5.89 (?2 = 0.33), colour naming +9.0 (?2 = 0.60), interference +10.1 (?2 = 0.39), and index interference +6.0 (?2 = 0.20). Additionally, the PRT + HIIT group had an increase for the reading condition of +7.1 (?2 = 0.40), colour naming +7.5 (?2 = 0.80), and interference +5.8 (?2 = 0.39). In regard to attentional capacity, the HIIT group elicited small to medium improvements in the concentration level domain of +21.7 (?2 = 0.44), total performance domain +56.6 (?2 = 0.50), and consistency domain ?3.0 (?2 = 0.27). These results were similar in the PRT and PRT + HIIT groups in the concentration level and items-processed domains (P and lt; 0.05). In conclusion, acute HIIT and PRT + HIIT sessions reported important effect sizes than PRT alone for cognitive inhibition and attention capacity. Taken together, the results suggest that even short-term exercise interventions can enhance overweight adults' executive functions. © 2018 Elsevier Inc

Acute effect of three different exercise training modalities on executive function in overweight inactive men: A secondary analysis of the BrainFit study

There is currently a consensus about the positive effects of physical exercise on cognition. However, the exercise intensity-dependent effect on executive function remains unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the acute effects of high-intensity aerobic interval training (HIIT), progressive resistance training (PRT), or combined training (PRT + HIIT) on executive function indicators in overweight inactive adult men (aged 18–30 years old). The participants were screened and excluded for medical conditions known to impact cognitive functioning, which was measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) screening cognitive test. A randomised, parallel-group clinical trial was conducted among 36 adults who were randomly assigned to a HIIT (n = 12), PRT (n = 7), PRT + HIIT (n = 7), or control group (n = 10) until the energy expenditure of 400–500 kcal. Cognitive inhibition and attention capacity were examined using the Stroop test and d2 test of attention, respectively, and were obtained pre-exercise for baseline measurement and 1 min post-exercise for each exercise training modality. Cognitive inhibition measured by the Stroop test was improved after the HIIT protocol for the domains of reading by +5.89 (?2 = 0.33), colour naming +9.0 (?2 = 0.60), interference +10.1 (?2 = 0.39), and index interference +6.0 (?2 = 0.20). Additionally, the PRT + HIIT group had an increase for the reading condition of +7.1 (?2 = 0.40), colour naming +7.5 (?2 = 0.80), and interference +5.8 (?2 = 0.39). In regard to attentional capacity, the HIIT group elicited small to medium improvements in the concentration level domain of +21.7 (?2 = 0.44), total performance domain +56.6 (?2 = 0.50), and consistency domain ?3.0 (?2 = 0.27). These results were similar in the PRT and PRT + HIIT groups in the concentration level and items-processed domains (P and lt; 0.05). In conclusion, acute HIIT and PRT + HIIT sessions reported important effect sizes than PRT alone for cognitive inhibition and attention capacity. Taken together, the results suggest that even short-term exercise interventions can enhance overweight adults' executive functions. © 2018 Elsevier Inc