A bracket for filming nests

Els patrons d'alimentació dels progenitors i la interacció entre els polls és de gran importància en qualsevol estudi sobre les relacions paternofilials en ocells altricials. La gravació de seqüències de vídeo ofereix una eina fonamental per a l'anàlisi d'aquests comportaments. En aquest article es descriu un suport per subjectar una càmera de video, emprada amb èxit en un estudi amb la garsa blava. El suport no va afectar negativament als ocells, ja que no es van detectar diferències en el desenvolupament dels polls ni en les taxes de predació entre els nius en els quals es va utilitzar el suport i aquells altres en els quals no es va emprar

Impact of short-term extreme temperature events on physiological performance of Salicornia ramosissima J. Woods under optimal and sub-optimal saline conditions

Increasing extreme temperature climatic events could exert an important effect on plant photosynthetic performance, which could be modulated by the co-occurrence with other environmental factors, such as salinity, in estuarine ecosystems. Therefore, a mesocosm experiment was designed to assess the impact of temperature events for three days (13/5 °C, 25/13 °C and 40/28 °C) in combination with two NaCl concentrations (171 and 1050 mM NaCl) on the physiological performance of Salicornia ramosissima. Extreme temperature events had a negative impact on S. ramosissima photosynthetic efficiency, this effect being more marked with cold wave at both salinities, compared with heat wave, even in presence of NaCl excess. This differential thermotolerance in the photosynthetic apparatus was ascribed to the greater integrity and functioning of its photosynthetic pathway at high temperature, as indicated by constant gs, Vc,max values at optimal salinity and the higher values of those parameters and gm recorded in combination with NaCl excess. Moreover, S. ramosissima was able to upregulate the energy sink capacity of its photochemical apparatus at elevated temperature and salinity by a greater energy excess dissipation capacity. This could have contributed to reducing the risk of oxidative stress, along with the recorded higher capacity for antioxidant enzyme activity modulation under these conditions.España, MINECO Project CGL2016– 75550-

The Economic Impact of Drought on the Irrigated Crops in the Segura River Basin

Throughout history, the Segura River Basin, located in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, has suffered from countless drought periods. They have largely been managed as occasional episodes of crisis through the reduction of the resources applied or the mobilisation of extraordinary resources. Recently, the phenomena of drought and water scarcity have been incorporated into Spain's national hydrological plan. This has given rise to an improvement in their diagnosis and management and enables us to learn about how climate change affects their frequency and intensity. Agriculture is highly relevant in the basin, comprising mainly irrigated crops that represent more than 80% of total demand for a net area of more than 260,000 ha. There is an undeniable connection between this sector and the availability of water and in periods of drought, such as the recent episode in the Segura River Basin (drought declaration in the territorial area of the Segura River Basin through Royal Decree 356/2015 of 8 May), the reduction in the availability of water generates a significant impact on the agricultural sector. Therefore, by analysing the production value and net margin generated in the agri-food systems, both the values established in the 2015/21 Hydrological Plan and those estimated in the drought period 2015–2019, we seek to assess the economic impacts generated, as knowing the direct effect on the agricultural sector will enable us to quantify the opportunity cost resulting from not being able to apply 100% of the resources demanded.This research was funded by the Water Chair of the University of Alicante-Alicante Provincial Council (2020) and by the CampusHábitat5U network of excellence

Repercusiones Económicas de la Sequía 2015-2018 en el Regadío de la Demarcación Hidrográfica del Segura

La Demarcación Hidrográfica del Segura, situada en el sureste de la Península Ibérica, ha sufrido a lo largo de su historia innumerables periodos de sequía, gestionados como episodios puntuales de crisis mediante la reducción de los recursos aplicados o con la movilización de recursos extraordinarios. Recientemente los fenómenos de sequía y escasez han sido incorporados a la planificación nacional, permitiendo mejorar su diagnóstico y gestión, mediante el uso de indicadores y con la aplicación de medidas programadas, así como la influencia del cambio climático en su frecuencia e intensidad. Tradicionalmente el peso de la agricultura en la demarcación ha sido muy importante, tanto en cultivos de regadío que suponen más del 80% de las demandas totales, para una superficie neta de más de 260.000 ha, como para los cultivos de secano. El vínculo de este sector con la disponibilidad de agua queda fuera de toda duda, y en un periodo de sequía como el que recientemente se ha producido, conocer el impacto socioeconómico es importante para el diagnóstico de la eficacia de las medidas implantadas

Procedures and Legal Instruments for Drought Declaration in the Segura River Basin (Spain)

The phenomenon of drought and its socioeconomic and environmental consequences have been addressed in many studies, which show that anticipating its diagnosis and activating specific management measures are fundamental for providing an efficient response. In the Segura River Basin, located in south-east Spain, many episodes have occurred throughout history, with devastating effects on production and supply systems. However, they have enabled us to learn and evolve towards developing a resilient system to address these situations, through the application of external resources, transfers from other basins and non-conventional resources derived from the reuse of treated water and desalinated seawater. This evolution has been possible thanks to the advances made in hydrological planning and, specifically, the Special Drought Plans, through the development of indicator systems associated with scenarios which enable the automatic activation of specific actions to reduce the impacts. Climate change is already a reality and has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts, testing the capacity to respond based on the current policies. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyse the last drought occurring in the Segura River Basin in the period 2015–2019 by comparing the status indicators developed for detecting drought in the SDP 2007 with its subsequent review carried out in the year 2018, in which these indicators were updated and expanded so as to cover both drought and scarcity. Subsequently, an in-depth analysis has been made of the approved legislation and the measures adopted which consisted in the mobilisation of more than 600 hm³ of extraordinary resources, which have been able to maintain the supply to the population and minimise the economic losses of the productive systems, particularly in irrigated agriculture.This research was funded by the Water Chair of the University of Alicante-Alicante Provincial Council (2022) and by the Campus Hábitat5U network of excellence

Influence of bicarbonate, other anions and carbon dioxide in the activity of Pd-Cu catalysts for nitrate reduction in drinking water

Synthetic and commercial drinking waters with different composition were studied as reaction media to study the influence of salts in NO3- catalytic reduction using a Pd-Cu catalyst supported on a carbon black. As a general trend, a decrease in NO3- conversion and an increase in NH4+ selectivity were observed for high HCO3- concentration media in mixed salts waters. Literature has commonly ascribed HCO3- effect to competitive adsorption with NO3-. However, in the current work, the mechanism for effect HCO3- is reconsidered basis on HCO2- formation during NO3- catalytic reduction, here reported for the first time. HCO2- formation indicates that hydrogenation of HCO3- occurs in addition to adsorption. Likewise, decomposition of HCO2- on the catalysts surface releases hydrogen leading to increased spill-over and relevant hydrogenation of NO3- to NH4+. The presence of SO42-, Cl- reduces NH4+ selectivity due to competition for active sites and lower HCO2- generation. Furthermore, it was observed that the use of CO2 as buffer also contribute to the hydrogenation of NO3- to NH4+ through HCO2- routeThe authors greatly appreciate the support from Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigacion ´ RTI2018-098431-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE). Dydia Tanisha Gonzalez ´ thanks the Regional Government of Madrid a research grant (PEJ-2020-AI/AMB-17551

Cancer incidence estimation from mortality data: a validation study within a population-based cancer registry

Background: Population-based cancer registries are required to calculate cancer incidence in a geographical area, and several methods have been developed to obtain estimations of cancer incidence in areas not covered by a cancer registry. However, an extended analysis of those methods in order to confirm their validity is still needed. Methods: We assessed the validity of one of the most frequently used methods to estimate cancer incidence, on the basis of cancer mortality data and the incidence-to-mortality ratio (IMR), the IMR method. Using the previous 15-year cancer mortality time series, we derived the expected yearly number of cancer cases in the period 2004– 2013 for six cancer sites for each sex. Generalized linear mixed models, including a polynomial function for the year of death and smoothing splines for age, were adjusted. Models were fitted under a Bayesian framework based on Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The IMR method was applied to five scenarios reflecting different assumptions regarding the behavior of the IMR. We compared incident cases estimated with the IMR method to observed cases diagnosed in 2004–2013 in Granada. A goodness-of-fit (GOF) indicator was formulated to determine the best estimation scenario. Results: A total of 39,848 cancer incidence cases and 43,884 deaths due to cancer were included. The relative differences between the observed and predicted numbers of cancer cases were less than 10% for most cancer sites. The constant assumption for the IMR trend provided the best GOF for colon, rectal, lung, bladder, and stomach cancers in men and colon, rectum, breast, and corpus uteri in women. The linear assumption was better for lung and ovarian cancers in women and prostate cancer in men. In the best scenario, the mean absolute percentage error was 6% in men and 4% in women for overall cancer. Female breast cancer and prostate cancer obtained the worst GOF results in all scenarios. Conclusion: A comparison with a historical time series of real data in a population-based cancer registry indicated that the IMR method is a valid tool for the estimation of cancer incidence. The goodness-of-fit indicator proposed can help select the best assumption for the IMR based on a statistical argument.Subprogram "Cancer surveillance" of the CIBER of Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP)MINECO/FEDER PGC2018-098860-B-I00Andalusian Department of Health Research, Development and Innovation PI-0152/201

Aqueous-phase reforming of water-soluble compounds from pyrolysis bio-oils

Aqueous-phase reforming (APR) of model compounds of bio-oil aqueous fraction (AFB) was studied at different operating conditions. Substrate conversion, carbon-to-gas yield (CCgas) and hydrogen and alkanes production were evaluated. Levoglucosan, hydroxyacetone, furfural and acetic acid were selected as representative of AFB and tested in batch APR at different concentrations (1–5 %wt.), temperatures (175–220 ◦C) and reaction times (0.5–4 h), using 3% (wt.) Pt/CB catalysts. Best results were obtained at 220 ◦C and 1%, with 70–90% substrate conversions, 45–70% CC gas and hydrogen production up to 50 mmol per gram of total organic carbon (TOC). Catalyst stability was checked in APR of levoglucosan during five successive 4 h reaction cycles. The catalyst exhibited high stability, CCgas remained constant and hydrogen production increased and became stable after first reaction cycle with only a slight decrease of TOC conversion. The catalyst with well dispersed metal phase and high contribution of nanoparticles smaller than 2 nm showed a higher production of hydrogen. APR was proved to be a feasible option for the valorisation of AF