Bio y cronoestratigrafia con mamíferos en la Cuenca Terciaria del Ebro: ensayo de síntesis

The Ebro Tertiary Basin provides a nearly ininterrupted Middle Eocene to Pliocene sequence of non-marine strata, containing numerous mammal-bearing fossiliferous levels. This study is a report on the information from old and new collections. The fauna1 list of 123 localities is given, their biostratigraphic and lithostratigraphic position. The Upper Oligocene and the lower Miocene are dominant in number of mammal-bearing localities. The rodents are the taxon more numerous

What to expect from alternative management strategies to conserve seabirds? Hints from a dynamic modelling framework applied to an endangered population

The worldwide decline of seabird populations due to the combined effects of global and regional changes is creating immense challenges for managers and conservationists. Predicting population responses to proposed management strategies could provide the most effective tools to prevent, halt and reverse ongoing declines. System dynamic modelling frameworks are considered particularly relevant to interrelate biological, ecological and environmental characteristics and to predict population trends. A system dynamics model was designed, compiling diverse information concerning a relict population of the European Shag located in western Iberia, to outline the most effective management options for its conservation. The simulations demonstrate that mortality caused by invasive animals and bycatch mortality were the main reasons for the current population decline. Without management interventions, a decrease of 8% was projected for the next decade, which could be mitigated by specific conservation actions. The results show the usefulness of dynamic modelling frameworks to understand local cause-effect relationships and species responses to ecosystem management under changing environmental conditions. We highlight that the framework proposed, after specific parameterization, could be easily adaptable to other species within similar socio-ecological systems.This study was supported by the International Internship Grant Program of the University of Cadiz (EDUCA), Spain for conducting research in internationally renowned centres and the Centre for the Research and Technology of AgroEnvironmental and Biological Sciences (CITAB) of the Universidad de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal. In addition, the following entities contributed to this work: European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/POCI Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958, National Funds by FCT -Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UIDB/04033/2020 and INTERACT, Integrative Research in Environment, AgroChains and Technology, Project Norte 2020 45/2015/02. R. B. received support from POPH/FSE, funds and by National Funds through FCT Foundation for Science and Technology under the Portuguese Science Foundation through Doctoral grant FCT_SFRH/BD/102428/2014

A Quantitative Comparison of Completely Visible Cadastral Parcels Using Satellite Images:A Step towards Automation

Estimates suggest that 70 percent of the world’s population has little or no access to formal land administration systems and hence their rights are often neither recognized nor secured by governments. A system of organized land rights information, embedded in a broader land administration system, is argued as a key pillar for underpinning any sustainable economy and equitable economic development. Cadastres are a core ingredient of any land administration system. Traditional methods for cadastral surveying and mapping are however, often lengthy and labor intensive. In response, remote sensing based techniques have great potential and are being increasingly employed for rapid creation and upgrading of cadastral maps: the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN)’s fit-for-purpose (FFP) land administration guidelines provide ample evidence in this regard. Furthermore, (semi)-automatic methods for detecting cadastral boundaries are currently under development. These methods seek to make use of very high resolution (VHR) satellite images or sensors capable of similar resolutions. Creating approaches that are both highly automated and transferable between contexts remain a challenge owing to diverse morphologies of parcel boundaries found across contexts. Anyhow, object-based image analysis methods appear highly promising as they mimic the human interpretation process to identify features from an image. A pre-step to utilizing any of these methods should be determining the quantity of the boundaries that are actually identifiable through visual interpretation. Therefore, in this paper, we assess the quantity of visible/non-visible boundaries in different contexts with the aim of determining the percentage of known cadastral parcels that are completely visible via VHR satellite images. For this purpose, we selected subsets from case locations in the contexts of Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Guatemala and Nepal. To cover different landscapes, a combination of rural, peri-urban and urban areas were included. In each case, control cadastral data (i.e. vector files or existing cadastral maps) served as a reference for the assessment. Results show significant difference between visual identification for the samples from seven contexts. The percentage of completely visible cadastral parcels ranged from zero to 71 percent when compared to the reference cadastral map. These were parcels for which all boundaries were fully visible, i.e. a closed polygon. Considering the result of the study, it appears that (semi)-automated cadastral boundary extraction methods using VHR imagery will have high utility in specific contexts (e.g. smallholder and rural), whereas their use in complex urban environments may be challenging and require other methods or data. Nonetheless, an approach like this will greatly enhance the application of FFP approach in Land Administration for cadastral mapping in areas where no relaible data exists, for e.g. even if a small amount of boundaries could be automatically generated (e.g. 30 percent), potentially large cost reductions in cadastral surveying and mapping could be achieved

Impact assessment of the incorporation of the rotavirus vaccine in the province of San Luis – Argentina

Rotavirus (RV) is the main cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in young children. The San Luis province of Argentina introduced RV vaccination in May 2013. We estimate vaccine impact (RVI) using real-world data. Data on all-cause AGE cases and AGE-related hospitalisations for San Luis and the adjacent Mendoza province (control group) were obtained and analysed by interrupted time-series methods. Regardless of the model used for counterfactual predictions, we estimated a reduction in the number of all-cause AGE cases of 20-25% and a reduction in AGE-related hospitalisations of 55-60%. The vaccine impact was similar for each age group considered (<1 year, <2 years and <5 years). RV vaccination was estimated to have reduced direct medical costs in the province by about 4.5 million pesos from May 2013 to December 2014. Similar to previous studies, we found a higher impact of RV vaccination in preventing severe all-cause AGE cases requiring hospitalisation than in preventing all-cases AGE cases presenting for medical care. An assessment of the economic value of RV vaccination could take other benefits into account in addition to the avoided medical costs and the costs of vaccination.Fil: García Martí, Sebastián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Augustovski, Federico Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; ArgentinaFil: Gibbons, Luz. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria; ArgentinaFil: Loggia, V.. No especifíca;Fil: Lepetic, A.. No especifíca;Fil: Gómez, J.A.. No especifíca;Fil: Pichón-riviere, Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública. Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria. Centro de Investigaciones en Epidemiología y Salud Pública; Argentin

Glycated hemoglobin, fasting insulin and the metabolic syndrome in males. Cross-sectional analyses of the aragon workers health study baseline

Background and aims: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is currently used to diagnose diabetes mellitus, while insulin has been relegated to research. Both, however, may help understanding the metabolic syndrome and profiling patients. We examined the association of HbA1c and fasting insulin with clustering of metabolic syndrome criteria and insulin resistance as two essential characteristics of the metabolic syndrome. Methods: We used baseline data from 3200 non-diabetic male participants in the Aragon Workers' Health Study. We conducted analysis to estimate age-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) across tertiles of HbA1c and insulin. Fasting glucose and Homeostatic model assessment - Insulin Resistance were used as reference. Here we report the uppermost-to-lowest tertile ORs (95%CI). Results: Mean age (SD) was 48.5 (8.8) years and 23% of participants had metabolic syndrome. The ORs for metabolic syndrome criteria tended to be higher across HbA1c than across glucose, except for high blood pressure. Insulin was associated with the criteria more strongly than HbA1c and similarly to Homeostatic model assessment - Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR). For metabolic syndrome, the OR of HbA1c was 2.68, of insulin, 11.36, of glucose, 7.03, and of HOMA-IR, 14.40. For the clustering of 2 or more non-glycemic criteria, the OR of HbA1c was 2.10, of insulin, 8.94, of glucose, 1.73, and of HOMA-IR, 7.83. All ORs were statistically significant. The areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves for metabolic syndrome were 0.670 (across HbA1c values) and 0.770 (across insulin values), and, for insulin resistance, 0.647 (HbA1c) and 0.995 (insulin). Among non-metabolic syndrome patients, a small insulin elevation identified risk factor clustering. Conclusions: HbA1c and specially insulin levels were associated with metabolic syndrome criteria, their clustering, and insulin resistance. Insulin could provide early information in subjects prone to develop metabolic syndrome

Medical oncology future plan of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology: challenges and future needs of the Spanish oncologists

Purpose: The SEOM Future Plan is aimed at identifying the main challenges, trends and needs of the medical oncology speciality over the next years, including potential oncologist workforce shortages, and proposing recommendations to overcome them. Methods: The estimations of the required medical oncologists workforce are based on an updated Medical Oncologist Register in Spain, Medical Oncology Departments activity data, dedication times and projected cancer incidence. Challenges, needs and future recommendations were drawn from an opinion survey and an advisory board. Results: A shortage of 211 FTE medical oncologist specialists has been established. To maintain an optimal ratio of 158 new cases/FTE, medical oncology workforce should reach 1881 FTE by 2035. Conclusions: Main recommendations to face the growing demand and complexity of oncology services include a yearly growth of 2.5% of medical oncologist’s workforce until 2035, and development and application of more accurate quality indicators for cancer care and health outcomes measure

A Self Assembled Nanoelectronic Quantum Computer Based on the Rashba Effect in Quantum Dots

Quantum computers promise vastly enhanced computational power and an uncanny ability to solve classically intractable problems. However, few proposals exist for robust, solid state implementation of such computers where the quantum gates are sufficiently miniaturized to have nanometer-scale dimensions. Here I present a new approach whereby a complete computer with nanoscale gates might be self-assembled using chemical synthesis. Specifically, I demonstrate how to self-assemble the fundamental unit of this quantum computer - a 2-qubit universal quantum controlled-NOT gate - based on two exchange coupled multilayered quantum dots. Then I show how these gates can be wired using thiolated conjugated molecules as electrical connectors. A qubit is encoded in the ground state of a quantum dot spin-split by the Rashba interaction. Arbitrary qubit rotations are effected by bringing the spin splitting energy in a target quantum dot in resonance with a global ac magnetic field by applying a potential pulse of appropriate amplitude and duration to the dot. The controlled dynamics of the 2-qubit controlled-NOT operation (XOR) can be realized by exploiting the exchange coupling with the nearest neighboring dot. A complete prescription for initialization of the computer and data input/output operations is presented.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

Magnetic Field Effects on Neutron Diffraction in the Antiferromagnetic Phase of UPt3UPt_3

We discuss possible magnetic structures in UPt$_3$ based on our analysis of elastic neutron-scattering experiments in high magnetic fields at temperatures $T<T_N$. The existing experimental data can be explained by a single-{\bf q} antiferromagnetic structure with three independent domains. For modest in-plane spin-orbit interactions, the Zeeman coupling between the antiferromagnetic order parameter and the magnetic field induces a rotation of the magnetic moments, but not an adjustment of the propagation vector of the magnetic order. A triple-{\bf q} magnetic structure is also consistent with neutron experiments, but in general leads to a non-uniform magnetization in the crystal. New experiments could decide between these structures.Comment: 5 figures included in the tex

Single Spin Measurement using Single Electron Transistors to Probe Two Electron Systems

We present a method for measuring single spins embedded in a solid by probing two electron systems with a single electron transistor (SET). Restrictions imposed by the Pauli Principle on allowed two electron states mean that the spin state of such systems has a profound impact on the orbital states (positions) of the electrons, a parameter which SET's are extremely well suited to measure. We focus on a particular system capable of being fabricated with current technology: a Te double donor in Si adjacent to a Si/SiO2 interface and lying directly beneath the SET island electrode, and we outline a measurement strategy capable of resolving single electron and nuclear spins in this system. We discuss the limitations of the measurement imposed by spin scattering arising from fluctuations emanating from the SET and from lattice phonons. We conclude that measurement of single spins, a necessary requirement for several proposed quantum computer architectures, is feasible in Si using this strategy.Comment: 22 Pages, 8 Figures; revised version contains updated references and small textual changes. Submitted to Phys. Rev.