Forest Ecosystem Services: An Analysis of Worldwide Research

The relevance of forests to sustain human well-being and the serious threats they face have led to a notable increase of research works on forest ecosystem services during the last few years. This paper analyses the worldwide research dynamics on forest ecosystem services in the period from 1998 to 2017. A bibliometric analysis of 4284 articles was conducted. The results showed that the number of published research articles has especially increased during the last five years. In total, 68.63% of the articles were published in this period. This research line experiences a growing trend superior to the general publishing trend on forest research. In spite of this increase, its relative significance within the forest research is still limited. The most productive subject areas corresponded to Environmental Science, Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Social Sciences Economic topics are understudied. The scientific production is published in a wide range of journals. The three first publishing countries are United States, China and the United Kingdom. The most productive authors are attached to diverse research centres and their contributions are relatively recent. A high level of international cooperation has been observed between countries, institutions and authors. The findings of this study are useful for researchers since they give them an overview of the worldwide research trends on forest ecosystem services

Onset time of binocular rivalry and duration of inter-dominance periods as psychophysical markers of ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the main neurobiological disorders in young children. Despite its prevalence current diagnosis is debated. In this study we tested whether measures of binocular rivalry (BR) can contribute to the diagnosis of ADHD. BR is a phenomenon that is produced when two different images are presented to the two eyes simultaneously. Under these conditions the image presented to one eye competes with that presented to the other eye in seeking to achieve perceptual dominance. This competition is resolved through the activation of a given percept coupled with the suppression of the percept that had predominated until that point. We assume that the difficulty with inhibiting responses of ADHD children also affects their ability to inhibit the dominant image in a BR context. We analyzed the time to rivalry onset and the inter-dominance periods as measures of the temporal cost of resolving how long it takes for the brain to select (or suppress) one percept over the other. Our results show that the time to onset of rivalry (the first dominance) was longer in the clinical groups (ADHD-C and ADHD-I) than in the control group. As regards the inter-dominance periods, these were longer in the ADHD-C group than among controls, with the shortest period corresponding to the ADHD-I group. This study shows that BR can be used as a tool to develop a behavioural indicator of ADHD

How does the mind handle uncertainty in ambiguous figures?

How does the mind select one interpretation from a bistable stimulus and how this eventually becomes conscious? We briefly presented 17 rotations of an ambiguous figure to observers and asked them to give a quick response. We were interested in determining how observer factors, stimulus properties and context influence the selected response. Data analysis revealed that observers assigned probabilistically each figure rotation to a category according to an implicit criterion of typicality or prototype. From discriminant analyses we ascertain how the standardized coefficients change as do the testing conditions, mainly when stimulus information is lacking or confusing. Results suggest that the proximity to the prototype expresses the uncertainty of the subject's response and may be gradually manipulated by the orientation of the figure. Depending on the uncertainty value, discriminant strength of the observer and contextual factors have greater influence on responses than the physical properties of the ambiguous stimulus

Attentional blink in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Objective: To explore the temporal mechanism of attention in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls using a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) task in which two letters (T1 and T2) were presented in close temporal proximity among distractors (attentional blink [AB]). Method: Thirty children aged between 9 and 13 years (12 with ADHD combined type and 18 controls) took part in the study. Both groups performed two kinds of RSVP task. In the single task, participants simply had to identify a target letter (T1), whereas in the dual task, they had to identify a target letter (T1) and a probe letter (T2). Results: The ADHD and control groups were equivalent in their single-task performance. However, in the dual-task condition, there were significant between-group differences in the rate of detection of the probe letter (T2) at lag + 1 and lag + 4. The ADHD group exhibited a larger overall AB compared with controls. Conclusion: Our findings provide support for a link between ADHD and attentional blink

Sustainable Water Use in Agriculture: A Review of Worldwide Research

Sustainability of water use in agriculture is a line of research that has gained in importance worldwide. The present study reviewed 25 years of international research on sustainable water use in agriculture. A bibliometric analysis was developed to sample 2084 articles. Results indicate exponential growth in the number of articles published per year, with research in this field having acquired a global scale. Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences are the main categories. Three journals—Agricultural Water Management, Water Resources Management and Nongye Gongcheng Xuebao Agricultural Engineering—published the most of the articles. China, the U.S., Australia, India and Germany produced the most research. The three institutions that published the most articles were all Chinese (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Agricultural University and Northwest A&F University). The most cited authors were Ridoutt, Hoekstra and Zhang. The keywords most frequently used include: water-use, irrigation, water-management, water-supply, and sustainability. A network map shows three clusters that focus on the environmental, agronomic and management aspects. The findings of this study can assist researchers in this field by providing an overview of research on the sustainability of hydric resources

Psychometric properties of a test for ADHD based on binocular rivalry

The psychometric properties of a Binocular Rivalry (BR)-based test on a group of 159 participants (57 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD) aged between 6 and 15 years are presented. Two factors, which explained 56.82% of the variance, were obtained by exploratory factor analysis: (a) Alternations and Duration of exclusive dominances, and (b) Decision time. Reliability was excellent (Cronbach's á = .834 and .884). The ADHD group showed fewer alternations and longer duration of dominances and decision time than the control group. Correlations between measures of BR, IQ, working memory, and processing speed of the WISC-IV, and ADHD symptoms, assessed by parents and teachers, ranged between low and medium

Assessing attention deficit by binocular rivalry

Objective: To determine whether the frequency and duration of the periods of suppression of a percept in a binocular rivalry (BR) task can be used to distinguish between subjects with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and controls. Method: 122 participants (6 to 15 years) were assigned to three groups: ADHD Combined (ADHD-C), ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive (ADHD-I) and controls. They each performed a BR task and two measures were recorded: alternation rate and duration of exclusive dominance periods. Results: ADHD-C group presented fewer alternations and showed greater variability than did the control group; results for the ADHD-I group being intermediate between the two. The duration of dominance periods showed a differential profile: in control group it remained stable over time, whereas in the clinical groups it decreased logarithmically as the task progressed. Conclusions: The differences between groups in relation to the BR indicators can be attributed to the activity of involuntary inhibition

Dispositivo y método para la medición de ácido ascórbico y antocianos en zumos

Número de publicación: 2 728 448 Número de solicitud: 201930555Dispositivo y método para la medición de ácido ascórbico y antocianos en zumos. Un dispositivo y un método para la medición de ácidoascórbico y antocianos en zumos que comprende un sensor (1) amperométrico que comprende un primer electrodo de trabajo (3) y un segundo electrodo de trabajo (4); unos medios electrónicos de captura y procesado de datos (6, 7, 8, 9); una interfaz gráfica de gestión y/o configuración (10); y donde el primer electrodo de trabajo (3) no está tratado con ascorbatooxidasa y un segundo electrodo de trabajo (4) que está tratado con ascorbato oxidasa; y donde los medios electrónicos (6, 7, 8, 9) están configurados para estimular el sensor (1) según un rango de tensiones predefinido en función del tipo de zumo seleccionado por un usuario en la interfaz gráfica de gestión y/o configuración (10), y obtener simultáneamente la lectura de corriente debida a la oxidación del zumo estudiado.Universidad Politécnica de Cartagen

Contribution of Irrigation Ponds to the Sustainability of Agriculture. A Review of Worldwide Research

The use of irrigation ponds has proved to be an efficient alternative for increasing the availability and quality of water resources for irrigation and contributing to the sustainability of agriculture. This article analyses the dynamics of worldwide research on this topic over the last two decades. To do this, a review including a qualitative systematic analysis and a quantitative bibliometric analysis was carried out on a sample of 951 articles. The results reveal that this line of research is becoming more relevant within agricultural research, particularly in recent years. The research in this topic has focused on the sustainable development of vulnerable regions, the contribution to the agronomic improvement of crops and farms, environmental impact assessment, the joint management of water resources, the restoration of groundwater bodies, and the use of rainfall. Gaps have been found in the literature with respect to the capacity of irrigation ponds to cover the irrigation needs in different agricultural contexts, the perceptions and attitudes of farmers towards the use of irrigation ponds, and the economic–financial feasibility of these systems

Bibliografía [Cuadernos del Instituto Antonio de Nebrija de estudios sobre la Universidad. 2004, nº 7]

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