Linking forest cover, soil erosion and mire hydrology to late-Holocene human activity and climate in NW Spain

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Forest clearance is one of the main drivers of soil erosion and hydrological changes in mires, although climate may also play a significant role. Because of the wide range of factors involved, understanding these complex links requires long-term multi-proxy approaches and research on the best proxies to focus. A peat core from NW Spain (Cruz do Bocelo mire), spanning the last ~3000 years, has been studied at high resolution by physical (density and loss on ignition (LOI)), geochemical (elemental composition) and palynological (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) analyses. Proxies related to mineral matter fluxes from the catchment (lithogenic tracers, Glomus and Entorrhiza), rainfall (Bromine), mire hydrology (HdV-18), human pressure (Cerealia-type, nitrophilous taxa and coprophilous fungi) and forest cover (mesophilous tree taxa) were the most useful to reconstruct the evolution of the mire and its catchment. Forest clearance for farming was one of the main drivers of environmental change from at least the local Iron Age (~2685 cal. yr BP) onwards. The most intense phase of deforestation occurred during Roman and Germanic times and the late Middle Ages. During these phases, the entire catchment was affected, resulting in enhanced soil erosion and severe hydrological modifications of the mire. Climate, especially rainfall, may have also accelerated these processes during wetter periods. However, it is noteworthy that the hydrology of the mire seems to have been insensitive to rainfall variations when mesophilous forest dominated. Abrupt changes were only detected once intense forest clearance commenced during the Iron Age/Roman transition (~2190 cal. yr BP) phase, which represented a tipping point in catchment's ability to buffer impacts. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of studying ecosystems' long-term trajectories and catchment-wide processes when implementing mire habitat protection measures.This work was funded by the projects CGL2010-20672 (Plan Nacional I+D+i, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) and 10PXIB200182PR (General Directorate of I+D, Xunta de Galicia). N Silva-Sánchez and L López-Merino are currently supported by a FPU predoctoral scholarship (AP2010-3264) funded by the Spanish Government and a MINT postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Brunel Institute for the Environment, respectively

Fractional Schr\"odinger equation and time dependent potentials

We investigate the solutions for a time dependent potential by considering two scenarios for the fractional Schr\"odinger equation. The first scenario analyzes the influence of the time dependent potential in the absence of the kinetic term. We obtain analytical and numerical solutions for this case by considering the Caputo fractional time derivative, which extends Rabi's model. In the second scenario, we incorporate the kinetic term in the Schr\"odinger equation and consider fractional spatial derivatives. For this case, we analyze the spreading of the Gaussian wave package under the action of the time and spatial fractional differential operators

Delocalisation patterns in University-Industry interaction: Evidence from the 6th R&D Framework Programme

Increasing university-industry interaction (UII) and university contribution to the local economy are compatibleconventional wisdom would say. However, similar to other university activities, interaction with industry may be limited due to a lack of absorptive capacity in local firms. The data of those participating in the European Union's (EU's) Sixth R&D Framework Programme (FP6) were used to obtain values for the number and, notably, the budgets of UII projects at the regional level for the EU27. Two types of interactions were considered: inside and outside the region. Our analysis indicates that universities from regions whose firms have low absorptive capacity participate more often in FP6 projects with firms outside the region. Our results highlight the value of policies that facilitate firm R&D to enhance collaboration with regional universities.Azagra Caro, JM.; Pontikakis, D.; Varga, A. (2013). Delocalisation patterns in University-Industry interaction: Evidence from the 6th R&D Framework Programme. European Planning Studies. 21(10):1676-1701. doi:10.1080/09654313.2012.722949S16761701211

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the determination of nicotine and its metabolites in placenta and umbilical cord.

Tobacco exposure during pregnancy is associated with obstetric and fetal complications. This study developed and validated a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method to analyse the placenta (PL) and umbilical cord (UC) for nicotine, cotinine and hydroxycotinine (OH-cotinine). Specimens were homogenized in water, followed by solid-phase extraction. Chromatographic separation was performed using an Atlantis HILIC Silica column. Detection was accomplished in electrospray in positive mode. Method validation included: linearity (5 to 1000 ng/g), accuracy (86.9 to 105.2% of target concentration in PL, and 89.1 to 105.0% in UC), imprecision (6.8 to 11.8% in PL, and 7.6 to 12.2% in UC), limits of detection (2 ng/g for cotinine and OH-cotinine, and 5 ng/g for nicotine) and quantification (5 ng/g), selectivity (no endogenous or exogenous interferences), matrix effect (-34.1 to -84.5% in PL, %CV = 9.1-24.0%; -18.9 to -84.7% in UC, %CV = 10.2-23.9%), extraction efficiency (60.7 to 131.5% in PL, and 64.1 to 134.2% in UC), and stability 72 h in the autosampler ( < 11.5% loss in PL, and < 13% loss in UC). The method was applied to 14 PL and UC specimens from tobacco users during pregnancy. Cotinine (6.8-312.2 ng/g in PL; 6.7-342.3 ng/g in UC) was the predominant analyte, followed by OH-cotinine ( < LOQ-80.2 ng/g in PL; < LOQ-80.5 ng/g in UC) and nicotine (5.7-63.7 ng/g in PL; 5.1-63.3 ng/g in UC). In a future study, this method will be applied to more than 150 specimens collected from a wide clinical study to evaluate the usefulness of maternal hair, meconium, placenta and umbilical cord compared to the maternal interview to detect in utero drug exposure

Ferritins: furnishing proteins with iron

Ferritins are a superfamily of iron oxidation, storage and mineralization proteins found throughout the animal, plant, and microbial kingdoms. The majority of ferritins consist of 24 subunits that individually fold into 4-α-helix bundles and assemble in a highly symmetric manner to form an approximately spherical protein coat around a central cavity into which an iron-containing mineral can be formed. Channels through the coat at inter-subunit contact points facilitate passage of iron ions to and from the central cavity, and intrasubunit catalytic sites, called ferroxidase centers, drive Fe2+ oxidation and O2 reduction. Though the different members of the superfamily share a common structure, there is often little amino acid sequence identity between them. Even where there is a high degree of sequence identity between two ferritins there can be major differences in how the proteins handle iron. In this review we describe some of the important structural features of ferritins and their mineralized iron cores and examine in detail how three selected ferritins oxidise Fe2+ in order to explore the mechanistic variations that exist amongst ferritins. We suggest that the mechanistic differences reflect differing evolutionary pressures on amino acid sequences, and that these differing pressures are a consequence of different primary functions for different ferritins

New convolutions for quadratic-phase Fourier integral operators and their applications

We obtain new convolutions for quadratic-phase Fourier integral operators (which include, as subcases, e.g., the fractional Fourier transform and the linear canonical transform). The structure of these convolutions is based on properties of the mentioned integral operators and takes profit of weight-functions associated with some amplitude and Gaussian functions. Therefore, the fundamental properties of that quadratic-phase Fourier integral operators are also studied (including a Riemann-Lebesgue type lemma, invertibility results, a Plancherel type theorem and a Parseval type identity). As applications, we obtain new Young type inequalities, the asymptotic behaviour of some oscillatory integrals, and the solvability of convolution integral equations

Local Difference Measures between Complex Networks for Dynamical System Model Evaluation

Acknowledgments We thank Reik V. Donner for inspiring suggestions that initialized the work presented herein. Jan H. Feldhoff is credited for providing us with the STARS simulation data and for his contributions to fruitful discussions. Comments by the anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged as they led to substantial improvements of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The systemic lupus erythematosus IRF5 risk haplotype is associated with systemic sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a fibrotic autoimmune disease in which the genetic component plays an important role. One of the strongest SSc association signals outside the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region corresponds to interferon (IFN) regulatory factor 5 (IRF5), a major regulator of the type I IFN pathway. In this study we aimed to evaluate whether three different haplotypic blocks within this locus, which have been shown to alter the protein function influencing systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) susceptibility, are involved in SSc susceptibility and clinical phenotypes. For that purpose, we genotyped one representative single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of each block (rs10488631, rs2004640, and rs4728142) in a total of 3,361 SSc patients and 4,012 unaffected controls of Caucasian origin from Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy and United Kingdom. A meta-analysis of the allele frequencies was performed to analyse the overall effect of these IRF5 genetic variants on SSc. Allelic combination and dependency tests were also carried out. The three SNPs showed strong associations with the global disease (rs4728142: P = 1.34×10&lt;sup&gt;−8&lt;/sup&gt;, OR = 1.22, CI 95% = 1.14–1.30; rs2004640: P = 4.60×10&lt;sup&gt;−7&lt;/sup&gt;, OR = 0.84, CI 95% = 0.78–0.90; rs10488631: P = 7.53×10&lt;sup&gt;−20&lt;/sup&gt;, OR = 1.63, CI 95% = 1.47–1.81). However, the association of rs2004640 with SSc was not independent of rs4728142 (conditioned P = 0.598). The haplotype containing the risk alleles (rs4728142*A-rs2004640*T-rs10488631*C: P = 9.04×10&lt;sup&gt;−22&lt;/sup&gt;, OR = 1.75, CI 95% = 1.56–1.97) better explained the observed association (likelihood P-value = 1.48×10&lt;sup&gt;−4&lt;/sup&gt;), suggesting an additive effect of the three haplotypic blocks. No statistical significance was observed in the comparisons amongst SSc patients with and without the main clinical characteristics. Our data clearly indicate that the SLE risk haplotype also influences SSc predisposition, and that this association is not sub-phenotype-specific