The dignity in the return of the victims of the armed conflict in Colombia

Este artículo analiza el concepto de la dignidad en la migración de retorno, siendo un concepto que adquiere sentido propio en el contexto del retorno de las víctimas del conflicto armado colombiano. De esta forma el objetivo de la investigación ha sido identificar el tratamiento que se le ha dado a la dignidad en el marco normativo migratorio en el país. Como metodología se ha realizado un análisis documental de una serie de mecanismos regulatorios, así como en el relato de sus protagonistas, para lo cual se llevaron a cabo diez entrevistas a retornados vinculados al Foro Internacional de Víctimas (FIV) residentes en Bogotá. Se concluye que es necesario para construir estrategias de dignificación de las víctimas así como articular la información nacional con la proveniente de instrumentos internacionales y con estudios sobre dignidad. De tal manera que ofrezcan elementos prácticos para la construcción de una política integral, que cuente con el compromiso de los gobiernos así como de las personas retornadas y de la ciudadanía en general.This article analyzes the concept of dignity in return migration, a concept that has acquired its own specific meaning within the context of the return to Colombia of victims of the Colombian armed conflict. The goal of the research has been to identify the treatment that has been given to the concept of dignity in the migratory normative framework in the country. The methodology for this study has involved a documentary analysis of a series of regulatory mechanisms, and development of the story of its protagonists through a series of ten interviews with returning victims linked to the International Forum of Victims (IFV) resident in Bogota. It is concluded that to build strategies to dignify victims it is necessary to articulate national information with information coming from international instruments and with studies on dignity. In this way, it is possible to identify practical elements for the development of a comprehensive policy that has the commitment of governments as well as returnees and citizens in general

Forest restoration is more than firing seeds from a drone

We are witnessing a rapid increase in news sending the message that drone seeding is a promising technological solution to implement forest restoration at large spatial scales. However, there are neither reports regarding success nor peer-reviewed studies to support these assertions. Once in the ground, the seeds and the seedlings and saplings that they generate have to face biotic and abiotic hazards that can strongly reduce regeneration potential. Successful forest restoration, therefore, cannot be achieved by simply dropping seeds from the air. We summarize some aspects to take into account before considering drone seeding as an efficient and widely applicable technology for forest restoration. A first step should be to increase the precision of drone seeding—contrary to the current massive firing of seeds—in order to concentrate the efforts in the best microsites for establishment and reduce the number of seeds needed and the cost of the whole operation.projects RESISTE (Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento y Universidad from the Junta de Andalucia/FEDER) P18-RT-1927project DECOPIMED (Consejeria de Transformacion Economica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades from the Junta de Andalucia/FEDER) B-RNM-214-UGR20project LifeWatch SmartEcoMountains (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion/Universidad de Granada/FEDER) 2019-10-UGR-0

Assessing the multi-scale predictive ability of ecosystem functional attributes for species distribution modelling

Global environmental changes are rapidly affecting species' distributions and habitat suitability worldwide, requiring a continuous update of biodiversity status to support effective decisions on conservation policy and management. In this regard, satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Attributes (EFAs) offer a more integrative and quicker evaluation of ecosystem responses to environmental drivers and changes than climate and structural or compositional landscape attributes. Thus, EFAs may hold advantages as predictors in Species Distribution Models (SDMs) and for implementing multi-scale species monitoring programs. Here we describe a modelling framework to assess the predictive ability of EFAs as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) against traditional datasets (climate, land-cover) at several scales. We test the framework with a multi-scale assessment of habitat suitability for two plant species of conservation concern, both protected under the EU Habitats Directive, differing in terms of life history, range and distribution pattern (Iris boissieri and Taxus baccata). We fitted four sets of SDMs for the two test species, calibrated with: interpolated climate variables; landscape variables; EFAs; and a combination of climate and landscape variables. EFAbased models performed very well at the several scales (AUCmedian from 0.881±0.072 to 0.983±0.125), and similarly to traditional climate-based models, individually or in combination with land-cover predictors (AUCmedian from 0.882±0.059 to 0.995±0.083). Moreover, EFAbased models identified additional suitable areas and provided valuable information on functional features of habitat suitability for both test species (narrowly vs. widely distributed), for both coarse and fine scales. Our results suggest a relatively small scale-dependence of the predictive ability of satellite-derived EFAs, supporting their use as meaningful EBVs in SDMs from regional and broader scales to more local and finer scales. Since the evaluation of species' conservation status and habitat quality should as far as possible be performed based on scalable indicators linking to meaningful processes, our framework may guide conservation managers in decision-making related to biodiversity monitoring and reporting schemes.This research was developed as part of the ECOPOTENTIAL project financed by European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 641762. SAC, DAS and JPH received funding from the ECOPOTENTIAL project. JG was supported by FCT (Portuguese Science Foundation) through PhD grant SFRH/BD/90112/2012. DAS received funding from Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, JC2015-00316 grant, and Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, CGL2014-61610-EXP project

Remotely Sensed Variables of Ecosystem Functioning Support Robust Predictions of Abundance Patterns for Rare Species

Global environmental changes are affecting both the distribution and abundance of species at an unprecedented rate. To assess these effects, species distribution models (SDMs) have been greatly developed over the last decades, while species abundance models (SAMs) have generally received less attention even though these models provide essential information for conservation management. With population abundance defined as an essential biodiversity variable (EBV), SAMs could offer spatially explicit predictions of species abundance across space and time. Satellite-derived ecosystem functioning attributes (EFAs) are known to inform on processes controlling species distribution, but they have not been tested as predictors of species abundance. In this study, we assessed the usefulness of SAMs calibrated with EFAs (as process-related variables) to predict local abundance patterns for a rare and threatened species (the narrow Iberian endemic ‘Gerês lily’ Iris boissieri; protected under the European Union Habitats Directive), and to project inter-annual fluctuations of predicted abundance. We compared the predictive accuracy of SAMs calibrated with climate (CLI), topography (DEM), land cover (LCC), EFAs, and combinations of these. Models fitted only with EFAs explained the greatest variance in species abundance, compared to models based only on CLI, DEM, or LCC variables. The combination of EFAs and topography slightly increased model performance. Predictions of the inter-annual dynamics of species abundance were related to inter-annual fluctuations in climate, which holds important implications for tracking global change effects on species abundance. This study underlines the potential of EFAs as robust predictors of biodiversity change through population size trends. The combination of EFA-based SAMs and SDMs would provide an essential toolkit for species monitoring programs.This work has been carried out within the H2020 project ECOPOTENTIAL: Improving Future Ecosystem Benefits Through Earth Observations (http://www.ecopotential-project.eu). The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 641762. S.A.-C., D.A.-S., and J.H. received funding from the ECOPOTENTIAL project. A.R. was financially supported by the Xunta de Galicia, Spain (post-doctoral fellowship ED481B2016/084-0). J.F.G. was funded by the Individual Scientific Employment Stimulus Program (2017) by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT CEEC-2017)

Genome Size, Chromosome Number and Morphological Data Reveal Unexpected Infraspecific Variability in Festuca (Poaceae)

Polyploidy has played an important evolutionary role in the genus Festuca (Poaceae), and several ploidy levels (ranging from 2n = 2x = 14 to 2n = 12x = 84) have been detected to date. This study aimed to estimate the genome size and ploidy level of two subspecies belonging to the F. yvesii polyploid complex by flow cytometry and chromosome counting. The phenotypic variation of the cytotypes was also explored, based on herbarium material. The genome size of F. yvesii subsp. lagascae has been estimated for the first time. Nuclear 2C DNA content of F. yvesii subsp. summilusitana ranged from 21.44 to 31.91 pg, while that of F. yvesii subsp. lagascae was from 13.60 to 22.31 pg. We report the highest ploidy level detected for Festuca (2n = 14x = 98) and previously unknown cytotypes. A positive correlation between holoploid genome size and chromosome number counts shown herein was confirmed. The morphometric approach showed a slight trend towards an increase in the size of some organs consistent with the variation in the ploidy level. Differences in characters were usually significant only among the most extreme cytotypes of each subspecies, but, even in this case, the high overlapping ranges prevent their distinction

Correlation functions of the integrable higher-spin XXX and XXZ spin chains through the fusion method

For the integrable higher-spin XXX and XXZ spin chains we present multiple-integral representations for the correlation function of an arbitrary product of Hermitian elementary matrices in the massless ground state. We give a formula expressing it by a single term of multiple integrals. In particular, we explicitly derive the emptiness formation probability (EFP). We assume $2s$-strings for the ground-state solution of the Bethe ansatz equations for the spin-$s$ XXZ chain, and solve the integral equations for the spin-$s$ Gaudin matrix. In terms of the XXZ coupling $\Delta$ we define $\zeta$ by $\Delta=\cos \zeta$, and put it in a region $0 \le \zeta < \pi/2s$ of the gapless regime: $-1 < \Delta \le 1$ ($0 \le \zeta < \pi$), where $\Delta=1$ ($\zeta=0$) corresponds to the antiferromagnetic point. We calculate the zero-temperature correlation functions by the algebraic Bethe ansatz, introducing the Hermitian elementary matrices in the massless regime, and taking advantage of the fusion construction of the $R$-matrix of the higher-spin representations of the affine quantum group.Comment: 50 pages, no figur

Single-file dynamics of colloids in circular channels: Time scales, scaling laws and their universality

In colloidal systems, Brownian motion emerges from the massive separation of time and length scales associated with characteristic dynamics of the solute and solvent constituents. This separation of scales produces several temporal regimes in the colloidal dynamics when combined with the effects of the interaction between the particles, confinement conditions, and state variables, such as density and temperature. Some examples are the short- and long-time regimes in two- and three-dimensional open systems and the diffusive and subdiffusive regimes observed in the single-file (SF) dynamics along a straight line. In this paper, we address the way in which a confining geometry induces new time scales. We report on the dynamics of interacting colloidal particles moving along a circle by combining a heuristic theoretical analysis of the involved scales, Brownian dynamics computer simulations, and video-microscopy experiments with paramagnetic colloids confined to lithographic circular channels subjected to an external magnetic field. The systems display four temporal regimes in the following order: one-dimensional free diffusion, SF subdiffusion, free-cluster rotational diffusion, and the expected saturation due to the confinement. We also report analytical expressions for the mean-square angular displacement and crossover times obtained from scaling arguments, which accurately reproduce both experiments and simulations. Our generic approach can be used to predict the long-time dynamics of many other confined physical systems

DESARROLLO Y EXPERIMENTACIÓN NUMÉRICA DE COMPORTAMIENTO MECÁNICO DE ESTRUCTURAS CELULARES FG (DEVELOPMENT AND NUMERICAL EXPERIMENTATION OF MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF CELLULAR STRUCTURES FG)

Dada la importancia de mitigación de energía en varias áreas de la industria, las estructuras ligeras que atenúen cargas de impacto han sido el foco de interés en años recientes. Una de ellas es la estructura celular hexagonales o honeycomb. Estas, pueden fabricarse como estructuras celulares funcionalmente graduadas (FG) que representan un tipo novedoso de materiales, donde variaciones en tamaño de celda, forma, espesor de pared, o de material produce una variación funcional en la densidad relativa de la estructura.Con la finalidad de diseñar estructuras ligeras que atenúen cargas de impacto, en este trabajo se realizará un estudio para explorar la posibilidad de fabricar un material celular funcionalmente graduado (FG), el cual se generará al introducir un gradiente de composición de dos materiales diferentes y se analizará numéricamente en términos de su respuesta mecánica con el fin de determinar la potencialidad de su uso como atenuador de cargas de impacto.Palabra(s) Clave: Comportamiento mecánico, estructuras, funcionalmente graduado, material celular. AbstractGiven the importance of energy mitigation in several areas of industry, lightweight structures that mitigate impact loads have been the focus of interest in recent years. One of them is the hexagonal or honeycomb cellular structure. These can be manufactured as functionally graded cell structures (FG) that represent a novel type of material, where variations in cell size, shape, wall thickness, or material produces a functional variation in the relative density of the structure.With the purpose of designing light structures that attenuate impact loads, in this work a study will be carried out to explore the possibility of manufacturing a functionally graduated cellular material (FG), which will be generated by introducing a gradient of composition of two different materials and it will be analyzed numerically in terms of its mechanical response in order to determine the potentiality of its use as an impact load attenuator.Keywords: Cellular material, functionally graded, mechanical behavior, structures

Entanglement Content of Quantum Particle Excitations I. Free Field Theory

We evaluate the entanglement entropy of a single connected region in excited states of one-dimensional massive free theories with finite numbers of particles, in the limit of large volume and region length. For this purpose, we use finite-volume form factor expansions of branch-point twist field two-point functions. We find that the additive contribution to the entanglement due to the presence of particles has a simple "qubit" interpretation, and is largely independent of momenta: it only depends on the numbers of groups of particles with equal momenta. We conjecture that at large momenta, the same result holds for any volume and region lengths, including at small scales. We provide accurate numerical verifications