Analysis of the evolution and collaboration networks of citizen science scientific publications

The term citizen science refers to a broad set of practices developed in a growing number of areas of knowledge and characterized by the active citizen participation in some or several stages of the research process. Definitions, classifications and terminology remain open, reflecting that citizen science is an evolving phenomenon, a spectrum of practices whose classification may be useful but never unique or definitive. The aim of this article is to study citizen science publications in journals indexed by WoS, in particular how they have evolved in the last 20 years and the collaboration networks which have been created among the researchers in that time. In principle, the evolution can be analyzed, in a quantitative way, by the usual tools, such as the number of publications, authors, and impact factor of the papers, as well as the set of different research areas including citizen science as an object of study. But as citizen science is a transversal concept which appears in almost all scientific disciplines, this study becomes a multifaceted problem which is only partially modelled with the usual bibliometric magnitudes. It is necessary to consider new tools to parametrize a set of complementary properties. Thus, we address the study of the citizen science expansion and evolution in terms of the properties of the graphs which encode relations between scientists by studying co-authorship and the consequent networks of collaboration. This approach - not used until now in research on citizen science, as far as we know- allows us to analyze the properties of these networks through graph theory, and complement the existing quantitative research. The results obtained lead mainly to: (a) a better understanding of the current state of citizen science in the international academic system-by countries, by areas of knowledge, by interdisciplinary communities-as an increasingly legitimate expanding methodology, and (b) a greater knowledge of collaborative networks and their evolution, within and between research communities, which allows a certain margin of predictability as well as the definition of better cooperation strategies

Comprehensive study of the benefits of integrating a sharing energy strategy between prosumers

Publicado en IECON 2017 - 43rd Annual Conference of the IEEE Industrial Electronics Society, Beijing, 2017, pp. 3609-3614, doi: 10.1109/IECON.2017.8216612La actualización de los sistemas de energía en los últimos años debido a la proliferación de la generación distribuida con fuentes de energía renovables, usuarios activos y vehículos eléctricos se ha convertido en un desafío. En este nuevo escenario, los prosumidores juegan un papel importante para amortiguar la curva de consumo y, por lo tanto, contribuir a los requisitos de la red. Los conjuntos fotovoltaicos (PV) integrados en edificios residenciales atraen una atención especial, ya que pueden complementarse con sistemas de almacenamiento de energía (ESS), como baterías o ultracondensadores (UC) o incluso una combinación de ambos, con el objetivo de lograr que los clientes puedan administrar su energía. Las razones anteriores justifican la necesidad de un sistema de gestión de energía (EMS) que coordine el funcionamiento de los dispositivos de almacenamiento de energía de manera optimizada, ya que son caros. En este documento, se propone un sistema de control integral para intercambiar energía entre los dispositivos de almacenamiento híbridos (baterías y UC) de dos viviendas con instalaciones fotovoltaicas con el fin de aumentar la disponibilidad de sus ESS y soportar los requisitos de energía durante el mayor tiempo posible, optimizando tamaños y costos, y evitando la saturación.The upgrade of power systems in the last years due to the proliferation of distributed generation with renewable energy sources, active users and electric vehicles has become a challenge. In this new scenario, prosumers play an important role in order to buffer the consumption curve and, therefore, contributing to the grid requirements. Special attention is attracted by photovoltaic (PV) arrays integrated in residential buildings, because they can be complemented with energy storage systems (ESSs), such as batteries or ultracapacitors (UCs) or even a combination of both, with the aim to achieve that customers could manage their energy. The above reasons justify the need of an energy management system (EMS) that coordinates the operation of the energy storage devices in an optimized way, as they are expensive. In this paper, a comprehensive control system is proposed to exchange energy between the hybrid storage devices (batteries and UCs) of two dwells with PV installations in order to increase the availability of their ESSs and support the energy requirements during the most time possible, optimizing sizes and costs and avoiding saturation.peerReviewe

Impact of plot size and model selection on forest biomass estimation using airborne LiDAR: A case study of pine plantations in southern Spain

We explored the usefulness of LiDAR for modelling and mapping the stand biomass of two conifer species in southern Spain. We used three different plot sizes and two statistical approaches (i.e. stepwise selection and genetic algorithm selection) in combination with multiple linear regression models to estimate biomass. 43 predictor variables derived from discrete-return LiDAR data (4 pulses per m2 ) were used for estimating the forest biomass of Pinus sylvestris Linnaeus and Pinus nigra Arnold forests. Twelve circular plots – six for each species – and three different fixed-radius designs (i.e. 7, 15, and 30 m) were estab lished within the range of the airborne LiDAR. The Bayesian information criterion and R2 were used to select the best models. As expected, the models that included the largest plots (30 m) yielded the highest R2 value (0.91) for Pinus sp. using genetic algorithm models. Considering P. sylvestris and P. nigra models separately, the genetic algorithm approach also yielded the highest R2 values for the 30-m plots (P. nigra: R2 = 0.99, P. sylvestris: R2 = 0.97). The results we obtained with two species and different plot sizes revealed that increasing the size of plots from 15 to 30 m had a low effect on modelling attempts.European Commission (EC) FP7-315165Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad QUERCUSAT (CLG2013-40790-R

Performance of parallel FDTD method for shared- and distributed-memory architectures: Application tobioelectromagnetics

This work provides an in-depth computational performance study of the parallel finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The parallelization is done at various levels including: shared- (OpenMP) and distributed- (MPI) memory paradigms and vectorization on three different architectures: Intel's Knights Landing, Skylake and ARM's Cavium ThunderX2. This study contributes to prove, in a systematic manner, the well-established claim within the Computational Electromagnetic community, that the main factor limiting FDTD performance, in realistic problems, is the memory bandwidth. Consequently a memory bandwidth threshold can be assessed depending on the problem size in order to attain optimal performance. Finally, the results of this study have been used to optimize the workload balancing of simulation of a bioelectromagnetic problem consisting in the exposure of a human model to a reverberation chamber-like environment

Characterization of goat colostrum oligosaccharides by nano-liquid chromatography on chip quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry

A detailed qualitative and quantitative characterization of goat colostrum oligosaccharides (GCO) has been carried out for the first time. Defatted and deproteinized colostrum samples, previously treated by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to remove lactose, were analyzed by nanoflow liquid chromatography–quadrupole-time of flight mass spectrometry (Nano-LC-Chip–Q-TOF MS). Up to 78 oligosaccharides containing hexose, hexosamine, fucose, N-acetylneuraminic acid or Nglycolylneuraminic acid monomeric units were identified in the samples, some of them detected for the first time in goat colostra. As a second step, a hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HILIC-MS) methodology was developed for the separation and quantitation of the main GCO, both acidic and neutral carbohydrates. Among other experimental chromatographic conditions, mobile phase additives and column temperature were evaluated in terms of retention time, resolution, peak width and symmetry of target carbohydrates. Narrow peaks (wh: 0.2–0.6 min) and good symmetry (As: 0.8–1.4) were obtained for GCO using an acetonitrile:water gradient with 0.1% ammonium hydroxide at 40 ◦C. These conditions were selected to quantify the main oligosaccharides in goat colostrum samples. Values ranging from 140 to 315 mg L−1 for neutral oligosaccharides and from 83 to 251 mg L−1 for acidic oligosaccharides were found. The combination of both techniques resulted to be useful to achieve a comprehensive characterization of GCO.This work has been funded by Junta de Andalucía (project AGR2011-7626), CSIC (project i-link0827), Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain) and European funding from FEDER program (AVANSECAL-CM S2013/ABI-3028) and Fundación Ramón Areces. This work was also supported by the UC Davis RISE program and the National Institutes of Health awards R21AT006180, R01AT007079, R01AT008759-02.Peer reviewe

A multi-taxa assessment of aquatic non-indigenous species introduced into Iberian freshwater and transitional waters

leading to multi-faceted ecological, economic and health impacts worldwide. The Iberian Peninsula comprises an exceptionally biodiverse Mediterranean region with a high number of threatened and endemic aquatic species, most of them strongly impacted by biological invasions. Following a structured approach that combines a systematic review of available information and expert opinion, we provide a comprehensive and updated multi-taxa inventory of aquatic NIS (fungi, macroalgae, vascular plants, invertebrates and vertebrates) in Iberian inland waters. Moreover, we assess overall patterns in the establishment status, introduction pathways, native range and temporal introduction trends of listed NIS. In addition, we discuss the legal coverage provided by both national (Spanish and Portuguese) and European NIS regulations. We inventoried 326 aquatic NIS in Iberian inland waters, including 215 established, 96 with uncertain establishment status and 15 cryptogenic taxa. Invertebrates (54.6%) and vertebrates (24.5%) were the groups with the highest number of NIS, with Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Chordata being the most represented phyla. Recorded NIS originated from diverse geographic regions, with North and South America being the most frequent. Vertebrates and vascular plants were mostly introduced through intentional pathways (i.e. release and escape), whereas invertebrates and macroalgae arrived mostly through unintentional ways (i.e. contaminant or stowaway). Most of the recorded NIS were introduced in Iberian inland waters over the second half of the 20th century, with a high number of NIS introductions being reported in the 2000s. While only 8% of the recorded NIS appear in the European Union list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern, around 25% are listed in the Spanish and Portuguese NIS regulations. This study provides the most updated checklist of Iberian aquatic NIS, meeting the requirements set by the EU regulation and providing a baseline for the evaluation of its application. We point out the need for coordinated transnational strategies to properly tackle aquatic invasions across borders of the EU members.LIFE INVASAQUA (Especies exóticas invasoras acuáticas de sistemas de agua dulce y estuarios: sensibilización y prevención en la Península Ibérica) de la UE - LIFE17 GIE/ES/00051

Modelling the mid-late Holocene evolution of the Huelva Estuary and its human colonization, South-Western Spain

The major changes that occurred in the southwestern estuaries of the Spanish Atlantic coast during the last 6500 yr BP were simultaneous to human settlement and therefore the understanding of their coastal evolution will help interpreting human patterns in these areas. The study of the morpho-sedimentary features of new outcrops appearing in the middle sector of Saltés Island (Huelva Estuary, Spain) has been used to develop a model to understand the complex evolution of sand barriers than can be applied to similar inlets along the Atlantic Iberian coast. The first human settlements (6000–4000 yr BP) in the early Huelva Estuary (Tinto and Odiel rivers) were located in the ancient coastal banks or in the nearby hills. From 4000 yr BP onwards, the estuarine sediments started to emerge as sand barriers and chenier plains, prograding towards the mouth. As the littoral strands stabilized morphologically, they were colonized by human settlements in successive periods, the oldest inland (Almendral) and more recent outward (Cascajera). The study of the upper sedimentary layers of La Cascajera barrier display a tempestitic sequence of landward progradational washover-fans. The calibrated and modelled AMS dates in marine shells provide a storminess time range between the second half of first century BCE and the entire first century CE. Sedimentary records are useful to evaluate environmental changes, either from natural or anthropogenic causes, such as global and climate change. The interrelationship between the archaeological findings (mainly salting fish factories and old ports) and the morpho sedimentary evolution at the mouth of the Tinto and Odiel rivers allows us to highlight not only the Huelva Estuary's dynamics evolution, but also the possible regional patterns of human habitation from the beginning of the present sea-level highstand (middle Holocene).Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad CGL2010-15810/BTEEuropean Union (UE) EU Excellence Project of the Andalusia Board SEJ-477

Status and Recent Results of the Acoustic Neutrino Detection Test System AMADEUS

The AMADEUS system is an integral part of the ANTARES neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. The project aims at the investigation of techniques for acoustic neutrino detection in the deep sea. Installed at a depth of more than 2000m, the acoustic sensors of AMADEUS are based on piezo-ceramics elements for the broad-band recording of signals with frequencies ranging up to 125kHz. AMADEUS was completed in May 2008 and comprises six "acoustic clusters", each one holding six acoustic sensors that are arranged at distances of roughly 1m from each other. The clusters are installed with inter-spacings ranging from 15m to 340m. Acoustic data are continuously acquired and processed at a computer cluster where online filter algorithms are applied to select a high-purity sample of neutrino-like signals. 1.6 TB of data were recorded in 2008 and 3.2 TB in 2009. In order to assess the background of neutrino-like signals in the deep sea, the characteristics of ambient noise and transient signals have been investigated. In this article, the AMADEUS system will be described and recent results will be presented.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of ARENA 2010, the 4th International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio EeV Neutrino Detection Activitie