Addressing wildfire risk in a landscape-level scheduling model: an application in Portugal

Fundamental Research - Forest ManagementThe paper presents and discusses research aiming at the development of a forested landscape management scheduling model that may address the risk of wildfires. A general indicator is built from wildfire occurrence and damage probabilities to assess stand-level resistance to wildfires. This indicator is developed to further address the specificity of each stand configuration (e.g., shape and size) and spatial context (neighboring stands characteristics). The usefulness of the development of such an indicator is tested within a mixed integer programming (MIP) approach to find the location and timing of management options (e.g., fuel treatment, thinning, clearcut) that may maximize the forested landscape expected net revenues. The Leiria National Forest, a Portuguese forest in central Portugal, was used as a case study. Results suggest that the proposed approach may help integrate wildfire risk in forested landscape management planning and assess its impact on the optimal plan. Results further show that prescriptions that include fuel treatments are often chosen over others that do not include them, thus highlighting the importance of wildfire management efforts. Finally, they provide interesting insights about the role of thinnings and fuel treatment in mitigating wildfire riskinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improving social capital: a social network monitoring system

To increase communication and collaboration opportunities, members of a community must be aware of the social networks that exist within that community. This paper describes a social network monitoring system that enables users to register their interactions and visualize their social networks. The system was implemented in two distributed learning communities and the results have shown that this system facilitates collecting information about social interactions. Furthermore, the visualization of the social networks, given as feedback, appeared to have a positive impact on users, augmenting their social network awareness.Postprint (published version

A stochastic dynamic programming approach to optimize short-rotation coppice systems management scheduling: An application to eucalypt plantations under wildfire risk in Portugal

This article presents and discusses research with the aim of developing a stand-level management scheduling model for short-rotation coppice systems that may take into account the risk of wildfire. The use of the coppice regeneration method requires the definition of both the optimal harvest age in each cycle and the optimal number of coppice cycles within a full rotation. The scheduling of other forest operations such as stool thinning and fuel treatments (e.g., shrub removals) must be further addressed. In this article, a stochastic dynamic programming approach is developed to determine the policy (e.g., fuel treatment, stool thinning, coppice cycles, and rotation length) that maximizes expected net revenues. Stochastic dynamic programming stages are defined by the number of harvests, and state variables correspond to the number of years since the stand was planted. Wildfire occurrence and damage probabilities are introduced in the model to analyze the impact of the wildfire risk on the optimal stand management schedule policy. For that purpose, alternative wildfire occurrence and postfire mortality scenarios were considered at each stage. A typical Eucalyptus globulus Labill. stand in Central Portugal was used as a test case. Results suggest that the proposed approach may help integrate wildfire risk in short-rotation coppice systems management scheduling. They confirm that the maximum expected discounted revenue decreases with and is very sensitive to the discount rate and further suggest that the number of cycles within a full rotation is not sensitive to wildfire risk. Nevertheless, the expected rotation length decreases when wildfire risk is consideredinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

COVID-19 Pandemic in Portugal: Psychosocial and Health-Related Factors Associated with Psychological Discomfort

: The COVID-19 pandemic is a stressful long-lasting event with an increasingly negative impact upon individuals. This study aimed at assessing the magnitude of depression, anxiety, and stress among adults living in Portugal during the first mandatory lockdown of 2020, and the psychosocial and health-related factors associated with these symptoms. A sample of 484 adults (73% women) with an average age of 40 years old (Standard Deviation, SD = 14.03) responded to an online survey. The survey included measures of depression, anxiety, stress, social support, COVID-19 interference in daily life, attitudes towards COVID-19, and health perception. The impact of the lockdown on psychological well-being was large, with up to 36% of the participants showing signs of at least mild psychological discomfort (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress). Social support, COVID-19 interference on daily life, health perception, and age, explained all the dependent variables. Education level, income, attitudes towards COVID-19, and gender explained some of the dependent variables. These results suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has a serious impact on the psychological health of Portuguese adults. The role of the procedures to control the pandemic on the mental health of Portuguese adults should not be underestimated.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mental, physical and socio-economic status of adults living in spain during the late stages of the state of emergency caused by COVID-19

Research has shown that the confinement measures implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19 can have negative effects on people’s lives at multiple levels. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to better understand the mental, physical, and socio-economic status of adults living in Spain during the late stages of the state of emergency caused by COVID-19. Five hundred and forty-four individuals responded to an online survey between 3 June and 30 July 2020. They were asked to report data about their mental and physical health, financial situation, and satisfaction with the information received about the pandemic. Means, percentages, t-test, ANOVAs, and logistic regressions were computed. A third of the participants reported symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, and worries about their health and the future. Participants also described mild levels of fatigue and pain during lockdown (66%), and a reduction in household income (39%). Respondents that were female, younger, single, and with lower levels of education reported experiencing a greater impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data showed that the negative effects of lockdown were present in the late stages of the state of emergency. The findings can be used to contribute to the development of programs to prevent or mitigate the negative impact of confinement measures.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - FCTinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Detection of open phase condition in power transformers

This article deals with open phase events in power transformers, mainly related to nuclear power plants where several cases have led to a global initiative for a prompt solution for this vulnerability. Different solutions are possible, and one of them, which has already been tested at a Spanish nuclear power plant, is presented here. Field test results are presented together with simulations

Detection of open phase condition in power transformers

This article deals with open phase events in power transformers, mainly related to nuclear power plants where several cases have led to a global initiative for a prompt solution for this vulnerability. Different solutions are possible, and one of them, which has already been tested at a Spanish nuclear power plant, is presented here. Field test results are presented together with simulations

Vitamin d and leishmaniasis : Neither seasonal nor risk factor in canine host but potential adjuvant treatment through cbd103 expression

Red de Investigación Cooperativa en Enfermedades Tropicales RD12/0018/0010Vitamin D (VitD) deficiency has been shown to be a risk factor for a plethora of disorders. We have shown that dogs with clinical leishmaniasis presented lower VitD serum levels than non-infected dogs, and even lower than those with asymptomatic infection. However, if VitD deficiency is a risk factor to develop clinical leishmaniasis remains to be answered. It is also unknown if VitD participates in Leishmania control. First, we retrospectively analysed VitD concentration in serum samples from 36 healthy dogs collected in different periods of the year concluding that there isn't a seasonal variation of this vitamin in dogs. We also included 9 dogs with clinical leishmaniasis and 10 non-infected healthy dogs, in which we measured VitD levels at the beginning of the study, when all dogs were negative for serology and qPCR, and 1 year later. Whereas non-infected dogs showed no change in VitD levels along the study, those developing clinical leishmaniasis showed a significant VitD reduction at the end of the study (35%). When we compared VitD concentration between the two groups at the beginning of the study, no differences were detected (43.6 (38-59) ng/mL, P = 0.962). Furthermore, an in vitro model using a canine macrophage cell line proved that adding active VitD leads to a significant reduction in L. infantum load (31.4%). Analyzing expression of genes related to VitD pathway on primary canine monocytes, we showed that CBD103 expression was significantly enhanced after 1,25(OH)D addition. Our results show that VitD concentration is neither seasonal nor a risk factor for developing canine leishmaniasis, but it diminishes with the onset of clinical disease suggesting a role in parasitic control. Our in vitro results corroborate this hypothesis and point out that VitD regulates infection through CBD103 expression. These results open the possibility for studies testing VitD as an adjuvant in leishmaniasis therapy. Vitamin D (VitD), the precursor of the powerful steroid hormone calcitriol, has been widely known to regulate the calcium and phosphate homeostasis. Several studies have shown that VitD plays also an important role on innate immunity. The mechanisms by which VitD modulates the immune function have been studied within different contexts involving multiple pathogens, but not Leishmania sp. It is known that VitD strengthens the innate immune system by inducing the expression of anti-microbial peptides in Mycobacterium tuberculosis- infected human macrophages. Antimicrobial peptides act on the bacterial wall, increasing the formation of reactive oxygen species, modulating cytokine expression, and inducing autophagy. Immune system plays a key role in leishmaniasis disease control, thus VitD could have a relevant contribution in leishmaniasis. In a previous study, we shown that clinical leishmaniasis is associated with VitD deficiency. This research aims to determine whether vitamin D is seasonal and a risk factor for developing canine leishmaniasis and, also, to study the possible VitD anti-parasitic effect and the expression of genes related to VitD pathway. The results show that VitD in canine leishmaniasis is neither seasonal nor a risk factor for developing clinical disease. However, its role in reducing parasite load suggests that VitD could be an adjuvant in leishmaniasis therapy