Business plan for a technologically advanced security company

The purpose of this project is the creation of a Business Plan for a security company. The project is divided into 6 chapters that conforms a solid study containing the most important points in the creation of a new company. In order to achieve these objectives each chapter has its own subject. The first chapter constrains the business activity sector, its profile and the services offered by the company. The second chapter presents a selection of products in order to accomplish the different activities carried out by the company and the pricing of the products offered by the company in relationship with the market are analyzed in this chapter. In chapter three, is studied the economical position of the market sector based on the results obtained from the considered, competitor companies. The fourth chapter describes the characteristics of the company such as the targets, the structure, the employee's profiles and other characteristics. The fifth chapter exposes the economical and financial plan for the first three years of business activity and analyzes the possible figures. Finally, in chapter six the conclusions, the future work and the environmental impacts are presented

Colonization Pattern of Abandoned Croplands by Quercus pyrenaica in a Mediterranean Mountain Region

Land abandonment is a major global change driver in the Mediterranean region, where anthropic activity has played an important role in shaping landscape configuration. Understanding the woodland expansion towards abandoned croplands is critical to develop effective management strategies. In this study, we analyze the colonization pattern of abandoned croplands by Quercus pyrenaica in the Sierra Nevada mountain range (southern Spain). We aimed to assess differences among populations within the rear edge of the Q. pyrenaica distribution. For this purpose, we characterized (i) the colonization pattern of Q. pyrenaica, (ii) the structure of the seed source (surrounding forests), and (iii) the abundance of the main seed disperser (Eurasian jay, Garrulus glandarius). The study was conducted in five abandoned croplands located in two representative populations of Q. pyrenaica located on contrasting slopes. Vegetation plots within three habitat types (mature forest, edge-forest and abandoned cropland) were established to compute the abundance of oak juveniles. The abundance of European jay was determined using data of bird censuses (covering 7 years). Our results indicate that a natural recolonization of abandoned croplands by Q. pyrenaica is occurring in the rear edge of the distribution of this oak species. Oak juvenile abundance varied between study sites. Neither the surrounding-forest structure nor the abundance of jays varied significantly between study sites. The differences in the recolonization patterns seem to be related to differences in the previous- and post-abandonment management.LIFE-ADAPTAMED (LIFE14CCA/ES/000612) projectMIGRAME Project (Excellence Research Group Programme of the Andalusian Government (RNM 6734)eLTER H2020 projec

Evolution and Paradigm Shift in Forest Health Research: A Review on of Global Trends and Knowledge Gaps

Forest health is an attractive concept in forestry research, which environmental, social, and political interests have shaped. Assessing forest health is crucial, but finding a single definition of the concept is complex. It is determined by the aim of the forest study, different areas of knowledge, scales of work, technology, methodologies, the historical moment, or the source of funding, among others. With almost a century of scientific evidence, the aim is to identify and contextualise temporal changes in the relevance of this key concept. Trends are analysed through the construction of three main descriptors (state variables, drivers, and methods) and the main conceptual subdomains (themes). This review reveals the significant geographical bias driven by diverse needs and interests. Methodologies have evolved from traditional inventories to the use of advanced tools such as remote sensing or ecophysiology, improving forest characterisation at both global and individual scales. Research has evolved from unicausality towards holistic and multidisciplinary approaches, influencing research to date and future scenarios. We identified key knowledge gaps in the scientific literature, particularly the concepts of ecosystem services, Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) and the concept of “one health”. These findings highlight the need for a research assessment, future directions, and scenarios for forest health research

Ecological Diversity within Rear-Edge: A Case Study from Mediterranean Quercus pyrenaica Willd

Understanding the ecology of populations located in the rear edge of their distribution is key to assessing the response of the species to changing environmental conditions. Here, we focus on rear-edge populations of Quercus pyrenaica in Sierra Nevada (southern Iberian Peninsula) to analyze their ecological and floristic diversity. We perform multivariate analyses using high-resolution environmental information and forest inventories to determine how environmental variables differ among oak populations, and to identify population groups based on environmental and floristic composition. We find that water availability is a key variable in explaining the distribution of Q. pyrenaica and the floristic diversity of their accompanying communities within its rear edge. Three cluster of oak populations were identified based on environmental variables. We found differences among these clusters regarding plant diversity, but not for forest attributes. A remarkable match between the populations clustering derived from analysis of environmental variables and the ordination of the populations according to species composition was found. The diversity of ecological behaviors for Q. pyrenaica populations in this rear edge are consistent with the high genetic diversity shown by populations of this oak in the Sierra Nevada. The identification of differences between oak populations within the rear-edge with respect to environmental variables can aid with planning the forest management and restoration actions, particularly considering the importance of some environmental factors in key ecological aspects.LIFE-ADAPTAMED: Protection of key ecosystem services by adaptive management of Climate Change endangered Mediterranean socioecosystems LIFE14 CCA/ES/000612H2020 project European Long-Term Ecosystem and socio-ecological Research Infrastructure (eLTER)European Research Council (ERC) 64703

Forest management scenarios drive future dynamics of Mediterranean planted pine forests under climate change

Context: Planted pine forests are highly abundant communities in the Mediterranean Basin. Being the result of past reforestation, these forests show high species and structural homogeneity. Diversification to conifer-broadleaved mixed forests is recommended to promote adaptation to climate change and increase their resilience to perturbations. Objectives: This study aims at evaluating how these planted pine forests will develop in the future as a result of the combined impacts of management and climate. Methods: We applied a forest landscape model (LANDIS-II) to simulate different climate scenarios and management strategies designed in cooperation with forest managers to assess their effects on the performance of planted pine forests and their change in terms of forest composition. Results: Climate change scenarios caused a shift in the phenological growth pattern of planted pine forests by reducing forest growth during summer and increasing photosynthetic productivity in spring and fall, particularly under high emission scenarios. Biomass increased through time and more strongly under climate change, but this increase differs among species, resulting in changes of forest types across the landscape. Our results portray natural succession as the main driver of forest change, but intensive management accelerated this process by limiting pine growth and promoting growth of oak species. Conclusions: Our results highlight the importance of active management on planted pine forests to favour mixed and climate-adapted ecosystems in shorter time scales than offered by succession alone. Moreover, our spatially explicit modelling approach helps to identify areas where lack of seed dispersal and/or competitive exclusion prevent natural diversification, providing useful recommendations for interventions. However, the modelling approach has some limitations since it does not consider natural disturbances

Increasing hydration of the epidermis by microcapsules in sterilized products

This is the accepted version of the following article: Gisbert, J., Ibañez, F., Bonet, M., Monllor, P., Díaz, P. and Montava, I. (2009), Increasing hydration of the epidermis by microcapsules in sterilized products. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 113: 2282–2286, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/app.30210.Some nonserious skin infections can be treated by hydration and antibacterial control. Microcapsules containing aloe-chitin are often used to treat this kind of problem. Microcapsules were applied to cotton fabrics by padding and sleeves were prepared. A hypoallergenic test was applied to the microcapsule emulsion and hydration of the epidermis was evaluated by capacitance methods. The fabric was sterilized by electron beam treatment to satisfy the antibacterial requisite. The results showed that the aloe is transferred from the fabric to the skin, increasing the level of skin hydration. The electron beam method was also shown to be effective for bacteria and fungi and had no effect on the microcapsule properties. It can, therefore, be confirmed that electron beam sterilization has no harmful effects on the type of microcapsule used in this study. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 113: 2282-2286, 2009Gisbert Paya, J.; Ibañez García, F.; Bonet Aracil, MA.; Monllor Pérez, P.; Díaz-García, P.; Montava Seguí, IJ. (2009). Increasing hydration of the epidermis by microcapsules in sterilized products. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 113(4):2282-2286. doi:10.1002/app.30210S22822286113

Social media photo content for Sierra Nevada: a dataset to support the assessment of cultural ecosystem services in protected areas

This dataset provides crowd-sourced and georeferenced information useful for the assessment of cultural ecosystem services in the Sierra Nevada Biosphere Reserve (southern Spain). Data were collected within the European project ECOPOTENTIAL focused on Earth observations of ecosystem services. The dataset comprises 778 records expressing the results of the content analysis of social media photos published in Flickr. Our dataset is illustrated in this data paper with density maps for different types of information.This work has been carried out within the H2020 project “ECOPOTENTIAL: Improving future ecosystem benefits through earth observations” (http://www.ecopotential- project.eu/), which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 641762

Modeling Major Rural Land-Use Changes Using the GIS-Based Cellular Automata Metronamica Model: The Case of Andalusia (Southern Spain)

The effective and efficient planning of rural land-use changes and their impact on the environment is critical for land-use managers. Many land-use growth models have been proposed for forecasting growth patterns in the last few years. In this work; a cellular automata (CA)-based land-use model (Metronamica) was tested to simulate (1999–2007) and predict (2007–2035) land-use dynamics and land-use changes in Andalucía (Spain). The model was calibrated using temporal changes in land-use covers and was evaluated by the Kappa index. GIS-based maps were generated to study major rural land-use changes (agriculture and forests). The change matrix for 1999–2007 showed an overall area change of 674971 ha. The dominant land uses in 2007 were shrubs (30.7%), woody crops on dry land (17.3%), and herbaceous crops on dry land (12.7%). The comparison between the reference and the simulated land-use maps of 2007 showed a Kappa index of 0.91. The land-cover map for the projected PRELUDE scenarios provided the land-cover characteristics of 2035 in Andalusia; developed within the Metronamica model scenarios (Great Escape; Evolved Society; Clustered Network; Lettuce Surprise U; and Big Crisis). The greatest differences were found between Great Escape and Clustered Network and Lettuce Surprise U. The observed trend (1999–2007–2035) showed the greatest similarity with the Big Crisis scenario. Land-use projections facilitate the understanding of the future dynamics of land-use change in rural areas; and hence the development of more appropriate plans and policies

Documenting models and workflows: the next challenge in the field of ecological data management

Los modelos ecológicos se han convertido en una pieza clave de esta ciencia. La generación de conocimiento se consigue en buena medida mediante procesos analíticos más o menos complejos aplicados sobre conjuntos de datos diversos. Pero buena parte del conocimiento necesario para diseñar e implementar esos modelos no está accesible a la comunidad científica. Proponemos la creación de herramientas informáticas para documentar, almacenar y ejecutar modelos ecológicos y flujos de trabajo. Estas herramientas (repositorios de modelos) están siendo desarrolladas por otras disciplinas como la biología molecular o las ciencias de la Tierra. Presentamos un repositorio de modelos (ModeleR) desarrollado en el contexto del Observatorio de seguimiento del cambio global de Sierra Nevada (Granada-Almería). Creemos que los repositorios de modelos fomentarán la cooperación entre científicos, mejorando la creación de conocimiento relevante que podría ser transferido a los tomadores de decisiones.Ecological models have become a key part of this scientific discipline. Most of the knowledge created by ecologists is obtained by applying analytical processes to primary data. But most of the information underlying how to create models or use analytic techniques already published in the scientific literature is not readily available to scientists. We are proposing the creation of computer tools that help to document, store and execute ecological models and scientific workflows. These tools (called model repositories) are being developed by other disciplines such as molecular biology and earth science. We are presenting a model repository (called ModeleR) that has been developed in the context of the Sierra Nevada Global Change Observatory (Granada-Almería. Spain). We believe that model repositories will foster cooperation among scientists, enhancing the creation of relevant knowledge that could be transferred to environmental managers.El desarrollo de ModeleR ha sido financiado por la Consejería de Medio Ambiente y Ordenación del Territorio de la Junta de Andalucía a través de la Red de Información Ambiental (REDIAM), gracias a un convenio llamado “Diseño y creación de un repositorio de modelos para la red de información ambiental de Andalucía”. A.J. Pérez-Luque agradece al MICINN por el contrato PTA 2011-6322-I