The queen of the island : On the density and distribution of the Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) in Cozumel

The Eurasian Collared-Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) is one of the most successful invasive bird species across the world. Worryingly, the invasive dove is a known reservoir of many diseases, some of which can potentially infect mammals (including human beings). Additionally, aggressive behaviors have been recorded toward other bird species resulting in territory and nest usurpation. Thus, the presence of this species poses an important risk for native species with similar habits, particularly in insular systems. Based on this, we carried out this study to assess the density and distribution of the Eurasian Collared-Dove in the island of Cozumel, as well as to evaluate the relationship between their abundance and the environmental characteristics of the places they inhabit. We estimated their distance-corrected densities in the island's largest town and performed an inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation to visualize their distribution. We performed a generalized linear model (GLM) to assess relationships between the environmental variables and the abundance of doves using a reduced model procedure. We obtained 137 records of doves present in 94% of all survey sites and an estimated density of 6.8 ind/ha, for a total of 6,670 doves in San Miguel de Cozumel. We did not find a spatial pattern of the dove's distribution on the urban setting, but we found an interaction between their abundances with tree cover and building height. Our findings, together with previous evidence of infection risk and aggressive behavior, make this species a threat to the native species communities of fragile ecosystems such as the island of Cozumel.Peer reviewe

Smoking Status, Changes in Smoking Status and Health-Related Quality of Life: Findings from the SUN (“Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra”) Cohort

We aimed to evaluate the association between smoking, changes in smoking, and quality of life in a cohort of Spanish university graduates. Smoking habits were self-reported at baseline and four years later. Quality of life was assessed using the Short Form-36 (SF-36) at year 4. Statistical differences in SF-36 scores between groups were determined using ANCOVA with age and sex as covariates. Out of 5,234 eligible participants over 2000–2006, there were 2,639 non-smoker participants, 1,419 ex-smokers, and 1,048 smokers. Within the previous four years, 435 participants became recent quitters and 205 starters. Comparing smoking and health status in year 4, non-smokers showed better scores than the other categories of ever smoking in all dimensions except in the vitality scale value, which was similar in non-smokers and in those smoking less than 15 cigarettes/day. Comparing changes in smoking and health in year 4, continuing smokers had statistically significant worse scores than non-smokers in general health, social functioning, role-emotional and mental health, whereas recent quitters showed statistically significant improvements in role-emotional and mental health over those who had continued smoking or those who became smokers. Our findings support a dose-response relationship between cigarette consumption and a worse quality of life in general and mental health in particular. They also support that changes in smoking have an impact on health

Smart farming IoT platform based on edge and cloud computing

Precision Agriculture (PA), as the integration of information, communication and control technologies in agriculture, is growing day by day. The Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing paradigms offer advances to enhance PA connectivity. Nevertheless, their usage in this field is usually limited to specific scenarios of high cost, and they are not adapted to semi-arid conditions, or do not cover all PA management in an efficient way. For this reason, we propose a flexible platform able to cope with soilless culture needs in full recirculation greenhouses using moderately saline water. It is based on exchangeable low-cost hardware and supported by a three-tier open source software platform at local, edge and cloud planes. At the local plane, Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) interact with crop devices to gather data and perform real-time atomic control actions. The edge plane of the platform is in charge of monitoring and managing main PA tasks near the access network to increase system reliability against network access failures. Finally, the cloud platform collects current and past records and hosts data analytics modules in a FIWARE deployment. IoT protocols like Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT) or Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) are used to communicate with CPS, while Next Generation Service Interface (NGSI) is employed for southbound and northbound access to the cloud. The system has been completely instantiated in a real prototype in frames of the EU DrainUse project, allowing the control of a real hydroponic closed system through managing software for final farmers connected to the platform.This work has been sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through the HIDROLEAF project (ref. RTC-2016-4827-2) and the Torres Quevedo program (grant TQ-15-08073), and the European Commission, through the DrainUse (ref. LIFE14 ENV/ES/000538) and ANASTACIA (contract 731558) projects. The authors would also like to thank the colleagues from OdinS company for their support in the prototype deployment

Nuevos fotocatalizadores Sm2FeTaO7 y Sm2InTaO7 para la eliminación de contaminantes presentes en el agua

En esta investigación se reporta por primera vez la síntesis del óxido tipo pirocloro Sm2FeTaO7 por los métodos de reacción en estado sólido y sol-gel, así como el óxido Sm2InTaO7 mediante sol-gel. Los resultados de la caracterización estructural revelaron que el óxido Sm2FeTaO7 cristaliza en el sistema monoclínico con grupo espacial C2/c mientras que el óxido Sm2InTaO7 cristaliza en el sistema cúbico y grupo espacial Fd-3m. Para ambos materiales, cuando se utilizó el método sol-gel se obtienen materiales con propiedades morfológicas y superficiales diferentes, principalmente, en su tamaño de partícula y área superficial específica. La evaluación fotocatalítica mostró que el Sm2FeTaO7 es activo en la eliminación del colorante índigo carmín bajo condiciones reales de radiación solar. Mientras que, el Sm2InTaO7 es eficiente para reducir el ion Cr (VI) y degradar el colorante cristal violeta

On correctors for spectral problems in the homogenization of Robin boundary conditions with very large parameters

We obtain estimates for convergence rates of the eigenelements (λ", u") for the Laplace operator in a domain ⊂ R3 periodically perforated along a plane γ = ∩ {x1 = 0}. The boundary conditions are of the Dirichlet type on ∂ and of the Robin type, involving a large parameter O(ε− ), on the boundary of the cavities. The small parameter ε denotes the period while the size of each cavity is O(ε ). Here we consider the most significant case where α = κ = 2

An efficient method for enzyme immobilization evidenced by atomic force microscopy

Immobilization of proteins in a functionally active form and proper orientation is fundamental for effective surface-based protein analysis. A new method is presented for the controlled and oriented immobilization of ordered monolayers of enzymes whose interaction site had been protected using the protein ligand. The utility of this method was demonstrated by analyzing the interactions between the enzyme ferredoxin-NADP+ reductase (FNR) and its redox partner ferredoxin (Fd). The quality of the procedure was deeply evaluated through enzymatic assays and atomic force microscopy. Single-molecule force spectroscopy revealed that site-specifically targeted FNR samples increased the ratio of recognition events 4-fold with regard to the standard randomly modified FNR samples. The results were corroborated using the cytochrome c reductase activity that gave an increase on surface between 6 and 12 times for the site-specifically targeted FNR samples. The activity in solution for the enzyme labeled from the complex was similar to that exhibited by wild-type FNR while FNR randomly tagged showed a 3-fold decrease. This indicates that random targeting protocols affect not only the efficiency of immobilized proteins to recognize their ligands but also their general functionality. The present methodology is expected to find wide applications in surface-based protein–protein interactions biosensors, single-molecule analysis, bioelectronics or drug screening

A Novel Approach for the Assessment of Cities through Ecosystem Integrity

To tackle urban heterogeneity and complexity, several indices have been proposed, commonly aiming to provide information for decision-makers. In this study, we propose a novel and customizable procedure for quantifying urban ecosystem integrity. Based on a citywide approach, we developed an easy-to-use index that contrasts physical and biological variables of urban ecosystems with a given reference system. The Urban Ecosystem Integrity Index (UEII) is the sum of the averages from the variables that make up its intensity of urbanization and biological components. We applied the UEII in a Mexican tropical city using land surface temperature, built cover, and the richness of native plants and birds. The overall ecosystem integrity of the city, having montane cloud, tropical dry, and temperate forests as reference systems, was low (−0.34 ± SD 0.32), showing that, beyond its biodiverse greenspace network, the built-up structure highly differs from the ecosystems of reference. The UEII showed to be a flexible and easy-to-calculate tool to evaluate ecosystem integrity for cities, allowing for comparisons between or among cities, as well as the sectors/regions within cities. If used properly, the index could become a useful tool for decision making and resource allocation at a city level

A Novel Approach for the Assessment of Cities through Ecosystem Integrity

To tackle urban heterogeneity and complexity, several indices have been proposed, commonly aiming to provide information for decision-makers. In this study, we propose a novel and customizable procedure for quantifying urban ecosystem integrity. Based on a citywide approach, we developed an easy-to-use index that contrasts physical and biological variables of urban ecosystems with a given reference system. The Urban Ecosystem Integrity Index (UEII) is the sum of the averages from the variables that make up its intensity of urbanization and biological components. We applied the UEII in a Mexican tropical city using land surface temperature, built cover, and the richness of native plants and birds. The overall ecosystem integrity of the city, having montane cloud, tropical dry, and temperate forests as reference systems, was low (−0.34 ± SD 0.32), showing that, beyond its biodiverse greenspace network, the built-up structure highly differs from the ecosystems of reference. The UEII showed to be a flexible and easy-to-calculate tool to evaluate ecosystem integrity for cities, allowing for comparisons between or among cities, as well as the sectors/regions within cities. If used properly, the index could become a useful tool for decision making and resource allocation at a city level

Electrocatalytic behavior of tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) and extended tetrathiafulvalene (exTTF) [FeFe] hydrogenase mimics

TTF- and exTTF-containing [(μ-S2)Fe2(CO)6] complexes have been prepared by the photochemical reaction of TTF or exTTF and [(μ-S2)Fe2(CO)6]. These complexes are able to interact with PAHs. In the absence of air and in acid media an electrocatalytic dihydrogen evolution reaction (HER) occurs, similarly to analogous [(μ-S2)Fe2(CO)6] complexes. However, in the presence of air, the TTF and exTTF organic moieties strongly influence the electrochemistry of these systems. The reported data may be valuable in the design of [FeFe] hydrogenase mimics able to combine the HER properties of the [FeFe] cores with the unique TTF propertie