Pyrolytic characterization of humic acids in relation to carbon sequestration mechanisms in representative soils from the basque country (Northern Spain)

Comunicación y póster presentados al citado simposio, celebrado del 17-20 de septiembre, 2002, en Leoben (Austria).Curie-Point analytical pyrolysis was used for the assessment of soil organic matter accumulation processes in representative ecosystems from the Basque Country (Northem Spain). The aim of the study is to identify the main mechanisms of carbon sequestration by carrying out a semiquantitative appraisal of biogeochemical processes ranging from selective preservation of plant macromolecular material to complex processes involving extensive depolymerization of plant-inherited constituents followed by synthesis of humic-type substances.Peer reviewe

OxyEMG: an application for determination of the oxyspinel group end-members based on electron microprobe analyses

The Oxyspinel group End-Member Generator (OxyEMG) is an improved version of the EMG application. This new version allows for calculating, based on electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), the proportions of 31 end-member components in an oxyspinel composition. These components are MgAl2O4 (spinel), FeAl2O4 (hercynite), MnAl2O4 (galaxite), ZnAl2O4 (gahnite), NiAl2O4 (chihmingite), CuAl2O4 (thermaerogenite), MgFe2O4 (magnesioferrite), Fe3O4 (magnetite), MnFe2O4 (jacobsite), ZnFe2O4 (franklinite), NiFe2O4 (trevorite), CuFe2O4 (cuprospinel), FeMn2O4, MgMn2O4, Mn3O4 (hausmannite), ZnMn2O4 (hetaerolite), MgCr2O4 (magnesiochromite), FeCr2O4 (chromite), MnCr2O4 (manganochromite), ZnCr2O4 (zincochromite), NiCr2O4 (nichromite), CoCr2O4 (cochromite), MgV2O4 (magnesiocoulsonite), FeV2O4 (coulsonite), MnV2O4 (vuorelainenite), Co3O4 (guite), TiMg2O4 (qandilite), TiFe2O4 (ulvöspinel), SiMg2O4 (ringwoodite), SiFe2O4 (ahrensite) and GeFe2O4 (brunogeierite). Compared with the older version, OxyEMG allows for (a) calculating 12 additional oxyspinel group end-member compositions (chihmingite, thermaerogenite, hausmannite, hetaerolite, FeMn2O4, MgMn2O4, cuprospinel, cochromite, guite, ringwoodite, ahrensite and brunogeierite), (b) discriminating the cation valency not only for Fe2+–Fe3+ but also for Mn2+–Mn3+ and Co2+–Co3+, and (c) changing the method to calculate the components of the magnetite and ulvöspinel prisms. As in EMG, this new version is an application that does not require an installation process and was created with the purpose of performing calculations to obtain cation proportions (per formula unit, p.f.u.), end-members of the oxyspinel group, a ΣR3+ value, a ΣR2+ value, ΣR3+ / ΣR2+ ratios, redistribution proportions for the corresponding end-members in the magnetite or ulvöspinel prisms, and a data validation section to check the results.</p

The global clonal complexity of the murine blood system declines throughout life and after serial transplantation.

Although many recent studies describe the emergence and prevalence of "clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential" in aged human populations, a systematic analysis of the numbers of clones supporting steady-state hematopoiesis throughout mammalian life is lacking. Previous efforts relied on transplantation of "barcoded" hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) to track the contribution of HSC clones to reconstituted blood. However, ex vivo manipulation and transplantation alter HSC function and thus may not reflect the biology of steady-state hematopoiesis. Using a noninvasive in vivo color-labeling system, we report the first comprehensive analysis of the changing global clonal complexity of steady-state hematopoiesis during the natural murine lifespan. We observed that the number of clones (ie, clonal complexity) supporting the major blood and bone marrow hematopoietic compartments decline with age by ∼30% and ∼60%, respectively. Aging dramatically reduced HSC in vivo-repopulating activity and lymphoid potential while increasing functional heterogeneity. Continuous challenge of the hematopoietic system by serial transplantation provoked the clonal collapse of both young and aged hematopoietic systems. Whole-exome sequencing of serially transplanted aged and young hematopoietic clones confirmed oligoclonal hematopoiesis and revealed mutations in at least 27 genes, including nonsense, missense, and deletion mutations in Bcl11b, Hist1h2ac, Npy2r, Notch3, Ptprr, and Top2b

Lifelong haematopoiesis is established by hundreds of precursors throughout mammalian ontogeny.

Current dogma asserts that mammalian lifelong blood production is established by a small number of blood progenitors. However, this model is based on assays that require the disruption, transplantation and/or culture of embryonic tissues. Here, we used the sample-to-sample variance of a multicoloured lineage trace reporter to assess the frequency of emerging lifelong blood progenitors while avoiding the disruption, culture or transplantation of embryos. We find that approximately 719 Flk1+ mesodermal precursors, 633 VE-cadherin+ endothelial precursors and 545 Vav1+ nascent blood stem and progenitor cells emerge to establish the haematopoietic system at embryonic days (E)7-E8.5, E8.5-E11.5 and E11.5-E14.5, respectively. We also determined that the spatio-temporal recruitment of endothelial blood precursors begins at E8.5 and ends by E10.5, and that many c-Kit+ clusters of newly specified blood progenitors in the aorta are polyclonal in origin. Our work illuminates the dynamics of the developing mammalian blood system during homeostasis

Análisis visual en geología

Los geólogos usualmente trabajan con rocas que tienen edades oscilando entre pocos a miles de millones de años. Uno de los objetivos es tratar de reconstruir los ambientes geológicos donde se formaron las rocas y la sucesión de eventos que las afectaron desde su formación a fin de comprender la evolución geológica de la Tierra, identificar regiones donde se localizan depósitos minerales de interés económico, recursos de combustibles, etc. Para alcanzar estos objetivos, recolectan información y muestras de rocas y minerales en el campo, En particular estos últimos son analizados en laboratorio con instrumentos para obtener datos geoquímicos de minerales, como por ejemplo de los que conforman el grupo del espinelo. Dada la gran cantidad de datos generados, los científicos se ven obligados a analizar grandes volúmenes de información para arribar a conclusiones basadas en datos objetivos. El flujo del trabajo de análisis de los geólogos incluye el uso tedioso de varias herramientas y métodos manuales relativamente complejos y propensos a errores para comparar diferentes gráficos y tablas. Para mejorarlo, los integrantes de este proyecto desarrollaron un framework de análisis visual de datos geológicos. Una realimentación muy positiva de los expertos del dominio sobre éste y el gran potencial de mejoramiento motiva esta línea de trabajo

Participatory budgeting, community engagement and impact on public services in Scotland

The institutional engagement and analysis needed to effectively integrate the requirements of equality legislation into participatory budgeting (PB) processes requires a transformational approach. Equality processes appear to exist in parallel with PB activity, rather than being operationalized as integral to the objectives and character of PB activity at local level. This paper proposes that PB and the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in the Equality Act 2010 share a transformative intent and potential, but that this is undermined by siloed thinking on equalities and enduring discriminatory behaviour and practices. The paper concludes with propositions for aligning the conceptual links between equality and community empowerment and, thereby, participation in local financial decision-making in practice

Análisis visual de datos multidimensionales

El objetivo de la visualización es comunicar información de una manera gráfica, interactiva y comprensible. La visualización de datos multivariados, en particular, es un campo de investigación activo con una gran aplicación en diversas áreas. En el análisis de conjuntos de datos multidimensionales, las cuestiones relacionadas con la detección de eventos, correlaciones, patrones y tendencias, desempeñan un papel cada vez más importante. A medida que aumenta la dimensionalidad de los datos, la realización de una visualización eficaz se vuelve cada vez más compleja ya que muchas técnicas tradicionales solo pueden generar vistas parciales de los datos [3, 11, 12, 13], imposibilitando la detección de posibles relaciones entre todas las variables involucradas en el proceso. Por lo tanto, tener un conjunto de metáforas visuales y técnicas de visualización relacionadas, es muy útil para nuestro análisis. Estas representaciones deben poder transmitir de manera efectiva las características del espacio de información e inspirar el descubrimiento. En este contexto, el objetivo general es contribuir al desarrollo de tecnologías en torno al análisis visual de datos multidimensionales. En esta línea en particular, nos centraremos en la aplicación de estas nuevas tecnologías en el campo de la geología, pero estos métodos son extensibles a diferentes disciplinas.Eje: Computación gráfica, imágenes y visualización.Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informátic

Evolution of CRISPR-associated endonucleases as inferred from resurrected proteins

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated Cas9 is an effector protein that targets invading DNA and plays a major role in the prokaryotic adaptive immune system. Although Streptococcus pyogenes CRISPR–Cas9 has been widely studied and repurposed for applications including genome editing, its origin and evolution are poorly understood. Here, we investigate the evolution of Cas9 from resurrected ancient nucleases (anCas) in extinct firmicutes species that last lived 2.6 billion years before the present. We demonstrate that these ancient forms were much more flexible in their guide RNA and protospacer-adjacent motif requirements compared with modern-day Cas9 enzymes. Furthermore, anCas portrays a gradual palaeoenzymatic adaptation from nickase to double-strand break activity, exhibits high levels of activity with both single-stranded DNA and single-stranded RNA targets and is capable of editing activity in human cells. Prediction and characterization of anCas with a resurrected protein approach uncovers an evolutionary trajectory leading to functionally flexible ancient enzymes.This work has been supported by grant nos. PID2019-109087RB-I00 (to R.P.-J.) and RTI2018-101223-B-I00 and PID2021-127644OB-I00 (to L.M.) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 964764 (to R.P.-J.). The content presented in this document represents the views of the authors, and the European Commission has no liability in respect to the content. We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Foundation for the Promotion of Research of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. A.F. acknowledges Spanish Center for Biomedical Network Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERE) intramural funds (no. ER19P5AC756/2021). F.J.M.M. acknowledges research support by Conselleria d’Educació, Investigació, Cultura i Esport from Generalitat Valenciana, research project nos. PROMETEO/2017/129 and PROMETEO/2021/057. M.M. acknowledges funding from CIBERER (grant no. ER19P5AC728/2021). The work has received funding from the Regional Government of Madrid (grant no. B2017/BMD3721 to M.A.M.-P.) and from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, cofounded with the European Regional Development Fund ‘A way to make Europe’ within the National Plans for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017–2020 and 2021–2024 (nos. PI17/1659, PI20/0429 and IMP/00009; to M.A.M.-P. B.P.K. was supported by an MGH ECOR Howard M. Goodman Award and NIH P01 HL142494

Designing Institutions for Diversity

This paper analyzes the design of innovation contests when the quality of an innovation depends on the research approach of the supplier, but the best approach is unknown. Diversity of approaches is desirable because it generates an option value. In our main model with two suppliers, the buyer optimally uses a bonus tournament, where suppliers can choose between a low bid and a high bid. This allows the buyer to implement any level of diversity with the lowest revenue for the suppliers. We also compare other common contests, in particular, fixed-prize tournaments and auctions. Like bonus tournaments, auctions implement the socially optimal diversity, but usually with higher rents for the suppliers. Fixed-prize tournaments implement insufficient diversity, but may nevertheless be preferred by the buyer to auctions because of lower supplier rents