Empty Urbanism: the bursting of the Spanish housing bubble

The depth of the Spanish housing crisis manifests itself in the collapse of construction activity and in the amount of housing and land stocks. The geography of the crisis shows its widespread nature, and the intensity of the previous bubble explains spatial differences. Resulting from this collapse are some problematic areas of 'empty urbanism'. An enormous land bubble, emerging from the peculiar Spanish urban development model, was a key factor in the impacts - caused by the crisis - on the territory and land-use plans. The crisis has demonstrated the unsustainability of this and the urgency of change in the existing land-use plans

La medicina rural: una visión mirando al futuro

The management of any large building stock with limited resources poses a problem of prioritization of refurbishment actions. Also, available technical information about the building stock is often incomplete and the process of standardization and updating is expensive and time consuming. Some public owners are developing preliminary BIM models of their stock, but they are willing to limit the complexity of the models within the lowest amount of information required for management and maintenance, so as to make that process affordable. Indeed, administrations are challenged by their duty relative to planning regular maintenance and operation of buildings, because of the legislation in force, which requires monitoring of their facilities. For the reasons stated above, this paper presents a decision support tool that can help prioritize refurbishment actions on large building assets. To this purpose, many requirements must be jointly considered in this examination, each requirement being assessed by means of one or several indicators. Then the indicators are compared one another, according to a multi-criteria approach, that weighs the several criteria and rank the assets. In order to deal with the extensive and uncertain information that must be managed in this process, indicators are estimated by means of Bayesian Networks. This tool is used first to assess the technical indicators and rank the assets, while marking any facilities not complying with regulations. Then, additional Bayesian Networks are in charge of estimating the budget needed to upgrade non-compliant facilities with minimum legislation requirements. The outcomes of this research can be used even to assess the level of detail of the information that must be included in BIM models of the stock, in fact acting as guidelines for their development. Finally, the application of the decision tool on a real test case will be presented

Evaluación de células madre mesenquimales ovinas como modelos celulares in vitro de scrapie

Las células madre mesenquimales (MSCs) son células madre pluripotentes adultas caracterizadas por su capacidad de autorenovación y de diferenciación en células de origen mesodérmico (osteoblastos, adipocitos, condrocitos y miocitos). Estas células también son capaces de diferenciarse in vitro en células de origen neurogénico (Zeng et al., 2011; Alizadeh et al., 2019). Por otro lado, las MSCs expresan la proteína prión celular (PrPc) y las MSCs murinas procedentes de médula ósea (BM-MSCs) son capaces de infectarse con una cepa de Gerstmann-Sträussler-Schneiker previamente adaptada en ratón ex vivo y mantener la infectividad en pases sucesivos (Akimov et al., 2009). Nuestro grupo de investigación ha descrito la presencia de PrPC en MSCs ovinas derivadas de médula ósea (oBM-MSCs) tanto a nivel de transcripción como de proteína (Mediano et al., 2015). En ese mismo estudio, las oBM-MSCs derivadas de ovejas con scrapie mostraron un potencial de proliferación disminuido en comparación con las células obtenidas de ovejas sanas. Todos estos hallazgos, hacen de las MSCs unas buenas candidatas para el desarrollo de modelos in vitro de enfermedades priónicas. En este trabajo, presentamos el aislamiento de oBM- MSCs procedentes de ovejas con diferentes genotipos para el gen PRNP (ARQ/ARQ, ARQ/VRQ y VRQ/VRQ) y la evaluación de: su habilidad para diferenciarse en células madre neurales (NSCs), su capacidad para replicar el prion y su respuesta a la infección in vitro con priones

Analysis of conservation priorities of Iberoamerican cattle based on autosomal microsatellite markers

Articles in International JournalsBackground: Determining the value of livestock breeds is essential to define conservation priorities, manage genetic diversity and allocate funds. Within- and between-breed genetic diversity need to be assessed to preserve the highest intra-specific variability. Information on genetic diversity and risk status is still lacking for many Creole cattle breeds from the Americas, despite their distinct evolutionary trajectories and adaptation to extreme environmental conditions. Methods: A comprehensive genetic analysis of 67 Iberoamerican cattle breeds was carried out with 19 FAOrecommended microsatellites to assess conservation priorities. Contributions to global diversity were investigated using alternative methods, with different weights given to the within- and between-breed components of genetic diversity. Information on Iberoamerican plus 15 worldwide cattle breeds was used to investigate the contribution of geographical breed groups to global genetic diversity. Results: Overall, Creole cattle breeds showed a high level of genetic diversity with the highest level found in breeds admixed with zebu cattle, which were clearly differentiated from all other breeds. Within-breed kinships revealed seven highly inbred Creole breeds for which measures are needed to avoid further genetic erosion. However, if contribution to heterozygosity was the only criterion considered, some of these breeds had the lowest priority for conservation decisions. The Weitzman approach prioritized highly differentiated breeds, such as Guabalá, Romosinuano, Cr. Patagonico, Siboney and Caracú, while kinship-based methods prioritized mainly zebu-related breeds. With the combined approaches, breed ranking depended on the weights given to the within- and between-breed components of diversity. Overall, the Creole groups of breeds were generally assigned a higher priority for conservation than the European groups of breeds. Conclusions: Conservation priorities differed significantly according to the weight given to within- and betweenbreed genetic diversity. Thus, when establishing conservation programs, it is necessary to also take into account other features. Creole cattle and local isolated breeds retain a high level of genetic diversity. The development of sustainable breeding and crossbreeding programs for Creole breeds, and the added value resulting from their products should be taken into consideration to ensure their long-term survival

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Habitat Fragmentation can Modulate Drought Effects on the Plant-soil-microbial System in Mediterranean Holm Oak (Quercus ilex) Forests

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Ecological transformations derived from habitat fragmentation have led to increased threats to above-ground biodiversity. However, the impacts of forest fragmentation on soils and their microbial communities are not well understood. We examined the effects of contrasting fragment sizes on the structure and functioning of soil microbial communities from holm oak forest patches in two bioclimatically different regions of Spain. We used a microcosm approach to simulate the annual summer drought cycle and first autumn rainfall (rewetting), evaluating the functional response of a plant-soil-microbial system. Forest fragment size had a significant effect on physicochemical characteristics and microbial functioning of soils, although the diversity and structure of microbial communities were not affected. The response of our plant-soil-microbial systems to drought was strongly modulated by the bioclimatic conditions and the fragment size from where the soils were obtained. Decreasing fragment size modulated the effects of drought by improving local environmental conditions with higher water and nutrient availability. However, this modulation was stronger for plant-soil-microbial systems built with soils from the northern region (colder and wetter) than for those built with soils from the southern region (warmer and drier) suggesting that the responsiveness of the soil-plant-microbial system to habitat fragmentation was strongly dependent on both the physicochemical characteristics of soils and the historical adaptation of soil microbial communities to specific bioclimatic conditions. This interaction challenges our understanding of future global change scenarios in Mediterranean ecosystems involving drier conditions and increased frequency of forest fragmentation

Anales de Edafología y Fisiología Vegetal Tomo 9 Número 2

Kubiëna, W. / Para la terminología actual de la denominación de horizontes en el perfil del suelo.-- Burriel, F. y Hernando, V. / El fósforo en los suelos españoles. IV: Estudio critico de los métodos más importantes para determinar el fósforo asimilable.-- González García, F. / Contribución al estudio de las propiedades de los silicatos del grupo de la montmorillonita.-- Burriel, F. y Guerra, A. / Sobre la determinación del magnesio en los suelos.-- Zander. E. / La Palinología al servicio del estudio de la mielINFORMACIÓN: Morfología y suelos de la Guinea Continental Española.-- Enseñanza e Investigación agrícolas en Francia, por G. Alonso del Real.-- IV Congreso Internacional de Ciencia del Suelo.-- El Patronato Alonso de Herrera y el X Pleno del Consejo.-- NOTAS: El Profesor Albareda en Gran Bretaña y Francia.-- Congreso Agronómico.-- Primer Congreso Internacional de Pireneistas.-- 11 Congreso Internacional de Cerámica.-- Premio y Pensionados.-- Nuevo Departamento.--El Doctor Waksman en el Instituto.-- Sociedad Española de Ciencia del Suelo.-- OmisiónBIBLIOGRAFÍA E. H. Faulkner: Plowman's Folly y A Second Look.-- G. W. Robinson: Soils Their Origin, Constitution and Classification.-- A. Sanfourche: Les Engrais PhosphatesPeer reviewe

600 A HTc current lead based on BSCCO 2212 rods for LHC magnets

A 600 A current lead using 2212 BSCCO bulk material is now under construction and will be soon delivered to CERN. Present paper describes the main steps of its design and fabrication, including the two main parts in which it is divided, the superconducting module with the BSCCO rods and the conventional resistive part. An important role in this design was played by previous experimental measurements on subassemblies, which are also described along the paper. (5 refs)

Design, fabrication and tests of a 600A HTc current lead for the LHC correction magnets

This paper describes the design and fabrication of four sets of HTc 600 A current leads manufactured by ANTEC in collaboration with three more Institutes to test the feasibility of industrial fabrication of these units. This development has been made in the framework of a CERN programme to build low thermal losses leads for the correction magnets of the LHC. Tests performed at the manufacturer installations are also presented. (5 refs)