Lack of maintenance of motorway fences works against their intended purpose with potential negative impacts on protected species

Linear infrastructure intrusions into natural ecosystems, such as motorways and high-speed railways, causes direct loss of habitat but also impacts fauna through collisions. Wildlife road mortality is well documented and extensive conservation legislation exists in many countries to minimise the negative impact of these infrastructures. However, although these measures are implemented because of legislation, these structures are often not adequately maintained. Here we present data on the functionality of perimeter fences along two motorways in Malaga province (southern Spain) erected to prevent collisions with the common chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon). We sampled the fences along the 14 km of the two motorways included in the 17 1 × 1 km squares of the study area. Our results show that the reptile fence is permeable throughout at those points where the metal sheeting was absent and where the vegetation had overgrown around the fence, hence allowing chameleons to cross. Given our results, we conclude that this situation is likely to be similar in other regions of Spain and in other countries. This is because construction/concessionary companies do not consider the environmental impact of construction projects in the medium and long term, and environmental authorities do not ensure that companies comply with the legislation

Reestudio de una Esmectita de Marruecos oriental. II. Propiedades coloidales y algunas aplicaciones en dermofarmacia

Rheological properties of a sample from Djebel Ghassoul mines (Eastern Morocco) is studied. The colloidal properties are superior than those of similar industrial earths such as; low sensivity to coagulation by salts and high dispersing power, which can be enhanced by the addition of small cuantities of other dispersing agents such as Na-hexametaphosphate. It can be advantageously used for the manufacturing of soaps to which it imports a low degree of alcalynity and also of tooth pastes due to its high fluorine contents.Se estudia el comportamiento reológico de un mineral procedente de las minas de Djebel Ghassoul (Marruecos Oriental) encontrando que sus propiedades coloidales son superiores a las otras muestras de interés industrial presentando poco efecto frente a sustancias salinas y sus propiedades dispersantes se acentúan con la adición de pequeñas cantidades de hexametafosfato sódico. El mineral tiene un importante contenido en flúor y se comporta como material adecuado para pasta dentrífica así como para la fabricación de jabones a los que proporciona una baja alcalinidad

Reestudio de una Esmectica de Marruecos oriental. I. Estudio Mineralógico

A sample from Djebel Ghassoul mines (Eastern Morocco) is studied. According to the X-RD, IR, DTA and chemical analysis results it was characterized as a saponite-like trioctahedral smectite. This material has high adsorbing capacity for polar liquids.Se estudia por análisis químico, difracción de Rayos-X, espectroscopía infrarroja y análisis térmico diferencial una muestra procedente de las minas Djebel Ghassoul (Marruecos Oriental) que se caracteriza como una esmectita trioctaédrica semejante a la saponita. La sustancia presenta buenas propiedades adsorbentes frente a líquidos polares

Análisis bayesiano de factores de riesgo de accidente en trabajos de movimientos de tierras

This paper analyses the characteristics of earthmoving operations involving a workplace accident. Bayesian networks were used to identify the factors that best predicted potential risk situations. Inference studies were then conducted to analyse the interplay between different risk factors. We demonstrate the potential of Bayesian networks to describe workplace contexts and predict risk situations from a safety and production planning perspective.En este trabajo se analizan características de distintas obras en las que se ejecutaban trabajos de movimiento de tierras y tuvo lugar un accidente. Aplicando redes bayesianas se identifican los factores de mayor potencial predictivo de las situaciones de riesgo analizadas. Posteriormente se realizan estudios de inferencia para analizar la interrelación entre los distintos factores. Con todo esto se demuestra que las redes bayesianas pueden ser herramientas muy potentes en la descripción general de contextos de obra, y de gran capacidad predictiva dentro de la planificación de obras desde la perspectiva seguridad-producción

Aplicación del autoconcepto al desarrollo de la marca personal. Análisis comparativo entre estudiantes internacionales.

El auge de las nuevas tecnologías ha posibilitado la creación de la marca personal a nivel individual. Cualquier persona haciendo uso de las redes sociales puede difundir su imagen o marca a fin de construir una imagen diferenciada. El interés por el desarrollo de una marca personal consolidada se ha incrementado en la medida que resulta más difícil hacerse valer en un mercado de trabajo cada vez más competitivo. Los estudiantes a punto de entrar en el mercado laboral son unos sujetos especialmente interesados en el desarrollo de su marca personal. Así esta investigación utiliza como muestra a estudiantes de dos nacionalidades: españoles y belgas. El objetivo es doble, por un lado, presentar el autoconcepto como una herramienta adecuada al desarrollo de la marca personal y por otro, establecer posibles diferencias entre el nivel de autoconcepto de ambas nacionalidades. En este artículo se van presentar los resultados obtenidos en un estudio sobre autoconcepto y marca personal llevada a cabo en Bélgica y en España entre enero y mayo de 2013

Linking forest cover, soil erosion and mire hydrology to late-Holocene human activity and climate in NW Spain

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (http://www.uk.sagepub.com/aboutus/openaccess.htm).This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Forest clearance is one of the main drivers of soil erosion and hydrological changes in mires, although climate may also play a significant role. Because of the wide range of factors involved, understanding these complex links requires long-term multi-proxy approaches and research on the best proxies to focus. A peat core from NW Spain (Cruz do Bocelo mire), spanning the last ~3000 years, has been studied at high resolution by physical (density and loss on ignition (LOI)), geochemical (elemental composition) and palynological (pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs) analyses. Proxies related to mineral matter fluxes from the catchment (lithogenic tracers, Glomus and Entorrhiza), rainfall (Bromine), mire hydrology (HdV-18), human pressure (Cerealia-type, nitrophilous taxa and coprophilous fungi) and forest cover (mesophilous tree taxa) were the most useful to reconstruct the evolution of the mire and its catchment. Forest clearance for farming was one of the main drivers of environmental change from at least the local Iron Age (~2685 cal. yr BP) onwards. The most intense phase of deforestation occurred during Roman and Germanic times and the late Middle Ages. During these phases, the entire catchment was affected, resulting in enhanced soil erosion and severe hydrological modifications of the mire. Climate, especially rainfall, may have also accelerated these processes during wetter periods. However, it is noteworthy that the hydrology of the mire seems to have been insensitive to rainfall variations when mesophilous forest dominated. Abrupt changes were only detected once intense forest clearance commenced during the Iron Age/Roman transition (~2190 cal. yr BP) phase, which represented a tipping point in catchment's ability to buffer impacts. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of studying ecosystems' long-term trajectories and catchment-wide processes when implementing mire habitat protection measures.This work was funded by the projects CGL2010-20672 (Plan Nacional I+D+i, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) and 10PXIB200182PR (General Directorate of I+D, Xunta de Galicia). N Silva-Sánchez and L López-Merino are currently supported by a FPU predoctoral scholarship (AP2010-3264) funded by the Spanish Government and a MINT postdoctoral fellowship funded by the Brunel Institute for the Environment, respectively

TRIB3 suppresses tumorigenesis by controlling mTORC2/AKT/FOXO signaling.

In a recent article, we found that Tribbles pseudokinase 3 (TRIB3) plays a tumor suppressor role and that this effect relies on the dysregulation of the phosphorylation of v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (AKT) by the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 2 (mTORC2 complex), and the subsequent hyperphosphorylation and inactivation of the transcription factor Forkhead box O3 (FOXO3)

Emission polarization control in semiconductor quantum dots coupled to a photonic crystal microcavity

8 páginas, 5 figuras.-- OCIS codes: (160.4760) Optical properties; (230.5298) Photonic crystals; (230.5590) Quantumwell, -wire and –dot devices.We study the optical emission of single semiconductor quantum dots weakly coupled to a photonic-crystal micro-cavity. The linearly polarized emission of a selected quantum dot changes continuously its polarization angle, from nearly perpendicular to the cavity mode polarization at large detuning, to parallel at zero detuning, and reversing sign for negative detuning. The linear polarization rotation is qualitatively interpreted in terms of the detuning dependent mixing of the quantum dot and cavity states. The present result is relevant to achieve continuous control of the linear polarization in single photon emitters.This work has been supported by research contracts of the Spanish Ministry of Education Grants MAT2008-01555/NAN, Consolider CSD 2006-19 and Naninpho-QD TEC2008-06756-C03- 01, and the Community of Madrid Grant Grant CAM (S2009/ESP-1503).Peer reviewe

Efectos de la severidad del incendio en la recuperación de Pinus pinaster

El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar la influencia de la severidad del incendio, estimada mediante el dNBR, en la recuperación de una población de Pinus pinaster, a los 3 años de un gran incendio. Para ello se determinaron dos niveles de severidad y se establecieron 42 parcelas de 30 x 30 m, 12 en zonas de severidad baja (valor del dNBR<550) y 30 en zonas de severidad alta (dNBR>550). En cada parcela se muestrearon 12 unidades de muestreo de 1 m2, en las que se contabilizó el número, cobertura y altura de las plantas de pino, así como la cobertura vegetal total, suelo descubierto y hojarasca. Se encontró un número mayor de plantas de pino en las parcelas de severidad baja (una media de 5/m2, frente a 3/m2 en las de severidad alta), aunque había una gran variabilidad entre los diferentes muestreos (desde 0 a más de 40 por m2). La altura de los pinos oscilaba entre 2 cm y más de 1 m. La regeneración post-fuego del pino es suficiente para garantizar la recuperación de la población, incluso en tramos de severidad alta. Sin embargo, la gran variabilidad en su distribución espacial deberá tenerse en cuenta en la gestión post-incendi

Connection between genetic polymorphism of interleukin -1 beta with chronic periodontitis in peruvian adults

Objectives. To determine the connection between polymorphism IL-1B C(+3953/4)T and chronic periodontitis in adults. Materials and Methods. Case and control study. Individuals between 18 and 64 years of age were included; they were recruited through healthcare campaigns carried out in 2012 in different areas of the city of Lima with similar socio-economic characteristics. Dentists specialized in periodontics performed the diagnosis of the periodontal state of participants; genotyping was made through the PCR-RFLP technique. The data were analyzed by logistic regression. Results. The factors associated with chronic periodontitis were: age over 46 years (OR: 7.50, CI 95%: 1.85-6.37), higher education level achieved (OR: 0.43, CI 95%: 0.27-0.98), the presence of allele 2 in the polymorphism of IL-1B. The positive genotype (2-2) was associated with the presence of chronic periodontitis (OR: 2.06, CI 95%: 1.01-4.21). Conclusions. The presence of allele 2 in the polymorphism of IL-1B and the positive genotype (2-2) confers greater risk for the development of chronic periodontitis in the population of Peruvian adults under study