Soil carbon sequestration rates under Mediterranean woody crops using recommended management practices : A meta-analysis

This work was supported by the projects: CARBOLIVAR (P11-RNM-7186) funded by Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa of Junta de Andalucía and GEISpain project (CGL2014‐52838‐C2‐1‐R) funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, both including European Union ERDF funds. This work was also supported by the FPU 2012 grant program of the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte of Spain. Dr. Roberto Garcia-Ruiz and Eduardo Aguilera gratefully acknowledge support by the Sustainable Farm Systems project (SSHRC 895-2011-1020) funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.Peer reviewedPostprin

HispaVeg: a new online vegetation plot database for Spain

We describe a new online database, named HispaVeg, which currently holds data from 2663 vegetation plots of Spanish woodlands, scrublands and grasslands. Unlike other similar databases, a detailed description of the structure is stored with the floristic data of each plot (i.e., number and physiognomy of the vertical layers, cover values for each layer).Most of the vegetation plots are large rectangles (400 to 2000 square meters) with an average of 34 species per plot. The survey dates range from 1956 to present, with most of the records between 1964 and 1994. The elevation of the plots ranges from 0 to 2880, with most of the plots between 300 and 1500 m. HispaVeg is freely available to the scientific community. Users can query the online database, view printable reports for each plot and download spreadsheet-like raw data for subsets of vegetation plots

Personalidad y rendimiento deportivo en jugadores de fútbol desde el modelo de Millon

El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar la relación entre la personalidad, el rendimiento y la variabilidad deportiva. Para ello, se aplicó el MIPS (Millón, 2001) a 87 jugadores de fútbol de rendimiento de la Comunidad de Madrid (18-26 años) y se registraron diferentes acciones del juego durante 12 partidos de liga.  Los resultados indican que existe un perfil de personalidad que obtienen un mayor rendimiento deportivo y estabilidad del mismo a lo largo del tiempo, caracterizado por: dentro de la dimensión Metas Motivacionales, es muy optimista (Expansión), muy activo (Modificación) y tiende a satisfacer las propias metas (Individualidad) y la de los demás (Protección); en cuanto a la dimensión Modos Cognitivos, está muy centrado en fuentes externas de estimulación (Extraversión), procesa la información tanto a nivel racional (Pensamiento) como emocional (Sentimiento) y tiene una alta tendencia a procesar la información desde esquemas previos de conocimientos (Sistematización); en la dimensión Relaciones Interpersonales, es muy sociable (Sociabilidad), tiene una alta competencia y seguridad en sí mismo (Decisión), alta cooperación, respeto con la autoridad y normas sociales (Conformismo), dominio (Dominio) y establece buenos vínculos con los demás (Aquiescencia). Se concluye que, desde una "hipótesis bilateral" de la personalidad, se requieren ciertas características para hacer frente a la demanda deportiva, rendir a un mayor nivel y ser estable a lo largo del tiempo, por lo que se estaría hablando de una "hipótesis de rendimiento"

Validation of the Dutch leakage score as a predictor of anastomotic leakage in intestinal surgery in a third level hospital

Background: Intestinal surgery can present multiple complications that can lead to patient death; therefore, it is important to design early detection strategies to reduce complications in patients with intestinal anastomosis and thus avoid patient death. The aim of this work is to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the Dutch leakage score in 125 patients with intestinal anastomosis as a predictor of anastomotic leakage.Methods: In a sample of 125 patients undergoing intestinal anastomosis, demographic variables were identified and the Dutch leakage score was applied. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy were obtained using a 2×2 table.Results: The Dutch leakage score was positive in 23.2% (29 patients) of whom 24 had anastomotic leakage and 5 had no anastomotic leakage. It presents a sensitivity in the test of 100%, a specificity of 95%, a positive predictive value of 82.7%, a negative predictive value of 100%. The diagnostic accuracy is 96%.Conclusions: The Dutch leakage score is a versatile tool, inexpensive, easy to apply and available in any hospital center. It is capable of early diagnosis of anastomotic leakage. It favors early re-intervention, improves prognosis and survival, decreases hospital stay and health care costs

Meeting the requirements to deploy cloud RAN over optical networks

Radio access network (RAN) cost savings are expected in future cloud RAN (C-RAN). In contrast to traditional distributed RAN architectures, in C-RAN, remote radio heads (RRHs) from different sites can share baseband processing resources from virtualized baseband unit pools placed in a few central locations (COs). Due to the stringent requirements of the several interfaces needed in C-RAN, optical networks have been proposed to support C-RAN. One of the key elements that needs to be considered are optical transponders. Specifically, sliceable bandwidth-variable transponders (SBVTs) have recently shown many advantages for core optical transport networks. In this paper, we study the connectivity requirements of C-RAN applications and conclude that dynamicity, fine granularity, and elasticity are needed. However, there is no SBVT implementation that supports those requirements, and thus, we propose and assess an SBVT architecture based on dynamic optical arbitrary generation/measurement. We consider different long-term evolution-advanced configurations and study the impact of the centralization level in terms of the capital expense and operating expense. An optimization problem is modeled to decide which COs should be equipped and which equipment, including transponders, needs to be installed. The results show noticeable cost savings from installing the proposed SBVTs compared to installing fixed transponders. Finally, compared to the maximum centralization level, remarkable cost savings are shown when a lower level of centralization is considered.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Protection mechanisms for blast furnace crucible using titanium oxides

In modern steelmaking the duration of a working campaign for a blast furnace is related to the life of the crucible. Adding titanium oxide has been a frequent practice in the operation routines for modern blast furnaces, seeking the protection of the crucible walls, independently from its physical or chemical characteristics. These practices, as conventional operation of iron and steelmaking installations, present both advantages as well as undesirable consequences. The work proposes the incorporation of rutile (TiO2) or illmenite (FeO ·TiO2) in the refractory matrix of the linings, as a practice that results in a protection of the crucible without altering, under any circumstance, the regular operation of the installation

ICF-Based Disability Survey in a Rural Population of Adults and Older Adults Living in Cinco Villas, Northeastern Spain: Design, Methods and Population Characteristics

Background: This article describes the methods of a door-to-door screening survey exploring the distribution of disability and its major determinants in northeastern Spain. This study will set the basis for the development of disability-related services for the rural elderly in northeastern Spain. Methods: The probabilistic sample was composed of 1,354 de facto residents from a population of 12,784 Social Security card holders (age: 6 50 years). Cognitive and disability screenings were conducted (period: June 2008-June 2009). Screening instruments were the MMSE and the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule. Participants screened positive for disability underwent an assessment protocol focusing on primary care diagnoses, disability, lifestyle, and social and health service usage. Participants screened positive for cognitive functioning went through in-depth neurological evaluation. Results: The study sample is described. Usable data were available for 1,216 participants. A total of 625 individuals (51.4%) scored within the positive range in the disability screening, while 135 (11.1%) scored within the positive range of the cognitive screening. The proportion of positively screened individuals was higher for women and increased with age. Conclusions: Screening surveys represent a feasible design for examining the distribution of disability and its determinants among the elderly. Data quality may benefit from methodological developments tailored to rural populations with a low education level. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

Percepción de los internos de medicina sobre el internado durante la pandemia por COVID-19 en Perú

Objective: To describe the perception and uncertainty of medical interns (IM) about the medical internship, academic and extra-academic activities during this COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Observational descriptive cross-sectional study. IM from Peruvian universities was contacted through the delegates of each university. A virtual survey was applied collecting sociodemographic data, position and uncertainty due to the suspension of the internship, situations of return or not to the internship, academic and extra-academic activities during the quarantine. Results: Data from 353 MI were analyzed, mean age of 25.2 years (standard deviation: 3.1 years), 72.8% had health insurance. 74.8% agreed with the removal of IM from their hospital based. 29.6% agreed or totally agreed with returning in case of collapse of the health system. However, 24.9% of IM would not return to their activities even with biosecurity measures and equipment. More than 90% of IM report feeling uncertainty regarding the restart date of the internship and of the National Medicine Exam (ENAM). 85.6% report using virtual media from ENAM preparation academies. Conclusions: The intention to return to the internship of the surveyed IM increased when the security measures were assured and at the end of the mandatory social immobilization. On the other hand, there is great uncertainty about the dates of return and completion of medical internship and ENAM. Moreover, the majority of respondents invest their time in non-formal education focusing on ENAM.  Objetivo: Describir la percepción e incertidumbre de los internos de medicina (IM) sobre el internado médico, actividades académicas y extraacadémicas durante esta pandemia de COVID-19. Métodos: Estudio observacional descriptivo transversal. Se contactó a IM de universidades peruanas a través de sus respectivos delegados. Se aplicó una encuesta virtual durante la quinta semana de emergencia nacional. Se recolectó datos sociodemográficos, posición e incertidumbre por la suspensión del internado, situaciones de retorno o no, actividades académicas y extraacadémicas durante la cuarentena. Resultados: Se analizó datos de 353 IM, edad media de 25,2 años (desviación estándar: 3,1 años), 72,8% contaron con un seguro de salud. 74,8% estuvo de acuerdo con el retiro de los internos de sus sedes. 29,6% estuvo de acuerdo o totalmente de acuerdo con retornar en caso de colapso del sistema de salud. Sin embargo, 24,9% de los internos no retornarían a sus actividades aun con medidas y equipos de bioseguridad. Más del 90% de IM refieren sentir incertidumbre respecto a la fecha de reinicio del internado y del Examen Nacional de Medicina (ENAM). 85,6% reporta usar medios virtuales de academias de preparación ENAM. Conclusiones: La intención de volver al internado de los IM encuestados aumentaba cuando se aseguraban las medidas de seguridad y al finalizar la inmovilización social obligatoria. Por otro lado, existe una gran incertidumbre sobre las fechas de regreso y finalización de internado médico y del ENAM. Además, que la mayoría de los encuestados invierten su tiempo en educación no formal enfocándose en el ENAM