Thinning of beech forests stocking on shallow calcareous soil maintains soil C and N stocks in the long run

Sustainable forest management should avoid disturbance and volatilization of the soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks both under present and projected future climate. Earlier studies have shown that thinning of European beech forests induces a strong initial perturbation of the soil C and N cycles in shallow Rendzic Leptosol, which consists of lower soil N retention and strongly enhanced gaseous losses observed over several years. Persistence of these effects could decrease soil organic matter (SOM) levels and associated soil functions such as erosion protection, nutrient retention, and fertility. Therefore, we resampled untreated control and thinned stands a decade after thinning at sites representing both typical present day and projected future climatic conditions for European beech forests. We determined soil organic C and total N stocks, as well as δ13C and δ15N as integrators of changes in soil C and N cycles. Thinning did not alter these parameters at any of the sampled sites, indicating that initial effects on soil C and N cycles constitute short-term perturbations. Consequently, thinning may be considered a sustainable beech forest management strategy with regard to the maintenance of soil organic C and total N stocks both under present and future climat

Conservation Laws in Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics: the DEVA Code

We describe DEVA, a multistep AP3M-like-SPH code particularly designed to study galaxy formation and evolution in connection with the global cosmological model. This code uses a formulation of SPH equations which ensures both energy and entropy conservation by including the so-called \bn h terms. Particular attention has also been paid to angular momentum conservation and to the accuracy of our code. We find that, in order to avoid unphysical solutions, our code requires that cooling processes must be implemented in a non-multistep way. We detail various cosmological simulations which have been performed to test our code and also to study the influence of the \bn h terms. Our results indicate that such correction terms have a non-negligible effect on some cosmological simulations, especially on high density regions associated either to shock fronts or central cores of collapsed objects. Moreover, they suggest that codes paying a particular attention to the implementation of conservation laws of physics at the scales of interest, can attain good accuracy levels in conservation laws with limited computational resources.Comment: 36 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Polychromy of late gothic civil architecture: a world heritage monument case in Spain

[EN] The Silk Exchange of Valencia, Spain, is one of the best examples of late Gothic civil architecture in Europe, and was declared a World Heritage Monument by UNESCO in 1996. Prior to cleaning and conservation, technical examination identified the original pigments used to paint the walls, keys, vaults, arches and columns in the main hall, the Contract Hall. Cross sections of remnants of original colour (blue, green, red, gold, etc.) were investigated with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray diffraction techniques and UV light. The study has revealed that the original paint today remains only in very limited areas. Evidence for a later maintenance operation of repainting was also found in the inscription that runs around the Contract Hall. The information has been very useful for deciding on the cleaning and conservation process.This work has been supported by Universidad Politécnica de Valencia’s Forum Unesco -University and Heritage and by Valencia City Council under the project: “Study and Diagnosis of Pathological Manifestations of the Stone and Project and Construction Management of Cleaning and Conservation of the Silk Exchange of Valencia "Ramirez, MJ.; Saiz Mauleón, MB.; Curiel-Esparza, J.; Llinares, J.; Soriano, M. (2013). Polychromy of late gothic civil architecture: a world heritage monument case in Spain. Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry. 13(2):121-126. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/99866S12112613

Positive and negative feedbacks and free-scale pattern distribution in rural-population dynamics

Depopulation of rural areas is a widespread phenomenon that has occurred in most industrialized countries, and has contributed significantly to a reduction in the productivity of agro-ecological resources. In this study, we identified the main trends in the dynamics of rural populations in the Central Pyrenees in the 20th C and early 21st C, and used density independent and density dependent models and identified the main factors that have influenced the dynamics. In addition, we investigated the change in the power law distribution of population size in those periods. Populations exhibited density-dependent positive feedback between 1960 and 2010, and a long-term positive correlation between agricultural activity and population size, which has resulted in a free-scale population distribution that has been disrupted by the collapse of the traditional agricultural society and by emigration to the industrialized cities. We concluded that complex socio-ecological systems that have strong feedback mechanisms can contribute to disruptive population collapses, which can be identified by changes in the pattern of population distribution

Estacionamientos subterráneos, en Madrid

Work on five underground parking sites in Madrid was initiated in September 1967. These parking sites were rented by the Madrid Town Council to the firm Estacionamientos Subterráneos, S. A. The engineering, design, and traffic and construction planning of these parking sites was allocated to Viales y Estacionamientos, S. A., whilst the actual construction was carried out by the firm Huarte y Cía., S. A. The five parking sites were located at the Paseo Calvo Sotelo, Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca, Plaza Mayor, Plaza de las Cortes and at Calle de Fuencarral, all within the centre of Madrid. These projects are of special interest, since each design represents an advance with respect to the earlier ones in regard to their structural and functional arrangements, with a view to achieving easier construction and less interference with road and pedestrian traffic. In the present article a description is given of each the five parking sites, following the sequence of their construction, which corresponds to the order in which they were design and planned.En septiembre de 1967 comenzaron las obras de cinco estacionamientos subterráneos en Madrid, adjudicadas por el Ayuntamiento en régimen de concesión a Estacionamientos Subterráneos, S. A. Los trabajos de ingeniería de tráfico, proyecto y control fueron encomendados a Viales y Estacionamientos, Sociedad Anteima (VIESA), y la ejecución de las obras se contrató con Huarte y Cía., S. A. Las ubicaciones de los estacionamientos cuya realización se comenta en este artículo son: Paseo de Calvo Sotelo, Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca - Plaza Mayor - Plaza de las Cortes - Calle de Fuencarral. Nos parece muy interesante exponer estas realizaciones, en las que se ve una clara evolución en su esquema estructural y la relación de éste con el esquema funcional, para lograr una mayor facilidad en la ejecución de las obras, junto con una interferencia mínima en superficie con los tráficos rodado y de peatones. Expondremos en este artículo las características de estos 5 estacionamientos por orden de comienzo de sus obras, que coincidió con el orden de elaboración de los proyectos de construcción

The Impact of Religion and Social Support on Self-Reported Happiness in Latin American Immigrants in Spain

The Latin American immigrant population in Spain is growing year after year. The aim of this study is to describe how religious coping mechanisms, religiosity, acculturation and social support act in the prediction of happiness within the group of Latin American immigrants with Christian beliefs in Spain. Previous studies indicate that religious practice can be a factor that favors the perception of well-being and happiness in people. It is considered that the existence of close sources of support act as a key resource in facing stressful situations. A questionnaire consisting of 36 items was administered to a sample made up of 206 subjects of different Latin American nationalities who were going through a migration process. It was observed that religiosity, social support, religious coping mechanisms and gender were related to the perception of happiness. The results underline the importance of considering religiosity and social support together while intervening to improve the perception of happiness of Latin American immigrants in Spain.Depto. de Psicología Social, del Trabajo y DiferencialFac. de PsicologíaTRUEpu

Bioinspired supertough graphene fiber through sequential interfacial interactions.

Natural nacre exhibits extraordinary functional and structural diversity, combining high strength and toughness. The mechanical properties of nacre are attributed to (i) a highly arranged hierarchical layered structure of inorganic minerals (95 vol %) containing a small amount only of organic materials (5 vol %), (ii) abundant synergistic interfacial interactions, and (iii) formation under ambient temperature. Herein, inspired by these three design principles originating from natural nacre, the supertough bioinspired graphene-based nanocomposite fibers (BGNFs) are prepared under room temperature via sequential interfacial interactions of ionic bonding and π-π interactions. The resultant synergistic effect leads to a super toughness of 18.7 MJ m-3 as well as a high tensile strength of 740.1 MPa. In addition, the electrical conductivity of these supertough BGNFs is as high as 384.3 S cm-1. They can retain almost 80% of this conductivity even after 1000 cycles of loading-unloading testing, which makes these BGNFs promising candidates for application in flexible and stable electrical devices, such as strain sensors and actuators

Caracterización mecánica de pistas deportivas fabricadas con materiales procedentes de neumáticos fuera de uso (NFU)

Congreso celebrado en la Escuela de Arquitectura de la Universidad de Sevilla desde el 24 hasta el 26 de junio de 2015.The European Framework Directive 2008/98/EC on waste established as priority reuse and recycling before other recovery alternatives. In this normative reference, one the main waste flows identified are the end-of-life tyres, as a material whose mechanical properties could provide advantage in the construction of new structures. This paper presents the mechanical characterization of a layer made with shredded tires out of use, inside a section of a sportive track which included a sand layer. The use of the shredded tires out of use provides special features related with elasticity and damping to the sportive surface. In order to do that, a new test based on UNE-14809 was designed. A number of tests were performed using different configuration of sand and shredded tires. From the results obtained, a numerical model was implemented in FEA software