Carbon and nutrient contents in the miscellaneous fraction of litterfall under different thinning intensities in a semiarid Pinus halepensis afforestation

Litterfall evaluation and the effects caused by forestry practices provide valuable information on nutrient-cycle dynamics in managed forests. So far, most of the studies have focused on leaf-fall, omitting other litterfall fractions that can be also relevant for forest and soil modelling in a global change context. With this aim the miscellaneous fraction was quantified in a Pinus halepensis afforestation in the semiarid SE of Spain five years after four different thinning regimes were applied (T75: 75% of mean basal area removed; T60: 60%; T48: 48%; and T0: no thinning). Concentrations and pools (kg ha-1) of carbon and nutrients in the miscellanea fraction were monthly analysed for C and N (June 2010-May 2013), and for P, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Mn (June 2011- May 2013). No differences in concentrations of carbon and nutrients were found among treatments with the exception of N, which showed significant differences between T75 and T60 plots. For pools, a high variability was found over time with maximum C and N pools found during spring, likely reflecting the influence of Thaumetopoea pityocampa attacks. Thinning affected C, N, Mn, and Zn pools in 2011-2012 period, and P, K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, and Zn pools in 2012-2013. Significant differences were mainly found between the most intensive treatment (T75) and unthinned plots (T0). The percentage of annual mean C and nutrient pools in miscellanea showed the importance of its monitoring, with pools that represented from 43.0% to 57.9% of the total litterfall for C (278.81-746.01 kg ha-1 yr-1), N (4.18-10.44 kg ha-1 yr-1), and P (0.37-1.43 kg ha-1 yr-1). Our results stress the high relevance of miscellany monitoring in order to gain a better understanding of nutrient cycles in forest ecosystems.This study was funded by Egmasa (Government of Andalucía, Spain) through the project “Grazed fuelbreaks as a fire-preventive silvicultural tool in Mediterranean forestlands”

Gypsum plasterboard deconstruction to recycling Economic Study in Europe

Gypsum plasterboard are widely and increasingly used within the construction sector, as partitions, lining of walls, ceiling or flooring systems, representing consequently the largest proportion of the recyclable gypsum waste arisen nowadays in Europe. This paper studies the reverse logistics processes taking place in the End-of-Life (EoL) phase of the recyclable gypsum plasterboard, by analysing and discussing the existing business model for the distinct gypsum waste routes, either deconstruction or demolition, based on economic parameters and assumptions from a set of case studies where best deconstruction practices have been implemented. This analysis has been developed in the framework of the European Life+ GtoG Project ENV/BE/001039: ?From Production to Recycling, a Circular Economy for the European Gypsum Industry with the Demolition and Recycling Industry?. The study highlights the need for an effective deconstruction process to optimize the plasterboard waste recycling, as well as the impact that taxes charged to the disposal of construction and demolition waste have on the economics from deconstruction to recycling. Trabajo publicado en las Actas del Décimoquinto Congreso SGEM, Área "Energy and Clean Technologies", "Subject Area: Energy & Fuels; Geology; Nuclear Science & Technology". Indexado por ISI Web of Knowledge y Scopus. ISBN: 978-619-7105-38-4. Periodicidad: Anua

Formulación de indicadores para la monitorización del reciclaje en ciclo cerrado de productos de base yeso: deconstrucción, procesado y reincorporación

El establecimiento de un sistema de indicadores se ha configurado en los últimos años como un método simple de evaluación en los procesos de toma de decisiones. Los indicadores son medidas cuantitativas, cualitativas o descriptivas, que permiten simplificar la información disponible acerca de un elemento y/o calidad de un proceso, en una forma relativamente sencilla de utilizar y comprender. De tal manera que su información debe de ser relevante y útil para facilitar las decisiones que serán tomadas sobre la base de sus resultados, con el propósito de optimizar los procesos a medir e identificar cambios o mejoras

Gypsum to gypsum (GtoG): The European Life+ project that aims to transform the gypsum waste market

The GtoG project is working for creating a recycling culture of gypsum products, changing the way this waste is usually treated in construction, renovation and demolition works, with the aim of achieving higher gypsum recycling rates in Europe and promoting selective deconstruction practices. For this purpose and under the leadership of Eurogypsum (the European Plaster and Plasterboard Manufacturers Association) five demolition companies, one demolition consultant, two gypsum waste processors, five plasterboard manufacturers and three academic partners, from 7 European countries, work together constituting the project consortium. A preliminary study on current practices was completed in 2013. Subsequently in 2014, a set of demonstration activities on deconstruction, processing of gypsum waste and reincorporation of recycled gypsum were conducted. Finally, during this year 2015, different results have been delivered, such as the European Handbook of best practices for controlled deconstruction of gypsum systems and the Report on best practice indicators for deconstruction, recycling and reincorporation practices. The final results will include an Inventory of best practices and the Roadmap for the future implementation of a sustainable value chain

Gypsum recycling best practice indicators

Since January 2013, the Life+ GtoG project is working for transforming the gypsum waste market. The aim is to achieve higher gypsum recycling rates in Europe and to promote best practices in deconstruction, recycling and reincorporation processes. This paper focuses on the Best Practice Indicators (BPIs) for gypsum recycling. To this end, a set of monitoring parameters have been defined and combined in the form of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that have been tested by the three gypsum recyclers participating in the project. As a result, a group of BPIs has been obtained, which can be used to recognize and encourage best practices associated to the recycling route, from a technical, environmental, social and economic perspectiv

Trazabilidad y calidad de los residuos de yeso: análisis de casos de estudio

En ciertos países, como es el caso de España, los residuos de yeso provenientes de Residuos de Construcción y Demolición (RCD), son sistemáticamente enviados a vertedero. Sin embargo, este material es completamente reciclable. Es por ello que existen sistemas de reciclaje ya implantados en distintos países europeos, como es el caso de Bélgica, Dinamarca, Finlandia, Francia, Países Bajos, Reino Unido y Suecia. Forman parte de los residuos de yeso reciclables la Placa de Yeso Laminado (PYL), los bloques de yeso y las placas de escayola

Gypsum end-of-life Best Practice Indicators

The use of indicators has become in recent years as a reliable method of evaluation for the decision-making processes [1]. Indicators give quantitative, qualitative or descriptive information about an item and or process [2] , to ease the decisions that will be taken on the basis of their results, in order to optimize the processes that are being measured identifying changes and improvements [3].This study presents a set of Best Practice Indicators (BPIs) aiming to increase the amount of gypsum waste capable of being recycled, as well as to maximize the quality and percentage of recycled gypsum that can be reincorporated in the manufacturing process. Thus, the practices implemented through the whole value chain of gypsum plasterboard have been assessed. That is to say, from the deconstruction dismantling, through the gypsum waste processing, to the resulting recycled gypsum reincorporation into the manufacturing process. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are formulated and used to monitor and compare the five pilot projects conducted in the framework of the Life+ GtoG Project “ From Production to Recycling, a Circular Economy for the European Gypsum Industry with the Demolition and Recycling Industry”

Defining best practices indicators for deconstruction of gypsum based products towards an effective closed-loop

Whereas building demolition is synonym of destruction, resulting on what is usually known as debris, selective demolition or deconstruction devotes special attention to cause minimal damage on materials through on-site waste segregation, therefore increasing the re-use or recycling options. Consequently, segregation becomes essential for effectively close the loop of certain building materials, as for the case of gypsum waste. Aiming to define the best practices indicators for assessing the deconstruction of gypsum based products, five pilot projects in four European countries (Belgium, France, Germany and the United Kingdom) have been monitored through a set of economic, environmental, social and technical parameters. These parameters have been combined in resulting indicators that enable to assess different aspects compared to demolition practices, such as the effectiveness of the deconstruction and segregation processes, waste traceability, labour time, costs and the environmental impacts targeted. The differences arising in each country have also been underlined. The study has been conducted within the framework of the Life+ GtoG project, which from January 2013 is working for transforming the gypsum waste market, with the aim of achieving higher gypsum recycling rates and promoting deconstruction practices in Europe

Photosensitivity Color-Center Model for Ge-Doped Silica Preforms

A new photosensitivity physical model for Ge-doped silica preforms based on color-center photoreactions is presented. Simulation results are in close agreement with experimental results obtained by several condensed matter physics research groups working in this field, suggesting that the photoreactions of this model may, indeed, describe the physical processes involved in Ge-doped silica preform photosensitivity. The proposed photosensitivity model is defined by two differential equations that describe the temporal evolution of a set of color-center concentrations. The first is a modification of a very fast reversible reaction previously proposed by Fujimaki et al., where the reaction precursor has a different chemical structure (it is a neutral oxygen divacancy NODV unrelated to the previously proposed germanium lone pair center GLPC). The chemical structure of this precursor defect explains the generation of nonintrinsic neutral oxygen monovacancy ðNOMVÞ color centers. These centers are transformed into GeE0 defects by means of a second nonlinear reaction. This justifies the slow increase in the absorption peak experimentally measured at 6.3 eV, which had no satisfactory explanation.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2001-2969-C03-0

Ability emotional intelligence in young people and older adults with and without depressive symptoms, considering gender and educational level

We thank Professors Laura Ros, Rigoberto López, Concha Fabeiro, Diosina Lozano and David Igual for their help in the selection of the sample. Our thanks also go to Dr. Carlos de Cabo for his assistance with the translation of the manuscript.Supplemental information for this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/ peerj.6595#supplemental-information.Background There is little research on differences in Emotional Intelligence (EI) ability at different stages of adult development. The few published studies tend not to use older adult samples. Previous studies on EI ability and age have shown contradictory results. Our main objective was to evaluate results in EI ability across different stages of adult development, taking into account gender, depressive symptoms, and educational level. Methods We interviewed 166 participants (108 women), 66 of whom were aged 18–30 years, 53 aged 31–60 years, and 40 aged 61–76 years. All were either working or enrolled in colleges at the time of the study. The assessment tools used were the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a test that assesses performance-based EI, and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, a tool to evaluate depressive symptoms. Results Young people, women, and participants with a higher educational level achieved higher scores on the MSCEIT. Additionally, depressive symptomatology was only partially associated with the MSCEIT (i.e., with the using emotions branch). However, a subsequent joint analysis of the independent effects of variables age, gender, educational level, and depressive symptomatology and their interactions on MSCEIT total suggests that only educational level and depressive symptomatology were associated with EI ability, with the direct relationship between age and gender with MSCEIT disappearing. Additionally, our study indicated an interaction effect between age and depressive symptoms, showing that participants in age cohorts 18–30 and 31–60 and without depressive symptoms have a higher EI ability. Discussion Our study suggests that the direct effects of age and gender on EI ability across adult development, using a wide age range, can change or disappear when effects of educational level and depressive symptomatology, and their interactions, are controlled for. Our results also suggest that EI ability is a protective factor against depression in some age cohorts. This novel aspect of our study does not appear in the previous literature. However, prospective studies are needed to verify these findings and examine whether other psychological variables could determine the relations between age, gender and EI ability across adult development.This work was supported by a project grant awarded to Pablo Fernández-Berrocal from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (PSI2017-84170-R). This work was also supported by the project Innovation and Development Agency of Andalusia, Spain (grant number SEJ-07325) and the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (grant number PSI2017-84170-R). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript