The history of Abies pinsapo during the Holocene in southern Spain, based on pedoanthracological analysis

The results of this research are part of the contract for Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (University Teacher Training) (Ref. 18/03023) financed by the Ministerio de Educacion del Gobierno de Espana (Ministry of Education of the Government of Spain), and research projects PALEOPINSAPO (CSO2017-83576-P), Med-Refugia (Ref. RTI2018-101714-B-I00), Oromed-Refugia (Ref. P18-RT-4963) and Relic-Flora 2 (Ref. B-RNM-404-UGR18), dependents on the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad del Gobierno de Espana y la Junta de Andalucia (Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness of the Government of Spain and the Regional Government of Andalusia.The aim of this research is to reconstruct the ancient distribution area of Abies pinsapo Boiss. (Spanish fir) in the Serranía de Ronda region, southern Spain, during the Holocene. The main method was pedoanthracological analysis, the study of non-archaeological charcoal found in natural soils. In this research a total of 37 soil excavations were done in several mountain ranges with potentially favourable places for firs to have grown in the past. Specific sites and places such as hillsides, endorheic basins (with no outflow), sinkholes, summits and mountain passes were selected on the basis of evidence from a range of different sources including ancient documents, pollen studies and species distribution models. The soil samples collected from these sites were prepared in the laboratory and the charcoal was identified and radiocarbon dated. Statistical and cartographic analyses were also done. The study revealed evidence of past populations of Abies sp. in places where it is no longer found today. A total of 47 different chronologies were obtained from these sites with ages ranging between 9,931 cal bp and 78 cal bp. In addition, the wide variations in the charcoal values enabled us to make an initial estimate of the importance of ancient forest fires in different places in the Serranía de Ronda. When this information has been considered with all the other available data sources, it will be an essential resource for the efficient management of relict fir woods in southern Spain.Ministerio de Educacion del Gobierno de Espana (Ministry of Education of the Government of Spain) 18/03023dependents on the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad del Gobierno de Espana y la Junta de Andalucia (Ministry of the Economy) CSO2017-83576-P RTI2018-101714-B-I00 P18-RT-4963 B-RNM-404-UGR18Junta de AndaluciaCompetitiveness of the Government of Spai

Paleopopulations and ecological connectivity in the Natura 2000 Network: proposal for the serpentine‑soil Spanish firs of Sierra Bermeja (Serranía de Ronda)

Funding for open access publishing: Universidad de Granada/ CBUA. This research has been supported by a contract for Univer- sity Teacher Training (Formación de Profesorado Universitario) (Ref. 18/03023) from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de España), and research projects financed by the State Research Agency (SRA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): PALEOPINSAPO (CSO2017-83576-P), MED-REFUGIA (RTI2018-101714-B-I00) and TED2021-132631B-I00; Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation: Oromed-Refugia (P18-RT- 4963); and ERDF Opera- tional Programme in Andalusia (EU regional programme): ForestMed (A-RNM-688-UGR20).One of the conservation priorities of the Natura 2000 Network is the ecological connectivity of forests and species of com- munity interest to facilitate compliance with the obligations of the EU Habitats Directive. The location of paleo-populations and past distribution areas is a first step towards creating an ecological corridor which, with the protection enjoyed by Special Areas of Conservation, could positively impact the resilience of forest species in the face of Climate Change. The endangered relict forests of Spanish fir (Abies pinsapo) are endemic in the Serranía de Ronda (Baetic Cordillera, Southern Spain) and form a highly fragmented habitat of community interest. Amongst these forests, the Spanish fir forests that grow on serpentine soils are particularly interesting. This ultramafic mountain range has suffered the highest recurrence of forest fires in all the Serranía de Ronda, and as a result, the Spanish fir forests have been subject to processes of local extinction throughout history. In this research, we used pedoanthracology to uncover ancient locations of Abies pinsapo; in this way, forest fires are the main cause of the disappearance of this emblematic species in Sierra Bermeja, and their charcoal remains allowed us to make a precise reconstruction of its past distribution area. On the basis of the data obtained, an ecological corridor linking these relict forests was proposed. This corridor has now begun to be implemented with the participation of public and private social agents.Universidad de Granada/CBUASpanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de Espana) 18/03023State Research Agency (SRA)European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): PALEOPINSAPO CSO2017-83576-PEuropean Regional Development Fund (ERDF): MED-REFUGIA RTI2018-101714-B-I00European Commission TED2021-132631B-I00Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation: Oromed-Refugia P18-RT- 4963ERDF Operational Programme in Andalusia (EU regional programme): ForestMed (A-RNM-688-UGR2

Proposal to create a micro-reserve on the Peñón (the Rock) of Salobreña to protect the coastal habitats of Granada (Spain)

Se propone la creación de una microrreserva de flora en el litoral de la provincia de Granada (Andalucía, sur de España). Esta figura de protección es un modelo pionero de conservación en enclaves de elevada fitodiversidad, no incluidos en la Red de Espacios Naturales Protegidos de Andalucía [RENPA]. La franja litoral de Granada ha experimentado un continuo proceso de ocupación durante las últimas décadas como consecuencia del turismo y la agricultura, por lo que se ha producido la degradación de ecosistemas costeros frágiles y dinámicos. El trabajo de campo ha sido el principal procedimiento metodológico para llevar a cabo la investigación, dada la falta de estudios sobre conservación de hábitats en la costa de Granada. Se ha tomado como punto de partida la localización de los taxones más amenazados y los hábitats naturales de interés comunitario de la Red Natura 2000. A continuación, se ha analizado un caso práctico, el Peñón de Salobreña, como modelo de microrreserva vegetal y área piloto para la conservación y posible regeneración de hábitats litorales. Se ha llegado a la conclusión de que este modelo de protección in situ es ideal para la gestión de pequeñas áreas de alto valor ecológico en regiones tan degradadas y humanizadas como el litoral mediterráneo andaluz.The objective is to create a plant micro-reserve on the coastline of the Granada province (Andalusia, Southern Spain). This protection figure is a pioneering conservation model in areas with substantial plant diversity located in very anthropised environments that are not included in the RENPA [network of protected natural areas of Andalusia]. In the last few decades the Granada coastline has been subject to continual intense occupation, mainly due to tourism and agriculture, which has led to the degradation of the fragile and dynamic coastal systems. Fieldwork has been the primary methodological procedure used to conduct the research work, given the lack of previous studies on the conservation of threatened plant species on the Granada coastline. The starting point was to locate the most threatened plant taxa and the natural habitats of community interest of the NATURA 2000 Network identified along this coastal strip that these species belong to. Then a case study was analyzed, that of the Peñón de Salobreña, as a model for a plant micro-reserve and a pilot experiment area for conservation and the possible regeneration of natural habitats. The conclusion drawn is that this in situ model of protection is ideal to manage small areas of highly valuable ecology in such degraded and humanized regions like the Mediterranean coastline of Andalusia

Local Fishing Communities and Nature Based Tourism in Baja, México: An Inter-Sectoral Valuation of Environmental Inputs

Nature-based tourism is often advocated as a desirable conservation strategy for smallscale fishing communities as it gives local people motivation to protect wildlife and ecosystems that attract visitors, while benefiting the community. However, valuation of environmental inputs in nature-based tourism, for instance charismatic species or scenic amenities, needs to be done correctly. Often, there are inter-sectoral costs and benefits involved that are not counted, so that determining the value of the environmental inputs to local communities may be more complex than simpler calculations might indicate. We model whales as an input to the production of wildlife viewing trips, but recognize that this occurs within a community dependent on a seasonal fishery. Standard theory suggests that industry will switch from fishing to whale watching every year when whale watching becomes marginally more profitable than fishing. We develop a simple theoretical model that allows us to analyze the interaction between the extractive and the non-extractive activities. As a case study, we use whale watching in the small coastal communities of the Bahía Magdalena lagoon complex in Baja, México.Alberto Ansuategi thanks financial support from the Ministerio de Economa y Competitividad (ECO-2015-68023) and the Eusko Jaurlaritza (IT-799-13 and MV-2017-1-0008)

Mapeo estático y dinámico de tareas en sistemas multiprocesador, basados en redes en circuito integrado

RESUMEN: Las redes en circuito integrado (NoC) representan un importante paradigma de uso creciente para los sistemas multiprocesador en circuito integrado (MPSoC), debido a su flexibilidad y escalabilidad. Las estrategias de tolerancia a fallos han venido adquiriendo importancia, a medida que los procesos de manufactura incursionan en dimensiones por debajo del micrómetro y la complejidad de los diseños aumenta. Este artículo describe un algoritmo de aprendizaje incremental basado en población (PBIL), orientado a optimizar el proceso de mapeo en tiempo de diseño, así como a encontrar soluciones de mapeo óptimas en tiempo de ejecución, para hacer frente a fallos de único nodo en la red. En ambos casos, los objetivos de optimización corresponden al tiempo de ejecución de las aplicaciones y al ancho de banda pico que aparece en la red. Las simulaciones se basaron en un algoritmo de ruteo XY determinístico, operando sobre una topología de malla 2D para la NoC. Los resultados obtenidos son prometedores. El algoritmo propuesto exhibe un desempeño superior a otras técnicas reportadas cuando el tamaño del problema aumenta.ABSTARCT: Due to its scalability and flexibility, Network-on-Chip (NoC) is a growing and promising communication paradigm for Multiprocessor System-on-Chip (MPSoC) design. As the manufacturing process scales down to the deep submicron domain and the complexity of the system increases, fault-tolerant design strategies are gaining increased relevance. This paper exhibits the use of a Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm aimed at finding the best mapping solutions at design time, as well as to finding the optimal remapping solution, in presence of single-node failures on the NoC. The optimization objectives in both cases are the application completion time and the network's peak bandwidth. A deterministic XY routing algorithm was used in order to simulate the traffic conditions in the network which has a 2D mesh topology. Obtained results are promising. The proposed algorithm exhibits a better performance, when compared with other reported approaches, as the problem size increases

Europe's southernmost interglacial refugia as sentinels for the local extinction of mountain conifers

This research has been supported by a contract for University Teacher Training (Formación de Profesorado Universitario) (Ref. 18/03023) from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deportes del Gobierno de España), and research projects financed by the State Research Agency (SRA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF): PALEOPINSAPO (CSO2017-83576-P), MED-REFUGIA (RTI2018-101714-B-I00) and TED2021-132631B-I00; Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation: Oromed-Refugia (P18-RT- 4963); and ERDF Opera- tional Programme in Andalusia (EU regional programme): ForestMed (A-RNM-688-UGR20).The Serrania de Ronda is an exceptional palaeoecological laboratory for studying the dynamics of vegetation over time, due to its strategic geographical location at a biogeographical crossroads and its proven historical legacy. Many of the mountains that form part of this territory are today practically deforested, such as Sierra Blanca, whose geographic location at the heart of the Serranía de Ronda means that it has enormous potential as a bio- geographical crossroads: the occasional presence of Abies pinsapo, Pinus pinaster and Quercus rotundifolia suggests that it was once covered by a mixed forest of conifers and broad-leaved trees. The lack of environmental research in Sierra Blanca has facilitated the installation of large quarries, which have led to its exclusion from the Sierra de las Nieves National Park, which was created in 2021. We applied the pedoanthracological methodology, which has enabled us to discover paleo-populations of A. pinsapo and Pinus sylvestris-type. The results confirm that co- niferous forests previously covered a much wider area during the Holocene. These findings reinforce the role of Sierra Blanca as a high-altitude refuge for conifers during the warm stages of the Holocene and as a sentinel for the local extinction of mountain conifers. This information could help improve its management and conservation.Spanish Government 18/03023State Research Agency (SRA)European Commission CSO2017-83576-P, RTI2018-101714-B-I00, TED2021-132631B-I00Andalusian Plan for Research, Development and Innovation P18-RT-4963ERDF Operational Programme in Andalusia (EU regional programme) A-RNM-688-UGR2

Assessing Shiny apps through student feedback: recommendations from a qualitative study

This is the accepted version of the following article: Gonzalez, J., Lopez, M., Cobo, E., Cortes, J. Assessing Shiny apps through student feedback: recommendations from a qualitative study. "Computer applications in engineering education", Setembre 2018, vol. 26, núm. 5, p. 1813-1824., which has been published in final form at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/cae.21932Teaching statistics has benefited from Java applets, the successful technology that appeared in the late 90s and which allowed real interactivity on an Internet browser. Combining dynamic functionality with the web provides an inspirational complement to the contents of many subjects in undergraduate statistics courses, especially for active learning activities. Since Java applets are becoming obsolete, we explore a different technology based on R (currently a popular statistical language) and Shiny, which is a web framework for developing interactive applications inside the R environment. Although the pedagogical value of these tools has been implicitly accepted so far, our aim is to consider the students' perspective while investigating more suitable means to accompany the use of apps in statistics. We conducted a qualitative study in which we tested 10 of our applications and collected student opinions through questionnaires and regular meetings. Our conclusions indicate that the students view these resources positively, although they demand more support, just enough to facilitate both getting started and using the tools effectively. In addition, programming in R is surely more accessible and satisfying for statistics lecturers than other languages and, consequently, implementing instructional activities can be specially tailored by the teacher.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Mapping and Scheduling in Heterogeneous NoC through Population-Based Incremental Learning

ABSTRACT: Network-on-Chip (NoC) is a growing and promising communication paradigm for Multiprocessor-System-On-Chip (MPSoC) design, because of its scalability and performance features. In designing such systems, mapping and scheduling are becoming critical stages, because of the increase of both size of the network and application’s complexity. Some reported solutions solve each issue independently. However, a conjoint approach for solving mapping and scheduling allows to take into account both computation and communication objectives simultaneously. This paper shows a mapping and scheduling solution, which is based on a Population-Based Incremental Learning (PBIL) algorithm. The simulation results suggest that our PBIL approach is able to find optimal mapping and scheduling, in a multi-objective fashion. A 2-D heterogeneous mesh was used as target architecture for implementation, although the PBIL representation is suited to deal with more complex architectures, such as 3-D meshes

A paleobiogeographical approach to the Sierra del Tablón (Serranía de Ronda, Spain) based on pedoantracological analysis

Se presenta el primer estudio paleobiogeográfico de los bosques de la Sierra del Tablón, uno de los eslabones más septentrionales de la Serranía de Ronda (España) y cota más elevada de la provincia de Sevilla con 1.129 m s.n.m. Se parte de la caracterización mesológica, analizando las singularidades físicas del macizo (geología, geomorfología y clima). También se aborda el estudio de la vegetación presente y pasada, identificando las formaciones dominantes y su evolución desde mediados del siglo XX, con especial atención a las facies de bosque representativas de las etapas climácicas. Finalmente, se incluyen los resultados del análisis pedoantracológico llevado a cabo en la sierra, lo que permite profundizar en la dinámica evolutiva de su vegetación a través de la realización de dos muestreos pedológicosFPU (Formación de Profesorado Universitario) (Ref. 18/03023) financiado por el Ministerio de Educación del Gobierno de EspañaPALEOPINSAPO (CSO2017-83576-P), PALEOPINSAPO II (PID2022-141592NB-I00)Med-Refugia (Ref. RTI2018-101714-B-I00)Oromed-Refugia (Ref. P18-RT- 4963)Relic-Flora 2 (Ref. B-RNM-404-UGR18

Complete Genome Sequence of Sinorhizobium meliloti Strain AK21, a Salt-Tolerant Isolate from the Aral Sea Region

[EN] We report here the complete genome sequence of the salt-tolerant Sinorhizobium meliloti strain AK21, isolated from nodules of Medicago sativa L. subsp. ambigua inhabiting the northern Aral Sea Region. This genome (7.36 Mb) consists of a chromosome and four accessory plasmids, two of which are the symbiotic megaplasmids pSymA and pSymBSIThis work was funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)-cofinanced grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (grant CSD2009-00006 to N.T. and grants AGL2009-07925 and BFU2017-82645-P to J.I.J.-Z.