12,503 research outputs found
Wetland restoration and nitrate reduction: the example of the periurban wetland of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, North Spain)
Changes in land use and agricultural intensification caused wetlands on the quaternary aquifer of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country) to disappear some years ago and nitrate concentration in groundwaters increased very quickly. The Basque Government recently declared the East Sector of this aquifer a Vulnerable Zone according to the 91/676/CEE European Directive. Recently, the wetlands have been restored through the closure of the main drainage ditches, the consequent elevation of the water table and the abondonment of agricultural practices near the wetlands. This is the case of the Zurbano wetland. Restoration has allowed the recovery of its biogeochemical function, which has reduced nitrate concentrations in waters. Nitrate concentrations which exceed 50 mg lâ1 in groundwaters entering into the wetland are less than 10 mg lâ1 at the outlet. Conditions in the wetland are conducive to the loss of nitrates: organic matter rich wetted soils, clay presence allowing a local semiconfined flow and very low hydraulic gradient. Water quality monitoring at several points around the wetland showed the processes involved in nitrate loss, although some aspects still remain unresolved. However, during storm events, the wetland effectively reduces the nitrate concentration entering the Alegria River, the most important river on the quaternary aquifer
A sharp height estimate for compact hypersurfaces with constant -mean curvature in warped product spaces
In this paper we obtain a sharp height estimate concerning compact
hypersurfaces immersed into warped product spaces with some constant higher
order mean curvature, and whose boundary is contained into a slice. We apply
these results to draw topological conclusions at the end of the paper.Comment: 19 pages. To appear on Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical
Societ
CIXL2: A Crossover Operator for Evolutionary Algorithms Based on Population Features
In this paper we propose a crossover operator for evolutionary algorithms
with real values that is based on the statistical theory of population
distributions. The operator is based on the theoretical distribution of the
values of the genes of the best individuals in the population. The proposed
operator takes into account the localization and dispersion features of the
best individuals of the population with the objective that these features would
be inherited by the offspring. Our aim is the optimization of the balance
between exploration and exploitation in the search process. In order to test
the efficiency and robustness of this crossover, we have used a set of
functions to be optimized with regard to different criteria, such as,
multimodality, separability, regularity and epistasis. With this set of
functions we can extract conclusions in function of the problem at hand. We
analyze the results using ANOVA and multiple comparison statistical tests. As
an example of how our crossover can be used to solve artificial intelligence
problems, we have applied the proposed model to the problem of obtaining the
weight of each network in a ensemble of neural networks. The results obtained
are above the performance of standard methods
Van der Waals spin valves
We propose spin valves where a 2D non-magnetic conductor is intercalated
between two ferromagnetic insulating layers. In this setup, the relative
orientation of the magnetizations of the insulating layers can have a strong
impact on the in-plane conductivity of the 2D conductor. We first show this for
a graphene bilayer, described with a tight-binding model, placed between two
ferromagnetic insulators. In the anti-parallel configuration, a band gap opens
at the Dirac point, whereas in the parallel configuration, the graphene bilayer
remains conducting. We then compute the electronic structure of graphene
bilayer placed between two monolayers of the ferromagnetic insulator CrI,
using density functional theory. Consistent with the model, we find that a gap
opens at the Dirac point only in the antiparallel configuration.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Analysis of penitentiary, social and legal operatorsâ perceptions of prison inmates with intellectual disabilities
Objective: To analyze the different perceptions of professionals about the problem of intellectual disability in the prison setting.
Material and method: Exploratory-descriptive type. In-depth interviews with legal, social and prison operators of Centro
Penitenciario de Zuera (Zaragoza).
Results: The narratives of the interviewed subjects point to the aggravating circumstances that a closed social environment can
entail for inmates with intellectual disabilities. Communications in the prison administration are written in a technical language
that is not understandable for inmates with intellectual deficits.
Discusion: There is a need to give more visibility to the case of inmates with intellectual disabilities. Procedures also need to be
applied that favour greater cognitive accessibility for this profile of inmates, along with the promotion of awareness raising and
training for professionals to enable them to deal with this issue
High-level quinolone resistance is associated with the overexpression of smeVWX in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia clinical isolates
AbstractStenotrophomonas maltophilia is the only known bacterium in which quinolone-resistant isolates do not present mutations in the genes encoding bacterial topoisomerases. The expression of the intrinsic quinolone resistance elements smeDEF, smeVWX and Smqnr was analysed in 31 clinical S. maltophilia isolates presenting a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) range to ciprofloxacin between 0.5 and > 32 Όg/mL; 11 (35.5%) overexpressed smeDEF, 2 (6.5%) presenting the highest quinolone MICs overexpressed smeVWX and 1 (3.2%) overexpressed Smqnr. Both strains overexpressing smeVWX presented changes at the Gly266 position of SmeRv, the repressor of smeVWX. Changes at the same position were previously observed in in vitro selected S. maltophilia quinolone-resistant mutants, indicating this amino acid is highly relevant for the activity of SmeRv in repressing smeVWX expression. For the first time SmeVWX overexpression is associated with quinolone resistance of S. maltophilia clinical isolates
- âŠ