Consideraciones sobre las migraciones de dos picaflores neotropicales

Considerations on the migrations of two neotropical hummingbirds. Giant Hurnmingbirds,are seasonally common in central Chile and adjacent Argentina where they nest, but they are not seen there from mid autumn to mid winter, and very few museum specimens from this distinct population are available from areas elsewhere so that only weak inferences can be made about the location of their wintering grounds. Fire Crowns are numerous in central Chile from autumn to winter but there is a marked decline in density from early spring to late summer. The destination of these hummingbirds was unknown for a long time but now it is known that the species moves to the south of Chile and Argentina for breeding. The only other species in the genus, S. fernandensis is divided into two subspecies. This is in sharp contrast with the lack of subspecific differentiation of the Más a Tierra population of S. galeritus, and warrants further investigation

Social Movements, State and Democracy in Bolivia and Ecuador in Transit from Neoliberalism to Postneoliberalismo

Presentación del Dossier: El objetivo que se plantea este dossier es analizar la dinámica de los movimientos sociales en el marco del sistema político de cada uno de los países, cuando aparecen factores que cohíben o alientan su organización y movilización. En este sentido se propuso seleccionar artículos que analicen dichos actores y hagan un examen comparativo entre Bolivia y Ecuador.Introduction to the Dossie

Improved Organic Fertilisers Made from Combinations of Compost, Biochar, and Anaerobic Digestate: Evaluation of Maize Growth and Soil Metrics

[EN] Treated bio-residues can be used as biostimulants in crops within the circular economy approach to reduce the use of traditional fertilisers. In this work, we optimised the combination rates for three types of treated bio-residues (compost, biochar, and anaerobic digestate (AD)) in two microcosm trials, one with a combination of compost and biochar and other with biochar and AD. The crop used was maize, and the variables analysed were plant growth, and soil chemical and biological properties. The combination of bio-residues improved plant growth and soil biological activity to a greater extent than one product alone; that is, compost and biochar performed better than compost alone and biochar, and AD performed better than biochar alone. However, while the concentration in the plant biomass of several essential nutrients for crops increased in the treatments with compost and biochar, and with biochar and AD, compared to the untreated controls, the nitrogen concentration was reduced. This was due to the competition for nitrogen between the plant and the soil microbiome, whose activity was activated. Due to the importance of nitrogen in plant growth, the increase in biomass production could be explained not only by the higher availability of other nutrients but also by the plant-growth-promoting activity exerted by the more active soil microbiome. Further research should focus on validating this hypothesis and unravelling the mechanisms involved. From the environmental site, the presence of biochar in the mixtures of organic residues reduced the soil nitrogen at risk of lixiviation and sequestered carbon, which partially compensated for the increased CO2 emissions because labile forms of carbon were present in the remaining organic residues.S

Efecto de las estelas en los parques eólicos

Para el diseño de parques eólicos es de interés conocer la producción de energía eléctrica de las turbinas eólicas, o aeroturbinas, así como las cargas que pueden sufrir las mismas limitando su vida útil. La producción de energía está ligada a la intensidad del viento incidente, y la vida útil de las aeroturbinas al grado de agitación turbulenta del viento. El grupo de Mecánica de Fluidos Aplicado a la Ingeniería Industrial de la UPM, ha desarrollado programas informáticos para estimar la magnitud del viento y la intensidad de la turbulencia, en función de las características del terreno y de la distribución de las turbinas en el parque eólico, utilizando para ello modelos numéricos que simulan el movimiento turbulento de los fluidos

Efectos topográficos en el recurso eólico.

Para el diseño de parques eólicos es de interés conocer la producción de energía eléctrica de las turbinas eólicas, o aeroturbinas, así como las cargas que pueden sufrir las mismas limitando su vida útil. La producción de energía está ligada a la intensidad del viento incidente, y la vida útil de las aeroturbinas al grado de agitación turbulenta del viento. El grupo de Mecánica de Fluidos Aplicado a la Ingeniería Industrial de la UPM, ha desarrollado programas informáticos para estimar la magnitud del viento y la intensidad de la turbulencia, en función de las características del terreno y de la distribución de las turbinas en el parque eólico, utilizando para ello modelos numéricos que simulan el movimiento turbulento de los fluido

Identification of novel cellular proteins that bind to the LC8 dynein light chain using a pepscan technique

AbstractDynein is a minus end-directed microtubule motor that serves multiple cellular functions. We have performed a fine mapping of the 8 kDa dynein light chain (LC8) binding sites throughout the development of a library of consecutive synthetic dodecapeptides covering the amino acid sequences of the various proteins known to interact with this dynein member according to the yeast two hybrid system. Two different consensus sequences were identified: GIQVD present in nNOS, in DNA cytosine methyl transferase and also in GKAP, where it is present twice in the protein sequence. The other LC8 binding motif is KSTQT, present in Bim, dynein heavy chain, Kid-1, protein 4 and also in swallow. Interestingly, this KSTQT motif is also present in several viruses known to associate with microtubules during retrograde transport from the plasma membrane to the nucleus during viral infection

Scaling-Up of the Production of Biochar from Olive Tree Pruning for Agricultural Use: Evaluation of Biochar Characteristics and Phytotoxicity

[EN] Due to the large acreage of olive trees in the Mediterranean basin, the biochar from olive tree pruning may become an important resource as part of circular economy strategies. However, so far, there is not much knowledge on whether the same characteristics are repeated in biochar once production is up-scaled to an industrial level. Accordingly, this study aimed to scale up the production of olive tree pruning biochar with three reactors (semi-pilot, pilot and industrial) to ascertain the production parameters that determine the characteristics of the obtained biochar and its possible toxicity to use in agriculture or environmental applications. First, the production conditions in the semi-pilot reactor were optimised by testing three temperatures (400, 500 and 600 °C), with the result that 600 °C was the optimal production temperature because of a high carbon content (70.88%), moderate pH (8.1), good carbon sink (R50 > 0.5) and low contents of PAHs (<6 mg/kg) and heavy metals, resulting in a phytostimulanting effect for all the crops studied. Then, the production was upscaled, using 600 °C as pyrolysing temperature. At the industrial scale, accurate temperature control is essential because when temperatures above 650 °C were reached, the biochar showed a pH above 11, resulting in severe phytotoxicity. The longer retention time of the material in the industrial pyrolysers improved the carbon stability and, therefore, the biochar’s role as a carbon sink. Consequently, it was proven that it is possible to produce olive tree pruning biochar adequate for agriculture and environmental applications with large-scale equipment, and the two most important factors needing control are the temperature and retention time.SIThis research was co-funded by the research project “Desarrollo de fertilizantes avanzados a partir de subproductos del olivar y bioestimulantes microbianos” (BIFEROLIVA) [IDI-20191225] co-funded by Cortijo de Guadiana S.A. and CDTI (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation)

Study and Evolution of the Dune Field of La Banya Spit in Ebro Delta (Spain) Using LiDAR Data and GPR

La Banya spit, located at the south of the River Ebro Delta, is a sandy formation, developed by annexation of bars forming successive beach ridges, which are oriented and modeled by the eastern and southern waves. The initial ridges run parallel to the coastline, and above them small dunes developed, the crests of which are oriented by dominant winds, forming foredune ridges and barchans. This study attempted to test a number of techniques in order to understand the dune dynamic on this coastal spit between 2004 and 2012: LiDAR data were used to reconstruct changes to the surface and volume of the barchan dunes and foredunes; ground-penetrating radar was applied to obtain an image of their internal structure, which would help to understand their recent evolution. GPS data taken on the field, together with application of GIS techniques, made possible the combination of results and their comparison. The results showed a different trend between the barchan dunes and the foredunes. While the barchan dunes increased in area and volume between 2004 and 2012, the foredunes lost thickness. This was also reflected in the radargrams: the barchan dunes showed reflectors related to the growth of the foresets while those associated with foredunes presented truncations associated with storm events. However, the global balance of dune occupation for the period 2004-2012 was positive

Pulmonary Vascular Remodeling and Prognosis in Patients Evaluated for Heart Transplantation: Insights from the OCTOPUS-CHF Study

Objective: In patients with advanced heart failure, the intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) of subsegmental pulmonary artery measurements is correlated with right heart catheterization parameters. Our aim was to study the prognostic value of pulmonary OCT, right heart catheterization data, and the echocardiographic estimation of pulmonary pressure in patients studied for elective heart transplants. Methods: This research is an observational, prospective, multicenter study involving 90 adults with a one-year follow-up. Results: A total of 10 patients (11.1%) died due to worsening heart failure before heart transplantation, 50 underwent a heart transplant (55.6%), and 9 died in the first year after the transplant. The patients with and without events (mortality or heart failure-induced hospitalization) had similar data regarding echocardiography, right heart catheterization, and pulmonary OCT (with a median estimated pulmonary artery systolic pressure of 42.0 mmHg, interquartile range (IQR) of 30.3-50.0 vs. 47.0 mmHg, IQR 34.6-59.5 and p = 0.79, median pulmonary vascular resistance of 2.2 Wood units, IQR 1.3-3.7 vs. 2.0 Wood units, IQR 1.4-3.2 and p = 0.99, and a median pulmonary artery wall thickness of 0.2 +/- 0.5 mm vs. 0.2 +/- 0.6 mm and p = 0.87). Conclusion: Pulmonary vascular remodeling (evaluated with echocardiography, right heart catheterization, and pulmonary OCT) was not associated with prognosis in a selected sample of adults evaluated for elective heart transplants. Pulmonary OCT is safe and feasible for the evaluation of these patients