88 research outputs found
New challenges for agricultural research: climate change, food security, rural development, agricultural knowledge systems. 2nd SCAR Foresight exercise
Toelichting bij de RISKANDI kaartenbak
In het onderzoeksprogramma van het Ministerie van LNV is er door Alterra binnen het programma 428 “Risicomanagement diergezondheid en voedselveiligheid” een prototype van een beslissingsondersteunend systeem ontwikkeld, RISKANDI genoemd (Risk animal diseases) in samenwerking met het cluster Kwantitatieve Veterinaire Epidemiologie van de Animal Sciences Group. Met het beslissingondersteunende systeem kan het inzicht vergroot worden in de ruimtelijke problematiek rond de verspreiding van dierziekten in Nederland (voorlopig alleen van varkenspest). Het systeem is ook bedoeld om de communicatie tussen het ministerie van LNV met onderzoeksinstituten te vergroten. Ook is er de ambitie om het systeem uit te breiden voor andere dierziekte
Educar en el diálogo interreligioso es una urgencia
La actual situación sociopolítica internacional, posterior al fin de la tensión de
bloques, hace urgente plantearnos la educación en el diálogo intercultural e
interreligioso. Se ha propuesto, desde algunas instancias y con éxito, una visión del
panorama mundial basado en el 'choque de civilizaciones'. Este esquema mental trae
consigo, además, una determinada forma de convivir con la diversidad religiosa en
cada nación, que apuesta por reforzar los rasgos identitarios frente al 'extranjero '.
Sin embargo, es posible aportar una nuevo esquema, basado en el diálogo entre
culturas y religiones. Ahora bien, el diálogo no se improvisa, sino que tiene sus características
y exigencias propias. Estos presupuestos de un verdadero diálogo nos llevan
a concluir que el diálogo no es una estrategia, sino una forma de vida. Educar
hacia esta forma de vida implica incluir no sólo contenidos conceptuales, sino también
procedimentales y actitudinales en nuestros programas educativos para ayudar
a nacer una verdadera alternativa a la cultura del enfrentamiento y la violencia que
nos rodea
¿Aún enseñamos antijudaísmo?: Reflexiones y pautas pedagógicas para evitar prejuicios en la enseñanza religiosa escolar
Abstract en español e inglés.Este artículo recuerda la importancia de evitar que la presentación de la
figura de Jesús en la Enseñanza Religiosa Escolar (ERE) o en otros ámbitos, esconda
prejuicios antijudíos, aún de forma inconsciente. Señala algunos errores pedagógicos que pueden obviar el judaísmo de Jesús, que oponen sin matices su figura al judaísmo de su época o que valoran el judaísmo actual como una religión caduca o
esclerotizada. Además, señala una serie de pautas para una presentación de
Jesucristo y del judaísmo en la ERE que permita avanzar en la superación de viejos
recelos e incomprensiones.This article reminds the reader of the importance of avoiding that the
introduction to the figure of Jesus would hide anti-Jewish prejudices, even in an unconscious way, in the School Religious Education (ERE) or any other fields. It
also points out some pedagogic mistakes which may obviate Jesus’ Jewishness, oppose
Jesus to the Judaism of His age without any shade, or value present-day Judaism as
an outdated or sluggish religion. Besides, this article shows a series of guidelines to
introduce the ERE pupils to Jesus Christ in such a way as to make progress with the
overcoming of old suspicions and lack of understanding
¿Aún enseñamos antijudaísmo?: Reflexiones y pautas pedagógicas para evitar prejuicios en la enseñanza religiosa escolar
Abstract en español e inglés.Este artículo recuerda la importancia de evitar que la presentación de la
figura de Jesús en la Enseñanza Religiosa Escolar (ERE) o en otros ámbitos, esconda
prejuicios antijudíos, aún de forma inconsciente. Señala algunos errores pedagógicos que pueden obviar el judaísmo de Jesús, que oponen sin matices su figura al judaísmo de su época o que valoran el judaísmo actual como una religión caduca o
esclerotizada. Además, señala una serie de pautas para una presentación de
Jesucristo y del judaísmo en la ERE que permita avanzar en la superación de viejos
recelos e incomprensiones.This article reminds the reader of the importance of avoiding that the
introduction to the figure of Jesus would hide anti-Jewish prejudices, even in an unconscious way, in the School Religious Education (ERE) or any other fields. It
also points out some pedagogic mistakes which may obviate Jesus’ Jewishness, oppose
Jesus to the Judaism of His age without any shade, or value present-day Judaism as
an outdated or sluggish religion. Besides, this article shows a series of guidelines to
introduce the ERE pupils to Jesus Christ in such a way as to make progress with the
overcoming of old suspicions and lack of understanding
Microbial weathering of Fe-rich phyllosilicates and formation of pyrite in the dolomite precipitating environment of a Miocene lacustrine system
Sedimentary sequences composed of selenite gypsum, mudstone, and dolomite microbialites cropping out in the eastern part of the Madrid Basin were deposited in a mudflat – saline-lake system during the Miocene. In some dolomite beds enriched in detrital grains, dolomite crystals occur intergrown with framboidal pyrite clusters that in many cases are arranged along the associated phyllosilicate cleavages, which accounts for the mineral disaggregation, and eventually for the mineral replacement. Highresolution FE-SEM investigations across the interface between the pyrite and the phyllosilicate show that a single phyllosilicate is replaced by iron sulphides in different microsites, with retention of some aspects of the parent structure. Pyrite formed in the sediment as texturally complex framboids, coexisting with amorphous to poorly crystalline iron-rich sulphide phases, and include carbonaceous filaments with biogenic isotopic signatures (δ 13 C = -22.95 ‰). Microprobe analytical data indicate the weathered phyllosilicates to be significantly depleted in Fe relative to Si and Al. The selective release of Fe has not involved the mineral transformation to secondary phyllosilicates, which suggests a preferential microbial colonization of the Fe-bearing minerals rather than a thermodynamically driven degradation of those minerals. Depleted δ 34 S values in pyrite further suggest that sulphate microbial reduction to sulphide was active within the sediment during the alteration of the silicates. This paper gives new insight into the microbial weathering of phyllosilicates and the subsequent formation of pyrite through a sequence of intermediate products enriched in iron. These processes were coeval with the microbially-mediated precipitation of dolomite, which further reinforces the role of the microbes in the formation of the sulphides
Estructura europea para la supervisión y el seguimiento de hábitats: aproximación metodológica para España
There is a well defined policy requirement for a practical and reproducible procedure for surveillance and monitoring of habitats in Spain that can subsequently be fitted into a European framework. Any such procedure also needs to incorporate records of the Spanish habitat classification. A procedure is described that will satisfy those requirements and has been field tested both in Spain and in Europe. Rigorous rules and training are required; otherwise changes from baseline records cannot reliably be separated from background noise. The procedure uses the classical plant life forms long used in biogeography and is based on their statistical relationship with the environment. This relationship has been validated statistically and the procedure has also been tested in the field in all European environmental zones and widely in Spain. 130 General Habitat Categories are defined and these are enhanced in the field by recording environmental, site and management qualities to produce a flexible database that can then be interrogated. The rules for mapping the habitats mean that they can be used for descriptive purposes or for monitoring. In conjunction with stratification and subsequent sampling, national estimates of stock and change can then be produced. Finally, based on the previous experience of SISPARES, a methodological scheme is proposed for adapting the approach to Spain. The proposal will allow links to be made between European scale surveillance and monitoring to those already obtained for Spain.en España políticas bien definidas que demandan procedimientos prácticos y reproducibles para llevar a cabo la supervisión y seguimiento de los hábitats, de modo que subsecuentemente puedan ajustarse al marco Europeo. Cualquier procedimiento de estas características necesita poder incorporar datos registrados de la clasificación española de hábitats. Aquí se describe un procedimiento que satisface dichos requisitos y que ha sido probado tanto en España como en el resto de Europa. El método exige reglas rigurosas y entrenamiento de campo; si no los cambios en los registros básicos no se podrán separar de manera fiable de los errores subjetivos cometidos durante la toma de datos. El procedimiento utiliza las clásicas formas de vida, ampliamente utilizadas en estudios biogeográficos y está basado en sus relaciones con el medio ambiente. Esta relación ha sido validada estadísticamente y el procedimiento ha sido probado en el campo en todas las zonas ambientales de Europa. En España, se han definido 130 Categorías Generales de Hábitats y se han verificado en el campo mediante el registro de atributos ambientales, estacionales y de manejo, de forma que puedan ser incluidas en una base de datos suficientemente flexible. Las directrices para la cartografía de hábitats posibilitan su uso descriptivo y permiten su seguimiento. Al mismo tiempo, con la estratificación y subsecuente muestreo, es posible hacer estimaciones nacionales de existencias y de cambios Finalmente, basados en las experiencias previas de SISPARES, se propone un esquema metodológico para adaptar BIOHAB a España. La propuesta permitirá conectar los resultados a escala Europea de supervisión y seguimiento con los obtenidos a escala española
Bioformation of sulfides and carbonates in saline lakes (Miocene of the Madrid Basin, Spain): Impacts on silicate weathering
Una parte significativa de las series sedimentarias del Mioceno Inferior y Medio de la cuenca de Madrid se sedimentaron en sistemas de llanura fangosa - lago (salino). Dentro de estas secuencias la fase carbonática más abundante es la dolomita que, según indican sus rasgos, precipitó con participación microbiana dentro de tapices cianobacterianos, los cuales proliferaban en esas condiciones. Frecuentemente, en los niveles dolomíticos que intercalan láminas ricas en filosilicatos, la dolomita forma paragénesis con distintos compuestos derivados del azufre que, por lo general, se presentan como sulfuros de hierro (pirita). El estudio detallado de estos niveles muestra que las piritas se presentan como framboides y suelen aparecer íntimamente ligadas a biotitas a las que rompen a favor de los planos de exfoliación y, en algunos casos, incluso, pseudomorfizan. Los agregados framboidales de pirita son muy complejos composicional y texturalmente, ya que coexisten con fases muy ricas en hierro e incluyen restos orgánicos, moldes de filamentos y abundantes corpúsculos esféricos de tamaño nanométrico. Asimismo, las biotitas asociadas a las piritas están selectivamente empobrecidas en Fe, con respecto a Si y Al, lo que descartaría una mera alteración físico-química. Esto sugiere que el Fe incluido en los sulfuros fue liberado selectivamente desde estos filosilicatos por el consorcio microbiano propio de los ambientes sulfato reductores, que lo utilizaría en su metabolismo.This paper gives new insight in the microbial weathering of phyllosilicates and the subsequent
formation of pyrite. These back-feeding processes were coeval with dolomite precipitation, which
reinforces the role of the sulphate reducer microbes in the formation of dolomite in earth-surface
conditions. Sedimentary sequences composed of selenite gypsum, mudstone, and dolomite microbialites
cropping out in the eastern part of the Madrid Basin were deposited in a mudflat - saline-lake system
during the Miocene. In some dolomite bed enriched in detrital grains, dolomite crystals occur intergrown
with pyrite framboids that in many cases are arranged along the associated phyllosilicate cleavages,
which accounts for the mineral disaggregation and, eventually, for the mineral replacement, with
retention of the parent structure. These transformations are observed to take place across an irregular
weathering front. Pyrite framboids yield a number of features susceptible of being interpreted as
microbial remains, including the abundance of organic molecules. In addition, the altered phyllosilicates
are significantly depleted in iron, consistent with a preferential microbial colonization of the Fe-bearing
minerals and the release of this metal that may be used as micronutrient and/or as electron acceptor.
Depleted d34S values in pyrite further suggest that sulphate microbial reduction to sulphide was active
within the sediment during the alteration of the silicates.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUESANTANDER/COMPLUTENSEpu
Agricultural biomass as provisioning ecosystem service: quantification of energy flows
Agro-ecosystems supply provisioning, regulating and cultural services to human society. This study focuses on the agro-ecosystem provisioning services regarding the production of agricultural biomass. These services strongly respond to the socio-economic demands of human beings, and are characterised by an injection of energy in the ecosystems production cycle which is often exceeding the ecological capacity of the ecosystem, i.e.
the overall ability of the ecosystem to produce goods and services linked to its bio-physical structure and processes that take place during the agricultural production. Agricultural production is identified as ecosystem service in widely recognised ecosystem service frameworks, but currently there is no clear agreement within the scientific and policy communities on how the ecological-socio-economic flow linked to this provisioning service should be assessed, beyond a mere accounting of yields. This study attempts to provide a new insight to this issue by proposing an approach based on the energy budget, which takes into consideration the energy needed by the ecosystem to supply the service. The approach is based on the concepts of Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and Net Energy Balance (NEB), and considers different bio-physical structures and processes of agroecosystems. The work is structured in three parts: the first aims at estimating inputs (machinery, seeds, fertilizers, irrigation, labour) in energy terms; the second at estimating
biomass output in energy terms; the third to compare actual agricultural production with three reference scenarios encompassing a range of human input (no input – low input –high input scenarios). Results show that in general terms cereal and grassland systems have the largest energy gains (both in terms of EROI and NEB). Such systems are characterised by a lower economic value of their output compared to other producing
systems such as fruits, which have lower energy gains but a higher embodied energy, which is recognized in the market as valuable. Comparison of actual production systems with the high input scenario confirms that current production in Europe is already highly intensive, and that increasing the energy input would not improve the efficiency of the conversion of such additional energy into biomass. Overall, the proposed approach seems
a useful tool to identify which are the factors in the agricultural production process that could be modified to improve the energy efficiency in agricultural systems and the sustainability of their production. This study can be considered as a first step in the assessment of the total energy balance of the agro-ecosystem. In fact it deals with the quantification of energy regarding human inputs and the corresponding output and further analysis should address crucial issues such as the quality of the energy and the embodied energy in the plant production, which will help to better understand the complexity of the agro-ecosystems
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