Usurpación de nidos de quebrantahuesos (Gypaetus barbatus) e interacciones interespecíficas por la ocupación del nido en el Pirineo central (Aragón)

El quebrantahuesos es una especie catalogada como “en peligro de extinción” en Europa, cuya fracción reproductora en los Pirineos se ha estimado en 125 unidades reproductoras (UR). En el Pirineo central (Aragón) en los últimos 15 años se ha producido un incremento de la población reproductora acompañado de un progresivo descenso de la productividad cuyas causas son objeto de discusión y pueden deberse a diversos factores. El periodo de reproducción del quebrantahuesos es muy extenso y coincide con el de otras rapaces que compiten por los emplazamientos de los nidos. Esto implica una importante inversión de tiempo y energía, por lo que la usurpación de nidos podría tener efectos negativos sobre el éxito reproductor. En Aragón entre 2005 y 2010 fueron usurpados 107 nidos de quebrantahuesos pertenecientes a 52 de las 72 UR controladas. La mayor parte de los nidos (95,3% de los casos; n = 102) fueron usurpados por buitre leonado (Gyps fulvus), aunque también por alimoche común (Neophron percnopterus) (4,7% de los casos; n = 5). El Pirineo Axial acogió tanto el mayor porcentaje de UR con nidos usurpados como la UR con un mayor número de nidos usurpados. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en cuanto a la productividad entre UR que habían sufrido usurpación y los que no la habían padecido. El buitre leonado posee una similar distribución espacial y parecidos requerimientos ecológicos al quebrantahuesos, mayor corpulencia y agresividad así como similar fenología de puesta temprana. El aumento demográfico del buitre leonado en Aragón podría estar provocando una mayor usurpación de nidos de quebrantahuesos en los Pirineos.El presente trabajo se ha elaborado dentro del Convenio Marco de Colaboración suscrito entre el Gobierno de Aragón y la FCQ (2008-2011), por el cual se desarrollaron diferentes acciones del Plan de Recuperación del quebrantahuesos en Aragón (D. 45/2003). Pascual López-López disfruta de una beca postdoctoral del programa “Juan de la Cierva” del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (referencia JCI-2011-09588)

Quantifying slumness with remote sensing data

The presence of slums in a city is an indicator of poverty and its proper delimitation is a matter of interest for researchers and policy makers. Socio-economic data from surveys and censuses are the primary source of information to identify and quantify slumness within a city or a town. One problem of using survey data for quantifying slumness is that this type of data is usually collected every ten years and is an expensive and time consuming process. Based on the premise that the physical appearance of an urban settlement is a reflection of the society that created it and on the assumption that people living in urban areas with similar physical housing conditions will have similar social and demographic characteristics (Jain, 2008; Taubenb¨ock et al., 2009b); this paper uses data from Medellin City, Colombia, to estimate slum index using solely remote sensing data from an orthorectified, pan-sharpened, natural color Quickbird scene. For Medellin city, the percentage of clay roofs cover and the mean swimming pool density at the analytical region level can explain up to 59% of the variability in the slum index. Structure and texture measures are useful to characterize the differences in the homogeneity of the spatial pattern of the urban layout and they improve the explanatory power of the statistical models when taken into account. When no other information is used, they can explain up to 30% of the variability of the slum index. The results of this research are encouraging and many researchers, urban planners and policy makers could benefit from this rapid and low cost approach to characterize the intra-urban variations of slumness in cities with sparse data or no data at all

A board game-based virtual environment for intelligent bots programming,

[EN] Nowadays, there are few virtual environments based on board games with a didactic purpose. In fact, a new board game-based environment is rarely created for training bots unless it is necessary for a study. However, the development of intelligent bots applied to such games would be a stimulus to motivate disciplines such as programming or Artificial Intelligence. In this paper, we present a virtual environment based on a well-known board game such as Catan, which allows the incorporation of bots that can play against each other. In this sense, the virtual environment allows the development of new bots with their respective own strategies and algorithms, so that simulations of games can be carried out to measure their effectiveness. In addition, it also allows the simulation of multiple games to develop bots that incorporate learning techniques based on Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning. In this sense, the virtual environment offers a very interesting tool to be used in subjects related to these disciplinesHeras, A.; Sanchez-Anguix, V.; Alberola Oltra, JM.; Pérez Pascual, MA. (2023). A board game-based virtual environment for intelligent bots programming,. IATED. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2023.08511

The New Era of Business Intelligence Applications: Buildingfrom a Collaborative Point of View

Collaborative business intelligence (BI) iswidely embraced by enterprises as a way of making themost of their business processes. However, decision mak-ers usually work in isolation without the knowledge or thetime needed to obtain and analyze all the available infor-mation for making decisions. Unfortunately, collaborativeBI is currently based on exchanging e-mails and documentsbetween participants. As a result, information may be lost,participants may become disoriented, and the decision-making task may not yield the needed results. The authorspropose a modeling language aimed at modeling andeliciting the goals and information needs of participants ofcollaborative BI systems. This approach is based on inno-vative methods to elicit and model collaborative systemsand BI requirements. A controlled experiment was per-formed to validate this language, assessing its under-standability, scalability, efficiency, and user satisfaction byanalyzing two collaborative BI systems. By using theframework proposed in this work, clear guideless can beprovided regarding: (1) collaborative tasks, (2) their par-ticipants, and (3) the information to be shared among them.By using the approach to design collaborative BI systems,practitioners may easily trace every element needed in thedecision processes, avoiding the loss of information andfacilitating the collaboration of the stakeholders of suchprocesses

Mesozoic palaeogeographic evolution of the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera

14 páginas, 8 figuras.The main events characterizing the Mesozoic palaeogeographic evolution of the External Zones of the Betic Cordillera are outlined. The Triassic sediments show a 'germanic' type lacies over the entire region, ending with Late Triassic evaporites and variegated clays of Keuper facies. At the beginning of the Jurassic a transgression takes place, and a broad shallow-marine carbonate-platform environment appears. During the Carixian (180 Ma) the carbonate platform breaks down leading to the differentiation of two large palaeogeographic units: the Prebetic Zone where shallow-water environments prevailed throughout the Mesozoic, and the Subbetic Zone where the sediments are clearly pelagic. Within the Prebetic Zone, two palaeogeographic realms are differentiated: the External Prebetic ,showing important stratigraphic gaps in the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sequence, and the Internal Prebetic with a thicker and more continuous stratigraphic sequence. Between the Prebetic and Subbetic Zones, a palaeogeographic realm is distinguished (Intermediate units) where turbiditic and pelagic materials were deposited. This zone corresponds approximately to a slope environment during most of Mesozoic times. In the Subbetic Zone a marked differential subsidence occurs during the Jurassic, leading to trough (Median Subbetic) and swells (External and Internal Subbetic). In the Median Subbetic, the deposits consist mainly of marls, pelagic limestones, radiolarites and calcareous turbidites, with mafic volcanic hand subvolcanic rocks. During the Cretaceous pelagic marls and marty limestones were laid down. Mesozoic sedimentation took place along the southern margin of the European plate, in an Atlantic-type continental margin underlain by continental crust. Three-dimensional schemes, explaining the main palaeogcographic events are included.Peer reviewe

Effect of carrier transfer on the PL intensity in self-assembled In (Ga) As/GaAs quantum rings

We present results concerning the carrier transfer between In(Ga)As quantum rings in a stacked multilayer structure, which is characterised by a bimodal size distribution. This transfer of carriers explains the observed temperature behaviour of diode lasers based on that kind of stacked layer structures. The inter-ring carrier transfer can be possible by phonon assisted tunnelling from the ground state of the smallring family towards the big-ring family of the bimodal size distribution. This process is thermally activated in the range 40–80 K.This work was partially supported by Spanish MCyT Nanoself I and II projects TIC2002-04096-C03 and TEC2005-05781-C03-03, the SANDiE Network of excellence (Contract No. NMP4-CT-2004-500101) and the AECI Spain-Tunisia bilateral research action No. 2/04/R.Peer reviewe

Resistance gene pool to co-trimoxazole in non-susceptible Nocardia strains

The soil-borne pathogen Nocardia sp. causes severe cutaneous, pulmonary, and central nervous system infections. Against them, co-trimoxazole (SXT) constitutes the mainstay of antimicrobial therapy. However, some Nocardia strains show resistance to SXT, but the underlying genetic basis is unknown. We investigated the presence of genetic resistance determinants and class 1-3 integrons in 76 SXT-resistant Nocardia strains by PCR and sequencing. By E test, these clinical strains showed SXT minimum inhibitory concentrations of ≥32:608 mg/L (ratio of 1:19 for trimethoprim: sulfamethoxazole). They belonged to 12 species, being the main representatives Nocardia farcinica (32%), followed by N. flavorosea (6.5%), N. nova (11.8%), N. carnea (10.5%), N. transvalensis (10.5%), and Nocardia sp. (6.5%). The prevalence of resistance genes in the SXT-resistant strains was as follows: sul1 and sul2 93.4 and 78.9%, respectively, dfrA(S1) 14.7%, blaTEM-1 and blaZ 2.6 and 2.6%, respectively, VIM-2 1.3%, aph(3')-IIIa 40.8%, ermA, ermB, mefA, and msrD 2.6, 77.6, 14.4, and 5.2%, respectively, and tet(O), tet(M), and tet(L) 48.6, 25.0, and 3.9%, respectively. Detected amino acid changes in GyrA were not related to fluoroquinolone resistance, but probably linked to species polymorphism. Class 1 and 3 integrons were found in 93.42 and 56.57% strains, respectively. Class 2 integrons and sul3 genes were not detected. Other mechanisms, different than dfrA(S1), dfrD, dfrF, dfrG, and dfrK, could explain the strong trimethoprim resistance shown by the other 64 strains. For first time, resistance determinants commonly found in clinically important bacteria were detected in Nocardia sp. sul1, sul2, erm(B), and tet(O) were the most prevalent in the SXT-resistant strains. The similarity in their resistome could be due to a common genetic platform, in which these determinants are co-transferred.This study was presented at the 54th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, ICAAC2014, Washington, DC, USA. We thank Adrian Burton for editing and language assistance (http://physicalevidence.es/english/welcome). We are very grateful to all persons who took part in this study, and to the sample providers.S

Gene expression and volatile production during melon ripening

[SPA] Se realizó una secuenciación de transcriptoma para analizar los genes implicados en la formación de aromas expresados durante la maduración y para comprender los mecanismos moleculares que diferencian una línea casi isogénica (NIL) SC10-2 de melón y su parental Piel de Sapo (PS). El gen CmLOX18 (similar a la lipoxigenasa 4) se expresó diferencialmente comparando la NIL SC10-2 y PS y se asoció a la producción de hexanal, un compuesto diana e indicador del proceso de maduración no climatérica. La expresión del gen de la CmACO1 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase 1) implicado en la biosíntesis de etileno no manifestó diferencias durante la maduración. La introgresión en LG X estuvo asociada a la diferente producción de hexanal entre la NIL y PS. Se propone un eQTL en el LG X que controla la producción de aromas del gen CmLOX18 localizado en LG I. [ENG] Transcriptome sequencing was performed in order to analyze the genes associated to volatile synthesis expressed during ripening and to understand the molecular mechanisms that differentiate a melon Near-isogenic Line (NIL) SC10-2 and its parental Piel de Sapo (PS). CmLOX18 gene (Similar to Lipoxygenase 18) was differentially expressed in the NIL SC10-2 compared with PS associated with the aroma volatile compound hexanal as a target compound of the non-climacteric ripening. The expression of CmACO1 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase 1) gene associated with ethylene biosynthesis did not change during ripening. The introgression in LG X was associated with the differential hexanal production of the NIL and PS. An eQTL located in LG X is probably controlling the production of aroma volatiles due to CmLOX18 in LG I.Financial support: Fundación Séneca de la Región de Murcia (11784/PI/09), MINECO & UE-FEDER funds (AGL2010-20858). Thanks for the technical assistance to P. Varó and his team in CIFEA-Torre Pacheco (Consejería de Agricultura, Región de Murcia), N. Dos-Santos, E. Cuadros, M. García-Gutiérrez, A. Hakmaoui (UPCT), M.J. Roca (SAIT-UPCT), and IRTA-CRAG for the seeds of the NIL

Advancements in number representation for high-precision computing

Efficient representation of data is a fundamental prerequisite for addressing computational problems effectively using computers. The continual improvement in methods for representing numbers in computers serves as a critical step in expanding the scope and capabilities of computing systems. In this research, we conduct a comprehensive review of both fundamental and advanced techniques for representing numbers in computers. Additionally, we propose a novel model capable of representing rational numbers with absolute precision, catering to specific high precision applications. Specifically, we adopt fractional positional notation coupled with explicit codification of the periodic parts, thereby accommodating the entire rational number set without any loss of accuracy. We elucidate the properties and hardware representation of this proposed format and provide the results of extensive experiments to demonstrate its expressiveness and minimal codification error when compared to other real number representation formats. This research contributes to the advancement of numerical representation in computer systems, empowering them to handle complex computations with heightened accuracy, making them more reliable and versatile in a wide range of applications.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Spanish Research Agency (AEI) (https://doi.org/10.13039/501100011033) under project HPC4Industry PID2020-120213RB-I00