37 research outputs found
Assessing forest availability for wood supply in Europe
The quantification of forests available for wood supply (FAWS) is essential for decision-making with regard to
the maintenance and enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle. The
provision of harmonized forest statistics is necessary for the development of forest associated policies and to
support decision-making. Based on the National Forest Inventory (NFI) data from 13 European countries, we
quantify and compare the areas and aboveground dry biomass (AGB) of FAWS and forest not available for wood
supply (FNAWS) according to national and reference definitions by determining the restrictions and associated
thresholds considered at country level to classify forests as FAWS or FNAWS.
FAWS represent between 75 and 95 % of forest area and AGB for most of the countries in this study. Economic
restrictions are the main factor limiting the availability of forests for wood supply, accounting for 67 % of the
total FNAWS area and 56 % of the total FNAWS AGB, followed by environmental restrictions. Profitability, slope
and accessibility as economic restrictions, and protected areas as environmental restrictions are the factors most
frequently considered to distinguish between FAWS and FNAWS. With respect to the area of FNAWS associated
with each type of restriction, an overlap among the restrictions of 13.7 % was identified. For most countries, the differences in the FNAWS areas and AGB estimates between national and reference definitions ranged from 0 to
5 %. These results highlight the applicability and reliability of a FAWS reference definition for most of the
European countries studied, thereby facilitating a consistent approach to assess forests available for supply for
the purpose of international reportinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Boson gas in a periodic array of tubes
We report the thermodynamic properties of an ideal boson gas confined in an
infinite periodic array of channels modeled by two, mutually perpendicular,
Kronig-Penney delta-potentials. The particle's motion is hindered in the x-y
directions, allowing tunneling of particles through the walls, while no
confinement along the z direction is considered. It is shown that there exists
a finite Bose- Einstein condensation (BEC) critical temperature Tc that
decreases monotonically from the 3D ideal boson gas (IBG) value as the
strength of confinement is increased while keeping the channel's cross
section, constant. In contrast, Tc is a non-monotonic function of
the cross-section area for fixed . In addition to the BEC cusp, the
specific heat exhibits a set of maxima and minima. The minimum located at the
highest temperature is a clear signal of the confinement effect which occurs
when the boson wavelength is twice the cross-section side size. This
confinement is amplified when the wall strength is increased until a
dimensional crossover from 3D to 1D is produced. Some of these features in the
specific heat obtained from this simple model can be related, qualitatively, to
at least two different experimental situations: He adsorbed within the
interstitial channels of a bundle of carbon nanotubes and
superconductor-multistrand-wires NbSn.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, submitte
Linear-T scattering and pairing from antiferromagnetic fluctuations in the (TMTSF)_2X organic superconductors
An exhaustive investigation of metallic electronic transport and
superconductivity of organic superconductors (TMTSF)_2PF_6 and (TMTSF)_2ClO_4
in the Pressure-Temperature phase diagram between T=0 and 20 K and a
theoretical description based on the weak coupling renormalization group method
are reported. The analysis of the data reveals a high temperature domain
(T\approx 20 K) in which a regular T^2 electron-electron Umklapp scattering
obeys a Kadowaki-Woods law and a low temperature regime (T< 8 K) where the
resistivity is dominated by a linear-in temperature component. In both
compounds a correlated behavior exists between the linear transport and the
extra nuclear spin-lattice relaxation due to antiferromagnetic fluctuations. In
addition, a tight connection is clearly established between linear transport
and T_c. We propose a theoretical description of the anomalous resistivity
based on a weak coupling renormalization group determination of
electron-electron scattering rate. A linear resistivity is found and its origin
lies in antiferromagnetic correlations sustained by Cooper pairing via
constructive interference. The decay of the linear resistivity term under
pressure is correlated with the strength of antiferromagnetic spin correlations
and T_c, along with an unusual build-up of the Fermi liquid scattering. The
results capture the key features of the low temperature electrical transport in
the Bechgaard salts
Assessing forest availability for wood supply in Europe
14 Pág.The quantification of forests available for wood supply (FAWS) is essential for decision-making with regard to the maintenance and enhancement of forest resources and their contribution to the global carbon cycle. The provision of harmonized forest statistics is necessary for the development of forest associated policies and to support decision-making. Based on the National Forest Inventory (NFI) data from 13 European countries, we quantify and compare the areas and aboveground dry biomass (AGB) of FAWS and forest not available for wood supply (FNAWS) according to national and reference definitions by determining the restrictions and associated thresholds considered at country level to classify forests as FAWS or FNAWS. FAWS represent between 75 and 95 % of forest area and AGB for most of the countries in this study. Economic restrictions are the main factor limiting the availability of forests for wood supply, accounting for 67 % of the total FNAWS area and 56 % of the total FNAWS AGB, followed by environmental restrictions. Profitability, slope and accessibility as economic restrictions, and protected areas as environmental restrictions are the factors most frequently considered to distinguish between FAWS and FNAWS. With respect to the area of FNAWS associated with each type of restriction, an overlap among the restrictions of 13.7 % was identified. For most countries, the differences in the FNAWS areas and AGB estimates between national and reference definitions ranged from 0 to 5 %. These results highlight the applicability and reliability of a FAWS reference definition for most of the European countries studied, thereby facilitating a consistent approach to assess forests available for supply for the purpose of international reporting.This research was supported by the Specific contract n. 18 “Use of National Forest Inventories data to estimate area and above ground biomass in European forests not available for wood supply” in the context of the Framework contract for the provision of forest data and services supporting the European Forest Data Centre 2012/ S 78-127532 of 21/04/2012 of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission; the EG-013-72 agreement of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) and the INIA belonging to the Spanish
Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN); and the project No.APVV-15-0265 granted by the Slovak Research and Development
Agency.Peer reviewe
327. Alkaline phosphatase response to vitamin D3 and steroids in cultured cells from uterus : Another possible target organ for vitamin D
Multiparameter assessment of mouse oogenesis during follicular growth in vitro
International audienc
Data Management for Monitoring Forest Soils in Europe for the Biosoil Project
Growing environmental awareness and advances in modelling have generated interest in soil monitoring networks. Data management tools have to be developed in order to store data, check for errors and retrieve data for sharing and for analysis. As a result, we have designed a web application and a database for the Biosoil project that focuses on European forest soils. Integral to the system are authentication of users and access rights to the modules and data. It also logs all activities of each user. During data submission, the system automatically manages data transfer from the flat file (ASCII file) to the database after compliance checks. Then error tracking is followed by automated expert checks. These checks identify potential mistakes that can be corrected or commented on by data providers.
The database is intended to cope with the challenges of transnational monitoring and integrates data quality assurance / quality control mechanisms. Benefits from the architecture of the database and from the services provided by the software may be generalized to all soil monitoring databases in order to improve data management and quality control.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen
Spontaneous calcium oscillations and nuclear PLC-beta1 in human GV oocytes
Our aim was to investigate if human oocytes, like mouse oocytes, exhibit spontaneous Ca(2+) oscillations and nuclear translocation of PLC-beta1 prior to germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD), and to correlate these events with the evolution of chromatin configuration as a landmark for the meiosis resumption kinetics. Human germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes were either loaded with Fluo-3 probe to record Ca(2+) signals or fixed for subsequent fluorescent labeling of both chromatin and PLC-beta1, and immunogold labeling of PLC-beta1. Here for the first time, we show that human oocytes at the GV-stage exhibit spontaneous Ca(2+) oscillations. Interestingly, only oocytes with a large diameter and characterized by a compact chromatin surrounding the nucleolus of the GV could reveal these kind of oscillations. We also observed a translocation of PLC-beta1 from the cytoplasm towards the nucleus during in vitro maturation of human oocytes. Spontaneous calcium oscillations and nuclear translocation of PLC-beta1 may reflect some degree of oocyte maturity. The impact of our results may be very helpful to understand and resolve many enigmatic problems usually encountered during the in vitro meiotic maturation of human GV oocytes