A spatiotemporal gradient in the anthropization of Pyrenean landscape. Preliminary report

A preliminary analysis of the timing of landscape anthropization in the southern-central Pyrenees shows the occurrence of an elevational gradient from the Bronze Age (basal belts) to the Middle Ages (alpine belts). This relationship is statistically significant and suggests an average anthropization rate of 40 m in elevation per century. The elevational gradient is most clear between the Bronze Age and the Roman occupation, suggesting a progressive upward anthropization trend from the south with the likely involvement of Iberian cultures. During the Middle Ages, a massive anthropization pattern of subalpine/alpine areas is observed; this pattern is chronologically consistent with the incursion of northern cultures crossing the Pyrenees and the development of extensive high-mountain pastoralism and horizontal transhumance. In general, the progression of upward anthropization has occurred during warm climatic phases. Further work is needed to confirm these observations, especially in areas with few available paleoecological studies, notably the basal and montane belts. It could be interesting to develop similar studies of other Pyrenean regions and other mountain ranges

Potential Responses of Vascular Plants from the Pristine 'Lost World' of the Neotropical Guayana Highlands to Global Warming: Review and New Perspectives

The neotropical Guayana Highlands (GH) are one of the few remaining pristine environments on Earth, and they host amazing biodiversity with a high degree endemism, especially among vascular plants. Despite the lack of direct human disturbance, GH plants and their communities are threatened with extinction from habitat loss due to global warming (GW). Geographic information systems simulations involving the entire known vascular GH flora (>2430 species) predict potential GW-driven extinctions on the order of 80% by the end of this century, including nearly half of the endemic species. These estimates and the assessment of an environmental impact value for each species led to the hierarchization of plants by their risk of habitat loss and the definition of priority conservation categories. However, the predictions assume that all species will respond to GW by migrating upward and at equal rates, which is unlikely, so current estimates should be considered preliminary and incomplete (although they represent the best that can be done with the existing information). Other potential environmental forcings (i.e., precipitation shifts, an increase in the atmospheric CO2 concentration) and idiosyncratic plant responses (i.e., resistance, phenotypic acclimation, rapid evolution) should also be considered, so detailed eco-physiological studies of the more threatened species are urgently needed. The main obstacles to developing such studies are the remoteness and inaccessibility of the GH and, especially, the difficulty in obtaining official permits for fieldwork

Análisis del déficit público y coordinación de las políticas presupuestarias en la UE28

El sector público, como encargado de la toma de decisiones económicas que influyen en el crecimiento de un país, ha de tener en cuenta a la hora de establecer sus políticas presupuestarias, no solo indicadores económicos como el déficit y la deuda pública, objeto de análisis en el presente trabajo, si no también, en el caso de España, las directrices y políticas que impone su pertenencia a la Unión Europea. Por ello, y tras dedicar los primeros capítulos de este estudio a analizar el déficit y complementariamente la deuda pública, analizaremos los datos para España y compararemos la evolución de los mismos con países europeos de su entorno, haciendo hincapié en los últimos años, marcados por la dura crisis económica. Este trabajo pretende finalmente, no sólo analizar la regulación en materia presupuestaria y las políticas derivadas de la misma en la Unión Europea, sino también los distintos niveles de éxito que han logrado respectivamente, aun cuando las circunstancias económicas dejaran poco margen de maniobra a los Estados miembro para cumplir con los objetivos de estabilidad presupuestaria y mantenimiento de la deuda en los niveles del Pacto de Estabilidad y Crecimiento.Grado en Derech

The neotropical Gran Sabana region: palaeoecology and conservation

The Gran Sabana (GS) is a key region for understanding the origin of neotropical savannas and is an ideal location to test ecological hypotheses on long-term vegetation dynamics under the action of natural and anthropogenic drivers. The conservation of the GS is a controversial issue because of the confluence of disparate cultural and socio-economic interests, with a strong debate surrounding fire practices by indigenous people. Late glacial to Holocene pollen and charcoal records obtained thus far in this region have documented the main palaeoecological trends along with the climatic and anthropogenic (mostly fire) drivers involved. Here we discuss how these records can be used to inform conservation and restoration practices in the GS. The main points of the discussion are the local vs. regional character of palaeoecological evidence, the support provided by this evidence for the existing fire management proposals and the role of spatiotemporal environmental and ecological heterogeneity in the definition and evaluation of realistic restoration targets. A general conclusion is that past ecological reconstructions do not fully support either of the current options for fire management, i.e., either total fire suppression or the continuity of indigenous fire practices. It is recommended to replace this dual and rigid conservation framework with a more diverse and flexible approach that considers the complex spatiotemporal heterogeneity documented in palaeoecological records

Neotropical vegetation responses to Younger Dryas climates as analogs for future climate change scenarios and lessons for conservation.

The Younger Dryas (YD) climatic reversal (12.86-11.65 cal ky BP), especially the warming initiated at ∼12.6 cal ky BP, and the associated vegetation changes have been proposed as past analogs to forecast the potential vegetation responses to future global warming. In this paper, we applied this model to highland and midland Neotropical localities. We used pollen analysis of lake sediments to record vegetation responses to YD climatic changes, which are reconstructed from independent paleoclimatic proxies such as the Mg/Ca ratio on foraminiferal tests and Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) for paleotemperature, and grayscale density and Titanium content for paleoprecipitation. Paleoclimatic reconstructions at both highlands and midlands showed a clear YD signal with a conspicuous warming extending into the early Holocene. A small percentage of taxa resulted to be sensitive to these YD climate changes. Response lags were negligible at the resolution of the study. However, changes in the sensitive taxa were relevant enough to determine changes in biodiversity and taxonomic composition. Highland vegetation experienced mainly intra-community reorganizations, whereas midland vegetation underwent major changes leading to community substitutions. This was explained in terms of threshold-crossing non-linear responses in which the coupling of climatic and other forcings (fire) was proposed as the main driving mechanism. Paleoecology provides meaningful insights on the responses of highland and midland Neotropical vegetation to the YD climatic reversal. Biotic responses at both individual (species) and collective (assemblage) levels showed patterns and processes of vegetation change useful to understand its ecological dynamics, as well as the mechanisms and external drivers involved. The use of paleoecological methods to document the biotic responses to the YD climate shifts can be useful to help forecasting the potential consequences of future global warming. Due to its quasi-global character, the YD reversal emerges as a well suited candidate for providing useful insights of global scope by analyzing the corresponding biotic responses virtually at any geographical and biological setting

Liderazgo transformacional del director y el desempeño del personal de mantenimiento según los docentes de la Institución Educativa Pública Javier Heraud de la UGEL Nº 01. San Juan de Miraflores, 2014

El problema de la presente investigación fue: ¿Qué relación existe entre Liderazgo transformacional del director y el desempeño del personal de mantenimiento según los docentes de la institución educativa pública Javier Heraud de la UGEL Nº 01. San Juan de Miraflores, 2014? cuyo objetivo fue determinar la relación que existe entre el Liderazgo transformacional del director y el desempeño del personal de mantenimiento según los docentes de la institución educativa pública Javier Heraud de la UGEL Nº 01. San Juan de Miraflores, 2014. Metodológicamente, el estudio fue de tipo básica de nivel descriptivo correlacional, debido a que se describirá la relación entre las variables en un tiempo determinado. La muestra estuvo representada por 103 participantes, y para la recolección de datos se utilizó la técnica de la encuesta, cuyo instrumento fue un cuestionario para cada una de las variables. El resultado más importante obtenido en la presente investigación fue comprobar la existencia de una relación directa y significativa entre el Liderazgo transformacional y el desempeño del personal de mantenimiento según los docentes de la institución educativa pública Javier Heraud de la UGEL Nº 01. San Juan de Miraflores, 2014. (Rho de Spearman = 0,415** siendo ésta una correlación moderada entre las variables).Por lo que se puede afirmar que a mejor liderazgo transformacional hay mejor desempeño del personal de mantenimiento

The Noradrenergic System in Parkinson’s Disease

Nowadays it is well accepted that in Parkinson's disease (PD), the neurodegenerative process occurs in stages and that damage to other areas precedes the neuronal loss in the substantia nigra pars compacta, which is considered a pathophysiological hallmark of PD. This heterogeneous and progressive neurodegeneration may explain the diverse symptomatology of the disease, including motor and non-motor alterations. In PD, one of the first areas undergoing degeneration is the locus coeruleus (LC). This noradrenergic nucleus provides extensive innervation throughout the brain and plays a fundamental neuromodulator role, participating in stress responses, emotional memory, and control of motor, sensory, and autonomic functions. Early in the disease, LC neurons suffer modifications that can condition the effectiveness of pharmacological treatments, and importantly, can lead to the appearance of common non-motor symptomatology. The noradrenergic system also exerts anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effect on the dopaminergic degeneration and noradrenergic damage can consequently condition the progress of the disease. From the pharmacological point of view, it is also important to understand how the noradrenergic system performs in PD, since noradrenergic medication is often used in these patients, and drug interactions can take place when combining them with the gold standard drug therapy in PD, L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA). This review provides an overview about the functional status of the noradrenergic system in PD and its contribution to the efficacy of pharmacological-based treatments. Based on preclinical and clinical publications, a special attention will be dedicated to the most prevalent non-motor symptoms of the disease.This study was supported by grants from the Basque Government (PIBA 2019-38, IT1345-19), UPV/EHU (PPGA19/15), and Spanish Government (SAF2016‐77758‐R [AEI/FEDER, UE]). EP-R has a fellowship from the Basque Country and SV-S from the UPV/EHU

Undervalued impacts of sea-level rise: vanishing deltas

Current SLR might be considered a significant extinction force because of its high potential to degrade, reduce, or eliminate deltaic and coastal habitats, thereby promoting huge diversity losses. Nonetheless, the effects of SLR are still too frequently ignored in terms of designing biodiversity conservation strategies or developing urban/rural areas. SLR represents a serious threat to millions of people living in densely populated deltas. Almost 40% of major deltas, most of them already overpopulated, may increase their population density by >100 hab./km2 (2000-2050). Most adaptive measures to confront SLR in deltaic habitats will become more expensive and more difficult to execute with continued human growth. Growing populations also increasingly exploit biodiversity goods and services, adding stress to the deltaic ecosystems that strive to acclimatize to SLR. Beyond a certain point, additional pressure would favor their collapse. To achieve some degree of success, adaptive measures might be reinforced by specific policies and regulations, such as migration control and development restrictions. Biodiverse and sparsely populated deltas housing ethnic minorities may remain unattended and rely on their own resilience to SLR, whereas wealthy and densely populated deltas will be given priority. The selection of strategies to adequately address SLR in delta environments should be performed in the context of long-term planning. Because the long term is full of uncertainties, space- and time-specific research efforts should be devoted to address knowledge gaps before information demands become progressively too pressing

La racionalidad e irracionalidad en la toma de decisiones de inversión

Este trabajo de investigación tiene como finalidad explicar el comportamiento de las personas desde diferentes contextos o situaciones, y cómo repercute al momento de la toma de decisiones. Para ello, se analizan diversos estudios, los mismos que son evaluados desde el enfoque del comportamiento humano y del comportamiento del inversionista. Por tanto, para un mejor análisis, los alcances expuestos en este trabajo están basados en datos y estudios de diferentes autores reconocidos en el tema, quienes explican el comportamiento desde dos grandes posturas: por un lado, desde un análisis general, exponen diversas teorías del comportamiento humano, a través del cual plantean enfoques de comportamiento desde el campo cognitivo y conductivista; por otro lado, en cuanto al análisis específico, otro grupo de autores explican el comportamiento desde el campo financiero y de los negocios, exponiendo así las teorías del comportamiento del inversionista a partir del factor cognitivo y conductivista. Se conocerá cómo los autores deducen que el comportamiento está en función no solo del factor psicológico, sino también cognitivo y conductivo, debido a que ejercen un papel fundamental para las personas. Así, determinan que el comportamiento de los individuos está relacionado directamente con los cambios que se den, ya sea en el entorno, los factores situacionales o psicológicos, siendo influenciables en el inversor, porque alteran su comportamiento, provocando que actué de forma racional o irracional, repercutiendo así en la toma de decisión.The purpose of this research work is to explain the behavior of people from different contexts or situations, and how it affects decision making. For this purpose, several studies are analyzed, which are evaluated from the approach of human behavior and investor behavior. Therefore, for a better analysis, the scopes exposed in this work are based on data and studies of different authors recognized in the subject, who explain the behavior from two main positions: on the one hand, from a general analysis, they expose various theories of human behavior, through which they propose behavioral approaches from the cognitive and behavioral field; on the other hand, as for the specific analysis, another group of authors explain the behavior from the financial and business field, thus exposing the theories of investor behavior from the cognitive and behavioral factor. It will be known how the authors deduce that behavior is a function not only of the psychological factor, but also of the cognitive and behavioral factors, since they play a fundamental role for people. Thus, they determine that the behavior of individuals is directly related to the changes that occur, whether in the environment, situational or psychological factors, being influences on the investor, because they alter his behavior, causing him to act rationally or irrationally, thus affecting his decision making.Trabajo de Suficiencia Profesiona

Epidemiología y clínica de las infecciones y colonizaciones causadas por enterobacterias productoras de carbapenemasas en un hospital de tercer nivel

Objective. To describe the epidemiology of Enterobactera-les producing carbapenemases (EPC) in a tertiary hospital. Material and methods. A retrospective observational study, all patients with a positive sample for EPC treated in hospitalization or in the Emergency Department were included, between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016. Results. A total of 272 patients (316 samples) were in-cluded: 155 (57%) male. Mean age of 70.4 years (95% CI 68.2-72.7). Mean Charlson index was 3.6 (95% CI 3.4-3.8). In 63.2% the acquisition was nosocomial, in 35.3% it was health-care associated (HA). 55.1% presented infection, the most frequent infection was urinary tract infection (UTI) (58.7%). The most frequent species were Klebsiella pneumoniae (62.7%) and Enterobacter cloacae (10.1%). The most frequent types of carbapenemase were OXA-48 (53.8%) and VIM (43%). The nosocomial acquisition was associated with the male gender, transplantation, immunosuppression, admission to the Intensi-ve Care Unit (ICU) or surgical service, prior antibiotic treatment, Enterobacter, VIM, respiratory and intra-abdominal infections. The HA acquisition was associated with age and comorbidity, nursery home origin, bladder catheterization, greater number of outpatient procedures, previous hospital admission, K. pneu-moniae and E. coli, OXA-48, coproduction of extended spectrum betalactamases, UTI and sepsis. Conclusions. Patients who acquire EPC in nursery homes frequently have an infection. Patients with nosocomial acquisition are colonized by EPC in the ICU, in relation to invasive procedures and transplantation. This population has a higher mortality due to developing respiratory infections by EPC