Forest Ecosystem Services: An Analysis of Worldwide Research

The relevance of forests to sustain human well-being and the serious threats they face have led to a notable increase of research works on forest ecosystem services during the last few years. This paper analyses the worldwide research dynamics on forest ecosystem services in the period from 1998 to 2017. A bibliometric analysis of 4284 articles was conducted. The results showed that the number of published research articles has especially increased during the last five years. In total, 68.63% of the articles were published in this period. This research line experiences a growing trend superior to the general publishing trend on forest research. In spite of this increase, its relative significance within the forest research is still limited. The most productive subject areas corresponded to Environmental Science, Agricultural and Biological Sciences and Social Sciences Economic topics are understudied. The scientific production is published in a wide range of journals. The three first publishing countries are United States, China and the United Kingdom. The most productive authors are attached to diverse research centres and their contributions are relatively recent. A high level of international cooperation has been observed between countries, institutions and authors. The findings of this study are useful for researchers since they give them an overview of the worldwide research trends on forest ecosystem services

The Sustainable Management of Metals: An Analysis of Global Research

The objective of this study was to analyze research trends in the field of sustainable management of metals on a global level between 1993 and 2017. To do so, a bibliometric analysis was carried out on a total of 6967 articles. The results revealed the growing interest in this research field, particularly over the last five year-period during which 63% of all articles were published. The three journals in which most articles had been published were the Journal of Cleaner Production, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering, and Chemsuschem. The countries that published the most articles were China, the United States, India, Germany, and the United Kingdom. A sizeable network of collaboration has been established between countries for the joint publication of studies. The main lines of research have been focused on metal decontamination in water and soil, waste management oriented towards reuse and recycling, and the innovation of processes for cleaner and more efficient production. The results revealed the need for comprehensive studies that integrate different disciplines within the same analytical framework, and to promote research that contributes to the different dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social)

In-Situ XAS Investigation of the Effect of Electrochemical Reaction on the Structure of Graphene in Aqueous Electrolytes

[[abstract]]In-situ X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), Raman Spectroscopy, AFM and XPS have been used to investigate the effect of reactions occurring in aqueous electrolytes on the structure of a single-layer graphene produced by CVD. It was found that defects are readily and irreversibly produced by application of electrode voltages. The defects and the products were identified also by new features in the XAS spectra. Our findings show the poor stability of the CVD graphene, which could be a challenge in applications such as super-capacitors, fuel-cells, batteries and photo-catalysis.[[notice]]補正完畢[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]紙本[[booktype]]電子

Specification Tests of Parametric Dynamic Conditional Quantiles

This article proposes omnibus speci cation tests of parametric dynamic quantile regression models. Contrary to the existing procedures, we allow for a flexible and general speci cation framework where a possibly continuum of quantiles are simultaneously speci ed. This is the case for many econometric applications for both time series and cross section data which require a global diagnostic tool. We study the asymptotic distribution of the test statistics under fairly weak conditions on the serial dependence in the underlying data generating process. It turns out that the asymptotic null distribution depends on the data generating process and the hypothesized model. We propose a subsampling procedure for approximating the asymptotic critical values of the tests. An appealing property of the proposed tests is that they do not require estimation of the non-parametric (conditional) sparsity function. A Monte Carlo study compares the proposed tests and shows that the asymptotic results provide good approximations for small sample sizes. Finally, an application to some European stock indexes provides evidence that our methodology is a powerful and flexible alternative to standard backtesting procedures in evaluating market risk by using information from a range of quantiles in the lower tail of returns

Evolution of the NLR gene family in vertebrates: insights into the origin of inflammasomes.

Nucleotide binding domain leucine rich repeat proteins (NLRs) are a family of intracellular pattern recognition receptors which play an important role in innate immune system; as well as the regulation of many other immunity-related components and signalling pathways, such as MHCs, NF-Κβ, pyroptosis, inflammasomes or MAPK (Chou et al., 2023; Hansen et al., 2011). Some NLR proteins can also participate in the regulation of hematopoietic stem progenitors cells (HSCPs) emergence, expansion, and migration (Ratajczak & Kucia, 2021; Tyrkalska et al., 2019). Some NLR proteins also regulate different processes in mammalian reproduction such as fertilization (NLRP14) and embryogenesis (NLRP5/7) (Chou et al., 2023; Tian et al., 2009). Gene members of the NLR family are present across all metazoan lineages (Ting et al., 2008). However, NLR repertoires (gene catalogues and their functions) of most non-model vertebrate species are poorly studied, hindering further studies of the evolution and diversification of this important gene family. Here, we present a comprehensive screening of NLR genes in representative species of all major lineages of vertebrates, with a special focus on jawless vertebrates. Our in-depth phylogenetic analysis demonstrates that large lineage-specific expansions took place in most lineages of vertebrates, with classic inflammasome-forming NLRP genes appearing only in mammals. Mammalian NLRP genes early diversified into two distinct groups with different immune- and reproductive-related functions, each expanding separately. Altogether, our analyses suggest that gene duplication and expansion of NLR genes is likely associated with the origin of novel functions within the family, such as hematopoiesis regulation in mammals.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

La Misericordia Divina en las enseñanzas de San Juan de Ávila

San Juan de Ávila, sacerdote diocesano español del siglo XVI, gran predicador y director de almas, fue una figura destacada de su época, referente y Maestro de espiritualidad. Recientemente nombrado Doctor de la Iglesia. El núcleo de la doctrina del Maestro Ávila es Dios Amor. Este amor misericordioso se dona y extiende a todos los hombres. Es el fundamento del designio redentor y del misterio de Cristo. También configura y construye una base sólida para la vida del cristiano ya que nos hace participar de la intimidad amorosa de Dios. En las palabras del Doctor Ávila encontraremos la actitud del cristiano ante la divina misericordia: una profunda humildad que nace del conocimiento de nuestras miserias, y una completa confianza en el amor misericordioso de Dios, que nos permite vivir como verdaderos hijos de Dios. De igual modo, recibir y vivir la misericordia, posibilita y purifica la libertad y el obrar del hombre, siendo capaces de amar como Dios ama. La misericordia de Dios, fuente de esperanza y alegría, que contemplamos en la vida de Cristo y que recibimos por medio del Espíritu Santo, no es sólo para nosotros. Nos enseña el Maestro Ávila cómo tener entrañas de misericordia, ser compasivos con los hombres y vivir las obras de misericordia. Éste es el camino para responder y corresponder a la misericordia de Dios. Es un tema de especial actualidad, en la línea que nos marca el Papa Francisco para la Iglesia. El presente estudio pretende exponer, desde la perspectiva de la teología espiritual, los textos más significativos, ordenados en un esquema y relacionados entre sí, sobre la misericordia en las enseñanzas de Juan de Ávila.San John of Ávila, a Spanish diocesan priest of the sixteenth century, renowned preacher and director of souls, was a leading figure of his time, a reference- point and master of spirituality. He was recently named a Doctor of the Church. The core of John of Ávila’s doctrine is God as Love. This Love seeks to give itself as a gift and extends itself as mercy to all men. This divine mercy is also the foundation of the redemptive plan and the mystery of Christ. It likewise configures and provides a solid foundation for the Christian’s life, as it lets him participate in the loving intimacy of God. The teaching of the Doctor of Ávila shows the attitude proper to the Christian before the divine mercy: a deep humility derived from the knowledge of human misery, and a complete trust in the merciful love of God. These virtues allow the Christian to live as a true son of God. In the same way, receiving and giving mercy enables and purifies the freedom and action of the human subject, empowering him to love as God loves. The mercy of God, source of hope and joy, as contemplated in the life of Christ and received through the Holy Spirit, is meant not only for the individual believer. John of Ávila teaches us how to become personally merciful, compassionate towards men and rich in works of mercy. This is the way to respond and correspond to God’s mercy. The topic is of special relevance, as it is in line with Pope Francis’ indication for the universal Church. The present study aims to show, from the perspective of spiritual theology, the most significant texts on mercy in the teachings of John of Ávila, systematically arranged and correlated

Análisis de la estabilidad y de bifurcaciones en un modelo dinámico aplicado a la gestión de una pesquería

Estudiamos en esta comunicación la estabilidad de las soluciones de equilibrio del sistema dinámico resultante de aplicar el Principio del Máximo de Pontryagin a un modelo de control óptimo para la gestión de una pesquería. Veremos cómo puede hablarse en un modelo de este tipo de la estabilidad condicional del punto de silla. Considerando la tasa de descuento social como parámetro del sistema, se analizan las bifurcaciones locales de codimensión uno, es decir, los cambios en la estabilidad de los equilibrios y/o la aparición de nuevos equilibrios u órbitas cerradas al considerar pequeñas variaciones de dicho parámetro. En este contexto, usamos el Teorema de Bifurcación de Hopf para establecer la existencia, bajo determinadas hipótesis, de trayectorias oscilatorias de tipo ciclo límit

Algunos aspectos dinámicos en un modelo bioeconómico

Se estudian en este trabajo algunos aspectos relevantes de la teoría de Sistemas Dinámicos aplicados a un modelo de competición interespecies. Se trata de un estudio cualitativo en el cual, en función de los parámetros del sistema, se analizan los cambios en el número y/o estabilidad de los puntos de equilibrio del sistema. Todo ello con el objetivo de establecer los tipos de bifurcaciones que pueden presentarse en el modelo

Bifurcaciones de Hopf y ciclos límites en un modelo de control óptimo aplicado a la pesquería de chamelea gallina del litoral Suratlántico español

Este trabajo pretende ampliar el presentado en el IV Encuentro de Economía Aplicada (Reus, 2001) que, bajo el título Análisis de la estabilidad y de bifurcaciones en un modelo dinámico aplicado a la gestión de una pesquería, presentaba un modelo de control óptimo caracterizado por la tradicional presencia de un punto de silla y por la existencia de trayectorias cerradas de tipo ciclo límite para los valores de la tasa de descuento social que verificaran las hipótesis del teorema de bifurcación de Hopf. La aplicación de los resultados obtenidos a nivel teórico al caso de la pesquería de chamelea gallina de la región Suratlántica Española evidenció que tales trayectorias cerradas aparecían en un entorno de un equilibrio estacionario no factible en un caso real, pues el correspondiente nivel de biomasa era negativo. Dada la evolución histórica de la citada pesquería, se ha considerado la situación de la misma en la década de los años 60, a principios de la cual existían unos stocks de chirla apenas explotados, lo que nos ha llevado a formular el mismo problema de control empleando una tasa de capturas distinta de la habitual del modelo de Schaefer que habíamos usado en el primer trabajo. Mediante la aplicación del teorema de bifurcación de Hopf se establece así la presencia de ciclos límites en el sistema dinámico resultante de aplicar el principio del máximo de Pontryagin a este nuevo problema de contro