Using Eco-schemes in the new CAP: a guide for managing authorities

This guide has been developed primarily for policy makers and Member State officials involved in the national and regional programming processes of the CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs). This process might involve different administrative levels (national, regional, local), different political fields (agriculture, environmental, food and health ministries), different public bodies (paying agencies, environmental agencies, rural development offices) depending on the administrative setting of each MS. In addition, the guide provides support to other stakeholders and practitioners from the public and private sectors and civil society (including agricultural, environmental, food, health and consumer NGOs), with a direct or indirect involvement in the programming and evaluation process of the CSPs. Since these new plans will have a strong impact on MS environments, agricultural sectors, rural areas, etc., the engagement of all stakeholders will be an important asset for supporting an effective implementation of the CSP objectives. There are many others with potential interests in the contents of this guide. EU citizens have demonstrated their increasing interest in the contents of the CAP objectives and policy framework, as demonstrated both by civil society initiatives and consumption decisions. The contents of this guide may therefore also be of interest to other societal actors with interests in agricultural and environmental policies, such as researchers, journalists, trade unions, and civil society organizations. However, the guide is intentionally more focused on the technical needs of those involved in CSP development and implementation

Simulating quantum-optical phenomena with cold atoms in optical lattices

We propose a scheme involving cold atoms trapped in optical lattices to observe different phenomena traditionally linked to quantum-optical systems. The basic idea consists of connecting the trapped atomic state to a non-trapped state through a Raman scheme. The coupling between these two types of atoms (trapped and free) turns out to be similar to that describing light-matter interaction within the rotating-wave approximation, the role of matter and photons being played by the trapped and free atoms, respectively. We explain in particular how to observe phenomena arising from the collective spontaneous emission of atomic and harmonic oscillator samples such as superradiance and directional emission. We also show how the same setup can simulate Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonians with extended hopping as well as Ising models with long-range interactions. We believe that this system can be realized with state of the art technology

Humans and environments in the most arid place of the world

The Atacama Desert lies between the Pacific coast and the Andes in northern Chile. It is the largest desert in South America and the driest on Earth. Here, annual precipitation is almost zero. The little water that is available depends on the summer rainfall that falls on the Andean mountains. It reaches the desert by runoff and is found within some canyons or by the emergence of groundwater. The presence of life in this extreme environment may seem unimaginable today; however, fossil and archaeological records reveal that plants, animals, and even humans lived in this region during various periods over the last 18,000 years.Fil: de Porras, Maria Eugenia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Gayo, Eugenia M.. Centro de Ciencia del Clima y la Resiliencia; ChileFil: Uribe, Mauricio. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Maldonado, Antonio. Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica. Centro de Investigación Regional. Centro de Estudios en Zonas Áridas; Chil

Temporal diffeomorphic Free Form Deformation to quantify changes induced by left and right bundle branch block and pacing

International audienceThis paper presents motion and deformation quantification results obtained from synthetic and in vitro phantom data provided by the second cardiac Motion Analysis Challenge at STACOM-MICCAI. We applied the Temporal Diffeomorphic Free Form Deformation (TDFFD) algorithm to the datasets. This algorithm builds upon a diffeomorphic version of the FFD, to provide a 3D + t continuous and differentiable transform. The similarity metric includes a comparison between consecutive images, and between a reference and each of the following images. Motion and strain accuracy were evaluated on synthetic 3D ultrasound sequences with known ground truth motion. Experiments were also conducted on in vitro acquisitions

Epithermal neutron beams from the 7Li(p,n) reaction near the threshold for neutron capture therapy

Two applications for neutron capture therapy of epithermal neutron beams calculated from the 7Li(p,n) reaction are discussed. In particular, i) for a proton beam of 1920 keV of a 30 mA, a neutron beam of adequate features for BNCT is found at an angle of 80◦ from the forward direction; and ii) for a proton beam of 1910 keV, a neutron beam is obtained at the forward direction suitable for performing radiobiology experiments for the determination of the biological weighting factors of the fast dose component in neutron capture therapy

Analytical study of Roman glasses from Southeastern Spain

Recent archaeological excavations carried out in the Iberian-Roman city of La Alcudia (Ilici , Hispania) have provided some important assemblages of Roman glass. The present paper summarizes the results of archaeological and archaeometric studies carried out on two assemblages from different sectors and chronology. The first set of glasses was unearthed in a sector corresponding to a section of the city’s west wall. The level in which the glasses were found is dated from the mid 1st to the mid 2nd century AD. The second set of glasses comes from an area known as Casitas Ibéricas (4th - 7th centuries AD). These glasses were found in ditches and pits, which had disturbed the more ancient archaeological levels. Most of the fragments in both sets represent blown glass. The archaeometric study concentrated on deter-mining the chemical composition of a representative selection of glass fragments from the two chronological periods in order to observe possible differences between them. Chromophores responsible for glass colour were identified. Moreover, the state of conservation of the glasses was evaluated in order to determine the nature of degradation processes. The samples were studied using conventional optical microscopy (OM), X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), and visible spectrophotometry (VIS)

Diseño y desarrollo de una aplicación de escritorio como soporte para la toma de decisiones de zonas de control en la asignación de las ayudas agrarias

El control de las ayudas agrarias es imprescindible dentro del contexto normativo de la agricultura europea. Los procesos de control que realizan las administraciones públicas se basan, en gran medida, en visitas de campo a zonas concretas que varían anualmente en función de factores definidos para cada campaña. Esta metodología origina una movilización importante de personal y equipos que redunda en altos costes económicos y temporales, lo que implica que las zonas elegidas para el control sean las más óptimas posibles para rentabilizar al máximo el trabajo. Esta necesidad de optimización pone de manifiesto la necesidad de automatizar la selección de las zonas, tal que los criterios que intervengan en el proceso sean valorados de forma objetiva e imparcial atendiendo a parámetros que aparecen regulados en la normativa vigente. Este marco planteado es idóneo para el desarrollo y empleo de un SIG que permita de manera automática, sistemática y objetiva la selección de dichas zonas mediante una evaluación multicriterio. El objetivo de este trabajo es el desarrollo de una aplicación de escritorio adaptada a unas necesidades particulares, empleando librerías de código libre para determinar las zonas de control mediante una evaluación multicriterio.The control of agricultural aid is essential in the context of European agricultural policy. The control processes carried out by the government are based on field visits to specific areas, such areas change annually depending on factors for each campaign. This methodology results in a significant mobilization of personnel and equipement causing high economic costs and time, which means that the areas chosen for the control must be the most optimal possible to maximize the job. The need for optimization emphasizes the need to automate the selection of areas, such that the criteria involved in the process must be evaluated objectively and impartially on the basis of parameters present in the regulations. The framework proposed is suitable for the development and use of a GIS to automatically enable, the systematic and objective selection of these areas through a multi-criteria evaluation. The aim of this study is to develop a desktop application adapted to some particular needs, using open source libraries to identify areas of control via a multicriteria evaluation