Marine monitoring during an economic crisis: The cure is worse than the disease

Borja, A., M. Elliott, 2013. Marine monitoring during an economic crisis: The cure is worse than the disease. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 68: 1-3

Editorial: Bridging the gap between policy and science in assessing the health status of marine ecosystems

Editoria

IMusic: a Bluetooth music application

Nowadays, we can see a huge amount of customized services in lots of applications. A more customized experience get a real full satisfaction to the customers. The project was born with the aim of providing this kind of service. Thus a client takes part in the decision‐ making of the local songs, creating a playlist with songs ordered as the customer’s data preferences. The way is easy: a customer who enters the premises, install the software that local provides and then he has to indicate their customer likes and get it transmitted via Bluetooth. This information is received by the customer attention server and it generates a playlist with personalized songs

Effects of Web Experience factors on virtual retail purchase preferences

This article examines the effects of different elements of the Web Experience (WE) on the buying behaviour of virtual consumers, specifically on the choice of the online retail vendor. The purpose of the study is to empirically test the theoretical findings as to the main parameters of the online customer experience and measure their relative importance and role as inputs in the customer’s decision-making process. The study was conducted by means of an online consumer survey in a realistic virtual shopping environment. The results of the study show that out of the five web experience components analyzed, four (the usability, trust building, marketing mix and aesthetics) have a positive and significant effect on the choice of e-vendor while the fifth one (interactivity) does not seem to positively influence the choice of an online vendor. Furthermore the study examines the effect of two behavioural variables (experience and motivation) on the choice of online -vendors. This topic could expand the scope of academic research on the issue of online marketing and at the same time provide online marketers with new insights and tools for building a commercially successful online presence

An ecological status indicator for all time: Are AMBI and M-AMBI effective indicators of change in deep time?

Increasingly environmental management seeks to limit the impacts of human activities on ecosystems relative to some ‘reference’ condition, which is often the presumed pre-impacted state, however such information is limited. We explore how marine ecosystems in deep time (Late Jurassic) are characterised by AZTI's Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), and how the indices responded to natural perturbations. AMBI is widely used to detect the impacts of human disturbance and to establish management targets, and this study is the first application of these indices to a fossil fauna. Our results show AMBI detected changes in past seafloor communities (well-preserved fossil deposits) that underwent regional deoxygenation in a manner analogous to those experiencing two decades of organic pollution. These findings highlight the potential for palaeoecological data to contribute to reconstructions of pre-human marine ecosystems, and hence provide information to policy makers and regulators with greater temporal context on the nature of ‘pristine’ marine ecosystems

From Science to Policy and Society: Enhancing the Effectiveness of Communication

Abstract Dissemination is now acknowledged as an important component of the research process, in particular for European Union (EU) funded research projects. This article builds on the authors' experience during the EU project DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) and aims to assist other scientists to develop a successful dissemination strategy to communicate project achievements. We provide a critical review of the different tools used for outreach to our target audiences, from the academia to the policy makers, and the general public, and try to assess their impact. An effective dissemination strategy and plan should have a clear objective, be designed before the start of the project, identify the target groups and define the methods or tools to be used according to target groups and objectives. The DEVOTES dissemination strategy included two complementary approaches of communication with stakeholders: (i) traditional (e.g., peer reviewed publications, stakeholders workshops, and participation in scientific conferences), and (ii) new (e.g., social networks, smartphone applications) media tools. For each dissemination approach, we defined production targets (e.g., number of articles to be published, individual visitors on the website, etc.) to be achieved by the end of the project, and impact measurements (e.g., citation indices for peer reviewed articles) to monitor the successful implementation of DEVOTES Dissemination. This allowed us to identify which tools had been more (e.g., website) or less useful and relevant (e.g., Facebook) during the project. We conclude that impact measurements cannot be easily identified for all dissemination actions. However, for those that were possible, the DEVOTES dissemination targets were successfully achieved. Overall, the use of the tools and activities outlined in this article, combined with the constant evaluation of the dissemination goals throughout the project duration and the assessment of the effectiveness of the different tools, is essential for the achievement of an effective and timely communication of research results

40 years of Acta Botanica Malacitana

40 años de Acta Botanica Malacitana. Se realiza una recensión de los 38 volúmenes de Acta Botanica Malacitana, así como de los dos números de Trabajos y Monografías del Departamento de Botánica. Así mismo se realiza un análisis bibliométrico y se construyen varios índices de autores, temáticas y novedades corológicas, taxonómicas y sintaxonómica