Stem hydraulic capacitance decreases with drought stress : implications for modelling tree hydraulics in the Mediterranean oak Quercus ilex

Hydraulic modelling is a primary tool to predict plant performance in future drier scenarios. However, as most tree models are validated under non-stress conditions they may fail when water becomes limiting. To simulate tree hydraulic functioning under moist and dry conditions, the current version of a water flow and storage mechanistic model was further developed by implementing equations that describe variation in xylem hydraulic resistance (RX) and stem hydraulic capacitance (CS) with predawn water potential (ΨPD). The model was applied in a Mediterranean forest experiencing intense summer drought, where six Quercus ilex trees were instrumented to monitor stem diameter variations and sap flow, concurrently with measurements of predawn and midday leaf water potential. Best model performance was observed when CS was allowed to decrease with decreasing ΨPD. Hydraulic capacitance decreased from 62 to 25 kg m-3 MPa-1 across the growing season. In parallel, tree transpiration decreased to a greater extent than the capacitive water release and the contribution of stored water to transpiration increased from 2.0% to 5.1%. Our results demonstrate the importance of stored water and seasonality in CS for tree hydraulic functioning, and they suggest that CS should be considered to predict the drought-response of trees with models

Draft genome of Haloarcula rubripromontorii strain SL3, a novel halophilic archaeon isolated from the solar salterns of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico.

The genus Haloarcula belongs to the family Halobacteriaceae which currently has 10 valid species. Here we report the draft genome sequence of strain SL3, a new species within this genus, isolated from the Solar Salterns of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Genome assembly performed using NGEN Assembler resulted in 18 contigs (N50 = 601,911 bp), the largest of which contains 1,023,775 bp. The genome consists of 3.97 MB and has a GC content of 61.97%. Like all species of Haloarcula, the genome encodes heterogeneous copies of the small subunit ribosomal RNA. In addition, the genome includes 6 rRNAs, 48 tRNAs, and 3797 protein coding sequences. Several carbohydrate-active enzymes genes were found, as well as enzymes involved in the dihydroxyacetone processing pathway which are not found in other Haloarcula species. The NCBI accession number for this genome is LIUF00000000 and the strain deposit number is CECT9001

Luminescent phosphine gold(I) alkynyl complexes. Highlights from 2010 to 2018

An overview of the homometallic phosphine-Au(I)alkynyl complexes reported in the literature from 2010 to 2018 have been collected and reported in this review article. They have been classified for better understanding, between mononuclear and polynuclear compounds. Their luminescent properties have been discussed along the text and the specific absorption and emission data collected in Annex I. This type of compounds are being used for a wide range of applications in fields such as biomedicine, chemosensors or luminescent materials among others and their interest is increasing in the last years. Some particular examples have been also selected herein

Smart Cities as a Tool to Tackle Global Challenges

We live in a planet with limited resources and our way of life is based on resources consumption. This consumption generates externalities as a result of urban metabolism. One of the main resources we always need is energy; we need it for obtaining raw materials, for processing them, for commuting every day, for communicating, for watertreatment, or for our own cellular metabolism; and as our society is becoming more technified we are getting more energy dependent. We must reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency, we have started this race and the actions we undertook had good results but there is more we can do to go forward in this field. Cities are complex systems, connected and dependent. Cities are the main consumers of resources, and it makes them play an important role as a drivers to change. To make smart cities we need real time data. Technology and knowledge must arrive to final user and the user needs criteria for decision making to make that possible. In the last decade there have been great advances in technologies, in sensor’s development, ways and speed for data communication, and tools and applications to visualize data. The challenge now is integrating all of this in order to make the cities smart. Urbanization, the demographic transition from rural to urban, is associated with shifts from an agriculture-based economy to mass industry, technology, and service. For the first time ever, the majority of the world's population lives in a city, and this proportion continues to grow. One hundred years ago, 2 out of every 10 people lived in an urban area. By 1990, less than 40% of the global population lived in a city, but as of 2010, more than half of all people live in an urban area. By 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will live in a city, and by 2050, this proportion will increase to 7 out of 10 people. Currently, around half of all urban dwellers live in cities with between 100 000 - 500 000 people, and fewer than 10% of urban dwellers live in megacities (defined by UN HABITAT as a city with a population of more than 10 million). Cities also consume 75% of global energy production, generate more than 70% of the total wastes and are directly responsible for more than 80% of global GHG emissions. So doing cities more efficient, less energy and resources demandant and reducing their ecological footprint is one of the key factors to tackel global challenges. Cities should also contribute to energy generation. One of the main problems is that European cities have old dwellings that they ussually don’t acomplish the actual standards. Building brand new efficient urban districts is relativelly easy to acomplish nowadays, but what do we do with the already existing city

Monturiol: el joc

Este proyecto consta de la elaboración de un videojuego en Flash, que mediante un servidor PHP nos permite ofrecer un servicio de multijugador al juego y, de este modo, poder jugar vía internet con otras personas en diferentes máquinas. El proyecto se divide en dos ramas, cada una de ellas desarrolladas por cada uno de los miembros que forman este proyecto. Una parte es el videojuego, diseñado en ActionScript 3, que consta de una sala donde están todos los usuarios que han ingresado y desde donde pueden hablar entre ellos usando el chat incorporado, escoger el submarino con el que participarán en las carreras y editarlo, tanto gráfica como técnicamente, crear partidas, cerrarlas y, obviamente, jugar. Dichas partidas se podrán jugar individualmente, pudiendo de este modo probar la carrera, o contra otros jugadores, estableciendo las conexiones con el servidor. El tipo de juego que se desarrollará se basa en carreras submarinas en las que el primero en llegar a la meta será el ganador. La otra parte es un servidor multijugador masivo programado en PHP utilizando sockets tcp/IP y un sistema de comunicación basado en XML diseñado, especificado e implementado para servir de anfitrión genérico para juegos Flash multijugador implementando todas las funcionalidades necesarias para integrar todo un sistema para conectar jugadores entre sí mediante una sala o chat, y la creación de servidores de comunicación entre jugadores para poder realizar partidas online sin que ningún usuario tenga que hacer de host para disfrutar de la partida. FLAS

Dispositivo de localización de contenedores

El trabajo se centra en el desarrollo de un dispositivo de localización de contenedores que ejecuta sus funciones cuando la mercancía contenerizada entra en contacto con el mar por algún motivo, indicando la posición de los contenedores hasta que estos, se sumergen una profundidad de seguridad. Con tal de comprender los elementos que componen el dispositivo en cuestión, figuran en el trabajo una serie de apartados, los cuales, explican de un modo funcional la forma interna de actuar que poseen elementos actualmente disponibles en el mercado, así como la exposición de la relación que estos mantienen con el objetivo principal del trabajo. De estos elementos, el trabajo estudia su implantación directa, así como también el ingenio de unos nuevos a partir de las bases de funcionamiento de estos elementos. Proyectando y diseñando a posteriori su disposición determinada, destinada a mostrar cómo éstos elementos operan sirviendo el fin que el trabajo busca y se realimentan mediante energías renovables. Con el trasfondo de esclarecer el motivo del diseño de esta clase de dispositivos, forman también parte del trabajo estudios objetivos focalizados en la seguridad actual de la mercancía contenerizada. Así como también el impacto que hasta el día de hoy generan los accidentes acontecidos debidos a un déficit de seguridad y su relación con la legislación vigente

La solicitud de autorización de residencia y trabajo y nacionalidad para deportistas profesionales

España es un país con gran tradición deportiva, que posee clubs deportivos centenarios en deportes como el fútbol, el baloncesto, el ciclismo, el tenis y el balonmano. Muchos deportistas profesionales desean u obtienen ofertas para pertenecer a equipos de clubs deportivos españoles, para lo cual deben obtener de manera previa una autorización de residencia y trabajo para poder incorporarse laboralmente a los mismos. De la misma manera, con posterioridad a muchos clubs deportivos les interesa que estos deportistas de élite extranjeros soliciten la nacionalidad española, para ser contabilizados como jugadores españoles o comunitarios y no extra comunitarios cuyo número se encuentra limitado.Espanya és un país amb una gran tradició esportiva, que compta amb clubs esportius centenaris en esports com el futbol, el bàsquet, el ciclisme y el handbol. Molts esportistes professionals desitgen o obtenen ofertes per tal de passar a pertànyer a equips d’un club esportiu espanyol, per a la qual cosa han d’obtenir prèviament una autorització de residencia i treball amb l’objectiu de poder incorporar-s’hi laboralment. Igualment, amb posterioritat a aquesta incorporació, a molts clubs esportius els interessa que aquests esportistes professionals demanin i obtinguin la nacionalitat espanyola, per tal de que puguin esser comptabilitzats com a esportistes espanyols o comunitaris i no ja com a extra comunitaris, el número dels quals es troba limitat.Spain is a country with a high sport tradition which has centenary sports clubs in different sports like football, basketball, cycling, tennis and handball. Many professional athletes whish or get offers in order to belong for teams of different Spanish sports clubs, for this they must obtain beforehand a residence and work permit to be able to join them. As the same way, many of these sport clubs are interested that these foreign elite athletes applying for Spanish nationality, to be counted as Spanish players or community and not extra community, whose number is limited

Activity of Universities in Social Networks: Correlations of Rankings, Students, Followers and Interactions

[Abstract] The Internet and social networks are widely used by students. For higher education, which operates in a highly competitive environment, marketing is a fundamental tool for universities to distinguish themselves and attract new students. Social networks are one of the best options for influencing university choice. The objective of this study is to analyze the relationship between some indicators related to universities and their use of and results on social networks. We carried out quantitative correlational research to study the number of students and ranking position as university indicators as well as the number of followers, posts, and interactions (likes, comments, and shares) weekly and per post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Data were collected from 83 Spanish universities over 14 weeks in 2021. Correlation analysis showed that the number of students is closely related to the number of followers and interactions, although to varying degrees. The position of a university in the rankings exhibited a particularly significant correlation with their number of followers on almost all the networks. In addition, the higher the university in the ranking, the higher the number of interactions per post that it obtained on Facebook and Twitter. It was also found that universities with more followers had more interactions (likes, comments, and shares) with their posts. Finally, the number of posts was found to be positively related to the interactions per week but not to the interactions per post. This study has identified some significant relationships between the characteristics of all Spanish universities and their performance on four social networks, which may help universities become better at acting and communicating on them

Assessing the Effects of User Accountability in Contracting Out

Supplementary data is available at the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory online.The data that support the findings of this study are available in the Harvard Dataverse Repository, at https://doi. org/10.7910/DVN/I1TQ2O.How does contracting out affect service performance? Evidence to date is mixed. We argue that this is partially due to prior studies focusing often on whether—not how—services are contracted. Yet, how services are contracted matters. In particular, we argue that whether users pay user fees for services to contractors affects efficiency. Where they do, contractor revenue depends on user satisfaction and contractors face incentives to provide quality services to users to retain revenue. Where, by contrast, governments fund services, information asymmetry about the quality of services users receive allows contractors to shirk quality. The assertion is substantiated by empirical evidence derived from a comprehensive analysis of conditional efficiency within the water supply services across 2,111 municipalities in Spain, employing a two-stage conditional order-m data panel estimation. Our results show that contracting out where users pay service fees and thus have incentives to hold contractors accountable outperforms contracting out without user fees in quality-adjusted service provisionAgència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Grant/ Award Number: SGR Program2017-SGR-1556Junta de Andalucía, Proyectos I+D+I a agentes del Sistema Andaluz del Conocimiento (PAIDI 2020) Grant Number: P20.00605Universidad de Granada, Grant Number: B-SEJ-476-UGR20Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciónGrant Number: PID2021-128713OB-I00COLLABQUAL PID2020- 116103GB-I00