Francisco Ceacero

The mechanical properties of red deer antler bone when used in fighting

SUMMARY We assessed the hydration state of antlers and its effect on antler mechanical properties compared with wet femur. Red deer antlers were removed from the head at various times, from a few days after velvet shedding till late in the season, and weighed weekly until after casting time. Antlers cut just after losing their velvet lost weight rapidly in the first few weeks, then settled down and changed weight very little, the latter changes correlating with air relative humidity. Antlers cut later showed little weight change at any time. The water content of cortical and trabecular parts of the contralateral antler was assessed after cutting. Most of the weight loss was from the cancellous, not the cortical, part of the antler. Wet and dry specimens from the antlers, and wet specimens from deer femora, were tested mechanically. Compared with wet bone, wet antler had a much lower modulus of elasticity and bending strength, but a higher work to fracture. Compared with wet bone, dry antler showed a somewhat lower Youngs modulus, but a considerably higher bending strength and a much higher work to fracture. The impact energy absorption of dry antler was much greater than that of wet bone. In red deer, the antler is effectively dry during its use in fights, at least in southern Spain. In addition, dry antler, compared with ordinary bone, shows mechanical properties that suit it admirably for its fighting function.

Biometrics, Testosterone, Cortisol and Antler Growth Cycle in Iberian Red Deer Stags (Cervus elaphus hispanicus)

In this article, we aimed to describe the changes related to mating season in red deer, especially those related to antler growth, body condition score, testosterone and cortisol. Antler growth was studied in 17 Iberian red deer males, including body weight, antler length, biometric measures and testosterone and cortisol determination during 15 months. Body weight, body condition score, thoracic perimeter (TP), neck perimeter (NL) and testicular diameter (TD) showed the highest values immediately before mating season (autumn), decreased during it and remained constant at winter. Antler growth lasted 158 days and produced antlers with a final length of 80.8 +/- 2.0 cm. Testosterone and cortisol showed seasonal changes with maximum values at September and May, respectively. Final antler size was related positively to cranial longitude, TP, NL, TD and body weight at casting time. No relationship between weight loss during precedent mating season and current antler size was found, but spring recovery weight was positively related to final antler size. Final length was related to the descent in testosterone values during previous mating season and to body weight before it. Spring recovery weight was related to relative weight loss during previous mating season. These results suggest that there is no relationship between the reproductive effort performed during one season and the next year size of the antler. In contrast, antler size was positively related to spring recovery weight, in the sense that those deer that recover a higher percentage of body weight at the early stages of antler growth develop higher antlers.

Does nutrition affect bone porosity and mineral tissue distribution in deer antlers? The relationship between histology, mechanical properties and mineral composition

It is well known that porosity has an inverse relationship with the mechanical properties of bones. We examined cortical and trabecular porosity of antlers, and mineral composition, thickness and mechanical properties in the cortical wall. Samples belonged to two deer populations: a captive population of an experimental farm having a high quality diet, and a free-ranging population feeding on plants of lower nutritive quality. As shown for minerals and mechanical properties in previous studies by our group, cortical and trabecular porosity increased from the base distally. Cortical porosity was always caused by the presence of incomplete primary osteons. Porosity increased along the length of the antler much more in deer with lower quality diet. Despite cortical porosity being inversely related to mechanical properties and positively with K, Zn and other minerals indicating physiological effort, it was these minerals and not porosity that statistically better explained variability in mechanical properties. Histochemistry showed that the reason for this is that Zn is located around incomplete osteons and also in complete osteons that were still mineralizing, whereas K is located in non-osteonal bone, which constitutes a greater proportion of bone where osteons are incompletely mineralized. This suggests that, K, Zn and other minerals indicate reduction in mechanical performance even with little porosity. If a similar process occurred in internal bones, K, Zn and other minerals in the bone may be an early indicator of decrease in mechanical properties and future osteoporosis. In conclusion, porosity is related to diet and physiological effort in deer.

Do drastic weather effects on diet influence changes in chemical composition, mechanical properties and structure in deer antlers?

We attempted to determine why after an exceptionally hard winter deer antlers fractured more often than usual. We assessed mechanical properties, structural variables and mineral composition of deer antlers grown in a game estate (LM) after freezing temperatures (late winter frosts, LWF), which resulted in high incidence of antler fractures despite being grown later in the year, and those grown after a standard winter (SW). Within each year, specimens from broken and intact antlers were assessed. LWF was associated with reduced impact energy (U) and somewhat reduced work to peak force (W), Youngs modulus (E) and physical density, as well as cortical thickness. LWF was associated with considerably increased Si and reduced Na. In each year, broken antlers had lower Mn, P and physical density, and they had more Na and B than unbroken antlers. Because no such effect was found in farmed deer fed whole meal, and because freezing in plants usually produces an increase in Si content, which in turn reduces Mn, it is likely that LWF produced a diet rich in Si and low in Mn. Because antlers are grown transferring calcium phosphate from the own skeleton and Ca/P levels were slightly reduced, it seems likely that Mn reduction may have increased antler fractures. A comparison between farm deer and those in another game estate (LI) also shows a link between lower Mn content and lower W. Thus, small changes in minor bone minerals, probably induced by diet, may have marked effects in mechanical properties of bone.

Antler mineral composition of Iberian red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus is related to mineral profile of diet

Previous studies have suggested that antlers are costly bone structures whose mineral composition may change depending on physiological and other factors. This study examined whether nutrition variation associated with deer management influences antler mineral composition and structural characteristics of whole antler. Mineral distribution and bone structure were examined in antlers from two groups of adult Iberian red deer Cervus elaphus hispanicus Hilzheimer, 1909. They were kept under different feeding regimes at an experimental deer farm and a game estate in southeastern Spain. Protein and mineral contents differed between the diet of captive deer and that of deer in the wild. Significant differences were found for Na, Mg, K and protein. Antler composition seems to reflect the diet, as antlers of deer differed in protein, Na, Mg and K, but not in total mineral content, Ca, Fe or Zn. Thus, management conditions related to nutrition are reflected on antler composition.

Pay respect to the elders: age, more than body mass, determines dominance in female beef cattle ☆

Dominance hierarchies in groups of social animals can be based either on asymmetries that are important for agonistic interactions (such as body mass) or on more ‘conventional’ cues (such as age), which are respected despite having little relationship to the animals fighting abilities. We investigated how social dominance is influenced by age and body mass in a herd of 29–39 beef cows over a 10-year period, focusing on all levels of the dominance hierarchy (individual, dyadic and group). The results demonstrate that age prevails over body mass in the structuring of the dominance network in beef cattle. At the individual level, path analysis confirmed that the dominance index of a cow was more strongly associated with her age than with her body mass. At the dyadic level, age superiority had a stronger influence on the direction of social dominance in pairs than body mass superiority. Older cows were dominant in 73.6% of those dyads studied, even when the younger cow was heavier. At the group level, the strong influence of age on dominance produced a hierarchy that was very stable and strongly transitive. Our findings show that beef cows, for the most part, do not use their physical strength to attain dominance over older, but lighter, herdmates. This results in a stable age-based hierarchy, which might serve a universally shared function that promotes the smooth functioning of the herd and/or the expression of experience by older cows. Among the theoretical models of conflict resolution, the system most closely resembles the partial bourgeois evolutionarily stable strategy.

A review of factors affecting antler composition and mechanics

Trabajo presentado en el XVI Congreso de la Sociedad Espanola de Malherbologia, celebrado en Pamplona-Iruna, entre los dias 25 y 27 de octubre de 2017.La reiterada multiplicacion vegetativa de cultivares de vid (Vitis vinifera L.) de elite para la vinificacion provoca la acumulacion de variacion somatica que es explotada en la mejora varietal. Considerando la hipotesis de que variantes con ciclo largo de maduracion (baja tasa de acumulacion de azucares) pueden adaptarse mejor a condiciones de alta temperatura, en este estudio se caracterizaron 450 accesiones de ‘Tempranillo’ buscando clones que difiriesen en la duracion del ciclo de maduracion. Se preseleccionaron diez clones de ciclo largo y nueve de ciclo corto y la consistencia de su ciclo se testo sobre esquejes fructiferos. Asi se seleccionaron dos clones de ciclo largo y uno de ciclo corto, que ademas de mantener diferencias consistentes en el ciclo, presentaban un rendimiento y una produccion de antocianinas equilibrados. Se realizo un analisis transcriptomico de estos tres clones, mediante la tecnica RNA-seq, con el objetivo de identificar la variacion genetica responsable de las diferencias en el proceso de maduracion. Comparando el transcriptoma de uvas que estaban completando el envero, se detectaron posibles mutaciones puntuales responsables del fenotipo de ciclo largo en uno de los clones. Asimismo, se identifico una region cromosomica con tres genes localizados consecutivamente que se hallaban sobreexpresados en el otro clon de ciclo largo analizado. La secuencia de los transcritos de estos genes indica que la sobreexpresion se debe a la induccion especifica de uno de los alelos de cada gen, lo que sugiere la presencia de una mutacion en cis con una region reguladora en una copia del cromosoma, que causaria la sobreexpresion ectopica de los tres genes y la ralentizacion de la maduracion. Estos resultados pueden ser utiles en programas de mejora de la vid dirigidos a la adaptacion de la elaboracion de vino de calidad en condiciones de cambio climatico.4 paginas.-- 2 tablas.-- 10 referencias.-- Comunicacion oral presentada en el VIII Congreso Iberico de las Ciencias del Suelo. VIII Congresso Iberico de Ciencias do Solo. DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN. 20 - 22 junio 2018..-- El documento completo se encuentra para su descarga en http://www.cics2018.com/libro-de-abstracts/“Connected Worlds: the Caribbean, Origin of Modern World”. This project has received funding from the European Union´s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823846La crisis ha reducido las entradas por reagrupacion familiar debido a un aumento de las denegaciones y una caida de las solicitudes derivada de las dificultades economicas que atraviesan los inmigrantes y el endurecimiento de los requisitos legales. Esta caida corresponde casi en exclusiva a los no-comunitarios, para los comunitarios apenas se ha producido variacion. Las diferencias entre ambos cualitativas: los comunitarios reagrupan mayoritariamente a sus conyuges y ascendientes, mientras que los no comunitarios reagrupan sobre todo a descendientes. Por ultimo, la mayor precariedad legal de los reagrupados por regimen general se refleja tambien en autorizaciones de muy corta duracion y sometidas a requisitos economicos de renovacion mas exigentes, lo que amenaza con complicar mas aun la vida de las familias reagrupadasProject EPOS Implementation Phase (EPOS IP) (Grant Agreement no: 676564-EPOS IP Call H2020-IFRADEV-12015-1)In this paper we present a new approach to monitor noise pollution involving citizens and built upon the notions of participatory sensing and citizen science. We enable citizens to measure their personal exposure to noise in their everyday environment by using GPS-equipped mobile phones as noise sensors. The geo-localised measures and user-generated meta-data can be automatically sent and shared online with the public to contribute to the collective noise mapping of cities. Our prototype, called Noise Tube, can be found online.Trabajo presentado en el II Congreso Medio Rural, Agricultura y Cambio climatico, celebrado en Espana, en marzo de 2009Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado al Workshop and Summer School on Field Robotics (euRathlon/ARCAS), celebrado en Sevilla (Espana) del 15 al 18 de junio de 2014.The project COINVENT acknowledges the nancial support of the Future and Emerging Tech- nologies (FET) programme within the Seventh Framework Programme for Research of the Eu- ropean Commission, under FET-Open Grant number: 611553PROYECTO: Alfabetizacion cientifica en la escuela: mejorar las estrategias y construir nuevas practicas de ensenanza de las ciencias en la educacion de los primeros anos (SciLit). PROGRAMA ERASMUS + DE LA UNION EUROPEA. Esta guia para el docente es el resultado de una estrecha colaboracion entre los ocho socios de este programa, de cinco paises europeos, con sus diferentes valores y culturas, metodos de trabajo, necesidades, etc. Esta pluralidad refuerza lo que une a los cientificos y maestros: el amor por el conocimiento, Que ambos grupos creen y transmitan en un espacio intelectual comun que supera cualquier tipo de fronteras. PDF de 130 paginasPoster presentado en la 2nd International Ocean Research Conference, celebrada en Barcelona del 17 al 21 de noviembre de 2014.Trabajo presentado en el International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV16), celebrado en Swansea (Reino Unido), del 29 de junio al 1 de julio de 2016CPESS-5, Centro Europeo de Astronomia Espacial, ESAC en Villanueva de la Canada, Madrid, del 6 al 8 de Junio de 2017. -- https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/cpess-5Trabajo presentado al Spanish JRU EGI-ENGAGE meeting celebrado en Madrid el 23 de febrero de 2015.Poster (P-FA-34 ) presentado en la XVIII Reunion de la Sociedad Espanola de Cromatografia y Tecnicas Afines (SECyTA 2018), Granada, del 2 al 4 de Octubre de 2018.Trabajo presentado en el XII Congreso de Estudiantes de la Seccion de Quimica celebrado en San Cristobal de La Laguna, Tenerife (Espana), del 11 al 13 de abril de 2016.2 .pdf Files ( extended abstract, 1 Pag.; 1 Poster copy from the original by Authors). Under Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).Trabajo presentado en la 6th European Conference on Python in Science (EuroSciPy 2013), celebrada en Bruselas del 21 al 25 de agosto de 2013.-- Editors: Pierre de Buyl, Nelle Varoquaux.-- arXiv:1405.0166Trabajo presentad en el World Aquaculture 2011, celebrado en Natal (Brasil) del 6 al 10 de junio de 2011.Comunicacion oral presentada en la European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2016 Vienna | Austria | 17–22 April 2016The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007 - 2013) under grant agreement no. 320116 for the research p roject FamiliesAndSocieties.6 paginas.-- 4 tablas.-- 12 referencias.-- Comunicacion oral presentada en el XIII Simposio Hispano-Portugues de Relaciones Hidricas en las Plantas “Aprendiendo a optimizar el uso del agua en las plantas para hacer de nuestro entorno un ambiente mas sostenible” Libro de resumenes . 18 – 20 de octubre de 2016 Pamplona (Espana) y organizado por El Grupo de Fisiologia del Estres en Plantas (Unidad asociada al CSIC)This paper is based on a 16-year-long ethnography of mass grave exhumations in contemporary Spain and deals with the tortuous, painful, much-disputed, and incomplete unmaking of a concrete and massive militaristic inscription of Spain: that related to its last internal war (1936–1939) and subsequent dictatorship (1939–1975). To understand this process and its historical roots, the paper first dissects the formation of a “funerary apartheid” in the country since the end of the war. Second, it analyzes the impact on the social fabric of the mass grave exhumations of Republican civilians that started in the year 2000. Third, it traces how these disinterments have intersected with Spain’s most prominent Francoist stronghold, the Valley of the Fallen, and threaten the dictator’s burial place. Finally, it discusses the parallel dismantling of the dictatorship’s official statuary that once presided over prominent public spaces in many cities and some military quarters. It argues that rolling back militarization by dismantling war-derived cartographies of death, challenging military burial arrangements, or degrading statues of generals necessarily involves a certain level of remilitarizing by other means. I call this mirroring and deeply embodied memorial backfiring “phantom militarism.”Trabajo presentado al XII Congreso de la Sociedad Espanola para la Conservacion y Estudio de los Mamiferos (SECEM), celebrado en Burgos (Espana) del 4 al 7 de diciembre de 2015.Dynamic models of PEM stacks are the basis to design controllers for appropriate performance, maximum efficiency and minimum degradation. Fluid dynamic models of different dimensions can be found in the literature; however, these models are rarely used to improve the control laws and strategies. This work presents a control oriented 1+1D model (distributed in the direction of the stack flow channels). The model is based on a similar model presented by M. Mangold [1], is implemented in MATLAB Simulink. The model is validated using experimental data of a Powercell stack.Authors gratefully acknowledge MICINN Projects AGL2 008-00344/AGR and HA2008-0014 and FEDER financial support from the European Union.Comunicacion presentada en el 10th International Symposium on Reproductive Physiology of Fish, celebrado en Olhao, Portugal, del 25 al 30 de mayo de 2014Trabajo presentado al 18th International Symposiun on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (Ro-Man), celebrado en Toyama (Japon) del 27 de septiembre al 2 de octubre de 2009.Trabajo presentado en el FENS Regional Meeting, celebrado en Belgrado (Sebia), del 10 al 13 de julio de 2019This thesis is devoted to design Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategies aiming to enhance the management of constrained generalised flow-based networks, with special attention to the economic optimisation and robust performance of such systems. Several control schemes are developed in this thesis to exploit the available economic information of the system operation and the disturbance information obtained from measurements and forecasting models. Dynamic network flows theory is used to develop control-oriented models that serve to design MPC controllers specialised for flow networks with additive disturbances and periodically time-varying dynamics and costs. The control strategies developed in this thesis can be classified in two categories: centralised MPC strategies and non-centralised MPC strategies. Such strategies are assessed through simulations of a real case study: the Barcelona drinking water network (DWN). Regarding the centralised strategies, different economic MPC formulations are first studied to guarantee recursive feasibility and stability under nominal periodic flow demands and possibly time-varying economic parameters and multi-objective cost functions. Additionally, reliability-based MPC, chance-constrained MPC and tree-based MPC strategies are proposed to address the reliability of both the flow storage and the flow transportation tasks in the network. Such strategies allow to satisfy a customer service level under future flow demand uncertainty and to efficiently distribute overall control effort under the presence of actuators degradation. Moreover, soft-control techniques such as artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic are used to incorporate self-tuning capabilities to an economic certainty-equivalent MPC controller. Since there are objections to the use of centralised controllers in large-scale networks, two non-centralised strategies are also proposed. First, a multi-layer distributed economic MPC strategy of low computational complexity is designed with a control topology structured in two layers. In a lower layer, a set of local MPC agents are in charge of controlling partitions of the overall network by exchanging limited information on shared resources and solving their local problems in a hierarchical-like fashion. Moreover, to counteract the loss of global economic information due to the decomposition of the overall control task, a coordination layer is designed to influence non-iteratively the decision of local controllers towards the improvement of the overall economic performance. Finally, a cooperative distributed economic MPC formulation based on a periodic terminal cost/region is proposed. Such strategy guarantees convergence to a Nash equilibrium without the need of a coordinator and relies on an iterative and global communication of local controllers, which optimise in parallel their control actions but using a centralised model of the network.Resumen del poster presentado al XII Simposio Nacional y X Iberico de Maduracion y Postcosecha (POST18), celebrado en Badajoz del 4 al 7 de junio de 2018.Trabajo presentado al EGI Community Forum, celebrado en Bari (Italia) del 10 al 13 de noviembre de 2015.Trabajo presentado al III Congreso Iberoamericano de Hidrogeno y Pilas de Combustible (IberConappice), celebrado en Huesca del 17 al 20 de octubre de 2017.Trabajo presentado al 8th International Symposium on Nanotechnology, Occupational and Environmental Health, celebrado en Elsinore (Dinamarca) del 29 de mayo al 1 de junio de 2017.Trabajo presentado en el Aquaculture Europe 16 (Food for Thought), celebrado en Edimburgo del 20 al 23 de septiembre de 2016.Trabajo presentado en la SETAC Europe 25th Annual Meeting (Environmental protection in a multi-stressed world: challenges for science, industry and regulators), celebrada en Barcelona del 3 al 7 de mayo de 2015.Trabajo presentado en la XXV Reunion Bienal de Quimica Organica celebrada en Alicante del 4 al 6 de junio de 2014.8 pages, 4 figures, 15 references.-- International Symposium on Olive Irrigation and Oil Quality, Nazareth, Israel.Trabajo presentado a la 2nd Euro-Mediterranean Conference for Environmental Integration (EMCEI), celebrado en Sousse (Tunisia) del 10 al 13 de octubre de 2019.Trabajo presentado en la Third International Legume Society Conference ILS3 2019 (Legumes for human and planet health), celebrada en Poznan (Polonia) del 21 al 24 de mayo de 2019.he European Grid Initiative (EGI) provides a sustainable pan-European Grid computing infrastructure for e-Science based on a network of regional and national Grids. The middleware driving this production infrastructure is constantly adapted to the changing needs of the EGI Community by deploying new features and phasing out other features and components that are no longer needed. Unlike previous e-Infrastructure projects, EGI does not develop its own middleware solution, but instead sources the required components from Technology Providers and integrates them in the Unified Middleware Distribution (UMD). In order to guarantee a high quality and reliable operation of the infrastructure, all UMD software must undergo a release process that covers the definition of the functional, performance and quality requirements, the verification of those requirements and testing in production environments.Trabajo presentado al VI Workshop Probioticos, Prebioticos y Salud: Evidencia Cientifica, celebrado en Oviedo del 5 al 6 de febrero de 2015. Abstract en Nutricion Hospitalaria 31(suplemento 1): pagina 130.Comunicacion presentada en el 10th International Symposium on Reproductive Physiology of Fish, celebrado en Olhao, Portugal, del 25 al 30 de mayo de 2014A sterol esterase purified from cultures of the sapstain fungus Ophiostoma piceae was able to hydrolyse sterol esters and glycerides. The kinetics of sterol esters and triglyceride hydrolysis by this new esterase, estimated using a pH-stat, showed a Kmapp and a kcatapp in the range of 0.9–1.1 mM and 70–300 s-1, respectively. Its ability to hydrolyse both pure sterol esters and natural mixtures of saponifiable lipids from eucalypt wood was compared with those of commercial sterol esterases from other microbial sources. Its specific activity on sterol esters was higher than that found with all the commercial esterases assayed, and the highest hydrolysis of eucalypt sterol esters was also attained using the O. piceae esterase. This sterol esterase could be of biotechnological interest for the hydrolysis of sterol esters that form pitch deposits in paper pulp manufacturing.Tradicionalmente no ha sido fácil trabajar con los datos de satélite debido a la complejidad de los formatos, el tamaño de los propios datos y la necesidad de tener un software de lectura muy especializado. La motivación que hay detrás de éste proyecto ha sido la de desarrollar una interfase que facilite el uso de los datos satélite permitiendo un cierto nivel de manipulación y mejora de las imágenes. Generalizando, en teledetección, se puede pensar en dos tipos de usuarios de los datos satélites: los que necesitan trabajar con los datos brutos y aquellos que tienen suficiente con una visión cualitativa y, en definitiva, les basta con las imágenes de satélite procesadas. Es para estos últimos que se ha construido Revista de Teledetección. 2006. Número Especial: 105-108Forest fires are a major factor of disturbance in many terrestrial ecosystems, especially in European areas under Mediterranean type of climate. This is due to the confluence of specific climatic, ecological and socio-economic conditions. Fire produces important changes in soil organic matter (SOM) both qualitatively and quantitatively, which, in turn, affect relevant physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil. These changes also affect a large number of related biotic and abiotic factors and processes. The main objective of this PhD Thesis is to deepen the knowledge of the impact of forest fires on SOM in relation to changes in soil water repellency, using advanced techniques of molecular analysis. Due to the high number of variables that may influence soil water repellency and the chemical alteration of organic matter after fire, we chose the sandy soils of the Donana National Park for this study, with well-known and relatively simple composition. In any case, we have followed the classical scheme of comparison of burnt soils with unaffected soils (control), under the same geomorphological and climatic characteristics. Water repellency is one of the main edaphic properties affected by forest fires. This physical property reduces the affinity of soil for water, which carries important hydrological, geomorphological and ecological consequences. Fire-induced changes of soil water repellency can be due to numerous factors, although it is generally accepted that the alteration of SOM and, in particular, of its more labile fraction (lipid fraction) is the main variable involved in this process. Due to their environmental implications, there are currently countless works on the effects of fire on SOM and water repellency, which are reviewed in chapter 1. However, the current state of knowledge shows some gaps and aspects insufficiently studied, due either to the complexity of the soil system or to the lack of adequate analytical techniques. Numerous scientific studies indicate that both the type of vegetation and the chemical composition of SOM strongly influence soil water repellency. These studies have focused mainly on the study of complete soils both at the surface and at different depths. However, available information on the influence of organic matter and vegetation on the degree of hydrophobicity of different soil physical fractions is limited. This aspect is studied in detail in chapter 3. In particular, the relation between soils under different vegetation cover, dominated by cork oaks (Quercus suber), eagle fern (Pteridium aquilinum), pine (Pinus pinea) and rockrose (Halimium halimifolium), the amount and quality of organic matter, and water repellency in four particle sieve fractions (1-2, 0.25-1, 0.05-0.25 and <0.05 mm). We observed that the degree of water repellency was significantly different, both among soils under different vegetation cover and among different sieve fractions, with soils under cork oak showing the highest severity of water repellency. In addition, we found a clear relation between the amount of SOM and the degree of water repellency. On the other hand, the molecular analysis of the organic matter from sieve fractions by analytical pyrolysis techniques let us find a relation between the quality of MOS and soil water repellency, the presence of long-chained fatty acids and the degree of humification (evolution) of SOM in the different fractions. The impact of fire on water repellency and SOM was studied especially in soils under cork oaks, due to the greater organic contribution of this type of vegetation, the severe soil water repellency and its pyrophilic character. For the most detailed study, the number of studied sieve fractions was expanded to 6 (1-2, 0.5-1, 0.25-0.5, 0.1-0.25, 0.05-0.1 and <0.05 mm), including also the complete sample. It is known that impacts caused by forest fires on soils are related to changes in SOM. Fire favors the modification or formation of new chemical structures, besides contributing to mass outputs and inputs, such as the contribution of fresh biomass or more or less carbonized residues. This idea has predominated in the focus of a great number of research works, which have aimed to the study of complete soils or some of their horizons. However, the knowledge about the effect of fire on soil granulometric fractions is little known and that is why we consider some relevant questions, such as i) does the chemical composition of organic matter from different sieve fractions vary?, ii) does fire cause the same impact on all fractions?, or iii) what chemical reactions does fire induce in the different particle size fractions? In chapters 4, 5 and 6, we try to give answers to these questions, by means of detailed studies of the molecular composition of the organic matter present in the different fractions. With this aim, we used advanced analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry of isotopic relations of carbon and hydrogen (13C and 2H, respectively) (chapter 4), analytical pyrolysis (chapter 5) and ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry (chapter 6). The study of the isotopic composition of 13C confirms the existence of two compartments of organic matter with different degrees of evolution. The larger sieve fractions contain slightly evolved organic matter, impoverished in 13C and with δ13C values not different from leaf biomass, while finer fractions showed a more evolved organic material, enriched in 13C. Fire produced no changes in this trend, although an increase in the 13C content was observed in all affected fractions. This process may be explained by selective removal of light compounds (lower 13C content) or incorporation of charred residues. The study of the isotopic composition of 2H showed the existence of two differentiated water compartments in the upper centimeters of soil and dependent on the size of particles. No homogeneous behavior of the 2H composition after the fire was observed. The results obtained stimulated a more detailed study (chapters 5 and 6) of the molecular composition of SOM and the different reaction mechanisms induced by fire, focusing now on the fractions of larger (1-2 mm) and finer (<0.05 mm) sizes. For this, graphical tools such as the van Krevelen and Kendrick mass diagrams were used, as well as different indices or geochemical proportions (namely, the index of preferred carbon of short- and long-chained alkanes ratio, C<24/C≥24. The analysis of the SOM composition confirmed the existence of two different compartments of organic carbon in the first centimeters of soil with a different contribution of fire. In the larger fraction (1-2 mm), influenced by lignocellulosic material, fire produced a removal of lipid compounds and an increase of aromatics, with relatively high contribution of lignin-derived material. This may be due to a posteriori input of partially burnt material. On the other hand, humic compounds from the finer fraction, mostly formed by lipid and protein compounds, did not show significant variations after fire. However, an increase in exogenous pyromorphic compounds, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), was detected along with a relative increase of lignin-derived substances. The different molecular composition of studied fractions showed that fire induces different reactions depending on the quality of SOM. Variations in the preferential carbon index and in the proportion of long-chained alkanes aims to the existence of thermal cracking processes. In turn, fire-induced condensation contributed to the increased aromaticity of SOM. However, fire favored reduction reactions in the larger sieve fraction, with a decrease in the atomic O/C ratio but not affecting the H/C ratio. Therefore, it is possible that fire altered the outermost and accessible areas of the organic macromolecules, removing functional groups contaning oxygen but not altering the main molecular structures. Different scientific studies have highlighted an association between soil water repellency and SOM quality, particularly to the proportion and composition of certain lipid compounds. Chapter 7 aims to the study of the impact of fire on the lipid composition of organic matter from different sieve fractions of sandy soils under cork oaks and its relation with the changes in the degree of soil water repellency, using quantitative chromatographic techniques. The main results showed that the severity of water repellency in different sieve fractions varied significantly (p <0.05) after a fire. As observed in Chapter 3, we observed a relation between SOM quantity and quality and water repellency in burnt soils. The analysis of the lipid composition (acid and neutral compounds) confirmed the existence of two compartments of soil organic carbon, with fire causing different alterations in each of them. The proportion of long-chained faty acids increased in all burnt fractions except for the largest one (1-2 mm). This suggests the existence of a contribution of partially burnt material with a relatively high contribution of compounds derived from small-sized fatty acids, so confirming the exogenous contribution of charred cork residues. The decrease in both the quantity and the length of organic acid chains in the burnt larger sieve fraction confirms the existence of a thermal breakdown reaction. This cracking has also been observed in the n-alkane series. Finally, the comparative analysis of soil water repellency and related variables shows that water repellency depends on both the quantity and the quality of SOM and is strongly related to the presence of long-chained fatty acids. These may be considered as surrogate biomarkers of hydrophobicity in sandy soils.NGA was the recipient of a JAE-Predoc contract from Institut d’Investigacions Biome`diques de Barcelona-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cienti´ficas (CSIC) (‘‘Junta para la Ampliacio´n de Estudios’’, partly funded by the European Social Fund of the European Union). CV was the recipient of a fellowship from ‘‘La Caixa’’ foundation. This study was supported by grants PI081396 and PI100378 from the Instituto Carlos III of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n of Spain. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.154 paginas.-- Tesis doctoral leida en el Departamento de Ingenieria Quimica y Tecnologias del Medio Ambiente de la Universidad de Zaragoza.161 Pags.- Tabls.- Figs. Tesis doctoral Univ. Zaragoza, Departamento de Ciencias Agrarias y del Medio Natural, realizada, bajo la direccion de los Drs. Yolanda Gogorcena y Juan Jose Barriuso, en la Estacion Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD-CSIC) y en el Centro de de Investigacion y Tecnologia Agroalimentaria de Aragon (CITA). Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).Trabajo presentado en Aquaculture Europe (Adding value), celebrado en San Sebastian del 14 al 17 de octubre de 2014.Resumen del poster presentado al VIII International Congress on Analytical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, celebrado en Barcelona (Espana) del 3 al 5 de julio de 2017.-- et al.Resumen del trabajo presentado al International Symposium on Green Chemistry (ISGC), celebrado en La Rochelle (Francia) del 16 al 19 de mayo de 2017.Resumen del trabajo presentado al 1st FEBS3+, celebrado en Barcelona (Espana) del 23 al 26 de octubre de 2017.The spider fauna of Albania is still insuffi ciently studied. The present list was compiled after a critical review of the existing literature data and taxonomic review of some available collections. The study comprises 335 species from 36 families. In this number, 197 species are new to the spider fauna of the country. According to their current distribution the species can be assigned to 18 zoogeographical catego- ries, grouped into 5 complexes (Cosmopolitic, Holarctic, European, Mediterranean, Endemics). Dominant are Holarctic species (56.4%) followed by European (16.4%) and Mediterranean (16.2%). The endemics (8%) are also well presented and refl ect the local character of the fauna and the main role of the Balkan Peninsula in its origin and formation.Resumen del trabajo presentado al XIVth Congress of the Spanish Biophysical Society, celebrado en Alcala de Henares (Madrid-Espana) del 11 al 13 de junio de 2014.Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado a las XXVI Jornadas Tecnicas SEAE y al X Seminario Agroecologia, Cambio Climatico y Agroturismo: “Innovacion Agroecologica y Cambio Climatico”, celebrado en Orihuela del 19 al 20 de ocubre de 2017.This document has been prepared in the framework of the project for supporting the establishment of MPAs in open seas, including deep seas, with financial support of the European CommissionPoster (P-EA-22) presentado en la XVIII Reunion de la Sociedad Espanola de Cromatografia y Tecnicas Afines (SECyTA 2018), Granada, del 2 al 4 de Octubre de 2018.The expectations raised in the mid-1980s on the potential of genetic engineering for in situ remediation of environmental pollution have not been entirely fulfilled. Yet, we have learned a good deal about the expression of catabolic pathways by bacteria in their natural habitats, and how environmental conditions dictate the expression of desired catalytic activities. The many different choices between nutrients and responses to stresses form a network of transcriptional switches which, given the redundance and robustness of the regulatory circuits involved, can be neither unraveled through standard genetic analysis nor artificially programmed in a simple manner. Available data suggest that population dynamics and physiological control of catabolic gene expression prevail over any artificial attempt to engineer an optimal performance of the wanted catalytic activities. In this review, several valuable spin-offs of past research into genetically modified organisms with environmental applications are discussed, along with the impact of Systems Biology and Synthetic Biology in the future of environmental biotechnology.Advanced computing has become a crucial factor in most areas of science , in some cases may be as critical as the experimental observation . The data analysis and experimental validation of these needs by observation instruments (detectors , sensors, etc ... ) the ability to communicate and interact with computing resources and software tools capable of storing and formatting the scientists analyzed data . This multidisciplinary and collaborative environment is what is known as e- Science . In this work, several solutions have been developed to facilitate transparent access to distributed resources that allow scientists to access a limited specific training are presented herein . The problems that have been addressed have to do with interactivity in access to resources , and the design of workflows. This will be made up of various elements simulate complex systems that interact with each other. Throughout all the work we have collaborated with researchers in Nuclear Fusion and Astrophysics to implement solutions in real scientific computing environments for researchers. Several examples of complex workflows , which are prototypes of what will be a platform for simulation of plasma from a fusion reactor and analysis for the WBC / Planck experiment are presented . Thus we have demonstrated the versatility of the developed tools , when applied to more than one scientific discipline.During the last years biofuel fuel cells (BFCs) have attracted great interest due to their possible applications, especially as electrical power sources for in vivo or ex vivo applications. In BFCs enzymes can be used as biocatalysts for fuel oxidation at the anode and oxidant reduction at the cathode. The majority of EFCs use oxygen-reducing enzymes at the cathode, and glucose-oxidizing enzymes at the anode, as they are very common substrates present in most human physiological fluids. Two multi-copper oxidases, laccase and bilirubin oxidase, and cellobiose dehydrogenase have been studied as possible biocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction and glucose oxidation, respectively. Laccases usually exhibit higher activity at acid pH and they are more inhibited in the presence of chloride ions than bilirubin oxidase. Therefore, native laccases have been engineered by directed evolution for obtaining mutants that show activity also under physiological conditions, and cysteine residues have been introduced by site-directed mutagenesis for oriented immobilization on gold electrodes. The major aim of the Thesis has been the development of biocathodes as they represent the rate-limiting part of the BFC due to the low O2 availability in human body. The development of the bioelectrodes was carried out paying special attention to the different electrode materials and immobilization strategies used to manufacture the biodevices. Indeed, a good immobilization strategy enhances the long-term stability of the biodevice while achieving efficient wiring of the enzyme. Additionally, a larger surface area of the support material allows higher enzyme loading, therefore increasing the current density developed. Gold nanorods, macroporous gold, indium tin oxide and carbonaceous materials have been used for this purpose, obtaining current densities up to 1.5 mA/cm2 for bioelectrocatalytic O2 reduction. Direct electron transfer (DET) based systems are preferred as some possible drawbacks of using mediators are overcome and allow making the miniaturization of the BFC easier. For these reason, all the immobilization strategies presented were developed in order to optimize DET between the enzyme and the electrode surface. Combination of a conventional BFC with electrochemical capacitors is also presented in order to overcome the limitations of both systems, achieving a maximum power output of 0.6 µW at an operating voltage of 0.15 V. This hybrid biodevice was also tested in ex vivo conditions by connecting it directly to the dorsal venous of a human volunteer.Financial support for this study was provided by the Comunidad Autonoma of Madrid (Spain) and European funding from FEDER program (research project S2013/ABI-3028, AVANSECAL-CM). Dra. Gema Flores thanks CSIC for her JAE-Doc contract.The problem of achieving common understanding between agents that use different vocabularies has been mainly addressed by designing techniques that explicitly negotiate mappings between their vocabularies, requiring agents to share a meta-language. In this paper we consider the case of agents that use different vocabularies and have no meta-language in common, but share the knowledge of how to perform a task, given by the specification of an interaction protocol. For this situation, we present a framework that lets agents learn a vocabulary alignment from the experience of interacting. Unlike previous work in this direction, we use open protocols that constrain possible actions instead of defining procedures, making our approach more general. We present two techniques that can be used either to learn an alignment from scratch or to repair an existent one, and we evaluate experimentally their performance.Resumen del trabajo presentado al Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe 27th Annual Meeting, celebrado en Bruselas (Belgica) del 7 al 11 de mayo de 2017.This work was supported by the project AGL2012-40128-C03-01 and EU-FEDER funds from the Spanish government.espanolLos margenes de los campos reciben muchas denominaciones locales (linderos, ribazos, etc.) y pueden ser motivo de preocupacion para los agricultores por albergar especies arvenses que pueden devenir infestantes del cultivo. Pero su estudio tambien ha reflejado que pueden ser beneficiosos si albergan diversidad vegetal, la que atraeria a su vez diversidad animal. Estudios recientes realizados en Espana arrojan resultados aparentemente contradictorios y por este motivo se realiza una descripcion de la tipologia de margenes existentes en Espana. Se constata que las diferencias de anchura, altura y pendiente entre margenes, el tipo de vegetacion cercano, asi como la intensidad de la perturbacion que se ejerce en ellos son posiblemente los principales factores que explican porque algunos margenes albergan especies potencialmente nocivas (malas hierbas) y otros no. EnglishThe field margins receive many local names and can cause trouble to farmers if they host weeds that can infest the nearby fields. But their study has shown that they be beneficial if they harbor vegetal diversity, which can attract animal diversity. Recent studies conducted in Spain show apparently contradictory results an due to this, a description of the margin types found in this country is shown in this communication. We confirm that differences in margins width, height and slope, the type of natural vegetation in the area and the disturbance intensity on the margins are probably the main factors explaining why some margins host potentially harmful plant species (weeds) and others do not.22nd IMEKO TC4 International Symposium & 20th International Workshop on ADC Modelling and Testing, 14-15 September 2017, Iasi, Romania.-- 6 pages, 8 figures, 1 tableXIX Seminario Iberico de Quimica Marina (SIQUIMAR), VI Simposio Internacional de Ciencias del Mar - VI International Symposium of Marine Sciences (ISMS 2018), 20- 22 June 2018, Vigo.-- 1 pageSAF2016-77703-C2-2-R of the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Spain and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); AGAUR 2017-SGR-106 and the CERCA Programme of the Generalitat de Catalunya; R. Copas and C. Sanfeliu belong to Group 05 of CIBER Epidemiologia y Salud Publica (CIBERESP) of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, SpainResumen del poster presentado al I Congreso Interdisciplinar en Genetica Humana, celebrado en Madrid del 25 al 28 de abril de 2017.-- et al.Trabajo presentado en Aquaculture Europe 19 (Our future, growing from water), celebrado en Berlin del 7 al 10 de octubre de 2019.Trabajo presentado a la Dynamics of Institutions and Markets in Europe (DIME) Final Conference celebrada del 6 al 8 de abril de 2011 en Maastricht (Paises Bajos).Compared to machines, humans are intelligent and dexterous; they are indispensable for many complex tasks in areas such as flexible manufacturing or scientific experimentation. However, they are also subject to fatigue and inattention, which may cause errors. This motivates automated monitoring systems that verify the correct execution of manipulation sequences. To be practical, such a monitoring system should not require laborious programming.Trabajo presentado en el 18th International Symposium on Fish Nutrition and Feeding (ISFNF. 40 years of research in fish nutrition), celebrado en Las Palmas de Gran Canaria del 3 al 7 de junio de 2018.Comunicacion oral presentada en la 6th European Conference on Cyclodextrins. Abstracts book pag. 14 (2019)Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado a la 21st Topical Conference on High Temperature Plasma Diagnostics, celebrada en Madison, Wisconsin (US) del 5 al 9 de junio de 2016.3 paginas, 3 tablas.- Trabajo presentado al: XVIII Jornadas sobre Produccion Animal AIDA. Zaragoza, Espana, 7-8 mayo 2019.5 paginas.-- 3 figuras.-- 2 tabla.-- 8 referencias.-- Comunicacion presentadoa en el XIV Simposio Internacional Hispano-Portugues de Relaciones Hidricas en Plantas de la Sociedad Espanola y Portuguesa de Fisiologia Vegetal.“La fisiologia como valor anadido para la comercializacion”Trabajo presentado al 48th West European FishTechnologists Association Meeting (WEFTA), celebrado en Lisboa (Portugal) del 15 al 18 de octubre de 2018.Trabajo presentado en la 2nd European conference on Xylella fastidiosa (how research can support solutions), celebrada en Ajaccio el 29 y 30 de octubre de 2019.The synthesis of the 5-hydroxyproline derivatives 3a and 3b using cyclobutane serine analogs 1 and 2 as starting materials is reported. This process occurs with moderate cis/trans selectivity. A mechanism for this reaction is also proposed. Cyclobutane serine analog 1 was tested in tandem Michael and Wittig-like reactions, providing some evidence of the mechanism proposed.Trabajo realizado dentro del proyecto “El Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales entre 1939 y 1985: de la disgregacion a la reunificacion en su contexto nacional e internacional” (Ref. HAR2016-76125-P).Trabajo presentado en Aquaculture Europe 19 (Our future, growing from water), celebrado en Berlin del 7 al 10 de octubre de 2019.Resumen del trabajo presentado en el 19th International Symposium on Deep Seismic Profiling of the Continents and their Margins (SEISMIX 2020), celebrado del 15 al 19 de marzo de 2020 en AustraliaTrabajo presentado en la 12th International Conference on Precision Agriculture (ICPA), celebrada en Sacaramento (US) del 20 al 23 de julio de 2014.Resumen del poster presentado a la European Human Genetics Conference, celebrada en Barcelona (Espana) del 21 al 24 de mayo de 2016.-- et al.Resumen del poster presentado a la VIII Reunion Cientifica Anual del Centro de Investigacion Biomedica En Red de Enfermedades Raras, celebrada en San Lorenzo del Escorial (Madrid) los dias 12 y 13 de marzo de 2015.Poster presentado en la 34th Annual International Conference on Thermoelectrics (ICT) y en la 13th European Conference on Thermoelectrics(ECT), celebradas en Dresden del 28 de junio al 2 de julio de 2015.Poster presentado en la 6th European Conference on Cyclodextrins. Santiago de Compostela, Oclober 2-4, 2019Este trabalho foi desenvolvido no âmbito dos projetos Metalurgia Primitiva no Territorio Portugues – EARLYMETAL (PTDC/HIST-ARQ/110442/2008) e Espacos Naturais, Arquiteturas, Arte rupestre e Deposicoes na Pre-historia Recente da Fachada Ocidental do Centro e Norte Portugues: das Acoes aos Significados - ENARDAS (PTDC/HISARQ/112983/2009), financiado pelo Programa Operacional Tematico Factores de Competitividade (COMPETE) e comparticipados pelo Fundo Comunitario Europeu FEDER. Os autores agradecem a Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) as bolsas individuais (SFRH/ BD/65143/2009) e (SFRH/BPD/73245/2010) concedidas a Joao Fonte e Elin Figueiredo, respetivamente, e o apoio financeiro concedido ao CENIMAT/I3N atraves do Projecto Estrategico LA25/2013-2014 (PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2011); a Joe Horst os esclarecimentos gentilmente cedidos sobre as condicoes de achado; a empresa Metais Jaime Dias, S.A. e ao Dr. Normando Ramos a possibilidade do uso do equipamento de FRX portatil para o estudo preliminar da colecao metalica e a equipa do Museu D. Diogo de Sousa, em Braga, o tratamento e fotografia do conjunto.13 GLOSSARY OF RELEVANT TERMS 17RS received support from the Czech Ministry of Culture (project MK00002327201) and from the SYNTHESYS Programme (project ES-TAF-1249), financed by European Community Research Infrastructure Action under the FP7 “Capacities” Programme at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC).Poster presentado en el XII Congreso de los Grupos de Investigacion Enologica (GIENOL 2013, Nuevas perspectivas en investigacion vitivinicola), celebrado en Madrid del 18 al 21 de junio de 2013.Trabajo presentado al Delft Software Days, celebrado en Netherlands del 5 al 16 de noviembre de 2018.Trabajo presentado al Spanish JRU EGI-ENGAGE meeting celebrado en Madrid el 23 de febrero de 2015.The genetic analysis of dorsoventral patterning in Drosophila has identified a zinc-finger gene, snail, that is required for mesoderm formation. The cloning and nuclease protection analysis of a Xenopus homologue of this gene has suggested a possible role in the mesoderm of vertebrates. Here, we describe the cloning of a murine homologue of snail, Sna, and in situ hybridisation studies of its developmental expression. Sequence analysis reveals substantial conservation of the second to fifth zinc fingers, but not of the first zinc finger in the Sna gene. Expression occurs in the ectoplacental cone, parietal endoderm, embryonic and extraembryonic mesoderm, in neural crest and in condensing precartilage. Based on the timing and spatial restriction of expression in embryonic mesoderm, we suggest that Sna might be required for the early development of this tissue, as is the case for its Drosophila counterpart. In addition, we propose that Sna might have an analogous role in the development of neural crest. The expression in condensing precartilage indicates that this gene also has a later function in chondrogenesis.Este trabajo se centra en la sintesis de nuevos nanohibridos dador-aceptor (D/A) de politiofeno solubles en medios acuosos y en la elucidacion de la interaccion electronica entre las unidades D/A como en el funcionamiento de los nanohibridos en forma de peliculas delgadas en aplicaciones optoelectronicas. Utilizando tecnicas de auto-ensamblaje in-situ de politiofeno en presencia de diferentes nanomateriales como son el oxido de grafeno, puntos cuanticos de semiconductores o laminas de dicalcogenuros de metales de transicion se ha conseguido la formacion de complejos de transferencia de carga, solubles en agua y con superiores propiedades electronicas de relevancia para el desarrollo de dispositivos optoelectronicos basados en peliculas delgadas210 Pags.- Figs.- Fots.- Tabls. Tesis realizada en la Unidad de Suelos y Riegos (Unidad Asociada EEAD-CSIC). Creative Commons License Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0),Este trabajo se ha realizado en el marco de ERAWATCH, una iniciativa conjunta de la Direccion General de Investigacion de la Comision Europea y el Instituto de Prospectiva Tecnologica (IPTS).La investigacion ha sido posible gracias a la financiacion del Proyecto 2091 de la Universidad Politecnica de Valencia y del Proyecto P08-SEJ-03981 de la Junta de Andalucia.Oral presentation given at the 16th European Microscopy Congress, held in Lyon (France) from August 28th to September 2nd, 2016.Trabajo presentado en la European Conference on Xylella 2017 (Finding answers to a global problem), celebrada en Palma de Mallorca del 13 al 15 de noviembre de 2017.Master 2° Annee Biologie, Ecologie, Evolution (M2 BEE). Universite de Poitiers. Faculte des Sciences Fondamentales et Appliquees.Santiago de Compostela, Facultade de Quimica,17-21 julio 2017. -- http://www.bienalrsef2017.com/bienalrsef17/The work is under the scope of the following projects: Cargo-ANTS: Cargo handling by Automated Next generation Transportation Systems for ports and terminals.Seminario: Arquitectura saadi. Marruecos siglos XVI-XVII. EEA, CSIC, LAAC (Granada), 12 y 13 de abril de 2018.Trabajo presentado en el LV Congreso Nacional de la Sociedad Espanola de Ceramica y Vidrio, celebrado en Sevilla (Espana), del 5 al 7 de octubre de 2016Poster presentado en el First Joint Meeting on Soil and Plant System Sciences (SPSS 2019) Natural and Human-induced Impacts on the Critical Zone and Food Production. Bari, Italy 23-26 September 2019Trabajo presentado en el V Workshop The cultivation of the Soles, celebrado en Faro (Portugal) del 5 al 7 de abril de 2011.Web tematica.-- Proposito: divulgativo.-- Estado del proyecto: actualizacion continua.-- Fecha de la consulta: 2018-01-08.Trabajo de investigacion desarrollado por el ingeniero Juan Antonio Moreno-Cid Mora para optar al grado de Doctor por la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha.Trabajo presentado en la XXVI Reunion Bienal de Quimica Organica de la Real Sociedad Espanola de Quimica, celebrada en Punta Umbria, Huelva (Espana) del 14 al 17 de junio de 2016.Trabajo presentado en la European Conference on Xylella 2017 (Finding answers to a global problem), celebrada en Palma de Mallorca del 13 al 15 de noviembre de 2017.We introduce the logics E(G) for reasoning about probabilistic expectation over classes G of games with discrete polynomial payoff functions represented by finite-valued Lukasiewicz formulas and provide completeness and complexity results. In addition, we introduce a new class of games where players’ expected payoff functions are encoded by E(G)-formulas. In these games each player’s aim is to randomise her strategic choices in order to affect the other players’ expectations over an outcome as well as their own. We offer a logical and computational characterisation of this new class of games.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation-FEDER grants AGL2009-08339/AGR and AGL2015-71386-R.Trabajo presentadso en la Jornada de divulgacion y presentacion en Espana del Proyecto POnTE (Plagas que amenazan a los cultivos y los bosques de Europa. El caso de Xylella fastidiosa en el olivar), celebrada el 14 de diciembre de 2016 en Madrid.4 paginas.-- 1 figuras.-- 3 tablas.-- 3 referencias.-- Comunicacion presentada en el >VII Congresso Iberico das Ciencias do Solo (CICS 2016) y VI Congresso Nacional de Rega e Drenagem> que decorreu no Instituto Politecnico de Beja de 13 a 15 de Setembro de 2016.

Can Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) discriminate among essential minerals in their diet

Optimal foraging predicts that animals should be able to assess the content of important nutrients in food. Ungulates discriminate salt and P, but discrimination of other minerals is controversial even though they are also essential and often limiting. Animal scientists have explained this taste through palatability, which predicts the same pattern of discrimination for calves and hinds and greater consumption by the latter. Social learning may also be involved, predicting a correlation between mother and calf and less consumption by the latter. The present study examines the consumption behaviour of free-choice supplemented minerals by hinds and calves of Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) to discern between these hypotheses. Behavioural indices of intake correlated with actual mineral consumption (P < 0.001). Mother and calf behavioural indices correlated only for salt-mixed minerals. Calves showed overall behavioural indices of consumption greater than hinds (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001), and also for all single supplements except NaCl, as expected from growth needs and in contrast to the palatability hypothesis. Calves showed a greater consumption of CuSO(4) and lower of Na(2)SeO(3) than pure salt. Hinds showed a different pattern, ingesting lower amounts of all minerals except CuSO(4) and salt. Additional analyses also showed discrimination between minerals unmixed with salt, such as CaHPO(4) and CaCO(3) (P = 0.012 and P = 0.020). The greater intake of growing calves and the different consumption patterns for hinds and calves suggest that deer can discriminate among minerals, and that they do not consume minerals for their palatability or driven by social learning. Therefore, deer may be selecting minerals according to nutritional requirements.

Factors affecting antler investment in Iberian red deer

Antler constitutes such a costly trait that the skeleton of the deer undergoes a process similar to osteoporosis to meet the high demands of mineral deposition in the antler. The allometric relationship between antler and body size is one of the oldest known. However, no study has assessed the proportion that antlers constitute with regard to the skeleton (from which most of the material is drawn), nor which factors influence this investment. To assess this, we studied 171 males (aged 1-5 years), determined their antler and bodyweights and scored their body condition. Then we calculated antler investment as antler weight relative to estimated skeletal weight. Results showed that antler investment in males 2 years old (i.e. excluding yearlings) depended on age rather than the whole bodyweight or body condition. Antler investment increased from 6% in yearlings to 35% in 5-year-old males, with a mean of 19%. A GLMM showed that in males 2 years old, within age, the heavier the male and the better the body condition at the start of antler growth, the greater the investment in antlers. In yearlings, antler investment did not depend on bodyweight or body condition. In conclusion, antler weight relative to skeleton weight is a good method to assess antler investment. This investment is influenced by age and, in males 2 years old, also by bodyweight or condition at the start of antler growth.

Why do cervids feed on aquatic vegetation

Consumption of aquatic plants is rare among cervids, despite the common occurrence of this form of vegetation. However, the paucity of literature reporting on this feeding behaviour suggests that Na (but also other minerals), protein, and the ubiquitous availability of aquatic vegetation may play a role in its consumption. We present results quantifying those factors that regulate the consumption of aquatic plants in the Iberian red deer. We focussed our study primarily on two questions: (i) what nutritional values are red deer seeking in the aquatic plants?; and (ii) why do red deer primarily use aquatic plants during the summer? A comparison of the seasonal variations in Na content between terrestrial vs. aquatic vegetation did not fully support the hypothesis that aquatic plants are being consumed more in summer because of any seasonal variation in Na availability. The Na content in the aquatic vegetation was adequate all the year-round; whereas, the Na content in the terrestrial vegetation was consistently deficient. However, a greater summer content of essential minerals and protein in the aquatic vegetation may be the cause for their consumption exclusively during the summer. We suggest that seasonal variations in the consumption of aquatic vegetation by cervids is primarily driven by temporal variations in the nutrient content, combined with seasonal variations in the physiological demands for these nutrients.