Evolution of Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows and its implications for management

Results of the monitoring network of the Posidonia oceanica meadows in the Valencia region in Spain are analysed. For spatial comparison the whole data set has been analysed, however, for temporal trends we only selected stations that have been monitored at least 6 years in the period of 2002–2011 (26 stations in 13 localities). At the south of the studied area, meadows are larger, and they have higher density and covering than that in the Valencia Gulf, excluding Oropesa meadow. Monitoring of P. oceanica meadows in the Valencia region in Spain indicates that most of them are stationary or they are increasing their density and covering while no decline was observed in the studied meadows. These results indicate that there is not a general decline of P. oceanica meadows and that the decline of P. oceanica, when it has been observed in other studies, is produced by local causes that may be managed at the local level. This study also reflects the importance of long series of direct data to analyse trends in the population dynamics for slow-growing species.

A formal framework for modelling complex network management systems

Society today is completely dependent on computer networks, the Internet and distributed systems, which place at our disposal the necessary services to perform our daily tasks. Subconsciously, we rely increasingly on network management systems. These systems allow us to, in general, maintain, manage, configure, scale, adapt, modify, edit, protect, and enhance the main distributed systems. Their role is secondary and is unknown and transparent to the users. They provide the necessary support to maintain the distributed systems whose services we use every day. If we do not consider network management systems during the development stage of distributed systems, then there could be serious consequences or even total failures in the development of the distributed system. It is necessary, therefore, to consider the management of the systems within the design of the distributed systems and to systematise their design to minimise the impact of network management in distributed systems projects. In this paper, we present a framework that allows the design of network management systems systematically. To accomplish this goal, formal modelling tools are used for modelling different views sequentially proposed of the same problem. These views cover all the aspects that are involved in the system; based on process definitions for identifying responsible and defining the involved agents to propose the deployment in a distributed architecture that is both feasible and appropriate.

Studies on the ecology of Carybdea marsupialis (Cubozoa) and jellyfish sting risk management

Programa LIFE Comisión Europea (LIFE NAT 080064 CUBOMED; Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente; Fundación Biodiversidad; Dirección General del Agua, Generalitat Valenciana; Fundació Baleària; El Portet de Denia.

Optic neuritis in pediatric population: A review in current tendencies of diagnosis and management

Optic neuritis is an inflammation of the optic nerve and may be related to different systemic conditions. The clinical presentation of this pathology usually includes sudden loss of visual acuity (VA) which may be unilateral or bilateral, visual field restriction, pain with eye movements, dyschromatopsia, a relative afferent pupillary defect and optic disk swelling. Optic neuritis in children has specific clinical features and a better prognosis than in adulthood. Although usually appears an underlying viral disease, the main concern for practitioners is the relationship of optic neuritis with multiple sclerosis. In addition to the classical techniques as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), current tendencies of diagnosis for eye practitioners include new imaging devices as optical coherence tomography (OCT), useful to show a thinning of the retinal fibers layer (RFL) after the inflammatory episode. Regarding the management of these patients, short-term intravenous steroid dosages seem to be the best option to treat acute attacks characterized by a very poor bilateral VA.

Conceptual Modelling of Complex Network Management Systems

Society, as we know it today, is completely dependent on computer networks, Internet and distributed systems, which place at our disposal the necessary services to perform our daily tasks. Moreover, and unconsciously, all services and distributed systems require network management systems. These systems allow us to, in general, maintain, manage, configure, scale, adapt, modify, edit, protect or improve the main distributed systems. Their role is secondary and is unknown and transparent to the users. They provide the necessary support to maintain the distributed systems whose services we use every day. If we don’t consider network management systems during the development stage of main distributed systems, then there could be serious consequences or even total failures in the development of the distributed systems. It is necessary, therefore, to consider the management of the systems within the design of distributed systems and systematize their conception to minimize the impact of the management of networks within the project of distributed systems. In this paper, we present a formalization method of the conceptual modelling for design of a network management system through the use of formal modelling tools, thus allowing from the definition of processes to identify those responsible for these. Finally we will propose a use case to design a conceptual model intrusion detection system in network.

Use of an Inverse Method for Time Series to Estimate the Dynamics of and Management Strategies for the Box Jellyfish Carybdea marsupialis

Frequently, population ecology of marine organisms uses a descriptive approach in which their sizes and densities are plotted over time. This approach has limited usefulness for design strategies in management or modelling different scenarios. Population projection matrix models are among the most widely used tools in ecology. Unfortunately, for the majority of pelagic marine organisms, it is difficult to mark individuals and follow them over time to determine their vital rates and built a population projection matrix model. Nevertheless, it is possible to get time-series data to calculate size structure and densities of each size, in order to determine the matrix parameters. This approach is known as a “demographic inverse problem” and it is based on quadratic programming methods, but it has rarely been used on aquatic organisms. We used unpublished field data of a population of cubomedusae Carybdea marsupialis to construct a population projection matrix model and compare two different management strategies to lower population to values before year 2008 when there was no significant interaction with bathers. Those strategies were by direct removal of medusae and by reducing prey. Our results showed that removal of jellyfish from all size classes was more effective than removing only juveniles or adults. When reducing prey, the highest efficiency to lower the C. marsupialis population occurred when prey depletion affected prey of all medusae sizes. Our model fit well with the field data and may serve to design an efficient management strategy or build hypothetical scenarios such as removal of individuals or reducing prey. TThis This sdfsdshis method is applicable to other marine or terrestrial species, for which density and population structure over time are available.

Smart Monitoring Embedded Service for Energy-Efficient and Sustainable Management in Data Centers

Information technologies (IT) currently represent 2% of CO2 emissions. In recent years, a wide variety of IT solutions have been proposed, focused on increasing the energy efficiency of network data centers. Monitoring is one of the fundamental pillars of these systems, providing the information necessary for adequate decision making. However, today’s monitoring systems (MSs) are partial, specific and highly coupled solutions. This study proposes a model for monitoring data centers that serves as a basis for energy saving systems, offered as a value-added service embedded in a device with low cost and power consumption. The proposal is general in nature, comprehensive, scalable and focused on heterogeneous environments, and it allows quick adaptation to the needs of changing and dynamic environments. Further, a prototype of the system has been implemented in several devices, which has allowed validation of the proposal in addition to identification of the minimum hardware profile required to support the model.