Journal and country rankings in instrumentation and ocean engineering

The purpose of this paper is to highlight scientific information resources that list journal and country rankings. These databases usually focus on the use of citation counts and number of publications to evaluate the interest, visibility and impact of research performance. The exposed resources are platforms that provide added value to authors improving their knowledge about research trends and also where to submit their papers.

Entropy Production In Thermodynamic Climate Models

We present a non-equilibrium theory in a system with heat and radiative fluxes. The obtained expression for the entropy production is applied to a simple one-dimensional climate model based on the first law of thermodynamics. In the model, the dissipative fluxes are assumed to be independent variables, following the criteria of the Extended Irreversible Thermodynamics (BIT) that enlarges, in reference to the classical expression, the applicability of a macroscopic thermodynamic theory for systems far from equilibrium. We analyze the second differential of the classical and the generalized entropy as a criteria of stability of the steady states. Finally, the extreme state is obtained using variational techniques and observing that the system is close to the maximum dissipation rate

The second law of thermodynamics and the global climate system : A review of the maximum entropy production principle

The long-term mean properties of the global climate system and those of turbulent fluid systems are reviewed from a thermodynamic viewpoint. Two general expressions are derived for a rate of entropy production due to thermal and viscous dissipation (turbulent dissipation) in a fluid system. It is shown with these expressions that maximum entropy production in the Earth s climate system suggested by Paltridge, as well as maximum transport properties of heat or momentum in a turbulent system suggested by Malkus and Busse, correspond to a state in which the rate of entropy production due to the turbulent dissipation is at a maximum. Entropy production due to absorption of solar radiation in the climate system is found to be irrelevant to the maximized properties associated with turbulence. The hypothesis of maximum entropy production also seems to be applicable to the planetary atmospheres of Mars and Titan and perhaps to mantle convection. Lorenz s conjecture on maximum generation of available potential energy is shown to be akin to this hypothesis with a few minor approximations. A possible mechanism by which turbulent fluid systems adjust themselves to the states of maximum entropy production is presented as a selffeedback mechanism for the generation of available potential energy. These results tend to support the hypothesis of maximum entropy production that underlies a wide variety of nonlinear fluid systems, including our planet as well as other planets and stars

Second differential of the entropy as a criterion for the stability in low-dimensional climate models

The second differential of the entropy is used for analysing the stability of a thermodynamic climatic model. A delay time for the heat flux is introduced whereby it becomes an independent variable. Two different expressions for the second differential of the entropy are used: one follows classical irreversible thermodynamics theory; the second is related to the introduction of response time and is due to the extended irreversible thermodynamics theory. the second differential of the classical entropy leads to unstable solutions for high values of delay times. the extended expression always implies stable states for an ice-free earth. When the ice-albedo feedback is included, a discontinuous distribution of stable states is found for high response times. Following the thermodynamic analysis of the model, the maximum rates of entropy production at the steady state are obtained. A latitudinally isothermal earth produces the extremum in global entropy production. the material contribution to entropy production (by which we mean the production of entropy by material transport of heat) is a maximum when the latitudinal distribution of temperatures becomes less homogeneous than present values

A Model for Improving the Quality of Student Internship Placements in Engineering Degrees

Work Internship Placements (WIP) is a new and transversal enterprise internships programme, which is focused on quality improvement, academic control and satisfaction of collaborating enterprises. This programme is addressed to the engineering students of the PolytechnicSchool at the University of Girona (UdG) in Spain. The fundamental WIP infrastructure combines a web-based intranet platform, that provides a complete set of WIP tools, with a protocol of procedures and tasks that are observed and followed at all internship stages by every participating agent, i.e. enterprises, students, coaching professors and administrative staff. Our new programme is centered on a broader, more holistic internship placement procedure than the traditional “career and academic goals” approach. The WIP programme has been found to be a valuable asset in addressing enterprise and student needs in the experiential project

Fossil resource depletion and climate change emissions: the role of physical constrictions

[spa] En lo que concierne al cambio climático, los pronósticos de cercanos picos de combustible fósiles parecen buenas noticias pues la mayoría de las emisiones proceden de la quema de combustibles fósiles. Sin embargo, esto podría resultar engañoso de confirmarse las enormes estimaciones de reservas de carbón pues puede divisarse un intercambio de combustible fósiles con baja concentración de carbono (petróleo y gas) por otros de mayor (carbón). Ciñéndonos a esta hipótesis desarrollamos escenarios donde tan pronto el petróleo y el gas natural alcanzan su cénit la extracción de carbón crece lo necesario para compensar el descenso de los primeros. Estimamos las emisiones que se deriva de tales supuestos y las comparamos con el peor escenario del IPCC. Si bien dicho escenario parece improbable concluimos que los picos de petróleo y gas no son suficientes para evitar peligrosas sendas de gases de efecto invernadero. Las concentraciones de CO2 halladas superan con creces las 450 ppm sin signos de remisión.

Sedimentological and palaeohydrological responses to tectonics and climate in a small, closed lacustrine system: Oligocene As Pontes Basin (Spain)

A small, closed, lacustrine system developed during the restraining overstep stages of the Oligocene As Pontes strike-slip basin (Spain). The increase in basin accommodation and the headward spread of the drainage, which increased the water input, triggered a change from shallow, holomictic to deeper, meromictic conditions.

Fossil resource depletion and climate change emissions: the role of physical constrictions

[spa] En lo que concierne al cambio climático, los pronósticos de cercanos picos de combustible fósiles parecen buenas noticias pues la mayoría de las emisiones proceden de la quema de combustibles fósiles. Sin embargo, esto podría resultar engañoso de confirmarse las enormes estimaciones de reservas de carbón pues puede divisarse un intercambio de combustible fósiles con baja concentración de carbono (petróleo y gas) por otros de mayor (carbón). Ciñéndonos a esta hipótesis desarrollamos escenarios donde tan pronto el petróleo y el gas natural alcanzan su cénit la extracción de carbón crece lo necesario para compensar el descenso de los primeros. Estimamos las emisiones que se deriva de tales supuestos y las comparamos con el peor escenario del IPCC. Si bien dicho escenario parece improbable concluimos que los picos de petróleo y gas no son suficientes para evitar peligrosas sendas de gases de efecto invernadero. Las concentraciones de CO2 halladas superan con creces las 450 ppm sin signos de remisión.

Benthic macroinvertebrates assemblages and macrohabitat connectivity in Mediterranean-climate streams of northern California

Abstract. Drought leads to a loss of longitudinal and lateral hydrologic connectivity, which causes direct or indirect changes in stream ecosystem properties. Changes in macrohabitat availability from a rifflepool sequence to isolated pools are among the most conspicuous consequences of connectivity loss. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were compared among 3 distinct stream macrohabitats (riffles [R], pools connected to riffles [Pc], disconnected pools [Pd]) of 19 Mediterranean-climate sites in northern California to examine the influence of loss of habitat resulting from drought disturbance. At the time of sampling, 10 sites were perennial and included R and Pc macrohabitats, whereas 9 sites were intermittent and included only Pd macrohabitats. Taxa richness was more variable in Pd, and taxa richness was significantly lower in Pd than in Pc but not R. These results suggested a decline in richness between Pc and Pd that might be associated with loss of connectivity. Lower Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT) richness relative to Odonata, Coleoptera, and Heteroptera (OCH) richness was observed for Pd than R and Pc macrohabitats. Family composition was more similar between R and Pc than between R or Pc and Pd macrohabitats. This similarity may be associated with greater connectivity between R and Pc macrohabitats. Correspondence analysis indicated that macroinvertebrate composition changed along a gradient from R to Pc and Pd that was related to a perennialintermittent gradient across sites. High variability among macroinvertebrate assemblages in Pd could have been related to variability in the duration of intermittency. In cluster analysis, macroinvertebrate assemblages were grouped by macrohabitat first and then by site, suggesting that the macrohabitat filter had a greater influence on macroinvertebrate assemblages than did local site characteristics. Few taxa were found exclusively in Pc, and this macrohabitat shared numerous taxa with R and Pd, indicating that Pc may act as a bridge between R and Pd during drought. Drought is regarded as a ramp disturbance, but our results suggest that the response of macroinvertebrate assemblages to the loss of hydrological connectivity among macrohabitats is gradual, at least in Mediterranean-climate streams where drying is gradual. However, the changes may be more dramatic in arid and semiarid streams or in Mediterranean-climate streams if drying is rapid.

Application of metabolic engineering to the production of scopolamine

Scopolamine is an alkaloid widely used in medicine for its anticholinergic activity. The aim of this review is to show that metabolic engineering techniques constitute a suitable tool to improve the production of tropane alkaloids, focusing in particular on scopolamine. We present an overview of results obtained by various research groups, including our own, who have studied the overexpression of genes involved in the biosynthesis of scopolamine in different plant species that produce tropane alkaloids. Experiments carried out to improve production in hairy root cultures will also be described, as well as those attempting to biotransform hyoscyamine into scopolamine in roots and transgenic tobacco cells.

Crystal engineering studies: polymorphs and co-crystals

We review the key topics of one of the areas with the biggest impact of the last years in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry that is Crystal Engineering. The relevance of polymorphs and co-crystals from different points of view is been highlighted and broadly illustrated by means of several recent examples of studies carried out in this field. In addition, the most suitableinstrumental techniques and the intellectual property implications are reviewed.

Climate Change or Land Use Dynamics: Do We Know What Climate Change Indicators Indicate?

Different components of global change can have interacting effects on biodiversity and this may influence our ability to detect the specific consequences of climate change through biodiversity indicators. Here, we analyze whether climate change indicators can be affected by land use dynamics that are not directly determined by climate change. To this aim, we analyzed three community-level indicators of climate change impacts that are based on the optimal thermal environment and averagelatitude of the distribution of bird species present at local communities. We used multiple regression models to relate the variation in climate change indicators to: i) environmental temperature; and ii) three landscape gradients reflecting important current land use change processes (land abandonment, fire impacts and urbanization), all of them having forest areas at their positive extremes. We found that, with few exceptions, landscape gradients determined the figures of climate change indicators as strongly as temperature. Bird communities in forest habitats had colder-dwelling bird species with more northerndistributions than farmland, burnt or urban areas. Our results show that land use changes can reverse, hide or exacerbate our perception of climate change impacts when measured through community-level climate change indicators. We stress the need of an explicit incorporation of the interactions between climate change and land use dynamics to understand what are current climate change indicators indicating and be able to isolate real climate change impacts

Viticulture under climate change : understanding vulnerability and adaptive capacity of wineries and growers. A case study in El Penedès region, Catalonia

Climate change may pose challenges and opportunities to viticulture, and much research has focused in studying the likely impacts on grapes and wine production in different regions worldwide. This study assesses the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of the viticulture sector under changing climate conditions, based on a case study in El Penedès region, Catalonia. Farm assets, livelihood strategies, farmer-market interactions and climate changes perceptions are analysed through semi-structured interviews with different types of wineries and growers. Both types of actors are equally exposed to biophysical stressors but unevenly affected by socioeconomic changes. While wineries are vulnerable because of the current economic crisis and the lack of diversification of their work, which may affect their income or production, growers are mainly affected by the low prices of their products and the lack of fix contracts. These socioeconomic stressors strongly condition their capacity to adapt to climate change, meaning that growers prioritize their immediate income problems, rather than future socioeconomic or climate threats. Therefore, growers undertake reactive adaptation to climate changing conditions, mainly based on ancient knowledge, whilst wineries combine both reactive and anticipatory adaptation practices. These circumstances should be addressed in order to allow better anticipatory adaptation to be implemented, thus avoiding future climate threats.

Assessing farmers' vulnerability to climate change : a case study in Karnataka, India

In the context of observed climate change impacts and their effect on agriculture and crop production, this study intends to assess the vulnerability of rural livelihoods through a study case in Karnataka, India. The social approach of climate change vulnerability in this study case includes defining and exploring factors that determine farmers’ vulnerability in four villages. Key informant interviews, farmer workshops and structured household interviews were used for data collection. To analyse the data, we adapted and applied three vulnerability indices: Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI), LVI-IPCC and the Livelihood Effect Index (LEI), and used descriptive statistical methods. The data was analysed at two scales: whole sample-level and household level. The results from applying the indices for the whole-sample level show that this community's vulnerability to climate change is moderate, whereas the household-level results show that most of the households' vulnerability is high-very high, while 15 key drivers of vulnerability were identified. Results and limitations of the study are discussed under the rural livelihoods framework, in which the indices are based, allowing a better understanding of the social behaviouraltrends, as well as an holistic and integrated view of the climate change, agriculture, and livelihoods processes shaping vulnerability. We conclude that these indices, although a straightforward method to assess vulnerability, have limitations that could account for inaccuracies and inability to be standardised for benchmarking, therefore we stress the need for further research.