Developing a desertification indicator system for a small Mediterranean catchment: a case study from the Serra de Rodes, Alt Empordà, Catalunya, NE Spain

La desertificació és un problema de degradació de sòls de gran importància en regions àrides, semi-àrides i sub-humides, amb serioses conseqüències ambientals, socials i econòmiques com a resultat de l'impacte d'activitats humanes en combinació amb condicions físiques i medi ambientals desfavorables (UNEP, 1994). L'objectiu principal d'aquesta tesi va ser el desenvolupament d'una metodologia simple per tal de poder avaluar de forma precisa l'estat i l'evolució de la desertificació a escala local, a través de la creació d'un model anomenat sistema d'indicators de desertificació (DIS). En aquest mateix context, un dels dos objectius específics d'aquesta recerca es va centrar en l'estudi dels factors més importants de degradació de sòls a escala de parcel.la, comportant un extens treball de camp, analisi de laboratori i la corresponent interpretació i discussió dels resultats obtinguts. El segon objectiu específic es va basar en el desenvolupament i aplicació del DIS. L'àrea d'estudi seleccionada va ser la conca de la Serra de Rodes, un ambient típic Mediterràni inclòs en el Parc Natural del Cap de Creus, NE Espanya, el qual ha estat progressivament abandonat pels agricultors durant el segle passat. Actualment, els incendis forestals així com el canvi d'ús del sòl i especialment l'abandonament de terres són considerats els problemes ambientals més importants a l'àrea d'estudi (Dunjó et al., 2003). En primer lloc, es va realitzar l'estudi dels processos i causes de la degradació dels sòls a l'àrea d'interés. En base a aquest coneixement, es va dur a terme la identificació i selecció dels indicadors de desertificació més rellevants. Finalment, els indicadors de desertificació seleccionats a escala de conca, incloent l'erosió del sòl i l'escolament superficial, es van integrar en un model espaial de procés. Ja que el sòl és considerat el principal indicador dels processos d'erosió, segons la FAO/UNEP/UNESCO (1979), tant el paisatge original així com els dos escenaris d'ús del sòl desenvolupats, un centrat en el cas hipotétic del pas d'un incendi forestal, i l'altre un paisatge completament cultivat, poden ser ambients classificats sota baixa o moderada degradació. En comparació amb l'escenari original, els dos escenaris creats van revelar uns valors més elevats d'erosió i escolament superficial, i en particular l'escenari cultivat. Per tant, aquests dos hipotètic escenaris no semblen ser una alternativa sostenible vàlida als processos de degradació que es donen a l'àrea d'estudi. No obstant, un ampli ventall d'escenaris alternatius poden ser desenvolupats amb el DIS, tinguent en compte les polítiques d'especial interés per la regió de manera que puguin contribuir a determinar les conseqüències potencials de desertificació derivades d'aquestes polítiques aplicades en aquest escenari tan complexe espaialment. En conclusió, el model desenvolupat sembla ser un sistema força acurat per la identificació de riscs presents i futurs, així com per programar efectivament mesures per combatre la desertificació a escala de conca. No obstant, aquesta primera versió del model presenta varies limitacions i la necessitat de realitzar més recerca en cas de voler desenvolupar una versió futura i millor del DIS.

A atividade física em amputados transtibiais

A atividade física é um bom indicador de saúde para a população em geral. Os amputados abaixo do joelho também beneficiam com o exercício físico regular. Este trabalho pretendeu analisar a atividade física dos amputados transtibais. Para a sua realização executou-se um manuscrito da revisão sistemática da literatura e um manuscrito com base em artigos científicos. A revisão sistemática da literatura teve como objetivo analisar a atividade física, medida por instrumentos próprios, dos amputados transtibais. O outro manuscrito visou verificar quais as diferenças de atividade física em amputados vasculares e traumáticos, expor fatores que possam influenciar a atividade física e determinar um possível tempo de recomendação de exercício físico para esta população. Os resultados indicam que os amputados são menos ativos fisicamente que os indivíduos aparentemente saudáveis. Os amputados traumáticos têm uma atividade física maior que os vasculares, mas a etiologia da amputação não é a principal razão que influencia a atividade física. Esta pode ser influenciada pelo nível de amputação, pelo tempo de uso da prótese, pela funcionalidade do amputado com a prótese e a idade do amputado. A partir dos 100 minutos de atividade moderada a vigorosa já poderá ser recomendável a amputados transtibiais. Será importante a realização de estudos que abordem os amputados, uma vez que em Portugal são raras as investigações que indicam a incidência e prevalência de amputados. Mais estudos que avaliam a atividade física também seriam bem-vindos, para uma maior diversidade de opiniões e conhecimento.

The stapedial reflex as an early indicator of cis-platinum ototoxicity

This paper discusses a study to determine whether changes in stapedial reflex thresholds can be utilized as an early indicator of cochlear damage with ongoing cid-platinum therapy.

The construction of a thyratron inflection indicator, its behaviour with certain vowels, and its use in instructing deaf children

This paper discusses the construction of an apparatus, Thyratron Inflection Indicator, to help hearing impaired children learn speech.

The analysis of ranked observations of soil structure using indicator geostatistics

Structure is an important physical feature of the soil that is associated with water movement, the soil atmosphere, microorganism activity and nutrient uptake. A soil without any obvious organisation of its components is known as apedal and this state can have marked effects on several soil processes. Accurate maps of topsoil and subsoil structure are desirable for a wide range of models that aim to predict erosion, solute transport, or flow of water through the soil. Also such maps would be useful to precision farmers when deciding how to apply nutrients and pesticides in a site-specific way, and to target subsoiling and soil structure stabilization procedures. Typically, soil structure is inferred from bulk density or penetrometer resistance measurements and more recently from soil resistivity and conductivity surveys. To measure the former is both time-consuming and costly, whereas observations made by the latter methods can be made automatically and swiftly using a vehicle-mounted penetrometer or resistivity and conductivity sensors. The results of each of these methods, however, are affected by other soil properties, in particular moisture content at the time of sampling, texture, and the presence of stones. Traditional methods of observing soil structure identify the type of ped and its degree of development. Methods of ranking such observations from good to poor for different soil textures have been developed. Indicator variograms can be computed for each category or rank of structure and these can be summed to give the sum of indicator variograms (SIV). Observations of the topsoil and subsoil structure were made at four field sites where the soil had developed on different parent materials. The observations were ranked by four methods and indicator and the sum of indicator variograms were computed and modelled for each method of ranking. The individual indicators were then kriged with the parameters of the appropriate indicator variogram model to map the probability of encountering soil with the structure represented by that indicator. The model parameters of the SIVs for each ranking system were used with the data to krige the soil structure classes, and the results are compared with those for the individual indicators. The relations between maps of soil structure and selected wavebands from aerial photographs are examined as basis for planning surveys of soil structure. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Localization of eIF4A-III in the nucleolus and splicing speckles is an indicator of plant stress

The mechanisms of long-term adaptation to low oxygen environment are quite well studied, but little is known about the sensing of oxygen shortage, the signal transduction and the short-term effects of hypoxia in plant cells. We have found that an RNA helicase eIF4A-III, a putative component of the Exon Junction Complex, rapidly changes its pattern of localisation in the plant nucleus under hypoxic conditions. In normal cell growth conditions GFP- eIF4A-III was mainly nucleoplasmic, but in hypoxia stress conditions it moved to the nucleolus and splicing speckles. This transition occurred within 15-20 min in Arabidopsis culture cells and seedling root cells, but took more than 2 h in tobacco BY-2 culture cells. Inhibition of respiration, transcription or phosphorylation in cells and ethanol treatment had similar effects to hypoxia. The most likely consequence is that a certain mRNA population will remain bound to the eIF4A-III and other mRNA processing proteins, rather than being transported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, and thus its translation will be suspended.

GISQ, a multifunctional indicator of soil quality

We present here an indicator of soil quality that evaluates soil ecosystem services through a set of 5 subindicators, and further combines them into a single general Indicator of Soil Quality (GISQ). We used information derived from 54 properties commonly used to describe the multifaceted aspects of soil quality. The design and calculation of the indicators were based on sequences of multivariate analyses. Subindicators evaluated the physical quality, chemical fertility, organic matter stocks, aggregation and morphology of the upper 5 cm of soil and the biodiversity of soil macrofauna. A GISQ combined the different subindicators providing a global assessment of soil quality. Research was conducted in two hillside regions of Colombia and Nicaragua, with similar types of land use and socio-economic context. However, soil and climatic conditions differed significantly. In Nicaragua, soil quality was assessed at 61 points regularly distributed 200 m apart on a regular grid across the landscape. In Colombia, 8 plots representing different types of land use were arbitrarily chosen in the landscape and intensively sampled. Indicators that were designed in the Nicaragua site were further applied to the Colombian site to test for their applicability. In Nicaragua, coffee plantations, fallows, pastures and forest had the highest values of GISQ (1.00; 0.80; 0.78 and 0.77, respectively) while maize crops and eroded soils (0.19 and 0.10) had the lowest values. Examination of subindicator values allowed the separate evaluation of different aspects of soil quality: subindicators of organic matter, aggregation and morphology and biodiversity of macrofauna had the maximum values in coffee plantations (0.89; 0.72 and 0.56, respectively on average) while eroded soils had the lowest values for these indicators (0.10; 0.31 and 0.33, respectively). Indicator formulae derived from information gained at the Nicaraguan sites were not applicable to the Colombian situation and site-specific constants were calculated. This indicator allows the evaluation of soil quality and facilitates the identification of problem areas through the individual values of each subindicator. It allows monitoring of change through time and can guide the implementation of soil restoration technologies. Although GISQ formulae computed on a set of data were only valid at a regional scale, the methodology used to create these indices can be applied everywhere.

The air distribution index as an indicator for energy consumption and performance of ventilation systems

This paper deals with the energy consumption and the evaluation of the performance of air supply systems for a ventilated room involving high- and low-level supplies. The energy performance assessment is based on the airflow rate, which is related to the fan power consumption by achieving the same environmental quality performance for each case. Four different ventilation systems are considered: wall displacement ventilation, confluent jets ventilation, impinging jet ventilation and a high level mixing ventilation system. The ventilation performance of these systems will be examined by means of achieving the same Air Distribution Index (ADI) for different cases. The widely used high-level supplies require much more fan power than those for low-level supplies for achieving the same value of ADI. In addition, the supply velocity, hence the supply dynamic pressure, for a high-level supply is much larger than for low-level supplies. This further increases the power consumption for high-level supply systems. The paper considers these factors and attempts to provide some guidelines on the difference in the energy consumption associated with high and low level air supply systems. This will be useful information for designers and to the authors' knowledge there is a lack of information available in the literature on this area of room air distribution. The energy performance of the above-mentioned ventilation systems has been evaluated on the basis of the fan power consumed which is related to the airflow rate required to provide equivalent indoor environment. The Air Distribution Index (ADI) is used to evaluate the indoor environment produced in the room by the ventilation strategy being used. The results reveal that mixing ventilation requires the highest fan power and the confluent jets ventilation needs the lowest fan power in order to achieve nearly the same value of ADI.

Rheology and the breadmaking process

The applications of rheology to the main processes encountered during breadmaking (mixing, sheeting, fermentation and baking) are reviewed. The most commonly used rheological test methods and their relationships to product functionality are reviewed. It is shown that the most commonly used method for rheological testing of doughs, shear oscillation dynamic rheology, is generally used under deformation conditions inappropriate for breadmaking and shows little relationship with end-use performance. The frequency range used in conventional shear oscillation tests is limited to the plateau region, which is insensitive to changes in the HMW glutenin polymers thought to be responsible for variations in baking quality. The appropriate deformation conditions can be accessed either by long-time creep or relaxation measurements, or by large deformation extensional measurements at low strain rates and elevated temperatures. Molecular size and structure of the gluten polymers that make up the major structural components of wheat are related to their rheological properties via modern polymer rheology concepts. Interactions between polymer chain entanglements and branching are seen to be the key mechanisms determining the rheology of HMW polymers. Recent work confirms the observation that the dynamic shear plateau modulus is essentially independent of variations in MW of glutens amongst wheat varieties of varying baking performance and also that it is not the size of the soluble glutenin polymers, but the secondary structural and rheological properties of the insoluble polymer fraction that are mainly responsible for variations in baking performance. Extensional strain hardening has been shown to be a sensitive indicator of entanglements and long-chain branching in HMW polymers, and is well related to baking performance of bread doughs. The Considere failure criterion for instability in extension of polymers defines a region below which bubble walls become unstable, and predicts that when strain hardening falls below a value of around 1, bubble walls are no longer stable and coalesce rapidly, resulting in loss of gas retention and lower volume and texture. Strain hardening in doughs has been shown to reach this value at increasingly higher temperatures for better breadmaking varieties and is directly related to bubble stability and baking performance. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Considering the normative, systemic and procedural dimensions in indicator-based sustainability assessments in agriculture

This paper develops a framework for evaluating sustainability assessment methods by separately analyzing their normative, systemic and procedural dimensions as suggested by Wiek and Binder [Wiek, A, Binder, C. Solution spaces for decision-making – a sustainability assessment tool for city-regions. Environ Impact Asses Rev 2005, 25: 589-608.]. The framework is then used to characterize indicator-based sustainability assessment methods in agriculture. For a long time, sustainability assessment in agriculture has focused mostly on environmental and technical issues, thus neglecting the economic and, above all, the social aspects of sustainability, the multifunctionality of agriculture and the applicability of the results. In response to these shortcomings, several integrative sustainability assessment methods have been developed for the agricultural sector. This paper reviews seven of these that represent the diversity of tools developed in this area. The reviewed assessment methods can be categorized into three types: (i) top-down farm assessment methods; (ii) top-down regional assessment methods with some stakeholder participation; (iii) bottom-up, integrated participatory or transdisciplinary methods with stakeholder participation throughout the process. The results readily show the trade-offs encountered when selecting an assessment method. A clear, standardized, top-down procedure allows for potentially benchmarking and comparing results across regions and sites. However, this comes at the cost of system specificity. As the top-down methods often have low stakeholder involvement, the application and implementation of the results might be difficult. Our analysis suggests that to include the aspects mentioned above in agricultural sustainability assessment, the bottomup, integrated participatory or transdisciplinary methods are the most suitable ones.

An objective, niche-based approach to indicator species selection

1. Species-based indices are frequently employed as surrogates for wider biodiversity health and measures of environmental condition. Species selection is crucial in determining an indicators metric value and hence the validity of the interpretation of ecosystem condition and function it provides, yet an objective process to identify appropriate indicator species is frequently lacking. 2. An effective indicator needs to (i) be representative, reflecting the status of wider biodiversity; (ii) be reactive, acting as early-warning systems for detrimental changes in environmental conditions; (iii) respond to change in a predictable way. We present an objective, niche-based approach for species' selection, founded on a coarse categorisation of species' niche space and key resource requirements, which ensures the resultant indicator has these key attributes. 3. We use UK farmland birds as a case study to demonstrate this approach, identifying an optimal indicator set containing 12 species. In contrast to the 19 species included in the farmland bird index (FBI), a key UK biodiversity indicator that contributes to one of the UK Government's headline indicators of sustainability, the niche space occupied by these species fully encompasses that occupied by the wider community of 62 species. 4. We demonstrate that the response of these 12 species to land-use change is a strong correlate to that of the wider farmland bird community. Furthermore, the temporal dynamics of the index based on their population trends closely matches the population dynamics of the wider community. However, in both analyses, the magnitude of the change in our indicator was significantly greater, allowing this indicator to act as an early-warning system. 5. Ecological indicators are embedded in environmental management, sustainable development and biodiversity conservation policy and practice where they act as metrics against which progress towards national, regional and global targets can be measured. Adopting this niche-based approach for objective selection of indicator species will facilitate the development of sensitive and representative indices for a range of taxonomic groups, habitats and spatial scales.