Roadside vegetation: estimation and potential for carbon sequestration

The present paper reports the assessment of the vegetation occupancy rate of the roadside, through analysis of aerial photographs. Using such value the potential of these areas to be employed as carbon (C) sinks was also assessed. Moreover, for the areas suitable for afforestation, the potential for carbon sequestration was estimated considering different species of vegetation, both native (scenario 1) and exotic (formed by Pinus sp. and Eucalyptus sp. - scenario 2). The study was carried out through GIS techniques and two regions were considered. A set of equations was used to estimate the rate of occupancy over the study areas, as well as amounts of fixed C under the above scenarios. The average occupancy rate was 0.06%. The simulation showed a higher potential for C sequestration in scenario 2, being the estimated amounts of CO(2) sequestered from the atmosphere per km of roadside: 131 tons of CO(2) km(-1) of highway to native species and 655 tons of CO(2) km(-1) of highway for exotic species (over period of 10 years for both estimates). If we consider the whole road network of the São Paulo State (approximately 190 000 km) and that a considerable part of this road work is suitable to receive this kind of service, it is possible to predict the very high potential for C sequestration if managers and planners consider roadside as area for afforestation.

Heart rate variability in healthy adolescents at rest

Objective: to describe the cardiac autonomic function in healthy adolescents between 13 and 18 years old. Methods: data from 93 adolescents, of both sexes, were analyzed; they were divided into three groups according to age. Group A 13-14 years old (n=26), Group B 15-16 years old (n = 30) and Group C 17-18 years old (n = 17). The protocol consisted of raising the heart rate, beat by beat for twenty minutes of rest in supine position with spontaneous breathing. The cardiac autonomic behavior analysis was performed by the method of heart rate variability (HRV) through the indices of the Poincaré plot (SD1, SD2 and ratio SD1/SD2) and its qualitative analysis and indices in linear time domain (RMSSD and SDNN) and frequency (LFnu, HFnu and LF/HF). One-way ANOVA test or Kruskal-Wallis test was used for comparison between groups, with a significance level of 5%. Results: there was no significant difference in none of the indices compared the three groups. In addition,visual analysis of Poincaré plot has observed for all age groups large dispersion of RR intervals, indicating that these groups have good HRV. Conclusion: there were no changes in HRV in the different age groups analyzed, however the result allowed to establish a standard for each group that was studied, becomes an important tool for comparison of cardiac autonomic function between healthy and patients subjects or in different areas.

Trade and investment flows between the Caribbean and the rest of the hemisphere in the context of the FTAA

Includes bibliography

Comparison of Two Roadside Survey Procedures for Dwarf Mistletoes on the Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho

Two roadside surveys were conducted for dwarf mistletoes parasitizing lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir on the Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho. One survey used variable-radius plots located less than 150 m from roads. The 2nd survey used variable-radius plots established at 200-m intervals along 1600-m transects run perpendicular to the same roads. Estimates of the incidence (percentage of trees infected and percentage of plots infested) and severity (average dwarf mistletoe rating) for both lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir dwarf mistletoes were not significantly different for the 2 survey methods. These findings are further evidence that roadside-plot surveys and transect-plot surveys conducted away from roads provide similar estimates of the incidence of dwarf mistletoes for large forested areas.

Para un canon de marginales, malos y malditos : Jaime Rest en CEAL y Ediciones Librerías Fausto

El presente artículo busca dar cuenta de la articulación entre la última etapa del trabajo crítico de Jaime Rest y su labor en el proyecto editorial de Centro Editor de América Latina y en el diseño del catálogo 'Novela y Cuento' de Ediciones Librerías Fausto. Se examina la producción crítica de Rest entre mediados de la década del 60 y fines de los 70 y se presenta una descripción pormenorizada de su trabajo como editor en el periodo delimitado por esas fechas. El objeto de dicho cotejo apunta a establecer relaciones de contigüidad e interferencias entre ambas esferas laborales en el contexto de un campo cultural e intelectual signado por la represión y la censura

Para un canon de marginales, malos y malditos : Jaime Rest en CEAL y Ediciones Librerías Fausto

El presente artículo busca dar cuenta de la articulación entre la última etapa del trabajo crítico de Jaime Rest y su labor en el proyecto editorial de Centro Editor de América Latina y en el diseño del catálogo 'Novela y Cuento' de Ediciones Librerías Fausto. Se examina la producción crítica de Rest entre mediados de la década del 60 y fines de los 70 y se presenta una descripción pormenorizada de su trabajo como editor en el periodo delimitado por esas fechas. El objeto de dicho cotejo apunta a establecer relaciones de contigüidad e interferencias entre ambas esferas laborales en el contexto de un campo cultural e intelectual signado por la represión y la censura

Para un canon de marginales, malos y malditos : Jaime Rest en CEAL y Ediciones Librerías Fausto

El presente artículo busca dar cuenta de la articulación entre la última etapa del trabajo crítico de Jaime Rest y su labor en el proyecto editorial de Centro Editor de América Latina y en el diseño del catálogo 'Novela y Cuento' de Ediciones Librerías Fausto. Se examina la producción crítica de Rest entre mediados de la década del 60 y fines de los 70 y se presenta una descripción pormenorizada de su trabajo como editor en el periodo delimitado por esas fechas. El objeto de dicho cotejo apunta a establecer relaciones de contigüidad e interferencias entre ambas esferas laborales en el contexto de un campo cultural e intelectual signado por la represión y la censura

Efficiency at Rest: Magnetoencephalographic Resting-State Connectivity and Individual Differences in Verbal Working Memory

Inter-individual differences in cognitive performance are based on an efficient use of task-related brain resources. However, little is known yet on how these differences might be reflected on resting-state brain networks. Here we used Magnetoencephalography resting-state recordings to assess the relationship between a behavioral measurement of verbal working memory and functional connectivity as measured through Mutual Information. We studied theta (4?8 Hz), low alpha (8?10 Hz), high alpha (10?13 Hz), low beta (13?18 Hz) and high beta (18?30 Hz) frequency bands. A higher verbal working memory capacity was associated with a lower mutual information in the low alpha band, prominently among right-anterior and left-lateral sensors. The results suggest that an efficient brain organization in the domain of verbal working memory might be related to a lower resting-state functional connectivity across large-scale brain networks possibly involving right prefrontal and left perisylvian areas.

World fleet vs. Spanish bunkering. Its impact on ECAS areas

On December 17 came into force on community standard marine fuels. Bunker prices are expected to increase, recent statistics support this argument and the difference between the high sulphur (HS) and the low sulphur (LS) marine bunkers will be sustained. Considering also the price difference between the basis-market of Rotterdam with the rest European ports, the expected bunker prices will be higher in the Mediterranean. This paper begins with a review of the current situation in ECAS areas, highlighting the rules to be implemented shortly. The aim of the paper is known the current situation bunkering determine the estimated short term in Spain from world fleet.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Post Fire Emergency Rehabilitation Treatments on Soil Degradation and Erosion Control in Semi-Arid Mediterranean Areas of the Spanish South East

In this study, we seeded a native plant species and applied a mulch of chopped wood originating from the same burned area to avoid the establishment of invasive species. We evaluated four treatments: (1) seeding, (2) mulch, (3) seeding and mulch, and (4) control. Our objective was to increase plant recovery and to minimize the soil erosion and degradation. The study was conducted in Alicante, Spain in Torremanzanas forest of the semi-arid Mediterranean bioclimatic area after the wildfire of November, 2002. During three years of monitoring, we find that combined treatment: seeding and mulch increased the post fire plant recovery 20% approximately more than the rest of treatments and the control plots. We also found that seven months after treating mulch and seeding and mulch treatments presented a gain of soil: +5.18 to + 5.24 mm while the seeding treatment and control plots presented soil loss rates of: −0.48 to −0.49 mm. In addition, mulch treatment significantly decreased soil compaction to the half, and increased the infiltration capacity to 40 ml.mn−1 more than in plots without mulch, as well as increased the soil respiration to the double compared with no mulch plots. Work in progress confirms the positive effect of chopped wood as mulching treatment with or without seeding on the soil protection against soil erosion, and the amelioration of bio-physical properties after wildfires in the Mediterranean semi-arid burned areas.

The 'tribal areas' of the Caucasus: The North Caucasus - an enclave of 'alien civilisation' within the Russian Federation. OSW Study 34/2010

Militant Islam is currently the greatest threat to security and stability in the Russian part of the Caucasus. However, even though the armed Islamic underground is capable of organising terrorist attacks and carrying out actions of sabotage, it seems too weak to bring about any change in the Caucasus’s political status quo. Besides, militant Islam is merely a symptom (albeit the most radical and spectacular) of a much wider process, namely the widening civilisational gap between Russia and the North Caucasus, initiated by the collapse of the Soviet Union. The key elements of this process are as follows: the spontaneous re-Islamisation of social life and the dynamic growth of Islam's political influence; the de-Russification of the region; and the ongoing marginalisation of secular intellectuals. As a result, the North Caucasus, and principally Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, are turning into an enclave separated from the rest of the Russian Federation by a growing civilisational gap, and becoming increasingly different from the rest of Russia. This situation may recall the tribal areas of Pakistan inhabited by Pashtuns (FATA) along the Afghan border.

Optimal application and placement of roadside reflective devices for curves on two-lane rural highways. Final report.

Ohio Department of Transportation, Columbus

Safety treatment of roadside culverts on low volume roads. Final report.

Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, Transportation Planning Division, Austin

Essays on Environmental and Health Economics

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06