Semantic technologies in idea management systems: a model for interoperability, linking and filtering

Abstract Idea Management Systems are web applications that implement the notion of open innovation though crowdsourcing. Typically, organizations use those kind of systems to connect to large communities in order to gather ideas for improvement of products or services. Originating from simple suggestion boxes, Idea Management Systems advanced beyond collecting ideas and aspire to be a knowledge management solution capable to select best ideas via collaborative as well as expert assessment methods. In practice, however, the contemporary systems still face a number of problems usually related to information overflow and recognizing questionable quality of submissions with reasonable time and effort allocation. This thesis focuses on idea assessment problem area and contributes a number of solutions that allow to filter, compare and evaluate ideas submitted into an Idea Management System. With respect to Idea Management System interoperability the thesis proposes theoretical model of Idea Life Cycle and formalizes it as the Gi2MO ontology which enables to go beyond the boundaries of a single system to compare and assess innovation in an organization wide or market wide context. Furthermore, based on the ontology, the thesis builds a number of solutions for improving idea assessment via: community opinion analysis (MARL), annotation of idea characteristics (Gi2MO Types) and study of idea relationships (Gi2MO Links). The main achievements of the thesis are: application of theoretical innovation models for practice of Idea Management to successfully recognize the differentiation between communities, opinion metrics and their recognition as a new tool for idea assessment, discovery of new relationship types between ideas and their impact on idea clustering. Finally, the thesis outcome is establishment of Gi2MO Project that serves as an incubator for Idea Management solutions and mature open-source software alternatives for the widely available commercial suites. From the academic point of view the project delivers resources to undertake experiments in the Idea Management Systems area and managed to become a forum that gathered a number of academic and industrial partners. Resumen Los Sistemas de Gestión de Ideas son aplicaciones Web que implementan el concepto de innovación abierta con técnicas de crowdsourcing. Típicamente, las organizaciones utilizan ese tipo de sistemas para conectar con comunidades grandes y así recoger ideas sobre cómo mejorar productos o servicios. Los Sistemas de Gestión de Ideas lian avanzado más allá de recoger simplemente ideas de buzones de sugerencias y ahora aspiran ser una solución de gestión de conocimiento capaz de seleccionar las mejores ideas por medio de técnicas colaborativas, así como métodos de evaluación llevados a cabo por expertos. Sin embargo, en la práctica, los sistemas contemporáneos todavía se enfrentan a una serie de problemas, que, por lo general, están relacionados con la sobrecarga de información y el reconocimiento de las ideas de dudosa calidad con la asignación de un tiempo y un esfuerzo razonables. Esta tesis se centra en el área de la evaluación de ideas y aporta una serie de soluciones que permiten filtrar, comparar y evaluar las ideas publicadas en un Sistema de Gestión de Ideas. Con respecto a la interoperabilidad de los Sistemas de Gestión de Ideas, la tesis propone un modelo teórico del Ciclo de Vida de la Idea y lo formaliza como la ontología Gi2MO que permite ir más allá de los límites de un sistema único para comparar y evaluar la innovación en un contexto amplio dentro de cualquier organización o mercado. Por otra parte, basado en la ontología, la tesis desarrolla una serie de soluciones para mejorar la evaluación de las ideas a través de: análisis de las opiniones de la comunidad (MARL), la anotación de las características de las ideas (Gi2MO Types) y el estudio de las relaciones de las ideas (Gi2MO Links). Los logros principales de la tesis son: la aplicación de los modelos teóricos de innovación para la práctica de Sistemas de Gestión de Ideas para reconocer las diferenciasentre comu¬nidades, métricas de opiniones de comunidad y su reconocimiento como una nueva herramienta para la evaluación de ideas, el descubrimiento de nuevos tipos de relaciones entre ideas y su impacto en la agrupación de estas. Por último, el resultado de tesis es el establecimiento de proyecto Gi2MO que sirve como incubadora de soluciones para Gestión de Ideas y herramientas de código abierto ya maduras como alternativas a otros sistemas comerciales. Desde el punto de vista académico, el proyecto ha provisto de recursos a ciertos experimentos en el área de Sistemas de Gestión de Ideas y logró convertirse en un foro que reunión para un número de socios tanto académicos como industriales.

Berth Management in Container Terminals: Quality of Service

This paper empirically evaluates container terminal service attributes. The methodology proposed focuses on statistical control. Based on the concept of service segmentation, the authors employed control charts to classify container terminal services. The purpose of control charts is to allow simple detection of events that are indicative of actual process change. This simple decision can be difficult where the process characteristic is continuously varying, the control chart provides statistically objective criteria of change. When change is detected and considered good its cause should be identified and possibly become the new way of working, where the change is bad then its cause should be identified and eliminated. Both theoretical and practical implications of the research findings are discussed in this paper.

Berth management in container terminals: quality of service

This paper empirically evaluates container terminal service attributes. The methodology proposed focuses on statistical control. Based on the concept of service segmentation, we employed control charts to classify container terminal services. The purpose of control charts is to allow simple detection of events that are indicative of actual process change. This simple decision can be difficult where the process characteristic is continuously varying; the control chart provides statistically objective criteria of change. When change is detected and considered good its cause should be identified and possibly become the new way of working, where the change is bad then its cause should be identified and eliminated. This paper is organized as follows: Section 1 is the introduction, Section 2 provides a brief note on other studies that inspired this research, section 3 focuses on the methodology used, and develops the results obtained and finally conclusions are shown in Section 4. Theoretical and practical implications of the research findings are discussed.

An autonomic framework for enhancing the quality of data grid services

Data grid services have been used to deal with the increasing needs of applications in terms of data volume and throughput. The large scale, heterogeneity and dynamism of grid environments often make management and tuning of these data services very complex. Furthermore, current high-performance I/O approaches are characterized by their high complexity and specific features that usually require specialized administrator skills. Autonomic computing can help manage this complexity. The present paper describes an autonomic subsystem intended to provide self-management features aimed at efficiently reducing the I/O problem in a grid environment, thereby enhancing the quality of service (QoS) of data access and storage services in the grid. Our proposal takes into account that data produced in an I/O system is not usually immediately required. Therefore, performance improvements are related not only to current but also to any future I/O access, as the actual data access usually occurs later on. Nevertheless, the exact time of the next I/O operations is unknown. Thus, our approach proposes a long-term prediction designed to forecast the future workload of grid components. This enables the autonomic subsystem to determine the optimal data placement to improve both current and future I/O operations.

Riding out of the storm: How to deal with the complexity of grid and cloud management

Over the last decade, Grid computing paved the way for a new level of large scale distributed systems. This infrastructure made it possible to securely and reliably take advantage of widely separated computational resources that are part of several different organizations. Resources can be incorporated to the Grid, building a theoretical virtual supercomputer. In time, cloud computing emerged as a new type of large scale distributed system, inheriting and expanding the expertise and knowledge that have been obtained so far. Some of the main characteristics of Grids naturally evolved into clouds, others were modified and adapted and others were simply discarded or postponed. Regardless of these technical specifics, both Grids and clouds together can be considered as one of the most important advances in large scale distributed computing of the past ten years; however, this step in distributed computing has came along with a completely new level of complexity. Grid and cloud management mechanisms play a key role, and correct analysis and understanding of the system behavior are needed. Large scale distributed systems must be able to self-manage, incorporating autonomic features capable of controlling and optimizing all resources and services. Traditional distributed computing management mechanisms analyze each resource separately and adjust specific parameters of each one of them. When trying to adapt the same procedures to Grid and cloud computing, the vast complexity of these systems can make this task extremely complicated. But large scale distributed systems complexity could only be a matter of perspective. It could be possible to understand the Grid or cloud behavior as a single entity, instead of a set of resources. This abstraction could provide a different understanding of the system, describing large scale behavior and global events that probably would not be detected analyzing each resource separately. In this work we define a theoretical framework that combines both ideas, multiple resources and single entity, to develop large scale distributed systems management techniques aimed at system performance optimization, increased dependability and Quality of Service (QoS). The resulting synergy could be the key 350 J. Montes et al. to address the most important difficulties of Grid and cloud management.

Sustainable Air Traffic Management System Development Methodology

As it is defined in ATM 2000+ Strategy (Eurocontrol 2001), the mission of the Air Traffic Management (ATM) System is: “For all the phases of a flight, the ATM system should facilitate a safe, efficient, and expedite traffic flow, through the provision of adaptable ATM services that can be dimensioned in relation to the requirements of all the users and areas of the European air space. The ATM services should comply with the demand, be compatible, operate under uniform principles, respect the environment and satisfy the national security requirements.” The objective of this paper is to present a methodology designed to evaluate the status of the ATM system in terms of the relationship between the offered capacity and traffic demand, identifying weakness areas and proposing solutions. The first part of the methodology relates to the characterization and evaluation of the current system, while a second part proposes an approach to analyze the possible development limit. As part of the work, general criteria are established to define the framework in which the analysis and diagnostic methodology presented is placed. They are: the use of Air Traffic Control (ATC) sectors as analysis unit, the presence of network effects, the tactical focus, the relative character of the analysis, objectivity and a high level assessment that allows assumptions on the human and Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) elements, considered as the typical high density air traffic resources. The steps followed by the methodology start with the definition of indicators and metrics, like the nominal criticality or the nominal efficiency of a sector; scenario characterization where the necessary data is collected; network effects analysis to study the relations among the constitutive elements of the ATC system; diagnostic by means of the “System Status Diagram”; analytical study of the ATC system development limit; and finally, formulation of conclusions and proposal for improvement. This methodology was employed by Aena (Spanish Airports Manager and Air Navigation Service Provider) and INECO (Spanish Transport Engineering Company) in the analysis of the Spanish ATM System in the frame of the Spanish airspace capacity sustainability program, although it could be applied elsewhere.

Improving the capacity of software acquisition management: An Alternative methodology

The acquisition of the information system technologies using the services of an external supplier could be the the best options to reduce the implementation and maintenance cost of software solutions, and allows a company to improve the efficient use of its resources. The focus of this paper is to outline a methodology structure for the software acquisition management. The methodology proposed in this paper is the result of the study and the convergence of the weakness and strengths of some models (CMMI, SA-CMM, ISO/IEC TR 15504, COBIT, and ITIL) that include the software acquisition process.

The dicode workbench: A flexible framework for the integration of information and web services

Aiming to address requirements concerning integration of services in the context of ?big data?, this paper presents an innovative approach that (i) ensures a flexible, adaptable and scalable information and computation infrastructure, and (ii) exploits the competences of stakeholders and information workers to meaningfully confront information management issues such as information characterization, classification and interpretation, thus incorporating the underlying collective intelligence. Our approach pays much attention to the issues of usability and ease-of-use, not requiring any particular programming expertise from the end users. We report on a series of technical issues concerning the desired flexibility of the proposed integration framework and we provide related recommendations to developers of such solutions. Evaluation results are also discussed.

On a meaningful integration of web services in data-intensive biomedical environments: The DICODE approach

This paper reports on an innovative approach that aims to reduce information management costs in data-intensive and cognitively-complex biomedical environments. Recognizing the importance of prominent high-performance computing paradigms and large data processing technologies as well as collaboration support systems to remedy data-intensive issues, it adopts a hybrid approach by building on the synergy of these technologies. The proposed approach provides innovative Web-based workbenches that integrate and orchestrate a set of interoperable services that reduce the data-intensiveness and complexity overload at critical decision points to a manageable level, thus permitting stakeholders to be more productive and concentrate on creative activities.

MOIRA-PLUS use in decision making on the long-term management of contaminated freshwater bodies and catchments

In the mid-long-term after a nuclear accident, the contamination of drinking water sources, fish and other aquatic foodstuffs, irrigation supplies and people?s exposure during recreational activities may create considerable public concern, even though dose assessment may in certain situations indicate lesser importance than for other sources, as clearly experienced in the aftermath of past accidents. In such circumstances there are a number of available countermeasure options, ranging from specific chemical treatment of lakes to bans on fish ingestion or on the use of water for crop irrigation. The potential actions can be broadly grouped into four main categories, chemical, biological, physical and social. In some cases a combination of actions may be the optimal strategy and a decision support system (DSS) like MOIRA-PLUS can be of great help to optimise a decision. A further option is of course not to take any remedial actions, although this may also have significant socio-economic repercussions which should be adequately evaluated. MOIRA-PLUS is designed to allow for a reliable assessment of the long-term evolution of the radiological situation and of feasible alternative rehabilitation strategies, including an objective evaluation of their social, economic and ecological impacts in a rational and comprehensive manner. MOIRA-PLUS also features a decision analysis methodology, making use of multi-attribute analysis, which can take into account the preferences and needs of different types of stakeholders. The main functions and elements of the system are described summarily. Also the conclusions from end-user?s experiences with the system are discussed, including exercises involving the organizations responsible for emergency management and the affected services, as well as different local and regional stakeholders. MOIRAPLUS has proven to be a mature system, user friendly and relatively easy to set up. It can help to better decisionmaking by enabling a realistic evaluation of the complete impacts of possible recovery strategies. Also, the interaction with stakeholders has allowed identifying improvements of the system that have been recently implemented.

Open multi-technology building energy management system

Energy Efficiency is one of the goals of the Smart Building initiatives. This paper presents an Open Energy Management System which consists of an ontology-based multi-technology platform and a wireless transducer network using 6LoWPAN communication technology. The system allows the integration of several building automation protocols and eases the development of different kind of services to make use of them. The system has been implemented and tested in the Energy Efficiency Research Facility at CeDInt-UPM.

Bat-MP: An Ontology-Based Energy Management Platform

This paper presents an Ontology-Based multi-technology platform as part of an open energy management system which also comprises a wireless transducer network for control and monitoring. The platform allows the integration of several building automation protocols, eases the development and implementation of different kinds of services and allows sharing of the data of a building. The system has been implemented and tested in the Energy Efficiency Research Facility at CeDInt-UPM.

People and Facility Management. The team: the main asset of any management

From the moment we enter a large office building until we leave it, we receive a lot of attentions served by the management of services to the user. However, it is usually quite inappreciable the work that is being developed to keep things running smoothly.The services provided in a building are carried out by people. However, we often tend to forget these people when we talk about the tasks that make that a building operates properly 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.But, for example, what would happen if one day the service provided by the reception in a large building did not function as it should? What would it be like if one day the person performing the service of maintenance of the building's cleaning were not at his post? How would the working day develop if there were not a correct air handling system?People are the foundation of the proper functioning of a building. The work of the Facilities Manager and the Facility Management is the management of their functions: the responsible management of the team.

Fertilization Management: Assessing New Techniques and Key Interactions to Increase Crop Yields With Less N2O Emissions

El óxido nitroso (N2O) es un potente gas de efecto invernadero (GHG) proveniente mayoritariamente de la fertilización nitrogenada de los suelos agrícolas. Identificar estrategias de manejo de la fertilización que reduzcan estas emisiones sin suponer un descenso de los rendimientos es vital tanto a nivel económico como medioambiental. Con ese propósito, en esta Tesis se han evaluado: (i) estrategias de manejo directo de la fertilización (inhibidores de la nitrificación/ureasa); y (ii) interacciones de los fertilizantes con (1) el manejo del agua, (2) residuos de cosecha y (3) diferentes especies de plantas. Para conseguirlo se llevaron a cabo meta-análisis, incubaciones de laboratorio, ensayos en invernadero y experimentos de campo. Los inhibidores de la nitrificación y de la actividad ureasa se proponen habitualmente como medidas para reducir las pérdidas de nitrógeno (N), por lo que su aplicación estaría asociada al uso eficiente del N por parte de los cultivos (NUE). Sin embargo, su efecto sobre los rendimientos es variable. Con el objetivo de evaluar en una primera fase su efectividad para incrementar el NUE y la productividad de los cultivos, se llevó a cabo un meta-análisis. Los inhibidores de la nitrificación dicyandiamide (DCD) y 3,4-dimetilepyrazol phosphate (DMPP) y el inhibidor de la ureasa N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) fueron seleccionados para el análisis ya que generalmente son considerados las mejores opciones disponibles comercialmente. Nuestros resultados mostraron que su uso puede ser recomendado con el fin de incrementar tanto el rendimiento del cultivo como el NUE (incremento medio del 7.5% y 12.9%, respectivamente). Sin embargo, se observó que su efectividad depende en gran medida de los factores medioambientales y de manejo de los estudios evaluados. Una mayor respuesta fue encontrada en suelos de textura gruesa, sistemas irrigados y/o en cultivos que reciben altas tasas de fertilizante nitrogenado. En suelos alcalinos (pH ≥ 8), el inhibidor de la ureasa NBPT produjo el mayor efecto. Dado que su uso representa un coste adicional para los agricultores, entender las mejores prácticas que permitan maximizar su efectividad es necesario para posteriormente realizar comparaciones efectivas con otras prácticas que incrementen la productividad de los cultivos y el NUE. En base a los resultados del meta-análisis, se seleccionó el NBPT como un inhibidor con gran potencial. Inicialmente desarrollado para reducir la volatilización de amoniaco (NH3), en los últimos años algunos investigadores han demostrado en estudios de campo un efecto mitigador de este inhibidor sobre las pérdidas de N2O provenientes de suelos fertilizados bajo condiciones de baja humedad del suelo. Dada la alta variabilidad de los experimentos de campo, donde la humedad del suelo cambia rápidamente, ha sido imposible entender mecanísticamente el potencial de los inhibidores de la ureasa (UIs) para reducir emisiones de N2O y su dependencia con respecto al porcentaje de poros llenos de agua del suelo (WFPS). Por lo tanto se realizó una incubación en laboratorio con el propósito de evaluar cuál es el principal mecanismo biótico tras las emisiones de N2O cuando se aplican UIs bajo diferentes condiciones de humedad del suelo (40, 60 y 80% WFPS), y para analizar hasta qué punto el WFPS regula el efecto del inhibidor sobre las emisiones de N2O. Un segundo UI (i.e. PPDA) fue utilizado para comparar el efecto del NBPT con el de otro inhibidor de la ureasa disponible comercialmente; esto nos permitió comprobar si el efecto de NBPT es específico de ese inhibidor o no. Las emisiones de N2O al 40% WFPS fueron despreciables, siendo significativamente más bajas que las de todos los tratamientos fertilizantes al 60 y 80% WFPS. Comparado con la urea sin inhibidor, NBPT+U redujo las emisiones de N2O al 60% WFPS pero no tuvo efecto al 80% WFPS. La aplicación de PPDA incrementó significativamente las emisiones con respecto a la urea al 80% WFPS mientras que no se encontró un efecto significativo al 60% WFPS. Al 80% WFPS la desnitrificación fue la principal fuente de las emisiones de N2O en todos los tratamientos mientras que al 60% tanto la nitrificación como la desnitrificación tuvieron un papel relevante. Estos resultados muestran que un correcto manejo del NBPT puede suponer una estrategia efectiva para mitigar las emisiones de N2O. Con el objetivo de trasladar nuestros resultados de los estudios previos a condiciones de campo reales, se desarrolló un experimento en el que se evaluó la efectividad del NBPT para reducir pérdidas de N y aumentar la productividad durante un cultivo de cebada (Hordeum vulgare L.) en secano Mediterráneo. Se determinó el rendimiento del cultivo, las concentraciones de N mineral del suelo, el carbono orgánico disuelto (DOC), el potencial de desnitrificación, y los flujos de NH3, N2O y óxido nítrico (NO). La adición del inhibidor redujo las emisiones de NH3 durante los 30 días posteriores a la aplicación de urea en un 58% y las emisiones netas de N2O y NO durante los 95 días posteriores a la aplicación de urea en un 86 y 88%, respectivamente. El uso de NBPT también incrementó el rendimiento en grano en un 5% y el consumo de N en un 6%, aunque ninguno de estos incrementos fue estadísticamente significativo. Bajo las condiciones experimentales dadas, estos resultados demuestran el potencial del inhibidor de la ureasa NBPT para mitigar las emisiones de NH3, N2O y NO provenientes de suelos arables fertilizados con urea, mediante la ralentización de la hidrólisis de la urea y posterior liberación de menores concentraciones de NH4 + a la capa superior del suelo. El riego por goteo combinado con la aplicación dividida de fertilizante nitrogenado disuelto en el agua de riego (i.e. fertirriego por goteo) se considera normalmente una práctica eficiente para el uso del agua y de los nutrientes. Algunos de los principales factores (WFPS, NH4 + y NO3 -) que regulan las emisiones de GHGs (i.e. N2O, CO2 y CH4) y NO pueden ser fácilmente manipulados por medio del fertirriego por goteo sin que se generen disminuciones del rendimiento. Con ese propósito se evaluaron opciones de manejo para reducir estas emisiones en un experimento de campo durante un cultivo de melón (Cucumis melo L.). Los tratamientos incluyeron distintas frecuencias de riego (semanal/diario) y tipos de fertilizantes nitrogenados (urea/nitrato cálcico) aplicados por fertirriego. Fertirrigar con urea en lugar de nitrato cálcico aumentó las emisiones de N2O y NO por un factor de 2.4 y 2.9, respectivamente (P < 0.005). El riego diario redujo las emisiones de NO un 42% (P < 0.005) pero aumentó las emisiones de CO2 un 21% (P < 0.05) comparado con el riego semanal. Analizando el Poder de Calentamiento global en base al rendimiento así como los factores de emisión del NO, concluimos que el fertirriego semanal con un fertilizante de tipo nítrico es la mejor opción para combinar productividad agronómica con sostenibilidad medioambiental en este tipo de agroecosistemas. Los suelos agrícolas en las áreas semiáridas Mediterráneas se caracterizan por su bajo contenido en materia orgánica y bajos niveles de fertilidad. La aplicación de residuos de cosecha y/o abonos es una alternativa sostenible y eficiente desde el punto de vista económico para superar este problema. Sin embargo, estas prácticas podrían inducir cambios importantes en las emisiones de N2O de estos agroecosistemas, con impactos adicionales en las emisiones de CO2. En este contexto se llevó a cabo un experimento de campo durante un cultivo de cebada (Hordeum vulgare L.) bajo condiciones Mediterráneas para evaluar el efecto de combinar residuos de cosecha de maíz con distintos inputs de fertilizantes nitrogenados (purín de cerdo y/o urea) en estas emisiones. La incorporación de rastrojo de maíz incrementó las emisiones de N2O durante el periodo experimental un 105%. Sin embargo, las emisiones de NO se redujeron significativamente en las parcelas enmendadas con rastrojo. La sustitución parcial de urea por purín de cerdo redujo las emisiones netas de N2O un 46 y 39%, con y sin incorporación de residuo de cosecha respectivamente. Las emisiones netas de NO se redujeron un 38 y un 17% para estos mismos tratamientos. El ratio molar DOC:NO3 - demostró predecir consistentemente las emisiones de N2O y NO. El efecto principal de la interacción entre el fertilizante nitrogenado y el rastrojo de maíz se dio a los 4-6 meses de su aplicación, generando un aumento del N2O y una disminución del NO. La sustitución de urea por purín de cerdo puede considerarse una buena estrategia de manejo dado que el uso de este residuo orgánico redujo las emisiones de óxidos de N. Los pastos de todo el mundo proveen numerosos servicios ecosistémicos pero también suponen una importante fuente de emisión de N2O, especialmente en respuesta a la deposición de N proveniente del ganado mientras pasta. Para explorar el papel de las plantas como mediadoras de estas emisiones, se analizó si las emisiones de N2O dependen de la riqueza en especies herbáceas y/o de la composición específica de especies, en ausencia y presencia de una deposición de orina. Las hipótesis fueron: 1) las emisiones de N2O tienen una relación negativa con la productividad de las plantas; 2) mezclas de cuatro especies generan menores emisiones que monocultivos (dado que su productividad será mayor); 3) las emisiones son menores en combinaciones de especies con distinta morfología radicular y alta biomasa de raíz; y 4) la identidad de las especies clave para reducir el N2O depende de si hay orina o no. Se establecieron monocultivos y mezclas de dos y cuatro especies comunes en pastos con rasgos funcionales divergentes: Lolium perenne L. (Lp), Festuca arundinacea Schreb. (Fa), Phleum pratense L. (Php) y Poa trivialis L. (Pt), y se cuantificaron las emisiones de N2O durante 42 días. No se encontró relación entre la riqueza en especies y las emisiones de N2O. Sin embargo, estas emisiones fueron significativamente menores en ciertas combinaciones de especies. En ausencia de orina, las comunidades de plantas Fa+Php actuaron como un sumidero de N2O, mientras que los monocultivos de estas especies constituyeron una fuente de N2O. Con aplicación de orina la comunidad Lp+Pt redujo (P < 0.001) las emisiones de N2O un 44% comparado con los monocultivos de Lp. Las reducciones de N2O encontradas en ciertas combinaciones de especies pudieron explicarse por una productividad total mayor y por una complementariedad en la morfología radicular. Este estudio muestra que la composición de especies herbáceas es un componente clave que define las emisiones de N2O de los ecosistemas de pasto. La selección de combinaciones de plantas específicas en base a la deposición de N esperada puede, por lo tanto, ser clave para la mitigación de las emisiones de N2O. ABSTRACT Nitrous oxide (N2O) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) directly linked to applications of nitrogen (N) fertilizers to agricultural soils. Identifying mitigation strategies for these emissions based on fertilizer management without incurring in yield penalties is of economic and environmental concern. With that aim, this Thesis evaluated: (i) the use of nitrification and urease inhibitors; and (ii) interactions of N fertilizers with (1) water management, (2) crop residues and (3) plant species richness/identity. Meta-analysis, laboratory incubations, greenhouse mesocosm and field experiments were carried out in order to understand and develop effective mitigation strategies. Nitrification and urease inhibitors are proposed as means to reduce N losses, thereby increasing crop nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). However, their effect on crop yield is variable. A meta-analysis was initially conducted to evaluate their effectiveness at increasing NUE and crop productivity. Commonly used nitrification inhibitors (dicyandiamide (DCD) and 3,4-dimethylepyrazole phosphate (DMPP)) and the urease inhibitor N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) were selected for analysis as they are generally considered the best available options. Our results show that their use can be recommended in order to increase both crop yields and NUE (grand mean increase of 7.5% and 12.9%, respectively). However, their effectiveness was dependent on the environmental and management factors of the studies evaluated. Larger responses were found in coarse-textured soils, irrigated systems and/or crops receiving high nitrogen fertilizer rates. In alkaline soils (pH ≥ 8), the urease inhibitor NBPT produced the largest effect size. Given that their use represents an additional cost for farmers, understanding the best management practices to maximize their effectiveness is paramount to allow effective comparison with other practices that increase crop productivity and NUE. Based on the meta-analysis results, NBPT was identified as a mitigation option with large potential. Urease inhibitors (UIs) have shown to promote high N use efficiency by reducing ammonia (NH3) volatilization. In the last few years, however, some field researches have shown an effective mitigation of UIs over N2O losses from fertilized soils under conditions of low soil moisture. Given the inherent high variability of field experiments where soil moisture content changes rapidly, it has been impossible to mechanistically understand the potential of UIs to reduce N2O emissions and its dependency on the soil water-filled pore space (WFPS). An incubation experiment was carried out aiming to assess what is the main biotic mechanism behind N2O emission when UIs are applied under different soil moisture conditions (40, 60 and 80% WFPS), and to analyze to what extent the soil WFPS regulates the effect of the inhibitor over N2O emissions. A second UI (i.e. PPDA) was also used aiming to compare the effect of NBPT with that of another commercially available urease inhibitor; this allowed us to see if the effect of NBPT was inhibitor-specific or not. The N2O emissions at 40% WFPS were almost negligible, being significantly lower from all fertilized treatments than that produced at 60 and 80% WFPS. Compared to urea alone, NBPT+U reduced the N2O emissions at 60% WFPS but had no effect at 80% WFPS. The application of PPDA significantly increased the emissions with respect to U at 80% WFPS whereas no significant effect was found at 60% WFPS. At 80% WFPS denitrification was the main source of N2O emissions for all treatments. Both nitrification and denitrification had a determinant role on these emissions at 60% WFPS. These results suggest that adequate management of the UI NBPT can provide, under certain soil conditions, an opportunity for N2O mitigation. We translated our previous results to realistic field conditions by means of a field experiment with a barley crop (Hordeum vulgare L.) under rainfed Mediterranean conditions in which we evaluated the effectiveness of NBPT to reduce N losses and increase crop yields. Crop yield, soil mineral N concentrations, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), denitrification potential, NH3, N2O and nitric oxide (NO) fluxes were measured during the growing season. The inclusion of the inhibitor reduced NH3 emissions in the 30 d following urea application by 58% and net N2O and NO emissions in the 95 d following urea application by 86 and 88%, respectively. NBPT addition also increased grain yield by 5% and N uptake by 6%, although neither increase was statistically significant. Under the experimental conditions presented here, these results demonstrate the potential of the urease inhibitor NBPT in abating NH3, N2O and NO emissions from arable soils fertilized with urea, slowing urea hydrolysis and releasing lower concentrations of NH4 + to the upper soil layer. Drip irrigation combined with split application of N fertilizer dissolved in the irrigation water (i.e. drip fertigation) is commonly considered best management practice for water and nutrient efficiency. Some of the main factors (WFPS, NH4 + and NO3 -) regulating the emissions of GHGs (i.e. N2O, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)) and NO can easily be manipulated by drip fertigation without yield penalties. In this study, we tested management options to reduce these emissions in a field experiment with a melon (Cucumis melo L.) crop. Treatments included drip irrigation frequency (weekly/daily) and type of N fertilizer (urea/calcium nitrate) applied by fertigation. Crop yield, environmental parameters, soil mineral N concentrations, N2O, NO, CH4, and CO2 fluxes were measured during the growing season. Fertigation with urea instead of calcium nitrate increased N2O and NO emissions by a factor of 2.4 and 2.9, respectively (P < 0.005). Daily irrigation reduced NO emissions by 42% (P < 0.005) but increased CO2 emissions by 21% (P < 0.05) compared with weekly irrigation. Based on yield-scaled Global Warming Potential as well as NO emission factors, we conclude that weekly fertigation with a NO3 --based fertilizer is the best option to combine agronomic productivity with environmental sustainability. Agricultural soils in semiarid Mediterranean areas are characterized by low organic matter contents and low fertility levels. Application of crop residues and/or manures as amendments is a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to overcome this problem. However, these management practices may induce important changes in the nitrogen oxide emissions from these agroecosystems, with additional impacts on CO2 emissions. In this context, a field experiment was carried out with a barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) crop under Mediterranean conditions to evaluate the effect of combining maize (Zea mays L.) residues and N fertilizer inputs (organic and/or mineral) on these emissions. Crop yield and N uptake, soil mineral N concentrations, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), denitrification capacity, N2O, NO and CO2 fluxes were measured during the growing season. The incorporation of maize stover increased N2O emissions during the experimental period by c. 105 %. Conversely, NO emissions were significantly reduced in the plots amended with crop residues. The partial substitution of urea by pig slurry reduced net N2O emissions by 46 and 39 %, with and without the incorporation of crop residues respectively. Net emissions of NO were reduced 38 and 17 % for the same treatments. Molar DOC:NO3 - ratio was found to be a robust predictor of N2O and NO fluxes. The main effect of the interaction between crop residue and N fertilizer application occurred in the medium term (4-6 month after application), enhancing N2O emissions and decreasing NO emissions as consequence of residue incorporation. The substitution of urea by pig slurry can be considered a good management strategy since N2O and NO emissions were reduced by the use of the organic residue. Grassland ecosystems worldwide provide many important ecosystem services but they also function as a major source of N2O, especially in response to N deposition by grazing animals. In order to explore the role of plants as mediators of these emissions, we tested whether and how N2O emissions are dependent on grass species richness and/or specific grass species composition in the absence and presence of urine deposition. We hypothesized that: 1) N2O emissions relate negatively to plant productivity; 2) four-species mixtures have lower emissions than monocultures (as they are expected to be more productive); 3) emissions are lowest in combinations of species with diverging root morphology and high root biomass; and 4) the identity of the key species that reduce N2O emissions is dependent on urine deposition. We established monocultures and two- and four-species mixtures of common grass species with diverging functional traits: Lolium perenne L. (Lp), Festuca arundinacea Schreb. (Fa), Phleum pratense L. (Php) and Poa trivialis L. (Pt), and quantified N2O emissions for 42 days. We found no relation between plant species richness and N2O emissions. However, N2O emissions were significantly reduced in specific plant species combinations. In the absence of urine, plant communities of Fa+Php acted as a sink for N2O, whereas the monocultures of these species constituted a N2O source. With urine application Lp+Pt plant communities reduced (P < 0.001) N2O emissions by 44% compared to monocultures of Lp. Reductions in N2O emissions by species mixtures could be explained by total biomass productivity and by complementarity in root morphology. Our study shows that plant species composition is a key component underlying N2O emissions from grassland ecosystems. Selection of specific grass species combinations in the context of the expected nitrogen deposition regimes may therefore provide a key management practice for mitigation of N2O emissions.

SMArc: a proposal for a smart, semantic middleware architecture focused on Smart City energy management

Among the main features that are intended to become part of what can be expected from the Smart City, one of them should be an improved energy management system, in order to benefit from a healthier relation with the environment, minimize energy expenses, and offer dynamic market opportunities. A Smart Grid seems like a very suitable infrastructure for this objective, as it guarantees a two-way information flow that will provide the means for energy management enhancement. However, to obtain all the required information, another entity must care about all the devices required to gather the data. What is more, this entity must consider the lifespan of the devices within the Smart Grid—when they are turned on and off or when new appliances are added—along with the services that devices are able to provide. This paper puts forward SMArc—an acronym for semantic middleware architecture—as a middleware proposal for the Smart Grid, so as to process the collected data and use it to insulate applications from the complexity of the metering facilities and guarantee that any change that may happen at these lower levels will be updated for future actions in the system.