Spatial distribution of ichthyofauna in the northern Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean)

This study describes the four main demersal fish assemblages identified along the continental shelf and slope (30–800 m depth) of the northern Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean), based on the analysis of the MEDITS (International bottom trawl survey in the Mediterranean) 12-year data series. We collected 186 fish species belonging to three classes, 24 orders and 69 families. Taxonomically, the order Perciformes was the most diverse, represented by 18 families and 58 species. Each assemblage had particular characteristics of abundance, biomass, mean fish weight and species richness. The geographical differences associated with the distribution of some species occurred within shelf assemblages. The middle slope was characterised by the highest similarity between samples, probably due to its lower environmental variability compared to that of the other assemblages.     

Extensive halogen-mediated ozone destruction over the tropical Atlantic Ocean

Increasing tropospheric ozone levels over the past 150 years have led to a significant climate perturbation; the prediction of future trends in tropospheric ozone will require a full understanding of both its precursor emissions and its destruction processes. A large proportion of tropospheric ozone loss occurs in the tropical marine boundary layer and is thought to be driven primarily by high ozone photolysis rates in the presence of high concentrations of water vapour. A further reduction in the tropospheric ozone burden through bromine and iodine emitted from open-ocean marine sources has been postulated by numerical models, but thus far has not been verified by observations. Here we report eight months of spectroscopic measurements at the Cape Verde Observatory indicative of the ubiquitous daytime presence of bromine monoxide and iodine monoxide in the tropical marine boundary layer. A year-round data set of co-located in situ surface trace gas measurements made in conjunction with low-level aircraft observations shows that the mean daily observed ozone loss is approximately 50 per cent greater than that simulated by a global chemistry model using a classical photochemistry scheme that excludes halogen chemistry. We perform box model calculations that indicate that the observed halogen concentrations induce the extra ozone loss required for the models to match observations. Our results show that halogen chemistry has a significant and extensive influence on photochemical ozone loss in the tropical Atlantic Ocean boundary layer. The omission of halogen sources and their chemistry in atmospheric models may lead to significant errors in calculations of global ozone budgets, tropospheric oxidizing capacity and methane oxidation rates, both historically and in the future.     

Individual Actions as Community Informative Resources. A Collective Informative Systems Approach

This paper conceives communities (in this case, partnerships) as being able to become collective informative repositories of individual and collective actions that may better-inform their members. This paper presents one approach for studying if a community has become such an informative repository. The approach used here consists of introducing a formal language (Viable Systems Modelling, VSM) into one of the community nodes (a participant) and tracing if its use is seen in another node (another participant) - indicating the presence of a process of diffusion. This research design has been tested in a crime-reduction partnership in the UK. One of its members was asked to engage in the design and testing of this approach as a co-researcher. As a result, a questionnaire to map communication and control devices inside an organization was jointly developed. In keeping with VSM principles, the questionnaire encouraged participants to reflect on attenuation and amplification processes within their communications channels. To test the quality of the outcomes of this approach, members from another crime-reduction partnership were also invited to answer the survey; this was to confirm that VSM notions were not evident for those outside the development and testing of the questionnaire. The questionnaire indicated also its capability to make visible communication and organizational processes within collectives and its potential to stimulate self-organization, for those individuals who became familiar with VSM. Furthermore, this approach provided the authors with the capability to study information flows inside the two collectives, and contributed to an understanding of these flows as a model for building and maintaining a Community Informative System.     

Systemic Analysis of the Soccer (Football) Value Chain: Learning from the Brazilian Context

Soccer (football) is identified as the most popular sport in the world with a high turnover of economic-financial resources. The different segments of the soccer (football) value chain exert mutual influence on the variables that rule the dynamics of this sector. In this sense it is necessary to identify the variables that represent the soccer (football) value chain systemically; to understand the interrelationships between these variables, the main difficulties derived from this interrelationship and to point out variables that require actions to increment the results of the soccer (football) value chain as a whole. Hence, this study applied a semi-structured questionnaire with open-ended questions about the problems and leveraging variables that exist in this sports modality. A causal linkage diagram was elaborated based on the answers to the interviews, showing the systemic structure of the soccer (football) value chain in Brazil, whose premise it is to identify the existing circularities and the possibly existing points of leverage. The systemic structure pointed to the economic participation of soccer (football) in the Gross Domestic Product as a central variable to be leveraged, which tends to synthetize the results of the joint action of the actors in this chain. Furthermore, the variables that may limit or amplify the growth were identified. The systemic structure showed that the soccer (football) commodity chain is complex because of the great number of variables and interrelationships needed to represent its dynamics. The relationship between the actors also proved to be a factor of impact on economic and social development.     

Melatonin,clock genes and mitochondria in sepsis

After the characterization of the central pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the expression of clock genes was identified in several peripheral tissues including the immune system. The hierarchical control from the central clock to peripheral clocks extends to other functions including endocrine, metabolic, immune, and mitochondrial responses. Increasing evidence links the disruption of the clock genes expression with multiple diseases and aging. Chronodisruption is associated with alterations of the immune system, immunosenescence, impairment of energy metabolism, and reduction of pineal and extrapineal melatonin production. Regarding sepsis, a condition coursing with an exaggerated response of innate immunity, experimental and clinical data showed an alteration of circadian rhythms that reflects the loss of the normal oscillation of the clock. Moreover, recent data point to that some mediators of the immune system affects the normal function of the clock. Under specific conditions, this control disappears reactivating the immune response. So, it seems that clock gene disruption favors the innate immune response, which in turn induces the expression of proinflammatory mediators, causing a further alteration of the clock. Here, the clock control of the mitochondrial function turns off, leading to a bioenergetic decay and formation of reactive oxygen species that, in turn, activate the inflammasome. This arm of the innate immunity is responsible for the huge increase of interleukin-1β and entrance into a vicious cycle that could lead to the death of the patient. The broken clock is recovered by melatonin administration, that is accompanied by the normalization of the innate immunity and mitochondrial homeostasis. Thus, this review emphasizes the connection between clock genes, innate immunity and mitochondria in health and sepsis, and the role of melatonin to maintain clock homeostasis.     

Gibbs, Einstein and the Foundations of Statistical Mechanics

It is generally accepted that, around the turn of the century, GIBBS and EINSTEIN independently developed two equivalent formulations of statistical mechanics. GIBBS version is taken as genuine and rigorous, while EINSTEINs, despite some features which are characteristic of him, is usually considered a not totally satisfactory attempt. It will be shown in the present work that such a picture is oversimplified and requires further nuancing. In fact, there are significant differences, with important implications which have not been sufficiently examined, between the two formulations. Several issues relating to the impact of the two versions will also be addressed. (Received April 4, 1998)     

协同网络组织——新型商业模式的研究议程

最近涌现出的协同网络组织（CNO）或者称为简单协同网络的概念正在根本性地改变着商业、工业、文化和社会行为的组织形式，它代表着一个动态、多学科的研究和开发领域。本书从包含在协同网络组织中的各个学科里总结出了一些建议，目的在于为悄然兴起的协同网络建立起一系列的研究议程。本书罗列的建议和结论都得自于“THINK创新”计划，该计划涉及到了跨越学术、研究和工业领域250余位专家和预言家。     

计算数学基础：Santander年会2005

本书是2005年6月30日-7月9日在西班牙Santander举行的“计算数学基础”国际会议的论文集。该会议由计算数学基础协会举办。自1995年起每两至三年召开一次，目的是促进计算数学的基础研究，并注意与数学、计算机科学的交叉以及各种新应用。本次会议为第4次，有数百人参加，计有18个大会报告及多个分组会议，[第一段]