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The use of adapted wavelets for pattern recognition is very attractive because of the multiscalarity of the wavelet transform. However, the good performance of these algorithms in pattern detection strongly depends on the construction of the filters adapted to the pattern of interest. The Discrete Shapelet Transform II [9] (DST-II) is an algorithm inspired by the wavelet transform, which allows the design of tailored filters for pattern detection in one-dimensional signals. The construction of these filters requires the solution of a system of nonlinear equations, which according to [9] can be performed by any iterative method. This research presents a novel and comprehensive numerical study that demonstrates the impact of the choice of the appropriate numerical method for the solution of the nonlinear system in DST-II. The efficiency of the estimated filters has an impact on the performance of this transform in pattern detection. The best results are obtained by combining Newton’s method with preiteration using the continuation algorithm. The convergence achieved for 55,37% of the patterns suggests that DST-II could be suitable for patterns with specific shapes, useful in biomedical signal applications., El uso de wavelets adaptadas para el reconocimiento de patrones es muy atractivo por la multiescalaridad de la transformada wavelet. Sin embargo, el buen desempeño de estos algoritmos en la detección de patrones depende fuertemente de la construcción de los filtros adaptados al patrón de interés. La Transformada Shapelet Discreta II [9] (DST-II) es un algoritmo inspirado en la transformada wavelet, que permite el diseño de filtros a la medida para la detección de patrones en señales unidimensionales. La construcción de estos filtros requiere la solución de un sistema de ecuaciones no lineales, que según [9] se puede efectuar mediante cualquier método iterativo. Esta investigación presenta un novedoso y exhaustivo estudio numérico que demuestra el impacto de la elección del método numérico adecuado para la solución del sistema no lineal en la DST-II. La eficacia de los filtros estimados repercute en el desempeño de esta transformada en la detección de patrones. Los mejores resultados se obtienen al combinar el método de Newton con preiteración mediante el algoritmo de continuación. La convergencia alcanzada para el 55, 37% de los patrones sugiere que la DST-II podría ser adecuada para patrones con formas específicas, de utilidad en aplicaciones sobre señales biomédicas.

In the Dominican Republic, inequalities threaten progress towards childhood vaccination equity and coverage, the latter being inferior to the World Health Organization's 90% goal. Objective: Identify the social determinants and inequa-lities in the state of childhood vaccination in the Domi-nican Republic, 2019.Methods: An analysis based on the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys is conducted. Including a weighted sample of 1674 children aged 12-23 months. The multinomial logistic regression is calculated to identify factors associated with vaccination. Using p<0,05 for statistical significance and an adjusted probability ratio with a 95% confidence interval. Employing HEAT 4.0 to measure inequalities and SPSS.23 for data manage-ment and analysis.Results: The children’s mean age was 17,4±3,5 months. 33% of them were completely vaccinated. Coverage was significantly lower in children of mothers without education [AOR= 7,27; CI95%= 2,98–17,74]. Cove-rage was the highest in kids with high levels of educa-tion and wealth.Conclusion: To achieve complete and equitable vaccine coverage, public health interventions should be designed to satisfy the needs of high-risk groups., Las desigualdades amenazan el progreso del país hacia la equidad y la cobertura de vacunación infantil. Siendo la cobertura inferior a la meta del 90% de la Organización Mundial de la Salud. Objetivo: Identificar los determinantes sociales y las desigualdades en el estado de vacunación infantil en República Dominicana, 2019.Métodos: Se realiza un análisis basado en la Encuesta de Indicadores Múltiples por Conglomerados. Inclu-yendo una muestra ponderada de 1674 niños de 12-23 meses. Se calcula la regresión logística multinomial para identificar factores asociados a la vacunación. Adop-tando p<0,05 para significación estadística. Utilizando una razón de probabilidades ajustada con intervalo de confianza del 95%. Empleando HEAT 4.0 para medir desigualdades y SPSS.23 para gestión y análisis de datos.Resultados: La edad media de los niños fue 17,4±3,5 meses. El 33% de ellos estaban completamente vacu-nados. La cobertura fue significativamente menor entre hijos de madre sin educación [AOR= 7,27; IC95%= 2,98–17,74]. La mayor cobertura se concentra en niños con altos niveles de educación y riqueza.Conclusión: Para lograr una cobertura de vacuna-ción completa y equitativa, las intervenciones de salud pública deben diseñarse para satisfacer las necesidades de grupos de alto riesgo.

Numerosos estudios han demostrado que la realidad virtual (RV) es una tecnología educativa con un gran potencial para el desarrollo de competencias. Su integración requiere la movilización de recursos cognitivos por parte del alumnado, por lo que el diseño de las acciones formativas con RV deben ser óptimas. En este sentido, los objetivos de este estudio es conocer la carga cognitiva que produce la interacción con objetos de aprendizaje producidos en la modalidad RV y con objetos en 360º, así como analizar la evaluación de la misma por parte del alumnado y sus relaciones. Para ello, 136 médicos en formación respondieron dos cuestionarios: carga cognitiva y evaluación de la calidad de la acción formativa. Los resultados mostraron altos niveles de carga cognitiva pertinente y bajos de esfuerzo mentar, carga cognitiva interna y extrínseca. Además, la autopercepción de la calidad de la acción formativa es alta, con niveles de correlación entre las distintas dimensiones. Por ello, concluye demostrando el potencial de la RV como tecnología educativa y abre nuevas vías para la investigación relacionada., Different studies have shown that virtual reality (VR) is an educational technology with great potential for the development of skills. Its integration requires the mobilization of cognitive resources by the students, so the design of the training actions with VR must be optimal. In this sense, the objectives of this study is to know the cognitive load produced by the interaction with learning objects produced in the VR modality and with objects in 360º, as well as to analyze the evaluation of the same by the students and their relationships. To do this, 136 medical students answered two questionnaires: cognitive load and evaluation of the quality of the training action. The results showed high levels of relevant cognitive load and low levels of mental effort, internal and extrinsic cognitive load. In addition, the self perception of the quality of the training action is high, with levels of correlation between the different dimensions. Therefore, it concludes by demonstrating the potential of VR as an educational technology and opens new avenues for related research.

Ocean warming and acidification, decreases in dissolved oxygen concentrations, and changes in primary production are causing an unprecedented global redistribution of marine life. The identification of underlying ecological processes underpinning marine species turnover, particularly the prevalence of increases of warm-water species or declines of cold-water species, has been recently debated in the context of ocean warming. Here, we track changes in the mean thermal affinity of marine communities across European seas by calculating the Community Temperature Index for 65 biodiversity time series collected over four decades and containing 1,817 species from different communities (zooplankton, coastal benthos, pelagic and demersal invertebrates and fish). We show that most communities and sites have clearly responded to ongoing ocean warming via abundance increases of warm-water species (tropicalization, 54%) and decreases of cold-water species (deborealization, 18%). Tropicalization dominated Atlantic sites compared to semi-enclosed basins such as the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, probably due to physical barrier constraints to connectivity and species colonization. Semi-enclosed basins appeared to be particularly vulnerable to ocean warming, experiencing the fastest rates of warming and biodiversity loss through deborealization.

Ocean warming and acidification, decreases in dissolved oxygen concentrations, and changes in primary production are causing an unprecedented global redistribution of marine life. The identification of underlying ecological processes underpinning marine species turnover, particularly the prevalence of increases of warm-water species or declines of cold-water species, has been recently debated in the context of ocean warming. Here, we track changes in the mean thermal affinity of marine communities across European seas by calculating the Community Temperature Index for 65 biodiversity time series collected over four decades and containing 1,817 species from different communities (zooplankton, coastal benthos, pelagic and demersal invertebrates and fish). We show that most communities and sites have clearly responded to ongoing ocean warming via abundance increases of warm-water species (tropicalization, 54%) and decreases of cold-water species (deborealization, 18%). Tropicalization dominated Atlantic sites compared to semi-enclosed basins such as the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, probably due to physical barrier constraints to connectivity and species colonization. Semi-enclosed basins appeared to be particularly vulnerable to ocean warming, experiencing the fastest rates of warming and biodiversity loss through deborealization.

Accounting for marine stocks spatiotemporal complexity has become one of the most pressing improvements that should be added to the new generation of stock assessment. Disentangling persistent and dynamic population subcomponents and understanding their main drivers of variation are still stock-specific challenges. Here, we hypothesized that the spatiotemporal variability of two adjacent fish stocks density is associated with spatially structured environmental processes across multiple spatiotemporal scales. To test this, we applied a generalized Empirical Orthogonal Function and Dynamic Factor Analysis to fishery-independent and -dependent data of red mullet, a highly commercial species, in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Areas with persistent and dynamic high aggregations were detected for both stock units. A large-scale climatic index and local open-ocean convection were associated with both stocks while other variables exhibited stock-specific effects. We also revealed spatially structured density dynamics within the examined management units. This suggests a metapopulation structure and supports the future implementation of a spatial stock assessment. Considering the common assumptions of panmictic structure and absence of connectivity with neighbouring stock units, our methodology can be applied to other species and systems with putative spatial complexity to inform a more accurate structure of biological populations.

The Mediterranean Sea stands out as one of the most vulnerable ecosystems on global scale, facing an array of cumulative impacts, including high climate risks. Climate velocity drives species shifts and redistributions, which has led to changes at different ecosystem levels. However, it is necessary to examine how commercial marine species respond at regional and seasonal levels, which is often the optimal management scale. Here, we analyzed time series data on bottom-trawl fisheries landings (2007 to 2021) and explored seasonal variations using climate velocity and relative climate exposure as metrics of potential range shifts (1987 to 2021) in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, we examined the impact of climate connectivity, using climate velocity trajectories and temperature preferences, along with life-history traits of commercial species. The outcomes of our study showed fluctuations in climate velocity across diverse spatial and seasonal scales. We identified a relationship between the abundance of most captured commercial species and seasonal climate velocity. These variations were also influenced by the temperature preferences and the life-history traits of these species and, play a key role in the climate connectivity between the network of Marine Protected Areas. We conclude that climate velocity metrics are valuable to comprehend how economically important marine species respond in the Western Mediterranean Sea at regional and seasonal levels. Using this knowledge, we can develop climate-smart management strategies, contributing to biodiversity conservation and the preservation of crucial ecosystem services, while mitigating the risks associated with future maladaptation.

One of the main limitations in the application of stable isotopes to marine trophic ecology is obtaining a reliable baseline upon which to calculate isotopic enrichment. Isotopic baselines are variable in space and time, influenced by several environmental factors such as terrestrial runoff, oceanic currents or primary production, and thus, investigating their patterns of variability is essential to gain confidence in the estimates of trophic position based on isotopic signatures. We here propose a multispecies and multitrophic approach to study baseline isoscapes for nitrogen (¿15N) and carbon (¿13C), which we test on the demersal community of the Northwestern Iberian Peninsula. Using a set of 372 isotopic data of 11 demersal fish species sampled during autumn, we modelled the spatial variability of the isotopic baseline (for ¿15N and ¿13C separately) by removing the biological effect of species identity and individual length. Using the residuals of these models, which represent the isotopic baseline anomalies, we investigated the effect of environmental variables in driving the observed spatial patterns. Our results identify clear and consistent spatial patterns for the ¿13C isotopic baseline. This isoscape achieved the lowest values in the westernmost part of the study area (Galician coast) increasing towards the east (Cantabrian Sea). This spatial pattern was mostly driven by primary production and organic matter in the sediment, reflecting the influence of upwelling intensity in the ¿13C isotopic baseline over the study area. Baseline isotopic anomalies of ¿15N, on the other hand, did not show clear spatial patterns, suggesting that for this isotopic baseline spatial patterns at the regional scale might not be as consistent. Our study brings forward the potential of multispecies isotopic data for approximating the environmental isotopic baselines for the whole ecosystem.

Accounting for marine stocks spatiotemporal complexity has become one of the most pressing improvements that should be added to the new generation of stock assessment. Disentangling persistent and dynamic population subcomponents and understanding their main drivers of variation are still stock-specific challenges. Here, we hypothesized that the spatiotemporal variability of density in two adjacent fish stocks is associated with spatially structured environmental processes across multiple spatiotemporal scales. To test this, we applied a generalized empirical orthogonal function and dynamic factor analysis to fishery-independent and -dependent data of red mullet, a highly commercial species, in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Areas with persistent and dynamic high aggregations were detected for both stock units. A large-scale climatic index and local open-ocean convection were associated with both stocks, while other variables exhibited stock-specific effects. We also revealed spatially structured density dynamics within the examined management units. This suggests a metapopulation structure and supports the future implementation of a spatial stock assessment. Considering the common—generally unrealistic—assumptions of panmictic structure and absence of connectivity with neighbouring stock units, our methodology can be applied to other species and systems with putative spatial complexity to inform more accurate population dynamics and structure.

Increasing impacts of both fisheries and climate change have resulted in shifts in the structure and functioning of marine communities. One recurrent observation is the rise of cephalopods as fish recede. This is generally attributed to the removal of main predators and competitors by fishing, while mechanistic evidence is still lacking. In addition, climate change may influence cephalopods due to their high environmental sensitivity. We aim to unveil the effects of different anthropogenic and environmental drivers at different scales focusing on the cephalopod community of the Western Mediterranean Sea. We investigate several ecological indicators offering a wide range of information about their ecology, and statistically relating them with environmental, biotic and fisheries drivers. Our results highlight non-linear changes of indicators along with spatial differences in their responses. Overall, the environment drivers have greater effects than biotic and local human impacts with contrasting effects of temperature across the geographic gradient. We conclude that cephalopods may be impacted by climate change in the future while not necessary through positive warming influence, which should make us cautious when referring to them as generalized winners of current changes

Ocean warming and acidification, decreases in dissolved oxygen concentrations, and changes in primary production are causing an unprecedented global redistribution of marine life. The identification of underlying ecological processes underpinning marine species turnover, particularly the prevalence of increases of warm-water species or declines of cold-water species, has been recently debated in the context of ocean warming. Here, we track changes in the mean thermal affinity of marine communities across European seas by calculating the Community Temperature Index for 65 biodiversity time series collected over four decades and containing 1,817 species from different communities (zooplankton, coastal benthos, pelagic and demersal invertebrates and fish). We show that most communities and sites have clearly responded to ongoing ocean warming via abundance increases of warm-water species (tropicalization, 54%) and decreases of cold-water species (deborealization, 18%). Tropicalization dominated Atlantic sites compared to semi-enclosed basins such as the Mediterranean and Baltic Seas, probably due to physical barrier constraints to connectivity and species colonization. Semi-enclosed basins appeared to be particularly vulnerable to ocean warming, experiencing the fastest rates of warming and biodiversity loss through deborealization

The increasing reliance on Deep Learning models, combined with their inherent lack of transparency, has spurred the development of a novel field of study known as eXplainable AI (XAI) methods. These methods seek to enhance the trust of end-users in automated systems by providing insights into the rationale behind their decisions. This paper presents a novel approach for measuring user trust in XAI systems, allowing their refinement. Our proposed metric combines both performance metrics and trust indicators from an objective perspective. To validate this novel methodology, we conducted a case study in a realistic medical scenario: the usage of XAI system for the detection of pneumonia from x-ray images.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories. For the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), a benthopelagic species, juveniles' body condition was detected to be positively linked to survival and negatively associated with the growth of this age group. For the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), the same pattern was observed for young adults. We also show that the observed patterns on a regional level have a clear spatial dependence as we found that observed body condition over a local scale had a broad effect on the population dynamics of the whole region, with the Ebro delta area emerging as the demographic engine of the two species. We discuss our results in the context of fisheries management and underline the importance of improving current stock assessment models and spatially based fishery management towards incorporating body condition and growth due to their influence on important parameters such as survival.

Ensuring an economically viable, sustainable and low CO2 emission extractive fishery is critical in order to achieve the life below water UN sustainable development goals and the climate change commitments of Paris agreement. This challenge is even more relevant in the most overexploited region of the world: The Mediterranean Sea. Here, we use the socio-ecological system of the Spanish Mediterranean commercial fisheries (Northern Alboran Sea, Northern Spain and the Balearic Islands) to develop an integrative impact assessment, including detailed socio-economic, ecosystem indices of the trophic structure of extractive fishery and CO2 emission analyses combining different gear, vessel size classes as well as a wide range estimation of carbon release from the seafloor by bottom trawling. Northern Alboran Sea preferentially requires reduction in purse seine fishery while in Northern Spain bottom trawling should be reduced first to reach sustainable exploitation. Fuel CO2 footprint of purse seine and bottom trawling are among the lowest footprints of animal protein production, but considering sweeping released CO2 from the seafloor the bottom trawling footprint becomes the animal protein production with the highest footprint. Moreover, the lowest bottom released CO2 estimation overrides 2.7-10 times the CO2 buried in the seafloor through the biological pump in trawled areas potentially turning the continental shelf from a CO2 sink to a CO2 source. Net profit per fuel derived CO2 emission for all fleets is lower than 1€ kgCO2-1, being lowest for large bottom trawler (0.025 € kgCO2-1). Thus, urgent mitigation and adaptation measures are necessary to obtain sustainable fishery in terms of net profit, sustainable seafood extraction and CO2 emission reduction. Our study provides scientific bases to develop these measures such as the restriction of harmful fishing gear in carbon rich river influenced areas, reduction of bottom contact of the fishing gear, favouring purse seine

Small pelagic fish (SPF) are fundamental components of marine food webs and are subject to boom and bust periods ascribed to the interactive effects of fishing and climate, which vary depending on species' demography and life-history traits and determine the signal that we observe in fisheries time series. However, it is poorly understood how the biology of SPFs and habitat structure shape their population demography and responses to fishing and climate. This study evaluates the influence of life-history traits and the environment on the demography and the response to exploitation and climate for 14 populations of SPFs occurring in the European Atlantic Seas. Using age-structured population matrix models we calculated elasticities to characterize the contribution of recruitment to population growth rate. We then evaluated the association between biological traits and environmental conditions (mean, seasonality, and predictability) with average recruitment elasticity and demography. Finally, we quantified the effects of biological traits and geography in shaping the temporal responses of each population's recruitment elasticities to demography, exploitation, and climate. For all species, population growth rate correlated positively with the elasticity to the recruitment, implying that long-term persistence is driven by the contribution of recruitment. Greater elasticity was found for populations with younger spawners, earlier maturation, and higher somatic growth rate inhabiting less predictable thermal ecosystems but with more temporally similar wind conditions. Among populations, fast growers had a stronger negative relationship between demographic structure and the importance of recruitment. At high fishing pressure, populations became increasingly dependent on recruitment though this relationship was less important for fast growers which, on average, sustained higher levels of exploitation. In turn, fast-maturing populations responded more strongly to the mean, s

Understanding how pollination services can be maintained in increasingly anthropogenic landscapes is a current challenge for basic and applied ecology. The stability of plant-pollinator communities might increase in heterogeneous landscapes with a high diversity of species and alternative habitats, both through increased portfolio effect (property of communities to fluctuate less than the sum of its counterparts) and decreased synchrony (coincident changes in species abundance). However, how these drivers of stability (portfolio effect and synchrony) vary along land-use gradients remains largely unknown. Using independent samplings for plants, pollinators, and their interactions in Mediterranean communities along a gradient of landscape heterogeneity, we assessed the relationships between within-year stability and its drivers; and between the drivers of stability, landscape heterogeneity, and species diversity. Besides, we evaluated the relationships between the drivers of interaction stability and the structure of mutualistic networks (modularity, nestedness, connectance). Stability increased with larger portfolio effects and asynchronies. Interaction stability was positively related to pollinator stability, but not to plant stability. Landscape evenness increased the stability of plants, pollinators, and their interactions, through increased portfolio effects. However, for plants and pollinators, the landscape effect was detected at a smaller scale (1-km) than for interactions (2-km); and for pollinators and interactions, the effect was only evident from medium-to-high levels of landscape evenness. Temporal synchrony of species/pairwise interactions was an important driver of stability, tightly linked to species/interaction diversity. More asynchronous communities showed a larger portfolio effect and were also those with higher species evenness for all plants, pollinators, and their interactions; while synchrony was also weakly positively related to species richne

Measures of egg volume of three seabirds: the Scopoli's shearwater Calonectis diomedea, the Sandwich tern Thalasseus sandvicensis and the Audouin’s gull Ichthyaetus audouinii in three colonies of the Western Mediterranean.

The development of digital teaching competence is one of the fundamental requirements of what is known as the “knowledge society”. With the aim of evaluating, from an expert point of view, the design of a training itinerary oriented to the training development of non-university teachers under the t-MOOC architecture for the improvement of digital teaching competence (DTC), the following quantitative research is presented. For this purpose, a quantitative validation design was established using the expert judgement technique. To measure the level of the expert coefficient, the expert competence (K) index was calculated for a random sample of 292 subjects participating in the study: teachers belonging to preschool and primary schools in the Andalusian community. The responses of those experts who scored 0.8 on the external competence index were then selected. The results demonstrate the validity of the tool produced (T-MOOC) as well as the uniformity of the criteria of the experts participating in the evaluation. Consequently, the necessary structuring of personalised training plans supported by reference models is discussed.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories. For the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), a benthopelagic species, juveniles' body condition was detected to be positively linked to survival and negatively associated with the growth of this age group. For the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), the same pattern was observed for young adults. We also show that the observed patterns on a regional level have a clear spatial dependence as we found that observed body condition over a local scale had a broad effect on the population dynamics of the whole region, with the Ebro delta area emerging as the demographic engine of the two species. We discuss our results in the context of fisheries management and underline the importance of improving current stock assessment models and spatially based fishery management towards incorporating body condition and growth due to their influence on important parameters such as survival.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories. For the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), a benthopelagic species, juveniles' body condition was detected to be positively linked to survival and negatively associated with the growth of this age group. For the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), the same pattern was observed for young adults. We also show that the observed patterns on a regional level have a clear spatial dependence as we found that observed body condition over a local scale had a broad effect on the population dynamics of the whole region, with the Ebro delta area emerging as the demographic engine of the two species. We discuss our results in the context of fisheries management and underline the importance of improving current stock assessment models and spatially based fishery management towards incorporating body condition and growth due to their influence on important parameters such as survival.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories. For the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), a benthopelagic species, juveniles' body condition was detected to be positively linked to survival and negatively associated with the growth of this age group. For the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), the same pattern was observed for young adults. We also show that the observed patterns on a regional level have a clear spatial dependence as we found that observed body condition over a local scale had a broad effect on the population dynamics of the whole region, with the Ebro delta area emerging as the demographic engine of the two species. We discuss our results in the context of fisheries management and underline the importance of improving current stock assessment models and spatially based fishery management towards incorporating body condition and growth due to their influence on important parameters such as survival.

The development of digital teaching competence is one of the fundamental requirements of what is known as the “knowledge society”. With the aim of evaluating, from an expert point of view, the design of a training itinerary oriented to the training development of non-university teachers under the t-MOOC architecture for the improvement of digital teaching competence (DTC), the following quantitative research is presented. For this purpose, a quantitative validation design was established using the expert judgement technique. To measure the level of the expert coefficient, the expert competence (K) index was calculated for a random sample of 292 subjects participating in the study: teachers belonging to preschool and primary schools in the Andalusian community. The responses of those experts who scored 0.8 on the external competence index were then selected. The results demonstrate the validity of the tool produced (T-MOOC) as well as the uniformity of the criteria of the experts participating in the evaluation. Consequently, the necessary structuring of personalised training plans supported by reference models is discussed.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories. For the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), a benthopelagic species, juveniles' body condition was detected to be positively linked to survival and negatively associated with the growth of this age group. For the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), the same pattern was observed for young adults. We also show that the observed patterns on a regional level have a clear spatial dependence as we found that observed body condition over a local scale had a broad effect on the population dynamics of the whole region, with the Ebro delta area emerging as the demographic engine of the two species. We discuss our results in the context of fisheries management and underline the importance of improving current stock assessment models and spatially based fishery management towards incorporating body condition and growth due to their influence on important parameters such as survival.

The scenario in which we find ourselves within the knowledge society makes us face constant situations mediated by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which are equally represented in the educational world at its different levels. The DIGCOMPEDU framework serves as a guide for EU countries in order to enhance the digital competence of teachers. In the study presented, this framework is used as a reference to know the self-perception of the level of digital competence of teachers at the Salome Ureña ISFODOSU Higher Teacher Training Institute (Dominican Republic). From a descriptive approach, and with a sample of 940 teachers, the adapted questionnaire "DigCompEdu Check-In" is used. Among the results, it stands out that teachers perceive that they have an intermediate level of mastery of the Digital Teaching Competence, and it is revealed that, in general, the level is higher for all Science and Technology teachers. After the results, it is recommended to carry out personalized training actions for teachers in order to improve their digital competence., El escenario en el que nos encontramos dentro de la sociedad del conocimiento hace que nos enfrentemos a constantes situaciones mediadas por las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC), que se representan de igual modo en el mundo educativo en sus distintos niveles .El marco DIGCOMPEDU sirve de guía a los países de la UE con el fin de potenciar la competencia digital del profesorado. En el estudio que se presenta, se utiliza este marco como referencia para conocer la autopercepción sobre el nivel de competencia digital del profesorado del Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salome UreñaI SFODOSU (República Dominicana). Desde un enfoque descriptivo, y con una muestra de 940 docentes, se utiliza el cuestionario adaptado “DigCompEdu Check-In”. Entre los resultados se destaca que los docentes perciben que tienen un nivel intermedio de dominio de la Competencia Digital Docente, y se pone de manifiesto que, en general, este el nivel es mayor para todo el profesorado de Ciencias y Tecnología. Tras los resultados se recomienda realizar acciones formativas personalizadas para el profesorado con el fin de mejorar su competencia digital.

In patients with locally advanced cancer without distant metastases, the neoadjuvant setting presents a platform to evaluate new drugs. For mismatch repair proficient/microsatellite stable (pMMR/MSS) colon and rectal cancer, immunotherapy has shown limited efficacy. Herein, we report exceptional responses observed with neoadjuvant botensilimab (BOT), an Fc-enhanced next-generation anti-CTLA-4 antibody, alongside balstilimab (BAL; an anti-PD-1 antibody) in two patients with pMMR/MSS colon and rectal cancer. The histological pattern of rapid immune response observed (inside-out (serosa-to-mucosa) tumor regression) has not been described previously in this setting. Spatial biology analyses (RareCyte Inc.) reveal mechanisms of actions of BOT, a novel innate-adaptive immune activator. These observations have downstream implications for clinical trial designs using neoadjuvant immunotherapy and potentially sparing patients chemotherapy.

The scenario in which we find ourselves within the knowledge society makes us face constant situations mediated by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which are equally represented in the educational world at its different levels. The DIGCOMPEDU framework serves as a guide for EU countries in order to enhance the digital competence of teachers. In the study presented, this framework is used as a reference to know the self-perception of the level of digital competence of teachers at the Salome Ureña ISFODOSU Higher Teacher Training Institute (Dominican Republic). From a descriptive approach, and with a sample of 940 teachers, the adapted questionnaire "DigCompEdu Check-In" is used. Among the results, it stands out that teachers perceive that they have an intermediate level of mastery of the Digital Teaching Competence, and it is revealed that, in general, the level is higher for all Science and Technology teachers. After the results, it is recommended to carry out personalized training actions for teachers in order to improve their digital competence., El escenario en el que nos encontramos dentro de la sociedad del conocimiento hace que nos enfrentemos a constantes situaciones mediadas por las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC), que se representan de igual modo en el mundo educativo en sus distintos niveles .El marco DIGCOMPEDU sirve de guía a los países de la UE con el fin de potenciar la competencia digital del profesorado. En el estudio que se presenta, se utiliza este marco como referencia para conocer la autopercepción sobre el nivel de competencia digital del profesorado del Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salome UreñaI SFODOSU (República Dominicana). Desde un enfoque descriptivo, y con una muestra de 940 docentes, se utiliza el cuestionario adaptado “DigCompEdu Check-In”. Entre los resultados se destaca que los docentes perciben que tienen un nivel intermedio de dominio de la Competencia Digital Docente, y se pone de manifiesto que, en general, este el nivel es mayor para todo el profesorado de Ciencias y Tecnología. Tras los resultados se recomienda realizar acciones formativas personalizadas para el profesorado con el fin de mejorar su competencia digital.

[EN] We present the Terms of Reference for a case study on a Mediterranean eco-region focusing on the environmental component of the Ecosystem Report Card. The objective of this case study is to describe and monitor the variability of environmental processes in the Mediterranean Sea that affect the ecology of large pelagic fishes, with a particular attention on tunas, and the possible role of climate change on this variability. Here we define the objectives and activities of the initiative, the participant roles, primary indicators and the methodological approach, [FR] Ce document présente les termes de référence d’une étude de cas sur une écorégion méditerranéenne consacrée à la composante environnementale de la fiche informative sur les écosystèmes. L'objectif de cette étude de cas est de décrire et de suivre la variabilité des processus environnementaux en mer Méditerranée qui affectent l'écologie des grands poissons pélagiques, en accordant une attention particulière aux thonidés, et de déterminer le rôle possible du changement climatique sur cette variabilité. Nous définissons ici les objectifs et les activités de l'initiative, les rôles des participants, les indicateurs primaires et l'approche méthodologique., [ES] En el documento se presentan los términos de referencia para un estudio de caso sobre una ecorregión mediterránea centrado en el componente medioambiental de la ficha informativa sobre ecosistemas. El objetivo de este estudio de caso es describir y hacer un seguimiento de la variabilidad de los procesos medioambientales en el mar Mediterráneo que afectan a la ecología de los grandes peces pelágicos, con especial atención a los túnidos, y el posible papel del cambio climático en esta variabilidad. A continuación, se definen los objetivos y actividades de la iniciativa, las funciones de los participantes, los indicadores principales y el enfoque metodológico.

The development of digital teaching competence is one of the fundamental requirements of what is known as the “knowledge society”. With the aim of evaluating, from an expert point of view, the design of a training itinerary oriented to the training development of non-university teachers under the t-MOOC architecture for the improvement of digital teaching competence (DTC), the following quantitative research is presented. For this purpose, a quantitative validation design was established using the expert judgement technique. To measure the level of the expert coefficient, the expert competence (K) index was calculated for a random sample of 292 subjects participating in the study: teachers belonging to preschool and primary schools in the Andalusian community. The responses of those experts who scored 0.8 on the external competence index were then selected. The results demonstrate the validity of the tool produced (T-MOOC) as well as the uniformity of the criteria of the experts participating in the evaluation. Consequently, the necessary structuring of personalised training plans supported by reference models is discussed.

Dengue is a vector-borne disease that is endemic to several countries, including the Dominican Republic, which has experienced dengue outbreaks for over four decades. With outbreaks growing in incidence in recent years, it is becoming increasingly important to develop better tools to understand drivers of dengue transmission. Such tools are critical for providing timely information to assist healthcare authorities in preparing human, material, and medical resources for outbreaks. Here, we investigate associations between meteorological variables and dengue transmission in the Dominican Republic in 2019, the year in which the country’s largest outbreak to date ocurred. We apply generalized linear mixed modelling with gamma family and log link to model the weekly dengue incidence rate. Because correlations in lags between climate variables and dengue cases exhibited different behaviour among provinces, a backward-type selection method was executed to find a final model with lags in the explanatory variables. We find that in the best models, meteorological conditions such as temperature and rainfall have an impact with a delay of 2–5 weeks in the development of an outbreak, ensuring breeding conditions for mosquitoes.

Incorrect Affiliation In the published article, there was an error regarding the affiliation for Jasper Van Vlasselaer. Instead of: 13 Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) (Palma), Ecosystem Oceanography Group (GRECO), Palma de Mallorca, Spain, he should have: 11 Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO), Fisheries and Aquatic Production, Oostende, Belgium. In the published article, there was an error regarding the affiliation for Luc Van Hoof. Instead of: 14 Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean, Mytilene, Greece he should have 3 Wageningen Marine Research, Wageningen University and Research, Ijmuiden, Netherlands The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated.

Dengue is a vector-borne disease that is endemic to several countries, including the Dominican Republic, which has experienced dengue outbreaks for over four decades. With outbreaks growing in incidence in recent years, it is becoming increasingly important to develop better tools to understand drivers of dengue transmission. Such tools are critical for providing timely information to assist healthcare authorities in preparing human, material, and medical resources for outbreaks. Here, we investigate associations between meteorological variables and dengue transmission in the Dominican Republic in 2019, the year in which the country’s largest outbreak to date ocurred. We apply generalized linear mixed modelling with gamma family and log link to model the weekly dengue incidence rate. Because correlations in lags between climate variables and dengue cases exhibited different behaviour among provinces, a backward-type selection method was executed to find a final model with lags in the explanatory variables. We find that in the best models, meteorological conditions such as temperature and rainfall have an impact with a delay of 2–5 weeks in the development of an outbreak, ensuring breeding conditions for mosquitoes.

Dengue has broadened its global distribution substantially in the past two decades, and many endemic areas are experiencing increases in incidence. The Dominican Republic recently experienced its two largest outbreaks to date with 16,836 reported cases in 2015 and 20,123 reported cases in 2019. With continued increases in dengue transmission, developing tools to better prepare healthcare systems and mosquito control agencies is of critical importance. Before such tools can be developed, however, we must first better understand potential drivers of dengue transmission. To that end, we focus in this paper on determining relationships between climate variables and dengue transmission with an emphasis on eight provinces and the capital city of the Dominican Republic in the period 2015–2019. We present summary statistics for dengue cases, temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity in this period, and we conduct an analysis of correlated lags between climate variables and dengue cases as well as correlated lags among dengue cases in each of the nine locations. We find that the southwestern province of Barahona had the largest dengue incidence in both 2015 and 2019. Among all climate variables considered, lags between relative humidity variables and dengue cases were the most frequently correlated. We found that most locations had significant correlations with cases in other locations at lags of zero weeks. These results can be used to improve predictive models of dengue transmission in the country.

Dengue has broadened its global distribution substantially in the past two decades, and many endemic areas are experiencing increases in incidence. The Dominican Republic recently experienced its two largest outbreaks to date with 16,836 reported cases in 2015 and 20,123 reported cases in 2019. With continued increases in dengue transmission, developing tools to better prepare healthcare systems and mosquito control agencies is of critical importance. Before such tools can be developed, however, we must first better understand potential drivers of dengue transmission. To that end, we focus in this paper on determining relationships between climate variables and dengue transmission with an emphasis on eight provinces and the capital city of the Dominican Republic in the period 2015–2019. We present summary statistics for dengue cases, temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity in this period, and we conduct an analysis of correlated lags between climate variables and dengue cases as well as correlated lags among dengue cases in each of the nine locations. We find that the southwestern province of Barahona had the largest dengue incidence in both 2015 and 2019. Among all climate variables considered, lags between relative humidity variables and dengue cases were the most frequently correlated. We found that most locations had significant correlations with cases in other locations at lags of zero weeks. These results can be used to improve predictive models of dengue transmission in the country.

Investigations of population structuring in wild species are fundamental to complete the bigger picture defining their ecological and biological roles in the marine realm, to estimate their recovery capacity triggered by human disturbance and implement more efficient management strategies for fishery resources. The Blackspot Seabream (Pagellus bogaraveo, Brünnich 1768) is a commercially valuable deep-water fish highly exploited over past decades. Considering its exploitation status, deepening the knowledge of intraspecific variability, genetic diversity, and differentiation using high-performing molecular markers is considered an important step for a more effective stock assessment and fishery management. With one of the largest efforts conceived of and completed by countries overlooking the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts in recent years, a total of 320 individuals were collected from different fishing grounds in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean and analysed using 29 microsatellite loci. We applied multiple statistical approaches to investigate the species’ connectivity and population structure across most of its described distribution area. Considering the incomplete knowledge regarding the migratory behaviour of adults, here we suggest the importance of egg and larval dispersal in sustaining the observed genetic connectivity on such a large geographical scale.

Fish body condition and growth are two interrelated traits closely associated with species life history and fitness, whose trade-off can ultimately impact population dynamics albeit seldom empirically demonstrated. They can intricately affect survival rates, which are particularly relevant for species under exploitation. Using individual spatiotemporal information in Northwestern Mediterranean, we document for the first time the existence of a trade-off between condition and growth in regulating survival dynamics in two important fish species for the Mediterranean fisheries that are characterized by contrasting life histories. For the European hake (Merluccius merluccius), a benthopelagic species, juveniles' body condition was detected to be positively linked to survival and negatively associated with the growth of this age group. For the red mullet (Mullus barbatus), the same pattern was observed for young adults. We also show that the observed patterns on a regional level have a clear spatial dependence as we found that observed body condition over a local scale had a broad effect on the population dynamics of the whole region, with the Ebro delta area emerging as the demographic engine of the two species. We discuss our results in the context of fisheries management and underline the importance of improving current stock assessment models and spatially based fishery management towards incorporating body condition and growth due to their influence on important parameters such as survival.

The Workshop on pathways to climate-aware advice (WKCLIMAD) met in the autumn of 2021 to develop a proposal for an advisory framework that accounts for the influences of climate change on aquaculture, fisheries, and ecosystems. The workshop worked through online sessions with over 40 participants. Climate-informed advice should be provided through a risk-based framework that considers magnitude and likelihood of impacts, effectiveness and feasibility of measures. A wealth of data, tools and methods exists to on-ramp the advice. However, it is important to consider how these are utilised. To provide robust climate-informed advice, there is a need to identify and rank climate impacts and the associated risks, and match adaptation measures with public policy objectives. There must be a balance between actionable advice and reporting of uncertainty. The next steps for ICES should be to evaluate these three recommended additions to the advice framework/principles: • Development of a framework for spatial knowledge and advice, that includes definitions of temporal and spatial scale of management challenges. • Proactive solicitation of experts and stakeholders in relevant fields. Co-production of knowledge with iterative feedback, accounting for the plurality of knowledge and participation mechanisms. • Formulation of a plan for outputs, and communication, from the start of process, including allocation of sufficient resources to deliver advice. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on the communication and co-creation of advice. Climate-informed advice should include an assessment of current conditions in relation to the desired state. This requires not just an evaluation of the current state of the system, but the likely and/or desired future state of the fisheries/aquaculture system. This will also require greater effort on scoping of future scenarios of ecosystem state, and potential management measures for adaptation, and

The objective of WKFISHDISH2 was to develop a standardized and open-source way of routinely using trawl survey data to produce distribution maps which can be easily updated. To do so, workshop participants (i) reviewed models that can produce distribution maps from survey data in DATRAS and MEDITS formats, (ii) considered best practice guidance for data, and models, (iii) implemented best practice to produce distribution maps in a transparent manner, and (iv) populated an ICES repository with distribution maps and associated scripts. Nine models were reviewed, seven of which were considered appropriate to produce distribution maps using survey data. The two models excluded failed to estimate gear standardization factors. Best practice for data should consider the following: correct/remove erroneous observations, account for changes in haul duration/timing affecting catchability, use species-specific modelled areas, remove gears/surveys with no observations to reduce model converging time, and include appropriate explanatory variables. A step-by-step list to preprocess survey data was provided. Best practice for models should consider the following: account for skewed distribution of survey data by exploring different statistical error distributions, use open-source models able to reproduce distributions from simulated data, consider the complexity of the model required vs. the run-time (e.g. number of knots), avoid extrapolating the model to areas/depths where the species is not observed, and perform relevant model diagnostics/model selection. To compare distribution estimated by different models, the SPAtial EFficiency metric (SPAEF) was used together with centres of gravity, biomass hot spots (90 th percentile), and effective occupied areas. All seven models were able to produce satisfactory distribution maps for at least one species within the workshop time constraints, both with DATRAS data in the Atlantic and the MEDITS data in the Mediterranean. Comparisons be

Ocean and coastal ecosystems support life on Earth and many aspects of human well-being. Covering two-thirds of the planet, the ocean hosts vast biodiversity and modulates the global climate system by regulating cycles of heat, water and elements, including carbon. Marine systems are central to many cultures, and they also provide food, minerals, energy and employment to people. Since previous assessments1 , new laboratory studies, field observations and process studies, a wider range of model simulations, Indigenous knowledge, and local knowledge have provided increasing evidence on the impacts of climate change on ocean and coastal systems, how human communities are experiencing these impacts, and the potential solutions for ecological and human adaptation.

[Background]; Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a profoundly aggressive and fatal cancer. One of the key factors defining its aggressiveness and resilience against chemotherapy is the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). The important task of discovering upstream regulators of stemness that are amenable for targeting in PDAC is essential for the advancement of more potent therapeutic approaches. In this study, we sought to elucidate the function of the nuclear receptor subfamily 5, group A, member 2 (NR5A2) in the context of pancreatic CSCs., [Methods]: We modeled human PDAC using primary PDAC cells and CSC-enriched sphere cultures. NR5A2 was genetically silenced or inhibited with Cpd3. Assays included RNA-seq, sphere/colony formation, cell viability/toxicity, real-time PCR, western blot, immunofluorescence, ChIP, CUT&Tag, XF Analysis, lactate production, and in vivo tumorigenicity assays. PDAC models from 18 patients were treated with Cpd3-loaded nanocarriers., [Results]: Our findings demonstrate that NR5A2 plays a dual role in PDAC. In differentiated cancer cells, NR5A2 promotes cell proliferation by inhibiting CDKN1A. On the other hand, in the CSC population, NR5A2 enhances stemness by upregulating SOX2 through direct binding to its promotor/enhancer region. Additionally, NR5A2 suppresses MYC, leading to the activation of the mitochondrial biogenesis factor PPARGC1A and a shift in metabolism towards oxidative phosphorylation, which is a crucial feature of stemness in PDAC. Importantly, our study shows that the specific NR5A2 inhibitor, Cpd3, sensitizes a significant fraction of PDAC models derived from 18 patients to standard chemotherapy. This treatment approach results in durable remissions and long-term survival. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the expression levels of NR5A2/SOX2 can predict the response to treatment., [Conclusions]: The findings of our study highlight the cell context-dependent effects of NR5A2 in PDAC. We have identified a novel pharmacological strategy to modulate SOX2 and MYC levels, which disrupts stemness and prevents relapse in this deadly disease. These insights provide valuable information for the development of targeted therapies for PDAC, offering new hope for improved patient outcomes.

Marine species range shifts in response to climate change are generalized and accelerated, both at global and regional scale. However, the role of the complex underlaying mechanisms at play are still poorly understood. The Mediterranean Sea is a highly vulnerable and semi-enclosed system where the climatic risk exposure to multiple impacts is known to be very high and species are expected to display a variety of resilient responses. The reorganization and possible resilient and adaptive responses of species in Western Mediterranean are expected to follow a meridionalization pattern (i.e. northward displacement). However, this can be also related to the dynamic processes of seascape connectivity, in which the climatic connectivity has a strong impact. Velocity of climate change (VoCC), often used as analytical predictor for climate connectivity, is the speed and direction at which isolines of a specified climate travel across landscape and seascape due to climate change, being a function of spatial and temporal variation in climate conditions. The paths that point on an isoline of climate analogues are called climate trajectories. Here, VoCC has been calculated for the contemporary climate (1987 to 2019) at 0.16¿¿ grid cell for sea surface temperature and related to resilient and adaptive responses of observed in the main species of the continental shelf community. To do that, spatial indicators (i.e. the center of gravity, inertia, index of patchiness, index of dispersion and the index of aggregation) and their temporal rates of change have been calculated to quantify the space-time patterns of benthopelagic species using historical data of scientific bottom trawl surveys of the Western Mediterranean Sea from 1994 to 2019. Combining our results on VoCC and spatial indicators demonstrate unexpected significant southward patterns of Mediterranean marine species in response to climate change contrary to the meridionalization expectations of the Mediterranean communitie