Search Results (174)

This paper considers the impact of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) on the world’s financial systems with a special emphasis on G20 economies. Using quarterly macro-financial data for the period of 2000 to 2024, collected from the IMF, BIS, World Bank, and Atlantic Council, a Global Vector Autoregression (GVAR) model is applied to 20 G20 countries. The results reveal significant heterogeneity across economies: CBDC shocks intensify emerging market financial instability (e.g., India, Brazil), while more digitally advanced countries (e.g., UK, Japan) experience stabilization. Retail CBDCs increase disintermediation risks in more fragile banking systems, while wholesale CBDCs improve cross-border liquidity. This article contributes to the literature by providing the first GVAR-based estimation of CBDC spillovers globally. Full article

Background: Understanding the multifactorial determinants of human longevity remains a major scientific challenge. Certain regions of the world—so-called “longevity hotspots”—exhibit a notably high prevalence of centenarians; one such region is the province of Ourense, in north-western Spain. Objectives: This study aimed to analyse, for the first time, the nutritional factors associated with healthy longevity among centenarians, as well as those linked to longevity irrespective of health status, in the province of Ourense. Methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective, observational, mixed-methods study was conducted. A population of 261 individuals aged 100 or over residing in Ourense was identified. A sample of 156 participants was included in the quantitative analysis; from this sample, 25 centenarians were selected for in-depth qualitative analysis through personal interviews. Results: Dietary patterns aligned with the Southern European Atlantic Diet (SEAD), combined with strong social bonds and a culture of self-sufficiency, appear to be key contributors to exceptional longevity in this population. Conclusions: Remarkable longevity in Ourense is associated with a combination of factors: adherence to an SEAD-style dietary pattern, an active and uncomplicated lifestyle, and strong social support networks. Full article

Sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of the invasions of the Americas claimed that Indigenous peoples found horseback riding so shocking that they mistook cavalry for centaurs. Drawing a one-to-one connection between sixteenth-century Mesoamericans and ancient Europeans, a nineteenth-century historian claimed that this must have happened in ancient Greece also, inspiring the centaur myth in the first place. A closer examination of Classical textual and archaeological sources and of the ethnohistory of the contact-era Americas shows this to be wishful thinking by Iberian writers desirous to believe that awestruck American societies saw them as gods or monsters. However, a closer examination of the centaur myth and the responses by contact-era American societies to horses reveals a more complicated reality behind a simple mythology of conquest. Full article

Ship weather routing is heavily dependent on weather forecasts. However, the predictive nature of meteorological models introduces an unavoidable level of uncertainty which, if not accounted for, can compromise navigational safety, operational efficiency, and environmental impact. This study examines the temporal degradation of forecast accuracy across certain oceanographic and atmospheric variables, using a six-month dataset for the area of North Atlantic provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The analysis reveals distinct variable-specific uncertainty trends with wind speed forecasts exhibiting significant temporal fluctuation (RMSE increasing from 0.5 to 4.0 m/s), while significant wave height forecasts degrade in a more stable and predictable pattern (from 0.2 to 0.9 m). Confidence intervals also exhibit non-monotonic evolution, narrowing by up to 15% between 96–120-h lead times. To address these dynamics, a Python-based framework combines distribution-based modeling with calibrated confidence intervals to generate uncertainty bounds that evolve with forecast lead time (R² = 0.87–0.93). This allows uncertainty to be quantified not as a static estimate, but as a function sensitive to both variable type and prediction horizon. When integrated into routing algorithms, such representations allow for route planning strategies that are not only more reflective of real-world meteorological limitations but also more robust to evolving weather conditions, demonstrated by a 3–7% increase in travel time in exchange for improved safety margins across eight test cases. Full article

As a globe leader in tourism, Spain relies on this sector as a key economic pillar, contributing over 12% to its GDP. The hospitality industry has expanded steadily in response to growing demand. In parallel, recent years have witnessed an exponential rise in tourist accommodations, such as privately owned properties repurposed for short-term rentals, largely facilitated by digital platforms. This study explores the evolution and spatial distribution of these accommodations, assessing their share within the overall housing stock across different scales. The focus is on Andalusian municipalities, a region characterized by both its geographical diversity and its significant tourism footprint. This study highlights two primary areas of concentration: the region’s Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines (most notably the Costa del Sol, centered in Malaga) and internationally renowned heritage cities such as Seville, Granada, and Cordoba. By applying quantitative methods, this research assesses the clustering of tourist accommodations in relation to major cultural landmarks, including several UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The findings provide an analysis of the implications of this trend, shedding light on the challenges and opportunities it presents within the tourism sector, particularly against the backdrop of mounting criticism surrounding the sustainability and socio-economic impacts of this evolving model of tourism. Full article

California and most other coastlines around the nation and the world are being impacted by both long-term sea-level rise (SLR) and short-term extreme events. Global sea level over the last 10 years of satellite altimetry has averaged approximately 4.1 mm/yr. (~16 in./100 yrs.), although this rate is accelerating at about 1.2 mm/yr. per decade. Projections of future sea levels have now been developed by many different agencies, organizations, and committees, and cluster around 12 inches by 2050. Over the near term, however, until mid-century, and likely beyond, it will be the short-term extreme events such as hurricanes along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, and the coincidence of very large waves and high astronomic tides along the U.S. Pacific coasts that will pose the major threat to both public infrastructure and private development. Full article

It is estimated that around 10% of the world’s population lives in low-lying coastal areas, with an altitude of up to 10 m: considered vulnerable to unequivocal sea level rise, as result of climate change. This study sought to assess the coastal environmental vulnerabilities of the municipality of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in these lowlands, through of an analysis matrix, considering sea level rise projections for 2100. The matrix was applied to nine areas along the coast and consisted of assigning values from 1 to 4 (4 being the most critical scenario) to four variables: two to natural indicators and two to socio-economic indicators. The index for each area was obtained from the simple average of the values assigned. In general, the areas facing Guanabara Bay were more sensitive in socio-economic terms, due to population densification and lower per capita income. The areas facing the Atlantic Ocean were more vulnerable in natural terms, due to exposure to waves and the presence of the natural systems protected on land located below the 10-m. These issues highlight the importance of using vulnerability analysis tools, which can enable public authorities to plan and organize the actions in each specific situation. Full article

The main goal of this study is to develop a method for finding the joint probability distribution of the state of the characteristics of the NEMO (Nucleus for European Modeling of the Ocean) ocean dynamics model with data assimilation using the Generalized Kalman filter (GKF) method developed earlier by the authors. The method for finding the joint distribution is based on the Karhunen–Loeve decomposition of the covariance function of the joint characteristics of the ocean. Numerical calculations of the dynamics of ocean currents, surface and subsurface ocean temperatures, and water salinity were carried out, both with and without assimilation of observational data from the Argo project drifters. The joint probability distributions of temperature and salinity at individual points in the world ocean at different depths were obtained and analyzed. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) system was also simulated using the NEMO model with and without data assimilation, and these results were compared to each other and analyzed. Full article

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines vaccine hesitancy as reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite availability. Contributing factors in visible minority populations include vaccine safety, effectiveness, mistrust, socioeconomic characteristics, vaccine development, information circulation, knowledge, perceived risk of COVID-19, and perceived benefit. Objectives: This study aimed to examine vaccine hesitancy in visible minority populations across Canadian regions. Methods: A survey was conducted among visible minority populations in Canadian regions, using 21 questions from the available literature via the Delphi method. The Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research (CHASR) administered the survey to individuals 18 years or older who resided in Canada at the time of the survey and identified as visible minorities such as Asian, Black, and Latin American. After recruiting 511 participants, data analysis used Chi-square tests of association and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to identify regional differences in vaccine choices, side effects, information sources, and reasons for vaccination. A weighted analysis extended the results to represent the visible minorities across provinces. Results: Higher rates of Pfizer were administered to participants in Ontario (73%), the Prairies (72%), British Columbia (71%), and Quebec (70%). British Columbia had the highest Moderna rate (59%). The most common side effect was pain at the injection site in Quebec (62%), Ontario (62%), BC (62%), and in the Atlantic (61%). Healthcare professionals and government sources were the most trusted information sources, with healthcare professionals trusted particularly in the Prairies (70%) and government sources similarly trusted in Quebec (65%) and Ontario (65%). In the Atlantic, 86% of refusals were due to side effects and 69% were due to prior negative vaccine experiences. Conclusions: Leveraging healthcare professionals’ trust, community engagement, and flexible policies can help policymakers improve pandemic preparedness and boost vaccine acceptance. Full article

The taxonomic position of the green alga Capsosiphon fulvescens was first reported from Northern Europe and has since been reported from all over the world, including Korea. In Korea, C. fulvescens has been used as an essential edible economic alga for approximately 570 years, from the time of the Joseon Dynasty to the present, and is currently under development as a new aquaculture strain. Therefore, examining the taxonomic relationships between the European and Korean C. fulvescens is important. In this study, we analyzed nuclear 18S rDNA and ITS regions and compared them with the DNA sequences of authentic materials of North Atlantic C. fulvescens. Additionally, rbcL and tufA genes were sequenced to analyze genetic variations among populations. The results showed that the Korean and European C. fulvescens were different species. Moreover, the Korean C. fulvescens was distantly related to the North Atlantic C. fulvescens at the order level. Moreover, the Korean C. fulvescens formed a sister group with the North Pacific Pseudothrix borealis. Cryptic genetic diversity was observed at the intraspecific level among the Korean populations. These findings will help in tracing the origin of the Korean C. fulvescens and provide new genetic insights into this species. Full article

This study reconstructed the annual lake surface area (LSA) and absolute lake water storage (LWS) changes of Lake Sarez, the world’s largest high-altitude landslide-dammed lake, from 1992 to 2023 using multi-source remote sensing data. All available Landsat images were used to extract the LSA using an improved multi-index threshold method, which incorporates a slope mask and threshold adjustment to enhance the boundary delineation accuracy (Kappa coefficient = 0.94). By combining the LSA with high-resolution DEM and the GLOBathy bathymetry dataset, the absolute LWS was reconstructed, fluctuating between 12.3 × 10⁹ and 12.8 × 10⁹ m³. A water balance analysis revealed that inflow runoff (IRO) was the primary driver of LWS changes, contributing 54.57%. The cross-wavelet transform and wavelet coherence analyses showed that the precipitation (PRE) and snow water equivalent (SWE) were key climatic factors that directly influenced the variability of IRO, impacting the interannual water availability in the lake, with PRE having a more sustained impact. Temperature indirectly regulated IRO by affecting SWE and potential evapotranspiration. Furthermore, IRO exhibited different resonance periods and time lags with various atmospheric circulation factors, with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and North Atlantic Oscillation having the most significant influence on its interannual variations. These findings provide crucial insights into the hydrological behavior of Lake Sarez under climate change and offer a novel approach for studying water storage dynamics in high-altitude landslide-dammed lakes, thereby supporting regional water resource management and ecological conservation. Full article

Understanding genetic diversity is crucial for plant adaptation in a changing world. The neutral genetic variation (NGD) is correlated to adaptation capacity, which is crucial for long-term conservation of threatened species. Brazil, a megadiverse nation with habitats encompassing a great variety of ecosystems, harbors a wealth of plant biodiversity, yet studies on NGD remain scarce. This work analyzed published data on NGD in native Brazilian plant populations, identifying 731 papers through a systematic search on the Scopus database. Results indicated microsatellite markers as the most used for population studies, followed by ISSR. The SNP marker is still underutilized, possibly due to its higher costs and labor-intensiveness. Fabaceae, Bromeliaceae, and Arecaceae were the most studied families. Moreover, the two most studied species were Euterpe edulis and Hancornia speciosa, both economically important species. Notably, trees and herbs dominated the studies with a focus on the Atlantic Forest biome. However, Cerrado and Amazon biomes were also well represented, underscoring the importance of broader investigation across all Brazilian ecosystems. These findings reveal a critical gap in knowledge, where traditional molecular markers are most used and few economically important species are intensively studied. The number of threatened species studied is negligible, and most are not endemic. With looming climate and landscape changes, more comprehensive studies of NGD of threatened flora in Brazil are vital. The lack of genetic diversity information of native species may threaten any conservation efforts in the long term. Full article

Biologists, philosophers, and mathematicians building upon Robert Rosen’s non-algorithmic theories of life using Relational Biology and Category Theory have continued to develop his theory and modeling approaches. There has been general agreement that the impredicative, self-referential, and complex nature of living systems negates an algorithmic approach. Rosen’s main goal was to answer, “What is Life?”. Many believe he provided the best but minimum answer using a cellular, metabolism–repair or (M, R)-system as a category-theoretic model. It has been challenging, however, to incorporate his theory to develop a fully non-algorithmic methodology that retains the essence of his thinking while creating more operational models of living systems that can be used to explore other facets of life and answer different questions. Living systems do more than the minimum in the real world beyond the confines of definition alone. For example, ecologists ask how living systems inherently mitigate existential risk from climate change and biodiversity loss through their complex self-organization. Loop Analysis, a signed graph technique, is discussed as a hybrid algorithmic/non-algorithmic methodology in Relational Biology. This methodology can be used at the ecosystem level with standard non-algorithmic field data as per McAllister’s description of the algorithmic incompressibility of empirical data of this type. An example is described showing how the North Atlantic Carbon Pump, an important planetary life support system, is situated in the plankton community and functions as a mutualistic ecosystem chimera. It captures carbon from the atmosphere as an extended (M, R)-system and processes it until it is sequestered in the marine sediments. This is an important process to alleviate climate change in magnitude equal to or larger than the sequestration of carbon on land with forests. It is suggested that the ecosystem level should replace the cellular and organismic levels as the main system unit in biology and evolution since all life exists and evolves with full functional potential in ecosystem networks and not laboratory test tubes. The plankton ecosystem is the largest after the total biosphere and consists of evolutionary links and relationships that have existed for eons of time. If there was ever a genuine robust, highly self-organized ecosystem, it would be planktonic. Severing the links in these thermodynamically open networks by focusing on lower levels of the biological hierarchy loses the critical organization of how life exists on this planet. There is no theory to regain this crucial ‘omitted’ ecological relational causality at the cell or organismal levels. At the end of the paper, some future directions are outlined. Full article

The aquaculture industry in Chile, as in the rest of the world, has rapidly grown, becoming a crucial economic sector. However, diseases pose a major threat, causing significant economic losses and environmental impacts. Various antimicrobials, particularly Oxytetracycline and Florfenicol, are used to combat these diseases, which has boosted production and mitigated economic losses. However, excessive antibiotic use has led to pathogen resistance, necessitating higher doses. This overuse can cause side effects in fish, including liver damage and immunosuppression. This study aimed to determine the impact of multiple doses of florfenicol and oxytetracycline on the SHK-11 cell line of Salmo salar by analyzing the expression of genes related to innate immunity and oxidative stress by qRT-PCR in addition to the quantification of immune system proteins via dot blot. The experimental treatments were the following: cells were stimulated with different concentrations of oxytetracycline (0.25, 0.5, and 1.5 µg/mL) and florfenicol (1, 10, and 20 µg/mL) for time kinetics of 0.5, 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h. For both cases, controls consisting of cells without antibiotics were included. The expression of the immune system genes was mostly inhibited compared to the control. However, it was observed that TLR-1 and MyD88 present a joint activation pattern at different times and concentrations for both antibiotics. Regarding the expression of CAT and GPx, transcripts were increased in the early stages of stimulation with oxytetracycline and florfenicol, followed by a subsequent decrease in gene expression. This study provides relevant information to understand the effect of antibiotics at the cellular level in one of the most important species for global aquaculture, the Atlantic salmon. Full article

Maps of (baseline) δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of primary producers or consumers near the base of food webs provide crucial information for interpreting patterns in the isotopic composition of consumers that occupy higher trophic levels. In marine systems, understanding how oceanographic variables influence these values enables the creation of dynamic isoscapes across time and space, providing insights into how ecosystems function. The San Jorge Gulf (SJG) in the southwest Atlantic Ocean (45° S–47° S) is an area of particular importance, as it is located on one of the most productive continental shelves in the world, supporting large fisheries and marine mammal and seabird populations. We reconstructed spatial variation in zooplankton δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values across SJG and investigated their relationship with physical and chemical oceanographic conditions. During cruises in the austral spring of 2016 and 2017, we collected medium-sized copepods whose isotopic composition integrate short-term (days to weeks) variation in oceanographic conditions recorded by phytoplankton at the base of the food web. We also collected data on water column depth, surface and bottom temperatures, water column stability, and macronutrient (nitrate, phosphate, and silicic acid) concentrations. The results revealed significant variation in both δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values of up to 7-8‰ over a relatively small spatial scale (200–300 km). Copepod δ¹³C values were lower at the center of the SJG, showing an inverse correlation with water column stability, surface nitrate concentration, and water column depth. δ¹⁵N values showed a strong and negative relationship with surface nitrate concentration and water column stability, increasing from south to north in the SJG. δ¹⁵N values also showed a positive relationship with surface silicic acid concentration. These spatial patterns in nutrient dynamics and copepod carbon and nitrogen isotope values are interpreted in the context of the dominant northward current and temporal development of the frontal systems in the SJG. Full article