1,721,089 research outputs found
Merging traditional livelihood activities with new employment opportunities brought by ecotourism to Iona national park, Angola: rethinking social sustainability
Get PDFEcotourism activities and investment projects have been consistently increasing worldwide over
the last few decades. In this process, ecotourism has contributed to fight poverty, to create local
employment opportunities and to promote nature conservation. However, there are also plenty
examples of nature-base tourism destinations where ecotourism principles have been distorted
and negative impacts are on the rise. Therefore, studies that provide a deep understanding of
the roots and consequences of those both positive and negative impacts are needed to achieve
new higher tourism quality standards, to foster a sound local development and to promote an
integrated and sustainable national growth. To obtain information useful to contribute specific
recommendations aimed at linking tourism employers and job seekers, we have conducted a
survey addressing locals’ demographic characteristics and their engagement in traditional
livelihood activities. Data gathered from 202 respondents showed that in the largest villages
traditional livelihood activities, excepting pastoralism, tend to have little expression while the
same activities seem to play a key role in some small communities. Striking differences were
found between nomadic or semi-nomadic people and people who have been assimilated into the
western civilization and also have more sedentary life styles. Using this information and taking
in consideration some new employment opportunities brought nature-based tourism to the Iona
National Park, we have identified specific demographic profiles more suited for part-time and full-time jobs
Border effect on flora and raptors diversity. An iberian case.
Get PDFThe organisms and their habitats do not know borders. Thus, the conservation of biodiversity
and the management of natural renewable resources along geopolitical borders should be
concerted between neighboring countries. Furthermore, Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC)
projects and strategies should deeply analyze how «border effect» affects the different species,
since they have dissimilar tolerances to stress factors and they also differ in the way they adapt
to environmental changes. In this regard, considering the rich biodiversity of EUROACE Euroregion,
as well as the CBC projects and strategies operating within these territories (Portugal-
Spain), the present study intended to be an exploratory approach to the analyses of differences
between the success of several biodiversity conservation policies and strategies among these two
countries.
Our research is focused on the geopolitical border across the Luso-Extremadurense chorological
Province. In this exploratory work we present the results obtained for two very distinct groups
of species: raptors and Nature2000 plant species protected under Habitats Directive (Council
Directive 92/43/EEC). In both approaches, the analysis was made comparing alpha diversity
(species richness) in both sides of the Portuguese/Spanish border, using UTM grid10x10 km as
sample unit, and between the two biogeographic sectors of the Luso-Extremadurense province,
present along the border. The results were similar for raptors and plants and showed that
diversity is analogous in both country sides, suggesting that European Union policies may
playing similar impact in both countries
Comparative analysis of ephemeral river ecosystem services in agricultural and natural landscapes in mediterranean environments. A practical approach to Caia River (Portugal)
Get PDFMediterranean landscapes present a large amount of biodiversity and ecosystems leading to
their unique identity. In fact, it is increasingly acknowledged that these ecosystems provide a
large range of benefits, not only for the area where they are located but also for their
surroundings. Benefits that may vary from aesthetical values to socioeconomic aspects that
might influence territorial development, including also the preservation of those ecosystems.
The ephemeral and intermittent rivers provide several and pivotal ecosystem services within to
the environment. However, these services differ a lot from agricultural to natural landscapes –
e.g. agricultural landscapes structure ́ is susceptible to dramatic changes through the seasons
and water cycles.
Thus, a comparison study between agricultural and natural Mediterranean environments
landscapes have been carried out – allowing to deeply understand ephemeral rivers ecosystems
systems and their dynamics. Considering the purpose of the study - a comparison analysis
between river ecosystem services in agricultural and natural landscapes in Mediterranean
environments have been conducted. Therefore, a Cross-Border ephemeral river – Caia River
(Portugal-Spain) have been selected as a case study. The comparison has covered cultural,
aesthetic, functional and socio-economic ecosystem services; showing the relevance of the functions granted by the river
Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation in Scholar and Social Buildings: Concepts and Pilot Solutions for Portugal and Spain
Get PDFClimate change has been recognized as one of the most serious environmental,
social, and economic challenges facing the world today. Contextually, the Intermunicipal
Plan for Climate Change Adaptation in Alentejo Central (PIAAC-AC) has
already identified the tendencies and future scenarios of climate change in Alentejo
Central until the end of the twenty-first century, namely the increase in the number of
days with very high temperatures, the number of tropical nights and heat waves, and the
general decrease in annual rainfall. In this scenario, the concerns with school communities
and users of social services increase. The project “LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN”—
“application of nature-based solutions for local adaptation of educational and social
buildings to Climate Change,” developed in partnership with CIMAC (Portugal),
CARTIF Technology Center (Spain), Diputación de Badajoz and CSIC—Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Real Jardin Botanico— Spain—Project Leader),
and the Porto City Council (Portugal), focuses on the construction sector, in particular
on education and social services buildings in cities in Europe. It aims to implement
the prototypes (building adaptation) of nature-based solutions (NBS) on walls, roofs,
playgrounds, and exterior surfaces on three pilot buildings. The overall objective is to
contribute to improve resilience in these buildings using autochthone vegetation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Ecosystem services and biodiversity in regional development. The landscape approach.
No full textThe establishment of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment by the United Nations sparked increased interest in Ecosystem Services (ES), leading to the publication of various articles. Currently, the most accepted definition describes ES as the “benefits that people obtain from ecosystems.” An ecosystem is defined as a “dynamic complex of plant, animal, and microorganism communities and the nonliving environment, interacting as a functional unit”. Over time, the occupation and transformation of land use have markedly reduced the extent of natural habitats and significantly increased their fragmentation. This threatens biodiversity and has negatively affected ecosystems’ functions in producing goods and services essential to human societies. Developing and implementing an ecological network (EN) is considered an effective strategy for nature conservation, enhancing biodiversity and fostering ecological connectivity. In this context, EN adopts a comprehensive perspective on spatial planning, positioning it at the heart of a larger Green Infrastructure framework
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