4,353 research outputs found
Determining Tipping Points and Responses of Macroinvertebrate Traits to Abiotic Factors in Support of River Management
No full textAlthough the trait concept is increasingly used in research, quantitative relations that can support in determining ecological tipping points and serve as a basis for environmental standards are lacking. This study determines changes in trait abundance along a gradient of flow velocity, turbidity and elevation, and develops trait–response curves, which facilitate the identification of ecological tipping points. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and abiotic conditions were determined at 88 different locations in the streams of the Guayas basin. After trait information collection, a set of trait diversity metrics were calculated. Negative binomial regression and linear regression were applied to relate the abundance of each trait and trait diversity metrics, respectively, to flow velocity, turbidity and elevation. Tipping points for each environmental variable in relation to traits were identified using the segmented regression method. The abundance of most traits increased with increasing velocity, while they decreased with increasing turbidity. The negative binomial regression models revealed that from a flow velocity higher than 0.5 m/s, a substantial increase in abundance occurs for several traits, and this is even more substantially noticed at values higher than 1 m/s. Furthermore, significant tipping points were also identified for elevation, wherein an abrupt decline in trait richness was observed below 22 m a.s.l., implying the need to focus water management in these altitudinal regions. Turbidity is potentially caused by erosion; thus, measures that can reduce or limit erosion within the basin should be implemented. Our findings suggest that measures mitigating the issues related to turbidity and flow velocity may lead to better aquatic ecosystem functioning. This quantitative information related to flow velocity might serve as a good basis to determine ecological flow requirements and illustrates the major impacts that hydropower dams can have in fast-running river systems. These quantitative relations between invertebrate traits and environmental conditions, as well as related tipping points, provide a basis to determine critical targets for aquatic ecosystem management, achieve improved ecosystem functioning and warrant trait diversity
Narrative support for technical documents: Formalising Rhetorical Structure Theory
No full textBusiness Process Re-engineering (BPR) is an area that requires a lot of technical documents and an important feature of a well-written document is a coherent narrative. Even though computer software has helped authors in many other aspects of writing, support for document narratives is almost non-existent. Therefore, we introduce CANS (Computer-Aided Narrative Support), a tool that uses Rhetorical Structure Theory to enhance the narrative of a document. From this narrative, the tool generates questions to prompt the author for the content of the document. CANS also allows the author to explore alternative narratives for a document. A catalogue of predefined narrative structures for popular types of documents is provided too. Our tool is still in its rudimentary stages but sufficiently complete to be demonstrated
Zechariah 9-14 as the substructure of 1 Peter’s eschatological program
No full textThe principal aim of this study is to discern what has shaped the author of 1 Peter to regard Christian suffering as a necessary (1.6) and to-be-expected (4.12) component of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ. Most research regarding suffering in 1 Peter has limited the scope of inquiry to two particular aspects—its cause and nature, and the strategies that the author of 1 Peter employs in order to enable his addressees to respond in faithfulness. There remains, however, the need for a comprehensive explanation for the source that has generated 1 Peter’s theology of Christian suffering. If Jesus truly is the Christ, God’s chosen redemptive agent who has come to restore God’s people, then how can it be that Christian suffering is a necessary part of discipleship after his coming, death and resurrection? What led the author of 1 Peter to such a startling conclusion, which seems to runs against the grain of the eschatological hopes and expectations of Jewish restoration ideology?
This thesis analyzes the appropriation of shepherd and fiery trials imagery,
and argues that the author of 1 Peter is dependent upon Zechariah 9-14 for his
theology of Christian suffering. Said in another way, the eschatological program of
Zechariah 9-14, read through the lens of the Gospel, functions as the substructure
for 1 Peter’s eschatology and thus its theology of Christian suffering.
In support of this hypothesis, this study highlights the fact that Zechariah 9-
14 was available and appropriated in early Christianity, in particular in the Passion
Narrative tradition; that the shepherd imagery of 1 Pet 2.25 is best understood
within the milieu of the Passion Narrative tradition, and that it alludes to the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that the fiery trials imagery found in 1
Peter 1.6-7 and 1 Pet 4.12 is distinct from that which we find in Greco-Roman and OT
wisdom sources, and that it shares exclusive parallels with some unique features of
the eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14; that Zechariah 9-14 offers a more
satisfying explanation for the modification of Isa 11.2 in 1 Pet 4.14, the transition
from 4.12-19 to 5.1-4, why Peter has oriented his letter with the term διασπορά,
and why he has described his addresses as οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ; and finally that 1 Peter
contains an implicit foundational narrative that shares distinct parallels with the
eschatological program of Zechariah 9-14.
We can conclude that 1 Peter offers a unique vista into the way in which at
least one early Christian witness came to understand and to communicate the fact
that Christian suffering was a necessary feature of faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ
Critical pedagogy in hard financial times
No full textPeter Mayo takes issue with education financing not from an economic or technical
viewpoint, but from a philosophical and systemic one, drawing on critical pedagogy.
There is no sense, this article argues, to talk of higher education or its funding without
reference to the capitalist system which the mainstream education discourse reaffirms. The author concludes with an alternative vision of lifelong learning as a social act for the creation and enhancing of democratic spaces, reflected in the ongoing global “Occupy” protests for social equality.peer-reviewe
Correction: Ho, L.T.; Goethals, P.L.M. Opportunities and Challenges for the Sustainability of Lakes and Reservoirs in Relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Water 2019, 11, 1462
No full textIn the original article [...
Author correction: obesity and ethnicity alter gene expression in skin
No full textDaniel Butler was omitted from the author list in the original version of this Article. The Author contributions section now reads: “J.M.W. designed, conducted, and contributed to the writing of the manuscript, prepared Fig. 1. S.G. evaluated and did statistical analysis on the skin and fat samples, prepared Figs. 2–9. J.O.A. evaluated and contributed to writing the manuscript. D.B prepared and sequenced DNA libraries for the skin microbiota data, and wrote the applicable parts of the methods section. C.M. analyzed and wrote up the skin microbiota data, prepared Fig. 10. All authors have read the manuscript and approved its contents. D.D. analyzed and wrote up the skin microbiota data. S.Z. ran and analyzed the skin metabolite data. J.S. assisted in design, analysis and wrote up the skin metabolite data. J.K. assisted in analysis write up of skin and fat data. J.L.B. assisted in analysis, interpretation and writing of the manuscript. P.R.H. designed, analyzed, interpreted the data, and was the primary author of the manuscript.” This has been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article, and in the accompanying Supplementary Information file.</p
L-optimal transportation for Ricci flow
No full textWe introduce the notion of L-optimal transportation, and use it to construct a natural monotonic quantity for Ricci flow which includes a selection of other monotonicity results, including some key discoveries of Perelman [13] (both related to entropy and to L-length) and a recent result of McCann and the author [11]
Comparative foreign policies toward Cuba: Plus ca change ...
No full textPT: J; CR: 1996, B EUR 2001, BULLETIN 2002, CNN COM 0520, P1 2002, INTER PRESS SER 1030, P1 *EUR COMM, 2003, PUBL STAT 0310 BACHELET P, 2003, WASHINGTON POST 0423 BELL M, 2002, BACK FUTURE CANADAS, P1 CASTANEDA J, 1991, COMMUNICATION 0130, P6 COHEN A, 2003, NY TIMES 0112 CONTIN I, 1999, ENERGY J, V20, P1 DOMINGUEZ JI, 1997, J INTERAM STUD WORLD, V39, P49 DRESSER D, 2002, LOS ANGELES TIM 0409 FRANKLIN J, 2001, GLOBAL EXDCHANG 0525, P1 HERMANN CF, 1990, INT STUD QUART, V34, P3 KIRK JM, 1997, CANADA CUBA RELATION KNOX P, 2003, GLOBE MAIL 0408, A8 KNOX P, 2003, GLOBE MAIL 0607, A15 KRAUL C, 2002, LOS ANGELES TIM 0424 LORENTE R, 2003, S FLORIDA SUNSE 0521, P1 MARQUIS C, 1998, MIAMI HERALD 0326 MARTIN NS, 2003, MIAMI HERALD 0328 MARTIN NS, 2003, MIAMI HERALD 0418 MCKENNA P, IN PRESS PLAYING LON MCKENNA P, 2002, CANADIAN FOREIGN POL, V9, P49 MCKENNA P, 2002, GLOBE MAIL 1106, A12 MCKENNA P, 2003, GLOBE MAIL 0512, A13 MCKENNA P, 2004, LONDON FREE PRE 0103, F3 MOLOT MA, 2000, CANADA NATIONS 2000, P247 NEWMAN L, 2002, CNN COM 0601, P2 NICOL HN, 1999, CANADA US CUBA HELMS, P57 PEREZ LA, 1986, CUBA PLATT AMENDMENT PETERS P, 2003, CUBA POLICY REPORT, P1 PURCELL SK, 1999, POLICY OPTIONS, P58 PURCELL SK, 2000, CUBA CONTOURS CHANGE RADU M, 1998, ORBIS, V42, P533 RANDALL RJ, 2002, CANADA US CUBA EVOLV, P75 SALLOT J, 2002, GLOBE MAIL 1102, A6 SMITH G, 1999, BUSINESSWEEK ON 1118 SMITH W, 2003, CUBACENTRAL 0408, P1 SMITH WS, 1996, CURR HIST, V95, P49 SNOW A, 2002, GUBANEWS 0423 SUCHLICKI J, 2000, US EMBARGO CUBA, P1 SULLIVAN K, 2003, WASHINGTON POST 0406, A15 TAMAYO JO, 1996, MIAMI HERALD 1127 WARREN C, 2003, BACKGROUND BRIEFING, P1; NR: 45; TC: 0; J9: INT J; PG: 22; GA: 832SKSource type: Electronic(1
Correction to: Reducing external costs of nitrogen pollution by relocation of pig production between regions in the European Union
No full textThe article Reducing external costs of nitrogen pollution by relocation of pig production between regions in the European Union, written by Hans J. M. van Grinsven, Jan D. van Dam, Jan Peter Lesschen, Marloes H. G. Timmers, Gerard L. Velthof, Luis Lassaletta, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 28 May 2018 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on April 2019
Toxicological profile for hydraulic fluids
No full textPrepared by: Research Triangle Institute under Contract no. 205-93-0606 for: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.Chemical manager(s)/author(s): M. Olivia Harris, Peter McClure, Robert L. Chessin, James J. Corcoran.Includes bibliographical references (p. 317-336).205-93-0606 fo
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