888 research outputs found
Combining contemporary and palaeoecological perspectives for estimating forest resilience
Get PDFIn the face of dramatic climate change and human pressure acting on remaining forest areas across tropical, temperate and boreal biomes, there has emerged a coordinated effort to identify and protect forests that are currently considered “intact”. These forests are hypothesized to be more resilient to future abiotic perturbations than fragmented or degraded forests, and therefore, will provide more reliable carbon storage and/or biodiversity services into an uncertain future. Research in the fields of contemporary and paleoecology can offer valuable insights to enhance our ability to assess resilience of forests and whether these would be comparable across forest biomes. Contemporary ecological monitoring has been able to capture processes acting over the short-to-medium term, while paleoecological methods allow us to derive insights of the long-term processes affecting forest dynamics. Recent efforts to both identify intact forests, based on area definitions, and assess vegetation climate sensitivity globally have relied on satellite imagery analysis for the time period 2000–2013. In this paper, we compare these published datasets and do find that on average intact forests in boreal and tropical biomes are less sensitive to temperature and water availability, respectively; however, the patterns are less clear within biomes (e.g., across continents). By taking a longer perspective, through paleoecology, we present several studies that show a range of forest responses to past climatic and human disturbance, suggesting that short-term trends may not be reliable predictors of long-term resilience. We highlight that few contemporary and paleoecology studies have considered forest area when assessing resilience and those that have did find that smaller forest areas exhibited greater dynamism in species composition, which could be a proxy for declining resilience. Climatic conditions in the Anthropocene will be pushing forest systems across biomes into novel climates very rapidly and with current knowledge it is difficult to predict how forests will react in the immediate term, which is the most relevant timeframe for global efforts to reduce carbon emissions
Stages for the More Sustainable Farm
Get PDFCurrently, agricultural farm units are faced with a double and most times contradictory challenge, in order to be successful: on the one hand the invested capital has to be profitable and the economic performance has to be maximised. On the other hand, given the socio-environmental situation, it is necessary to preserve and to protect the environment and natural resources. Given the potential conflict of the two aims, since the satisfaction of one implies the underperformance of the other (and vice versa), the question then is: which is the solution to choose? We intend, in this work, to formulate a farm plan with the purpose of reconciling the criteria of environmental sustainability with that of economic competitiveness. For this achievement we proceed to the comparative study of sustainability of different groups of farms identified in the study area (first evaluation cycle) through MESMIS (“Marco para la Evaluación de Sistemas de Manejo de Recursos Naturales Mediante Indicadores de Sustentabilidad” - Framework for Evaluation of Natural-Resource Systems Handling through Sustainability Indicators) methodology, that allowed to select the more sustainable group of farms. Based on the found potentialities and weakness on these production systems, we stepped to the planning of a production unit of bovine meat, which obeys simultaneously to economic and environmental objectives, using Multicriteria Decision. We finished the work with the sustainability evaluation between groups of farms identified previously and the planned farms (second evaluation cycle), based, again, in the MESMIS methodology, to confirm (or not) the greatest sustainability of the last ones. Analyses of the results allow us to confirm the greatest relative sustainability of the planned farm, for the diverse traced scenarios.Decision taking, planning, sustainability, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,
Conformational dependence of through-space tellurium-tellurium spin-spin coupling in peri-substituted bis(tellurides)
No full textThe work in this project was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). M.B. wishes to thank EaStCHEM and the University of St Andrews for support.Three related series of peri‐substituted bis(tellurides) bearing naphthalene, acenaphthene and acenaphthylene backbones (Nap/Acenap/Aceyl(TeY)2 (Nap=naphthalene‐1,8‐diyl N ; Acenap=acenaphthene‐5,6‐diyl A ; Aceyl=acenaphthylene‐5,6‐diyl Ay ; Y=Ph 1 ; Fp 2 ; Tol 3 ; An‐p 4 ; An‐o 5 ; Tp 6 ; Mes 7 ; Tip 8 ) have been synthesised and their solid‐state structures determined by X‐ray crystallography. Molecular conformations were classified as a function of the two C9‐C‐Te‐C(Y) dihedral angles (θ); in the solid all members adopt AB or CCt configurations, with larger Te(aryl) moieties exclusively imposing the CCt variant. Exceptionally large J(125Te,125Te) spin–spin coupling constants between 3289–3848 Hz were obtained for compounds substituted by bulky Te(aryl) groups, implying these species are locked in a CCt‐type conformation. In contrast, compounds incorporating smaller Te(aryl) moieties are predicted to be rather dynamic in solution and afford much smaller J values (2050–2676 Hz), characteristic of greater populations of AB conformers with lower couplings. This conformational dependence of through‐space coupling is supported by DFT calculations.Peer reviewe
A influência da tragédia na Alexandra, de Lícofron, e a questão da performance
No full textLycophron’s Alexandra is a Hellenistic poem in which a messenger reports the prophecies that he heard Cassandra pronounce within the cell where she was arrested by his father, Priam. In this poem we find a number of features that show that its author was greatly influenced by the Tragedy of the fifth century B. C. In this paper, I intend to examine the elements that characterize this influence in the poem and, in conclusion, I want to deal with the performance possibilities of such a composition. In the most recent texts of the critics, the prevailing idea is that the Alexandra would have been written for highly educated Alexandrian readers. However, I defend the idea that perhaps Lycophron has composed his poem thinking of a sort of recitation, even if it was for a highly prepared public.A Alexandra, de Lícofron, é um poema helenístico no qual um mensageiro relata as profecias que ouviu Cassandra pronunciar de dentro da cela onde tinha sido presa pelo seu pai, Príamo. Nesse poema encontramos uma série de características que mostram que seu autor foi muito influenciado pela tragédia do século V a.C. Neste trabalho, pretendo examinar os elementos que caracterizam essa influência no poema e, como conclusão, pretendo tratar das possibilidades de performance de tal tipo de composição. Nos textos dos críticos mais recentes, prevalece a ideia de que a Alexandra teria sido composta para leitores eruditos do período alexandrino. Porém, quero defender a ideia de que talvez Lícofron tenha composto seu poema pensando num tipo de recitação, mesmo que fosse para um público altamente preparado
La creación del personaje femenino: una aproximación desde la obra de Gilma Peña y Alexandra Cardona.
No full textEste trabajo indaga en el proceso creativo que las guionistas Gilma Peña y Alexandra Cardona llevan a cabo en la construcción de personajes femeninos. A partir de entrevistas semiestructuradas y del análisis fílmico de algunas escenas de las producciones ¿Por qué diablos? y Confesión a Laura, se describe el aporte que las escritoras hicieron a la representación de las mujeres en las pantallas colombianas. Asimismo, como apuesta por la creación y como resultado de este ejercicio investigativo, se lleva a cabo la escritura de un guión propio para explorar cómo los métodos, estilos y enfoques narrativos de estas guionistas pueden inspirar y contribuir en la creación de historias y protagonistas femeninas.This work explores the creative process that screenwriters Gilma Peña and Alexandra Cardona employ in constructing female characters. Based on semi-structured interviews and a film analysis of selected scenes from the productions ¿Por qué diablos? and Confesión a Laura, the author describes the writers' contributions to the representation of women on Colombian screens. Furthermore, as a creative endeavor and as a result of this investigative exercise, the author writes a script to explore how the methods, styles, and narrative approaches of these screenwriters can inspire and contribute to the creation of female stories and protagonistsPregradoComunicador(a) Social - Periodist
Addressing the challenges of climate change risks and adaptation in coastal areas: A review
No full textClimate change is and will continue altering the world's coasts, which are the most densely populated and economically active areas on earth and home for highly valuable ecosystems. While there is considerable relevant research, in the authors' experience this problem remains challenging for coastal engineering. This paper reviews important challenges in this respect and identifies three key actions to address them: (a) refocusing traditional practice towards more climate-aware approaches; (b) developing more comprehensive risk frameworks that include the multi-dimensionality and non-stationarity of their components and consideration of uncertainty; and (c) building bridges between risk assessment and adaptation theory and practice. We conclude that the way forward includes numerous activities including increased observations; the attribution of coastal impacts to their drivers; enhanced climate projections and their integration into impact models; more impact assessments at the local scale; dynamic projections of spatially-distributed exposure and vulnerability; and the exploration of inherently adaptive options. Given the complexity of the possible solutions, more practical guidance is required.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Coastal Engineerin
Nikolai Evreinov and Edith Craig as Mediums of Modernist Sensibility
Get PDFNikolai Evreinov (1870-1953) was a Russian playwright, director, and theorist of the theatre who played a leading part in the modernist movement of Russian theatre. Evreinov's 1911 monodrama The Theatre of the Soul (V kulisakh dushi) was staged by the Crooked Mirror theatre in St Petersburg in 1912. It was also performed in London (1915) and Rome (1929), and inspired Man Ray to create his aerograph The Theatre of the Soul (1917). In this article Alexandra Smith links Evreinov's play to Russian modernist thought shaped by the atmosphere of crisis associated with the Russo-Japanese War and the first Russian Revolution. It demonstrates that Edith Craig's production of Evreinov's play suggests that the philosophy of theatricalization of everyday life might enable modern subjects to overcome the fragmentation of modern society. Craig's use of the montage-like techniques of Evreinov's play prefigures cinematographic experiments of the 1920s and Marinetti's notion of synthetic theatre. Alexandra Smith is a Reader in Russian Studies at the University of Edinburgh and is the author of The Song of the Mockingbird: Pushkin in the Works of Marina Tsvetaeva (1994) and Montaging Pushkin: Pushkin and Visions of Modernity in Russian Twentieth-Century Poetry (2006), as well as numerous articles on Russian literature and culture.</p
Diphtheria-like disease caused by Toxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans strain
Get PDFToxigenic Corynebacterium ulcerans is an increasingly reported cause of diphtheria in the United Kingdom and is often associated with a zoonotic origin (1,2). Here, we report a case of diphtheria caused by toxigenic C. ulcerans in a woman, 51 years of age, from Scotland, UK, who was admitted to a hospital in August 2013 with a swollen, sore throat and a gray-white membrane over the pharyngeal surface. The patient had returned from a 2-week family holiday in the state of Florida, United States, before the admission and also reported recent treatment of a pet dog for pharyngitis. The patient was believed to have been vaccinated against diphtheria during childhood. She was immediately admitted to an isolation ward and treated with a combination of clindamycin, penicillin, and metronidazole
The Heterogeneity of Family Firms in CSR Engagement: The Role of Values
No full textThis study addresses the heterogeneity of family firms in their engagement with corporate social responsibility (CSR). We build on stewardship theory and socioemotional wealth to explore the foundations of CSR in family firms and to examine whether the extent of engagement is based on values, and how and why this happens. We use the interpretative method of grounded theory to address these questions. Based on 12 case studies of Spanish family firms, this article illustrates the patterns of influence of family involvement and values in explaining the extent and scope of CSRThe author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: (a) Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation ECO2010- 21242-C03-02 Research Funding (Pilar Marques); (b) Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Research aid program for the Formation of University Researchers (FPU) (Alexandra Simon); (c) Autonomous Government of Catalonia 2009 SGR 577 Research Funding (Pilar Marques, Alexandra Simon
Obituary − Emeritus Professor Dr John Davidson McCraw (1925−2014) MBE, MSc NZ, DSc Well, CRSNZ, FNZSSS.
No full textJohn McCraw was an Earth scientist who began working as a pedologist with Soil Bureau, DSIR, then became the Foundation Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, inspiring a new generation to study and work in Earth sciences . In retirement, John McCraw was an author and historian with a special emphasis on Central Otago as well as the Waikato region. Throughout his career, marked especially by exemplary leadership, accomplished administration, and commitment to his staff and students at the University of Waikato, John McCraw also contributed to the communities in which he lived through public service organizations and as a public speaker. He received a number of awards including an MBE, fellowship, and companionship, and, uniquely, is commemorated also with a glacier, a fossil, and a museum-based research room named for him. Emeritus Professor John McCraw passed away on the 14th of December, 2014. An obituary, entitled “Dedicated to earth science and his students”, was published in the Waikato Times on the 10th of January, 2015
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