Search results for "Environment"

Determination of Changes in the Quality of Surface Water in the River—Reservoir System

2021

Assessing the changing parameters of water quality at different points in the river–reservoir system can help prevent river pollution and implement remedial policies. It is also crucial in modeling water resources. Multivariate statistical analysis is useful for the analysis of changes in surface water quality. It helps to identify indicators that may be responsible for the eutrophication process of a reservoir. Additionally, the analysis of the water quality profile and the water quality index (WQI) is useful in assessing water pollution. These tools can support and verify the results of a multivariate statistical analysis. In this study, changes in water quality parameters of the Turawa r…

Tensions and resilience: the experiences of adult foster-care workers in Finland

2018

This article examines adult foster care for older people in Finland. This is a semi-formal service in which older people are cared for by foster carers who are remunerated for their work by the local municipality. In the article, the tensions and resources of resilience of foster-care work are analysed. The data consist of 12 thematic interviews with foster carers. The results suggest that foster-care work is emotionally draining and has adverse effects on social relationships. However, foster carers see caring as purposeful, they see themselves as professionals and they have enough social resources.

Conservation of traditional rural biotopes in Finland : a social-ecological approach

2018

This research focuses on conservation of traditional rural biotopes, which are biodiverse meadows and wood-pastures that are dependent on management through grazing or mowing. These low-intensity management actions have become rare as a result of agricultural modernisation. I have utilised a social-ecological approach in order to seek for the most critical factors hindering conservation of traditional rural biotopes in Finland. I also explore practical solutions that have the potential to improve their conservation status. The coverage of traditional rural biotopes has faced severe habitat loss during the last 150 years. This has led to endangerment of several habitat types and species that…

Farming on the margins : Just transition and the resilience of peripheral farms

2022

Sustainability transition demands fundamental changes taking place at the farm system level. At the same time, many farms are operating on the verge of financial profitability, especially in geographically disadvantaged peripheral regions with a limited range of production opportunities. These observations raise concerns about the transition's justice aspects. Using the concept of resilience, we analysed farmers’ capacities for transformation in a peripheral context in Finland. The results from our farmer survey (n = 577) indicated that the regime exerts a strong cost-price squeeze on farmers, escaping of which is difficult also for farmers deliberately seeking new pathways beyond it. Due t…

Justice in and to nature : an application of the broad framework of environmental and ecological justice

2017

This dissertation applies and develops the broad framework of environmental and ecological justice. It is a new relational approach to justice, whose elements have been introduced by David Schlosberg in his works on environmental and ecological justice. The present study provides a systematisation of the framework and applies it to contemporary environmental topics using the methods of conceptual analysis and case-implication critique. The main outcome of this study is that the elements comprising the broad framework of environmental and ecological justice provide fresh and useful insights into topics like species extinctions and ecosystem wellbeing. In particular, the holistic and conflict…

PRINCIPLES OF RESILIENCE AND REGENERATIVE DESIGN IN COASTAL ENVIRONMENT

2020

The paper explains critically principles, methodological approaches and strategic project actions for a greater resilience of the built environment. In particular, the concept of resilience is explored in relation to sustainability and Regenerative Design applied to the built environment. The theme of Regenerative Design is studied and promoted as an adaptive strategy in the planning phase, requires, compared to Resilience’s theme, that nature strengthens its capacity for self-healing and its integrity, trying to give us back what the industrial development has taken away from the natural system, through the use of integrated regenerative methodologies. We examine in depth the case study of…

Grass Pea

2011

Grass pea (Lathyrus. sativus L.) is an annual legume crop with high protein content and remarkable resistance to extreme environmental conditions, including fl ooding, drought, salinity and low soil fertility, and a signifi cant degree of resistance to biotic stress agents. It is rightly considered one of the most promising sources of calories and protein for the vast and expanding populations of drought-prone and marginal areas of Asia and Africa and as an interesting alternative for cropping systems diversifi cation in marginal lands in Europe, Australia and America. It is a dual purpose crop with great agronomic potential as a grain and forage legume. Nevertheless, as a result of the lit…

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) application to the detection of mutations endowing herbicide resistance

2014

The Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies offer tremendous possibilities for accurate detection of mutations endowing resistance. Yet, their use for this purpose has not emerged in crop protection. We aim at promoting NGS use for herbicide resistance diagnosis. In an exemplary study, we describe a simple procedure for this purpose, useable by virtually any scientist and implementing freely accessible programs for the analysis of NGS data. Three PCR amplicons encompassing seven codons of the ALS gene that are crucial for herbicide resistance were sequenced using non-quantified pools of crude DNA extracts from 40 plants in each of 28 field populations of two species of barnyard-grass:…

European Weed Research Society (EWRS) workshop "Herbicide-Resistance in Europe: challenges, opportunities and threats"

2014

To resistance mechanisms and beyond: an evolutionary approach of herbicide resistance

2014

The diversity of herbicide resistance mechanisms observed today in weed populations is the result of a very rapid evolution in response to the selection pressure exerted by herbicide applications. Herbicide resistance is a dynamic process: weed populations are undoubtedly still continuing to evolve, so that the long-term outcome of herbicide selection is currently unpredictable. The vast majority of the studies addressing herbicide resistance published to date are focussed on the identification of mechanisms endowing resistance, with the applied aim to develop resistance diagnosis methods. Understanding resistance evolution is key to set up proactive weed management strategies that should i…