Search results for "Multidisciplinary"
showing 10 items of 4640 documents
Innovative public governance through cloud computing
2014
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach – We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, be…
MATHEMATICS AS A QUASI-EMPIRICAL SCIENCE
2006
The present paper aims at showing that there are times when set theoretical knowledge increases in a non-cumulative way. In other words, what we call ‘set theory’ is not one theory which grows by simple addition of a theorem after the other, but a finite sequence of theories T1, ..., T n in which Ti+1, for 1 ≤ i < n, supersedes T i . This thesis has a great philosophical significance because it implies that there is a sense in which mathematical theories, like the theories belonging to the empirical sciences, are fallible and that, consequently, mathematical knowledge has a quasi-empirical nature. The way I have chosen to provide evidence in favour of the correctness of the main thesis of t…
Study of energetic properties of different tree organs in six Olea europaea L. cultivars
2021
AbstractPruning is an important horticultural practice for the management of olive orchards (Olea europaea L.) that generates a considerable amount of residues every year. Olive orchards are increasingly expanding beyond the Mediterranean Basin to new growing Countries (Australia, California, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay) and this will certainly lead to larger availability of pruning material. Currently, the interest in use of olive tree pruning residues for energy purposes is increasing but unfortunately, the information on the differences among organs of the tree, in terms of calorific value and ash content, is scarce. Another unknown aspect is the effect of cultivar vigour on dry matter …
Functional Redundancy and Complementarities of Seed Dispersal by the Last Neotropical Megafrugivores
2013
Submitted by Vitor Silverio Rodrigues (vitorsrodrigues@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2014-05-27T11:28:22Z No. of bitstreams: 0Bitstream added on 2014-05-27T14:42:48Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 2-s2.0-84873586375.pdf: 1508075 bytes, checksum: 7e697f6c67a83195e9b0cb525355980e (MD5) Made available in DSpace on 2014-05-27T11:28:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-02-07 Background: Functional redundancy has been debated largely in ecology and conservation, yet we lack detailed empirical studies on the roles of functionally similar species in ecosystem function. Large bodied frugivores may disperse similar plant species and have strong impact on plant recruitment in tropical forests. Th…
Five key attributes can increase marine protected areas performance for small-scale fisheries management
2016
AbstractMarine protected areas (MPAs) have largely proven to be effective tools for conserving marine ecosystem, while socio-economic benefits generated by MPAs to fisheries are still under debate. Many MPAs embed a no-take zone, aiming to preserve natural populations and ecosystems, within a buffer zone where potentially sustainable activities are allowed. Small-scale fisheries (SSF) within buffer zones can be highly beneficial by promoting local socio-economies. However, guidelines to successfully manage SSFs within MPAs, ensuring both conservation and fisheries goals, and reaching a win-win scenario, are largely unavailable. From the peer-reviewed literature, grey-literature and intervie…
Ocean acidification as a driver of community simplification via the collapse of higher-order and rise of lower-order consumers
2017
AbstractIncreasing oceanic uptake of CO2 is predicted to drive ecological change as both a resource (i.e. CO2 enrichment on primary producers) and stressor (i.e. lower pH on consumers). We use the natural ecological complexity of a CO2 vent (i.e. a seagrass system) to assess the potential validity of conceptual models developed from laboratory and mesocosm research. Our observations suggest that the stressor-effect of CO2 enrichment combined with its resource-effect drives simplified food web structure of lower trophic diversity and shorter length. The transfer of CO2 enrichment from plants to herbivores through consumption (apparent resource-effect) was not compensated by predation, becaus…
Limited potential for bird migration to disperse plants to cooler latitudes
2021
Climate change is forcing the redistribution of life on Earth at an unprecedented velocity1,2. Migratory birds are thought to help plants to track climate change through long-distance seed dispersal3,4. However, seeds may be consistently dispersed towards cooler or warmer latitudes depending on whether the fruiting period of a plant species coincides with northward or southward migrations. Here we assess the potential of plant communities to keep pace with climate change through long-distance seed dispersal by migratory birds. To do so, we combine phenological and migration information with data on 949 seed-dispersal interactions between 46 bird and 81 plant species from 13 woodland communi…
Ecological risk assessment of agricultural soils for the definition of soil screening values: A comparison between substance-based and matrix-based a…
2017
The Italian legislation on contaminated soils does not include the Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) and this deficiency has important consequences for the sustainable management of agricultural soils. The present research compares the results of two ERA procedures applied to agriculture (i) one based on the “substance-based” approach and (ii) a second based on the “matrix-based” approach. In the former the soil screening values (SVs) for individual substances were derived according to institutional foreign guidelines. In the latter, the SVs characterizing the whole-matrix were derived originally by the authors by means of experimental activity.\ud \ud \ud The results indicate that the “matr…
Predicting the current and future global distribution of the invasive freshwater hydrozoan Craspedacusta sowerbii
2021
AbstractThe freshwater jellyfish Craspedacusta sowerbii is one of the most widespread invasive species, but its global distribution remains uncertain due to ephemeral appearances and general lack of information in various aquatic environments. The aim of this study was to map current and future distributions (2050 and 2100) using Species Distribution Models allowing to visualize the habitat suitability and make projections of its changes under potential climate change scenarios. Except in Oceania where the range decreased, an expansion of C. sowerbii was projected during the next century under modeled future scenarios being most intensive during the first half of the century. The present st…
Inorganic carbon physiology underpins macroalgal responses to elevated CO2
2017
Beneficial effects of CO2 on photosynthetic organisms will be a key driver of ecosystem change under ocean acidification. Predicting the responses of macroalgal species to ocean acidification is complex, but we demonstrate that the response of assemblages to elevated CO2 are correlated with inorganic carbon physiology. We assessed abundance patterns and a proxy for CO2:HCO3− use (δ13C values) of macroalgae along a gradient of CO2 at a volcanic seep, and examined how shifts in species abundance at other Mediterranean seeps are related to macroalgal inorganic carbon physiology. Five macroalgal species capable of using both HCO3− and CO2 had greater CO2 use as concentrations increased. These s…