Search results for "NtAb"
showing 10 items of 646 documents
Mapping Vegetation Density in a Heterogeneous River Floodplain Ecosystem Using Pointable CHRIS/PROBA Data
2012
River floodplains in the Netherlands serve as water storage areas, while they also have the function of nature rehabilitation areas. Floodplain vegetation is therefore subject to natural processes of vegetation succession. At the same time, vegetation encroachment obstructs the water flow into the floodplains and increases the flood risk for the hinterland. Spaceborne pointable imaging spectroscopy has the potential to quantify vegetation density on the basis of leaf area index (LAI) from a desired view zenith angle. In this respect, hyperspectral pointable CHRIS data were linked to the ray tracing canopy reflectance model FLIGHT to retrieve vegetation density estimates over a heterogeneous…
Airborne-laser-scanning-derived auxiliary information discriminating between broadleaf and conifer trees improves the accuracy of models for predicti…
2020
Managing forests for ecosystem services and biodiversity requires accurate and spatially explicit forest inventory data. A major objective of forest management inventories is to estimate the standing timber volume for certain forest areas. In order to improve the efficiency of an inventory, field based sample-plots can be statistically combined with remote sensing data. Such models usually incorporate auxiliary variables derived from canopy height models. The inclusion of forest type variables, which quantify broadleaf and conifer volume proportions, has been shown to further improve model performance. Currently, the most common way of quantifying broadleaf and conifer forest types is by ca…
Brown bear behaviour in human-modified landscapes: The case of the endangered Cantabrian population, NW Spain
2018
Large carnivores are recolonizing parts of their historical range in Europe, a heavily modified human landscape. This calls for an improvement of our knowledge on how large carnivores manage to coexist with humans, and on the effects that human activity has on large carnivore behaviour, especially in areas where carnivore populations are still endangered. Brown bears Ursus arctos have been shown to be sensitive to the presence of people and their activities. Thus, bear conservation and management should take into account potential behavioural alterations related to living in human-modified landscapes. We studied the behaviour of brown bears in the Cantabrian Mountains, NW Spain, where an en…
Impediments to fisheries recovery in Canada: Policy and institutional constraints on developing management practices compliant with the precautionary…
2020
The status of many Canadian fisheries is poor, a consequence of inadequate implementation of sustainable fishery policy within the context of the Precautionary Approach (PA). A key component of implementation lies with the provision of science advice. Scientists are responsible for advising on options likely to meet policy intent and objectives. Here, we examine PA-compliance in the role of science in Canada's fisheries management decision-making. We distinguish science-based from science-determined decisions and processes. Science-based decisions emerge from consultation processes involving stakeholders; science need not always have a clear and accountable role that can be transparently se…
Public Policy Design for Climate Change Adaptation: A Dynamic Performance Management Approach to Enhance Resilience
2017
This chapter proposes dynamic performance management (DPM) as a suitable method to identify policies in the context of climate change adaptation. Namely, it focuses on the role it can play to support the analysis of how to enhance resilience of social and economic systems to climate change. While ‘resilience’ is a buzzword in the policymaking world, putting the concept into practice is still undeveloped. In a public administration focused on accountability, intangible outcomes of resilience represent a complication. The chapter discusses the findings and lessons from a case study applying the proposed approach. The results highlight the role of a dynamic performance approach to support stak…
Exploring the application of blockchain to humanitarian supply chains: insights from Humanitarian Supply Blockchain pilot project
2021
PurposeSome studies and reports have recently suggested using blockchain technology to improve transparency and trust in humanitarian supply chains (HSCs). However, evidence-based studies to display the utility and applicability of blockchains in HSCs are missing in the literature. This paper aims to investigate the key drivers and barriers of blockchain application to HSCs and explore whether evidence could support that the application of blockchain improves transparency and trust in HSCs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper puts forward a two-stage approach to explore the blockchain application in HSCs: an initial exploration of humanitarian practitioners and academicians interested in b…
Standardisation and social ordering: A change of perspective
2021
This article examines standardisation in synthetic biology as a form of social coordination and ordering. I discuss standardisation by exploring what makes standards possible, and offer an understanding based on infrastructures: technical and social systems that support the existence and operation of accepted standards. By exploring the role of social infrastructures, I contend that standards depend upon social ordering: ways of arranging people in particular positions, relations, and hierarchies. I suggest that synthetic biologists ought to develop an awareness of these social orders, take responsibility for their creation, and accept accountability for their consequences, both technical a…
Immunization Status against Measles of Health-Care Workers Operating at Three Sicilian University Hospitals: An Observational Study
2019
Measles is a highly contagious vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) that also commonly affects health-care workers (HCWs). Measles immunization of HCWs was strongly recommended by international health authorities, in order to limit the spreading of the illness to susceptible patients and colleagues. An observational study, evaluating the immunization and vaccination status against measles of HCWs working at three Sicilian university hospitals, was conducted. All subjects not completely immune (vaccinated with only one dose in their lifetime), not immune (not vaccinated or not naturally immunized), and with an unknown immunization status were considered not immunized. Among HCWs operating in th…
The VIRSTA score, a prediction score to estimate risk of infective endocarditis and determine priority for echocardiography in patients with Staphylo…
2016
International audience; Objectives - To develop and validate a prediction score, to quantify, within 48 h of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) diagnosis, the risk of IE, and therefore determine priority for urgent echocardiography. Methods - Consecutive adult patients with SAB in 8 French university hospitals between 2009 and 2011 were prospectively enrolled and followed-up 3 months. A predictive model was developed and internally validated using bootstrap procedures. Results - Among the 2008 patients enrolled, 221 (11.0%) had definite IE of whom 39 (17.6%) underwent valve surgery, 25% of them within 6 days of SAB diagnosis. Ten predictors independently associated with IE were used to …
How online reviews of destination responsibility influence tourists’ evaluations: an exploratory study of mountain tourism
2019
This study examines how online reviews of the economic, sociocultural and environmental dimensions of tourism destination responsibility (TDR) influence tourists’ evaluations. The effects of these ...