Search results for "PPI"

Mapping floristic diversity: a case study in Sicily

2021

This paper presents an operational methodology to map and analyze the floristic richness of “target species” in Natura 2000 sites, making use of G.I.S. tools and procedures. A Floristic diversity map (scale 1:50,000), covering an area of 612 km2, was produced by a team of experts as part of the management plans of “Madonie Mountains” Sites of Community Importance (SCIs), located in Sicily (Italy). The primary grid map represents the richness of “target species”, which include species of Community interests, taxa on the National Red List, endemic and threatened, species protected under International Conventions, taxa of phytogeographic importance. Secondary data frames include a three-dimens…

CONSTRUCTING, BOOTSTRAPPING, AND COMPARING MORPHOMETRIC AND PHYLOGENETIC TREES: A CASE STUDY OF NEW WORLD MONKEYS (PLATYRRHINI, PRIMATES)

2005

Morphometric data sets are often phenetically analyzed by using various kinds of spatial, metric, or nonmetric multivariate analyses. Such methods produce results that are difficult to compare directly with molecular or morphological phylogenetic hypotheses, which are usually expressed by using nonspatial tree representations. Therefore, it is useful in a comparative approach to analyze, and above all to visualize, morphometric pairwise relationships as tree structures. For this purpose, several additive or ultrametric methods exist, which often return different topologies for the same data set. Objective criteria are thus needed to identify the tree-building algorithm (or algorithm family)…

Heavy Metal Contents in Soft-Bottom Marine Macrophytes and Sediments Along the Mediterranean Coast of Spain

2000

. Hg, Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations were determined in sediment and in tissues of five species of soft-bottom marine macrophytes (Posidonia oceanica, Cymodocea nodosa, Zostera noltii, Ruppia cirrhosa and Caulerpa prolifera) along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Levels of metals were low in most of the sampling stations and similar to those found by other authors in uncontaminated zones. Certain locations, however, showed some degree of contamination (Cambrils, Almassora, Alacant, Mar Menor and El Portus). In Santa Pola we found high contents of metals in one sample of sediment due to the high proportion of the fine fraction (particules < 63µm) and organic matter, but not in the seagrass spe…

Agricultural landscapes and biodiversity conservation: a case study in Sicily (Italy)

2015

The diversity of life is made up not only of the diversity of plants and animal species, habitats and ecosystems, but also of the diversity of human cultures. These diversities interact with one another in complex ways and express the mutual adaptation between humans and the environment at local level. Sicilian traditional agro-ecosystems, due to the history of the territory and the resulting social and economic context, are configured in a heterogeneous mosaic rich in residual features of environmental value, which enhance the connectivity of the ecological network and support a high proportion of species that are rare or of conservation concern. As a case study we analyzed the characteris…

Emotions in Economic Decision Making: A Multidisciplinary Approach

2013

AbstractAccording to classical and neoclassical economics, decisions are made based on information and cost-benefit analysis. In reality, the decision making process is much more complex than previously thought, because it also involves psychological factors. Decision making is interdisciplinary, researched by psychologists, sociologists, economists, philosophers, neuroscientists and others. These fields have distinctive and common concepts about decision making. The aim of this paper is to identify what role emotions play in the economic decision making process. The paper focuses on describing and explaining the interconnection of sciences, such as economics, psychology and neuroscience, b…

Geovisualizing the sail-to-steam transition through vessel movement data

2017

International audience; Technological transitions in the maritime and port industries go along with increased transport and economic efficiency, resulting in faster movements and longer travelled distances. Yet, such transformations may also enhance disparities between winners and loosers, should they be ports or shipping companies. This research focuses on the particular case of the transition from sail to steam over the period 1890-1925, which witnesses the rapid replacement of sailing vessels, the latter concentrating 65% of the world fleet in 1890 but only 3.5% in 1925. It applies a variety of measures to compare how these two layers overlap in the network (at links and ports) and what …

Economic Freedom and the Pursuit of Happiness

2011

Participation in job-related lifelong learning among well-educated employees in the Nordic countries

2016

The purpose of this study was to explore participation in job-related lifelong learning (LLL) among well-educated mature workers and compare it across four Nordic countries. Although this group generally is very active in LLL, the centrality of knowledge work in society, rapid pace of skills-renewal and rising learning demands for all qualifications levels, necessitates a better understanding of the patterns and factors affecting their skill development. The paper builds on theories of learning motivation, human capital and workplace learning. Data from the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC) by the OECD were used. In addition to high participation rates, systematic level differences in particip…

Argentina’s Economic Development and Life Satisfaction Revisited – 1984–2012

2014

At the end of 1983, Argentina returned to democracy. Between 1983 and 2012, Argentina brought better economic and development results as wells as an improvement in the levels of happiness and life satisfaction. Although the macroeconomic cycle was characterized by high volatility, the country GDP per capita was 74 % higher in 2012 compared to 1983, implying an average annual growth rate of 1.9 %, much higher than the average Latin American country. Poverty and income distribution as well as health and education ones notably improved after time intervals of decadence.

New paradigm of ICT productivity – Increasing role of un-captured GDP and growing anger of consumers

2015

Abstract The dramatic advancement of the Internet has led all nations to an information communication technology (ICT) driven development trajectory. This trajectory has resulted in bi-polarization between ICT growing economies and ICT advanced economies. While the former enjoys a virtuous cycle between ICT advancement and productivity increase, the later has fallen into a trap of a vicious cycle between ICT advancement and productivity decrease. This paper identifies that this trap can be attributed to the two-faced nature of ICT in which advancement of ICT contributes to price increases due to functionality development while dramatic advancement of the Internet has resulted in price decre…