Search results for "PRODUCTIVITY"
showing 10 items of 618 documents
The genetics of phenotypic plasticity in livestock in the era of climate change: a review
2020
Climate change has the potential to adversely affect the health of livestock, with consequences to animal welfare, greenhouse gas emissions, productivity, human health and livelihoods. Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes, depending on environmental, biotic or abiotic conditions; it is a factor influencing and modifying the genes of animal and plant organisms, to adaptation to climate change. Among the various climate variables, heat stress has been reported to be the most detrimental factor to the economy of the livestock industry. There are a number of candidate genes that are associated with adaptation of ruminants, monogastric and poultry to…
Hegel on the Productivity of Action: Metaphysical Questions, Non-Metaphysical Answers, and Metaphysical Answers
2019
AbstractCharles Taylor claims that not only Kant, but also successors of Kant such as Fichte and Hegel, advocate a primitive concept of action, namely, a basic, irreducible, indispensable concept allegedly essential to our self-understanding. This paper shows how philosophers like Robert Brandom agree with Taylor explicitly with regard to Hegel, and attribute to him transcendental non-metaphysical arguments in support of such a concept. It then proceeds to challenge this attribution (both of the concept and the type of argument), offering a brief presentation of an alternative non-transcendental metaphysical approach to the Hegelian idea of giving actuality to a concept (or end) through a p…
Exploring the miRNA-mediated response to combined stresses in melon plants
2021
AbstractClimate change has been associated with a higher incidence of combined adverse environmental conditions that can promote a significant decrease in crop productivity. However, knowledge on how a combination of stresses might affect plant development is still scarce. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed as potential targets for improving crop-productivity. Here, we have combined deep-sequencing, computational characterization of responsive miRNAs and validation of their regulatory role in a comprehensive analysis of melon’s response to several combinations of four stresses (cold, salinity, short day, and infection with a fungus). Twenty-two miRNA families responding to double and/or …
Research of organic agricultural production support in Poland
2017
The features of supporting organic production in Poland are analyzed in the article. Poland is characterized by the largest employment of the population and the number of farms in the organic sector among the countries of Europe. Despite the favorable natural and climatic conditions, the scientific and practical base, significant areas occupied by organic production, the powerful export potential of the country, the proportion of organic operators in the structure of agricultural producers is very low. The main obstacles to the transition to organic principles are the poor development of environmental infrastructure and support from various services of the entire agricultural system. Theref…
Assessing changes in eco-productivity of wastewater treatment plants: The role of costs, pollutant removal efficiency, and greenhouse gas emissions
2018
Abstract Improving eco-efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has been identified as being essential for achieving urban sustainability. Several previous papers have evaluated the eco-efficiency of WWTPs using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. However, those models provided only a static assessment in that they ignored possible fluctuations over time within each plant. To overcome this temporal limitation, this paper evaluates dynamic eco-efficiency (changes in eco-productivity over time) of WWTPs using the dynamic weighted Russell directional distance model (WRDDM). This approach allows one to obtain an eco-productivity change index for each major component of the WRDDM mo…
Measuring the wastewater treatment plants productivity change: Comparison of the Luenberger and Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen Productivity Indicators
2019
Abstract It is essential to assess the productivity of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to improve their economic and technical performance over time. In doing so, reliable indexes should be used to avoid biased conclusions leading to unsuccessful policy and managerial measures. Ratio-based indexes are typically employed, but are infeasible when any of the variables are equal or close to zero. To overcome this limitation, this paper presents the innovative approach of applying and comparing two difference-based productivity indicators, Luenberger (LPI) and Luenberger-Hicks-Moorsteen (LHMPI), to evaluate how productivity changes in a sample of WWTPs. Because the LHMPI is an additively com…
Lead contamination affects the primary productivity traits, biosynthesis of macromolecules and distribution of metal in durum wheat (Triticumdurum L.)
2021
Highlights • The growth, biosynthesis of pigments and other macromolecules appeared to be strong predictors in appraisal of Pb tolerance/susceptibility in durum wheat. • Germplasm of CBD59, CBD63 and CBD66 can be exploited for future selection and breeding programs. • The bioaccumulation of metal in grains of some cultivars of durum wheat much below than permissible limits set by FAO/WHO is of great significance owing to its implications for food safety.
Rootstock and fruit canopy position affect peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] (cv. Rich May) plant productivity and fruit sensorial and nutritional q…
2013
The right combination of rootstock and training system is important for increased yield and fruit sensorial and nutritional homogeneity and quality with peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch]. We investigated the effects of rootstock and training system on these parameters, testing the effect of vigorous GF677 and weaker Penta - rootstock on 'Rich May' peach cultivar. Fruit position effects regarding photosynthetically active radiation availability, along the canopy profile using the Y training system, were investigated. The positive relationships between total polyphenols content and antioxidant capacity according to canopy vigour and architecture were determined for the two scion/stock combin…
Quali-quantitative assessment of Posidonia oceanica detritus accumulations in pocket-beaches with different productivity levels of nearshore seagrass…
2019
Posidonia oceanica detritus accumulates in late summer-autumn along the coasts forming beach-cast seagrass wracks known as banquette. Although seagrass wracks are highly variable at both spatial and temporal scales, they have an important ecological role as they protect the coast from erosion, support beach biodiversity and trophic webs and supply nutrients to dune vegetation. Previous studies have focused mainly on the beach-cast morphological characterization and variability, as well as on associated biotic communities. However, few studies have focused on the quali-quantitative assessment of seagrass wracks. The aim of this study was to assess the spatial variability of the P.oceanica be…
Self-Selection into Exports: Productivity and/or Innovation?
2009
Abstract Recent research has related the firm decision to export with firm innovation activities and productivity. The aim of this paper is to disentangle the direct and indirect links through which self-selection into exports, coming both from productivity and innovation, may operate. For this purpose we use Spanish manufacturing firm data for the period 1990–2000, drawn from the Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales. The main results we obtain can be summarized as follows. First, there is a self-selection into exports direct effect coming from productivity. Second, there is also a self-selection indirect effect into exports stemming from productivity to the probability of exporting thr…