Search results for "System structure"

Fighting carbon loss of degraded peatlands by jump-starting ecosystem functioning with ecological restoration

2015

Degradation of ecosystems is a great concern on the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecological restoration fights degradation aiming at the recovery of ecosystem functions such as carbon (C) sequestration and ecosystem structures like plant communities responsible for the C sequestration function. We selected 38 pristine, drained and restored boreal peatland sites in Finland and asked i) what is the long-term effect of drainage on the peatland surface layer C storage, ii) can restoration recover ecosystem functioning (surface layer growth) and structure (plant community composition) and iii) is the recovery of the original structure needed for the recovery of ecosystem f…

Unleashing Growth Potential in ‘Stunted’ SMEs: Insights from Simulator Experiments

2006

The literature recognises the phenomenon of 'dwarf' or 'stunted' small and micro firms (in Italian nanismo aziendale) and that they might represent potential lost opportunities for owners and the local economy. This paper describes the development of a simple 'insight' model to simulate the behaviour of such firms. The model replicates the basic no-growth, cyclical behaviour attributed to them and shows how changes in targets and attitudes towards asset management can change that behaviour to one of stable growth. In this simple form, the model does link behaviours to system structure and could support individual entrepreneurs in understanding the reasons for dwarfism in their firm and the …

Lead-Lag-Shaped Interactive Force Estimation by Equivalent Output Injection of Sliding-Mode

2020

Estimation of interactive forces, which are mostly unavailable for direct measurement on the interface between a system and its environment, is an essential task in various motion control applications. This paper proposes an interactive force estimation method, based on the well-known equivalent output injection of the second-order sliding mode. The equivalent output injection is used to obtain a frequency-unshaped quantity that appears as a matched external disturbance and encompasses the interactive forces. Afterwards, a universal lead-lag shaper, depending on dynamics of the motion control system coupled with its environment, is used to extract an interactive force quantity. Once identif…

SCIENCE: IMAGe IN AcTION

2012

Ecosystem rescue : when protection is not enough

2015

Invasive Alien Species and Their Effects on Marine Animal Forests

2020

Nonindigenous species are increasingly transported around the world through multiple pathways by a diversity of vectors. Invasive species are a subset of those that are introduced into the receptor community, where they establish and increase their population to a size where they impact the native system. Marine invasive species can therefore interact with and modify native animal forests and/or create novel ones resulting in simple-to-complex changes in material cycling, energy flow, ecosystem structure, and function. Despite the ever increasing number of studies dealing with marine invasive species, mostly biological invasions are mentioned generically as one of a number of threats of dir…

Spatially resolved SO2 flux emissions from Mt Etna

2016

We report on a systematic record of SO2 flux emissions from individual vents of Etna volcano (Sicily), which we obtained using a permanent UV camera network. Observations were carried out in summer 2014, a period encompassing two eruptive episodes of the New South East Crater (NSEC) and a fissure-fed eruption in the upper Valle del Bove. We demonstrate that our vent-resolved SO2 flux time series allow capturing shifts in activity from one vent to another and contribute to our understanding of Etna's shallow plumbing system structure. We find that the fissure eruption contributed ~50,000 t of SO2 or ~30% of the SO2 emitted by the volcano during the 5 July to 10 August eruptive interval. Acti…