Search results for "Turno"

Patch size and connectivity influence the population turnover of the threatened chequered blue butterfly, Scolitantides orion (Lepidoptera: Lycaenida…

2008

Chequered blue butterfly, Scolitantides orion (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) has severely declined in many parts of Europe and is currently red-listed in many countries. We studied the population structure and turnover of the species in a lake-island system in a National Park in eastern Finland over a three-year period. The incidence of the chequered blue on the suitable islands (n = 41) and habitat patches (n = 123) was high: an average of 82% of the islands and patches were occupied over the three year period. At the island scale, the annual population turnover rate was 17%, with an extinction and colonization rate of 7% and 10%, respectively. At the patch scale, the annual population turnover…

Elections, Referendums and Parties

2015

By the end of 2014, the Baltic states had held a total of 19 parliamentary, 19 municipal and 3 cycles of European Parliament elections. Lithuania, which elects its president via a national popular vote, had additionally held six presidential polls. Another 23 referendums have been held since August 1991. The rigidity of the Lithuanian and Latvian electoral and judicial institutions have been tested by the 2004 impeachment of Lithuanian president, Rolandas Paksas, and the subsequent early presidential election, as well as a referendum on the recall of Latvia’s parliament in the summer of 2011 and the following early election. Estonia is recognised as an electoral innovator, being the first s…

Sequential Cross-Sectional Surveys in Orange Farm, a Township of South Africa, Revealed a Constant Low Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Uptake amo…

2016

Background WHO recommends a male circumcision (MC) prevalence rate higher than 80% to have a substantial impact on the HIV-AIDS epidemic in Eastern and Southern Africa. Orange Farm, a township in South Africa, has a free-for-service voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) clinic in operation since 2008. Following an intense campaign from 2008 to 2010, MC prevalence rate increased to 55.4% (ANRS-12126). Ongoing and past VMMC campaigns focused on youths, through school talks, and adults at a community level. The main objective of the study was to assess the change in MC prevalence rate among adults aged 18–19 and 18–49 years in the past 5 years. Methods A cross-sectional survey (ANRS-12285…

Franchisee Discontinuance and Failure Empirical Findings from Finland

2008

The present study focuses on franchisee discontinuances and failures during 1999–2001. The paper deals with notions relating to discontinuance and failure. Franchising is approached from entrepreneurs hip viewpoint and taken as a form of starting and conducting entrepreneurship and business. The study was carried out in 2002 in Finland. The 46 member franchisors of the Finnish Franchising Association (FFA) were surveyed. Altogether 33 responses were received, adding up to a response rate of 72%. The results were parallel with the findings of the previous international studies. The results indicate that the average annual franchisee turnover rate was 11% in 1999–2001 in the studied franchise…

‘La battaglia contro il diavolo nel Salomone e Saturno I’

1994

Carbon dynamics of soil organic matter in bulk soil and aggregate fraction during secondary succession in a Mediterranean environment.

2013

Clarifying which factors cause an increase or decrease in soil organic carbon (SOC) after agricultural abandonment requires integration of data on the temporal dynamics of the plant community and SOC. A chronosequence of abandoned vineyards was studied on a volcanic island (Pantelleria, Italy). Vegetation in the abandoned fields was initially dominated by annual and perennial herbs, then by Hyparrhenia hirta (L.) Stapf, and finally by woody communities. As a consequence, the dominant photosynthetic pathway changed from C3 to C4 and then back to C3. Conversion of a plant community dominated by one photosynthetic pathway to another changes the 13C/12C ratio of inputs to SOC. Using the time si…

The role of mitochondrial oxidative stress in aging.

2003

Mitochondria are both a major source of oxidants and a target for their damaging effects, and, therefore, mitochondrial oxidative stress appears to be a cause, rather than a consequence, of cell aging. Oxidative damage in aging is particularly high in specific molecular targets, such as mitochondrial DNA and aconitase, and mitochondrial oxidative stress may drive tissue aging through intrinsic apoptosis. Mitochondrial function and morphology are impaired upon aging, as judged by a decline in membrane potential as well as by an increase in peroxide production and size of the organelles. In view of the age-related decreases in mitochondrial protein synthesis, mitochondrial transcripts, and ex…

Humic substances along the profile of two Typic Haploxerert.

2002

In Vertisols, organic matter contributes to soil colour by formation of organo-mineral complexes and affects morphological, physico-chemical, biological and biochemical properties. Turbation may affect the chemical and structural composition of the most stabilised fractions of soil organic matter (SOM), i.e., humic substances (HS). The objectives of this study were to: (1) characterise SOM in two Vertisols (V1 and V2) developed under Mediterranean climate in Italy, using some HS characteristics as indicators of SOM turnover in Vertisols, and (2) explore possible differences related to the pedomorphologic conditions of the area under which two soils have formed. SOM evolution along the soil …

An “Uncertainty Principle” for the Mediterranean annual dry grasslands

2009

Preliminary results of diachronic researches on the spatial arrangement and species richness in Mediterranean annual dry grasslands (Tuberarietea guttatae) demonstrated that the patchiness resulted minimized and the temporal stability maximized at elevations offering the best compromise between the summer drought stress and the winter cold stress. Moreover, the temporal stability of the Mediterranean annul dry grasslands could not necessarily be related with their demographic inertia, meaning that the turnover and rearrangement of species within the community do not necessarily implicate significant changes in the average species composition over time. On the other hand, the survival chance…

Effects of temperatures on the spatial arrangement in Mediterranean annual dry grasslands

2009

Some preliminary results of diachronic researches on the spatial arrangement and species richness in Mediterranean annual dry grasslands belonging to the class Tuberarietea guttatae are presented. Our results are based on 12 permanent plots, set in three places at different heights in Southern and Central Sardinia. Sites were chosen to have annual species richness and plant density not significantly different. The relationship between patchiness and temporal stability was investigated at the scale of the square plots. We used the mean abundance divided by the SD in abundance (S = xm/r), as the measure of temporal stability of populations (Tilman 1999) and the Shannon-Wiener index to evaluat…