Search results for "diversity"
showing 10 items of 3950 documents
Managing biotic interactions for ecological intensification of agroecosystems.
2014
9 pages; International audience; Agriculture faces the challenge of increasing food production while simultaneously reducing the use of inputs and delivering other ecosystem services. Ecological intensification of agriculture is a paradigm shift, which has recently been proposed to meet such challenges through the manipulation of biotic interactions. While this approach opens up new possibilities, there are many constraints related to the complexity of agroecosystems that make it difficult to implement. Future advances, which are essential to guide agricultural policy, require an eco-evolutionary framework to ensure that ecological intensification is beneficial in the long term.
Kuka minä olen? Monikulttuuristen opiskelijoiden identiteettipuhetta
2008
Young people with immigrant backgrounds follow different paths to acculturate. Some integrate into the new society so that they cannot be singled out from the majority; others maintain their ethnic culture in addition to adopting values of the larger society. Alternatively, some immigrant youth distance themselves from both their parents' culture and new one. The challenge for second generation immigrants is that they have to make a double transition to adulthood. Immigrant adolescents develop an identity as members of their own group, and to varying degrees, as members of the lager society. Because of the variety of influences and opportunities they face in making choices on these issues, …
Vulnerability of algae and seagrasses to climate change
2013
Biodiversity is undergoing rapid and worrying changes, partially driven by anthropogenic activities. Human impacts and climate change (e.g. increasing temperature and ocean acidification) represent the most serious threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Aim of this study was to assess, analysing the scientific literature and published data, how climate change can affect algae and seagrasses, evaluating their vulnerability and the possibility to use these organisms as indicators. Algae and seagrasses have a central role for several important ecological processes in aquatic ecosystems, and their loss can lead repercussions for the ecological function. Climate stressors affected ac…
Alliance portfolio diversity, organizational slack, and firm performance
2013
In this paper we analyze whether and how the availability of internal resources in the form of slack influences a firm ability to deal with partner diversity in its alliance portfolio. Alliances with diverse partners provide access to a broader pool of complementary resources, but they also entail significant coordination costs. In this context, we argue that slack acts as a doubleedged sword that can either facilitate or hinder the management of interdependencies among different alliance projects. Accordingly, we further argue that the net impact of slack will depend on the firm’s experience in dealing with the challenges posed by portfolio diversity. Empirical analysis on a sample of firm…
The Future is Now : UAS Language Education in Transition
2019
The current article discusses how the increasing student diversity and transformation of work challenge language education at the Finnish universities of applied sciences (UAS). The article highlights some administrative and pedagogical solutions that have been developed at Karelia UAS to enable the progress of diverse students towards professional competence in foreign languages necessitated by the changes in the labour market. The aim of this article is to evoke discussion on the future directions of language education in vocational higher education. nonPeerReviewed
Soil, pasture and animal products quality
2013
The management of pasture, through the use of appropriate stocking rates and grazing systems, influences the feeding behaviour of the animals. The impact of animal behaviour on vegetation can be of great importance for the sustainability of pastures and mantaining their biodiversity. Indeed, a different response in terms of quality of animal products is mediated by the ability of animals to concentrate or transform grass components, according to the characteristics of the soil. The herbage ingested by animals provides them with compounds with aromatic characteristics, such as terpenes, and with functional properties beneficial for human health, such as carotenoids, vitamins, polyphenols and…
Identification and quantification of microbial populations in activated sludge and anaerobic digestion processes
2014
Eight different phenotypes were studied in an activated sludge process (AeR) and anaerobic digester AnD) in a full-scale wastewater treatment plant by means of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and automated FISH quantification software. The phenotypes were ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, phosphate-accumulating organisms (PAO), glycogen-accumulating organisms (GAO), sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB), methanotrophic bacteria and methanogenic archaea. Some findings were unexpected: (a) Presence of PAO, GAO and denitrifiers in the AeR possibly due to unexpected environmental conditions caused by oxygen deficiencies or its ability to survive …
Studies on high speed uplink packet access performance enhancements
2014
Species-Specific Antioxidant Power and Bioactive Properties of the Extracts Obtained from Wild Mediterranean Calendula Spp. (Asteraceae)
2019
In this study we focused on four taxa of the genus Calendula (C. maritima, C. suffruticosa subsp. fulgida, C. arvensis, and the hybrid between the first two ones), collected in Mediterranean area (Sicily). Six extracts for each species were obtained using solvents with increasing polarity (hexane, ethanol 80%, acetone 70%, and water) and through extraction by supercritical fluids (SFE). It has been observed that the solvent with the highest extraction efficiency was ethanol 80% for all species. However, SFE extracts showed high antioxidant activity comparable to the ethanol 80% extract (polyphenol, DPPH, and reducing power method). These findings were confirmed by in vitro analysis (MTT ass…
Fungal biodiversity and in situ conservation in Italy
2011
A remarkable increase in knowledge of fungal biodiversity in Italy has occurred in the last five years. The authors report up-to-date numbers of fungi (Basidiomycota and Ascomycota) by regions together with distributional and ecological data on hypogeous fungi. Specific case studies such as alpine fungi, orchid mycorrhizas symbionts, invasive species, and the use of macrofungi as food by red squirrels are analyzed. In situ conservation strategies carried out on target species and/or taxonomic groups are also indicated.