Search results for "feature"
showing 10 items of 4091 documents
Integrating species distribution models (SDMs) and phylogeography for two species of AlpinePrimula
2012
The major intention of the present study was to investigate whether an approach combining the use of niche-based palaeodistribution modeling and phylo-geography would support or modify hypotheses about the Quaternary distributional history derived from phylogeographic methods alone. Our study system comprised two closely related species of Alpine Primula. We used species distribution models based on the extant distribution of the species and last glacial maximum (LGM) climate models to predict the distribution of the two species during the LGM. Phylogeographic data were generated using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). In Primula hirsuta, models of past distribution and phylo…
Paleodiversity of the Superfamily Ursoidea (Carnivora, Mammalia) in the Spanish Neogene, related to environmental changes
2014
In the present study we analyse the diversity of the Superfamily Ursoidea during the Neogene of the Iberian Peninsula to further compare it with that of the Neogene of Western Europe to find the different associations of this group. The results indicate that both the diversity and the taxonomy amongst these two regions show important variations, thus letting their interpretation in terms of climatic differentiation. We might relate variations in the abundance of the Ursoidea to the environmental fluctuations taking place during the Miocene and Pliocene. Therefore, they could enable us to reach the assessment of these biogeographical distributions in order to deduce the preferential niches o…
The effectiveness of rural versus urban nonprofit organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo
2017
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a country with high natural resources, but it has suffered from decades of civil wars and social turmoil, being heavily aid-dependent. In the DRC, several Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) are major players in fighting poverty and enhancing welfare. This research aims to analyse the effectiveness of small NPOs in improving poor peoples’ lives through health, education, and economic activities. Two NPOs working in the DRC, one in a rural and the other in an urban area, are compared by researching the aid sites and surveying 201 households (aid beneficiaries). Our case observations and the survey results facilitate analysing the mission accomplishment, e…
Winners or Losers? The Adjustment Strategies of Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Tirana, Albania
2013
This paper explores the micro-level process of adjustment undergone by rural migrants to the city. Rural migrants are expected to fully adjust to the urban lifestyle, setting aside their traditions and culture. However, as the migrant population increases in an urban area, migrants create their own communities with their own lifestyles and values, and thus there is an ongoing debate about whether this process entails the ruralisation of the city or the urbanisation of migrants. While becoming urban and being part of the city is desired, the reality is that joining a migrant community and adjusting to other migrants is more important. According to the resource-based model, migrants need pers…
Ten Pillars of a Good Childhood: A Finnish Perspective
2012
Adapted from a presentation given at the Decade for Childhood 2012-2022 Launch during the Global Summit on Childhood, March 30, 2012, Washington, D.C. Author Note: The preparation of this paper has...
Environmental Benefit of Improving Wastewater Quality: A Shadow Prices Approach for Sensitive Areas
2018
The use of effluents from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) as a non-conventional source of water for wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions is becoming the most-often sought solution for maintaining water flow in sensitive wetlands there. However, the managing effluent quality should be a requirement because excess nutrients (mainly nitrogen and phosphorus) can generate eutrophication problems in wetlands. In the Mediterranean area in general, wetlands are strongly vulnerable to eutrophication, which is why they are classified as sensitive areas. Our study uses a data set from 24 WWTPs, effluents of which are discharged to wetlands in the coast of Community of Valencia. We use the shado…
Urban segregation and unemployment: A case study of the urban area of Marseille – Aix-en-Provence (France)
2018
International audience; In this paper, we study the effects of the spatial organization of the urban area of Marseille – Aix-en-Provence on unemployment there. More specifically, differences in the characteristics of the residential population induce urban stratification with the result that urban structure may affect the probability of employment. In order to evaluate the effects of spatial structure on unemployment, we implement a spatial probit model to reveal the employment probabilities of young adults still living with their parents. Our results support the hypothesis that living in or near a deprived neighborhood decreases the probability of employment.
Measuring readiness for entrepreneurship: An information tool proposal
2016
Abstract A profound review of the literature on entrepreneurship reveals that it does not exist a specific information tool to measure the individuals’ readiness for entrepreneurship. The purpose of this research has been building such kind of instrument to estimate the individuals’ readiness for entrepreneurship. Its design takes in consideration the inclusion of the main variables identified by the literature as those most associated with entrepreneurial profiles. These variables have been grouped into three categories: sociological, psychological and managerial-entrepreneurial. Each group provides batteries of items which are evaluated thanks to a specific scoring system. The final objec…
International competition in the first wave of globalization: new evidence on the margins of trade
2015
We pose a seemingly ageless question in economic history. To what extent did new entrants in the late nineteenth‐century cotton‐textile industry threaten the customary markets of the European core? Exploiting a newly constructed dataset on textile imports to Spain, we find that as trade costs fell, new rivals began to sell a greater variety of products. Along this dimension, competition can be said to have increased. In response, producers in Europe adjusted the type and number of goods exported. By 1914, specialization mapped onto endowments of skilled labour, capital, and access to raw materials. While firms in new industrializing countries exported low‐end varieties, incumbents in the co…
DETECTING VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS IN TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTIONS BY DESIGNED BREAK-INDICATOR SATURATION
2016
We present a methodology for detecting breaks at any point in time-series regression models using an indicator saturation approach, applied here to modelling climate change. Building on recent developments in econometric model selection for more variables than observations, we saturate a regression model with a full set of designed break functions. By selecting over these break functions using an extended general-to-specific algorithm, we obtain unbiased estimates of the break date and magnitude. Monte Carlo simulations confirm the approximate properties of the approach. We assess the methodology by detecting volcanic eruptions in a time series of Northern Hemisphere mean temperature spanni…