Search results for "quest"
showing 10 items of 3700 documents
Carbon stock increases up to old growth forest along a secondary succession in Mediterranean island ecosystems.
2019
The occurrence of old-growth forests is quite limited in Mediterranean islands, which have been subject to particularly pronounced human impacts. Little is known about the carbon stocks of such peculiar ecosystems compared with different stages of secondary succession. We investigated the carbon variation in aboveground woody biomass, in litter and soil, and the nitrogen variation in litter and soil, in a 100 years long secondary succession in Mediterranean ecosystems. A vineyard, three stages of plant succession (high maquis, maquis-forest, and forest-maquis), and an old growth forest were compared. Soil samples at two soil depths (0-15 and 15-30 cm), and two litter types, relatively undec…
Assessment of the soil organic carbon stock in Spain
2016
p.- 4 Tabls.- 6 Figs.
Pedogenesis and carbon sequestration in transformed agricultural soils of Sicily
2021
The increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration is a consequence of human activities leading to severe environmental deteriorations. Techniques are thus needed to sequester and reduce atmospheric carbon. One of the proposed techniques is the transformation or construction of new soils into which more organic carbon can be sequestered and CO2 be consumed by increased weathering. By using a chronosequence of new and transformed soils on crushed limestone (0–48 years) in a Mediterranean area (Sicily), we tried to quantify the amount of organic carbon that could be additionally sequestered and to derive the corresponding rates. A further aim was to trace chemical weathering and related CO2 consump…
Impact of woody encroachment on soil organic carbon and nitrogen in abandoned agricultural lands along a rainfall gradient in Italy
2011
Land use changes represent one of the most important components of global environmental change andhave a strong influence on carbon cycling. As a consequence of changes in economy during the last century, areas of marginal agriculture have been abandoned leading to secondary successions. The encroachment of woody plants into grasslands, pastures and croplands is generally thought to increase the carbon stored in these ecosystems even though there are evidences for a decrease in soil carbon stocks after land use change. In this paper, we investigate the effects of woody plant invasion on soil carbon and nitrogen stocks along a precipitation gradient (200–2,500 mm) using original data from pa…
Changes in physical activity domains during the transition out of high school: Psychosocial and environmental correlates
2015
Background:This study examined changes in multiple physical activity domains during the transition out of high school and psychosocial and environmental determinants of these changes.Methods:A 1-year prospective study was designed. The baseline sample was composed of 244 last-year high school students (58.6% female) from Valencia, Spain. Follow-up rate was 46%. Physical activity and potential determinants were measured by the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and other evaluated scales in 2 waves.Results:Total physical activity and active commuting (AC) decreased, respectively, by 21% and 36%, only in males. At time 1, access to car/motorbike (inverse), planning/psychosocial barriers (…
Motivation and personality traits for choosing religious tourism. A research on the case of Medjugorje
2013
Religion has long been a primary motivation for journeys and it is considered the oldest non-economic reason for travelling. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the reasons tourists choose to travel to sacred sites, with the specific aim of discovering relationships between personality traits and motivations for religious travel. Participating in the research were 679 Italian travellers to Medjugorje sanctuary, who completed the travel motivation scale and big five questionnaire. The results show that motivation is focused prevalently on the need for discovery in men and socialisation in women. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that personality traits are predictive of motiv…
Fazioni e popolo in una provincia del dominio pontificio fra XIII e XIV secolo
2021
Between the 13th and 14th centuries, a number of cities in the inchoative papal state experimented a system of self-government that allowed the Guelph and Ghibelline factions, formally represented in those same bodies on an equal footing, to work alongside the more strictly communal magistracies. The case of Todi is rather well known, given the role that Bartolo da Sassoferrato assigns to it in his Tractatus de guelphis et gebellinis (ca. 1350), but current research has already ascertained that this political tradition appeared at least around 1260. Some evidence can suggest, however, that some form of integration of factions into the local institutional framework was possible elsewhere, an…
Expressing digression linguistically: Do digressive markers exist?
2009
Abstract This paper analyzes the relationship between digressions and topic shifts in the light of the Spanish marker por cierto . Against the standard explanation, which takes digression as a well-established linguistic operation, digression is regarded as a rhetorical operation, underspecified at the linguistic level. The most conspicuous trace of digression, the so-called digressive markers , cannot be distinguished from topic shifters on the basis of the instruction provided by the marker alone. Thus, both types of markers should be grouped together as a single class, that of “new relevant information markers” (NRIMs). The perceived differences between topic shifters and digressive mark…
Affective Rhetoric and ‘Sticky Concepts’ in European Education Policy Documents
2020
Concepts carry not only meanings but also affective associations and cultural connotations. In this chapter, we elaborate on the affective dimensions of European education policy documents. Many of the conceptual densities discussed in this book form affective peaks or rhetorical pinnacles that transmit the idea of intercultural dialogue—and the values attached to it—more effectively than the definitions of the concept alone are able to do. Drawing on theories of affect, we trace the affective transmission of ideals and values in the education policy documents and examine what kind of affects and affective connotations ‘stick’ to the concept of intercultural dialogue. We suggest affective r…
Individualized Education Plans: What Characterizes the Research?
2015
<p><em>This study illuminates the research question what characterizes the research of Special Needs Education’s (SNE’s) use of Individualized Education Plans (IEP), during the period 2010-2015? A sample of 11 relevant Norwegian publications has been analyzed by means of these criteria: Type of publication, research method(s) applied, sub-topics focused on and perspectives of SNE. Findings show (1) the amount of the research is still scarce, (2) only three researchers of PhD-level or above have participated in this sample of publications, (3) the sample demonstrates various research methods applied, although document analysis dominates, (4) there is still a need of research look…