scholarly journals Reference State and Benchmark Concepts for Better Biodiversity Conservation in Contemporary Ecosystems

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan J. McNellie ◽  
Ian Oliver ◽  
Josh Dorrough ◽  
Simon Ferrier ◽  
Graeme Newell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Reference State ◽  
Road Map ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Status And Trends ◽  
The Status ◽  
Conceptual Shift

Measuring the status and trends of biodiversity is critical for making informed decisions about the conservation, management or restoration of species, habitats and ecosystems. Defining the reference state against which status and change are measured is essential. Typically, reference states describe historical conditions, yet historical conditions are challenging to quantify, may be difficult to falsify, and may no longer be an attainable target in a contemporary ecosystem. We have constructed a conceptual framework to help inform thinking and discussion around the philosophical underpinnings of reference states and guide their application. We characterise currently recognised historical reference states and describe them as Pre-Human, Indigenous Cultural, Pre-Intensification and Hybrid-Historical. We extend the conceptual framework to include contemporary reference states as an alternative theoretical perspective. The contemporary reference state framework is a major conceptual shift that focuses on current ecological patterns and identifies areas with higher biodiversity values, regardless of the disturbance history. The specific context for which we design the contemporary conceptual frame is underpinned by an overarching goal—to maximise biodiversity conservation and restoration outcomes in existing ecosystems. The contemporary reference state framework can account for the inherent differences in the diversity of biodiversity values (e.g., species richness, habitat complexity) across spatial scales, communities and ecosystems. In contrast to historical reference states, contemporary references states are measurable and falsifiable. This ‘road map of reference states’ offers perspective needed to define and assess the status and trends in biodiversity and habitats. Our framework for contemporary reference states provides a tractable way for policy-makers and practitioners to navigate biodiversity assessments to maximise conservation and restoration outcomes in contemporary ecosystems. We illustrate how to define a contemporary reference state using an example from south-eastern Australia.

scholarly journals Status and Trends of Urban Beekeeping Regulations: A Global Review

Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 933-942
Author(s):  
Tomonori Matsuzawa ◽  
Ryo Kohsaka
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Regulation Type ◽  
Status And Trends ◽  
The Status ◽  
Regional Governments

Urban beekeeping is gaining salience worldwide. Though beekeeping brings benefits to humanity, it has certain negative aspects. We conducted surveys in eight countries where urban beekeeping is practiced to understand the status of the governance of urban beekeeping. There were a wide variety of rules, ranging from detailed ones to the absence of any. The organizations creating regulations included regional governments, basic governments, and even NGOs. Regulatory items for urban beekeeping were biased toward safety, with few regulations of the other aspects, such as biodiversity conservation and apicultural production. We found a wide range of numerical provisions for this regulation type, with no scientific basis provided, and there is further need for improvements.

EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH ENTREPRENEURSHIP: ASPECTS AND APPROACHES

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
JAVED ALAM SHEIKH
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Economic Empowerment ◽  
World Population ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
The Road ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status

Almost 50 per cent of the world population is constituted by the women and they have been making substantial contribution to socio-economic development. But, unfortunately their tremendous contribution remains unrecognized and unnoticed in most of the developing and least developed countries causing the problem of poverty among them. Empowering women has become the key element in the development of an economy. With women moving forward, the family moves, the village moves and the nation moves. Hence, improving the status of women by way of their economic empowerment is highly called for. Entrepreneurship is a key tool for the economic empowerment of women around the world for alleviating poverty. Entrepreneurship is now widely recognized as a tool of economic development in India also. In this paper I have tried to discuss the reasons and role of Women Entrepreneurship with the help of Push and Pull factors. In the last I have also discussed the problems and the road map of Women Entrepreneurs development in India.

CRITICAL DETERMINANTS OF HERITAGE PROPERTY VALUE: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Normayuni Mat Zin ◽  
Suriatini Ismail ◽  
Junainah Mohamad ◽  
Nurul Hana Adi Maimun ◽  
Fatin Afiqah Md. Azmi
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Property Values ◽  
Property Value ◽  
Architectural Styles ◽  
Online Databases ◽  
The Status ◽  
Conference Papers ◽  
Published Research

Real estate is complex in nature, whereby its value is determined by many characteristics. Heritage property is different as compared with non-heritage property, thus; it is essential to identify the heritage property value determinants due to limited published research about it. This paper closes the gap by reviewing the literature to identify the determinants. To achieve this, academic journals and conference papers in online databases from 1974 to 2017 have been reviewed. The results indicated that there are four groups of heritage property value determinants namely; i) transaction characteristics, ii) structural characteristics, iii) spatial characteristics, and iv) historical characteristics. It can be concluded that heritage property values are differentiated by historical characteristics notably on their architectural styles or design and the status of the heritage property itself. This finding should be a useful guidance for the valuers in valuation practice.

Status of French Road Map to Improve Environmental Fatigue Rules

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Faidy
Keyword(s):  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Fatigue Curve ◽  
Fatigue Tests ◽  
Stress Effects ◽  
The Past ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The Status ◽  
Load Effects ◽  
Section Viii

During the past 30 years many fatigue tests and fatigue analysis improvements have been developed in France in order to improve Codified Fatigue Rules of RCC-M and ASME Codes [1, 2]. This paper will present the major technical improvements to obtain reasonable evaluation of potential fatigue damage through EDF road map. Recently new results [3] confirm possible un-conservative fatigue material data: - High cycle fatigue in air for stainless steel, - Environmental effects on fatigue S-N curve for all materials - Fatigue Crack Growth law under PWR environment for stainless steel. In front of these new results, EDF has developed a “Fatigue Road Map” to improve the different steps of Codified fatigue rules. A periodic up-dating of proposed rules in the different French Codes: RCC-M, RCC-MRx and RSE-M with research of harmonization with other Code rules developed in USA, Japan and Germany in particular, will be done on a yearly basis. During the past 15 years, many results have been obtained through fatigue tests of stainless steel materials: - mean and design fatigue curve in air, - environmental effects on fatigue curves, - plasticity effects, - bi-axial load effects, - mean stress effects, - stress indices, - transferability from small to large specimen, - weld versus base metal. In parallel, many new developments have been made in non-nuclear pressure equipment industry: like the reference stress of ASME Section VIII or the structural stress of EN 13445. These methods are mainly well adapted to fatigue pressure cycling. In front of that situation, the French nuclear code organization needs to propose reliable rules for new design and for operating plants. Different proposals are under discussion and the status of the EDF proposals are presented in the paper. The consequences could be important for the utilities because a large part of the in-service inspection program is connected to some fatigue usage factor level between 0.5 and 1.

Operating Nuclear Plant License Renewal Program Status and Trends

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garry G. Young
Keyword(s):  
Renewal Process ◽  
Nuclear Plant ◽  
Positive Trend ◽  
Plant Operation ◽  
Renewal Program ◽  
Status And Trends ◽  
The Status ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
License Renewal ◽  
The U.S

As of February 2011, the NRC has renewed the operating licenses for 62 nuclear units, which will allow for up to 60 years of safe nuclear plant operation. In addition, the NRC has license renewal applications under review for 20 units and nuclear plant owners of more than 17 units have announced plans to submit license renewal applications over the next few years. This brings the total of renewed licenses and announced plans for license renewal to over 95% of the 104 currently operating nuclear units in the U.S. This paper presents the status of the U.S. license renewal process, the positive trend in regulatory stability through 2007, and the negative trend in regulatory stability after 2007. From 2000 through 2007, the NRC was able to complete the license renewal review and issue renewed licenses in 30 months or less for 100% of the license renewal applicants. In fact, approximately 77% of the reviews were completed in 22 months or less. Since 2007, NRC reviews have become much less predictable, with 21% of the reviews exceeding 30 months and only 7% being completed in 22 months or less. In fact, some reviews currently underway have exceeded 60 months and the reviews remain incomplete. One of the main factors leading to the loss of timely regulatory reviews has been the NRC adjudicatory process for license renewal, although the safety and environmental review processes have also become less timely since 2007. The factors that contributed to the positive and the negative trends are presented.

scholarly journals New Skills in Education for Biodiversity Conservation in Romania

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 336-344
Author(s):  
Maria-Mihaela Antofie ◽  
Camelia Sand Sava
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Biodiversity Conservation ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Native Species ◽  
International Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Regulatory Frameworks ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Biology Curriculum

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to analyse political and regulatory frameworks for connecting education and environment authorities in order to reveal opportunities for introducing new activities based on living organisms into the biology curriculum. The article is also proposing a conceptual framework for capacity building based on the analysis of relevant results at the international level, regarding the experiential learning process. Based on the results of this analysis Romania has the capacity to implement new activities under the public curricula for biology in order to support the development of new skills for ensuring biodiversity conservation as a whole. Moreover, at least three native species, domesticated or wild, may become subjects for next activities development under the existing curricula.

scholarly journals LEASING SERVICES MARKET IN UKRAINE: STATUS AND TRENDS

2019 ◽  
pp. 85-97
Author(s):  
O.Yu. Miroshnychenko ◽  
N.O. Mykhailova ◽  
K.O. Yaschuk
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Dynamic Structure ◽  
Financial Leasing ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Effective Functioning ◽  
Status And Trends ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Legal Entities

The status, dynamic, structure of sources of financing of leasing operations and tendencies of the development of the leasing services market in Ukraine in 2014-2018 have been considered. Today, financial leasing services are predominantly provided by financial companies, unlike in 2014, its share in the leasing market is 77.03%. The dynamics of the value and quantity of financial leasing agreements concluded by legal entities and financial companies have been considered. During the period under review, the largest value and number of financial leasing contracts were concluded by the legal entities and their value has increased in three times. The structure of the cost of financial leasing agreements by industry has been analyzed. The transport, agriculture, construction and services sectors are found to be the largest users of financial leasing services. The distribution of the value of the financial leasing contracts by its terms has been characterized and the agreements with the term of validity from 2 to 5 years are established. The structure of sources of financing of leasing operations has been investigated. It is established that their structure is dominated by equity of companies. The perspective directions of use of leasing in Ukraine have been considered. Industries such as healthcare, real estate, tourism and IT have been found to be the most promising for the leasing market. The problems that hinder the effective functioning of the leasing market in Ukraine and hinder its further development have been identified. The measures that should be taken to overcome existing problems and ensure the further development of leasing activities in Ukraine have been suggested.

scholarly journals EXPRESS: Sources of Variation In Search and Foraging A Theoretical Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 174702182110503
Author(s):  
Alastair David Smith ◽  
Carlo De Lillo
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Search Space ◽  
Visual Exploration ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Search Behaviour ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Search Processes ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
The Individual

Search – the problem of exploring a space of alternatives in order to identify target goals – is a fundamental behaviour for many species. Although its foundation lies in foraging, most studies of human search behaviour have been directed towards understanding the attentional mechanisms that underlie the efficient visual exploration of two-dimensional scenes. With this review, we aim to characterise how search behaviour can be explained across a wide range of contexts, environments, spatial scales, and populations, both typical and atypical. We first consider the generality of search processes across psychological domains. We then review studies of interspecies differences in search. Finally, we explore in detail the individual and contextual variables that affect visual search and related behaviours in established experimental psychology paradigms. Despite the heterogeneity of the findings discussed, we identify that variations in control processes, along with the ability to regulate behaviour as a function of the structure of search space and the sampling processes adopted, to be central to explanations of variations in search behaviour. We propose a tentative theoretical model aimed at integrating these notions and close by exploring questions that remain unaddressed.

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