Fire in the environment: effects on soil functions and ecosystem services in a changing world

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Muñoz-Rojas ◽  
Paulo Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Regular Component ◽  
Soil Functions ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
The World ◽  
And Function

<p>Fire is an essential element of the environment and a vital force for shaping landscapes all around the world. It has a critical role as driver of natural ecosystem processes and many plant communities are fire dependent aros the globe. However, although fire is a natural and regular component of some biomes in the Earth’s systems, it can become a destructive force when natural ecosystems are disturbed, fire is introduced at a rate not previously experienced, and recovery to a pre-fire state is not possible. Thus, assesing the potentially harmful environmental impacts of fire and building the underlying knowledge required to successfully manage fire makes are crucial in order to understand the role of fire in all its different dimensions. Over the past year, fires in California in the United States and in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil have grabbed the world’s attention. The increased rates of fire events in some of these areas, mostly attributed to land degradation processes, have led to international concern. More recently, several bushfires all around Australia have had dramatic impacts in the environment with 10 million hectares burned so far, including large portions of the natural environment. These unprecedented fires are predicted to affect to a large extent the soil characteristics, processes and function in several ecosystems. In this presentation, we highlight some of the most recent research published during the last year on the effects of fire on soil functions and the provision of soil ecosystem services. We also showcase some of the possible approaches to protect and conserve soil ecosystems affected by extreme fires and propose available strategies for post-fire management.</p>

Tending this Fragile Earth, Our Island Home: The Pope's Encyclical in Dialogue with Ecomimesis, a Design Model for Conservation Stewardship

2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (4) ◽  
pp. 745-766
Author(s):  
Lillian C. Woo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Water Pollution ◽  
Anthropogenic Impact ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
World Population ◽  
Natural Ecosystem ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World

In the last fifty years, empirical evidence has shown that climate change and environmental degradation are largely the results of increased world population, economic development, and changes in cultural and social norms. Thus far we have been unable to slow or reverse the practices that continue to produce more air and water pollution, soil and ocean degradation, and ecosystem decline. This paper analyzes the negative anthropogenic impact on the ecosystem and proposes a new design solution: ecomimesis, which uses the natural ecosystem as its template to conserve, restore, and improve existing ecosystems. Through its nonintrusive strategies and designs, and its goal of preserving natural ecosystems and the earth, ecomimesis can become an integral part of stabilizing and rehabilitating our natural world at the same time that it addresses the needs of growing economies and populations around the world.

scholarly journals May the force be with you: Transfer of healthy mitochondria from stem cells to stroke cells

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar V Borlongan ◽  
Hung Nguyen ◽  
Trenton Lippert ◽  
Eleonora Russo ◽  
Julian Tuazon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Stem Cells ◽  
Therapeutic Option ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Brain Disorders ◽  
Mitochondrial Dysfunctions ◽  
Limited Therapeutic Option ◽  
The World

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the United States and around the world with limited therapeutic option. Here, we discuss the critical role of mitochondria in stem cell-mediated rescue of stroke brain by highlighting the concept that deleting the mitochondria from stem cells abolishes the cells’ regenerative potency. The application of innovative approaches entailing generation of mitochondria-voided stem cells as well as pharmacological inhibition of mitochondrial function may elucidate the mechanism underlying transfer of healthy mitochondria to ischemic cells, thereby providing key insights in the pathology and treatment of stroke and other brain disorders plagued with mitochondrial dysfunctions.

Costume and Fashion

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy E. Friedland
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Costume Design ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
The World ◽  
Feminist Theories ◽  
History Of ◽  
Studio Era

Costume is an essential element of the overall design of a film. Working within the director’s vision for the film, costume designers try to replicate clothing by investigating the dress and fashion of the time, or historical period, and essentially dress actors to look (or more fully become) their characters. A costume can be tailor made, purchased, or rented. In the earliest days of cinema, actors wore their own clothing, but this would change with the advent of feature-length narrative films. The costume designer soon became an important part of the production design team. During the studio era in Hollywood, the costume designer helped to establish a symbiotic relationship with the fashion world, and helped to galvanize cinema’s influence on fashion trends and interest around the world. Costume design research can be challenging. During the silent era, there were no screen credits. In the United States, by the 1950s, the studios disposed of many of the records related to costume design. Preservation of film and related documents was not much better elsewhere in the world. Beginning in the 1970s, several interesting histories of Hollywood helped to define the work of the costume designer and the importance of costume to the film. Much less has been written on costume design in the international film world. In the last several decades, scholarly discussion of costume and fashion in relation to film has emerged from multiple disciplines, including the study of costume, fashion and dress, gender and feminist theories, cultural studies, and the longer history of the study of clothing and material culture.

scholarly journals Effects of land management on large trees and carbon stocks

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 855-862 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. E. Kauppi ◽  
R. A. Birdsey ◽  
Y. Pan ◽  
A. Ihalainen ◽  
P. Nöjd ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
The United States ◽  
Growing Stock ◽  
Long Term Storage ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function ◽  
Stock Volume

Abstract. Large trees are important and unique organisms in forests, providing ecosystem services including carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and long-term storage. Some reports have raised concerns about the global decline of large trees. Based on observations from two regions in Finland and three regions in the United States we report that trends of large trees during recent decades have been surprisingly variable among regions. In southern Finland, the growing stock volume of trees larger than 30 cm at breast height increased nearly five-fold during the second half of the 20th century, yet more recently ceased to expand. In the United States, large hardwood trees have become increasingly common in the Northeast since the 1950s, while large softwood trees declined until the mid 1990s as a consequence of harvests in the Pacific region, and then rebounded when harvesting there was reduced. We conclude that in the regions studied, the history of land use and forest management governs changes of the diameter-class distributions of tree populations. Large trees have significant benefits; for example, they can constitute a large proportion of the carbon stock and affect greatly the carbon density of forests. Large trees usually have deeper roots and long lifetimes. They affect forest structure and function and provide habitats for other species. An accumulating stock of large trees in existing forests may have negligible direct biophysical effects on climate through transpiration or forest albedo. Understanding changes in the demography of tree populations makes a contribution to estimating the past impact and future potential of forests in the global carbon budget and to assessing other ecosystem services of forests.

The Institutional Character of the Judge

1972 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bora Laskin
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Trial Judge ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Se ◽  
And Function

It would be an unforgivable presumption on my part if I attempted to give my observations in this lecture a world-wide focus. At best, they may be suggestive beyond the compass of the small part of the world in which I have gained, by study and by experience, the insights which support my words. At the least, they will bring to light my particular appreciation of the liberties and the constraints which judges of courts in a parliamentary democracy enjoy and endure in the discharge of their duties.What do I mean by “the institutional character of the judge”? Imagine, if you will, that a man or a woman has been appointed a member of a court. That person has joined an organization which, by constitution or by statute or by both, has been given form, size and function. The position provides security of tenure, an assured salary, and a pension upon due retirement or after a prescribed number of years of service. It demands a stated length of experience in law which has been underpinned by educational qualifications that any aspirant to membership of the Bar must meet. In my country, as in Great Britain and the United States, and as in Israel, the neophyte judge is neither a civil servant, as is the case elsewhere, nor has he joined a specialized branch of the executive government, as is also the case elsewhere. What faces him or her in his or her work, be it as a trial judge sitting alone or as an appellate judge sitting with two or four or more colleagues? To what extent does the judicial system, of which he or she is now part, absorb him or her, and how much freedom does he or she have, to remain or become an individual per se?

IBCLCs and Craniosacral Therapists

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 92-99
Author(s):  
Patricia Berg-Drazin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
The Body ◽  
Craniosacral Therapy ◽  
The World ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
And Function ◽  
Tremendous Impact

The rate of ankyloglossia (tongue-tie) appears to be on the rise in the United States and around the world. IBCLCs working with the families of babies with tongue-tie all too often are the first ones to notice the symptoms and suggest treatment. Even after the tongue has been released, these infants continue to struggle with breastfeeding. The tongue plays an integral role in breastfeeding, but it is also crucial to other oral functions such as speech, respiration, oral hygiene, swallowing, and chewing. The tongue is connected through the extrinsic muscles to bone both above and below the oral cavity. The restriction of the tongue results in associated strains in the body. We will follow the muscular connections and origins to understand the influences in the body. Craniosacral therapy (CST) has its origin in osteopathy, which teaches that structure and function are reciprocally interrelated. When structure is compromised, function will be as well. CST is a perfect complement to help these infants’ bodies release the tensions created as well as to aid in rebalancing structurally and somatically. A case study will illuminate the tremendous impact CST can have on children suffering from tongue-tie.

scholarly journals GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN RELATION TO INFORMAL URBAN SETTLEMENTS

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olumuyiwa Bayode ADEGUN
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Settlements ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure ◽  
Informal Urban Settlements

Green infrastructure plays a critical role in environmentally sustainable urbanization in developing countries. Based on a review of academic outputs, this paper explores green infrastructure in the context of informal urban settlements. It identifies three ways informal settlements are connected to green spaces and natural ecosystems functioning as urban green infrastructure and then shows examples of benefits derived (ecosystem services) by the urban poor from these connections. Undesirable aspects and negative outcomes, regarded as ecosystem disservices, from the connection to natural ecosystems are also pointed out. The potentials of enhancing ecosystem services in terms of improving quality of life and the environment in informal settlements came to the fore. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge on urban green infrastructure from the perspective of informal settlements in developing countries.

scholarly journals Counseling International Students: Clients from Around the World

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-192
Author(s):  
Raul A. Leon ◽  
Jamie Chmiel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
International Students ◽  
International Education ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Student Population ◽  
Institutions Of Higher Education ◽  
The World

International students have emerged as a student population that plays a critical role in the internationalization efforts of institutions of higher education across the world. Currently, the United States leads the world in the number of international students on local campuses. In 2000, a total of 547,867 international students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities. According to the Open Doors report, the number of international students reached 764,495 in 2011 (Institute of International Education, 2012).

scholarly journals Sistemi di Pagamento per i Servizi Ecosistemici (PES): analisi della letteratura nazionale e internazionale

2020 ◽  
pp. 281-314
Author(s):  
Alessandro Paletto ◽  
Isabella De Meo ◽  
Stefano Morelli
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Capital ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scientific Production ◽  
Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Services ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Number Of Publications

The payments for ecosystem services are innovative instruments based on the creation of market for goods and services provided by natural ecosystems to stimulate the offer of positive externalities. The aim of the present study was to analyze the scientific production on payments for ecosystem services - focusing on the forest sector - both at national and international level in the period 2005-2019. To that end, a literature review is conducted through three steps: (1) identification of publications in English on payments for ecosystem/environmental services using Scopus database; (2) identification of publications in Italian on payments for ecosystem/environmental services using Google Scholar and the databases of the main Italian forestry journals; (3) bibliometric analysis of the publications collected using a bibliometric network analysis and a textual analysis. The results of this study show a steady increase in the number of publications per year from 2005 to today, corresponding to an average number of 81.8 publications per year using the term “payments for ecosystem services” and 46.3 per year using the term “payments for environmental services”. Approximately 40% of total scientific production about this topic focuses on forests. The country with highest number of publications is the United States, while the member countries of the European Union have contributed to 25% of total scientific production. In addition, the results show a rich scientific production in Italian (47 publications corresponding to 3,1 publications per year), but the majority of these publications refers to these innovative market-based instruments to protect natural capital and ecosystem services without providing detailed information from the theoretical and practical point of view. In this context, it would be useful to increase the technical-scientific production in Italian (protocols, manuals, guidelines) with the aim of supporting forest managers in disseminating these market-based instruments in Italy

scholarly journals Evaluating IACUCs: Previous Research and Future Directions

2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 656-664
Author(s):  
Madeline L Budda ◽  
Stacy L Pritt
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Empirical Evaluation ◽  
Ethics Committees ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evaluation Methods ◽  
Institutional Review Boards ◽  
Institutional Review ◽  
Committee Membership ◽  
And Function

IACUCs serve a critical role in animal care and use programs, ensuring that institutions which use animals in research and teaching do so responsibly and humanely. This role is defined in part by federal regulations, policies, and guidelines that prescribe the establishment and function of these committees. Often, IACUC administrators are expected to evaluate IACUC performance to ensure that committees execute these functions effectively, and in a manner that is suitable to the institution. However, methods for IACUC performance evaluation have not been well described in the peer-reviewed literature. To address this deficit, we conducted a systematic review using MEDLINE to identify methods that have been used to assess IACUCs. The scope of this review was intentionally broad to capture evaluation methods used by other institutional committees with similar responsibilities in overseeing research conduct, including animal ethics committees (AECs), institutional biosafety committees (IBCs), and institutional review boards (IRBs). Over 100 publications that included empirical evaluation methods were identified, although only 17 evaluated IACUCs in the United States. A substantial number of the studies used qualitative methods, such as surveys or questionnaires, interviews, and observations. The IACUC functions and characteristics most often assessed in the 17 publications included components of the protocol review processes and committee membership. We compiled this information to offer IACUC administrators a source of methodologies that can be incorporated into quality improvement and IACUC performance evaluation efforts. We also suggest ways in which organizations may evaluate IACUCs using methods described in the literature for other types of committees.

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