37 research outputs found

    Natural or anthropogenic variability? A long-term pattern of the zooplankton communities in an ever-changing transitional ecosystem

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    The Venice Lagoon is an important site belonging to the Italian Long-Term Ecological Research Network (LTER). Alongside with the increasing trend of water temperature and the relevant morphological changes, in recent years, the resident zooplankton populations have also continued to cope with the colonization by alien species, particularly the strong competitor Mnemiopsis leidyi. In this work, we compared the dynamics of the lagoon zooplankton over a period of 20 years. The physical and biological signals are analyzed and compared to evaluate the hypothesis that a slow shift in the environmental balance of the site, such as temperature increase, sea level rise (hereafter called “marinization”), and competition between species, is contributing to trigger a drift in the internal equilibrium of the resident core zooplankton. Though the copepod community does not seem to have changed its state, some important modifications of structure and assembly mechanisms have already been observed. The extension of the marine influence within the lagoon has compressed the spatial gradients of the habitat and created a greater segregation of the niches available to some typically estuarine taxa and broadened and strengthened the interactions between marine species

    Relationship between synoptic circulations and the spatial distributions of rainfall in Zimbabwe

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    This study examines how the atmospheric circulation patterns in Africa south of the equator govern the spatial distribution of precipitation in Zimbabwe. The moisture circulation patterns are designated by an ample set of eight classified circulation types (CTs). Here it is shown that all wet CTs over Zimbabwe features enhanced cyclonic/convective activity in the southwest Indian Ocean. Therefore, enhanced moisture availability in the southwest Indian Ocean is necessary for rainfall formation in parts of Zimbabwe. The wettest CT in Zimbabwe is characterized by a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, driving an abundance of southeast moisture fluxes, from the southwest Indian Ocean into Zimbabwe. Due to the proximity of Zimbabwe to the Agulhas and Mozambique warm current, the activity of the ridging South Atlantic Ocean anticyclone is a dominant synoptic feature that favors above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. Also, coupled with a weaker state of the Mascarene high, it is shown that a ridging South Atlantic Ocean high-pressure, south of South Africa, can be favorable for the southwest movement of tropical cyclones into the eastern coastal landmasses resulting in above-average rainfall in Zimbabwe. The driest CT is characterized by the northward track of the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude cyclones leading to enhanced westerly fluxes in the southwest Indian Ocean, limiting moist southeast winds into Zimbabwe

    Collected Papers (on Neutrosophic Theory and Applications), Volume VI

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    This sixth volume of Collected Papers includes 74 papers comprising 974 pages on (theoretic and applied) neutrosophics, written between 2015-2021 by the author alone or in collaboration with the following 121 co-authors from 19 countries: Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Abdel Nasser H. Zaied, Abduallah Gamal, Amir Abdullah, Firoz Ahmad, Nadeem Ahmad, Ahmad Yusuf Adhami, Ahmed Aboelfetouh, Ahmed Mostafa Khalil, Shariful Alam, W. Alharbi, Ali Hassan, Mumtaz Ali, Amira S. Ashour, Asmaa Atef, Assia Bakali, Ayoub Bahnasse, A. A. Azzam, Willem K.M. Brauers, Bui Cong Cuong, Fausto Cavallaro, Ahmet Çevik, Robby I. Chandra, Kalaivani Chandran, Victor Chang, Chang Su Kim, Jyotir Moy Chatterjee, Victor Christianto, Chunxin Bo, Mihaela Colhon, Shyamal Dalapati, Arindam Dey, Dunqian Cao, Fahad Alsharari, Faruk Karaaslan, Aleksandra Fedajev, Daniela Gîfu, Hina Gulzar, Haitham A. El-Ghareeb, Masooma Raza Hashmi, Hewayda El-Ghawalby, Hoang Viet Long, Le Hoang Son, F. Nirmala Irudayam, Branislav Ivanov, S. Jafari, Jeong Gon Lee, Milena Jevtić, Sudan Jha, Junhui Kim, Ilanthenral Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Darjan Karabašević, Songül Karabatak, Abdullah Kargın, M. Karthika, Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene, Madad Khan, Majid Khan, Manju Khari, Kifayat Ullah, K. Kishore, Kul Hur, Santanu Kumar Patro, Prem Kumar Singh, Raghvendra Kumar, Tapan Kumar Roy, Malayalan Lathamaheswari, Luu Quoc Dat, T. Madhumathi, Tahir Mahmood, Mladjan Maksimovic, Gunasekaran Manogaran, Nivetha Martin, M. Kasi Mayan, Mai Mohamed, Mohamed Talea, Muhammad Akram, Muhammad Gulistan, Raja Muhammad Hashim, Muhammad Riaz, Muhammad Saeed, Rana Muhammad Zulqarnain, Nada A. Nabeeh, Deivanayagampillai Nagarajan, Xenia Negrea, Nguyen Xuan Thao, Jagan M. Obbineni, Angelo de Oliveira, M. Parimala, Gabrijela Popovic, Ishaani Priyadarshini, Yaser Saber, Mehmet Șahin, Said Broumi, A. A. Salama, M. Saleh, Ganeshsree Selvachandran, Dönüș Șengür, Shio Gai Quek, Songtao Shao, Dragiša Stanujkić, Surapati Pramanik, Swathi Sundari Sundaramoorthy, Mirela Teodorescu, Selçuk Topal, Muhammed Turhan, Alptekin Ulutaș, Luige Vlădăreanu, Victor Vlădăreanu, Ştefan Vlăduţescu, Dan Valeriu Voinea, Volkan Duran, Navneet Yadav, Yanhui Guo, Naveed Yaqoob, Yongquan Zhou, Young Bae Jun, Xiaohong Zhang, Xiao Long Xin, Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas

    Radio Communications

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    In the last decades the restless evolution of information and communication technologies (ICT) brought to a deep transformation of our habits. The growth of the Internet and the advances in hardware and software implementations modified our way to communicate and to share information. In this book, an overview of the major issues faced today by researchers in the field of radio communications is given through 35 high quality chapters written by specialists working in universities and research centers all over the world. Various aspects will be deeply discussed: channel modeling, beamforming, multiple antennas, cooperative networks, opportunistic scheduling, advanced admission control, handover management, systems performance assessment, routing issues in mobility conditions, localization, web security. Advanced techniques for the radio resource management will be discussed both in single and multiple radio technologies; either in infrastructure, mesh or ad hoc networks

    Cellular Automata

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    Modelling and simulation are disciplines of major importance for science and engineering. There is no science without models, and simulation has nowadays become a very useful tool, sometimes unavoidable, for development of both science and engineering. The main attractive feature of cellular automata is that, in spite of their conceptual simplicity which allows an easiness of implementation for computer simulation, as a detailed and complete mathematical analysis in principle, they are able to exhibit a wide variety of amazingly complex behaviour. This feature of cellular automata has attracted the researchers' attention from a wide variety of divergent fields of the exact disciplines of science and engineering, but also of the social sciences, and sometimes beyond. The collective complex behaviour of numerous systems, which emerge from the interaction of a multitude of simple individuals, is being conveniently modelled and simulated with cellular automata for very different purposes. In this book, a number of innovative applications of cellular automata models in the fields of Quantum Computing, Materials Science, Cryptography and Coding, and Robotics and Image Processing are presented

    International Law and Human Trafficking in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations: The case of Palestine

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    Human trafficking (HT) is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon transgressing in the most egregious way an entire web of basic human rights. In 2015, HT was identified by the UN Security Council (UNSC) as a ‘serious crime’ and a threat to international peace and human security. Since the adoption in 2016 of the landmark UN resolution 2331 condemning HT in the context of armed conflict and post-conflict situations, trafficking in persons in all its forms has been more widely documented as a direct or indirect consequence of conflict and fragility. Empirical evidence suggests that HT is most likely exacerbated in fragile, migratory, and conflict contexts. Priority is often given to other humanitarian emergencies. The thesis focuses on HT in fragile and conflict affected situations (FCAS) and seeks to identify how the victims of HT can access adequate standards of protection. Even in conflict settings States remain the primary duty-bearers but are often unwilling or unable to comply with their legal obligations arising from the international legal framework addressing HT to provide human rights protection on the ground. The thesis examines the contribution as well as the interaction of international human rights, humanitarian, refugee, labour, criminal laws in protecting individuals against HT practices. The thesis identifies challenges in the implementation of the legal framework addressing HT and faced by States in fragile contexts. The research conducts an in-depth single case study which confirm generic challenges faced by FCAS identified in chapter 7 and investigate specific and unique challenges in the context of Palestine. The study examines the Palestinian legal framework and legal system, the role of Palestinian institutions, civil society organisations and external actors in the building of a harmonised rule of law, with the difficulties experienced regarding the domestic implementation of Palestine’s international human rights commitments. The findings of the research confirm that in the presence of conflict and instability associated with generic components of fragility applicable to other FACS examined in chapter 7, such as the absence of a stable rule of law, and more specifically in the case of Palestine, experiencing a complex legal system due to its plurality, linked to political uncertainties, the implementation of human rights and HT legislation are jeopardised and are not practically as well as judicially enforced. The thesis contributes in a modest way to understanding the practicalities of implementing a protective framework against HT in Palestine and possibly other conflict settings

    Design revolutions: IASDR 2019 Conference Proceedings. Volume 2: Living, Making, Value

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    In September 2019 Manchester School of Art at Manchester Metropolitan University was honoured to host the bi-annual conference of the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) under the unifying theme of DESIGN REVOLUTIONS. This was the first time the conference had been held in the UK. Through key research themes across nine conference tracks – Change, Learning, Living, Making, People, Technology, Thinking, Value and Voices – the conference opened up compelling, meaningful and radical dialogue of the role of design in addressing societal and organisational challenges. This Volume 2 includes papers from Living, Making and Value tracks of the conference

    Knowledge Capturing in Design Briefing Process for Requirement Elicitation and Validation

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    Knowledge capturing and reusing are major processes of knowledge management that deal with the elicitation of valuable knowledge via some techniques and methods for use in actual and further studies, projects, services, or products. The construction industry, as well, adopts and uses some of these concepts to improve various construction processes and stages. From pre-design to building delivery knowledge management principles and briefing frameworks have been implemented across project stakeholders: client, design teams, construction teams, consultants, and facility management teams. At pre-design and design stages, understanding the client’s needs and users’ knowledge are crucial for identifying and articulating the expected requirements and objectives. Due to underperforming results and missed goals and objectives, many projects finish with highly dissatisfied clients and loss of contracts for some organizations. Knowledge capturing has beneficial effects via its principles and methods on requirement elicitation and validation at the briefing stage between user, client and designer. This paper presents the importance and usage of knowledge capturing and reusing in briefing process at pre-design and design stages especially the involvement of client and user, and explores the techniques and technologies that are usable in briefing process for requirement elicitation

    An Investigation on Benefit-Cost Analysis of Greenhouse Structures in Antalya

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    Significant population increase across the world, loss of cultivable land and increasing demand for food put pressure on agriculture. To meet the demand, greenhouses are built, which are, light structures with transparent cladding material in order to provide controlled microclimatic environment proper for plant production. Conceptually, greenhouses are similar with manufacturing buildings where a controlled environment for manufacturing and production have been provided and proper spaces for standardized production processes have been enabled. Parallel with the trends in the world, particularly in southern regions, greenhouse structures have been increasingly constructed and operated in Turkey. A significant number of greenhouses are located at Antalya. The satellite images demonstrated that for over last three decades, there has been a continuous invasion of greenhouses on all cultivable land. There are various researches and attempts for the improvement of greenhouse design and for increasing food production by decreasing required energy consumption. However, the majority of greenhouses in Turkey are very rudimentary structures where capital required for investment is low, but maintenance requirements are high when compared with new generation greenhouse structures. In this research paper, life-long capital requirements for construction and operation of greenhouse buildings in Antalya has been investigated by using benefit-cost analysis study

    Beyond the Banlieue: French Postcolonial Migration & the Politics of Sub-Saharan Identity

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    “Beyond the Banlieue: French Postcolonial Migration & the Politics of a Sub-Saharan Identity” details and historicizes the interstitial area between French state acculturation policies and the lived experience of Afro-French residents from 1945-2018. The project uses oral histories from Black communities in Paris to reveal a rich legacy of sociopolitical, economic and cultural efforts to navigate and negotiate this divide. These narratives offer an alternative perspective to prevailing scholarly and popular discourses emphasizing decline, resentment, intractability and rebellion as the defining features of French race relations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. This dissertation examines the attempts and attitudes of activists, entrepreneurs, artists, authors, teachers, youth and politicians to reclaim a largely untold history of the way that three generations of African migrants have contested the “invisibility” of race and the shortcomings of state policy to forge communities and multilayered identities in the postcolonial era. Interweaving the processes of migration and acculturation, this project mines the experiences of black diasporic populations in Paris over the past seventy years to reimagine the place and power of race in contemporary French history
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