Soil biodiversity: functions, threats and tools for policy makers

Human societies rely on the vast diversity of benefits provided by nature, such as food, fibres, construction materials, clean water, clean air and climate regulation. All the elements required for these ecosystem services depend on soil, and soil biodiversity is the driving force behind their regulation. With 2010 being the international year of biodiversity and with the growing attention in Europe on the importance of soils to remain healthy and capable of supporting human activities sustainably, now is the perfect time to raise awareness on preserving soil biodiversity. The objective of this report is to review the state of knowledge of soil biodiversity, its functions, its contribution to ecosystem services and its relevance for the sustainability of human society. In line with the definition of biodiversity given in the 1992 Rio de Janeiro Convention, soil biodiversity can be defined as the variation in soil life, from genes to communities, and the variation in soil habitats, from micro-aggregates to entire landscapes. Bio Intelligence Service, IRD, and NIOO, Report for European Commission (DG Environment

ICS Materials. Towards a re-Interpretation of material qualities through interactive, connected, and smart materials.

The domain of materials for design is changing under the influence of an increased technological advancement, miniaturization and democratization. Materials are becoming connected, augmented, computational, interactive, active, responsive, and dynamic. These are ICS Materials, an acronym that stands for Interactive, Connected and Smart. While labs around the world are experimenting with these new materials, there is the need to reflect on their potentials and impact on design. This paper is a first step in this direction: to interpret and describe the qualities of ICS materials, considering their experiential pattern, their expressive sensorial dimension, and their aesthetic of interaction. Through case studies, we analyse and classify these emerging ICS Materials and identified common characteristics, and challenges, e.g. the ability to change over time or their programmability by the designers and users. On that basis, we argue there is the need to reframe and redesign existing models to describe ICS materials, making their qualities emerge

Benthic diatom monitoring and assessment of freshwater environments: standard methods and future challenges

Fil: Soizic, Morin. National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture; FranceFil: Gómez, Nora. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet; ArgentinaFil: Tornés, Elisabet. University of Girona. Institute of Aquatic Ecology; SpainFil: Licursi, Magdalena. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Instituto de Limnología Dr. Raúl A. Ringuelet; ArgentinaFil: Rosebery, Juliette. Aquatic Ecosystems and Global Changes Research Unit; Franc

Orbiting quarantine facility. The Antaeus report

A mission plan for the Orbiting Quarantine Facility (OQF) is presented. Coverage includes system overview, quarantine and protocol, the laboratory, support systems, cost analysis and possible additional uses of the OQF

Ionic and Osmotic Mechanisms Of Insect Chill-Coma And Chilling Injury

A mechanistic understanding of how temperature limits insect performance is needed to accurately model insect distribution and abundance. Upon crossing the temperature of their critical thermal minimum (CTmin), insects enter a state of paralysis (chill-coma). Chill-susceptible insects accumulate injuries (termed chilling injury) during prolonged exposure to low temperatures. My objective was to determine the mechanisms by which both chill-coma and chilling injury manifest in chill-susceptible insects. In aquatic animals, critical thermal limits are associated with a temperature-induced failure of oxygen supply relative to demand (oxygen- and capacity- limitation of thermotolerance; OCLT), which leads to reliance on anaerobic metabolism at thermal extremes. However, using open-flow respirometry and biochemical techniques, I found that fall field crickets (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) in chill-coma continued to exchange gases through the tracheal system and did not accumulate anaerobic byproducts, which suggests OCLT does not set the CTmin of insects. To characterize the patterns of ion balance disruption at low temperatures, I estimated water and ion content of the hemolymph and tissues of G. pennsylvanicus in chill-coma using gravimetric methods and atomic absorption spectrometry. Exposure to low temperatures caused a movement of Na+ and water from the hemolymph to the gut in G. pennsylvanicus, which increased hemolymph [K+] and depolarized muscle resting potential. When removed from the cold, crickets rebalanced ions and water, and the restoration of hemolymph [K+] (and muscle equilibrium potential) was coincident with the recovery of neuromuscular function. Although crickets recover the ability to move rapidly after removal from the cold, complete recovery of ion and water homeostasis requires additional time and metabolic investment. There is both inter- and intraspecific variation in cold tolerance in flies of the genus Drosophila. Using ion-selective microelectrodes, I found that cold-tolerant Drosophila species and cold- acclimated D. melanogaster maintain low concentrations of [Na+] and [K+] in their hemolymph. Drosophila cold tolerance was also associated with low Na+/K+-ATPase activity on a whole-organism level. Together, these studies allow me to construct a conceptual model of how the direct effects of temperature on ion homeostasis may drive chill-coma, chill-coma recovery and chilling injury in insects

Operations Management

Global competition has caused fundamental changes in the competitive environment of the manufacturing and service industries. Firms should develop strategic objectives that, upon achievement, result in a competitive advantage in the market place. The forces of globalization on one hand and rapidly growing marketing opportunities overseas, especially in emerging economies on the other, have led to the expansion of operations on a global scale. The book aims to cover the main topics characterizing operations management including both strategic issues and practical applications. A global environmental business including both manufacturing and services is analyzed. The book contains original research and application chapters from different perspectives. It is enriched through the analyses of case studies

Thermodynamics and the structure of living systems

Non-equilibrium physical systems, be they biological or otherwise, are powered by differences in intensive thermodynamic variables, which result in flows of matter and energy through the system. This thesis is concerned with the response of physical systems and ecosystems to complex types of boundary conditions, where the flows and intensive variables are constrained to be functions of one another. I concentrate on what I call negative feedback boundary conditions, where the potential difference is a decreasing function of the flow. Evidence from climate science suggests that, in at least some cases, systems under these conditions obey a principle of maximum entropy production. Similar extremum principles have been suggested for ecosystems. Building on recent work in theoretical physics, I present a statisticalmechanical argument in favour of this principle, which makes its range of application clearer. Negative feedback boundary conditions can arise naturally in ecological scenarios, where the difference in potential is the free-energy density of the environment and the negative feedback applies to the ecosystem as a whole. I present examples of this, and develop a simple but general model of a biological population evolving under such conditions. The evolution of faster and more efficient metabolisms results in a lower environmental energy density, supporting an argument that simpler metabolisms could have persisted more easily in early environments. Negative feedback conditions may also have played a role in the origins of life, and specifically in the origins of individuation, the splitting up of living matter into distinct organisms, a notion related to the theory of autopoiesis. I present simulation models to clarify the concept of individuation and to back up this hypothesis. Finally I propose and model a mechanism whereby systems can grow adaptively under positive reinforcement boundary conditions by the canalisation of fluctuations in their structure

Fabricate 2020

Fabricate 2020 is the fourth title in the FABRICATE series on the theme of digital fabrication and published in conjunction with a triennial conference (London, April 2020). The book features cutting-edge built projects and work-in-progress from both academia and practice. It brings together pioneers in design and making from across the fields of architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. Fabricate 2020 includes 32 illustrated articles punctuated by four conversations between world-leading experts from design to engineering, discussing themes such as drawing-to-production, behavioural composites, robotic assembly, and digital craft