Restoration of endangered epiphytic lichens in fragmented forest landscapes

In a situation with increasingly rapid changes in landscape mosaics, driven by large-scale forestry and future climate change, a number of epiphytic lichens are now becoming threatened. Many of these species are limited either by dispersal or the subsequent processes of immobilisation on the substrate and germination. Overcoming the bottleneck of dispersal and/or reproduction may therefore constitute a key factor in species conservation. The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate different strategies to optimise efficiency in restoration of populations of endangered epiphytic lichens in fragmented forest landscapes, with a special emphasis on the importance of habitat quality and transplantation techniques. The thesis includes the development of a modeling tool for habitat evaluation in relation to photosynthetic performance of individual species (III); exploration of underlying causes for habitat restrictions in hydrophilic lichens (IV); and identification of habitat and substrate characteristics that 1) are associated with high vitality in natural populations of hydrophilic lichens (II), 2) are beneficial for establishment during active transplantation of thallus fragments (I) or isidia (V), and 3) are beneficial for photosynthetic activity in adult thalli (III, IV). The occurrence of pronounced photosynthetic activation time lags among hydrophilic species, with full activity for some species being reached first 24 h after hydration, is reported for the first time in the present study and may be one of the physiological causes explaining habitat restrictions in rare hydrophilic lichens (IV). Using a dynamic water and activity model, we assessed the capacities of four hydrophilic (Bryoria bicolor, Lobaria amplissima, Platismatia norvegica and Usnea longissima) and a generalist species (Platismatia glauca) to rehydrate and activate photosynthesis by liquid water and humid air available in natural habitats (III). Simulations show that for three of the four studied hydrophilic species, species-specific PSII activation time lags can, in combination with microclimatic differences, control photosynthetic performance in a most dramatic manner (III, IV). The distribution patterns of hydrophilic lichens coincide very well with habitat features that generate high realised activity among the slowly activated species studied here (II, III, IV). Both close proximity to streams and the presence of turbulent water had a consistent strong positive impact on realised activity among the studied species (IV). The occurrence of activation time lags may explain both the higher abundances in oceanic core habitats, and the affinity for stream habitats and turbulent water displayed by marginal populations of suboceanic lichens such as P. norvegica (II). Further, we have shown that transplantations of fragments (using Evernia divaricata and Ramalina dilacerata) or isidia (using P. norvegica) can constitute a valuable tool for restoration of endangered lichen populations, and that both habitat characteristics (I) and the mode of transplantation (I, V) is of vital importance to fragment vitality. In Paper V, where isidia of P. norvegica were transplanted into six sites in the regions of Jämtland and Trøndelag in Central Scandinavia, we have shown that preparation of transplant surfaces with an adhesive Ac-Di-Sol® solution may constitute a highly efficient tool for enhancing the outcome of restorative transplantations targeting epiphytic lichens (V). However, in order to enhance the possibilities for long-term viability and persistence of the population, it is essential that restoration efforts are concentrated to habitats and substrates that can be viewed as optimal for the species in question (I-V). The model developed in Paper III and used in Paper IV may provide a tool for identifying such suitable habitats. Further, this thesis highlights the importance of fringe populations for conservation of endangered suboceanic lichens in Scandinavia (II), and also underscores the importance of separating the processes of dispersal, immobilisation and establishment, when studying lichen distributional patterns (I, II, V)

Optimizing of Information Systems in Companies: Support of Sustainable Performance

AbstractThe company's strategic management should be able to identify areas of its activities with the lowest efficiency and look for ways of correcting these and of keeping the company sustainably successful. In practice, this issue is very often supported by optimizing the corporate information system. Therefore, the strategic management of a company should devote considerable attention to the implementation, expert guidance and development of its information system in a broader context, especially in terms of supporting its sustainable corporate performance. Currently these questions are coming to the forefront and are being widely discussed. This paper points out the possibilities of identifying information system weaknesses and the assessment of its balance as a whole. This has proven to be an important source of the measurement of its effectiveness and efficiency. Furthermore, the paper presents the distribution of the balance levels of the company's information systems measured by the HOS method, due to their number of employees, and it presents a comparison of this distribution in two time periods. The results are the currently selected outputs of a research sample of companies acquired through the Zefis portal

Achieving Efficiency: Lessons From Four Top-Performing Hospitals

Synthesizes lessons from case studies of how four hospitals achieved greater efficiency, including pursuing quality and access, customizing technology, emphasizing communications, standardizing processes, and integrating care, systems, and providers

Readmission Rates and Their Impact on Hospital Financial Performance: A Study of Washington Hospitals

This longitudinal study examines whether readmission rates, made transparent through Hospital Compare, affect hospital financial performance by examining 98 hospitals in the State of Washington from 2012 to 2014. Readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), pneumonia (PN), and heart failure (HF) were examined against operating revenues per patient, operating expenses per patient, and operating margin. Using hospital-level fixed effects regression on 276 hospital year observations, the analysis indicated that a reduction in AMI readmission rates is related with increased operating revenues as expenses associated with costly treatments related with unnecessary readmissions are avoided. Additionally, reducing readmission rates is related with an increase in operating expenses. As a net effect, increased PN readmission rates may show marginal increase in operating margin because of the higher operating revenues due to readmissions. However, as readmissions continue to happen, a gradual increase in expenses due to greater use of resources may lead to decreased profitability

Unravelling collembolan life belowground: Stoichiometry, metabolism and release of carbon and nitrogen

This thesis investigated carbon and nitrogen dynamics of soil dwelling Collembola by using direct measurements and stable isotope additions. In an isotope change experiment, collembolans exchanged between 6 and 10% of carbon and nitrogen in their body tissue per day to metabolism and between 0.5 and 2% to reproduction. When collembolans on low and high protein diets were compared, animals on the low protein quality depleted their tissue 15N values relative to those on high quality diet indicating that the nitrogen turnover decreased on the low protein quality diet. In a wheat microcosm investigating source contributions from soil, roots and isotope labelled green manure the mixing model analysis indicated that photosynthate (root derived C) was the main carbon source for collembolans (54–79% of total C) indicating that the rhizosphere channel is very important for collembolans in addition to the detritus based channel

A Systematic Review of Performance Enhancement of Humanitarian Logistics through Transparency: Current Status and Perspectives

The mechanism of how transparency can help to enhance the performance of humanitarian logistics (HL) following disaster relief operation (RO) needs to be explored. Thus, the main purposes of this paper are to systematically review the barriers to and benefits of transparency in the field of HL in order to improve the performance of HL, and also to highlight the role and unique attributes of transparency in the field of HL. A systematic literature review using the CIMO (context, intervention, mechanism, and outcomes) logic approach was adopted to perform the systematic analysis of the previous investigations relevant to the performance enhancement of HL. Most such previous research investigated transparency in the context of HL, with little examination of the outcomes of transparency in HL. Based upon this process, disaster risk can be reduced and managed through efficient HL. So far, the efficiency and performance of HL has been improved through coordination, collaboration and partnership. In the present study, recent developments corresponding to performance enhancement of HL through transparency are reviewed systematically, with a particular focus on the importance of transparency, what organizations can do to become more transparent and the challenges and potential benefits of transparency. The authors provide an in-depth understanding of the barriers and challenges to transparency faced in this field. Furthermore, the challenges in comparing with recent research are also discussed, along with future directions to improve the performance enhancement of HL through transparency. However, the poor performance of HL is one of the challenging issues associated with disaster risk management. This review article will be fruitful for novice researchers and practitioners in managing disaster risk through efficient HL and further advancement in the field of HL. Furthermore this article raises the awareness of the importance of carefully evaluating decisions related to the fair distribution of relief items

Economical comparison of CHP systems for industrial user with large steam demand

In this paper cogeneration benefits applied to a user with a high steam demand are analyzed. The methodology for the feasibility study and the economical analysis of the investment is presented under the Italian legislative framework. The methodology is applied to an actual case and a detailed description and discussion of all data input is provided. Especially this last key point will be faced using starting data usually available in these kind of studies (i.e., not very detailed for thermal consumption). Finally a comparison of different CHP technologies and a sensitivity analysis is done

Technology Target Studies: Technology Solutions to Make Patient Care Safer and More Efficient

Presents findings on technologies that could enhance care delivery, including patient records and medication processes; features and functionality nurses require, including tracking, interoperability, and hand-held capability; and best practices

FRIOD: a deeply integrated feature-rich interactive system for effective and efficient outlier detection

In this paper, we propose an novel interactive outlier detection system called feature-rich interactive outlier detection (FRIOD), which features a deep integration of human interaction to improve detection performance and greatly streamline the detection process. A user-friendly interactive mechanism is developed to allow easy and intuitive user interaction in all the major stages of the underlying outlier detection algorithm which includes dense cell selection, location-aware distance thresholding, and final top outlier validation. By doing so, we can mitigate the major difficulty of the competitive outlier detection methods in specifying the key parameter values, such as the density and distance thresholds. An innovative optimization approach is also proposed to optimize the grid-based space partitioning, which is a critical step of FRIOD. Such optimization fully considers the high-quality outliers it detects with the aid of human interaction. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that FRIOD can improve the quality of the detected outliers and make the detection process more intuitive, effective, and efficient