Semi-natural habitats support biological control, pollination and soil conservation in Europe:A review

Semi-natural habitats are integral to most agricultural areas and have the potential to support ecosystem services, especially biological control and pollination by supplying resources for the invertebrates providing these services and for soil conservation by preventing erosion and run-off. Some habitats are supported through agri-environment scheme funding in the European Union, but their value for ecosystem service delivery has been questioned. An improved understanding of previous research approaches and outcomes will contribute to the development of more sustainable farming systems, improve experimental designs and highlight knowledge gaps especially for funders and researchers. Here we compiled a systematic map to allow for the first time a review of the quantity of evidence collected in Europe that semi-natural habitats support biological control, pollination and soil conservation. A literature search selected 2252 publications, and, following review, 270 met the inclusion criteria and were entered into the database. Most publications were of pest control (143 publications) with less on pollination (78 publications) or soil-related aspects (31). For pest control and pollination, most publications reported a positive effect of semi-natural habitats. There were weaknesses in the evidence base though because of bias in study location and the crops, whilst metrics (e.g. yield) valued by end users were seldom measured. Hedgerows, woodland and grassland were the most heavily investigated semi-natural habitats, and the wider landscape composition was often considered. Study designs varied considerably yet only 24% included controls or involved manipulation of semi-natural habitats. Service providers were commonly measured and used as a surrogate for ecosystem service delivery. Key messages for policymakers and funders are that they should encourage research that includes more metrics required by end users, be prepared to fund longer-term studies (61% were of only 1-year duration) and investigate the role of soils within semi-natural habitats in delivering ecosystem services

Non-native Species and the Aesthetics of Nature

Howhumansperceiveandjudgenatureandrelateittotheirlifeisshaped by emotional, cognitive, cultural, and social factors. Whether a species is consid- ered native, non-native, or invasive can affect such aesthetics of nature by interact- ing with our emotions, affronting or confirming our cognitive categories, or engaging in our social, economic, and cultural worlds. Consequently, how humans perceive and judge the presence of such species, or how they judge an ecosystem or land- scape change triggered by them, is not fixed or easy to define. Here, some of the psychological, cognitive, and social dimensions that influence how humans judge non-native and invasive species and their effects on ecosystems are reviewed. It is concluded, at least in the case of non-native species, that the reduction of aesthetics to a ‘service’ is problematic, for it occludes the complex psychological and social processes that shape divergent perceptions of changing species distributions

Bayes procedures for adaptive inference in nonparametric inverse problems

We study empirical and hierarchical Bayes approaches to the problem of estimating an infinite-dimensional parameter in mildly ill-posed inverse problems. We consider a class of prior distributions indexed by a hyperparameter that quantifies regularity. We prove that both methods we consider succeed in automatically selecting this parameter optimally, resulting in optimal convergence rates for truths with Sobolev or analytic smoothness , without using knowledge about this regularity. Both methods are illustrated by simulation examples

Bayesian inverse problems

The posterior distribution in a nonparametric inverse problem is shown to contract to the true parameter at a rate that depends on the smoothness of the parameter, and the smoothness and scale of the prior. Correct combinations of these characteristics lead to the minimax rate. The frequentist coverage of credible sets is shown to depend on the combination of prior and true parameter, with smoother priors leading to zero coverage and rougher priors to conservative coverage. In the latter case credible sets are of the correct order of magnitude. The results are numerically illustrated by the problem of recovering a function from observation of a noisy version of its primitive

Bayesian recovery of the initial condition for the heat equation

We study a Bayesian approach to recovering the initial condition for the heat equation from noisy observations of the solution at a later time. We consider a class of prior distributions indexed by a parameter quantifying smoothness and show that the corresponding posterior distributions contract around the true parameter at a rate that depends on the smoothness of the true initial condition and the smoothness and scale of the prior. Correct combinations of these characteristics lead to the optimal minimax rate. One type of priors leads to a rate-adaptive Bayesian procedure. The frequentist coverage of credible sets is shown to depend on the combination of the prior and true parameter as well, with smoother priors leading to zero coverage and rougher priors to (extremely) conservative results. In the latter case credible sets are much larger than frequentist confidence sets, in that the ratio of diameters diverges to infinity. The results are numerically illustrated by a simulated data example

Empirical Bayes scaling of Gaussian priors in the white noise model

The performance of nonparametric estimators is heavily dependent on a bandwidth parameter. In nonparametric Bayesian methods this parameter can be specified as a hyperparameter of the nonparametric prior. The value of this hyperparameter may be made dependent on the data. The empirical Bayes method is to set its value by maximizing the marginal likelihood of the data in the Bayesian framework. In this paper we analyze a particular version of this method, common in practice, that the hyperparameter scales the prior variance. We characterize the behavior of the random hyperparameter, and show that a nonparametric Bayes method using it gives optimal recovery over a scale of regularity classes. This scale is limited, however, by the regularity of the unscaled prior. While a prior can be scaled up to make it appropriate for arbitrarily rough truths, scaling cannot increase the nominal smoothness by much. Surprisingy the standard empirical Bayes method is even more limited in this respect than an oracle, deterministic scaling method. The same can be said for the hierarchical Bayes method

PENELUSURAN INFORMASI BAHAN PUSTAKA MELALUI ONLINE PUBLIC ACCESS CATALOGUE (OPAC) DI AMIKOM RESOURCE CENTER

Penulisan Tugas Akhir ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui cara melakukan penelusuran informasi bahan pustaka melalui OPAC, untuk mengetahui kelebihan dan kekurangan OPAC sebagai sarana penelusuran informasi bahan pustaka, untuk mengetahui hambatan yang dihadapi dalam melakukan penelusuran informasi bahan pustaka melalui OPAC, untuk mengetahui solusi / upaya yang dilakukan untuk mengatasi kendala yang dihadapi dalam penelusuran informasi bahan pustaka melalui OPAC di Amikom Resource Center. Penelitian Tugas Akhir ini dilakukan di Amikom Resource Center, STMIK AMIKOM YOGYAKARTA dengan menggunakan empat metode pengumpulan data yakni metode observasi, metode wawancara, metode dokumentasi, serta metode studi pustaka. Tugas Akhir ini menitikberatkan pada penelusuran informasi bahan pustaka di Amikom Resource Center. Amikom Resource Center menggunakan OPAC berbasis Web dan memanfaatkan menu pencarian pada software Smart Library sebagai sarana penelusurannya. Kesimpulannya antara lain: 1) Langkahlangkah dalam melakukan penelusuran informasi melalui kedua OPAC hampir sama, langkah awal pemustaka dapat mengakses melalui situs website sedangkan untuk pustakawan dan staf dapat mengakses melalui menu pencarian pada software Smart Library, langkah selanjutnya pilih katagori yang telah tersedia, tentukan kata kunci dan lakukan pencarian. 2) Adapun kelebihan dan kekurangan dari kedua sarana penelusuran bahan pustaka tersebut, khususnya terletak pada akses, hak akses, tampilan OPAC, keakuratan hasil informasi yang dihasikan, detail informasi bahan pustaka dari hasil pencarian, download(unduh) detail informasi bahan pustaka. 3) Hambatan yang dihadapi dalam melakukan penelusuran informasi melalui OPAC di Amikom Resource Center, diantaranya : 1) Masalah jaringan, 2) Masalah ketepatan kata kunci / keyword, 3) Pemustaka yang kurang terampil, 4) Masalah kesesuaian data informasi yang dihasilkan, 5) Kelengkapan Informasi Bahan Pustaka / Bibiliografi. Supaya penelusuran informasi bahan pustaka di Amikom Resource Center menjadi lebih baik, maka perlu dilakukan beberapa hal, penyempurnaan teknik penelusuran, menyelenggarakan pendidikan pemakai atau program literasi, penyempurnaan sistem terkomputerisasi dan penambahan staf baru, serta melengkapi informasi bibliografi. Kata Kunci : Penelusuran informasi, Bahan Pustaka, Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC

A GIS-Based Model for the Enhancement of Rural Landscapes: The Case Study of Valdera—Tuscany (Italy)

Complexity in planning and programming applied to rural landscape and territories was increased by the new approach of the European Landscape Convention and the growing awareness on the role of rural landscapes in providing Ecosystem Services. While the scientific debate is still going on, one of the main challenges is how to operationalize the new attitude and knowledge about the role played by landscape in general, and not only by historical and high valued landscapes. New instruments are needed to maintain and enhance everyday landscape taking into account that it is a living and evolving system. These instruments ask for multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches based on a holistic knowledge system. GIS techniques allow taking into account both spatial distribution of elements/information and their physical relations, which are paramount for the analysis of interventions about landscape. This chapter presents an expedite model for identifying policy actions aiming to protect, maintain and manage rural territories. The model has been tested on a case-study area located in Tuscany (Italy), and it identifies a set of spatialized indicators, for which it is possible to compute a cardinal or ordinal value, to be used to individuate suitable actions. While the case-study analysis is necessarily bounded by rules stated by the Tuscan administration and by the context within it was developed, the philosophy underpinning the proposed methodology may well be extended to other territories and countries. Results show that it is possible to provide simplified operative tools able to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of territorial governance