Preliminary inventory of key terrestrial nature values of Bonaire

Based on a helpdesk question from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) a preliminary inventory is given of key terrestrial nature values of Bonaire in order to determine their occurrence in relation to areas designated as “nature” and “open landscape”, according to the Spatial development plan of Bonaire. This was based on a literature study and supplemented by expert advice

Restructuring of the "Macaronesia" biogeografic unit: a marine multi-taxon biogeographical approach

The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde are commonly united under the term “Macaronesia”. This study investigates the coherency and validity of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit using six marine groups with very different dispersal abilities: coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropod molluscs, brachyuran decapod crustaceans, polychaete annelids, and macroalgae. We found no support for the current concept of Macaronesia as a coherent marine biogeographic unit. All marine groups studied suggest the exclusion of Cabo Verde from the remaining Macaronesian archipelagos and thus, Cabo Verde should be given the status of a biogeographic subprovince within the West African Transition province. We propose to redefine the Lusitanian biogeographical province, in which we include four ecoregions: the South European Atlantic Shelf, the Saharan Upwelling, the Azores, and a new ecoregion herein named Webbnesia, which comprises the archipelagos of Madeira, Selvagens and the Canary Islandsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An airborne regional carbon balance for central amazonia

We obtained regional estimates of surface CO2 exchange rates using atmospheric boundary layer budgeting techniques above tropical forest near Manaus, Brazil. Comparisons were made with simultaneous measurements from two eddy covariance towers below. Although there was good agreement for daytime measurements, large differences emerged for integrating periods dominated by the night-time fluxes. These results suggest that a systematic underestimation of night time respiratory effluxes may be responsible for the high Amazonian carbon sink suggested by several previous eddy covariance studies. Large CO2 fluxes from riverine sources or high respiratory losses from recently disturbed forests do not need to be invoked in order to balance the carbon budget of the Amazon. Our results do not, however, discount some contribution of these processes to the overall Amazon carbon budget

Non-perturbative effective field theory for two-leg antiferromagnetic spin ladders

We study the long wavelength limit of a spin 1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic two-leg ladder, treating the interchain coupling in a non-perturbative way. We perform a mean field analysis and then include exactly the fluctuations. This allows for a discussion of the phase diagram of the system and provides an effective field theory for the low energy excitations. The coset fermionic Lagrangian obtained corresponds to a perturbed SU(4)_1/U(1) Conformal Field Theory (CFT). This effective theory is naturally embedded in a SU(2)_2 x Z_2 CFT, where perturbations are easily identified in terms of conformal operators in the two sectors. Crossed and zig-zag ladders are also discussed using the same approach.Comment: 14 pages LaTeX, 5 PostScript figures included using epsfig.sty; minor corrections and a few references adde

Key elements towards a Joint Invasive Alien Species Strategy for the Dutch Caribbean

Recent inventories have documented no less than 211 exotic alien species in the wild for the Dutch Caribbean. These amount to no less than 27 introduced marine species, 65 introduced terrestrial plants, 72 introduced terrestrial and freshwater animals and 47 introduced agricultural pests and diseases. A list of these species, pests and diseases are found in resp. Debrot et al. (2011), Van der Burg et al. 2012, and Van Buurt and Debrot (2012, 2011). The rate of introductions and establishment of invasive alien species (IAS) worldwide has grown rapidly as a result of increasing globalisation. Invasive species cause major ecological effects (decimating native flora or fauna populations) as well as economic losses to these islands, across sectors such as agriculture (diseases, weeds and vectors), fisheries (fish diseases and the lionfish), industry (rodents and termites), tourism (roadside weedy species) and public health (mosquitos). Recently in Curaçao the kissing bug Triatoma infestans was found; this is a vector for Chagas disease. It almost certainly came in with palm leaves imported from South America to be used as roof covering for recreational beach “palapa’s”

A stakeholder theory approach to creating value in higher education institutions

Purpose: This paper aims to empirically verify whether the development of improved relationships between higher education institutions (HEIs) and their stakeholders based on the principles of stakeholder theory creates more value. Design/methodology/approach: The methods involve a quantitative approach, with the data collection being carried out through a survey of 88 heads of HEIs in Brazil. The paper uses the Spearman’s correlation coefficient to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. Findings: The findings reinforce the arguments found in the stakeholder theory literature, in which relationships are based on the following principles: knowledge and information sharing, mutual trust, involvement in the decision-makin g process and alignment of stakeholders’ interests in the strategic planning process, all of which create more value for organizations. Practical implications: This study seeks to improve the knowledge of stakeholder theory in relation to HEIs. It identifies the stakeholder relationships that create the most value and have the potential to generate a sustainable competitive advantage. The results can help managers to improve their relationships with stakeholders and may encourage the implementation of practices and policies that consider stakeholders’ influence on the strategic direction of HEIs. Social implications: The studies present a social contribution by evidencing the importance of the development of best practices, processes and strategies in the management of educational institutions, which are important actors in the development of society. Originality/value: The originality of this paper is that it empirically tests the principles of stakeholder theory and their relationships with value creation for organizations in the higher education context. Whilst stakeholder theory has been explored in multiples contexts, there is a lack of studies addressing stakeholder management in HEIs

Pair production of the heavy leptons in future high energy linear e^{+}e^{-} colliders

The littlest Higgs model with T-parity predicts the existence of the T-odd particles, which can only be produced in pair. We consider pair production of the T-odd leptons in future high energy linear $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider ($ILC$). Our numerical results show that, as long as the T-odd leptons are not too heavy, they can be copiously produced and their possible signals might be detected via the processes $e^{+}e^{-}\to \bar{L}_{i}L_{j}$ in future $ILC$ experiments.Comment: Discussions added, typos and references correcte

Lepton flavor violation decays τ−→μ−P1P2\tau^-\to \mu^- P_1 P_2 in the topcolor-assisted technicolor model and the littlest Higgs model with TT parity

The new particles predicted by the topcolor-assisted technicolor ($TC2$) model and the littlest Higgs model with T-parity (called $LHT$ model) can induce the lepton flavor violation ($LFV$) couplings at tree level or one loop level, which might generate large contributions to some $LFV$ processes. Taking into account the constraints of the experimental data on the relevant free parameters, we calculate the branching ratios of the $LFV$ decay processes $\tau^-\to\mu^- P_1 P_2$ with $P_1 P_2$ = $\pi^+\pi^-$, $K^+K^-$ and $K^0\bar{K^0}$ in the context of these two kinds of new physics models. We find that the $TC2$ model and the $LHT$ model can indeed produce significant contributions to some of these $LFV$ decay processes.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

The Brazilian Developments On The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (brams 5.2): An Integrated Environmental Model Tuned For Tropical Areas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)We present a new version of the Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS), in which different previous versions for weather, chemistry, and carbon cycle were unified in a single integrated modeling system software. This new version also has a new set of state-of-the-art physical parameterizations and greater computational parallel and memory usage efficiency. The description of the main model features includes several examples illustrating the quality of the transport scheme for scalars, radiative fluxes on surface, and model simulation of rainfall systems over South America at different spatial resolutions using a scale aware convective parameterization. Additionally, the simulation of the diurnal cycle of the convection and carbon dioxide concentration over the Amazon Basin, as well as carbon dioxide fluxes from biogenic processes over a large portion of South America, are shown. Atmospheric chemistry examples show the model performance in simulating near-surface carbon monoxide and ozone in the Amazon Basin and the megacity of Rio de Janeiro. For tracer transport and dispersion, the model capabilities to simulate the volcanic ash 3-D redistribution associated with the eruption of a Chilean volcano are demonstrated. The gain of computational efficiency is described in some detail. BRAMS has been applied for research and operational forecasting mainly in South America. Model results from the operational weather forecast of BRAMS on 5km grid spacing in the Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies, INPE/Brazil, since 2013 are used to quantify the model skill of near-surface variables and rainfall. The scores show the reliability of BRAMS for the tropical and subtropical areas of South America. Requirements for keeping this modeling system competitive regarding both its functionalities and skills are discussed. Finally, we highlight the relevant contribution of this work to building a South American community of model developers. © Author(s) 2017.1011892222014/01563-1, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo2014/01564-8, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo2015/10206-0, FAPESP, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo306340/2011-9, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e TecnológicoFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq