The Potential for Riparian Zone Restoration to Support Pollinators in Mediterranean Agricultural River Valleys

Mestrado em Gestão e Conservação de Recursos Naturais. Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de ÉvoraThere is a concern that Insect pollinator abundance and diversity is declining world-wide, threatening ecosystem function and hence human food security and wellbeing. This decline may be affecting Mediterranean climatic regions, which are sensitive hotspots of biodiversity. Mediterranean river valleys are areas which have been used for agriculture for thousands of years, and are often in a degraded ecological state. These riparian areas may be suffering a decline in pollinator diversity when they could be providing valuable opportunities for restoration and conservation. This thesis comprises two parts. The first part is a semi-structured literature review initiated with three questions: 1) What evidence is there that insect pollinator abundance and diversity is declining in Mediterranean regions? 2) What ecological restoration practices offer the most promise of reversing such declines? 3) What contribution might riparian zones make to reversing any decline? The second part is a case study characterising Hymenopteran and Coleopteran pollinators of the Sorraia river valley in Portugal; an example of a Mediterranean agricultural river valley. Though relatively few studies of pollinator abundance and diversity in Mediterranean regions were found, there is evidence suggesting there is a decline, mostly due to habitat loss, introduced species and climate change. The impact of agrochemicals hardly featured in the articles reviewed here, and represents one of the opportunities for future investigation. The Sorraia valley case study suggests a marginally higher level of pollinator diversity in riparian areas compared to the agricultural matrix. And that there is a complementary effect, with the riparian species increasing richness at the landscape level. Overall, there is strong evidence that riparian areas offer an important opportunity for restoration projects through protected area management, ecologically improved riparian woodland and concerted field margin management, improving pollinator diversity and pollination services in cultivated, Mediterranean river valleys.Existe a preocupação de que a abundância e diversidade de polinizadores de insectos esteja a diminuir em todo o mundo, ameaçando o funcionamento do ecossistema e, consequentemente, a segurança alimentar e o bem-estar humano. Este declínio pode estar a afectar as regiões climáticas mediterrânicas, que são focos sensíveis de biodiversidade. Os vales fluviais mediterrânicos são áreas que têm sido utilizadas para a agricultura durante milhares de anos, estando frequentemente num estado ecológico degradado. Estas zonas ribeirinhas podem estar a sofrer um declínio na diversidade de polinizadores quando poderiam estar a proporcionar valiosas oportunidades de restauração e conservação. Esta tese é apresentada em duas partes. Na primeira parte faz-se uma revisão semi-estruturada da literatura iniciada com três questões: 1) Que provas existem de que a abundância e diversidade de polinizadores de insectos está a diminuir nas regiões mediterrânicas? 2) Que práticas de restauração ecológica oferecem a maior oportunidade de reverter tais declínios? 3) Que contribuição podem dar as zonas ribeirinhas para inverter qualquer declínio? A segunda parte é um estudo de caso que caracteriza os polinizadores Hymenoptera e Coleoptera do vale do rio Sorraia em Portugal; um exemplo de um vale de rio agrícola mediterrânico. Embora tenham sido encontrados relativamente poucos estudos sobre a abundância e diversidade de polinizadores nas regiões mediterrânicas, há provas que sugerem que existe um declínio, principalmente devido à perda de habitat, espécies introduzidas e alterações climáticas. O impacto negativo dos agroquímicos foi escassamente mencionado nos artigos aqui analisados, e representa uma das oportunidades para investigações futuras. O estudo de caso do vale do Sorraia sugere um nível marginalmente mais elevado de diversidade de polinizadores em zonas ribeirinhas, em comparação com a matriz agrícola. Este estudo sugere ainda um efeito complementar entre as infraestruturas ripícolas e a matriz agrícola, permitindo aumentar a riqueza a nível da paisagem. Globalmente, há fortes indícios de que as áreas ripícolas oferecem uma importante oportunidade para projetos de restauração através da gestão de áreas protegidas, melhoria das matas ripícolas ecologicamente, gestão de concertada das bordaduras nos campos agrícolas, melhorando a diversidade de polinizadores e o serviço de polinização nos vales mediterrânicos cultivados.N/

Solar Radiation Pressure Estimation and Analysis of a GEO Class of High Area-to-Mass Ratio Debris Objects

A population of deep space objects is thought to be high area-to-mass ratio (AMR) debris having origins from sources in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) belt. The typical AMR values have been observed to range anywhere from 1's to 10's of m(sup 2)/kg, and hence, higher than average solar radiation pressure effects result in long-term migration of eccentricity (0.1-0.6) and inclination over time. However, the nature of the debris orientation-dependent dynamics also results time-varying solar radiation forces about the average which complicate the short-term orbit determination processing. The orbit determination results are presented for several of these debris objects, and highlight their unique and varied dynamic attributes. Estimation or the solar pressure dynamics over time scales suitable for resolving the shorter term dynamics improves the orbit estimation, and hence, the orbit predictions needed to conduct follow-up observations

An edition of the Conduct of Life based on the six extant manuscripts with full commentary, complementary critical and codicological analysis, notes and introduction

An edition of the Conduct of Life based on the six extant manuscripts with full commentary, complementary critical and codicological analysis, notes and introduction. The Conduct of Life, also known as the Poema Morale, is a verse-sermon that has been largely ignored by literary histories, and despite the longevity of its textual tradition its various texts have never been the subject of extended study. This dissertation brings together the seven manuscript versions of the text, which date from the end of the twelfth to the end of the thirteenth centuries, and re-examines them individually and as a cohort exhibiting variance. It therefore offers a revealing indicator of how continuity and change actually operated through the interaction between preceding tradition and scribes and audiences. This is achieved through a three-fold analysis of the verse sermon which highlights the fluidity of the manuscript culture during this period and the willingness of scribes to adapt texts to suit new purposes, to create differences due to dialect and comprehension, or copy variants from a now lost exemplar. First, an edition of the text, based on the version found in Cambridge, Trinity College MS B. 14. 52, folios 2r-9v , explores, through the accompanying notes, the themes, style and phraseology which not only reflect the influence of earlier English literary and hortatory texts but also represent a living tradition which found popularity within diverse writing and social environments. Secondly, a diplomatic edition of each text is presented, preceded by an introduction to the text, grammar and dialect, with full codicological and palaeographic notes. Finally, a parallel text edition bears witness to the copying and reshaping of the text throughout its history. It is accompanied by extensive linguistic notes which highlight the adaptation and textual variance between each version of the Conduct of Life. Each new variant has not only been read in relation to the other versions of the same work but also in relation to the manuscript context it newly occupies as a result of its transmission. Each copy reshapes the material within an established structure of rhythm and metre and, therefore, the dissertation concludes that the sermon is recreated as a series of individual texts, which might be individually analysed, because each is different, particularly within their specific physical and historical moments. This fluidity or mouvance suggests for the Conduct of Life and, for that matter, the texts that preceded it in the historical narrative of the twelfth century that there is no authentic text; that the instability of the manuscript ‘tradition’ moves from manuscript to manuscript.Cambridge Board of Graduate Studies and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge - Domestic Research Studentship Scholar

Love and liberation: second-wave feminisms and the problem of romantic love

Love and Liberation examines second-wave feminist responses to the problem of romantic love as an integral component of their search for gender equality. Second-wave feminists fought for political, economic, and social parity; theorized about the creation of gender roles that bolstered patriarchy; pushed for reproductive and sexual freedom; and expanded the realm of possibilities for women. They also argued that the personal was political and searched for the roots of women's oppression in their personal lives. Politicizing the personal prompted second-wave feminists to consider how matters like sexuality, marriage, and romantic love helped to create and reinforce oppressive gender hierarchies. Turning a critical eye towards such issues, most second-wave feminists saw romantic love as a socially constructed ideal (rather than a universal emotion) that evolved according to contemporary values. Within post-World War II American society and culture, they believed that ideals of romantic love pressured women to seek fulfillment and identity within heterosexual romantic relationships. Romantic love thus rewarded and appeased women for their economic, social, and emotional dependence upon men. But how could second-wave feminists reform ideals of romantic love? To answer that question, I focus on the intellectual, cultural, and personal efforts of second-wave feminists to address the problem of romantic love. Because matters of romantic intimacy were so intensely personal, feminists were often bitterly divided over how to understand romantic love and its impact on women's lives. They also experienced inner turmoil when reconciling their expectations of love with their feminist ideals of reciprocity and equality. They voiced their concerns in myriad intellectual and cultural forums, including theoretical and philosophical tracts, feminist manifestos and pamphlets, popular novels and magazines, professional and private correspondence, and personal diaries and journals. Trying to match theory with practice, many feminists experimented with alternatives to prevailing ideals of heterosexual romantic love, ranging from celibacy, to same-sex unions, to more egalitarian relationships with men. A small, vocal minority of feminists vehemently argued that romantic love would cease to exist in an egalitarian society, but most second-wave feminists were committed to creating new ideals of romantic love based in authenticity and equality

A Product Formula for the Normalized Volume of Free Sums of Lattice Polytopes

The free sum is a basic geometric operation among convex polytopes. This note focuses on the relationship between the normalized volume of the free sum and that of the summands. In particular, we show that the normalized volume of the free sum of full dimensional polytopes is precisely the product of the normalized volumes of the summands.Comment: Published in the proceedings of 2017 Southern Regional Algebra Conferenc

Orbit Processing and Analysis of a GEO Class of High Area-to-Mass Debris Objects

A population of recently discovered deep space objects is thought to be debris having origins from sources in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) belt. Observations have been presented indicating that these objects have area-to-mass ratios (AMR's) of anywhere from 1's to 10's of m(exp 2)/kg, and thus would explain the observed migration of eccentricity (0.1-0.6) and inclination that distinguishes their orbital characteristics. The solar radiation perturbations on orbital period, inclination and eccentricity over a 20 year period for AMR's of 0.01, 1, 10 and 20 m(exp 2)/kg, are shown in the figures. There is a heightened interest in the international community due to the large number and small size of these objects, as they pose a hazard to active satellites operating in the vicinity of the GEO belt

Thymic output and CD4 T-cell reconstitution in HIV-infected children on early and interrupted antiretroviral treatment: evidence from the CHER trial.

Objectives: Early treatment of HIV-infected children and adults is important for optimal immune reconstitution. Infants’ immune systems are more plastic and dynamic than older children’s or adults’, and deserve particular attention. This study aimed to understand the response of the HIV-infected infant immune system to early antiretroviral therapy (ART) and planned ART interruption and re-start. Design: We used linear and nonlinear regression and mixed-effects models to describe children’s CD4 trajectories and to identify predictors of CD4 count during early and interrupted ART. Methods: Data from HIV-infected children enrolled CHER trial, starting ART aged between 6 and 12 weeks, was used to explore the effect of ART on immune reconstitution. Results: Early treatment arrested the decline in CD4 count but did not fully restore it to the levels observed in HIV-uninfected children. Treatment interruption at 40 or 96 weeks resulted in a rapid decline in CD4 T-cells, which on retreatment returned to levels observed before interruption. Naïve CD4 T-cell count was an important determinant of overall CD4 levels. A strong correlation was observed between thymic output and the stable CD4 count both before and after treatment interruption. Conclusions: Early identification and treatment of HIV-infected infants is important to stabilize CD4 counts at the highest levels possible. Once stabilized, children’s CD4 counts appear resilient, with good potential for recovery following treatment interruption. The naïve T-cell pool and thymic production of naive cells are key determinants of children’s CD4 levels

Suburban Neighbourhood Adaptation for a Changing Climate (SNACC) final report

The report presents findings from the Suburban Neighbourhood Adaptation to a Changing Climate (SNACC) project. The project tested the effectiveness, feasibility and acceptability of a range of adaptations to the physical environment (i.e. to homes, gardens, and public spaces) that could be used to both mitigate and adapt to climate change in the UK