Resource use

We present palaeoenvironmental, geomorphological, archaeological, and place-name data which allow a holistic assessment of the history of landscape change on Sandoy, Faroe Islands, especially in terms of the changes that occurred in response to the colonization of the island by humans. In contrast to other situations in the North Atlantic region, there is considerable continuity in the patterns and processes of landscape evolution across the initial

Introduction: Some patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) suffer from conditions requiring potentially painful treatment; procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) are important components of their management. The purpose of this study was to determine the resources used during the administration of PSA. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in a Canadian urban teaching center. Detailed data concerning the dosage of PSA medications, adverse events, and ED times for patients requiring PSA for treatment of fractures, reductions of joint dislocations, and cardioversion for atrial fibrillation were collected. Descriptive analyses included proportions, means with standard deviations, and medians with interquartile ranges. Results: Of the 177 PSA cases considered for analysis, 69.5% were orthopedic manipulations and 30.5% were cardioversions. Propofol alone or combined with fentanyl was the commonest medication, and 27 minor adverse events were documented. The median number of staff used in each PSA was 4 (4, 4). The median time from triage to the start of the procedure was 175 minutes (98, 259). The median time from the end of monitoring to discharge was 186 minutes (104, 316). The median time from the start of PSA administration to the end of patient monitoring was 12 minutes for fractures/dislocations and 7 minutes for cardioversion. The total ED length of stay was 6.6 hours.

Cost-effectiveness analyses are important tools in efforts to prioritise interventions for obesity prevention. Modelling facilitates evaluation of multiple scenarios with varying assumptions. This study compares the cost-effectiveness of conservative scenarios for two commonly proposed policy-based interventions: front-of-pack 'traffic-light' nutrition labelling (traffic-light labelling) and a tax on unhealthy foods ('junk-food' tax). For traffic-light labelling, estimates of changes in energy intake were based on an assumed 10% shift in consumption towards healthier options in four food categories (breakfast cereals, pastries, sausages and preprepared meals) in 10% of adults. For the 'junk-food' tax, price elasticities were used to estimate a change in energy intake in response to a 10% price increase in seven food categories (including soft drinks, confectionery and snack foods). Changes in population weight and body mass index by sex were then estimated ba...

We examined 3 negative outcomes for 58 351 hip and knee arthroplasty patients: rehospitalization, revision and infection, and their impact on resource use in the year after surgery. In the year before surgery, 12.9% of elective hip and 10.2% of knee patients were hospitalized. In the year after, 14.8% of elective hip and 15.5% of knee patients were hospitalized, representing a 15% and 52% increase, respectively. Twenty-eight percent of emergent hip patients were hospitalized at least once preoperatively; this did not change after surgery. Revision occurred in 2.0% of emergent hip, 1.7% of elective hip, and 0.9% of knee patients. Joint infection was diagnosed in 1.3% of patients. The increased hospitalization after the elective hip and knee procedures represents an incremental cost of 10% over the index hospital stay.

This is an ethnobotanical study of Atlantic Forest coastal communities located at Sepetiba Bay, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. Atlantic Forest remnants are top priority conservation areas, and include native communities that depend on fish and small-scale agriculture. We conducted fieldwork in the community of Calhaus (Jaguanum Island) from 1989 to 1991, and interviewed adults on their use of plants. We examined the diversity of medicinal plants used among communities of different islands and found results similar to previous research at Gamboa (Itacuruca Island); communities living in smaller islands and on islands further from the coast use a lower diversity of plants. Also, older islanders show a deeper knowledge of medicinal plants than younger islanders.

Co-occurring species might be morphologically similar because they are adapted to the same environment, or morphologically dissimilar to minimize competition. We use sister species comparisons to evaluate the relationship between morphological disparity and regional patterns of co-occurrence across carnivores. Up to 63% of the variation in range overlap can be explained by morphological divergence in dentition. Species that differ more in carnassial tooth length overlap more in their geographical range. Carnassials are the primary teeth associated with food processing, and hence difference in carnassial size may be a good indicator of difference in resource use. We suggest this pattern is consistent with competition in sympatry driving ecological character displacement, or competitive exclusion among ecologically similar species. Our study uses newly available data on global distributions, morphology and phylogeny, and is the first to demonstrate a close relationship between morphological disparity and co-occurrence at a regional scale encompassing multiple communities.

Extensive research has been devoted to resource constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP). Resources are renewable and there is a unique way to perform the activities. This work develops a population based evolutionary algorithm namely differential evolution (DE) to schedule project activities to minimize makespan subject to precedence constraints and resources availability. The proposed DE uses a priority value based representation to encode a project schedule and a serial generation scheme to obtain the schedule. The DE algorithm is compared with some existing algorithms available in the literature on the basis of a computational experiment performed on Patterson's test bed. Obtained results show that the performance of the proposed DE is quite satisfactory.

This paper presents the applications of Geoinformatics System (GIS) in three different land-use planning (LUP) approaches. The participatory LUP (PLUP) which strongly consider the local people perceptions for land utilizations, the guidelines for LUP by FAO enhanced with multi-criteria evaluation (FAO-MCE), and the land-use planning and analysis system (LUPAS) using interactive multiple-goal linear programming. The case study was two villages in the coastal area of the Mekong Delta (MD), Vietnam. The land use of the studied area is diverse, quickly shifting and strongly contrasting. The contrast is not only in terms of resources but also in economic profitability and environmental sustainability. GIS plays an important role in the successful of these three LUP approaches. In PLUP, GIS help to integrate the acquired spatial and attribute data from farmer discussions and cross-section walks, and to analyses the changes in not only biophysical, land cover changes but also farmers' perception changes in land utilizations. The conflicts in resources uses, mainly between agriculture and aquaculture, were also mapped and described. In FAO-MCE, a GIS was used to combine biophysical and socio-economic characteristics for land evaluation. A multi-criteria evaluation tool was developed to support the decision maker in trade-off among different stakeholders' interests. In LUPAS, an optimization model was developed. The model is linked with a GIS for data input and results presentation. With the optimization model, the land use planners can explore different land use scenarios with different objectives and constraints, both biophysically and socio-economically. The results of the model are sets of land use option maps with their resources requirements, e.g. labor or capital requirements, and their outputs, e.g. productions of shrimp, rice or total area of forest. This information is very important for the decision-maker to select the most suitable land use plan for the study area.

Software metrics should support managerial decision making in software projects. We explain how traditional metrics approaches, such as regression-based models for cost estimation fall short of this goal. Instead, we describe a causal model (using a Bayesian network) which incorporates empirical data, but allows it to be interpreted and supplemented using expert judgement. We show how this causal model is used in a practical decision-support tool, allowing a project manager to trade-off the resources used against the outputs (delivered functionality, quality achieved) in a software project. The model and toolset have evolved in a number of collaborative projects and hence capture significant commercial input. Extensive validation trials are taking place among partners on the EC funded project MODIST (this includes Philips, Israel Aircraft Industries and QinetiQ) and the feedback so far has been very good. The estimates are sensible and the causal modelling approach enables decision-makers to reason in a way that is not possible with other project management and resource estimation tools. To ensure wide dissemination and validation a version of the toolset with the full underlying model is being made available for free to researchers.

We propose that cavity-nesting bird communities are structured in nest webs analogous to food webs, where interspeci®c and intraspeci®c interactions are centered around nest site availability. Our sites of mixed deciduous coniferous forest in northcentral BC, Canada, support a rich diversity of eight species of primary cavity nesters (PCNs) (woodpeckers), four species of weak cavity nesters (nuthatch, chickadees) and 20 secondary cavity-nesting species (ducks, passerines and birds of prey). Richness varied across forest-types with some plots being`hotspots' and others being depauperate. Across a range of foresttypes, we measured species richness and abundance of birds and squirrels using point count census techniques, playbacks of taped calls of woodpeckers and owls, and by searching for active nests. We also measured resource use (trees able to support cavities, or existing cavities) in relation to availability (tree species, abundance and habitat characteristics such as edge-type and degree of fragmentation). In both 1995 and 1996, we found signi®cant positive correlations between the abundance of primary and secondary cavity-nesting birds, and negative correlations between both of these groups and weak cavity excavators. None of the three cavity-nesting groups was positively correlated with open-nesting (non-cavity) forest birds, rejecting our null hypothesis of common habitat quality. In contrast, the abundance of secondary cavity-nesting species was signi®cantly negatively correlated with non-cavity species, possibly because these species compete for resources other than nest sites, such as invertebrate prey. Using these data, we construct a nest web for the cavity-nesting community in northcentral British Columbia. This approach demonstrated strong and weak links among species in the web and identi®ed key species whose presence may be critical to the integrity of the community. We plan to test how nest web structure shifts in response to different forest-cutting regimes, and whether changes in species richness and abundance can be ameliorated with selective harvesting. #

In a globalized world, the physical distance betw een goods and services' producers and costumers is irrelevant. This determines that t he logistic costs' management can agregate relevant value to commercialized goods, due to the identification and determination of the effectiveness of resources used within the company and, externally, tries to do the value chain analysis. According to this perspective, the definition of costs' variables goes beyond the company's limits. This paper, based on the mode ls of Uelze (1974), Goldratt (1986), Dias (1993), Kotler & Armstrong (1998) and Novaes (2001), proposes a model of logistic costs verification that serves the supplies costs and the distribution costs at the same time, with impacts on the decision-making process.

Photosynthetic capacity, leaf nitrogen content, and stomatal conductance decreased with increasing leaf age in the chaparral shrub, Lepechinia calycina, growing in its natural habitat. Efficiency of resource use for three resources that potentially limit photosynthesis did not, however, decrease with increasing leaf age. Light-use efficiency, given by the quantum yield of photosynthesis at low light intensities, was unaffected by leaf aging but decreased slightly through the winter and spring growing season. Water-use efficiency, the ratio of photosynthesis to transpiration at light saturation and with a constant water vapor concentration gradient, was not affected by leaf aging or seasonal change. Nitrogen-use efficiency, the ratio of photosynthesis at light saturation to leaf nitrogen content did not change with leaf age but was lower in the leaves with the highest specific weights. This ensemble of leaf-age effects is consistent with the hypothesis that aging represents resource redistribution and not uncontrolled deterioration.

Objectives: to compare the amputation rates, quality of life and health care costs in patients receiving duplex ultrasound scanning against clinical surveillance following femoropopliteal and femorocrural vein bypass. Design: multi-centre, prospective, randomised controlled trial. Methods: 1200 patients with a patent vein graft at 30 days postoperatively will be randomised to either clinical or duplex follow-up. All patients are seen in an out-patient clinic at 6 weeks, then 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months postoperatively. At each appointment patients are examined clinically; palpable pulses in the graft and crural vessels, presenting symptoms and their ankle-branchial pressure indices (ABPIs) measured. In the duplex group only, the results of the scan are monitored. The incidence of radiological and/or surgical interventions throughout the follow-up period are also noted. Quality of life is measured using the SF-36 and EuroQol questionnaires at the 6 and 18 month appointments. Hospital stays and resource use are documented for health economic analysis. Results: the primary endpoint of this study is amputation or death from vascular causes; however, graft patency rates will also be compared between the groups. Quality of life and health economic data will be used to determine if there is any benefit in either arm in these outcomes between follow-up strategies. Conclusions: this large, randomised-controlled trial will hopefully provide direct evidence on the benefit of duplex surveillance for vein grafts in terms of limb salvage, quality of life of the patients and cost-benefit to the purchaser.

Local communities and local government units are recognized as the primary stakeholders and participants in the management of coral reef resources and the primary beneficiaries of small-scale fishing activities in the nearshore areas of the coastal zone. The issues relating to the management of the coastal zone are multi-faceted and some issues are largely intertwined with national policy and development goals. Thus, national governments have jurisdiction over these nearshore coastal resources to harmonize policies, monitor resource use and provide incentives for sustainable use. However, the natural boundaries of these reef resources, the processes that support reef ecosystems, and the local or national affiliation of the people who benefit from them may transcend the boundaries of the local and national management units. Therefore, efforts to arrest the decline in fish catch and loss of biodiversity for reefs require management interventions and assessment activities to be carried...

Since 1997, the agricultural leases on Native land, issued under the 1976 Agricultural and Landlord Tenants Act (ALTA), began to expire. The sugar industry is the main commodity export earner for Fiji, directly contributing about 22% of the national GDP and supporting over 25% of the country's active labor force. Fiji exports 80% of its sugar production, earning on average of $250-300 million in foreign exchange annually. Several options have been suggested, including: non-renewal of leases, with the land reverting to Fijian owners; renewal of ALTA but with land rents pegged to the gross value of production instead of the unimproved capital value; sharecropping and contract wage arrangements; and abolishment of lease arrangement under ALTA with leases to be issued under an institutional arrangement guided by the Native Lands Trust Act (NLTA). The land tenure system adopted will have a significant impact not only on the efficiency of the sugar cane sector but also on Fiji's...

Knowledge and innovation society are becoming priorities to the welfare and quality of life of the rural population. This is based substantially on scientific and technological progress. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) accelerate rural development by contributing to more efficient management and rapid knowledge dissemination. ICTs are defined as a different set of technological tools and resources used for communication and for the creation, processing, dissemination, storage and information management. The rapid revolution in modern agriculture has led to investigations in many regions. One of them is the rural region of the prefecture of Pella that exists many years in the agricultural sector. The objective of this research is to evaluate the adoption of ICTs among farmers and determine the importance of agricultural extension as an information source in the region of Central Macedonia. For this purpose, the approaches of summary statistics in combination with multivariate statistical analysis techniques have been used. In particular, through the statistical package SPSS (v.16.0), there were employed two correlation methods: (a) the categorical regression model and (b) the two-step clustering. The primary research data were collected using a specifically constructed questionnaire, supplemented by personal interviews with farmers of the prefecture of Pella. The sampling result was to collect a general sample of 303 valid questionnaires.

This study examined the use of outcomes for the purposes of ICU evaluation and improvement. We reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of an outcomes-centered approach to intensive care unit (ICU) evaluation and present a more comprehensive conceptual framework for ICU evaluation and improvement. Materials and Methods: Data was collected from 2 sources: (1) a structured review of the literature, with relevant articles identified using Medline, and (2) 85 semistructured interviews of health care professionals (eg, physicians) and health care administrators (eg, chief executive officer). The interviewees came from 4 institutions: a 900-bed East Coast teaching medical center, a 600-bed East Coast teaching medical center, a 590-bed East Coast teaching medical center, and a 435-bed West Coast private community hospital. A nonrandomized, purposeful sample was used. Results: A conceptual framework for ICU evaluation is presented that identifies and defines 3 different types of variables: performance (eg, appropriateness of care, effectiveness of care), outcome (eg, resource use, mortality), and process (eg, timeliness of treatment, work environment).The framework emphasizes performance variables and the relationships between performance, outcome, and process of care variables, as a logical focus for ICU evaluation and improvement. Conclusions: Performance variables offer distinct advantages over outcome variables for ICU evaluation. Their use, however, will require additional development of current evaluation tools and methods. They provide the ability to identify the value an ICU adds to patient care in a hospital or to an episode of illness, and to evaluate integrated systems for providing care.

The environmental consequences of replacing fish meal and fish oil with plant-based sources in salmonid feeds were investigated using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Two scenarios of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) farming were compared. The first scenario used a Standard Diet (STD) with high levels of fish meal and fish oil, and the second a Low Marine-Fishery-Capture Diet (LFD) in which fish meal and fish oil were replaced by plant protein and oil sources. Environmental impacts assessed were: acidification, eutrophication, climate change, terrestrial ecotoxicity, net primary production use (biotic resource use), water use, land occupation and total cumulative energy demand. The assessment confirmed the substantial contribution of feed to the environmental burdens of fish production and the LFD scenario led to a significant decrease in biotic resource use compared to the STD scenario with the same total energy demand. Environmental impacts of feeds depended highly on the geographic origins of feed ingredients from fishery (e.g., fish oil from Norway or Peru) and from terrestrial agricultural crop species (e.g., palm oil or rapeseed oil). This study demonstrated the importance of a multicriteria method to give stakeholders the most accurate information on the potential consequences of replacing fishery products with plant-based sources in aquafeeds.

An alpine marmot's home range is a structured portion of soil, vegetation and rocky outcrops. The dynamics of home range and resource use were investigated in Marmota marmota L. at Gran Paradiso National Park, south-west Alps, Italy. Data were collected during 8 years from 73 individually known marmots, occupying three adjacent locations, in 264 hr of scanning and 551 hr of focal animal sampling. Three different locations did not differ in the total dimension of the home range but they differed in the total dimension of pasture. The home range inherited by immigrant monogamous couples supplanting the unrelated previous groups did not contract, and the dimension were not dictated by immediate feeding necessities, thus suggesting that in some way alpine marmots may envisage future needs. The main burrow systems and hibernacula were inherited by the new couples as well, while the spotting/resting points and other burrows varied across years and groups. The capability of the alpine marmots to maintain stable home ranges across years is unique in the marmot genus, and should be ascribed to common use of space and common defence in kin social groups.

This paper attempts to identify sources of resource use inefficiency for cotton production in Pakistan's Punjab. The use of a non-parametric method, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), is developed to study the relative technical and allocative efficiencies of individual farms which use similar inputs, produce the same product and operate under comparable circumstances. In the 'cotton-wheat' system of Pakistan, there are a considerable number of farms that are both technically and allocatively inefficient. The use of DEA shows that the technique provides a clear identification of both the extent and the sources of technical and allocative inefficiencies in cotton production. However, both the interpretation of the farm level results generated and the projection of these results to a higher level require care, given the technical nature of the agricultural production processes.

Decisions on landuse have become progressively more difficult in the last decades. The main reasons for this development lie in the increasing population combined with an increasing demand for new land and resources and in the growing consciousness for sustainable land and resource use. The steady reduction of valuable land leads to an increase of conflicts in land use decision-making processes since more interests are being affected and therefore more stakeholders with different land use interests and different valuation criteria are being involved in the decision-making process. In the course of such a decision process all identified criteria are weighted according to their relative importance. But assigning weights to the relevant criteria quickly becomes a difficult task when a greater number of criteria are being considered, especially with regard to land use decisions where decision makers expect some kind of mapped result it is therefore useful to use procedures that not only help to derive criteria weights but also accelerate the visualisation and mapping of land use assessment results. Both aspects can easily be facilitated in a GIS. This paper focuses the development of an ArcGIS VBA macro which enables the user to derive criteria weights with the analytical hierarchy process and which allows a mapping of the land use assessment results by a weighted summation of GIS raster data sets. A dynamic link library for the calculation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a square matrix is provided. r

Objectives To analyse 1-year mortality and functional disability outcomes and resource use in critical stroke patients admitted to ICU. Design and setting Multi-centre, prospective, observational study in 28 Spanish hospitals. Patients Patients admitted for acute stroke from March–August 1999. Intervention Collection of data on: severity by Apache III and Glasgow Coma Score; neurological lesion, hospital and 1-year mortality; functional disability at 1 year by Barthel Index and Glasgow Outcome Scale; ICU length of stay, life support techniques, and neurosurgical interventions. Measurement and results We studied 132 patients: 21% with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), 58% intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), 20% ischaemic stroke (ISC); Apache III 63±29 ICU stay 13±12 days; 74% required mechanical ventilation. Hospital and 1-year mortality was 33% (22%:ISC, 32%:SAH, 37%:ICH) and 53.8% (66%:ISC, 39%:SAH, 54%:ICH), respectively. Age, APACHE III, and diagnosis defined hospital mortality. Age, APACHE III, and Glasgow Coma Score defined 1-year mortality. Barthel Index score improved (PBarthel Index scores were related to functional outcome at 1 year. Conclusions Critical stroke patients are characterized by high severity of illness, elevated resource consumption, and poor outcomes that are mainly influenced by severity and age. Glasgow Coma Score-measured neurological severity is the main determinant of future functional capacity, which is greater at 1 year.

Background: Ego defense mechanisms (or factors), defined by Freud as unconscious resources used by the ego to reduce conflict between the id and superego, are a reflection of how an individual deals with conflict and stress. This study assesses the prevalence of various ego defense mechanisms employed by medical students of Karachi, which is a group with higher stress levels than the general population.

Background and Purpose— The International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial (ISAT) reported that endovascular coiling yields better clinical outcomes than surgical clipping at 1 year. The high cost of the consumables associated with the endovascular coiling procedure (particularly the coils) led health care purchasers to conclude that coiling was a more costly procedure overall. To examine this assumption and provide evidence for future policy, accurate and comprehensive data are required on the overall resource usage and cost of each strategy. Methods— We provide detailed results of patient treatment pathways, resource utilization, and costs up to 24 months postrandomization for endovascular and neurosurgical treatment of aSAH. We report data on costs related to initial and subsequent procedures (ward days, ITU, equipment, staff, consumables, etc), adverse events, complications, and follow up. The data are based on a subsample of all patients randomized in ISAT, containing all patients a...

The environmental effect of globalization has been discussed broadly in the last decades. In the European Environ- mental Agency's third assessment of Europe's Environment they conclude that the EU has stabilized its own resource use at the expense of increased resource use outside the EU. On this background I argue that there is a need for life cycle assessments of different patterns of global production and consumption. This article discusses the system delimi- tation of such "global" LCAs on large material flows in the case of agriculture. The discussion of system boundaries in LCA has been in focus in recent years. The issue of concern is based on the hypothesis, that the approach to system delimitation has a significant effect on the results of a comparative LCA on large material flows on the global scale. More specifically the two approaches of concern are traditional attributional approach and the consequential approach, described in Weidema (2003). Thus, ...

The decoupling of CAP payments leads production decisions and resources allocation to be more dependent on market prices and competitive advantages. The objective of this paper is to assess the effects of CAP trends on the montado/dehesa traditional ecosystem of Mediterranean regions in terms of farm income, land, labour and capital. A positive mathematical supply model disaggregated by the montado agro-forestry production systems of the Alentejo region in southern Portugal is developed. The results show that decoupling payments of CAP have negative economic effects on agricultural activities and resource use. Agricultural income increases with single farm payments but the foreseen increases in prices do not compensate the loss of the Agenda 2000 area payments in terms of competitiveness. These results reinforce the need to promote alternative agricultural and non-agricultural activities and policies in Mediterranean rural European areas and regions.

Background The terrorist bombings in London on July 7, 2005, produced the largest mass casualty event in the UK since World War 2. The aim of this study was to analyse the prehospital and in-hospital response to the incident and identify system processes that optimise resource use and reduce critical mortality.

This paper describes an introductory course on object-oriented programming applied to the development of computer games with 3D modeling. The use of games as the goal allows us to approach both basic concepts and complex practical problems of programming, while keeping the students interested on the subject. A survey of standard techniques for game development are presented with running examples at the course, although the objective is not to cover all aspects of computer graphics, artwork, and other advanced techniques required for finished products. The paper describes the motivation, objectives and the structure of this 64 hours undergrad course, as well as the resources used to implement it.

Crops respond to N deficiency through a reduction in resource capture and/or resource use efficiency. The objective of this paper is to examine whether differences in this response pattern are associated with either metabolic group (C 3 vs. C 4 ) or botanical classification (mono-vs. dicotyledons). Hereto, we analysed the effect of N deficiency on the relationships between N uptake, LAI, and biomass accumulation, for maize, sorghum, wheat, canola, tall fescue, and sunflower, grown in experiments in either France or Australia. Maize and tall fescue maintained LAI per unit biomass (measure of resource capture) at the expense of N uptake per unit LAI (measure of resource use efficiency). Wheat and canola had the opposite response, whereas sunflower and sorghum were intermediate. In general, C 4 species reduced N uptake per unit LAI more than C 3 species. Species differences in the effect of N deficiency on resource use efficiency were associated with differences in the SLN or in the N storage capacity of the stems. For wheat, canola, and tall fescue, SLN declined with increasing LAI under high N conditions, and the minimum crop SLN under N deficiency was only marginally lower than under high N conditions. For sorghum, sunflower, and maize, crop SLN under high N changed little with increasing LAI, but the minimum crop SLN under N deficiency was considerably lower than under high N. Sorghum and maize were the only species that substantially decreased stem N uptake per unit LAI under N deficiency. Overall, our data suggest that C 3 species are better able to maintain resource use efficiency under N stress than C 4 species, and a survey of literature suggests this may be because in C 4 species, the critical SLN for radiation use efficiency is higher than the critical SLN for leaf expansion, whereas the opposite is the case for C 3 species. We hypothesise that species differences in response to N deficiency could be associated with these differences in critical SLN, which in turn could be a consequence of the lower photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency of C 3 crops. #

Functionality of electronic commerce enabling technologies is dependent upon pervasive networks that a large number of applications share. Given the scarcity of network resources, it is imperative to allocate existing resources based on the actual needs of its users. In this paper, we study a two sided matching algorithm that enables such an allocation using tools from matching literature. Network system deploys intelligent agents that negotiate terms of allocation assignments with other intelligent agents that represent the users. We report the time complexity of the algorithm and give an example on how the mechanism performs.

The paper provides new insights into the relationship between heritage preservation and the economic, social and institutional factors expressing countries' level of development. While investments in heritage preservation are increasingly recognized as a strategy for development and poverty reduction, little research has been conducted to understand which conditions trigger the valorization of cultural resources.

This paper examines the role of pro-social behavior as a mechanism for the establishment and maintenance of cooperation in resource use under variable social and environmental conditions. By coupling resource stock dynamics with social dynamics concerning compliance to a social norm prescribing non-excessive resource extraction in a common pool resource (CPR), we show that when reputational considerations matter and a sufficient level of social stigma affects the violators of a norm, sustainable outcomes are achieved. We find large parameter regions where norm-observing and norm-violating types coexist, and analyze to what extent such coexistence depends on the environment.

Reproductive skew models have greatly enhanced the study of sociality but are applicable only to societies where the aim of the members of the group is to reproduce. In 'foraging societies', where the aim of the members of the group is to grow, quite different parameters will govern the form that the societies take. We examined factors that influence the structure of foraging groups in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola (Eresidae). In particular, we examined food distribution and consumption within groups, and how this related to predictions derived from two models. One model indicates that colonies in which individuals compete for resources via interference competition are more likely to survive than those in which individuals divide resources using scramble competition. The second model predicts the proportions of hunters, cheaters and scavengers expected in foraging groups. We found that food was not distributed evenly among group members, and that spiders that fed primarily on the head and thorax of the prey during the middle of a feeding event gained the most body mass. Spiders even lost mass if they fed only in the last hour of a foraging event. Large spiders had a competitive advantage (via interference competition) in obtaining preferred positions, and could ingest food faster than small spiders. Distributing food among colony members in this manner could cause large size differences between colony members, as predicted by the models. The implications of competitive foraging for sociality are discussed.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to assess the environmental impacts of field production of fibre hemp and seven other crops in France. The production of 1 ha of hemp yielded a eutrophication potential of 20.5 kg PO 4-equivalents, a global warming potential of 2330 kg CO 2-equivalents, an acidification potential of 9.8 kg SO 2equivalents, a terrestrial ecotoxicity potential of 2.3 kg 1,4-dichlorobenzene-equivalents, an energy use of 11.4 GJ, and a land use of 1.02 ha.year. A comparison of hemp (low impacts), wheat (intermediate impacts) and sugar beet (high impacts) revealed that the crops were similar for the relative contributions of emitted substances and resources used to impacts, and for the relative contribution of processes to impacts. A reduction of the impacts of hemp production should focus on eutrophication, and consider the reduction of climate change, acidification and energy use as secondary objectives. Given this objective, the overall environmental effect of the substitution of mineral fertiliser by pig slurry is negative. The introduction of reduced tillage is of interest, as it decreases energy use, acidification and climate change. Measures leading to a reduction in NO 3 leaching are highly interesting, as they strongly decrease eutrophication. Implications for hemp breeding are discussed.

RESUMO. Este artigo apresenta o relato de experiência de estágio em psicologia, o qual versava sobre o oferecimento de oficinas abordando a sexualidade na adolescência. Tais oficinas tinham o objetivo de fornecer informações, além de promover discussão e reflexão sobre alguns aspectos envolvidos na sexualidade, como o uso de métodos contraceptivos/preventivos e relações de gênero, com vista a contribuir para a emancipação dos sujeitos no campo dos direitos sexuais e reprodutivos. Foram empregados como recursos: dinâmica de grupo, jogos didáticos, simulações do uso de métodos contraceptivos e preventivos, palestra com profissional da saúde e visita à unidade de saúde da comunidade. Os adolescentes participavam das oficinas trazendo exemplos, discutindo e perguntando suas dúvidas. Foi possível perceber ao final desse processo um aumento no nível de informações dos adolescentes participantes, favorecendo assim, a adoção de práticas de comportamento preventivo.