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Uncertain Future (uncertain + future)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	33%
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting	33%

Selected Abstracts

Conservation Strategies for Endemic Fish Species Threatened by the Three Gorges Dam

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY, Issue 6 2003
YOUNG-SEUK PARK
diseño de reserva; especies endémicas; modelo de comunidad; peces; presa Three Gorges Abstract: The largest damming project to date, the Three Gorges Dam has been built along the Yangtze River (China), the most species-rich river in the Palearctic region. Among 162 species of fish inhabiting the main channel of the upper Yangtze, 44 are endemic and are therefore under serious threat of global extinction from the dam. Accordingly, it is urgently necessary to develop strategies to minimize the impacts of the drastic environmental changes associated with the dam. We sought to identify potential reserves for the endemic species among the 17 tributaries in the upper Yangtze, based on presence/absence data for the 44 endemic species. Potential reserves for the endemic species were identified by characterizing the distribution patterns of endemic species with an adaptive learning algorithm called a "self-organizing map" (SOM). Using this method, we also predicted occurrence probabilities of species in potential reserves based on the distribution patterns of communities. Considering both SOM model results and actual knowledge of the biology of the considered species, our results suggested that 24 species may survive in the tributaries, 14 have an uncertain future, and 6 have a high probability of becoming extinct after dam filling. Resumen: El proyecto de represa más grande a la fecha, la Presa Three Gorges fue construida en el Río Yangtze (China), el río con mayor riqueza de especies en la región Paleártica. Entre las 162 especies de peces que habitan el canal principal del alto Yangtze, 44 son endémicas y por tanto están seriamente amenazadas de extinción global por la presa. Consecuentemente, es urgente desarrollar estrategias para minimizar los impactos de los cambios ambientales drásticos asociados con la presa. Tratamos de identificar las reservas potenciales para las especies endémicas entre los 17 afluentes en el alto Yangtze, en base a datos de presencia y ausencia de las 44 especies endémicas. Se identificaron las reservas potenciales para la especies endémicas caracterizando los patrones de distribución de especies endémicas con un algoritmo de aprendizaje adaptivo denominado "mapa auto-organizante" (MAO). Con este método, también predijimos las probabilidades de ocurrencia de especies en reservas potenciales en base a los patrones de distribución de las comunidades. Tomando en cuenta tanto los resultados del modelo MAO como el conocimiento actual de la biología de especies en consideración, nuestros resultados sugieren que 24 especies pueden sobrevivir en los afluentes, 14 tienen un futuro incierto y 6 tienen una alta probabilidad de extinguirse después del llenado de la presa. [source]

In difficult times: influences of attitudes and expectations on training and redeployment opportunities in a hospital contraction programme

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2002
Jeff Hyman
This article explores reasons behind the low take,up of training and redeployment opportunities in a three,year downsizing programme in a National Health Service (NHS) mental health hospital. It examines these from an interpretive paradigm, identifying social,psychological effects on barriers and motivation to training and redeployment. In reporting factors that inhibit the movement of staff from the hospital the findings indicate that the direction of even a well,planned and positively intentioned programme can be confounded by the responses of employees faced with an uncertain future. When drawing up restructuring programmes involving retraining and redeployment, managers need to take into account the anticipated profound reactions of those affected. [source]

African elephants Loxodonta africana and human-elephant interactions: implications for conservation

INTERNATIONAL ZOO YEARBOOK, Issue 1 2006
P. C. LEE
African elephants face an uncertain future. Politics, war, sustained media campaigns, corrupt, weak or absent institutions supporting conservation, land-use planning or general governance, and greed are all bringing elephants into direct conflict with humans. Although elephant populations have declined considerably relative to their historical size and range, human populations have expanded to occupy and intensively use remaining elephant areas. Strategies to minimize perceptions of conflict and the implementation of land-use planning with biodiversity protection as its goal could help to sustain at least some populations of elephants. Here, we review threats to elephants, with an emphasis on those resulting from human perceptions of conflict, and suggest some mechanisms for grappling with these threats. [source]

CAPITALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT IN AGRICULTURAL LAND PRICES: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 4 2009
Laure Latruffe
Abstract The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of existing literature, both theoretically and empirically, on the extent to which agricultural subsidies do translate into higher land values and rents and finally benefit landowners instead of agricultural producers. Our review shows that agricultural support policy instruments contribute to increasing the rental price of farmland, and that the extent of this increase closely depends on the level of the supply price elasticity of farmland relative to those of other factors/inputs on the one hand, and on the range of the possibilities of factor/input substitution in agricultural production on the other hand. The empirical literature shows that land prices and rents have in general a significant positive and inelastic response to government support. Such inelastic response is thought to reflect the uncertain future of the farm programmes. And in general, studies have indicated that land prices are more responsive to government-based returns than to market-based returns. [source]

Institutionalization of the Family and Marriage: Questioning Their Cognitive and Relational Realities

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THEORY & REVIEW, Issue 1 2009
Jetse Sprey
This paper argues that to explain the institutionalization processes named the family and marriage, it is necessary to recognize the ontological distinction between their cognitive and relational realities. Institutionalization is an ordering process analogous to instinct in animal societies. In that capacity the human family and marriage collectively order the care and social placement of offspring. Given the biology of Homo sapiens, the family preceded the onset of the human race by millions of years, whereas marriage, the contract that legitimates the social placement of offspring, represents a strictly cultural aspect of human social evolution. The current state and uncertain future of the cognitive and relational components of the institutions of the family and marriage are addressed. [source]

The time of the interval: Historicity, modernity, and epoch in rural France

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 1 2010
MATT HODGES
ABSTRACT With recognition that historical consciousness, or "historicity," is culturally mediated comes acknowledgment that periodization of history into epochs is as much a product of cultural practice as a reflection of historical "fact." In this article, I examine popular "modernist" invocations of epoch in rural France,those positing traditional pasts against fluid presents with uncertain futures,which scholars frequently subordinate to analyses of collective memory and identity politics. Submitting this "response" to French modernity to temporal analysis reveals an additional critique in this periodization, one that valorizes enduring social time over processual temporalities, with implications for the temporal frameworks and ideology of anthropologists. [source]