scholarly journals Future restoration should enhance ecological complexity and emergent properties at multiple scales

Ecography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Bullock ◽  
Elisa Fuentes‐Montemayor ◽  
Ben McCarthy ◽  
Kirsty Park ◽  
Rosie S. Hails ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Ecological Complexity

scholarly journals Predicting ecosystem emergent properties at multiple scales

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack A. Gilbert ◽  
Chris Henry
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Emergent Properties

scholarly journals Beyond the Cell: Using Multiscalar Topics to Bring Interdisciplinarity into Undergraduate Cellular Biology Courses

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. es1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn F. Weber
Keyword(s):  
Cell Biology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Cellular Level ◽  
Cellular Biology ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Late 20Th Century ◽  
Biology Courses

Western science has grown increasingly reductionistic and, in parallel, the undergraduate life sciences curriculum has become disciplinarily fragmented. While reductionistic approaches have led to landmark discoveries, many of the most exciting scientific advances in the late 20th century have occurred at disciplinary interfaces; work at these interfaces is necessary to manage the world’s looming problems, particularly those that are rooted in cellular-level processes but have ecosystem- and even global-scale ramifications (e.g., nonsustainable agriculture, emerging infectious diseases). Managing such problems requires comprehending whole scenarios and their emergent properties as sums of their multiple facets and complex interrelationships, which usually integrate several disciplines across multiple scales (e.g., time, organization, space). This essay discusses bringing interdisciplinarity into undergraduate cellular biology courses through the use of multiscalar topics. Discussing how cellular-level processes impact large-scale phenomena makes them relevant to everyday life and unites diverse disciplines (e.g., sociology, cell biology, physics) as facets of a single system or problem, emphasizing their connections to core concepts in biology. I provide specific examples of multiscalar topics and discuss preliminary evidence that using such topics may increase students’ understanding of the cell’s position within an ecosystem and how cellular biology interfaces with other disciplines.

Environmental Studies and Ethnic Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
David N. Pellow
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Ethnic Studies ◽  
Environmental Studies ◽  
Potential Value

This article offers insights into conceptual, pedagogical, and programmatic crossings and conflicts between the fields of Environmental Studies and Ethnic Studies. It highlights both the important intersections between the two fields and their potential value, while also addressing the challenges posed in the development of programmatic collaborations. Utilizing case studies drawn from the author’s own experiences, the article’s focus is on harnessing the strengths and limitations of both fields to promote transformative knowledge and action at multiple scales.

Supramolecular Assembly of U(IV) Clusters and Superatoms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Colliard ◽  
Gregory Morrosin ◽  
Hans-Conrad zur Loye ◽  
May Nyman
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Supramolecular Assembly ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Organic Media ◽  
Body Centered Cubic ◽  
Cluster Anions ◽  
Charge Balance ◽  
Interpenetrating Networks ◽  
Hierarchical Assembly ◽  
Two Parameters

Superatoms are nanometer-sized molecules or particles that can form ordered lattices, mimicking their atomic counterparts. Hierarchical assembly of superatoms gives rise to emergent properties in superlattices of quantum-dots, p-block clusters, and fullerenes. Here, we introduce a family of uranium-oxysulfate cluster anions whose hierarchical assembly in water is controlled by two parameters; acidity and the countercation. In acid, larger Ln<sup>III</sup> (Ln=La-Ho) link hexamer (U<sub>6</sub>) oxoclusters into body-centered cubic frameworks, while smaller Ln<sup>III</sup> (Ln=Er-Lu &Y) promote linking of fourteen U<sub>6</sub>-clusters into hollow superclusters (U<sub>84</sub> superatoms). U<sub>84</sub> assembles into superlattices including cubic-closest packed, body-centered cubic, and interpenetrating networks, bridged by interstitial countercations, and U<sub>6</sub>-clusters. Divalent transition metals (TM=Mn<sup>II </sup>and Zn<sup>II</sup>), with no added acid, charge-balance and promote the fusion of 10 U<sub>6</sub> and 10 U-monomers into a wheel–shaped cluster (U<sub>70</sub>). Dissolution of U<sub>70</sub> in organic media reveals (by small-angle Xray scattering) that differing supramolecular assemblies are accessed, controlled by TM-linking of U<sub>70</sub>-clusters. <br>

The Role of Nonprofit Sector Networks as Mechanisms for Immigrant Political Participation

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Veronis
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Nonprofit Sector ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Immigrant Community ◽  
Immigrant Political Incorporation

Issues of immigrant political incorporation and transnational politics have drawn increased interest among migration scholars. This paper contributes to debates in this field by examining the role of networks, partnerships and collaborations of immigrant community organizations as mechanisms for immigrant political participation both locally and transnationally. These issues are addressed through an ethnographic study of the Hispanic Development Council, an umbrella advocacy organization representing settlement agencies serving Latin American immigrants in Toronto, Canada. Analysis of HDC’s three sets of networks (at the community, city and transnational levels) from a geographic and relational approach demonstrates the potentials and limits of nonprofit sector partnerships as mechanisms and concrete spaces for immigrant mobilization, empowerment, and social action in a context of neoliberal governance. It is argued that a combination of partnerships with a range of both state and non-state actors and at multiple scales can be significant in enabling nonprofit organizations to advance the interests of immigrant, minority and disadvantaged communities.

Substrate use prioritization by a coculture of five species of gut bacteria fed mixtures of arabinoxylan, xyloglucan, β-glucan, and pectin

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Liu ◽  
AL Heath ◽  
B Galland ◽  
N Rehrer ◽  
L Drummond ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Dietary Fiber ◽  
Plant Cell Wall ◽  
Bacterial Species ◽  
Short Chain ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Human Gut ◽  
Fermentation Products ◽  
Plant Polysaccharides ◽  
Human Gut Microbiota

© 2020 American Society for Microbiology. Dietary fiber provides growth substrates for bacterial species that belong to the colonic microbiota of humans. The microbiota degrades and ferments substrates, producing characteristic short-chain fatty acid profiles. Dietary fiber contains plant cell wall-associated polysaccharides (hemicelluloses and pectins) that are chemically diverse in composition and structure. Thus, depending on plant sources, dietary fiber daily presents the microbiota with mixtures of plant polysaccharides of various types and complexity. We studied the extent and preferential order in which mixtures of plant polysaccharides (arabinoxylan, xyloglucan, β-glucan, and pectin) were utilized by a coculture of five bacterial species (Bacteroides ovatus, Bifidobacterium longum subspecies longum, Megasphaera elsdenii, Ruminococcus gnavus, and Veillonella parvula). These species are members of the human gut microbiota and have the biochemical capacity, collectively, to degrade and ferment the polysaccharides and produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). B. ovatus utilized glycans in the order β-glucan, pectin, xyloglucan, and arabinoxylan, whereas B. longum subsp. longum utilization was in the order arabinoxylan, arabinan, pectin, and β-glucan. Propionate, as a proportion of total SCFAs, was augmented when polysaccharide mixtures contained galactan, resulting in greater succinate production by B. ovatus and conversion of succinate to propionate by V. parvula. Overall, we derived a synthetic ecological community that carries out SCFA production by the common pathways used by bacterial species for this purpose. Systems like this might be used to predict changes to the emergent properties of the gut ecosystem when diet is altered, with the aim of beneficially affecting human physiology. This study addresses the question as to how bacterial species, characteristic of the human gut microbiota, collectively utilize mixtures of plant polysaccharides such as are found in dietary fiber. Five bacterial species with the capacity to degrade polymers and/or produce acidic fermentation products detectable in human feces were used in the experiments. The bacteria showed preferential use of certain polysaccharides over others for growth, and this influenced their fermentation output qualitatively. These kinds of studies are essential in developing concepts of how the gut microbial community shares habitat resources, directly and indirectly, when presented with mixtures of polysaccharides that are found in human diets. The concepts are required in planning dietary interventions that might correct imbalances in the functioning of the human microbiota so as to support measures to reduce metabolic conditions such as obesity.

Models of decision support in socio-cyber-physical systems

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Smirnov ◽  
T. V. Levashova
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Situation Awareness ◽  
Cyber Physical Systems ◽  
Emergent Behavior ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Physical Systems ◽  
Decision Support Models ◽  
Common Goals

Introduction: Socio-cyber-physical systems are complex non-linear systems. Such systems display emergent properties. Involvement of humans, as a part of these systems, in the decision-making process contributes to overcoming the consequences of the emergent system behavior, since people can use their experience and intuition, not just the programmed rules and procedures.Purpose: Development of models for decision support in socio-cyber-physical systems.Results: A scheme of decision making in socio-cyber-physical systems, a conceptual framework of decision support in these systems, and stepwise decision support models have been developed. The decision-making scheme is that cybernetic components make their decisions first, and if they cannot do this, they ask humans for help. The stepwise models support the decisions made by components of socio-cyber-physical systems at the conventional stages of the decision-making process: situation awareness, problem identification, development of alternatives, choice of a preferred alternative, and decision implementation. The application of the developed models is illustrated through a scenario for planning the execution of a common task for robots.Practical relevance: The developed models enable you to design plans on solving tasks common for system components or on achievement of common goals, and to implement these plans. The models contribute to overcoming the consequences of the emergent behavior of socio-cyber-physical systems, and to the research on machine learning and mobile robot control.

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