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Accounting for the values placed on nature by the public is key to successful policies in reversing ongoing biodiversity declines. However, biodiversity values are rarely included in policy decisions, resulting in poorer outcomes for people and nature.Our paper addresses an important evidence gap related to the non‐availability of values for appraising large‐scale policies and investment programmes for species recovery and habitat improvement at the national level.We use a stated preference choice modelling approach to estimate household preferences and Willingness to Pay for species recovery and habitat improvement over a wide range of habitats in England.The framing of our stated preference study is crucial to the evidence we develop. Within the study, we define species recovery as incremental improvements to habitat quality and present respondents with choices between conservation policy options that improve different habitat types. We then use the response data to estimate values for habitat quality improvements, and the associated improvements to species presence and abundance. We are thus able to estimate economic benefits for 'wild species recovery' simultaneously across a wide range of habitat types.Willingness to pay values for habitat improvement was found to be highest for improvements from 'moderate' to 'full' species recovery by 2042; and for habitat types which have relatively low current extents in England, such as lowland fens.Policy Implications: biodiversity policy designers can make use of stated preference methods to guide decisions over which aspects of biodiversity targets to focus more resources on, since this enables policy to reflect public preferences, and thus engages higher public support for conservation. In our specific data and context, this implies prioritising the restoration of species recovery to high levels and focussing resources on scarcer rather than more abundant habitat types. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rewilding is an emerging paradigm in restoration science and is increasingly gaining popularity as a cost‐effective ecosystem restoration option. A rewilding framework was recently proposed that contains three integral components: restoring trophic complexity, allowing for stochastic disturbances and enhancing species' potential to disperse. However, as of yet, there has been limited quantitative analysis looking at public preference for rewilding and each of its elements.We used a discrete choice experiment approach to determine public preference for rewilding in the Oder Delta. The unique geographical context of the Oder Delta, spreading evenly across two countries, allowed us to analyse differences between the German (n = 1005) and Polish (n = 1066) samples.In both countries, we found that respondents were willing to pay for rewilding interventions when compared against a status quo option. Notably, preferences were strongest for restoring trophic complexity through promoting the comeback of large mammals.In addition, we found respondents living locally to the study region had significantly different preferences than the nationwide samples, exhibiting negative willingness to pay for the restoration of natural flooding regimes and the presence of large predator species. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to characterise the historical bricks used in the construction of the fortress of Ghar El Melh "El Borj El Loutani", dating back to the 17th century, with the focus on identifying the raw materials used in their manufacture. Understanding these materials is not only of historical significance but also critical for future restoration efforts, ensuring compatibility with the original bricks. Petrographic, mineralogical, chemical, and petrophysical analyses were conducted on three historical brick varieties. Additionally, granulometric, mineralogical, and chemical analyses were also performed on seven clays sourced from local outcrops. Results show that bricks share a similar mineralogical composition characterized by the presence of quartz and neoformed minerals (gehlenite, diopside, and anorthite), indicating the presence of a significant amount of carbonate in the initial mixture and leading to deduce that the firing temperature ranges from 800 up to 900°C. Analysis confirm that the raw material used for manufacturing the studied bricks originates from Raf-Raf formation. Notably, quartz grains are not included as a degreasing agent but are integral to the raw material itself. In summary, this research underscores the significance of geological techniques in identifying the raw materials and elucidating the brick manufacturing technology employed during the 17th century in Tunisia. These findings offer valuable insights for preservation and restoration projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although we are in an era of enormous global commitments to ecological restoration (the UN Decade on ER; the Bonn Challenge), little attention has been paid to the importance of sustained commitment to individual restoration initiatives and few resources have been dedicated to monitoring, especially the long-term and broad-scale evaluations that would allow us to understand how basin-scale restoration can result in complex spatiotemporal patterns. Remote sensing offers a powerful tool for evaluating restoration initiatives focused on water management in arid regions, where changes in vegetation growth can be tracked visually with measures like the generalized difference vegetation index (GDVI). In this paper, we evaluate the Comprehensive Treatment Program of the Shiyang River Basin (CTSRB), a landscape restoration initiative in China's northwest, using a widely available remote sensing tool, showing how it can reveal the causes of fluctuating changes in restoration success. We focus on spatiotemporal variation, studying a time series from 2001 to 2020 using regression, trend, and stability analyses for six different divisions of the study region (the study area as a whole, the irrigated areas, the periphery of the irrigated regions, and the districts of Ba, Quanshan, and Hu) to evaluate the effects of the restoration initiative. The study period was divided into four equal-length phases based on the implementation timeline of the CTSRB, which includes one pre- and post-intervention interval and two stages of the CTSRB. We found that the CTSRB has played a positive role in the restoration of vegetation in the Minqin Basin, especially desert vegetation. However, the positive effects were not obvious in the first CTSRB period, which was characterized by a decline in vegetation growth likely caused by the strategy of "close the pumping-wells, transform the land", which reversed a greening trend caused by the unsustainable irrigation of wasteland prior to the project's initiation. During the second phase of the CTSRB, vegetation in the regions of "transform the land" gradually improved, and the growth of desert vegetation gradually improved and expanded as a result of more water flowing out of agricultural zones. The rate of vegetation recovery slowed down during the final phase of the CTSRB, and some areas even experienced a decline in the GDVI. Overall, our findings show that the CTSRB, by integrating water management and allowing for uninterrupted ecological restoration, drove complex regional changes in the GDVI, including successful restoration of desert vegetation. The spatiotemporal variable we observed underscores the importance of long-term commitment to arid land restoration initiatives and the importance of even longer-term monitoring using tools like remote sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unveiling the variation mechanism of vegetation net primary productivity (NPP) and elucidating the underlying drivers of these changes is highly necessitated for terrestrial carbon cycle research and global carbon emission control. Taking Henan Province, renowned as the anciently central China and current China's foremost grain producer, as an example, this study employed the Theil–Sen Median Trend Analysis to evaluate the spatiotemporal characteristics and trends of NPP. Correlation Analysis and Residual Analysis were used to explain the drivers of NPP dynamics. To deepen the inquiry, the Geodetector method was employed to scrutinize the multifaceted effects and interplay among diverse variables influencing NPP. The result showed demonstrated that approximately 85.72% of the area showed an increase in NPP, covering a broad geographical distribution. Notably, 89.31% of the province has witnessed a positive human-driven NPP change. It means human activities emerged as a driving force with a positive effect on vegetation NPP, consequently fostering an increasing trend of NPP. Among climatic factors, the correlation between NPP and precipitation was stronger than that between the temperature and NPP, the determined power of factors in Henan Province was population density, (0.341) > GDP (0.326) > precipitation (0.255) > elevation (0.167) > slope (0.136) > temperature (0.109), and a single factor had a lesser interaction effect than two factors. The implications of these findings extend beyond the realms of research, potentially offering valuable insights into the formulation of targeted ecosystem restoration measures tailored to the distinct context of Henan Province, and also expect to provide crucial references for carbon emission control in China and across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventive conservation of archaeological buildings is one of the most important procedures that helps to preserve the sustainability of these buildings and transfers them to future generations with all their characteristics and values. The importance of this procedure increases with the increase in the building's value and uniqueness especially its archaeological value and historical depth. Therefore, the study came up with a proposal for the preventive conservation of the Valley Temple of King Khafre that is located in the Giza plateau. The temple receives visitors daily, but it suffers from a set of structural and architectural problems which threaten its sustainability and negatively affect its presentation. Therefore, the study aims to monitor risks and develop a proposal for preventive conservation through: a. a proposal for interventional conservation to get rid of the main problems b. developing a proposal to avoid future problems and c. suggesting ways to better present the temple. The study suggested a preventive conservation proposal for the temple, which includes urgent restoration work to keep the temple from collapsing or losing some granite blocks, roofing the temple as a preventive measure that contributes to reducing the effect of deterioration factors in its environment, as well as a way to better present it by simulating its original architecture where the temple had a roof. In addition to a proposal to use some modern techniques to display models of the King Khafre's statues inside the temple, with the possibility of employing these techniques to clarify some of the ancient Egyptian rituals that were performed in the temple. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Written from the perspective of practice-led research, this reflective case study rationalises and charts the production of 'Clean-Up Workers (Deluxe Series)'—mixed media sculptures that embody notions of waste aesthetic, value and abjection. Integrating discourses surrounding waste theory and using the sink and plug as a metaphor to discuss Lacan's theory of the objet petit a, the paper is presented as an autobiographical waste narrative. Production of a series of anatomical vacuum cleaners made from re-appropriated artwork found waste materials in the form of 'pre-owned objects or materials' and 'by-products' of a creative practice', sit alongside crafted luxurious glass objects and speak of corporeal ageing, dysfunction and the domestic realm. Discarded objects take the form of car parts found in the non-places of the gutter. Through assemblage, these unique items' 'use-time' is recontextualised and elevated as art objects viewed within a gallery arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, I treat intellectual property claims as "impossible realities," as these have recently been defined by Susan Coutin and Barbara Yngvesson. Drawing from their joint legal ethnography of migration, deportation, and transnational adoption, I extend their observations about the routine mismatch between personal history, physical location, and legal description in order to understand the shifting value of design objects under various regimes of law and heritage. I trace how legal claims, aesthetic judgments, and historical understandings combine and conflict to create the contemporary value of furniture produced in the 1950s and 60s for the Indian modernist city of Chandigarh, and explore further shifts of value as the furniture circulates in a global market for what might be called "modernist antiquities," and is potentially subject (in Europe) to copyright and trademark claims by the descendants of the designer Pierre Jeanneret. Further, a recent film by the artist Amie Siegel (American, b. 1974) explores the provenance and value of this furniture and provides a novel means of analyzing these shifts. Siegel has put her film up for sale at the same kind of auction where this furniture is sold, offering a reflexive critique of the paradoxes and (legal) impossibilities created by the relocation, restoration, and revaluation of this furniture. The history of the Chandigarh furniture and Siegel's film together provide an avenue of commentary on the categories of IP, emerging subjects of regulation (like design copyrights), and the fraught relation of IP claims to both capitalist and postcolonial histories that make objects (and persons) bear different values in different locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instream barriers remain ubiquitous threats to freshwater species and their habitats. Decisions regarding barrier removal are often aimed at maximizing habitat area and connectivity for freshwater fish; yet can be challenging due to the sheer number of barriers, uncertainty in species presence, abundance, and habitat quality, as well as limited budgets alongside high costs of restoration. Here, we apply systematic conservation planning to prioritize in‐stream barrier removal aimed at restoring habitat connectivity for 14 populations of wild Pacific salmon in the lower Fraser River, Canada's most productive salmon‐bearing river. To understand how priorities change when stream quality is considered, we contrast scenarios that maximize habitat extent with scenarios that include four indicators of habitat quality. Region‐wide, approximately 64% of naturally accessible stream length is currently blocked by barriers. We estimate approximately 75% of this alienated habitat (over 1600 km of stream), could have full access restored with an investment of $200 million CAD, whereas 60% could be restored for half this amount. When stream quality was considered within the optimization, priorities for barriers removal shifted away from urbanized floodplain valleys towards less developed areas. The spatial shift in priorities meant that species like chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) would see less restored habitat. To inform barrier removal strategies using these model scenarios, an iterative and adaptive approach will be required that includes the values and priorities of rights and titleholders. Continuous improvement in data quality, accuracy, and feedback from monitoring as barriers are restored is also crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding spatiotemporal shifts in vegetation and their climatic and anthropogenic regulatory factors can offer a crucial theoretical basis for environmental conservation and restoration. In this article, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of the Miaoling area from 2000 to 2020 is studied using a trend analysis and the Mann–Kendall mutation test (MK test) to review the vegetation's dynamic changes. Our study uses the Hurst index, a partial correlation analysis, and a geographic detector to investigate the contributions of climate change and human activities to regional vegetation changes and their drivers. We found that Miaoling's annual average NDVI was between 0.66 and 0.83 in 2000–2020, with a mean of 0.766. The overall trend was slow upward (0.0009/year), and 53.82% of the region continued to grow and gradually increased from west to east in the spatial domain, among which the karst regional NDVI distribution area and its growth rate were higher than those of non-karst sites. Based on correlations between climatic factors and NDVI, precipitation seasonality (coefficient of variation, CV) had the strongest correlation (positive correlation) with NDVI, while vapor pressure deficit (VPD) had a negative correlation with NDVI. In the interaction, human activities played a dominant role in the influence of NDVI on the vegetation of Miaoling. The night light index had the most explanatory power on the NDVI (q = 0.422), and the interaction between anthropogenic factors and other factors dominated its explanatory power. This study has academic and practical importance for the management, protection, and sustainable development of karst basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plastic welding is a common method for manufacturing parts that can't be molded and has a complex geometry such as the part that has undercuts. The process is suitable for mass production, cheap and meets automotive requirements. The process helps the zero-emission target of the automotive industry, due to the biggest obstacle of the plastic use in this sector was the moldability of the complex geometries. Most of the engine parts such as thermostat, water pump etc. can't be molded as one piece. These engine components are manufactured by helping the plastic welding and decrease the weight of the automobile, therefore, improving fuel efficiency. Plastic welding technology has become more important especially in electrical vehicles, because metal to plastic replacement has a significant role in decreasing the weight of the vehicle. Selecting the welding method according to the polymer properties and the geometry of parts are the most important factors for the application area. All of the welding methods are basically based on the remelting of the welding surfaces of the parts and the consolidation of them under the pressure. In this paper, the vibration welding and the ultrasonic welding methods have been inspected. The most effective parameters of both processes have been discussed and shown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The balance between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs) is an important prerequisite for maintaining the sustainability of ecological protection and restoration project implementation. However, research related to ecological protection and restoration is insufficient for the study of the demand for ecosystem services. Many ecological protection and restoration projects have been implemented in the Fujian Province, but the ESs and the relationship changes between supply and demand are not clear. In this study, multisource remote sensing and public data and the InVEST model were used to quantitatively assess and map four typical ESs, including food production, water yield, soil retention and carbon sequestration. Hotspot analysis was used to analyze the spatial cluster of the ESs supply–demand ratio. The results showed that: (1) there were trade-offs between supporting and regulating services, particularly between carbon sequestration and water yield services, and the strength of trade-offs or synergies between food production and other services was stronger in protection and restoration areas than in other areas; (2) the supply of ESs in the Fujian Province exceeded the demand, and the supply–demand ratio for ESs decreased from the mountainous regions in the northwest interior to the economically developed regions in the southeast coast; and (3) ecological restoration projects improved the relationship between supply and demand for some ESs, while other areas (except protection and restoration areas) had many low-value clusters of supply–demand ratios, especially regarding water yield and carbon sequestration services. Based on the results, our findings also provide suggestions for ensuring the sustainability of ecological protection and restoration in southeast hilly areas and other similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slaked lime is traditionally a suitable material for use in construction activities in historic and traditional buildings whose constitutive characteristics demand compatible and appropriate material solutions. Therefore, knowing the physical and mechanical characterization of lime pastes and mortars for use in restoration is considered an important step in the process of scientific development of a material that, in the Mexican case, has lacked scientific rigor in its production, use and commercialization. With this in mind, the present article aims to investigate the characteristics of lime pastes and mortars that have been used in the traditional way and the new limes that exist in the market, offering suitable options for restoration, for which an integrated methodology was used consisting of physical tests such as surface area, electrical resistivity, pulse velocity, colorimetry, and mechanical tests such as compressive strength, giving as a result that "traditional slaked" lime is more likely to deteriorate than powdered lime, which leads us to conclude that powdered hydrated lime has optimal characteristics for restoration activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re‐establishing extirpated wildlife—or "rewilding"—is touted as a way to restore biodiversity and ecosystem processes, but we lack real‐world examples of this process, particularly in Southeast Asia. Here, we use a decade of aggregated camera trap data, N‐mixture occupancy models, and input from local wildlife experts to describe the unassisted recolonization of two native large herbivores in Singapore. Sambar deer (Rusa unicolor) escaped from captivity (in private or public zoos) in the 1970s and contemporary camera trap data show they have only colonized nearby forest fragments and their abundance remains low. Wild pigs (Sus scrofa), in contrast, naturally recolonized by swimming from Malaysia in the 1990s and have rapidly expanded their range and abundance across Singapore. While wild pigs have not recolonized all viable green spaces yet, their trajectory indicates they soon will. We also note that a third ungulate, the muntjac deer (Muntiacus muntjak), was captured in camera trapping in 2014 and 2015 but was never recorded afterward despite increased sampling effort, and thus we do not focus on their presumably unsuccessful recolonization. The divergent rewilding trajectories between sambar deer and wild pigs suggest different conservation outcomes and management requirements. Sambar deer may restore lost plant–animal interactions such as herbivory and seed dispersal without requiring significant management. Wild pigs, in contrast, have reached high numbers rapidly and may require active management to avoid hyperabundance and negative ecological impacts in regions, such as Singapore that lack both hunting and large predators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Architectural Sciences & Applications (JASA) is the property of Journal of Architectural Sciences & Applications and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Post-disturbance rangeland restoration efforts are often thwarted due to soil moisture deficits. Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) absorb hundreds of times their weight in water, increasing soil moisture when the SAP is mixed with soil. The objective of this study was to evaluate banded SAPs under the soil surface to increase plant available water and thus seedling establishment for perennial rangeland species during restoration efforts. Five glasshouse experiments with two rangeland perennial grass species, bottlebrush squirreltail (Elymus elymoides) or Siberian wheatgrass (Agropyron fragile), were conducted. Treatments varied, including SAP rates ranging from 11–3000 kg ha−1 with placement mostly banded at depths extending from the surface up to a 15 cm depth. Generally, SAPs increased soil moisture at all rates and depths for up to 49 days. However, rates ≥ 750 kg ha−1 caused the soil to swell and crack, potentially hastening soil drying later in the season. Seedling longevity was increased up to 12 days, especially at the high SAP band rate of 3000 kg ha−1 when the band was 8 or 15 cm deep. Further work is needed to verify banded SAP rates and placement depths in the field, ascertain conditions to reduce soil displacement, and evaluate benefits across species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ʻĀina (land) is central to Native Hawaiian culture and ways of life. The illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and annexation to the US resulted in the loss of Hawaiian crown and government land, which was placed in trust for the benefit of the Hawaiian people. These lands, now managed by the State of Hawaiʻi, were reconstituted as the Public Land Trust (PLT) with one of the articulated uses being the betterment of Native Hawaiians. While the Hawaiʻi State Constitution restored Native control over a proportional share of revenue generated from PLT lands, the US Supreme Court removed Native self-determination over the trust by opening its selection of trustees to non-Native Hawaiians. Applying a critical policy lens, this paper explores the rise and end of Native Hawaiian control over their own PLT share. Using the policy surveillance methodology, this study explores the recent expansion of Native Hawaiian consultation law and whether this has restored some self-determination over the Native Hawaiian PLT share, with the study finding that it has not. Thus, while Hawaiʻi's laws clearly articulate a desire for Hawaiians to control the use of their share of the PLT, Hawaiian control of these resources has eroded, suggesting a need to adopt policies that realign with the original purpose of the PLT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With the wide application of location detection sensors in maritime surveillance, a large amount of raw automatic identification system (AIS) data is produced by many moving ships. Anomaly detection and restoration of the big AIS data are important issues in marine data mining, because they offer a reliable support to users to mining the behaviors of ships. This paper develops a novel approach to detect anomaly AIS data based on the ships' maneuverability, such as the maximum acceleration, the minimum acceleration, the maximum distance, and the maximum angular displacement, which were designed to detect the anomaly AIS data. Furthermore, the performance of the developed approach is compared with that of Daiyong-Zhang's method and Behrouz-Haji-Soleimani's method to assess its detection efficiency. The results show that the proposed approach can be applied to easily extract the abnormal data. Finally, based on the developed approach to detect the anomaly data and cubic spline interpolation method to restore the AIS data, experiments are conducted on the AIS data of Xiamen Port of Fujian Province, China, that prove to be effective for marine intelligence research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of many fish and wildlife restoration programs is to utilize management actions to change the state of a system. Because restoration programs are often expensive, iteratively assessing whether the restoration is having the desired outcome is a critical aspect of learning how to inform ongoing and sampling designs to evaluate proposed restoration programs. We provide an example of how we are using data resampling as part of an adaptive restoration process to test the effectiveness of a restoration action and associated monitoring program to restore the degraded Lone Cabbage oyster reef in Suwannee Sound, Florida in the northeast Gulf of Mexico. Weuse a resampling framework through simulations to inform the progress of the restoration efforts by examining the direction and magnitude of the differences in live oyster counts between restored and unrestored (wild) reefs over time. In addition, we evaluated the effort (number of sites sampled) needed to determine the effect of restoration to understand how many surveys should be conducted in subsequent sampling seasons. These efforts allow us to provide timely insight into the effectiveness of both our monitoring efforts and restoration strategy which is of critical importance not only to the restoration of Lone Cabbage Reef but to larger restoration efforts within the Gulf of Mexico as part of the consolidated Deepwater Horizon settlements and funded restoration efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]