Agriculture intensification led to the gradual destruction of semi-natural habitats and landscape simplification in the North-Western Europe. All these profound changes affected plant assemblages, ...especially in semi-natural ecosystems such as grasslands. They could have negative effects on the plant diversity and the related ecosystem functions, such as primary productivity. At the landscape scale this biodiversity-productivity relationship still have to be tested in real-world systems. It could have important economic implications concerning fodder production. We used a large-scale sampling design (30 landscape windows – 1 ×1 km) to quantify landscape structure variables (semi-natural habitat amounts and landscape heterogeneity), grassland plant taxonomic diversity and functional diversity calculated from multidimensional functional spaces (functional richness, evenness, dispersion), and grassland productivity (mean, temporal stability, spatial variability) derived from satellite image time-series. Taxonomic dissimilarity, functional evenness and functional dispersion of grassland plant assemblages were related to semi-natural habitat amount. Functional evenness and dispersion decreased with grassland amount whereas taxonomic dissimilarity and functional evenness increased with hedgerow amount. Only taxonomic and functional richness depended on landscape heterogeneity, and with a positive relationship. Grassland plant assemblages with a higher functional evenness presented a higher and more stable mean productivity. In addition to the direct effect of landscape heterogeneity on plant productivity, we demonstrated plant trait-mediated effect of landscape structure on mean and temporal stability of grassland productivity at the landscape scale. Landscape management, especially through the conservation of hedgerows can help maintain high and resilient production of fodder in the future as a result of their positive effects on plant functional diversity.
•Landscape structure/plant diversity/productivity relationships are overlooked in grasslands.•Habitat amount and landscape heterogeneity influenced plant functional diversity.•Plant functional diversity influenced plant productivity in time and space.•Landscape modified plant productivity through both direct and indirect plant effects.•Landscape management can help maintaining high and resilient production of fodder.
Mapping the fine-grained pattern of vegetation is critical for assessing the functions and conservation status of wetlands. Although satellite time-series images can accurately model vegetation, the ...spatial resolution of these data is generally too coarse (> 6 m) to capture the fine-grained pattern of wetland vegetation. SPOT-7 satellite sensors address this issue since they acquire images at very high spatial resolution (1.5 m) with a potential high frequency revisit. While the ability of SPOT-7 images to discriminate wetland vegetation has yet to be assessed, this study investigates the contribution of SPOT-7 multi-temporal images for mapping the fine-grained pattern of 11 vegetation classes in a 470 ha fresh marsh (France). Random forest modeling, calibrated and validated using 170 vegetation plots, was conducted on four SPOT-7 pan-sharpened images collected from April-July 2017. The results highlight that (1) the wetland vegetation was accurately modeled (F1 score 0.88), (2) near-infrared spectral bands acquired in the spring are the most discriminating features, (3) the fine-grained pattern of vegetation plant communities is mapped well, and (4) model uncertainties reflect floristic transition, unconsidered classes or areas of shadow.
Over the past few years, attention to the role of state-wide political parties in multi-level polities has increased in recognition of their linkage function between levels of government, as these ...parties compete in both state-wide and regional elections across their countries. This article presents a coding scheme designed to describe the relationship between central and regional levels of state-wide parties. It evaluates the involvement of the regional branches in central decision-making and their degree of autonomy in the management of regional party affairs. This coding scheme is applied to state-wide parties in Spain (the socialist PSOE and the conservative Partido Popular) and in the UK (Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats). It is an additional tool with which to analyse party organization and it facilitates the comparison of parties across regions and in different countries.
Decadal time-series derived from satellite observations are useful for discriminating crops and identifying crop succession at national and regional scales. However, use of these data for crop ...modeling is challenged by the presence of mixed pixels due to the coarse spatial resolution of these data, which influences model accuracy, and the scarcity of field data over the decadal period necessary to calibrate and validate the model. For this data article, cloud-free satellite “Vegetation Indices 16-Day Global 250 m” Terra (MOD13Q1) and Aqua (MYD13Q1) products derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), as well as the Land Parcel Information System (LPIS) vector field data, were collected throughout France for the 12-year period from 2006 to the end of 2017. A GIS workflow was developed using R software to combine the MOD13Q1 and MYD13Q1 products, and then to select “pure” MODIS pixels located within single-crop parcels over the entire period. As a result, a dataset for 21,129 reference plots (corresponding to “pure” pixels) was generated that contained a spectral time-series (red band, near-infrared band, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)) and the associated annual crop type with an 8-day time step over the period. This dataset can be used to develop new classification methods based on time-series analysis using deep learning, and to monitor and predict crop succession.
The article analyzes the combined impact of hitherto understudied factors in the literature about multilevel parties - presidentialism, party agency, and party system fragmentation - on the vertical ...integration of party organizations, using Brazil as a case study. We rely on original data on party funding and intra-party interventions, party statutes, and secondary literature to compare the multilevel distribution of powers within the major Brazilian parties. The findings show that state branches receive overall more autonomy to deal with their own regional matters than powers to participate in central party decisions. The differences among parties can be attributed mainly to strategic choices: the parties that usually engage in presidential races grant lower levels of autonomy to their regional branches and face fewer pressures from regional elites. The findings have theoretical and empirical implications beyond the case, as they suggest important connections between multilevel party organizations, institutions, and party strategies.
Fabre E. and Swenden W. Territorial politics and the statewide party, Regional Studies. The literature on political parties has been affected by a national bias. However, the multilevel nature of ...party organizations deserves one's attention because parties have responded as well as contributed to the rise in regional authority across most Western democracies. This paper considers statewide parties from a double perspective: as organizations subject to a range of pressures in a multilevel environment, and as actors influencing multilevel political systems. It concludes with a call for stronger links between traditional areas of party and policy research and multilevel party research and for more comparative data collection on multilevel parties and policy positions.
Fabre E. and Swenden W. 地域政治与全国性政党，区域研究。有关政党的文献受到国家层级的偏见所影响，但多重层级的政党组织本身却值得受到观照，因为政党在大多数的西方民主制度中，需回应并导致区域统治政体的产生。本文从两个面向考量全国性政党：这些政党做为承受来自多重层级环境压力的组织，同时做为影响多重层级政治系统的行动者。结论部分，本文呼吁在政党及政策研究的传统领域和多重层级政党研究之间建构更强的连结，并对多重层级政党与政策立场进行更多的比较性资料搜集。
地域政治 区域 政党 政党组织
Fabre E. et Swenden W. La politique territoriale et les partis politiques nationaux Regional Studies. La littérature sur les partis politiques a été influencée par le préjugé national de la discipline. La structure multiniveaux des partis politiques mérite cependant une certaine attention parce que les partis politiques ont répondu et contribué à l'essor du pouvoir régional dans la plupart des démocraties occidentales. Cet article cherche à approcher les partis politiques nationaux sous deux aspects différents: en tant qu' organisations soumises à une série de pressions dans un milieu multiniveaux, et en tant qu'acteurs qui influencent des systèmes politiques multiniveaux. Pour conclure, on milite en faveur de liens plus forts entre les aspects traditionnels de la recherche sur les partis et les politiques et la recherche sur la politique territoriale dans les Etats multiniveaux, et en faveur de la collecte de données plus comparatives sur les partis politiques et leurs positions.
Politique territoriale Régions Partis politiques Organisation politique
Fabre E. und Swenden W. Raumpolitik und die Partei auf Staatsebene, Regional Studies. Die Literatur über politische Parteien unterliegt einer nationalen Verzerrung. Allerdings verdient die mehrstufige Beschaffenheit von Parteiorganisationen Beachtung, denn die Parteien haben auf den Aufstieg der regionalen Autorität in den meisten westlichen Demokratien reagiert und auch selbst dazu beigetragen. In diesem Beitrag werden Parteien auf Staatsebene aus einer doppelten Perspektive untersucht: als Organisationen, die in einer mehrstufigen Umgebung den verschiedensten Arten von Druck ausgesetzt sind, und als Akteure, die Einfluss auf mehrstufige politische Systeme ausüben. Der Beitrag endet mit einem Appell für stärkere Verknüpfungen zwischen den traditionellen Bereichen der Partei- und Politikforschung einerseits und der mehrstufigen Parteiforschung andererseits und mit der Forderung nach einer verstärkten Erfassung von vergleichenden Daten über mehrstufige Partei- und Grundsatzpositionen.
Raumpolitik Regionen Politische Parteien Parteiorganisation
Fabre E. y Swenden W. Políticas territoriales y los partidos de ámbito estatal (PAES), Regional Studies. La literatura sobre los partidos políticos está sujeta a un sesgo nacional. Sin embargo, la naturaleza multinivel de las organizaciones partidistas merece atención porque los partidos han respondido y contribuido al aumento de la autoridad regional en la mayoría de las democracias occidentales. En este artículo consideramos los partidos de ámbito estatal desde una perspectiva doble: como organizaciones sujetas a una amplia gama de presiones en un entorno de multinivel, y como protagonistas que influyen en los sistemas políticos multinivel. Concluimos que se deberían establecer vínculos más sólidos entre las áreas tradicionales de la investigación de partidos y políticas por un lado y la investigación de partidos multinivel por otro, y que es necesario recabar más datos comparativos sobre los partidos multinivel y sus posiciones políticas.
Política territorial Regiones Partidos políticos Organización de partidos
‘Burned‐out’ primary testicular cancer Fabre, Elodie; Jira, Hassan; Izard, Vincent ...
BJU international,
July 2004, Letnik:
94, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
OBJECTIVE
To report the natural history of ‘burned‐out’ testicular tumour (a testicular tumour that has regressed spontaneously with no treatment and that generally presents at the stage of ...metastases).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
We report five cases of burned‐out testicular tumours to illustrate the clinical, radiological and histopathological features, and discuss the hypothesis of natural history of these neoplasms.
RESULTS
The findings in the five patients tended to indicate that metastatic progression appears to induce spontaneous regression of the previous tumour site. Patients explored for extragonadal germ cell tumour present with various clinical features depending on the site of the metastases.
CONCLUSION
Despite the controversial hypotheses of the origin of these tumours, extragonadal germ cell tumours should be considered to be metastases of a ‘burned‐out’ primary testicular tumour that must be investigated. When a primary testicular tumour is detected, the testis must be removed, and standard chemotherapy yields good long‐term results. The hypothesis of an immunological reaction against the tumour inducing the spontaneous necrosis of the primary tumour and possibly the metastases should be considered. Immunological screening should be proposed in patients to investigate this interesting model of spontaneous tumour regression.
This article investigates the link between regionalization of the structure of government, regional elections and regionalism on the one hand, and the organization of state-wide political parties in ...Spain and the UK on the other. It particularly looks at two aspects of the relations between the central and regional levels of party organization: integration of the regional branches in central decision making and autonomy of the regional branches. It argues that the party factors are the most crucial elements explaining party change and that party leaders mediate between environmental changes and party organization. The parties' history and beliefs and the strength of the central leadership condition their ability or willingness to facilitate the emergence of meso-level elites. The institutional and electoral factors are facilitating factors that constitute additional motives for or against internal party decentralization.
•25 features were derived from 5 pairs of TerraSAR-X and RADARSAT-2 images.•X-/C-band, dual-/quad-pol and single-/multi-acquisition configurations were tested.•Conditional Random forest modeling of ...wetland vegetation and ANOVA were performed.•Shannon entropy was the most discriminating feature regardless of the frequency or polarization.•The number of acquisitions explained most of the variance in modeling accuracy.
The availability of high spatial resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors with a wide range of acquisition modes has increased greatly over the past decade and contributed significantly to the study of wetland ecosystems. However, the relative influence of acquisition configurations (i.e. band frequency, polarization mode, number of acquisition dates) in wetland analysis remains poorly explored. This article investigated the relative influence of X-/C-band frequency, dual-/quad-polarization and single-/multi-acquisition features on discrimination of vegetation types in 632 ha Ramsar-protected temperate riverine marshes (Mont-Saint-Michel Bay, France). Three SAR datasets (i.e. quad-pol/C-band, dual-pol/C-band and dual-pol/X-band) were generated from five pairs of TerraSAR-X and RADARSAT-2 images. First, a set of 25 SAR features, including backscattering coefficients and polarimetric parameters, was extracted from the SAR datasets. Second, correlation between each pair of images was calculated using the polarimetric parameter Shannon entropy to select the most similar pairs in the time series. Third, the importance of each SAR feature and modeling accuracy were calculated using a conditional random forest model for each of the three datasets. Finally, analysis of variance was performed to assess the impact of band frequency, polarization mode and number of acquisition dates on the classification of vegetation types. The results highlighted that although the time-shift of each pair of TerraSAR-X and RADARSAT-2 images was short (3–11 days), only three pairs were sufficiently similar, highlighting the high variability in wetland ecosystems. The polarimetric parameter Shannon entropy was the most discriminating feature, regardless of the frequency or polarization. Most variance in the model accuracy was explained by the number of acquisition dates (68%), followed by the frequency (23%), while polarization explained little. This article will help select the most suitable SAR sensor acquisition modes for wetland conservation.
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