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A better understanding of the genetics of seedling characteristics in rice could be helpful in improving rice varieties. Zhenshan 97 and Minghui 63, the parents of Shanyou 63, an elite hybrid developed during the last decade in China, vary greatly with respect to their physiological and morphological traits at the seedling growth stage. In this study, we used a population of 240 recombinant inbred lines derived from a cross between Zhenshan 97 and Minghui 63 to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for seedling characteristics. All plant material was grown in hydroponic culture. Data for the following characters were collected at 30 days and 40 days post-sowing: plant height, shoot dry matter weight (SDW), maximum root length, root dry weight (RDW), total dry weight, and root-shoot ratio (the ratio of SDW to RDW). Analysis using composite interval mapping detected 16 QTL for the six traits in 30-day-old seedlings. Of these 16 QTL, Minghui 63 alleles increased trait values at only two of them. The QTL in the vicinity of R3166 on chromosome 5 simultaneously influenced PH, SDW, MRL, RDW, and TDW in the same direction. Twenty QTL were detected for the same traits in the 40-day-old seedlings. However, at this stage Minghui 63 alleles increased trait values at eight QTL. The QTL linked to R3166 also affected PH, SDW, MRL, RDW, and TDW. Only four QTL were common to the two stages. These results clearly indicate that different genes (QTL) control the same traits during different time intervals. Zhenshan 97 alleles had positive effects during the first 30 days of seedling growth, but thereafter the positive effects of Minghui 63 alleles on seedling growth gradually became more pronounced.

This paper addresses the current knowledge on climate change impacts on mass movement activity in mountain environments by illustrating characteristic cases of debris flows, rock slope failures and landslides from the French, Italian, and Swiss Alps. It is expected that events are likely to occur less frequently during summer, whereas the anticipated increase of rainfall in spring and fall could likely alter debris-flow activity during the shoulder seasons (March, April, November, and December). The magnitude of debris flows could become larger due to larger amounts of sediment delivered to the channels and as a result of the predicted increase in heavy precipitation events. At the same time, however, debris-flow volumes in high-mountain areas will depend chiefly on the stability and/or movement rates of permafrost bodies, and destabilized rock glaciers could lead to debris flows without historic precedents in the future. The frequency of rock slope failures is likely to increase, as excessively warm air temperatures, glacier shrinkage, as well as permafrost warming and thawing will affect and reduce rock slope stability in the direction that adversely affects rock slope stability. Changes in landslide activity in the French and Western Italian Alps will likely depend on differences in elevation. Above 1500 m asl, the projected decrease in snow season duration in future winters and springs will likely affect the frequency, number and seasonality of landslide reactivations. In Piemonte, for instance, 21st century landslides have been demonstrated to occur more frequently in early spring and to be triggered by moderate rainfalls, but also to occur in smaller numbers. On the contrary, and in line with recent observations, events in autumn, characterized by a large spatial density of landslide occurrences might become more scarce in the Piemonte region.

Forest trees dominate many Alpine landscapes that are currently exposed to changing climate. Norway spruce is one of the most important conifer species of the Italian Alps, and natural populations are found across steep environmental gradients with large differences in temperature and moisture availability. This study seeks to determine and quantify patterns of genetic diversity in natural populations toward understanding adaptive responses to changing climate. Across the Italian species range, 24 natural stands were sampled with a major focus on the Eastern Italian Alps. Sampled trees were genotyped for 384 selected single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 285 genes. A wide array of potential candidate genes was tested for correlation with climatic parameters. To minimize false-positive association between genotype and climate, population structure was investigated. Pairwise F ST estimates between sampled populations ranged between 0.000 and 0.075, with the highest values involving the two disjoint populations, Valdieri, on the western Italian Alps, and Campolino, the most southern population on the Apennines. Despite considerable genetic admixture among populations, both Bayesian and multivariate approach identified four genetic clusters. Selection scans revealed five F ST outliers, and the environmental association analysis detected ten SNPs associated to one or more climatic variables. Overall, 13 potentially adaptive loci were identified, three of which have been reported in a previous study on the same species conducted on a broader geographical scale. In our study, precipitation, more than temperature, was often associated with genotype; therefore, it appears as the most important environmental variable associated with the high sensitivity of Norway spruce to soil water supply. These findings provide relevant information for understanding and quantifying climate change effects on this species and its ability to genetically adapt.

The Alpine Forest Genomics Network was formed in 2011 and held its first annual meeting on June 24–26, 2012, in the Natural Park Adamello Brenta in Trentino Region, Italy. The meeting was attended by 30 researchers from the alpine region of Europe and had two primary goals: (1) for researchers to introduce each other to current and planned research activities in forest landscape genomics and (2) to develop a strategic vision for the network. A steering committee was elected and will develop a white paper over the next year. The next annual meeting will be held in Austria in June 2013.

Abstract Vernacular architecture is still very popular and constructed widely in North-East India. In this paper, the result of long-term monitoring of two vernacular houses selected one in Tezpur (warm and humid climate) and other one in Cherrapunjee (cold and cloudy climate) are presented. Long-term monitoring work includes the measurements of temperature (inside and outside house), relative humidity (inside and outside house) and illumination level (inside and outside house) for 25 days in all the seasons (January: winter, April: spring/pre-summer, July: summer/monsoon and October: autumn/pre-winter) of the year 2008. Temperatures profile across all the seasons represents strong daily and seasonal fluctuations. Formulae have been developed based on part of the monitoring data to predict the indoor maximum, average and minimum temperatures inside the same house occupied by the same family. The predicted formulae were developed based on the measured data for the month of January and July and were validated with the measured data of April and October months. It is found that the correlation coefficient ( R 2 value) is above 0.96 for all the six formulae for the entire monitoring period.

This paper investigates the energy system of the Basilicata region (southern Italy) to highlight, through a scenario analysis, its possible future development in compliance with the European Commission's long-term vision. The IEA-ETSAP methodology was utilized to model and analyse the Basilicata energy system in a business-as-usual scenario, based on the assumptions of the 2010 Regional Energy and Environmental Policy Plan, and in two low-carbon scenarios, decarbonisation and high energy efficiency, which, in line with the long-term European strategy, foresee an 85% carbon dioxide emission reduction and a 20% energy efficiency increase in 2050. The results highlight that electricity production from renewable energy sources (in particular wind energy), strongly supported by the regional policy, goes beyond the Basilicata Regional Energy-Environmental Plan forecast, with a further increase in the decarbonisation scenarios. In addition, solar thermal and highly efficient technologies are adopted in commercial and residential end-use sectors. An additional 9% reduction in energy consumption is achieved in the high energy efficiency scenario by passive houses. The proposed approach shows the usefulness of a modelling framework typically used for national and supranational analyses to support regional authorities in their decision-making process to obtain results in line with the European and national strategies. Application to the Basilicata region shows the usefulness of a consolidated framework for policy assessment at a local scale to assess regional contribution to the achievement of national climate mitigation targets that tend towards climate neutrality.

Revealing the trends and main drivers of rural energy transition has important implications for building up a clean, efficient and sustainable energy system. Based on physical energy consumption, we measure the effective energy consumption and constructed a provincial panel dataset of rural China from 1990 to 2017. The results show that the energy transition is not only reflected in the growth of fuel consumption and the change of fuel structure, especially the growth of high-quality energy, the diversification of service functions and the convenience of use. The term of effective energy can more accurately measure the level of energy consumption per capita than physical energy. The income per capita, urbanization level and annual average temperature are three main factors impacting energy consumption. Every 1,000 yuan growth in per capita income can increase the consumption of 6 kgce physical energy and 4 kgce effective energy, respectively. Every 1% rise in the urbanization rate of the population can bring a growth of 4.86 kgce physical energy and 1.83 kgce effective energy. 1℃ of rise in average temperature may decrease by 22.3 kgce physical energy and 2.8 kgce effective energy. There are roughly-three levels of transition, the slow transition in the northeast, the forefront transition in the eastern coastal areas and the intermediate level transition in vast central and western regions. According to regional differences, focus should be on increasing the share of renewable energy, improving energy infrastructure and energy efficiency in the future.

Abstract The United Nations declaration of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UN DESD, 2004–2014) advocates the need for universities to embed sustainability in all learning areas. This inquiry examines how selected post-graduate top-level programmes in urban studies are adapting their curricula to promote sustainable urban development. We start by reviewing an extensive literature to identify the principles and practices characterising the UN DESD, and to identify the topics and themes considered essential for teaching aimed at the promotion of sustainable urban development. Based on the extensive literature review we define an analytical framework in five parts, related to various aspects of curricular content and teaching and learning approaches: programme orientation, skills, ethics and critical reasoning, interdisciplinarity and content related to sustainable urban development issues. We then conduct an empirical study of 25 among the best post-graduate level (MA and MSc) programmes in urban studies from Europe, China, the USA and the Global South, to see how they are adapting their curricula to the requirements of sustainable urban development captured in the analytical framework. While acknowledging the significant context specificities that must be respected, and the multiple challenges that must be reconciled when defining urban studies curricula - we find both strengths and weaknesses in these top programmes, including important differences among the programmes from the four regions. Our data suggests that important steps are being taken towards ‘whole-system’ transformation envisaged by the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, but also that transformative factors depending on cultural and institutional values and practices remain relatively weak.