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Designing for the edge – The ‘smart’ in smart video security systems

AI-based recognition systems, and smart security video networks have led to a paradigm shift in the architecture of security video systems.




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Amdocs launches SI capabilities, to upskill 5,000 Indian employees to cloud-based solutions

The company on Wednesday announced systems integration (SI) capabilities including consulting, agile devOps, cloud migration, cloud capacity optimization and the Future Mode of Operation aimed at taking the communications industry to the cloud at an accelerated pace.




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Technologies that can enable a smooth remote working environment during Covid19

Thanks to the intervention of Cloud-based tech tools, professionals no longer need to visit their offices to engage in business transactions.




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Covid-19 Heroes Beyond Borders: How being a digital-only bank helps in a pandemic

TONIK Financial, Asean’s first licensed digital-only bank, is leveraging cloud to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.




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Role of a CIO post Covid-19 pandemic

CIOs role is set to evolve post-Covid-19 with new demands coming in from the business. Here’s how they can be prepared.




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Value-driven Indian firms to sustain as pandemic impact to last till early 2021

As Indian firms realign their focus on revenue growth, they need to leverage customer and market behaviour to place their bets on long-term, sustainable growth, a new report said.




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Covid-19 Impact: Demand for data centers surge as remote working catches up

The emergence of new business environment in the wake of Covid-19 is expected to boost cloud services and digitisation as companies overhaul their digital infrastructure to deal with new ways of working, they said.




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Accenture says Unacademy hack has no impact on its data

"Accenture has no professional relationship with Unacademy, and any implication or assertion otherwise is erroneous. Accenture has suffered no data breach or loss of any records or client information as a result of this incident," Accenture said in a statement.




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Google, Facebook to let most employees work from home till year-end

Tech giants Google and Facebook allowing most of their workforces to WFH through the end of this year.




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Pune labour commissioner asks Wipro to respond to complaint on employee salary cuts

NITES, said that this went against the government guidelines of not firing people or cutting salaries during the pandemic.




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Data localisation: Visa says it will be compliant by December

Visa has outlined a detailed framework with its partner entities on how it plans to update its systems to comply with RBI laws




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Work & entertainment at home lift demand for data centres

Demand has increased by nearly eight times. Requests for virtualisation and cloud infra have also resulted in a surge




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Covid-19 Impact: Demand for data centers surge as remote working catches up

The emergence of new business environment in the wake of Covid-19 is expected to boost cloud services and digitisation as companies overhaul their digital infrastructure to deal with new ways of working, they said.




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Hyper-personalization to emerge a true winner in AI in 2020

As more businesses yield the benefits of NLP-powered analytics and conversational interfaces, demand for single-vendor solutions will increase.




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What are the impacts of fish-farming on marine ecosystems?

New EU-supported research in the Mediterranean Sea has assessed the impact of fish-farming on seafloor ecosystems. Results indicate that impacts are only apparent in habitats with no vegetation, but the researchers suggest that habitats with vegetation seagrass could be masking the effects.




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Coastal structures change marine ecosystems

The urbanisation of coastal areas and introduction of man-made structures, such as jetties and seawalls, are changing marine environments. A new analysis highlights the impacts of these changes on marine plants and animals and suggests options to manage the detrimental effects.




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Evaluating biodiversity and ecosystem services in France

A report commissioned by the French Government has calculated reference values for French ecosystems. These range from ???600 per hectare/per year for pastureland to ???2000 per hectare/per year for some types of forest. The methods used to calculate these values were carefully analysed.




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The importance of social and political context for classifying ecosystem services

It is important to have a single definition of 'ecosystem services', but a single classification scheme for services is not appropriate, according to researchers. There are many contexts in which ecosystem services can be used and the context should help to determine which classification scheme is the most appropriate for decision making.




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Dispelling myths around ecosystem service projects

A new study has compared conservation projects that focus on promoting only biodiversity with projects that focus on promoting both biodiversity and ecosystem services. The results dispel several myths surrounding ecosystem service projects and indicate they are as effective at addressing threats to biodiversity as their biodiversity counterparts.




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Improved biodiversity and ecosystem services go hand-in-hand

A new study has reinforced the view that biodiversity improvements and greater provision of ecosystem services are complementary. An analysis of projects that restored ecosystems indicated that restoration produced a 44 per cent increase in biodiversity and a 25 per cent increase in the provision of ecosystem services.




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REDD improves forest provision of ecosystem services

Actions to reduce emissions caused by deforestation and degradation (REDD) also enhance ecosystem services, according to a new report. Using a case study from the Amazon it indicated that REDD support schemes can also help maintain water levels and quality and protect soil from erosion.




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Mapping Europe's potential to provide ecosystem goods and services

New Europe-wide maps show the potential of landscapes to provide ecosystem goods and services over the next 20-30 years.




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Using 'best professional judgement' to rate the benthic zone

Assessing the environmental condition of sediments and bottom waters of coastal and marine ecosystems over wide geographic areas can be a problem when indicators used to evaluate specific ecological conditions cannot be easily compared. A recent study suggests that a common scale of assessment can be established by experts from different regions using "best professional judgement".




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More long-term ecosystem research needed in parts of Europe

Europe needs long-term ecosystem research (LTER) to support environmental management and fulfil its commitments to international policy. A new study has assessed the distribution of European LTER activities and indicated that urban and disturbed areas are consistently under-represented, as are Mediterranean zones.




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Payment for environmental services needs government engagement

In theory, payment for environmental services (PES) is a market mechanism but, in practice, it depends on intervention from the state or community. This is the conclusion of a new review of case studies that indicates that PES relies on public bodies and communities to act as intermediaries in the trading of services.




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Green space management benefits from public participation

The success of policy to maintain urban green areas depends on an adequate level of public participation, according to new research. The study compared two twinned European cities with different styles of green space management and found that public involvement may help maintain urban biodiversity.




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Scaling up ecosystem valuations for high level policymaking

A new European Environment Agency (EEA) report analyses approaches to estimating the value of ecosystem services on a large scale. The report provides suggestions for combining and scaling up data from individual, local studies to generate European or global valuations of ecosystems.




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Bringing the ecosystem services concept into forestry

Practical barriers may be hampering the application of an ecosystem services approach to forests. A new analysis has outlined three strategies to overcome these barriers: fostering private markets, managing public land and raising awareness of ecosystem services.




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Temperate ponds will have more species as the climate warms

Ponds are considered to be ideal early warning systems that can be used to assess the effects of climate change at the local level. A recent study suggests warmer temperatures are likely to significantly increase the number of species found in ponds in temperate areas, especially at high altitudes. However, despite an overall increase, some species would also become extinct.




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Mosquito pesticide causes knock on problems for birds

Pesticides that kill mosquitoes could have indirect effects on other species, according to researchers. The study indicated that a well-known mosquito insecticide led to reduced numbers of eggs and chick survival for house martin birds.




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Conservation Systems improve resilience of biodiversity policy

Activists and policy makers are often considered to be separate influences on environmental issues. A new review suggests that the key to long-term conservation policy could lie in the creation of 'Conservation Systems'. These are a collective of activists, organisations and policy makers which could make biodiversity conservation efforts more resilient to major external changes, such as economic crises, change in government or conflict.




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Implementing Natura 2000: Dutch and Italian experiences

A study of how the Natura 2000 network was implemented in the Netherlands and in Italy has been conducted. From this analysis, recommendations have been made to help other EU Member States implement and manage the network, which include providing local authorities with better information on and understanding of Natura 2000 and how to balance ecological, social and economic needs.




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Monitoring the restoration of coastal and estuarine ecosystems

Restoring ecosystems in estuaries and along coasts is an important part of European environmental policy. A new analysis of degraded ecosystems has indicated that, although some restoration can take less than five years, when there has been a century of degradation, it can take a minimum of 15-25 years.




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Fish farm pollution damages seabed ecosystems

New research from the Mediterranean suggests that marine ecosystems are disturbed by the organic food and faeces waste from fish farms, even when the pollutants themselves can no longer be detected. The study recommends calculating an individual pollution 'carrying capacity' for each type of marine habitat, and provides the first published estimate for a ma??rl habitat.




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Ecosystem Service valuation must use stakeholder knowledge

A recent analysis highlights the difference between the academic concept and the practical concept of ecosystem services. It suggests that academic science aims to discover and apply general and timeless concepts to measure ecosystem services, whereas in practice, stakeholders' valuations of ecosystem services vary with place and time.




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Applying the ecosystem approach to forest biodiversity

Despite being high on the political agenda, biodiversity is still declining. A new analysis has focused on forest biodiversity in Finland, Russia and Peru and concluded that a global ecosystem approach can make a link between human and ecological systems but bottom-up initiatives are needed to effectively put the concept into action.




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How will biodiversity loss compromise Earth's life support systems?

Scientists have evaluated two decades of research into declining biodiversity and concluded unequivocally that loss of species richness leads to a reduction in how well ecosystems function. The researchers evaluated the evidence for key biodiversity theories and predicted that scientific progress in the next five to ten years will provide the information we need to efficiently conserve certain ecological processes.




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Increasing green infrastructure ecosystem services in urban areas

A new model has been developed that could help metropolitan areas adapt to climate change by increasing ecosystem services provided by green spaces and farmland through calculating the percentage of evapotranspiring surface for different types of land use and the degree of fragmentation between ecosystems. To demonstrate how it works, researchers have applied this 'land use suitability strategy' model to an Italian municipality.




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Greater recognition of ecosystem services needed for food security

Global food security under a changing climate is possible if the vital role of healthy ecosystems is recognised, according to a recent study. The researchers suggest that an ecosystem-based approach must be integrated with other measures to tackle food security under climate change, to protect ecosystems and supply the essential services on which humanity depends.




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Protect biodiversity to safeguard ecosystem services

Most species in an ecosystem could help supply essential ecosystem services, according to a recent study. The researchers found that 84% of species in the grassland ecosystems they studied contributed towards at least one ecosystem service. Losing any of these species would therefore degrade the ecosystem services such an environment could provide.




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Birds and butterflies fail to follow climate change temperature rise

As the climate changes, animal species are predicted to adapt by moving northwards so they can remain within their preferred temperature range. Now, researchers have found that bird and butterfly populations are not keeping up with changing temperatures and, on average, European bird and butterfly species lag around 212km and 135km, respectively, behind climate changes.




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Plant biodiversity boosts ecosystem services in drylands

Plant biodiversity is crucial to the functioning of natural ecosystems in drylands across the world, according to recent research. Preserving plant diversity will be particularly important for maintaining the quantity and quality of services provided by ecosystems found in drylands that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and desertification.




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New system of sustainable funding for global ecosystem services

Researchers argue that of the five mechanisms available for ensuring the provision of ecosystem services ??? prescription, penalties, persuasion, property rights and payments ??? only payments are likely to be effective at the global level. However, while a number of international Payments for Ecosystem Services (IPES) schemes exist, their impact on ecosystem services remains negligible.




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'Bundled' PES schemes to boost cost-effectiveness

A recent project has developed a method to spatially target payments to areas where multiple ecosystem services, combining biodiversity conservation with carbon and water services, are jointly provided, so as to enhance the cost-effectiveness of the PES scheme. The study focuses on Madagascar, but the method could be applied at the national or regional level in any country.




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Alternative conceptual framework for PES schemes on offer

An international group of researchers has proposed a new way of describing payments for environmental services (PES). The new definition supplies a framework, incorporating the social aspects of PES, which can be used by practitioners, such as governments, to design and implement a variety of PES schemes.




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Extreme winter warming harms Arctic plant growth

A new study has explored the effects of climate change on Arctic plants by simulating extreme winter warming events and measuring plant responses. The researchers found that considerable damage occurred to dwarf shrub species, in terms of shoot mortality, leaf and root growth.




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Diverse ecosystems vulnerable in changing environmental conditions

Changing environmental conditions could put diverse ecosystems, such as rainforests and coral reefs, at greater risk of multiple extinctions. A new study suggests that, rather than protecting ecosystems from collapse, high levels of biodiversity may actually prove risky in a situation such as climate change ??? where an unpredictable environment can suddenly extinguish a population needed to support an ecosystem, leading to knock-on effects further up the food chain.




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The qualities of an integrated biodiversity observation system

There is a recognised need for a more comprehensive system to observe, track and compare biodiversity across the world. Three years ago a global network was established to help reach this goal. It has identified the necessary characteristics for such an integrated system and possible ways in which integration can occur.




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Local management helps species adapt to climate change

As the climate changes, habitat specialist species will be forced to either adapt to new conditions or move to more suitable habitat. Now, researchers from the UK have shown how conservationists can use local management practices to help these species expand into new areas with favourable conditions.




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Biodiversity loss threatens key ecosystem functions

A synthesis of 192 studies has provided a quantitative estimate of the impact of the loss of plant biodiversity on ecosystem primary production, showing that this impact could be as great as that of other major environmental changes, such as climate warming, rising ozone levels and ocean acidification. They examined the effects of biodiversity loss on primary plant production of biomass and decomposition of plant litter, both of which underpin the carbon cycle and provision of key ecosystem services.