Large-scale land acquisition and its effects on the water balance in investor and host countries

This study examines the validity of the assumption that international large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) is motivated by the desire to secure control over water resources, which is commonly referred to as ‘water grabbing’. This assumption was repeatedly expressed in recent years, ascribing the said motivation to the Gulf States in particular. However, it must be considered of hypothetical nature, as the few global studies conducted so far focused primarily on the effects of LSLA on host countries or on trade in virtual water. In this study, we analyse the effects of 475 intended or concluded land deals recorded in the Land Matrix database on the water balance in both host and investor countries. We also examine how these effects relate to water stress and how they contribute to global trade in virtual water. The analysis shows that implementation of the LSLAs in our sample would result in global water savings based on virtual water trade. At the level of individual LSLA host countries, however, water use intensity would increase, particularly in 15 sub-Saharan states. From an investor country perspective, the analysis reveals that countries often suspected of using LSLA to relieve pressure on their domestic water resources—such as China, India, and all Gulf States except Saudi Arabia—invest in agricultural activities abroad that are less water-intensive compared to their average domestic crop production. Conversely, large investor countries such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Japan are disproportionately externalizing crop water consumption through their international land investments. Statistical analyses also show that host countries with abundant water resources are not per se favoured targets of LSLA. Indeed, further analysis reveals that land investments originating in water-stressed countries have only a weak tendency to target areas with a smaller water risk.

Determining acquisition and cessation antecedents to adolescent cigarette smoking for development of intervention strategies

Our national focus and emphasis on the promotion of healthy behavior choices regarding tobacco and other drugs continues to target adolescents. Multiple studies have shown that adolescence is the optimum period for the prevention of substance use initiation as life-long patterns of health behaviors are established during this critical developmental stage. Tobacco use is associated with an increase in morbid and mortal health conditions of which prevalence increases throughout the lifespan. Attention to the antecedents of preventable health conditions aims to modify the risks and identify health promotion factors. Modifying antecedent factors for tobacco initiation in youth and identifying protective factors for successful smoking cessation has major public health implications across the lifespan. Of foremost interest are those risk factors and resultant behaviors that predict a youth's probability of initiating cigarette use and their cessation of cigarette use. Specifically, this dissertation supports previous results identifying intervention variables on the initiation/cessation continuum model especially with the established predictors of smoking (decisional balance and susceptibility) and with more recently identified predictors of smoking (nicotine dependence and withdrawal symptoms) in current and former smokers in a sample of high school students in Austin and Houston, Texas. These results offer insight for the development of appropriate intervention program strategies for our youth. ^

An Inexpensive Alternative to CS Photoshop & Bridge: Archival Master Image Capture and Batch Derivative Creation in Canon Scan Gear & Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

This presentation was made at the Connecticut State Library Service Center, Willimantic, CT, April 14, 2009. It focused on digital capture workflows for both archival and derivative image creation using accepted current standards. Tools used were inexpensive by choice and focused towards the needs of small to mid-sized cultural heritage institutions who wish to begin digital capture in their own facilities.

The Effect of Proximity, Explicitness, and Representation of Basic Science Information on Student Clinical Problem-Solving

Problem: Medical and veterinary students memorize facts but then have difficulty applying those facts in clinical problem solving. Cognitive engineering research suggests that the inability of medical and veterinary students to infer concepts from facts may be due in part to specific features of how information is represented and organized in educational materials. First, physical separation of pieces of information may increase the cognitive load on the student. Second, information that is necessary but not explicitly stated may also contribute to the student’s cognitive load. Finally, the types of representations – textual or graphical – may also support or hinder the student’s learning process. This may explain why students have difficulty applying biomedical facts in clinical problem solving. Purpose: To test the hypothesis that three specific aspects of expository text – the patial distance between the facts needed to infer a rule, the explicitness of information, and the format of representation – affected the ability of students to solve clinical problems. Setting: The study was conducted in the parasitology laboratory of a college of veterinary medicine in Texas. Sample: The study subjects were a convenience sample consisting of 132 second-year veterinary students who matriculated in 2007. The age of this class upon admission ranged from 20-52, and the gender makeup of this class consisted of approximately 75% females and 25% males. Results: No statistically significant difference in student ability to solve clinical problems was found when relevant facts were placed in proximity, nor when an explicit rule was stated. Further, no statistically significant difference in student ability to solve clinical problems was found when students were given different representations of material, including tables and concept maps. Findings: The findings from this study indicate that the three properties investigated – proximity, explicitness, and representation – had no statistically significant effect on student learning as it relates to clinical problem-solving ability. However, ad hoc observations as well as findings from other researchers suggest that the subjects were probably using rote learning techniques such as memorization, and therefore were not attempting to infer relationships from the factual material in the interventions, unless they were specifically prompted to look for patterns. A serendipitous finding unrelated to the study hypothesis was that those subjects who correctly answered questions regarding functional (non-morphologic) properties, such as mode of transmission and intermediate host, at the family taxonomic level were significantly more likely to correctly answer clinical case scenarios than were subjects who did not correctly answer questions regarding functional properties. These findings suggest a strong relationship (p < .001) between well-organized knowledge of taxonomic functional properties and clinical problem solving ability. Recommendations: Further study should be undertaken investigating the relationship between knowledge of functional taxonomic properties and clinical problem solving ability. In addition, the effect of prompting students to look for patterns in instructional material, followed by the effect of factors that affect cognitive load such as proximity, explicitness, and representation, should be explored.

Characterization of vineyard's canopy through fuzzy clustering and svm over color images

In this work we propose an image acquisition and processing methodology (framework) developed for performance in-field grapes and leaves detection and quantification, based on a six step methodology: 1) image segmentation through Fuzzy C-Means with Gustafson Kessel (FCM-GK) clustering; 2) obtaining of FCM-GK outputs (centroids) for acting as seeding for K-Means clustering; 3) Identification of the clusters generated by K-Means using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. 4) Performance of morphological operations over the grapes and leaves clusters in order to fill holes and to eliminate small pixels clusters; 5)Creation of a mosaic image by Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) in order to avoid overlapping between images; 6) Calculation of the areas of leaves and grapes and finding of the centroids in the grape bunches. Image data are collected using a colour camera fixed to a mobile platform. This platform was developed to give a stabilized surface to guarantee that the images were acquired parallel to de vineyard rows. In this way, the platform avoids the distortion of the images that lead to poor estimation of the areas. Our preliminary results are promissory, although they still have shown that it is necessary to implement a camera stabilization system to avoid undesired camera movements, and also a parallel processing procedure in order to speed up the mosaicking process.

Physical data acquisition and PWM signal generation using a microcontroller allowing control for DC motor rotation speed

El objetivo de este proyecto es diseñar un sistema capaz de controlar la velocidad de rotación de un motor DC en función del valor de temperatura obtenido de un sensor. Para ello se generará con un microcontrolador una señal PWM, cuyo ciclo de trabajo estará en función de la temperatura medida. En lo que respecta a la fase de diseño, hay dos partes claramente diferenciadas, relativas al hardware y al software. En cuanto al diseño del hardware puede hacerse a su vez una división en dos partes. En primer lugar, hubo que diseñar la circuitería necesaria para adaptar los niveles de tensión entregados por el sensor de temperatura a los niveles requeridos por ADC, requerido para digitalizar la información para su posterior procesamiento por parte del microcontrolador. Por tanto hubo que diseñar capaz de corregir el offset y la pendiente de la función tensión-temperatura del sensor, a fin de adaptarlo al rango de tensión requerido por el ADC. Por otro lado, hubo que diseñar el circuito encargado de controlar la velocidad de rotación del motor. Este circuito estará basado en un transistor MOSFET en conmutación, controlado mediante una señal PWM como se mencionó anteriormente. De esta manera, al variar el ciclo de trabajo de la señal PWM, variará de manera proporcional la tensión que cae en el motor, y por tanto su velocidad de rotación. En cuanto al diseño del software, se programó el microcontrolador para que generase una señal PWM en uno de sus pines en función del valor entregado por el ADC, a cuya entrada está conectada la tensión obtenida del circuito creado para adaptar la tensión generada por el sensor. Así mismo, se utiliza el microcontrolador para representar el valor de temperatura obtenido en una pantalla LCD. Para este proyecto se eligió una placa de desarrollo mbed, que incluye el microcontrolador integrado, debido a que facilita la tarea del prototipado. Posteriormente se procedió a la integración de ambas partes, y testeado del sistema para comprobar su correcto funcionamiento. Puesto que el resultado depende de la temperatura medida, fue necesario simular variaciones en ésta, para así comprobar los resultados obtenidos a distintas temperaturas. Para este propósito se empleó una bomba de aire caliente. Una vez comprobado el funcionamiento, como último paso se diseñó la placa de circuito impreso. Como conclusión, se consiguió desarrollar un sistema con un nivel de exactitud y precisión aceptable, en base a las limitaciones del sistema. SUMMARY: It is obvious that day by day people’s daily life depends more on technology and science. Tasks tend to be done automatically, making them simpler and as a result, user life is more comfortable. Every single task that can be controlled has an electronic system behind. In this project, a control system based on a microcontroller was designed for a fan, allowing it to go faster when temperature rises or slowing down as the environment gets colder. For this purpose, a microcontroller was programmed to generate a signal, to control the rotation speed of the fan depending on the data acquired from a temperature sensor. After testing the whole design developed in the laboratory, the next step taken was to build a prototype, which allows future improvements in the system that are discussed in the corresponding section of the thesis.

Assembling models of embryo development: Image analysis and the construction of digital atlases

Digital atlases of animal development provide a quantitative description of morphogenesis, opening the path toward processes modeling. Prototypic atlases offer a data integration framework where to gather information from cohorts of individuals with phenotypic variability. Relevant information for further theoretical reconstruction includes measurements in time and space for cell behaviors and gene expression. The latter as well as data integration in a prototypic model, rely on image processing strategies. Developing the tools to integrate and analyze biological multidimensional data are highly relevant for assessing chemical toxicity or performing drugs preclinical testing. This article surveys some of the most prominent efforts to assemble these prototypes, categorizes them according to salient criteria and discusses the key questions in the field and the future challenges toward the reconstruction of multiscale dynamics in model organisms.

Seed image analysis and taxonomy of Diplotaxis DC. (Brassicaceae, Brassiceae)

The genus Diplotaxis, comprising 32 or 34 species, plus several additional infraspecific taxa, displays a considerable degree of heterogeneity in the morphology, molecular markers, chromosome numbers and geographical amplitude of the species. The taxonomic relationships within the genus Diplotaxis were investigated by phenetic characterisation of germplasm belonging to 27 taxa of the genus, because there is an increasing interest in Diplotaxis, since some of its species (D. tenuifolia, D. muralis) are gathered or cultivated for human consumption, whereas others are frequent arable weeds (D. erucoides) in many European vineyards. Using a computer-aided vision system, 33 morpho-colorimetric features of seeds were electronically measured. The data were used to implement a statistical classifier, which is able to discriminate the taxa within the genus Diplotaxis, in order to compare the resulting species grouping with the current infrageneric systematics of this genus. Despite the high heterogeneity of the samples, due to the great intra-population variability, the stepwise Linear Discriminant Analysis method, applied to distinguish the groups, was able to reach over 80% correct identification. The results obtained allowed us to confirm the current taxonomic position of most taxa and suggested the taxonomic position of others for reconsideration.

Using Electronic Documents for Knowledge Acquisition and Model Maintenance

Knowledge acquisition and model maintenance are key problems in knowledge engineering to improve the productivity in the development of intelligent systems. Although historically a number of technical solutions have been proposed in this area, the recent experience shows that there is still an important gap between the way end-users describe their expertise and the way intelligent systems represent knowledge. In this paper we propose an original way to cope with this problem based on electronic documents. We propose the concept of intelligent document processor as a tool that allows the end-user to read/write a document explaining how an intelligent system operates in such a way that, if the user changes the content of the document, the intelligent system will react to these changes. The paper presents the structure of such a document based on knowledge categories derived from the modern knowledge modeling methodologies together with a number of requirements to be understandable by end-users and problem solvers.

Neural systems underlying learning and representation of global motion

We demonstrate performance-related changes in cortical and cerebellar activity. The largest learning-dependent changes were observed in the anterior lateral cerebellum, where the extent and intensity of activation correlated inversely with psychophysical performance. After learning had occurred (a few minutes), the cerebellar activation almost disappeared; however, it was restored when the subjects were presented with a novel, untrained direction of motion for which psychophysical performance also reverted to chance level. Similar reductions in the extent and intensity of brain activations in relation to learning occurred in the superior colliculus, anterior cingulate, and parts of the extrastriate cortex. The motion direction-sensitive middle temporal visual complex was a notable exception, where there was an expansion of the cortical territory activated by the trained stimulus. Together, these results indicate that the learning and representation of visual motion discrimination are mediated by different, but probably interacting, neuronal subsystems.

Postsymbiotic plasmid acquisition and evolution of the repA1-replicon in Buchnera aphidicola

Buchnera aphidicola is an obligate, strictly vertically transmitted, bacterial symbiont of aphids. It supplies its host with essential amino acids, nutrients required by aphids but deficient in their diet of plant phloem sap. Several lineages of Buchnera show adaptation to their nutritional role in the form of plasmid-mediated amplification of key-genes involved in the biosynthesis of tryptophan (trpEG) and leucine (leuABCD). Phylogenetic analyses of these plasmid-encoded functions have thus far suggested the absence of horizontal plasmid exchange among lineages of Buchnera. Here, we describe three new Buchnera plasmids, obtained from species of the aphid host families Lachnidae and Pemphigidae. All three plasmids belong to the repA1 family of Buchnera plasmids, which is characterized by the presence of a repA1-replicon responsible for replication initiation. A comprehensive analysis of this family of plasmids unexpectedly revealed significantly incongruent phylogenies for different plasmid and chromosomally encoded loci. We infer from these incongruencies a case of horizontal plasmid transfer in Buchnera. This process may have been mediated by secondary endosymbionts, which occasionally undergo horizontal transmission in aphids.

European Citizenship at the Crossroads: Enhancing European Cooperation on Acquisition and Loss of Nationality. CEPS Liberty and Security in Europe No. 73/December 2014

This paper was prepared as a Policy Brief for discussion at the final conference of the project on Involuntary Loss of European Citizenship: Exchanging Knowledge and Identifying Guidelines for Europe, 11-12 December 2014. Co-funded by the European Commission’s DG for Justice, Citizenship and Fundamental Rights, the ILEC project has aimed to establish a framework for debate on international norms on involuntary loss of nationality. For more information visit: www.ilecproject.eu.

FISICO: Fast Image SegmentatIon COrrection.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE In clinical diagnosis, medical image segmentation plays a key role in the analysis of pathological regions. Despite advances in automatic and semi-automatic segmentation techniques, time-effective correction tools are commonly needed to improve segmentation results. Therefore, these tools must provide faster corrections with a lower number of interactions, and a user-independent solution to reduce the time frame between image acquisition and diagnosis. METHODS We present a new interactive method for correcting image segmentations. Our method provides 3D shape corrections through 2D interactions. This approach enables an intuitive and natural corrections of 3D segmentation results. The developed method has been implemented into a software tool and has been evaluated for the task of lumbar muscle and knee joint segmentations from MR images. RESULTS Experimental results show that full segmentation corrections could be performed within an average correction time of 5.5±3.3 minutes and an average of 56.5±33.1 user interactions, while maintaining the quality of the final segmentation result within an average Dice coefficient of 0.92±0.02 for both anatomies. In addition, for users with different levels of expertise, our method yields a correction time and number of interaction decrease from 38±19.2 minutes to 6.4±4.3 minutes, and 339±157.1 to 67.7±39.6 interactions, respectively.