Layout plan of area around the workshop "Edina prat︠s︡i︠a︡"

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Area-wide releases and evaluation of the parasitoid Eretmocerus hayati(Hymenoptera:Aphelinidae) for silverleaf whitefly control

Silverleaf whitefly (SLW), Bemisia tabaci biotype B, is a major horticultural pest that costs Queensland vegetable growers millions of dollars in lost production and control measures each year. In the Bowen and Burdekin districts of North Queensland, the major cultivated SLW host crops are tomatoes, melons, green beans, pumpkins, eggplants, and cucumbers, which cover a total production area of approximately 6500 ha. Eretmocerus hayati, an effective SLW parasitoid, was imported into Australia by CSIRO in 2002 and released from quarantine in 2004. In 2006, DAFF established a mass-rearing unit for E. hayati at Bowen Research Station to provide E. hayati for release on vegetable farms within its SLW integrated pest management research program. A total of 1.3 million E. hayati were released over three seasons on 34 vegetable farms in the Bowen and Burdekin districts (October 2006 to December 2008). Post-release samplings were conducted across the release area over this time period with parasitism levels recorded in tomatoes, melons, beans, eggplants, pumpkins, and various SLW weed hosts. Sample data show that E. hayati established at most release sites as well as some non-release sites, indicating natural spread. Overall results from these three years of evaluation clearly demonstrated that E hayati releases played a significant role in SLW control. In most crops sampled, E hayati exerted between 30 and 80% parasitism. Even in regularly sprayed crops, such as tomato and eggplant, E. hayati was able to achieve an overall average parasitism of 45%.

Technological-forecasting and research inputs in area of birth-control technology

Technological forecasting, defined as quantified probabilistic prediction of timings and degree of change in the technological parameters, capabilities desirability or needs at different times in the future, is applied to birth control technology (BCT) as a means of revealing the paths of most promising research through identifying the necessary points for breakthroughs. The present status of BCT in the areas of pills and the IUD, male contraceptives, immumological approaches, post-coital pills, abortion, sterilization, luteolytic agents, laser technologies, and control of the sex of the child, are each summarized and evaluated in turn. Fine mapping is done to identify the most potentially promising areas of BCT. These include efforts to make oral contraception easier, improvement of the design of the IUD, clinical evaluation of the male contraceptive danazol, the effecting of biochemical changes in the seminal fluid, and researching of immunological approaches and the effects of other new drugs such as prostaglandins. The areas that require immediate and large research inputs are oral contraception and the IUD. On the basis of population and technological forecasts, it is deduced that research efforts could most effectively aid countries like India through the immediate production of an oral contraceptive pill or IUD with long-lasting effects. Development of a pill for males or an immunization against pre gnancy would also have a significant impact. However, the major impediment to birth control programs to date is attitudes, which must be changed through education.

Evidence of Partisan Emphasis on EMU during 1994–1999 : Comparing Finnish Parties

This study explores the EMU stand taken by the major Finnish political parties from 1994 to 1999. The starting point is the empirical evidence showing that party responses to European integration are shaped by a mix of national and cross-national factors, with national factors having more explanatory value. The study is the first to produce evidence that classified party documents such as protocols, manifestos and authoritative policy summaries may describe the EMU policy emphasis. In fact, as the literature review demonstrates, it has been unclear so far what kind of stand the three major Finnish political parties took during 1994–1999. Consequently, this study makes a substantive contribution to understanding the factors that shaped EMU party policies, and eventually, the national EMU policy during the 1990s. The research questions addressed are the following: What are the main factors that shaped partisan standpoints on EMU during 1994–1999? To what extent did the policy debate and themes change in the political parties? How far were the policies of the Social Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party shaped by factors unique to their own national contexts? Furthermore, to what extent were they determined by cross-national influences from abroad, and especially from countries with which Finland has a special relationship, such as Sweden? The theoretical background of the study is in the area of party politics and approaches to EU policies, and party change, developed mainly by Kevin Featherstone, Peter Mair and Richard Katz. At the same time, it puts forward generic hypotheses that help to explain party standpoints on EMU. It incorporates a large quantity of classified new material based on primary research through content analysis and interviews. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used sequentially in order to overcome possible limitations. Established content-analysis techniques improve the reliability of the data. The coding frame is based on the salience theory of party competition. Interviews with eight party leaders and one independent expert civil servant provided additional insights and improve the validity of the data. Public-opinion surveys and media coverage are also used to complete the research path. Four major conclusions are drawn from the research findings. First, the quantitative and the interview data reveal the importance of the internal influences within the parties that most noticeably shaped their EMU policies during the 1990s. In contrast, international events play a minor role. The most striking feature turned out to be the strong emphasis by all of the parties on economic goals. However, it is important to note that the factors manifest differences between economic, democratic and international issues across the three major parties. Secondly, it seems that the parties have transformed into centralised and professional organisations in terms of their EMU policy-making. The weight and direction of party EMU strategy rests within the leadership and a few administrative elites. This could imply changes in their institutional environment. Eventually, parties may appear generally less differentiated and more standardised in their policy-making. Thirdly, the case of the Social Democratic Party shows that traditional organisational links continue to exist between the left and the trade unions in terms of their EMU policy-making. Hence, it could be that the parties have not yet moved beyond their conventional affiliate organisations. Fourthly, parties tend to neglect citizen opinion and demands with regard to EMU, which could imply conflict between the changes in their strategic environment. They seem to give more attention to the demands of political competition (party-party relationships) than to public attitudes (party-voter relationships), which would imply that they have had to learn to be more flexible and responsive. Finally, three suggestions for institutional reform are offered, which could contribute to the emergence of legitimised policy-making: measures to bring more party members and voter groups into the policy-making process; measures to adopt new technologies in order to open up the policy-formation process in the early phase; and measures to involve all interest groups in the policy-making process.

Expanding the research area of behavior change support systems

The First International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems attracted a great research interest. The selected papers focused on abstraction, implementation and evaluation of Behavior Change Support Systems. The workshop is an evidence of how researchers from around the globe have their own perspective of behavior change interventions. In this abstract, we have attempted to outline core issues that can enhance persuasiveness of such support systems. Finally, we highlight important research questions relating to the development of effective Behavior Change Support Systems.

Dynamics of inflation expectations in the euro area

The present study examines empirically the inflation dynamics of the euro area. The focus of the analysis is on the role of expectations in the inflation process. In six articles we relax rationality assumption and proxy expectations directly using OECD forecasts or Consensus Economics survey data. In the first four articles we estimate alternative Phillips curve specifications and find evidence that inflation cannot instantaneously adjust to changes in expectations. A possible departure of expectations from rationality seems not to be powerful enough to totally explain the persistence of euro area inflation in the New Keynesian framework. When expectations are measured directly, the purely forward-looking New Keynesian Phillips curve is outperformed by the hybrid Phillips curve with an additional lagged inflation term and the New Classical Phillips curve with a lagged expectations term. The results suggest that the euro area inflation process has become more forward-looking in the recent years of low and stable inflation. Moreover, in low inflation countries, the inflation dynamics have been more forward-looking already since the late 1970s. We find evidence of substantial heterogeneity of inflation dynamics across the euro area countries. Real time data analysis suggests that in the euro area real time information matters most in the expectations term in the Phillips curve and that the balance of expectations formation is more forward- than backward-looking. Vector autoregressive (VAR) models of actual inflation, inflation expectations and the output gap are estimated in the last two articles.The VAR analysis indicates that inflation expectations, which are relatively persistent, have a significant effect on output. However,expectations seem to react to changes in both output and actual inflation, especially in the medium term. Overall, this study suggests that expectations play a central role in inflation dynamics, which should be taken into account in conducting monetary policy.

A curve shortening flow rule for closed embedded plane curves with a prescribed rate of change in enclosed area

Motivated by a problem from fluid mechanics, we consider a generalization of the standard curve shortening flow problem for a closed embedded plane curve such that the area enclosed by the curve is forced to decrease at a prescribed rate. Using formal asymptotic and numerical techniques, we derive possible extinction shapes as the curve contracts to a point, dependent on the rate of decreasing area; we find there is a wider class of extinction shapes than for standard curve shortening, for which initially simple closed curves are always asymptotically circular. We also provide numerical evidence that self-intersection is possible for non-convex initial conditions, distinguishing between pinch-off and coalescence of the curve interior.

On the relationship of thermodynamic parameters with the buried surface area in protein-ligand complex formation

Prediction of thermodynamic parameters of protein-protein and antigen-antibody complex formation from high resolution structural parameters has recently received much attention, since an understanding of the contributions of different fundamental processes like hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonding, salt bridge formation, solvent reorganization etc. to the overall thermodynamic parameters and their relations with the structural parameters would lead to rational drug design. Using the results of the dissolution of hydrocarbons and other model compounds the changes in heat capacity (DeltaCp), enthalpy (DeltaH) and entropy (DeltaS) have been empirically correlated with the polar and apolar surface areas buried during the process of protein folding/unfolding and protein-ligand complex formation. In this regard, the polar and apolar surfaces removed from the solvent in a protein-ligand complex have been calculated from the experimentally observed values of changes in heat capacity (DeltaCp) and enthalpy (DeltaH) for protein-ligand complexes for which accurate thermodynamic and high resolution structural data are available, and the results have been compared with the x-ray crystallographic observations. Analyses of the available results show poor correlation between the thermodynamic and structural parameters. Probable reasons for this discrepancy are mostly related with the reorganization of water accompanying the reaction which is indeed proven by the analyses of the energetics of the binding of the wheat germ agglutinin to oligosaccharides.

Postoperative soft tissue defects in the ankle area : The etiology and methods of reconstruction

The risk is obvious for soft tissue complications after operative treatment of the Achilles tendon, calcaneal bone or after ankle arthroplasty. Such complications after malleolar fractures are, however, seldom seen. The reason behind these complications is that the soft tissue in this region is tight and does not allow much tension to the wound area after surgery. Furthermore the area of operation may be damaged by swelling after the injury, or can be affected by peripheral vascular disease. While complications in this area are unavoidable, they can be diminished. This study attempts to highlight the possible predisposing factors leading to complications in these operations and on the other hand, to determine the solutions to solve soft tissue problems in this region. The study consists of five papers. The first article is a reprint on the soft tissue reconstruction of 25 patients after their complicated Achilles tendon surgeries were analysed. The second study reviews a series of 126 patients after having undergone an operative treatment of calcaneal bone fractures and analyses the complications and possible reasons behind them. The third part analyses a series of corrections of 35 soft tissue complications after calcaneal fracture operations. The fourth part reviews a series of 7 patients who had undergone complicated ankle arthroplasties. The last article presents a series of post operative lateral defects of the ankle treated with a less frequently used distally based peroneus brevis muscle flap and analyses the results. What can be conducted from these studies is that in general, the results after the correction of even severe soft tissue complications in the ankle region are good. For the small defects around the Achilles tendon, the local flaps are useful, but the larger defects are best treated with a free flap. We found that a long delay from trauma to surgery and a long operating time were predisposing factors that lead to soft tissue complications after operatively treated calcaneal bone fractures. The more severe the injury, the greater the risk for wound complication. Surprisingly, the long-term results after infected calcaneal osteosyntheses were acceptable and the calcaneal bone seems to tolerate chronic infections very well if the soft tissue is reconstructed successfully. Behind the complicated ankle arthroplasties, unexpectedly high number of cases experiencing arteriosclerosis of the lower extremity was found. These complications lead to ankle fusion but can be solved with a free flap if the vascularity is intact or can be reconstructed. For this reason a vascular examination of the lower extremity arteries of the patients going to ankle arthroplasty is strongly recommended. Moreover postoperative lateral malleolar wound infections which typically create lateral ankle defects can successfully be treated with a peroneus brevis muscle flap covered with a free skin graft.

Automatic wildfire detection and simulation using optical information from unmanned aerial systems

In many parts of the world, uncontrolled fires in sparsely populated areas are a major concern as they can quickly grow into large and destructive conflagrations in short time spans. Detecting these fires has traditionally been a job for trained humans on the ground, or in the air. In many cases, these manned solutions are simply not able to survey the amount of area necessary to maintain sufficient vigilance and coverage. This paper investigates the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for automated wildfire detection. The proposed system uses low-cost, consumer-grade electronics and sensors combined with various airframes to create a system suitable for automatic detection of wildfires. The system employs automatic image processing techniques to analyze captured images and autonomously detect fire-related features such as fire lines, burnt regions, and flammable material. This image recognition algorithm is designed to cope with environmental occlusions such as shadows, smoke and obstructions. Once the fire is identified and classified, it is used to initialize a spatial/temporal fire simulation. This simulation is based on occupancy maps whose fidelity can be varied to include stochastic elements, various types of vegetation, weather conditions, and unique terrain. The simulations can be used to predict the effects of optimized firefighting methods to prevent the future propagation of the fires and greatly reduce time to detection of wildfires, thereby greatly minimizing the ensuing damage. This paper also documents experimental flight tests using a SenseFly Swinglet UAS conducted in Brisbane, Australia as well as modifications for custom UAS.

mRNA and microRNA analysis reveals modulation of biochemical pathways related to addiction in the ventral tegmental area of methamphetamine self-administering rats

Background Methamphetamine is a highly addictive central nervous system stimulant with increasing levels of abuse worldwide. Alterations to mRNA and miRNA expression within the mesolimbic system can affect addiction-like behaviors and thus play a role in the development of drug addiction. While many studies have investigated the effects of high-dose methamphetamine, and identified neurotoxic effects, few have looked at the role that persistent changes in gene regulation play following methamphetamine self-administration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify RNA changes in the ventral tegmental area following methamphetamine self-administration. We performed microarray analyses on RNA extracted from the ventral tegmental area of Sprague–Dawley rats following methamphetamine self-administration training (2 h/day) and 14 days of abstinence. Results We identified 78 miRNA and 150 mRNA transcripts that were differentially expressed (fdr adjusted p < 0.05, absolute log2 fold change >0.5); these included genes not previously associated with addiction (miR-125a-5p, miR-145 and Foxa1), loci encoding receptors related to drug addiction behaviors and genes with previously recognized roles in addiction such as miR-124, miR-181a, DAT and Ret. Conclusion This study provides insight into the effects of methamphetamine on RNA expression in a key brain region associated with addiction, highlighting the possibility that persistent changes in the expression of genes with both known and previously unknown roles in addiction occur.

Wide area kinematic positioning with BeiDou triple frequency signals

A key challenge of wide area kinematic positioning is to overcome the effects of the varying hardware biases in code signals of the BeiDou system. Based on three geometryfree/ionosphere-free combinations, the elevation-dependent code biases are modelled for all BeiDou satellites. Results from the data sets of 30-day for 5 baselines of 533 to 2545 km demonstrate that the wide-lane (WL) integer-fixing success rates of 98% to 100% can be achieved within 25 min. Under the condition of HDOP of less than 2, the overall RMS statistics show that ionospheric-free WL single-epoch solutions achieve 24 to 50 cm in the horizontal direction. Smoothing processing over the moving window of 20 min reduces the RMS values by a factor of about 2. Considering distance-independent nature, the above results show the potential that reliable and high precision positioning services could be provided in a wide area based on a sparsely distributed ground network.

Parenting a child with haemophilia while living in a non-metropolitan area

The experience of living in a non-metropolitan area and parenting a child with haemophilia is relatively unknown. Using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the following study explored the experiences of seven parents, from which four themes emerged: ‘bearing the brunt of diagnosis’ captures the impact of the diagnosis; ‘if you can’t help me, who can?’ reveals experiences with the health system; ‘tackling the challenge of treatment’ encompasses difficulties in adhering to the treatment regime; ‘I need you to understand’ reflects desires for others support and understanding. These themes should be considered when developing support systems and interventions for parents living in non-metropolitan areas.

Cities of Light: Two Centuries of Urban Illumination

Cities of Light is the first global overview of modern urban illumination, a development that allows human wakefulness to colonize the night, doubling the hours available for purposeful and industrious activities. Urban lighting is undergoing a revolution due to recent developments in lighting technology, and increased focus on sustainability and human-scaled environments. Cities of Light is expansive in coverage, spanning two centuries and touching on developments on six continents, without diluting its central focus on architectural and urban lighting. Covering history, geography, theory, and speculation in urban lighting, readers will have numerous points of entry into the book, finding it easy to navigate for a quick reference and or a coherent narrative if read straight through. With chapters written by respected scholars and highly-regarded contemporary practitioners, this book will delight students and practitioners of architectural and urban history, area and cultural studies, and lighting design professionals and the institutional and municipal authorities they serve. At a moment when the entire world is being reshaped by new lighting technologies and new design attitudes, the longer history of urban lighting remains fragmentary. Cities of Light aims to provide a global framework for historical studies of urban lighting and to offer a new perspective on the fast-moving developments of lighting today.

Efficient scheduling of sensor activity for information coverage in wireless sensor networks

In this paper, we are concerned with algorithms for scheduling the sensing activity of sensor nodes that are deployed to sense/measure point-targets in wireless sensor networks using information coverage. Defining a set of sensors which collectively can sense a target accurately as an information cover, we propose an algorithm to obtain Disjoint Set of Information Covers (DSIC), which achieves longer network life compared to the set of covers obtained using an Exhaustive-Greedy-Equalized Heuristic (EGEH) algorithm proposed recently in the literature. We also present a detailed complexity comparison between the DSIC and EGEH algorithms.