Ain't no mountain high enough: plant invasions reaching new elevations

Most studies of invasive species have been in highly modified, lowland environments, with comparatively little attention directed to less disturbed, high-elevation environments. However, increasing evidence indicates that plant invasions do occur in these environments, which often have high conservation value and provide important ecosystem services. Over a thousand non-native species have become established in natural areas at high elevations worldwide, and although many of these are not invasive, some may pose a considerable threat to native mountain ecosystems. Here, we discuss four main drivers that shape plant invasions into high-elevation habitats: (1) the (pre-)adaptation of non-native species to abiotic conditions, (2) natural and anthropogenic disturbances, (3) biotic resistance of the established communities, and (4) propagule pressure. We propose a comprehensive research agenda for tackling the problem of plant invasions into mountain ecosystems, including documentation of mountain invasion patterns at multiple scales, experimental studies, and an assessment of the impacts of non-native species in these systems. The threat posed to high-elevation biodiversity by invasive plant species is likely to increase because of globalization and climate change. However, the higher mountains harbor ecosystems where invasion by non-native species has scarcely begun, and where science and management have the opportunity to respond in time.

Detection of metabolite induction in fungal co-cultures on solid media by high-throughput differential ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry fingerprinting.

Access to new biological sources is a key element of natural product research. A particularly large number of biologically active molecules have been found to originate from microorganisms. Very recently, the use of fungal co-culture to activate the silent genes involved in metabolite biosynthesis was found to be a successful method for the induction of new compounds. However, the detection and identification of the induced metabolites in the confrontation zone where fungi interact remain very challenging. To tackle this issue, a high-throughput UHPLC-TOF-MS-based metabolomic approach has been developed for the screening of fungal co-cultures in solid media at the petri dish level. The metabolites that were overexpressed because of fungal interactions were highlighted by comparing the LC-MS data obtained from the co-cultures and their corresponding mono-cultures. This comparison was achieved by subjecting automatically generated peak lists to statistical treatments. This strategy has been applied to more than 600 co-culture experiments that mainly involved fungal strains from the Fusarium genera, although experiments were also completed with a selection of several other filamentous fungi. This strategy was found to provide satisfactory repeatability and was used to detect the biomarkers of fungal induction in a large panel of filamentous fungi. This study demonstrates that co-culture results in consistent induction of potentially new metabolites.

Entropic transport in confined media: a challenge for computational studies in biological and soft-matter systems

Transport in small-scale biological and soft-matter systems typically occurs under confinement conditions in which particles proceed through obstacles and irregularities of the boundaries that may significantly alter their trajectories. A transport model that assimilates the confinement to the presence of entropic barriers provides an efficient approach to quantify its effect on the particle current and the diffusion coefficient. We review the main peculiarities of entropic transport and treat two cases in which confinement effects play a crucial role, with the appearance of emergent properties. The presence of entropic barriers modifies the mean first-passage time distribution and therefore plays a very important role in ion transport through micro- and nano-channels. The functionality of molecular motors, modeled as Brownian ratchets, is strongly affected when the motor proceeds in a confined medium that may constitute another source of rectification. The interplay between ratchet and entropic rectification gives rise to a wide variety of dynamical behaviors, not observed when the Brownian motor proceeds in an unbounded medium. Entropic transport offers new venues of transport control and particle manipulation and new ways to engineer more efficient devices for transport at the nanoscale.

Silene as a model system in ecology and evolution.

The genus Silene, studied by Darwin, Mendel and other early scientists, is re-emerging as a system for studying interrelated questions in ecology, evolution and developmental biology. These questions include sex chromosome evolution, epigenetic control of sex expression, genomic conflict and speciation. Its well-studied interactions with the pathogen Microbotryum has made Silene a model for the evolution and dynamics of disease in natural systems, and its interactions with herbivores have increased our understanding of multi-trophic ecological processes and the evolution of invasiveness. Molecular tools are now providing new approaches to many of these classical yet unresolved problems, and new progress is being made through combining phylogenetic, genomic and molecular evolutionary studies with ecological and phenotypic data.

Some of the challenges and experiences of formal education in a Mobile-Centric Society (MCS) = Algunos retos y experiencias de la educación formal en la Sociedad Móvil-Céntrica (SMC)

The aim of the paper is to describe some of the challenges faced by schools, or by formal education in general, as a consequence of today"s mobilecentric society (henceforth MCS), the term we will use to denote the new, networked learning ecology that has arisen from the massive penetration of digital media in everyday life. After revisiting some of the ideas of McLuhan and Vygotsky in the light of this new technological scenario, we describe five traits of the MCS and the challenges illustrated through educational practices that we believe schools will face if they wish to preserve their function of individualization and socialization. We believe that despite the emergence of the MCS, the main function of the school is still to provide the"box of tools" (a set of psychological instruments, such as reading, writing, mathematical notation, digital literacy, etc.) that enables people to develop their learning skills and life projects and to become part of communities and groups. However, the complexity and mobility of the new learning environments means that the position held by schools needs to be reevaluated in the face of the informal learning paths and experiences both online and offline to which learners now have access. We also need to reevaluate the meaning of the school itself as an institution and the model of learner it should be training

Linking landscape- and population ecology for large population management modelling: the case of Ibex (capra ibex) in Switzerland

La biologie de la conservation est communément associée à la protection de petites populations menacées d?extinction. Pourtant, il peut également être nécessaire de soumettre à gestion des populations surabondantes ou susceptibles d?une trop grande expansion, dans le but de prévenir les effets néfastes de la surpopulation. Du fait des différences tant quantitatives que qualitatives entre protection des petites populations et contrôle des grandes, il est nécessaire de disposer de modèles et de méthodes distinctes. L?objectif de ce travail a été de développer des modèles prédictifs de la dynamique des grandes populations, ainsi que des logiciels permettant de calculer les paramètres de ces modèles et de tester des scénarios de gestion. Le cas du Bouquetin des Alpes (Capra ibex ibex) - en forte expansion en Suisse depuis sa réintroduction au début du XXème siècle - servit d?exemple. Cette tâche fut accomplie en trois étapes : En premier lieu, un modèle de dynamique locale, spécifique au Bouquetin, fut développé : le modèle sous-jacent - structuré en classes d?âge et de sexe - est basé sur une matrice de Leslie à laquelle ont été ajoutées la densité-dépendance, la stochasticité environnementale et la chasse de régulation. Ce modèle fut implémenté dans un logiciel d?aide à la gestion - nommé SIM-Ibex - permettant la maintenance de données de recensements, l?estimation automatisée des paramètres, ainsi que l?ajustement et la simulation de stratégies de régulation. Mais la dynamique d?une population est influencée non seulement par des facteurs démographiques, mais aussi par la dispersion et la colonisation de nouveaux espaces. Il est donc nécessaire de pouvoir modéliser tant la qualité de l?habitat que les obstacles à la dispersion. Une collection de logiciels - nommée Biomapper - fut donc développée. Son module central est basé sur l?Analyse Factorielle de la Niche Ecologique (ENFA) dont le principe est de calculer des facteurs de marginalité et de spécialisation de la niche écologique à partir de prédicteurs environnementaux et de données d?observation de l?espèce. Tous les modules de Biomapper sont liés aux Systèmes d?Information Géographiques (SIG) ; ils couvrent toutes les opérations d?importation des données, préparation des prédicteurs, ENFA et calcul de la carte de qualité d?habitat, validation et traitement des résultats ; un module permet également de cartographier les barrières et les corridors de dispersion. Le domaine d?application de l?ENFA fut exploré par le biais d?une distribution d?espèce virtuelle. La comparaison à une méthode couramment utilisée pour construire des cartes de qualité d?habitat, le Modèle Linéaire Généralisé (GLM), montra qu?elle était particulièrement adaptée pour les espèces cryptiques ou en cours d?expansion. Les informations sur la démographie et le paysage furent finalement fusionnées en un modèle global. Une approche basée sur un automate cellulaire fut choisie, tant pour satisfaire aux contraintes du réalisme de la modélisation du paysage qu?à celles imposées par les grandes populations : la zone d?étude est modélisée par un pavage de cellules hexagonales, chacune caractérisée par des propriétés - une capacité de soutien et six taux d?imperméabilité quantifiant les échanges entre cellules adjacentes - et une variable, la densité de la population. Cette dernière varie en fonction de la reproduction et de la survie locale, ainsi que de la dispersion, sous l?influence de la densité-dépendance et de la stochasticité. Un logiciel - nommé HexaSpace - fut développé pour accomplir deux fonctions : 1° Calibrer l?automate sur la base de modèles de dynamique (par ex. calculés par SIM-Ibex) et d?une carte de qualité d?habitat (par ex. calculée par Biomapper). 2° Faire tourner des simulations. Il permet d?étudier l?expansion d?une espèce envahisseuse dans un paysage complexe composé de zones de qualité diverses et comportant des obstacles à la dispersion. Ce modèle fut appliqué à l?histoire de la réintroduction du Bouquetin dans les Alpes bernoises (Suisse). SIM-Ibex est actuellement utilisé par les gestionnaires de la faune et par les inspecteurs du gouvernement pour préparer et contrôler les plans de tir. Biomapper a été appliqué à plusieurs espèces (tant végétales qu?animales) à travers le Monde. De même, même si HexaSpace fut initialement conçu pour des espèces animales terrestres, il pourrait aisément être étndu à la propagation de plantes ou à la dispersion d?animaux volants. Ces logiciels étant conçus pour, à partir de données brutes, construire un modèle réaliste complexe, et du fait qu?ils sont dotés d?une interface d?utilisation intuitive, ils sont susceptibles de nombreuses applications en biologie de la conservation. En outre, ces approches peuvent également s?appliquer à des questions théoriques dans les domaines de l?écologie des populations et du paysage.<br/><br/>Conservation biology is commonly associated to small and endangered population protection. Nevertheless, large or potentially large populations may also need human management to prevent negative effects of overpopulation. As there are both qualitative and quantitative differences between small population protection and large population controlling, distinct methods and models are needed. The aim of this work was to develop theoretical models to predict large population dynamics, as well as computer tools to assess the parameters of these models and to test management scenarios. The alpine Ibex (Capra ibex ibex) - which experienced a spectacular increase since its reintroduction in Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century - was used as paradigm species. This task was achieved in three steps: A local population dynamics model was first developed specifically for Ibex: the underlying age- and sex-structured model is based on a Leslie matrix approach with addition of density-dependence, environmental stochasticity and culling. This model was implemented into a management-support software - named SIM-Ibex - allowing census data maintenance, parameter automated assessment and culling strategies tuning and simulating. However population dynamics is driven not only by demographic factors, but also by dispersal and colonisation of new areas. Habitat suitability and obstacles modelling had therefore to be addressed. Thus, a software package - named Biomapper - was developed. Its central module is based on the Ecological Niche Factor Analysis (ENFA) whose principle is to compute niche marginality and specialisation factors from a set of environmental predictors and species presence data. All Biomapper modules are linked to Geographic Information Systems (GIS); they cover all operations of data importation, predictor preparation, ENFA and habitat suitability map computation, results validation and further processing; a module also allows mapping of dispersal barriers and corridors. ENFA application domain was then explored by means of a simulated species distribution. It was compared to a common habitat suitability assessing method, the Generalised Linear Model (GLM), and was proven better suited for spreading or cryptic species. Demography and landscape informations were finally merged into a global model. To cope with landscape realism and technical constraints of large population modelling, a cellular automaton approach was chosen: the study area is modelled by a lattice of hexagonal cells, each one characterised by a few fixed properties - a carrying capacity and six impermeability rates quantifying exchanges between adjacent cells - and one variable, population density. The later varies according to local reproduction/survival and dispersal dynamics, modified by density-dependence and stochasticity. A software - named HexaSpace - was developed, which achieves two functions: 1° Calibrating the automaton on the base of local population dynamics models (e.g., computed by SIM-Ibex) and a habitat suitability map (e.g. computed by Biomapper). 2° Running simulations. It allows studying the spreading of an invading species across a complex landscape made of variously suitable areas and dispersal barriers. This model was applied to the history of Ibex reintroduction in Bernese Alps (Switzerland). SIM-Ibex is now used by governmental wildlife managers to prepare and verify culling plans. Biomapper has been applied to several species (both plants and animals) all around the World. In the same way, whilst HexaSpace was originally designed for terrestrial animal species, it could be easily extended to model plant propagation or flying animals dispersal. As these softwares were designed to proceed from low-level data to build a complex realistic model and as they benefit from an intuitive user-interface, they may have many conservation applications. Moreover, theoretical questions in the fields of population and landscape ecology might also be addressed by these approaches.

Linking the population genetics and ecology of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Résumé Les champignons endomycorhiziens arbusculaires (CEA) ont co-évolué avec les plantes terrestres depuis plus de 400 millions d'années. De nos jours, les CEA forment une symbiose avec les racines de la majorité des plantes terrestres. Les CEA sont écologiquement importants parce qu'ils influencent non seulement la croissance des plantes, mais aussi leur diversité. Les CEA sont des biotrophes obligatoires qui reçoivent leur énergie sous forme de glucides issus de la photosynthèse des plantes. En contrepartie, les CEA apportent à leurs hôtes du phospore. Les CEA croissent et se reproduisent clonalement en formant des hyphes et des spores. De plus, les CEA sont coenocytiques et multigénomiques; le cytoplasme d'un CEA contient des noyeaux génétiquement différents. De nombreuses études ont démontré que différentes espèces de CEA agissent différentiellement sur la croissance des plantes. Malgré une conscience de plus en plus forte de l'existence d'une variabilité intraspécifique, la question de savoir si les populations de CEA sont génétiquement variables a été largement négligée. Dans le Chapitre 2, j'ai cherché à savoir si une population de CEA provenant d'un seul champ possède une diversité génétique. Cette étude a mis en évidence une importante variation génétique et phénotypique au sein d'individus de la même population. Des différences au niveau de traits de croissance, héritables et liés à la valeur sélective, indiquent que la variation génétique observée entre isolats n'est pas entièrement neutre. Dans le Chapitre 3, je montre que les différences génétiques entre isolats de CEA d'une population provoquent de la variation dans la croissance des plantes. L'effet des isolats dépend des conditions environnementales et varie de bénéfique à parasitique. Dans le Chapitre 4, je montre que des traits de croissance de CEA varient significativement dans des environnements contrastés. J'ai détecté de fortes interactions entre différents génotypes de CEA et différentes espèces de plantes. Ceci suggère que dans un environnement hétérogène, la sélection pourrait localement favoriser différents génotypes de CEA, maintenant ainsi la diversité génétique dans la population. Les résultats de ce travail aident à mieux comprendre l'importance écologique de la variation intraspécifique des CEA. La possibilité de pouvoir cultiver des individus d'une population de CEA au laboratoire nous a permis une meilleure compréhension de la génétique de ces champignons. De plus, ce travail est une base pour de futures expériences visant à comprendre l'importance évolutive de la diversité intraspécifique des CEA. Abstract Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (A1VIF) have co-evolved with land plants -for over 400 million years. Today, AMF form symbioses with roots of most land plants and are ecologically important because they alter plant growth and affect plant diversity. AMF are obligate biotrophs, obtaining their energy in form of plant-derived photosynthates. In return,- they supply their host plants with phosphorous. These fungi grow and reproduce clonally by hyphae and spores. They are coenocytic and multigenomic, harbouring genetically different nuclei in a common cytoplasm. Many studies have shown different AMF species differentially alter plant growth. Despite the increasing awareness of intraspecific variability the question whether there is any genetic variation among different individuals of the same population has been largely neglected. In Chapter 2, we investigated whether there is genetic diversity in a field population of the AMF G. intraradices. This work revealed that large genetic and heritable phenotypic variation exists in this AMF population. Differences in fitness-related growth traits among isolates suggest that some of the observed genetic variation is not selectively neutral. In Chapter 3, we show that genetic differences among isolates from the same population also cause variation in plant growth. The isolate effects on plant growth depended on the environmental conditions and varied from beneficial to detrimental. In Chapter 4, fitnessrelated growth traits of genetically different isolates were significantly altered in contrasting environments. we detected strong AMF isolate by host species interacfions which suggests that in a heterogeneous environment selection could locally favour different AMF genotypes, thereby maintaining high genetic diversity in the population. The results of this work contribute to the understanding of the ecological importance of intraspecific diversity in AMF. The possibility of culturing individuals of an AMF field population under laboratory condition gave new insights into AMF genetics and lays a foundation for future studies to analyse the evolutionary significance of intraspecific genetic diversity in AMF.

Development of filter media treatments for liquid filtration

Woven monofilament, multifilament, and spun yarn filter media have long been the standard media in liquid filtration equipment. While the energy for a solid-liquid separation process is determined by the engineering work, it is the interface between the slurry and the equipment - the filter media - that greatly affects the performance characteristics of the unit operation. Those skilled in the art are well aware that a poorly designed filter medium may endanger the whole operation, whereas well-performing filter media can make the operation smooth and economical. As the mineral and pulp producers seek to produce ever finer and more refined fractions of their products, it is becoming increasingly important to be able to dewater slurries with average particle sizes around 1 ¿m using conventional, high-capacity filtration equipment. Furthermore, the surface properties of the media must not allow sticky and adhesive particles to adhere to the media. The aim of this thesis was to test how the dirt-repellency, electrical resistance and highpressure filtration performance of selected woven filter media can be improved by modifying the fabric or yarn with coating, chemical treatment and calendering. The results achieved by chemical surface treatments clearly show that the woven media surface properties can be modified to achieve lower electrical resistance and improved dirt-repellency. The main challenge with the chemical treatments is the abrasion resistance and, while the experimental results indicate that the treatment is sufficiently permanent to resist standard weathering conditions, they may still prove to be inadequately strong in terms of actual use.From the pressure filtration studies in this work, it seems obvious that the conventional woven multifilament fabrics still perform surprisingly well against the coated media in terms of filtrate clarity and cake build-up. Especially in cases where the feed slurry concentration was low and the pressures moderate, the conventional media seemed to outperform the coated media. In the cases where thefeed slurry concentration was high, the tightly woven media performed well against the monofilament reference fabrics, but seemed to do worse than some of the coated media. This result is somewhat surprising in that the high initial specific resistance of the coated media would suggest that the media will blind more easily than the plain woven media. The results indicate, however, that it is actually the woven media that gradually clogs during the coarse of filtration. In conclusion, it seems obvious that there is a pressure limit above which the woven media looses its capacity to keep the solid particles from penetrating the structure. This finding suggests that for extreme pressures the only foreseeable solution is the coated fabrics supported by a strong enough woven fabric to hold thestructure together. Having said that, the high pressure filtration process seems to follow somewhat different laws than the more conventional processes. Based on the results, it may well be that the role of the cloth is most of all to support the cake, and the main performance-determining factor is a long life time. Measuring the pore size distribution with a commercially available porometer gives a fairly accurate picture of the pore size distribution of a fabric, but failsto give insight into which of the pore sizes is the most important in determining the flow through the fabric. Historically air, and sometimes water, permeability measures have been the standard in evaluating media filtration performance including particle retention. Permeability, however, is a function of a multitudeof variables and does not directly allow the estimation of the effective pore size. In this study a new method for estimating the effective pore size and open pore area in a densely woven multifilament fabric was developed. The method combines a simplified equation of the electrical resistance of fabric with the Hagen-Poiseuille flow equation to estimate the effective pore size of a fabric and the total open area of pores. The results are validated by comparison to the measured values of the largest pore size (Bubble point) and the average pore size. The results show good correlation with measured values. However, the measured and estimated values tend to diverge in high weft density fabrics. This phenomenon is thought to be a result of a more tortuous flow path of denser fabrics, and could most probably be cured by using another value for the tortuosity factor.

La "Materia de Bretaña" en las culturas hispánicas de la Edad Media y el Renacimiento : textos, ediciones y estudios

La publicación en 1977 de "A critical bibliography of Hispanic Arthurial material", de Harvey L. Sharrer (Londres, Grant & Cutler) contribuyó a un mejor conocimiento de los textos conservados, ediciones y estudios de la literatura artúrica y tristaniana medieval en España y Portugal. Treinta años después, este artículo amplía los contenidos de aquel volumen, al recoger los resultados del descubrimiento de nuevos testimonios y de las últimas investigaciones sobre este ámbito, en lengua catalana, gallego-portuguesa y castellana de la Edad Media.

Testing a new multigroup inference approach to reconstructing past environmental conditions

A new, quantitative, inference model for environmental reconstruction (transfer function), based for the first time on the simultaneous analysis of multigroup species, has been developed. Quantitative reconstructions based on palaeoecological transfer functions provide a powerful tool for addressing questions of environmental change in a wide range of environments, from oceans to mountain lakes, and over a range of timescales, from decades to millions of years. Much progress has been made in the development of inferences based on multiple proxies but usually these have been considered separately, and the different numeric reconstructions compared and reconciled post-hoc. This paper presents a new method to combine information from multiple biological groups at the reconstruction stage. The aim of the multigroup work was to test the potential of the new approach to making improved inferences of past environmental change by improving upon current reconstruction methodologies. The taxonomic groups analysed include diatoms, chironomids and chrysophyte cysts. We test the new methodology using two cold-environment training-sets, namely mountain lakes from the Pyrenees and the Alps. The use of multiple groups, as opposed to single groupings, was only found to increase the reconstruction skill slightly, as measured by the root mean square error of prediction (leave-one-out cross-validation), in the case of alkalinity, dissolved inorganic carbon and altitude (a surrogate for air-temperature), but not for pH or dissolved CO2. Reasons why the improvement was less than might have been anticipated are discussed. These can include the different life-forms, environmental responses and reaction times of the groups under study.

Assessment of the water chemistry and the macroinvertebrate community changes produced during the creation of the new Llobregat river mouth (Barcelona, NE Spain)

In 1999, a set of coordinated projects and investments whose principal objective was to transform Barcelona into one of the main distribution points of southern Europe resulted in the relocation of the Llobregat River mouth. The mouth was relocated by draining the old river mouth and constructing a new one. The aim of this study was to characterise the physico-chemical properties and the aquatic macroinvertebrate communities of the new river mouth and to monitor the changes experienced by the estuarine environment during its creation. A sampling point was established in the river 1.8 km upstream from its connection with the new mouth, and two sampling points were established in the new mouth. Samples of water and macroinvertebrates were collected every two months from May 2004 to June 2005, covering the periods before (from May to September 2004) and after (from September 2004 to June 2005) the new mouth was connected to the river and the sea. During the period before its connection to the river and the sea, the new mouth was functionally similar to a lagoon, with clear waters, charophytes and a rich invertebrate community. After the connection was completed, seawater penetrated the river mouth and extended to the connection point with the river (approximately 3.9 km upstream). An increase in conductivity from 4-6 mS cm 1 to 24-30 mS cm 1 caused important changes in the macroinvertebrate community of the new mouth. An initial defaunation was followed by a colonisation of the new mouth by brackish-water and marine invertebrate species. Due to its design (which allows the penetration of the sea) and the decreased discharge from the lower part of the Llobregat River, the new mouth has become an arm of the sea

Handling of TDM Connections with Cello Media Gateway

UMTS is a 3rd generation telecommunication system, which introduces new network architecture. The change in the network architecture introduces new logical network nodes and changes the role of existing nodes in the network. This architecture changes the current vertically specialized network into a horizontally layered structure. In practice, the layering means that different levels in network hierarchy are separated, and they communicate over well-specified interfaces. The Connectivity Layer, at the bottom of the UMTS network architecture, contains Media Gateways (MGW). The GSM radio access network and UMTS access network are connected to the connectivity network via a MGW. External networks, e.g. ISDN networks, are accessed via other MGWs. The user plane is transported across the connectivity network between/via MGWs. ATM network is used as the backbone in Ericsson’s UMTS core network release 2.0. The main goal of this thesis is to study how the MGW is used to bridge ATM and TDM networks. The Circuit Emulation Service (CES) for ATM is studied, as the conversion from TDM to ATM is made according it. The transportation is made using AAL2 and the issues that it has with voice traffic are studied. The implementation and usage of TDM switching service in MGW are described in detail.

Java Mobile Media API porting in Symbian Operating System

Työssä tutkitaan, kuinka Symbian käyttöjärjestelmälle voidaan tehdä siirrettäviä ohjelmia. Työssä käydään läpi menetelmiä, jotka helpottavat ohjelmistojen siirrettävyyttä uudelle alustalle. Uuteen älypuhelimeen voi tulla monia uusia komponentteja. Laite voi muuttua piiritasolla, käyttöjärjestelmästä voi tulla uusi versio sekä siirrettävästä ohjelmasta voi tulla uusi versio. Kaikki nämä vaikuttavat ohjelman siirrettävyyteen. Työssä tehtiin Java-rajapinnan siirto uudelle alustalle. Prosessin aikana löydettiin tärkeitä tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat ohjelmiston siirrettävyyteen. Siirrettävyys sinänsä pitäisi ottaa huomioon ohjelmistoprosessin jokaisessa vaiheessa. Älypuhelimista tulee jatkuvasti uusia versioita. Tämä tekee ohjelmien siirrettävyydestä hyvin tärkeän tekijän ohjelmistojen suunnittelussa. Hyvin suunniteltu ohjelma on helpompi ylläpitää, päivättää ja siirtää myöhemmin.

Transmedia Storytelling: Implicit Consumers, Narrative Worlds, and Branding in Contemporary Media Production

Many concepts have been developed to describe the convergence of media, languages, and formats in contemporary media systems. This article is a theoretical reflection on “transmedia storytelling” from a perspective that integrates semiotics and narratology in the context of media studies. After dealing with the conceptual chaos around transmedia storytelling, the article analyzes how these new multimodal narrative structures create different implicit consumers and construct a narrative world. The analysis includes a description of the multimedia textual structure created around the Fox television series 24. Finally, the article analyzes transmedia storytelling from the perspective of a semiotics of branding.

Localisation of B2C Marketing Communications on the Internet. Case: New Product Launch

Tavoitteena on tutkia kuluttajille suunnatun markkinointiviestinnän lokalisointia Internetissä uuden tuotteen lanseerauksen yhteydessä. Vaikka Internet on globaali media, sen haasteena on tarjota paikallisesti kuluttajille merkityksellistä sisältöä, sekä ylläpitää yhtenäistä brandia. Tutkimus on toteutettu deskriptiivisenä tapaustutkimuksena globaalissa tietoliikenneyrityksessä, ja se perustuu haastatteluihin sekä valmiiseen aineistoon. Lyhentyneet kulutuselektroniikan elinkaaret, nopeat tuotelanseeraukset, kasvava yhteistyö ulkopuolisten kumppanien kanssa sekä markkinointiviestinnän integraation tarve aiheuttavat ajoitusongelmia lokalisointiin. Yhtenäinen web infrastruktuuri, työkalut ja globaalit prosessit mahdollistavat kustannustehokkaan lokalisoinnin business-tilanteen muuttuessa ja kultturieroista johtuen. Tässä tutkimuksessa on selvitetty neljän tekijän (ympäristö, tuote, kuluttaja, organisaatiostrategia) vaikutusta lokalisointiin. Jotta maiden parhaita menettelytapoja voidaan hyödyntää nykyistä paremmin ja välttää kultturierojen sivuuttaminen, tarvitaan sekä ’virallista’ että vapaamuotoista seurantaa. Globaalin Internet-sivuston ja lukuisten kansallisten sivustojen ylläpitäminen vaatii Internet-sivustojen fokuksen tarkkaa noudattamista, globaalia segmentointia, ja sen mukaista sisällön tarjontaa kuluttajille.