Spherical nonparametric estimators applied to the UGAMP model integration for AMIP

The aim of this paper is essentially twofold: first, to describe the use of spherical nonparametric estimators for determining statistical diagnostic fields from ensembles of feature tracks on a global domain, and second, to report the application of these techniques to data derived from a modern general circulation model. New spherical kernel functions are introduced that are more efficiently computed than the traditional exponential kernels. The data-driven techniques of cross-validation to determine the amount elf smoothing objectively, and adaptive smoothing to vary the smoothing locally, are also considered. Also introduced are techniques for combining seasonal statistical distributions to produce longer-term statistical distributions. Although all calculations are performed globally, only the results for the Northern Hemisphere winter (December, January, February) and Southern Hemisphere winter (June, July, August) cyclonic activity are presented, discussed, and compared with previous studies. Overall, results for the two hemispheric winters are in good agreement with previous studies, both for model-based studies and observational studies.

Investigating early hominin dispersal patterns: developing a framework for climate data integration

An investigation using the Stepping Out model of early hominin dispersal out of Africa is presented here. The late arrival of early hominins into Europe, as deduced from the fossil record, is shown to be consistent with poor ability of these hominins to survive in the Eurasian landscape. The present study also extends the understanding of modelling results from the original study by Mithen and Reed (2002. Stepping out: a computer simulation of hominid dispersal from Africa. J. Hum. Evol. 43, 433-462). The representation of climate and vegetation patterns has been improved through the use of climate model output. This study demonstrates that interpretative confidence may be strengthened, and new insights gained when climate models and hominin dispersal models are integrated. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How could construction supply chain benefit from RFID/GPS integration: a knowledge management perspective

Construction materials and equipment are essential building blocks of every construction project and may account for 50-60 per cent of the total cost of construction. The rate of their utilization, on the other hand, is the element that most directly relates to a project progress. A growing concern in the industry that inadequate efficiency hinders its success could thus be accommodated by turning construction into a logistic process. Although mostly limited, recent attempts and studies show that Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) applications have significant potentials in construction. However, the aim of this research is to show that the technology itself should not only be used for automation and tracking to overcome the supply chain complexity but also as a tool to generate, record and exchange process-related knowledge among the supply chain stakeholders. This would enable all involved parties to identify and understand consequences of any forthcoming difficulties and react accordingly before they cause major disruptions in the construction process. In order to achieve this aim the study focuses on a number of methods. First of all it develops a generic understanding of how RFID technology has been used in logistic processes in industrial supply chain management. Secondly, it investigates recent applications of RFID as an information and communication technology support facility in construction logistics for the management of construction supply chain. Based on these the study develops an improved concept of a construction logistics architecture that explicitly relies on integrating RFID with the Global Positioning System (GPS). The developed conceptual model architecture shows that categorisation provided through RFID and traceability as a result of RFID/GPS integration could be used as a tool to identify, record and share potential problems and thus vastly improve knowledge management processes within the entire supply chain. The findings thus clearly show a need for future research in this area.

Minimum aberration construction results for nonregular two-level fractional factorial designs

Nonregular two-level fractional factorial designs are designs which cannot be specified in terms of a set of defining contrasts. The aliasing properties of nonregular designs can be compared by using a generalisation of the minimum aberration criterion called minimum G2-aberration.Until now, the only nontrivial designs that are known to have minimum G2-aberration are designs for n runs and m n–5 factors. In this paper, a number of construction results are presented which allow minimum G2-aberration designs to be found for many of the cases with n = 16, 24, 32, 48, 64 and 96 runs and m n/2–2 factors.

Making ecological science policy relevant: issues of scale and disciplinary integration

In this paper, we ask why so much ecological scientific research does not have a greater policy impact in the UK. We argue that there are two potentially important and related reasons for this failing. First, much current ecological science is not being conducted at a scale that is readily meaningful to policy-makers. Second, to make much of this research policy-relevant requires collaborative interdisciplinary research between ecologists and social scientists. However, the challenge of undertaking useful interdisciplinary research only re-emphasises the problems of scale: ecologists and social scientists traditionally frame their research questions at different scales and consider different facets of natural resource management, setting different objectives and using different language. We argue that if applied ecological research is to have greater impact in informing environmental policy, much greater attention needs to be given to the scale of the research efforts as well as to the interaction with social scientists. Such an approach requires an adjustment in existing research and funding infrastructures.

Some theory for constructing minimum aberration fractional factorial designs

Minimum aberration is the most established criterion for selecting a regular fractional factorial design of maximum resolution. Minimum aberration designs for n runs and n/2 less than or equal to m < n factors have previously been constructed using the novel idea of complementary designs. In this paper, an alternative method of construction is developed by relating the wordlength pattern of designs to the so-called 'confounding between experimental runs'. This allows minimum aberration designs to be constructed for n runs and 5n/16 less than or equal to m less than or equal to n/2 factors as well as for n/2 less than or equal to m < n.