WorldWideScience

Sample records for island biogeography revisited

  1. Equilibrium theory of island biogeography: A review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angela D. Yu; Simon A. Lei

    2001-01-01

    The topography, climatic pattern, location, and origin of islands generate unique patterns of species distribution. The equilibrium theory of island biogeography creates a general framework in which the study of taxon distribution and broad island trends may be conducted. Critical components of the equilibrium theory include the species-area relationship, island-...

  2. The general dynamic model of island biogeography revisited on the level of major plant families

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lenzner, Bernd; Beierkuhnlein, Carl; Patrick, Weigelt

    2017-01-01

    Aim: The general dynamic model (GDM) proposed by Whittaker et al. (2008) is a widely accepted theoretical framework in island biogeography. In this study, we explore whether GDM predictions hold when overall plant diversity is deconstructed into major plant families. Location: 101 islands from 14...... oceanic archipelagos worldwide. Methods: Occurrence data for all species of nine large, cosmopolitan flowering plant families were used to test predictions derived from the GDM. We analyzed the effects of island area and age on species richness as well as number and percentage of single-island endemic...... species per family using mixed-effect models. Results: Total species and endemic richness as well as the percentage of endemic species showed a hump-shaped relationship with island age. The overall pattern was mainly driven by few species-rich plant families. Varying patterns were found for individual...

  3. The reticulating phylogeny of island biogeography theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lomolino, Mark V; Brown, James H

    2009-12-01

    Biogeographers study all patterns in the geographic variation of life, from the spatial variation in genetic and physiological characteristics of cells and individuals, to the diversity and dynamics of biological communities among continental biotas or across oceanic archipelagoes. The field of island biogeography, in particular, has provided some genuinely transformative insights for the biological sciences, especially ecology and evolutionary biology. Our purpose here is to review the historical development of island biogeography theory during the 20th century by identifying the common threads that run through four sets of contributions made during this period, including those by Eugene Gordon Munroe (1948, 1953), Edward O. Wilson (1959, 1961), Frank W. Preston (1962a,b), and the seminal collaborations between Wilson and Robert H. MacArthur (1963, 1967), which revolutionized the field and served as its paradigm for nearly four decades. This epistemological account not only reviews the intriguing history of island theory, but it also includes fundamental lessons for advancing science through transformative integrations. Indeed, as is likely the case with many disciplines, island theory advanced not as a simple accumulation of facts and an orderly succession of theories and paradigms, but rather in fits and starts through a reticulating phylogeny of ideas and alternating periods of specialization and reintegration. We conclude this review with a summary of the salient features of this scientific revolution in the contest of Kuhn's structure, which strongly influenced theoretical advances during this period, and we then describe some of the fundamental assumptions and tenets of an emerging reintegration of island biogeography theory.

  4. Island biogeography of marine organisms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinheiro, Hudson T.; Bernardi, Giacomo; Simon, Thiony; Joyeux, Jean-Christophe; Macieira, Raphael M.; Gasparini, João Luiz; Rocha, Claudia; Rocha, Luiz A.

    2017-09-01

    Studies on the distribution and evolution of organisms on oceanic islands have advanced towards a dynamic perspective, where terrestrial endemicity results from island geographical aspects and geological history intertwined with sea-level fluctuations. Diversification on these islands may follow neutral models, decreasing over time as niches are filled, or disequilibrium states and progression rules, where richness and endemism rise with the age of the archipelago owing to the splitting of ancestral lineages (cladogenesis). However, marine organisms have received comparatively little scientific attention. Therefore, island and seamount evolutionary processes in the aquatic environment remain unclear. Here we analyse the evolutionary history of reef fishes that are endemic to a volcanic ridge of seamounts and islands to understand their relations to island evolution and sea-level fluctuations. We also test how this evolutionary history fits island biogeography theory. We found that most endemic species have evolved recently (Pleistocene epoch), during a period of recurrent sea-level changes and intermittent connectivity caused by repeated aerial exposure of seamounts, a finding that is consistent with an ephemeral ecological speciation process. Similar to findings for terrestrial biodiversity, our data suggest that the marine speciation rate on islands is negatively correlated with immigration rate. However, because marine species disperse better than terrestrial species, most niches are filled by immigration: speciation increases with the random accumulation of species with low dispersal ability, with few opportunities for in situ cladogenesis and adaptive radiation. Moreover, we confirm that sea-level fluctuations and seamount location play a critical role in marine evolution, mainly by intermittently providing stepping stones for island colonization.

  5. Models of oceanic island biogeography: changing perspectives on biodiversity dynamics in archipelagoes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lawrence R Heaney

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Models of biogeographic processes can both enhance and inhibit our ability to ask questions that guide our understanding of patterns and processes. The two ‘traditional’ models of island biogeography, the Equilibrium Model and the Vicariance Model, raise important and insightful questions about relevant processes, but both fail to raise many crucial questions. An example involving the non-volant mammals of the Philippine archipelago shows that both models highlight some, but not all, relevant patterns and processes. The more recently proposed General Dynamic Model successfully combines many of the positive aspects of the two traditional models, but leaves some important questions unasked. We pose a number of questions here that may help guide further development of models of island biogeography.

  6. Introduction to the Arizona Sky Island Arthropod Project (ASAP): Systematics, biogeography, ecology, and population genetics of arthropods of the Madrean Sky Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wendy Moore; Wallace M. Meyer; Jeffrey A. Eble; Kimberly Franklin; John F. Wiens; Richard C. Brusca

    2013-01-01

    The Arizona Sky Island Arthropod Project (ASAP) is a new multi-disciplinary research program at the University of Arizona that combines systematics, biogeography, ecology, and population genetics to study origins and patterns of arthropod diversity along elevation gradients and among mountain ranges in the Madrean Sky Island Region. Arthropods represent taxonomically...

  7. Extensions of Island Biogeography Theory predict the scaling of functional trait composition with habitat area and isolation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacquet, Claire; Mouillot, David; Kulbicki, Michel; Gravel, Dominique

    2017-02-01

    The Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) predicts how area and isolation influence species richness equilibrium on insular habitats. However, the TIB remains silent about functional trait composition and provides no information on the scaling of functional diversity with area, an observation that is now documented in many systems. To fill this gap, we develop a probabilistic approach to predict the distribution of a trait as a function of habitat area and isolation, extending the TIB beyond the traditional species-area relationship. We compare model predictions to the body-size distribution of piscivorous and herbivorous fishes found on tropical reefs worldwide. We find that small and isolated reefs have a higher proportion of large-sized species than large and connected reefs. We also find that knowledge of species body-size and trophic position improves the predictions of fish occupancy on tropical reefs, supporting both the allometric and trophic theory of island biogeography. The integration of functional ecology to island biogeography is broadly applicable to any functional traits and provides a general probabilistic approach to study the scaling of trait distribution with habitat area and isolation. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  8. Island biogeography and landscape structure: Integrating ecological concepts in a landscape perspective of anthropogenic impacts in temporary wetlands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angeler, David G.; Alvarez-Cobelas, Miguel

    2005-01-01

    Although our understanding of environmental risk assessment in temporary wetlands has been improved by the use of multi-species toxicity testing, we still know little of how landscape variables mediate the strength of, and recovery from, anthropogenic stress in such ecosystems. To bridge this research gap, we provide a theoretical framework of the response of temporary wetlands to anthropogenic disturbance along a habitat-isolation continuum based on island biogeography theory, landscape ecology and dispersal and colonization strategies of temporary wetland organisms. - Environmental risk assessment in temporary wetlands may benefit from consideration of island biogeography theory and landscape structure

  9. Revisiting the Metaphor of the Island: Challenging "World Culture" from an Island Misunderstood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rappleye, Jeremy

    2015-01-01

    This article revisits the newly "discovered" island that world culture theorists have repeatedly utilised to explain their theoretical stance, conceptual preferences and methodological approach. Yet, it seeks to (re)connect world culture with the real world by replacing their imagined atoll with a real one--the island-nation of Japan. In…

  10. Conference program and abstracts. International Biogeography Society 6th Biennial Meeting – 9-13 January 2013, Miami, Florida, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joaquín Hortal

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Proceedings of the Sixth biennial conference of the International Biogeography Society, an international and interdisciplinary society contributing to the advancement of all studies of the geography of nature. Held at Miami, Florida, USA, 9 – 13 January 2013.Abstracts include:(i the Opening, MacArthur & Wilson Award and Alfred Russel Award Plenary Lectures;(ii four symposia entitled "Island Biogeography: New Syntheses", "Beyond Bergmann: New perspectives on the biogeography of traits", "The Convergence of Conservation Paleontology and Biogeography" and "Predicting species and biodiversity in a warmer world: are we doing a good job?";(iii oral presentations from contributed papers on Phylogeography, Marine Biogeography, Biogeography of the Anthropocene, Hot Topics in biogeography, Island Biogeography, Neotropical Biogeography, Global Change Biogeography, Historical and Paleo-biogeography, Conservation Biogeography and Global-Scale Biogeography; and(iv contributions presented as posters on Phylogeography, Geospatial techniques and land cover, Biodiversity gradients and macroecology, Biogeography of traits, Island Biogeography, Neotropical Biogeography, Conservation Biogeography, Disturbance and Disease Biogeography, Climate Change Biogeography and Historical and Paleo-Biogeography.

  11. Island biogeography

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Whittaker, Robert James; Fernández-Palacios, José María; Matthews, Thomas J.

    2017-01-01

    Islands provide classic model biological systems. We review how growing appreciation of geoenvironmental dynamics of marine islands has led to advances in island biogeographic theory accommodating both evolutionary and ecological phenomena. Recognition of distinct island geodynamics permits gener...

  12. Biogeography in Cellana (Patellogastropoda, Nacellidae with Special Emphasis on the Relationships of Southern Hemisphere Oceanic Island Species.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudio A González-Wevar

    Full Text Available Oceanic islands lacking connections to other land are extremely isolated from sources of potential colonists and have acquired their biota mainly through dispersal from geographically distant areas. Hence, isolated island biota constitutes interesting models to infer biogeographical mechanisms of dispersal, colonization, differentiation, and speciation. Limpets of the genus Cellana (Nacellidae: Patellogastropoda show limited dispersal capacity but are broadly distributed across the Indo-Pacific including many endemic species in isolated oceanic islands. Here, we examined main distributional patterns and geographic boundaries among Cellana lineages with special emphasis in the relationships of Southern Hemisphere oceanic islands species. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on mtDNA (COI recognized three main clades in Cellana including taxa from different provinces of the Indo-Pacific. Clear genetic discontinuities characterize the biogeography of Cellana and several lineages are associated to particular areas of the Indo-Pacific supporting the low dispersal capacity of the genus across recognized biogeographical barriers in the region. However, evolutionary relationships within Cellana suggest that long-distance dispersal processes have been common in the history of the genus and probably associated to the origin of the species in Hawaii and Juan Fernández Archipelago. Therefore, the presence of Cellana species in geographically distant Southern Hemisphere oceanic islands, such as the Juan Fernández Archipelago, suggests that long-distance dispersal mediated by rafting may have played an important role in the biogeography of the genus.

  13. Biogeography in Cellana (Patellogastropoda, Nacellidae) with Special Emphasis on the Relationships of Southern Hemisphere Oceanic Island Species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakano, Tomoyuki; Palma, Alvaro; Poulin, Elie

    2017-01-01

    Oceanic islands lacking connections to other land are extremely isolated from sources of potential colonists and have acquired their biota mainly through dispersal from geographically distant areas. Hence, isolated island biota constitutes interesting models to infer biogeographical mechanisms of dispersal, colonization, differentiation, and speciation. Limpets of the genus Cellana (Nacellidae: Patellogastropoda) show limited dispersal capacity but are broadly distributed across the Indo-Pacific including many endemic species in isolated oceanic islands. Here, we examined main distributional patterns and geographic boundaries among Cellana lineages with special emphasis in the relationships of Southern Hemisphere oceanic islands species. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on mtDNA (COI) recognized three main clades in Cellana including taxa from different provinces of the Indo-Pacific. Clear genetic discontinuities characterize the biogeography of Cellana and several lineages are associated to particular areas of the Indo-Pacific supporting the low dispersal capacity of the genus across recognized biogeographical barriers in the region. However, evolutionary relationships within Cellana suggest that long-distance dispersal processes have been common in the history of the genus and probably associated to the origin of the species in Hawaii and Juan Fernández Archipelago. Therefore, the presence of Cellana species in geographically distant Southern Hemisphere oceanic islands, such as the Juan Fernández Archipelago, suggests that long-distance dispersal mediated by rafting may have played an important role in the biogeography of the genus. PMID:28099466

  14. The effects of biogeography on ant diversity and activity on the Boston Harbor Islands, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Adam T; Rykken, Jessica J; Farrell, Brian D

    2011-01-01

    Many studies have examined how island biogeography affects diversity on the scale of island systems. In this study, we address how diversity varies over very short periods of time on individual islands. To do this, we compile an inventory of the ants living in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Boston, Massachusetts, USA using data from a five-year All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory of the region's arthropods. Consistent with the classical theory of island biogeography, species richness increased with island size, decreased with island isolation, and remained relatively constant over time. Additionally, our inventory finds that almost half of the known Massachusetts ant fauna can be collected in the BHI, and identifies four new species records for Massachusetts, including one new to the United States, Myrmica scabrinodis. We find that the number of species actually active on islands depended greatly on the timescale under consideration. The species that could be detected during any given week of sampling could by no means account for total island species richness, even when correcting for sampling effort. Though we consistently collected the same number of species over any given week of sampling, the identities of those species varied greatly between weeks. This variation does not result from local immigration and extinction of species, nor from seasonally-driven changes in the abundance of individual species, but rather from weekly changes in the distribution and activity of foraging ants. This variation can be upwards of 50% of ant species per week. This suggests that numerous ant species on the BHI share the same physical space at different times. This temporal partitioning could well explain such unexpectedly high ant diversity in an isolated, urban site.

  15. The effects of biogeography on ant diversity and activity on the Boston Harbor Islands, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam T Clark

    Full Text Available Many studies have examined how island biogeography affects diversity on the scale of island systems. In this study, we address how diversity varies over very short periods of time on individual islands. To do this, we compile an inventory of the ants living in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Boston, Massachusetts, USA using data from a five-year All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory of the region's arthropods. Consistent with the classical theory of island biogeography, species richness increased with island size, decreased with island isolation, and remained relatively constant over time. Additionally, our inventory finds that almost half of the known Massachusetts ant fauna can be collected in the BHI, and identifies four new species records for Massachusetts, including one new to the United States, Myrmica scabrinodis. We find that the number of species actually active on islands depended greatly on the timescale under consideration. The species that could be detected during any given week of sampling could by no means account for total island species richness, even when correcting for sampling effort. Though we consistently collected the same number of species over any given week of sampling, the identities of those species varied greatly between weeks. This variation does not result from local immigration and extinction of species, nor from seasonally-driven changes in the abundance of individual species, but rather from weekly changes in the distribution and activity of foraging ants. This variation can be upwards of 50% of ant species per week. This suggests that numerous ant species on the BHI share the same physical space at different times. This temporal partitioning could well explain such unexpectedly high ant diversity in an isolated, urban site.

  16. Examining Relationships of Destination Image, Service Quality, e-WOM, and Revisit Intention to Sabang Island, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rangga Restu Prayogo

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to study the relationship among destination image, service quality, e-WOM, and revisit intentions in the tourism industry. A questionnaire given to tourists who visit one of the farrest island in western part of Indonesia, Sabang Island and using sampling through the convenience sampling. A structural equation model (SEM test with WarpPLS 3.0 was used to test the relationship between research variables. This research gathered from 150 respondents. The empirical results from PLS-SEM showed that; the destination image positive affect e-WOM and revisit intention; service quality affect e-WOM and revisit intention; e-WOM positive affect to revisit intention tourists. The implications and future research issues were discussed.

  17. A second horizon scan of biogeography

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dawson, Michael N.; Axmacher, Jan C.; Beierkuhnlein, Carl

    2016-01-01

    (particularly bird and mammal), and geographic (e.g., island, montane) studies of the 1800s. That core is being enriched by large datasets (e.g. of environmental variables, 'omics', species' occurrences, traits) and new techniques (e.g., advances in genetics, remote sensing, modeling) that promote studies...... traditional biogeography journals to multidisciplinary or open access journals. Thus, there are currently many opportunities and challenges as biogeography increasingly addresses human impacts on, and stewardship of, the planet (e.g., Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem...

  18. Introduction to the Arizona Sky Island Arthropod Project (ASAP): Systematics, Biogeography, Ecology, and Population Genetics of Arthropods of the Madrean Sky Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Wendy; Meyer, Wallace M; Eble, Jeffrey A; Franklin, Kimberly; Wiens, John F; Brusca, Richard C

    2013-01-01

    The Arizona Sky Island Arthropod Project (ASAP) is a new multi-disciplinary research program at the University of Arizona that combines systematics, biogeography, ecology, and population genetics to study origins and patterns of arthropod diversity along elevation gradients and among mountain ranges in the Madrean Sky Island Region. Arthropods represent taxonomically and ecologically diverse organisms that drive key ecosystem processes in this mountain archipelago. Using data from museum specimens and specimens we obtain during long-term collecting and monitoring programs, ASAP will document arthropod species across Arizona's Sky Islands to address a number of fundamental questions about arthropods of this region. Baseline data will be used to determine climatic boundaries for target species, which will then be integrated with climatological models to predict future changes in arthropod communities and distributions in the wake of rapid climate change. ASAP also makes use of the natural laboratory provided by the Sky Islands to investigate ecological and genetic factors that influence diversification and patterns of community assembly. Here, we introduce the project, outline overarching goals, and describe preliminary data from the first year of sampling ground-dwelling beetles and ants in the Santa Catalina Mountains.

  19. Biogeography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quattrochi, Dale A.; Arnold, James E. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    As a field of study, biogeography may be considered a bricolage - it has been constructed from many different facets from an array of research disciplines including biology, botany, zoology, geography, and geology. Biogeography focuses on the study of the constantly changing ranges of plants and animals, over multitude of space and time scales. It also includes the study of the structure and dynamics of biotic communities and ecosystems as they relate to both natural and anthropogenic processes. As it exists today, biogeography is an interdisciplinary research area founded in both the biological and Earth sciences. From a purely biological perspective, biogeography may be perceived as one of two types of studies: 1. biotic distributions and broad scales, and interpretations of the evolutionary and dispersal history of a single taxon or a few taxa; or 2. biotic distributions at local-to-regional scales, and interpretations of these distributions in relation to contemporary environments and rates of immigration or extinction. The first type of study is what is most usually associated with the term "biogeography" as disciplinary research field. It is conventionally termed "classical biogeography" because it reflects the continuity of research foci on which biogeography was founded in the nineteenth-century. The second type of biogeographical study has more modern day roots and is termed "geographical ecology" to reflect the theoretical predilections of ecologists and population biologists. Geographical ecology for all intents has become merged with ecology and exists as a sub discipline within this larger field of study.

  20. Backscatter 0.5m TIFF Mosaic of St. Croix (Buck Island), US Virgin Islands, 2004

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the north shore of Buck Island, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography...

  1. Ecology and Evolution: Islands of Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benz, Richard

    This book was designed for middle and junior high school science classes and focuses on island biogeography, ecology, and evolution. Sections include: (1) "Galapagos: Frame of Reference"; (2) "Ecology and Islands"; and (3) "Evolution." Nineteen standards-based activities use the Galapagos Islands as a running theme…

  2. NOAA TIFF Graphic- 0.5m Backscatter Mosaic of St. Croix (Buck Island), US Virgin Islands, 2004

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This geotiff represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the north shore of Buck Island, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography...

  3. NOAA TIFF Graphic- 0.5m Backscatter Mosaic of St. Croix (Buck Island), US Virgin Islands, 2004

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the north shore of Buck Island, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team...

  4. NOAA TIFF Graphic- 0.5m Backscatter Mosaic of St. Croix (Buck Island), US Virgin Islands, 2005 (NCEI Accession 0131860)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the north shore of Buck Island, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team...

  5. The effects of island ontogeny on species diversity and phylogeny

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Valente, Luis M.; Etienne, Rampal S.; Phillimore, Albert B.

    2014-01-01

    A major goal of island biogeography is to understand how island communities are assembled over time. However, we know little about the influence of variable area and ecological opportunity on island biotas over geological time-scales. Islands have limited life spans, and it has been posited that

  6. A reconstruction of Palaeo-Macaronesia, with particular reference to the long-term biogeography of the Atlantic island laurel forests

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fernández-Palacios, José María; de Nascimento, Lea; Otto, Rüdiger

    2011-01-01

    Macaronesia is a biogeographical region comprising five Atlantic Oceanic archipelagos: the Azores, Madeira, Selvagen (Savage Islands), Canaries and Cape Verde. It has strong affinities with the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula and the north-western fringes of Africa. This paper re...... the role of these archipelagos as stepping stones and as both repositories of palaeo-endemic forms and crucibles of neo-endemic radiations of plant and animal groups. Our principal focus is on the laurel forest communities, long considered impoverished relicts of the Palaeotropical Tethyan flora....... This account is therefore contextualized by reference to the long-term climatic and biogeographical history of Southern Europe and North Africa and by consideration of the implications of changes in land–sea configuration, climate and ocean circulation for Macaronesian biogeography. We go on to provide...

  7. The theory of the insular balance in biogeography and conservation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pozo, Carmen; Llorente Bousquets, Jorge

    2002-01-01

    Based on the revision of abundant bibliography, commentaries are made in relation to the eco geographical island theory proposed by Macarthur- Wilson and over its impact as well as the implications and limitations generated in the application of the theory in research related to biogeography, ecology, and conservation biology. We emphasize that the model served to stimulate a great deal of research and generate new concepts, such as Minimal Viable population (MVP)

  8. Improving the performance of the Egyptian second testing nuclear research reactor using interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller tuned by modified biogeography-based optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sayed, M.M., E-mail: M.M.Sayed@ieee.org; Saad, M.S.; Emara, H.M.; Abou El-Zahab, E.E.

    2013-09-15

    Highlights: • A modified version of the BBO was proposed. • A novel method for interval type-2 FLC design tuned by MBBO was proposed. • The performance of the ETRR-2 was improved by using IT2FLC tuned by MBBO. -- Abstract: Power stabilization is a critical issue in nuclear reactors. The conventional proportional derivative (PD) controller is currently used in the Egyptian second testing research reactor (ETRR-2). In this paper, we propose a modified biogeography-based optimization (MBBO) algorithm to design the interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller (IT2FLC) to improve the performance of the Egyptian second testing research reactor (ETRR-2). Biogeography-based optimization (BBO) is a novel evolutionary algorithm that is based on the mathematical models of biogeography. Biogeography is the study of the geographical distribution of biological organisms. In the BBO model, problem solutions are represented as islands, and the sharing of features between solutions is represented as immigration and emigration between the islands. A modified version of the BBO is applied to design the IT2FLC to get the optimal parameters of the membership functions of the controller. We test the optimal IT2FLC obtained by modified biogeography-based optimization (MBBO) using the integral square error (ISE) and is compared with the currently used PD controller.

  9. Species invasions on islands: searching for general patterns and principles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Q. Guo

    2014-01-01

    Numerous islands worldwide are being increasingly invaded by exotic species. However, the effects of invading species on native floras remain underexplored, particularly whether island biogeography theory is applicable to native, exotic, and the newly assembled floras. Inter-group comparisons across different regions or island groups through a collection of individual...

  10. An attempt to revisit the global biogeography of limno-terrestrial Tardigrada

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip J.A. PUGH

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available The major increase in distribution records of limno-terrestrial tardigrades over the last ten years has enabled us to reassess the global biogeography of the Tardigrada using cluster analysis, principal components analysis and parsimony analysis of endemism (PAE. Although the new clustergram topology shows a close correlation with those we originally presented in 1998, the PAE outputs warrant a radical reinterpretation of the results as they imply that the Laurasian fauna is derived and the Gondwanan groups basal. The distribution of endemic tardigrade genera and families provides some support for this argument though the findings should be viewed with some caution as PAE has its detractors and has not been previously applied on a 'global' scale.

  11. Pollination, biogeography and phylogeny of oceanic island bellflowers (Campanulaceae)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Jens Mogens; Alarcón, M.; Ehlers, Bodil

    2012-01-01

    relatives C. eminii and C. abyssinica. We asked to what extent related species converge in their floral biology and pollination in related habitats, i.e. oceanic islands. Study islands were the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Mauritius, and Réunion. Information about phylogenetic relationships....... These examples of vertebrate pollination evolved independently on each island or archipelago. We discuss if these pollination systems have an island or mainland origin and when they may have evolved, and finally, we attempt to reconstruct the pollinator-interaction history of each species....

  12. Pollination, biogeography and phylogeny of oceanic island bellflowers (Campanulaceae)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Jens Mogens; Alarcón, M.; Ehlers, Bodil

    2012-01-01

    . These examples of vertebrate pollination evolved independently on each island or archipelago. We discuss if these pollination systems have an island or mainland origin and when they may have evolved, and finally, we attempt to reconstruct the pollinator-interaction history of each species.......We studied the pollination biology of nine island Campanulaceae species: Azorina vidalii, Musschia aurea, M. wollastonii, Canarina canariensis, Campanula jacobaea, Nesocodon mauritianus, and three species of Heterochaenia. In addition, we compared C. canariensis to its two African mainland...... relatives C. eminii and C. abyssinica. We asked to what extent related species converge in their floral biology and pollination in related habitats, i.e. oceanic islands. Study islands were the Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Mauritius, and Réunion. Information about phylogenetic relationships...

  13. Comparative Ecophysiology and Evolutionary Biology of Island and Mainland Chaparral Communities

    OpenAIRE

    Ramirez, Aaron Robert

    2015-01-01

    The unique nature of island ecosystems have fascinated generations of naturalists, ecologists, and evolutionary biologists. Studying island systems led to the development of keystone biological theories including: Darwin and Wallace's theories of natural selection, Carlquist's insights into the biology of adaptive radiations, MacArthur and Wilson's theory of island biogeography, and many others. Utilizing islands as natural laboratories allows us to discover the underlying fabric of ecology a...

  14. Island Species Richness Increases with Habitat Diversity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hortal, J.; Triantis, K.A.; Meiri, S.; Thebault, E.M.C.; Sfenthourakis, S.

    2009-01-01

    Species richness is commonly thought to increase with habitat diversity. However, a recent theoretical model aiming to unify niche and island biogeography theories predicted a hump-shaped relationship between richness and habitat diversity. Given the contradiction between model results and previous

  15. Fishes of the Vitória-Trindade Chain: Biodiversity, Biogeography and Evolution

    OpenAIRE

    Pinheiro, Hudson Tercio

    2016-01-01

    Studies on the ecology and biogeography of seamounts and oceanic islands have advanced substantially in the last 60 years. However, few seamounts have been scientifically characterized, with basic aspects of their biodiversity still unknown and many hypotheses not empirically tested. Consequently, the role of seamounts in the evolution for marine species is still unclear. In the south Atlantic, the Vitória-Trindade Chain (VTC) extends ca. 1,200 km offshore the Brazilian coast. For a long time...

  16. Biogeography of Parasitic Nematode Communities in the Galápagos Giant Tortoise: Implications for Conservation Management.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guillaume Fournié

    Full Text Available The Galápagos giant tortoise is an icon of the unique, endemic biodiversity of Galápagos, but little is known of its parasitic fauna. We assessed the diversity of parasitic nematode communities and their spatial distributions within four wild tortoise populations comprising three species across three Galápagos islands, and consider their implication for Galápagos tortoise conservation programmes. Coprological examinations revealed nematode eggs to be common, with more than 80% of tortoises infected within each wild population. Faecal samples from tortoises within captive breeding centres on Santa Cruz, Isabela and San Cristobal islands also were examined. Five different nematode egg types were identified: oxyuroid, ascarid, trichurid and two types of strongyle. Sequencing of the 18S small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene from adult nematodes passed with faeces identified novel sequences indicative of rhabditid and ascaridid species. In the wild, the composition of nematode communities varied according to tortoise species, which co-varied with island, but nematode diversity and abundance were reduced or altered in captive-reared animals. Evolutionary and ecological factors are likely responsible for the variation in nematode distributions in the wild. This possible species/island-parasite co-evolution has not been considered previously for Galápagos tortoises. We recommend that conservation efforts, such as the current Galápagos tortoise captive breeding/rearing and release programme, be managed with respect to parasite biogeography and host-parasite co-evolutionary processes in addition to the biogeography of the host.

  17. Three Mile Island revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacLeod, G.K.

    1986-01-01

    The accident at Three Mile Island proved that the Pennsylvania Department of Health lacked the tools to deal with the serious health consequences that occurred during and after this emergency. Despite the relative safety of nuclear power generation, we must be better prepared for the health and medical consequences of serous radiation emergencies. The author reviews the Three Mile Island accident through the eyes of newspaper reporters

  18. Palaeo island-affinities revisited--biogeography and systematics of the Indo-Pacific genus Cethosia Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müller, C J; Beheregaray, L B

    2010-10-01

    The Indo-Pacific is a very complex region encompassing several micro-continents with unique tectonic and geomorphologic histories. Unsurprisingly, the biogeographic history of Indo-Pacific biota is generally poorly known, especially that of organisms found in the heart of the region, the biodiversity hotspot known as Wallacea. Here, we explore the biogeographic history of the Indo-Pacific butterfly genus Cethosia using all known species and many distinctive subspecies. Cethosia butterflies span the Indo-Pacific tropics, including several lineages with localized endemism that are critically important when reconstructing biogeographic history of the Indo-Pacific and, in particular, of Wallacea. A phylogenetic hypothesis is proposed, based on sequences of the mitochondrial genes cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and NADH dehydrogenase 5 (ND5), and the nuclear wingless gene. Both Maximum Parsimony and Bayesian analyses showed that the genus is monophyletic and consistently recovered seven, generally very well supported, clades, namely the cydippe, leschenault, biblis, nietneri, hypsea, penthesilea and cyane clades. Species group relationships are largely concordant with general morphology (i.e., wing pattern and colouration) and, based on the phylogeny, we propose a revised systematic classification at the species level. The evolution of the genus appears associated with the inferred geological history of the region, in particular with respect to the expanding Wallacea theory, whereby ancient connected terranes were fragmented during the mid Miocene to early Pliocene, approximately 14-3 Mya. Recent diversification events in Cethosia were likely promoted by climatic fluctuations during the Pliocene and, to a lesser extent, the Pleistocene. Our results support the view that, while dispersal has been important for Cethosia throughout much of the region, the high levels of island endemism and the essentially allopatric radiations recovered in Cethosia in Wallacea are

  19. A second horizon scan of biogeography: Golden Ages, Midas touches, and the Red Queen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael N Dawson

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Are we entering a new ‘Golden Age’ of biogeography, with continued development of infrastructure and ideas? We highlight recent developments, and the challenges and opportunities they bring, in light of the snapshot provided by the 7th biennial meeting of the International Biogeography Society (IBS 2015. We summarize themes in and across 15 symposia using narrative analysis and word clouds, which we complement with recent publication trends and ‘research fronts’. We find that biogeography is still strongly defined by core sub-disciplines that reflect its origins in botanical, zoological (particularly bird and mammal, and geographic (e.g., island, montane studies of the 1800s. That core is being enriched by large datasets (e.g. of environmental variables, ‘omics’, species’ occurrences, traits and new techniques (e.g., advances in genetics, remote sensing, modeling that promote studies with increasing detail and at increasing scales; disciplinary breadth is being diversified (e.g., by developments in paleobiogeography and microbiology and integrated through the transfer of approaches and sharing of theory (e.g., spatial modeling and phylogenetics in evolutionary–ecological contexts. Yet some subdisciplines remain on the fringe (e.g., marine biogeography, deep-time paleobiogeography, new horizons and new theory may be overshadowed by popular techniques (e.g., species distribution modelling, and hypotheses, data, and analyses may each be wanting. Trends in publication suggest a shift away from traditional biogeography journals to multidisciplinary or open access journals. Thus, there are currently many opportunities and challenges as biogeography increasingly addresses human impacts on, and stewardship of, the planet (e.g., Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. As in the past, biogeographers doubtless will continue to be engaged by new data and methods in exploring the nexus between biology

  20. A roadmap for island biology

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Patino, Jairo; Whittaker, Robert J.; Borges, Paulo A.V.

    2017-01-01

    Aims: The 50th anniversary of the publication of the seminal book, The Theory of Island Biogeography, by Robert H. MacArthur and Edward O. Wilson, is a timely moment to review and identify key research foci that could advance island biology. Here, we take a collaborative horizon-scanning approach...... to identify 50 fundamental questions for the continued development of the field. Location: Worldwide. Methods: We adapted a well-established methodology of horizon scanning to identify priority research questions in island biology, and initiated it during the Island Biology 2016 conference held in the Azores......); global change (5); conservation and management policies (5); and invasive alien species (4). Main conclusions: Collectively, this cross-disciplinary set of topics covering the 50 fundamental questions has the potential to stimulate and guide future research in island biology. By covering fields ranging...

  1. Conservation biogeography - foundations, concepts and challenges

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Richardson, Timothy; Whittaker, R.J.; Whittaker, Robert J.

    2010-01-01

    Conservation biogeography involves the application of biogeographical principles, theories, and analyses to problems regarding biodiversity conservation. The field was formally defined in 2005, and considerable research has been conducted in the ensuing 5 years. This editorial sets the context...... for 16 contributions in a special issue of Diversity and Distributions on developments and challenges in conservation biogeography. Papers are grouped into the following main themes: species distribution modelling; data requirements; approaches for assigning conservation priorities; approaches...... for integrating information from numerous disparate sources; special challenges involving invasive species; and the crucial issue of determining how elements of biodiversity are likely to respond to rapid climate change. One paper provides a synthesis of requirements for a robust conservation biogeography...

  2. International Tourists’ Perceived Sustainability of Jeju Island, South Korea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Min-Seong Kim

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the causal relationships between international tourists’ perceived sustainability of Jeju Island, South Korea and environmentally responsible behavior, revisit intention, and positive word-of-mouth communication. Perceived sustainability was employed as a multidimensional construct comprised of economic, cultural, and environmental aspects. Data were collected from international tourists that visited Jeju Island. The results indicated that environmentally responsible behavior was influenced positively by cultural sustainability, and negatively by environmental sustainability. Revisit intention and positive word-of-mouth communication were significantly affected by the three dimensions of sustainability. Based on the findings, associated implications were suggested for sustainable destination management of Jeju Island.

  3. Backscatter 0.5m TIFF Mosaic of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, 2004

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the south shore of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team and...

  4. Biogeography of the Cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae of North America, North of Mexico

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allen F. Sanborn

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available We describe and illustrate the biogeography of the cicadas inhabiting continental North America, north of Mexico. Species distributions were determined through our collecting efforts as well as label data from more than 110 institutional collections. The status of subspecies is discussed with respect to their distributions. As we have shown over limited geographic areas, the distribution of individual species is related to the habitat in which they are found. We discuss the biogeography of the genera with respect to their phylogenetic relationships. California is the state with the greatest alpha diversity (89 species, 46.6% of taxa and unique species (35 species, 18.3% of taxa. Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Utah are the states with the next greatest alpha diversity with Texas, Arizona and Utah being next for unique species diversity. Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island are the states with the least amount of cicada diversity. Diversity is greatest in states and areas where there is a diversity of plant communities and habitats within these communities. Mountainous terrain also coincides with increases in diversity. Several regions of the focus area require additional collection efforts to fill in the distributions of several species.

  5. Barrier displacement on a neutral landscape: Towards a theory of continental biogeography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Albert, James S.; Schoolmaster, Donald; Tagliacollo, Victor; Duke-Sylvester, Scott M.

    2017-01-01

    Macroevolutionary theory posits three processes leading to lineage diversification and the formation of regional biotas: dispersal (species geographic range expansion), speciation (species lineage splitting), and extinction (species lineage termination). The Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) predicts species richness values using just two of these processes; dispersal and extinction. Yet most species on Earth live on continents or continental shelves, and the dynamics of evolutionary diversification at regional and continental scales are qualitatively different from those that govern the formation of species richness on biogeographic islands. Certain geomorphological processes operating perennially on continental platforms displace barriers to gene flow and organismal dispersal, and affect all three terms of macroevolutionary diversification. For example, uplift of a dissected landscape and river capture both merge and separate portions of adjacent areas, allowing dispersal and larger geographic ranges, vicariant speciation and smaller geographic ranges, and extinction when range sizes are subdivided below a minimum persistence threshold.

  6. Towards a glacial‐sensitive model of island biogeography

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fernández-Palacios, J.M.; Rijsdijk, K.F.; Norder, S.J.; Otto, R.; de Nascimento, L.; Fernández‐Lugo, S.; Tjørve, E.; Whittaker, R.J.

    2016-01-01

    Although the role that Pleistocene glacial cycles have played in shaping the present biota of oceanic islands world-wide has long been recognized, their geographical, biogeographical and ecological implications have not yet been fully incorporated within existing biogeographical models. Here we

  7. NOAA TIFF Graphic- 0.5m Backscatter Mosaic of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, 2004

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the south shore of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team and...

  8. Revisited Inventory of Glaciers on Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomson, L.; Osinski, G.

    2009-05-01

    As documented in the IPCC's Climate Change 2007 report, the high latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the highest rates of warming. Given that 35% of the global glacial ice exists within the Arctic Archipelago, this region provides an excellent laboratory for monitoring the anticipated degree of glacial recession [1]. Evidence of arctic warming through negative mass balance trends has been detected in several studies already [e.g., 2]. Here, we show the importance and value of historical records in the task of monitoring glacial retreat. A highly detailed inventory developed by S. Ommanney in 1969 [3], has been revisited and transformed into digital format for the purposes of integration with modern inventories. The Ommanney inventory covers the entirety of Axel Heiberg Island , NU, and includes details often lacking in present day inventories, including orientations (accumulation and ablation zones), elevations (highest, lowest, elevation of the snowline, and the mean elevations of both the accumulation and ablation areas), length (of the ablation area, exposed ice, and of the total glacier including debris cover), area (of the ablation area, exposed ice, and of the total glacier), accumulation area ratio (AAR), depth, volume, and a six digit code which gives qualitative details on glacier attributes. This report is one of the most thorough and comprehensive glacier inventory report ever published in Canada. More recent inventories used for comparison include the glacier extents created by the National Topographic System based on photography from 1980-1987, as well as extents developed by Dr. Luke Copland for the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) database using 1999-2000 satellite imagery. Our preliminary results show that approximately 90% of ice bodies under 0.2km on Axel Heiberg Island have disappeared entirely in the 40 year period of interest. The issue of glacier definition will be discussed as a possible cause of these

  9. Determinants of orchid species diversity in world islands

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Traxmandlová, Iva; Ackerman, J. D.; Tremblay, R. L.; Roberts, D.L.; Štípková, Zuzana; Kindlmann, Pavel

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 217, č. 1 (2018), s. 12-15 ISSN 0028-646X R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LO1415; GA ČR GB14-36098G Institutional support: RVO:86652079 Keywords : habitat diversity * island biogeography * latitude * Orchidaceae * species richness * species–area relationship Subject RIV: EF - Botanics OBOR OECD: Plant sciences, botany Impact factor: 7.330, year: 2016

  10. Historical biogeography sets the foundation for contemporary conservation of martens (genus Martes) in northwestern North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dawson, Natalie G.; Colella, Jocelyn P.; Small, Maurine P.; Stone, Karen D.; Talbot, Sandra L.; Cook, Joseph A.

    2017-01-01

    Effective conservation of insular populations requires careful consideration of biogeography, including colonization histories and patterns of endemism. Across the Pacific Northwest of North America, Pacific martens (Martes caurina) and American pine martens (Martes americana) are parapatric sister species with distinctive postglacial histories. Using mitochondrial DNA and 12 nuclear microsatellite loci, we examine processes of island colonization and anthropogenic introductions across 25 populations of martens. Along the North Pacific Coast (NPC), M. caurina is now found on only 2 islands, whereas M. americana occurs on mainland Alaska and British Columbia and multiple associated islands. Island populations of M. caurina have a longer history of isolation reflected in divergent haplotypes, private microsatellite alleles, and relatively low within-population diversity. In contrast, insular M. americanahave lower among-population divergence and higher metrics of within-population diversity. On some NPC islands, introductions of M. americana may be related to decline of M. caurina. Long-term persistence of these species likely has been influenced by anthropogenic manipulations, including wildlife translocations and industrial-scale deforestation, yet, the distinctive histories of these martens have not been incorporated into natural resource policies.

  11. NOAA TIFF Graphic - 0.5 meter Backscatter Mosaic of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, 2004

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the southern shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team and...

  12. Magmatic versus tectonic influence in the Eolian arc: the case of Vulcano and Lipari islands revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruch, Joel; Di Lorenzo, Riccardo; Vezzoli, Luigina Maria; De Rosa, Rosanna; Acocella, Valerio; Catalano, Stefano; Romagnoli, Gino

    2014-05-01

    The prevalent influence of magma versus tectonics for the edification and the evolution of volcanic zones is matter of debate. Here we focus on Vulcano and Lipari, two active volcanic islands located in the central sector of the Eolian arc (North of Sicily). Both systems are influenced by regional tectonics and affected by historical magmatic events taking place along a NS oriented structure, connecting both islands. We revisit and implement previous structural studies performed during the 1980's considering several new geophysical, geochemical and geodynamical findings. Four extensive structural campaigns have been performed on both islands and along the shorelines in 2012-2013 covering about 80% of the possible accessible outcrops. We collected ~500 measurements (e.g. faults, fractures and dikes) at 40 sites. Overall, most of the observed structures are oriented N-S and NNW-SSE, confirming previous studies, however, almost all features are strikingly dominated by an EW-oriented extensive regime, which is a novelty. These findings are supported by kinematic indicators and suggest a predominant dip-slip component (pitch from 80 and 130°) with alternating left and right kinematics. Marginal faulting in most recent formations have been observed, suggesting that the deformation may occur preferentially during transient deformation related to periods of magmatic activity, instead of resulting from continuous regional tectonic processes. Overall, fault and dike planes are characterized by a dominant eastward immersion, suggesting an asymmetric graben-like structure of the entire area. This may be explained by the presence of a topographic gradient connecting both islands to the deep Gioia basin to the East, leading to a preferential ample gravitational collapse. Finally, we propose a model in which the stress field rotates northward. It transits from a pure right lateral strike-slip regime along the Tindari fault zone (tectonic-dominant) to an extensive regime

  13. Solving Bi-Objective Optimal Power Flow using Hybrid method of Biogeography-Based Optimization and Differential Evolution Algorithm: A case study of the Algerian Electrical Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ouafa Herbadji

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes a new hybrid metaheuristique algorithm based on the hybridization of Biogeography-based optimization with the Differential Evolution for solving the optimal power flow problem with emission control. The biogeography-based optimization (BBO algorithm is strongly influenced by equilibrium theory of island biogeography, mainly through two steps: Migration and Mutation. Differential Evolution (DE is one of the best Evolutionary Algorithms for global optimization. The hybridization of these two methods is used to overcome traps of local optimal solutions and problems of time consumption. The objective of this paper is to minimize the total fuel cost of generation, total emission, total real power loss and also maintain an acceptable system performance in terms of limits on generator real power, bus voltages and power flow of transmission lines. In the present work, BBO/DE has been applied to solve the optimal power flow problems on IEEE 30-bus test system and the Algerian electrical network 114 bus. The results obtained from this method show better performances compared with DE, BBO and other well known metaheuristique and evolutionary optimization methods.

  14. Oceanic island biogeography through the lens of the general dynamic model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borregaard, Michael K.; Amorim, Isabel R.; Borges, Paulo A. V.

    2017-01-01

    and in developing and enhancing ecological-evolutionary understanding of oceanic island systems through the lens of the GDM. In particular, we focus on four main themes: (i) macroecological tests using a space-for-time rationale; (ii) extensions of theory to islands following different patterns of ontogeny; (iii...

  15. Magnetic islands in tokamaks induced by thermal filamentation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dubois, M.A.; Mohamed-Benkadda, M.S.

    1991-11-01

    The thermal instability of filamentation is revisited in the fully nonlinear regime of a system of cool magnetic island chains, taking into account: the different transport processes inside and outside island cores, and a realistic temperature dependence of radiative losses. This mechanism is found to be a plausible candidate to explain the anomalous electron energy transport

  16. Benefits to poorly studied taxa of conservation of bird and mammal diversity on islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aslan, Clare; Holmes, Nick; Tershy, Bernie; Spatz, Dena; Croll, Donald A

    2015-02-01

    Protected area delineation and conservation action are urgently needed on marine islands, but the potential biodiversity benefits of these activities can be difficult to assess due to lack of species diversity information for lesser known taxa. We used linear mixed effects modeling and simple spatial analyses to investigate whether conservation activities based on the diversity of well-known insular taxa (birds and mammals) are likely to also capture the diversity of lesser known taxa (reptiles, amphibians, vascular land plants, ants, land snails, butterflies, and tenebrionid beetles). We assembled total, threatened, and endemic diversity data for both well-known and lesser known taxa and combined these with physical island biogeography characteristics for 1190 islands from 109 archipelagos. Among physical island biogeography factors, island area was the best indicator of diversity of both well-known and little-known taxa. Among taxonomic factors, total mammal species richness was the best indicator of total diversity of lesser known taxa, and the combination of threatened mammal and threatened bird diversity was the best indicator of lesser known endemic richness. The results of other intertaxon diversity comparisons were highly variable, however. Based on our results, we suggest that protecting islands above a certain minimum threshold area may be the most efficient use of conservation resources. For example, using our island database, if the threshold were set at 10 km(2) and the smallest 10% of islands greater than this threshold were protected, 119 islands would be protected. The islands would range in size from 10 to 29 km(2) and would include 268 lesser known species endemic to a single island, along with 11 bird and mammal species endemic to a single island. Our results suggest that for islands of equivalent size, prioritization based on total or threatened bird and mammal diversity may also capture opportunities to protect lesser known species endemic to

  17. Geographical, Temporal and Environmental Determinants of Bryophyte Species Richness in the Macaronesian Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aranda, Silvia C.; Gabriel, Rosalina; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Santos, Ana M. C.; de Azevedo, Eduardo Brito; Patiño, Jairo; Hortal, Joaquín; Lobo, Jorge M.

    2014-01-01

    Species richness on oceanic islands has been related to a series of ecological factors including island size and isolation (i.e. the Equilibrium Model of Island Biogeography, EMIB), habitat diversity, climate (i.e., temperature and precipitation) and more recently island ontogeny (i.e. the General Dynamic Model of oceanic island biogeography, GDM). Here we evaluate the relationship of these factors with the diversity of bryophytes in the Macaronesian region (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde). The predictive power of EMIB, habitat diversity, climate and the GDM on total bryophyte richness, as well as moss and liverwort richness (the two dominant bryophyte groups), was evaluated through ordinary least squares regressions. After choosing the best subset of variables using inference statistics, we used partial regression analyses to identify the independent and shared effects of each model. The variables included within each model were similar for mosses and liverworts, with orographic mist layer being one of the most important predictors of richness. Models combining climate with either the GDM or habitat diversity explained most of richness variation (up to 91%). There was a high portion of shared variance between all pairwise combinations of factors in mosses, while in liverworts around half of the variability in species richness was accounted for exclusively by climate. Our results suggest that the effects of climate and habitat are strong and prevalent in this region, while geographical factors have limited influence on Macaronesian bryophyte diversity. Although climate is of great importance for liverwort richness, in mosses its effect is similar to or, at least, indiscernible from the effect of habitat diversity and, strikingly, the effect of island ontogeny. These results indicate that for highly vagile taxa on oceanic islands, the dispersal process may be less important for successful colonization than the availability of suitable ecological

  18. Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martiny, Jennifer B Hughes; Bohannan, Brendan J M; Brown, James H; Colwell, Robert K; Fuhrman, Jed A; Green, Jessica L; Horner-Devine, M Claire; Kane, Matthew; Krumins, Jennifer Adams; Kuske, Cheryl R; Morin, Peter J; Naeem, Shahid; Ovreås, Lise; Reysenbach, Anna-Louise; Smith, Val H; Staley, James T

    2006-02-01

    We review the biogeography of microorganisms in light of the biogeography of macroorganisms. A large body of research supports the idea that free-living microbial taxa exhibit biogeographic patterns. Current evidence confirms that, as proposed by the Baas-Becking hypothesis, 'the environment selects' and is, in part, responsible for spatial variation in microbial diversity. However, recent studies also dispute the idea that 'everything is everywhere'. We also consider how the processes that generate and maintain biogeographic patterns in macroorganisms could operate in the microbial world.

  19. NOAA TIFF Graphic - 0.5 meter Backscatter Mosaic of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, 2004 (NCEI Accession 0131850)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the southern shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team and...

  20. The Importance of Being a Complement: CED Effects Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jurka, Johannes

    2010-01-01

    This dissertation revisits subject island effects (Ross 1967, Chomsky 1973) cross-linguistically. Controlled acceptability judgment studies in German, English, Japanese and Serbian show that extraction out of specifiers is consistently degraded compared to extraction out of complements, indicating that the Condition on Extraction domains (CED,…

  1. Vestindien Revisited: I kølvandet på kuldampere og cruiseturister

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brichet, Nathalia Sofie; Hastrup, Frida; Ørstedholm, Maroe

    2017-01-01

    What traces did Denmark officially leave behind when the West Indies were sold to the United States in 1917? And how are the islands still affected today by Denmark’s presence on the islands? The M/S Maritime Museum tries to answer these questions in its special new exhibition, ‘U.S. VIRGIN ISLAN...... special exhibition “U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS REVISITED – in the wake of colliers and cruise tourists,” to commemorate the centennial anniversary of selling the West Indies to the United States of America....

  2. NOAA ESRI Geotiff - NOAA ESRI Geotiff - 3 m Backscatter Mosaic of Mona Island, Puerto Rico, Project NF-08-04, UTM 19N NAD83

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 3 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of selected portions of seafloor around Mona Island, Puerto Rico. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography...

  3. NOAA ESRI Grid - NOAA ESRI GRID - 3 m Backscatter Mosaic of Mona Island, Puerto Rico, Project NF-08-04, UTM 19N NAD83

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 3 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of selected portions of seafloor around Mona Island, Puerto Rico. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography...

  4. NOAA TIFF Image - 1 m Backscatter Mosaic of the St. John Shelf, U.S. Virgin Islands, Project NF-10-03, 2010, UTM 20 WGS84

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the St. John Shelf, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in collaboration...

  5. Tracing the temporal and spatial origins of island endemics in the Mediterranean region: a case study from the citrus family (Ruta L., Rutaceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvo, Gabriele; Ho, Simon Y W; Rosenbaum, Gideon; Ree, Richard; Conti, Elena

    2010-12-01

    Understanding the origin of island endemics is a central task of historical biogeography. Recent methodological advances provide a rigorous framework to determine the relative contribution of different biogeographic processes (e.g., vicariance, land migration, long-distance dispersal) to the origin of island endemics. With its complex but well-known history of microplate movements and climatic oscillations, the Mediterranean region (including the Mediterranean basin and Macaronesia) provides the geographic backdrop for the diversification of Ruta L., the type genus of Rutaceae (citrus family). Phylogenetic, molecular dating, and ancestral range reconstruction analyses were carried out to investigate the extent to which past geological connections and climatic history of the Mediterranean region explain the current distribution of species in Ruta, with emphasis on its island endemics. The analyses showed that Ruta invaded the region from the north well before the onset of the Mediterranean climate and diversified in situ as the climate became Mediterranean. The continental fragment island endemics of the genus originated via processes of land migration/vicariance driven by connections/disconnections between microplates, whereas the oceanic island endemics were the product of a single colonization event from the mainland followed by in situ diversification. This study emphasizes the need for an integrative, hypothesis-based approach to historical biogeography and stresses the importance of temporary land connections and colonization opportunity in the biotic assembly of continental fragment and oceanic islands, respectively.

  6. Biogeography of Hysterangiales (Phallomycetidae, Basidiomycota)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kentaro Hosaka; Michael A. Castellano; Joseph W. Spatafora

    2008-01-01

    To understand the biogeography of truffle-like fungi, DNA sequences were analysed from representative taxa of Hysterangiales. Multigene phylogenies and the results of ancestral area reconstructions are consistent with the hypothesis of an Australian, or eastern Gondwanan, origin of Hysterangiales with subsequent range expansions to the Northern Hemisphere. However,...

  7. Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leles, S. G.; Mitra, A.; Flynn, K. J.; Stoecker, D. K.; Hansen, P. J.; Calbet, A.; McManus, G. B.; Sanders, R. W.; Caron, D. A.; Not, F.; Hallegraeff, G. M.; Pitta, P.; Raven, J. A.; Johnson, M. D.; Glibert, P. M.; Våge, S.

    2017-01-01

    This first comprehensive analysis of the global biogeography of marine protistan plankton with acquired phototrophy shows these mixotrophic organisms to be ubiquitous and abundant; however, their biogeography differs markedly between different functional groups. These mixotrophs, lacking a

  8. Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leles, Suzanne; Mitra, Aditee; Flynn, Kevin J.

    2017-01-01

    This first comprehensive analysis of the global biogeography of marine protistan plankton with acquired phototrophy shows these mixotrophic organisms to be ubiquitous and abundant; however, their biogeography differs markedly between different functional groups. These mixotrophs, lacking a consti...

  9. NOAA TIFF Image- 0.5 meter Backscatter Mosaic of Grammanik Bank - East (St. Thomas), US Virgin Islands, Project NF-05-05, 2005, UTM 20 NAD83

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of Grammanik Bank, south of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  10. NOAA TIFF Image - 3 m Backscatter Mosaic of the north shore of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Project NF-06-03, 2006, UTM 20 WGS84

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 3 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the north shore of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  11. NOAA TIFF Image - 1 m Backscatter Mosaic of the St. John Shelf, U.S. Virgin Islands, Project NF-10-03, 2010, UTM 20 WGS84 (NCEI Accession 0131854)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the St. John Shelf, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in collaboration...

  12. Diversification in a fluctuating island setting: rapid radiation of Ohomopterus ground beetles in the Japanese Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sota, Teiji; Nagata, Nobuaki

    2008-10-27

    The Japanese Islands have been largely isolated from the East Asian mainland since the Early Pleistocene, allowing the diversification of endemic lineages. Here, we explore speciation rates and historical biogeography of the ground beetles of the subgenus Ohomopterus (genus Carabus) based on nuclear and mitochondrial gene sequences. Ohomopterus diverged into 15 species during the Pleistocene. The speciation rate was 1.92 Ma(-1) and was particularly fast (2.37 Ma(-1)) in a group with highly divergent genitalia. Speciation occurred almost solely within Honshu, the largest island with complex geography. Species diversity is highest in central Honshu, where closely related species occur parapatrically and different-sized species co-occur. Range expansion of some species in the past has resulted in such species assemblages. Introgressive hybridization, at least for mitochondrial DNA, has occurred repeatedly between species in contact, but has not greatly disturbed species distinctness. Small-island populations of some species were separated from main-island populations only after the last glacial (or the last interglacial) period, indicating that island isolation had little role in speciation. Thus, the speciation and formation of the Ohomopterus assemblage occurred despite frequent opportunities for secondary contact and hybridization and the lack of persistent isolation. This radiation was achieved without substantial ecological differentiation, but with marked differentiation in mechanical agents of reproductive isolation (body size and genital morphology).

  13. NOAA TIFF Image- 0.5 meter Backscatter Mosaic of Mid Shelf Reef (St. Thomas), US Virgin Islands, Project NF-05-05, 2005, UTM 20 NAD83

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the Mid Shelf Reef south of St. Thomas, US Virgin IslandsNOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team,...

  14. Climate-driven changes in functional biogeography of Arctic marine fish communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frainer, André; Primicerio, Raul; Kortsch, Susanne; Aune, Magnus; Dolgov, Andrey V; Fossheim, Maria; Aschan, Michaela M

    2017-11-14

    Climate change triggers poleward shifts in species distribution leading to changes in biogeography. In the marine environment, fish respond quickly to warming, causing community-wide reorganizations, which result in profound changes in ecosystem functioning. Functional biogeography provides a framework to address how ecosystem functioning may be affected by climate change over large spatial scales. However, there are few studies on functional biogeography in the marine environment, and none in the Arctic, where climate-driven changes are most rapid and extensive. We investigated the impact of climate warming on the functional biogeography of the Barents Sea, which is characterized by a sharp zoogeographic divide separating boreal from Arctic species. Our unique dataset covered 52 fish species, 15 functional traits, and 3,660 stations sampled during the recent warming period. We found that the functional traits characterizing Arctic fish communities, mainly composed of small-sized bottom-dwelling benthivores, are being rapidly replaced by traits of incoming boreal species, particularly the larger, longer lived, and more piscivorous species. The changes in functional traits detected in the Arctic can be predicted based on the characteristics of species expected to undergo quick poleward shifts in response to warming. These are the large, generalist, motile species, such as cod and haddock. We show how functional biogeography can provide important insights into the relationship between species composition, diversity, ecosystem functioning, and environmental drivers. This represents invaluable knowledge in a period when communities and ecosystems experience rapid climate-driven changes across biogeographical regions. Copyright © 2017 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

  15. NOAA TIFF Image - 1 m Backscatter Mosaic of the Virgin Passage and the St. John Shelf, U.S. Virgin Islands, Project NF-10-03, 2010, UTM 20 WGS84

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the Virgin Passage in the US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  16. Current insights into phage biodiversity and biogeography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thurber, Rebecca Vega

    2009-10-01

    Phages exert tremendous ecological and evolutionary forces directly on their bacterial hosts. Phage induced cell lysis also indirectly contributes to organic and inorganic nutrient recycling. Phage abundance, diversity, and distribution are therefore important parameters in ecosystem function. The assumption that phage consortia are ubiquitous and homogenous across habitats (everything is everywhere) is currently being re-evaluated. New studies on phage biogeography have found that some phages are globally distributed while others are unique and perhaps endemic to specific environments. Furthermore, advances in technology have allowed scientists to conduct experiments aimed at analyzing phage consortia over temporal scales, and surprisingly have found reoccurring patterns. This review discusses currents in the field of phage ecology with particular focus on efforts to characterize phage diversity and biogeography across various spatial and temporal scales.

  17. Microbial Biogeography of the Arctic Cryosphere

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hauptmann, Aviaja Zenia Edna Lyberth

    communities. This has considerably improved our understanding that even harsh and seemingly barren environments such as the cryosphere, the frozen parts of our planet, is inhabited by diverse life. This thesis presents three studies in microbial biogeography of the Arctic cryosphere utilizing a range of NGS...

  18. NOAA TIFF Image- 0.5 meter Backscatter Mosaic of Grammanik Bank - East (St. Thomas), US Virgin Islands, Project NF-05-05, 2005, UTM 20 NAD83 (NCEI Accession 0131860)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of Grammanik Bank, south of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  19. NOAA TIFF Image- 0.5 meter Backscatter Mosaic of Mid Shelf Reef (St. Thomas), US Virgin Islands, Project NF-05-05, 2005, UTM 20 NAD83 (NCEI Accession 0131860)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 0.5 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the Mid Shelf Reef south of St. Thomas, US Virgin IslandsNOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team,...

  20. Speciose opportunistic nectar-feeding avifauna in Cuba and its association to hummingbird island biogeography

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dalsgaard, Bo; Baquero, Andrea C.; Rahbek, Carsten

    2016-01-01

    Island organisms often have wider feeding niches than mainland organisms, and migratory birds breeding on continents often widen their niches when overwintering on islands. Cuba's low hummingbird richness has puzzled ornithologists for decades. Here, we show that the Cuban hummingbird fauna is less...... rich than expected based on Cuba's elevation, when compared to the rest of the West Indian islands. Thereafter, we report nectar-feeding behaviour by 26 non-Trochilidae bird species in Cuba, encompassing pigeons/doves, woodpeckers and passerines, and endemic, resident and migratory species. We discuss...

  1. Overseas dispersal of Hyperolius reed frogs from Central Africa to the oceanic islands of Sao Tomé and Príncipe

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bell, R. C.; Drewes, R. C.; Channing, A.; Gvoždík, Václav; Kielgast, J.; Lötters, S.; Stuart, B. L.; Zamudio, K. R.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 42, č. 1 (2015), s. 65-75 ISSN 0305-0270 Institutional support: RVO:68081766 Keywords : Central Africa * Congo River * Gulf of Guinea * Hyperolius * long -distance dispersal * oceanic island * biogeography * phylogeography * Príncipe * Sao Tomé * species tree Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 3.997, year: 2015

  2. Discrete Biogeography Based Optimization for Feature Selection in Molecular Signatures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Bo; Tian, Meihong; Zhang, Chunhua; Li, Xiangtao

    2015-04-01

    Biomarker discovery from high-dimensional data is a complex task in the development of efficient cancer diagnoses and classification. However, these data are usually redundant and noisy, and only a subset of them present distinct profiles for different classes of samples. Thus, selecting high discriminative genes from gene expression data has become increasingly interesting in the field of bioinformatics. In this paper, a discrete biogeography based optimization is proposed to select the good subset of informative gene relevant to the classification. In the proposed algorithm, firstly, the fisher-markov selector is used to choose fixed number of gene data. Secondly, to make biogeography based optimization suitable for the feature selection problem; discrete migration model and discrete mutation model are proposed to balance the exploration and exploitation ability. Then, discrete biogeography based optimization, as we called DBBO, is proposed by integrating discrete migration model and discrete mutation model. Finally, the DBBO method is used for feature selection, and three classifiers are used as the classifier with the 10 fold cross-validation method. In order to show the effective and efficiency of the algorithm, the proposed algorithm is tested on four breast cancer dataset benchmarks. Comparison with genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, differential evolution algorithm and hybrid biogeography based optimization, experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is better or at least comparable with previous method from literature when considering the quality of the solutions obtained. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  3. NOAA TIFF Image - 1 m Backscatter Mosaic of the Virgin Passage and the St. John Shelf, U.S. Virgin Islands, Project NF-10-03, 2010, UTM 20 WGS84 (NCEI Accession 0131854)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 1 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of the Virgin Passage in the US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  4. Biogeography of thermophilic phototrophic bacteria belonging to Roseiflexus genus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaisin, Vasil A; Grouzdev, Denis S; Namsaraev, Zorigto B; Sukhacheva, Marina V; Gorlenko, Vladimir M; Kuznetsov, Boris B

    2016-03-01

    Isolated environments such as hot springs are particularly interesting for studying the microbial biogeography. These environments create an 'island effect' leading to genetic divergence. We studied the phylogeographic pattern of thermophilic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria, belonging to the Roseiflexus genus. The main characteristic of the observed pattern was geographic and geochronologic fidelity to the hot springs within Circum-Pacific and Alpine-Himalayan-Indonesian orogenic belts. Mantel test revealed a correlation between genetic divergence and geographic distance among the phylotypes. Cluster analysis revealed a regional differentiation of the global phylogenetic pattern. The phylogeographic pattern is in correlation with geochronologic events during the break up of Pangaea that led to the modern configuration of continents. To our knowledge this is the first geochronological scenario of intercontinental prokaryotic taxon divergence. The existence of the modern phylogeographic pattern contradicts with the existence of the ancient evolutionary history of the Roseiflexus group proposed on the basis of its deep-branching phylogenetic position. These facts indicate that evolutionary rates in Roseiflexus varied over a wide range. © FEMS 2016. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. Moorean tree snail survival revisited: a multi-island genealogical perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Taehwan; Burch, John B; Coote, Trevor; Pearce-Kelly, Paul; Hickman, Carole; Meyer, Jean-Yves; O Foighil, Diarmaid

    2009-08-18

    The mass extirpation of the island of Moorea's endemic partulid tree snail fauna, following the deliberate introduction of the alien predator Euglandina rosea, represents one of the highest profile conservation crises of the past thirty years. All of the island's partulids were thought to be extirpated by 1987, with five species persisting in zoos, but intensive field surveys have recently detected a number of surviving wild populations. We report here a mitochondrial (mt) phylogenetic estimate of Moorean partulid wild and captive lineage survival calibrated with a reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's introduction and that also includes a parallel dataset from the neighboring island of Tahiti. Although severe winnowing of Moorea's mt lineage diversity has occurred, seven of eight (six Partula; two Samoana) partulid tip clades remain extant. The extinct mt clade occurred predominantly in the P. suturalis species complex and it represented a major component of Moorea's endemic partulid treespace. Extant Moorean mt clades exhibited a complex spectrum of persistence on Moorea, in captivity, and (in the form of five phylogenetically distinct sister lineages) on Tahiti. Most notably, three Partula taxa, bearing two multi-island mt lineages, have survived decades of E. rosea predation on Moorea (P. taeniata) and in the valleys of Tahiti (P. hyalina and P. clara). Their differential persistence was correlated with intrinsic attributes, such as taxonomy and mt lineages, rather than with their respective within-island distribution patterns. Conservation efforts directed toward Moorean and Tahitian partulids have typically operated within a single island frame of reference, but our discovery of robust genealogical ties among survivors on both islands implies that a multi-island perspective is required. Understanding what genetic and/or ecological factors have enabled Partula taeniata, P. hyalina and P. clara to differentially survive long-term direct

  6. Moorean tree snail survival revisited: a multi-island genealogical perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meyer Jean-Yves

    2009-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The mass extirpation of the island of Moorea's endemic partulid tree snail fauna, following the deliberate introduction of the alien predator Euglandina rosea, represents one of the highest profile conservation crises of the past thirty years. All of the island's partulids were thought to be extirpated by 1987, with five species persisting in zoos, but intensive field surveys have recently detected a number of surviving wild populations. We report here a mitochondrial (mt phylogenetic estimate of Moorean partulid wild and captive lineage survival calibrated with a reference museum collection that pre-dates the predator's introduction and that also includes a parallel dataset from the neighboring island of Tahiti. Results Although severe winnowing of Moorea's mt lineage diversity has occurred, seven of eight (six Partula; two Samoana partulid tip clades remain extant. The extinct mt clade occurred predominantly in the P. suturalis species complex and it represented a major component of Moorea's endemic partulid treespace. Extant Moorean mt clades exhibited a complex spectrum of persistence on Moorea, in captivity, and (in the form of five phylogenetically distinct sister lineages on Tahiti. Most notably, three Partula taxa, bearing two multi-island mt lineages, have survived decades of E. rosea predation on Moorea (P. taeniata and in the valleys of Tahiti (P. hyalina and P. clara. Their differential persistence was correlated with intrinsic attributes, such as taxonomy and mt lineages, rather than with their respective within-island distribution patterns. Conclusion Conservation efforts directed toward Moorean and Tahitian partulids have typically operated within a single island frame of reference, but our discovery of robust genealogical ties among survivors on both islands implies that a multi-island perspective is required. Understanding what genetic and/or ecological factors have enabled Partula taeniata, P. hyalina and P

  7. Voltage Profile Enhancement and Reduction of Real Power loss by Hybrid Biogeography Based Artificial Bee Colony algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Lenin

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents Hybrid Biogeography algorithm for solving the multi-objective reactive power dispatch problem in a power system. Real Power Loss minimization and maximization of voltage stability margin are taken as the objectives. Artificial bee colony optimization (ABC is quick and forceful algorithm for global optimization. Biogeography-Based Optimization (BBO is a new-fangled biogeography inspired algorithm. It mainly utilizes the biogeography-based relocation operator to share the information among solutions. In this work, a hybrid algorithm with BBO and ABC is projected, and named as HBBABC (Hybrid Biogeography based Artificial Bee Colony Optimization, for the universal numerical optimization problem. HBBABC merge the searching behavior of ABC with that of BBO. Both the algorithms have different solution probing tendency like ABC have good exploration probing tendency while BBO have good exploitation probing tendency.  HBBABC used to solve the reactive power dispatch problem and the proposed technique has been tested in standard IEEE30 bus test system.

  8. Biogeography-Based Optimization with Orthogonal Crossover

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Quanxi Feng

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Biogeography-based optimization (BBO is a new biogeography inspired, population-based algorithm, which mainly uses migration operator to share information among solutions. Similar to crossover operator in genetic algorithm, migration operator is a probabilistic operator and only generates the vertex of a hyperrectangle defined by the emigration and immigration vectors. Therefore, the exploration ability of BBO may be limited. Orthogonal crossover operator with quantization technique (QOX is based on orthogonal design and can generate representative solution in solution space. In this paper, a BBO variant is presented through embedding the QOX operator in BBO algorithm. Additionally, a modified migration equation is used to improve the population diversity. Several experiments are conducted on 23 benchmark functions. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of locating the optimal or closed-to-optimal solution. Comparisons with other variants of BBO algorithms and state-of-the-art orthogonal-based evolutionary algorithms demonstrate that our proposed algorithm possesses faster global convergence rate, high-precision solution, and stronger robustness. Finally, the analysis result of the performance of QOX indicates that QOX plays a key role in the proposed algorithm.

  9. A new biogeographically disjunct giant gecko (Gehyra: Gekkonidae: Reptilia) from the East Melanesian Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliver, Paul M.; Clegg, Jonathan R.; Fisher, Robert N.; Richards, Stephen J.; Taylor, Peter N.; Jocque, Merlijn M. T.

    2016-01-01

    The East Melanesian Islands have been a focal area for research into island biogeography and community ecology. However, previously undescribed and biogeographically significant new species endemic to this region continue to be discovered. Here we describe a phylogenetically distinct (~20% divergence at the mitochondrial ND2 gene) and biogeographically disjunct new species of gecko in the genus Gehyra, from the Admiralty and St Matthias Islands. Gehyra rohan sp. nov. can be distinguished from all congeners by the combination of its very large size, ring of bright orange scales around the eye, moderate degree of lateral folding on the limbs and body, and aspects of head, body and tail scalation. Molecular data indicate mid to late Miocene divergence of the new species from nearest relatives occurring nearly 2000 kilometres away in Vanuatu and Fiji. Large Gehyra have not been recorded on the intervening large islands of the Bismark Archipelago (New Britain and New Ireland) and the Solomon Islands, suggesting this dispersal pre-dated the current configuration of these islands, extinction in intervening regions, or potentially elements of both. Conversely, low genetic divergence between disjunct samples on Manus and Mussau implies recent overseas dispersal via either natural or anthropogenic means.

  10. Functional and phylogenetic structure of island bird communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Si, Xingfeng; Cadotte, Marc W; Zeng, Di; Baselga, Andrés; Zhao, Yuhao; Li, Jiaqi; Wu, Yiru; Wang, Siyu; Ding, Ping

    2017-05-01

    Biodiversity change in anthropogenically transformed habitats is often nonrandom, yet the nature and importance of the different mechanisms shaping community structure are unclear. Here, we extend the classic Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) to account for nonrandom processes by incorporating species traits and phylogenetic relationships into a study of faunal relaxation following habitat loss and fragmentation. Two possible mechanisms can create nonrandom community patterns on fragment islands. First, small and isolated islands might consist of similar or closely related species because they are environmentally homogeneous or select for certain shared traits, such as dispersal ability. Alternatively, communities on small islands might contain more dissimilar or distantly related species than on large islands because limited space and resource availability result in greater competitive exclusion among species with high niche overlap. Breeding birds were surveyed on 36 islands and two mainland sites annually from 2010 to 2014 in the Thousand Island Lake region, China. We assessed community structure of breeding birds on these subtropical land-bridge islands by integrating species' trait and evolutionary distances. We additionally analysed habitat heterogeneity and variance in size ratios to distinguish biotic and abiotic processes of community assembly. Results showed that functional-phylogenetic diversity increased with island area, and decreased with isolation. Bird communities on the mainland were more diverse and generally less clustered than island bird communities and not different than randomly assembled communities. Bird communities on islands tend to be functionally similar and phylogenetically clustered, especially on small and isolated islands. The nonrandom decline in species diversity and change in bird community structure with island area and isolation, along with the relatively homogeneous habitats on small islands, support the environmental

  11. Predicting community structure in snakes on Eastern Nearctic islands using ecological neutral theory and phylogenetic methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burbrink, Frank T; McKelvy, Alexander D; Pyron, R Alexander; Myers, Edward A

    2015-11-22

    Predicting species presence and richness on islands is important for understanding the origins of communities and how likely it is that species will disperse and resist extinction. The equilibrium theory of island biogeography (ETIB) and, as a simple model of sampling abundances, the unified neutral theory of biodiversity (UNTB), predict that in situations where mainland to island migration is high, species-abundance relationships explain the presence of taxa on islands. Thus, more abundant mainland species should have a higher probability of occurring on adjacent islands. In contrast to UNTB, if certain groups have traits that permit them to disperse to islands better than other taxa, then phylogeny may be more predictive of which taxa will occur on islands. Taking surveys of 54 island snake communities in the Eastern Nearctic along with mainland communities that have abundance data for each species, we use phylogenetic assembly methods and UNTB estimates to predict island communities. Species richness is predicted by island area, whereas turnover from the mainland to island communities is random with respect to phylogeny. Community structure appears to be ecologically neutral and abundance on the mainland is the best predictor of presence on islands. With regard to young and proximate islands, where allopatric or cladogenetic speciation is not a factor, we find that simple neutral models following UNTB and ETIB predict the structure of island communities. © 2015 The Author(s).

  12. 'Everything is everywhere: but the environment selects': ubiquitous distribution and ecological determinism in microbial biogeography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Malley, Maureen A

    2008-09-01

    Recent discoveries of geographical patterns in microbial distribution are undermining microbiology's exclusively ecological explanations of biogeography and their fundamental assumption that 'everything is everywhere: but the environment selects'. This statement was generally promulgated by Dutch microbiologist Martinus Wilhelm Beijerinck early in the twentieth century and specifically articulated in 1934 by his compatriot, Lourens G. M. Baas Becking. The persistence of this precept throughout twentieth-century microbiology raises a number of issues in relation to its formulation and widespread acceptance. This paper will trace the conceptual history of Beijerinck's claim that 'everything is everywhere' in relation to a more general account of its theoretical, experimental and institutional context. His principle also needs to be situated in relationship to plant and animal biogeography, which, this paper will argue, forms a continuum of thought with microbial biogeography. Finally, a brief overview of the contemporary microbiological research challenging 'everything is everywhere' reveals that philosophical issues from Beijerinck's era of microbiology still provoke intense discussion in twenty-first century investigations of microbial biogeography.

  13. Special issue: Comparative biogeography of Neotropical primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynch Alfaro, Jessica W; Cortés-Ortiz, Liliana; Di Fiore, Anthony; Boubli, Jean P

    2015-01-01

    New research presented in this special issue of Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution on the "Phylogeny and Biogeography of Neotropical Primates" greatly improves our understanding of the evolutionary history of the New World monkeys and provides insights into the multiple platyrrhine radiations, diversifications, extinctions, and recolonizations that have taken place over time and over space in the Neotropics. Here, we synthesize genetic and biogeographic research from the past several years to construct an overarching hypothesis for platyrrhine evolution. We also highlight continuing controversies in Neotropical primate biogeography, such as whether the location of origin of platyrrhines was Africa or Asia; whether Patagonian fossil primates are stem or crown platyrrhines; and whether cis- and trans-Andean Neotropical primates were subject to vicariance through Andes mountain building, or instead diversified through isolation in mountain valleys after skirting around the Andes on the northwestern coast of South America. We also consider the role of the Amazon River and its major tributaries in shaping platyrrhine biodiversity, and how and when primates from the Amazon reached the Atlantic Forest. A key focus is on primate colonizations and extirpations in Central America, the Andes, and the seasonally dry tropical forests and savannas (such as the Llanos, Caatinga, and Cerrado habitats), all ecosystems that have been understudied up until now for primates. We suggest that most primates currently inhabiting drier open habitats are relatively recent arrivals, having expanded from rainforest habitats in the Pleistocene. We point to the Pitheciidae as the taxonomic group most in need of further phylogenetic and biogeographic research. Additionally, genomic studies on the Platyrrhini are deeply needed and are expected to bring new surprises and insights to the field of Neotropical primate biogeography. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Biogeography of photoautotrophs in the high polar biome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen Brian Pointing

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The global latitudinal gradient in biodiversity weakens in the high polar biome and so an alternative explanation for distribution of Arctic and Antarctic photoautotrophs is required. Here we identify how temporal, microclimate and evolutionary drivers of biogeography are important, rather than the macroclimate features that drive plant diversity patterns elsewhere. High polar ecosystems are biologically unique, with a more central role for bryophytes, lichens and microbial photoautotrophs over that of vascular plants. Constraints on vascular plants arise mainly due to stature and ontogenetic barriers. Conversely non-vascular plant and microbial photoautotroph distribution is correlated with favourable microclimates and the capacity for poikilohydric dormancy. Contemporary distribution also depends on evolutionary history, with adaptive and dispersal traits as well as legacy influencing biogeography. We highlight the relevance of these findings to predicting future impacts on polar plant diversity and to the current status of plants in Arctic and Antarctic conservation policy frameworks.

  15. Taxonomy and Biogeography without frontiers - WhatsApp, Facebook and smartphone digital photography let citizen scientists in more remote localities step out of the dark.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suprayitno, Nano; Narakusumo, Raden Pramesa; von Rintelen, Thomas; Hendrich, Lars; Balke, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Taxonomy and biogeography can benefit from citizen scientists. The use of social networking and open access cooperative publishing can easily connect naturalists even in more remote areas with in-country scientists and institutions, as well as those abroad. This enables taxonomic efforts without frontiers and at the same time adequate benefit sharing measures. We present new distribution and habitat data for diving beetles of Bali island, Indonesia, as a proof of concept. The species Hydaticus luczonicus Aubé, 1838 and Eretes griseus (Fabricius, 1781) are reported from Bali for the first time. The total number of Dytiscidae species known from Bali is now 34.

  16. Equilibrium Bird Species Diversity in Atlantic Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valente, Luis; Illera, Juan Carlos; Havenstein, Katja; Pallien, Tamara; Etienne, Rampal S; Tiedemann, Ralph

    2017-06-05

    Half a century ago, MacArthur and Wilson proposed that the number of species on islands tends toward a dynamic equilibrium diversity around which species richness fluctuates [1]. The current prevailing view in island biogeography accepts the fundamentals of MacArthur and Wilson's theory [2] but questions whether their prediction of equilibrium can be fulfilled over evolutionary timescales, given the unpredictable and ever-changing nature of island geological and biotic features [3-7]. Here we conduct a complete molecular phylogenetic survey of the terrestrial bird species from four oceanic archipelagos that make up the diverse Macaronesian bioregion-the Azores, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and Madeira [8, 9]. We estimate the times at which birds colonized and speciated in the four archipelagos, including many previously unsampled endemic and non-endemic taxa and their closest continental relatives. We develop and fit a new multi-archipelago dynamic stochastic model to these data, explicitly incorporating information from 91 taxa, both extant and extinct. Remarkably, we find that all four archipelagos have independently achieved and maintained a dynamic equilibrium over millions of years. Biogeographical rates are homogeneous across archipelagos, except for the Canary Islands, which exhibit higher speciation and colonization. Our finding that the avian communities of the four Macaronesian archipelagos display an equilibrium diversity pattern indicates that a diversity plateau may be rapidly achieved on islands where rates of in situ radiation are low and extinction is high. This study reveals that equilibrium processes may be more prevalent than recently proposed, supporting MacArthur and Wilson's 50-year-old theory. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Biogeography of tick-borne Bhanja virus (Bunyaviridae) in Europe

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hubálek, Zdeněk

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 2009, č. 372691 (2009), s. 1-11 ISSN 1687-708X EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 10284 - EDEN Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60930519 Keywords : Bhanja virus * biogeography * arboviruses Subject RIV: EE - Microbiology, Virology

  18. Life with compass: diversity and biogeography of magnetotactic bacteria

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Wei [Institute of Geology and Geophysics; Bazylinski, Dennis A [Ames Laboratory; Xiao, Tian [Chinese Academy of Sciences; Wu, Long-Fei [v; Pan, Yongxin [Institute of Geology and Geophysics

    2013-11-12

    Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are unique in their ability to synthesize intracellular nano-sized minerals of magnetite and/or greigite magnetosomes for magnetic orientation. Thus, they provide an excellent model system to investigate mechanisms of biomineralization. MTB play important roles in bulk sedimentary magnetism and have numerous versatile applications in paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and biotechnological and biomedical fields. Significant progress has been made in recent years in describing the composition of MTB communities and distribution through innovative cultivation-dependent and -independent techniques. In this review, the most recent contributions to the field of diversity and biogeography of MTB are summarized and reviewed. Emphasis is on the novel insights into various factors/processes potentially affecting MTB community distribution. An understanding of the present-day biogeography of MTB, and the ruling parameters of their spatial distribution, will eventually help us predict MTB community shifts with environmental changes and assess their roles in global iron cycling.

  19. Ecological biogeography of southern ocean islands: species-area relationships, human impacts, and conservation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chown, S.L.; Gremmen, N.J.M.; Gaston, K.J.

    1998-01-01

    Previous studies have concluded that southern ocean islands are anomalous because past glacial extent and current temperature apparently explain most variance in their species richness. Here, the relationships between physical variables and species richness of vascular plants, insects, land and

  20. Rice Blast Control and Polyvarietal Planting in the Philippines: A Study in Genotype by Environment Biogeography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel J. Falvo

    2001-06-01

    Full Text Available Current approaches to biogeography are based on organismic biology. Certain biogeographical phenomena, however, cannot be fully understood using organismic approaches to biogeography. I employed an approach based on molecular biology and biochemistry that I call genotype by environment biogeography in order to provide a more complete understanding of why the dispersal of rice blast disease is less efficient in fields planted with mixtures of rice varieties. In a case study of an upland ricefield in the Philippines, I found that planting varietal mixtures results in a form of effective blast control that I call intrafield gene deployment. I suggest that intrafield gene deployment be used to design more effective methods of blast control in intensive rice agriculture.

  1. Effects of natural phenomena and human activity on the species richness of endemic and non-endemic Heteroptera in the Canary Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vargas, J. M.

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available The geographical patterns of Heteroptera species diversity in the Canary Islands were analysed, and endemic and non–endemic species were studied both together and separately. Causal processes most likely controlling these patterns, as well as the theory of island biogeography, hypotheses about evolutionary time, habitat heterogeneity, climatic stability, intermediate disturbances, energy, environmental favourableness–severity, productivity and human influence were investigated. The combination of habitat heterogeneity and human influence accounted for the total number of species. However, when endemic and non–endemic species were analysed separately, habitat heterogeneity and favourableness–severity explained the richness of endemic species, whereas habitat heterogeneity and human influence explained that of non–endemic species.

  2. Biogeography-inspired multiobjective optimization for helping MEMS synthesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Di Barba Paolo

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to assess the applicability of a multi-objective biogeography-based optimisation algorithm in MEMS synthesis. In order to test the performances of the proposed method in this research field, the optimal shape design of an electrostatic micromotor, and two different electro-thermo-elastic microactuators are considered as the case studies.

  3. Genomic timetree and historical biogeography of Caribbean island ameiva lizards (Pholidoscelis: Teiidae)

    OpenAIRE

    Tucker, Derek B.; Hedges, Stephen Blair; Colli, Guarino R.; Pyron, Robert Alexander; Sites, Jack W.

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The phylogenetic relationships and biogeographic history of Caribbean island ameivas (Pholidoscelis) are not well?known because of incomplete sampling, conflicting datasets, and poor support for many clades. Here, we use phylogenomic and mitochondrial DNA datasets to reconstruct a well?supported phylogeny and assess historical colonization patterns in the group. We obtained sequence data from 316 nuclear loci and one mitochondrial marker for 16 of 19 extant species of the Caribbean e...

  4. Continental Island Formation and the Archaeology of Defaunation on Zanzibar, Eastern Africa.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary E Prendergast

    Full Text Available With rising sea levels at the end of the Pleistocene, land-bridge or continental islands were formed around the world. Many of these islands have been extensively studied from a biogeographical perspective, particularly in terms of impacts of island creation on terrestrial vertebrates. However, a majority of studies rely on contemporary faunal distributions rather than fossil data. Here, we present archaeological findings from the island of Zanzibar (also known as Unguja off the eastern African coast, to provide a temporal perspective on island biogeography. The site of Kuumbi Cave, excavated by multiple teams since 2005, has revealed the longest cultural and faunal record for any eastern African island. This record extends to the Late Pleistocene, when Zanzibar was part of the mainland, and attests to the extirpation of large mainland mammals in the millennia after the island became separated. We draw on modeling and sedimentary data to examine the process by which Zanzibar was most recently separated from the mainland, providing the first systematic insights into the nature and chronology of this process. We subsequently investigate the cultural and faunal record from Kuumbi Cave, which provides at least five key temporal windows into human activities and faunal presence: two at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, one during the period of post-LGM rapid sea level rise and island formation, and two in the late Holocene (Middle Iron Age and Late Iron Age. This record demonstrates the presence of large mammals during the period of island formation, and their severe reduction or disappearance in the Kuumbi Cave sequence by the late Holocene. While various limitations, including discontinuity in the sequence, problematize attempts to clearly attribute defaunation to anthropogenic or island biogeographic processes, Kuumbi Cave offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine post-Pleistocene island formation and its long-term consequences for

  5. Continental Island Formation and the Archaeology of Defaunation on Zanzibar, Eastern Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prendergast, Mary E.; Rouby, Hélène; Punnwong, Paramita; Marchant, Robert; Crowther, Alison; Kourampas, Nikos; Shipton, Ceri; Walsh, Martin; Lambeck, Kurt; Boivin, Nicole L.

    2016-01-01

    With rising sea levels at the end of the Pleistocene, land-bridge or continental islands were formed around the world. Many of these islands have been extensively studied from a biogeographical perspective, particularly in terms of impacts of island creation on terrestrial vertebrates. However, a majority of studies rely on contemporary faunal distributions rather than fossil data. Here, we present archaeological findings from the island of Zanzibar (also known as Unguja) off the eastern African coast, to provide a temporal perspective on island biogeography. The site of Kuumbi Cave, excavated by multiple teams since 2005, has revealed the longest cultural and faunal record for any eastern African island. This record extends to the Late Pleistocene, when Zanzibar was part of the mainland, and attests to the extirpation of large mainland mammals in the millennia after the island became separated. We draw on modeling and sedimentary data to examine the process by which Zanzibar was most recently separated from the mainland, providing the first systematic insights into the nature and chronology of this process. We subsequently investigate the cultural and faunal record from Kuumbi Cave, which provides at least five key temporal windows into human activities and faunal presence: two at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), one during the period of post-LGM rapid sea level rise and island formation, and two in the late Holocene (Middle Iron Age and Late Iron Age). This record demonstrates the presence of large mammals during the period of island formation, and their severe reduction or disappearance in the Kuumbi Cave sequence by the late Holocene. While various limitations, including discontinuity in the sequence, problematize attempts to clearly attribute defaunation to anthropogenic or island biogeographic processes, Kuumbi Cave offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine post-Pleistocene island formation and its long-term consequences for human and animal

  6. Continental Island Formation and the Archaeology of Defaunation on Zanzibar, Eastern Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prendergast, Mary E; Rouby, Hélène; Punnwong, Paramita; Marchant, Robert; Crowther, Alison; Kourampas, Nikos; Shipton, Ceri; Walsh, Martin; Lambeck, Kurt; Boivin, Nicole L

    2016-01-01

    With rising sea levels at the end of the Pleistocene, land-bridge or continental islands were formed around the world. Many of these islands have been extensively studied from a biogeographical perspective, particularly in terms of impacts of island creation on terrestrial vertebrates. However, a majority of studies rely on contemporary faunal distributions rather than fossil data. Here, we present archaeological findings from the island of Zanzibar (also known as Unguja) off the eastern African coast, to provide a temporal perspective on island biogeography. The site of Kuumbi Cave, excavated by multiple teams since 2005, has revealed the longest cultural and faunal record for any eastern African island. This record extends to the Late Pleistocene, when Zanzibar was part of the mainland, and attests to the extirpation of large mainland mammals in the millennia after the island became separated. We draw on modeling and sedimentary data to examine the process by which Zanzibar was most recently separated from the mainland, providing the first systematic insights into the nature and chronology of this process. We subsequently investigate the cultural and faunal record from Kuumbi Cave, which provides at least five key temporal windows into human activities and faunal presence: two at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), one during the period of post-LGM rapid sea level rise and island formation, and two in the late Holocene (Middle Iron Age and Late Iron Age). This record demonstrates the presence of large mammals during the period of island formation, and their severe reduction or disappearance in the Kuumbi Cave sequence by the late Holocene. While various limitations, including discontinuity in the sequence, problematize attempts to clearly attribute defaunation to anthropogenic or island biogeographic processes, Kuumbi Cave offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine post-Pleistocene island formation and its long-term consequences for human and animal

  7. Systematics, biogeography, and character evolution of the legume tribe Fabeae with special focus on the middle-Atlantic island lineages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schaefer Hanno

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Tribe Fabeae comprises about 380 legume species, including some of the most ancient and important crops like lentil, pea, and broad bean. Breeding efforts in legume crops rely on a detailed knowledge of closest wild relatives and geographic origin. Relationships within the tribe, however, are incompletely known and previous molecular results conflicted with the traditional morphology-based classification. Here we analyse the systematics, biogeography, and character evolution in the tribe based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequences. Results Phylogenetic analyses including c. 70% of the species in the tribe show that the genera Vicia and Lathyrus in their current circumscription are not monophyletic: Pisum and Vavilovia are nested in Lathyrus, the genus Lens is nested in Vicia. A small, well-supported clade including Vicia hirsuta, V. sylvatica, and some Mediterranean endemics, is the sister group to all remaining species in the tribe. Fabeae originated in the East Mediterranean region in the Miocene (23–16 million years ago (Ma and spread at least 39 times into Eurasia, seven times to the Americas, twice to tropical Africa and four times to Macaronesia. Broad bean (V. faba and its sister V. paucijuga originated in Asia and might be sister to V. oroboides. Lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris is of Mediterranean origin and together with eight very close relatives forms a clade that is nested in the core Vicia, where it evolved c. 14 Ma. The Pisum clade is nested in Lathyrus in a grade with the Mediterranean L. gloeosperma, L. neurolobus, and L. nissolia. The extinct Azorean endemic V. dennesiana belongs in section Cracca and is nested among Mediterranean species. According to our ancestral character state reconstruction results, ancestors of Fabeae had a basic chromosome number of 2n=14, an annual life form, and evenly hairy, dorsiventrally compressed styles. Conclusions Fabeae evolved in the Eastern Mediterranean in the

  8. Systematics, biogeography, and character evolution of the legume tribe Fabeae with special focus on the middle-Atlantic island lineages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaefer, Hanno; Hechenleitner, Paulina; Santos-Guerra, Arnoldo; Menezes de Sequeira, Miguel; Pennington, R Toby; Kenicer, Gregory; Carine, Mark A

    2012-12-25

    Tribe Fabeae comprises about 380 legume species, including some of the most ancient and important crops like lentil, pea, and broad bean. Breeding efforts in legume crops rely on a detailed knowledge of closest wild relatives and geographic origin. Relationships within the tribe, however, are incompletely known and previous molecular results conflicted with the traditional morphology-based classification. Here we analyse the systematics, biogeography, and character evolution in the tribe based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequences. Phylogenetic analyses including c. 70% of the species in the tribe show that the genera Vicia and Lathyrus in their current circumscription are not monophyletic: Pisum and Vavilovia are nested in Lathyrus, the genus Lens is nested in Vicia. A small, well-supported clade including Vicia hirsuta, V. sylvatica, and some Mediterranean endemics, is the sister group to all remaining species in the tribe. Fabeae originated in the East Mediterranean region in the Miocene (23-16 million years ago (Ma)) and spread at least 39 times into Eurasia, seven times to the Americas, twice to tropical Africa and four times to Macaronesia. Broad bean (V. faba) and its sister V. paucijuga originated in Asia and might be sister to V. oroboides. Lentil (Lens culinaris ssp. culinaris) is of Mediterranean origin and together with eight very close relatives forms a clade that is nested in the core Vicia, where it evolved c. 14 Ma. The Pisum clade is nested in Lathyrus in a grade with the Mediterranean L. gloeosperma, L. neurolobus, and L. nissolia. The extinct Azorean endemic V. dennesiana belongs in section Cracca and is nested among Mediterranean species. According to our ancestral character state reconstruction results, ancestors of Fabeae had a basic chromosome number of 2n=14, an annual life form, and evenly hairy, dorsiventrally compressed styles. Fabeae evolved in the Eastern Mediterranean in the middle Miocene and spread from there across Eurasia, into

  9. Radiating on oceanic islands: patterns and processes of speciation in the land snail genus Theba (Risso 1826.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carola Greve

    Full Text Available Island radiations have played a major role in shaping our current understanding of allopatric, sympatric and parapatric speciation. However, the fact that species divergence correlates with island size emphasizes the importance of geographic isolation (allopatry in speciation. Based on molecular and morphological data, we investigated the diversification of the land snail genus Theba on the two Canary Islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Due to the geological history of both islands, this study system provides ideal conditions to investigate the interplay of biogeography, dispersal ability and differentiation in generating species diversity. Our analyses demonstrated extensive cryptic diversification of Theba on these islands, probably driven mainly by non-adaptive allopatric differentiation and secondary gene flow. In a few cases, we observed a complete absence of gene flow among sympatrically distributed forms suggesting an advanced stage of speciation. On the Jandía peninsula genome scans suggested genotype-environment associations and potentially adaptive diversification of two closely related Theba species to different ecological environments. We found support for the idea that genetic differentiation was enhanced by divergent selection in different environments. The diversification of Theba on both islands is therefore best explained by a mixture of non-adaptive and adaptive speciation, promoted by ecological and geomorphological factors.

  10. Radiating on oceanic islands: patterns and processes of speciation in the land snail genus Theba (Risso 1826).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greve, Carola; Gimnich, France; Hutterer, Rainer; Misof, Bernhard; Haase, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Island radiations have played a major role in shaping our current understanding of allopatric, sympatric and parapatric speciation. However, the fact that species divergence correlates with island size emphasizes the importance of geographic isolation (allopatry) in speciation. Based on molecular and morphological data, we investigated the diversification of the land snail genus Theba on the two Canary Islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Due to the geological history of both islands, this study system provides ideal conditions to investigate the interplay of biogeography, dispersal ability and differentiation in generating species diversity. Our analyses demonstrated extensive cryptic diversification of Theba on these islands, probably driven mainly by non-adaptive allopatric differentiation and secondary gene flow. In a few cases, we observed a complete absence of gene flow among sympatrically distributed forms suggesting an advanced stage of speciation. On the Jandía peninsula genome scans suggested genotype-environment associations and potentially adaptive diversification of two closely related Theba species to different ecological environments. We found support for the idea that genetic differentiation was enhanced by divergent selection in different environments. The diversification of Theba on both islands is therefore best explained by a mixture of non-adaptive and adaptive speciation, promoted by ecological and geomorphological factors.

  11. On the Convergence of Biogeography-Based Optimization for Binary Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haiping Ma

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Biogeography-based optimization (BBO is an evolutionary algorithm inspired by biogeography, which is the study of the migration of species between habitats. A finite Markov chain model of BBO for binary problems was derived in earlier work, and some significant theoretical results were obtained. This paper analyzes the convergence properties of BBO on binary problems based on the previously derived BBO Markov chain model. Analysis reveals that BBO with only migration and mutation never converges to the global optimum. However, BBO with elitism, which maintains the best candidate in the population from one generation to the next, converges to the global optimum. In spite of previously published differences between genetic algorithms (GAs and BBO, this paper shows that the convergence properties of BBO are similar to those of the canonical GA. In addition, the convergence rate estimate of BBO with elitism is obtained in this paper and is confirmed by simulations for some simple representative problems.

  12. Influence of summer biogeography on wood warbler stopover abundance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeffrey F. Kelly; Rob Smith; Deborah M. Finch; Frank R. Moore; Wang Yong

    1999-01-01

    We evaluated the effect of summer biogeography of migrant wood warblers (Parulidae) on their stopover abundance. To characterize abundance patterns, we used mist-net capture data from spring and fall migration in the Middle Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico, spring migration on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, and fall migration on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. To describe the...

  13. Environmental and Spatial Influences on Biogeography and Community Structure of Benthic Diatoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plante, C.; Hill-Spanik, K.; Lowry, J.

    2016-02-01

    Several theoretical and practical reasons suggest that benthic microalgae could be useful bioindicators. For instance, an ideal indicator species or community would be associated with a given habitat due to local physical conditions or biotic interactions (i.e., `environmental filtering'), not due to dispersal limitation. Due to their small size, immense abundances, and reliance on passive dispersal, the popular notion about micro-organisms is that `Everything is everywhere, but, the environment selects' (Baas-Becking 1934). Although much recent research concerning planktonic bacteria and dispersal limitation has been conducted, very little in this regard is known about microeukaryotes, especially benthic microbes. The purpose of our study was to identify and compare spatial and environmental influences on benthic diatom community structure and biogeography. In summer 2015, sediment was sampled at various spatial scales from four barrier island beaches in South Carolina, USA, and high-throughput (Ion Torrent) DNA sequencing was used to characterize diatom assemblages. ANOSIM and principal coordinates analysis revealed that communities were statistically distinct on the four islands. Community dissimilarity was compared to both spatial distance and environmental differences to determine potential influences of these variables on community structure. We found that geographic distance had the strongest correlation with community similarity, with and without one anomalous location, while differences in temperature (air, water, and sediment), nutrients, organic matter, and turbidity also had significant but weaker relationships with community structure. Surprisingly, air temperature, which changes on very short time scales, appeared to be the environmental factor most strongly related to diatom species composition, potentially implicating some unmeasured variable (e.g., cloud cover). However, we also found that temperature and geographic distance were strongly

  14. The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography at Age Ten

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rosindell, James; Hubbell, Stephen P.; Etienne, Rampal S.

    A decade has now passed since Hubbell published The Unified Neutral Theory of Biodiversity and Biogeography. Neutral theory highlights the importance of dispersal limitation, speciation and ecological drift in the natural world and provides quantitative null models for assessing the role of

  15. Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of tree boas (Corallus spp.).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colston, Timothy J; Grazziotin, Felipe G; Shepard, Donald B; Vitt, Laurie J; Colli, Guarino R; Henderson, Robert W; Blair Hedges, S; Bonatto, Sandro; Zaher, Hussam; Noonan, Brice P; Burbrink, Frank T

    2013-03-01

    Inferring the evolutionary and biogeographic history of taxa occurring in a particular region is one way to determine the processes by which the biodiversity of that region originated. Tree boas of the genus Corallus are an ancient clade and occur throughout Central and South America and the Lesser Antilles, making it an excellent group for investigating Neotropical biogeography. Using sequenced portions of two mitochondrial and three nuclear loci for individuals of all recognized species of Corallus, we infer phylogenetic relationships, present the first molecular analysis of the phylogenetic placement of the enigmatic C. cropanii, develop a time-calibrated phylogeny, and explore the biogeographic history of the genus. We found that Corallus diversified within mainland South America, via over-water dispersals to the Lesser Antilles and Central America, and via the traditionally recognized Panamanian land bridge. Divergence time estimates reject the South American Caribbean-Track as a general biogeographic model for Corallus and implicate a role for events during the Oligocene and Miocene in diversification such as marine incursions and the uplift of the Andes. Our findings also suggest that recognition of the island endemic species, C. grenadensis and C. cookii, is questionable as they are nested within the widely distributed species, C. hortulanus. Our results highlight the importance of using widespread taxa when forming and testing biogeographic hypotheses in complex regions and further illustrate the difficulty of forming broadly applicable hypotheses regarding patterns of diversification in the Neotropical region. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Phylogeny and Biogeography of Cyanobacteria and Their Produced Toxins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agostinho Antunes

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available Phylogeny is an evolutionary reconstruction of the past relationships of DNA or protein sequences and it can further be used as a tool to assess population structuring, genetic diversity and biogeographic patterns. In the microbial world, the concept that everything is everywhere is widely accepted. However, it is much debated whether microbes are easily dispersed globally or whether they, like many macro-organisms, have historical biogeographies. Biogeography can be defined as the science that documents the spatial and temporal distribution of a given taxa in the environment at local, regional and continental scales. Speciation, extinction and dispersal are proposed to explain the generation of biogeographic patterns. Cyanobacteria are a diverse group of microorganisms that inhabit a wide range of ecological niches and are well known for their toxic secondary metabolite production. Knowledge of the evolution and dispersal of these microorganisms is still limited, and further research to understand such topics is imperative. Here, we provide a compilation of the most relevant information regarding these issues to better understand the present state of the art as a platform for future studies, and we highlight examples of both phylogenetic and biogeographic studies in non-symbiotic cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins.

  17. Phylogeny and Biogeography of Cyanobacteria and Their Produced Toxins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreira, Cristiana; Vasconcelos, Vitor; Antunes, Agostinho

    2013-01-01

    Phylogeny is an evolutionary reconstruction of the past relationships of DNA or protein sequences and it can further be used as a tool to assess population structuring, genetic diversity and biogeographic patterns. In the microbial world, the concept that everything is everywhere is widely accepted. However, it is much debated whether microbes are easily dispersed globally or whether they, like many macro-organisms, have historical biogeographies. Biogeography can be defined as the science that documents the spatial and temporal distribution of a given taxa in the environment at local, regional and continental scales. Speciation, extinction and dispersal are proposed to explain the generation of biogeographic patterns. Cyanobacteria are a diverse group of microorganisms that inhabit a wide range of ecological niches and are well known for their toxic secondary metabolite production. Knowledge of the evolution and dispersal of these microorganisms is still limited, and further research to understand such topics is imperative. Here, we provide a compilation of the most relevant information regarding these issues to better understand the present state of the art as a platform for future studies, and we highlight examples of both phylogenetic and biogeographic studies in non-symbiotic cyanobacteria and cyanotoxins. PMID:24189276

  18. Understanding predicted shifts in diazotroph biogeography using resource competition theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Dutkiewicz

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available We examine the sensitivity of the biogeography of nitrogen fixers to a warming climate and increased aeolian iron deposition in the context of a global earth system model. We employ concepts from the resource-ratio theory to provide a simplifying and transparent interpretation of the results. First we demonstrate that a set of clearly defined, easily diagnosed provinces are consistent with the theory. Using this framework we show that the regions most vulnerable to province shifts and changes in diazotroph biogeography are the equatorial and South Pacific, and central Atlantic. Warmer and dustier climates favor diazotrophs due to an increase in the ratio of supply rate of iron to fixed nitrogen. We suggest that the emergent provinces could be a standard diagnostic for global change models, allowing for rapid and transparent interpretation and comparison of model predictions and the underlying mechanisms. The analysis suggests that monitoring of real world province boundaries, indicated by transitions in surface nutrient concentrations, would provide a clear and easily interpreted indicator of ongoing global change.

  19. Phylogeny and biogeography of North-American wild rice (Zizania L.Poaceae)

    Science.gov (United States)

    The wild-rice genus Zizania includes four species disjunctly distributed in eastern Asia and North America, with three species (Z. aquatica, Z. palustris, and Z. texana) in North America and one (Z. latifolia) in eastern Asia. The phylogeny and biogeography of Zizania were explored using sequences o...

  20. Biodiversity and biogeography pattern of benthic communities in the coastal basins of India

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sivadas, S.K.; Ingole, B.S.

    Our understanding of coastal biogeography patterns is presently limited to certain regions and marine groups. Comprehending large-scale patterns and their underlying predictors is critical due to the changing environmental conditions. The Indian...

  1. The general dynamic model

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borregaard, Michael K.; Matthews, Thomas J.; Whittaker, Robert James

    2016-01-01

    Aim: Island biogeography focuses on understanding the processes that underlie a set of well-described patterns on islands, but it lacks a unified theoretical framework for integrating these processes. The recently proposed general dynamic model (GDM) of oceanic island biogeography offers a step...... towards this goal. Here, we present an analysis of causality within the GDM and investigate its potential for the further development of island biogeographical theory. Further, we extend the GDM to include subduction-based island arcs and continental fragment islands. Location: A conceptual analysis...... of evolutionary processes in simulations derived from the mechanistic assumptions of the GDM corresponded broadly to those initially suggested, with the exception of trends in extinction rates. Expanding the model to incorporate different scenarios of island ontogeny and isolation revealed a sensitivity...

  2. Roles of effective helical ripple rates in nonlinear stability of externally induced magnetic islands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nishimura, Seiya, E-mail: n-seiya@kobe-kosen.ac.jp [Kobe City College of Technology, Kobe, Hyogo 651-2194 (Japan)

    2015-02-15

    Magnetic islands are externally produced by resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) in toroidal plasmas. Spontaneous annihilation of RMP-induced magnetic islands called self-healing has been observed in helical systems. A possible mechanism of the self-healing is shielding of RMP penetration by helical ripple-induced neoclassical flows, which give rise to neoclassical viscous torques. In this study, effective helical ripple rates in multi-helicity helical systems are revisited, and a multi-helicity effect on the self-healing is investigated, based on a theoretical model of rotating magnetic islands. It is confirmed that effective helical ripple rates are sensitive to magnetic axis positions. It is newly found that self-healing thresholds also strongly depend on magnetic axis positions, which is due to dependence of neoclassical viscous torques on effective helical ripple rates.

  3. Patterns of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Distribution on Mainland and Island Sandy Coastal Plain Ecosystems in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva, Iolanda Ramalho; de Souza, Francisco Adriano; da Silva, Danielle Karla Alves; Oehl, Fritz; Maia, Leonor Costa

    2017-10-01

    Although sandy coastal plains are important buffer zones to protect the coast line and maintain biological diversity and ecosystem services, these ecosystems have been endangered by anthropogenic activities. Thus, information on coastal biodiversity and forces shaping coastal biological diversity are extremely important for effective conservation strategies. In this study, we aimed to compare arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities from soil samples collected on the mainland and nearby islands located in Brazilian sandy coastal plain ecosystems (Restingas) to get information about AM fungal biogeography and identify factors shaping these communities. Soil samples were collected in 2013 and 2014 on the beachfront of the tropical sandy coastal plain at six sites (three island and three mainland locations) across the northeast, southeast, and south regions of Brazil. Overall, we recorded 53 AM fungal species from field and trap culture samples. The richness and diversity of AM fungal species did not differ between mainland and island locations, but AM fungal community assemblages were different between mainland and island environments and among most sites sampled. Glomeromycota communities registered from island samples showed higher heterogeneity than communities from mainland samples. Sandy coastal plains harbor diverse AM fungal communities structured by climatic, edaphic, and spatial factors, while the distance from the colonizing source (mainland environments) does not strongly affect the AM fungal communities in Brazilian coastal environments.

  4. Out of Borneo: biogeography, phylogeny and divergence date estimates of Artocarpus (Moraceae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Evelyn W; Gardner, Elliot M; Harris, Robert; Chaveerach, Arunrat; Pereira, Joan T; Zerega, Nyree J C

    2017-03-01

    speciation may have occurred. By contrast, Artocarpus diversity east of Borneo (where many of the islands have no historical connections to the landmasses of the Sunda and Sahul shelves) is unique and probably the product of over water long-distance dispersal events and subsequent diversification in allopatry. This work represents the most comprehensive Artocarpus phylogeny and biogeography study to date and supports Borneo as an evolutionary biodiversity hotspot. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  5. Widespread green algae Chlorella and Stichococcus exhibit polar-temperate and tropical-temperate biogeography

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hodač, L.; Hallmann, Ch.; Spitzer, K.; Elster, Josef; Fasshauer, F.; Brinkmann, N.; Lepka, D.; Diwan, V.; Friedl, T.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 92, č. 8 (2016), s. 1-16, č. článku fiw122. ISSN 0168-6496 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : Chlorella * Stichococcus * biogeography Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 3.720, year: 2016

  6. Transferring and implementing the general dynamic model of oceanic island biogeography at the scale of island fragments: the role of geological age and topography in plant diversification in the Canaries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Otto, Rüdiger; Whittaker, Robert J.; von Gaisberg, Markus

    2016-01-01

    ontogenies, featuring surfaces of varying age. Here, we extend the GDM to apply at a local scale within islands, and test the predictions analytically within individual islands. Location El Hierro, La Palma and Tenerife (Canary Islands). Methods Following the GDM logic, we derive predictions...

  7. On the island biogeography of aliens: a global analysis of the richness of alien plant and bird species on oceanic islands

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Blackburn, T. M.; Delean, S.; Pyšek, Petr; Cassey, P.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 25, č. 7 (2016), s. 859-868 ISSN 1466-822X R&D Projects: GA ČR GB14-36079G Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) AP1002 Program:Akademická prémie - Praemium Academiae Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : plants * birds * island invasions Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 6.045, year: 2016

  8. Diversity, relationships, and biogeography of the lambeosaurine dinosaurs from the European Archipelago, with description of the New Aralosaurin Canardia garonnensis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert Prieto-Márquez

    Full Text Available We provide a thorough re-evaluation of the taxonomic diversity, phylogenetic relationships, and historical biogeography of the lambeosaurine hadrosaurids from the European Archipelago. Previously published occurrences of European Lambeosaurinae are reviewed and new specimens collected from upper Maastrichtian strata of the south-central Pyrenees are described. No support is found for the recognition of European saurolophines in the available hadrosaurid materials recovered so far from this area. A new genus and species of basal lambeosaurine, Canardia garonnensis, is described on the basis of cranial and appendicular elements collected from upper Maastrichtian strata of southern France. C. garonnensis differs from all other hadrosaurids, except Aralosaurus tuberiferus, in having maxilla with prominent subrectangular rostrodorsal flange; it differs from A. tuberiferus in a few maxillary and prefrontal characters. Together with A. tuberiferus, C. garonnensis integrates the newly recognized tribe Aralosaurini. Inference of lambeosaurine interrelationships via maximum parsimony analysis indicates that the other three known European lambeosaurines are representatives of two additional subclades (tribes of these hadrosaurids: Tsintaosaurini (Pararhabdodon isonensis and Lambeosaurini (the Arenysaurus ardevoli-Blasisaurus canudoi clade. The tribes Aralosaurini, Tsintaosaurini, Lambeosaurini, and Parasaurolophini are formally defined and diagnosed for the first time. Three event-based quantitative methods of ancestral range reconstruction were implemented to infer the historical biogeography of European lambeosaurines: Dispersal-Vicariance Analysis, Bayesian Binary MCMC, and Dispersal-Extinction-Cladogenesis. The results of these analyses, coupled with the absence of pre-Maastrichtian lambeosaurines in the Mesozoic vertebrate fossil record of Europe, favor the hypothesis that aralosaurins and tsintaosaurins were Asian immigrants that reached the Ibero

  9. The "island rule" and deep-sea gastropods: re-examining the evidence.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John J Welch

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available One of the most intriguing patterns in mammalian biogeography is the "island rule", which states that colonising species have a tendency to converge in body size, with larger species evolving decreased sizes and smaller species increased sizes. It has recently been suggested that an analogous pattern holds for the colonisation of the deep-sea benthos by marine Gastropoda. In particular, a pioneering study showed that gastropods from the Western Atlantic showed the same graded trend from dwarfism to gigantism that is evident in island endemic mammals. However, subsequent to the publication of the gastropod study, the standard tests of the island rule have been shown to yield false positives at a very high rate, leaving the result open to doubt.The evolution of gastropod body size in the deep sea is reexamined. Using an extended and updated data set, and improved statistical methods, it is shown that some results of the previous study may have been artifactual, but that its central conclusion is robust. It is further shown that the effect is not restricted to a single gastropod clade, that its strength increases markedly with depth, but that it applies even in the mesopelagic zone.The replication of the island rule in a distant taxonomic group and a partially analogous ecological situation could help to uncover the causes of the patterns observed--which are currently much disputed. The gastropod pattern is evident at intermediate depths, and so cannot be attributed to the unique features of abyssal ecology.

  10. Allopatric speciation of Meteterakis (Heterakoidea: Heterakidae), a highly dispersible parasitic nematode, in the East Asian islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sata, Naoya

    2018-04-25

    To clarify how the species diversity of highly dispersible parasites has developed, molecular phylogenetic analyses of Meteterakis spp., multi-host endoparasitic nematodes of reptiles and amphibians from the East Asian islands, were conducted. The results demonstrated the existence of two major clades, the J- and A-groups, with exclusive geographic ranges that are discordant with the host faunal province. However, diversification within the J-group was concordant with the host biogeography and suggested co-divergence of this group with vicariance of the host fauna. In contrast, the phylogenetic pattern within the A-group was discordant with host biogeography and implied diversification by repeated colonization. In addition, the mosaic distribution pattern of a J-group and an A-group species in the Japanese Archipelago, along with comparison of population genetic parameters and the genetic distance from their closest relatives, suggested the initial occurrence of a J-group lineage followed by exclusion in the western part of this region caused by invasion of an A-group lineage. Thus, the present study suggested that the species diversity of highly dispersible parasites including Meteterakis is formed not only by co-divergence with host faunal vicariance but also by peripatric speciation and exclusive interactions between species. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. The signature of human pressure history on the biogeography of body mass in tetrapods

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rapacciuolo, Giovanni; Marin, Julie; Costa, Gabriel C.; Helmus, Matthew R.; Behm, Jocelyn E.; Brooks, Thomas M.; Hedges, S. Blair; Radeloff, Volker C.; Young, Bruce E.; Graham, Catherine H.

    2017-01-01

    Aim: Examining the biogeography of body size is crucial for understanding how animal communities are assembled and maintained. In tetrapods, body size varies predictably with temperature, moisture, productivity seasonality and topographical complexity. Although millennial-scale human pressures are

  12. The diversity and biogeography of the communities of Actinobacteria in the forelands of glaciers at a continental scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Binglin; Wu, Xiukun; Zhang, Gaosen; Li, Shuyan; Zhang, Wei; Chen, Ximing; Sun, Likun; Zhang, Baogui; Liu, Guangxiu; Chen, Tuo

    2016-05-01

    Glacier forelands, where the initially exposed area is unvegetated with minimal human influence, are an ideal place for research on the distributions and biogeography of microbial communities. Actinobacteria produce many bioactive substances and have important roles in soil development and biogeochemical cycling. However, little is known about the distribution and biogeography of Actinobacteria in glacier forelands. Therefore, we investigated the patterns of diversity and the biogeography of actinobacterial communities of the inhabited forefields of 5 glaciers in China. Of the bacteria, the mean relative abundance of Actinobacteria was 13.1%, and 6 classes were identified in the phylum Actinobacteria. The dominant class was Actinobacteria (57%), which was followed in abundance by Acidimicrobiia (19%) and Thermoleophilia (19%). When combined, the relative abundance of the other three classes, the MB-A2-108, Nitriliruptoria and Rubrobacteria, was only 2.4%. A biogeographic pattern in the forelands of the 5 glaciers in China was not detected for actinobacterial communities. Compared with 7 other actinobacterial communities found in the forelands of glaciers globally, those in the Southern Hemisphere were significantly different from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Moreover, the communities were significantly different on the separate continents of the Northern Hemisphere. The dissimilarity of the actinobacterial communities increased with geographic distance (r = 0.428, p = 0.0003). Because of environmental factors, the effect of geography was clear when the distance exceeded a certain continent-level threshold. With the analysis of indicator species, we found that each genus had a geographic characteristic, which could explain why the communities with greater diversity were more strongly affected by biogeography.

  13. Biogeography and molar morphology of Pleistocene African elephants: new evidence from Elandsfontein, Western Cape Province, South Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Kathlyn M.; Stynder, Deano D.

    2015-05-01

    Elandsfontein (EFT) is a Middle Pleistocene archaeological/paleontological site located in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The largest herbivore in the assemblage is Loxodonta atlantica zulu, an extinct member of the genus that includes modern African elephants. No Elephas recki specimens were recovered at EFT, despite their common occurrence in other regions of Africa at the same time. Because E. recki and L. atlantica molars are similar in appearance, but the two species are traditionally viewed as dominating different regions of Africa during the Pleistocene, isolated molars may on occasions have been assessed to species level on the basis of geography rather than morphology. The last morphologic evaluation of EFT elephants was conducted in the 1970s, and revisiting this issue with new specimens provides added insight into the evolution of elephants in Africa. Reevaluating morphological characteristics of EFT elephant molars, through qualitative and quantitative description and comparison with Middle Pleistocene E. recki recki, L. atlantica atlantica, and L. atlantica zulu molar morphology, corroborates assessment of EFT elephants as L. a. zulu. Two recently discovered, previously undescribed molars from EFT show that molars of L. a. zulu exhibit greater variation in enamel thickness, lamellar frequency, and occlusal surface morphology than previously reported. An update of the Pleistocene biogeography of Loxodonta and Elephas indicates that fossil remains of both are often found at the same localities in eastern Africa. Their rare co-occurrences in the north and south, however, suggest geographic separation of the two genera in at least some regions of Africa, which may have been based on habitat preference.

  14. Taxonomic status and paleoecology of Rusingoryx atopocranion (Mammalia, Artiodactyla), an extinct Pleistocene bovid from Rusinga Island, Kenya

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faith, J. Tyler; Choiniere, Jonah N.; Tryon, Christian A.; Peppe, Daniel J.; Fox, David L.

    2011-05-01

    Rusingoryx atopocranion is a poorly known extinct alcelaphine bovid, documented in Pleistocene deposits associated with Middle Stone Age artifacts on Rusinga Island, Kenya. Following its initial description, Rusingoryx was subsumed into Megalotragus, which includes the extinct giant wildebeests, on the basis of its cranial architecture. Renewed investigations of the Pleistocene deposits on Rusinga Island recovered a large sample of Rusingoryx specimens that provide new taxonomic and paleoecological insight. This study (1) reviews the morphological and phylogenetic evidence concerning the taxonomic status of Rusingoryx and (2) evaluates its paleoecology and dietary habits . The morphology and phylogenetic data indicate that Rusingoryx is distinct from Megalotragus; they likely shared a common ancestor in the late Pliocene. Ecomorphology and mesowear analysis point to a specialized grazing adaptation, and its association with arid-adapted ungulates suggests a preference for arid grasslands. The confirmation of Rusingoryx as a valid taxonomic entity, together with the presence of other extinct taxa (including Megalotragus) on Rusinga Island, suggests an increasingly complex pattern of ungulate biogeography and extinctions in the late Quaternary of East Africa. Rusingoryx appears to have been part of an arid-adapted faunal community that potentially persisted in East Africa until the onset of the Holocene.

  15. Tracking trails by cracking codes : Molecular biogeography and evolution of benthic cold-water seaweeds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Oppen, Madeleine Josephine Henriette

    1995-01-01

    The main objective of this thesis was to examine the evolutionary diversification and biogeography of some polar and cold-temperatsee aweeds. Distribution patterns and dispersal routes were investigated in three species exhibiting a bipolar disjunction and one with an amphi-Atlantic distribution, by

  16. Fish community reassembly after a coral mass mortality: higher trophic groups are subject to increased rates of extinction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alonso, David; Pinyol-Gallemí, Aleix; Alcoverro, Teresa; Arthur, Rohan

    2015-05-01

    Since Gleason and Clements, our understanding of community dynamics has been influenced by theories emphasising either dispersal or niche assembly as central to community structuring. Determining the relative importance of these processes in structuring real-world communities remains a challenge. We tracked reef fish community reassembly after a catastrophic coral mortality in a relatively unfished archipelago. We revisited the stochastic model underlying MacArthur and Wilson's Island Biogeography Theory, with a simple extension to account for trophic identity. Colonisation and extinction rates calculated from decadal presence-absence data based on (1) species neutrality, (2) trophic identity and (3) site-specificity were used to model post-disturbance reassembly, and compared with empirical observations. Results indicate that species neutrality holds within trophic guilds, and trophic identity significantly increases overall model performance. Strikingly, extinction rates increased clearly with trophic position, indicating that fish communities may be inherently susceptible to trophic downgrading even without targeted fishing of top predators. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

  17. eWOM, Revisit Intention, Destination Trust and Gender

    OpenAIRE

    Abubakar, Abubakar Mohammed; Ilkan, Mustafa; Al-Tal, Raad Meshall; Eluwole, Kayode

    2017-01-01

    This article investigates the impact of eWOM on intention to revisit and destination trust, and the moderating role of gender in medical tourism industry. Result from structural equation modeling (n=240) suggests the following: (1) that eWOM influences intention to revisit and destination trust; (2) that destination trust influences intention to revisit; (3) that the impact of eWOM on intention to revisit is about 1.3 times higher in men; (4) that the impact of eWOM on destination trust is ab...

  18. A Biogeography-Based Optimization Algorithm Hybridized with Tabu Search for the Quadratic Assignment Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Wee Loon; Wibowo, Antoni; Desa, Mohammad Ishak; Haron, Habibollah

    2016-01-01

    The quadratic assignment problem (QAP) is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem with a wide variety of applications. Biogeography-based optimization (BBO), a relatively new optimization technique based on the biogeography concept, uses the idea of migration strategy of species to derive algorithm for solving optimization problems. It has been shown that BBO provides performance on a par with other optimization methods. A classical BBO algorithm employs the mutation operator as its diversification strategy. However, this process will often ruin the quality of solutions in QAP. In this paper, we propose a hybrid technique to overcome the weakness of classical BBO algorithm to solve QAP, by replacing the mutation operator with a tabu search procedure. Our experiments using the benchmark instances from QAPLIB show that the proposed hybrid method is able to find good solutions for them within reasonable computational times. Out of 61 benchmark instances tested, the proposed method is able to obtain the best known solutions for 57 of them.

  19. A Biogeography-Based Optimization Algorithm Hybridized with Tabu Search for the Quadratic Assignment Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Wee Loon; Wibowo, Antoni; Desa, Mohammad Ishak; Haron, Habibollah

    2016-01-01

    The quadratic assignment problem (QAP) is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem with a wide variety of applications. Biogeography-based optimization (BBO), a relatively new optimization technique based on the biogeography concept, uses the idea of migration strategy of species to derive algorithm for solving optimization problems. It has been shown that BBO provides performance on a par with other optimization methods. A classical BBO algorithm employs the mutation operator as its diversification strategy. However, this process will often ruin the quality of solutions in QAP. In this paper, we propose a hybrid technique to overcome the weakness of classical BBO algorithm to solve QAP, by replacing the mutation operator with a tabu search procedure. Our experiments using the benchmark instances from QAPLIB show that the proposed hybrid method is able to find good solutions for them within reasonable computational times. Out of 61 benchmark instances tested, the proposed method is able to obtain the best known solutions for 57 of them. PMID:26819585

  20. Potential Demand of Relatively New and Emerging Marine Ecotourism in Kei Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewa Ayu Raka Susanti, Ida I.; Teniwut, Wellem A.; Kahfi, Syahibul; M. K Teniwut, Roberto; Picaulima, Simon; Hungan, Marselus; Rahantoknam, Meyske; Hasyim, Cawalinya; Rahakbauw, Siska D.; Renjaan, M. R.; Ngabalin, Anna M.; Ngangun, Tati A.; Pentury, Frischila; Betaubun, Kamilius D.; Ngamel, A. K.; Ohoiwutun, Elisabeth C.

    2017-10-01

    One of the main resources for the economic development of coastal are marine ecotourism. Although for developing country such as Indonesia and especially for an area that located far from a big city like Kei Islands in Maluku, development of marine ecotourism might face a greater challenge than any other places. Considering the potential for multiplier effect on economic of a coastal community, the purpose of this research was to analyze and measure the economic value of new, raw and emerging marine ecotourism spot and determine the demand based on domestic tourist perspective. We pick five new and emerging marine ecotourism spots in this area as case study and used purposive sampling technique to target potential domestic tourist who have visited those five marine ecotourism spots and measure their preference and measure their demand potential by used willingness to revisit (WTR) and logistic regression for analyze the data, this research conducted in Kei Islands, Indonesia. This result can provide broad and comprehensive perspective on developing marine ecotourism in a mildly isolated coastal area like Kei Islands and place similar.

  1. Biogeography of worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) driven by end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Longrich, Nicholas R; Vinther, Jakob; Pyron, R Alexander; Pisani, Davide; Gauthier, Jacques A

    2015-05-07

    Worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) are burrowing squamates that live as subterranean predators. Their underground existence should limit dispersal, yet they are widespread throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa. This pattern was traditionally explained by continental drift, but molecular clocks suggest a Cenozoic diversification, long after the break-up of Pangaea, implying dispersal. Here, we describe primitive amphisbaenians from the North American Palaeocene, including the oldest known amphisbaenian, and provide new and older molecular divergence estimates for the clade, showing that worm lizards originated in North America, then radiated and dispersed in the Palaeogene following the Cretaceous-Palaeogene (K-Pg) extinction. This scenario implies at least three trans-oceanic dispersals: from North America to Europe, from North America to Africa and from Africa to South America. Amphisbaenians provide a striking case study in biogeography, suggesting that the role of continental drift in biogeography may be overstated. Instead, these patterns support Darwin and Wallace's hypothesis that the geographical ranges of modern clades result from dispersal, including oceanic rafting. Mass extinctions may facilitate dispersal events by eliminating competitors and predators that would otherwise hinder establishment of dispersing populations, removing biotic barriers to dispersal. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

  2. Extinction and recolonization of maritime Antarctica in the limpet Nacella concinna (Strebel, 1908) during the last glacial cycle: toward a model of Quaternary biogeography in shallow Antarctic invertebrates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González-Wevar, C A; Saucède, T; Morley, S A; Chown, S L; Poulin, E

    2013-10-01

    Quaternary glaciations in Antarctica drastically modified geographical ranges and population sizes of marine benthic invertebrates and thus affected the amount and distribution of intraspecific genetic variation. Here, we present new genetic information in the Antarctic limpet Nacella concinna, a dominant Antarctic benthic species along shallow ice-free rocky ecosystems. We examined the patterns of genetic diversity and structure in this broadcast spawner along maritime Antarctica and from the peri-Antarctic island of South Georgia. Genetic analyses showed that N. concinna represents a single panmictic unit in maritime Antarctic. Low levels of genetic diversity characterized this population; its median-joining haplotype network revealed a typical star-like topology with a short genealogy and a dominant haplotype broadly distributed. As previously reported with nuclear markers, we detected significant genetic differentiation between South Georgia Island and maritime Antarctica populations. Higher levels of genetic diversity, a more expanded genealogy and the presence of more private haplotypes support the hypothesis of glacial persistence in this peri-Antarctic island. Bayesian Skyline plot and mismatch distribution analyses recognized an older demographic history in South Georgia. Approximate Bayesian computations did not support the persistence of N. concinna along maritime Antarctica during the last glacial period, but indicated the resilience of the species in peri-Antarctic refugia (South Georgia Island). We proposed a model of Quaternary Biogeography for Antarctic marine benthic invertebrates with shallow and narrow bathymetric ranges including (i) extinction of maritime Antarctic populations during glacial periods; (ii) persistence of populations in peri-Antarctic refugia; and (iii) recolonization of maritime Antarctica following the deglaciation process. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Advances and Limitations of Disease Biogeography Using Ecological Niche Modeling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escobar, Luis E; Craft, Meggan E

    2016-01-01

    Mapping disease transmission risk is crucial in public and animal health for evidence based decision-making. Ecology and epidemiology are highly related disciplines that may contribute to improvements in mapping disease, which can be used to answer health related questions. Ecological niche modeling is increasingly used for understanding the biogeography of diseases in plants, animals, and humans. However, epidemiological applications of niche modeling approaches for disease mapping can fail to generate robust study designs, producing incomplete or incorrect inferences. This manuscript is an overview of the history and conceptual bases behind ecological niche modeling, specifically as applied to epidemiology and public health; it does not pretend to be an exhaustive and detailed description of ecological niche modeling literature and methods. Instead, this review includes selected state-of-the-science approaches and tools, providing a short guide to designing studies incorporating information on the type and quality of the input data (i.e., occurrences and environmental variables), identification and justification of the extent of the study area, and encourages users to explore and test diverse algorithms for more informed conclusions. We provide a friendly introduction to the field of disease biogeography presenting an updated guide for researchers looking to use ecological niche modeling for disease mapping. We anticipate that ecological niche modeling will soon be a critical tool for epidemiologists aiming to map disease transmission risk, forecast disease distribution under climate change scenarios, and identify landscape factors triggering outbreaks.

  4. Biogeography-based particle swarm optimization with fuzzy elitism and its applications to constrained engineering problems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Weian; Li, Wuzhao; Zhang, Qun; Wang, Lei; Wu, Qidi; Ren, Hongliang

    2014-11-01

    In evolutionary algorithms, elites are crucial to maintain good features in solutions. However, too many elites can make the evolutionary process stagnate and cannot enhance the performance. This article employs particle swarm optimization (PSO) and biogeography-based optimization (BBO) to propose a hybrid algorithm termed biogeography-based particle swarm optimization (BPSO) which could make a large number of elites effective in searching optima. In this algorithm, the whole population is split into several subgroups; BBO is employed to search within each subgroup and PSO for the global search. Since not all the population is used in PSO, this structure overcomes the premature convergence in the original PSO. Time complexity analysis shows that the novel algorithm does not increase the time consumption. Fourteen numerical benchmarks and four engineering problems with constraints are used to test the BPSO. To better deal with constraints, a fuzzy strategy for the number of elites is investigated. The simulation results validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

  5. Optimization of nonlinear controller with an enhanced biogeography approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Salem

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper is dedicated to the optimization of nonlinear controllers basing of an enhanced Biogeography Based Optimization (BBO approach. Indeed, The BBO is combined to a predator and prey model where several predators are used with introduction of a modified migration operator to increase the diversification along the optimization process so as to avoid local optima and reach the optimal solution quickly. The proposed approach is used in tuning the gains of PID controller for nonlinear systems. Simulations are carried out over a Mass spring damper and an inverted pendulum and has given remarkable results when compared to genetic algorithm and BBO.

  6. Floristics and biogeography of vegetation in seasonally dry tropical regions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dexter, K.G.; Smart, B.; Baldauf, C.

    2015-01-01

    To provide an inter-continental overview of the floristics and biogeography of drought-adapted tropical vegetation formations, we compiled a dataset of inventory plots in South America (n=93), Africa (n=84), and Asia (n=92) from savannas (subject to fire), seasonally dry tropical forests (not...... similar vegetation formations (e.g. savannas) are floristically highly dissimilar. Neotropical moist forest, savanna and seasonally dry tropical forest are floristically distinct, but elsewhere there is no clear floristic division of savanna and seasonally dry tropical forest, though moist and dry...... of the ecology, biology and conservation of savannas and seasonally dry tropical forests may be difficult....

  7. The amphibians and reptiles of Mindanao Island, southern Philippines, II: the herpetofauna of northeast Mindanao and adjacent islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marites B. Sanguila

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available We summarize all available amphibian and reptile species distribution data from the northeast Mindanao faunal region, including small islands associated with this subcenter of endemic vertebrate biodiversity. Together with all publicly available historical information from biodiversity repositories, we present new data from several major herpetological surveys, including recently conducted inventories on four major mountains of northeast Mindanao, and adjacent islands of Camiguin Sur, Dinagat, and Siargao. We present species accounts for all taxa, comment on unresolved taxonomic problems, and provide revisions to outdated IUCN conservation status assessments in cases where our new data significantly alter earlier classification status summaries. Together, our comprehensive analysis of this fauna suggests that the greater Mindanao faunal region possesses distinct subcenters of amphibian and reptile species diversity, and that until this area is revisited and its fauna and actually studied, with on-the-ground field work including targeted surveys of species distributions coupled to the study their natural history, our understanding of the diversity and conservation status of southern Philippine herpetological fauna will remain incomplete. Nevertheless, the northeast Mindanao geographical area (Caraga Region appears to have the highest herpetological species diversity (at least 126 species of any comparably-sized Philippine faunal subregion.

  8. Bacterial biogeography influenced by shelf-basin exchange in the Arctic surface sediment at the Chukchi Borderland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Dukki; Nam, Seung-Il; Ha, Ho Kyung; Kim, Hyoungjun; Sadowsky, Michael J; Lee, Yoo Kyung; Hur, Hor-Gil

    2016-02-01

    It has been known that continental shelves around the Arctic Ocean play a major role in the ventilation of the deep basins as a consequence of shelf-basin exchange. In the present study, we found that bacterial assemblage of the surface sediment was different from that of seawater while seawater harboured local bacterial assemblages in response to the Arctic hydrography. This finding suggests that the Arctic seafloor sediments may have distinctive bacterial biogeography. Moreover, the distribution of bacterial assemblages and physicochemical properties in surface sediments changed gradually from the Arctic continental shelf to deep-sea basin. Based on the results, bacterial biogeography in the Arctic seafloor sediments may be influenced by winnowing and re-deposition of surface sediments through the sediment gravity flow. The present study offers a deeper understanding of shelf convection and its role for the construction of bacterial assemblages in the Arctic Ocean. © 2015 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  9. Architectural design drives the biogeography of indoor bacterial communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kembel, Steven W; Meadow, James F; O'Connor, Timothy K; Mhuireach, Gwynne; Northcutt, Dale; Kline, Jeff; Moriyama, Maxwell; Brown, G Z; Bohannan, Brendan J M; Green, Jessica L

    2014-01-01

    Architectural design has the potential to influence the microbiology of the built environment, with implications for human health and well-being, but the impact of design on the microbial biogeography of buildings remains poorly understood. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome. Sequencing of the bacterial 16S gene from dust samples revealed that indoor bacterial communities were extremely diverse, containing more than 32,750 OTUs (operational taxonomic units, 97% sequence similarity cutoff), but most communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococci. Architectural design characteristics related to space type, building arrangement, human use and movement, and ventilation source had a large influence on the structure of bacterial communities. Restrooms contained bacterial communities that were highly distinct from all other rooms, and spaces with high human occupant diversity and a high degree of connectedness to other spaces via ventilation or human movement contained a distinct set of bacterial taxa when compared to spaces with low occupant diversity and low connectedness. Within offices, the source of ventilation air had the greatest effect on bacterial community structure. Our study indicates that humans have a guiding impact on the microbial biodiversity in buildings, both indirectly through the effects of architectural design on microbial community structure, and more directly through the effects of human occupancy and use patterns on the microbes found in different spaces and space types. The impact of design decisions in structuring the indoor microbiome offers the possibility to use ecological knowledge to shape our buildings in a way that will select for an indoor microbiome that promotes our health and well-being.

  10. Ancient geographical gaps and paleo-climate shape the phylogeography of an endemic bird in the sky islands of southern India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robin, V V; Sinha, Anindya; Ramakrishnan, Uma

    2010-10-13

    Sky islands, formed by the highest reaches of mountain tracts physically isolated from one another, represent one of the biodiversity-rich regions of the world. Comparative studies of geographically isolated populations on such islands can provide valuable insights into the biogeography and evolution of species on these islands. The Western Ghats mountains of southern India form a sky island system, where the relationship between the island structure and the evolution of its species remains virtually unknown despite a few population genetic studies. We investigated how ancient geographic gaps and glacial cycles have partitioned genetic variation in modern populations of a threatened endemic bird, the White-bellied Shortwing Brachypteryx major, across the montane Shola forests on these islands and also inferred its evolutionary history. We used bayesian and maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic and population-genetic analyses on data from three mitochondrial markers and one nuclear marker (totally 2594 bp) obtained from 33 White-bellied Shortwing individuals across five islands. Genetic differentiation between populations of the species correlated with the locations of deep valleys in the Western Ghats but not with geographical distance between these populations. All populations revealed demographic histories consistent with population founding and expansion during the Last Glacial Maximum. Given the level of genetic differentiation north and south of the Palghat Gap, we suggest that these populations be considered two different taxonomic species. Our results show that the physiography and paleo-climate of this region historically resulted in multiple glacial refugia that may have subsequently driven the evolutionary history and current population structure of this bird. The first avian genetic study from this biodiversity hotspot, our results provide insights into processes that may have impacted the speciation and evolution of the endemic fauna of this region.

  11. Ancient geographical gaps and paleo-climate shape the phylogeography of an endemic bird in the sky islands of southern India.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V V Robin

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Sky islands, formed by the highest reaches of mountain tracts physically isolated from one another, represent one of the biodiversity-rich regions of the world. Comparative studies of geographically isolated populations on such islands can provide valuable insights into the biogeography and evolution of species on these islands. The Western Ghats mountains of southern India form a sky island system, where the relationship between the island structure and the evolution of its species remains virtually unknown despite a few population genetic studies.We investigated how ancient geographic gaps and glacial cycles have partitioned genetic variation in modern populations of a threatened endemic bird, the White-bellied Shortwing Brachypteryx major, across the montane Shola forests on these islands and also inferred its evolutionary history. We used bayesian and maximum likelihood-based phylogenetic and population-genetic analyses on data from three mitochondrial markers and one nuclear marker (totally 2594 bp obtained from 33 White-bellied Shortwing individuals across five islands. Genetic differentiation between populations of the species correlated with the locations of deep valleys in the Western Ghats but not with geographical distance between these populations. All populations revealed demographic histories consistent with population founding and expansion during the Last Glacial Maximum. Given the level of genetic differentiation north and south of the Palghat Gap, we suggest that these populations be considered two different taxonomic species.Our results show that the physiography and paleo-climate of this region historically resulted in multiple glacial refugia that may have subsequently driven the evolutionary history and current population structure of this bird. The first avian genetic study from this biodiversity hotspot, our results provide insights into processes that may have impacted the speciation and evolution of the endemic fauna of

  12. Biogeography of speciation in Cenozoic marine ostracoda: the role of climatic change

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cronin, T.M.

    1985-01-01

    Evolutionary theory holds that geographic isolation of populations with its resultant reproductive isolation is an important factor in the origin of new species. Climatic change alters species' biogeography by creating and eliminating barriers that affect gene flow between populations. For benthic organisms such as shallow marine ostracodes, thermal gradients at biogeographic province boundaries and the area of continental shelf are factors affected by climatic and associated sea level changes. Studies of Cenozoic marine ostracodes show that allopatric speciation does not account for paleobiogeographic patterns of species subjected to climatic change. Studies of 127 endemic species from middle latitudes of the western Atlantic show that most speciation events in temperature and subtropical taxa are, in the zoogeographic sense, sympatric or parapatric-clinal and are induced by oceanographic changes related to climatic events rather than geographic isolation of populations. Most ostracode species in middle latitudes are adapted to frequent, cyclical climatic changes typical of these regions and originated during rare periods of major climatic transition. High-latitude arctic-subarctic genera such as Finmarchinella have circumpolar distributions. A parapatric-clinal model accounts for speciation patterns observed in some high-latitude and tropical taxa. However the dynamic nature of thermal gradients and species' biogeography during climatic change renders questionable the controversial distinction between parapatric and allopatric-peripatric speciation models.

  13. Oceanic protists with different forms of acquired phototrophy display contrasting biogeographies and abundance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leles, S G; Mitra, A; Flynn, K J; Stoecker, D K; Hansen, P J; Calbet, A; McManus, G B; Sanders, R W; Caron, D A; Not, F; Hallegraeff, G M; Pitta, P; Raven, J A; Johnson, M D; Glibert, P M; Våge, S

    2017-08-16

    This first comprehensive analysis of the global biogeography of marine protistan plankton with acquired phototrophy shows these mixotrophic organisms to be ubiquitous and abundant; however, their biogeography differs markedly between different functional groups. These mixotrophs, lacking a constitutive capacity for photosynthesis (i.e. non-constitutive mixotrophs, NCMs), acquire their phototrophic potential through either integration of prey-plastids or through endosymbiotic associations with photosynthetic microbes. Analysis of field data reveals that 40-60% of plankton traditionally labelled as (non-phototrophic) microzooplankton are actually NCMs, employing acquired phototrophy in addition to phagotrophy. Specialist NCMs acquire chloroplasts or endosymbionts from specific prey, while generalist NCMs obtain chloroplasts from a variety of prey. These contrasting functional types of NCMs exhibit distinct seasonal and spatial global distribution patterns. Mixotrophs reliant on 'stolen' chloroplasts, controlled by prey diversity and abundance, dominate in high-biomass areas. Mixotrophs harbouring intact symbionts are present in all waters and dominate particularly in oligotrophic open ocean systems. The contrasting temporal and spatial patterns of distribution of different mixotroph functional types across the oceanic provinces, as revealed in this study, challenges traditional interpretations of marine food web structures. Mixotrophs with acquired phototrophy (NCMs) warrant greater recognition in marine research. © 2017 The Author(s).

  14. Phylogenetic analyses provide insights into the historical biogeography and evolution of Brachyrhaphis fishes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ingley, Spencer J; Reina, Ruth G; Bermingham, Eldredge; Johnson, Jerald B

    2015-08-01

    The livebearing fish genus Brachyrhaphis (Poeciliidae) has become an increasingly important model in evolution and ecology research, yet the phylogeny of this group is not well understood, nor has it been examined thoroughly using modern phylogenetic methods. Here, we present the first comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of Brachyrhaphis by using four molecular markers (3mtDNA, 1nucDNA) to infer relationships among species in this genus. We tested the validity of this genus as a monophyletic group using extensive outgroup sampling based on recent phylogenetic hypotheses of Poeciliidae. We also tested the validity of recently described species of Brachyrhaphis that are part of the B. episcopi complex in Panama. Finally, we examined the impact of historical events on diversification of Brachyrhaphis, and made predictions regarding the role of different ecological environments on evolutionary diversification where known historical events apparently fail to explain speciation. Based on our results, we reject the monophyly of Brachyrhaphis, and question the validity of two recently described species (B. hessfeldi and B. roswithae). Historical biogeography of Brachyrhaphis generally agrees with patterns found in other freshwater taxa in Lower Central America, which show that geological barriers frequently predict speciation. Specifically, we find evidence in support of an 'island' model of Lower Central American formation, which posits that the nascent isthmus was partitioned by several marine connections before linking North and South America. In some cases where historic events (e.g., vicariance) fail to explain allopatric species breaks in Brachyrhaphis, ecological processes (e.g., divergent predation environments) offer additional insight into our understanding of phylogenetic diversification in this group. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Generic phylogeny, historical biogeography and character evolution of the cosmopolitan aquatic plant family Hydrocharitaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chen Ling-Yun

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Hydrocharitaceae is a fully aquatic monocot family, consists of 18 genera with approximately 120 species. The family includes both fresh and marine aquatics and exhibits great diversity in form and habit including annual and perennial life histories; submersed, partially submersed and floating leaf habits and linear to orbicular leaf shapes. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution and is well represented in the Tertiary fossil record in Europe. At present, the historical biogeography of the family is not well understood and the generic relationships remain controversial. In this study we investigated the phylogeny and biogeography of Hydrocharitaceae by integrating fossils and DNA sequences from eight genes. We also conducted ancestral state reconstruction for three morphological characters. Results Phylogenetic analyses produced a phylogeny with most branches strongly supported by bootstrap values greater than 95 and Bayesian posterior probability values of 1.0. Stratiotes is the first diverging lineage with the remaining genera in two clades, one clade consists of Lagarosiphon, Ottelia, Blyxa, Apalanthe, Elodea and Egeria; and the other consists of Hydrocharis-Limnobium, Thalassia, Enhalus, Halophila, Najas, Hydrilla, Vallisneria, Nechamandra and Maidenia. Biogeographic analyses (DIVA, Mesquite and divergence time estimates (BEAST resolved the most recent common ancestor of Hydrocharitaceae as being in Asia during the Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene (54.7-72.6 Ma. Dispersals (including long-distance dispersal and migrations through Tethys seaway and land bridges probably played major roles in the intercontinental distribution of this family. Ancestral state reconstruction suggested that in Hydrocharitaceae evolution of dioecy is bidirectional, viz., from dioecy to hermaphroditism, and from hermaphroditism to dioecy, and that the aerial-submerged leaf habit and short-linear leaf shape are the ancestral states. Conclusions

  16. Generic phylogeny, historical biogeography and character evolution of the cosmopolitan aquatic plant family Hydrocharitaceae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Ling-Yun; Chen, Jin-Ming; Gituru, Robert Wahiti; Wang, Qing-Feng

    2012-03-10

    Hydrocharitaceae is a fully aquatic monocot family, consists of 18 genera with approximately 120 species. The family includes both fresh and marine aquatics and exhibits great diversity in form and habit including annual and perennial life histories; submersed, partially submersed and floating leaf habits and linear to orbicular leaf shapes. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution and is well represented in the Tertiary fossil record in Europe. At present, the historical biogeography of the family is not well understood and the generic relationships remain controversial. In this study we investigated the phylogeny and biogeography of Hydrocharitaceae by integrating fossils and DNA sequences from eight genes. We also conducted ancestral state reconstruction for three morphological characters. Phylogenetic analyses produced a phylogeny with most branches strongly supported by bootstrap values greater than 95 and Bayesian posterior probability values of 1.0. Stratiotes is the first diverging lineage with the remaining genera in two clades, one clade consists of Lagarosiphon, Ottelia, Blyxa, Apalanthe, Elodea and Egeria; and the other consists of Hydrocharis-Limnobium, Thalassia, Enhalus, Halophila, Najas, Hydrilla, Vallisneria, Nechamandra and Maidenia. Biogeographic analyses (DIVA, Mesquite) and divergence time estimates (BEAST) resolved the most recent common ancestor of Hydrocharitaceae as being in Asia during the Late Cretaceous and Palaeocene (54.7-72.6 Ma). Dispersals (including long-distance dispersal and migrations through Tethys seaway and land bridges) probably played major roles in the intercontinental distribution of this family. Ancestral state reconstruction suggested that in Hydrocharitaceae evolution of dioecy is bidirectional, viz., from dioecy to hermaphroditism, and from hermaphroditism to dioecy, and that the aerial-submerged leaf habit and short-linear leaf shape are the ancestral states. Our study has shed light on the previously controversial

  17. Lakatos Revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Court, Deborah

    1999-01-01

    Revisits and reviews Imre Lakatos' ideas on "Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes." Suggests that Lakatos' framework offers an insightful way of looking at the relationship between theory and research that is relevant not only for evaluating research programs in theoretical physics, but in the social…

  18. Biogeography and change among regional coral communities across the Western Indian Ocean.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy R McClanahan

    Full Text Available Coral reefs are biodiverse ecosystems structured by abiotic and biotic factors operating across many spatial scales. Regional-scale interactions between climate change, biogeography and fisheries management remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated large-scale patterns of coral communities in the western Indian Ocean after a major coral bleaching event in 1998. We surveyed 291 coral reef sites in 11 countries and over 30° of latitude between 2004 and 2011 to evaluate variations in coral communities post 1998 across gradients in latitude, mainland-island geography and fisheries management. We used linear mixed-effect hierarchical models to assess total coral cover, the abundance of four major coral families (acroporids, faviids, pocilloporids and poritiids, coral genus richness and diversity, and the bleaching susceptibility of the coral communities. We found strong latitudinal and geographic gradients in coral community structure and composition that supports the presence of a high coral cover and diversity area that harbours temperature-sensitive taxa in the northern Mozambique Channel between Tanzania, northern Mozambique and northern Madagascar. Coral communities in the more northern latitudes of Kenya, Seychelles and the Maldives were generally composed of fewer bleaching-tolerant coral taxa and with reduced richness and diversity. There was also evidence for continued declines in the abundance of temperature-sensitive taxa and community change after 2004. While there are limitations of our regional dataset in terms of spatial and temporal replication, these patterns suggest that large-scale interactions between biogeographic factors and strong temperature anomalies influence coral communities while smaller-scale factors, such as the effect of fisheries closures, were weak. The northern Mozambique Channel, while not immune to temperature disturbances, shows continued signs of resistance to climate disturbances and remains a priority for

  19. Oxidative phosphorylation revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nath, Sunil; Villadsen, John

    2015-01-01

    The fundamentals of oxidative phosphorylation and photophosphorylation are revisited. New experimental data on the involvement of succinate and malate anions respectively in oxidative phosphorylation and photophosphorylation are presented. These new data offer a novel molecular mechanistic...

  20. Historical biogeography and diversification of truffles in the Tuberaceae and their newly identified Southern hemisphere sister lineage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory Bonito; Matthew E. Smith; Michael Nowak; Rosanne A. Healy; Gonzalo Guevara; Efren Cazares; Akihiko Kinoshita; Eduardo R. Nouhra; Laura S. Dominguez; Leho Tedersoo; Claude Murat; Yun Wang; Baldomero Arroyo Moreno; Donald H. Pfister; Kazuhide Nara; Alessandra Zambonelli; James M. Trappe; Rytas. Vilgalys

    2013-01-01

    In this study we reassessed the biogeography and origin of the Tuberaceae and their relatives using multiple loci and a global sampling of taxa. Multiple independent transitions from an aboveground to a belowground truffie fruiting body form have occurred in the Tuberaceae and in its newly recognized sister lineage...

  1. Circular revisit orbits design for responsive mission over a single target

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Taibo; Xiang, Junhua; Wang, Zhaokui; Zhang, Yulin

    2016-10-01

    The responsive orbits play a key role in addressing the mission of Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) because of their capabilities. These capabilities are usually focused on supporting specific targets as opposed to providing global coverage. One subtype of responsive orbits is repeat coverage orbit which is nearly circular in most remote sensing applications. This paper deals with a special kind of repeating ground track orbit, referred to as circular revisit orbit. Different from traditional repeat coverage orbits, a satellite on circular revisit orbit can visit a target site at both the ascending and descending stages in one revisit cycle. This typology of trajectory allows a halving of the traditional revisit time and does a favor to get useful information for responsive applications. However the previous reported numerical methods in some references often cost lots of computation or fail to obtain such orbits. To overcome this difficulty, an analytical method to determine the existence conditions of the solutions to revisit orbits is presented in this paper. To this end, the mathematical model of circular revisit orbit is established under the central gravity model and the J2 perturbation. A constraint function of the circular revisit orbit is introduced, and the monotonicity of that function has been studied. The existent conditions and the number of such orbits are naturally worked out. Taking the launch cost into consideration, optimal design model of circular revisit orbit is established to achieve a best orbit which visits a target twice a day in the morning and in the afternoon respectively for several days. The result shows that it is effective to apply circular revisit orbits in responsive application such as reconnoiter of natural disaster.

  2. Revealing the secrets of African annonaceae : systematics, evolution and biogeography of the syncarpous genera Isolona and Monodora

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Couvreur, T.L.P.

    2008-01-01

    The goal of this PhD project was to study the evolution, systematics and biogeography of two African genera from the pan-tropical Annonaceae family: Isolona and Monodora. Both genera are unique within the family in that the female reproductive parts (or carpels) are fused into a single unit. All

  3. Novel Methods in Disease Biogeography: A Case Study with Heterosporosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis E. Escobar

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Disease biogeography is currently a promising field to complement epidemiology, and ecological niche modeling theory and methods are a key component. Therefore, applying the concepts and tools from ecological niche modeling to disease biogeography and epidemiology will provide biologically sound and analytically robust descriptive and predictive analyses of disease distributions. As a case study, we explored the ecologically important fish disease Heterosporosis, a relatively poorly understood disease caused by the intracellular microsporidian parasite Heterosporis sutherlandae. We explored two novel ecological niche modeling methods, the minimum-volume ellipsoid (MVE and the Marble algorithm, which were used to reconstruct the fundamental and the realized ecological niche of H. sutherlandae, respectively. Additionally, we assessed how the management of occurrence reports can impact the output of the models. Ecological niche models were able to reconstruct a proxy of the fundamental and realized niche for this aquatic parasite, identifying specific areas suitable for Heterosporosis. We found that the conceptual and methodological advances in ecological niche modeling provide accessible tools to update the current practices of spatial epidemiology. However, careful data curation and a detailed understanding of the algorithm employed are critical for a clear definition of the assumptions implicit in the modeling process and to ensure biologically sound forecasts. In this paper, we show how sensitive MVE is to the input data, while Marble algorithm may provide detailed forecasts with a minimum of parameters. We showed that exploring algorithms of different natures such as environmental clusters, climatic envelopes, and logistic regressions (e.g., Marble, MVE, and Maxent provide different scenarios of potential distribution. Thus, no single algorithm should be used for disease mapping. Instead, different algorithms should be employed for a more

  4. Species-area relationships are controlled by species traits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franzén, Markus; Schweiger, Oliver; Betzholtz, Per-Eric

    2012-01-01

    The species-area relationship (SAR) is one of the most thoroughly investigated empirical relationships in ecology. Two theories have been proposed to explain SARs: classical island biogeography theory and niche theory. Classical island biogeography theory considers the processes of persistence, extinction, and colonization, whereas niche theory focuses on species requirements, such as habitat and resource use. Recent studies have called for the unification of these two theories to better explain the underlying mechanisms that generates SARs. In this context, species traits that can be related to each theory seem promising. Here we analyzed the SARs of butterfly and moth assemblages on islands differing in size and isolation. We tested whether species traits modify the SAR and the response to isolation. In addition to the expected overall effects on the area, traits related to each of the two theories increased the model fit, from 69% up to 90%. Steeper slopes have been shown to have a particularly higher sensitivity to area, which was indicated by species with restricted range (slope = 0.82), narrow dietary niche (slope= 0.59), low abundance (slope= 0.52), and low reproductive potential (slope = 0.51). We concluded that considering species traits by analyzing SARs yields considerable potential for unifying island biogeography theory and niche theory, and that the systematic and predictable effects observed when considering traits can help to guide conservation and management actions.

  5. Genetic subdivision and biogeography of the Danubian rheophilic barb Barbus peteney inferred from phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA variation

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kotlík, Petr; Berrebi, P.

    2002-01-01

    Roč. 24, - (2002), s. 10-18 ISSN 1055-7903 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IBS5045111; GA AV ČR KSK6005114 Keywords : biogeography * phylogeogrpahy * mtDNA Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.590, year: 2002

  6. Pathways and Distribution of Marine Debris Around a Remote Caribbean Island, Little Cayman

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camp, L.; Marsh, L.; O'Keefe, A.; Duran, J.; Wilcox, S. M.; James, R.; Cowan, E.

    2011-12-01

    Marine Debris is a major environmental concern that affects all levels of marine life. On remote beaches in the Caribbean, where human populations are minimal, marine debris is largely deposited by ocean currents. The ocean is estimated to be littered with over 6 million metric tons of trash per year with 90% coming from land sources, but little is known about the exact sources and pathways for the debris. In 2006, on Little Cayman Island, coastal debris was collected at two coastal areas where removal of debris had not occurred in at least 9 years and along 2000 meters squared. One site was located on the north side, while the other site was located on the south side of the island. Both sites were located in reef-protected coastal zones. These two sites were revisited in 2007, 2010, and 2011 to determine the volume, weight, and type of debris arriving annually and to assess the importance of different coastal processes in deposition. In 2011, eight turtle nesting beaches were added to the study and a total of 11,186 liters of debris was collected from 1600 meters of coastline. The island lies in a northeast southwest orientation. The south-side of the island is influenced largely by prevailing trade winds, currents and tropical storms, traveling across the Caribbean from the east. Currents, eddies, and Norwesters would presumably deposit debris on the north side of the island. Approximately five times the amount of debris is deposited on the south side of the island than on the north side of the island. From the total debris collected, 72.45% was plastic, 8.23% shoes, 6.37% ropes & nets , 5.13% glass, 4.37% styrofoam, and 3.44% contained other debris. The marine debris originated in 8 different countries, and it is estimated that there is collectively 223,721 liters (11,635 kg) covering the shores of the entire island. Remarkably, debris found on Little Cayman in 2011 was traced to the 2010 Haitian earthquake relief effort.

  7. Benefits, barriers, and intentions/desires of nurses related to distance learning in rural island communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kataoka-Yahiro, Merle R; Richardson, Karol; Mobley, Joseph

    2011-03-01

    This study assessed distance learning needs among nurses on the Neighbor Islands in Hawaii. An exploratory study was conducted using a descriptive qualitative design. Of the 37 nurses who completed the study, 7 were nurse administrators and 30 were staff nurses. There were 18 focus groups of nurses recruited from six public hospitals on the Neighbor Islands. Three major themes related to distance learning emerged in this study: benefits, barriers, and intentions/desires. Each major theme had several linkages to categories and subcategories. Overall findings were as follows: (1) cost was mentioned more often in three major thematic areas (benefit, barriers, and intentions/desires); (2) the need to revisit and address current curriculum approaches and practices in distance learning programs was identified; and (3) strong recommendations were made for programs and organizational support for distance learning in hospital settings. These findings have implications for nursing research, education, and practice. Copyright 2011, SLACK Incorporated.

  8. How the Aridification of Australia Structured the Biogeography and Influenced the Diversification of a Large Lineage of Australian Cicadas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, Christopher L; Marshall, David C; Hill, Kathy B R; Simon, Chris

    2017-07-01

    diversified and continue to reside on mesic hosts in isolated "habitat islands". Future work should focus on groups of similar ages with similar distribution patterns to determine whether this tempo and pattern of diversification and biogeography is consistent with evidence from other phytophagous insects. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Society of Systematic Biologists. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Microfluidic Trap Arrays: Passive Sensors for Studying Aquatic Protozoan Ecology and Biogeography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chau, J. F.; Bouchillon, G.; Shor, L. M.

    2012-12-01

    Microscopic organisms such as bacteria and protozoa are the engine that drives global biogeochemical processes: microbes fix carbon, produce oxygen, mediate nutrient cycling, and break down anthropogenic contaminants. In many habitats, the bacterial community structure and its net production is controlled in a top-down fashion by predation by protozoa. Despite their importance, many researchers have noted a significant gap in our understanding of their diversity, biogeography, and ecosystem function. We developed a microfluidic field sampling and analysis tool to study the biogeography and function of microbial eukaryotes. Microfluidic samplers were created to systematically target the morphology, function, and habitat of different microbial eukaryotes. Features such as channel dimensions, branching angles and radii of curvature were varied to allow organisms to be selected and captured based on cell size, shape, plasticity, and swimming or crawling modalities. We also developed genetic analysis protocols to extract and amplify DNA from a single trapped cell, allowing for molecular identification of trapped species. Results from freshwater sediment and water column deployments confirmed design efficiencies in trapping and concentrating protozoa based on biomass density, allowed for analysis of body plasticity and cell size, and also confirmed the viability of this technology for future real time monitoring of protozoa in aquatic ecosystems. This research offers a radical departure from existing approaches to study microbial eukaryotic communities in the field. Our novel methodology involving trapping, observation and recording of physical characteristics and genetic analysis of single cells allows comparison with bulk samples to place trapped microbes within a function- and habitat-specific context.

  10. Biogeography of Puerto Rican ants: a non-equilibrium case?

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.A. Torres; R.R. Snelling

    1997-01-01

    Ants were studied on Puerto Rico and 44 islands surrounding Puerto Rico. Habitat diversity was the best predictor of the number of species per island and the distributions of species followed a nested subset pattern. The number of extinctions per island was low, approximately 1 to 2 extinctions per island in a period of 18 years, and the rates of colonization seem to...

  11. Revisiting Okun's Relationship

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dixon, R.; Lim, G.C.; van Ours, Jan

    2016-01-01

    Our paper revisits Okun's relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985-2013. We find that the

  12. Delving into Delias Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pireridae): fine-scale biogeography, phylogenetics and systematics of the world’s largest butterfly genus

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Müller, C. J.; Matos Maravi, Pavel F.; Beheregaray, L. B.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 40, č. 5 (2013), s. 881-893 ISSN 0305-0270 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : butterflies * DEC model * historical biogeography Subject RIV: EG - Zoology Impact factor: 4.969, year: 2013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12040/pdf

  13. Tourists' perceptions and intention to revisit Norway

    OpenAIRE

    Lazar, Ana Florina; Komolikova-Blindheim, Galyna

    2016-01-01

    Purpose - The overall purpose of this study is to explore tourists' perceptions and their intention to revisit Norway. The aim is to find out what are the factors that drive the overall satisfaction, the willingness to recommend and the revisit intention of international tourists that spend their holiday in Norway. Design-Method-Approach - the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen 1991), is used as a framework to investigate tourists' intention and behavior towards Norway as destination. The o...

  14. Predictors and Outcomes of Revisits in Older Adults Discharged from the Emergency Department.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Gelder, Jelle; Lucke, Jacinta A; de Groot, Bas; Fogteloo, Anne J; Anten, Sander; Heringhaus, Christian; Dekkers, Olaf M; Blauw, Gerard J; Mooijaart, Simon P

    2018-04-01

    To study predictors of emergency department (ED) revisits and the association between ED revisits and 90-day functional decline or mortality. Multicenter cohort study. One academic and two regional Dutch hospitals. Older adults discharged from the ED (N=1,093). At baseline, data on demographic characteristics, illness severity, and geriatric parameters (cognition, functional capacity) were collected. All participants were prospectively followed for an unplanned revisit within 30 days and for functional decline and mortality 90 days after the initial visit. The median age was 79 (interquartile range 74-84), and 114 participants (10.4%) had an ED revisit within 30 days of discharge. Age (hazard ratio (HR)=0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.92-0.99), male sex (HR=1.61, 95% CI=1.05-2.45), polypharmacy (HR=2.06, 95% CI=1.34-3.16), and cognitive impairment (HR=1.71, 95% CI=1.02-2.88) were independent predictors of a 30-day ED revisit. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve to predict an ED revisit was 0.65 (95% CI=0.60-0.70). In a propensity score-matched analysis, individuals with an ED revisit were at higher risk (odds ratio=1.99 95% CI=1.06-3.71) of functional decline or mortality. Age, male sex, polypharmacy, and cognitive impairment were independent predictors of a 30-day ED revisit, but no useful clinical prediction model could be developed. However, an early ED revisit is a strong new predictor of adverse outcomes in older adults. © 2018 The Authors. The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The American Geriatrics Society.

  15. Sensemaking Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holt, Robin; Cornelissen, Joep

    2014-01-01

    We critique and extend theory on organizational sensemaking around three themes. First, we investigate sense arising non-productively and so beyond any instrumental relationship with things; second, we consider how sense is experienced through mood as well as our cognitive skills of manipulation ...... research by revisiting Weick’s seminal reading of Norman Maclean’s book surrounding the tragic events of a 1949 forest fire at Mann Gulch, USA....

  16. A Structural Equation Model of Risk Perception of Rockfall for Revisit Intention

    OpenAIRE

    Ya-Fen Lee; Yun-Yao Chi

    2014-01-01

    The study aims to explore the relationship between risk perception of rockfall and revisit intention using a Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis. A total of 573 valid questionnaires are collected from travelers to Taroko National Park, Taiwan. The findings show the majority of travelers have the medium perception of rockfall risk, and are willing to revisit the Taroko National Park. The revisit intention to Taroko National Park is influenced by hazardous preferences, willingness-to-pa...

  17. Trait-Dependent Biogeography: (Re)Integrating Biology into Probabilistic Historical Biogeographical Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sukumaran, Jeet; Knowles, L Lacey

    2018-04-20

    The development of process-based probabilistic models for historical biogeography has transformed the field by grounding it in modern statistical hypothesis testing. However, most of these models abstract away biological differences, reducing species to interchangeable lineages. We present here the case for reintegration of biology into probabilistic historical biogeographical models, allowing a broader range of questions about biogeographical processes beyond ancestral range estimation or simple correlation between a trait and a distribution pattern, as well as allowing us to assess how inferences about ancestral ranges themselves might be impacted by differential biological traits. We show how new approaches to inference might cope with the computational challenges resulting from the increased complexity of these trait-based historical biogeographical models. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. NOAA TIFF Image - 2m Backscatter Mosaic, W00217 USVI 2011, Seafloor Characterization of the US Caribbean - Nancy Foster - NF-11-1 (2011), UTM 20N NAD83 (NCEI Accession 0131858)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 2 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of a broad bank south of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  19. NOAA TIFF Image - 2m Backscatter Mosaic, W00217 USVI 2011, Seafloor Characterization of the US Caribbean - Nancy Foster - NF-11-1 (2011), UTM 20N NAD83

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This image represents a 2 meter resolution backscatter mosaic of a broad bank south of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. NOAA's NOS/NCCOS/CCMA Biogeography Team, in...

  20. Clipperton Atoll (eastern Pacific): oceanography, geomorphology, reef-building coral ecology and biogeography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glynn, P. W.; Veron, J. E. N.; Wellington, G. M.

    1996-06-01

    Coral reef geomorphology and community composition were investigated in the tropical northeastern Pacific during April 1994. Three areas were surveyed in the Revillagigedo Islands (Mexico), and an intensive study was conducted on Clipperton Atoll (1,300 km SW of Acapulco), including macro-scale surface circulation, sea surface temperature (SST) climatology, geomorphology, coral community structure, zonation, and biogeography. Satellite-tracked drifter buoys from 1979 1993 demonstrated complex patterns of surface circulation with dominantly easterly flow (North Equatorial Counter Current, NECC), but also westerly currents (South Equatorial Current, SEC) that could transport propagules to Clipperton from both central and eastern Pacific regions. The northernmost latitude reached by the NECC is not influenced by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, but easterly flow velocity evidently is accelerated at such times. Maximum NECC flow rates indicate that the eastern Pacific barrier can be bridged in 60 to 120 days. SST anomalies at Clipperton occur during ENSO events and were greater at Clipperton in 1987 than during 1982 1983. Shallow (15 18 m)and deep (50 58 m) terraces are present around most of Clipperton, probably representing Modern and late Pleistocene sea level stands. Although Clipperton is a well developed atoll with high coral cover, the reef-building fauna is depauperate, consisting of only 7 species of scleractinian corals belonging to the genera Pocillopora, Porites, Pavona and Leptoseris, and 1 species of hydrocoral in the genus Millepora. The identities of the one Pocilpopora species and one of the two Porites species are still unknown. Two of the remaining scleractinians ( Pavona minuta, Leptoseris scabra) and the hydrocoral ( Millepora exaesa), all formerly known from central and western Pacific localities, represent new eastern Pacific records. Scleractinian corals predominate (10 100% cover) over insular shelf depths of 8 to 60m, and crustose

  1. The Faraday effect revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia; Nenciu, Gheorghe

    2009-01-01

    This paper is the second in a series revisiting the (effect of) Faraday rotation. We formulate and prove the thermodynamic limit for the transverse electric conductivity of Bloch electrons, as well as for the Verdet constant. The main mathematical tool is a regularized magnetic and geometric...

  2. Remembered Experiences and Revisit Intentions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Barnes, Stuart; Mattsson, Jan; Sørensen, Flemming

    2016-01-01

    Tourism is an experience-intensive sector in which customers seek and pay for experiences above everything else. Remembering past tourism experiences is also crucial for an understanding of the present, including the predicted behaviours of visitors to tourist destinations. We adopt a longitudinal...... approach to memory data collection from psychological science, which has the potential to contribute to our understanding of tourist behaviour. In this study, we examine the impact of remembered tourist experiences in a safari park. In particular, using matched survey data collected longitudinally and PLS...... path modelling, we examine the impact of positive affect tourist experiences on the development of revisit intentions. We find that longer-term remembered experiences have the strongest impact on revisit intentions, more so than predicted or immediate memory after an event. We also find that remembered...

  3. Arthropod gut symbionts from the Balearic Islands: Majorca and Cabrera. Diversity and biogeography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guàrdia Valle, Laia

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available This study includes a catalogue with all the current data concerning the presence of trichomycetes (sensu lato in Majorca and Cabrera, as well as information on the biology, ecology and biogeographic implications of the insularity for each taxon of these arthropod-gut symbionts. Of the 13 species here reported, 10 are new for the Balearic Islands, including 4 Mesomycetozoan, of which 3 Eccrinales (Astreptonema gammari, Eccrinidus flexilis, Parataeniella dilatata, 1 Amoebidiales (Paramoebidium curvum and 6 kixckellomycotina Harpellales (Genistellospora homothallica, Harpella melusinae, Smittium culisetae, S. simulii, Stachylina grandispora and St. nana; the additional 3 were previously reported elsewhere: Asellaria ligiae (Aslleariales, Legeriomyces rarus and Stipella vigilans (Harpellales, but are here included as indissoluble part of the present Balearic catalogue. All taxa are commented, illustrated and their biogeographic implications are discussed.

    El presente estudio incluye una recopilación de todos los datos concernientes al conocimiento de los tricomicetos (sensu lato en las islas Baleares de Mallorca y Cabrera, incluyendo un catálogo de especies y notas sobre la biología, ecología e implicaciones biogeográficas de su insularidad. De las 13 especies citadas, 10 son nuevas para las Baleares, incluyendo 4 Mesomycetozoos, de los cuales 3 Eccrinales (Astreptonema gammari, Eccrinidus flexilis, Parataeniella dilatata, 1 Amoebidiales (Paramoebidium curvum y 6 Harpellales (kixckellomycotina (Genistellospora homothallica, Harpella melusinae, Smittium culisetae, S. simulii, Stachylina grandispora y St. nana; aunque las 3 especies restantes: Asellaria ligiae (Aslleariales, Legeriomyces rarus y Stipella vigilans (Harpellales fueron citadas anteriormente, se incluyen aquí brevemente como parte del catálogo.

  4. An ant genus-group (Prenolepis) illuminates the biogeography and drivers of insect diversification in the Indo-Pacific

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Matos Maravi, Pavel F.; Clouse, R. M.; Sarnat, E. M.; Economo, E. P.; LaPolla, J. S.; Borovanská, Michaela; Rabeling, C.; Czekanski-Moir, J.; Latumahina, F.; Wilson, E. O.; Janda, Milan

    2018-01-01

    Roč. 123, JUN 01 (2018), s. 16-25 ISSN 1055-7903 R&D Projects: GA ČR GB14-36098G Grant - others:GA JU(CZ) 156/2013/P; GA JU(CZ) 152/2016/P Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : biogeography * diversification rate * ecological shift Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour OBOR OECD: Ecology Impact factor: 4.419, year: 2016 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1055790316303414

  5. The World Bacterial Biogeography and Biodiversity through Databases: A Case Study of NCBI Nucleotide Database and GBIF Database

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Okba Selama

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Databases are an essential tool and resource within the field of bioinformatics. The primary aim of this study was to generate an overview of global bacterial biodiversity and biogeography using available data from the two largest public online databases, NCBI Nucleotide and GBIF. The secondary aim was to highlight the contribution each geographic area has to each database. The basis for data analysis of this study was the metadata provided by both databases, mainly, the taxonomy and the geographical area origin of isolation of the microorganism (record. These were directly obtained from GBIF through the online interface, while E-utilities and Python were used in combination with a programmatic web service access to obtain data from the NCBI Nucleotide Database. Results indicate that the American continent, and more specifically the USA, is the top contributor, while Africa and Antarctica are less well represented. This highlights the imbalance of exploration within these areas rather than any reduction in biodiversity. This study describes a novel approach to generating global scale patterns of bacterial biodiversity and biogeography and indicates that the Proteobacteria are the most abundant and widely distributed phylum within both databases.

  6. Revisiting the Okun relationship

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Dixon, R. (Robert); Lim, G.C.; J.C. van Ours (Jan)

    2017-01-01

    textabstractOur article revisits the Okun relationship between observed unemployment rates and output gaps. We include in the relationship the effect of labour market institutions as well as age and gender effects. Our empirical analysis is based on 20 OECD countries over the period 1985–2013. We

  7. Bounded Intention Planning Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Sievers Silvan; Wehrle Martin; Helmert Malte

    2014-01-01

    Bounded intention planning provides a pruning technique for optimal planning that has been proposed several years ago. In addition partial order reduction techniques based on stubborn sets have recently been investigated for this purpose. In this paper we revisit bounded intention planning in the view of stubborn sets.

  8. Diversification in Hawaiian long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae: Campsicnemus): Biogeographic isolation and ecological adaptation

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Goodman, K.R.; Evenhuis, N.L.; Bartošová-Sojková, Pavla; O’Grady, P.M.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 81, DEC 2014 (2014), s. 232-241 ISSN 1055-7903 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Ecotype * Historical biogeography * Adaptive radiation * Hawaiian Islands * Divergence dating * Dolichopodidae Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 3.916, year: 2014

  9. Biogeography of Aegagropila linnaei (Cladophorophyceae, Chlorophyta): a widespread freshwater alga with low effective dispersal potential shows a glacial imprint in its distribution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Boedeker, C.; Eggert, A.; Immers, A.; Wakana, I.

    2010-01-01

    Aim:Aegagropila linnaei is a freshwater macroalga that is generally regarded as a rare species. It is apparently absent from large but seemingly suitable areas of the Northern Hemisphere, implying a limited dispersal potential and an imprint of Pleistocene glaciations in its biogeography. However,

  10. Revisiting Nursing Research in Nigeria

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    2016-08-18

    Aug 18, 2016 ... health care research, it is therefore pertinent to revisit the state of nursing research in the country. .... platforms, updated libraries with electronic resource ... benchmarks for developing countries of 26%, [17] the amount is still ...

  11. Time functions revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fathi, Albert

    2015-07-01

    In this paper we revisit our joint work with Antonio Siconolfi on time functions. We will give a brief introduction to the subject. We will then show how to construct a Lipschitz time function in a simplified setting. We will end with a new result showing that the Aubry set is not an artifact of our proof of existence of time functions for stably causal manifolds.

  12. EMI – young HIMU rock association at the Cape Verde Islands revisited: on the role of oceanic carbonatites

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Holm, Paul Martin; Kokfelt, Thomas Find; Dyhr, Charlotte Thorup

    Isotopic compositions of the Cape Verde (Central) hotspot magmas indicate a predominant influence from young HIMU and EM-1 type sources. Detailed modelling based on high precision Sr, Nd and Pb (DS) isotope data suggests that seven local mantle end-members explain the isotopic variation within five...... HIMU. Carbonatites are widespread throughout Cape Verde Islands but volumetrically minor and are low in Ti, K, and Rb. In several silicate rocks from all three islands low Ti/Eu is evidence for a carbonatite component and is accompanied by LREE enrichment, and relatively low K and Rb. Other rocks have...

  13. Databases and information systems: Applications in biogeography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Escalante E, Tania; Llorente B, Jorge; Espinoza O, David N; Soberon M, Jorge

    2000-01-01

    Some aspects of the new instrumentalization and methodological elements that make up information systems in biodiversity (ISB) are described. The use of accurate geographically referenced data allows a broad range of available sources: natural history collections and scientific literature require the use of databases and geographic information systems (GIS). The conceptualization of ISB and GIS, based in the use of extensive data bases, has implied detailed modeling and the construction of authoritative archives: exhaustive catalogues of nomenclature and synonymies, complete bibliographic lists, list of names proposed, historical-geographic gazetteers with localities and their synonyms united under a global positioning system which produces a geospheric conception of the earth and its biota. Certain difficulties in the development of the system and the construction of the biological databases are explained: quality control of data, for example. The use of such systems is basic in order to respond to many questions at the frontier of current studies of biodiversity and conservation. In particular, some applications in biogeography and their importance for modeling distributions, to identify and contrast areas of endemism and biological richness for conservation, and their use as tools in what we identify as predictive and experimental faunistics are detailed. Lastly, the process as well as its relevance is emphasized at national and regional levels

  14. A review of the influence of biogeography, riverine linkages, and marine connectivity on fish assemblages in evolving lagoons and lakes of coastal southern Africa

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Whitfield, AK

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available lakes), elements of the marine fish assemblage have persisted, especially the presence of facultative catadromous species. Freshwater fish diversity in coastal lakes and lagoons is a function of historical and present biogeography and salinity. From a...

  15. Revisiting tourist behavior via destination brand worldness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murat Kayak

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Taking tourists’ perspective rather than destination offerings as its core concept, this study introduces “perceived destination brand worldness” as a variable. Perceived destination brand worldness is defined as the positive perception that a tourist has of a country that is visited by tourists from all over the world. Then, the relationship between perceived destination brand worldness and intention to revisit is analyzed using partial least squares regression. This empirical study selects Taiwanese tourists as its sample, and the results show that perceived destination brand worldness is a direct predictor of intention to revisit. In light of these empirical findings and observations, practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

  16. Diversity and composition of the copepod communities associated with megafauna around a cold seep in the Gulf of Mexico with remarks on species biogeography

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Plum, C.; Gollner, S.; Martinez Arbizu, P.; Bright, M.

    2015-01-01

    In order to characterize the copepod communitiesassociated with tubeworm and mussel aggregations around ahydrocarbon seep in the Green Canyon of the Gulf of Mexico,diversity, abundance, and community composition were analyzed.Also analyzed were species biogeography and the potentialconnectivity to

  17. Revisiting Inter-Genre Similarity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sturm, Bob L.; Gouyon, Fabien

    2013-01-01

    We revisit the idea of ``inter-genre similarity'' (IGS) for machine learning in general, and music genre recognition in particular. We show analytically that the probability of error for IGS is higher than naive Bayes classification with zero-one loss (NB). We show empirically that IGS does...... not perform well, even for data that satisfies all its assumptions....

  18. A Hydrostatic Paradox Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganci, Salvatore

    2012-01-01

    This paper revisits a well-known hydrostatic paradox, observed when turning upside down a glass partially filled with water and covered with a sheet of light material. The phenomenon is studied in its most general form by including the mass of the cover. A historical survey of this experiment shows that a common misunderstanding of the phenomenon…

  19. Waxing and Waning of Forests: Late Quaternary Biogeography of Lake Malawi, Southeast Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivory, S.; Lézine, A. M.; Vincens, A.; Cohen, A. S.

    2014-12-01

    African ecosystems are at great risk due to climate and land-use change. Despite the status of several of these regions as biodiversity hotspots, long-standing ideas about African ecology and biogeography have been unable to be tested until now due to lack of sufficiently long records. Here, we present the first long, continuous terrestrial record of vegetation from Lake Malawi, East Africa which goes back to the early Late Quaternary, permitting us to investigate changes in physiognomy and forest composition over many transitions. In this record, we observe eight phases of forest expansion and collapse. Although diversity is much greater during forest phases, composition varies little from phase to phase. Very high abundances of afromontane taxa suggest frequent widespread colonization of the lowlands by modern high elevation trees. Although there are clear successional stages within each forest such that turnover is great within a single phase, among forest samples between phases, there is little dissimilarity. Each forest phase is interrupted by rapid decline of arboreal taxa and expansion of semi-arid grasslands or woodlands whose composition varies greatly from phase to phase. The variable composition of the more open phases, all occurring during arid periods, is likely dynamically linked to thresholds in regional hydrology associated with lake level and moisture recycling within the watershed. This vegetation is unlike any found at Malawi today, with assemblages suggesting strong Somali-Masai affinities. Furthermore, nearly all semi-arid assemblages contain small abundances of forest taxa typically growing in areas with wetter edaphic conditions, suggesting that moist lowland gallery forests were present but restricted to waterways during exceptionally arid times. The waxing and waning of forests throughout this interval has important implications for early human biogeography across Africa as well as disturbance regimes that are crucial for the maintenance of

  20. THE INFLUENCE OF DESTINATION IMAGE AND TOURIST SATISFACTION TOWARD REVISIT INTENTION OF SETU BABAKAN BETAWI CULTURAL VILLAGE

    OpenAIRE

    Wibowo, Setyo Ferry; Sazali, Adnan; Kresnamurti R. P., Agung

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this research are: 1) To find out the description of destination image, tourist satisfaction, and revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 2) test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 3) test empirically the influence of tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 4) test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention ...

  1. Seven Issues, Revisited

    OpenAIRE

    Whitehead, Jim; De Bra, Paul; Grønbæk, Kaj; Larsen, Deena; Legget, John; schraefel, monica m.c.

    2002-01-01

    It has been 15 years since the original presentation by Frank Halasz at Hypertext'87 on seven issues for the next generation of hypertext systems. These issues are: Search and Query Composites Virtual Structures Computation in/over hypertext network Versioning Collaborative Work Extensibility and Tailorability Since that time, these issues have formed the nucleus of multiple research agendas within the Hypertext community. Befitting this direction-setting role, the issues have been revisited ...

  2. 'Felson Signs' revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    George, Phiji P.; Irodi, Aparna; Keshava, Shyamkumar N.; Lamont, Anthony C.

    2014-01-01

    In this article we revisit, with the help of images, those classic signs in chest radiography described by Dr Benjamin Felson himself, or other illustrious radiologists of his time, cited and discussed in 'Chest Roentgenology'. We briefly describe the causes of the signs, their utility and the differential diagnosis to be considered when each sign is seen. Wherever possible, we use CT images to illustrate the basis of some of these classic radiographic signs.

  3. THE INFLUENCE OF DESTINATION IMAGE AND TOURIST SATISFACTION TOWARD REVISIT INTENTION OF SETU BABAKAN BETAWI CULTURAL VILLAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Setyo Ferry Wibowo

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this research are: 1 To find out the description of destination image, tourist satisfaction, and revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 2 test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 3 test empirically the influence of tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan, 4 test empirically the influence of destination image toward revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan. The object of this research was 200 respondents who have ever visit to Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan at one time. The results of descriptive test explained that the destination image provided is good according to the tourist, so that the tourist is satisfied and want to revisit intention of Betawi cultural village Setu Babakan. The hypothesis test shows: 1 the influence of destination image toward revisit intention by -30%, 2 the influence of tourist satisfaction toward revisit intention by 118%, 3 the influence of destination image toward tourist satisfaction by 92%.

  4. Multilocus phylogeny and statistical biogeography clarify the evolutionary history of major lineages of turtles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pereira, Anieli G; Sterli, Juliana; Moreira, Filipe R R; Schrago, Carlos G

    2017-08-01

    Despite their complex evolutionary history and the rich fossil record, the higher level phylogeny and historical biogeography of living turtles have not been investigated in a comprehensive and statistical framework. To tackle these issues, we assembled a large molecular dataset, maximizing both taxonomic and gene sampling. As different models provide alternative biogeographical scenarios, we have explicitly tested such hypotheses in order to reconstruct a robust biogeographical history of Testudines. We scanned publicly available databases for nucleotide sequences and composed a dataset comprising 13 loci for 294 living species of Testudines, which accounts for all living genera and 85% of their extant species diversity. Phylogenetic relationships and species divergence times were estimated using a thorough evaluation of fossil information as calibration priors. We then carried out the analysis of historical biogeography of Testudines in a fully statistical framework. Our study recovered the first large-scale phylogeny of turtles with well-supported relationships following the topology proposed by phylogenomic works. Our dating result consistently indicated that the origin of the main clades, Pleurodira and Cryptodira, occurred in the early Jurassic. The phylogenetic and historical biogeographical inferences permitted us to clarify how geological events affected the evolutionary dynamics of crown turtles. For instance, our analyses support the hypothesis that the breakup of Pangaea would have driven the divergence between the cryptodiran and pleurodiran lineages. The reticulated pattern in the ancestral distribution of the cryptodiran lineage suggests a complex biogeographic history for the clade, which was supposedly related to the complex paleogeographic history of Laurasia. On the other hand, the biogeographical history of Pleurodira indicated a tight correlation with the paleogeography of the Gondwanan landmasses. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights

  5. Fossil biogeography: a new model to infer dispersal, extinction and sampling from palaeontological data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silvestro, Daniele; Zizka, Alexander; Bacon, Christine D; Cascales-Miñana, Borja; Salamin, Nicolas; Antonelli, Alexandre

    2016-04-05

    Methods in historical biogeography have revolutionized our ability to infer the evolution of ancestral geographical ranges from phylogenies of extant taxa, the rates of dispersals, and biotic connectivity among areas. However, extant taxa are likely to provide limited and potentially biased information about past biogeographic processes, due to extinction, asymmetrical dispersals and variable connectivity among areas. Fossil data hold considerable information about past distribution of lineages, but suffer from largely incomplete sampling. Here we present a new dispersal-extinction-sampling (DES) model, which estimates biogeographic parameters using fossil occurrences instead of phylogenetic trees. The model estimates dispersal and extinction rates while explicitly accounting for the incompleteness of the fossil record. Rates can vary between areas and through time, thus providing the opportunity to assess complex scenarios of biogeographic evolution. We implement the DES model in a Bayesian framework and demonstrate through simulations that it can accurately infer all the relevant parameters. We demonstrate the use of our model by analysing the Cenozoic fossil record of land plants and inferring dispersal and extinction rates across Eurasia and North America. Our results show that biogeographic range evolution is not a time-homogeneous process, as assumed in most phylogenetic analyses, but varies through time and between areas. In our empirical assessment, this is shown by the striking predominance of plant dispersals from Eurasia into North America during the Eocene climatic cooling, followed by a shift in the opposite direction, and finally, a balance in biotic interchange since the middle Miocene. We conclude by discussing the potential of fossil-based analyses to test biogeographic hypotheses and improve phylogenetic methods in historical biogeography. © 2016 The Author(s).

  6. Observations of coupled seismicity and ground deformation at El Hierro Island (2011-2014)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, P. J.

    2015-12-01

    New insights into the magma storage and evolution at oceanic island volcanoes are now being achieved using remotely sensed space geodetic techniques, namely satellite radar interferometry. Differential radar interferometry is a technique tracking, at high spatial resolution, changes in the travel-time (distance) from the satellites to the ground surface, having wide applications in Earth sciences. Volcanic activity usually is accompanied by surface ground deformation. In many instances, modelling of surface deformation has the great advantage to estimate the magma volume change, a particularly interesting parameter prior to eruptions. Jointly interpreted with petrology, degassing and seismicity, it helps to understand the crustal magmatic systems as a whole. Current (and near-future) radar satellite missions will reduce the revisit time over global sub-aerial volcanoes to a sub-weekly basis, which will increase the potential for its operational use. Time series and filtering processing techniques of such streaming data would allow to track subsurface magma migration with high precision, and frequently update over vast areas (volcanic arcs, large caldera systems, etc.). As an example for the future potential monitoring scenario, we analyze multiple satellite radar data over El Hierro Island (Canary Islands, Spain) to measure and model surface ground deformation. El Hierro has been active for more than 3 years (2011 to 2014). Initial phases of the unrest culminated in a submarine eruption (late 2011 - early 2012). However, after the submarine eruption ended, its magmatic system still active and affected by pseudo-regular energetic seismic swarms, accompanied by surface deformation without resumed eruptions. Such example is a great opportunity to understand the crustal magmatic systems in low magma supply-rate oceanic island volcanoes. This new approach to measure surface deformation processes is yielding an ever richer level of information from volcanology to

  7. Leadership and Management Theories Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Mona Toft

    2001-01-01

    The goal of the paper is to revisit and analyze key contributions to the understanding of leadership and management. As a part of the discussion a role perspective that allows for additional and/or integrated leader dimensions, including a change-centered, will be outlined. Seemingly, a major...

  8. Schroedinger's variational method of quantization revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yasue, K.

    1980-01-01

    Schroedinger's original quantization procedure is revisited in the light of Nelson's stochastic framework of quantum mechanics. It is clarified why Schroedinger's proposal of a variational problem led us to a true description of quantum mechanics. (orig.)

  9. Distribution, autecology and biogeography of Dryopidae and Elmidae (Coleoptera, Dryopoidea in the Balearic Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rico, E.

    1998-12-01

    Full Text Available The distribution of the Dryopidae and Elmidae in the Balearic Islands was studied. Three species of Dryopidae —Dryops algiricus (Lucas, 1949, D. gracilis (Karsch, 1881 and D. sulcipennis (Costa, 1883— and one of Elmidae —Oulimnius echinatus Berthélemy, 1979— were found. Bibliographical data of other three species of Dryopidae exist, but their presence is either refuted —Dryops lutulentus (Erichson, 1847— or requires confirmation —Dryops luridus (Erichson, 1847 and D. rufipes (Krynicki, 1832—. Dryops gracilis and D. sulcipennis are recorded for first time in the archipelago. The first autecological data of the different species in the archipelago and a biogeographical analysis are provided.

    Se realiza un estudio sobre la distribución de los Dryopidae y Elmidae en las islas Baleares. Tres especies de Dryopidae —Dryops algiricus (Lucas, 1949, D. gracilis (Karsch, 1881 y D. sulcipennis (Costa, 1883— y una de Elmidae —Oulimnius echinatus Berthélemy, 1979— han sido halladas. Existen datos bibliográficos de otras tres especies de Dryopidae, pero su presencia es excluida —Dryops lutulentus (Erichson, 1847— o se considera que debe ser confirmada —Dryops luridus (Erichson, 1847 y D. rufipes (Krynicki, 1832—. Dryops gracilis y D. sulcipennis se citan por primera vez en el archipiélago. Se aportan los primeros datos sobre la autoecología de las diferentes especies en las islas y se realiza un análisis biogeográfico.

  10. A practical method of predicting client revisit intention in a hospital setting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kyun Jick

    2005-01-01

    Data mining (DM) models are an alternative to traditional statistical methods for examining whether higher customer satisfaction leads to higher revisit intention. This study used a total of 906 outpatients' satisfaction data collected from a nationwide survey interviews conducted by professional interviewers on a face-to-face basis in South Korea, 1998. Analyses showed that the relationship between overall satisfaction with hospital services and outpatients' revisit intention, along with word-of-mouth recommendation as intermediate variables, developed into a nonlinear relationship. The five strongest predictors of revisit intention were overall satisfaction, intention to recommend to others, awareness of hospital promotion, satisfaction with physician's kindness, and satisfaction with treatment level.

  11. Geographic distribution of ebony leaf monkey Trachypithecus auratus (E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812) (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nijman, Vincent

    2000-01-01

    As one of the fundamental units of ecology and biogeography, the geographic distribution of the endemic and threatened ebony leaf monkey Trachypithecus auratus (E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812) on the islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok (Indonesia) has been assessed. All localities where the species

  12. Biodiversity and Biogeography of Chthamalid Barnacles from the North-Eastern Pacific (Crustacea Cirripedia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benny K K Chan

    Full Text Available The biogeography and ecology of the species of Chthamalus present on the west coast of America are described, using data from 51 localities from Alaska to Panama, together with their zonation on the shore with respect to that of other barnacles. The species present were C. dalli, Pilsbry 1916, C. fissus, Darwin, 1854, C. anisopoma Pilsbry 1916 and four species in the C. panamensis complex. The latter are C. panamensis Pilsbry, 1916, C. hedgecocki, Pitombo & Burton, 2007, C. alani nom. nov. (formerly C. southwardorum Pitombo & Burton, 2007 and C. newmani sp. nov.. These four species were initially separated by enzyme electrophoresis. They could only be partially separated by DNA bar coding but may be separated using morphological characters.

  13. St. Matthew Island reindeer crash revisited: Their demise was not nigh—but then, why did they die?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frank L. Miller

    2005-05-01

    Full Text Available Twenty-nine yearling reindeer (Rangifer tarandus were released on St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea Wildlife Refuge in 1944: 24 females and five males. They were reported to have increased to 1350 reindeer by summer 1957 and to 6000 by summer 1963. The 6000 reindeer on St. Matthew Island in summer 1963 were then reduced by 99% to 42 by summer 1966. The evidence suggests that after growing at a high average annual rate of lamda = 1.32 for 19 years, the entire die-off occurred in winter 1963—64, making it the largest single-year crash ever recorded in any R. tarandus population. Although a supposedly meaningful decline in successful reproduction and early survival of calves was originally reported for the population between 1957 and 1963, our reevaluation indicates this is an error resulting from the wrong sample being used in the between-year comparison. The quantitative data indicate no meaningful change occurred, and the calf:cow ratio was about 60 calves:100 cows in both 1957 and 1963. Calf production and survival were high up to the crash, and in the die-off population the age distribution (72%, 1—3 years old and the sex ratio (69 males:100 females reflected a still fast-growing R. tarandus population. All of these parameters do not support the hypothesis that the limited abundance of the absolute food supply was at a lethal level between 1957 and 1963 or in winter 1963—64. We now know from other studies that a high density of R. tarandus is not a prerequisite for a major single-year winter die-off. Existing population dynamics data do not support lack of lichens as a major causative factor in this single-year crash. If a decline had been caused by the limitation of the absolute food supply, it would have followed a multi-year pattern—it would not have been a single-year event. There was no evidence of a sudden, massive, island-wide loss of the absolute food supply, or that its nutritional value was inadequate for sustaining the

  14. Causes of endemic radiation in the Caribbean: evidence from the historical biogeography and diversification of the butterfly genus Calisto (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae: Satyrini)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Matos Maravi, Pavel F.; Núňez Águila, R.; Peňa, C.; Miller, J.; Sourakov, A.; Wahlberg, N.

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 14, 1 /article number 199/ (2014) ISSN 1471-2148 Grant - others:GA JU(CZ) 156/2013/P; National Geographic Society(US) 5717-96 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Caribbean * ecological limits * historical biogeography Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 3.368, year: 2014 http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/s12862-014-0199-7.pdf

  15. MHD Equilibrium with Reversed Current Density and Magnetic Islands Revisited: the Vacuum Vector Potential Calculus

    Science.gov (United States)

    L. Braga, F.

    2013-10-01

    The solution of Grad-Shafranov equation determines the stationary behavior of fusion plasma inside a tokamak. To solve the equation it is necessary to know the toroidal current density profile. Recent works show that it is possible to determine a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium with reversed current density (RCD) profiles that presents magnetic islands. In this work we show analytical MHD equilibrium with a RCD profile and analyze the structure of the vacuum vector potential associated with these equilibria using the virtual casing principle.

  16. Three Mile Island epidemiologic radiation dose assessment revisited: 25 years after the accident.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Field, R William

    2005-01-01

    Over the past 25 years, public health concerns following the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident prompted several epidemiologic investigations in the vicinity of TMI. One of these studies is ongoing. This commentary suggests that the major source of radiation exposure to the population has been ignored as a potential confounding factor or effect modifying factor in previous and ongoing TMI epidemiologic studies that explore whether or not TMI accidental plant radiation releases caused an increase in lung cancer in the community around TMI. The commentary also documents the observation that the counties around TMI have the highest regional radon potential in the United States and concludes that radon progeny exposure should be included as part of the overall radiation dose assessment in future studies of radiation-induced lung cancer resulting from the TMI accident.

  17. Three Mile Island epidemiologic radiation dose assessment revisited: 25 years after the accident

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Field, R. W.

    2005-01-01

    Over the past 25 years, public health concerns following the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident prompted several epidemiologic investigations in the vicinity of TMI. One of these studies is ongoing. This commentary suggests that the major source of radiation exposure to the population has been ignored as a potential confounding factor or effect modifying factor in previous and ongoing TMI epidemiologic studies that explore whether or not TMI accidental plant radiation releases caused an increase in lung cancer in the community around TMI. The commentary also documents the observation that the counties around TMI have the highest regional radon potential in the United States and concludes that radon progeny exposure should be included as part of the overall radiation dose assessment in future studies of radiation-induced lung cancer resulting from the TMI accident. (authors)

  18. The taxonomy, biogeography and conservation of the myrmecophilous Chrysoritis butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae in South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R.F. Terblanche

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available The relevance and integration of scientific knowledge to conservation management of the locally popular and highly endemic butterfly genus Chrysoritis are investigated within the research fields of taxonomy and biogeography. The butterfly genus Chrysoritis contains at least 41 species endemic to South Africa. The taxonomy of Chrysoritis has reached a state where revisions could easily result in a plethora of names between “lumping and splitting”. In practice, the state of the taxonomy of these butterflies on species level may alter their conservation priority. The two most species rich species groups in Chrysoritis have different centres of endemism, however, a butterfly atlas becomes a necessity to reveal more about their biogeography. There is an absence of butterfly species lists in many of our National Parks and Nature Reserves. Legislation should facilitate rather than limit the valuable role of the amateur lepidopterist to add distribution records. In turn, the amateur lepidopterists should adapt and make an effort to explore unknown localities, apart from monitoring butterflies at their well-known localities. The red listing of localised butterflies in South Africa, including a number of Chrysoritis species, is in need of an urgent review in the light of the most recent IUCN categories. A species such as Chrysoritis dicksoni should be protected by law - but at its known localities. The scenario that real conservation action is only needed if the last known locality of a butterfly is threatened, should be abolished. A paradigm shift to conserve the metapopulations of the highly endemic Chrysoritis genus and not merely a few of its species as items that appear on lists, seems necessary.

  19. Biogeography and diversity of pines in the Madrean Archipelago

    Science.gov (United States)

    George M. Ferguson; Aaron D. Flesch; Thomas R. Van Devender

    2013-01-01

    Pines are important dominants in pine-oak, pine and mixed-conifer forests across the Colorado Plateau, southern Rocky Mountains, Sierra Madre Occidental, and in the intervening Sky Islands of the United States-Mexico borderlands. All 17 native species of pines in the Sky Islands region or their adjacent mountain mainlands reach the northern or southern margins of their...

  20. The other side of the coin: urban heat islands as shields from extreme cold

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, J.; Bou-Zeid, E.

    2017-12-01

    Extensive studies focusing on urban heat islands (UHIs) during hot periods create a perception that UHIs are invariably hazardous to human health and the sustainability of cities. Consequently, cities have invested substantial resources to try to mitigate UHIs. These urban policies can have serious repercussions since the health risks associated with cold weather are in fact higher than for heat episodes, yet wintertime UHIs have hardly been explored. We combine ground observations from 12 U.S. cities and high-resolution simulations to show that UHIs not only warm urban areas in the winter, but also further intensify during cold waves by up to 1.32 ± 0.78 oC (mean ± standard deviation) at night. Urban heat islands serve as shelters against extreme colds and provide invaluable benefits of reducing health risks and heating demand. More importantly, our simulations indicate that standard UHI mitigation measures such as green or cool roofs reduce these cold time amenities to different extents. Cities, particularly in cool and cold temperate climates, should hence revisit policies and efforts that are only desgined for hot periods. A paradigm shift is urgently needed to give an equal weight to the wintertime benefits of UHIs in the sustainability and resilience blueprints of cities.

  1. Island-specific preferences of tourists for environmental features: implications of climate change for tourism dependent states

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uyarra, M.C.; Cote, I.M. [East Anglia Univ., Norwich (United Kingdom). Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; Gill, J.A. [East Anglia Univ., Norwich (United Kingdom). School of Environmental Sciences; Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Norwich (United Kingdom); Tinch, R.T. [East Anglia Univ., Norwich (United Kingdom). School of Environmental Sciences; Macaulay Land Use Research Inst., Aberdeen (United Kingdom); Viner, D. [East Anglia Univ., Norwich (United Kingdom). Climate Research Unit; Watkinson, A.R. [East Anglia Univ., Norwich (United Kingdom). Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation; East Anglia Univ., Norwich (United Kingdom). School of Environmental Sciences

    2005-03-15

    Climate change may affect important environmental components of holiday destinations, which might have repercussions for tourism-dependent economies. This study documents the importance of environmental attributes in determining the choice and holiday enjoyment of tourists visiting Bonaire and Barbados, two Caribbean islands with markedly different tourism markets and infrastructure. Three hundred and sixteen and 338 participants from Bonaire and Barbados, respectively, completed standardized questionnaires. Warm temperatures, clear waters and low health risks were the most important environmental features determining holiday destination choice. However, tourists in Bonaire thereafter prioritized marine wildlife attributes (i.e. coral and fish diversity and abundance) over other environmental features, whereas tourists in Barbados exhibited stronger preferences for terrestrial features, particularly beach characteristics. The willingness of tourists to revisit these islands was strongly linked to the state of the preferred environmental attributes. More than 80% of tourists in Bonaire and Barbados would be unwilling to return for the same holiday price in the event, respectively, of coral bleaching as a result of elevated sea surface temperatures and reduced beach area as a result of sea level rise. Climate change might have a significant impact on Caribbean tourism economy through alteration of environmental features important to destination selection. Island-specific management strategies, such as focusing resources on the protection of key marine or terrestrial features, may provide a means of reducing the environmental and economic impacts of climate change. (author)

  2. The Faraday effect revisited: General theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia Decebal; Nenciu, Gheorghe; Pedersen, Thomas Garm

    This paper is the first in a series revisiting the Faraday effect, or more generally, the theory of electronic quantum transport/optical response in bulk media in the presence of a constant magnetic field. The independent electron approximation is assumed. For free electrons, the transverse...

  3. Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tegtmeier, Silke; Meyer, Verena; Pakura, Stefanie

    2017-01-01

    were captured when they described entrepreneurs. Therefore, this paper aims to revisit gender role stereotypes among young adults. Design/methodology/approach: To measure stereotyping, participants were asked to describe entrepreneurs in general and either women or men in general. The Schein......Purpose: Entrepreneurship is shaped by a male norm, which has been widely demonstrated in qualitative studies. The authors strive to complement these methods by a quantitative approach. First, gender role stereotypes were measured in entrepreneurship. Second, the explicit notions of participants......: The images of men and entrepreneurs show a high and significant congruence (r = 0.803), mostly in those adjectives that are untypical for men and entrepreneurs. The congruence of women and entrepreneurs was low (r = 0.152) and insignificant. Contrary to the participants’ beliefs, their explicit notions did...

  4. The biogeography of threatened insular iguanas and opportunities for invasive vertebrate management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tershy, Bernie R.; Newton, Kelly M.; Spatz, Dena R.; Swinnerton, Kirsty; Iverson, John B.; Fisher, Robert N.; Harlow, Peter S.; Holmes, Nick D.; Croll, Donald A.; Iverson, J.B.; Grant, T. D.; Knapp, C. R.; Pasachnik, S. A.

    2016-01-01

    Iguanas are a particularly threatened group of reptiles, with 61% of species at risk of extinction. Primary threats to iguanas include habitat loss, direct and indirect impacts by invasive vertebrates, overexploitation, and human disturbance. As conspicuous, charismatic vertebrates, iguanas also represent excellent flagships for biodiversity conservation. To assist planning for invasive vertebrate management and thus benefit threatened iguana recovery, we identified all islands with known extant or extirpated populations of Critically Endangered and Endangered insular iguana taxa as recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. For each island, we determined total area, sovereignty, the presence of invasive alien vertebrates, and human population. For the 23 taxa of threatened insular iguanas we identified 230 populations, of which iguanas were extant on 185 islands and extirpated from 45 islands. Twenty-one iguana taxa (91% of all threatened insular iguana taxa) occurred on at least one island with invasive vertebrates present; 16 taxa had 100% of their population(s) on islands with invasive vertebrates present. Rodents, cats, ungulates, and dogs were the most common invasive vertebrates. We discuss biosecurity, eradication, and control of invasive vertebrates to benefit iguana recovery: (1) on islands already free of invasive vertebrates; (2) on islands with high iguana endemicity; and (3) for species and subspecies with small total populations occurring across multiple small islands. Our analyses provide an important first step toward understanding how invasive vertebrate management can be planned effectively to benefit threatened insular iguanas.

  5. Heat Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    EPA's Heat Island Effect Site provides information on heat islands, their impacts, mitigation strategies, related research, a directory of heat island reduction initiatives in U.S. communities, and EPA's Heat Island Reduction Program.

  6. Who should do the dishes now? Revisiting gender and housework in contemporary urban South Wales

    OpenAIRE

    Mannay, Dawn

    2016-01-01

    This chapter revisits Jane Pilcher’s (1994) seminal work ‘Who should do the dishes? Three generations of Welsh women talking about men and housework’, which was originally published in Our Sister’s Land: the changing identities of women in Wales. As discussed in the introductory chapter, I began revisiting classic Welsh studies as part of my doctoral study Mothers and daughters on the margins: gender, generation and education (Mannay, 2012); this lead to the later publication of a revisiting ...

  7. Design of SVC Controller Based on Improved Biogeography-Based Optimization Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feifei Dong

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Considering that common subsynchronous resonance controllers cannot adapt to the characteristics of the time-varying and nonlinear behavior of a power system, the cosine migration model, the improved migration operator, and the mutative scale of chaos and Cauchy mutation strategy are introduced into an improved biogeography-based optimization (IBBO algorithm in order to design an optimal subsynchronous damping controller based on the mechanism of suppressing SSR by static var compensator (SVC. The effectiveness of the improved controller is verified by eigenvalue analysis and electromagnetic simulations. The simulation results of Jinjie plant indicate that the subsynchronous damping controller optimized by the IBBO algorithm can remarkably improve the damping of torsional modes and thus effectively depress SSR, and ensure the safety and stability of units and power grid operation. Moreover, the IBBO algorithm has the merits of a faster searching speed and higher searching accuracy in seeking the optimal control parameters over traditional algorithms, such as BBO algorithm, PSO algorithm, and GA algorithm.

  8. The Faraday effect revisited: General theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia Decebal; Nenciu, Gheorghe; Pedersen, Thomas Garm

    2006-01-01

    This paper is the first in a series revisiting the Faraday effect, or more generally, the theory of electronic quantum transport/optical response in bulk media in the presence of a constant magnetic field. The independent electron approximation is assumed. At zero temperature and zero frequency...

  9. Bacterial diversity and biogeography in deep-sea sediments of the South Atlantic Ocean

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schauer, Regina; Bienhold, Christina; Ramette, Alban

    2010-01-01

    in 1051 sequences. Phylotypes affiliated with Gammaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria and Acidobacteria were present in all three basins. The distribution of these shared phylotypes seemed to be influenced neither by the Walvis Ridge nor by different deep water masses, suggesting a high dispersal......Microbial biogeographic patterns in the deep sea depend on the ability of microorganisms to disperse. One possible limitation to microbial dispersal may be the Walvis Ridge that separates the Antarctic Lower Circumpolar Deep Water from the North Atlantic Deep Water. We examined bacterial...... communities in three basins of the eastern South Atlantic Ocean to determine diversity and biogeography of bacterial communities in deep-sea surface sediments. The analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene clone libraries in each basin revealed a high diversity, representing 521 phylotypes with 98% identity...

  10. Tourism impacts of Three Mile Island and other adverse events: implications for Lincoln County and other rural counties bisected by radioactive wastes intended for Yucca Mountain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Himmelberger, J.J.; Baughman, M.; Ogneva-Himmelberger, Y.A.

    1995-01-01

    Whether the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository system will adversely impact tourism in southern Nevada is an open question of particular importance to visitor-oriented rural counties bisected by planned waste transportation corridors (highway or rail). As part of one such county's repository impact assessment program, tourism implications of Three Mile Island (TMI) and other major hazard events have been revisited to inform ongoing county-wide socioeconomic assessments and contingency planning efforts. This paper summarizes key research implications of such research as applied to Lincoln County, Nevada. Implications for other rural counties are discussed in light of the research findings

  11. Tenarife Island, Canary Island Archipelago, Atlantic Ocean

    Science.gov (United States)

    1991-01-01

    Tenarife Island is one of the most volcanically active of the Canary Island archipelago, Atlantic Ocean, just off the NW coast of Africa, (28.5N, 16.5W). The old central caldera, nearly filled in by successive volcanic activity culminating in two stratocones. From those two peaks, a line of smaller cinder cones extend to the point of the island. Extensive gullies dissect the west side of the island and some forests still remain on the east side.

  12. Saint Lucia revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bos, R; Février, M; Knudsen, A B

    1988-10-01

    The eastern Caribbean island of Saint Lucia is now famous in parasitological history as the setting for a major programme of schistosomiasis control'. Perhaps less well-known are the island's effective control of many intestinal parasites, and elimination of malaria, such that the current patterns of mortality and other demographic indicators now resemble those of industrialized countries. More recently, the island has become the focus for another community-based health programme as the Caribbean region again comes to grips with Aedes aegypti and its recently imported relative, Aedes albopictus, important vectors of yellow fever and dengue viruses (see Box 1).

  13. Marine biogeography, climate change and societal needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krause, Dale C.; Angel, Martin V.

    Pelagic biogeography deals with the large scale distributional patterns of pelagic organisms in the world's oceans, their origins through evolution and the changes in ocean morphology during the geological past, and the factors which currently control and maintain them. The knowledge it generates has a wide variety of uses in science, both basic and applied, and in socio-economics. Its products include: (1) Distributional data compiled in data bases, maps and atlases; (2) Explanatory scientific and non-scientific publications on the distributions and their implications; (3) Standardisation of methodologies; (4) Trained specialists; (5) Advice to society on oceanic aspects of global resource management; and (6) Assessments of oceanic biodiversity in relation to the Biodiversity Convention. The immediate users of this knowledge include oceanographers in other disciplines, ecologists, applied scientists and engineers, resource managers, fishermen, environmentalists, teachers, international lawuers and policy-makers. At present the largest users are the natural resource managers seeking to optimise and to sustain the resource for which they are responsible. There is a considerable body of national and international legislation which is underpinned by biogeographical information. Similarly much of our understanding about past climate which is being used to predict future trends, is based on applying information on present-day distributional patterns to the interpretation of the fossil record in marine sediments. Global change, in the ocean, the atmosphere and on land, is strongly modulated by the feedback between marine organisms, nutrients and greenhouse gases. The marked coherence observed between the distributions of physical, chemical and biological patterns suggest that the process involved in this feedback are linked with pelagic community structure. Remote sensing of sea-surface properties and the heat content of the mixed-layer, offer considerable potential for

  14. Molecular systematic and historical biogeography of the armored Neotropical catfishes Hypoptopomatinae and Neoplecostominae (Siluriformes: Loricariidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiachio, Márcio Cesar; Oliveira, Claudio; Montoya-Burgos, Juan I

    2008-11-01

    The Neotropics possess the greatest freshwater fish diversity of the world, rendering the study of their evolutionary history extremely challenging. Loricariidae catfishes are one of the most diverse components of the Neotropical ichthyofauna and despite a long history of classification, major issues still need elucidation. Based on a nuclear gene, we present a robust phylogeny of two former loricariid subfamilies: Hypoptopomatinae and Neoplecostominae. Our results show that Neoplecostominae is nested within Hypoptopomatinae, and is the sister group to the former Otothyrini tribe. According to our results, supplemented by morphological observations, we erect two new subfamilies, the Otothyrinae and a new Hypoptopomatinae, and modify the Neoplecostominae by including the genus Pseudotocinclus. The uncovered evolutionary relationships allow a detailed analysis of their historical biogeography. We tested two Dispersal-Extinction-Cladogenesis models for inferring the distribution range evolution of the new subfamilies, and show that the model having no constrains performs better than a model constraining long-range dispersal. The Maximum Likelihood reconstructions of ancestral ranges showed a marked division between the Amazonian origin of the Hypoptopomatinae and the eastern coastal Brazil+Upper Paraná origin of the Neoplecostominae and Otothyrinae. Markedly few instances of dispersal across the border separating the Amazon basin and the Paraná-Paraguay+eastern coastal Brazil+Uruguay were reconstructed. This result is in clear contrast with the historical biogeography of many Neotropical fishes, including other Loricariidae. Part of the dispersal limitation may be explained by divergent ecological specialization: lowland rivers versus mountain streams habitats. Moreover, because most species of the new subfamilies are small, we hypothesize that body size-related effects might limit their dispersal, like predation and energetic cost to migration. Finally

  15. Canary Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-01-01

    This easterly looking view shows the seven major volcanic islands of the Canary Island chain (28.0N, 16.5W) and offers a unique view of the islands that have become a frequent vacation spot for Europeans. The northwest coastline of Africa, (Morocco and Western Sahara), is visible in the background. Frequently, these islands create an impact on local weather (cloud formations) and ocean currents (island wakes) as seen in this photo.

  16. Hacia una biogeografía evolutiva Towards an evolutionary biogeography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    UANJ MORRONE

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available La proliferación de métodos en las últimas décadas ha llevado a algunos autores a cuestionar si la biogeografía es una disciplina coherente. Las biotas son mosaicos complejos debidos a dispersión (expansión de las distribuciones y vicarianza (fragmentación de las distribuciones, teniendo historias complejas y reticuladas, que necesariamente deben estudiarse a través de la integración de diferentes metodologías. Un análisis biogeográfico evolutivo involucraría cinco etapas: (1 reconocimiento de componentes bióticos (conjuntos de taxa integrados espacio-temporalmente debido a una historia común, mediante la panbiogeografía y métodos para identificar áreas de endemismo; (2 contrastación de los componentes bióticos e identificación de los eventos vicariantes que los fragmentaron, mediante la biogeografía cladística y filogeografía comparada; (3 establecimiento de un arreglo jerárquico de los componentes en un sistema biogeográfico de reinos, regiones, dominios, provincias y distritos; (4 identificación de los cenocrones (conjuntos de taxa con edad y orígenes similares, datados mediante la filogeografía intraespecífica, relojes moleculares y fósiles; y (5 formulación de un escenario geobiótico, que explique la evolución de los componentes y cenocrones, integrando información geológica y tectónicaThe proliferation of methods in the last decades has led some authors to question whether biogeography is a coherent discipline. Biotas are complex mosaics due to dispersal (expansion of distributions and vicariance (fragmentation of distributions, having complex, reticulate histories, which necessarily need to be studied through the integration of different methodologies. An evolutionary biogeographical analysis may involve five steps: (1 recognition of biotic components (sets of spatio-temporally integrated taxa due to common history, through panbiogeography and methods used to identify areas of endemism; (2

  17. SpeciesGeoCoder: Fast Categorization of Species Occurrences for Analyses of Biodiversity, Biogeography, Ecology, and Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Töpel, Mats; Zizka, Alexander; Calió, Maria Fernanda; Scharn, Ruud; Silvestro, Daniele; Antonelli, Alexandre

    2017-03-01

    Understanding the patterns and processes underlying the uneven distribution of biodiversity across space constitutes a major scientific challenge in systematic biology and biogeography, which largely relies on effectively mapping and making sense of rapidly increasing species occurrence data. There is thus an urgent need for making the process of coding species into spatial units faster, automated, transparent, and reproducible. Here we present SpeciesGeoCoder, an open-source software package written in Python and R, that allows for easy coding of species into user-defined operational units. These units may be of any size and be purely spatial (i.e., polygons) such as countries and states, conservation areas, biomes, islands, biodiversity hotspots, and areas of endemism, but may also include elevation ranges. This flexibility allows scoring species into complex categories, such as those encountered in topographically and ecologically heterogeneous landscapes. In addition, SpeciesGeoCoder can be used to facilitate sorting and cleaning of occurrence data obtained from online databases, and for testing the impact of incorrect identification of specimens on the spatial coding of species. The various outputs of SpeciesGeoCoder include quantitative biodiversity statistics, global and local distribution maps, and files that can be used directly in many phylogeny-based applications for ancestral range reconstruction, investigations of biome evolution, and other comparative methods. Our simulations indicate that even datasets containing hundreds of millions of records can be analyzed in relatively short time using a standard computer. We exemplify the use of SpeciesGeoCoder by inferring the historical dispersal of birds across the Isthmus of Panama, showing that lowland species crossed the Isthmus about twice as frequently as montane species with a marked increase in the number of dispersals during the last 10 million years. [ancestral area reconstruction; biodiversity

  18. Deterministic Graphical Games Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Daniel; Hansen, Kristoffer Arnsfelt; Miltersen, Peter Bro

    2008-01-01

    We revisit the deterministic graphical games of Washburn. A deterministic graphical game can be described as a simple stochastic game (a notion due to Anne Condon), except that we allow arbitrary real payoffs but disallow moves of chance. We study the complexity of solving deterministic graphical...... games and obtain an almost-linear time comparison-based algorithm for computing an equilibrium of such a game. The existence of a linear time comparison-based algorithm remains an open problem....

  19. Influences of oceanic islands and the Pleistocene on the biogeography and evolution of two groups of Australasian parrots (Aves: Psittaciformes: Eclectus roratus, Trichoglossus haematodus complex. Rapid evolution and implications for taxonomy and conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Braun Michael P.

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available The Australasian region is a centre of biodiversity and endemism, mainly based on the tropical climate in combination with the large amount of islands. During the Pleistocene, islands of the Sahul Shelf (Australia, New Guinea, Aru Islands had been part of the same land mass, while islands within the Wallacea (Lesser Sunda Islands, Moluccas, Sulawesi etc. remained isolated. We investigated biogeographical avian diversification patterns of two species complexes across the Wallacea and the Sahul Shelf: the Eclectus Parrot Eclectus roratus Wagler, 1832, and the Rainbow Lorikeet Trichoglossus haematodus Linnaeus, 1771. Both species are represented by a large number of described geographical subspecies. We used mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b sequences for phylogenetic and network analysis to detect biogeographic roles of islands and avian diversification patterns. The number of threatened taxa in this region is increasing rapidly and there is an urgent need for (sub-species conservation in this region. Our study provides first genetic evidence for treating several island taxa as distinct species. In both species complexes similar genetic patterns were detected. Genetic diversification was higher across the islands of the Wallacea than across the islands of the Sahul Shelf. Divergence in E. roratus can be dated back about 1.38 million years ago, whereas in the younger T. haematodus it was 0.80 million years ago. Long distance dispersal was the most likely event for distribution patterns across the Wallacea and Sahul Shelf. The geographic origin of the species-complex Eclectus roratus spp. is supposed to be Wallacean, but for the species-complex Trichoglossus haematodus spp. it is supposed to be non-Wallacean. Trichoglossus euteles, so far considered a distinct species, clearly belongs to the Trichoglossus-haematodus-complex. The only case of sympatry in the complex is the distribution of T. (h. euteles and T. h. capistratus on Timor, which means a

  20. Oceanic archipelagos

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Triantis, Kostas A.; Whittaker, Robert James; Fernández-Palacios, José María

    2016-01-01

    Since the contributions of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, oceanic archipelagos have played a central role in the development of biogeography. However, despite the critical influence of oceanic islands on ecological and evolutionary theory, our focus has remained limited to either the i...... of the archipelagic geological dynamics that can affect diversity at both the island and the archipelagic level. We also reaffirm that oceanic archipelagos are appropriate spatiotemporal units to frame analyses in order to understand large scale patterns of biodiversity....

  1. Revisiting Hansen Solubility Parameters by Including Thermodynamics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Louwerse, Manuel J; Fernández-Maldonado, Ana María; Rousseau, Simon; Moreau-Masselon, Chloe; Roux, Bernard; Rothenberg, Gadi

    2017-01-01

    The Hansen solubility parameter approach is revisited by implementing the thermodynamics of dissolution and mixing. Hansen's pragmatic approach has earned its spurs in predicting solvents for polymer solutions, but for molecular solutes improvements are needed. By going into the details of entropy

  2. Bottomonium spectrum revisited

    CERN Document Server

    Segovia, Jorge; Entem, David R.; Fernández, Francisco

    2016-01-01

    We revisit the bottomonium spectrum motivated by the recently exciting experimental progress in the observation of new bottomonium states, both conventional and unconventional. Our framework is a nonrelativistic constituent quark model which has been applied to a wide range of hadronic observables from the light to the heavy quark sector and thus the model parameters are completely constrained. Beyond the spectrum, we provide a large number of electromagnetic, strong and hadronic decays in order to discuss the quark content of the bottomonium states and give more insights about the better way to determine their properties experimentally.

  3. Natural Image Enhancement Using a Biogeography Based Optimization Enhanced with Blended Migration Operator

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Jasper

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses a novel and efficient algorithm for solving optimization problem in image processing applications. Image enhancement (IE is one of the complex optimization problems in image processing. The main goal of this paper is to enhance color images such that the eminence of the image is more suitable than the original image from the perceptual viewpoint of human. Traditional methods require prior knowledge of the image to be enhanced, whereas the aim of the proposed biogeography based optimization (BBO enhanced with blended migration operator (BMO algorithm is to maximize the objective function in order to enhance the image contrast by maximizing the parameters like edge intensity, edge information, and entropy. Experimental results are compared with the current state-of-the-art approaches and indicate the superiority of the proposed technique in terms of subjective and objective evaluation.

  4. Hospital revisit rate after a diagnosis of conversion disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merkler, Alexander E; Parikh, Neal S; Chaudhry, Simriti; Chait, Alanna; Allen, Nicole C; Navi, Babak B; Kamel, Hooman

    2016-04-01

    To estimate the hospital revisit rate of patients diagnosed with conversion disorder (CD). Using administrative data, we identified all patients discharged from California, Florida and New York emergency departments (EDs) and acute care hospitals between 2005 and 2011 with a primary discharge diagnosis of CD. Patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of seizure or transient global amnesia (TGA) served as control groups. Our primary outcome was the rate of repeat ED visits and hospital admissions after initial presentation. Poisson regression was used to compare rates between diagnosis groups while adjusting for demographic characteristics. We identified 7946 patients discharged with a primary diagnosis of CD. During a mean follow-up of 3.0 (±1.6) years, patients with CD had a median of three (IQR, 1-9) ED or inpatient revisits, compared with 0 (IQR, 0-2) in patients with TGA and 3 (IQR, 1-7) in those with seizures. Revisit rates were 18.25 (95% CI, 18.10 to 18.40) visits per 100 patients per month in those with CD, 3.90 (95% CI, 3.84 to 3.95) in those with TGA and 17.78 (95% CI, 17.75 to 17.81) in those with seizures. As compared to CD, the incidence rate ratio for repeat ED visits or hospitalisations was 0.89 (95% CI, 0.86 to 0.93) for seizure disorder and 0.32 (95% CI 0.31 to 0.34) for TGA. CD is associated with a substantial hospital revisit rate. Our findings suggest that CD is not an acute, time-limited response to stress, but rather that CD is a manifestation of a broader pattern of chronic neuropsychiatric disease. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

  5. Multidecadal shoreline changes of atoll islands in the Marshall Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, M.

    2012-12-01

    Atoll islands are considered highly vulnerable to the impacts of continued sea level rise. One of the most commonly predicted outcomes of continued sea level rise is widespread and chronic shoreline erosion. Despite the widespread implications of predicted erosion, the decadal scale changes of atoll island shorelines are poorly resolved. The Marshall Islands is one of only four countries where the majority of inhabited land is comprised of reef and atoll islands. Consisting of 29 atolls and 5 mid-ocean reef islands, the Marshall Islands are considered highly vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise. A detailed analysis of shoreline change on over 300 islands on 10 atolls was undertaken using historic aerial photos (1945-1978) and modern high resolution satellite imagery (2004-2012). Results highlight the complex and dynamic nature of atoll islands, with significant shifts in shoreline position observed over the period of analysis. Results suggest shoreline accretion is the dominant mode of change on the islands studied, often associated with a net increase in vegetated island area. However, considerable inter- and intra-atoll variability exists with regards to shoreline stability. Findings are discussed with respect to island morphodynamics and potential hazard mitigation and planning responses within atoll settings.

  6. Maximal feeding with active prey-switching: A kill-the-winner functional response and its effect on global diversity and biogeography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vallina, S. M.; Ward, B. A.; Dutkiewicz, S.; Follows, M. J.

    2014-01-01

    Predators' switching towards the most abundant prey is a mechanism that stabilizes population dynamics and helps overcome competitive exclusion of species in food webs. Current formulations of active prey-switching, however, display non-maximal feeding in which the predators' total ingestion decays exponentially with the number prey species (i.e. the diet breadth) even though the total prey biomass stays constant. We analyse three previously published multi-species functional responses which have either active switching or maximal feeding, but not both. We identify the cause of this apparent incompatibility and describe a kill-the-winner formulation that combines active switching with maximal feeding. Active switching is shown to be a community response in which some predators become prey-selective and the formulations with maximal or non-maximal feeding are implicitly assuming different food web configurations. Global simulations using a marine ecosystem model with 64 phytoplankton species belonging to 4 major functional groups show that the species richness and biogeography of phytoplankton are very sensitive to the choice of the functional response for grazing. The phytoplankton biogeography reflects the balance between the competitive abilities for nutrient uptake and the degree of apparent competition which occurs indirectly between species that share a common predator species. The phytoplankton diversity significantly increases when active switching is combined with maximal feeding through predator-mediated coexistence.

  7. The Future of Engineering Education--Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wankat, Phillip C.; Bullard, Lisa G.

    2016-01-01

    This paper revisits the landmark CEE series, "The Future of Engineering Education," published in 2000 (available free in the CEE archives on the internet) to examine the predictions made in the original paper as well as the tools and approaches documented. Most of the advice offered in the original series remains current. Despite new…

  8. Foundation Investigation for Ground Based Radar Project-Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-04-01

    iL_ COPY MISCELLANEOUS PAPER GL-90-5 i iFOUNDATION INVESTIGATION FOR GROUND BASED RADAR PROJECT--KWAJALEIN ISLAND, MARSHALL ISLANDS by Donald E...C!assification) Foundatioa Investigation for Ground Based Radar Project -- Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) Yule, Donald E...investigation for the Ground Based Radar Project -- Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands , are presented.- eophysical tests comprised of surface refrac- tion

  9. Mola'a Revisited: Reef Panpipes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2017-01-01

    The first main shoot for the Reef Islands Ethnographic Film Series in the Solomon Islands, in 1996, was seriously affected by the un- expected death of one of the main characters and partners in the project, Alfred Melotu, the paramount chief of the Aiwoo-speaking people on the island of Ngasinue...

  10. Cognitive radio adaptation for power consumption minimization using biogeography-based optimization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Qi Pei-Han; Zheng Shi-Lian; Yang Xiao-Niu; Zhao Zhi-Jin

    2016-01-01

    Adaptation is one of the key capabilities of cognitive radio, which focuses on how to adjust the radio parameters to optimize the system performance based on the knowledge of the radio environment and its capability and characteristics. In this paper, we consider the cognitive radio adaptation problem for power consumption minimization. The problem is formulated as a constrained power consumption minimization problem, and the biogeography-based optimization (BBO) is introduced to solve this optimization problem. A novel habitat suitability index (HSI) evaluation mechanism is proposed, in which both the power consumption minimization objective and the quality of services (QoS) constraints are taken into account. The results show that under different QoS requirement settings corresponding to different types of services, the algorithm can minimize power consumption while still maintaining the QoS requirements. Comparison with particle swarm optimization (PSO) and cat swarm optimization (CSO) reveals that BBO works better, especially at the early stage of the search, which means that the BBO is a better choice for real-time applications. (paper)

  11. Revisiting Weak Simulation for Substochastic Markov Chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jansen, David N.; Song, Lei; Zhang, Lijun

    2013-01-01

    of the logic PCTL\\x, and its completeness was conjectured. We revisit this result and show that soundness does not hold in general, but only for Markov chains without divergence. It is refuted for some systems with substochastic distributions. Moreover, we provide a counterexample to completeness...

  12. Tourism impacts of Three Mile Island and other adverse events: Implications for Lincoln County and other rural counties bisected by radioactive wastes intended for Yucca Mountain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Himmelberger, J.J.; Ogneva-Himmelberger, Y.A. [Clark Univ., Worcester, MA (United States); Baughman, M. [Interech Services Corporation, Carson City, NV (United States)

    1995-11-01

    Whether the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository system will adversely impact tourism in southern Nevada is an open question of particular importance to visitor-oriented rural counties bisected by planned waste transportation corridors (highway or rail). As part of one such county`s repository impact assessment program, tourism implications of Three Mile Island (TMI) and other major hazard events have been revisited to inform ongoing county-wide socioeconomic assessments and contingency planning efforts. This paper summarizes key research implications of such research as applied to Lincoln County, Nevada. Implications for other rural counties are discussed in light of the research findings. 29 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

  13. Using an index of habitat patch proximity for landscape design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eric J. Gustafson; George R. Parker

    1994-01-01

    A proximity index (PX) inspired by island biogeography theory is described which quantifies the spatial context of a habitat patch in relation to its neighbors. The index distinguishes sparse distributions of small habitat patches from clusters of large patches. An evaluation of the relationship between PX and variation in the spatial characteristics of clusters of...

  14. Loss in species caused by tropical deforestation and their recovery through management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ariel E. Lugo; John A. Parrotta; Sandra Brown

    1993-01-01

    The loss of species as a result of deforestation and degradation of tropical forest lands is widely discussed. Models based on island biogeography theory are used to evaluate the relationship between extinctions of species and deforestation. The analysis shows that natural resiliency causes the models to overestimate the rates of species extinctions for given...

  15. Revisiting the formal foundation of Probabilistic Databases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wanders, B.; van Keulen, Maurice

    2015-01-01

    One of the core problems in soft computing is dealing with uncertainty in data. In this paper, we revisit the formal foundation of a class of probabilistic databases with the purpose to (1) obtain data model independence, (2) separate metadata on uncertainty and probabilities from the raw data, (3)

  16. Revisiting Mutual Fund Performance Evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Angelidis, Timotheos; Giamouridis, Daniel; Tessaromatis, Nikolaos

    2012-01-01

    Mutual fund manager excess performance should be measured relative to their self-reported benchmark rather than the return of a passive portfolio with the same risk characteristics. Ignoring the self-reported benchmark introduces biases in the measurement of stock selection and timing components of excess performance. We revisit baseline empirical evidence in mutual fund performance evaluation utilizing stock selection and timing measures that address these biases. We introduce a new factor e...

  17. Island in an island – The suggestions for transportation improvement plan for Haidian Island, Haikou, Hainan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sia Rosalind Juo Ling

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Haidian Island, which situated at the Northern part of Haikou City of Hainan Province, is an island within a city. Haidian Island is unique in term of it's development which centered around an university, the Hainan University, besides some others important landmarks, such as Haikou city hospital, Baishamen municipal park, Golf Driving Range etc. All commercials, residential, recreational activities etc are planned to serve Hainan University in particular. The study, taking ‘Haidian Island Area Development Control Plan’ as case study, would like to look into the importance of transportation and traffic planning. The study used observation, site investigation and traffic study methods to gather data needed. Firstly the study analyzed the current state of transportation system for Haidian Island in accordance to the Island Development Control plan and Haikou master plan and identified the problems. Then, the study made some recommendations for these problems. The study highlighted the important of non-motorized, cycling and walking as the main transportation system for an education-based island and as supportive to domestic tourism activities found. The transportation planning suggested by the study took ‘green and low-carbon’ approaches considered the role of University as the core activity in the island.

  18. Deterministic Graphical Games Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersson, Klas Olof Daniel; Hansen, Kristoffer Arnsfelt; Miltersen, Peter Bro

    2012-01-01

    Starting from Zermelo’s classical formal treatment of chess, we trace through history the analysis of two-player win/lose/draw games with perfect information and potentially infinite play. Such chess-like games have appeared in many different research communities, and methods for solving them......, such as retrograde analysis, have been rediscovered independently. We then revisit Washburn’s deterministic graphical games (DGGs), a natural generalization of chess-like games to arbitrary zero-sum payoffs. We study the complexity of solving DGGs and obtain an almost-linear time comparison-based algorithm...

  19. Metamorphosis in Craniiformea revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Altenburger, Andreas; Wanninger, Andreas; Holmer, Lars E.

    2013-01-01

    We revisited the brachiopod fold hypothesis and investigated metamorphosis in the craniiform brachiopod Novocrania anomala. Larval development is lecithotrophic and the dorsal (brachial) valve is secreted by dorsal epithelia. We found that the juvenile ventral valve, which consists only of a thin...... brachiopods during metamorphosis to cement their pedicle to the substrate. N. anomala is therefore not initially attached by a valve but by material corresponding to pedicle cuticle. This is different to previous descriptions, which had led to speculations about a folding event in the evolution of Brachiopoda...

  20. The impact of heat waves on surface urban heat island and local economy in Cluj-Napoca city, Romania

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herbel, Ioana; Croitoru, Adina-Eliza; Rus, Adina Viorica; Roşca, Cristina Florina; Harpa, Gabriela Victoria; Ciupertea, Antoniu-Flavius; Rus, Ionuţ

    2017-07-01

    The association between heat waves and the urban heat island effect can increase the impact on environment and society inducing biophysical hazards. Heat stress and their associated public health problems are among the most frequent. This paper explores the heat waves impact on surface urban heat island and on the local economy loss during three heat periods in Cluj-Napoca city in the summer of 2015. The heat wave events were identified based on daily maximum temperature, and they were divided into three classes considering the intensity threshold: moderate heat waves (daily maximum temperature exceeding the 90th percentile), severe heat waves (daily maximum temperature over the 95th percentile), and extremely severe heat waves (daily maximum temperature exceeding the 98th percentile). The minimum length of an event was of minimum three consecutive days. The surface urban heat island was detected based on land surface temperature derived from Landsat 8 thermal infrared data, while the economic impact was estimated based on data on work force structure and work productivity in Cluj-Napoca derived from the data released by Eurostat, National Bank of Romania, and National Institute of Statistics. The results indicate that the intensity and spatial extension of surface urban heat island could be governed by the magnitude of the heat wave event, but due to the low number of satellite images available, we should consider this information only as preliminary results. Thermal infrared remote sensing has proven to be a very efficient method to study surface urban heat island, due to the fact that the synoptic conditions associated with heat wave events usually favor cloud free image. The resolution of the OLI_TIRS sensor provided good results for a mid-extension city, but the low revisiting time is still a drawback. The potential economic loss was calculated for the working days during heat waves and the estimated loss reached more than 2.5 mil. EUR for each heat wave day

  1. Islands and non-islands in native and heritage Korean

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boyoung eKim

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available To a large extent, island phenomena are cross-linguistically invariable, but English and Korean present some striking differences in this domain. English has wh-movement and Korean does not, and while both languages show sensitivity to wh-islands, only English has island effects for adjunct clauses. Given this complex set of differences, one might expect Korean/English bilinguals, and especially heritage Korean speakers (i.e. early bilinguals whose L2 became their dominant language during childhood to be different from native speakers, since heritage speakers have had more limited exposure to Korean, may have had incomplete acquisition and/or attrition, and may show significant transfer effects from the L2. Here we examine islands in heritage speakers of Korean in the U.S. Through a series of four formal acceptability experiments comparing these heritage speakers with native speakers residing in Korea, we show that the two groups are remarkably similar. Both show clear evidence for wh-islands and an equally clear lack of adjunct island effects. Given the very different linguistic environment that the heritage speakers have had since early childhood, this result lends support to the idea that island phenomena are largely immune to environmental influences and stem from deeper properties of the processor and/or grammar. Similarly, it casts some doubt on recent proposals that islands are learned from the input.

  2. Class renormalization: islands around islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meiss, J.D.

    1986-01-01

    An orbit of 'class' is one that rotates about a periodic orbit of one lower class with definite frequency. This contrasts to the 'level' of a periodic orbit which is the number of elements in its continued fraction expansion. Level renormalization is conventionally used to study the structure of quasi-periodic orbits. The scaling structure of periodic orbits encircling other periodic orbits in area preserving maps is discussed here. Fixed points corresponding to the accumulation of p/q bifurcations are found and scaling exponents determined. Fixed points for q > 2 correspond to self-similar islands around islands. Frequencies of the island boundary circles at the fixed points are obtained. Importance of this scaling for the motion of particles in stochastic regions is emphasized. (author)

  3. The hard-core model on random graphs revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barbier, Jean; Krzakala, Florent; Zhang, Pan; Zdeborová, Lenka

    2013-01-01

    We revisit the classical hard-core model, also known as independent set and dual to vertex cover problem, where one puts particles with a first-neighbor hard-core repulsion on the vertices of a random graph. Although the case of random graphs with small and very large average degrees respectively are quite well understood, they yield qualitatively different results and our aim here is to reconciliate these two cases. We revisit results that can be obtained using the (heuristic) cavity method and show that it provides a closed-form conjecture for the exact density of the densest packing on random regular graphs with degree K ≥ 20, and that for K > 16 the nature of the phase transition is the same as for large K. This also shows that the hard-code model is the simplest mean-field lattice model for structural glasses and jamming

  4. Post-fire diversity and abundance in pine and eucalipt stands in Portugal: effects of biogeography, topography, forest type and post-fire management

    OpenAIRE

    Maia, P.; Keizer, J.; Vasques, A.; Abrantes, N.; Roxo, L.; Fernandes, P.; Ferreira, A.; Moreira, F.

    2014-01-01

    This study concerned the mid-term regeneration of the woody understory vegetation of pure and mixed stands of Pinus pinaster Ait. and Eucalyptus globulus Labill. in northern and central Portugal following wildfires in 2005 and 2006. Pine and eucalypt stands are the most widespread and most fire-prone forest types in Portugal. The main aim was to investigate the importance of biogeography, topography, forest type and post-fire management operations in explaining the patterns in shr...

  5. The Effects of Korean Medical Service Quality and Satisfaction on Revisit Intention of the United Arab Emirates Government Sponsored Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Seoyoung; Kim, Eun-Kyung

    2017-06-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate medical service quality, satisfaction and to examine factors influencing hospital revisit intention of the United Arab Emirates government sponsored patients in Korea. A total of 152 UAE government sponsored patients who visited Korean hospitals participated in the questionnaire survey from August to November 2016. Stepwise multiple regression was used to identify the factors that affected the revisit intention of the participants. The mean scores of medical service quality, satisfaction, and revisit intention were 5.72 out of 7, 88.88 out of 100, 4.59 out of 5, respectively. Medical service quality and satisfaction, Medical service quality and revisit intention, satisfaction and revisit intention were positively correlated. Medical service of physician, visiting routes and responsiveness of medical service quality explained about 23.8% of revisit intention. There are needs for physicians to communicate with patients while ensuring sufficient consultation time based on excellent medical skills and nurses to respond immediately for the patients' needs through an empathic encounter in order to improve medical service quality and patient satisfaction so that to increase the revisit intention of the United Arab Emirates government sponsored patients. Further, it is necessary for the hospitals to have support plans for providing country specialized services in consideration of the UAE culture to ensure that physicians' and nurses' competencies are not undervalued by non-medical service elements such as interpreters and meals. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  6. Planning of motion strategy for hexapod robot using biogeography based optimization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayder Mahdi Abdulridha

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The necessity to utilize the usage of the robot cannot be denied since there are a lot of natural disasters occur around the world, the robot can reach places where humans cannot reach. Hexapod robotic is one of the robots utilized in this case due to its balance and versatility at some stage in the movement on any kind of floor. In this project the explanation of using software and hardware Arduino microcontroller is used to control of such a hexapod. The output signal from Arduino for controlling leg's joint angular position such as a pulse called Pulse Width Modulation (PWM. Also Arduino programmed to create the sequence of motion for six legs. The second part of project is about controlling hexapod to avoid hitches and tracking the wall by using PID controller. Tuning of the PID processes based on Biogeography Based Optimization(BBO need to keep the connection between PC and hexapod, because the BBO was written by Matlab. The experimental results using BBO to optimize the PID controller parameters of hexapod robot show the efficiency of this technique in the adaptation of controller.

  7. Madagascar sheds new light on the molecular systematics and biogeography of grammitid ferns: New unexpected lineages and numerous long-distance dispersal events.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauret, Lucie; Gaudeul, Myriam; Sundue, Michael A; Parris, Barbara S; Ranker, Tom A; Rakotondrainibe, France; Hennequin, Sabine; Ranaivo, Jaona; Selosse, Marc-André; Rouhan, Germinal

    2017-06-01

    Based on a worldwide phylogenetic framework filling the taxonomic gap of Madagascar and surrounding islands of the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), we revisited the systematics of grammitid fern species (Polypodiaceae). We also investigated the biogeographic origin of the extant diversity in Madagascar and estimated the relative influence of vicariance, long-distance dispersals (LDD) and in situ diversification. Phylogenetic inferences were based on five plastid DNA regions (atpB, rbcL, rps4-trnS, trnG-trnR, trnL-trnF) and the most comprehensive taxonomic sampling ever assembled (224 species belonging to 31 out of 33 recognized grammitids genera). 31 species from Madagascar were included representing 87% of the described diversity and 77% of the endemics. Our results confirmed a Paleotropical clade nested within an amphi-Atlantic grade. In addition, we identified three new major clades involving species currently belonging to Grammitis s.l., Ctenopterella and Enterosora. We resolved for the first time Grammitis s.s. as monophyletic, and Ctenopterella (newly tested here) and Enterosora as polyphyletic. The Neotropical genus Moranopteris was shown to also occur in Madagascar through a newly discovered species. Most importantly, we suggest a >30% inflation of the species number in the WIO due to the hidden diversity in >10 cryptic lineages, best explained by high morphological homoplasy. Molecular dating and ancestral areas reconstruction allowed identifying the Neotropics as the predominant source of LDD to the African-WIO region, with at least 12 colonization events within the last 20Ma. Repeated eastward migrations may be explained by transoceanic westerly winds transporting the dust-like spores. Tropical Asia s.l. would also have played a (minor) role through one dispersal event to Madagascar at the end of the Oligocene. Last, within the complex Malagasy region made of a mosaic of continental and oceanic islands located close to the African continent, we showed that

  8. Coccolithophorids in polar waters: Wigwamma spp. revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Helge Abildhauge; Østergaard, Jette B.; Heldal, Mikal

    2013-01-01

    A contingent of weakly calcified coccolithophorid genera and species were described from polar regions almost 40 years ago. In the interim period a few additional findings have been reported enlarging the realm of some of the species. The genus Wigwamma is revisited here with the purpose of provi...... appearance of the coccolith armour of the cell...

  9. Countryside biogeography of Neotropical reptiles and amphibians.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendenhall, Chase D; Frishkoff, Luke O; Santos-Barrera, Georgina; Pacheco, Jesús; Mesfun, Eyobed; Mendoza Quijano, Fernando; Ehrlich, Paul R; Ceballos, Gerardo; Daily, Gretchen C; Pringle, Robert M

    2014-04-01

    The future of biodiversity and ecosystem services depends largely on the capacity of human-dominated ecosystems to support them, yet this capacity remains largely unknown. Using the framework of countryside biogeography, and working in the Las Cruces system of Coto Brus, Costa Rica, we assessed reptile and amphibian assemblages within four habitats that typify much of the Neotropics: sun coffee plantations (12 sites), pasture (12 sites), remnant forest elements (12 sites), and a larger, contiguous protected forest (3 sites in one forest). Through analysis of 1678 captures of 67 species, we draw four primary conclusions. First, we found that the majority of reptile (60%) and amphibian (70%) species in this study used an array of habitat types, including coffee plantations and actively grazed pastures. Second, we found that coffee plantations and pastures hosted rich, albeit different and less dense, reptile and amphibian biodiversity relative to the 326-ha Las Cruces Forest Reserve and neighboring forest elements. Third, we found that the small ribbons of "countryside forest elements" weaving through farmland collectively increased the effective size of a 326-ha local forest reserve 16-fold for reptiles and 14-fold for amphibians within our 236-km2 study area. Therefore, countryside forest elements, often too small for most remote sensing techniques to identify, are contributing -95% of the available habitat for forest-dependent reptiles and amphibians in our largely human-dominated study region. Fourth, we found large and pond-reproducing amphibians to prefer human-made habitats, whereas small, stream-reproducing, and directly developing species are more dependent on forest elements. Our investigation demonstrates that tropical farming landscapes can support substantial reptile and amphibian biodiversity. Our approach provides a framework for estimating the conservation value of the complex working landscapes that constitute roughly half of the global land surface

  10. Tuppiap Qeqertaa (Tobias Island): a newly discovered island off northeast Greenland

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bennike, O.; Mikkelsen, N.; Forsberg, René

    2006-01-01

    The small island of Tuppiap Qeqertaa, formerly known as Tobias circle divide or Tobias Island, is situated 80 km off the northeast Greenland coast. The island was discovered in 1993 and is approximately 2 km long and 1.5 km wide. Most of the island is covered by an ice cap that rises to 35 in abo...

  11. Lakes and rivers as microcosms, version 2.0

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David G. Jenkins

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Limnology has been greatly influenced by The Lake as a Microcosm (Forbes, 1887, which described a holistic focus on the internal machinations of singular, island-like aquatic ecosystems. I consider three persistent influences of The Lake as a Microcosm: as an organizing paradigm for the teaching of limnology relative to its practice; the idea that inland waters are like islands, and the replicability of types of inland waters. Based on inspection of recent peer-reviewed literature and 32 limnology texts, we teach limnology according to Forbes but do not practice it in that holistic context. Instead, we practice limnology as aquatic ecology. Based on novel analyses of species-area relationships for 275 inland waters and 392 islands, inland waters are more like continental habitat patches than islands; the island metaphor is poetic but not accurate. Based on a quantitative review of beta diversity (40 data sets representing 10,576 inland waters and 26 data sets representing 1529 terrestrial sites, aquatic systems are no more replicable than are terrestrial systems; a typological approach to limnology is no more justified than it is in terrestrial systems. I conclude that a former distinction between limnology and aquatic ecology no longer applies, and that we should define limnology as the ecology of inland waters. Also, we should not consider lakes and rivers as islands that represent other systems of the same type, but should consider them as open, interactive habitat patches that vary according to their geology and biogeography. I suggest modern limnology operates according to 3 paradigms, which combine to form 3 broad limnological disciplines and establish a basis for a plural, interactive view of lakes and rivers as microcosms. This model of modern limnology may help better connect it to ecology and biogeography and help limnology be even more relevant to science and society.

  12. Diomede Islands, Bering Straight

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-01-01

    The Diomede Islands consisting of the western island Big Diomede (also known as Imaqliq, Nunarbuk or Ratmanov Island), and the eastern island Little Diomede (also known as Krusenstern Island or Inaliq), are two rocky islands located in the middle of the Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska. The islands are separated by an international border and the International Date Line which is approximately 1.5 km from each island; you can look from Alaska into tomorrow in Russia. At the closest land approach between the United States, which controls Little Diomede, and Russia, which controls Big Diomede, they are 3 km apart. Little Diomede Island constitutes the Alaskan City of Diomede, while Big Diomede Island is Russia's easternmost point. The first European to reach the islands was the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev in 1648. The text of the 1867 treaty finalizing the sale of Alaska uses the islands to designate the border between the two nations. The image was acquired July 8, 2000, covers an area of 13.5 x 10.8 km, and is located at 65.8 degrees north latitude, 169 degrees west longitude. The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

  13. Sociodemographic Factors Influencing Island Food Consumption in the Pacific Islander Health Study

    OpenAIRE

    Baumhofer, Nicole Kau'i

    2016-01-01

    This dissertation explores the relationships between island food consumption, sociodemographic variables, and cardiovascular risk using data from the Pacific Islander Health Study (PIHS). Chapter 1 explores the associations between self-reported level of island food consumption and key covariates. Island food consumption was modeled using Poisson regression and adjusted for demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural characteristics. Increased Pacific Island cultural affinity was the strongest p...

  14. Paradise Islands? Island States and Environmental Performance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sverker C. Jagers

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Island states have been shown to outperform continental states on a number of large-scale coordination-related outcomes, such as levels of democracy and institutional quality. The argument developed and tested in this article contends that the same kind of logic may apply to islands’ environmental performance, too. However, the empirical analysis shows mixed results. Among the 105 environmental outcomes that we analyzed, being an island only has a positive impact on 20 of them. For example, island states tend to outcompete continental states with respect to several indicators related to water quality but not in aspects related to biodiversity, protected areas, or environmental regulations. In addition, the causal factors previously suggested to make islands outperform continental states in terms of coordination have weak explanatory power in predicting islands’ environmental performance. We conclude the paper by discussing how these interesting findings can be further explored.

  15. The significance test controversy revisited the fiducial Bayesian alternative

    CERN Document Server

    Lecoutre, Bruno

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this book is not only to revisit the “significance test controversy,”but also to provide a conceptually sounder alternative. As such, it presents a Bayesian framework for a new approach to analyzing and interpreting experimental data. It also prepares students and researchers for reporting on experimental results. Normative aspects: The main views of statistical tests are revisited and the philosophies of Fisher, Neyman-Pearson and Jeffrey are discussed in detail. Descriptive aspects: The misuses of Null Hypothesis Significance Tests are reconsidered in light of Jeffreys’ Bayesian conceptions concerning the role of statistical inference in experimental investigations. Prescriptive aspects: The current effect size and confidence interval reporting practices are presented and seriously questioned. Methodological aspects are carefully discussed and fiducial Bayesian methods are proposed as a more suitable alternative for reporting on experimental results. In closing, basic routine procedures...

  16. Satellite failures revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balcerak, Ernie

    2012-12-01

    In January 1994, the two geostationary satellites known as Anik-E1 and Anik-E2, operated by Telesat Canada, failed one after the other within 9 hours, leaving many northern Canadian communities without television and data services. The outage, which shut down much of the country's broadcast television for hours and cost Telesat Canada more than $15 million, generated significant media attention. Lam et al. used publicly available records to revisit the event; they looked at failure details, media coverage, recovery effort, and cost. They also used satellite and ground data to determine the precise causes of those satellite failures. The researchers traced the entire space weather event from conditions on the Sun through the interplanetary medium to the particle environment in geostationary orbit.

  17. Pockets of Participation: Revisiting Child-Centred Participation Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franks, Myfanwy

    2011-01-01

    This article revisits the theme of the clash of interests and power relations at work in participatory research which is prescribed from above. It offers a possible route toward solving conflict between adult-led research carried out by young researchers, funding requirements and organisational constraints. The article explores issues of…

  18. Faraday effect revisited: sum rules and convergence issues

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cornean, Horia; Nenciu, Gheorghe

    2010-01-01

    This is the third paper of a series revisiting the Faraday effect. The question of the absolute convergence of the sums over the band indices entering the Verdet constant is considered. In general, sum rules and traces per unit volume play an important role in solid-state physics, and they give...

  19. Researching Pacific island livelihoods:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egelund Christensen, Andreas; Mertz, Ole

    2010-01-01

    on contemporary theories of nissology and conceptual analytical frameworks for island research. Through a review of selected case-study-based island literature on changing livelihoods coming out of the South Pacific, we wish to illustrate and discuss advantages of finding common grounds for small island studies....... The focus is on two dimensions of island livelihood, migration and natural resource management, both of which are significant contributors in making island livelihoods and shaping Pacific seascapes. We argue that there is still a substantial lack of studies targeting small island dynamics that are empirical...

  20. 78 FR 63860 - Amendment of Class D Airspace; Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands, RMI

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-10-25

    ...This action amends the Kwajalein Island Class D airspace description by amending the geographic coordinates for Bucholz Army Airfield (AAF), Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands, RMI. The Bucholz AAF geographic coordinates information was updated in the Kwajalein Island Class E airspace descriptions in 2011, but was inadvertently overlooked in the Kwajalein Island Class D airspace description. This action ensures the safety of aircraft operating in the Kwajalein Island airspace area. This is an administrative action and does not affect the operating requirements of the airspace.

  1. Stepping-stones to the Edge: Artistic Expressions of Islandness in an Ocean of Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurie Brinklow

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Since the earliest of times, islands have captured the artistic imagination—and, often, for the artist who finds his or her muse in being ‘islanded’, the smaller the island the better. Archipelagos offer an ideal setting for artists who take their inspiration from place: on small islands off islands they can experience an intensity of island living they might not otherwise have on a main island: boundedness and connection, isolation and community. This paper examines expressions of islandness by artists who live on islands off islands that are poles apart—‘archipelagos’ of the Canadian North Atlantic and the Great Southern Ocean. It draws upon interviews with those artists and writers to consider the nature of humans’ attachment and attraction to islands, exploring through the lens of phenomenology what Stratford et al. call the “entanglement between and among islands”.

  2. Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael A. Tabak

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Non-native rats (Rattus spp. threaten native island species worldwide. Efforts to eradicate them from islands have increased in frequency and become more ambitious in recent years. However, the long-term success of some eradication efforts has been compromised by the ability of rats, particularly Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus which are good swimmers, to recolonize islands following eradications. In the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, the distance of 250 m between islands (once suggested as the minimum separation distance for an effective barrier to recolonization has shown to be insufficient. Norway rats are present on about half of the 503 islands in the Falklands. Bird diversity is lower on islands with rats and two vulnerable passerine species, Troglodytes cobbi (the only endemic Falkland Islands passerine and Cinclodes antarcticus, have greatly reduced abundances and/or are absent on islands with rats. We used logistic regression models to investigate the potential factors that may determine the presence of Norway rats on 158 islands in the Falkland Islands. Our models included island area, distance to the nearest rat-infested island, island location, and the history of island use by humans as driving variables. Models best supported by data included only distance to the nearest potential source of rats and island area, but the relative magnitude of the effect of distance and area on the presence of rats varied depending on whether islands were in the eastern or western sector of the archipelago. The human use of an island was not a significant parameter in any models. A very large fraction (72% of islands within 500 m of the nearest potential rat source had rats, but 97% of islands farther than 1,000 m away from potential rat sources were free of rats.

  3. 33 CFR 80.717 - Tybee Island, GA to St. Simons Island, GA.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... Island. (j) An east-west line from the southernmost extremity of Sea Island across Goulds Inlet to St... Tybee Island 255° true across Tybee Inlet to the shore of Little Tybee Island south of the entrance to... shoreline across Cabretta Inlet. (g) A north-south line (longitude 81°16.9′ W.) drawn from the south...

  4. Energy Transition Initiative: Island Energy Snapshot - U.S. Virgin Islands (Fact Sheet)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2015-03-01

    This profile provides a snapshot of the energy landscape of the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) - St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. The Virgin Islands archipelago makes up the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles and the western island group of the Leeward Islands, forming the border between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

  5. Short or Long End of the Lever? Associations between Provider Communication of the "Asthma-Action Plan" and Outpatient Revisits for Pediatric Asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangachari, Pavani; Mehta, Renuka; Rethemeyer, R Karl; Ferrang, Carole; Dennis, Clifton; Redd, Vickie

    2015-10-01

    At the Children's Hospital of Georgia (CHOG), we found that outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma were significantly above national norms. According to the NIH, costly hospital revisits for asthma can be prevented through guidelines-based self-management of asthma, central to which, is the use of a written Asthma-Action Plan (AAP). The asthma services literature has emphasized the role of the healthcare provider in promoting asthma self-management using the AAP, to prevent hospital revisits. On the other hand, the asthma policy literature has emphasized the need for community-based interventions to promote asthma self-management. A gap remains in understanding the extent of leverage that healthcare providers may have in preventing hospital revisits for asthma, through effective communication of AAP in the outpatient setting. Our study sought to address this gap. We conducted a 6-month intervention to implement "patient-and-family-centered communication of the AAP" in CHOG outpatient clinics, based on the "change-management" theoretical framework. Provider communication of AAP was assessed through a survey of "Parent Understanding of the Child's AAP." A quasi-experimental approach was used to measure outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma, pre- and post-intervention. Survey results showed that provider communication of the AAP was unanimously perceived highly positively by parents of pediatric asthma patients, across various metrics of patient-centered care. However, there were no statistically significant differences in outpatient "revisit behavior" for pediatric asthma between pre- and post-intervention periods after controlling for several demographic variables. Additionally, revisits remained significantly above national norms. Results suggest limited potential of "effective provider communication of AAP," in reducing outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma; and indicate need for broader community-based interventions to address patient life variables

  6. Additively homomorphic encryption with a double decryption mechanism, revisited

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Peter, Andreas; Kronberg, M.; Trei, W.; Katzenbeisser, S.

    We revisit the notion of additively homomorphic encryption with a double decryption mechanism (DD-PKE), which allows for additions in the encrypted domain while having a master decryption procedure that can decrypt all properly formed ciphertexts by using a special master secret. This type of

  7. Moral Judgment Development across Cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg's Universality Claims

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbs, John C.; Basinger, Karen S.; Grime, Rebecca L.; Snarey, John R.

    2007-01-01

    This article revisits Kohlberg's cognitive developmental claims that stages of moral judgment, facilitative processes of social perspective-taking, and moral values are commonly identifiable across cultures. Snarey [Snarey, J. (1985). "The cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: A critical review of Kohlbergian research."…

  8. 46 CFR 7.70 - Folly Island, SC to Hilton Head Island, SC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Folly Island, SC to Hilton Head Island, SC. 7.70 Section... BOUNDARY LINES Atlantic Coast § 7.70 Folly Island, SC to Hilton Head Island, SC. (a) A line drawn from the...′ W. (Port Royal Sound Lighted Whistle Buoy “2PR”); thence to the easternmost extremity of Hilton Head...

  9. Radiative corrections to double-Dalitz decays revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kampf, Karol; Novotný, Jiři; Sanchez-Puertas, Pablo

    2018-03-01

    In this study, we revisit and complete the full next-to-leading order corrections to pseudoscalar double-Dalitz decays within the soft-photon approximation. Comparing to the previous study, we find small differences, which are nevertheless relevant for extracting information about the pseudoscalar transition form factors. Concerning the latter, these processes could offer the opportunity to test them—for the first time—in their double-virtual regime.

  10. Molecular phylogenetics and historical biogeography of the west-palearctic common toads (Bufo bufo species complex).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Porta, J; Litvinchuk, S N; Crochet, P A; Romano, A; Geniez, P H; Lo-Valvo, M; Lymberakis, P; Carranza, S

    2012-04-01

    In most pan-Eurasiatic species complexes, two phenomena have been traditionally considered key processes of their cladogenesis and biogeography. First, it is hypothesized that the origin and development of the Central Asian Deserts generated a biogeographic barrier that fragmented past continuous distributions in Eastern and Western domains. Second, Pleistocene glaciations have been proposed as the main process driving the regional diversification within each of these domains. The European common toad and its closest relatives provide an interesting opportunity to examine the relative contributions of these paleogeographic and paleoclimatic events to the phylogeny and biogeography of a widespread Eurasiatic group. We investigate this issue by applying a multiproxy approach combining information from molecular phylogenies, a multiple correspondence analysis of allozyme data and species distribution models. Our study includes 304 specimens from 164 populations, covering most of the distributional range of the Bufo bufo species complex in the Western Palearctic. The phylogenies (ML and Bayesian analyses) were based on a total of 1988 bp of mitochondrial DNA encompassing three genes (tRNAval, 16S and ND1). A dataset with 173 species of the family Bufonidae was assembled to estimate the separation of the two pan-Eurasiatic species complexes of Bufo and to date the main biogeographic events within the Bufo bufo species complex. The allozyme study included sixteen protein systems, corresponding to 21 presumptive loci. Finally, the distribution models were based on maximum entropy. Our distribution models show that Eastern and Western species complexes are greatly isolated by the Central Asian Deserts, and our dating estimates place this divergence during the Middle Miocene, a moment in which different sources of evidence document a major upturn of the aridification rate of Central Asia. This climate-driven process likely separated the Eastern and Western species. At the

  11. A Feminist Revisit to the First-Year Curriculum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernstein, Anita

    1996-01-01

    A seminar at Chicago-Kent College of Law (Illinois) that reviews six first-year law school courses by focusing on feminist issues in course content and structure is described. The seminar functions as both a review and a shift in perspective. Courses revisited include civil procedure, contracts, criminal law, justice and the legal system,…

  12. Quantum duel revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, Alexandre G M; Paiva, Milena M

    2012-01-01

    We revisit the quantum two-person duel. In this problem, both Alice and Bob each possess a spin-1/2 particle which models dead and alive states for each player. We review the Abbott and Flitney result—now considering non-zero α 1 and α 2 in order to decide if it is better for Alice to shoot or not the second time—and we also consider a duel where players do not necessarily start alive. This simple assumption allows us to explore several interesting special cases, namely how a dead player can win the duel shooting just once, or how can Bob revive Alice after one shot, and the better strategy for Alice—being either alive or in a superposition of alive and dead states—fighting a dead opponent. (paper)

  13. The Effect of Brand Equity and Perceived Value on Customer Revisit Intention: A Study in Quick-Service Restaurants in Vietnam

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ly Thi Minh Pham

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine how brand equity, from a customer point of view, influences quick-service restaurant revisit intention. The authors propose a conceptual framework in which three dimensions of brand equity including brand associations combined with brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty and perceived value are related to revisit intention. Data from 570 customers who had visited four quick-service restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City were used for the structural equation modelling (SEM analysis. The results show that strong brand equity is significantly correlated with revisit intention. Additionally, the effect of brand equity on revisit intention was mediated by perceived value, among others. Overall, this study emphasizes the importance of perceived value in lodging in the customer’s mind. Finally, managerial implications are presented based on the study results.

  14. Verifying the body tide at the Canary Islands using tidal gravimetry observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnoso, J.; Benavent, M.; Bos, M. S.; Montesinos, F. G.; Vieira, R.

    2011-05-01

    Gravity tide records from El Hierro, Tenerife and Lanzarote Islands (Canarian Archipelago) have been analyzed and compared to the theoretical body tide model (DDW) of Dehant el al. (1999). The use of more stringent criterion of tidal analysis using VAV program allowed us to reduce the error bars by a factor of two of the gravimetric factors at Tenerife and Lanzarote compared with previous published values. Also, the calibration values have been revisited at those sites. Precise ocean tide loading (OTL) corrections based on up-to-date global ocean models and improved regional ocean model have been obtained for the main tidal harmonics O 1, K 1, M 2, S 2. We also point out the importance of using the most accurate coastline definition for OTL calculations in the Canaries. The remaining observational errors depend on the accuracy of the calibration of the gravimeters and/or on the length of the observed data series. Finally, the comparison of the tidal observations with the theoretical body tide models has been done with an accuracy level of 0.1% at El Hierro, 0.4% at Tenerife and 0.5% at Lanzarote.

  15. Literary Origins of the Term "School Psychologist" Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, Thomas K.

    2005-01-01

    Previous research on the literary origins of the term "school psychologist" is revisited, and conclusions are revised in light of new evidence. It appears that the origin of the term in the American literature occurred as early as 1898 in an article by Hugo Munsterberg, predating the usage by Wilhelm Stern in 1911. The early references to the…

  16. A Multi-Level Model of Moral Functioning Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Don Collins

    2009-01-01

    The model of moral functioning scaffolded in the 2008 "JME" Special Issue is here revisited in response to three papers criticising that volume. As guest editor of that Special Issue I have formulated the main body of this response, concerning the dynamic systems approach to moral development, the problem of moral relativism and the role of…

  17. Short or Long End of the Lever? Associations between Provider Communication of the “Asthma-Action Plan” and Outpatient Revisits for Pediatric Asthma

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangachari, Pavani; Mehta, Renuka; Rethemeyer, R. Karl; Ferrang, Carole; Dennis, Clifton; Redd, Vickie

    2017-01-01

    Background At the Children’s Hospital of Georgia (CHOG), we found that outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma were significantly above national norms. According to the NIH, costly hospital revisits for asthma can be prevented through guidelines-based self-management of asthma, central to which, is the use of a written Asthma-Action Plan (AAP). Purpose The asthma services literature has emphasized the role of the healthcare provider in promoting asthma self-management using the AAP, to prevent hospital revisits. On the other hand, the asthma policy literature has emphasized the need for community-based interventions to promote asthma self-management. A gap remains in understanding the extent of leverage that healthcare providers may have in preventing hospital revisits for asthma, through effective communication of AAP in the outpatient setting. Our study sought to address this gap. Methods We conducted a 6-month intervention to implement “patient-and-family-centered communication of the AAP” in CHOG outpatient clinics, based on the “change-management” theoretical framework. Provider communication of AAP was assessed through a survey of “Parent Understanding of the Child’s AAP.” A quasi-experimental approach was used to measure outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma, pre- and post-intervention. Results Survey results showed that provider communication of the AAP was unanimously perceived highly positively by parents of pediatric asthma patients, across various metrics of patient-centered care. However, there were no statistically significant differences in outpatient “revisit behavior” for pediatric asthma between pre- and post-intervention periods after controlling for several demographic variables. Additionally, revisits remained significantly above national norms. Conclusions Results suggest limited potential of “effective provider communication of AAP,” in reducing outpatient revisits for pediatric asthma; and indicate need for

  18. Reframing in dentistry: Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sivakumar Nuvvula

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The successful practice of dentistry involves a good combination of technical skills and soft skills. Soft skills or communication skills are not taught extensively in dental schools and it can be challenging to learn and at times in treating dental patients. Guiding the child′s behavior in the dental operatory is one of the preliminary steps to be taken by the pediatric dentist and one who can successfully modify the behavior can definitely pave the way for a life time comprehensive oral care. This article is an attempt to revisit a simple behavior guidance technique, reframing and explain the possible psychological perspectives behind it for better use in the clinical practice.

  19. Rhode Island unemployment

    OpenAIRE

    Leonard Lardaro

    2010-01-01

    How can a state like Rhode Island have such a high unemployment rate? This question has been asked often over the past year, especially since at one point, Rhode Island found itself with the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate in the United States. Following that extreme, Rhode Island seemed to settle into a niche where its rank was third nationally.

  20. Recent advances in probabilistic species pool delineations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirk Nikolaus Karger

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available A species pool is the set of species that could potentially colonize and establish within a community. It has been a commonly used concept in biogeography since the early days of MacArthur and Wilson’s work on Island Biogeography. Despite their simple and appealing definition, an operational application of species pools is bundled with a multitude of problems, which have often resulted in arbitrary decisions and workarounds when defining species pools. Two recently published papers address the operational problems of species pool delineations, and show ways of delineating them in a probabilistic fashion. In both papers, species pools were delineated using a process-based, mechanistical approach, which opens the door for a multitude of new applications in biogeography. Such applications include detecting the hidden signature of biotic interactions, disentangling the geographical structure of community assembly processes, and incorporating a temporal extent into species pools. Although similar in their conclusions, both ‘probabilistic approaches’ differ in their implementation and definitions. Here I give a brief overview of the differences and similarities of both approaches, and identify the challenges and advantages in their application.

  1. Constraining Big Hurricanes: Remotely sensing Galveston Islands' changing coastal landscape from days to millennia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dougherty, A. J.; Choi, J. H.; Heo, S.; Dosseto, A.

    2017-12-01

    Climate change models forecast increased storm intensity, which will drive coastal erosion as sea-level rise accelerates with global warming. Over the last five years the largest hurricanes ever recorded in the Pacific (Patricia) and the Atlantic (Irma) occurred as well as the devastation of Harvey. The preceding decade was marked with Super Storm Sandy, Katrina and Ike. A century prior, the deadliest natural disaster in North America occurred as a category 4 hurricane known as `The 1900 Storm' hit Galveston Island. This research aims to contextualize the impact of storms long before infrastructure and historical/scientific accounts documented erosion. Unlike the majority of barrier islands in the US, Galveston built seaward over the Holocene. As the beach prograded it preserved a history of storms and shoreline change over millennia to the present-day. These systems (called prograded barriers) were first studied over 50 years ago using topographic profiles, sediment cores and radiocarbon dating. This research revisits some of these benchmark study sites to augment existing data utilizing state-of-the-art Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) techniques. In 2016 GPR and OSL data were collected from Galveston Island, with the aim to combine GPR, OSL and LiDAR (GOaL) to extract a high-resolution geologic record spanning 6,000 years. The resulting millennia-scale coastal evolution can be used to contextualize the impact of historic hurricanes over the past century (`The 1900 Storm'), decade (Ike in 2008) and year (now with Harvey). Preliminary results reveal a recent change in shoreline behaviour, and data from Harvey are currently being accessed within the perspective of these initial findings. This dataset will be discussed with respect to the other two benchmark prograded barriers studied in North America: Nayarit Barrier (Mexico) that Hurricane Patricia passed directly over in 2013 and

  2. Coastal management strategy for small island: ecotourism potency development in Karimata Island, West Kalimantan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudiastuti, A. W.; Munawaroh; Setyawan, I. E.; Pramono, G. H.

    2018-04-01

    Sustainable coastal management is playing an important role in coastal resources conservation, particularly on small islands. Karimata archipelago has unique characteristics and great potential to be developed as a tourism object, one of which is Karimata Island as the largest island and also reserve area. The concept of ecotourism focuses on the ecology conservation, economic benefits, and social life. Ecotourism aims to build sustainable tourism that provides economically viable and social benefits to the community. This study aims to develop coastal management strategy based on ecotourism at Karimata Island. Spatial approaching through coastal type was done. Qualitative descriptive analysis and SWOT are used to develop sustainable management strategies for the coast of Karimata Island, where the opportunities and challenges to the development of coastal ecotourism Karimata Island also included. If this potential is optimally utilized, it can be relied as an economic opportunity for local communities. Structurally shaped coast, marine depositional coast and coast build by organism are several of coastal types found at Karimata Island. Coastal ecosystems inhabited Karimata Island are mangroves, coral reefs, and macro-algae. Karimata Island have not been optimally utilized for tourist destinations. The biggest obstacle encountered is the accessibility from Kalimantan or other island at Karimata islands. Several problems related to the utilization of coastal resources were found such as mangrove and coral reef damage, also regulation that less supportive. The results of this study are expected to provide an overview of solutions for the development of coastal tourism potentials in Karimata Island.

  3. Revisiting Jack Goody to Rethink Determinisms in Literacy Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collin, Ross

    2013-01-01

    This article revisits Goody's arguments about literacy's influence on social arrangements, culture, cognition, economics, and other domains of existence. Whereas some of his arguments tend toward technological determinism (i.e., literacy causes change in the world), other of his arguments construe literacy as a force that shapes and is shaped by…

  4. A control center design revisited: learning from users’ appropriation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Souza da Conceição, Carolina; Cordeiro, Cláudia

    2014-01-01

    This paper aims to present the lessons learned during a control center design project by revisiting another control center from the same company designed two and a half years before by the same project team. In light of the experience with the first project and its analysis, the designers and res...

  5. Self-sustained magnetic islands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chatenet, J H; Luciani, J F [Ecole Polytechnique, 91 - Palaiseau (France); Garbet, X [Association Euratom-CEA, Centre d` Etudes de Cadarache, 13 - Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France). Dept. de Recherches sur la Fusion Controlee

    1996-06-01

    Numerical simulations of a single magnetic island evolution are presented in the regime where the island width is smaller than an ion Larmor radius. It is shown that the island rotation is controlled by particle diffusion due to collisions or a background of microturbulence. As expected from the theory of a stationary island, there exist cases where linearly stable magnetic perturbation are nonlinearly self-sustained. This situation corresponds to large poloidal beta and temperature gradient. The drive is due to diamagnetic frequency effects. However, this situation is not generic, and islands can also decay. It is found that a magnetic island is self-sustained for a negative off-diagonal diffusion coefficient. This case occurs in a tokamak if the inward particle pinch is due to the temperature gradient. (author). 30 refs.

  6. Self-sustained magnetic islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chatenet, J.H.; Luciani, J.F.; Garbet, X.

    1996-06-01

    Numerical simulations of a single magnetic island evolution are presented in the regime where the island width is smaller than an ion Larmor radius. It is shown that the island rotation is controlled by particle diffusion due to collisions or a background of microturbulence. As expected from the theory of a stationary island, there exist cases where linearly stable magnetic perturbation are nonlinearly self-sustained. This situation corresponds to large poloidal beta and temperature gradient. The drive is due to diamagnetic frequency effects. However, this situation is not generic, and islands can also decay. It is found that a magnetic island is self-sustained for a negative off-diagonal diffusion coefficient. This case occurs in a tokamak if the inward particle pinch is due to the temperature gradient. (author)

  7. PENGARUH GUIDE PERFORMANCE DAN QUALITY TOURISM SERVICE TERHADAP REVISIT INTENTION DI KEBUN RAYA BOGOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rian Andriani

    2016-11-01

    ABSTRACT Bogor Botanical Gardens is one of tourist destination in Bogor City, West Java, which the geographical in a strategic location between two big cities, Jakarta and Bandung. This location factor is can become an opportunity for Bogor Botanical Gardens to become a favorite tourist destination in Bogor City. Guide Performance and Quality Tourism Service is one of part of the tourism, so the researcher focus to Guide Performance and Quality Tourism Service To Revisit Intention in Bogor Botanical Gardens. In this research, the researcher used quantitative methode with descriptive verificative. The researcher used 100 respondent for a sample. In this research, the researcher used multiple linier regresion analysis with hypotesis test used determination coefficient test and F test. The classical assumption of this research is used normality test, multicollinearity test, heteroskedastisitas test and auto correlation test. In this research, the Guide Performance and Quality Tourism Service factors has an influence 33,2% of Revisit Intention in Bogor Botanical Garden. Keywords: Guide Performance, Quality Tourism Service and Revisit Intention

  8. Revisiting the Political Economy of Communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nicholas Garnham

    2014-02-01

    The task of the paper and the seminar was to revisit some of Nicholas Garnham’s ideas, writings and contributions to the study of the Political Economy of Communication and to reflect on the concepts, history, current status and perspectives of this field and the broader study of political economy today. The topics covered include Raymond Williams’ cultural materialism, Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of culture, the debate between Political Economy and Cultural Studies, information society theory, Karl Marx’s theory and the critique of capitalism.

  9. Reliving Island Life: Staging Stories of the Blasket Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daithí Kearney

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The Blasket Islands are located off the south-west coast of Ireland. No longer inhabited, the Great Blasket Island and its distinctive culture have been documented by a variety of writers and are celebrated today in an interpretative centre on the mainland and in performances by Siamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland. “Siamsa” developed from local initiatives in North Kerry during the early 1960s and is located today in Tralee, Co. Kerry. It aims to present Irish folklore and folk culture through the medium of theatre involving music, song, dance and mime but invariably no dialogue. In this paper, I focus on the production Oiléan, based loosely on the stories of the Blasket Islanders, which was initially devised as part of the fiftieth anniversary commemoration of the departure of the last inhabitants of the islands in 2003.

  10. 46 CFR 7.85 - St. Simons Island, GA to Little Talbot Island, FL.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false St. Simons Island, GA to Little Talbot Island, FL. 7.85... BOUNDARY LINES Atlantic Coast § 7.85 St. Simons Island, GA to Little Talbot Island, FL. (a) A line drawn from latitude 31°04.1′ N. longitude 81°16.7′ W. (St. Simons Lighted Whistle Buoy “ST S”) to latitude 30...

  11. Adaptive radiation of island plants: Evidence from Aeonium (Crassulaceae) of the Canary Islands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jorgensen, T.H.; Olesen, J.M.

    2001-01-01

    evidence that such traits have been acquired through convergent evolution on islands comes from molecular phylogenies; however, direct evidence of their selective value rarely is obtained. The importance of hybridization in the evolution of island plants is also considered as part of a more general......The presence of diverse and species-rich plant lineages on oceanic islands is most often associated with adaptive radiation. Here we discuss the possible adaptive significance of some of the most prominent traits in island plants, including woodiness, monocarpy and sexual dimorphisms. Indirect...... discussion of the mechanisms governing radiations on islands. Most examples are from the Hawaiian and Canarian floras, and in particular from studies on the morphological, ecological and molecular diversification of the genus Aeonium, the largest plant radiation of the Canarian Islands....

  12. Heron Island, Australia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    Heron Island is located at the sourthern end of Australia's 2,050 km-long Great Barrier Reef. Surrounded by coral reef and home to over 1000 species of fish, scuba divers and scientists alike are drawn to the island's resort and research station. The true-color image above was taken by Space Imaging's Ikonos satellite with a resolution of 4 meters per pixel-high enough to see individual boats tied up at the small marina. The narrow channel leading from the marina to the ocean was blasted and dredged decades ago, before the island became a national park. Since then the Australian government has implemented conservation measures, such as limiting the number of tourists and removing or recycling, instead of incinerating, all trash. One of the applications of remote sensing data from Ikonos is environmental monitoring, including studies of coral reef health. For more information about the island, read Heron Island. Image by Robert Simmon, based on data copyright Space Imaging

  13. The vacuum structure, special relativity theory and quantum mechanics revisited: a field theory-no-geometry approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogolubov, N.N. Jr.; Prykarpatsky, A.K.; Ufuk Taneri

    2008-07-01

    The main fundamental principles characterizing the vacuum field structure are formulated and the modeling of the related vacuum medium and charged point particle dynamics by means of de- vised field theoretic tools are analyzed. The Maxwell electrodynamic theory is revisited and newly derived from the suggested vacuum field structure principles and the classical special relativity theory relationship between the energy and the corresponding point particle mass is revisited and newly obtained. The Lorentz force expression with respect to arbitrary non-inertial reference frames is revisited and discussed in detail, and some new interpretations of relations between the special relativity theory and quantum mechanics are presented. The famous quantum-mechanical Schroedinger type equations for a relativistic point particle in the external potential and magnetic fields within the quasiclassical approximation as the Planck constant (h/2π) → 0 and the light velocity c → ∞ are obtained. (author)

  14. K Mbugua The Problem of Hell Revisited pp93-103

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    K Mbugua

    The Problem of Hell Revisited: Towards a Gentler Theology of Hell 93 ... One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear. Him! .... Suppose your spouse or parent or child goes to hell and you go to heaven.

  15. What matters to infrequent customers: a pragmatic approach to understanding perceived value and intention to revisit trendy coffee café.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ting, Hiram; Thurasamy, Ramayah

    2016-01-01

    Notwithstanding the rise of trendy coffee café, little is done to investigate revisit intention towards the café in the context of developing markets. In particular, there is a lack of study which provides theoretical and practical explanation to the perceptions and behaviours of infrequent customers. Hence, the study aims to look into the subject matter by using the theory of reasoned action and social exchange theory as the underpinning basis. The framework proposed by Pine and Gilmore (Strat Leadersh 28:18-23, 2000), which asserts the importance of product quality, service quality and experience quality in a progressive manner, is used to decompose perceived value in the model so as to determine their effects on intention to revisit the café. Given the importance to gain practical insights into revisit intention of infrequent customers, pragmatism stance is assumed. Explanatory sequential mixed-method design is thus adopted whereby qualitative approach is used to confirm and complement quantitative findings. Self-administered questionnaire-based survey is first administered before personal interview is carried out at various cafés. Partial least squares structural equation modelling and content analysis are appropriated successively. In the quantitative findings, although product quality, service quality and experience quality are found to have positive effect on perceived value and revisit intention towards trendy coffee café, experience quality is found to have the greater effect than the others among the infrequent customers. The qualitative findings not only confirm their importance, but most importantly explain the favourable impressions they have at trendy coffee café based on their last in-store experience. While product and service quality might not necessary stimulate them to revisit trendy coffee café, experience quality driven by purposes of visit would likely affect their intention to revisit. As retaining customers is of utmost importance to

  16. Formation and adjustment of typhoon-impacted reef islands interpreted from remote imagery: Nadikdik Atoll, Marshall Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, Murray R.; Kench, Paul S.

    2014-06-01

    In 1905, a devastating typhoon hit Nadikdik Atoll (5°54‧ N and 172°09‧ E) in the southern Marshall Islands. Evidence suggests that large sections of reef islands on Nadikdik were overwashed and destroyed. Comparison of aerial photographs taken in 1945 and modern satellite imagery provides a unique record of the geomorphic adjustment of islands after the typhoon. Between 1945 and 2010 the vegetated area of islands on Nadikdik grew from 0.74 to 0.90 km2. Observed changes to Nadikdik reef islands manifested through a range of styles and were largely accretionary. Of note, the formation of a new island was tracked from an embryonic deposit to a fully vegetated and stable island over a 61 year period. Similarly, a number of previously discrete islands have agglomerated and formed a single larger island. These changes were rapid and indicate that reef island formation can occur quickly. Evidence suggests that despite the typhoon occurring over a century ago the geomorphic adjustment of islands is still on-going.

  17. A “Insularização” dos Continentes e a Perda de Biodiversidade

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maira Smith

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available RESENHA QUAMMEN, David. O canto do dodô. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2008. 789p. ISBN 978-85-359-1263-0. [Traduzido do original The song of the dodo: island biogeography in an age of extinctions. New York: Touchstone, 1997. 704 p. ISBN 0-684-80083-7]. Tradução de Carlos Afonso Malferrari. Mapas de Kris Ellingsen. Notas, índice remissivo e bibliografia.

  18. Radiative corrections to neutrino deep inelastic scattering revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arbuzov, Andrej B.; Bardin, Dmitry Yu.; Kalinovskaya, Lidia V.

    2005-01-01

    Radiative corrections to neutrino deep inelastic scattering are revisited. One-loop electroweak corrections are re-calculated within the automatic SANC system. Terms with mass singularities are treated including higher order leading logarithmic corrections. Scheme dependence of corrections due to weak interactions is investigated. The results are implemented into the data analysis of the NOMAD experiment. The present theoretical accuracy in description of the process is discussed

  19. Doppler Processing with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Radar Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    2018-01-01

    REPORT TYPE Technical Note 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) December 2017 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Doppler Processing with Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Radar...unlimited. 13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT This technical note revisits previous work performed at the US Army Research Laboratory related to...target considered previously is proportional to a delayed version of the transmitted signal, up to a complex constant factor. We write the received

  20. Dynamics of Shape Fluctuations of Quasi-spherical Vesicles Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Miao, L.; Lomholt, Michael Andersen; Kleis, J.

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, the dynamics of spontaneous shape fluctuations of a single, giant quasi-spherical vesicle formed from a single lipid species is revisited theoretically. A coherent physical theory for the dynamics is developed based on a number of fundamental principles and considerations, and a sy......In this paper, the dynamics of spontaneous shape fluctuations of a single, giant quasi-spherical vesicle formed from a single lipid species is revisited theoretically. A coherent physical theory for the dynamics is developed based on a number of fundamental principles and considerations...... of the phenomenological constants in a canonical continuum description of fluid lipid-bilayer membranes and shown the consequences of this new interpretation in terms of the characteristics of the dynamics of vesicle shape fluctuations. Moreover, we have used the systematic formulation of our theory as a framework...... against which we have discussed the previously existing theories and their discrepancies. Finally, we have made a systematic prediction about the system-dependent characteristics of the relaxation dynamics of shape fluctuations of quasi-spherical vesicles with a view of experimental studies...

  1. Revisiting Constructivist Teaching Methods in Ontario Colleges Preparing for Accreditation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schultz, Rachel A.

    2015-01-01

    At the time of writing, the first community colleges in Ontario were preparing for transition to an accreditation model from an audit system. This paper revisits constructivist literature, arguing that a more pragmatic definition of constructivism effectively blends positivist and interactionist philosophies to achieve both student centred…

  2. Thorbecke Revisited : The Role of Doctrinaire Liberalism in Dutch Politics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Drentje, Jan

    2011-01-01

    Thorbecke Revisited: The Role of Doctrinaire Liberalism in Dutch Politics In the political history of the nineteenth century Thorbecke played a crucial role. As the architect of the 1848 liberal constitutional reform he led three cabinets. In many ways he dominated the political discourse during the

  3. Polyphyletic migration operator and orthogonal learning aided biogeography-based optimization for dynamic economic dispatch with valve-point effects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xiong, Guojiang; Li, Yinhong; Chen, Jinfu; Shi, Dongyuan; Duan, Xianzhong

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • New method for dynamic economic dispatch problem using POLBBO. • Considering valve-point effects, ramp rate limits, transmission network losses. • POLBBO is able to balance the global exploration and the local exploitation. • An effective simultaneous constraints handling technique is proposed. • The achieved results by POLBBO are better than those reported in other literatures. - Abstract: Shortage of energy resources, rising power generation cost, and increasing electric energy demand make the dynamic economic dispatch (DED) increasingly necessary in today’s competitive electricity market. In this paper, an enhanced biogeography-based optimization (BBO) referred to as POLBBO is proposed to solve the DED problem with valve-point effects. BBO is a relatively new powerful population-based meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by biogeography and has been extensively applied to many scientific and engineering problems. However, its direct-copying-based migration and random mutation operators make BBO possess good local exploitation ability but lack enough global exploration ability. To remedy the defect, on one hand, an efficient operator named polyphyletic migration operator is proposed to enhance the search ability of POLBBO. This operator can not only generate new features from more promising areas in the search space, but also effectively increase the population diversity. On the other hand, an orthogonal learning (OL) strategy based on orthogonal experimental design is presented. The OL strategy can quickly discover useful information from the search experiences and effectively utilize the information to construct a more promising solution, and thereby provide a systematic and elaborate reasoning method to guide the search directions of POLBBO. In addition, an effective simultaneous constraints handling technique without penalty factor settings is developed to handle various complicated constraints of the DED problem. Finally, four test

  4. Revisiting Cementoblastoma with a Rare Case Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vijayanirmala Subramani

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Cementoblastoma is a rare benign odontogenic neoplasm which is characterized by the proliferation of cellular cementum. Diagnosis of cementoblastoma is challenging because of its protracted clinical, radiographic features, and bland histological appearance; most often cementoblastoma is often confused with other cementum and bone originated lesions. The aim of this article is to overview/revisit, approach the diagnosis of cementoblastoma, and also present a unique radiographic appearance of a cementoblastoma lesion associated with an impacted tooth.

  5. Bryophytes from Simeonof Island in the Shumagin Islands, southwestern Alaska

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schofield, W.B.; Talbot, S. S.; Talbot, S.L.

    2004-01-01

    Simeonof Island is located south of the Alaska Peninsula in the hyperoceanic sector of the middle boreal subzone. We examined the bryoflora of Simeonof Island to determine species composition in an area where no previous collections had been reported. This field study was conducted in sites selected to represent the spectrum of environmental variation within Simeonof Island. Data were analyzed using published reports to compare bryophyte distribution patterns at three levels, the Northern Hemisphere, North America, and Alaska. A total of 271 bryophytes were identified: 202 mosses and 69 liverworts. The annotated list of species for Simeonof Island expands the known range for many species and fills distribution gaps within Hulte??n's Western Pacific Coast district. Maps and notes on the distribution of 14 significant distribution records are presented. Compared with bryophyte distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, the bryoflora of Simeonof Island primarily includes taxa of boreal (55%), temperate (20%), arctic (10%), and cosmopolitan (8%) distribution; 6% of the moss flora are western North America endemics. A description of the bryophytes present in the vegetation and habitat types is provided as is a quantitative analysis of the most frequently occurring bryophytes in crowberry heath.

  6. On the form of species–area relationships in habitat islands and true islands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Matthews, Thomas J.; Guilhaumon, François; Triantis, Kostas A.

    2016-01-01

    and c vary between different island types. Location: Global. Methods: We used an information theoretic approach to compare the fit of 20 ISAR models to 207 habitat island datasets. Model performance was ranked according to pre-set criteria, including metrics of generality and efficiency. We also fitted......, and was the highest ranked model overall. In general, the more complex models performed badly. Average z-values were significantly lower for habitat island datasets than for true islands, and were higher for mountaintop and urban habitat islands than for other habitat island types. Average c-values were significantly...... multimodel comparisons demonstrated the nonlinear implementation of the power model to be the best overall model and thus to be a sensible choice for general use. As the z-value of the log–log power model varied in relation to ecological and geographical properties of the study systems, caution should...

  7. Island formation without attractive interaction

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jansen, A.P.J.

    2008-01-01

    We show that adsorbates on surfaces can form islands even if there are no attractive interactions. Instead, strong repulsion between adsorbates at short distances can lead to islands, because such islands increase the entropy of the adsorbates that are not part of the islands. We suggest that this

  8. Tales of island tails

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groot, de Alma V.; Oost, Albert P.; Veeneklaas, Roos M.; Lammerts, Evert Jan; Duin, van Willem E.; Wesenbeeck, van Bregje K.

    2016-01-01

    The Frisian islands (Southern North Sea) have extensive island tails, i.e. the entire downdrift side of an island consisting of salt marshes, dunes, beaches and beach plains, and green beaches. Currently, large parts of these tails are ageing and losing dynamics, partly due to human influence.

  9. Revisiting recent history: records of occurrence and expansion of the European green crab across Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luke A. Poirier

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Late in the 1990s, the non-indigenous European green crab (Carcinus maenas colonized the shorelines of eastern Prince Edward Island, in Atlantic Canada. Due to concerns of further spread into productive shellfish habitats, an annual survey was conducted between 2000 and 2013 to detect a potential range expansion of this species. We compiled and analyzed that data and document green crab expansion using records of annual occurrence and relative density. Methods Surveys were conducted during the fall season of each year by deploying baited traps at 29 sites along the island’s two main shorelines (north and south shores. These sites were selected based on areas deemed more likely to be invaded by the green crab. Raw data per site and date was transformed to catch per unit effort (CPUE to estimate relative abundances. Results Populations of this species showed an uneven westward expansion along the north and south shores. Expansion rates changed among years but, overall, crab abundance was higher and changes in abundance were faster along the south shore than the north shore of the island. The westward expansion continues until this day. Conclusions Based on the information compiled we hypothesize that the dissimilarity in range expansion rate was related to the availability of suitable habitat to sustain large green crab populations along the south shore. We also discuss implications of this expansion for commercial shellfish and native coastal communities.

  10. Energy Self-Sufficient Island

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bratic, S.; Krajacic, G.; Duic, N.; Cotar, A.; Jardas, D.

    2011-01-01

    In order to analyze energy self-sufficient island, example of a smaller island, connected to the power system of a bigger island with an undersea cable, was taken. Mounting substation 10/0,4 is situated on the island and for the moment it provides enough electricity using the medium voltage line. It is assumed that the island is situated on the north part of the Adriatic Sea. The most important problem that occurs on the island is the population drop that occurs for a significant number of years, therefore, life standard needs to be improved, and economic development needs to be encouraged immediately. Local authorities to stimulate sustainable development on the island through different projects, to breath in a new life to the island, open new jobs and attract new people to come live there. Because of the planned development and increase of the population, energy projects, planned as a support to sustainable development, and later achievement of the energy self-sufficiency, is described in this paper. Therefore, Rewisland methodology appliance is described taking into the account three possible scenarios of energy development. Each scenario is calculated until year 2030. Also, what is taken into the account is 100% usage of renewable sources of energy in 2030. Scenario PTV, PP, EE - This scenario includes installation of solar photovoltaic modules and solar thermal collectors on the buildings roofs, as well as well as implementation of energy efficiency on the island (replacement of the street light bulbs with LED lightning, replacement of the old windows and doors on the houses, as well as the installation of the thermal insulation). Scenario PV island - This scenario, similarly to the previous one, includes installation of solar photovoltaic modules and solar thermal collectors an the residential buildings, as well as the 2 MW photovoltaic power plant and ''Green Hotel'', a building that satisfies all of its energy needs completely from renewable energy sources

  11. One million served: Rhode Island`s recycling facility

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malloy, M.G.

    1997-11-01

    Rhode Island`s landfill and adjacent materials recovery facility (MRF) in Johnston, both owned by the quasi-public Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp. (RIRRC, Johnston), serve the entire state. The $12-million recycling facility was built in 1989 next to the state`s sole landfill, the Central Landfill, which accepts only in-state trash. The MRF is operated for RIRRC by New England CRInc. (Hampton, N.H.), a unit of Waste Management, Inc. (WMI, Oak Brook, Ill.). It handles a wide variety of materials, from the usual newspaper, cardboard, and mixed containers to new streams such as wood waste, scrap metal, aseptic packaging (milk and juice boxes), and even textiles. State municipalities are in the process of adding many of these new recyclable streams into their curbside collection programs, all of which feed the facility.

  12. Immigrants, islandness and perceptions of quality-of-life on Prince Edward Island, Canada

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Kitchen

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores perceptions of immigrant quality-of-life (QOL and islandness in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and compares these perceptions to those of Canadian-born residents of the same provincial capital. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, including a household telephone survey conducted in the summer of 2012 (n=302, focus group interviews with immigrants in late 2012 and observations on preliminary results by the staff of the PEI Association of Newcomers to Canada (PEIANC, the primary immigrant settlement service agency on the island. The analysis of the results suggests that immigrants have a high and undifferentiated assessment of their own QOL, sense of belonging and sense of place compared to Canadian-born islanders; immigrants are also critical of the quality of education and of the range of recreational and cultural events underway on the Island. While they express positive sentiments regarding life on the Island, immigrants still feel excluded from social and economic opportunities.

  13. Pathogenicity island mobility and gene content.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Williams, Kelly Porter

    2013-10-01

    Key goals towards national biosecurity include methods for analyzing pathogens, predicting their emergence, and developing countermeasures. These goals are served by studying bacterial genes that promote pathogenicity and the pathogenicity islands that mobilize them. Cyberinfrastructure promoting an island database advances this field and enables deeper bioinformatic analysis that may identify novel pathogenicity genes. New automated methods and rich visualizations were developed for identifying pathogenicity islands, based on the principle that islands occur sporadically among closely related strains. The chromosomally-ordered pan-genome organizes all genes from a clade of strains; gaps in this visualization indicate islands, and decorations of the gene matrix facilitate exploration of island gene functions. A %E2%80%9Clearned phyloblocks%E2%80%9D method was developed for automated island identification, that trains on the phylogenetic patterns of islands identified by other methods. Learned phyloblocks better defined termini of previously identified islands in multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC BAA-2146, and found its only antibiotic resistance island.

  14. First record of the mycoheterotrophic orchid Gastrodia fontinalis (Orchidaceae from Takeshima Island, the Ryukyu Islands, Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenji Suetsugu

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available We found Gastrodia fontinalis T. P. Lin in a bamboo forest from Takeshima Island, which is the northernmost island of the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. This species is apparently rare and was previously considered to be an endemic Taiwanese species. Because there are a few minor differences between the original description and our specimens collected in Takeshima Island, here we report Gastrodia fontinalis from Takeshima Island as the first record outside of Taiwan, with a description of the specimens from Takeshima Island.

  15. Increased 30-Day Emergency Department Revisits Among Homeless Patients with Mental Health Conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chun Nok Lam

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Patients with mental health conditions frequently use emergency medical services. Many suffer from substance use and homelessness. If they use the emergency department (ED as their primary source of care, potentially preventable frequent ED revisits and hospital readmissions can worsen an already crowded healthcare system. However, the magnitude to which homelessness affects health service utilization among patients with mental health conditions remains unclear in the medical community. This study assessed the impact of homelessness on 30-day ED revisits and hospital readmissions among patients presenting with mental health conditions in an urban, safety-net hospital. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of administrative data on all adult ED visits in 2012 in an urban safety-net hospital. Patient demographics, mental health status, homelessness, insurance coverage, level of acuity, and ED disposition per ED visit were analyzed using multilevel modeling to control for multiple visits nested within patients. We performed multivariate logistic regressions to evaluate if homelessness moderated the likelihood of mental health patients’ 30-day ED revisits and hospital readmissions. Results: Study included 139,414 adult ED visits from 92,307 unique patients (43.5±15.1 years, 51.3% male, 68.2% Hispanic/Latino. Nearly 8% of patients presented with mental health conditions, while 4.6% were homeless at any time during the study period. Among patients with mental health conditions, being homeless contributed to an additional 28.0% increase in likelihood (4.28 to 5.48 odds of 30-day ED revisits and 38.2% increase in likelihood (2.04 to 2.82 odds of hospital readmission, compared to non-homeless, non-mental health (NHNM patients as the base category. Adjusted predicted probabilities showed that homeless patients presenting with mental health conditions have a 31.1% chance of returning to the ED within 30-day post discharge and a 3

  16. Renewable energy islands in Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oestergaard, Iben [ed.

    1998-12-31

    This publication includes a compiled presentation of various aspects concerning the possible transformation of some European islands into renewable energy communities and these projects were presented by a selection of pioneer islands at the first European Seminar on Renewable Energy Islands, held on the Danish island of Samsoee, 29-30 June 1998. This issue has increased in importance with the presentation of the ambitious EU-White Paper: `Energy for the future: Renewable Sources of Energy` which was adopted in 1998. One of the key elements of the strategy for an accelerated implementation of renewable energy is to transform 100 localities within Europe into communities which are to be 100% self-sufficient with renewable energy before 2010. In line with this strategy, the Danish Government appointed the island of Samsoe towards the end of 1997 to be the first `official` Danish, renewable energy island. This is to serve as a demonstration project for other local communities, both in Denmark as well as in the rest Europe. Gothland, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Arki, Crete, Minorca and Orkney Islands were represented. Environmental advantages of wind, solar and wave power for distant island communities were indicated. Serious savings would be achieved by limitation of fossil fuel import and utilization of local resources. (EG)

  17. Barrier island habitat map and vegetation survey—Dauphin Island, Alabama, 2015

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enwright, Nicholas M.; Borchert, Sinéad M.; Day, Richard H.; Feher, Laura C.; Osland, Michael J.; Wang, Lei; Wang, Hongqing

    2017-08-04

    Barrier islands are dynamic environments due to their position at the land-sea interface. Storms, waves, tides, currents, and relative sea-level rise are powerful forces that shape barrier island geomorphology and habitats (for example, beach, dune, marsh, and forest). Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in 2010 are two major events that have affected habitats and natural resources on Dauphin Island, Alabama. The latter event prompted a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the State of Alabama funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to investigate viable, sustainable restoration options that protect and restore the natural resources of Dauphin Island, Alabama.In order to understand the feasibility and sustainability of various restoration scenarios, it is important to understand current conditions on Dauphin Island. To further this understanding, a detailed 19-class habitat map for Dauphin Island was produced from 1-foot aerial infrared photography collected on December 4, 2015, and lidar data collected in January 2015. We also conducted a ground survey of habitat types, vegetation community structure, and elevations in November and December 2015. These products provide baseline data regarding the ecological and general geomorphological attributes of the area, which can be compared with observations from other dates for tracking changes over time.

  18. 33 CFR 80.712 - Morris Island, SC to Hilton Head Island, SC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Morris Island, SC to Hilton Head..., SC to Hilton Head Island, SC. (a) A line drawn from the easternmost tip of Folley Island to the... easternmost extremity of Hilton Head at latitude 32°13.0′ N. longitude 80°40.1′ W. [CGD 77-118a, 42 FR 35784...

  19. Island dynamics and Minoan expansion in the Aegean: the Kythera Island Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cyprian Broodbank

    1999-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years archaeologists have become increasingly interested in the investigation of island societies. At a global level, discoveries in the Pacific, Caribbean, Mediterranean and elsewhere have greatly improved our understanding of the antiquity and dynamics of island life. Now archaeologists at the Institute, together with other colleagues, have embarked on a long-term interdisciplinary study of the island of Kythera in the Aegean.

  20. Vegetation and checklist of Inaccessible Island, central South Atlantic Ocean, with notes on Nightingale Island

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. P. Roux

    1992-10-01

    Full Text Available The physiography and climate of Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands are briefly discussed. The vegetation and the major plant associations are described. Notes are given on the ecology and distribution of each taxon. Taxa newly recorded for Inaccessible Island include Agrostis goughensis, A.holgateana, A. wacei, Calamagrostis deschampsiiformis, Carex thouarsii var.  recurvata, Conyza albida, Elaphoglossum campylolepium and  Uncinia meridensis. One species, C.  albida, is alien to the Tristan group. Two native ferns Asplenium platybasis var.  subnudum and Blechnum australe were found on Nightingale Island for the first time, and the presence of introduced Malus domestica orchards was recorded. Two unidentified taxa were found that may represent new species:  Elaphoglossum sp. at Inaccessible Island and Apium sp. at both Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands. The total number of vascular plant species recorded at Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands now stands at 98 and 43, respectively, of which 26 (28% and seven (16% are introduced species. Only Airiplex plebeja and two species of Cotula occur at Nightingale Island but are absent from Inaccessible Island.

  1. Marshall Islands

    OpenAIRE

    World Bank

    2015-01-01

    This note aims to build understanding of the existing disaster risk financing and insurance (DRFI) tools in use in The Marshall Islands and to identify gaps where potential engagement could further develop financial resilience. The likelihood that a hazardous event will have a significant impact on the Marshall Islands has risen with the increasing levels of population and assets in the urban ...

  2. A man and his island: The island mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laurie Brinklow

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Between 1946 and 1975, dozens of islands and outports in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador were abandoned as part of a government resettlement policy. Families and communities were torn apart, and a culture and way of life that revolved around the fishery changed irrevocably. The practice, which continues to this day, has been well documented, particularly by artists and writers. Michael Crummey’s 2014 novel Sweetland is a recent iteration. The relationship between humans and place is complex: on an island, with compressed space and a very real boundary that is the ocean, emotional attachments to one’s place are often heightened and distilled. What happens when a person is displaced from his or her island; when bonds of attachment are severed and one’s mirrored double is destroyed? Sweetland offers a fictional lens through which we see an example of a mirrored relationship between an island protagonist and his island setting. Exploring themes of attachment to place, and what Barry Lopez calls a “storied” or “reciprocal” relationship with the land, this paper examines what happens to a man when confronted with leaving an island he knows as deeply as his own body and soul; and how the island reacts.

  3. Where did the chili get its spice? Biogeography of capsaicinoid production in ancestral wild chili species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tewksbury, Joshua J; Manchego, Carlos; Haak, David C; Levey, Douglas J

    2006-03-01

    The biogeography of pungency in three species of wild chili in the chaco and surrounding highland habitats of southeastern Bolivia is described. We report that Capsicum chacoense, C. baccatum, and C. eximium are polymorphic for production of capsaicin and its analogs, such that completely pungent and completely nonpungent individuals co-occur in some populations. In C. chacoense, the density of plants and the proportion of pungent plants increased with elevation. Above 900 m, all individuals in all populations except two were pungent; nonpungent individuals in at least one of the two polymorphic populations were likely a result of spreading by humans. The occurrence of pungent and nonpungent individuals in three species of ancestral Capsicum and the geographic variation of pungency within species suggest that production of capsaicin and its analogs entails both costs and benefits, which shift from one locality to another. Determining the selection pressures behind such shifts is necessary to understand the evolution of pungency in chilies.

  4. Island development: Local governance under globalization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huei-Min Tsai

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Issues surrounding island development have generated a growing volume of research. What does it mean to develop? How can island communities maintain control over development processes to the benefit of the local economy, rather than seeing economic flows enter and exit the island with little or a primarily negative impact? And how important is local knowledge for edifying local governance and enhancing potentials for innovation in island development? Island histories have repeatedly been forwarded as exemplars and ‘lessons’ for global learning on (unsustainability. To consider these issues, we have selected a number of papers from among the presentations given at the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Islands Conference, Island Development: Local Economy, Culture, Innovation and Sustainability, which took place in the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan, 1–5 October 2013. These papers serve as examples of how the processes of globalization have penetrated the borders and changed the political and economic structures of islands. They also explore how island-based innovations in science, technology, culture, and formal or informal governance might contribute to sustainable island development.

  5. Surface tension in soap films: revisiting a classic demonstration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Behroozi, F

    2010-01-01

    We revisit a classic demonstration for surface tension in soap films and introduce a more striking variation of it. The demonstration shows how the film, pulling uniformly and normally on a loose string, transforms it into a circular arc under tension. The relationship between the surface tension and the string tension is analysed and presented in a useful graphical form. (letters and comments)

  6. The Neutrosophic Logic View to Schrodinger's Cat Paradox, Revisited

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Florentin Smarandache

    2008-07-01

    Full Text Available The present article discusses Neutrosophic logic view to Schrodinger's cat paradox. We argue that this paradox involves some degree of indeterminacy (unknown which Neutrosophic logic can take into consideration, whereas other methods including Fuzzy logic cannot. To make this proposition clear, we revisit our previous paper by offering an illustration using modified coin tossing problem, known as Parrondo's game.

  7. Surface tension in soap films: revisiting a classic demonstration

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Behroozi, F [Department of Physics, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614 (United States)], E-mail: behroozi@uni.edu

    2010-01-15

    We revisit a classic demonstration for surface tension in soap films and introduce a more striking variation of it. The demonstration shows how the film, pulling uniformly and normally on a loose string, transforms it into a circular arc under tension. The relationship between the surface tension and the string tension is analysed and presented in a useful graphical form. (letters and comments)

  8. Revisiting the quantum harmonic oscillator via unilateral Fourier transforms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nogueira, Pedro H F; Castro, Antonio S de

    2016-01-01

    The literature on the exponential Fourier approach to the one-dimensional quantum harmonic oscillator problem is revised and criticized. It is shown that the solution of this problem has been built on faulty premises. The problem is revisited via the Fourier sine and cosine transform method and the stationary states are properly determined by requiring definite parity and square-integrable eigenfunctions. (paper)

  9. Transport benchmarks for one-dimensional binary Markovian mixtures revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malvagi, F.

    2013-01-01

    The classic benchmarks for transport through a binary Markovian mixture are revisited to look at the probability distribution function of the chosen 'results': reflection, transmission and scalar flux. We argue that the knowledge of the ensemble averaged results is not sufficient for reliable predictions: a measure of the dispersion must also be obtained. An algorithm to estimate this dispersion is tested. (author)

  10. Energy Transition Initiative, Island Energy Snapshot - British Virgin Islands (Fact Sheet)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    2015-03-01

    This profile provides a snapshot of the energy landscape of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), one of three sets of the Virgin Island territories in an archipelago making up the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles.

  11. A Mosaic of Geothermal and Marine Features Shapes Microbial Community Structure on Deception Island Volcano, Antarctica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amanda G. Bendia

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Active volcanoes in Antarctica contrast with their predominantly cold surroundings, resulting in environmental conditions capable of selecting for versatile and extremely diverse microbial communities. This is especially true on Deception Island, where geothermal, marine, and polar environments combine to create an extraordinary range of environmental conditions. Our main goal in this study was to understand how microbial community structure is shaped by gradients of temperature, salinity, and geochemistry in polar marine volcanoes. Thereby, we collected surface sediment samples associated with fumaroles and glaciers at two sites on Deception, with temperatures ranging from 0 to 98°C. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was performed to assess the composition and diversity of Bacteria and Archaea. Our results revealed that Deception harbors a combination of taxonomic groups commonly found both in cold and geothermal environments of continental Antarctica, and also groups normally identified at deep and shallow-sea hydrothermal vents, such as hyperthermophilic archaea. We observed a clear separation in microbial community structure across environmental gradients, suggesting that microbial community structure is strongly niche driven on Deception. Bacterial community structure was significantly associated with temperature, pH, salinity, and chemical composition; in contrast, archaeal community structure was strongly associated only with temperature. Our work suggests that Deception represents a peculiar “open-air” laboratory to elucidate central questions regarding molecular adaptability, microbial evolution, and biogeography of extremophiles in polar regions.

  12. Resolution of Reflection Seismic Data Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Thomas Mejer; Mosegaard, Klaus; Zunino, Andrea

    The Rayleigh Principle states that the minimum separation between two reflectors that allows them to be visually separated is the separation where the wavelet maxima from the two superimposed reflections combine into one maximum. This happens around Δtres = λb/8, where λb is the predominant...... lower vertical resolution of reflection seismic data. In the following we will revisit think layer model and demonstrate that there is in practice no limit to the vertical resolution using the parameterization of Widess (1973), and that the vertical resolution is limited by the noise in the data...

  13. Demographic Ageing on Croatian Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivo Nejašmić

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses the changes in the population structure of the Croatian islands by age, warns of the degree of ageing, provides spatial differentiation of this process and presents perspective of ageing at the level of settlement. Typing of population ageing is based on scores and has seven types. The total island population in 2011 belongs to the type 5 – very old population. Almost a half of the settlements (out of 303 have been affected by the highest levels of ageing (types 6 and 7. It was found that a quarter of island settlements will become “dead villages” in a foreseeable future; most of them are on small islands but also in the interior of larger islands. These are villages decaying in every respect, in which the way of life, as we know it, veins and goes out. The present ageing villagers are their last residents in most cases. Eve¬rything suggests that demographic recovery of the islands is not possible with the forces in situ. It is important to strike a balance between the needs and opportunities in order to successfully organize life on the islands, both small and large ones, and the fact is that there is a continuing disparity, which is especially profound in small islands. A sensitive and selective approach is needed to overcome the unfavourable demographic trends. Therefore it is necessary to respect the particularities of indi¬vidual islands and island groups in devising development strategy. Solutions to the problems must come of the local and wider community in synergy with relevant professional and scientific institutions. However, if the solutions are not found or measures do not give results, if the islands are left to desorganisation and senilisation, a part of the islands will become a wasteland. With regard to the value of this area whose wealth are people in the first place, this would be an intolerable civilization decline.

  14. The Island Smart Energy System and Market

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ma, Zheng; Billanes, Joy Dalmacio; Jørgensen, Bo Nørregaard

    2017-01-01

    developing island smart energy systems with the integration of renewable energy resources can increase the energy supply and address the global island energy issues. The island smart energy system operates either in a single-island or in multi-islands. However the island characteristics and influ...

  15. Terrestrial bird population trends on Aguiguan (Goat Island), Mariana Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amidon, Fred; Camp, Richard J.; Marshall, Ann P.; Pratt, Thane K.; Williams, Laura; Radley, Paul; Cruz, Justine B.

    2014-01-01

    The island of Aguiguan is part of the Mariana archipelago and currently supports populations of four endemic species, including one endemic genus, Cleptornis. Bird population trends since 1982 were recently assessed on the neighbouring islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota indicating declines in some native species. Point-transect surveys were conducted in 2008 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to assess population densities and trends on Aguiguan. Densities for six of the nine native birds—White-throated Ground-dove Gallicolumba xanthonura, Collared Kingfisher Todiramphus chloris, Rufous Fantail Rhipidura rufifrons, Golden White-eye Cleptornis marchei, Bridled White-eye Zosterops conspicillatus and Micronesian Starling Aplonis opaca—and the non-native bird—Island Collared-dove Streptopelia bitorquata—were significantly greater in 2008 than in 1982. No differences in densities were detected among the surveys for Mariana Fruit-dove Ptilinopus roseicapilla, and Micronesian MyzomelaMyzomela rubratra. Three federally and locally listed endangered birds—Nightingale Reed-warbler Acrocephalus luscinius, Mariana Swiftlet Collocalia bartschi, and Micronesian Megapode Megapodius laperous)—were either not detected during the point-transect counts, the surveys were not appropriate for the species, or the numbers of birds detected were too small to estimate densities. The factors behind the increasing trends for some species are unknown but may be related to increased forest cover on the island since 1982. With declining trends for some native species on neighbouring islands, the increasing and stable trends on Aguiguan is good news for forest bird populations in the region, as Aguiguan populations can help support conservation efforts on other islands in the archipelago.

  16. Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric Calibration Revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marriner, John

    2012-01-01

    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey calibration is revisited to obtain the most accurate photometric calibration. A small but significant error is found in the flat-fielding of the Photometric telescope used for calibration. Two SDSS star catalogs are compared and the average difference in magnitude as a function of right ascension and declination exhibits small systematic errors in relative calibration. The photometric transformation from the SDSS Photometric Telescope to the 2.5 m telescope is recomputed and compared to synthetic magnitudes computed from measured filter bandpasses.

  17. REVISITING A CLASSIC: THE PARKER–MOFFATT PROBLEM

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pezzi, O.; Servidio, S.; Valentini, F.; Malara, F.; Veltri, P.; Parashar, T. N.; Yang, Y.; Matthaeus, W. H.; Vásconez, C. L.

    2017-01-01

    The interaction of two colliding Alfvén wave packets is described here by means of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and hybrid kinetic numerical simulations. The MHD evolution revisits the theoretical insights described by Moffatt, Parker, Kraichnan, Chandrasekhar, and Elsässer in which the oppositely propagating large-amplitude wave packets interact for a finite time, initiating turbulence. However, the extension to include compressive and kinetic effects, while maintaining the gross characteristics of the simpler classic formulation, also reveals intriguing features that go beyond the pure MHD treatment.

  18. REVISITING A CLASSIC: THE PARKER–MOFFATT PROBLEM

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pezzi, O.; Servidio, S.; Valentini, F.; Malara, F.; Veltri, P. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università della Calabria, 87036 Rende (CS) (Italy); Parashar, T. N.; Yang, Y.; Matthaeus, W. H. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, DE 19716 (United States); Vásconez, C. L. [Departamento de Física, Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito (Ecuador)

    2017-01-10

    The interaction of two colliding Alfvén wave packets is described here by means of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and hybrid kinetic numerical simulations. The MHD evolution revisits the theoretical insights described by Moffatt, Parker, Kraichnan, Chandrasekhar, and Elsässer in which the oppositely propagating large-amplitude wave packets interact for a finite time, initiating turbulence. However, the extension to include compressive and kinetic effects, while maintaining the gross characteristics of the simpler classic formulation, also reveals intriguing features that go beyond the pure MHD treatment.

  19. Sloan Digital Sky Survey Photometric Calibration Revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marriner, John; /Fermilab

    2012-06-29

    The Sloan Digital Sky Survey calibration is revisited to obtain the most accurate photometric calibration. A small but significant error is found in the flat-fielding of the Photometric telescope used for calibration. Two SDSS star catalogs are compared and the average difference in magnitude as a function of right ascension and declination exhibits small systematic errors in relative calibration. The photometric transformation from the SDSS Photometric Telescope to the 2.5 m telescope is recomputed and compared to synthetic magnitudes computed from measured filter bandpasses.

  20. Renewable technologies for generation systems in islands and their application to Cozumel Island, Mexico

    OpenAIRE

    Mendoza Vizcaino, Javier; Sumper, Andreas; Sudrià Andreu, Antoni; Ramirez, J.M.

    2016-01-01

    The electric generation systems on islands are based generally on fossil fuel. This fact and its supply make the electricity cost higher than in systems used in the continent. In this article, we present a review of the renewable energy generation systems on islands. To do it we analysed 77 islands from 45 different countries. This work will allow us to know how the implementation of renewable energy sources could help these islands in developing a renewable and sustainable energy sector, inc...

  1. CRED Gridded Bathymetry near Laysan Island (100-006), Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — File 100-006b is a 60-m ASCII grid of depth data collected near Laysan Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as of May 2003. This grid has been produced as...

  2. CRED Gridded Bathymetry near Lisianski Island (100-001), Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — File 100-001b is a 60-m ASCII grid of depth data collected near Lisianski Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as of May 2003. This grid has been produced as...

  3. Biogeography-based combinatorial strategy for efficient autonomous underwater vehicle motion planning and task-time management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zadeh, S. M.; Powers, D. M. W.; Sammut, K.; Yazdani, A. M.

    2016-12-01

    Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) are capable of spending long periods of time for carrying out various underwater missions and marine tasks. In this paper, a novel conflict-free motion planning framework is introduced to enhance underwater vehicle's mission performance by completing maximum number of highest priority tasks in a limited time through a large scale waypoint cluttered operating field, and ensuring safe deployment during the mission. The proposed combinatorial route-path planner model takes the advantages of the Biogeography-Based Optimization (BBO) algorithm toward satisfying objectives of both higher-lower level motion planners and guarantees maximization of the mission productivity for a single vehicle operation. The performance of the model is investigated under different scenarios including the particular cost constraints in time-varying operating fields. To show the reliability of the proposed model, performance of each motion planner assessed separately and then statistical analysis is undertaken to evaluate the total performance of the entire model. The simulation results indicate the stability of the contributed model and its feasible application for real experiments.

  4. 75 FR 61993 - Amendment of Class E Airspace; Kwajalein Island, Marshall Islands, RMI

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-07

    ...This action removes the reference to the Kwajalein Tactacial Air Navigation (TACAN) System from the legal description of the Class E airspace areas for Kwajalein Island, Bucholz AAF, Marshall Islands, RMI. The U.S. Army notified the FAA that the Kwajalein TACAN was decommissioned. This action corrects the legal descriptions for the Class E airspace areas in the vicinity of the Marshall Islands.

  5. Revisiting deforestation in Africa (1990–2010): One more lost ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This spotlight revisits the dynamics and prognosis outlined in the late 1980's published in Déforestation en Afrique. This book on deforestation in Africa utilized available statistical data from the 1980's and was a pioneering self - styled attempt to provide a holistic viewpoint of the ongoing trends pertaining to deforestation in ...

  6. Revisiting Individual Creativity Assessment: Triangulation in Subjective and Objective Assessment Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Namgyoo K.; Chun, Monica Youngshin; Lee, Jinju

    2016-01-01

    Compared to the significant development of creativity studies, individual creativity research has not reached a meaningful consensus regarding the most valid and reliable method for assessing individual creativity. This study revisited 2 of the most popular methods for assessing individual creativity: subjective and objective methods. This study…

  7. Returning from the Horizon: Introducing Urban Island Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xavier Barceló Pinya

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Island studies tends to focus on peripheral, isolated, and marginal aspects of island communities, while urban studies has showed scant awareness of islandness: Although many people research cities on islands, there is little tradition of researching island cities or urban archipelagos per se. Island cities (densely populated small islands and population centres of larger islands and archipelagos nevertheless play import cultural, economic, political, and environmental roles on local, regional, and global scales. Many major cities and ports have developed on small islands, and even villages can fulfil important urban functions on lightly populated islands. Island concepts are also deployed to metaphorically describe developments in urban space. The journal Urban Island Studies explores island and urban processes around the world, taking an island approach to urban research and an urban approach to island research.

  8. Barrier island facies models and recognition criteria

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulhern, J.; Johnson, C. L.

    2017-12-01

    Barrier island outcrops record transgressive shoreline motion at geologic timescales, providing integral clues to understanding how coastlines respond to rising sea levels. However, barrier island deposits are difficult to recognize. While significant progress has been made in understanding the modern coastal morphodynamics, this insight is not fully leveraged in existing barrier island facies models. Excellent outcrop exposures of the paralic Upper Cretaceous Straight Cliffs Formation of southern Utah provide an opportunity to revise facies models and recognition criteria for barrier island deposits. Preserved barrier islands are composed of three main architectural elements (shorefaces, tidal inlets, and tidal channels) which occur independently or in combination to create larger-scale barrier island deposits. Barrier island shorefaces record progradation, while barrier island tidal inlets record lateral migration, and barrier island tidal channels record aggradation within the tidal inlet. Four facies associations are used to describe and characterize these barrier island architectural elements. Barrier islands occur in association with backarrier fill and internally contain lower and upper shoreface, high-energy upper shoreface, and tidal channel facies. Barrier islands bound lagoons or estuaries, and are distinguished from other shoreface deposits by their internal facies and geometry, association with backbarrier facies, and position within transgressive successions. Tidal processes, in particular tidal inlet migration and reworking of the upper shoreface, also distinguish barrier island deposits. Existing barrier island models highlight the short term heterogeneous and dynamic nature of barrier island systems, yet overlook processes tied to geologic time scales, such as multi-directional motion, erosion, and reworking, and their expressions in preserved barrier island strata. This study uses characteristic outcrop expressions of barrier island successions to

  9. Logistics Innovation Process Revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gammelgaard, Britta; Su, Shong-Iee Ivan; Yang, Su-Lan

    2011-01-01

    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn more about logistics innovation processes and their implications for the focal organization as well as the supply chain, especially suppliers. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical basis of the study is a longitudinal action research project...... that was triggered by the practical needs of new ways of handling material flows of a hospital. This approach made it possible to revisit theory on logistics innovation process. Findings – Apart from the tangible benefits reported to the case hospital, five findings can be extracted from this study: the logistics...... innovation process model may include not just customers but also suppliers; logistics innovation in buyer-supplier relations may serve as an alternative to outsourcing; logistics innovation processes are dynamic and may improve supplier partnerships; logistics innovations in the supply chain are as dependent...

  10. Life quality index revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager

    2004-01-01

    The derivation of the life quality index (LQI) is revisited for a revision. This revision takes into account the unpaid but necessary work time needed to stay alive in clean and healthy conditions to be fit for effective wealth producing work and to enjoyable free time. Dimension analysis...... at birth should not vary between countries. Finally the distributional assumptions are relaxed as compared to the assumptions made in an earlier work by the author. These assumptions concern the calculation of the life expectancy change due to the removal of an accident source. Moreover a simple public...... consistency problems with the standard power function expression of the LQI are pointed out. It is emphasized that the combination coefficient in the convex differential combination between the relative differential of the gross domestic product per capita and the relative differential of the expected life...

  11. Klein's double discontinuity revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Winsløw, Carl; Grønbæk, Niels

    2014-01-01

    Much effort and research has been invested into understanding and bridging the ‘gaps’ which many students experience in terms of contents and expectations as they begin university studies with a heavy component of mathematics, typically in the form of calculus courses. We have several studies...... of bridging measures, success rates and many other aspects of these “entrance transition” problems. In this paper, we consider the inverse transition, experienced by university students as they revisit core parts of high school mathematics (in particular, calculus) after completing the undergraduate...... mathematics courses which are mandatory to become a high school teacher of mathematics. To what extent does the “advanced” experience enable them to approach the high school calculus in a deeper and more autonomous way ? To what extent can “capstone” courses support such an approach ? How could it be hindered...

  12. Gridded multibeam bathymetry of Howland Island, Pacific Remote Island Areas, Central Pacific

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded bathymetry at 40m resolution surrounding Howland Island, within the Pacific Remote Island Areas - Central Pacific Ocean. Bottom coverage was achieved in...

  13. Experimental Evaluation of PV Inverter Anti-Islanding with Grid Support Functions in Multi-Inverter Island Scenarios

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoke, Anderson [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Nelson, Austin [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Miller, Brian [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Chakraborty, Sudipta [National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Bell, Frances [SolarCity, San Mateo, CA (United States); McCarty, Michael [SolarCity, San Mateo, CA (United States)

    2016-07-01

    As PV and other DER systems are connected to the grid at increased penetration levels, island detection may become more challenging for two reasons: 1.) In islands containing many DERs, active inverter-based anti-islanding methods may have more difficulty detecting islands because each individual inverter's efforts to detect the island may be interfered with by the other inverters in the island. 2.) The increasing numbers of DERs are leading to new requirements that DERs ride through grid disturbances and even actively try to regulate grid voltage and frequency back towards nominal operating conditions. These new grid support requirements may directly or indirectly interfere with anti-islanding controls. This report describes a series of tests designed to examine the impacts of both grid support functions and multi-inverter islands on anti-islanding effectiveness. Crucially, the multi-inverter anti-islanding tests described in this report examine scenarios with multiple inverters connected to multiple different points on the grid. While this so-called 'solar subdivision' scenario has been examined to some extent through simulation, this is the first known work to test it using hardware inverters. This was accomplished through the use of power hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) simulation, which allows the hardware inverters to be connected to a real-time transient simulation of an electric power system that can be easily reconfigured to test various distribution circuit scenarios. The anti-islanding test design was a modified version of the unintentional islanding test in IEEE Standard 1547.1, which creates a balanced, resonant island with the intent of creating a highly challenging condition for island detection. Three common, commercially available single-phase PV inverters from three different manufacturers were tested. The first part of this work examined each inverter individually using a series of pure hardware resistive-inductive-capacitive (RLC

  14. Gridded multibeam bathymetry of Baker Island, Pacific Remote Island Areas, Central Pacific

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Gridded bathymetry at 40m resolution surrounding Baker Island, within the Pacific Remote Island Areas - Central Pacific Ocean. Bottom coverage was achieved in depths...

  15. Advancing global marine biogeography research with open-source GIS software and cloud-computing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujioka, Ei; Vanden Berghe, Edward; Donnelly, Ben; Castillo, Julio; Cleary, Jesse; Holmes, Chris; McKnight, Sean; Halpin, patrick

    2012-01-01

    Across many scientific domains, the ability to aggregate disparate datasets enables more meaningful global analyses. Within marine biology, the Census of Marine Life served as the catalyst for such a global data aggregation effort. Under the Census framework, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System was established to coordinate an unprecedented aggregation of global marine biogeography data. The OBIS data system now contains 31.3 million observations, freely accessible through a geospatial portal. The challenges of storing, querying, disseminating, and mapping a global data collection of this complexity and magnitude are significant. In the face of declining performance and expanding feature requests, a redevelopment of the OBIS data system was undertaken. Following an Open Source philosophy, the OBIS technology stack was rebuilt using PostgreSQL, PostGIS, GeoServer and OpenLayers. This approach has markedly improved the performance and online user experience while maintaining a standards-compliant and interoperable framework. Due to the distributed nature of the project and increasing needs for storage, scalability and deployment flexibility, the entire hardware and software stack was built on a Cloud Computing environment. The flexibility of the platform, combined with the power of the application stack, enabled rapid re-development of the OBIS infrastructure, and ensured complete standards-compliance.

  16. Plant compartment and biogeography affect microbiome composition in cultivated and native Agave species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coleman-Derr, Devin; Desgarennes, Damaris; Fonseca-Garcia, Citlali; Gross, Stephen; Clingenpeel, Scott; Woyke, Tanja; North, Gretchen; Visel, Axel; Partida-Martinez, Laila P; Tringe, Susannah G

    2016-01-01

    Desert plants are hypothesized to survive the environmental stress inherent to these regions in part thanks to symbioses with microorganisms, and yet these microbial species, the communities they form, and the forces that influence them are poorly understood. Here we report the first comprehensive investigation of the microbial communities associated with species of Agave, which are native to semiarid and arid regions of Central and North America and are emerging as biofuel feedstocks. We examined prokaryotic and fungal communities in the rhizosphere, phyllosphere, leaf and root endosphere, as well as proximal and distal soil samples from cultivated and native agaves, through Illumina amplicon sequencing. Phylogenetic profiling revealed that the composition of prokaryotic communities was primarily determined by the plant compartment, whereas the composition of fungal communities was mainly influenced by the biogeography of the host species. Cultivated A. tequilana exhibited lower levels of prokaryotic diversity compared with native agaves, although no differences in microbial diversity were found in the endosphere. Agaves shared core prokaryotic and fungal taxa known to promote plant growth and confer tolerance to abiotic stress, which suggests common principles underpinning Agave-microbe interactions. No claim to US Government works. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

  17. Rereading Albert B. Lord's The Singer of Tales . Revisiting the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Access to a fresh set of video-recordings of Sesotho praise-poetry made in the year 2000 enabled the author to revisit his adaptation of Albert Lord's definition of the formula as a dynamic compositional device that the oral poet utilizes during delivery. The basic adaptation made in 1983 pertains to heroic praises (dithoko tsa ...

  18. Re-Visit to the School Nurse and Adolescents' Medicine Use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borup, Ina K.; Andersen, Anette; Holstein, Bjorn E.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: To examine if students who re-visit the school nurse use medicines differently than other students when exposed to aches and psychological problems. Methods: The study includes all 11-, 13- and 15-year-old students from a random sample of schools in Denmark, response rate 87 per cent, n = 5,205. The data collection followed the…

  19. Vegetation assessment of forests of Pagan Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pratt, Linda W.

    2011-01-01

    As part of the Marianas Expedition Wildlife Surveys-2010, the forest vegetation of the island of Pagan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), was sampled with a series of systematic plots along 13 transects established for monitoring forest bird populations. Shrubland and grassland were also sampled in the northern half of the island. Data collected were woody plant density, tree diameter at breast height, woody plant density in height classes below 2 m, and ground cover measured with the point-intercept method. Coconut forests (Cocos nucifera) were generally found to have low native tree diversity, little regeneration of trees and shrubs in the forest understory, and little live ground cover. The sole exception was a coconut-dominated forest of the northeast side of the island that exhibited high native tree diversity and a large number of young native trees in the understory. Ironwood (Casuarina equisetifolia) forests on the northern half of the island were nearly monocultures with almost no trees other than ironwood in vegetation plots, few woody plants in the understory, and low ground cover dominated by native ferns. Mixed native forests of both northern and southern sections of the island had a diversity of native tree species in both the canopy and the sparse understory. Ground cover of native forests in the north had a mix of native and alien species, but that of the southern half of the island was dominated by native ferns and woody plants.

  20. An analytic algorithm for global coverage of the revisiting orbit and its application to the CFOSAT satellite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Ming; Huang, Li

    2014-08-01

    This paper addresses a new analytic algorithm for global coverage of the revisiting orbit and its application to the mission revisiting the Earth within long periods of time, such as Chinese-French Oceanic Satellite (abbr., CFOSAT). In the first, it is presented that the traditional design methodology of the revisiting orbit for some imaging satellites only on the single (ascending or descending) pass, and the repeating orbit is employed to perform the global coverage within short periods of time. However, the selection of the repeating orbit is essentially to yield the suboptimum from the rare measure of rational numbers of passes per day, which will lose lots of available revisiting orbits. Thus, an innovative design scheme is proposed to check both rational and irrational passes per day to acquire the relationship between the coverage percentage and the altitude. To improve the traditional imaging only on the single pass, the proposed algorithm is mapping every pass into its ascending and descending nodes on the specified latitude circle, and then is accumulating the projected width on the circle by the field of view of the satellite. The ergodic geometry of coverage percentage produced from the algorithm is affecting the final scheme, such as the optimal one owning the largest percentage, and the balance one possessing the less gradient in its vicinity, and is guiding to heuristic design for the station-keeping control strategies. The application of CFOSAT validates the feasibility of the algorithm.

  1. Interaction of bootstrap-current-driven magnetic islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hegna, C.C.; Callen, J.D.

    1991-10-01

    The formation and interaction of fluctuating neoclassical pressure gradient driven magnetic islands is examined. The interaction of magnetic islands produces a stochastic region around the separatrices of the islands. This interaction causes the island pressure profile to be broadened, reducing the island bootstrap current and drive for the magnetic island. A model is presented that describes the magnetic topology as a bath of interacting magnetic islands with low to medium poloidal mode number (m congruent 3-30). The islands grow by the bootstrap current effect and damp due to the flattening of the pressure profile near the island separatrix caused by the interaction of the magnetic islands. The effect of this sporadic growth and decay of the islands (''magnetic bubbling'') is not normally addressed in theories of plasma transport due to magnetic fluctuations. The nature of the transport differs from statistical approaches to magnetic turbulence since the radial step size of the plasma transport is now given by the characteristic island width. This model suggests that tokamak experiments have relatively short-lived, coherent, long wavelength magnetic oscillations present in the steep pressure-gradient regions of the plasma. 42 refs

  2. Some data on the avifauna of the Island of Roti, Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Verheijen, J.A.J.

    1976-01-01

    INTRODUCTION For several years I had been looking for an opportunity to visit the island of Roti (Rotti, Roté, Loté). Junge (1954) mentions that only once an ornithological collection was made in the island, namely by Dr. H. F. C. ten Kate, an ethnologist who visited the island in 1891. Büttikofer

  3. Islanded operation of distribution networks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2005-07-01

    This report summarises the results of a study assessing the benefits and risks to distribution network of generator islanding and examining the technical, commercial and regulatory changes required to facilitate the operation of islanding. The background to the study is traced, and details are given of a literature review, the technical criteria for operating sections of the network in islanding mode, and the impact of islanding on trading. Case studies and a detailed implementation plan, data acquisition, and commercial incentives are discussed.

  4. Islanded operation of distribution networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    This report summarises the results of a study assessing the benefits and risks to distribution network of generator islanding and examining the technical, commercial and regulatory changes required to facilitate the operation of islanding. The background to the study is traced, and details are given of a literature review, the technical criteria for operating sections of the network in islanding mode, and the impact of islanding on trading. Case studies and a detailed implementation plan, data acquisition, and commercial incentives are discussed

  5. HYDROGEOLOGICAL RELATIONS ON KARSTIFIED ISLANDS - VIS ISLAND CASE STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josip Terzić

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available An approach to the hydrogeological investigations on Adriatic islands is presented on the Island of Vis case study. Infiltration, accumulation and discharge of the groundwater occur in karstified rock mass. Hydrogeological relations are mostly a consequence of the geological setting, because of the complete hydrogeologic barrier in Komiža bay, and relative barrier in the area of karst poljes. Significant research was performed in the 1999 – 2000 period aimed of better understanding of hydrogeological relations. These investigations, as well as reinterpretation of some previously known data, included structural geology, hydrogeology, hydrology and hydrochemistry. Approximate rock mass hydraulic conductivity calculation is also shown, as well as level of its usability in such terrain. Based on all these methods, it is possible to conclude that on the Island of Vis there is no saline water present underneath the entire island. There is only a saline water wedge which is formed on the top of relatively impermeable base rock, some few tens of meters under recent sea level. With such a model, and taking in account the hydrological balance, it is possible to conclude that there is possibility of higher amount of groundwater exploitation then it is today (the paper is published in Croatian.

  6. Strategic Environmental Assessment practices in European small islands: Insights from Azores and Orkney islands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Polido, Alexandra, E-mail: a.polido@campus.fct.unl.pt [CENSE, Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal); João, Elsa, E-mail: elsa.joao@strath.ac.uk [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Level 5, James Weir Building, 75 Montrose Street, Glasgow G1 1XJ, Scotland (United Kingdom); Ramos, Tomás B., E-mail: tabr@fct.unl.pt [CENSE, Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica (Portugal)

    2016-02-15

    The literature concerning Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) often refers to the importance of context-specific approaches. However, there is a lack of systematised and consistent studies that enhance tailor-made SEA practices and procedures. Small islands are bounded units of study which may help explore SEA theory and practice in special territories. Small islands present particular features and unique values, such as, small size and population, geographic isolation, limited resources and vulnerable ecosystems. Hence, the main goal of this research was to profile SEA practices and procedures in European small islands and provide a background for future research aiming to improve context-specific SEA applications. To achieve this goal, an exploratory case study was developed using Azores (Portugal) and Orkney (Scotland) archipelagos. An analysis of the corresponding mainland was also carried out to contextualise both case studies. The data collection was achieved through a qualitative content analysis of 43 Environmental Reports. The research found that there is not an SEA context-specific approach used within these European small islands, including guidelines, assessment topics, assessment techniques, follow-up and stakeholders engagement. The debate concerning specific approaches to small islands must be re-focused on the enhancement of SEA capacity-building amongst different stakeholders (including decision-makers), on the development and implementation of collaborative approaches, and on the exchange of knowledge and experiences between small islands networks. - Highlights: • Reviewed the differences between the Portuguese and Scottish SEA system • Showed a low integration of SEA specific features in reports of European small islands • Provides background for future SEA research for small islands approaches.

  7. Strategic Environmental Assessment practices in European small islands: Insights from Azores and Orkney islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polido, Alexandra; João, Elsa; Ramos, Tomás B.

    2016-01-01

    The literature concerning Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) often refers to the importance of context-specific approaches. However, there is a lack of systematised and consistent studies that enhance tailor-made SEA practices and procedures. Small islands are bounded units of study which may help explore SEA theory and practice in special territories. Small islands present particular features and unique values, such as, small size and population, geographic isolation, limited resources and vulnerable ecosystems. Hence, the main goal of this research was to profile SEA practices and procedures in European small islands and provide a background for future research aiming to improve context-specific SEA applications. To achieve this goal, an exploratory case study was developed using Azores (Portugal) and Orkney (Scotland) archipelagos. An analysis of the corresponding mainland was also carried out to contextualise both case studies. The data collection was achieved through a qualitative content analysis of 43 Environmental Reports. The research found that there is not an SEA context-specific approach used within these European small islands, including guidelines, assessment topics, assessment techniques, follow-up and stakeholders engagement. The debate concerning specific approaches to small islands must be re-focused on the enhancement of SEA capacity-building amongst different stakeholders (including decision-makers), on the development and implementation of collaborative approaches, and on the exchange of knowledge and experiences between small islands networks. - Highlights: • Reviewed the differences between the Portuguese and Scottish SEA system • Showed a low integration of SEA specific features in reports of European small islands • Provides background for future SEA research for small islands approaches

  8. Late Quaternary climate change shapes island biodiversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weigelt, Patrick; Steinbauer, Manuel Jonas; Cabral, Juliano Sarmento; Kreft, Holger

    2016-04-07

    Island biogeographical models consider islands either as geologically static with biodiversity resulting from ecologically neutral immigration-extinction dynamics, or as geologically dynamic with biodiversity resulting from immigration-speciation-extinction dynamics influenced by changes in island characteristics over millions of years. Present climate and spatial arrangement of islands, however, are rather exceptional compared to most of the Late Quaternary, which is characterized by recurrent cooler and drier glacial periods. These climatic oscillations over short geological timescales strongly affected sea levels and caused massive changes in island area, isolation and connectivity, orders of magnitude faster than the geological processes of island formation, subsidence and erosion considered in island theory. Consequences of these oscillations for present biodiversity remain unassessed. Here we analyse the effects of present and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) island area, isolation, elevation and climate on key components of angiosperm diversity on islands worldwide. We find that post-LGM changes in island characteristics, especially in area, have left a strong imprint on present diversity of endemic species. Specifically, the number and proportion of endemic species today is significantly higher on islands that were larger during the LGM. Native species richness, in turn, is mostly determined by present island characteristics. We conclude that an appreciation of Late Quaternary environmental change is essential to understand patterns of island endemism and its underlying evolutionary dynamics.

  9. The Peter Effect Revisited: Reading Habits and Attitudes of College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Applegate, Anthony J.; Applegate, Mary DeKonty; Mercantini, Martha A.; McGeehan, Catherine M.; Cobb, Jeanne B.; DeBoy, Joanne R.; Modla, Virginia B.; Lewinski, Kimberly E.

    2014-01-01

    Certainly a primary goal of literacy education is the creation of avid, enthusiastic, and highly motivated readers. However, in this article revisiting the Peter Effect (Applegate & Applegate, 2004), researchers surveyed more than 1,000 college sophomores and found strikingly low levels of enthusiasm for reading. Only 46.6% of surveyed…

  10. Virtually Impossible: Deleuze and Derrida on the Political Problem of Islands (and Island Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stewart Williams

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available It is commonplace to think of an island as a discreetly bounded unit. Selected writings on islands by the poststructuralist philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Derrida reveal the island variously to be both real and imaginary, mythological and scientific, but as most problematic when constituted in political terms as an indivisible, sovereign entity. These two thinkers’ more broadly developed concepts of the virtual and the impossible, respectively, are seen to disrupt any assumptions about the fixity and closure of the island polity. Instead they emphasize its actualization through processual relations that can be difficult yet dynamic and decisive in effecting the move from being to becoming-other. As the possibilities for instituting more ethical as well as different political relations open up, the question of island studies remaining in its currently coherent, familiar form is raised for consideration.

  11. Bamboo Diversity in Sumba Island

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    KARSONO

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Bamboo is one of the economic plant which grow widely in the villages and have been used by the local people in the villages. Indonesia has about 10% of the world bamboo, 50% among them was endemic to Indonesia. According Widjaja (2001 Lesser Sunda Island which consists of Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Timor, Sumba and other small island eastern of Flores has 14 bamboo species, however, the information from the Sumba Island was lacking because of lacking data from this area except one species which was proposed by S. Soenarko in 1977 where the type specimens was collected by Iboet 443 in 1925. To fullfill data from the Sumba Island, an exploration to this area has been conducted on July 2003. The observation was done in West Sumba and East Sumba District, especially in two natioal parks at both districts. According to this inventory study in the Sumba Island, there were 10 bamboo species in Sumba Island, 1 species among them (Dinochloa sp. was a new species which has not been collected before, whereas the other species (Dinochloa kostermansiana has a new addition record from this area. The bamboo species in Sumba Island were Bambusa blumeana, Bambusa vulgaris, Dendocalamus asper, Dinochloa kostermansiana, Dinochloa sp., Gigantochloa atter, Nastus reholtumianus, Phyllostachys aurea, Schisotachyum brachycladum and Schizostachyum lima. From 10 recorded species, the genera Dinochloa and Nastus grow wild in the forest, whereas another species grow widly or cultivated in the garden. Furthermore, the genus Dinochloa was the only genus grow climbing. The endemic species found in Sumba Island was Nastus reholttumianus, whereas Dinochloa kostermansiana was also found in Flores Island.

  12. Ambulatory thyroidectomy: A multistate study of revisits and complications

    OpenAIRE

    Orosco, RK; Lin, HW; Bhattacharyya, N

    2015-01-01

    © 2015 American Academy of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Foundation. Objective. Determine rates and reasons for revisits after ambulatory adult thyroidectomy. Study Design. Cross-sectional analysis of multistate ambulatory surgery and hospital databases. Setting. Ambulatory surgery data from the State Ambulatory Surgery Databases of California, Florida, Iowa, and New York for calendar years 2010 and 2011. Subjects and Methods. Ambulatory thyroidectomy cases were linked to state ambul...

  13. Taï chimpanzees anticipate revisiting high-valued fruit trees from further distances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ban, Simone D; Boesch, Christophe; Janmaat, Karline R L

    2014-11-01

    The use of spatio-temporal memory has been argued to increase food-finding efficiency in rainforest primates. However, the exact content of this memory is poorly known to date. This study investigated what specific information from previous feeding visits chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), in Taï National Park, Côte d'Ivoire, take into account when they revisit the same feeding trees. By following five adult females for many consecutive days, we tested from what distance the females directed their travels towards previously visited feeding trees and how previous feeding experiences and fruit tree properties influenced this distance. To exclude the influence of sensory cues, the females' approach distance was measured from their last significant change in travel direction until the moment they entered the tree's maximum detection field. We found that chimpanzees travelled longer distances to trees at which they had previously made food grunts and had rejected fewer fruits compared to other trees. In addition, the results suggest that the chimpanzees were able to anticipate the amount of fruit that they would find in the trees. Overall, our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that chimpanzees act upon a retrieved memory of their last feeding experiences long before they revisit feeding trees, which would indicate a daily use of long-term prospective memory. Further, the results are consistent with the possibility that positive emotional experiences help to trigger prospective memory retrieval in forest areas that are further away and have fewer cues associated with revisited feeding trees.

  14. Geographic distribution of ebony leaf monkey Trachypithecus auratus (E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812) (Mammalia: Primates: Cercopithecidae)

    OpenAIRE

    Nijman, Vincent

    2000-01-01

    As one of the fundamental units of ecology and biogeography, the geographic distribution of the endemic and threatened ebony leaf monkey Trachypithecus auratus (E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1812) on the islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok (Indonesia) has been assessed. All localities where the species has been collected are listed, and forty-two areas (each in itself consisting of numerous smaller sites) where the species has been recorded are discussed. The species occurs in a large variety of f...

  15. Biological invasions on oceanic islands: Implications for island ecosystems and avifauna

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dean E. Pearson

    2009-01-01

    Biological invasions present a global threat to biodiversity, but oceanic islands are the systems hardest hit by invasions. Islands are generally depauperate in species richness, trophic complexity, and functional diversity relative to comparable mainland ecosystems. This situation results in low biotic resistance to invasion and many empty niches for invaders to...

  16. Oak restoration trials: Santa Catalina Island

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lisa Stratton

    2002-01-01

    Two restoration trials involving four oak species have been implemented as part of a larger restoration program for Catalina Island. In 1997 the Catalina Island Conservancy began an active program of restoration after 50 years of ranching and farming activities on the island. The restoration program includes removing feral goats and pigs island-wide and converting 80...

  17. Island history affects faunal composition: the treeshrews (Mammalia: Scandentia: Tupaiidae) from the Mentawai and Batu Islands, Indonesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sargis, Eric J.; Woodman, Neal; Morningstar, Natalie C.; Reese, Aspen T.; Olson, Link E.

    2014-01-01

    The Mentawai and Batu Island groups off the west coast of Sumatra have a complicated geological and biogeographical history. The Batu Islands have shared a connection with the Sumatran ‘mainland’ during periods of lowered sea level, whereas the Mentawai Islands, despite being a similar distance from Sumatra, have remained isolated from Sumatra, and probably from the Batu Islands as well. These contrasting historical relationships to Sumatra have influenced the compositions of the respective mammalian faunas of these island groups. Treeshrews (Scandentia, Tupaiidae) from these islands have, at various times in their history, been recognized as geographically circumscribed populations of a broadly distributed Tupaia glis, subspecies, or distinct species. We used multivariate analyses of measurements from the skull and hands to compare the island populations from Siberut (Mentawai Islands) and Tanahbala (Batu Islands) with the geographically adjacent species from the southern Mentawai Islands (T. chrysogaster) and Sumatra (T. ferruginea). Results from both the skull and manus of the Siberut population show that it is most similar to T. chrysogaster, whereas the Tanahbala population is more similar to T. ferruginea, confirming predictions based on island history. These results are further corroborated by mammae counts. Based on these lines of evidence, we include the Siberut population in T. chrysogaster and the Tanahbala population in T. ferruginea. Our conclusions expand the known distributions of both the Mentawai and Sumatran species. The larger geographical range of the endangered T. chrysogaster has conservation implications for this Mentawai endemic, so populations and habitat should be re-evaluated on each of the islands it inhabits. However, until such a re-evaluation is conducted, we recommend that the IUCN Red List status of this species be changed from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Data Deficient’.

  18. High precision mass measurements in Ψ and Υ families revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Artamonov, A.S.; Baru, S.E.; Blinov, A.E.

    2000-01-01

    High precision mass measurements in Ψ and Υ families performed in 1980-1984 at the VEPP-4 collider with OLYA and MD-1 detectors are revisited. The corrections for the new value of the electron mass are presented. The effect of the updated radiative corrections has been calculated for the J/Ψ(1S) and Ψ(2S) mass measurements [ru

  19. Sable Island: A heritage to preserve

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Villeneuve, C.

    1997-09-01

    Sable Island is strategically located on the edge of the teeming fisheries of the Newfoundland Grand Banks and near one of the main sea routes between North America and Europe. It has been the bane of navigators from 1583 onward, with 250 ships running aground, the latest in 1947. Marine productivity around Sable Island is very high owing to the temperature differences between the currents and the adjacent underwater topography. Dolphins and whales abound in the area known as the `Gully`, and there are no fewer than 36 fish species present in the waters surrounding the Island. Approximately 35 per cent of the Island is covered by vegetation which is limited to species adapted to sandy soil containing little organic matter and few nutrients. Some plants, such as the American beachgrass, grow in dense colonies and help to stabilize the dunes. Bird diversity is limited to species adapted to open areas, ponds and the littoral. Some 324 species have been recorded on the Island, but only 25 are known to nest there. The Island is one of world`s most important breeding sites for grey seals where they can be observed in great numbers during mating, whelping and moulting season. Among the many introduced animals only the legendary horses of Sable Island remain to this day. Despite its remoteness and isolation, the Island faces many threats, one of the most worrysome being the erosion of the eastern extremity of the Island during severe winter storms. The Island benefits from its status as a Migratory Bird Sanctuary, and is legally protected under Sable Island Regulations of the Navigation Act.

  20. Islanded operation of distributed networks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2005-07-01

    This report summarises the findings of a study to investigate the regulatory, commercial and technical risks and benefits associated with the operation of distributed generation to power an islanded section of distributed network. A review of published literature was carried out, and UK generators were identified who could operate as part of an island network under the existing technical, regulatory, and safety framework. Agreement on case studies for consideration with distributed network operators (DNOs) is discussed as well as the quantification of the risks, benefits and costs of islanding, and the production of a case implementation plan for each case study. Technical issues associated with operating sections of network in islanded mode are described, and impacts of islanding on trading and settlement, and technical and commercial modelling are explored.

  1. Islanded operation of distributed networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2005-01-01

    This report summarises the findings of a study to investigate the regulatory, commercial and technical risks and benefits associated with the operation of distributed generation to power an islanded section of distributed network. A review of published literature was carried out, and UK generators were identified who could operate as part of an island network under the existing technical, regulatory, and safety framework. Agreement on case studies for consideration with distributed network operators (DNOs) is discussed as well as the quantification of the risks, benefits and costs of islanding, and the production of a case implementation plan for each case study. Technical issues associated with operating sections of network in islanded mode are described, and impacts of islanding on trading and settlement, and technical and commercial modelling are explored

  2. Coastal groundwater exchange on a small Pacific atoll island: Roi Namur, Republic of the Marshall Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oberle, Ferdinand K. J.; Swarzenski, Peter W.; Storlazzi, Curt

    2017-04-01

    Atoll islands, most of which only average 1-2 meters above today's sea level, provide a tremendous natural laboratory in which to study and better understand the intensifying impacts of high rates of sea-level rise on tropical reef-lined islands globally due to their unique geologic structure and limited water supply. Groundwater resources of atolls are typically minimal due to the low elevation and small surface area of the islands and are also subject to recurring droughts, and more frequent, storm-driven seawater overwash events. Although groundwater is the principal means of freshwater storage on atoll islands and is a major factor in determining the overall sustainability of island communities, hydrological data on how an aquifer will response to changes in sea-level rise or storm-driven overwash remain limited. We here present high-resolution time series hydrogeological and geochemical data to determine the role of the atoll's carbonate geology, land use, and atmospheric and oceanographic forcing in driving coastal groundwater exchange on the island of Roi Namur on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This information can provide new estimates on the recovery and resilience of coastal groundwater resources on such islands to expected climate change-driven perturbations.

  3. The coastline remote sensing survey for Zhao Shu Island in Xisha Islands based on WorldView-2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Li; Zhong, Chang; Kong, Fanping

    2014-11-01

    Due to diastrophism, tide action and human activities, the coastline is always in flux. There are lots of coral islands in the south sea of China. Remote sensing survey for the coastline not only can reassert the necessity and importance of coral protection, but also can provide basic data and scientific basis for island ecologic protection, reasonable utilization of land resources. The study area named Zhao Shu Island lies in Jintong Islands of Xisha. It is a coral island which has people inhabited. Using WorldView-2 satellite remote sensing images as data sources we carry out three phases of coastline investigation and monitoring. The satellite data phases are 2002, 2010 and 2013. Firstly, affirm the bands valuable for color composition on the basis of spectral and correlation analysis. Then extract the coastline by a series of image process, such as image correction, fusion, waterline extraction and coastline revision. Finally determine the coastline types and length by artificial interpretation. The results show that the island length is gradually smaller, which means the island area is reducing. The beach bedrock coast in northern island was eroded seriously especially during the period between 2010 and 2013. In addition, the shoal head shape in the western island changed a lot.

  4. Late Quaternary climate change shapes island biodiversity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Weigelt, Patrick; Steinbauer, Manuel; Cabral, Juliano

    2016-01-01

    Island biogeographical models consider islands either as geologically static with biodiversity resulting from ecologically neutral immigration–extinction dynamics1, or as geologically dynamic with biodiversity resulting from immigration–speciation–extinction dynamics influenced by changes in island...... sea levels3, 4 and caused massive changes in island area, isolation and connectivity5, orders of magnitude faster than the geological processes of island formation, subsidence and erosion considered in island theory2, 6. Consequences of these oscillations for present biodiversity remain unassessed5, 7...

  5. Pole-to-pole biogeography of surface and deep marine bacterial communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghiglione, Jean-François; Galand, Pierre E.; Pommier, Thomas; Pedrós-Alió, Carlos; Maas, Elizabeth W.; Bakker, Kevin; Bertilson, Stefan; Kirchman, David L.; Lovejoy, Connie; Yager, Patricia L.; Murray, Alison E.

    2012-01-01

    The Antarctic and Arctic regions offer a unique opportunity to test factors shaping biogeography of marine microbial communities because these regions are geographically far apart, yet share similar selection pressures. Here, we report a comprehensive comparison of bacterioplankton diversity between polar oceans, using standardized methods for pyrosequencing the V6 region of the small subunit ribosomal (SSU) rRNA gene. Bacterial communities from lower latitude oceans were included, providing a global perspective. A clear difference between Southern and Arctic Ocean surface communities was evident, with 78% of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) unique to the Southern Ocean and 70% unique to the Arctic Ocean. Although polar ocean bacterial communities were more similar to each other than to lower latitude pelagic communities, analyses of depths, seasons, and coastal vs. open waters, the Southern and Arctic Ocean bacterioplankton communities consistently clustered separately from each other. Coastal surface Southern and Arctic Ocean communities were more dissimilar from their respective open ocean communities. In contrast, deep ocean communities differed less between poles and lower latitude deep waters and displayed different diversity patterns compared with the surface. In addition, estimated diversity (Chao1) for surface and deep communities did not correlate significantly with latitude or temperature. Our results suggest differences in environmental conditions at the poles and different selection mechanisms controlling surface and deep ocean community structure and diversity. Surface bacterioplankton may be subjected to more short-term, variable conditions, whereas deep communities appear to be structured by longer water-mass residence time and connectivity through ocean circulation. PMID:23045668

  6. Autumn monitoring of resident avifauna on Guana Island, British Virgin Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    C.W. Boal; J.M. Wunderle Jr.; W.J. Arendt

    2013-01-01

    Although the Caribbean region is considered a biodiversity hotspot and a priority for ecological conservation efforts, little information exists on population trends of West Indian landbirds. We combined avian survey data collected from three studies spanning a 16-year period on a small island with a minimal human presence in the British Virgin Islands. Although...

  7. The pacific island health care project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Person, Donald Ames

    2014-01-01

    US Associated/Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI) include three freely associated states: Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and three Territories: American Samoa, Guam, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The Pacific Island Health Care Project (PIHCP) provides humanitarian medical referral/consultation/care to >500,000 indigenous people of these remote islands. In the mid-1990s, we developed a simple store-and-forward program to link the USAPI with Tripler Army Medical Center. This application allowed image attachment to email consultations. More than 8000 Pacific Islanders have benefited from the program. Three thousand Pacific Islanders prior to telemedicine (1990-1997) and since store-and-forward telemedicine (1997-present), the PIHCP has helped an additional 5000. Records post dynamically and are stored in an archival database. The PIHCP is the longest running telemedicine program in the world delivering humanitarian medical care. It has bridged the Developing World of the remote Pacific Islands with advanced medical and surgical care available at a major US military teaching hospital. (The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not that of the Army, Department of Defense, or the US Government.).

  8. The Pacific Island Health Care Project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donald Ames Person

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Introduction/BackgroundUS Associated/Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI include 3 Freely Associated States: Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and 3 Territories: American Samoa, Guam, and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. ObjectiveThe Pacific Island Health Care Project (PIHCP provides humanitarian medical referral/consultation/care to >500,000 indigenous people of these remote islands. Methods In the mid-1990s, we developed a simple store-and-forward program to link the USAPI with Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC. This application allowed image attachment to email consultations. ResultsMore than 8000 Pacific Islanders have benefited from the program. 3000 Pacific Islanders prior to telemedicine (1990-1997 and since store-and-forward telemedicine (1997-present, the PIHCP has helped an additional 5000. Records post dynamically and are stored in an archival database. Conclusion The PIHCP is the longest running telemedicine program in the world delivering humanitarian medical care. It has bridged the Developing World of the remote Pacific islands with advanced medical and surgical care available at a major US military teaching hospital.(The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not that of the Army, Department of Defense, or the US Government.

  9. Physically Based Modeling of Delta Island Consumptive Use: Fabian Tract and Staten Island, California

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucas J. Siegfried

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2014v12iss4art2Water use estimation is central to managing most water problems. To better understand water use in California’s Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, a collaborative, integrated approach was used to predict Delta island diversion, consumption, and return of water on a more detailed temporal and spatial resolution. Fabian Tract and Staten Island were selected for this pilot study based on available data and island accessibility. Historical diversion and return location data, water rights claims, LiDAR digital elevation model data, and Google Earth were used to predict island diversion and return locations, which were tested and improved through ground-truthing. Soil and land-use characteristics as well as weather data were incorporated with the Integrated Water Flow Model Demand Calculator to estimate water use and runoff returns from input agricultural lands. For modeling, the islands were divided into grid cells forming subregions, representing fields, levees, ditches, and roads. The subregions were joined hydrographically to form diversion and return watersheds related to return and diversion locations. Diversions and returns were limited by physical capacities. Differences between initial model and measured results point to the importance of seepage into deeply subsided islands. The capabilities of the models presented far exceeded current knowledge of agricultural practices within the Delta, demonstrating the need for more data collection to enable improvements upon current Delta Island Consumptive Use estimates.

  10. Commentary on "Distributed Revisiting: An Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hewitt, Jim

    2015-01-01

    The article, "Distributed Revisiting: An Analytic for Retention of Coherent Science Learning" is an interesting study that operates at the intersection of learning theory and learning analytics. The authors observe that the relationship between learning theory and research in the learning analytics field is constrained by several…

  11. Double digest revisited : Complexity and Approximability in the Presence of Noisy Data

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cieliebak, Mark; Eidenbenz, Stephan; Woeginger, Gerhard; Warnow, Tandy; Zhu, Binhai

    2003-01-01

    We revisit the Double Digest problem, which occurs in sequencing of large DNA strings and consists of reconstructing the relative positions of cut sites from two different enzymes: we first show that Double Digest is strongly NP-complete, improving upon previous results that only showed weak

  12. First-principles lattice-gas Hamiltonian revisited: O-Pd(100)

    OpenAIRE

    Kappus, Wolfgang

    2016-01-01

    The methodology of deriving an adatom lattice-gas Hamiltonian (LGH) from first principles (FP) calculations is revisited. Such LGH cluster expansions compute a large set of lateral pair-, trio-, quarto interactions by solving a set of linear equations modelling regular adatom configurations and their FP energies. The basic assumption of truncating interaction terms beyond fifth nearest neighbors does not hold when adatoms show longer range interactions, e.g. substrate mediated elastic interac...

  13. Population Size and Decadal Trends of Three Penguin Species Nesting at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunn, Michael J; Jackson, Jennifer A; Adlard, Stacey; Lynnes, Amanda S; Briggs, Dirk R; Fox, Derren; Waluda, Claire M

    2016-01-01

    We report long-term changes in population size of three species of sympatrically breeding pygoscelid penguins: Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae), chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii) over a 38 year period at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, based on annual counts from selected colonies and decadal all-island systematic counts of occupied nests. Comparing total numbers of breeding pairs over the whole island from 1978/79 to 2015/16 revealed varying fortunes: gentoo penguin pairs increased by 255%, (3.5% per annum), chinstrap penguins declined by 68% (-3.6% per annum) and Adélie penguins declined by 42% (-1.5% per annum). The chinstrap population has declined steadily over the last four decades. In contrast, Adélie and gentoo penguins have experienced phases of population increase and decline. Annual surveys of selected chinstrap and Adélie colonies produced similar trends from those revealed by island-wide surveys, allowing total island population trends to be inferred relatively well. However, while the annual colony counts of chinstrap and Adélie penguins showed a trend consistent in direction with the results from all-island surveys, the magnitude of estimated population change was markedly different between colony wide and all island counts. Annual population patterns suggest that pair numbers in the study areas partly reflect immigration and emigration of nesting birds between different parts of the island. Breeding success for all three species remained broadly stable over time in the annually monitored colonies. Breeding success rates in gentoo and chinstrap penguins were strongly correlated, despite the differing trends in population size. This study shows the importance of effective, standardised monitoring to accurately determine long-term population trajectories. Our results indicate significant declines in the Adélie and chinstrap penguin populations at Signy Island over the last five decades, and a gradual

  14. Advanced Change Theory Revisited: An Article Critique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Scott Pochron

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available The complexity of life in 21st century society requires new models for leading and managing change. With that in mind, this paper revisits the model for Advanced Change Theory (ACT as presented by Quinn, Spreitzer, and Brown in their article, “Changing Others Through Changing Ourselves: The Transformation of Human Systems” (2000. The authors present ACT as a potential model for facilitating change in complex organizations. This paper presents a critique of the article and summarizes opportunities for further exploring the model in the light of current trends in developmental and integral theory.

  15. Revisiting fifth forces in the Galileon model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Burrage, Clare [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany). Gruppe Theorie; Seery, David [Sussex Univ., Brighton (United Kingdom). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

    2010-05-15

    A Galileon field is one which obeys a spacetime generalization of the non- relativistic Galilean invariance. Such a field may possess non-canonical kinetic terms, but ghost-free theories with a well-defined Cauchy problem exist, constructed using a finite number of relevant operators. The interactions of this scalar with matter are hidden by the Vainshtein effect, causing the Galileon to become weakly coupled near heavy sources. We revisit estimates of the fifth force mediated by a Galileon field, and show that the parameters of the model are less constrained by experiment than previously supposed. (orig.)

  16. Large J expansion in ABJM theory revisited.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dimov, H; Mladenov, S; Rashkov, R C

    Recently there has been progress in the computation of the anomalous dimensions of gauge theory operators at strong coupling by making use of the AdS/CFT correspondence. On the string theory side they are given by dispersion relations in the semiclassical regime. We revisit the problem of a large-charge expansion of the dispersion relations for simple semiclassical strings in an [Formula: see text] background. We present the calculation of the corresponding anomalous dimensions of the gauge theory operators to an arbitrary order using three different methods. Although the results of the three methods look different, power series expansions show their consistency.

  17. The power reinforcement framework revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nielsen, Jeppe; Andersen, Kim Normann; Danziger, James N.

    2016-01-01

    Whereas digital technologies are often depicted as being capable of disrupting long-standing power structures and facilitating new governance mechanisms, the power reinforcement framework suggests that information and communications technologies tend to strengthen existing power arrangements within...... public organizations. This article revisits the 30-yearold power reinforcement framework by means of an empirical analysis on the use of mobile technology in a large-scale programme in Danish public sector home care. It explores whether and to what extent administrative management has controlled decision......-making and gained most benefits from mobile technology use, relative to the effects of the technology on the street-level workers who deliver services. Current mobile technology-in-use might be less likely to be power reinforcing because it is far more decentralized and individualized than the mainly expert...

  18. Myrteae phylogeny, calibration, biogeography and diversification patterns: Increased understanding in the most species rich tribe of Myrtaceae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasconcelos, Thais N C; Proença, Carol E B; Ahmad, Berhaman; Aguilar, Daniel S; Aguilar, Reinaldo; Amorim, Bruno S; Campbell, Keron; Costa, Itayguara R; De-Carvalho, Plauto S; Faria, Jair E Q; Giaretta, Augusto; Kooij, Pepijn W; Lima, Duane F; Mazine, Fiorella F; Peguero, Brigido; Prenner, Gerhard; Santos, Matheus F; Soewarto, Julia; Wingler, Astrid; Lucas, Eve J

    2017-04-01

    Myrteae (c. 2500 species; 51 genera) is the largest tribe of Myrtaceae and an ecologically important groups of angiosperms in the Neotropics. Systematic relationships in Myrteae are complex, hindering conservation initiatives and jeopardizing evolutionary modelling. A well-supported and robust phylogenetic hypothesis was here targeted towards a comprehensive understanding of the relationships within the tribe. The resultant topology was used as a base for key evolutionary analyses such as age estimation, historical biogeography and diversification rate patterns. One nuclear (ITS) and seven chloroplast (psbA-trnH, matK, ndhF, trnl-trnF, trnQ-rps16, rpl16 and rpl32-trnL) DNA regions for 115 taxa representing 46 out of the 51 genera in the tribe were accessed and analysed using maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference tools for phylogenetic reconstruction. Dates of diversification events were estimated and contrasted using two distinct fossil sets (macro and pollen) in BEAST. The subsequent dated phylogenies were compared and analysed for biogeographical patterns using BioGeoBEARS and diversification rates using BAMM. Myrteae phylogeny presents strong statistical support for three major clades within the tribe: Australasian group, Myrtus group and Main Neotropical Lineage. Dating results from calibration using macrofossil are an average of 20 million years older and show an early Paleocene origin of Myrteae, against a mid-Eocene one from the pollen fossil calibration. Biogeographic analysis shows the origin of Myrteae in Zealandia in both calibration approaches, followed by a widespread distribution throughout the still-linked Gondwana continents and diversification of Neotropical endemic lineages by later vicariance. Best configuration shift indicates three points of acceleration in diversification rates, all of them occurring in the Main Neotropical Lineage. Based on the reconstructed topology, several new taxonomic placements were recovered, including: the

  19. Pediatrics in the Marshall Islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dungy, C.I.; Morgan, B.C.; Adams, W.H.

    1984-01-01

    The delivery of health care to children living on isolated island communities presents unique challenges to health professionals. An evolved method of providing longitudinal services to infants and children residing on islands of the Marshall Island chain - a central Pacific portion of the Micronesian archipelago - is presented. The difficulties associated with provision of comprehensive health care in a vast ocean area are discussed

  20. Genetically depauperate in the continent but rich in oceanic islands: Cistus monspeliensis (Cistaceae in the Canary Islands.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mario Fernández-Mazuecos

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Population genetic theory holds that oceanic island populations are expected to have lower levels of genetic variation than their mainland counterparts, due to founder effect after island colonization from the continent. Cistus monspeliensis (Cistaceae is distributed in both the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean region. Numerous phylogenetic results obtained in the last years allow performing further phylogeographic analyses in Cistus. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analyzed sequences from multiple plastid DNA regions in 47 populations of Cistus monspeliensis from the Canary Islands (21 populations and the Mediterranean basin (26 populations. The time-calibrated phylogeny and phylogeographic analyses yielded the following results: (1 a single, ancestral haplotype is distributed across the Mediterranean, whereas 10 haplotypes in the Canary Islands; (2 four haplotype lineages are present in the Canarian Islands; (3 multiple colonization events across the archipelago are inferred; (4 the earliest split of intraspecific lineages occurred in the Early to Middle Pleistocene (<930,000 years BP. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The contrasting pattern of cpDNA variation is best explained by genetic bottlenecks in the Mediterranean during Quaternary glaciations, while the Canarian archipelago acted as a refugium of high levels of genetic diversity. Active colonization across the Canarian islands is supported not only by the distribution of C. monspeliensis in five of the seven islands, but also by our phylogeographic reconstruction in which unrelated haplotypes are present on the same island. Widespread distribution of thermophilous habitats on every island, as those found throughout the Mediterranean, has likely been responsible for the successful colonization of C. monspeliensis, despite the absence of a long-distance dispersal mechanism. This is the first example of a plant species with higher genetic variation among oceanic island

  1. Issues and Tensions in Island Heritage Management: A Case Study of Motuihe Island, New Zealand

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Bade

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper draws on a New Zealand case study, Motuihe Island, to examine the challenges of conserving cultural heritage in places renowned for natural heritage values. In keeping with the broader trend toward the ecological restoration of islands close to Auckland, Motuihe Island is undergoing conversion into an ecosystem of native flora and fauna. Issues and tensions relating to the management of natural and cultural heritage will be discussed and influencing aspects investigated: the nature/culture dualism, the effect of New Zealand’s history and identity, and the influence of islandness on heritage management.

  2. The Effect of Customer Value on Behavioral Intentions in Tourism Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wahyuningsih

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available Customer value is a recent line of research that is attracting the attention of the marketers. The objective of this study is to investigate tourists’ perceived value and its effect on future behavioral intentions of tourists to revisit. Data have been collected through questionnaires which were supported by in-depth interviews with tourists visiting Togean Islands, one of the most popular tourism destinations in Indonesia. The proposed research model of has been tested using Stuctural Equation Modeling. Results of this study that tourists who perceive higher levels of value will have stronger intentions to revisit the tourism destination and will recommend it to other people. Three main aspects which are needed to be improved to increase the number of tourists to visit Togean Islands are communications, transportations, and cleanliness. This study also provides managerial implications, conclusion, and future research directions.

  3. Revisit boundary conditions for the self-adjoint angular flux formulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Yaqi [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Gleicher, Frederick N. [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

    2015-03-01

    We revisit the boundary conditions for SAAF. We derived the equivalent parity variational form ready for coding up. The more rigorous approach of evaluating odd parity should be solving the odd parity equation coupled with the even parity. We proposed a symmetric reflecting boundary condition although neither positive definiteness nor even-odd decoupling is achieved. A simple numerical test verifies the validity of these boundary conditions.

  4. Place attachment and social legitimacy: Revisiting the sustainable entrepreneurship journey

    OpenAIRE

    Kibler, E; Fink, M; Lang, R; Munoz, PA

    2015-01-01

    This paper revisits the sustainable entrepreneurship journey by introducing a ‘place- based’ sustainable venture path model. We suggest that distinguishing between emo- tional (‘caring about the place’) and instrumental (‘using the place’) place attachment of sustainable entrepreneurs deepens our understanding of how place-based challenges of sustainable venture legitimacy are managed over time. We conclude with avenues for future sustainable entrepreneurship research.

  5. Status of the Island Night Lizard and Two Non-Native Lizards on Outlying Landing Field San Nicolas Island, California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fellers, Gary M.; Drost, Charles A.; Murphey, Thomas G.

    2008-01-01

    More than 900 individually marked island night lizards (Xantusia riversiana) were captured on San Nicolas Island, California, between 1984 and 2007 as part of an ongoing study to monitor the status of this threatened species. Our data suggest that at least a few lizards are probably more than 20 years old, and one lizard would be 31.5 years old if it grew at an average rate for the population. Ages of 20 and 30 years seem reasonable given the remarkably slow growth during capture intervals of more than a decade for five of the lizards which we estimated to be 20 or more years old. Like other lizards, island night lizard growth rates vary by size, with larger lizards growing more slowly. In general, growth rates were somewhat greater on San Nicolas Island (compared with Santa Barbara Island), and this increase was sustained through all of the intermediate size classes. The higher growth rate may account for the somewhat larger lizards present on San Nicolas Island, although we cannot discount the possibility that night lizards on San Nicolas are merely living longer. The high percentage of small lizards in the Eucalyptus habitat might seem to reflect a healthy population in that habitat, but the high proportion of small lizards appears to be caused by good reproduction in the 1900s and substantially poorer reproduction in subsequent years. The Eucalyptus habitat has dried quite a bit in recent years. Night lizards in the Haplopappus/Grassland habitat have shown an increase in the proportion of larger lizards since 2000. There has also been an increase in the proportion of large lizards in the Rock Cobble habitat at Redeye Beach. However, there are has been some change in habitat with more elephant seals occupying the same area just above the high tide as do the night lizards. Southern alligator lizards and side-blotched lizards are both non-native on San Nicolas Island. Neither lizard causes obvious harm to island night lizards, and management time and effort should

  6. Diversity and biogeography of frogs in the genus Amnirana (Anura: Ranidae) across sub-Saharan Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jongsma, Gregory F M; Barej, Michael F; Barratt, Christopher D; Burger, Marius; Conradie, Werner; Ernst, Raffael; Greenbaum, Eli; Hirschfeld, Mareike; Leaché, Adam D; Penner, Johannes; Portik, Daniel M; Zassi-Boulou, Ange-Ghislain; Rödel, Mark-Oliver; Blackburn, David C

    2018-03-01

    Frogs in the genus Amnirana (family Ranidae) are widely distributed across sub-Saharan Africa and present a model system for exploring the relationship between diversification and geography across the continent. Using multiple loci from the mitochondrial (16S) and nuclear genomes (DISP2, FICD, KIAA2013, REV3L), we generated a strongly supported species-level phylogeny that provides insights into the continental biogeography of African species of Amnirana, which form a monophyletic group within the genus. Species delimitation analyses suggest that there may be as many as seven additional species of Amnirana in Africa. The biogeographic history of Amnirana is marked by several dispersal and vicariance events, including dispersal from the Lower Guinean Forest into the Congo Basin. In addition, phylogeographic patterns within two widespread species, A. albolabris and A. galamensis, reveal undescribed cryptic diversity. Populations assigned to A. albolabris in western Africa are more closely related to A. fonensis and require recognition as a distinct species. Our analyses reveal that the Lower and Upper Guinean Forest regions served as important centers of interspecific and intraspecific diversifications for Amnirana. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Teacher Communication Concerns Revisited: Calling into Question the Gnawing Pull towards Equilibrium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dannels, Deanna P.

    2015-01-01

    This study revisits the long-standing teacher communication concerns framework originating over three decades ago. Analysis of 10 years of contemporary GTA teacher communication concerns reveals a typology of 10 concerns, which taken together construct teaching as a process of negotiating relationships, managing identities, and focusing attention.…

  8. Revisiting Learning in Higher Education--Framing Notions Redefined through an Ecological Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Damsa, Crina; Jornet, Alfredo

    2016-01-01

    This article employs an ecological perspective as a means of revisiting the notion of learning, with a particular focus on learning in higher education. Learning is reconceptualised as a process entailing mutually constitutive, epistemic, social and affective relations in which knowledge, identity and agency become collective achievements of whole…

  9. Vulnerability assessment of small islands to tourism: The case of the Marine Tourism Park of the Gili Matra Islands, Indonesia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fery Kurniawan

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The Indonesian government is currently directing its focus of development on the optimum uses of marine and coastal ecosystem services including the marine and coastal tourism. One of the main locus of coastal and marine tourism is the small islands tourism such as Gili Matra Islands among others. Small islands tourism is one of the favourite touristic activities because the destination provides beauty, exotism, aesthetic and a diversity of natural habitats including the warm, clear and attractive water. Tourism is being considered as a development instrument in order to boost a country’s economy and has become part of the global industry. However, tourism is also one of the actors that is responsible for environmental depletion, due to the constructions of buildings and tourism activities. This paper aims to study the level of vulnerability in small islands to tourism as a basis of integrated small islands management in Indonesian conservation area. The group of islands in this study consists of three islands namely Gili Ayer Island, Gili Meno Island and Gili Trawangan Island (known as Gili Matra Islands that were observed using Small Islands Vulnerability Index (SIVI. The results indicate that Gili Matra Islands have a vulnerability status from low into moderate, ranging from 2.25 to 2.75. Gili Ayer Island has the highest vulnerability with SIVI of 2.75 (Moderate, followed by Gili Meno Island with SIVI of 2.50 (Low and Gili Trawangan Island with SIVI of 2.25 (Low. The driving factor of vulnerability is the intensive utilization of marine tourism activities. Tourism is the sole stress to Gili Matra Island’s ecosystem due to its direct damaging impact and reducing its environmental quality. The vulnerability index which was built from the coastline, coral reef, live coral reef, and development area was applicable to assess the small island’s vulnerability in Indonesia, especially for coral island.

  10. Dendrochronology of Strain-Relaxed Islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Merdzhanova, T.; Kiravittaya, S.; Rastelli, A.; Stoffel, M.; Denker, U.; Schmidt, O.G.

    2006-01-01

    We report on the observation and study of tree-ring structures below dislocated SiGe islands (superdomes) grown on Si(001) substrates. Analogous to the study of tree rings (dendrochronology), these footprints enable us to gain unambiguous information on the growth and evolution of superdomes and their neighboring islands. The temperature dependence of the critical volume for dislocation introduction is measured and related to the composition of the islands. We show clearly that island coalescence is the dominant pathway towards dislocation nucleation at low temperatures, while at higher temperatures anomalous coarsening is effective and leads to the formation of a depletion region around superdomes

  11. Dendrochronology of strain-relaxed islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merdzhanova, T; Kiravittaya, S; Rastelli, A; Stoffel, M; Denker, U; Schmidt, O G

    2006-06-09

    We report on the observation and study of tree-ring structures below dislocated SiGe islands (superdomes) grown on Si(001) substrates. Analogous to the study of tree rings (dendrochronology), these footprints enable us to gain unambiguous information on the growth and evolution of superdomes and their neighboring islands. The temperature dependence of the critical volume for dislocation introduction is measured and related to the composition of the islands. We show clearly that island coalescence is the dominant pathway towards dislocation nucleation at low temperatures, while at higher temperatures anomalous coarsening is effective and leads to the formation of a depletion region around superdomes.

  12. Lorentz violation naturalness revisited

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Belenchia, Alessio; Gambassi, Andrea; Liberati, Stefano [SISSA - International School for Advanced Studies, via Bonomea 265, 34136 Trieste (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Trieste, via Valerio 2, 34127 Trieste (Italy)

    2016-06-08

    We revisit here the naturalness problem of Lorentz invariance violations on a simple toy model of a scalar field coupled to a fermion field via a Yukawa interaction. We first review some well-known results concerning the low-energy percolation of Lorentz violation from high energies, presenting some details of the analysis not explicitly discussed in the literature and discussing some previously unnoticed subtleties. We then show how a separation between the scale of validity of the effective field theory and that one of Lorentz invariance violations can hinder this low-energy percolation. While such protection mechanism was previously considered in the literature, we provide here a simple illustration of how it works and of its general features. Finally, we consider a case in which dissipation is present, showing that the dissipative behaviour does not percolate generically to lower mass dimension operators albeit dispersion does. Moreover, we show that a scale separation can protect from unsuppressed low-energy percolation also in this case.

  13. Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of Acer I-Study History of the Infrageneric Classification(1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shing-Fan Huang

    2002-09-01

    Full Text Available Historical biogeography is a study of taxa in time and space including their origin, migration and diversification. This kind of study requires fossil data and an understanding of phylogenetic relationships. These requirements make Acer a good model to study because Acer 1 has a relatively complete fossil record, 2 contains many species, 3 is a major northern temperate floristic element, and 4 is well known. Because fossils are only confidently assigned to section or species group, section as a unit is suitable for tracing evolutionary history of Acer. However, the circumscription of section of Acer is different to each classification through the long history of studies. This work reviews and summarizes the studying history of Acer. Delendick in 1981concluded that the system of Ogata in 1967 and that of Jong in 1976 were superior to others except that most Jong’s series should be raised to section. This work, therefore, follows Delendick’s delineation of section except Distyla and Parviflora, which are combined as Parviflora, to elucidate the development of the circumscription of section based on the system of Pax in 1885 and 1886, Pojarkova in 1933, Momotani in 1962, Fang in 1966, Ogata in 1967, Murray in 1970, Jong in 1976, Delendick in 1990 and Xu in 1996.

  14. The Limacidae of the Canary Islands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Regteren Altena, van C.O.

    1950-01-01

    CONTENTS Introduction............... 3 Systematic survey of the Limacidae of the central and western Canary Islands 5 Biogeographical notes on the Limacidae of the Canary Islands . . . . 21 Alphabetical list of the persons who collected or observed Limacidae in the Canary Islands.............. 31

  15. Genomic island excisions in Bordetella petrii

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Levillain Erwan

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Among the members of the genus Bordetella B. petrii is unique, since it is the only species isolated from the environment, while the pathogenic Bordetellae are obligately associated with host organisms. Another feature distinguishing B. petrii from the other sequenced Bordetellae is the presence of a large number of mobile genetic elements including several large genomic regions with typical characteristics of genomic islands collectively known as integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs. These elements mainly encode accessory metabolic factors enabling this bacterium to grow on a large repertoire of aromatic compounds. Results During in vitro culture of Bordetella petrii colony variants appear frequently. We show that this variability can be attributed to the presence of a large number of metastable mobile genetic elements on its chromosome. In fact, the genome sequence of B. petrii revealed the presence of at least seven large genomic islands mostly encoding accessory metabolic functions involved in the degradation of aromatic compounds and detoxification of heavy metals. Four of these islands (termed GI1 to GI3 and GI6 are highly related to ICEclc of Pseudomonas knackmussii sp. strain B13. Here we present first data about the molecular characterization of these islands. We defined the exact borders of each island and we show that during standard culture of the bacteria these islands get excised from the chromosome. For all but one of these islands (GI5 we could detect circular intermediates. For the clc-like elements GI1 to GI3 of B. petrii we provide evidence that tandem insertion of these islands which all encode highly related integrases and attachment sites may also lead to incorporation of genomic DNA which originally was not part of the island and to the formation of huge composite islands. By integration of a tetracycline resistance cassette into GI3 we found this island to be rather unstable and to be lost from

  16. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of Commiphora (Burseraceae) yields insight on the evolution and historical biogeography of an "impossible" genus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weeks, Andrea; Simpson, Beryl B

    2007-01-01

    Expansion of the arid zone of sub-Saharan tropical Africa during the Miocene is posited as a significant contributing factor in the evolution of contemporary African flora. Nevertheless, few molecular phylogenetic studies have tested this hypothesis using reconstructed historical biogeographies of plants within this zone. Here, we present a molecular phylogeny of Commiphora, a predominantly tropical African, arid-adapted tree genus, in order to test the monophyly of its taxonomic sections and identify clades that will help direct future study of this species-rich and geographically widespread taxon. We then use multiple fossil calibrations of Commiphora phylogeny to determine the timing of well-supported diversification events within the genus and interpret these age estimates to determine the relative contribution of vicariance and dispersal in the expansion of Commiphora's geographic range. We find that Commiphora is sister to Vietnamese Bursera tonkinensis and that its crown group radiation corresponds with the onset of the Miocene.

  17. CRED Gridded Bathymetry of Necker Island (100-021) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — File 100-021b is a 60-m ASCII grid of depth data collected near Necker Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as of May 2003. This grid has been produced as...

  18. Biogeography of photosynthetic light-harvesting genes in marine phytoplankton.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thomas S Bibby

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Photosynthetic light-harvesting proteins are the mechanism by which energy enters the marine ecosystem. The dominant prokaryotic photoautotrophs are the cyanobacterial genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus that are defined by two distinct light-harvesting systems, chlorophyll-bound protein complexes or phycobilin-bound protein complexes, respectively. Here, we use the Global Ocean Sampling (GOS Project as a unique and powerful tool to analyze the environmental diversity of photosynthetic light-harvesting genes in relation to available metadata including geographical location and physical and chemical environmental parameters. METHODS: All light-harvesting gene fragments and their metadata were obtained from the GOS database, aligned using ClustalX and classified phylogenetically. Each sequence has a name indicative of its geographic location; subsequent biogeographical analysis was performed by correlating light-harvesting gene budgets for each GOS station with surface chlorophyll concentration. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Using the GOS data, we have mapped the biogeography of light-harvesting genes in marine cyanobacteria on ocean-basin scales and show that an environmental gradient exists in which chlorophyll concentration is correlated to diversity of light-harvesting systems. Three functionally distinct types of light-harvesting genes are defined: (1 the phycobilisome (PBS genes of Synechococcus; (2 the pcb genes of Prochlorococcus; and (3 the iron-stress-induced (isiA genes present in some marine Synechococcus. At low chlorophyll concentrations, where nutrients are limited, the Pcb-type light-harvesting system shows greater genetic diversity; whereas at high chlorophyll concentrations, where nutrients are abundant, the PBS-type light-harvesting system shows higher genetic diversity. We interpret this as an environmental selection of specific photosynthetic strategy. Importantly, the unique light-harvesting system isiA is found

  19. Quark matter revisited with non-extensive MIT bag model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cardoso, Pedro H.G.; Nunes da Silva, Tiago; Menezes, Debora P. [Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Departamento de Fisica, CFM, Florianopolis (Brazil); Deppman, Airton [Instituto de Fisica da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

    2017-10-15

    In this work we revisit the MIT bag model to describe quark matter within both the usual Fermi-Dirac and the Tsallis statistics. We verify the effects of the non-additivity of the latter by analysing two different pictures: the first order phase transition of the QCD phase diagram and stellar matter properties. While the QCD phase diagram is visually affected by the Tsallis statistics, the resulting effects on quark star macroscopic properties are barely noticed. (orig.)

  20. The geology of the Falkland Islands

    OpenAIRE

    Aldiss, D.T.; Edwards, E.J.

    1999-01-01

    This report is complementary to the 1:250 000 scale geological map of the Falkland Islands compiled in 1998. The report and map are products of the Falkland Islands Geological Mapping Project (1996-1998). Geological observation and research in the Islands date from 1764. The Islands were visited during two pioneering scientific cruises in the 19th century. Subsequently, many scientists visited en route to the Antarctic or Patagonia. Geological affinities to other parts of the sout...

  1. The Solomon Islands tsunami of 6 February 2013 field survey in the Santa Cruz Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fritz, H. M.; Papantoniou, A.; Biukoto, L.; Albert, G.

    2013-12-01

    On February 6, 2013 at 01:12:27 UTC (local time: UTC+11), a magnitude Mw 8.0 earthquake occurred 70 km to the west of Ndendo Island (Santa Cruz Island) in the Solomon Islands. The under-thrusting earthquake near a 90° bend, where the Australian plate subducts beneath the Pacific plate generated a locally focused tsunami in the Coral Sea and the South Pacific Ocean. The tsunami claimed the lives of 10 people and injured 15, destroyed 588 houses and partially damaged 478 houses, affecting 4,509 people in 1,066 households corresponding to an estimated 37% of the population of Santa Cruz Island. A multi-disciplinary international tsunami survey team (ITST) was deployed within days of the event to document flow depths, runup heights, inundation distances, sediment and coral boulder depositions, land level changes, damage patterns at various scales, performance of the man-made infrastructure and impact on the natural environment. The 19 to 23 February 2013 ITST covered 30 locations on 4 Islands: Ndendo (Santa Cruz), Tomotu Noi (Lord Howe), Nea Tomotu (Trevanion, Malo) and Tinakula. The reconnaissance completely circling Ndendo and Tinakula logged 240 km by small boat and additionally covered 20 km of Ndendo's hard hit western coastline by vehicle. The collected survey data includes more than 80 tsunami runup and flow depth measurements. The tsunami impact peaked at Manoputi on Ndendo's densely populated west coast with maximum tsunami height exceeding 11 m and local flow depths above ground exceeding 7 m. A fast tide-like positive amplitude of 1 m was recorded at Lata wharf inside Graciosa Bay on Ndendo Island and misleadingly reported in the media as representative tsunami height. The stark contrast between the field observations on exposed coastlines and the Lata tide gauge recording highlights the importance of rapid tsunami reconnaissance surveys. Inundation distance and damage more than 500 m inland were recorded at Lata airport on Ndendo Island. Landslides were

  2. My First CMC Article Revisited: A Window on Spanish L2 Interlanguage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blake, Robert

    2016-01-01

    The computer-assisted language learning (CALL) field seems to change overnight with new technological affordances. Blake revisits his 2000 "LLT" article on computer-mediation communication (CMC) in order to reflect on how the field has examined this topic over the past decade or so. While the Interaction Hypothesis continues to guide…

  3. Risk prediction of emergency department revisit 30 days post discharge: a prospective study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiying Hao

    Full Text Available Among patients who are discharged from the Emergency Department (ED, about 3% return within 30 days. Revisits can be related to the nature of the disease, medical errors, and/or inadequate diagnoses and treatment during their initial ED visit. Identification of high-risk patient population can help device new strategies for improved ED care with reduced ED utilization.A decision tree based model with discriminant Electronic Medical Record (EMR features was developed and validated, estimating patient ED 30 day revisit risk. A retrospective cohort of 293,461 ED encounters from HealthInfoNet (HIN, Maine's Health Information Exchange (HIE, between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012, was assembled with the associated patients' demographic information and one-year clinical histories before the discharge date as the inputs. To validate, a prospective cohort of 193,886 encounters between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013 was constructed. The c-statistics for the retrospective and prospective predictions were 0.710 and 0.704 respectively. Clinical resource utilization, including ED use, was analyzed as a function of the ED risk score. Cluster analysis of high-risk patients identified discrete sub-populations with distinctive demographic, clinical and resource utilization patterns.Our ED 30-day revisit model was prospectively validated on the Maine State HIN secure statewide data system. Future integration of our ED predictive analytics into the ED care work flow may lead to increased opportunities for targeted care intervention to reduce ED resource burden and overall healthcare expense, and improve outcomes.

  4. Forces in the development of remote islands in Japan : A case study of local energy enterprises in Tsushima Island

    OpenAIRE

    Matsumura, Yuko; Miyoshi, Emako

    2018-01-01

    Japan, one of the most famous islander nations in the world, has promoted the development of its remote islands for over 60 years after the Second World War. The target islands and projects for fostering development have been steadily expanded. However, the country is facing serious socio-economic challenges such as aging and recession, resulting in less available funding for preferential treatment to remote islands. Thus, the framework for boosting island development should be reconsidered, ...

  5. Population Size and Decadal Trends of Three Penguin Species Nesting at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael J Dunn

    Full Text Available We report long-term changes in population size of three species of sympatrically breeding pygoscelid penguins: Adélie (Pygoscelis adeliae, chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii over a 38 year period at Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, based on annual counts from selected colonies and decadal all-island systematic counts of occupied nests. Comparing total numbers of breeding pairs over the whole island from 1978/79 to 2015/16 revealed varying fortunes: gentoo penguin pairs increased by 255%, (3.5% per annum, chinstrap penguins declined by 68% (-3.6% per annum and Adélie penguins declined by 42% (-1.5% per annum. The chinstrap population has declined steadily over the last four decades. In contrast, Adélie and gentoo penguins have experienced phases of population increase and decline. Annual surveys of selected chinstrap and Adélie colonies produced similar trends from those revealed by island-wide surveys, allowing total island population trends to be inferred relatively well. However, while the annual colony counts of chinstrap and Adélie penguins showed a trend consistent in direction with the results from all-island surveys, the magnitude of estimated population change was markedly different between colony wide and all island counts. Annual population patterns suggest that pair numbers in the study areas partly reflect immigration and emigration of nesting birds between different parts of the island. Breeding success for all three species remained broadly stable over time in the annually monitored colonies. Breeding success rates in gentoo and chinstrap penguins were strongly correlated, despite the differing trends in population size. This study shows the importance of effective, standardised monitoring to accurately determine long-term population trajectories. Our results indicate significant declines in the Adélie and chinstrap penguin populations at Signy Island over the last five decades, and a

  6. CpG island mapping by epigenome prediction.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Bock

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available CpG islands were originally identified by epigenetic and functional properties, namely, absence of DNA methylation and frequent promoter association. However, this concept was quickly replaced by simple DNA sequence criteria, which allowed for genome-wide annotation of CpG islands in the absence of large-scale epigenetic datasets. Although widely used, the current CpG island criteria incur significant disadvantages: (1 reliance on arbitrary threshold parameters that bear little biological justification, (2 failure to account for widespread heterogeneity among CpG islands, and (3 apparent lack of specificity when applied to the human genome. This study is driven by the idea that a quantitative score of "CpG island strength" that incorporates epigenetic and functional aspects can help resolve these issues. We construct an epigenome prediction pipeline that links the DNA sequence of CpG islands to their epigenetic states, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and chromatin accessibility. By training support vector machines on epigenetic data for CpG islands on human Chromosomes 21 and 22, we identify informative DNA attributes that correlate with open versus compact chromatin structures. These DNA attributes are used to predict the epigenetic states of all CpG islands genome-wide. Combining predictions for multiple epigenetic features, we estimate the inherent CpG island strength for each CpG island in the human genome, i.e., its inherent tendency to exhibit an open and transcriptionally competent chromatin structure. We extensively validate our results on independent datasets, showing that the CpG island strength predictions are applicable and informative across different tissues and cell types, and we derive improved maps of predicted "bona fide" CpG islands. The mapping of CpG islands by epigenome prediction is conceptually superior to identifying CpG islands by widely used sequence criteria since it links CpG island detection to

  7. CpG island mapping by epigenome prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bock, Christoph; Walter, Jörn; Paulsen, Martina; Lengauer, Thomas

    2007-06-01

    CpG islands were originally identified by epigenetic and functional properties, namely, absence of DNA methylation and frequent promoter association. However, this concept was quickly replaced by simple DNA sequence criteria, which allowed for genome-wide annotation of CpG islands in the absence of large-scale epigenetic datasets. Although widely used, the current CpG island criteria incur significant disadvantages: (1) reliance on arbitrary threshold parameters that bear little biological justification, (2) failure to account for widespread heterogeneity among CpG islands, and (3) apparent lack of specificity when applied to the human genome. This study is driven by the idea that a quantitative score of "CpG island strength" that incorporates epigenetic and functional aspects can help resolve these issues. We construct an epigenome prediction pipeline that links the DNA sequence of CpG islands to their epigenetic states, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and chromatin accessibility. By training support vector machines on epigenetic data for CpG islands on human Chromosomes 21 and 22, we identify informative DNA attributes that correlate with open versus compact chromatin structures. These DNA attributes are used to predict the epigenetic states of all CpG islands genome-wide. Combining predictions for multiple epigenetic features, we estimate the inherent CpG island strength for each CpG island in the human genome, i.e., its inherent tendency to exhibit an open and transcriptionally competent chromatin structure. We extensively validate our results on independent datasets, showing that the CpG island strength predictions are applicable and informative across different tissues and cell types, and we derive improved maps of predicted "bona fide" CpG islands. The mapping of CpG islands by epigenome prediction is conceptually superior to identifying CpG islands by widely used sequence criteria since it links CpG island detection to their characteristic

  8. CRED Gridded Bathymetry of Nihoa Island (100-025) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — File 100-025b is a 60-m ASCII grid of depth data collected near Nihoa Island in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as of May 2003. This grid has been produced as part...

  9. Nearshore coastal bathymetry data collected in 2016 from West Ship Island to Horn Island, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeWitt, Nancy T.; Stalk, Chelsea A.; Fredericks, Jake J.; Flocks, James G.; Kelso, Kyle W.; Farmer, Andrew S.; Tuten, Thomas M.; Buster, Noreen A.

    2018-04-13

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, conducted bathymetric surveys of the nearshore waters surrounding Ship and Horn Islands, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi. The objective of this study was to establish base-level elevation conditions around West Ship, East Ship, and Horn Islands and their associated active littoral system prior to restoration activities. These activities include the closure of Camille Cut and the placement of sediment in the littoral zone of East Ship Island. These surveys can be compared with future surveys to monitor sediment migration patterns post-restoration and can also be measured against historic bathymetric datasets to further our understanding of island evolution.The USGS collected 667 line-kilometers (km) of single-beam bathymetry data and 844 line-km of interferometric swath bathymetry data in July 2016 under Field Activity Number 2016-347-FA. Data are provided in three datums: (1) the International Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2000 (ellipsoid height); (2) the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83) CORS96 realization and the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 with respect to the GEOID12B model (orthometric height); and (3) NAD83 (CORS96) and Mean Lower Low Water (tidal datum). Data products, including x,y,zpoint datasets, trackline shapefiles, digital and handwritten Field Activity Collection Systems logs, 50-meter digital elevation model, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata, are available for download.

  10. The Best and the Rest: Revisiting the Norm of Normality of Individual Performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Boyle, Ernest, Jr.; Aguinis, Herman

    2012-01-01

    We revisit a long-held assumption in human resource management, organizational behavior, and industrial and organizational psychology that individual performance follows a Gaussian (normal) distribution. We conducted 5 studies involving 198 samples including 633,263 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and amateur and professional athletes.…

  11. Checklist of marine fishes of the Zunan Islands, located between the Izu and Ogasawara (Bonin) islands, Japan, with zoogeographical comments

    OpenAIRE

    Kuriiwa, Kaoru; Arihara, Hisashi; Chiba, Satoru; Kato, Shoichi; Senou, Hiroshi; Matsuura, Keiichi

    2014-01-01

    The Zunan Islands are located 360–650 km south of Tokyo, and consist of four uninhabited volcanoes: the Bayonnaise Rocks, the Smith Rocks, Torishima Island and the Sofugan Rock. Although all of the elements of the Zunan Islands are tiny islets and rocks, they form a series of stepping stones for shallow water fishes between the Izu Islands in the north and the Ogasawara (Bonin) Islands in the south. We report here the first comprehensive survey of marine fishes in the Zunan Islands. A total o...

  12. Tools for sustainability assessment in island socio-ecological systems: an application to the Canary Islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isabel Banos-González

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available An integral dynamic model, in combination with other methods (indicators, policy and scenario analysis, is presented as a tool for sustainability assessment in island socio-ecological systems (SES. The Fuerteventura sustainability model (FSM, tested for the 1996-2011, allows a better understanding of the dynamic interactions between sustainability indicators and other factors of this island. The FSM was first applied to analyse the vulnerability of this island to climate change for the 2012-2025 period; results point to the need for urgent measures to mitigate its effects on some of the analysed indicators. A set of policy measures was then assessed from the behaviour of nine indicators and their sustainability thresholds. Finally, the FSM facilitated the development of a dynamic model of the island of El Hierro, extrapolating the features common to both SES. We propose this to be a useful tool for the quantitative sustainability assessment and the management of real island socio-ecological systems

  13. The Levy sections theorem revisited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Figueiredo, Annibal; Gleria, Iram; Matsushita, Raul; Silva, Sergio Da

    2007-01-01

    This paper revisits the Levy sections theorem. We extend the scope of the theorem to time series and apply it to historical daily returns of selected dollar exchange rates. The elevated kurtosis usually observed in such series is then explained by their volatility patterns. And the duration of exchange rate pegs explains the extra elevated kurtosis in the exchange rates of emerging markets. In the end, our extension of the theorem provides an approach that is simpler than the more common explicit modelling of fat tails and dependence. Our main purpose is to build up a technique based on the sections that allows one to artificially remove the fat tails and dependence present in a data set. By analysing data through the lenses of the Levy sections theorem one can find common patterns in otherwise very different data sets

  14. The Levy sections theorem revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueiredo, Annibal; Gleria, Iram; Matsushita, Raul; Da Silva, Sergio

    2007-06-01

    This paper revisits the Levy sections theorem. We extend the scope of the theorem to time series and apply it to historical daily returns of selected dollar exchange rates. The elevated kurtosis usually observed in such series is then explained by their volatility patterns. And the duration of exchange rate pegs explains the extra elevated kurtosis in the exchange rates of emerging markets. In the end, our extension of the theorem provides an approach that is simpler than the more common explicit modelling of fat tails and dependence. Our main purpose is to build up a technique based on the sections that allows one to artificially remove the fat tails and dependence present in a data set. By analysing data through the lenses of the Levy sections theorem one can find common patterns in otherwise very different data sets.

  15. "Rapid Revisit" Measurements of Sea Surface Winds Using CYGNSS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, J.; Johnson, J. T.

    2017-12-01

    The Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) is a space-borne GNSS-R (GNSS-Reflectometry) mission that launched December 15, 2016 for ocean surface wind speed measurements. CYGNSS includes 8 small satellites in the same LEO orbit, so that the mission provides wind speed products having unprecedented coverage both in time and space to study multi-temporal behaviors of oceanic winds. The nature of CYGNSS coverage results in some locations on Earth experiencing multiple wind speed measurements within a short period of time (a "clump" of observations in time resulting in a "rapid revisit" series of measurements). Such observations could seemingly provide indications of regions experiencing rapid changes in wind speeds, and therefore be of scientific utility. Temporally "clumped" properties of CYGNSS measurements are investigated using early CYGNSS L1/L2 measurements, and the results show that clump durations and spacing vary with latitude. For example, the duration of a clump can extend as long as a few hours at higher latitudes, with gaps between clumps ranging from 6 to as high as 12 hours depending on latitude. Examples are provided to indicate the potential of changes within a clump to produce a "rapid revisit" product for detecting convective activity. Also, we investigate detector design for identifying convective activities. Results from analyses using recent CYGNSS L2 winds will be provided in the presentation.

  16. The Idea of the Archipelago: Contemplating Island Relations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elaine Stratford

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Creative, innovative, and timely research on islands and island futures is warranted and pressing, not least because island(ers are poorly served by established tropes of them as subordinate to continents or mainlands. Opportunities exist to provide a more thoroughgoing account of island life and island relations, and the seven papers in this special issue address that task. In works that consider islands in the Timor Sea, the Caribbean, the Pacific, Atlantic and Southern Oceans, and that span several different disciplinary frames—archival-historical, critical theoretical, literary, cultural, geopolitical, sociological and artistic—these papers evidence both the diversity of approach to thinking with the archipelago, and numerous points in common. Among the latter is an understanding that island relations are built on connection, assemblage, mobility, and multiplicity, and a commitment to critically examine the ways in which these entanglements affect and give effect to island life. The models of island relationality brought to light by this collective focus on the archipelago reveal new and diverse connections of island peoples with their physical and cultural environments, and with the world beyond; create spaces for growing resilience, association and engagement; and invite further study.

  17. Biological and physical geospatial data from St. Croix East End Marine Park, U.S. Virgin Islands from 6 Feb 2001 to 18 May 2012 (NODC Accession 0118500)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Biogeography Branch (CCMA-BB) worked with partners to assess...

  18. Re-visiting RHIC snakes: OPERA fields, n0 dance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meot, F. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Gupta, R. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Huang, H. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Ranjbar, V. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Robert-Demolaize, G. [Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

    2017-09-22

    In this Tech. Note RHIC snakes and stable spin direction $\\vector{n}$0(s) are re-visited, based on OPERA-computed field maps of the former. The numerical simulations so undertaken provide various outcomes regarding RHIC optics and spin dynamics, in relation with orbital and focusing effects resulting from the use of this realistic 3-D representation of the snakes.

  19. seal Arctocephaius tropicaiis at Gough Island

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Population increase in the Amsterdam Island fur seal Arctocephaius tropicaiis at Gough Island. M.N. Bester. Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria. Population size of Arctocephalus tropicalis on Gough Island was determined by direct censuses of parts of the coast duro ing the summers of 1974 - 1976 ...

  20. Simple method for calculating island widths

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cary, J.R.; Hanson, J.D.; Carreras, B.A.; Lynch, V.E.

    1989-01-01

    A simple method for calculating magnetic island widths has been developed. This method uses only information obtained from integrating along the closed field line at the island center. Thus, this method is computationally less intensive than the usual method of producing surfaces of section of sufficient detail to locate and resolve the island separatrix. This method has been implemented numerically and used to analyze the buss work islands of ATF. In this case the method proves to be accurate to at least within 30%. 7 refs

  1. Recommendations for a barrier island breach management plan for Fire Island National Seashore, including the Otis Pike High Dune Wilderness Area, Long Island, New York

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, S. Jeffress; Foley, Mary K.

    2007-01-01

    The U.S Army Corps of Engineers, New York District is developing engineering plans, including economic costs and benefits, for storm damage reduction along an 83 mile stretch of the coastal barrier islands and beaches on the south shore of Long Island, NY from Fire Island Inlet east to the Montauk Point headland. The plan, expected to include various alternatives for storm protection and erosion mitigation, is referred to as the Fire Island to Montauk Point Reformulation Plan (FIMP). These plans are expected to follow the Corps of Engineers’ Environmental Operating Principles striving for long term environmental sustainability and balance between environmental protection and protection of human health and property. Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), a 19,579 acre unit of the National Park System includes a 32 mile long coastal barrier island located within the FIMP project area. A seven-mile section of the park, Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness Area, is also a designated Federal Wilderness Area. The FIIS includes not only the barrier island and sand dunes, but also several islands, sand flats and wetlands landward of the barrier, submerged parts of Great South Bay shoreface, extending approximately 4,000 feet into the bay with the inner shelf region extending approximately 1,000 feet seaward of the Fire Island shoreline. The Fire Island barrier islands, a sand-starved system dominated by highly dynamic processes, are struggling to maintain their integrity in the face of sea-level rise and storms. Adding to the dilemma is that development on the barriers and the mainland has increased greatly during the past 50 years. As such, managers and decision makers in federal agencies, state agencies and local governments are challenged to balance tradeoffs between protection of lives and property, public access and long term conservation of natural habitats and processes and the plants and animals that depend on these habitats. National Park Service (NPS

  2. A review of the influence of biogeography, riverine linkages, and marine connectivity on fish assemblages in evolving lagoons and lakes of coastal southern Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitfield, Alan K; Weerts, Steven P; Weyl, Olaf L F

    2017-09-01

    The Holocene evolution of eight South African coastal lakes and lagoons is examined and related to changes in fish composition over that period. Historical and current connectivity with riverine and marine environments are the primary determinants of present-day fish assemblages in these systems. A small and remarkably consistent group of relict estuarine species have persisted in these coastal lakes and lagoons. The loss or reduction of connectivity with the sea has impacted on the diversity of marine fishes in all eight study systems, with no marine fishes occurring in those water bodies where connectivity has been completely broken (e.g. Sibaya, Groenvlei). In systems that have retained tenuous linkages with the sea (e.g., Verlorenvlei, Wilderness lakes), elements of the marine fish assemblage have persisted, especially the presence of facultative catadromous species. Freshwater fish diversity in coastal lakes and lagoons is a function of historical and present biogeography and salinity. From a freshwater biogeography perspective, the inflowing rivers of the four temperate systems reviewed here contain three or fewer native freshwater fishes, while the subtropical lakes that are fed by river systems contain up to 40 freshwater fish species. Thus, the significantly higher fish species diversity in subtropical versus temperate coastal lakes and lagoons comes as no surprise. Fish species diversity has been increased further in some systems (e.g., Groenvlei) by alien fish introductions. However, the impacts of fish introductions and translocations have not been studied in the coastal lakes and lagoons of South Africa. In these closed systems, it is probable that predation impacts on small estuarine fishes are significant. The recent alien fish introductions is an example of the growing threats to these systems during the Anthropocene, a period when human activities have had significant negative impacts and show potential to match the changes recorded during the

  3. Mosquito Surveys Carried out On Green Island, Orchid Island, and Penghu Island, Taiwan, in 2003

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hwa-Jen Teng

    2005-02-01

    Full Text Available Field surveys of mosquitoes were carried out on Green, Orchid, and Penghu Islands in 2003 to ascertain the status of mosquito vectors. Eighteen species of mosquitoes were collected, including three species of Anopheles, four species of Aedes, eight species of Culex, two species of Armigeres, and one species of Malaya. Seventeen previously recorded species were not collected in this study but 11 species collected had not previously been recorded. Ten newly recorded species, An. maculatus, An. takasagoensis, Ae. alcasidi, Ae. lineatopennis, Ae. vexans vexans, Ar. omissus, Cx. vishnui, Cx. halifaxii, Cx. hayashii, and Cx. neomimulus, were collected on Green Island and one previously unrecorded species, Ar. subalbatus, was collected on Orchid Island. Potential vectors An. maculatus and An. sinensis, malaria vectors in Korea and Mainland China, Ae. albopictus, a vector of dengue in Taiwan and West Nile virus in the USA, Cx. vishnui and Cx. tritaeniorhynchus, Japanese encephalitis vectors in Taiwan, Ae. vexans vexans, an eastern equine encephalitis vector in the USA, and Cx. quinquefasciatus, a vector of filariasis in Taiwan and West Nile virus in the USA, were among the mosquito species collected.

  4. Intersectional gene flow between insular endemics of Ilex (Aquifoliaceae) on the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setoguchi, H; Watanabe, I

    2000-06-01

    Hybridization and introgression play important roles in plant evolution, and their occurrence on the oceanic islands provides good examples of plant speciation and diversification. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) and trnL (UAA) 3'exon-trnF (GAA) intergenic spacer (IGS) sequences of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), and the sequences of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of nuclear ribosomal DNA were examined to investigate the occurrence of gene transfer in Ilex species on the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands in Japan. A gene phylogeny for the plastid genome is in agreement with the morphologically based taxonomy, whereas the nuclear genome phylogeny clusters putatively unrelated endemics both on the Bonin and the Ryukyu Islands. Intersectional hybridization and nuclear gene flow were independently observed in insular endemics of Ilex on both sets of islands without evidence of plastid introgression. Gene flow observed in these island systems can be explained by ecological features of insular endemics, i.e., limits of distribution range or sympatric distribution in a small land area.

  5. Seed islands driven by turbulence and NTM dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muraglia, M.; Agullo, O.; Poye, A.; Benkadda, S.; Horton, W.; Dubuit, N.; Garbet, X.; Sen, A.

    2014-10-01

    Magnetic reconnection is an issue for tokamak plasmas. Growing magnetic islands expel energetic particles from the plasma core leading to high energy fluxes in the SOL and may cause damage to the plasma facing components. The islands grow from seeds from the bootstrap current effects that oppose the negative delta-prime producing nonlinear island growth. Experimentally, the onset of NTM is quantified in terms of the beta parameter and the sawtooth period. Indeed, in experiments, (3;2) NTM magnetic islands are often triggered by sawtooth precursors. However (2;1) magnetic islands can appear without noticeable MHD event and the seed islands origin for the NTM growth is still an open question. Macroscale MHD instabilities (magnetic islands) coexist with micro-scale turbulent fluctuations and zonal flows which impact island dynamics. Nonlinear simulations show that the nonlinear beating of the fastest growing small-scale ballooning interchange modes on a low order rational surface drive a magnetic islands located on the same surface. The island size is found to be controlled by the turbulence level and modifies the NTM threshold and dynamics.

  6. Introduced mammals on Western Indian Ocean islands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James C. Russell

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The diversity of introduced mammals and their introduction history varies greatly across the Western Indian Ocean (WIO islands, from ancient introductions in the past millennia on islands off the East coast of Africa where extant terrestrial native mammal communities exist, to very recent invasions in the past decades on islands in the Mascarene archipelago. We compile the distribution of 16 introduced mammal taxa on 28 island groups comprising almost 2000 islands. Through an exhaustive literature review and expert consultation process we recorded all mammal eradications, and species recoveries which could be attributed to introduced mammal eradication or control. All island groups have been invaded by mammals, and invasive cats and rats in particular are ubiquitous, but cultural contingency has also led to regional invasions by other mammals such as lemurs, civets and tenrecs. Mammal eradications have been attempted on 45 islands in the WIO, the majority in the Seychelles and Mauritius, and where successful have resulted in spectacular recovery of species and ecosystems. Invasive mammalian predator eradication or control in association with habitat management has led to improved conservation prospects for at least 24 species, and IUCN red-list down-listing of eight species, in the Mascarene Islands. Future island conservation prioritisation in the region will need to take account of global climate change and predicted sea-level rises and coastal inundation. Greater investment and prioritisation in island conservation in the region is warranted, given its high biodiversity values and the extent of invasions.

  7. Serotype-specific mortality from invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease revisited

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Martens, Pernille; Worm, Signe Westring; Lundgren, Bettina

    2004-01-01

    Serotype-specific mortality from invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease revisited.Martens P, Worm SW, Lundgren B, Konradsen HB, Benfield T. Department of Infectious Diseases 144, Hvidovre University Hospital, DK-2650 Hvidovre, Denmark. pernillemartens@yahoo.com BACKGROUND: Invasive infection...... with Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococci) causes significant morbidity and mortality. Case series and experimental data have shown that the capsular serotype is involved in the pathogenesis and a determinant of disease outcome. METHODS: Retrospective review of 464 cases of invasive disease among adults diagnosed...

  8. Vancouver Island gas supply

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Des Brisay, C.

    2005-01-01

    Terasen Gas is pursuing alternatives for the supply of additional natural gas capacity to Vancouver Island. Its subsidiary, Terasen Gas (Vancouver Island) Inc. (TGVI), is responding to the need for delivery of increased gas supply and, is supporting plans for new gas-fired power generation on Vancouver Island. TGVI's proposal for new natural gas capacity involves a combination of compression and pipeline loops as well as the addition of a storage facility for liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Mt. Hayes to help manage price volatility. This presentation outlined the objectives and components of the resource planning process, including demand forecast scenarios and the preferred infrastructure options. tabs., figs

  9. Wind energy potential on Malaysian Resort Islands: a case study of Tioman, Redang and Perhentian Island

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kamaruzzaman Sopian

    2000-01-01

    Wind data collected at three east coast islands of Peninsular Malaysia namely Tioman, Redang and Perhentian Island were analyzed for the wind energy potential. The results were presented as Weibull distribution and preliminary analysis indicate that the site at Redang Island have the greatest potential with a mean power density of 85.1 w/m 2 at 10 meters above sea level. (Author)

  10. Modeling the Response of Human Altered Natural Barrier Island Dynamics Along Assateague Island National Seashore to Climate Change

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carroll, A.; McNamara, D.; Schupp, C.

    2009-12-01

    Assateague Island National Seashore comprises a long barrier island located off the coasts of Maryland and Virginia. Geological evidence suggests that over recent centuries Assateague Island has steadily transgressed up the continental shelf in response to rising sea level. More recently, the natural barrier island dynamics governing Assateague’s evolution have been altered by human activity in three ways: the construction of a jetty and the subsequent interruption of alongshore sediment transport on the north end of Assateague and both the ongoing and abandoned maintenance of a continuous dune system along portions of Assateague with the concomitant modification to overwash dynamics. It is unclear how these varied human alterations to the natural barrier island dynamics will influence the response of Assateague to climate change induced shifts in forcing such as increased rates of sea level rise and changing storm patterns. We use LIDAR detected morphological data of Assateague Island as initial conditions in an alongshore extended model for barrier island dynamics including beach erosion, island overwash and inlet cutting during storms, and beach accretion, tidal delta growth and dune and vegetation growth between storms to explore the response of the various human altered segments of Assateague Island to forcing changes. Traditional models exploring barrier island evolution contain only cross-shore dynamics therefore lacking important alongshore-spatial dynamics in aeolian and surf zone sediment transport. Results show that including alongshore dynamics alter the steady state of Assateague relative to simulations that only include cross-shore dynamics. Results will also be presented exploring the potential for regime shifts in steady state behavior under various scenarios for the rate of sea level rise and storm climate and varying management strategies.

  11. Terrestrial radiation measurements in Marshall Islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gudiksen, P.H.

    1978-01-01

    With the prospect of habitation in the near future, radiological surveys were undertaken of Enewetak and Bikini Atolls to provide a basis for determining whether or not the atolls can be safely reinhabited. The surveys included all of the forty islands within Enewetak Atoll, but only the two principal islands, Bikini and Eneu Islands, of Bikini Atoll. These atolls were former U.S. nuclear weapons test sites in the Pacific. Integral parts of the surveys were the measurements of the distributions of radioactivity in the soil and the resulting gamma ray exposure rates for external dose estimation. Numerous soil samples were collected from both atolls for analysis by Ge (Li) gamma spectrometry and by wet chemistry techniques. At Enewetak Atoll the gamma exposure rates were measured by TLDs and a helicopter-borne array of Nal detectors, while at Bikini Atoll portable Nal detectors, pressurized ion-chambers, and TLDs were utilized. The predominant species measured in the soil samples collected from both atolls were 90 Sr, 239,240 Pu, 137 Cs and 60 Co with the latter two nuclides being the primary contributors to the gamma-ray exposure rates. The geographical distribution of the exposure rates measured on both atolls, was highly variable ranging from less than 1 μR/h on islands that had not been impacted radiologically by the testing program, to over 100 μR/h near weapon detonation sites. Thus, within Enewetak Atoll, the highest soil activities and gamma-ray exposure rates were measured on the northern islands, where the weapons testing had been most intense. Bikini Island exhibited contamination levels that were considerably higher than those on Eneu Island. Generally, the highest activity levels were observed within the island interiors or in proximity to ground zero sites, and could usually be related to the surrounding vegetation density. The island of Yvonne, within Enewetak Atoll, is the most severely contaminated land area. Particles containing as much as several

  12. Globally threatened vertebrates on islands with invasive species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spatz, Dena R; Zilliacus, Kelly M; Holmes, Nick D; Butchart, Stuart H M; Genovesi, Piero; Ceballos, Gerardo; Tershy, Bernie R; Croll, Donald A

    2017-10-01

    Global biodiversity loss is disproportionately rapid on islands, where invasive species are a major driver of extinctions. To inform conservation planning aimed at preventing extinctions, we identify the distribution and biogeographic patterns of highly threatened terrestrial vertebrates (classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature) and invasive vertebrates on ~465,000 islands worldwide by conducting a comprehensive literature review and interviews with more than 500 experts. We found that 1189 highly threatened vertebrate species (319 amphibians, 282 reptiles, 296 birds, and 292 mammals) breed on 1288 islands. These taxa represent only 5% of Earth's terrestrial vertebrates and 41% of all highly threatened terrestrial vertebrates, which occur in vertebrates was available for 1030 islands (80% of islands with highly threatened vertebrates). Invasive vertebrates were absent from 24% of these islands, where biosecurity to prevent invasions is a critical management tool. On the 76% of islands where invasive vertebrates were present, management could benefit 39% of Earth's highly threatened vertebrates. Invasive mammals occurred in 97% of these islands, with Rattus sp. as the most common invasive vertebrate (78%; 609 islands). Our results provide an important baseline for identifying islands for invasive species eradication and other island conservation actions that reduce biodiversity loss.

  13. North Aegean island landscapes as ecomuseums: the case of Lesvos Island

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evangelos Pavlis

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available The main advantage of the Aegean islands, in generating national, regional, or international competitiveness, compared to the areas on the continental mainland, is their natural and cultural assets, their cultural landscapes. Consequently, the organized utilization of cultural heritage, rich biodiversity, and the unique Aegean landscape, could make the islands attractive as places to live or work and help them fulfill their sustainability goals. Ecomuseums are ‘in situ’ museums, aimed at local communities and managed by them, aiming at the interpretation, protection, utilization, and promotion of natural and cultural assets of a place, and at the economic revival of marginal regions through the combinational development of small-scale tourism, local manufacturing, and primary production sectors. They could function as laboratories of sustainable development. The island of Lesvos has been selected as a case study for such a potential ecomuseum.

  14. Frog size on continental islands of the coast of Rio de Janeiro and the generality of the Island Rule.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raoni Rebouças

    Full Text Available Island Rule postulated that individuals on islands tend to dwarfism when individuals from mainland populations are large and to gigantism when mainland populations present small individuals. There has been much discussion about this rule, but only few studies were carried out aiming to reveal this pattern for anurans. Our study focused on measuring the size of individuals on islands and to find a possible pattern of size modification for insular anurans. Individuals were collected on continental islands, measured and compared to mainland populations. We selected four species with different natural history aspects during these analyses. Island parameters were compared to size of individuals in order to find an explanation to size modification. Three of the four species presented size shifting on islands. Ololygon trapicheiroi and Adenomera marmorata showed dwarfism, Boana albomarginata showed gigantism and in Thoropa miliaris there was no evident size modification. Allometric analysis also revealed differential modification, which might be a result of different selective pressures on islands in respect of mainland populations. Regression model explained most of the size modification in B. albomarginata, but not for the other species. Our results indicate that previous assumptions, usually proposed for mammals from older islands, do not fit to the anurans studied here. We support the assumption that size modification on islands are population-specific. Hence, in B. albomarginata some factor associated to competition, living area and isolation time might likely be responsible for gigantism on islands.

  15. Spatial and temporal controls of atoll island inundation: implications for urbanized atolls in the Marshall Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ford, M.; Becker, J. M.; Merrifield, M. A.

    2012-12-01

    Atoll islands are highly vulnerable to a range of inundation hazards. The impacts of such hazards are expected to be magnified as a result of continued sea-level rise. Both recent and historic inundation events provide unique insights into the requisite conditions necessary to initiate island inundation. A number of recent and historic inundation events are presented in order to examine the oceanographic and meteorological conditions driving inundation of a densely populated, urbanized atoll in the central Pacific. Analysis of inundation events suggests that a number of key drivers contribute to the spatial and temporal extent of island inundation, with unique degrees of predictability and resultant impact signatures apparent on island geomorphology and local anthropogenic activities. Results indicate three distinct drivers of inundation hazards exist. Firstly, tropical storms and typhoons elevate sea level through inverse barometric setup, wind setup and a range of wave driven processes and have caused considerable impact on atolls within the Marshall Islands. Secondly, super-elevated sea level conditions resulting from the combination of seasonal high tides and quasi-cyclical La Nina conditions drive inundation of low-lying lagoon facing coastal areas. Thirdly, long period swell conditions, typically generated by distant storms, can elevate reef-flat water levels through wave setup and infragravity wave oscillations. Such wave conditions can over wash the ocean-facing island ridge, often inundating large sections of the island. Reef-flat wave conditions are tidally modulated, with inundation events typically occurring around high tide. However, the two most recent destructive swell-driven inundation events have occurred while tide levels were significantly lower than spring tide levels, suggesting high water levels are not a necessary prerequisite for wave-driven inundation. The different modes of inundation are discussed and grounded within recent and historic

  16. Chronic Liver Disease and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Cancer Asian/Pacific Islander Women Non-Hispanic White Women Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio All Sites ... Cancer Asian/Pacific Islander Women Non-Hispanic White Women Asian/Pacific Islander/ Non-Hispanic White Ratio Liver & IBD* ...

  17. Solid waste management on small islands. The case of Green Island, Taiwan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, M.C.; Ruijs, A.; Wesseler, J. [Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW Wageningen (Netherlands)

    2005-09-01

    Municipalities of small islands have limited capacities for waste disposal. In the case of Green Island, Taiwan, continuing with business as usual would only allow the disposal of waste on the island for another 8 years. Three alternatives for solid waste management (SWM) are compared. The cost-effective solution is the one, which is the most expensive in the short run: continuing business as usual and introducing an incineration plant in the year 2010. The results indicate furthermore that deviations from optimal timing of investment only slightly change average annual costs. In the long run, the municipality can hardly avoid transporting waste to the mainland. By investing in an incineration plant, they can buy additional time to investigate alternative SWM strategies.

  18. CRED Gridded Bathymetry near Lisianski Island and Pioneer Bank (100-002), Northwestern Hawaiian Islands

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — File 100-002b is a 60-m ASCII grid of depth data collected near Lisianski Island and Pioneer Bank in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as of May 2003. This grid has...

  19. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Revisiting the Medical Data

    OpenAIRE

    Rohrich, Rod J.; Nagarkar, Purushottam; Stokes, Mike; Weinstein, Aaron; Mantik, David W.; Jensen, J. Arthur

    2014-01-01

    Thank you for publishing "The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Revisiting the Medical Data."1 The central conclusion of this study is that the assassination remains controversial and that some of the controversy must be attributable to the "reporting and handling of the medical evidence." With the greatest respect for you and Dr. Robert McClelland, let me argue that your text and on-line interviews perpetuate the central misunderstanding of the assassination and there...

  20. Dispute Resolution and Technology: Revisiting the Justification of Conflict Management

    OpenAIRE

    Koulu, Riikka

    2016-01-01

    This study, Dispute Resolution and Technology: Revisiting the Justification of Conflict Management, belongs to the fields of procedural law, legal theory and law and technology studies. In this study the changes in dispute resolution caused by technology are evaluated. The overarching research question of this study is how does implementing technology to dispute resolution challenge the justification of law as a legitimised mode of violence? Before answering such an abstract research question...

  1. Deja vu: The Unified Command Plan of the Future Revisited

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-05-19

    Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited Déjà vu : The Unified Command Plan of the Future Revisited A Monograph by Lieutenant...DD-MM-YYYY) 19-05-2011 2. REPORT TYPE Monograph 3. DATES COVERED (From - To) JUL 2010 – MAY 2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Déjà vu : The Unified...i SCHOOL OF ADVANCED MILITARY STUDIES MONOGRAPH APPROVAL Lieutenant Colonel Edward Francis Martignetti Title of Monograph: Déjà vu : The Unified

  2. A new species of iguana Brachylophus Cuvier 1829 (Sauria: Iguania: Iguanidae) from Gau Island, Fiji Islands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Robert N; Niukula, Jone; Watling, Dick; Harlow, Peter S

    2017-06-06

    The south Pacific iguanas (Brachylophus) currently have three recognized living species in Fiji.  Recent surveys have uncovered more specific variation (morphological and genetic) within the genus and have better defined the geographic ranges of the named species.  One of these recent discoveries is a strikingly different iguana from all other island populations in Fiji which is restricted to Gau Island of the Lomaiviti Province.  Gau is the fifth largest island in Fiji and maintains excellent upland forests in the higher elevations.  We describe this population from Gau Island as a new species, Brachylophus gau sp. nov., in recognition of its type locality.

  3. A new species of iguana Brachylophus Cuvier 1829 (Sauria: Iguania: Iguanidae) from Gau Island, Fiji Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fisher, Robert N.; Niukula, Jone; Watling, Dick; Harlow, Peter S.

    2017-01-01

    The south Pacific iguanas (Brachylophus) currently have three recognized living species in Fiji.  Recent surveys have uncovered more specific variation (morphological and genetic) within the genus and have better defined the geographic ranges of the named species.  One of these recent discoveries is a strikingly different iguana from all other island populations in Fiji which is restricted to Gau Island of the Lomaiviti Province.  Gau is the fifth largest island in Fiji and maintains excellent upland forests in the higher elevations.  We describe this population from Gau Island as a new species, Brachylophus gau sp. nov., in recognition of its type locality.

  4. Island forming processes in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarthy, T. S.; Humphries, M. S.; Mahomed, I.; Le Roux, P.; Verhagen, B. Th.

    2012-12-01

    The Okavango Delta in Botswana is a large (40,000 km2) alluvial fan that is characterised by the presence of numerous tree-covered islands. Thought to originate from the mound-building activities of termites or through fluvial processes associated with development of scroll bars and inverted channels, islands have been shown to play an important role in the structure and functioning of the Delta through the creation of habitat diversity, focusing of nutrients, and disposal of toxic salts. This study investigates the processes responsible for the maintenance and growth of two such islands in the seasonal swamps. Transpiration by vegetation is shown to result in substantial increases in groundwater salinity beneath the islands, contributing to their growth through chemical precipitation. Detailed chemical analyses revealed that the precipitation of magnesian calcite and silica within the island soils contributes 30-40% of the total island volume. Isotopic analyses of carbonate samples show that vegetation plays an important role in providing carbon for carbonate precipitation. Variations in δ13C carbonate values appear to reflect the relative proportion of C3 to C4 plants on the island, with C4 species becoming more dominant toward island centres in response to increases in groundwater salinity. The study suggests that continued island growth is also related to the deposition of aerosols and the accumulation of dust preferentially on islands and possibly to ongoing termite activity. Tall trees that characterise the island margins trap dust carried from the floodplains, resulting particularly in the lateral growth of islands. Islands in the Okavango are considered to be the product of long-term aggradation processes, with the two islands studied estimated to be in the order of tens of thousands of years old.

  5. Biotic interactions overrule plant responses to climate, depending on the species' biogeography.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Astrid Welk

    Full Text Available This study presents an experimental approach to assess the relative importance of climatic and biotic factors as determinants of species' geographical distributions. We asked to what extent responses of grassland plant species to biotic interactions vary with climate, and to what degree this variation depends on the species' biogeography. Using a gradient from oceanic to continental climate represented by nine common garden transplant sites in Germany, we experimentally tested whether congeneric grassland species of different geographic distribution (oceanic vs. continental plant range type responded differently to combinations of climate, competition and mollusc herbivory. We found the relative importance of biotic interactions and climate to vary between the different components of plant performance. While survival and plant height increased with precipitation, temperature had no effect on plant performance. Additionally, species with continental plant range type increased their growth in more benign climatic conditions, while those with oceanic range type were largely unable to take a similar advantage of better climatic conditions. Competition generally caused strong reductions of aboveground biomass and growth. In contrast, herbivory had minor effects on survival and growth. Against expectation, these negative effects of competition and herbivory were not mitigated under more stressful continental climate conditions. In conclusion we suggest variation in relative importance of climate and biotic interactions on broader scales, mediated via species-specific sensitivities and factor-specific response patterns. Our results have important implications for species distribution models, as they emphasize the large-scale impact of biotic interactions on plant distribution patterns and the necessity to take plant range types into account.

  6. Interpretation of transport barriers and of subneoclassical transport in the framework of the revisited neoclassical theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rogister, A.L.

    1999-01-01

    'Subneoclassical' heat fluxes are predicted in the high collisionality regime by the revisited neoclassical theory, which includes the roles of Finite Larmor Radius effects and Inertia, that we published earlier. Unlike conventional neoclassical theory, the revisited theory further provides a non degenerate ambipolarity constraint which defines unambiguously the radial electric field. Together with the parallel momentum equation, the ambipolarity constraint leads, under some conditions, to radial electric field profiles with high negative shear akin to those observed in spontaneous edge transport barriers. The predictions of the theory are outlined, with emphasis laid on the interpretation of experimental results such as magnitude of the jumps, width of the shear layer, local scaling laws. Extension of the theory to triggered transitions and cold pulse propagation studies is suggested. (author)

  7. How does the Ambience of Cafe Affect the Revisit Intention Among its Patrons? A S on the Cafes in Ipoh, Perak

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AbuThahir Sharmeela-Banu Syed

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Food service industry is growing rapidly as a result of the changing consumer lifestyle. The food service industry is highly competitive due to the increasing number of new entrants offering inventive food products and services. In order to be outstanding in such competitive industry, retailers nowadays opt to emphasize on their store environment. Past studies discovered that store environment stimulates emotions that significantly boost customer revisit intention. As a result, retailers attempt to differentiate their store by combining various environmental stimuli to create an attractive ambience that will in turn draw in the customers. Hence, this study attempts to investigate the impact of various café ambience factors on the patrons’ revisit intention. The patrons of cafes in Ipoh, Perak were selected using purposive sampling technique to be the respondents of this study. 250 questionnaires were collected and Partial Least Square technique was used to analyse the data collected. Findings show that all the five factors of café ambience namely lighting, music, decoration, cleanliness and layouts were significantly influencing the patrons’ revisit intention. Of these five factors, lighting was most influential while music was the least influential in affecting the patrons’ revisit intention. Accordingly, this study lists several recommendations for practitioners and academics with regards to the store environment and its impact on the repurchase intention.

  8. Elastic energies of coherent germanium islands on silicon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vanderbilt, D.; Wickham, L.K.

    1991-01-01

    Motivated by recent observations of coherent Ge island formation during growth of Ge on Si (100), the authors of this paper have carried out a theoretical study of the elastic energies associated with the evolution of a uniform strained overlayer as it segregates into coherent islands. In the context of a two-dimensional model, the authors have explored the conditions under which coherent islands may be energetically favored over both uniform epitaxial films and dislocated islands. The authors find that if the interface energy (for dislocated islands) is more than about 15% of the surface energy, then there is a range of island sizes for which the coherent island structure is preferred

  9. Shape and coarsening dynamics of strained islands

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schifani, Guido; Frisch, Thomas; Argentina, Mederic

    2016-01-01

    and numerically the formation of an equilibrium island using a two-dimensional continuous model. We have found that these equilibrium island-like solutions have a maximum height h_{0} and they sit on top of a flat wetting layer with a thickness h_{w}. We then consider two islands, and we report that they undergo...... and leads to the shrinkage of the smallest island. Once its height becomes smaller than a minimal equilibrium height h_{0}^{*}, its mass spreads over the entire system. Our results pave the way for a future analysis of coarsening of an assembly of islands....

  10. Molecular phylogeny and historical biogeography of the neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus Synoeca (Hymenoptera: Vespidae.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolpho Santos Telles Menezes

    Full Text Available The Neotropical Region harbors high biodiversity and many studies on mammals, reptiles, amphibians and avifauna have investigated the causes for this pattern. However, there is a paucity of such studies that focus on Neotropical insect groups. Synoeca de Saussure, 1852 is a Neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus with five described species that is broadly and conspicuously distributed throughout the Neotropics. Here, we infer the phylogenetic relationships, diversification times, and historical biogeography of Synoeca species. We also investigate samples of the disjoint populations of S. septentrionalis that occur in both northwestern parts of South America through Central American and the Brazilian Atlantic rainforests. Our results showed that the interspecific relationships for Synoeca could be described as follows: (S. chalibea + S. virginea + (S. cyanea + (S. septentrionalis/S. surinama. Notably, samples of S. septentrionalis and S. surinama collected in the Atlantic Forest were interrelated and may be the result of incomplete lineage sorting and/or mitochondrial introgression among them. Our Bayesian divergence dating analysis revealed recent Plio-Pleistocene diversification in Synoeca. Moreover, our biogeographical analysis suggested an Amazonian origin of Synoeca, with three main dispersal events subsequently occurring during the Plio-Pleistocene.

  11. Molecular Phylogeny and Historical Biogeography of the Neotropical Swarm-Founding Social Wasp Genus Synoeca (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menezes, Rodolpho Santos Telles; Brady, Seán Gary; Carvalho, Antônio Freire; Del Lama, Marco Antonio; Costa, Marco Antônio

    2015-01-01

    The Neotropical Region harbors high biodiversity and many studies on mammals, reptiles, amphibians and avifauna have investigated the causes for this pattern. However, there is a paucity of such studies that focus on Neotropical insect groups. Synoeca de Saussure, 1852 is a Neotropical swarm-founding social wasp genus with five described species that is broadly and conspicuously distributed throughout the Neotropics. Here, we infer the phylogenetic relationships, diversification times, and historical biogeography of Synoeca species. We also investigate samples of the disjoint populations of S. septentrionalis that occur in both northwestern parts of South America through Central American and the Brazilian Atlantic rainforests. Our results showed that the interspecific relationships for Synoeca could be described as follows: (S. chalibea + S. virginea) + (S. cyanea + (S. septentrionalis/S. surinama)). Notably, samples of S. septentrionalis and S. surinama collected in the Atlantic Forest were interrelated and may be the result of incomplete lineage sorting and/or mitochondrial introgression among them. Our Bayesian divergence dating analysis revealed recent Plio-Pleistocene diversification in Synoeca. Moreover, our biogeographical analysis suggested an Amazonian origin of Synoeca, with three main dispersal events subsequently occurring during the Plio-Pleistocene. PMID:25738705

  12. Review of islanding detection methods for distributed generation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chen, Zhe; Mahat, Pukar; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte

    2008-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of power system islanding and islanding detection techniques. Islanding detection techniques, for a distribution system with distributed generation (DG), can broadly be divided into remote and local techniques. A remote islanding detection technique is associated...

  13. Effect of island shape on dielectrophoretic assembly of metal nanoparticle chains in a conductive-island-based microelectrode system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ding, Haitao; Shao, Jinyou; Ding, Yucheng; Liu, Weiyu; Li, Xiangming; Tian, Hongmiao; Zhou, Yaopei

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Conductive island shape influences the dynamic process occurring in DEP assembly of 10 nm gold nanoparticles in a conductive-island-based microelectrode system. • The DEP-assembled nanoparticle wires form a straighter conduction path with the increase in the geometric angle of conductive island tip. • The different island shapes distort the DEP force distribution and increase the local electrothermally induced fluid flow to different extents, which is important for the morphology and electrical conductance quality of the DEP-assembled metal nanoparticle chains. - Abstract: The electrical conduction quality of an electric circuit connection formed by dielectrophoretic (DEP)-assembled metal nanoparticle wires between small conductive elements plays a significant role in electronic devices. One of the major challenges for improving the electrical conductance of nanowires is optimizing their geometric morphology. So far, the electrical conduction quality has been enhanced by optimizing the AC frequency and conductivity of nanoparticle suspensions. Herein, the effect of the conductive island shapes on the dynamic process occurring in a DEP assembly of 10 nm gold nanoparticles was investigated in a conductive-island-based microelectrode system. The nanoparticle wires between the microelectrodes were assembled in situ from colloidal suspensions. The wires were grown in a much straighter route by increasing the geometric angle of the conductive-island tip. To validate the experiments, the effects of mutual DEP interactions and electrothermally induced fluid flow on the dynamic behavior of particle motion for different island geometric configurations in the conductive-island-based microelectrode system were determined by numerical simulations. The simulation results are consistent with those of experiments. This indicates that different conductive island shapes change the distribution of DEP force and increase the electrothermally induced fluid flow to

  14. Genetic structure of Balearic honeybee populations based on microsatellite polymorphism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Moritz Robin FA

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The genetic variation of honeybee colonies collected in 22 localities on the Balearic Islands (Spain was analysed using eight polymorphic microsatellite loci. Previous studies have demonstrated that these colonies belong either to the African or west European evolutionary lineages. These populations display low variability estimated from both the number of alleles and heterozygosity values, as expected for the honeybee island populations. Although genetic differentiation within the islands is low, significant heterozygote deficiency is present, indicating a subpopulation genetic structure. According to the genetic differentiation test, the honeybee populations of the Balearic Islands cluster into two groups: Gimnesias (Mallorca and Menorca and Pitiusas (Ibiza and Formentera, which agrees with the biogeography postulated for this archipelago. The phylogenetic analysis suggests an Iberian origin of the Balearic honeybees, thus confirming the postulated evolutionary scenario for Apis mellifera in the Mediterranean basin. The microsatellite data from Formentera, Ibiza and Menorca show that ancestral populations are threatened by queen importations, indicating that adequate conservation measures should be developed for protecting Balearic bees.

  15. New insights into ocean tide loading corrections on tidal gravity data in Canary Islands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arnoso, J.; Benavent, M.; Bos, M. S.; Montesinos, F. G.

    2009-04-01

    The Canary Islands are an interesting area to investigate ocean tides loading effects due to the complex coastline of the islands and the varying bathymetry. We present here the quality of five recent global oceanic tidal models, GOT00.2, GOT4.7, FES2004, TPXO.7.1 and AG2006, by comparing their predicted ocean tide loading values with results from tidal gravity observations made on three islands, Lanzarote, Tenerife and El Hierro, for the four harmonic constituents O1, K1, M2 and S2. In order to improve the accuracy of the loading corrections on the gravity tide measurements, we have used the high resolution regional oceanic model CIAM2 to supplement the global models considered here. This regional model has been obtained by assimilating TOPEX/Poseidon altimetry at crossovers and along-track points and tide gauge observations into a hydrodynamic model. The model has a 5'Ã-5' resolution and covers the area between the coordinates 26°.5N to 30°.0N and 19°.0W to 12°.5W. The gravity tide observing sites have been occupied by three different LaCoste&Romberg (LCR) spring gravimeters during different periods of observation. We considered here the most recent gravity tide observations made with LCR Graviton-EG1194 in El Hierro Island, for a period of 6 months during 2008. In the case of Tenerife and Lanzarote sites we have used observation periods of 6 months and 8 years with LCR-G665 and LCR-G434 gravimeters, respectively. The last two sites have been revisited in order to improve the previous tidal analysis results. Thus, the gravity ocean tide loading corrections, based on the five global ocean tide models supplemented with the regional model CIAM2 allowed us to review the normalization factors (scale factor and phase lag) of both two gravimeters. Also, we investigated the discrepancies of the corrected gravimetric factors with the DDW elastic and inelastic non hydrostatic body tide model (Dehant et al., 1999). The lowest values are found for inelastic model in the

  16. Revisiting reflexology: Concept, evidence, current practice, and practitioner training

    OpenAIRE

    Embong, Nurul Haswani; Soh, Yee Chang; Ming, Long Chiau; Wong, Tin Wui

    2015-01-01

    Reflexology is basically a study of how one part of the human body relates to another part of the body. Reflexology practitioners rely on the reflexes map of the feet and hands to all the internal organs and other human body parts. They believe that by applying the appropriate pressure and massage certain spots on the feet and hands, all other body parts could be energized and rejuvenated. This review aimed to revisit the concept of reflexology and examine its effectiveness, practices, and th...

  17. Environmental assessment for the resettlement of Eneu Island on Bikini Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maragos, J.E.; Agegian, Catherine

    1986-01-01

    This environmental assessment evaluates various alternatives to return the Bikini people to their homeland on Bikini Atoll. Eneu Island was spared the heavy nuclear contamination that rendered Bikini Island, the largest and main inhabitable island on the atoll, presently unsuitable for resettlement. The economic, social, technical and environmental consequences of all alternatives were compared, and alternative sites, purposes and scales for resettlement were included in the analysis. This environmental assessment explores these alternatives in detail and concludes that the resettlement of Eneu Island by some of the Bikini people at this time will not result in significant adverse effects to the environment nor will it foreclose any other full scale resettlement option involving the cleanup of Bikini Atoll. In addition, it concludes that the resettlement of Eneu can be accomplished independently from the planned cleanup and resettlement of Bikini Island. Plans and combination of plans involving the early resettlement of Eneu are fully feasible and implementable at this time. (author)

  18. Environmental assessment for the resettlement of Eneu Island on Bikini Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maragos, J E [Environmental Resources Section, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pacific Ocean Division, HI (United States); Agegian, Catherine [University of Hawaii, Department of Oceanography, Honolulu, HI (United States)

    1986-07-01

    This environmental assessment evaluates various alternatives to return the Bikini people to their homeland on Bikini Atoll. Eneu Island was spared the heavy nuclear contamination that rendered Bikini Island, the largest and main inhabitable island on the atoll, presently unsuitable for resettlement. The economic, social, technical and environmental consequences of all alternatives were compared, and alternative sites, purposes and scales for resettlement were included in the analysis. This environmental assessment explores these alternatives in detail and concludes that the resettlement of Eneu Island by some of the Bikini people at this time will not result in significant adverse effects to the environment nor will it foreclose any other full scale resettlement option involving the cleanup of Bikini Atoll. In addition, it concludes that the resettlement of Eneu can be accomplished independently from the planned cleanup and resettlement of Bikini Island. Plans and combination of plans involving the early resettlement of Eneu are fully feasible and implementable at this time. (author)

  19. Assessing qualitative long-term volcanic hazards at Lanzarote Island (Canary Islands)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Becerril, Laura; Martí, Joan; Bartolini, Stefania; Geyer, Adelina

    2017-07-01

    Conducting long-term hazard assessment in active volcanic areas is of primary importance for land-use planning and defining emergency plans able to be applied in case of a crisis. A definition of scenario hazard maps helps to mitigate the consequences of future eruptions by anticipating the events that may occur. Lanzarote is an active volcanic island that has hosted the largest (> 1.5 km3 DRE) and longest (6 years) eruption, the Timanfaya eruption (1730-1736), on the Canary Islands in historical times (last 600 years). This eruption brought severe economic losses and forced local people to migrate. In spite of all these facts, no comprehensive hazard assessment or hazard maps have been developed for the island. In this work, we present an integrated long-term volcanic hazard evaluation using a systematic methodology that includes spatial analysis and simulations of the most probable eruptive scenarios.

  20. Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of a Coastal Island Using Geospatial Techniques: A Case in Hatiya Island, Bangladesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramjan, S.; Mahmud, M. S.; Hossain, M. A.; Hasan, M.; Ashrafi, Z. M.

    2016-12-01

    Bangladesh is recognized for its high vulnerability to sea level rise (SLR). SLR directly and indirectly (by altering morphology of river estuary) accelerates erosion processes, washes out the loose materials of the coast and coastal islands. Hatiya, highly populated coastal island, located in Meghna river estuary is under severe threat of coastal erosion, which has not been quantified yet. The accurate mapping of the shoreline and coastal changes are very important for adopting conservation measures e.g. protection of human life, property and the natural environment. The objectives of the present study are to use remote sensing and Geographical Information System techniques to evaluate spatial and temporal changes in the shoreline and coastal land area of the Hatiya Island between the year of 1985 and 2016 from multi-temporal satellite images, i.e. assessing shifting of the shoreline position through digital shoreline analysis besides the erosion-accretion measurements. Study reveals that about 67 square kilometer areas has been lost between 1985 and 2016 which was about 17 percent of original area (1985). Erosion mainly took place in northern, north-western banks of the island. In these areas, the landward movement and rate of the shoreline were higher with a highest value of the net shoreline movement (NSM) around 6.2 km. Erosion rate is significant in exposed part of the island where tidal water pressure, shoreline configuration, loose bank materials and steep slope were observed. However, the accretion was noticed in recent years (2010-2016) in southern part of the island where slopes were gentle, perhaps due to backwash sediment deposition. As erosion process is prominent in this island, significant amounnt of usable land was lost. Therefore, local livelihood pattern has changed that has noticable effect on local economy. By quantifying the erosion-accretion rate, livelihood planning can be initiated in climatically threated vulnerable islands.