Complex Systems Science: Dreams of Universality, Reality of Interdisciplinarity

Using a large database (~ 215 000 records) of relevant articles, we empirically study the "complex systems" field and its claims to find universal principles applying to systems in general. The study of references shared by the papers allows us to obtain a global point of view on the structure of this highly interdisciplinary field. We show that its overall coherence does not arise from a universal theory but instead from computational techniques and fruitful adaptations of the idea of self-organization to specific systems. We also find that communication between different disciplines goes through specific "trading zones", ie sub-communities that create an interface around specific tools (a DNA microchip) or concepts (a network).Comment: Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (2012) 10.1002/asi.2264

A short survey of discourse representation models

With the advancement of technology and the wide adoption of ontologies as knowledge representation formats, in the last decade, a handful of models were proposed for the externalization of the rhetoric and argumentation captured within scientific publications. Conceptually, most of these models share a similar representation form of the scientific publication, i.e. as a series of interconnected elementary knowledge items. The main differences are given by the terminology used, the types of rhetorical and/or argumentation relations connecting the knowledge items and the foundational theories supporting these relations. This paper analyzes the state of the art and provides a concise comparative overview of the five most prominent discourse representation models, with the goal of sketching an unified model for discourse representation

Guidelines for assessing favourable conservation status of Natura 2000 species and habitat types in Bulgaria

This executive summary describes the methodology for assessing the favourable conservation status of N2000 habitats and species on site level in Bulgaria and gives guidelines for its application. The methodology was developed in the frame of the BBI/Matra project 2006/014 “Favourable Conservation Status of Natura 2000 Habitat types and Species in Bulgaria”. The project was generously supported by the Dutch government under the BBI/Matra programme, which is a combination of two international policy programs of the Dutch government. The objectives and financial resources of the BBI/Matra Programme fall within the remit of the Matra Social Transformation Program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and under the International Policy Program on Biodiversity of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

Identification of stromal cells in spleen which support myelopoiesis

Stromal cells in spleen organize tissue into red pulp, white pulp and marginal zone, and also interact with hematopoietic cells to regulate immune responses. This study has used phenotypic information of a previously described spleen stromal cell line called 5G3, which supports restricted hematopoiesis in vitro, to identify an equivalent stromal cell subset in vivo and to test its capacity to support hematopoiesis. Using stromal cell fractionation, phenotypic analysis, as well as cell growth and hematopoietic support assays, the Sca-1+gp38+Thy1.2+CD29+CD51+ fraction of spleen stroma has been identified as an equivalent stromal subset resembling the 5G3 cell counterpart. While heterogeneity may still exist within that subset, it has been shown to have superior hematopoietic support capacity compared with the 5G3 cell line, and all other spleen stromal cell fractions tested.This work was supported by project grants to HO from the Australian Research Council (#DP130101703) and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (#585443). HL was supported by an Australian National University Postgraduate Scholarship

A systematic review and meta-analysis of trypanosome prevalence in tsetse flies

Background: The optimisation of trypanosomosis control programs warrants a good knowledge of the main vector of animal and human trypanosomes in sub-Saharan Africa, the tsetse fly. An important aspect of the tsetse fly population is its trypanosome infection prevalence, as it determines the intensity of the transmission of the parasite by the vector. We therefore conducted a systematic review of published studies documenting trypanosome infection prevalence from field surveys or from laboratory experiments under controlled conditions. Publications were screened in the Web of Science, PubMed and Google Scholar databases. Using the four-stage (identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion) process in the PRISMA statement the initial screened total of 605 studies were reduced to 72 studies. The microscopic examination of dissected flies (dissection method) remains the most used method to detect trypanosomes and thus constituted the main focus of this analysis. Meta-regression was performed to identify factors responsible for high trypanosome prevalence in the vectors and a random effects meta-analysis was used to report the sensitivity of molecular and serological tests using the dissection method as gold standard. Results: The overall pooled prevalence was 10.3% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.1%, 12.4%) and 31.0% (95% CI = 20. 0%, 42.0%) for the field survey and laboratory experiment data respectively. The country and the year of publication were found to be significantly factors associated with the prevalence of trypanosome infection in tsetse flies. The alternative diagnostic tools applied to dissection positive samples were characterised by low sensitivity, and no information on the specificity was available at all. Conclusion: Both temporal and spatial variation in trypanosome infection prevalence of field collected tsetse flies exists, but further investigation on real risk factors is needed how this variation can be explained. Improving the sensitivity and determining the specificity of these alternative diagnostic tools should be a priority and will allow to estimate the prevalence of trypanosome infection in tsetse flies in high-throughput

Oceanus.

v. 26, no. 3 (1983

Review of the geomorphological, benthic ecological and biogeomorphological effects of nourishments on the shoreface and surf zone of the Dutch coast

Most knowledge on the morphodynamic behaviour of shoreface and beach nourishments originates from data analysis studies. Numerical modeling tools have been used successfully in hindcasting behaviour of nourishments, but do not yet have the predictive power for reliably forecasting