The spatial sensitivity of the spectral diversity–biodiversity relationship: an experimental test in a prairie grassland

Remote sensing has been used to detect plant biodiversity in a range of ecosystems based on the varying spectral properties of different species or functional groups. However, the most appropriate spatial resolution necessary to detect diversity remains unclear. At coarse resolution, differences among spectral patterns may be too weak to detect. In contrast, at fine resolution, redundant information may be introduced. To explore the effect of spatial resolution, we studied the scale dependence of spectral diversity in a prairie ecosystem experiment at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, Minnesota, USA. Our study involved a scaling exercise comparing synthetic pixels resampled from high-resolution images within manipulated diversity treatments. Hyperspectral data were collected using several instruments on both ground and airborne platforms. We used the coefficient of variation (CV) of spectral reflectance in space as the indicator of spectral diversity and then compared CV at different scales ranging from 1 mm2 to 1 m2 to conventional biodiversity metrics, including species richness, Shannon’s index, Simpson’s index, phylogenetic species variation, and phylogenetic species evenness. In this study, higher species richness plots generally had higher CV. CV showed higher correlations with Shannon’s index and Simpson’s index than did species richness alone, indicating evenness contributed to the spectral diversity. Correlations with species richness and Simpson’s index were generally higher than with phylogenetic species variation and evenness measured at comparable spatial scales, indicating weaker relationships between spectral diversity and phylogenetic diversity metrics than with species diversity metrics. High resolution imaging spectrometer data (1 mm2 pixels) showed the highest sensitivity to diversity level. With decreasing spatial resolution, the difference in CV between diversity levels decreased and greatly reduced the optical detectability of biodiversity. The optimal pixel size for distinguishing a diversity in these prairie plots appeared to be around 1 mm to 10 cm, a spatial scale similar to the size of an individual herbaceous plant. These results indicate a strong scaledependence of the spectral diversity-biodiversity relationships, with spectral diversity best able to detect a combination of species richness and evenness, and more weakly detecting phylogenetic diversity. These findings can be used to guide airborne studies of biodiversity and develop more effective large-scale biodiversity sampling methods

Irreducible holonomy algebras of Riemannian supermanifolds

Possible irreducible holonomy algebras \g\subset\osp(p,q|2m) of Riemannian supermanifolds under the assumption that \g is a direct sum of simple Lie superalgebras of classical type and possibly of a one-dimensional center are classified. This generalizes the classical result of Marcel Berger about the classification of irreducible holonomy algebras of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds.Comment: 27 pages, the final versio

Development of intuitive rules: Evaluating the application of the dual-system framework to understanding children's intuitive reasoning

This is an author-created version of this article. The original source of publication is Psychon Bull Rev. 2006 Dec;13(6):935-53 The final publication is available at www.springerlink.com Published version: http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF0321390

Stories from the field:Women's networking as gender capital in entrepreneurial ecosystems

Women are underrepresented in successful entrepreneurial ecosystems and the creation of women-only entrepreneurial networks has been a widespread policy response. We examine the entrepreneurial ecosystem construct and suggest that it, and the role networks play in entrepreneurial ecosystems, can be analysed in terms of Bourdieu's socio-analysis as field, habitus and capital. Specifically, we develop the notion of gender capital as the skill set associated with femininity or from simply being recognized as feminine. We apply this to the development of women's entrepreneurial networks as a gender capital enhancing initiative. Using data from qualitative interviews with network coordinators and women entrepreneurs we reflect on the extent to which formally established women-only networks generate gender capital for their members and improve their ability to participate in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The paper concludes by drawing out the implications of our analysis for theory, entrepreneurial practice and economic development policy

Growth rates and the prevalence and progression of scoliosis in short-statured children on Australian growth hormone treatment programmes

STUDY DESIGN AND AIM: This was a longitudinal chart review of a diverse group (cohort) of patients undergoing HGH (Human Growth Hormone) treatment. Clinical and radiological examinations were performed with the aim to identify the presence and progression of scoliosis. METHODS AND COHORT: 185 patients were recruited and a database incorporating the age at commencement, dose and frequency of growth hormone treatment and growth charts was compiled from their Medical Records. The presence of any known syndrome and the clinical presence of scoliosis were included for analysis. Subsequently, skeletally immature patients identified with scoliosis were followed up over a period of a minimum four years and the radiologic type, progression and severity (Cobb angle) of scoliosis were recorded. RESULTS: Four (3.6%) of the 109 with idiopathic short stature or hormone deficiency had idiopathic scoliosis (within normal limits for a control population) and scoliosis progression was not prospectively observed. 13 (28.8%) of 45 with Turner syndrome had scoliosis radiologically similar to idiopathic scoliosis. 11 (48%) of 23 with varying syndromes, had scoliosis. In the entire cohort, the growth rates of those with and without scoliosis were not statistically different and HGH treatment was not ceased because of progression of scoliosis. CONCLUSION: In this study, there was no evidence of HGH treatment being responsible for progression of scoliosis in a small number of non-syndromic patients (four). An incidental finding was that scoliosis, similar to the idiopathic type, appears to be more prevalent in Turner syndrome than previously believed

Scale in object and process ontologies

Scale is of great importance to the analysis of real world phenomena, be they enduring objects or perduring processes. This paper presents a new perspective on the concept of scale by considering it within two complementary ontological views. The first, called SNAP, recognizes enduring entities or objects, the other, called SPAN, perduring entities or processes. Within the meta-theory provided by the complementary SNAP and SPAN ontologies, we apply different theories of formal ontology such as mereology and granular partitions, and ideas derived from hierarchy theory. These theories are applied to objects and processes and form the framework within which we present tentative definitions of scale, which are found to differ between the two ontologies

The encounter with the unknown: Nurses lived experiences of their responsibility for the care of the patient in the Swedish ambulance service

Registered nurses (RNs) have, according to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, the overall responsibility for the medical care in the ambulance care setting. Bringing RNs into the ambulance service are judged, according to earlier studies, to lead to a degree of professionalism with a higher quality of medical care. Implicitly in earlier studies, the work in the ambulance service involves interpersonal skills. The aim of this study was to describe RNs' experiences of being responsible for the care of the patient in the Swedish ambulance service. A reflective lifeworld approach within the perspective of caring science was used. Five RNs with at least five years experience from care in the ambulance care setting were interviewed. The findings show that the essence of the phenomenon is to prepare and create conditions for care and to accomplish care close to the patient. Three meaning constituents emerged in the descriptions: prepare and create conditions for the nursing care, to be there for the patient and significant others and create comfort for the patient and significant others. The responsibility is a complex phenomenon, with a caring perspective, emerging from the encounter with the unique human being

Development of nuclear emulsions operating in vacuum for the AEgIS experiment

For the first time the AEgIS (Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) experiment will measure the Earth\u2019s local gravitational acceleration g on antimatter through the evaluation of the vertical displacement of an antihydrogen horizontal beam. This will be a model independent test of the Weak Equivalence Principle at the base of the general relativity. The initial goal of a g measurement with a relative uncertainty of 1% will be achieved with less than 1000 detected antihydrogens, provided that their vertical position could be determined with a precision of a few micrometers. An emulsion based detector is very suitable for this purpose featuring an intrinsic sub-micrometric spatial resolution. Nevertheless, the AEgIS experiment re- quires unprecedented operational conditions for this type of detector, namely vacuum environment and very low temperature. An intense R&D activity is presently going on to optimize the detector for the AEgIS experimental requirements with rather encouraging results

Re-storying and visualizing the changing entrepreneurial identities of Bill Gates and Richard Branson.

The storytelling in textual and visual re-constructions of Bill Gates and Richard Branson by their organizations produces entrepreneurial identities bound into particular social power-knowledge relations. Our purpose is to examine how these organizations, and their critics, mobilize storytelling in acts of re-storying (enlivening) or re-narrating (branding a monologic) practices using Internet technologies to invite viewers to frame the world of entrepreneurship. We use visual discourse and storytelling methods to analyze how Microsoft and Virgin Group use various kinds of entrepreneurial images and textual narratives to re-narrate and produce particular brands of capitalism. These organizations' scoptic regimes of representation are contested in counter-visualizing and counterstory practices of external stakeholders. We suggest that the image and textual practices of storytelling have changed as both entrepreneurs court philanthropic and social entrepreneur identity markers. Our contribution to entrepreneurial identity is to apply double and multiple narrations, the appropriation of another's narrative words (or images) into another's narrative, and relate such storytelling moves to visuality