Simulation studies of the biological control of Aphis Fabae

Imperial Users onl

Contrasting the capabilities of building energy performance simulation programs

For the past 50 years, a wide variety of building energy simulation programs have been developed, enhanced and are in use throughout the building energy community. This paper is an overview of a report, which provides up-to-date comparison of the features and capabilities of twenty major building energy simulation programs. The comparison is based on information provided by the program developers in the following categories: general modeling features; zone loads; building envelope and daylighting and solar; infiltration, ventilation and multizone airflow; renewable energy systems; electrical systems and equipment; HVAC systems; HVAC equipment; environmental emissions; economic evaluation; climate data availability, results reporting; validation; and user interface, links to other programs, and availability

The impact of red deer on liverwort-rich oceanic heath vegetation

Background: There is concern about increasing numbers of large herbivores including red deer (Cervus elaphus) but little is known about their impact on bryophytes. Aims: This study set out to determine the effect of different localised densities of red deer on the internationally important Northern Atlantic hepatic mat, characteristic of oceanic heath vegetation, at four locations in the Scottish Highlands where sheep have been absent for decades. Methods: Thirty 7 m x 7 m plots were randomly located in each study area. The standing crop dung pellet group count method was used to estimate red deer density. Species richness, diversity and cover of hepatic mat liverworts were obtained from 1 m x 1 m quadrats placed at random within the sample plots. Calluna vulgaris cover, ericoid height, rock cover, gradient and altitude were also recorded. Results: Model simplification in ANCOVA revealed a consistent pattern of decreasing cover of hepatic mat and Calluna with increasing red deer density at all four study areas. Northern Atlantic hepatic mat cover, diversity and species richness were positively correlated with Calluna cover. Conclusions: The data suggest that Calluna cover is reduced (through trampling and browsing) at high local densities of red deer which has had cascading effects on the Northern Atlantic hepatic mat. Alternative explanations are discussed

A bypass of an arrow is sectional

Crawley-Boevey W, Happel D, Ringel CM. A bypass of an arrow is sectional. Archiv der Mathematik. 1992;58(6):525-528

Light Phase Testing of Social Behaviors: Not a Problem

The rich repertoire of mouse social behaviors makes it possible to use mouse models to study neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social deficits. The fact that mice are naturally nocturnal animals raises a critical question of whether behavioral experiments should be strictly conducted in the dark phase and whether light phase testing is a major methodologically mistake. Although mouse social tasks have been performed in both phases in different laboratories, there seems to be no general consensus on whether testing phase is a critical factor or not. A recent study from our group showed remarkably similar social scores obtained from inbred mice tested in the light and the dark phase, providing evidence that light phase testing could yield reliable results as robust as dark phase testing for the sociability test. Here we offer a comprehensive review on mouse social behaviors measured in light and dark phases and explain why it is reasonable to test laboratory mice in experimental social tasks in the light phase

‘Condition’: energy, time and success amongst Ethiopian runners

Long distance runners in East Africa are often portrayed in the international media as ‘naturally’ gifted or as running away from poverty. This thesis – that traces the athletic lives of Ethiopian long-­‐distance runners seeking to ‘change their lives’ through the sport – presents a different account, demonstrating how runners operate in an economy of limited energy. Based on fifteen months of fieldwork (September 2015 to December 2016) that followed Ethiopian runners from rural training camps in the Northern highlands to Addis Ababa and further afield to competitions in Europe and China, the thesis makes a major contribution to the anthropology of economic action and to the anthropology of sport and development. Ethiopian long-­‐distance runners are part of an increasingly competitive running market, which offers both new opportunities to make fantastic amounts of money and higher odds against doing so. The choice to become a runner is characterised by speculation and risk as well as the active rejection of other forms of precarious work, which runners perceive as failing to offer a ‘chance’ of changing your life for the better. As runners train together but compete as individuals, a core tension arises between relational and individual agency. As this thesis explores, this tension is played out across the moral economy of energy expenditure. The thesis develops this argument by paying particular attention to the bodily and affective dimensions of running, beginning on the level of individual concerns with self-­‐improvement and the careful marshalling and monitoring of energy on a day-­‐ to-­‐day basis. It goes on to argue that morally appropriate training regimes in Ethiopia are characterised by working together, and the visibility and synchronicity of running as well as eating and resting. Finally, the thesis shoes how global entities – corporations, race organisers, technical devices – affect the economy of energy in Ethiopia and bring new ethical challenges. As attempts to craft responsible and entrepreneurial subjects coincide with long standing Amhara notions of the individual and ‘chance,’ different dispositions converge and diverge

The natural exclusion of red deer from large boulder grazing refugia and the consequences for saxicolous bryophyte and lichen ecology

Large boulder grazing refugia permitted comparison of saxicolous bryophyte and lichen assemblages with those boulder tops accessible to red deer (Cervus elaphus) on a sporting estate in northwest Scotland. Plant succession was predicted to occur unchecked by grazing on the tops of these large boulders with cascading effects on bryophytes and lichens—assuming boulders had been in place over the same time period. Fifty pairs of boulders (one ≥2 m and the other accessible to red deer) were selected at random from various locations below north-facing crags. Percentage cover of each bryophyte and lichen species was estimated from three randomly placed quadrats on each boulder top. Due consideration was given to the influence of island biogeography theory in subsequent model simplification. Mean shrub cover and height, leaf-litter, bryophyte cover and bryophyte species richness were significantly higher within quadrats on large boulder tops that naturally excluded red deer. Lichen cover and lichen species richness were significantly higher on boulder tops accessible to red deer. Lichen cover was in a significant negative relationship with bryophyte cover, shrub cover and litter cover. Bryophyte cover showed a significant positive relationship with shrub height but there was an optimum shrub cover. Natural exclusion of red deer from the tops of large boulders has facilitated plant succession. The results suggest that grazing arrests the lithosere on boulder tops accessible to red deer at an early plagioclimax favouring saxicolous lichens. The results are relevant to situations where red deer might be excluded from boulder fields that hold lichen assemblages of conservation value

U.S. Department of Energy Commercial Reference Building Models of the National Building Stock

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Program has set the aggressive goal of producing marketable net-zero energy buildings by 2025. This goal will require collaboration between the DOE laboratories and the building industry. We developed standard or reference energy models for the most common commercial buildings to serve as starting points for energy efficiency research. These models represent fairly realistic buildings and typical construction practices. Fifteen commercial building types and one multifamily residential building were determined by consensus between DOE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and represent approximately two-thirds of the commercial building stock