10 research outputs found
Global guidelines for the sustainable use of non-native trees to prevent tree invasions and mitigate their negative impacts
Sustainably managed non-native trees deliver economic and societal benefits with limited risk of spread to adjoining areas. However, some plantations have launched invasions that cause substantial damage to biodiversity and ecosystem services, while others pose substantial threats of causing such impacts. The challenge is to maximise the benefits of non-native trees, while minimising negative impacts and preserving future benefits and options.
A workshop was held in 2019 to develop global guidelines for the sustainable use of non-native trees, using the Council of Europe – Bern Convention Code of Conduct on Invasive Alien Trees as a starting point. The global guidelines consist of eight recommendations: 1) Use native trees, or non-invasive non-native trees, in preference to invasive non-native trees; 2) Be aware of and comply with international, national, and regional regulations concerning non-native trees; 3) Be aware of the risk of invasion and consider global change trends; 4) Design and adopt tailored practices for plantation site selection and silvicultural management; 5) Promote and implement early detection and rapid response programmes; 6) Design and adopt tailored practices for invasive non-native tree control, habitat restoration, and for dealing with highly modified ecosystems; 7) Engage with stakeholders on the risks posed by invasive non-native trees, the impacts caused, and the options for management; and 8) Develop and support global networks, collaborative research, and information sharing on native and non-native trees.
The global guidelines are a first step towards building global consensus on the precautions that should be taken when introducing and planting non-native trees. They are voluntary and are intended to complement statutory requirements under international and national legislation. The application of the global guidelines and the achievement of their goals will help to conserve forest biodiversity, ensure sustainable forestry, and contribute to the achievement of several Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations linked with forest biodiversity
Why are features deprecated?: An investigation into the motivation behind deprecation
In this study, we investigate why API producers deprecate features. Previous work has shown us that knowing the rationale behind deprecation of an API aids a consumer in deciding to react, thus hinting at a diversity of deprecation reasons. We manually analyze the Javadoc of 374 deprecated methods pertaining four mainstream Java APIs to see whether the reason behind deprecation is mentioned. We find that understanding the rationale from just the Javadoc is insufficient; hence we add other data sources such as the source code, issue tracker data and commit history. We observe 12 reasons that trigger API producers to deprecate a feature. We evaluate an automated approach to classify these motivations.Accepted author manuscriptSoftware Engineerin
Longitudinal cross-lagged analyses between cyberbullying perpetration, mindfulness and depression among Chinese high school students
Stability Control of Surrounding Rock in Large-Section Weak- and Thick-Coal Open-cutting Roadway in Deep Mine
Mobile Platform for Multiplexed Detection and Differentiation of Disease-Specific Nucleic Acid Sequences, Using Microfluidic Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification and Smartphone Detection
New
tools are needed to enable rapid detection, identification,
and reporting of infectious viral and microbial pathogens in a wide
variety of point-of-care applications that impact human and animal
health. We report the design, construction, and characterization of
a platform for multiplexed analysis of disease-specific DNA sequences
that utilizes a smartphone camera as the sensor in conjunction with
a hand-held “cradle” that interfaces the phone with
a silicon-based microfluidic chip embedded within a credit-card-sized
cartridge. Utilizing specific nucleic acid sequences for four equine
respiratory pathogens as representative examples, we demonstrated
the ability of the system to utilize a single 15 ÎĽL droplet
of test sample to perform selective positive/negative determination
of target sequences, including integrated experimental controls, in
approximately 30 min. Our approach utilizes loop-mediated isothermal
amplification (LAMP) reagents predeposited into distinct lanes of
the microfluidic chip, which when exposed to target nucleic acid sequences
from the test sample, generates fluorescent products that when excited
by appropriately selected light emitting diodes (LEDs), are visualized
and automatically analyzed by a software application running on the
smartphone microprocessor. The system achieves detection limits comparable
to those obtained by laboratory-based methods and instruments. Assay
information is combined with the information from the cartridge and
the patient to populate a cloud-based database for epidemiological
reporting of test results