The response of tropical rainforests to drought : lessons from recent research and future prospects

Key message: we review the recent findings on the influence of drought on tree mortality, growth or ecosystem functioning in tropical rainforests. Drought plays a major role in shaping tropical rainforests and the response mechanisms are highly diverse and complex. The numerous gaps identified here require the international scientific community to combine efforts in order to conduct comprehensive studies in tropical rainforests on the three continents. These results are essential to simulate the future of these ecosystems under diverse climate scenarios and to predict the future of the global earth carbon balance. - Context: tropical rainforest ecosystems are characterized by high annual rainfall. Nevertheless, rainfall regularly fluctuates during the year and seasonal soil droughts do occur. Over the past decades, a number of extreme droughts have hit tropical rainforests, not only in Amazonia but also in Asia and Africa. The influence of drought events on tree mortality and growth or on ecosystem functioning (carbon and water fluxes) in tropical rainforest ecosystems has been studied intensively, but the response mechanisms are complex.- Aims: herein, we review the recent findings related to the response of tropical forest ecosystems to seasonal and extreme droughts and the current knowledge about the future of these ecosystems. - Results: this review emphasizes the progress made over recent years and the importance of the studies conducted under extreme drought conditions or in through-fall exclusion experiments in understanding the response of these ecosystems. It also points to the great diversity and complexity of the response of tropical rainforest ecosystems to drought. - Conclusion: the numerous gaps identified here require the international scientific community to combine efforts in order to conduct comprehensive studies in tropical forest regions. These results are essential to simulate the future of these ecosystems under diverse climate scenarios and to predict the future of the global earth carbon balance

Semi-Automated Tracking: A Balanced Approach for Self-Monitoring Applications

The authors present an approach for designing self-monitoring technology called 'semi-automated tracking,' which combines both manual and automated data collection methods. Through this approach, they aim to lower the capture burdens, collect data that is typically hard to track automatically, and promote awareness to help people achieve their self-monitoring goals. They first specify three design considerations for semi-automated tracking: data capture feasibility, the purpose of self-monitoring, and the motivation level. They then provide examples of semi-automated tracking applications in the domains of sleep, mood, and food tracking to demonstrate strategies they developed to find the right balance between manual tracking and automated tracking, combining each of their benefits while minimizing their associated limitations

Virtual Reality Interaction Techniques For Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Virtual reality (VR) systems are seeing growing use for training individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Although these systems indicate effective use of VR for training, there is little work in the literature evaluating different VR interaction techniques for this audience. In this paper, different VR interaction techniques are explored in the Virtual Reality for Vocational Rehabilitation (VR4VR) system and additional data analysis on top of our previously published preliminary results [1] was performed via a user study with nine individuals with ASD and ten neurotypical individuals. The participants tried six vocational training modules of the VR4VR system. In these modules, tangible object manipulation, haptic device, touch and snap and touchscreen were tested for object selection and manipulation; real walking and walk-in-place were tested for locomotion; and head mounted display and curtain screen were tested for display. Touchscreen and tangible interaction methods were preferred by the individuals with ASD. The walk-in-place locomotion technique were found frustrating and difficult to perform by the individuals with ASD. Curtain display received higher preference scores from individuals with ASD although they accepted the HMD as well. The observations and findings of the study are expected to give insight into the poorly explored area of experience of individuals with ASD with various interaction techniques in VR