In search of an appropriate abstraction level for motif annotations

In: Proceedings of the 2012 Workshop on Computational Models of Narrative, (pp. 22-28).

Decision making in uncertain times: what can cognitive and decision sciences say about or learn from economic crises?

B.M. was supported by a Visiting Scholar Award from the British Academy and Grant ME 3717/2 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) as part of the priority program ‘New Frameworks of Rationality’ (SPP 1516)

Selection of Corymbia citriodora for pulp productivity

Evaluation of a series of spotted gum (Corymbia citirodora) progeny trials, established in the subtropical region of Queensland, Australia, was undertaken to provide information for the development of advanced-generation breeding populations suitable for pulp production. Measurements of growth at two ages were combined with assessments of wood density and pulp yield from a selected sample of provenances to provide comparisons between provenances, to generate genetic parameter estimates and to predict genetic gain potential. Although growth at this age was moderate relative to other eucalypts, the near-infrared predictions of average wood density of 756 kg m-3 and pulp yield of 55% indicate the species has considerable potential as a pulpwood crop. A pulp productivity breeding objective was used to identify production populations using a range of selection trait weightings to determine potential genetic gain for pulp productivity. Genetic parameters indicated (1) levels of genetic control were moderate for all traits and higher for wood property traits, (2) genetic improvements could be achieved by selection among and within provenances with greater levels of improvement available from selection within populations, (3) genotype by environment interactions were negligible, (4) genetic correlations between traits were favourable, and (5) selection of volume production alone would maximise improvements in pulp productivity

Multisource energy conversion in plants with soft epicuticular coatings

Living plants have recently been exploited for unusual tasks such as energy conversion and environmental sensing. Yet, using plants as small-scale autonomous energy sources is often impeded by multicable and -electrode installations on the plants. Moreover, insufficient power outputs for steadily driving even low-power electronics made a realization challenging. Here, we show that plants, by a modification of the leaf epicuticular region can be transformed into cable-free, fully plant-enabled integrated devices for multisource energy conversion. In detail, leaf contact electrification caused by wind-induced inter-leaf tangency is magnified by a transparent elastomeric coating on one of two interacting leaves. This enables converting wind energy into harvestable electricity. Further, the same plant is used as an unmatched Marconi-antenna for multi-band radio frequency (RF) energy conversion. This enables the use of the same plant as a complementary multi-energy system with augmented power output if both sources are used simultaneously. In combination, we observed over 1000% enhanced energy accumulation respective to single source harvesting in the specific application case and common plants like ivy could power a commercial sensing platform wirelessly transmitting environmental data. This shows that living plants have potential to autonomously supply application-oriented electronics while maintaining the positive environmental impact by their intrinsic sustainability and benefits such as O-2 production, CO2 fixation, self-repair, and many more