A framework for tracing timber following the Ukraine invasion

Scientific testing including stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) and trace element analysis (TEA) is critical for establishing plant origin, tackling deforestation and enforcing economic sanctions. Yet methods combining SIRA and TEA into robust models for origin verification and determination are lacking. Here we report a (1) large Eastern European timber reference database (Betula, Fagus, Pinus, Quercus) tailored to sanctioned products following the Ukraine invasion; (2) statistical test to verify samples against a claimed origin; (3) probabilistic model of SIRA, TEA and genus distribution data, using Gaussian processes, to determine timber harvest location. Our verification method rejects 40–60% of simulated false claims, depending on the spatial scale of the claim, and maintains a low probability of rejecting correct origin claims. Our determination method predicts harvest location within 180 to 230 km of true location. Our results showcase the power of combining data types with probabilistic modelling to identify and scrutinize timber harvest location claims

Long-term droughts may drive drier tropical forests towards increased functional, taxonomic and phylogenetic homogeneity

Tropical ecosystems adapted to high water availability may be highly impacted by climatic changes that increase soil and atmospheric moisture deficits. Many tropical regions are experiencing significant changes in climatic conditions, which may induce strong shifts in taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of forest communities. However, it remains unclear if and to what extent tropical forests are shifting in these facets of diversity along climatic gradients in response to climate change. Here, we show that changes in climate affected all three facets of diversity in West Africa in recent decades. Taxonomic and functional diversity increased in wetter forests but tended to decrease in forests with drier climate. Phylogenetic diversity showed a large decrease along a wet-dry climatic gradient. Notably, we find that all three facets of diversity tended to be higher in wetter forests. Drier forests showed functional, taxonomic and phylogenetic homogenization. Understanding how different facets of diversity respond to a changing environment across climatic gradients is essential for effective long-term conservation of tropical forest ecosystems

Human Body Imaging: generic tasks in medical image processing, illustrating the application of computer science and digital signal processing techniques

Abstract: The algorithmic design processes for 3 generic tasks in medical image processing, illustrated on specific applications, are described: (1) registration for intra-oral images, (2) compression for 3D images, (3) segmentation and labelling for images of the cortex

Images of restorative Justice Theory

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Queer Politics in China: A Conversation with "Western" Activists Working in Beijing

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The mobile museum guide: Artwork recognition with eigenpaintings and SURF

This paper investigates the performance of eigenpaintings, SURF and a combination of both methods in a query-bypicture system dedicated to artwork images. For this purpose a database containing photographs of 17 artworks was created. These photos were taken by visitors of the exhibition \u93The VUB Art Collection \u96 On Display and in Your Hand\u94 using the camera of a mobile phone. The resulting images present several challenging aspects, including reflections, different light conditions, variations in perspective viewing conditions etc. Experiments show that the method based on eigenpaintings classifies 85% of the artworks correctly and the method based on SURF 84%. The combined classifier shows an accuracy of 88%