Ecosystem management via interacting models of political and ecological processes

The decision to implement environmental protection options is a political one. Political realities may cause a country to not heed the most persuasive scientific analysis of an ecosystem's future health. A predictive understanding of the political processes that result in ecosystem management decisions may help guide ecosystem management policymaking. To this end, this article develops a stochastic, temporal model of how political processes influence and are influenced by ecosystem processes. This model is realized in a system of interacting influence diagrams that model the decision making of a country's political bodies. These decisions interact with a model of the ecosystem enclosed by the country. As an example, a model for Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) management in Kenya is constructed and fitted to decision and ecological data

Real-time Spatial Detection and Tracking of Resources in a Construction Environment

Construction accidents with heavy equipment and bad decision making can be based on poor knowledge of the site environment and in both cases may lead to work interruptions and costly delays. Supporting the construction environment with real-time generated three-dimensional (3D) models can help preventing accidents as well as support management by modeling infrastructure assets in 3D. Such models can be integrated in the path planning of construction equipment operations for obstacle avoidance or in a 4D model that simulates construction processes. Detecting and guiding resources, such as personnel, machines and materials in and to the right place on time requires methods and technologies supplying information in real-time. This paper presents research in real-time 3D laser scanning and modeling using high range frame update rate scanning technology. Existing and emerging sensors and techniques in three-dimensional modeling are explained. The presented research successfully developed computational models and algorithms for the real-time detection, tracking, and three-dimensional modeling of static and dynamic construction resources, such as workforce, machines, equipment, and materials based on a 3D video range camera. In particular, the proposed algorithm for rapidly modeling three-dimensional scenes is explained. Laboratory and outdoor field experiments that were conducted to validate the algorithm’s performance and results are discussed

Gestión de ecosistemas mediante modelos interactivos de procesos políticos y ecológicos

The decision to implement environmental protection options is a political one. Political realities may cause a country to not heed the most persuasive scientific analysis of an ecosystem’s future health. A predictive understanding of the political processes that result in ecosystem management decisions may help guide ecosystem management policymaking. To this end, this article develops a stochastic, temporal model of how political processes influence and are influenced by ecosystem processes. This model is realized in a system of interacting influence diagrams that model the decision making of a country’s political bodies. These decisions interact with a model of the ecosystem enclosed by the country. As an example, a model for Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) management in Kenya is constructed and fitted to decision and ecological data.La decisión de implementar opciones de protección medioambiental es de carácter político. Las realidades políticas de un país pueden permitir ignorar los análisis científicos más rotundos acerca de la futura salud de un ecosistema. Una comprensión predictiva de los procesos políticos que conducen a la toma de decisiones sobre la gestión de los ecosistemas puede contribuir a orientar las políticas relativas a dichas áreas. Con este objetivo, el presente artículo desarrolla un modelo estocástico temporal acerca de cómo los procesos políticos influyen y son influidos por los procesos de los ecosistemas. Dicho modelo se ha estructurado a partir de un sistema de diagramas de influencia interactivos que configuran la toma de decisiones de las instituciones políticas de un país. Dichas decisiones interactúan con un modelo del ecosistema presente en el país. Así, a modo de ejemplo, se elabora un modelo para la gestión del guepardo (Acinonyx jubatus) en Kenia, ajustándose a los datos ecológicos y de toma de decisiones

The uniting of Europe and the foundation of EU studies: revisiting the neofunctionalism of Ernst B. Haas

This article suggests that the neofunctionalist theoretical legacy left by Ernst B. Haas is somewhat richer and more prescient than many contemporary discussants allow. The article develops an argument for routine and detailed re-reading of the corpus of neofunctionalist work (and that of Haas in particular), not only to disabuse contemporary students and scholars of the normally static and stylized reading that discussion of the theory provokes, but also to suggest that the conceptual repertoire of neofunctionalism is able to speak directly to current EU studies and comparative regionalism. Neofunctionalism is situated in its social scientific context before the theory's supposed erroneous reliance on the concept of 'spillover' is discussed critically. A case is then made for viewing Haas's neofunctionalism as a dynamic theory that not only corresponded to established social scientific norms, but did so in ways that were consistent with disciplinary openness and pluralism

Density of bulk trap states in organic semiconductor crystals: discrete levels induced by oxygen in rubrene

The density of trap states in the bandgap of semiconducting organic single crystals has been measured quantitatively and with high energy resolution by means of the experimental method of temperature-dependent space-charge-limited-current spectroscopy (TD-SCLC). This spectroscopy has been applied to study bulk rubrene single crystals, which are shown by this technique to be of high chemical and structural quality. A density of deep trap states as low as ~ 10^{15} cm^{-3} is measured in the purest crystals, and the exponentially varying shallow trap density near the band edge could be identified (1 decade in the density of states per ~25 meV). Furthermore, we have induced and spectroscopically identified an oxygen related sharp hole bulk trap state at 0.27 eV above the valence band.Comment: published in Phys. Rev. B, high quality figures: http://www.cpfs.mpg.de/~krellner

Photoemission Spectra in t-J Ladders with Two Legs

Photoemission spectra for the isotropic two-leg t-J ladder are calculated at various hole-doping levels using exact diagonalization techniques. Low-energy sharp features caused by short-range antiferromagnetic correlations are observed at finite doping levels close to half-filling, above the naive Fermi momentum. These features should be observable in angle-resolved photoemission experiments. In addition, the formation of a d-wave pairing condensate as the ratio J/t is increased leads to dynamically generated spectral weight for momenta close to $k_F$ where the $d_{x^2-y^2 }$-order parameter is large.Comment: 9 pages, RevTex, to be published in Phys. Rev. B (RC