233 research outputs found
An evaluation of the perceptions of products derived from gene technology among undergraduates at the University of Malta
A pilot study on the perceptions of genetically engineered-derived produce was carried out among undergraduates in their final year of study at the University of Malta. 68% of the students interviewed accepted the idea of genetically modifying plants (GM) but the idea of creating GM animals was not acceptable to the same cohort with approval falling to 30.2% of the group. Gender was found to be important in influencing choices made by students. Females were less accepting of GM organisms and they were significantly less likely to buy GM produce, such as GM derived milk (p<0.001), tomatoes (p<0.05), and beef (p<0.01) than males. Subject background was also found to influence student opinions. Students with a strong background in biology were less likely to have faith in statements concerning GM products made by the farming community (p<0.05). However, the same students were more willing to accept statements about GM products by government organisations (p<0.01) and environmental groups (p<0.05) than those who had minimal or no biology in their background. The study is interesting, as it shows that at a fundamental level, complex factors are influencing the individual's choices on biotech derived products.peer-reviewe
On statistical approaches to generate Level 3 products from satellite remote sensing retrievals
Satellite remote sensing of trace gases such as carbon dioxide (CO) has
increased our ability to observe and understand Earth's climate. However, these
remote sensing data, specifically~Level 2 retrievals, tend to be irregular in
space and time, and hence, spatio-temporal prediction is required to infer
values at any location and time point. Such inferences are not only required to
answer important questions about our climate, but they are also needed for
validating the satellite instrument, since Level 2 retrievals are generally not
co-located with ground-based remote sensing instruments. Here, we discuss
statistical approaches to construct Level 3 products from Level 2 retrievals,
placing particular emphasis on the strengths and potential pitfalls when using
statistical prediction in this context. Following this discussion, we use a
spatio-temporal statistical modelling framework known as fixed rank kriging
(FRK) to obtain global predictions and prediction standard errors of
column-averaged carbon dioxide based on Version 7r and Version 8r retrievals
from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite. The FRK predictions
allow us to validate statistically the Level 2 retrievals globally even though
the data are at locations and at time points that do not coincide with
validation data. Importantly, the validation takes into account the prediction
uncertainty, which is dependent both on the temporally-varying density of
observations around the ground-based measurement sites and on the
spatio-temporal high-frequency components of the trace gas field that are not
explicitly modelled. Here, for validation of remotely-sensed CO data, we
use observations from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network. We demonstrate
that the resulting FRK product based on Version 8r compares better with TCCON
data than that based on Version 7r.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, 4 table
Non-Gaussian bivariate modelling with application to atmospheric trace-gas inversion
Atmospheric trace-gas inversion is the procedure by which the sources and
sinks of a trace gas are identified from observations of its mole fraction at
isolated locations in space and time. This is inherently a spatio-temporal
bivariate inversion problem, since the mole-fraction field evolves in space and
time and the flux is also spatio-temporally distributed. Further, the bivariate
model is likely to be non-Gaussian since the flux field is rarely Gaussian.
Here, we use conditioning to construct a non-Gaussian bivariate model, and we
describe some of its properties through auto- and cross-cumulant functions. A
bivariate non-Gaussian, specifically trans-Gaussian, model is then achieved
through the use of Box--Cox transformations, and we facilitate Bayesian
inference by approximating the likelihood in a hierarchical framework.
Trace-gas inversion, especially at high spatial resolution, is frequently
highly sensitive to prior specification. Therefore, unlike conventional
approaches, we assimilate trace-gas inventory information with the
observational data at the parameter layer, thus shifting prior sensitivity from
the inventory itself to its spatial characteristics (e.g., its spatial length
scale). We demonstrate the approach in controlled-experiment studies of methane
inversion, using fluxes extracted from inventories of the UK and Ireland and of
Northern Australia.Comment: 45 pages, 7 figure
A technique for improving conflict alerting performance in the context of runway incursions
An effective solution to the problem of runway incursions is long overdue. To date, an average of a thousand incursions are registered yearly in the United States alone, with similar figures registed in Europe. Installing a system on-board aircraft capable of providing an alert in the case of a runway incursion has the potential of significantly reducing this. As with any conflict detection and alerting system, the difficulty lies in the fine-tuning of the parameters which define a conflict, in effect resulting in finding the right trade-off between false and missed detections and associated alerts. This is an important consideration in the design of any conflict detection system and is key in the context of runway incursion alerting where aircraft would be travelling at high speed and in close proximity of eachother. This paper addresses this problem by providing an assessement on the effects of false and missed detections in the event of a runway incursion and
provides mathematical tools for tuning the conflict detection boundaries.peer-reviewe
Raccomandazioni per la gestione e la conservazione di due popolazioni di Aphanius Fasciatus Nardo dalle Isole Maltesi
The Aphanius fasciatus populations at the two Maltese wetlands of Simar and Ghadira
were monitoired during the May-October 2008 period for signs of pathogenesis and in terms of sex
ratio and individual morphology. The putative impact of a number of abiotic factors on populaiton
structure was also assessed. The study concludes that the percentage of juveniles within the two killifish
populations is highest during the July-August period, and that reproductive activity resumes in October
at the end of the dry season which coincides with a stalling of reproductive activity and with a high
juvenile mortality. Recommendations for the amplification of killifish-specific monitoring protocols are
also made.peer-reviewe
Multi-Scale Process Modelling and Distributed Computation for Spatial Data
Recent years have seen a huge development in spatial modelling and prediction
methodology, driven by the increased availability of remote-sensing data and
the reduced cost of distributed-processing technology. It is well known that
modelling and prediction using infinite-dimensional process models is not
possible with large data sets, and that both approximate models and, often,
approximate-inference methods, are needed. The problem of fitting simple global
spatial models to large data sets has been solved through the likes of
multi-resolution approximations and nearest-neighbour techniques. Here we
tackle the next challenge, that of fitting complex, nonstationary, multi-scale
models to large data sets. We propose doing this through the use of
superpositions of spatial processes with increasing spatial scale and
increasing degrees of nonstationarity. Computation is facilitated through the
use of Gaussian Markov random fields and parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo
based on graph colouring. The resulting model allows for both distributed
computing and distributed data. Importantly, it provides opportunities for
genuine model and data scaleability and yet is still able to borrow strength
across large spatial scales. We illustrate a two-scale version on a data set of
sea-surface temperature containing on the order of one million observations,
and compare our approach to state-of-the-art spatial modelling and prediction
methods.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl
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