Suitability

The suitability of grazing, burning, mowing and cutting as tools for succession control in peatland was assessed and expressed on a scale from 0 - 1. All management tools are suitable, but their effects are conditional. The suitability depends on the targeted vegetation transition and on their intensity and timing. Maintenance and restoration of short vegetation requires an annual or short cyclic (2-5 years) removal of the major portion of the aboveground annual production during the growing season. Grazers, Intermediate Feeders, Browsers and mechanical removal (including burning) fulfil a complementary role. Taking a suitability value of >0.66 as criterion, a complete herbivore assemblage at saturation density might realise all objectives, except regression from Alder to short vegetation. This requires cutting. Lacking herbivory may be substituted by removal by man or by fire. Suppression of invading shrub by winter burning requires sufficient inflammable biomass. Winter burning cannot substitute the effects of summer grazing on tall sedges and Reed. Burning in late winter may damage early shoots of sedges and Bush gras

Application of Species Distribution Modeling for Avian Influenza surveillance in the United States considering the North America Migratory Flyways.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has recently (2014-2015) re-emerged in the United States (US) causing the largest outbreak in US history with 232 outbreaks and an estimated economic impact of $950 million. This study proposes to use suitability maps for Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza (LPAI) to identify areas at high risk for HPAI outbreaks. LPAI suitability maps were based on wild bird demographics, LPAI surveillance, and poultry density in combination with environmental, climatic, and socio-economic risk factors. Species distribution modeling was used to produce high-resolution (cell size: 500m x 500m) maps for Avian Influenza (AI) suitability in each of the four North American migratory flyways (NAMF). Results reveal that AI suitability is heterogeneously distributed throughout the US with higher suitability in specific zones of the Midwest and coastal areas. The resultant suitability maps adequately predicted most of the HPAI outbreak areas during the 2014-2015 epidemic in the US (i.e. 89% of HPAI outbreaks were located in areas identified as highly suitable for LPAI). Results are potentially useful for poultry producers and stakeholders in designing risk-based surveillance, outreach and intervention strategies to better prevent and control future HPAI outbreaks in the US

Investigating the potential impact of 1.5, 2 and 3 °C global warming levels on crop suitability and planting season over West Africa

West African rainfed agriculture is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change. Global warming is projected to result in higher regional warming and have a strong impact on agriculture. This study specifically examines the impact of global warming levels (GWLs) of 1.5°, 2° and 3 °C relative to 1971–2000 on crop suitability over West Africa. We used 10 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase5 Global Climate Models (CMIP5 GCMs) downscaled by Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) Rossby Centre’s regional Atmospheric model version 4, RCA4, to drive Ecocrop, a crop suitability model, for pearl millet, cassava, groundnut, cowpea, maize and plantain. The results show Ecocrop simulated crop suitability spatial representation with higher suitability, observed to the south of latitude 14°N and lower suitability to its north for 1971–2000 for all crops except for plantain (12°N). The model also simulates the best three planting months within the growing season from September-August over the past climate. Projected changes in crop suitability under the three GWLs 1.5–3.0 °C suggest a spatial suitability expansion for legume and cereal crops, notably in the central southern Sahel zone; root and tuber and plantain in the central Guinea-Savanna zone. In contrast, projected decreases in the crop suitability index value are predicted to the south of 14°N for cereals, root and tuber crops; nevertheless, the areas remain suitable for the crops. A delay of between 1-3 months is projected over the region during the planting month under the three GWLs for legumes, pearl millet and plantain. A two month delay in planting is projected in the south, notably over the Guinea and central Savanna zone with earlier planting of about three months in the Savanna-Sahel zones. The effect of GWL2.0 and GWL3.0 warming in comparison to GWL1.5 °C are more dramatic on cereals and root and tuber crops, especially cassava. All the projected changes in simulated crop suitability in response to climatic variables are statistically significant at 99% confidence level. There is also an increasing trend in the projected crop suitability change across the three warming except for cowpea. This study has implications for improving the resilience of crop production to climate changes, and more broadly, to food security in West Africa

Spatial multi-criteria decision analysis to predict suitability for African swine fever endemicity in Africa

Background African swine fever (ASF) is endemic in several countries of Africa and may pose a risk to all pig producing areas on the continent. Official ASF reporting is often rare and there remains limited awareness of the continent-wide distribution of the disease. In the absence of accurate ASF outbreak data and few quantitative studies on the epidemiology of the disease in Africa, we used spatial multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) to derive predictions of the continental distribution of suitability for ASF persistence in domestic pig populations as part of sylvatic or domestic transmission cycles. In order to incorporate the uncertainty in the relative importance of different criteria in defining suitability, we modelled decisions within the MCDA framework using a stochastic approach. The predictive performance of suitability estimates was assessed via a partial ROC analysis using ASF outbreak data reported to the OIE since 2005. Results Outputs from the spatial MCDA indicate that large areas of sub-Saharan Africa may be suitable for ASF persistence as part of either domestic or sylvatic transmission cycles. Areas with high suitability for pig to pig transmission (‘domestic cycles’) were estimated to occur throughout sub-Saharan Africa, whilst areas with high suitability for introduction from wildlife reservoirs (‘sylvatic cycles’) were found predominantly in East, Central and Southern Africa. Based on average AUC ratios from the partial ROC analysis, the predictive ability of suitability estimates for domestic cycles alone was considerably higher than suitability estimates for sylvatic cycles alone, or domestic and sylvatic cycles in combination. Conclusions This study provides the first standardised estimates of the distribution of suitability for ASF transmission associated with domestic and sylvatic cycles in Africa. We provide further evidence for the utility of knowledge-driven risk mapping in animal health, particularly in data-sparse environments.</p

On the suitability of high vacuum electrospray deposition for the fabrication of molecular electronic devices

We present a series of three studies investigating the potential application of high vacuum electrospray deposition to construct molecular electronic devices. Through the use of time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry we explore the use of this novel deposition technique to fabricating multilayer structures using materials that are compatible with the same solvents and films containing a mixture of molecules from orthogonal solvents. Using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy we study the deposition of a polymer blend using electrospray and find evidence of preferential deposition of one of the components

The Suitability Rule and Economic Theory

The published rules of both the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provide that a broker or dealer in the securities market may recommend the purchase of a security only when there is a reasonable basis for believing that the security is suitable for the customer

Adequacy, suitability, effectiveness and efficiency of quality management systems: How to perceive and assess them?

Purpose: The paper brings set of original information related to the ISO 9001: 2015 standard's requirements focused on assessment and review of quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness. Methodology/Approach: Brainstorming, field research, seminars, comparative literature analysis, interviews and design review were used. Findings: According to the ISO 9001: 2015 the quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness must be assessed and reviewed, in spite of the terms adequacy and suitability are not defined at the ISO 9000: 2015 standard at all. Also literature review has discovered serious absentation in this area of interest. Additionally: the most of organizations managers (including quality professionals) do not understand these features of the modern quality management systems. Research Limitation/implication: Special research activities focused on perception and practical using the quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness assessment and review was performed on sample of 172 Czech organizations (with 30 % response rate). A hypotheses described by Fig. 1 below cannot be confirmed as relevant data are unobtainable from Czech organizations at present. Originality/Value of paper: The paper brings original set of information, regarding to definitions of terms as well as development of the quality management systems adequacy, suitability and effectiveness assessment and review at different types of organizations.Web of Science202523

Suitability of Capital Allocations for Performance Measurement

Capital allocation principles are used in various contexts in which a risk capital or a cost of an aggregate position has to be allocated among its constituent parts. We study capital allocation principles in a performance measurement framework. We introduce the notation of suitability of allocations for performance measurement and show under different assumptions on the involved reward and risk measures that there exist suitable allocation methods. The existence of certain suitable allocation principles generally is given under rather strict assumptions on the underlying risk measure. Therefore we show, with a reformulated definition of suitability and in a slightly modified setting, that there is a known suitable allocation principle that does not require any properties of the underlying risk measure. Additionally we extend a previous characterization result from the literature from a mean-risk to a reward-risk setting. Formulations of this theory are also possible in a game theoretic setting

The suitability of MSP for engineering infrastructure

This paper arose from empirical investigations of practitioner views of both governance and program definitions together with investigations of practitioner reference documents. These investigations indicated that some confusion had arisen in infrastructure project management as a result of approaches used in IT. This paper contributes to the literature evaluating project standards and methodologies by conducting an examination of the suitability of one such source (MSP) for use in engineering infrastructure program management. A deductive definitional approach is taken to identify features that could cause difficulty. Eight features were examined, and six were found to have difficulty in application to engineering infrastructure. The remaining two were found to be terminology differences that are unlikely to cause too much difficulty. The features causing difficulty include an inappropriate definition of a program, use of a non-generic process flow unsuitable for rolling programs, confusion of transformation projects with programs, the presumption of a board governance model, and confusion of large projects with programs. The paper concludes that MSP is quite poorly suited to managing rolling programs, whether they are in engineering infrastructure or IT. Various changes to MSP and PMI publications are recommended

Analysis-suitable adaptive T-mesh refinement with linear complexity

We present an efficient adaptive refinement procedure that preserves analysis-suitability of the T-mesh, this is, the linear independence of the T-spline blending functions. We prove analysis-suitability of the overlays and boundedness of their cardinalities, nestedness of the generated T-spline spaces, and linear computational complexity of the refinement procedure in terms of the number of marked and generated mesh elements.Comment: We now account for T-splines of arbitrary polynomial degree. We replaced the proof of Dual-Compatibility by a proof of Analysis-suitability, added a section where we address nestedness of the corresponding T-spline spaces, and removed the section on finite overlap the spline supports. 24 pages, 9 Figure