35 research outputs found
The FORA Framework - A Fuzzy Grassroots Ontology for Online Reputation Management
No full textOnline reputation management deals with monitoring and influencing the online record of a person, an organization or a product. The Social Web offers increasingly simple ways to publish and disseminate personal or opinionated information, which can rapidly have a disastrous influence on the online reputation of some of the entities. The author focuses on the Social Web and possibilities of its integration with the Semantic Web as resource for a semi-automated tracking of online reputations using imprecise natural language terms. The inherent structure of natural language supports humans not only in communication but also in the perception of the world. Thereby fuzziness is a promising tool for transforming those human perceptions into computer artifacts. Through fuzzy grassroots ontologies, the Social Semantic Web becomes more naturally and thus can streamline online reputation management. For readers interested in the cross-over field of computer science, information systems, and social sciences, this book is an ideal source for becoming acquainted with the evolving field of fuzzy online reputation management in the Social Semantic Web area.
Global patterns of cropland use intensity
No full textThis study presents a global scale analysis of cropping intensity, crop duration and fallow land extent computed by using the global dataset on monthly irrigated and rainfed crop areas MIRCA2000. MIRCA2000 was mainly derived from census data and crop calendars from literature. Global cropland extent was 16 million km2 around the year 2000 of which 4.4 million km2 (28%) was fallow, resulting in an average cropping intensity of 0.82 for total cropland extent and of 1.13 when excluding fallow land. The lowest cropping intensities related to total cropland extent were found for Southern Africa (0.45), Central America (0.49) and Middle Africa (0.54), while highest cropping intensities were computed for Eastern Asia (1.04) and Southern Asia (1.0). In remote or arid regions where shifting cultivation is practiced, fallow periods last 3–10 years or even longer. In contrast, crops are harvested two or more times per year in highly populated, often irrigated tropical or subtropical lowlands where multi-cropping systems are common. This indicates that intensification of agricultural land use is a strategy that may be able to significantly improve global food security. There exist large uncertainties regarding extent of cropland, harvested crop area and therefore cropping intensity at larger scales. Satellite imagery and remote sensing techniques provide opportunities for decreasing these uncertainties and to improve the MIRCA2000 inventory
Impact of water withdrawals from groundwater and surface water on continental water storage variations
No full textHumans have strongly impacted the global water cycle, not only water flows but also water storage. We have performed a first global-scale analysis of the impact of water withdrawals on water storage variations, using the global water resources and use model WaterGAP. This required estimation of fractions of total water withdrawals from groundwater, considering five water use sectors. According to our assessment, the source of 35% of the water withdrawn worldwide (4300 km3/year during 1998–2002) is groundwater. Groundwater contributes 42%, 36% and 27% of water used for irrigation, households and manufacturing, respectively, while we assume that only surface water is used for livestock and for cooling of thermal power plants. Consumptive water use was 1400 km3/year during 1998–2002. It is the sum of the net abstraction of 250 km3/year of groundwater (taking into account evapotranspiration and return flows of withdrawn surface water and groundwater) and the net abstraction of 1150 km3/year of surface water. Computed net abstractions indicate, for the first time at the global scale, where and when human water withdrawals decrease or increase groundwater or surface water storage. In regions with extensive surface water irrigation, such as Southern China, net abstractions from groundwater are negative, i.e. groundwater is recharged by irrigation. The opposite is true for areas dominated by groundwater irrigation, such as in the High Plains aquifer of the central USA, where net abstraction of surface water is negative because return flow of withdrawn groundwater recharges the surface water compartments. In intensively irrigated areas, the amplitude of seasonal total water storage variations is generally increased due to human water use; however, in some areas, it is decreased. For the High Plains aquifer and the whole Mississippi basin, modeled groundwater and total water storage variations were compared with estimates of groundwater storage variations based on groundwater table observations, and with estimates of total water storage variations from the GRACE satellites mission. Due to the difficulty in estimating area-averaged seasonal groundwater storage variations from point observations of groundwater levels, it is uncertain whether WaterGAP underestimates actual variations or not. We conclude that WaterGAP possibly overestimates water withdrawals in the High Plains aquifer where impact of human water use on water storage is readily discernible based on WaterGAP calculations and groundwater observations. No final conclusion can be drawn regarding the possibility of monitoring water withdrawals in the High Plains aquifer using GRACE. For the less intensively irrigated Mississippi basin, observed and modeled seasonal groundwater storage reveals a discernible impact of water withdrawals in the basin, but this is not the case for total water storage such that water withdrawals at the scale of the whole Mississippi basin cannot be monitored by GRACE
Rising plasma nociceptin level during development of HCC: A case report
No full textAIM: Although liver cirrhosis is a predisposing factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), relatively few reports are available on HCC in primary biliary cirrhosis. High plasma nociceptin (N/OFQ) level has been shown in Wilson disease and in patients with acute and chronic pain.
METHODS: We report a follow-up case of HCC, which developed in a patient with primary biliary cirrhosis. The tumor appeared 18 years after the diagnosis of PBC and led to death within two years. Alfa fetoprotein and serum nociceptin levels were monitored before and during the development of HCC. Nociceptin content was also measured in the tumor tissue.
RESULTS: The importance and the curiosity of the presented case was the novel finding of the progressive elevation of plasma nociceptin level up to 17-fold (172 pg/mL) above the baseline (9.2 +/- 1.8 pg/mL) parallel with the elevation of alpha fetoprotein (from 13 ng/mL up to 3 480 ng/mL) during tumor development. Nociceptin content was more than 15-fold higher in the neoplastic tissue (0.16 pg/mg) than that in the tumor-free liver tissue samples (0.01 pg/mg) taken during the autopsy.
CONCLUSION: Results are in concordance with our previous observation that a very high plasma nociceptin level may be considered as an indicator for hepatocellular carcinoma
Defying the moulds of patriarchy: Nomambotwe Khawula of Umzumbe in Natal, 1860 – 1927.
No full textPeer reviewed journal article.The Umzumbe mission station is probably one of the most beautiful and inspiring stations belonging to the American Board Mission. It is situated in the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal and surrounded by rolling hills, endlessly stretching for miles in every direction. The mission station was first conceived in 1861 by Elijah and Addie Robbins and later taken over by Henry and Laura Bridgman in 1869. Under their leadership a church, school and dispensary were all built and opened. The station was also run by Amy Bridgman Cowles, Laura Bridgman’s daughter, and her husband George Cowles from 1904. It was this family that have written and passed on the stories of some of the more prominent members of their congregation in Umzumbe. It is in critically evaluating both the author and the subjects of missionary writing that we can learn more about the stereotypes that people faced and their changing nature over the two generations of the three women examined: two of them defying the traditional moulds of patriarchy and the third as the storyteller
Preliminary investigation of the effects of long-term dietary intake of genistein and daidzein on hepatic histopathology and biochemistry in domestic cats (Felis catus)
No full textDietary isoflavones have been hypothesised to play a role in hepatic veno-occlusive disease in captive exotic felids, although empirical evidence is lacking. This study aimed to investigate the effect of long-term (>1 year) dietary genistein and daidzein exposure on the hepatic biochemistry and histology of domestic cats. Individual cats were assessed for hepatic enzyme and bile acid production before and after the removal of isoflavones from their diet in the treatment group (n=4), and at the same times in unexposed control animals (n=7). No significant differences were detectable in hepatic biochemistry between treatment and control groups, and all serum values were within the normal reference ranges for domestic cats. Additionally, treatment animals demonstrated slightly greater areas of fibrosis surrounding hepatic venules than control animals, but this difference was not statistically significant. On the basis of the results presented, dietary isoflavones, at the current dose and duration of exposure do not appear to modulate hepatic enzyme production or histological parameters
Allies of the Order: Guilt-Projecting Witticism and Moral Discredit through Fantastic Non-Human Appearances Referring to Religious Others
No full textIl saggio presenta una ricerca effettuata sulle comparse di figure dissonanti, fantastiche, mostruose, nelle pagine dei libri miniati fiamminghi e inglesi, comparandone l'ideazione con quella delle sculture aggettanti, in chiese e edifici pubblici, specie del mondo iberico, ugualmente contraddistinte da un aspetto ibrido e perturbante, lungo le vie dei pellegrinaggi e della predicazione. Lo studio incrocia l'analisi stilistica e compositiva con la letteratura mistica, moraleggiante e apocalittica, con i trattati spirituali e gli scritti, relativi alle apologie delle crociate, per identificare la connessione tra attributi e elementi grotteschi e che rimandano al mondo animale e difetti fisici e morali, riferiti in maniera combinatoria a ebrei e musulmani (ma anche ad abitanti immaginari di paesi remoti e altri mondi) tra Medioevo e prima età moderna. Lo studio infine riflette sulla politica delle immagini, legata alla raffigurazione della marginalità (religiosa e sociale) tra meraviglia, satira e discredito, in relazione con le vicende storiche che hanno interessato la raffigurazione dell'altro in Europa, in immagini di propaganda e in consonanti proiezioni appartenenti alla devozione privata. Sottoposto a doppio referaggio cieco.The essay reconsiders mixed anthropomorphic, mythological and animal figures that were depicted on the margins of French and English illuminated manuscripts or sculpted in Spanish Romanesque churches. Taking in consideration the state of research that shows that physical troubles and moral disorders were considered together, the author reconsiders with an interdisciplinary methodology, the questions of the upside-down world and the monsters. It is an anthropological and visual analysis showing that such images were not only used as apotropaic items, but also associated with non-Christian cultures, in order to criticize the potential social and religious disorder caused by the Jews and Muslims at that time. The essay compares illustrations with medieval texts, either religious or profane, in order to underline the context of the creation of such figures and their use within the propaganda for the Crusades at that time. It also reconsiders the question of the visual construction of a Christian ‘self’ vs. the diversity of the representations of ‘otherness’. The study has been extended to include an analysis of physical deformity and anatomical diseases, using as example animals and moral pollution of the ‘other’. Such a context had a great impact on the ‘disguised’ or ‘erased’ image of the Jews, the Muslims and the Black people in medieval and early modern art, on the margins of manuscripts and in religious architecture at that time, because of their animal-like depiction, which enhanced a negative interpretation of their religious ‘otherness’. The chapter explores how the process of stigmatization involves effects of surprise and wonder, as well as contempt and discredit, dwelling on how the artistic invention of non-human and post-human figures has been charged with solving political and social problems and disorders, providing support not only for religious propaganda, but also for attempts at moral normalization. This publication has been peer reviewed (double blind)
Weltweite Abschätzung monatlicher bewässerter und Regenfeldbau-Feldfrucht-Flächen mit einer Auflösung von 5 Bogenminuten
No full textAgriculture of crops provides more than 85% of the energy in human diet, while also securing income of more than 2.6 billion people. To investigate past, present and future changes in the domain of food security, water resources and water use, nutrient cycles, and land management it is required to know the agricultural land use, in particular which crop grows where and when. The current global land use or land cover data sets are based on remote sensing and agricultural census statistics. In general, these only contain one or very few classes of agricultural land use. When crop-specific areas are given, no distinction of irrigated and rainfed areas is made, whereas it is necessary to distinguish rainfed and irrigated crops, because crop productivity and water use differ significantly between them.
To support global-scale assessments that are sensitive to agricultural land use, the global data set of Monthly Irrigated and Rainfed Crop Areas around the year 2000 (MIRCA2000) was developed by the author. With a spatial resolution of 5 arc-minutes (approximately 9.2 km at the equator), MIRCA2000 provides for the first time, spatially explicit irrigated and rainfed crop areas separately for each of the 26 crop classes for each month of the year, and includes multi-cropping. The data set covers all major food crops as well as cotton, while the remaining crops are grouped into three categories (perennial, annual and fodder grasses). Also for the first time, crop calendars on national or sub-national level were consistently linked to annual values of harvested area at the 5 arc-minutes grid cell level, such that monthly growing areas could be computed that are representative for the time period 1998 to 2002.
The downscaling algorithm maximizes the consistency to the grid-based input data of cropland extent [Ramankutty et al., 2008], crop-specific total annual harvested area [Monfreda et al., 2008], and area equipped for irrigation [Siebert et al., 2007]. In addition to the methodology, this dissertation describes differences to other datasets and standard scaling methods, as well as some applications. For quality assessment independent datasets and newly developed quality parameters are used, and scale effects are discussed.
Supplementary Appendices document crop calendars for irrigated and rainfed crops for each of the 402 spatial units (Appendix I), data sources of harvested area and of cropping periods for irrigated crops, country by country (Appendix K), as well as data quality parameters (Appendix L, including spreadsheet files).Die Landwirtschaft stellt mehr als 85% der Energie für die menschliche Ernährung bereit. Um die Verfügbarkeit von Nahrungsmitteln unter Berücksichtigung von Wasserressourcen, Nährstoffen und Intensität des Managements zu untersuchen, muss die Flächennutzung in der Landwirtschaft bekannt sein, insbesondere, welche Feldfrüchte wo und wann angebaut werden. Die bisherigen globalen Datensätze zur Landnutzung basieren auf Fernerkundungsdaten oder landwirtschaftlichen Statistiken. In der Regel werden in diesen nur eine oder wenige Klassen landwirtschaftlicher Bodenbedeckung ausgewiesen. Wenn feldfruchtspezifische Flächen erwähnt sind, dann ohne Unterscheidung bewässerter Flächen und Regenfeldbau. Genau diese Unterscheidung ist wichtig, da sich die entsprechenden Flächen im Hinblick auf Produktivität, Wassernutzung und Konkurrenz zu anderen Sektoren deutlich unterscheiden.
Um entsprechende Untersuchungen zu unterstützen, wurde vom Autor der innovative globale Datensatz monatlicher bewässerter und Regenfeldbau-Feldfrucht-Flächen repräsentativ für das Jahr 2000 (Monthly Irrigated and Rainfed Crop Areas around the year 2000, MIRCA2000) entwickelt. Der Landnutzungsdatensatz hat eine Auflösung von 5 Bogenminuten (etwa 9.2 km am Äquator) und ist repräsentativ für die Zeitspanne 1998 bis 2002. MICRA2000 kombiniert Ernteflächenstatistiken konsistent mit Anbaukalendern auf nationalem oder sub-nationalem Niveau. Als erstes globales Produkt unterscheidet es räumlich explizit zwischen bewässerten Anbauflächen und solchen, die im Regenfeldbau bewirtschaftet werden, und berücksichtigt Mehrfachanbau. Die Anbauflächen werden differenziert für jeden Monat im Jahr und für 26 verschiedene Feldfrucht-Klassen, welche alle für die menschliche Ernährung wichtigen Feldfrüchte, Baumwolle und unspezifische jährliche Kulturen, Dauerkulturen, sowie Futtergräser beinhalten.
Die im Detail beschriebene Regionalisierungsmethode maximiert die Konsistenz zu den Eingangsdaten der landwirtschaftlichen Nutzfläche [Ramankutty et al., 2008], der feldfruchtspezifischen jährlichen Gesamt-Erntefläche [Monfreda et al., 2008], und der für die Bewässerung ausgerüstete Fläche [Siebert et al., 2007]. Unterschiede zu anderen Datensätzen und zu Standardverfahren der Regionalisierung sowie exemplarische Anwendungen werden aufgezeigt. Zur Beurteilung der Datenqualität werden neben unabhängigen Datensätzen auch eigens entwickelte Gütemaße verwendet sowie Skaleneffekte diskutiert.
Separate Anhänge dokumentieren die Kalender mit Anbauflächen für bewässerte und Regenfeldbau-Feldfrüchte für die genutzten 402 räumlichen Einheiten (Anhang I), die Datenquellen für Ernteflächen und Anbauperioden bewässerter Feldfrüchte, nach Ländern sortiert (Anhang K), sowie die Gütemaße (Anhang L, inklusive Tabellenkalkulations-Dateien)
Effects of idealized land cover and land management changes on the atmospheric water cycle
No full textLand cover and land management changes (LCLMCs) play an important role in achieving low-end warming scenarios through land-based mitigation. However, their effects on moisture fluxes and recycling remain uncertain, although they have important implications for the future viability of such strategies. Here, we analyse the impact of idealized LCLMC scenarios on atmospheric moisture transport in three different Earth system model (ESMs): the Community Earth System Model (CESM), the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM), and the European Consortium Earth System Model (EC-EARTH). The LCLMC scenarios comprise of a full cropland world, a fully afforested world, and a cropland world with unlimited irrigation expansion. The effects of these LCLMC in the different ESMs are analysed for precipitation, evaporation, and vertically integrated moisture flux convergence to understand the LCLMC-induced changes in the atmospheric moisture cycle. Then, a moisture tracking algorithm is applied to assess the effects of LCLMC on moisture recycling at the local (grid cell level) and the global scale (continental moisture recycling). By applying a moisture tracking algorithm on fully coupled ESM simulations we are able to quantify the complete effects of LCLMC on moisture recycling (including circulation changes), which are generally not considered in moisture recycling studies. Our results indicate that cropland expansion is generally causing a drying and reduced local moisture recycling, while afforestation and irrigation expansion generally cause wetting and increased local moisture recycling. However, the strength of this effect varies across ESMs and shows a large dependency on the dominant driver. Some ESMs show a dominance of large-scale atmospheric circulation changes while other ESMs show a dominance of local to regional changes in the atmospheric water cycle only within the vicinity of the LCLMC. Overall, these results corroborate that LCLMC can induce substantial effects on the atmospheric water cycle and moisture recycling, both through local effects and changes in atmospheric circulation. However, more research is needed to constrain the uncertainty of these effects within ESMs to better inform future land-based mitigation strategies.Water Resource
