Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Hotspot selection »

In recent years, with the rapid development of social network media, it has become a valuable research direction to quickly analyze these texts and find out the current hotspots from them in real time. To address this problem, this paper proposes a method to discover current hotspots by combining deep neural networks with text data. First, the text data features are extracted based on the graphical convolutional neural network, and the temporal correlation of numerical information is modeled using gated recurrent units, and the numerical feature vectors are fused with the text feature vectors. Then, the K-means algorithm is optimized for the initial point selection problem, and a clustering algorithm based on the maximum density selection method in the moving range is proposed. Finally, the text feature representation method based on graph convolutional neural network is combined with the clustering algorithm based on the moving range density maximum selection method to build a deep learning-based media hotspot discovery framework. The accuracy of the proposed media hotspot discovery method and the comprehensive evaluation of the computing time have been verified experimentally.

Road safety has always been a crucial priority for municipalities, as vehicle accidents claim lives every day. Recent rapid improvements in video collection and processing technologies enable traffic researchers to identify and alleviate potentially dangerous situations. This paper illustrates cutting-edge methods by which conflict hotspots can be detected in various situations and conditions. Both pedestrian–vehicle and vehicle–vehicle conflict hotspots can be discovered, and we present an original technique for including more information in the graphs with shapes. Conflict hotspot detection, volume hotspot detection, and intersection-service evaluation allow us to understand the safety and performance issues and test countermeasures comprehensively. The selection of appropriate countermeasures is demonstrated by extensive analysis and discussion of two intersections in Gainesville, Florida, USA. Just as important is the evaluation of the efficacy of countermeasures. This paper advocates for selection from a menu of countermeasures at the municipal level, with safety as the top priority. Performance is also considered, and we present a novel concept of a performance–safety trade-off at intersections.

Considering the lack of quantitative criteria for the selection of elements in cartographic generalization, this study divided the hotspot areas of passengers into parts at three levels, gave them different weights, and then classified the elements from the different hotspots. On this basis, a method was proposed to quantify the priority of elements selection. Subsequently, the quantitative priority of different cartographic elements was summarized based on this method. In cartographic generalization, the method can be preferred to select the significant elements and discard those that are relatively non-significant.

Large-scale exome sequencing of tumors has enabled the identification of cancer drivers using recurrence-based approaches. Some of these methods also employ 3D protein structures to identify mutational hotspots in cancer-associated genes. In determining such mutational clusters in structures, existing approaches overlook protein dynamics, despite its essential role in protein function. We present a framework to identify cancer driver genes using a dynamics-based search of mutational hotspot communities. Mutations are mapped to protein structures, which are partitioned into distinct residue communities. These communities are identified in a framework where residue–residue contact edges are weighted by correlated motions (as inferred by dynamics-based models). We then search for signals of positive selection among these residue communities to identify putative driver genes, while applying our method to the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) PanCancer Atlas missense mutation catalog. Overall, we predict 1 or more mutational hotspots within the resolved structures of proteins encoded by 434 genes. These genes were enriched among biological processes associated with tumor progression. Additionally, a comparison between our approach and existing cancer hotspot detection methods using structural data suggests that including protein dynamics significantly increases the sensitivity of driver detection.

Data aggregation plays a vital role in the Internet of Things (IoT), and it aggregates the collected sensor data from devices to suppress redundant data transmissions. Many-to-one traffic pattern in the IoT induces hotspot problem and inefficient data aggregation. The Routing protocol for low-power and lossy networks (RPL) in the network layer impacts the hotspot problem due to the frequent usage of forwarding nodes and load imbalance. The processes of network layer protocol, such as trickle algorithm and Objective Functions (OF) for Destination Oriented Directed Acyclic Graph (DODAG) construction, need more attention to avoid hotspot for efficient data aggregation. This work proposes a Load Balanced RPL (LoB-RPL) protocol to avoid hotspot creation using a composite metric based parent selection, DODAG construction, and local topology adaptive decision on trickle parameters. The LoBRPL improves the Minimum Hop with Hysteresis Objective Function(MRHOF) using the composite metric based parent selection and tunes the parameters of the Trickle algorithm. It ensures efficient maintenance of DODAG structure, hotspot avoidance, and unnecessary DIO transmissions. Beyond the advantages of composite metric based parent selection, consideration of dynamic parameters may induce frequent parent switching in RPL. To avoid frequent changes in the DODAG structure, the LoB-RPL optimally decides the parent switching threshold. Thus, the proposed work ensures a load-balanced and an energy-efficient RPL routing as well as data aggregation in the IoT environment. The LoB-RPL delivers outperforming results compared to the base RPL under various inter-packet interval time over 50 node topologies.

Riau is one of the most vulnerable provinces to forest and land fires in Indonesia. The potency for forest and land fires is inseparable from the presence of peatlands and exacerbated by drought. The purpose of this research is to know the characteristics of meteorological drought using SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) method and its relation with forest and peatland fire as one of disaster management effort in Riau Province. The data used in this research are monthly rainfall data from meteorology station and rainfall posts of BMKG, hotspot data from NOAA satellite, map of Forest Use Agreement (TGHK), peat land map and land use map. Analysis of drought characteristics was done by calculating monthly SPI-1 then determining the maximum duration, intensity, severity and drought exposure. Determination of the severity of the drought by weighting and suspension method was based on duration and intensity while drought exposure was done by overlaying the map of the severity of the drought with the land use map. Meanwhile, to know the potential of forest and land fires began with the selection of hotspots on peatlands and forest areas every month then created a graph of the relationship of meteorological drought with the number of hotspots. Then, to see the relationship of drought distribution to the distribution of hotspots in dry season (MK) and wet season (MH) of 2015 was done by overlaying cover the drought distribution with hotspot distribution. The result shows that drought characteristic in the most of Riau province has maximum duration around 4-6 months, dry category of intensity, high category of severity with exposure area in paddy field, field, habitation, and plantation. Then, negative SPI Index (dry condition) has potential to increase the number of hotspots otherwise positive SPI index (wet condition) leads to low occurrence of hotspot. The drought distribution in the dry season (July, August, September) of 2015 triggers the number of hotspots during drought conditions, while in wet season (April, November, December) of 2015 are dominated by normal conditions, some areas are dry and wet, resulting in lower hotspots distribution compared to the dry season.

Abstract Background Mutation of TP53 is the most frequent genetic alteration in high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC). The impact of hotspot mutations of TP53 and protein levels on patient outcomes in HGSOC has not been fully elucidated. Methods The study population (n = 791) comprised of HGSOC samples with TP53 mutation from TCGA and other publicly available data. Univariate and multivariate cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to select variables that were correlated with patient survival. Results We assessed the effects of TP53 mutations based on type and individual hotspot mutations on patient outcomes in HGSOC. Only hotspot mutations were associated with outcomes. Three hotspot mutations: G266, Y163C, and R282, in aggregate were associated with a worsened overall and recurrence-free survival compared with other hotspot mutations (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.001), other non-hotspot missense mutations (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.008), truncated mutations (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.001), and all other mutations (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.001). Specific hotspot mutations were associated with different protein expression patterns consistent with different functions. Conclusions This study provides evidence that individual TP53 hotspot mutations have different impact on HGSOC patient outcomes and potentially TP53 function. Thus the status of particular TP53 aberrations could influence response to therapy and selection of therapeutic agents.

Abstract Forest and land fires are a disaster that occurs almost every year on Sumatra Island. Ogan Komering Ilir is one of the regencies in South Sumatra Province with a high number of hotspots causing forest and land fires every year. Prevention efforts are important to reduce the impact caused by forest and land fires on various aspects of life. One of them is by building a web-based Geographic Information System (WebGIS) for the distribution of hotspots as a form of early warning and detection system by utilizing VIIRS Nightfire (VNF) data from the remote sensing technology of the Suomi-NPP satellite which has Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active sensors which have been processed with the Nightfire algorithm. The Leaflet JavaScript library plays an important role in adding to the functionality of WebGIS with a wide selection of available plugins and easy-to-read source code to make web-based spatial information more interactive. The prototype of WebGIS with the name OKIApi has been successfully developed and has several key features such as displaying information on the distribution of hotspots that have been classified by temperature; the priority level of firefighting areas and the vulnerability level of flammable areas based on the type of land cover; route to the hotspot or the fire department locations; a chart of the estimated burned area from the source footprint of hotspot; and a chart of the number of hotspots per day that have been classified by temperature. The percentage value of the web feasibility for the functionality test to 13 WebGIS features is 100% with a very good predicate, the usability test is 91.5% with a very good predicate, and the portability test on 18 web browsers applications is 100% with a very good predicate.

With podcasts being a fast growing audio-only form of media, an effective way of promoting different podcast shows becomes more and more vital to all the stakeholders concerned, including the podcast creators, the podcast streaming platforms, and the podcast listeners. This thesis investigates the relatively little studied topic of automatic podcast trailer generation, with the purpose of en- hancing the overall visibility and publicity of different podcast contents and gen- erating more user engagement in podcast listening. This thesis takes a hotspot- based approach, by specifically defining the vague concept of “hotspot” and designing different appropriate methods for hotspot detection. Different meth- ods are analyzed and compared, and the best methods are selected. The selected methods are then used to construct an automatic podcast trailer generation sys- tem, which consists of four major components and one schema to coordinate the components. The system can take a random podcast episode audio as input and generate an around 1 minute long trailer for it. This thesis also proposes two human-based podcast trailer evaluation approaches, and the evaluation results show that the proposed system outperforms the baseline with a large margin and achieves promising results in terms of both aesthetics and functionality.

ITALIANO. Gli obiettivi principali di questa tesi sono la caratterizzazione sottocosta della potenza ricavata dal moto ondoso in aree italiane non ancora studiate o poco studiate e l'ottimizzazione di dispositivi per la conversione dell’energia disponibile dal moto ondoso (WEC - Wave Energy Converters), nei due punti maggiormente energetici di ciascuna area. I dispositivi studiati sono un corpo oscillante (il caso di studio più semplice) fissato al fondale marino per mezzo di un sistema di conversione di energia e di un dispositivo galleggiante a colonna d'acqua oscillante chiamato Spar Buoy OWC e studiato presso l'Istituto di Ingegneria Meccanica (IDMEC) dell’Istituto Superiore Tecnico (IST) di Lisbona. La caratterizzazione sottocosta è stata ottenuta mediante simulazioni numeriche effettuate con il MIKE21- Spectral Wave, un modello spettrale di onda che permette la simulazione di fenomeni come l'interazione non lineare onda-onda, la dissipazione dovuta all’attrito con il fondale, la dissipazione indotta dal frangimento delle onde, la rifrazione e lo shoaling dovuti alla variazione della profondità. Come condizioni al contorno in mare aperto sono stati utilizzati i valori di altezza d'onda, periodo di picco, direzione media e fattore di diffusione estratti dal modello PREVIMER MENOR-4000M. Le aree analizzate sono: la Toscana Settentrionale (La Spezia - Livorno), la Toscana Centrale (Livorno - Piombino), la Liguria Occidentale (Ventimiglia - Imperia), la Sardegna Nord-Occidentale (Stintino - Alghero). Per i due climi d’onda corrispondenti ai punti maggiormente energetici di ciascuna area sono stati ottimizzati i due dispositivi studiati (corpo oscillante ancorato al fondale e Spar Buoy OWC) in base alla geometria e al sistema di conversione dell’energia. L’ottimizzazione è stata effettuata massimizzando delle funzioni obiettivo che tenessero conto del costo, dell'efficienza e delle prestazioni del dispositivo. INGLESE. The main purposes of this thesis are the nearshore wave energy characterization in Italian areas not yet analysed or little analysed and the optimization, in the two locations with the highest wave power of each area, of devices for the Wave Energy Conversion (WEC). The analysed devices were a single floating body linked to the seabed by means of a Power Take Off (PTO) mechanism (the simplest case of study) and of the Spar Buoy Oscillating Water Column (OWC), an axisymmetric floating OWC that was studied at Institute of Mechanical Engineering (IDMEC) of the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) in Lisbon. The nearshore characterization is computed with numerical simulations that were carried out by the MIKE21-Spectral Wave, a spectral wind-wave model based on unstructured mesh that allows the simulation of the phenomena as non-linear wave-wave interaction, dissipation due to white-capping, dissipation due to bottom friction, dissipation due to depth-induced wave breaking, refraction and shoaling due to depth variations. As offshore boundary conditions the values of wave height, peak period, average direction and spreading factor, of the points extracted by the MENOR-4000M PREVIMER model on a depth of 100 m, were used. This methodology is applied to four selected areas: the North of the Tuscany coast (La Spezia – Livorno), the centre of the Tuscany coast (Livorno – Piombino), the Western part of Liguria coast (Ventimiglia – Imperia) and the North-West of the Sardinia coast (Stintino – Alghero). The device optimization was performed for the geometry and for the PTO system in local wave climates selected for each area. The optimization procedure followed different criteria that consisted in maximizing objective functions, in order to consider the cost, particularly useful in the fully commercial stage, the efficiency and the performance of the devices.

碩士
國立臺北科技大學
電機工程研究所
105
In recent years, the satellite technique has a tremendous progress. The images captured by satellites contain larger data and dimensions. To solve the problem caused by the huge datasets, selecting the representative bands to achieve the dimensionality reduction. Then it will prevent the Hughes Phenomena. Some scholars proposed many algorithms for band selection, but the effects of dimensionality reduction are not obvious. A researcher proposed combining particle swarm optimization with correlation coefficients matrix to cluster the highly correlated bands and to obtain the greedy modular eigenspaces. According to the analytic hierarchy process model to present and rate the eigenspaces. It can obtain excellent rate in both dimensionality reduction and accuracy. Therefore, this paper proposed a more advanced rating method called hotspot analysis. This method can calculate the weightings and analyze the correlation between each clustered blocks in each eigenspace. Finally, selecting the representative bands with higher weighting scores and achieving a better result of dimensionality reduction. In the result, this paper uses MASTER and NTC remote sensing images as the experimental datasets. To test the correlation and variation between dimensionality reduction and accuracy. Comparing the advanced method with the original method. In Au-Ku, the dimensionality reduction rate are both 90.91% but the original accuracy is 95.37% and the advanced method is 99.99%. In NTC, the dimensionality reduction rate are both 87.7% but the original accuracy is 95.22% and the advanced method is 96.48%. The result can show the advanced method has the better effects.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
森林學研究所
93
The selections and analyses of biodiversity hotspot are critical for establishing protected areas. Using a 100×100 km grid system of bird breeding ranges in East Asia, I compared the spatial correlation of biodiversity hotspots selected by (1) total species richness, (2) limited-ranged species richness, (3) endangered species richness, and (4) complementary method. Furthermore, I examined the distribution of species richness of various avian orders and families and the correlation among species richness, genus richness, and family richness. I found that there were low spatial correlations among biodiversity hotspots selected by different methods. With same area, the hotspots selected by complementary method covered more species than other methods. There were high correlations among species richness, genus richness, and family richness. I conclude the hotspots of total species, limited-ranged species, and endangered species were not congruent with each other. In selecting protected areas, hotspots of limited-ranged species and endangered species should be given priorities and using complementary method could maximize the species covered by a given area and increase the efficiency of protected areas. Genus richness could be a good surrogate of species richness if obtaining species richness is difficult for field investigation.

AbstractThe main objective of a plant breeding program is to deliver superior germplasm for farmers in a defined set of environments, or a target population of environments (TPE). Historically, CIMMYT has characterized the environments in which the developed germplasm will be grown. The main factors that determine when and where a wheat variety can be grown are flowering time, water availability and the incidence of pests and diseases. A TPE consists of many (population) environments and future years or seasons, that share common variation in the farmers’ fields, it can also be seen as a variable group of future production environments. TPEs can be characterized by climatic, soil and hydrological features, as well as socioeconomic aspects. Whereas the selection environments (SE) are the environments where the breeder does the selection of the lines. The SE are identified for predicting the performance in the TPE, but the SE may not belong to the TPE. The utilization of advanced statistical methods allows the identification of GEI to obtain higher precision when estimating the genetic effects. Multi-environmental testing (MET) is a fundamental strategy for CIMMYT to develop stable high grain yielding germplasm in countries with developing economies. An adequate MET strategy allows the evaluation of germplasm in stress hotspots and the identification of representative and correlated sites; thus, breeders can make better and targeted decisions in terms of crossing, selection and logistic operations.

ZusammenfassungMit dem anwachsenden Wolfsbestand nehmen auch die Übergriffe auf Nutztiere in Deutschland von Jahr zu Jahr zu. In einem Punkt sind sich Landwirtschaft, Naturschutz und Politik einig: Wolfsübergriffe auf Nutztiere sollen nachhaltig minimiert werden. Darüber, wie dieses Ziel am besten erreicht werden kann, gibt es jedoch unterschiedliche Ansichten. In der öffentlichen Debatte werden Forderungen nach einem vereinfachten Abschuss von Wölfen oder einer generellen Bejagung immer lauter. Dabei wird davon ausgegangen, dass durch solche Maßnahmen Nutztierschäden durch Wölfe nachhaltig minimiert werden könnten.Bevor Maßnahmen des Wildtiermanagements angewandt werden, braucht es klare Zielvorgaben. Die erste Frage muss daher lauten: Was ist das primäre Ziel der Managementmaßnahme? Auf Basis wissenschaftlicher Evidenz muss dann vorab evaluiert werden, ob die in Frage kommenden Maßnahmen geeignet sind, das Ziel zu erreichen. Dies ist zwingend, wenn die Maßnahmen auch das Töten von empfindungsfähigen und noch dazu streng geschützten Tieren beinhalten. Um überprüfen zu können, wie wirksam die gewählten Managementmaßnahmen im konkreten Einsatz sind, werden Kriterien zur Bewertung des Erfolgs benötigt.In diesem Kapitel gehen wir der Frage nach, welche Managementmaßnahmen nach aktuellem Wissensstand geeignet sind, das Ziel, Wolfsübergriffe auf Nutztiere nachhaltig zu minimieren, zu erreichen. Wir erläutern zunächst, warum Wölfe Nutztiere töten und ob es einen Zusammenhang zwischen der Anzahl der Wölfe und der Höhe der Nutztierschäden gibt. Dafür untersuchen wir unter anderem die Daten von Wolfsübergriffen auf Nutztiere in Deutschland. Anhand einer umfangreichen Literaturübersicht analysieren wir, ob die folgenden Managementmaßnahmen geeignet sind, Wolfsübergriffe auf Nutztiere nachhaltig zu minimieren: 1) eine generelle Bejagung von Wölfen, 2) die selektive Entnahme von einzelnen schadensverursachenden Wölfen und 3) nicht-letale Herdenschutzmethoden. Abschließend legen wir Empfehlungen zu einem evidenzbasierten und lösungsorientierten Wolfsmanagement in Bezug auf den Wolf-Nutztierkonflikt vor.In Deutschland steigen mit der Zunahme der Wolfsterritorien auch die Übergriffe auf Schafe und Ziegen. Allerdings unterscheidet sich die Stärke des Anstiegs zwischen den Bundesländern erheblich. Einzelne Bundesländer erreichen bei der gleichen Anzahl an Wolfsterritorien sehr unterschiedliche Schadensniveaus. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass das Ausmaß der Schäden nicht allein durch die Anzahl der Wölfe bestimmt wird. Wir vermuten, dass die Unterschiede im Schadensniveau vor allem in der unterschiedlichen Umsetzung von Herdenschutzmaßnahmen in den einzelnen Bundesländern begründet sind.Die Ergebnisse der Literaturrecherche bezüglich der Wirksamkeit von letalen und nicht-letalen Managementmaßnahmen zum Schutz von Nutztieren zeigen klar: Eine generelle Bejagung von Wölfen führt nicht zu einer Reduktion von Nutztierschäden. Es gibt keine wissenschaftlichen Belege dafür, dass durch eine Bejagung die Schäden deutlich und nachhaltig verringert werden, es sein denn, der Bestand wird drastisch reduziert oder ganz ausgelöscht. Das ist in Deutschland und in der Europäischen Union bei aktueller Rechtslage nicht möglich. Im Gegensatz zu einer undifferenzierten Bejagung des Wolfs kann der gezielte Abschuss von Einzeltieren wirksam sein, wenn es sich tatsächlich um Individuen handelt, die gelernt haben, empfohlene funktionstüchtige Schutzmaßnahmen zu überwinden. Allerdings sind solche Fälle selten, und es ist schwierig in der freien Natur, ein bestimmtes Individuum sicher zu identifizieren und zu töten. Nicht-letale Herdenschutzmaßnahmen sind im Vergleich zu letalen Maßnahmen deutlich besser geeignet, eine nachhaltige Reduktion der Schäden zu erreichen. Der einzige Weg, um in Koexistenz mit Wölfen eine dauerhafte Reduktion von Schäden an Nutztieren zu erreichen, ist die fachgerechte Umsetzung von Herdenschutzmaßnahmen in breiter Fläche. Übergriffe auf Nutztiere lassen sich zwar auch dadurch nicht vollständig verhindern, sie können jedoch durch korrekt angewandte Herdenschutzmaßnahmen deutlich reduziert werden.Das Wissen, wie Schäden an Weidetieren durch Herdenschutzmaßnahmen verringert werden können, ist auch in Deutschland vorhanden. Viele Tierhaltende haben hier inzwischen ein hohes Maß an Fachkompetenz entwickelt. Die Erfahrung aus den vergangenen 20 Jahren zeigt allerdings auch, dass die Auszahlung von Fördergeldern für Herdenschutzmittel allein nicht ausreicht, um die Anzahl der Übergriffe deutlich zu senken. Es muss auch gewährleistet werden, dass die fachliche Expertise für die korrekte Anwendung und Wartung zur Verfügung steht. Vor allem in Gebieten mit Prädations-Hotspots sollte aktiv auf die Tierhaltenden zugegangen werden und sollten die Gründe für die vermehrten Übergriffe analysiert und abgestellt werden.Bisher fehlen aus Deutschland Daten zur Funktionstüchtigkeit der geförderten und im Einsatz befindlichen Schutzmaßnahmen. Solche Daten sind notwendig, um zu verstehen, warum trotz steigender Präventionsausgaben die Nutztierschäden teilweise auch in Gebieten mit jahrelanger Wolfspräsenz nicht zurückgehen. Sie sind zudem die Grundlage für wissenschaftliche Studien zu möglichen Unterschieden in der Wirksamkeit verschiedener Herdenschutzmethoden. Daten zur Funktionstüchtigkeit von geförderten Herdenschutzmaßnahmen sollten zumindest stichprobenartig gesammelt werden, unabhängig davon, ob es in dem jeweiligen Gebiet Wolfsübergriffe gibt. Neben der Untersuchung der rein technischen Aspekte des Herdenschutzes ist es ebenso wichtig herauszufinden, wie die Akzeptanz gegenüber Herdenschutzmaßnahmen bei den Tierhaltenden verbessert und deren Eigenmotivation erhöht werden kann. Hierfür sind Daten zur Umsetzbarkeit und Akzeptanz der eingesetzten Herdenschutzmaßnahmen erforderlich. Nutztierhaltende sollten schon in die Konzeption entsprechender Studien mit eingebunden werden, um sicherzustellen, dass die Fragen untersucht werden, deren Beantwortung für sie am dringendsten ist.Der Weg von einem emotionsbasierten zu einem evidenzbasierten Wolfsmanagement führt über wissenschaftlich robuste Daten und Analysen. Entsprechende Untersuchungen sind nur in enger Zusammenarbeit zwischen Weidetierhaltung und Wissenschaft möglich. Basierend auf der Fachkompetenz und den praktischen Erfahrungen der Weidetierhaltenden kann die Wissenschaft helfen, die Herdenschutzmaßnahmen zu identifizieren und weiterzuentwickeln, die Nutztierübergriffe am effektivsten reduzieren.SummaryAs the wolf population grows, the number of attacks on livestock in Germany also increases from year to year. Agriculture, nature conservation and politics agree on one point: that wolf attacks on livestock should be reduced sustainably. However, there are differing views on how this goal can best be achieved. In the public debate, calls for simplified shooting of wolves or general hunting are becoming louder and louder. The assumption is that such measures could sustainably reduce livestock damage caused by wolves.Before wildlife management measures are applied, clear objectives are needed. The first question, therefore, must be: What is the primary objective of the management measure? Based on scientific evidence, it must be evaluated in advance whether the measures under consideration are suitable for achieving the objective. This is mandatory if the measures include the killing of sentient animals, particularly if they are strictly protected. Criteria for evaluating if the objective was reached are needed in order to be able to verify how effective the selected management measures are when applied.In this chapter, we address the question of which management measures are suitable, based on current knowledge, to achieve the goal of sustainably reducing wolf attacks on livestock. We first explain why wolves kill livestock and whether there is a relationship between the number of wolves and the amount of livestock damage. To do this, we examine, among other things, data on wolf attacks on livestock in Germany. Based on an extensive literature review, we analyse whether the following management measures are suitable to sustainably reduce wolf attacks on livestock: 1) a general hunting of wolves, 2) the selective removal of individual wolves causing damage, and 3) non-lethal livestock protection methods. Finally, we present recommendations for evidence-based and solution-oriented wolf management with respect to wolf-livestock conflict.In Germany, as wolf territories increase, attacks on sheep and goats also increase. However, the magnitude of the increase differs considerably among the federal states. Individual federal states achieve very different levels of damage with the same number of wolf territories. This suggests that the extent of damage is not solely determined by the number of wolves. We suspect that the differences in damage levels are mainly due to the different implementation of livestock protection measures in the individual federal states.The results of the literature review regarding the effectiveness of lethal and non-lethal management measures to protect livestock clearly show that general hunting of wolves does not reduce livestock damage. There is no scientific evidence that hunting significantly and sustainably reduces damage, unless the wolf population is drastically reduced or completely eradicated. This is not possible in Germany and in the European Union under the current legal situation. In contrast to an undifferentiated hunting of the wolf, the targeted shooting of individual animals can be effective if they are actually individuals that have learned to overcome recommended functional livestock protection measures. However, such cases are rare and it is difficult in the field to safely identify and kill a specific individual. Non-lethal livestock protection measures are much better at achieving sustained reductions in damage compared to lethal measures. The only way to achieve a lasting reduction of damage to livestock in coexistence with wolves is the professional implementation of livestock protection measures on a broad scale. Non-lethal livestock protection measures do not completely prevent attacks on livestock. However, if correctly applied they can significantly reduce wolf caused damages on livestock.The knowledge of how to reduce livestock depredation by wolves through herd protection measures is also available in Germany. Many livestock farmers have developed a high level of expertise in this field. However, experience from the past 20 years also shows that the funding of livestock protection measures alone is not enough to significantly reduce the number of wolf attacks. It is also necessary to ensure that technical expertise is available for proper application and maintenance of the measures. Especially in areas with predation hotspots, livestock owners should be actively approached and the reasons for increased attacks analysed and remedied.To date, there is a lack of data from Germany on the functionality of funded and applied protection measures. Such data are necessary to understand why, despite increasing prevention expenditures, livestock damage has not decreased in some cases, even in areas where wolves have been present for years. Moreover, such data are the basis for scientific studies on possible differences in the effectiveness of different livestock protection methods. Data on the functionality of funded protection measures should be collected at least on a random basis, regardless of whether there are wolf attacks in the respective area. In addition to investigating the purely technical aspects of herd protection, it is equally important to find out how the acceptance towards livestock protection measures can be improved among livestock owners and how their self-motivation can be increased. This requires data on the feasibility and acceptance of the applied protection measures. Livestock keepers should be involved already in the conception of appropriate studies to ensure that the investigations will answer the most urgent questions for them.The path from emotion-based to evidence-based wolf management is through scientifically robust data and analysis. Appropriate research is only possible through close collaboration between livestock owners and science. Based on the expertise and practical experience of farmers, science can help identify and improve the livestock protection measures that most effectively reduce wolf attacks on livestock.

Given a set of crime locations, a statistically significant crime hotspot is an area where the concentration of crimes inside is significantly higher than outside. The motivation of crime hotspot detection is twofold: detecting crime hotspots to focus the deployment of police enforcement and predicting the potential residence of a serial criminal. Crime hotspot detection is computationally challenging due to the difficulty of enumerating all potential hotspot areas, selecting an interest measure to compare these with the overall crime intensity, and testing for statistical significance to reduce chance patterns. This chapter focuses on statistical significant crime hotspots. First, the foundations of spatial scan statistics and its applications (i.e. SaTScan) to circular hotspot detection are reviewed. Next, ring-shaped hotspot detection is introduced. Third, linear hotspot detection is described since most crimes occur along a road network. The chapter concludes with future research directions in crime hotspot detection.

This chapter summarizes global patterns and mechanisms of both ecological and historical crustacean biogeography resulting in the contemporary species distributions described over the past decades. In the pelagic realm, hydrographic features such as ocean currents, physical depth profiles, and latitudinal temperature gradients are major structuring elements, as well as selection pressure exerted by the environment and species interactions, which have resulted in speciation over evolutionary time. Benthic crustacean distributions are additionally constrained longitudinally by continental barriers and submarine features such as ridges and seamounts. The main biogeographic patterns of both benthic and pelagic crustaceans are described for all ocean basins and the polar regions, of which the Indian Ocean is the least well studied. The Copepoda and Decapoda are generally represented with the highest number of described species, followed by Amphipoda and Isopoda. Life cycles with pelagic larvae (e.g., decapods and stomatopods) increase dispersal and enable wide distributions, while a lack of dispersive larvae promotes endemism in benthic forms (e.g., amphipods). Restricted regions with high species richness and endemism, such as the “coral triangle” (the Indo-Australian Archipelago), the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, represent important biodiversity hotspots. Endemics are also suitable markers for past earth history events. Only a few studies cover the biogeography of crustacean taxa in all of the world’s oceans, but a few exceptions exist for decapods, amphipods, and isopods. Although the world’s oceans have been reasonably well studied for crustacean distribution and diversity, species complexes and cryptic species lacking morphological diagnostic features leave us with a large number of unconsolidated taxa. Emerging molecular tools may be able to assist with refinement of nomenclature and hence increase the resolution of crustacean biogeography in the future.

With the increase in risk of extinction of various plants, the trend has been shifted to employment of many biotechnological techniques for preservation of genetic resources of plant and is the area of research which needs to be revolutionized after a specific time period because it allows the production and selection of crop varieties with desirable characteristics during breeding process such as improved fuel, food and health facilities. Having an immense research in conservation of non-threatened species, there is a small collection of knowledge available for conservation of endangered ones. This chapter aims to highlight the various techniques in germplasm conservation of endangered or the species which are at extent of extinction and also the future directions in this field. In developing countries where most of agriculture depends upon food crops, the maintenance of genetic variation is of immense importance. On farm conservation provides the best example of preservation and evolution based on genetic variability which can occur ex-situ and in- situ environment in farms or gene bank. So, it presents the best option for conservation or maintenance of ecosystem and biodiversity which ensures survival of endangered species via germplasm. The most point to consider is that germplasm or genes have to be conserved instead of genotype. In situ conservation involves preservation of plant crops in the field condition in ecosystem where plant is adopted to grow in order to maintain self –sustaining process in natural ecosystem. Similarly ex-situ involve the collections of seed banks of genes collected from plant under natural conditions to produce desirable varieties or from tissue culture in laboratory also referred as in-vitro methodology. In –vitro techniques include cryopreservation which include freezing at much lower temperature than that of freezing point i.e. -196 °C in liquid nitrogen for preserving species which are near to extent of endangerment. Cold storage and storing at lower temperature provides best opportunity for protection against damage caused by rapid freezing. Germplasm exchange has become now a usual practice ensuring exchange of varieties between cultivated and wild types as for example in potatoes specie etc. DNA as well as gene or seed banks provide molecular sources for conservation at biotechnological level. The techniques of introgression and incorporation are basic approaches for germplasm conservation. So there is need to revolutionize and practice germplasm conservation for fulfilling future needs being aimed at conserving endangered or threatened species from conservation hotspots.

The Mediterranean-type environment of South America, broadly defined as the continental area characterized by winter rainfall and summer drought, is confined to a narrow band about 1,000 km long on the western side of the Andes in north-central Chile (Arroyo et al., 1995, 1999). Although much has been written about the climate, vegetation, and landscapes of this part of Chile, and comparisons have been drawn with California and other Mediterranean-type regions of the world (Parsons, 1976; Mooney, 1977; Rundel, 1981; Arroyo et al., 1995), a modern synthesis of information on the physical setting, regional biota, and historical development of ecosystems in central Chile has not been attempted. This chapter is intended to provide such an integrated picture, emphasizing those aspects most peculiar to the region. Since the earlier floristic work on the Chilean matorral (e.g. Mooney, 1977), the name given to the vegetation of central Chile, there is now a much greater appreciation of the geographic isolation and high levels of biological diversity and endemism in this region of South America (Arroyo and Cavieres, 1997; Villagrán, 1995; Arroyo et al., 1995, 1999). Because of the great richness and singularity of its terrestrial flora, this area of the continent is considered to be one of the world’s 25 hotspots in which to conserve global biodiversity (Arroyo et al., 1999; Myers et al., 2000). An analysis of the main features of the Mediterranean environment in South America should therefore address the causes of such high floristic richness, the nature of current threats to biodiversity, and the prospects for its conservation in the long-term. A discussion of conservation concerns closes the present chapter (but see also: Arroyo and Cavieres, 1997; and Arroyo et al., 1999). In view of the vast literature on the biota and physical setting of central Chile, this chapter adopts a selective approach, from a biogeographic perspective, of what we consider to be the most remarkable historical, physical, and ecological features of this environment, which in turn may explain its extraordinary richness in plants and animals. Mediterranean-type ecosystems occupy a narrow band along the western margin of South America, from 30 to 36°S in central Chile.

Abstract Infill well placement performed as part of field-development planning is traditionally performed by identifying areas of high remaining mobile hydrocarbons and good reservoir rock quality to be targeted. The identification of hotspots was also largely performed on single-model realizations and, therefore, not robust considering the reservoir characterization uncertainties. Increasing efforts were put into incorporating the uncertainties as a key element of the infill well placement workflow by computing probability maps to identify the hotspots with higher chances of success for infill production. The maps were still generated solely based on dynamic reservoir-simulation model results. In this paper we present an intelligent workflow that integrates the opportunity index probability maps concept derived exclusively from dynamic reservoir simulation models, with drilling risk maps derived from drilling data analysis and completions quality maps derived from geomechanical studies, and artificial-intelligence-driven reservoir target classification. The integration provides more depth in the hotspot selection by identifying the most productive and feasible locations for infill drilling. The locations are then used for well placement and trajectory design optimization. The well trajectories optimize factors in the hotspot locations, locations of existing drilling centers, surface topology for new drilling centers to be designed, numbers of available slots on each drilling center, and capital costs such as drilling economics and drilling center cost. Infill injection wells are placed in conjunction with the infill production wells either following a pattern-type of design or peripheral injection. The designed wells are evaluated via an automated pipeline using reservoir simulation where the set of wells will be tested against the ensemble of realizations under uncertainty. A probabilistic approach is taken for the infill well performance and the economics evaluation for candidate screening and selection for the field-development plan optimization. This approach provides higher confidence in the decision making through the early integration of drilling risks and geomechanics data, and provides a more robust assessment of the technical and economic performance of the proposed infill wells under uncertainty. The solution combines various concepts including opportunity index, advanced ML methods for target identification, as well as multidisciplinary integration for well target identification. Well trajectory design evaluation considering both production and injection wells and the evaluation of the performance of the proposed candidates under uncertainty in this context provides more robust results under uncertainty compared to widely used industry practices that lack integration and uncertainty considerations.

Faced with natural habitat degradation, fragmentation, and destruction, it is a major challenge for environmental managers to implement sustainable land use policies promoting socioeconomic development and natural habitat conservation in a balanced way. Relying on artificial intelligence and operational research, reserve selection and design models can be of assistance. This paper introduces a partitioning approach based on Constraint Programming (CP) for the reserve selection and design problem, dealing with both coverage and complex spatial constraints. Moreover, it introduces the first CP formulation of the buffer zone constraint, which can be reused to compose more complex spatial constraints. This approach has been evaluated in a real-world dataset addressing the problem of forest fragmentation in New Caledonia, a biodiversity hotspot where managers are gaining interest in integrating these methods into their decisional processes. Through several scenarios, it showed expressiveness, flexibility, and ability to quickly find solutions to complex questions.

Abstract Temperature rise is one of the limiting factors in generator design. Bearings and windings failure are the two most prominent cause of generator failure in the wind turbine application. The generator is mostly converter-fed in the wind turbine application, and operation with converter brings specific challenges. Insulation of generator system should be designed in such a way to withstand these challenges. Two immediate problems with converter-fed wind generators are winding temperature rise due to harmonic losses and voltage peaks. Voltage peaks generated by converter can create a winding hotspot and eventually destroy the insulation system of generator winding, which leads to reducing the lifetime of the insulation system. Turbine availability study from a commercial point of view is presented. For selecting the winding insulation system, it is essential to know the environment generator is going to operate. Specific voltage peaks from different converter systems can damage windings insulation. Damage insulation brings the downtime of the turbine, which affects the LCOE and AEP of the wind turbine. The electrical voltage between motor terminals and ground can be generated due to the different converter output circuit, longer feeder cables (when converter being placed on the basement and not in the nacelle) on the and unfavorable grounding conditions. Paper discusses voltage peaks due to operation with converter and make a recommendation for the winding insulation system, for a particular case. A better selection procedure for a generator winding insulation system is recommended.

Abstract CFD uncertainty analysis is a process to quantify the accuracy of numerical simulation results, and it is also a research hotspot in the past decades. ITTC(2017) requires uncertainty analysis of ship CFD simulation results, that is, verification and validation. In this paper, with reference to the recommended procedures by ITTC, the uncertainty of the CFD numerical simulation results of ship model resistance was analyzed. Based on the SST k-ω turbulence model, the Y+ values near the wall were set to 60,120,240, respectively. And for each and Y+ value, three different sets of grid densities were set respectively, and the uncertainty was analyzed. The results show that: 1) the results of Y+ at 60 and 120 were not validated, and the results at 240 was validated, 2) the selection of Y+ value has a significant effect on the numerical results, 3) increasing the mesh density can make the result converge, but it is not sure to get the result with the least error. Through the uncertainty analysis of CFD results, it is helpful to find a method to improve the accuracy of the numerical results.