The Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS) – mobilising data for evaluating long-term change in South African rivers

The Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization in the convention on biological diversity entered into force on October 12, 2014. Accordingly, attention toward securing the sovereignty and discovering the utilization value of biological resources has been increasing to secure national competitiveness. We are developing a freshwater biodiversity information platform for the systematic conservation and industrialization of freshwater biodiversity in South Korea. The platform comprises an integrated management system of freshwater bioresources for systematic registration and management of freshwater biodiversity information based on databases; a management system of storage for managing freshwater biological specimen; a utilization information system that manages efficacy, experimental method, and activity produced by the Nakdonggang National Institute of Biological Resources and external big data such as literature and patent; and a freshwater bioresources culture collection for preservation, ordering and deposition of biological resources. These systems are connected organically. Text mining, one of the big data technologies, helps to determine the utility of biological resources through comprehensive analysis. We tried to establish utilization foundations by predicting the usability of biological resources through systematic collection, processing, and analyzing external data, such as abstract, in order to support industrialization of national freshwater bioresources. Through text mining, we constructed a literature-based corpus and preprocessed the corpus with lowercase conversion and removal of stop word. Then, a word cloud was created and statistical analysis was performed. As a result, genes and diseases associated with specific biological resources have been identified. In this study, through a comprehensive analysis of species, genes, and disease information using text mining, we were able to determine the utilization value of biological resources. This study will help the freshwater biodiversity researchers by adding a function for utilization analysis in the utilization information system of the platform in the future.

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Vivid Imagers Are Better at Detecting Salient Changes

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.27.4.218 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 218-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Paul Rodway ◽

Karen Gillies ◽

Astrid Schepman

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Change Detection ◽

Visual Imagery ◽

Detection Task ◽

Level Of Detail ◽

Detection Accuracy ◽

Change Detection Task ◽

Term Change ◽

High Level

This study examined whether individual differences in the vividness of visual imagery influenced performance on a novel long-term change detection task. Participants were presented with a sequence of pictures, with each picture and its title displayed for 17 s, and then presented with changed or unchanged versions of those pictures and asked to detect whether the picture had been changed. Cuing the retrieval of the picture's image, by presenting the picture's title before the arrival of the changed picture, facilitated change detection accuracy. This suggests that the retrieval of the picture's representation immunizes it against overwriting by the arrival of the changed picture. The high and low vividness participants did not differ in overall levels of change detection accuracy. However, in replication of Gur and Hilgard (1975) , high vividness participants were significantly more accurate at detecting salient changes to pictures compared to low vividness participants. The results suggest that vivid images are not characterised by a high level of detail and that vivid imagery enhances memory for the salient aspects of a scene but not all of the details of a scene. Possible causes of this difference, and how they may lead to an understanding of individual differences in change detection, are considered.

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Ageing of thermal insulation materials. Determination of the long-term change in thermal resistance of closed-cell plastics (accelerated laboratory test methods)

10.3403/01884824u ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Laboratory Test ◽

Thermal Resistance ◽

Thermal Insulation ◽

Test Methods ◽

Insulation Materials ◽

Closed Cell ◽

Term Change

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When Political Transitions Work

10.1093/oso/9780190881856.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Fanie du Toit

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Well Being ◽

Transition To Democracy ◽

Political Transitions ◽

Political Reconciliation ◽

Peace Processes ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

African Experience ◽

The One

Reconciliation emphasizes relationships as a crucial ingredient of political transition; this book argues for the importance of such a relational focus in crafting sustainable political transitions. Section I focuses on South Africa’s transition to democracy—how Mandela and De Klerk persuaded skeptical constituencies to commit to political reconciliation, how this proposal gained momentum, and how well the transition resulted in the goal of an inclusive and fair society. In developing a coherent theory of reconciliation to address questions such as these, I explain political reconciliation from three angles and thereby build a concept of reconciliation that corresponds largely with the South African experience. In Section II, these questions lead the discussion beyond South Africa into some of the prominent theoretical approaches to reconciliation in recent times. I develop typologies for three different reconciliation theories: forgiveness, agonism, and social restoration. I conclude in Section III that relationships created through political reconciliation, between leaders as well as between ordinary citizens, are illuminated when understood as an expression of a comprehensive “interdependence” that precedes any formal peace processes between enemies. I argue that linking reconciliation with the acknowledgment of interdependence emphasizes that there is no real alternative to reconciliation if the motivation is the long-term well-being of one’s own community. Without ensuring the conditions in which an enemy can flourish, one’s own community is unlikely to prosper sustainably. This theoretical approach locates the deepest motivation for reconciliation in choosing mutual well-being above the one-sided fight for exclusive survival at the other’s cost.

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Social Cohesion, Breaks, and Transformations in Italy, 535–600

10.1093/oso/9780198777601.003.0004 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Walter Pohl

Keyword(s):

The Political ◽

Late Antique ◽

Religious Context ◽

Ancient Society ◽

Complex Process ◽

Term Change ◽

Two Generations ◽

Classical Culture

When the Gothic War began in Italy in 535, the country still conserved many features of classical culture and late antique administration. Much of that was lost in the political upheavals of the following decades. Building on Chris Wickham’s work, this contribution sketches an integrated perspective of these changes, attempting to relate the contingency of events to the logic of long-term change, discussing political options in relation to military and economic means, and asking in what ways the erosion of consensus may be understood in a cultural and religious context. What was the role of military entrepreneurs of more or less barbarian or Roman extraction in the distribution or destruction of resources? How did Christianity contribute to the transformation of ancient society? The old model of barbarian invasions can contribute little to understanding this complex process. It is remarkable that for two generations, all political strategies in Italy ultimately failed.

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Survey frequency affects the estimates and conclusions of long-term changes in waterbird populations: a case study from a South African wetland

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-019-01828-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (13) ◽

pp. 3429-3443

Author(s):

Dominic A. W. Henry ◽

Timothy G. O’Connor

Keyword(s):

South African ◽

Long Term Changes

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Enhanced Seasonal Exchange of CO2 by Northern Ecosystems Since 1960

Science ◽

10.1126/science.1239207 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 341 (6150) ◽

pp. 1085-1089 ◽

Cited By ~ 221

Author(s):

H. D. Graven ◽

R. F. Keeling ◽

S. C. Piper ◽

P. K. Patra ◽

B. B. Stephens ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forests ◽

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide ◽

Ecosystem Models ◽

The North ◽

Ecological Changes ◽

Term Change ◽

Major Shift ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

Global Carbon

Seasonal variations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Northern Hemisphere have increased since the 1950s, but sparse observations have prevented a clear assessment of the patterns of long-term change and the underlying mechanisms. We compare recent aircraft-based observations of CO2 above the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans to earlier data from 1958 to 1961 and find that the seasonal amplitude at altitudes of 3 to 6 km increased by 50% for 45° to 90°N but by less than 25% for 10° to 45°N. An increase of 30 to 60% in the seasonal exchange of CO2 by northern extratropical land ecosystems, focused on boreal forests, is implicated, substantially more than simulated by current land ecosystem models. The observations appear to signal large ecological changes in northern forests and a major shift in the global carbon cycle.

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