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One of factors to take into consideration to improve the rangeland quality is forage quality indicators (FQI) such as neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), digestible dry matter (DDM), dry matter intake (DMI), crude protein (CP), metabolizable energy (ME), relative feed value (RFV) and relative forage quality (RFQ). To study the relations among these indicators and to evaluate the sources of relationships and variations among the rangeland forages, 45 different desirable forage species were collected from Akdag rangelands in Samsun province of Turkey in 2015 and 2016. All FQI were analysed using the restricted maximum likelihood and a multivariate approach. The legume, grass and the other plant family species exhibited generally the highest, the lowest and intermediate FQI, respectively. The quality score based on RFQ was higher for the other family species than those for the legume and grass species. The NDF and ADF contents of species showed negative relationship with ME, RFV and RFQ, while the CP was positively and negatively correlated with these variables. The DDM, ME, RFV, RFQ and DMI components accounted for 86.68% of total variation of species. The first cluster composed of, in general, the legume and the other family species, whereas second cluster included all grass species. In conclusion, the legume and the other family species showed higher quality than grass species. The FQI appeared mainly botanical family dependent rather than single species. The ME, RFV and RFQ rather than the CP should be mainly considered for evaluation of species. C1 [Aydin, Ibrahim; Algan, Duygu] Univ Ondokuz Mayis, Fac Agr, Dept Field Crops, TR-55139 Kurupelit, Samsun, Turkey. [Pak, Betul] Univ Pamukkale, Tavas Vocat High Sch, Dept Crop & Anim Prod, TR-20500 Denizli, Turkey. [Ocak, Nuh] Univ Ondokuz Mayis, Fac Agr, Dept Anim Sci, TR-55139 Kurupelit, Samsun, Turkey.

The term participation has been used to define different activities, such as civil debate, communication, consultation, delegation, self-help construction, political decisions. However, participation in design started from the idea that individuals whom being affected by a design project must contribute to the design process. Recently, designers have been moving closer to the future users and developing new ways to empower them to get involved in the design process. In this paper we rethink the way the early design process is developed in a participatory approach thanks to parametric methods. A use case is proposed showing the potential of parametric design methods to empower the participation of users in the design of their facilities. The use case is dealing in particular with the spatial planning of an office building where the users together with the spatial planning team are able to design the layout spatial configuration by 1) fixing the objectives, 2) manipulating the model, 3)modifying some parameters, 4) visualizing the iterations and evaluating in a real-time each solution in an interactive 3D environment and together with facility managers 5) choosing the configuration of the spatial layout. no ISSN ispartof: pages:429-438 ispartof: Proceedings of the 36th eCAADe Conference - Volume 1 vol:1 pages:429-438 ispartof: the 36th eCAADe Conference: Computing for a better tomorrow location:Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland, 19-21 September 2018 date:17 Sep - 21 Sep 2018 status: published

Background: Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling has multiple roles in the development and function of the blood vessels. In humans, mutations in BMP receptor type 2 (BMPR2), a key component of BMP signaling, have been identified in the majority of patients with familial pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, only a small subset of individuals with BMPR2 mutation develops PAH, suggesting that additional modifiers of BMPR2 function play an important role in the onset and progression of PAH. Methods: We used a combination of studies in zebrafish embryos and genetically engineered mice lacking endothelial expression of Vegfr3 to determine the interaction between vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR3) and BMPR2. Additional in vitro studies were performed by using human endothelial cells, including primary lung endothelial cells from subjects with PAH. Results: Attenuation of Vegfr3 in zebrafish embryos abrogated Bmp2b-induced ectopic angiogenesis. Endothelial cells with disrupted VEGFR3 expression failed to respond to exogenous BMP stimulation. Mechanistically, VEGFR3 is physically associated with BMPR2 and facilitates ligand-induced endocytosis of BMPR2 to promote phosphorylation of SMADs and transcription of ID genes. Conditional, endothelial-specific deletion of Vegfr3 in mice resulted in impaired BMP signaling responses, and significantly worsened hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. Consistent with these data, we found significant decrease in VEGFR3 expression in pulmonary arterial endothelial cells from human PAH subjects, and reconstitution of VEGFR3 expression in PAH pulmonary arterial endothelial cells restored BMP signaling responses. Conclusions: Our findings identify VEGFR3 as a key regulator of endothelial BMPR2 signaling and a potential determinant of PAH penetrance in humans.

In this paper we report on a research study in Brussels and Ghent on the affordances of geographic web platforms for countermapping. We use the term “affordance” to describe the “action possibilities latent in the environment in relation to agents and their capabilities” as introduced by Gibson (1986). Countermapping is a practice that actively challenges the dominant images of particular places (Peluso, 1995; Hodgson & Schroeder, 2002). Maps and visualizations with themes such as high densities of crime, poverty, foreigners and immigration reinforce these dominant discourses and the presumed isomorphism of particular Belgian urban neighbourhoods and crime, poverty and foreigners. Our countermapping project in this context aims at challenging dominant discourses that describe particular Belgian immigrant neighbourhoods as ‘no-go areas’, ‘ghetto’s’, ‘disadvantaged’ or ‘a foreign country’ (Schuermans et al., 2014). In order to develop a deeper understanding of these neighborhoods, there is a need for developing and testing alternative analysis and mapping strategies and tools. A new generation of geographical web (Geoweb 2.0) applications emerged during the last decade as a strong alternative to expert-led top-down production and analysis practices. Their availability and ease of use enabled novel modes of counter-mapping (Leszczynski, 2012: 544). Through these technologies, a large number of people became potential ‘sensors’ as well as ‘produsers’ of geographic information (Haklay et al. 2010)(Bruns, 2010). The possibility of facilitating collective production at a historically unprecedented scale enabled harnessing the power of masses or ‘crowdsourcing’ location-based intersubjective information (Goodchild, 2009). In this sense, Geoweb 2.0 is well-positioned for the collective countermapping of the particular urban ‘arrival neighborhoods’. In line with the aims above the research questions of our study are: • Can Geoweb 2.0 applications afford the countermapping of urban ‘arrival neighborhoods’? • What can we learn from countermaps created as a result? • What are the key factors to be considered for the facilitation of better Geoweb 2.0 supported countermapping practices? no issn publicationstatus: published ispartof: pages:369-378 ispartof: eCAADe 2015 - 33rd Annual Conference 16th-18th September 2015 pages:369-378 ispartof: International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe) location:Vienna date:16 Sep - 18 Sep 2015 status: published

This paper is the result of a joint study emerging from a practice-based PhD and the Brussels Selfcityproject. Through the PhD an urban practice is developing – action-research - that aims at gaining a better understanding of collective tactical and grassroots city-making processes. For this, a constructive research collaboration with Piet Van Meerbeek and his Selfcityproject has been set up. Together we aimed to unravel, develop and empower collective city-making initiatives in the Brussels context. A case study has been made of five carefully selected projects – amongst which the action-case of the PhD. This has been done through a framework for ‘features of civic making’ which focuses on the critical aspects of the role and position of the actors, activism, ad hoc/organisation, openness and commoning,. In this paper, followed by a brief review of the growing movement of citizen initiatives, we will describe the outlined framework and give an overview of the studied cases using this structure. In the final chapter we will present our conclusions and speculate on how these findings can inspire the making and advancement of the own practice and similar future initiatives. publicationstatus: published ispartof: pages:364-378 ispartof: A publication by ADAPT-r for the Creative Practice Conference ‘Making Research | Researching Making’ (10-12 September 2015) pages:364-378 ispartof: International Conference for Creative Practice Research location:Aarhus status: published

The Protocol for the Analysis of Land Surface Models (PALS) Land Surface Model Benchmarking Evaluation Project (PLUMBER) was designed to be a land surface model (LSM) benchmarking intercomparison. Unlike the traditional methods of LSM evaluation or comparison, benchmarking uses a fundamentally different approach in that it sets expectations of performance in a range of metrics a priori—before model simulations are performed. This can lead to very different conclusions about LSM performance. For this study, both simple physically based models and empirical relationships were used as the benchmarks. Simulations were performed with 13 LSMs using atmospheric forcing for 20 sites, and then model performance relative to these benchmarks was examined. Results show that even for commonly used statistical metrics, the LSMs’ performance varies considerably when compared to the different benchmarks. All models outperform the simple physically based benchmarks, but for sensible heat flux the LSMs are themselves outperformed by an out-of-sample linear regression against downward shortwave radiation. While moisture information is clearly central to latent heat flux prediction, the LSMs are still outperformed by a three-variable nonlinear regression that uses instantaneous atmospheric humidity and temperature in addition to downward shortwave radiation. These results highlight the limitations of the prevailing paradigm of LSM evaluation that simply compares an LSM to observations and to other LSMs without a mechanism to objectively quantify the expectations of performance. The authors conclude that their results challenge the conceptual view of energy partitioning at the land surface.

In this paper, we describe an ongoing research project which is mainly based on the realization of several installations using interaction design as an essential quality. In Arts, the digital art, which is part of the so called new media art, represents a topic of actuality together while raising issues regarding its curation. Interactive installations, mainly artistic endeavors with intriguing outcomes and some using artificial lighting as a tool, introduce a different kind of experience than artworks exhibited and forbidden to be touched. Thanks to their interactive aspects, the user becomes a participant either willingly or unwillingly and influences the overall scene. These immersive installations have the potential to challenge the notions and perception of space, as well as to enrich any activity within that space. The interactive space becomes a place with intriguing qualities, an icon of human interaction and one that has the ability to adapt to our needs, while at the same time shaping our experiences. This interaction is not only with the installation itself, but also between individuals, thus fulfilling the evolving individual and social demands or intentions. publicationstatus: published ispartof: Acta Technica Napocensis: Civil Engineering & Architecture vol:57 pages:233-241 status: published

publicationstatus: published ispartof: pages:61-70 ispartof: Cutting Edge: 47th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association pages:61-70 ispartof: Cutting Edge location:Hong Kong date:13 Nov - 16 Nov 2013 status: published

Correct representations of root functioning, such as root water uptake and hydraulic redistribution, are critically important for modeling the responses of vegetation to droughts and seasonal changes in soil moisture content. However, these processes are poorly represented in global land surface models. In this study, we incorporated two root functions: a root water uptake function which assumes root water uptake efficiency varies with rooting depth, and a hydraulic redistribution function into a global land surface model, CABLE. The water uptake function developed by Lai and Katul (2000) was also compared with the default one (see Wang et al., 2010) that assumes that efficiency of water uptake per unit root length is constant. Using eddy flux measurements of CO 2 and water vapor fluxes at three sites experiencing different patterns of seasonal changes in soil water content, we showed that the two root functions significantly improved the agreement between the simulated fluxes of net ecosystem exchange and latent heat flux and soil moisture dynamics with those observed during the dry season while having little impact on the model simulation during the wet seasons at all three sites. Sensitivity analysis showed that varying several model parameters influencing soil water dynamics in CABLE did not significantly affect the model's performance. We conclude that these root functions represent a valuable improvement for land surface modeling and should be implemented into CABLE and other land surface models for studying carbon and water dynamics where rainfall varies seasonally or interannually. © 2012. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Optimal extensions of the surface CO 2 observation network have been determined using 15 global transport models and a time-independent inverse model. The regional average CO 2 flux estimate uncertainty is minimized based on the TransCom-3 (level 1) framework. An ensemble model calculation shows that the regional average CO 2 flux uncertainties could be reduced to about 0.36, 0.32, 0.28 or 0.26 Gt C yr −1 per region, from about 0.53 Gt C yr −1 per region corresponding to the basic network, after adding 5, 10, 15 or 20 optimally located stations, respectively. The additional station locations are mostly found in continental South America and Africa. The distribution of the efficiency in estimation of flux uncertainty reduction per station tends to become more uniform with the extension of the network. We show that the multimodel approach to network design converges if a large enough extension is considered; about 20 stations in this inverse model framework. The reduction in the flux uncertainty for the first few stations depends on the model of atmospheric transport, and is nearly proportional to the simulated signal from local emissions in the surface layer. In addition, it is seen that the simulated spatial and temporal variability of CO 2 concentration has significant influence on the distribution of the additional stations as well as determining the regional flux estimate uncertainty. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.2003.00056.x

International audience

International audience; [1] Monthly CO 2 fluxes are estimated across 1988-2003 for 22 emission regions using data from 78 CO 2 measurement sites. The same inversion (method, priors, data) is performed with 13 different atmospheric transport models, and the spread in the results is taken as a measure of transport model error. Interannual variability (IAV) in the winds is not modeled, so any IAV in the measurements is attributed to IAV in the fluxes. When both this transport error and the random estimation errors are considered, the flux IAV obtained is statistically significant at P 0.05 when the fluxes are grouped into land and ocean components for three broad latitude bands, but is much less so when grouped into continents and basins. The transport errors have the largest impact in the extratropical northern latitudes. A third of the 22 emission regions have significant IAV, including the Tropical East Pacific (with physically plausible uptake/release across the 1997-2000 El Niño/La Niña) and Tropical Asia (with strong release in 1997/1998 coinciding with large-scale fires there). Most of the global IAV is attributed robustly to the tropical/southern land biosphere, including both the large release during the 1997/1998 El Niño and the post-Pinatubo uptake.

International audience; Monthly CO2 fluxes are estimated across 1988-2003 for 22 emission regions using data from 78 CO2 measurement sites. The same inversion (method, priors, data) is performed with 13 different atmospheric transport models, and the spread in the results is taken as a measure of transport model error. Interannual variability (IAV) in the winds is not modeled, so any IAV in the measurements is attributed to IAV in the fluxes. When both this transport error and the random estimation errors are considered, the flux IAV obtained is statistically significant at P

Monthly CO2 fluxes are estimated across 1988-2003 for 22 emission regions using data from 78 CO2 measurement sites. The same inversion (method, priors, data) is performed with 13 different atmospheric transport models, and the spread in the results is taken as a measure of transport model error. Interannual variability (IAV) in the winds is not modeled, so any IAV in the measurements is attributed to IAV in the fluxes. When both this transport error and the random estimation errors are considered, the flux IAV obtained is statistically significant at P

International audience; The TransCom 3 experiment was begun to explore the estimation of carbon sources and sinks via the inversion of simulated tracer transport. We build upon previous TransCom work by presenting the seasonal inverse results which provide estimates of carbon flux for 11 land and 11 ocean regions using 12 atmospheric transport models. The monthly fluxes represent the mean seasonal cycle for the 1992 to 1996 time period. The spread among the model results is larger than the average of their estimated flux uncertainty in the northern extratropics and vice versa in the tropical regions. In the northern land regions, the model spread is largest during the growing season. Compared to a seasonally balanced biosphere prior flux generated by the CASA model, we find significant changes to the carbon exchange in the European region with greater growing season net uptake which persists into the fall months. Both Boreal North America and Boreal Asia show lessened net uptake at the onset of the growing season with Boreal Asia also exhibiting greater peak growing season net uptake. Temperate Asia shows a dramatic springward shift in the peak timing of growing season net uptake relative to the neutral CASA flux while Temperate North America exhibits a broad flattening of the seasonal cycle. In most of the ocean regions, the inverse fluxes exhibit much greater seasonality than that implied by the DeltapCO(2) derived fluxes though this may be due, in part, to misallocation of adjacent land flux. In the Southern Ocean, the austral spring and fall exhibits much less carbon uptake than implied by DeltapCO2 derived fluxes. Sensitivity testing indicates that the inverse estimates are not overly influenced by the prior flux choices. Considerable agreement exists between the model mean, annual mean results of this study and that of the previously published TransCom annual mean inversion. The differences that do exist are in poorly constrained regions and tend to exhibit compensatory fluxes in order to match the global mass constraint. The differences between the estimated fluxes and the prior model over the northern land regions could be due to the prior model respiration response to temperature. Significant phase differences, such as that in the Temperate Asia region, may be due to the limited observations for that region. Finally, differences in the boreal land regions between the prior model and the estimated fluxes may be a reflection of the timing of spring thaw and an imbalance in respiration versus photosynthesis.

TransCom 3 is an intercomparison project for CO2 source inversions. Annual mean CO2 concentration data are used to estimate CO2 sources using 16 different atmospheric transport models. Here we test the sensitivity of the inversion to the concentration data. We examine data network choice, time period of data, baseline data selection and the choice of data uncertainty used. We find that in most cases regional source estimates lie within the source uncertainty range of the control inversion. This indicates that the estimated sources are relatively insensitive to the changes in data that were tested. In the data network tests, only the Australian region source estimates varied over a much larger range than that given by the control case uncertainty estimate. For the other regions, the sensitivity to data network was within or close to the uncertainty range. Most of the sensitivity was found to be associated with a small number of sites (e.g. Darwin, Easter Island). These sites are often identified by the inability of the inversion to fit the data at these locations. The model-mean inversion values are mostly insensitive to the time period of data used, with the exception of temperate North America and the tropical Indian ocean. Data selection has a small impact on source estimates for the mean across models, but individual model sensitivity can be large. The magnitude of data uncertainties controls the relative magnitude of the estimated source uncertainty and the spread in model source estimates. Smaller data uncertainties lead to larger differences in source estimates between models. Overall, the data sensitivity tests performed here support the robustness of the control inversion source estimates presented in Gurney et al. (2003. Tellus 55B, this issue). The test results also provide guidance in setting up and interpreting other inversions.

[1] High-precision, multispecies measurements of flask air samples since 1992 from CSIRO's global sampling network reveal strong correlation among interannual growth rate variations of CO2 and its delta(13)C, H-2,CH4, and CO. We show that a major fraction of the variability is consistent with two emission pulses coinciding with large biomass burning events in 1994/1995 and 1997/1998 in tropical and boreal regions, and observations of unusually high levels of combustion products in the overlying troposphere at these times. Implied pulse strengths and multispecies emission ratios are not consistent with any other single process, but do not exclude possible contributions from covarying processes that are linked through climatic forcing. Comparison of CO2 with its delta(13)C indicates that most of the CO2 variation is from terrestrial exchange, but does not distinguish forcing by biomass burning from imbalance in photosynthesis/respiration of terrestrial ecosystems. Partitioning of terrestrial CO2 fluxes is constrained by H-2,CH4, and CO, all of which are products of biomass burning but which have no direct link to net respiration of CO2. While CO is a strong indicator of biomass burning, its short lifetime prevents it from usefully constraining the magnitude of CO2 emissions. If the H-2 and CH4 variations were dominated by biomass burning, they would imply associated carbon emissions in excess of mean annual levels of other years, of 0.6-3.5 and 0.8-3.7 Pg C for 1994/1995 and 1997/1998, respectively. The large range in emission estimates mainly reflects uncertainty in H-2/CO2 and CH4/CO2 emission ratios of fires in these years.