Phenology of the Diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) in the UK and provision of decision support for brassica growers

In the UK, severe infestations by Plutella xylostella occur sporadically and are due mainly to the immigration of moths. The aim of this study was to develop a more detailed understanding of the phenology of P. xylostella in the UK and investigate methods of monitoring moth activity, with the aim of providing warnings to growers. Plutella xylostella was monitored using pheromone traps, by counting immature stages on plants, and by accessing citizen science data (records of sightings of moths) from websites and Twitter. The likely origin of migrant moths was investigated by analysing historical weather data. The study confirmed that P. xylostella is a sporadic but important pest, and that very large numbers of moths can arrive suddenly, most often in early summer. Their immediate sources are countries in the western part of continental Europe. A network of pheromone traps, each containing a small camera sending images to a website, to monitor P. xylostella remotely provided accessible and timely information, but the particular system tested did not appear to catch many moths. In another approach, sightings by citizen scientists were summarised on a web page. These were accessed regularly by growers and, at present, this approach appears to be the most effective way of providing timely warnings

The impact of air-sea coupling and ocean biases on the seasonal cycle of southern West African precipitation

The biannual seasonal rainfall regime over the southern part of West Africa is characterised by two wet seasons, separated by the `Little Dry Season' in July-August. Lower rainfall totals during this intervening dry season may be detrimental for crop yields over a region with a dense population that depends on agricultural output. Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) models do not correctly capture this seasonal regime, and instead generate a single wet season, peaking at the observed timing of the Little Dry Season. Hence, the realism of future climate projections over this region is questionable. Here, the representation of the Little Dry Season in coupled model simulations is investigated, to elucidate factors leading to this misrepresentation. The Global Ocean Mixed Layer configuration of the Met Office Unified Model is particularly useful for exploring this misrepresentation, as it enables separating the effects of coupled model ocean biases in different ocean basins while maintaining air-sea coupling. Atlantic Ocean SST biases cause the incorrect seasonal regime over southern West Africa.Upper level descent in August reduces ascent along the coastline, which is associated with the observed reduction in rainfall during the Little Dry Season. When coupled model Atlantic Ocean biases are introduced, ascent over the coastline is deeper and rainfall totals are higher during July-August. Hence, this study indicates detrimental impacts introduced by Atlantic Ocean biases, and highlights an area of model development required for production of meaningful climate change projections over the West Africa region

The MASSE Project: Applications of Biotechnology for Planetary Exploration

Automated life-detection experiments for solar system exploration have been previously. proposed and used onboard the. Viking, Mars lander,s, although. with ambiguous results. The recent advances in biotechnology such as biosensors, protein microarrays, and microfluidics alongside increased. knowledge in biomarker science have led to vastly improved sophistication and sensitivity for a new approach in life detection. The MASSE project has taken the challenge of integrating all of this knowledge into a new generation of interplanetary flight instrumentation for the main purpose.ot combining several mutually. confirming tests for life, organic/microbial contamination, prebiotic and abiotic chemicals into a small low powered instrument. Although the primary goal is interplanetary exploration, several terrestrial applications have become apparent specifically in point-of-care medical technology, bio-warfare, environmental sensing and microbial monitoring of manned space-flight vehicles

Towards a Model of Societal Pro-Environmental Attitudes:A Short Study of Environmental Knowledge

What effect does environmental knowledge have on individual pro-environmental attitudes, and how does this change over time? Sets out a study which will collect panel data information on the diffusion of environmental knowledge, which is needed to help produce a model of societal pro-environmental attitudes

Modelling the Diffusion of Societal Pro-Environmental Attitudes:Discrete Choice in Continuous Time

This paper attempts to pull together three of the most promising approachesto modelling pro-environmental attitudes and to show how a general model canbe created. Synergetics, Discrete Choice, Innovation Diffusion

The Importance of Pro-Environmental Attitudes and How They Might be Modelled in Economics

A case is made for the importance of pro-environmental attitudes in the response to climate change. Reasons for the current (parlous)state of implementation of solutions to the climate crisis are discussed, and solutions including carbon taxes and Fee and Dividend (Feebates) are explored. A general framework for modelling pro-environmental attitudes is discussed, (based on the discrete choice framework of Brock and Durlauf, 2001) which describes the diffusion of pro-environmental attitudes through a population, not just in a single individual. Potential uses of the model are discussed, including the ability to describe the creation and evolution of social norms through society

A Model of Pro-Environmental Behaviour with Heterogeneous Agents

I examine the homogeneous model of discrete choice with social interactions, and introduce a heterogeneous version, which instead of the traditional logistic curve now has a bi-logistic shape

Qualitative Analysis of Isotropic Curvature String Cosmologies

A complete qualitative study of the dynamics of string cosmologies is presented for the class of isotopic curvature universes. These models are of Bianchi types I, V and IX and reduce to the general class of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes in the limit of vanishing shear isotropy. A non-trivial two-form potential and cosmological constant terms are included in the system. In general, the two-form potential and spatial curvature terms are only dynamically important at intermediate stages of the evolution. In many of the models, the cosmological constant is important asymptotically and anisotropy becomes dynamically negligible. There also exist bouncing cosmologies.Comment: Accepted to Classical and Quantum Gravity, 40 pages, 12 figures (uses "graphicx" package for figures

Dynamics of M-Theory Cosmology

A complete global analysis of spatially-flat, four-dimensional cosmologies derived from the type IIA string and M-theory effective actions is presented. A non--trivial Ramond-Ramond sector is included. The governing equations are written as a dynamical system. Asymptotically, the form fields are dynamically negligible, but play a crucial role in determining the possible intermediate behaviour of the solutions (i.e. the nature of the equilibrium points). The only past-attracting solution (source in the system) may be interpreted in the eleven-dimensional setting in terms of flat space. This source is unstable to the introduction of spatial curvature.Comment: 13 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses graphics.sty, submitted to Phys. Rev.

A global role for KLF1 in erythropoiesis revealed by ChIP-seq in primary erythroid cells

KLF1 regulates a diverse suite of genes to direct erythroid cell differentiation from bipotent progenitors. To determine the local cis-regulatory contexts and transcription factor networks in which KLF1 operates, we performed KLF1 ChIP-seq in the mouse. We found at least 945 sites in the genome of E14.5 fetal liver erythroid cells which are occupied by endogenous KLF1. Many of these recovered sites reside in erythroid gene promoters such as Hbb-bl, but the majority are distant to any known gene. Our data suggests KLF1 directly regulates most aspects of terminal erythroid differentiation including production of alpha- and beta-globin protein chains, heme biosynthesis, coordination of proliferation and anti-apoptotic pathways, and construction of the red cell membrane and cytoskeleton by functioning primarily as a transcriptional activator. Additionally, we suggest new mechanisms for KLF1 cooperation with other transcription factors, in particular the erythroid transcription factor GATA1, to maintain homeostasis in the erythroid compartment