Tesis sobre el tema "Geographic bias"

Station siting, exposure, instrumentation, and time of observations influence longterm climatic records. This thesis compared and analyzed temperature data from four Kentucky Mesonet stations located in Fayette (LXGN), Franklin (LSML), Clark (WNCH), and Bullitt (CRMT) counties to two nearby Automated Surface Observation Systems (ASOS) stations in Kentucky. The ASOS stations are located at Louisville International Airport (Standiford Field - KSDF) and at Lexington Airport (Blue Grass Field - KLEX). The null hypothesis states that there is no significant difference in temperature measurements between the two types of stations. To quantify the differences in temperature measurements, geoprofiles and the following statistical procedures were used: coefficient of determination (R2), coefficient of efficiency (E), index of agreement (d), root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Geoprofiles were developed using GIS, and take into account elevation, slope, hillshading, land use, and aspect for each site to help better understand the influence of local topography. It was found that temperature differences could be related to the advancement of weather patterns, vegetation growth and decay, and changes in the landscape at the stations. KSDF consistently recorded higher temperatures than those at CRMT. The positive bias ranged between 0.27 and 2.41 ºC during the time period of September 2009 to August 2010. KLEX was found to be warmer or cooler, with temperature differences that ranged from -1.42 to 0.22 ºC for LXGN, LSML, and WNCH. The index of agreement at KSDF for mean hourly temperatures, when compared to the Bullitt County mesonet station, ranged from 0.88 to 0.99. Meanwhile, the index of agreement at KLEX was 0.96 to 1.00 when compared to the Franklin, Fayette, and Clark mesonet stations. KLEX recorded temperatures that were higher or lower compared to the Franklin, Fayette, and Clark mesonet stations. At the seasonal scale, fall and summer showed larger differences between the Mesonet and ASOS observations. KSDF consistently recorded higher temperatures ranging up to 2.41 °C during the summer. The index of agreement at KSDF in the fall, when compared to the Bullitt County mesonet station average temperatures, ranged from 0.89 to 0.95, while in the summer it was 0.88 to 0.96. The d index indicates a good agreement between ASOS and mesonet stations in winter. KLEX indicates that the index of agreement, RMSE, and MAE are best during winter for all three stations, while in the fall and summer the agreement was not as strong when compared to the Franklin, Fayette, and Clark mesonet stations. In summary, results indicate that the Kentucky Mesonet and ASOS temperature measurements show significant differences throughout the year; therefore, the alternative hypothesis is accepted. These differences are attributed to biases associated with ASOS observations, nearby artificial sources of heating, equipment/maintenance procedures, and land use and land cover at the site.

Mandatory notification of disease forms the backbone of disease surveillance in New Zealand and overseas. Notification data is used by public health professionals and academics to identify cases requiring public health control, monitor disease incidence and distribution, and in epidemiological research. However, there is emerging evidence that notification rates do not accurately reflect the true extent of notifiable diseases within the community, resulting in the underascertainment of many notifiable cases. While adequate surveillance does not necessarily require that all cases of notifiable disease be captured, the systematic underascertainment of disease can have significant implications for perceived spatial and demographic trends in disease prevalence; potentially threatening the credibility of spatial epidemiological research by under or overestimating the burden of disease in different populations. There is evidence that systematic underascertainment occurs as a result of the differential actions of laboratories and general practitioners. It has also been recognised that that underascertainment can be influenced by a patient's willingness to seek medical attention and participate in laboratory tests. However, few studies have investigated whether these factors systematically influence notification either in New Zealand or overseas. Furthermore, the discipline of health geography has been slow to engage with this topic of public health importance, despite the inherently spatial nature of the processes involved, and the close ties to the geographic literature on health service utilization and healthcare provision. This thesis explores the spatial and temporal variation in notification rates in New Zealand for the period 1997-2005 and the potential relationships between notification rates and different variables. Unlike many underascertainment studies, which have used individual data and capture-recapture methods, data constraints inspired a unique ecological approach to investigating the factors which may be associated with notification in New Zealand. Variables were divided into categories based on Anderson's behavioural model for healthcare utilization and the influence of these variables on notification was determined through multiple regression analyses. The main findings of this research indicate that in New Zealand notification rates have increased during the period 1997-2005 and that there is a north-south gradient in notifications, with substantially lower rates in the North Island than in the South Island. Furthermore, it is also evident that the variables associated with notification vary according to disease, spatial aggregation and spatial scale. Notification rates are significantly associated with a range of predisposing and enabling factors which might influence patient choice to consult for many frequently underascertained diseases. More variation in enteric diseases is explained by the independent variables analysed than the variation in non-enteric diseases. However, further research into these relationships, and underascertainment in general, is required before firm conclusions can be drawn.

This research examines racially biased crimes across US cities, utilizing social threat and a general criminality perspective based on social disorganization and strain theories. Racially biased crime is compared to violent crime in general and to unbiased racially disaggregated homicide to further examine the effects of social threat and general crime variables on different forms of violent crime. Data is compiled mainly from the 1990 and 2000 US Censuses, the 1996–2000 Uniform Crime Reports and the 1996–2000 Supplemental Homicide Reports. The research shows bias crimes cannot be explained utilizing general crime predictors. In particular, anti-Black violent bias crimes committed by Whites are mainly driven by economic forces, though not necessarily economically threatening conditions. Anti-White violent bias crimes committed by Blacks are more similar to homicides of Whites committed by Blacks, which is consistent with prior research. Additionally, the research shows the importance of complying with hate crime reporting requirements and region, again consistent with prior research. That is, the more frequently a city reports data, the higher the counts of bias crimes. Cities located in the South are less likely to have high counts of bias crimes, suggesting a lack of compliance with reporting requirements. These findings pertaining to reporting compliance offer support for social constructionist perspectives in the study of bias crimes.

Over three decades of rapid economic growth in China, beginning in 1978, has been accompanied by ever-enlarging urban-rural inequalities in terms of the various aspects of income, welfare, infrastructure, medical treatment, and education (amongst others). These two parts – the urban and the rural - have long been treated separately, without much consideration being given to their mutual linkages (relations). Urban and rural development can, essentially, be interpreted as the deployment of key factors (terms of trade for agricultural products, land requisition, and labor transfer), and the supply of public goods and services (infrastructure, education, insurance, and medical care). Thus, the urban-rural inequalities experienced by China at present can be understood as the consequence of the factor flows (labor, capital, goods, information, and technology, etc.) and agglomeration between these two parts. This thesis aims to investigate urban-rural relations in China in the post-reform era, and their influences on the economic, social, and environmental development in both the urban and the rural areas. The thesis consists of five papers and the cover essay. The first two papers provide a detailed picture of urban-rural relations in China, while the other papers examine the impact of urban-rural relations in terms of population mobility, arable and built land use change, and regional economic inequality in the study area. The findings of the thesis reveal that urban-rural relations in China became gradually intensified in the post-reform era, especially when the central government initiated a shift from a situation of urban bias to comprehensive support for the rural areas. However, the mutual resource flows in the study area still tend to agglomerate in the urban districts, while only reaching the rural peripheries to a limited extent. This is demonstrated in the way in which the urban districts experienced fast and large scale demographic growth and land use change, while slow and small-scale demographic and land use change took place in the peripheries. The urban-rural interface, which is situated between the urban and rural areas, evidences medium-level resource agglomeration. This thesis, through the discussion which it sets out, emphasizes the necessity of exercising both political and market forces in order to achieve balanced urban-rural resource flows in China. Another implication for policy making is to develop more sub-centers at the peri-urban or periphery, making these areas the interface for urban-rural resource linkages.
QC 20110909

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Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior
Understand the origin, maintenance and the mechanisms that operate in the current biodiversity is the major goal of ecology. Species ecology can be influenced by different factors at different scales. There are three approaches about the ecological differences between species: the first brings that differences result from current processes on niche characteristics (e.g. diet, time, space); the second that species differences are explained by random patterns of speciation, extinction and dispersion, the third that historical events explain the formation and composition of species in communities. This study aims to evaluate the influence of phylogenetic relationships in determining ecological characteristics in amphibians (globally) and test with that, if ecological differences between species of frogs are the result of ancient pre-existing differences or as result of current interactions. Another objective of this study is to verify if ecological, historical or current characteristics determine the size of species geographical distribution. The diet data for analysis of trophic ecology were collected from published literature. We performed a non-parametric MANOVA to test the existence of phylogenetic effects in diet shifts on frogs history. Thus, it is expected to know the main factors that allow the coexistence of anuran species. We performed a phylogenetic regression to analyze if niche breadth, body size and evolutionary age variables determine the size of the geographical distribution of amphibians in the Amazon. In the present study, new contributions to knowledge of major ecological patterns of anurans are discussed under a phylogenetic perspective
Entender a origem, manuten??o e os mecanismos que operam na biodiversidade atual s?o um dos principais objetivos da Ecologia. A ecologia das esp?cies pode ser influenciada por diferentes fatores em diferentes escalas. Existem tr?s abordagens a cerca das diferen?as ecol?gicas entre as esp?cies: a primeira traz essas diferen?as resultam de processos atuais atuando sobre as caracter?sticas do nicho (dieta, tempo, espa?o, etc); a segunda que diverg?ncias no nicho das esp?cies s?o explicadas por padr?es rand?micos de especia??o, dispers?o e extin??o; a terceira que eventos hist?ricos explicam a forma??o e a composi??o das esp?cies nas comunidades. Este estudo tem como objetivo avaliar a influ?ncia das rela??es filogen?ticas na determina??o de caracter?sticas ecol?gicas em anf?bios (globalmente) e testar, com isso, se as diferen?as ecol?gicas entre as esp?cies de anuros s?o resultado de diferen?as antigas pr?-existentes ou como o resultado de intera??es ecol?gicas mais recentes. Outro objetivo deste estudo ? verificar que caracter?sticas ecol?gicas, hist?ricas ou atuais, determinam e influenciam o tamanho da distribui??o geogr?fica das esp?cies. Os dados de dieta para a an?lise da ecologia tr?fica dos anf?bios foram coletados a partir da literatura j? publicada. Realizamos uma MANOVA n?o param?trica para testar a exist?ncia de efeitos filogen?ticos nas principais diverg?ncias na dieta dos anuros. Com isso, espera-se conhecer os principais fatores que permitem a coexist?ncia das esp?cies de anf?bios anuros e quais os principais n?s da filogenia de anf?bios respons?veis pelas diferen?as observadas atualmente no nicho tr?fico das esp?cies. Realizamos uma regress?o filogen?tica para analisar se as vari?veis de largura de nicho, tamanho corporal e tempo de diverg?ncia determinam o tamanho da distribui??o geogr?fica dos anf?bios anuros da Amaz?nia. Neste trabalho, novas contribui??es ao conhecimento dos padr?es ecol?gicos apresentados pelos anuros s?o fornecidas e discutidas sob uma perspectiva filogen?tica

Gegenstand vorliegender Dissertation ist die Betrachtung historischer Landverkehrswege als verbindende Elemente der Kulturlandschaft im ehemaligen Kurfürstentum Sachsen. Es werden veränderte territoriale, rechtliche und wirtschaftliche Bedingungen sowie der technische Fortschritt bei der Entwicklung der Verkehrsmittel und des Straßenbaus analysiert. Der erste Untersuchungsteil widmet sich der Inventarisierung des Beispielstraßenzuges Leipzig-Grimma-Leisnig-Hainichen-Oederan-Sayda-Deutsch-/Böhmischeinsiedel und dessen Infrastrukturelemente (z.B. Gasthöfe, Postdistanzsäulen) im Untersuchungszeitraum von 1648 bis 1800. Die Inventarisierungsergebnisse werden neben der textlichen Auswertung in zahlreichen Abbildungen, Tabellen und einer Karte dargestellt. Basierend auf diesen quellengestützten Erhebungen beschäftigt sich der zweite Untersuchungsteil mit dem historischen Entwicklungsprozess des kursächsischen Straßenwesens und beinhaltet eine Periodisierung im landeshistorischen Kontext
The dissertation deals with the development of the historical traffic routes as connecting elements of the cultural landscape in the former electorate of Saxony. It analyses the changing territorial, judicial and economic influences as well as the technical progress of the means of transportation and the road construction. In the first part the inventory of the described route Leipzig-Grimma-Leisnig-Hainichen-Oederan-Sayda-Deutsch-/Böhmischeinsiedel and its infrastructural elements (e.g. guesthouses, distance columns) are presented for the period 1648 to 1800. The empiric results are illustrated in several figures, tables and a special map. The second part shows the historical process of the road system in Saxony, including a periodisation in the regional historic context

This research both develops new methods and expands upon existing methodologies in order to improve our understanding of voting patterns and party competition in Britain. The thesis comprises five sections, each of which relates to a particular research focus. The first and principal section describes the process of determining a new method for decomposing electoral bias for three-party competition under simple plurality rules of voting. The study of electoral bias is important for voting systems that requires periodic boundary reviews intended to equalise electorate and to remove malapportionment. These papers describe both the process for developing the threeparty bias method and later its application to UK general elections from 1983 onwards. The second section uses aggregate data gathered for the elections to the Greater London Authority in order to understand the patterns of electoral support across the capital, particularly support for minor parties. A considerable amount of research effort has been expended upon providing reliable models for electoral forecasting both in the UK and elsewhere. The third section includes a paper that develops a forecast model that utilises aggregate local election data to estimate national vote shares for the three main parties in the UK. A fourth section brings together a series of papers that are linked by the themes of voter behaviour, either in terms of geographical or ballot context. A study of voter turnout in a London borough describes the relationship between proximity to polling station and electoral turnout at different types of election. A 8 number of papers included in this section also detail the effects of candidate ballot order on electoral support. The fifth and final section groups together two papers that using individual-level survey data to describe the pattern of candidate recruitment for local elections in Britain and, specifically, the under-recruitment of both women and Black, Asian and other minority ethnic candidates.

Die Arbeit beleuchtet die Beziehungen zwischen der DDR und der Volksrepublik China in den Jahren 1978 bis 1990. Dabei werden sowohl die innen-, wie auch die außenpolitischen Bedingungen dieser Beziehungen in der DDR und China beleuchtet. Besonderes Augenmerk wird auch auf die Sowjetunion gelegt. Die Beziehungen Moskaus gegenüber Beijing und Ostberlin werden dargestellt und mit den daraus resultierenden Folgen für die DDR-Führung in Bezug gesetzt.
The paper gives attention to the relationship between the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of China between 1978 and 1990. Central points are the domestic policies and foreign affairs of both countries. Besides the scripture attend to the relationship of the GDR and the PRC with the Soviet Union.

L’Afrique centrale atlantique (ACA) englobe l’ensemble du domaine bas-guinéen, les îles du Golfe de Guinée et une partie de l’archipel afromontagnard. Plusieurs centres d’endémisme ont été identifiés en son sein et sont généralement considérés comme liés à la présence de refuges forestiers durant les périodes glaciaires. Cependant, l’origine de cet endémisme, sa localisation et les méthodes permettant d’identifier ces centres restent controversées. La localisation de ces zones d’endémisme et des plantes rares qu’elles abritent, est pourtant un prérequis indispensable pour la mise en place de politiques cohérentes de conservation et demeure une priorité pour les organisations privées, institutionnelles ou gouvernementales actives dans la gestion et le maintien durable de la biodiversité.

Cette étude phytogéographique porte sur la famille des Orchidaceae et est basée sur l’analyse de la distribution des taxons endémiques de l’ACA. Elle s’appuie sur un jeu de données original résultant d’un effort d’échantillonnage important au Cameroun et d’un travail d’identification et de localisation de spécimens dans les principaux herbaria européens abritant des collections d’ACA. Durant cette étude, (i) nous avons tout d’abord identifié ces taxons endémiques et documenté leur distribution au travers de plusieurs contributions taxonomiques et floristiques, (ii) nous nous sommes ensuite intéressé aux nouvelles méthodes permettant d’analyser ces données d’herbier de plantes rares et donc pauvrement documentées, testant aussi l’intérêt des Orchidaceae comme marqueurs chorologiques, et finalement, appliquant ces méthodes à notre jeu de données, (iii) nous avons délimité des centres d’endémisme et identifié les territoires phytogéographiques des Orchidaceae en ACA.

(i) Une révision taxonomique des genres Chamaeangis Schltr. et Stolzia Schltr. a été réalisée respectivement. Sept nouveaux taxons ont été décrits: Angraecum atlanticum Stévart & Droissart, Chamaeangis spiralis Stévart & Droissart, Chamaeangis lecomtei (Finet) Schltr. var. tenuicalcar Stévart & Droissart, Polystachya engogensis Stévart & Droissart, Polystachya reticulata Stévart & Droissart, Stolzia repens (Rolfe) Summerh var. cleistogama Stévart, Droissart & Simo et Stolzia grandiflora P.J.Cribb subsp. lejolyana Stévart, Droissart & Simo. Plusieurs notes taxonomiques, phytogéographiques et écologiques supplémentaires ont également été redigées. Au total, nous avons identifié 203 taxons d’Orchidaceae endémiques d’ACA parmi lesquels 193 sont pris en compte pour l’étude des patrons d’endémisme.

(ii) Au Cameroun, les patrons de distribution des Orchidaceae et des Rubiaceae endémiques d’ACA ont été étudiés conjointement. Des méthodes de rééchantillonnage des données (raréfaction) ont été appliquées pour calculer des indices de diversité et de similarité. Elles ont permis de corriger les biais liés à la variation de l’effort d’échantillonnage. Un gradient de continentalité a été observé, les parties côtières étant les plus riches en taxons endémiques d’ACA. Contrairement à la région du Mont Cameroun et aux massifs de Kupe/Bakossi qui ont connu une attention particulière des politiques et des scientifiques, la partie côtière du sud Cameroun, presque aussi riche, reste mal inventoriée pour plusieurs familles végétales.

Cette analyse à l’échelle du Cameroun a également permis de comparer les patrons d’endémisme des Orchidaceae et des Rubiaceae. Les différences observées seraient principalement dues à la présence d’Orchidaceae terrestres dans les végétations basses et les prairies montagnardes de la dorsale camerounaise alors que les Rubiaceae sont généralement peu représentées dans ces habitats. Au sein des habitats forestiers, la concordance entre les patrons d’endémisme des Orchidaceae et des Rubiaceae remet en question l’utilisation des capacités de dispersion des espèces comme critère pour choisir les familles permettant l’identification des refuges forestiers et semble ainsi confirmer la pertinence de l’utilisation des Orchidaceae comme marqueur chorologique.

La distribution potentielle a été utilisée pour étudier en détail l’écologie, la distribution et le statut de conservation de Diceratostele gabonensis Summerh. une Orchidaceae endémique de la région guinéo-congolaise uniquement connue d’un faible nombre d’échantillons. Cette méthodologie semble appropriée pour compléter nos connaissances sur la distribution des espèces rares et guider les futurs inventaires en Afrique tropicale.

(iii) En ACA, les Orchidaceae permettent d’identifier plusieurs centres d’endémisme qui coïncident généralement avec ceux identifiés précédemment pour d’autres familles végétales. Ces constats supportent aussi l’utilisation des Orchidaceae comme marqueur chorologique. La délimitation des aires d’endémisme des Orchidaceae a ainsi permis de proposer une nouvelle carte phytogéographique de l’ACA. Les éléments phytogéographiques propres à chacune des dix phytochories décrites ont été identifiés et leurs affinités floristiques discutées. Les résultats phytogéographiques obtenus (a) soutiennent l’existence d’une barrière phytogéographique matérialisée par la rivière Sanaga entre les deux principaux centres et aires d’endémisme de l’ACA, (b) étendent l’archipel afromontagnard situé principalement au Cameroun au plateau de Jos (Nigeria) et (c) montrent l’importance de la chaîne montagneuse morcelée Ngovayang-Mayombe pour la distribution de l’endémisme en ACA. Cette chaîne de montagne, qui s’étend le long des côtes de l’océan du sud Cameroun au Congo-Brazzaville et qui correspond à plusieurs refuges forestiers identifiés par de nombreux auteurs, est ici considérée comme une seule aire d’endémisme morcelée./

Atlantic central Africa (ACA) covers the Lower Guinean Domain, the four islands of the Gulf of Guinea and a part of the afromontane archipelago. Different centres of endemism have been identified into this area and are usually considered as related to glacial forest refuges. However, the origin of this endemism, the localization of the centres and the methods employed to identify these centres are subject to debate. Yet, the localization of these centres of endemism and the identification of the rare plants they harbor is an essential prerequisite to setting up rational conservation policies, and remains a priority for private, institutional and governmental organizations which are dealing with the sustainable management of biodiversity.

This phytogeographical study focuses on Orchidaceae and analyses the distribution of the taxa endemic to ACA. We use an original dataset resulting from an important sampling efforts and the identification of specimens coming from all the principal herbaria where collections from ACA are housed. During this study, (i) we first identified the taxa endemic to ACA and documented their distribution through several taxonomic and floristic contributions, (ii) we used and developed new methods allowing to correct for sampling bias associated with the use of rare and poorly documented taxa, testing at the same time the use of Orchidaceae as chorological markers, and finally, applying these methods to our dataset, (iii) we delimited the centres of endemism and identified the phytogeographical territories of Orchidaceae in ACA.

(i) A taxonomic revision of Chamaeangis Schltr. and Stolzia Schltr. respectively was carried out. Seven new taxa were described: Angraecum atlanticum Stévart & Droissart, Chamaeangis spiralis Stévart & Droissart, Chamaeangis lecomtei (Finet) Schltr. var. tenuicalcar Stévart & Droissart, Polystachya engogensis Stévart & Droissart, Polystachya reticulata Stévart & Droissart, Stolzia repens (Rolfe) Summerh var. cleistogama Stévart, Droissart & Simo and Stolzia grandiflora P.J.Cribb subsp. lejolyana Stévart, Droissart & Simo. Several additional taxonomic, phytogeographical and ecological notes were also published. We finally identified 203 Orchidaceae taxa endemic to ACA, among which 193 were used to study the patterns of endemism.

(ii) In Cameroon, the distribution patterns of both Orchidaceae and Rubiaceae endemic to ACA were studied. Subsampling methods (rarefaction) were applied to calculate diversity and similarity indices and to correct potential bias associated with heterogeneous sampling intensity. A gradient of continentality was confirmed in Cameroon, the coastal part being the richest in taxa endemic to ACA. The Cameroon Mountain and the Kupe/Bakossi mountain massifs have received a great consideration of politics and scientists. On the contrary, the Southern coastal part of Cameroon, though almost as rich as the Northern part, remains poorly known for several plant families.

This analysis also allowed us to compare patterns of endemism of Orchidaceae and Rubiaceae. The differences observed could be mainly due to the terrestrial habit of some Orchidaceae, which are only found in the grasslands of the highest part of the Cameroonian volcanic line where endemic Rubiaceae are rare. Within forest habitats, the concordance between the patterns of endemism of Orchidaceae and Rubiaceae question the widespread use of dispersal ability as a selection criterion for the families used to identify forest refuges. This also confirms the relevance of Orchidaceae as chorological marker.

Species distribution modelling was used of an in depth study of the ecology, the distribution and the conservation status of Diceratostele gabonensis Summerh. an Orchidaceae endemic to the Guineo-Congolian regional centre of endemism which is only known from very few collections. This method is proved to be appropriate to complete our knowledge on the distribution of rare plant species and to guide the future inventories in tropical Africa.

(iii) In ACA, an analysis of the distribution of endemic Orchidaceae confirmed the presence and location of several centres of endemism previously identified on the basis of other plant families. This result again supports the use of Orchidaceae as a chorological marker. The chorological study of the endemic Orchidaceae allowed us to propose a new phytogeographical map for ACA. Phytogeographical elements for each of the ten phytochoria described were identified and their floristic affinities were also discussed. Our results (a) support the existence of a phytogeographical barrier, materialized by the Sanaga River, between the two main centres and area of endemism of the ACA, (b) extend the limits of the afromontane archipelago to the Jos Plateau in Nigeria and (c) show the importance of the Ngovayang-Mayombe line to explain the distribution of endemism in ACA. This mountainous line, stretching along the ocean coast from Southern Cameroon to Congo-Brazzaville, corresponds to several forest refuges identified by many authors, and is here considered as an unique but discontinuous area of endemism.

Doctorat en Sciences
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Face aux limites de la littérature internationale sur les disparités environnementales de prévalence d’obésité (focus sur le lieu de résidence, etc.) et considérant le manque d’études empiriques réalisées en France, nous nous sommes intéressés tout d’abord aux relations entre, d’une part, les caractéristiques des environnements résidentiels et professionnels et le secteur d’activité économique et, d’autre part, deux indicateurs d’excès de graisse corporelle : l’indice de masse grasse (IMG) et le pourcentage de masse grasse (%MG). Ensuite, nous avons comparé les effets des secteurs d’activité économique sur plusieurs facteurs de risque cardiovasculaire. Finalement, à l’aide d’une étude longitudinale, nous avons évalué les liens entre les variables socio-économiques et l’évolution des paramètres anthropométriques chez les participants de l’Étude RECORD. Parallèlement à l’étude de ces relations, notre objectif méthodologique était d’explorer les biais d’attrition liés aux données manquantes dans les études longitudinales.Pour conclure, nous avons pu par ces travaux empiriques mettre en évidence des effets des caractéristiques individuelles, de l’environnement résidentiel, et des secteurs d’activité économique sur l’accumulation de la masse grasse corporelle ainsi que sur les facteurs de risque cardiovasculaire. En ce qui concerne le volet méthodologique de ce travail, d’une part nous avons été en mesure de tenir compte dans les analyses de l’environnement géographique de résidence communément pris en compte. D’autre part, nous démarquant d’une littérature sur les déterminants sociaux de l’obésité essentiellement transversale, nous montrons que selon le mécanisme des données manquantes, les méthodes statistiques communément utilisées ne permettent pas de contourner les biais potentiels induits par l’attrition dans les analyses longitudinales
Given the limits of the international literature on the environmental disparities in obesity prevalence (focused on the residential neighborhood) and considering the lack of empirical studies conducted in France, we were interested in the relations between, on the one hand, the characteristics of residential and professional neighborhood characteritics and the work economic sector, and on the other hand, two body fat indicators: the Fat Mass Index (FMI) and the percentage of Fat Mass (%FM). Then we compared the effects of the work economic sectors on several cardiovascular risk factors. Finally using a longitudinal study, we evaluated the links between socioeconomic variables and the evolution of the anthropometric parameters among participants of the RECORD Study. Simultaneously, our methodological objective was to explore the attrition biases due to missing data in longitudinal studies.To conclude, we could by those empirical works highlight the effect of the individual and the residential characteristics, and the work economic sectors on the accumulation of body fat as well as on cardiovascular risk factors. Regarding the methodological part of this work, firstly we were able to take into account in the analysis the residential geographical environment commonly considered. Secondly, differentiating us from the transversal literature on the social determinants of obesity, we show that depending on the missing data mechanism, the statistical methods commonly used can not circumvent the potential bias introduced by attrition in longitudinal analyses

During the Cold War, Norway was a member of NATO, Sweden was neutral but depended on Western support in the event of a crisis, while Finland's foreign policy priority was to win and retain the Soviet Union's confidence. The purpose of the thesis is to study whether the three small states' different foreign policy choices had consequences for the ways in which the Soviet Union and the USA were depicted in school textbooks for history, geography, and social sciences in the period 1930 to 2004. To this end, a theory derived from small states' strategies to maintain their independence was applied to textbook production.

The study demonstrates that there was a link between small state foreign policy and textbooks' accounts of the USA and Soviet Union. Swedish and Norwegian textbooks portray international conflicts from a legalistic perspective, taking the part of small states exposed to superpower aggression such as Vietnam and Afghanistan. In Finnish textbooks, however, an interest in defending small state's rights yielded to the need to demonstrate their goodwill towards the Soviet Union, which was described in far less critical terms than in Swedish and Norwegian textbooks. In time, in the name of neutrality, depictions of the USA also became increasingly uncritical.

All three Nordic states had government authorities charged with inspecting and approving school textbooks. Foreign policy's chief influence on textbooks was not effected by direct oversight, however; instead, it was established indirectly by means of the social climate, which determined what was considered politically correct in the three countries, and it was to this that the textbooks' authors adapted their work.

Textbooks are often said to be conservative and slow to change, but the thesis shows that in parts they were politically sensitive, rapidly adapting to changes in what society held to be politically correct.

Biases in invasion science lead to a taxonomic focus on plants, particularly a subset of well-studied plants, and a geographic focus on invasions in Europe and North America. Geographic biases could also cause some branches of invasion science to focus on a subset of environmental conditions in the invaded range, potentially leading to an incomplete understanding of the ecology and management of plant invasions. While broader, country-level geographic biases are well known, it is unclear whether these biases extend to a finer scale and thus affect research within the invaded range. This study assessed whether research sites for ten well-studied invasive plants in the U.S. are geographically biased relative to each species’ invaded range. We compared the distribution, climate, and land uses of research sites for 735 scientific articles to manager records from EDDMapS and iMap Invasives representing the invaded range. We attributed each study to one of five types: impact, invasive trait, mapping, management, and recipient community traits. While the number of research sites was much smaller than the number of manager records, they generally encompassed similar geographies. However, research sites tended to skew towards species’ warm range margins, indicating that researchers have knowledge on how these plants might behave in a warming climate. For all but one species, at least one study type encompassed a significantly different climate space from manager records, suggesting that some level of climatic bias is common. Impact and management studies occurred within the same climate space for all species, suggesting that these studies focus on similar areas – likely those with the greatest impacts and management needs. Manager records were more likely to be found near roads, which are both habitats and vectors for invasive plants, and on public land. Research sites were more likely to be found near a college or university. Studies on these plants largely occur across their invaded range, however, different study types occur within a narrower climate range. This clustering can create gaps in our general understanding of how these plants interact with different environments, which can have important policy and management consequences.

abstract: This work investigates the effects of non-random sampling on our understanding of species distributions and their niches. In its most general form, bias is systematic error that can obscure interpretation of analytical results by skewing samples away from the average condition of the system they represent. Here I use species distribution modelling (SDM), virtual species, and multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) to explore how sampling bias can alter our perception of broad patterns of biodiversity by distorting spatial predictions of habitat, a key characteristic in biogeographic studies. I use three separate case studies to explore: 1) How methods to account for sampling bias in species distribution modeling may alter estimates of species distributions and species-environment relationships, 2) How accounting for sampling bias in fossil data may change our understanding of paleo-distributions and interpretation of niche stability through time (i.e. niche conservation), and 3) How a novel use of MGWR can account for environmental sampling bias to reveal landscape patterns of local niche differences among proximal, but non-overlapping sister taxa. Broadly, my work shows that sampling bias present in commonly used federated global biodiversity observations is more than enough to degrade model performance of spatial predictions and niche characteristics. Measures commonly used to account for this bias can negate much loss, but only in certain conditions, and did not improve the ability to correctly identify explanatory variables or recreate species-environment relationships. Paleo-distributions calibrated on biased fossil records were improved with the use of a novel method to directly estimate the biased sampling distribution, which can be generalized to finer time slices for further paleontological studies. Finally, I show how a novel coupling of SDM and MGWR can illuminate local differences in niche separation that more closely match landscape genotypic variability in the two North American desert tortoise species than does their current taxonomic delineation.
Dissertation/Thesis
Doctoral Dissertation Geography 2018

Pro-urban bias in policy is often seen as a common phenomenon in the developing world. Empirical reality though is much more varied. Many governments actively support agricultural producers and rural citizens, even at early stages of development. In addition, the binary distinction between urban and rural bias in policy aggregates over important sub-national variation in the distributive impact of government policies. This dissertation extends the research frontier by analyzing the political roots underlying spatial bias in policy using new theoretical and empirical approaches. First, this dissertation develops a theory that identifies conditions under which politicians will institute pro-urban or pro-rural policies, by considering the threat of a rural insurgency. Second, I argue that elections in rural majority societies can empower citizens in the rural periphery. Competitive elections and high rural turnout induce governments to supply favorable policies to the rural sector as a whole and salient regions in particular. To test the effect of the threat of rural violence, I use new cross-national data on net taxation in the agricultural sector. Data on fiscal transfers and the sub-national effects of agricultural pricing policies in Indonesian districts provide additional evidence for the first hypothesis. To test the effect of elections on urban bias, I exploit a natural experiment from the Indonesian context. Last, I analyze the proliferation of districts in Indonesia from 2001 to 2009, with important implications for future fiscal transfers, and show the process is largely driven by local elite competition within and between districts.

Dissertation

The sea-level estimation of satellite altimetry is affected by a sea-state related error, the so called electromagnetic (EM) bias. The ocean-wave troughs reflect the radar signals stronger than the crests, which then biases the altimeter mean sea level measurements towards the troughs. In order to establish an EM bias correction algorithm based on those parameters available from the satellite platform, namely the significant wave height and the normalized radar cross section (NRCS), the University of Massachusetts (UMass) collaborated with the Goddard Space Flight Center of NASA in four airborne experiments: EM Bias Experiment (1989), Shelf Edge Exchange Processes Experiment (SEEP 1989), Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment (SWADE 1991), and Southern Ocean Wave Experiment (SOWEX 1992). All four employed the 5.3 and 13.6 GHz frequencies currently being used by the TOPEX/POSEIDON satellite altimeters. The 5.3/13.6 GHz dual-frequency, nadir-looking scatterometer of UMass measured ocean surface NRCS by spatially resolving wave troughs and crests, while the Airborne Oceanographic Lidar and the 36 GHz Scanning Radar Altimeter of NASA profiled waves, and provided directional wave spectra. Sea state conditions were also derived from buoy recordings, primarily during the SWADE missions. The first three experiments provided data for the prelaunch EM bias correction curves of the TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeters, while SOWEX complemented the earlier data set with high-wind, high-wave-height measurements. The evaluation of the TOPEX/POSEIDON performance has found that the prelaunch curves slightly overestimate the bias at both frequencies, meanwhile they predict the bias difference at the two frequencies correctly. On-orbit data analysis, as well as the observations from SOWEX suggest that both the 5.3 and 13.6 GHz biases decrease for high winds, which fact was taken into account during the revision of the EM bias correction algorithms.

In economic geography, a main research focus is on the relationship between innovation and space. Based on the observations of spatially clustered innovative activities in urban environments, a central argument is that the exchange of innovation-relevant knowledge across firms and other actors as well as the accompanying learning processes are promoted through geographical proximity. Agglomerations are said to offer multiple advantages, e.g. through frequent face-to-face contacts and opportunities for intense collaboration, a common labour pool and shared institutions. From this perspective, a location in large urban environments is beneficial for innovation, while by contrast, being located outside of agglomerations is not (Fitjar & Rodríguez‐Pose 2019). This dissertation relates to growing debates around the unease with the seemingly accepted truths about the strong connection of agglomerations and firm innovation. The research field has been found to be urban-biased, focussed on cases of successful regions and delivering multiple explanations of their success – while neglecting innovations occurring outside of agglomerations and largely portraying such regions and their actors as disadvantaged (Shearmur 2017). Within the emergent studies of innovation in peripheral contexts, some specifics have been proposed based on empirical studies, but a coherent theoretical framework is missing (e.g. Eder 2019). Against this background, this dissertation aims to contribute to a better understanding of innovation from a peripheral perspective based on comparison of firms by location. It explores knowledge creation processes and innovation activities of Hidden Champions in Germany. These highly innovative and globally active manufacturing firms are quite evenly distributed across Germany. By exploring practices and strategies of these firms towards innovation from a comparative perspective, this study investigates the following overarching research question: • What are the characteristics and main drivers of innovation outside of agglomerations and in how far do these differ from those inside agglomerations? This research builds on relational perspectives on economic action by adopting a geographical lens (Bathelt & Glückler 2003, Yeung 2005). It focusses on actors and how they act and interact in space without privileging any spatial scale or mechanism such as local interaction. Spaces and places are not perceived as territorially bounded units but as contexts in which actors organise their often multi-scalar relations. Following these basic theoretical positions, several concepts and approaches are utilised to develop a detailed understanding of firm innovation in space. While notions of slow innovation and the reliance on firm-internal capabilities point towards reduced interaction requirements especially of firms in peripheral regions to innovate (e.g. Shearmur 2015), the proximity approach (Boschma 2005) and the notion of global pipelines (Bathelt et al. 2004) highlight that geographical proximity is not a necessary precondition for interactive knowledge creation and innovation. Based on these conceptual perspectives and linked to the goal of understanding key mechanisms of innovation from a peripheral perspective, the guiding research question is complemented by the following sub-questions: • How and where do firms gain relevant knowledge for their innovation activities? • Which role do internal capabilities as well as external efforts towards innovation play and how do firms assess both dimensions? • What is the role of the firms’ location, especially regarding local options of knowledge creation? Based on a mixed method research design including a quantitative survey among the Hidden Champions and qualitative interviews with representatives of these firms, three dimensions relevant to the understanding of knowledge creation and innovation are considered for the empirical analyses: practices of knowledge creation at the individual level, strategic approaches towards innovation at the organisational level and the socio-spatial contexts in which knowledge creation processes and innovation are organised. The overarching finding of this dissertation is that firms like Hidden Champions largely follow the same principles to innovate independently from their location. Thereby, the results highlight the commonalities of firm innovation in urban and peripheral contexts instead of pointing towards major limitations or specificities of innovation in more peripheral regions. With taking the firm at the centre of analysis, this research demonstrates that regional economic pre-conditions do not necessarily relate to the capacities of firms to innovate. Neither do investigated firms located inside agglomera-tions largely capitalise on options of local interaction, nor do firms located outside of agglomerations face major disadvantages due to the lack of local options to source knowledge and interact. Instead and irrespectively of their location, firms strategically engage in various firm-internal and -external options to gain knowledge and have the capacities to shape their multi-scalar socio-spatial contexts for knowledge creation according to their needs. The results underline that intense interaction with externals is only one out of many options for firms to gain knowledge. Next to strong internal capabilities, non-interactive modes of knowledge sourcing via desk research, for instance, and more informal modes of knowledge creation via the participation in trade fairs have been identified as integral parts of firms’ innovation activities. This study suggests that such forms of ‘selective openness’ have not been sufficiently addressed in the research field so far. Selective openness not only stresses the strategic approaches of firms towards innovation but also the variety of options for knowledge creation which are usually not reliant on or connected to the regional contexts of firms. Moreover, this study finds that the connection between innovation and agglomeration is not as clear as suggested by urban perspectives, at least for the German context. Rather, much of the urban/rural and core/periphery divide seems to be discursively produced. This dissertation complements existing research on the geographies of innovation by providing insights from a peripheral view on innovation. It contributes to current debates on urban-biased perspectives and the dichotomous representation of firm innovation in urban and peripheral contexts. Based on the empirical results, it proposes a more differentiated view on openness and suggests recommendations for place-based policies towards regional development and innovation.:Summary 9 1. Introduction 11 1.1. Research objectives and questions 13 1.2. Hidden Champions in Germany 16 1.3. Structure of the dissertation 18 2. Re-thinking the geographies of firm innovation 21 2.1. Firms and innovation 22 2.1.1. Understanding firm innovation 24 2.1.2. Coordination of internal and external knowledge for innovation 25 2.1.3. Varieties of open innovation 29 2.2. Geographies and innovation 33 2.2.1. Beyond territorial innovation 34 2.2.2. Questioning the status quo: urban bias and the periphery label 41 2.2.3. Current understandings of innovation outside of agglomerations 45 2.3. Conceptual framework 51 2.3.1. Positioning the own research 51 2.3.2. A relational perspective on economic processes in space 55 2.3.3. Beyond dualistic conceptualisations of innovation and space 59 3. Methodological approach 66 3.1. Critical realism as the basic ontological and epistemological perspective 66 3.1.1. Basics notions of critical realism 67 3.1.2. Implications for research methodologies 68 3.2. Research design 69 3.2.1. Multi-dimensional comparative approach 70 3.2.2. Triangulation 72 3.2.3. Comparison 73 3.3. Empirical and analytical methods and proceedings 75 3.3.1. Development of a database of Hidden Champions in Germany 75 3.3.2. Quantitative survey 81 3.3.3. Semi-structured interviews 85 4. Patterns and socio-spatial contexts of firm innovation – Quantitative results 90 4.1. The spatial distribution of Hidden Champions in Germany 90 4.2. Firm characteristics and innovation patterns 93 4.2.1. Organisational and spatial aspects of firm structures 93 4.2.2. Innovation activities 94 4.2.3. Information sources and collaboration 96 4.3. Comparison of the firms by location 98 4.4. Types of innovative firms 101 4.4.1. Approach, implementation and results of the cluster analysis 102 4.4.2. Types of innovators and their locations 107 4.5. Interim results and arising questions 110 5. Strategies and practices towards knowledge creation and innovation – Qualitative results 113 5.1. Firm profiles 116 5.1.1. Firms located outside of agglomerations 116 5.1.2. Firms located inside agglomerations 120 5.2. The global integration of firms 124 5.2.1. Firms, their niche markets and ways of internationalisation 124 5.2.2. Knowledge creation strategies and the role of geography 127 5.2.3. Organisational structures to secure the global reach 134 5.2.4. The significance of innovation and high quality 136 5.3. Strategies towards innovation 137 5.3.1. Corporate culture and ambition 138 5.3.2. Key internal and external drivers of innovation 139 5.3.3. The temporal dimension of innovation 142 5.4. Firm-internal organisation of innovation activities 144 5.4.1. Main challenges 145 5.4.2. The headquarters as the central corporate unit 148 5.4.3. Internationalisation of knowledge creation and innovation 150 5.5. The external dimension of innovation activities 155 5.5.1. Access to external sources of knowledge 155 5.5.2. Collaboration with partners 158 5.5.3. Evaluation of the external dimension for innovation 164 5.6. The role of the regional contexts for firm innovation 165 5.6.1. The perception of regional contexts at the headquarters 166 5.6.2. The regional embeddedness of firms 171 5.6.3. Evaluation of the regional dimension 175 5.7. Summary of findings and comparison with the quantitative results 176 6. Firm innovation beyond agglomeration – Discussion of results 180 6.1. Globally dispersed knowledge dynamics and secrecy 180 6.2. The processual character of innovation activities 185 6.3. The role of the places and spaces for firm innovation 191 7. Main findings, conclusions and outlook 196 7.1. Summary of main findings and contributions of the research 196 7.2. Conclusions and policy recommendations 200 7.3. Reflections on the study and avenues for future research 202 Appendices 206 References 220

Detaillierte Informationen über die Verbreitungsareale von Arten sind essentiell für die Beantwortung zentraler Fragen der Ökologie, Evolutionsbiologie und Biogeographie. Solche Informationen sind auch notwendig, um Naturschutzressourcen kostenwirksam zwischen verschiedenen Regionen und Maßnahmen zu verteilen. Unser Wissen über Artverbreitungen beruht vor allem auf Punktdaten, die das Vorkommen einer bestimmten Art an einem bestimmten Ort zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt belegen (nachstehend „Records“). Riesige Mengen solcher Records wurden über internationale Data-Sharing-Netzwerke mobilisiert, allen voran durch die Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Auch wenn diese Netzwerke die Zugänglichkeit zu solchen Informationen enorm verbessert haben, ist unser Wissen über globale Artverbreitungen immer noch äußerst lückenhaft und von grober räumlicher Auflösung – der sogenannte Wallace’sche Wissensrückstand. Vorhandene Informationen enthalten zudem zahlreiche Unsicherheiten, Fehler und Daten-‘Biases’. Diese könnten durch Ort-spezifische Faktoren wie Zugänglichkeit oder durch artspezifische Faktoren, wie Entdeckungswahrscheinlichkeit, verursacht werden. Zukünftiges Sammeln und Mobilisieren von Informationen sollte so gestaltet werden, dass der erreichte Nutzen der Records für Forschung und Naturschutz maximiert wird. Hierfür ist ein tiefgehendes Verständnis der Lücken, Unsicherheiten und Biases in den Informationen sowie der sie verursachenden Faktoren notwendig. Bisher wurden diese Mängel in globalen Artverbreitungsinformationen niemals quantitativ untersucht. Mit meiner Dissertation liefere ich die ersten globalen Analysen zu Mängeln von digital verfügbaren Verbreitungsinformationen für terrestrische Wirbeltiere und Landpflanzen. Ich habe >300 Millionen Records für Landpflanzen und drei Gruppen terrestrischer Wirbeltiere (Amphibien, Säugetiere, Vögel) über GBIF abgerufen. Diese Informationen habe ich mit taxonomischen Datenbanken sowie unabhängigen Verbreitungskarten und Checklisten verbunden. Auf Grundlage der erstellten Datensätze habe ich unterschiedliche Formen von Informations-Mängeln für verschiedene taxonomische Gruppen und auf mehreren räumlichen Maßstäben untersucht. In Kapitel I habe Daten-Abdeckung sowie Daten-Unsicherheiten in Informationen zu Pflanzenvorkommen jeweils in Bezug auf Taxonomie, Raum und Zeit quantifiziert. Für diese insgesamt 6 Maße habe in anschließend Variation in den drei Dimensionen (Taxonomie, Raum, Zeit) gemessen. Zudem habe ich mithilfe von paarweisen Spearman-Rang-Korrelationen und Hauptkomponentenanalysen die Zusammenhänge zwischen diesen verschiedenen Formen von Informationsmängeln analysiert. In Kapitel II habe ich anhand von terrestrischen Wirbeltieren zwei spezielle Aspekte von Datenabdeckung zwischen geographischen Regionen verglichen: i) die Datendichte und ii) die Vollständigkeit der abgedeckten Arten. Durch Multi-Modell-Analysen habe ich die Effekte von zwölf potentiellen sozioökonomischen Einflussfaktoren auf Informationsmängel verglichen, und zwar einzeln für jede der drei Wirbeltiergruppen auf jeder von vier verschiedenen räumlichen Auflösungen. In Kapitel III habe ich anhand von Säugetieren drei Aspekte von Datenabdeckung zwischen einzelnen Arten verglichen: i) die Anzahl von Records pro Art, ii) die räumliche Abdeckung der Verbreitungsareale durch Records, und iii) den räumlichen Bias in der Abdeckung verschiedener Teile der Verbreitungsareale. Durch Multi-Modell-Analysen und Variations-Partitionierung habe ich die Effekte von verschiedenen Artmerkmalen, Größe und Form der Verbreitungsareale sowie von sozioökonomischen Faktoren untersucht. Diese Analysen habe ich auf globalem Maßstab sowie einzeln für sechs zoogeographische Gebiete durchgeführt. In meiner Dissertation habe ich in allen untersuchten Aspekten von Artverbreitungsinformationen starke Biases gefunden. Die Anzahl von Records variierte um mehrere Größenordnungen zwischen Arten und zwischen geographischen Gebieten. Verschiedene Maße von Datenabdeckung und Datenunsicherheiten zeigten klare taxonomische, geographische und zeitliche Muster. Ich fand beispielsweise Höchstwerte von taxonomischer Abdeckung in industrialisierten westlichen Ländern, aber auch in einigen tropischen Gebieten wie Mexiko. Im Gegensatz dazu gab es in weiten Teilen Afrikas und Asiens entweder gar keine oder nur sehr veraltete Informationen. Da taxonomische, räumliche und zeitliche Abdeckung jeweils durch die Anzahl der Records numerisch eingeschränkt sind, fand ich zwischen diesen Maßen gemäßigte bis starke positive Korrelationen. Maße von Datenunsicherheiten hingegen korrelierten kaum untereinander oder mit Datenabdeckungsmaßen. In Kapitel II habe ich den Einfluss von zwölf potentiellen sozioökonomischen Einflussfaktoren auf Datendichte und Datenvollständigkeit von geographischen Artgemeinschaften untersucht. Nur vier hatten einen durchweg für alle untersuchten Wirbeltiergruppen und räumlichen Auflösungen starken Einfluss. Dies waren der Endemitenreichtum, die räumliche Nähe zu Daten-beisteuernden Institutionen, politische Mitgliedschaft im GBIF-Netzwerk, sowie lokal verfügbare Forschungsgelder. Andere Faktoren, von denen man oft annimmt, dass sie eine große Rolle spielen würden, hatten einen erstaunlich geringen Einfluss, wie z.B. Verkehrsinfrastruktur oder Größe und Finanzausstattungen westlicher Daten-beisteuernder Institutionen. Meine Analysen in Kapitel III ergaben, dass die vier in Kapitel II identifizierten sozioökonomischen Schlüsselfaktoren ebenfalls einen starken Einfluss auf Artverbreitungsinformationen auf der Ebene von einzelnen Arten hatten. Jedoch unterschied sich ihre relative Wichtigkeit deutlich zwischen geographischen Gebieten. Zwischenartliche Unterschiede in Verbreitungsinformationen waren zudem sehr stark durch Größe und Form der Verbreitungsareale beeinflusst. Dies unterstützt meine Hypothese, dass diese geometrischen Faktoren die Wahrscheinlichkeit beeinflussen, dass sich Verbreitungsgebiete bestimmter Arten mit Untersuchungsgebieten von Feldforschern überschneiden, was wiederum Aufswirkungen auf die Wahrscheinlichkeiten hat, mit denen diese Arten besammelt werden. Entgegen unserer Annahmen hatten Artmerkmale wie etwa Nachtaktivität, die das Entdecken oder Sammeln bestimmter Arten wahrscheinlich machen sollten, kaum einen Einfluss auf zwischenartliche Unterschiede in Verbreitungsinformationen. Die Ergebnisse meiner Dissertation lassen wichtige Schlussfolgerungen darüber zu, wie mobilisierte Artverbreitungsinformationen effizient genutzt und verbessert werden können. Erstens belegen meine Ergebnisse schwerwiegende Mängel in digital verfügbaren Artverbreitungsinformationen, insbesondere für Gebiete und Arten von besonderer Wichtigkeit für den Naturschutz. Zweitens zeigen sie, dass für die allermeisten Arten feiner aufgelöste Informationen nur durch Artverbreitungsmodelle erreicht werden können, die mit geringen Datenmengen auskommen, die starke Datenunsicherheiten und Biases innehaben. Eine vielversprechende Methode, um in solchen Modellen mit Biases umzugeben, ist das explizite Einbeziehen der Bias-verursachenden Faktoren in die Modelle, und meine Ergebnisse bieten hilfreiche Anhaltspunkte für die Auswahl relevanter Faktoren. Drittens schaffen meine Ergebnisse eine empirische Grundlage zur Überwachung von Fortschritten in der Verbesserung weltweiter Artverbreitungsinformationen. Schließlich schafft mein Identifizieren der global wichtigsten Informations-limitierenden Faktoren sowie das Unterscheiden verschiedener Informationsaspekte eine Grundlage dafür, um Aktivitäten zu identifizieren, die Datenmängel effektiv beheben können. Als wichtigste Aktivitäten empfehle ich unter anderem i) das Unterstützen von Bemühungen zur Datenmobilisierung in Institutionen, die in geographischer Nähe zu datenarmen Gebieten liegen, ii) das Fördern von Kooperation zwischen großen Schwellenländern und Data-Sharing-Netzwerken, iii) die Durchführung von neuen Biodiversitäts-Surveys im zentralen Afrika und südlichen Asien, um weitgehend veraltete Informationen zu aktualisieren, und iv) das Verschieben des Fokus von Datensammel- und Datenmobilisierungsbemühungen auf Asien sowie Arten mit begrenzten Verbreitungsarealen.

Ecological niche modelling is a method designed to describe and predict the geographic distribution of an organism. This procedure aims to quantify the species-environment relationship by describing the association between the organism’s occurrence records and the environmental characteristics at these points. More simply, these models attempt to capture the ecological niche that a particular organism occupies. A popular application of ecological niche models is to predict the potential distribution of invasive alien species in their introduced range. From a biodiversity conservation perspective, a pro-active approach to the management of invasions would be to predict the potential distribution of the species so that areas susceptible to invasion can be identified. The performance of ecological niche models and the accuracy of the potential range predictions depend on the quality of the data that is used to calibrate and evaluate the models. Three different types of input data can be used to calibrate models when producing potential distribution predictions in the introduced range of an invasive alien species. Models can be calibrated with native range occurrence records, introduced range occurrence records or a combination of records from both ranges. However, native range occurrence records might suffer from geographical bias as a result of biased sampling or incomplete sampling. When occurrence records are geographically biased, the underlying environmental gradients in which a species can persist are unlikely to be fully sampled, which could result in an underestimation of the potential distribution of the species in the introduced range. I investigated the impact of geographical bias in native range occurrence records on the performance of ecological niche models for 19 invasive plant species by simulating two geographical bias scenarios (six different treatments) in the native range occurrence records of the species. The geographical bias simulated in this study was sufficient to result in significant environmental bias across treatments, but despite this I did not find a significant effect on model performance. However, this finding was perhaps influenced by the quality of the testing dataset and therefore one should be wary of the possible effects of geographical bias when calibrating models with native range occurrence records or combinations there of. Secondly, models can be calibrated with records obtained from the introduced range of a species. However, when calibrating models with records from the introduced range, uncertainties in terms of the equilibrium status and introduction history could influence data quality and thus model performance. A species that has recently been introduced to a new region is unlikely to be in equilibrium with the environment as insufficient time will have elapsed to allow it to disperse to suitable areas, therefore the occurrence records available would be unlikely to capture its full environmental niche and therefore underestimate the species’ potential distribution. I compared model performance for seven invasive alien plant species with different simulated introduction histories when calibrated with native range records, introduced range records or a combination of records from both ranges. A single introduction, multiple introduction and well established scenario was simulated from the introduced range records available for a species. Model performance was not significantly different when compared between models that were calibrated with datasets representing these three types of input data under a simulated single introduction or multiple introduction scenario, indicating that these datasets probably described enough of the species environmental niche to be able to make accurate predictions. However, model performance was significantly different for models calibrated with introduced range records and a combination of records from both ranges under the well established scenario. Further research is recommended to fully understand the effects of introduction history on the niche of the species. Copyright
Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2010.
Zoology and Entomology
unrestricted

Gegenstand vorliegender Dissertation ist die Betrachtung historischer Landverkehrswege als verbindende Elemente der Kulturlandschaft im ehemaligen Kurfürstentum Sachsen. Es werden veränderte territoriale, rechtliche und wirtschaftliche Bedingungen sowie der technische Fortschritt bei der Entwicklung der Verkehrsmittel und des Straßenbaus analysiert. Der erste Untersuchungsteil widmet sich der Inventarisierung des Beispielstraßenzuges Leipzig-Grimma-Leisnig-Hainichen-Oederan-Sayda-Deutsch-/Böhmischeinsiedel und dessen Infrastrukturelemente (z.B. Gasthöfe, Postdistanzsäulen) im Untersuchungszeitraum von 1648 bis 1800. Die Inventarisierungsergebnisse werden neben der textlichen Auswertung in zahlreichen Abbildungen, Tabellen und einer Karte dargestellt. Basierend auf diesen quellengestützten Erhebungen beschäftigt sich der zweite Untersuchungsteil mit dem historischen Entwicklungsprozess des kursächsischen Straßenwesens und beinhaltet eine Periodisierung im landeshistorischen Kontext.
The dissertation deals with the development of the historical traffic routes as connecting elements of the cultural landscape in the former electorate of Saxony. It analyses the changing territorial, judicial and economic influences as well as the technical progress of the means of transportation and the road construction. In the first part the inventory of the described route Leipzig-Grimma-Leisnig-Hainichen-Oederan-Sayda-Deutsch-/Böhmischeinsiedel and its infrastructural elements (e.g. guesthouses, distance columns) are presented for the period 1648 to 1800. The empiric results are illustrated in several figures, tables and a special map. The second part shows the historical process of the road system in Saxony, including a periodisation in the regional historic context.

A gestão do território contribui para o desenvolvimento socioeconómico e para o alcance de necessidades coletivas. A gestão de recursos, por sua vez, é uma das vias para atingir tais propósitos, convocando agentes, entidades e serviços para a administração de um território. O crescimento social e económico e a expansão urbana das últimas décadas tiveram um impacto significativo no consumo de recursos e na decorrente produção de resíduos, fazendo da gestão dos mesmos um importante meio para a gestão de recursos, com contributo para a gestão do território. Neste contexto, surgem serviços de gestão de resíduos urbanos, que dependem de informação geográfica referente ao seu sistema e ao do ambiente territorial em que o mesmo se insere. Face ao dinamismo e às relações entre diversos fenómenos e elementos presentes no referido ambiente, o processo de gestão de resíduos urbanos torna-se um desafio cada vez mais exigente e heterogéneo, em matéria de decisão espacial. Por esse motivo, é indispensável possuir ferramentas que integrem vários dados e que possibilitem abordagens metodológicas orientadas para uma intervenção territorial mais realista. Para tal, existem diversos métodos e técnicas, assentes em Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação, com uma considerável adesão a soluções de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica, dada a necessidade de manipular informação com carácter espacial referente à gestão de resíduos urbanos. No quadro atual da produção e da prestação de serviços através de rede digital, as plataformas Web desses Sistemas de Informação Geográfica constituem-se como um instrumento para gestão de resíduos. Considerando o exemplo do Gabinete de Estudos, Planeamento e Controlo, dos Serviços Intermunicipalizados de Águas e Resíduos dos Municípios de Loures e Odivelas, no presente Trabalho de Projeto, pretende-se avaliar a situação atual das metodologias e dos recursos tecnológicos que um serviço deste tipo possui, percebendo o contributo que aplicações de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica Web podem ter para a concretização da sua missão, na conjuntura atual da tecnologia, da informação e da comunicação na Administração Pública. Assim, o presente Trabalho de Projeto propõe também um modelo de desenvolvimento das referidas aplicações, assentes em Sistemas de Informação Geográfica Desktop e Web de código aberto, livres e gratuitos. As aplicações abarcam informação interna, referente ao sistema de resíduos urbanos, dos Serviços Intermunicipalizados de Águas e Resíduos dos Municípios de Loures e Odivelas, e informação externa diversa, referente ao seu território de intervenção. A integração e relação da informação interna e externa, com resultados nas aplicações, são apresentadas como possíveis meios de assistência aos procedimentos efetuados no Gabinete de Estudos, Planeamento e Controlo e à prestação efetiva do serviço de gestão de resíduos urbanos. Igualmente, é possível inferir a versatilidade, a aplicabilidade e o potencial de aplicações de Sistemas de Informação Geográfica, em diversas vertentes e escalas de gestão do território.