Microbial dormancy leads to the emergence of seed banks in environmental, engineered, and host-associated ecosystems. These seed banks act as reservoirs of diversity that allow microbes to persist under adverse conditions, including extreme limitation of resources. While microbial seed banks may be influenced by macroscale factors, such as the supply of resources, the importance of microscale e...

We introduce a new unified framework for modelling both decision problems and finite games based on quantifiers and selection functions. We show that the canonical utility maximisation is one special case of a quantifier and that our more abstract framework provides several additional degrees of freedom in modelling. In particular, incomplete preferences, non-maximising heuristics, and context-...

An interaction integral method for evaluating mixed-mode stress intensity factors (SIFs) for two dimensional crack problems using NURBS-based isogeometric analysis method is investigated. The interaction integral method is based on the path independent J-integral. By introducing a known auxiliary field solution, the mixed-mode SIFs are calculated simultaneously. Among features of B-spline basis...

Research in natural resource management may be characterized as a search for an understanding of patterns and processes relating to a particular resource. Modelling is a crucial tool to these efforts: resource scientists use such models to help them conceptualize, understand, test, predict, or assess various aspects of the resource being studied [Walker and Cuff, 1988]. One central function, ho...

Covariance functions and variograms play a fundamental role in exploratory analysis and statistical modelling of spatial and spatio-temporal datasets. In this paper, we construct a new class of spatial covariance functions using the Fourier transform of some higher-order kernels. Moreover, we extend this class of spatial covariance functions to the spatio-temporal setting using the idea used in...

Heritable variation in traits can have wide-ranging impacts on species interactions, but the effects that ongoing evolution has on the temporal ecological dynamics of communities are not well understood. Here, we identify three conditions that, if experimentally satisfied, support the hypothesis that evolution by natural selection can drive ecological changes in communities. These conditions ar...

The rapid development of computers and associated software during the last thirty years has led to the expansion (emergence) of Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Geographical information systems (GIS) are computer-based systems designed specifically to facilitate the digital storage, retrieval, and analysis of spatially-referenced environmental data. Coupled with ecological modelling, GIS...

Ontologies are of increasing popularity for the evaluation of modelling methods in Systems Analysis and Design. However, at this stage only limited guidance is provided regarding the selection and evaluation of ontologies. The aim of this paper is to propose meta models for evaluating, comparing and engineering ontologies. It discusses an approach for analysing and evaluating the meta models of...

Adaptive divergence of phenotypes, such as sexual dimorphism or adaptive speciation, can result from disruptive selection via competition for limited resources. Theory indicates that speciation and sexual dimorphism can result from identical ecological conditions, but co-occurrence is unlikely because whichever evolves first should dissipate the disruptive selection necessary to drive evolution...