Ecosystems are changing in complex and unpredictable ways, analysis of these changes is facilitated by coordinated, long-term research. Meeting diverse societal needs requires an understanding what populations communities will be dominant 20, 50, 100 yr. This paper a product synthesis effort the U.S. National Science Foundation funded Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) network addressing LTER...

-Many time series forecasting problems require the estimation of possibly inaccurate, but longterm, trends, rather than accurate short-term prediction. In this paper, a double use of the Self-Organizing Map algorithm makes it possible to build a model for longterm prediction, which is proven to be stable. The method uses the information on the structure of the series when available, by predicti...

Solving real-world multi-objective optimization problems using Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithms becomes difficult when the number of objectives is high since types algorithms generally used to solve these are based on concept non-dominance, which ceases work as grows. This problem known curse dimensionality. Simultaneously, existence many objectives, a characteristic practical problems, ...

Organic matter removal and soil compaction are two types of soil disturbance that occur during forest harvesting activities. Both of these types of disturbance have the potential to reduce the long-term productivity of all vegetation which grows on the site. Quantifying the effects of different levels or organic matter removal and soil compaction is one of the objectives of the LongTerm Soil Pr...

There are at least five general reasons why market-based policies fail to address some of the most basic environmental objectives. This study evaluates the available biophysical and economic data against these criteria and concludes that marketbased approaches should be employed cautiously in pollution control under the present system and the available technology for farming in the lake area. T...

OBJECTIVES To identify intervention components that may promote longterm changes of physical activity among older adults in a behavioral theory-based physical activity trial. METHODS Participants (N = 24; aged 65 ± 8.79 years) shared perceptions of intervention components at the end of the intervention and physical activity was assessed at 18 months. Mixed-methods analyses using a pragmatic c...

The fundamental goal of conservation planning is biodiversity persistence, yet most reserve selection methods prioritize sites using occurrence data. Numerous empirical studies support the notion that defining and measuring objectives in terms of species richness (where the value of a site is equal to the number of species it contains, or contributes to an existing reserve network) can be inade...

Child abuse, and deaths of the clients of child protection services, continues to plague welfare and justice systems in many parts of Australia. Legislative changes to child protection in Victoria have introduced new procedures for managing the state’s child protection services. Among its objectives, the legislation seeks to promote stable longterm care for children through timely and more effi...

We report on summer student programmes and activities we have run, or contributed towards, for undergraduate students at Universities in the UK; in the USA; in Australia and in New Zealand over the last 16 years. We discuss the aims and objectives of such activities based around bootstrapping research projects; introducing undergraduates to the research process; and seeding new outreach and col...

The focus of health services in NSW has shifted from efficiency defined in terms of outputs to maximising health outcomes. The purpose of the health system is to deliver better health rather than more health services, and goals and targets for improving health are being determined for the main health problem areas. If the vision of a health system oriented towards achieving the best possible he...