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Aotearoa New Zealand's Northern region is a major gateway for the incursion and establishment of non-indigenous species (NIS) populations due to high numbers of recreational and commercial vessels. This region also holds a unique marine ecosystem, home to many taonga (treasured) species of cultural and economic importance. Regular surveillance, eradication plans and public information sharing are undertaken by local communities and governmental organizations to protect these ecosystems from the impact of NIS. Recently, considerable investments went into environmental DNA (eDNA) research, a promising approach for the early detection of NIS for complementing existing biosecurity systems. We applied eDNA metabarcoding for elucidating bioregional patterns of NIS distributions across a gradient from harbors (NIS hotspots) to open seas (spreading areas). Samples were collected during a research cruise sailing across three Aotearoa New Zealand harbors, Waitematā, Whangārei and Pēwhairangi (Bay of Islands), and their adjacent coastal waters. The small-ribosomal subunit (18S rRNA) and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) genes were screened using the online Pest Alert Tool for automated detection of putative NIS sequences. Using a probabilistic modelling approach, location-dependent occupancies of NIS were investigated and related to the current information on species distribution from biosecurity surveillance programs. This study was collaboratively designed with Māori partners to initiate a model of co-governance within the existing science system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aotearoa New Zealand's Northern region is a major gateway for the incursion and establishment of non-indigenous species (NIS) populations due to high numbers of recreational and commercial vessels. This region also holds a unique marine ecosystem, home to many taonga (treasured) species of cultural and economic importance. Regular surveillance, eradication plans and public information sharing are undertaken by local communities and governmental organizations to protect these ecosystems from the impact of NIS. Recently, considerable investments went into environmental DNA (eDNA) research, a promising approach for the early detection of NIS for complementing existing biosecurity systems. We applied eDNA metabarcoding for elucidating bioregional patterns of NIS distributions across a gradient from harbors (NIS hotspots) to open seas (spreading areas). Samples were collected during a research cruise sailing across three Aotearoa New Zealand harbors, Waitematā, Whangārei and Pēwhairangi (Bay of Islands), and their adjacent coastal waters. The small-ribosomal subunit (18S rRNA) and mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) genes were screened using the online Pest Alert Tool for automated detection of putative NIS sequences. Using a probabilistic modelling approach, location-dependent occupancies of NIS were investigated and related to the current information on species distribution from biosecurity surveillance programs. This study was collaboratively designed with Māori partners to initiate a model of co-governance within the existing science system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new and efficient solution for the forward world to image projection of a pinhole camera with distortions placed behind a planar refractive slab. Firstly, we introduce a novel way to compute the projection by reducing the problem to finding a real quantity called a slab shift. We characterize a physically meaningful slab shift as the unique solution of a fixed point equation on the one hand and as a specific uniquely defined root of a quartic polynomial in the unknown slab shift on the other. In the latter case we obtain a closed-form formula, which provides the unique physically meaningful projection. Secondly, we develop an approximation of the projection through the slab that reaches single-precision floating point accuracy for practically relevant problem instances with considerably lower computational costs compared to the exact solution. We demonstrate the accuracy and the efficiency of our method with realistic synthetic experiments. We demonstrate with real experiments that our method enables efficient camera calibration behind the windshield for automotive industry applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  We describe a weak quantifier elimination procedure for the full linear theory of the integers. This theory is a generalization of Presburger arithmetic, where the coefficients are arbitrary polynomials in non-quantified variables. The notion of weak quantifier elimination refers to the fact that the result possibly contains bounded quantifiers. For fixed choices of parameters these bounded quantifiers can be expanded into disjunctions or conjunctions. We furthermore give a corresponding extended quantifier elimination procedure, which delivers besides quantifier-free equivalents also sample values for quantified variables. Our methods are efficiently implemented within the computer logic system redlog, which is part of reduce. Various examples demonstrate the applicability of our methods. These examples include problems currently discussed in practical computer science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the case of a 38 year old man who complained of abdominal pain, weight loss, remittent fever, and night sweat lasting for 3 months. Lymph node biopsy suggested the diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma mixed cellularity type. After diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma was made, the patient was referred to dermatology department for evaluation of the crustaceous eruption that had appeared at the onset of his systemic symptoms. On physical examination, numerous, roundish, brownish, keratotic, greasy, follicular or parafollicular papules, to 2 mm in diameter, partly coalescing into plaques, were present.