Manchester Metropolitan University

About: Manchester Metropolitan University is a education organization based out in Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5435 authors who have published 16202 publications receiving 442561 citations. The organization is also known as: Manchester Polytechnic & MMU.

Estimating change in extreme European precipitation using a multimodel ensemble

Abstract: [1] Using the results from multimodel ensembles enables the assessment of model uncertainty in present and future estimates of extremes and the production of probabilities for regional or local-scale change. Six regional climate model (RCM) integrations from the PRUDENCE ensemble are used together with extreme value analysis to assess changes to precipitation extremes over Europe by 2070–2100 under the SRES A2 emissions scenario, investigating the contribution of the formulations of global (GCM) and regional climate models to scenario uncertainty. RCM ability to simulate precipitation extremes is evaluated for a UK case study. RCMs are shown to underestimate 1 day return values but reasonably simulate longer-duration (5 or 10 day) extremes. A multimodel approach by which probabilities can be produced for regional or local-scale change in extremes is then developed. A key result is that all RCMs project increases in the magnitude of short- and long-duration extreme precipitation for most of Europe. Individual model projections vary considerably but are independent of changes in mean precipitation. The magnitude of change is strongly influenced by the driving GCM but moderated by the RCM, which also influences spatial pattern. Therefore, when designing future ensemble experiments (1) the number of GCMs should at least equal the number of RCMs and (2) if spatial pattern is important then integrations from different RCMs should be incorporated. For impact studies, both the resolution and number of models in the ensemble will influence projections of change. The use of a multimodel approach therefore provides more robust estimates.

Towards an innovation‐type mapping tool

Abstract: Purpose – Seeking to distil and integrate a range of previous definitions, models, frameworks and classifications relating to types of innovation, this paper aims to make a contribution to clarity in innovation research and practice through offering insights into the definitions of the different types of innovation, and, specifically, the relationships between them.Design/methodology/approach – This theoretical paper is based on a review of extant models and frameworks of types of innovation, which includes earlier foundation models, and more recent integrative models.Findings – This distillation results in a diagrammatic representation of the key frameworks, which is used as a platform to propose a new framework of types of innovation.Originality/value – This paper draws on all the terminologies used for types of innovation and creates an innovation type‐mapping tool that can be used to clarify the various definitions and terminologies of the innovation type concept.

Low-Power Wide Area Network Technologies for Internet-of-Things: A Comparative Review

Abstract: The rapid growth of Internet-of-Things (IoT) in the current decade has led to the development of a multitude of new access technologies targeted at low-power, wide area networks (LP-WANs). However, this has also created another challenge pertaining to technology selection. This paper reviews the performance of LP-WAN technologies for IoT, including design choices and their implications. We consider Sigfox, LoRaWAN, WavIoT, random phase multiple access (RPMA), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), as well as LTE-M and assess their performance in terms of signal propagation, coverage and energy conservation. The comparative analyses presented in this paper are based on available data sheets and simulation results. A sensitivity analysis is also conducted to evaluate network performance in response to variations in system design parameters. Results show that each of RPMA, NB-IoT, and LTE-M incurs at least 9 dB additional path loss relative to Sigfox and LoRaWAN. This paper further reveals that with a 10% improvement in receiver sensitivity, NB-IoT 882 MHz and LoRaWAN can increase coverage by up to 398% and 142%, respectively, without adverse effects on the energy requirements. Finally, extreme weather conditions can significantly reduce the active network life of LP-WANs. In particular, the results indicate that operating an IoT device in a temperature of −20 °C can shorten its life by about half; 53% (WavIoT, LoRaWAN, Sigfox, NB-IoT, and RPMA) and 48% in LTE-M compared with environmental temperature of 40 °C.

Detritivores in Kenyan highland streams: more evidence for the paucity of shredders in the tropics?

Abstract: 1 The relationship between coarse particulate organic matter (CPOM) standing stock and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages in Kenyan highland streams was determined by sampling seven sites on three rivers (2000-2700 m asl) Taxa recorded were allocated to functional feeding groups using published literature, mouthpart analysis and examination of gut contents Patterns were compared with five structurally similar streams in three areas of Europe (south-west France, south-east England, north-east England) 2 Number of individuals and proportion of detritivores in Kenyan streams were equivalent to, or greater than, those in European sites Shredders were, however, almost completely absent from Kenyan sites, despite high standing stocks of CPOM Shredders were abundant in all European sites 3 The phenomenon of low shredder abundance has been observed in other tropical streams in south-east Asia and Central and South America but, in contrast to these regions, the African rivers studied were devoid of shrimps or fish which may occupy the shredding niche elsewhere 4 These preliminary data suggest that shredder-mediated detritus processing, which is a key functional component of streams in the North Temperate Zone, does not operate in East African streams There are three possible reasons for this The first is that tropical African rivers are functionally different to those in temperate regions This could be because of enhanced microbial activity replacing shredder activity at high temperatures Alternatively, it could be a result of low palatability of detrital inputs from dominant riparian trees in the region The second and third are methodological: that our allocation to functional feeding groups is incorrect, and that our sampling methods missed a potentially key shredding taxon - the freshwater crab Potamonautes sp

Understanding the Emergence of Conventions in Multi-Agent Systems

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate techniques via which a group of autonomous agents can reach a global agreement on the use of social conventions by using only locally available information. Such conventions play a central role in naturallyoccurring social systems, and there are good masons tbr supposing that they will play a similarly important role in artificial social systems. Following a short review of conventions and their use in distributed artificial intelligence, we present a formal model that rigorously defines both our experimental methodology, and the performance measures we use [o quantify the success of our experiments. We then describe sixteen different mechanisms for bringing about agreement on conventions, and present experimental results obtained for each of these methods. A tentative analysis of these results is given, and the paper concludes with some comments and issues for future work.