Tag: models

Dec62018 by adminNo Comments

Math models could help police thwart city burglars

Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Mathematicians in Spain have developed a new model they think more accurately predicts burglary patterns in urban environs. Previous models, mostly focused on burglaries in suburban environs, have emphasized location and spatial patterns. The linear model developed by researchers Joan Saldaña, Maria Aguareles, Albert Avinyó, Marta Pellicer and Jordi Ripoll places a greater emphasis on timing. The group of mathematicians and their new model was inspired by age-dependent population models. "Our model puts the emphasis on when -- rather than where -- the burglaries will take place and on the type of victimized houses, represented by their age," Avinyó said in a news release. The researchers defined age -- of both burglar and home -- as the amount of time...

Jul12018 by adminNo Comments

Current climate models fail to account for CO2's impact on life, scientists complain

Science

June 29 (UPI) -- Increasingly, climate scientists are calling for climate models to focus more on CO2 levels and less on temperature. In a new study, researchers from the University of Exeter contend warming could slow even as a rise in CO2 accelerates. Not only do current models mostly ignore this reality, study authors suggest they also fail to account for CO2's myriad impacts on biology -- on life. Because current models use too narrow a range to describe future CO2 concentration, predictions tend to ignore the gas' impact on plants and animals. "Higher CO2 concentrations cause increased growth in many plant species," Exeter researcher Richard Betts said in a news release. "This causes a general 'greening' of vegetation, but also changes the makeup of ecosystems -- some species do bet...

Apr232018 by adminNo Comments

Poppy Delevingne: Models face 'stigma' with acting

Entertainment

A new TV series based on Picasso's life begins on Monday, starring Antonio Banderas as the artist and Poppy Delevingne as Marie-Therese Walter. But, the actress says, the woman she plays was more than just a muse."There's no-one in the world that doesn't know that name, Picasso," Delevingne tells BBC News."He is, without a doubt, one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century. There's something about him, something electric, he was passionate, relentless... he's just such a universal figure."Audience appetite for all things Picasso seems to know no bounds - with a recent exhibition of his work opening at the Tate Modern and now this new TV adaptation of the artist's life.Delevingne's role in the National Geographic series sees her playing perhaps Picasso's most famous muse - Marie...

Feb242018 by adminNo Comments

Temperatures to keep rising in Pacific Northwest, new climate models confirm

Science

Feb. 23 (UPI) -- No region will be immune to climate change, and new research suggests the Pacific Northwest is no exception.To better predict how climate change will impact the northwest corner of the United States, scientists at Oregon State University and the U.S. Forest Service localized the predictions of 30 "general circulation" climate models.General circulation models produce outputs at scales too large to be applied to small-scale systems, like a regional watershed. But scientists were able to localize the large-scale predictions using a process called "downscaling."During the downscaling process, researchers populated the combined models with weather and atmospheric data collected at research stations throughout the Northwest.Though the predictions feature variability depending o...

Jan242018 by adminNo Comments

Global models offer new insights into Great Lakes mercury pollution

Science

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community living on Michigan's Upper Peninsula have a fairly simple question: when is it safe to eat the fish they catch?To help fish-eaters better estimate their risk of exposure, researchers at Michigan Technological University have developed a model designed to measure the impact of local mitigation efforts, socioeconomic pressures, ecological systems, climate change, land use and other variables on local levels of mercury.Mercury is an atmosphere-surface exchangeable pollutant, a group of invisible, tasteless contaminants that move efficiently throughout the natural environment."We're taking phenomena that act on a global scale and predicting what they will do," Judith Perlinger, professor of environmental engineering at Michigan Tech...