Long Tail

To develop phage therapy in freshwater aquaculture against antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogen, nine lytic bacteriophages (FCP1-FCP9) specific to fifteen isolates of Flavobacterium columnare (FC) were isolated from water and bottom sediments of pond, river and sewage canal of Sub-Himalayan region, India. The FCP1 exhibited broader host range as purified one conferred clear lytic plaques in the lawn of 9 out of 15 (60%) isolates of F. columnare at 25±2C and pH 7.0 to 10.0. The eclipse, latent period and burst size ofFCP1 was10, 20 min and 370 virions I infected cell, respectively. It was specific to F. columnare only. Isolated F. columnare phages were made of hexagonal head and non contractile long tail belonging to family Podovariedae, a member of DNA virus. Results provide strong evidence of antibacterial nature of FCP 1 phage and hence phage therapy employing it may be suitable to control F. columnare infection in fish hatchery and culture system.

P2P networks are scalable in serving multimedia files over Internet which is in contrast to the centralized client-server system in which the server provides all the resources to the clients. In this research, we have designed and implemented a Peer-to-Peer network simulator to efficiently serve multimedia on the Internet considering that P2P streaming applications scale very superior even in large crowd scenarios. Simulated data was used to conduct experiment from current popular multimedia serving websites such as YouTube. We have then simulated user traffic by using the P2P system to compare the performance result with the traditional Client-Server system.

The "living" ontologies that will furnish the Semantic Web are lacking. The problem is that in ontology engineering practice, the underlying methodological and organisational principles to involve the community are mostly ignored. Each of the involved activities in the community-based ontology evolution methodology require certain skills and tools which domain experts usually lack. Finding a social arrangement of roles and responsibilities that must supervise the consistent implementation of methods and tools is a wicked problem. Based on three technology-independent problem dimensions of ontology construction, we propose a set of social performance indicators (SPIs) to bring insights in the social arrangement evolving the ontology, and how it should be adapted to the changing needs of the community. We illustrate the SPIs on data from a realistic experiment in the domain of competency-centric HRM. Thanks to our colleagues at Collibra and VUB STARLab. This research was partially sponsored by EC projects FP6 IST PROLIX (FP6-IST-027905) and FP7 TAS 3 .

With eight described taxa, the "panthonus clade" of Parides Hübner, [1819] has been the subject of some recent taxonomic rearrangements, including the number of species that composed this clade. Based on new molecular data, including sequences of the type species of the two putative species of this group, namely Parides burchellanus (Westwood, 1872) and P. panthonus panthonus (Cramer, 1780), a new phylogenetic hypothesis is presented to this clade. The obtained phylogeny recovered the "panthonus clade" monophyletic and divided in two sub-clades. Based on this tree and genetic distances, the "panthonus clade" is composed by two species: 1) P. burchellanus, which has no recognized subspecies, and 2) P. panthonus (Cramer, 1780), with seven described subspecies. The present study provided signi cant contributions towards the systematics of the "panthonus clade". As such, this marks an important rst step towards supporting future studies of the ecology, biogeography, and species conservation within this clade.

Mother-offspring bonds in primates often last for life and shape the behavior of both mother and offspring. Therefore, the death of an infant may trigger an emotional response from its mother akin to human grief, which is characterized by active distress and passive depression. Our goal was to investigate whether the behavior of female bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) changed after the loss of their infants. In the Thenmala area, southern India, between 2020 and 2022, we observed 18 mothers in two groups who lost, in total, 19 infants and three juveniles aged < 18 months. We compared affiliative, aggressive, and stress-related behavior of females before and after the death of their infants. We also examined individual variation in responses to infant loss. After the death of their infants, females withdrew socially, stayed on the periphery of the group, and had fewer companions. Bereaved females were less involved in grooming and hugging and initiated aggressive behavior more frequently than before they lost their infants. Moreover, females who lost infants showed frequent stress-related behaviors, such as self-scratching and yawning compared with when their infants were alive. Our results suggest that female bonnet macaques react to deaths of their infants in a manner that is consistent with the interpretation of grief in humans and other primates.

Fast and efficient InGaAs photoconductive responses were obtained by B-ion implantation and subsequent rapid thermal annealing (RTA). Undoped, n-type (n=5×1015 / cm3), 0.5 µm thick InGaAs layers were epitaxially grown on semi-insulating InP:Fe substrates. These layers were homogeneously implanted with B ions at multiple energies. Thereafter, they were subjected to RTA in a halogen lamp furnace. The photoconductive impulse response of these layers to a 1.3 µm light pulse showed an improved FWHM (full width at half-maximum) of 0.7 ns at a dose of 1.9×1013 B/cm2 and RTA at 800°C with scarcely degraded responsivity, in contrast to the FWHM of more than 1.6 ns for original samples. It was interpreted that this improvement might be obtained due to both hole trap annihilation by the implantation itself, resulting in a removal of the long tail, and the recovery of degraded carrier mobilities by post-implantation annealing.

The paper describes the synthesis and properties of a series of macrobicyclic cage cobalt(III) complexes which have lipophilic substituents . Those with paraffin tails, C8 or larger, have detergent-like characteristics and are able to penetrate biological membranes. A selection of the reagents was tested in vitro against parasitic nematodes, cestodes, trematodes and protozoa. Compounds with tails longer than C8 effectively killed the organisms at concentrations ≤10-3 M. In vivo against cestodes, that activity was also evident and biodistribution following oral administration showed that the compounds were confined to the gastrointestinal tract, unlike organic detergents such as cetylpyridinium chloride which are absorbed systemically. It is argued that the high charge and size of the head group of the complex detergents destabilize the exterior membrane of the organism. This new class of detergents, appropriately formulated, may be an effective new method of treating gastrointestina...

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invaluable help with my dissertation. I am very grateful to my husband, Martin Nuñez, who participated in every aspect of my dissertation. Martin spent many hours working in the field with me, revising manuscript and grants, discussing ideas and listening to every "practice talk" and oral contribution I have ever done. Martin always believed in me, and his unwavering support was fundamental during my dissertation. My dissertation need of many hours of field work and lab work and I was lucky to always have many dedicated people ready to help. Friends and assistants from Iguazú Argentina were Verónica Cifre, Ana Alvarez, Julieta Vigliano, Graciela Ingaramo, Angélica Camargo and Paula Tujague, and from Tennessee were Christopher Bush, Jessica Welch and Randy Small. Lucia Roselli really helped me with the logistics in Argentina. All of them gave me fundamental help in different aspects of the research of my dissertation. Many friends and colleagues from the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology had provided tireless support to discuss ideas, read my chapters, fixed my English and enriched my experience in Knoxville. In particular, v

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Spermatic characteristics were studied in 10 species representing several distinct groups within the catfish family Doradidae. Interestingly, different types of spermatogenesis, spermiogenesis and spermatozoa are correlated with intrafamilial groups previously proposed for Doradidae. Semi-cystic spermatogenesis, modified Type III spermiogenesis, and biflagellate sperm appear to be unique within Doradidae to the subfamily Astrodoradinae. Other doradid species have sperm with a single flagellum, cystic spermatogenesis, and spermiogenesis of Type I (Pterodoras granulosus, Rhinodoras dorbignyi), Type I modified (Oxydoras kneri), or Type III (Trachydoras paraguayensis). Doradids have an external mode of fertilization, and share a few spermatic characteristics, such as cystic spermatogenesis, Type I spermiogenesis and uniflagellate sperm, with its sister group Auchenipteridae, a family exhibiting sperm modifications associated with insemination and internal fertilization. Semi-cystic spermatogenesis and biflagellate spermatozoa are also found in Aspredinidae, and corroborate recent proposals that Aspredinidae and Doradoidea (Doradidae + Auchenipteridae) are sister groups and that Astrodoradinae occupies a basal position within Doradidae. The co-occurrence in various catfish families of semi-cystic spermatogenesis and either biflagellate spermatozoa (Aspredinidae, Cetopsidae, Doradidae, Malapturidae, Nematogenyidae) or uniflagellate sperm with two axonemes (Ariidae) reinforces the suggestion that such characteristics are correlated. Semi-cystic spermatogenesis and biflagellate sperm may represent ancestral conditions for Loricarioidei and Siluroidei of Siluriformes as they occur in putatively basal members of each suborder, Nematogenyidae and Cetopsidae, respectively. However, if semi-cystic spermatogenesis and biflagellate sperm are ancestral for Siluriformes, cystic spermatogenesis and uniflagellate sperm have arisen independently in multiple lineages including Diplomystidae, sister group to Siluroidei.

The user participatory nature of the social web has revolutionized the use of the conventional web. The social web is an integral part of our daily life. Due to the resulting exponential growth of the social web, a number of research domains have emerged, involving research activities that aim to study human nature, to analyse human sentiments and emotions, and to find the impact of various users in the social networks. Recently, the research focus has shifted to identifying a user's influence on other users in a social network. In the recent literature, we find a number of models proposed to find the most influential users in the blogging community. In this paper, we review the models to find these influential bloggers. The existing models are classified into feature-based and network-based categories. The feature-based models consider the salient factors to measure bloggers' influence. The network models, on the other hand, consider the graph-based social network structure of the bloggers to identify those who have the most impact on fellow members. This survey introduces each model with its features, novel aspects, and the datasets used. In addition to the discussion about the model, a comparative analysis of the datasets is presented. We conclude by discussing applications of the relevant literature, exploring open research issues and challenges, and sharing possible future directions in this active area of research.

The past decade has witnessed an increased application for dynamic pricing in transportation industry, where firms use various forms of dynamic pricing to respond to market fluctuations and uncertainty in demand. In light of the success in the airline dynamic pricing practice and given the advancement of the ICT technology, the question is raised as follows: can technology adoptions, such as smart card, help the transportation companies, especially public transport operators, to approach the dynamic pricing in an innovative way? By using the case of the smart card adoption in the Dutch transportation industry, this article articulates the opportunities the smart card brings to the dynamic pricing design and use. It is demonstrated that the smart card data gives a dimensional view on the travellers, where both the market segmentation and the travel behaviour could be better studied. It is also argued that the rich segmentation information on the travellers and the increased understanding of the travel behaviour could lead to the level of refinement of the dynamic pricing strategies for the transportation companies. Furthermore, a number of dynamic pricing strategies are proposed that correspond to the discussed smart card dimensions.

This study focuses on the sub-grid/resolved partitioning of boundary-layer thermals in the grey zone of turbulence. A conditional sampling is developed which detects sub-grid thermals. It is used to analyse the sensibility to the grid spacing of the thermal structures, such as the subgrid thermal fraction. The analysis proves that some assumptions of the mass-flux scheme are not valid in the grey zone. In particular, the thermal fraction is not weak and the averaged vertical velocity is not negligible. A mass-flux parameterization is proposed here.

Dominance rank of males, number of males present during mating and harassment and interruption of mating were each examined to see how they impact male mating success. This study was conducted on four groups of ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar, with data collected over three mating seasons. I observed six complete estrous periods and four incomplete estrous periods, which represents the largest sample size reported on wild L. catta mating behaviour where entire estrous periods were observed. Predictions of the priority-of-access model, the impact of the operational sex ratio (OSR) on mating success, and the relationships between harassment and interruption of mating and mating success were tested. I found that male rank was positively correlated with the number of ejaculations and male mate order. I found no relationship between male dominance rank and number of copulatory partners. My findings do not support the priority-of-access model (that high ranking males will monopolize mating when estrus is asynchronous). My findings show that variation in the OSR during a female's estrous period impacts male mating success, as presence of a greater number of males inhibits ejaculation. This finding raises questions about the value of group membership for non-alpha males. I found the first evidence for primates that aggression directed towards the iii mating male directly increases the harassing male's reproductive potential. Occurrence of interruptions decreased the quality of copulations by causing copulatory mounts to be fewer and rates of affiliative behaviour between the mating male and female to be lower. My findings should have implications for reproductive success in L. catta, as occurrence of ejaculations with estrous females were used as a measure of mating success. Understanding the relationship between male mating success and mating season dynamics is of key importance in this species. iv Acknowledgments I had the luck of having two academic supervisors during my PhD work: Joyce Parga and Mary Silcox. I learned a great deal from each of you. Thank-you for your patience, friendship and your guidance. My statistics coach was also more than an advisor but also a friend: Sohee Kang, thank-you for guiding me through my stats issues. Thank-you to my colleagues who shared many pieces of advice with me: Dr. Laura Bolt, Ryan Janzen, Rastko Cvekic, Dr. Erica Tennenhouse, Malcolm Ramsay, Karen Klass, Iulia Badescu, and many more who shared their experiences as grad students with me. Thank-you to the de Heaulme family who have welcomed me to their precious reserve Berenty many times. Thank-you to the staff at Berenty, especially Sonomena and her family who have always taken good care of me. Both Nirina Colombe Sehenemolala and Fetra Randriatsara have become dear friends in addition to being my field assistants. Thank-you to my mentor Alison Jolly who guided me with her infinite wisdom about the lemurs and life. You shared the wonder of discovery with me and I will never forget your kindness. Thank-you to fellow Lemur catta researchers who have built the foundation of knowledge which I have drawn from. I would like to also thank my family for always believing in me, especially when the road to completion got bumpy. Thank-you to my core committee: Mary Silcox, Joyce Parga and Shawn Lehman, who diligently read my chapters numerous times and offered valuable advice.

Dominance rank of males, number of males present during mating and harassment and interruption of mating were each examined to see how they impact male mating success. This study was conducted on four groups of ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) at Berenty Reserve, Madagascar, with data collected over three mating seasons. I observed six complete estrous periods and four incomplete estrous periods, which represents the largest sample size reported on wild L. catta mating behaviour where entire estrous periods were observed. Predictions of the priority-of-access model, the impact of the operational sex ratio (OSR) on mating success, and the relationships between harassment and interruption of mating and mating success were tested. I found that male rank was positively correlated with the number of ejaculations and male mate order. I found no relationship between male dominance rank and number of copulatory partners. My findings do not support the priority-of-access model (that high rank...

A model of overdamped and externally stimulated oscillators is discussed. It is shown analytically that in the uncoupled case a wide class of random distributions of parameters of individual oscillators leads to a long-tail distribution of resting points. Interactions between the individual oscillators destroy these long tails partially (nearest-neighbours interaction) or completely (mean ÿeld interactions). As the levels of a local coupling increase, domains of similarly acting oscillators are formed. The collective behaviour becomes important for large local coupling at which the long tails are destroyed. In this case, the observed pattern of resting states is a re ection of both the quenched disorder and interactions between the oscillators.

User Generated Content (UGC) is re-shaping the way people watch video and TV, with millions of video producers and consumers. In particular, UGC sites are creating new viewing patterns and social interactions, empowering users to be more creative, and developing new business opportunities. To better understand the impact of UGC systems, we have analyzed YouTube, the world's largest UGC VoD system. Based on a large amount of data collected, we provide an in-depth study of YouTube and other similar UGC systems. In particular, we study the popularity life-cycle of videos, the intrinsic statistical properties of requests and their relationship with video age, and the level of content aliasing or of illegal content in the system. We also provide insights on the potential for more efficient UGC VoD systems (e.g. utilizing P2P techniques or making better use of caching). Finally, we discuss the opportunities to leverage the latent demand for niche videos that are not reached today due to information filtering effects or other system scarcity distortions. Overall, we believe that the results presented in this paper are crucial in understanding UGC systems and can provide valuable information to ISPs, site administrators, and content owners with major commercial and technical implications.

Flow-induced shear stresses have been found to be a stimulatory factor in pre-osteoblastic cells seeded in 3D porous scaffolds and cultured under continuous flow perfusion. However, due to the complex internal structure of porous scaffolds, analytical estimation of the local shear forces is impractical. The primary goal of this work is to investigate the shear stress distributions within Poly(L-lactic acid) scaffolds via computation. Scaffolds used in this study are prepared via salt leeching with various geometric characteristics (80-95% porosity and 215-402.5 mm average pore size). High resolution micro-computed tomography is used to obtain their 3D structure. Flow of osteogenic media through the scaffolds is modeled via lattice Boltzmann method. It is found that the surface stress distributions within the scaffolds are characterized by long tails to the right (a positive skewness). Their shape is not strongly dependent on the scaffold manufacturing parameters, but the magnitudes of the stresses are. Correlations are prepared for the estimation of the average surface shear stress experienced by the cells within the scaffolds and of the probability density function of the surface stresses. Though the manufacturing technique does not appear to affect the shape of the shear stress distributions, presence of manufacturing defects is found to be significant: defects create areas of high flow and high stress along their periphery. The results of this study are applicable to other polymer systems provided that they are manufactured by a similar salt leeching technique, while the imaging/modeling approach is applicable to all scaffolds relevant to tissue engineering.

Currently, most software projects around the world are small rather than large. Despite this, there are more methodologies, tools, frameworks, processes, and so on, for developing and managing large software projects than for small ones. Small software projects are important because they generate considerable resources. For example: apps (small mobile applications) generate around $25 billion dollars of revenue. This paper shows our findings regarding the size of the projects built by Mexican software development companies. We surveyed 107 Mexican companies and found that 92% of their developed projects are micro and small, and 8% are medium or large. In addition, according to our research, 84.1% of companies in Mexico are micro or small businesses.

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés.

We propose a one-dimensional nonlocal stochastic model of adsorption and desorption depending on one parameter, the adsorption rate. At a special value of this parameter, the model has some interesting features. For example, the spectrum is given by conformal field theory, and the stationary non-equilibrium probability distribution is given by the two-dimensional equilibrium distribution of the ice model with domain wall type boundary conditions. This connection is used to find exact analytic expressions for several quantities of the stochastic model. Vice versa, some understanding of the ice model with domain wall type boundary conditions can be obtained by the study of the stochastic model. At the special point we study several properties of the model, such as the height fluctuations as well as cluster and avalanche distributions. The latter has a long tail which shows that the model exhibits self organized criticality. We also find in the stationary state a special surface phase transition without enhancement and with a crossover exponent f=2/3. Furthermore, we study the phase diagram of the model as a function of the adsorption rate and find two massive phases and a scale invariant phase where conformal invariance is broken.

La revolución del texto electrónico es un fenómeno que opera en varias instancias simultáneamente. Se trata a la vez de un fenómeno que afecta a la técnica de producción y reproducción de los textos, a los soportes de lo escrito y a las prácticas de lectura. José-Antonio Cordón-García et al., 2013 INTRODUCCIÓN e l español es una lengua con importantes problemas estructurales en la distribución de libros impresos, motivados por la lejanía de los distintos centros de creación (Madrid, Barcelona, México, Buenos Aires) que genera altos sobrecostos en la importación y exportación. Los contratos firmados, principalmente, por editoriales españolas con cláusulas de exclusividad sobre el idioma español para todo el mundo, y la falta de centros de producción en América Latina, más allá de algunos grandes grupos, hacen que la mayor parte de los libros publicados se hagan en España y lleguen a América con el precio duplicado; es decir, prohibitivo y solo al alcance de las élites culturales de los países, si tenemos en cuenta el ingreso per cápita de cada uno de ellos. Por otra parte, las editoriales de América Latina, con serias limitaciones en la exportación de sus fondos editoriales, tienen ante sí la oportunidad de abrir nuevos mercados, habida cuenta de la situación de crecimiento generalizado en la región. Los lectores y las editoriales latinoamericanos son los grandes beneficiarios de las oportunidades que ofrece el libro electrónico, pero esto aún no es una realidad a pesar de las ventajas percibidas por los implicados: se ven, pero no se

This study investigates the interplay between humans (Homo sapiens) and long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) living in sympatric associations at 11 Hindu temple sites on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Primatological methods were utilized to examine demography, habitat type, and record long-tailed macaque feeding, and ranging behavior. Additionally, interviews and questionnaires were conducted to ascertain Balinese individuals' perspectives regarding the macaques, local folklores surrounding the macaques, the perceived level of human-macaque overlap, and the degree of crop raiding by the macaques. Ethnographic methods revealed that attitudes toward long-tailed macaques vary, suggesting that human perceptions are determined by religious/local folklores and potential economic variables. In contrast to reports of ubiquitous protection for the monkeys, informants revealed that macaques in some locations are hunted, eaten, captured, and illegally sold to animal dealers, thus providing important insights into our understanding of nonhuman primate conservation and the impact that each primate can have on the other's behavior.

Agent-based modeling (ABM) is quickly becoming a choice tool for researchers, as it is very adept at modeling natural phenomena. Spatial data has the ability to further increase the usefulness of an ABM. One way that this can be achieved is through the inclusion of geographical information system (GIS) data. Such integration between ABM and GIS may sound trivial, but it is difficult to do effectively, particularly as the complexity of GIS data and the amount of agents increase. Here, we present methods and recommendations on including GIS data in a complex simulation model. We demonstrate our techniques on an advanced epidemiological model.

Baseline data from studies on semi-free ranging, food enhanced populations are important to our investigations of primate behavior, especially as sympatry between human and non-human populations increases. Currently there are few multi-year data sets for such primate groups. Here we report preliminary results from a five-year study on the semi-free ranging, food enhanced population of long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) at

An aeropalynological study was carried out in the atmosphere of Estepona, a very popular tourist resort situated in the &quot;Costa del Sol&quot;, (southern Spain) based on the data obtained during a three year air-monitoring programme (March 1995 to March 1998) using a volumetric pollen trap. The 34 taxa that reached a 10-day mean air pollen concentration equal to or greater than 1 grain of pollen/m(3) of air are reflected in the calendar. The first 10 taxa, in order of abundance, were: Cupressaceae, Olea europaea, Quercus, Poaceae, Urticaceae, Plantago, Pinus, Chenopodiaceae-Amaranthaceae, Ericaceae and Castanea, the first 3 of which accounted for approximately 56 % of the annual total pollen count. The greatest diversity of pollen type occurred during spring, while the highest pollen concentrations were reached from February-June, when approximately more than 80 % of the annual total pollen was registered. The lowest concentrations were obtaining during January, August and Septem...

The basal hadrosauroid Tethyshadros insularis from the uppermost Cretaceous of NE Italy lived on an island of the European archipelago in the Tethys Ocean. The tail of this dinosaur presents several apomorphic traits respect to the tails of other coeval hadrosauroids of the archipelago and of hadrosauroids in general. The estimated total length of the tail of the holotypic specimen shows that the tail was long, accounting for at least 56% of the total body length, relatively stiff and deep proximally, whereas it was whip-like distally. The reconstruction of the tail musculature by comparison with that of living archosaurs and other dinosaurs suggests that the posterior shift of the first haemapophysis affected the size and shape of the M.m. caudofemorales with important consequences on the locomotion of T. insularis. Somewhat peculiar stance and gait for this dinosaur are suggested also by limb features. The posterior shift of the vent and consequent longer distal tract of the intes...

A new discrete distribution depending on two parameters, α < 1, α ̸ = 0 and 0 < θ < 1, is introduced in this paper. The new distribution is unimodal with a zero vertex and overdispersion (mean larger than the variance) and underdispersion (mean lower than the variance) are encountered depending on the values of its parameters. Besides, an equation for the probability density function of the compound version, when the claim severities are discrete is derived. The particular case obtained when α tends to zero is reduced to the geometric distribution. Thus, the geometric distribution can be considered as a limiting case of the new distribution. After reviewing some of its properties, we investigated the problem of parameter estimation. Expected frequencies were calculated for numerous examples, including short and long tailed count data, providing a very satisfactory fit.

The southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (Yunnan, China) exhibits high biodiversity but stark differences in species richness between its western Longitudinal Range Gorge (LRG) and eastern Yunnan Plateau (YP). We collected distribution data for 16 primate species in Yunnan and analyzed palynological records over the past 20 ka from 21 localities to identify the biogeographic, climatic, and anthropogenic factors that have driven the present-day distribution of primates in this region. By integrating local ecological knowledge, field surveys, species distribution models, niche utilization rates, and historical vegetation and land use changes, we found that spatial–temporal shifts in the monsoon climate have been a critical factor in shaping primate species richness on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Compared to the YP, the LRG receives more precipitation, has more limited seasonal temperature variation, and has higher minimum temperatures during the coldest month. These conditions have facilitated the development of moist evergreen broadleaf forests, which represent a more suitable habitat for the 14 primate species that inhabit this area. In contrast, the drought-adapted forests of the YP support only one primate species. Palynological records indicate that the differentiation of the LRG and YP predates human influence. However, over the past 2000  years, anthropogenic habitat loss and hunting have significantly affected the distribution of primates. The ranges of gibbons, langurs, and snub-nosed monkeys are now restricted to the central and northern regions of the LRG and have disappeared from lower elevations. Lorises have disappeared from their northernmost range. In contrast, the distribution of macaques has remained relatively stable. The Yangtze-Red River-24° N line marks the biogeographic boundary of high primate species richness and biodiversity in the LRG and southeastern Yunnan. Our research suggests that changes in monsoon climate have fundamentally shaped contemporary species richness, while recent anthropogenic pressures have caused ‘range contraction’ for many taxa.

Unraveling the problem of impossibly early galaxies, we propose a model in which a galaxy's luminosity consistently depends on two types of stars that differ only in mass and thus have different types of their evolution. At the initial stage, up to 1 Gyr from the Big Bang, the luminosity is mostly determined by stars with masses greater than 8М, which have a short life cycle and inevitably end their evolution with supernovae outbursts. But then, in the later Universe, the galaxy luminosity function (GLF) begins to depend on the much more numerous stars with masses less than 8М, which continue on the main sequence. Thus, we find that the initial increased luminosity ("supernovae fireworks") occurs at much lower galaxy masses. To evaluate the hypothesis, we propose an observational test, where we measure the luminosity irregularities (>3σ) of those six too bright early galaxies, to be taken over a period of 8-12 months.

Productivity is a cornerstone of success for any business firm. It reflects how efficiently a company utilizes its resources whether human, material, or financial to produce goods or services. High productivity is closely linked with high efficiency, and it is essential for firms aiming to maximize their profitability and maintain a competitive edge in the market. This assignment explores the concept of productivity in business firms, delving into its definition, importance, factors influencing it, methods of measurement, strategies for improvement, and the challenges firms may face in achieving high productivity levels. Productivity, in its simplest form, is the ratio of output produced to the inputs used. In a business context, this means how effectively a company converts its resources such as labor, capital, and raw materials into products or services that can be sold in the market. A firm that can produce more with the same amount of resources, or the same output with fewer resources, is considered to be highly productive (Syverson, 2020).

We have applied reflectance-difference spectroscopy (RDS) to the study of optical anisotropy in spontaneously ordered Gao, Ino, P grown by metal-organic chemical-vapor deposition. The degree of order in Gao &Ino &P has been associated previously with a shift of the band-gap energy KEO and a crystal-field valence-band splitting 6c. Theoretically, both quantities are, to first order, quadratic functions of the long-range order parameter g, which varies from 0 to 1 for disordered and perfectly ordered Gao 5Ino, P, respectively. The main RD spectral feature in partially ordered Gao, Ino 5P is a bulk-induced, asym- metric peak at Eo with a long tail that extends well below Eo and a sharp high-energy cutoff at Eo+ 6&. We find experimentally and theoretically that the intensity of this RD spectral feature is proportional to Q(bEo) and, therefore, is linear with the order parameter. This makes RDS particularly useful for measuring the optical anisotropy of high-band-gap Gao &Ino 5P. We also compare heterostructures of GaAs and Ala, Ino, P on Gao, ino 5P with uncoated Gao, Ino, P in an effort to separate bulk-, surface-, and interface-induced RD spectral features.

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis) are the most frequently encountered primate in Thailand. They are currently considered at low risk for extinction, however, they are threatened by habitat fragmentation or loss, inbreeding or outbreeding depression and hybridization. At present, no management measures have been taken and updated information on their situation and status are urgently needed. We sent questionnaires throughout Thailand to a total of 7,410 sub-districts, and received 1,417 (19.12%) replies. We traveled to the sub-districts from which the positive replies to questionnaires on macaques were obtained, from December 2002 to December 2007 and found long-tailed macaques in 74 locations which ranged from the lower northern and northeastern (ca. 16° 30´ N) to the southernmost part (ca. 6° 30´ N) of Thailand. The distribution of long-tailed macaques at present is similar to that reported 30 years ago, but their habitats have changed from natural forests to temples or recreation parks. On average, 200 monkeys per location were counted and some populations had more than 1,000 individuals. In some locations they were regarded as pests. Local authorities took short-term management measures such as translocation and contraception. Although many troops of Thai longtailed macaques have inflated population densities, some local troops exhibited morphological, genetic and behavioural uniqueness that may be important to conserve. Therefore, management plans and conservation strategies should be established for Thailand's long-tailed macaque population.

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis fascicularis) are widely distributed in Southeast Asia and are morphologically and genetically (Tosi et al. in International Journal of Primatology 23:161-178, 2002) distinguishable on either side of the Isthmus of Kra (ca. 10.5°N). We compared the somatometry and body color of 15 local populations of long-tailed macaques in Thailand distributed over areas from 6.5°N to 16.3°N and also a Thai rhesus macaque population at 17.2°N. Limb proportions and body color variation follow the geographical trend. However, contrary to a previous report, body size does not decrease with latitude in the northern group and also in the southern (southerly distributed) rhesus macaque. Relative tail length (RTL) and color contrast in yellow between the back and thigh are the sole traits that distinctively separate the 2 groups: the southern group has a long relative tail length (RTL >125%) and small color contrast, whereas the northern group has a short RTL (<120%) and large color contrast. The southern rhesus macaques appear to have somatometric and body color traits that follow the geographical trend in long-tailed macaques, though they maintain their distinctive species-specific traits of shorter RTL (ca. 55%), shorter relative facial length, and a bipartite body color pattern. Researchers assume that the northern group of longtailed macaques and the southern rhesus macaques had undergone partial introgression with each other. Montane refugia present during the glacial period are localities in which introgression occurred in long-tailed macaques.

Currently, most software projects around the world are small rather than large. Despite this, there are more methodologies, tools, frameworks, processes, and so on, for developing and managing large software projects than for small ones. Small software projects are important because they generate considerable resources. For example: apps (small mobile applications) generate around $25 billion dollars of revenue. This paper shows our findings regarding the size of the projects built by Mexican software development companies. We surveyed 107 Mexican companies and found that 92% of their developed projects are micro and small, and 8% are medium or large. In addition, according to our research, 84.1% of companies in Mexico are micro or small businesses.

Records of Microgale species identified from scats and pellet remains of predators are reviewed. Cranial fragments of at least two individuals of Microgale melanorrhachis and a humerus of M. talazaci were identified from faeces of Cryptoproctaferox collected at Montagne d&#39;Ambre in northern Madagascar. Remains of M. pusilla were identified from Tyto alba pellets collected on the human-modified Central High Plateau near Antananarivo. The records of M. pusilla suggest that this species is not particularly sensitive to environmental disturbance.

We use micro-calorimetry to investigate the anisotropic phase diagram and effects of superconducting fluctuations in sub-micro-gram single crystals of SmFeAsO0.85F0.15. Our measurements reveal that SmFeAsO0.85F0.15 is characterized by a large anisotropy of gamma˜8 and a short in-plane Ginzburg-Landau coherence length of xiab(0) ˜ 1.3 nm. These materials parameters promote strong superconducting fluctuations which are seen in the zero-field specific heat

Microarrays have become an important tool for studying the molecular basis of complex disease traits and fundamental biological processes. A common purpose of microarray experiments is the detection of genes that are differentially expressed under two conditions, such as treatment versus control or wild type versus knockout. We introduce a Laplace mixture model as a long-tailed alternative to the normal distribution when identifying differentially expressed genes in microarray experiments, and provide an extension to asymmetric over-or underexpression. This model permits greater flexibility than models in current use as it has the potential, at least with sufficient data, to accommodate both whole genome and restricted coverage arrays. We also propose likelihood approaches to hyperparameter estimation which are equally applicable in the Normal mixture case. The Laplace model appears to give some improvement in fit to data, though simulation studies show that our method performs similarly to several other statistical approaches to the problem of identification of differential expression.

The third report of the Croatian Rarities Committee presents 123 records of rare birds accepted in the period of 2005-2012. Eleven species and one subspecies were added to the list of Croatian birds, giving the total number of 389 bird species recorded in Croatia in categories A to C. A further 11 species were recorded in category D and two in category E. Four species are removed from the rare birds list because of the increasing number of observations. The list of rare bird species now includes 61 species and three subspecies, of which nine species are included in category D (possible escapees) and two in category E (escapees).

Radopholus arabocoffeae sp. n., a new nematode pathogenic on Coffea arabica cv. Catimor, is described from Vietnam. Females of R. arabocoffeae sp. n. are characterised by the broad amphidial apertures with prominent margins. Males are characterised by the bursa extending to one third, rarely middle, of the tail. The new species belongs to the group of species with a long tail in the female. Radopholus arabocoffeae sp. n. is easily distinguished from R. similis by the bursa reaching to only one third of the tail vs extending to the tail terminus. Radopholus arabocoffeae sp. n. is differentiated from R. bridgei by the lateral field having three bands of equal width (vs middle one narrower than others), lateral field completely areolated over whole body vs not areolated except irregularly in neck and tail, hemizonid distinct vs indistinct, four lateral field incisures terminating far behind phasmid vs three incisures terminating at or just behind phasmid, lateral lines fusing at two th...

Offshore wind development around Europe is increasing to meet the demands for renewable energy production to help meet climate change targets. It is known that marine birds such as red-throated divers are highly sensitive to disturbance caused by the construction and operation of offshore wind farms and are subsequently displaced from areas used in the non-breeding season. But the physiological, energetic and demographic consequences of such effective habitat loss is currently unknown. This report details the third field season of the Red-throated Diver Energetics Project (). During 2018-2020, archival geolocator (GLS) and time depth recorder (TDR) tags were deployed and retrieved from red-throated divers breeding in Scotland, Finland and Iceland to quantify foraging behaviour and approximate non-breeding season locations. This empirical data will provide insight into the time divers spend foraging, thus providing insight into whether divers potentially have capacity to accommodate displacement effects of offshore wind development. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, no fieldwork for the Red-throated Diver Energetics Project was carried out in Scotland in 2020. However, some breeding success monitoring and ringing of chicks was carried out by local ringing groups, during which, one adult tagged bird was caught, and its tags removed. In Finland, 15 tagged birds were resighted and eight of these were trapped. In Iceland, six tagged birds were trapped. Tags were also recovered from three dead birds during winter 2019/20. No tags were deployed in 2020. Breeding success was calculated as the total number of nests producing at least one fledged chick (¾ grown) divided by the number of nests of known fate. Breeding success during summer 2020 was variable between sites, ranging from 35% in Shetland to 59% in Finland and 66% in Orkney. The success rates in both Orkney and Finland were average compared to 2018 and 2019, however for Shetland the success rate was poor compared to the previous two years. Breeding success metrics for Iceland were unavailable at the time of writing. If leg-mounted tags have a negative impact on divers, e.g. by increasing drag on divers' legs when diving for prey, then we would expect body condition of tagged birds to be lower in 2020, compared with when they were first tagged, after having carried tags for one or two years. Using body mass as a proxy of body condition, repeated weighing of the same individuals allows assessment of any change in body condition after carrying tags for one or two years. The mass of birds caught in 2020 was compared with the mass of when they were first caught and tagged in either 2018 or 2019. The average difference between first and second year of capture was 3.7g, suggesting negligible change over time, and this was supported by analysis which found no significant change in median body mass between captures. Of the 18 tagged birds recovered dead or recaptured during the 2019/20 winter and 2020 summer, a total of 14 TDR and 18 GLS tags were retrieved. In some cases, birds had lost a TDR tag (n=3) or did not have a TDR tag deployed (n=1). Data for a full winter period were available from 15 GLS tags, another two GLS tags failed to record any data and one GLS tag provided data for only some of the winter period. The problems with substantial GLS tag failure due to water ingression, encountered in 2019, were absent and tag failure rate for GLS tags retrieved in 2020 was low for a study of this sort. Ten TDR tags provided data for the post-breeding and mid-winter period, with batteries dying prematurely in two TDR tags, in October and November, and the remaining eight TDR tags recording until late December/early January, consistent with the TDR tags retrieved in 2019. Additionally, four TDR tags only recorded for short periods, until July, August or September, due to the tag casing being damaged. The cause of the damage is unknown but occurred during deployment. GLS tag data for two consecutive years are available for five birds and TDR tag data are available for three birds over two consecutive years, allowing for novel insight into interannual variation in location and foraging behaviour. Due to an absence of breeding success data for Iceland at the time of writing, it was not possible to conduct further analyses this year on trapping effects. Although 2020 was the third and final field season for Finland and Iceland, we hope that a third year of tag retrieval fieldwork can be undertaken in Scotland next year, subject to coronavirus restrictions.

Cassini RADAR topography data are used to evaluate Titan's hypsometric profile, and to make comparisons with other planetary bodies. Titan's hypsogram is unimodal and strikingly narrow compared with the terrestrial planets. To investigate topographic extremes, a novel variant on the classic hypsogram is introduced, with a logarithmic abscissa to highlight mountainous terrain. In such a plot, the top of the terrestrial hypsogram is quite distinct from those of Mars and Venus due to the 'glacial buzz-saw' that clips terrestrial topography above the snowline. In contrast to the positive skew seen in other hypsograms, with a long tail of positive relief due to mountains, there is an indication (weak, given the limited data for Titan so far) that the Titan hypsogram appears slightly negatively skewed, suggesting a significant population of unfilled depressions. Limited data permit only a simplistic comparison of Titan topography with other icy satellites but we find that the standard deviation of terrain height (albeit at different scales) is similar to those of Ganymede and Europa.

Many animals are bred specifically for use in laboratories; the genetic variation between individuals is minimised, and housing and husbandry is often standardised. The rationale is to decrease the variation of the scientific findings, and allow a reduction in number of animals used, although these relationships are questioned. Non-human primates used in laboratories present a different case; there are genetic differences, and considerable variation in rearing practices, housing, enrichment and training both among, and often within, facilities. The impact of this variation on both welfare and science warrants further investigation.

1. Recent studies in Scotland suggest that the outermost tail feathers of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica Linnaeus) may be around 10-12 mm longer than the aerodynamic optimum, with sexual selection for long tails accounting for this extra length. 2. To test this hypothesis, we shortened the outermost tail feathers in male and female Barn Swallows in southern Spain by cutting 1, 11 or 21 mm from the tips of the feathers, and checked for change in haematocrit 1 month later. Haematocrit levels were high when birds arrived at the breeding grounds due to an intense effort for flight during migration, but these levels decreased during the breeding season. We predicted that this decrease would be more pronounced when tail length was closer to the aerodynamic optimum (tails shortened by 11 mm), and less pronounced as tail length was displaced from that optimum (tails shortened by 1 or 21 mm). 3. Contrary to expectations, we found that the smaller the experimental reduction in tail length, the more pronounced the decrease in haematocrit. Barn Swallows with little parental effort and originally long tail feathers experienced a more pronounced decrease in haematocrit than individuals with strong parental effort and originally short tail feathers, respectively, although only in the group of birds with tails shortened by 21 mm. 4. These results do not support the hypothesis that outermost tail feathers in Barn Swallows have been elongated because of sexual selection, at least in the population studied, but are consistent with tail length being at an aerodynamic optimum, or very close to it. Differences in tail length among populations might help to understand the disagreement with previous studies.