A Two Sample CRAMÉR-VON MISES Test for Randomly Censored Data

A CRAMÉR-VON MISES type statistic is introduced for testing the equality of the underlying survival distributions of two populations when observations are subject to arbitrary right censorship. The statistic is appropriate in testing problems where a two-sided alternative is of interest. The asymptotic distribution of the statistic is found; under certain circumstances, the limiting distribution coincides with that of a one sample CRAMÉR-VON MISES type statistic for randomly censored data investigated previously. Approximations to the asymptotic distribution are discussed; an example is given.     

A nonparametric distance analysis of biochemical genetic data from the Åland Islands,Finland

Biochemical genetic data from 3272 individuals from the Åland Islands, Finland, are analyzed using a recently developed set of nonparametric genetic distance measures. These measures are more robust than the traditional methods used in previous studies of this population. While there was general agreement in the results of the traditional and nonparametric approaches, some important differences were seen. In these cases, the nonparametric methods gave results more congruent with population history, geographic propinquity, and migration patterns. Heterozygosity measures were also calculated for the Åland Islands population and compared to values obtained for Jewish populations. The total heterozygosity values were very similar.     

A report on the mosquitoes of mainland Åland,southwestern Finland and revised list of Finnish mosquitoes

To successfully implement surveillance or control strategies for mosquitoes, up‐to‐date knowledge of regional species composition is vital. The last report regarding mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Åland archipelago, southwestern Finland listed 19 species (Utrio, 1979). To determine the current species diversity, one collection trip was made to mainland Åland in 2015 and three in 2016. Mosquitoes (n = 3286) were collected as both adult and immature life stages from 88 collections within 29 1‐km² areas. Fifteen of the 19 previously reported species were obtained, leaving the current status of four species uncertain. At least 11 species previously not reported from Åland, but confirmed on the Finnish mainland, were collected. Aedes geminus Peus was identified based on examination of the gonostylus, and represents a new species distribution for Finland. Anopheles maculipennis s.s. Meigen was confirmed from cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) and internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) sequence data and is reinstated on the list of Finnish species, along with Ochlerotatus sticticus (Meigen). Dahliana geniculata (Olivier) was found in two locations, in 2 months, indicating that there is an established population in Åland. The present data confirm that at least 27 species inhabit mainland Åland, rising to 31 when historical data are included. The Finnish mosquito fauna is increased from 38 to 41 species.     

A map of the Monte Arci (Sardinia Island, Western Mediterranean) obsidian primary to secondary sources. Implications for Neolithic provenance studies

Four types of obsidians from the Monte Arci volcanic complex (Sardinia) were used by Neolithic men in the North Tyrrhenian area of the western Mediterranean. A map of their occurrences from primary sources (mother rocks) to distant secondary deposits in the surrounding plains is presented. Some 1457 specimens were macroscopically characterized and in addition ~15% of them fingerprinted from their elemental compositions as determined by electron microprobe, neutron activation analysis or ion beam analysis. The results show that secondary sources, up to now largely neglected in provenance studies of ‘archaeological’ obsidians will have from now to be taken into account. To cite this article: C. Lugliè et al., C. R. Palevol 5 (2006).     

Low‐cost agricultural waste accelerates tropical forest regeneration

Lower‐cost tropical forest restoration methods, particularly those framed as win–win business‐protected area partnerships, could dramatically increase the scale of tropical forest restoration activities, thereby providing a variety of societal and ecosystem benefits, including slowing both global biodiversity loss and climate change. Here we describe the long‐term regenerative effects of a direct application of agricultural waste on tropical dry forest. In 1998, as part of an innovative agricultural waste disposal service contract, an estimated 12,000 Mg of processed orange peels and pulp were applied to a 3 ha portion of a former cattle pasture with compacted, rocky, nutrient‐poor soils characteristic of prolonged fire‐based land management and overgrazing in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica. After 16 years, the experimental plot showed a threefold increase in woody plant species richness, a tripling of tree species evenness (Shannon Index), and a 176% increase in aboveground woody biomass over an adjacent control plot. Hemispheric photography showed significant increases in canopy closure in the area where orange waste was applied relative to control. Orange waste deposition significantly elevated levels of soil macronutrients and important micronutrients in samples taken 2 and 16 years after initial orange waste application. Our results point to promising opportunities for valuable synergisms between agricultural waste disposal and tropical forest restoration and carbon sequestration.     

Le genre d'échinide s dans les dans les localités du Pliocène et du Pléistocène d'Emilie (Italie du Nord)

The study of well-preserved Pliocene and Pleistocene s from Emi from Emilia is used to analyze the morphological variations of Mediterranean populations, to depict the relationship between fasciole shape and other morphological characteristics and to describe previously unpublished pedicellar valves. These new data allow to be two species distinguished: s (Müller) a (Müller) and s Pomel; six s Pomel; six species closely related to s are synonymi are synonymized: s and it and s Pomel, i Pomel, i and itS. and s Checchia-R Checchia-Rispoli, x Simonelli a Simonelli and the recent species from Mediterranean, s Mortensen Mortensen. s can be disti can be distinguished from s by its hear by its heart-shaped subanal fasciole, when the s one is reni one is reniform. Moreover, the frontal groove of s is deeper, t is deeper, the primary tubercles of the interambulacra 1 and 4 are less numerous, the petals are shorter and narrower, the labrum is shorter. As far as pedicellariae are concerned, the jags of the large tridentate ones are stronger and the base of the globiferous ones is bigger. Palaeoecological observations on outcrops of the Stirone River, in Parme region, show similar environmental affinities between fossil populations and recent populations from Mediterranean. The s fossils fossils seem to be preserved within their life environment, that is to say in shore sandy substrates.

Résumé

L'étude d'un groupe de spécimens bien conservés appartenant au genre Spatangus, trouvés, dans des localités pliocènes et pléistocènes de l'Émilie, permet d'exposer l'étendue de la variation dans les populations fossiles méditerranéennes, de rechercher les relations entre la forme du fasciole sous-anal et les autres caractères morphologiques et de décrire les valves des pédicellaires, qui n'étaient pas connues jusqu'alors. Ces nouvelles données conduisent à reconnaître deux espèces différentes : s (Müller) e (Müller) et s Pomel ; six Pomel ; six espèces voisines de s doivent prob doivent probablement tomber en synonymie : s et itS et s Pomel, i Pomel, i et itS. a et s Checchia-R Checchia-Rispoli, x Simonelli e Simonelli et l'espèce vivant actuellement en Méditerranée, s Mortensen Mortensen. Des observations paléoécologiques sur un échantillon fossile récolté sur les bords de la rivière Stirone près de Parme montrent des affinités bionomiques semblables chez les populations fossiles et celles vivant en Méditerranée.     

Biogeography of the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca): origin and conservation of the northernmost population

Understanding historical range expansions and population demography can be crucial for the conservation and management of endangered species. In doing so, valuable information can be obtained regarding, for example, the identification of isolated populations, associations to particular habitats and distribution range shifts. As poikilotherms, snakes are vulnerable to environmental changes that can greatly shape their distribution ranges. Here we used mitochondrial data to elucidate the origin of the smooth snake population in Åland island, which is the northernmost location where the species is found. In Åland, we used mitochondrial and microsatellite data to fine‐map its spatial genetic structure, infer its demographic dynamics and determine its effective population size. We found three independent lineages, which expanded north from Iberian, the Balkans and Caucasus regions. The central lineage originating in the Balkans was the only one that reached Scandinavia. The Åland population belongs to this lineage and potentially colonized the island from the west via Sweden. This population appeared to be critically small and fragmented into two genetically isolated subpopulations. We discuss our results in light of previous findings regarding colonization routes in Europe and Scandinavia. Moreover, we discuss the origin and current genetic status of the Åland population relative to other co‐occurring snakes and suggest conservation measures based on our findings. © 2014 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2015, 114 , 426–435.     

Indications for a humid climate in the Western Desert of Egypt 11–10 Myr ago: evidence from Galagidae (Primates, Mammalia)

The timing of desertification of the Sahara Desert is poorly understood, with recent estimates indicating an onset of hyper-aridity during the Latest Miocene. Field work in Egypt in 2005 has led to the discovery of evidence that indicates that 11–10 Ma the Western Desert was covered in woodland. Fossiliferous cave breccia at Sheikh Abdallah, Western Desert, Egypt, has yielded a Late Miocene (11–10 Ma) microvertebrate fauna, which contains Galagidae, Microchiroptera, Macroscelididae, Soricidae, Erinaceidae, and Rodentia. The locality also yielded the remains of frogs, snakes, lizards, and birds. The fauna indicates a mean annual rainfall in excess of 500 mm and perhaps as much as 1,200 mm. This palaeoclimatic information is important because it reveals that the Sahara Desert, which is today the largest in the world, was either considerably smaller during the Late Miocene than it is today, or that it did not yet exist as a continuous hyper-arid belt right across the continent. This data accords with estimates of a Latest Miocene (8–7 Ma) increase in aridity in the Sahara. To cite this article: M. Pickford et al., C. R. Palevol 5 (2006).     

Fully automated protein purification

Obtaining highly purified proteins is essential to begin investigating their functional and structural properties. The steps that are typically involved in purifying proteins can include an initial capture, intermediate purification, and a final polishing step. Completing these steps can take several days and require frequent attention to ensure success. Our goal was to design automated protocols that would allow the purification of proteins with minimal operator intervention. Separate methods have been produced and tested that automate the sample loading, column washing, sample elution and peak collection steps for ion exchange, metal affinity, hydrophobic interaction, and gel filtration chromatography. These individual methods are designed to be coupled and run sequentially in any order to achieve a flexible and fully automated protein purification protocol.     

CONSÉQUENCES DE L'ALIMENTATION ARTIFICIELLE SUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT LARVAIRE DE LA TEIGNE DU POIREAU,ACROLEPIOPSIS ASSECTELLA

L'importance des pressions de sélection au cours des premières générations, dans des élevages en alimentation artificielle, est mise en évidence par l'étude de souches d 'Acrolepiopsis assectella Zeller soumises à des changements de régime alimentaire. l'évolution du taux de survie et de la durée du développement des larves a été suivie pendant les premières générations après le changement, et ultérieurement contrôlée au cours de plusieurs années d'élevage dans les mêmes conditions. Le taux de survie semble atteindre assez rapidement un équilibre, dont le niveau n'est pas indépendant de l'aliment consommé, tandis qu la durée du développement larvaire devient identique pour toutes les souches dès la quatrième génération. Ces phénomènes semblent correspondre à une adaptation des insectes à leurs conditions d'élevage, qui provoquent une sélection dans les populations d'origine.     

An expedient one-step synthesis of polysubstituted guanidinoglucosides using HgO-4A molecular sieves as catalyst

A novel one-step method of preparing polysubstituted guanidinoglucosides using peracetylated methyl 6-deoxy-6-thioureidoglucosides as starting materials and employing HgO in combination with molecular sieves as an efficient catalyst is reported. The structures of three methyl 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-6-[N(2)-(benzothiazol-2-yl)-N(3)-(oxydi-1,2-ethandiyl)]guanidino-6-deoxy-alpha-d-glucopyranosides were unambiguously confirmed by X-ray crystallography. The methodology affords new compounds in good yields and also provides a promising route for the synthesis of carbamate-protected guanidines.     

Fifty years after Enlow and Brown's Comparative histological study of fossil and recent bone tissues (1956–1958): A review of Professor Donald H. Enlow's contribution to palaeohistology and comparative histology of bone

Fifty years after the publication of Enlow and Brown's seminal paper (1956–1958), this historical analysis of Professor Donald H. Enlow's works emphasizes their influence on the evolution of palaeohistology, comparative bone histology, and bone biology in general. Comparative analysis of recent and fossil bone tissues has shown the great variability of bone at the tissue level (histodiversity). Historically, Enlow's works have greatly influenced a shift in the reinterpretation of the causes of bone histodiversity, from phylogenetic to more functional (ontogenetic) explanations. This allows us to consider the issue of complex causalities in evolutionary biology.     

Reconstitution de la végétation et du paléoclimat à partir de charbons de bois prélevés sur les sites du Paléolithique dans la région de Jungwon en Corée

Hundreds samples of the charcoals and waterlogged woods excavated from three late Paleolithic sites (Suyanggae, Gunang-gul and Sorori) in the Jungwon Region in Korea were analyzed to reconstruct the vegetation and paleoclimate in the region. Analyzed charcoal samples from the Suyanggae site show that the climate was cold in the lower part and it became more warm and dry in the upper part. From the Gunang-gul site, only Picea spp. was identified, indicating cool climates. From the Sorori site, two species were found; Alnus spp. (95%) and Ulmus spp. (5%). No conifers were discovered. The species composition indicates that the climate condition of central Korean peninsula around 8,800 BP was little cooler and wetter condition.     

Dynamic data replacement and adaptive scheduling policies in spark

Improper data replacement and inappropriate selection of job scheduling policy are important reasons for the degradation of Spark system operation speed, which directly causes the performance degradation of Spark parallel computing. In this paper, we analyze the existing caching mechanism of Spark and find that there is still more room for optimization of the existing caching policy. For the task structure analysis, the key information of Spark tasks is taken out to obtain the data and memory usage during the task runtime, and based on this, an RDD weight calculation method is proposed, which integrates various factors affecting the RDD usage and establishes an RDD weight model. Based on this model, a minimum weight replacement algorithm based on RDD structure analyzing is proposed. The algorithm ensure that the relatively more valuable data in the data replacement process can be cached into memory. In addition, the default job scheduling algorithm of the Spark framework considers a single factor, which cannot form effective scheduling for jobs and causes a waste of cluster resources. In this paper, an adaptive job scheduling policy based on job classification is proposed to solve the above problem. The policy can classify job types and schedule resources more effectively for different types of jobs. The experimental results show that the proposed dynamic data replacement algorithm effectively improves Spark's memory utilization. The proposed job classification-based adaptive job scheduling algorithm effectively improves the system resource utilization and shortens the job completion time.

     

« Flûte » et pointes de la Grosse Badlhöhle, Autriche

The Grosse Badlhöhle (Austria, Steiermark) is the origin of one of the most perfect bone points of the early Aurignacian and one of the best perforated femurs of the same period, which can be regarded as musical instruments. Two other fragments of points raise intriguing questions on the first Homo sapiens sapiens which cannot be solved today but will contribute to future research. A review on the debate of Palaeolithic flutes will follow with experimental proofs of boring artificial holes with high quality pictures on the blow-hole and the lack of gnawing traces on the opposite face. The musical possibility of an instrument with only one hole is discussed with ethnographic analogies. Hafting, optimal conditions of strength and possible use of arrows will close the discussion on the Badlhöhle bone artefacts.     

Comparaison de l'expression de certains caractères crâniens sur les hominidés chinois du Pléistocène récent et de l'Holocène (grotte supérieure de Zhoukoudian, sites de Longxian et de Yanqing)

The human remains recovered from “Grotte supérieure de Zhoukoudian” are the best-preserved Late Pleistocene human fossils in East Asia. For decades, as the representative of the Late Pleistocene human in East Asia, the Upper Cave skulls have been playing important role in the research of origins of modern Mongoloids and American Indians. With the advance of the origin and evolution of modern humans, more attention has been paid to the details and the mechanisms for the late Pleistocene human evolution and the formation of modern human populations. Both the origin and diversification of modern humans have been stressed. Some studies further trigger the debaters on the Upper Cave Man concerning its evolutionary level and its role in the formation of modern human populations in East Asia. To further explore these problems, we examined and compared 12 non-metric features on the 3 Late Pleistocene Upper Cave skulls and 162 Holocene individuals earthed from two archaeological sites of North China (Longxian and Yanqing). Our results indicate that 8 on the 12 features have different expression patterns between Upper Cave Man and recent Chinese leading the authors to believe that more primitive expressions appeared on the Upper Cave Man than on recent Chinese populations. Based on these findings, some problems on the intragroup variation in Late Pleistocene and Holocene populations are discussed.     

Conception et exécution de bases de données intégrées pour l'analyse des rapports spatiotemporels des artefacts du Paléolithique

The archaeologists excavate the historic site and analyze data from the excavation site. Therefore, they study about the past affairs and circumstances unknown to the world. These data are composed of stones, plants, bones and geological features, which are stored in separate files according to the fields of study. It is important to mention that this information become the first step toward the solution of some hypothesis in Archaeology. Therefore, we need the system that can not only support integrated environment to find clues of the past, but also manage existing artifact data systematically and grasp relationships among the data. In this paper, we modeled the time, which is used in archaeology and geology, and built an entity relationship database to store Paleolithic data excavated in Jungwon region site of the Republic of Korea as one resource, which seem to give a base for integrated research and relationships in archaeology. In addition, we developed the Graphic User Interface that allows various users to connect to the established system through the web.     

L'hominidé du Pléistocène supérieur en Corée

Since the middle of 1970s, one rock-shelter, six caves and one open archaeological site have yielded several hominid fossils. Among them, fossils from Yonggok, Mandal, Sangsi and Hungsu cave sites are useful to reconstruct the general shape of the Upper Pleistocene Hominids in Korea. The main study of this paper is to focus on the reconstruction of the general shape of the upper Pleistocene hominids, and to examine the cause of cranial changes from the late upper Paleolithic to Mesolithic period in Korea. Biomechanical principles are also applied to reconstruct the social activity of the upper Paleolithic man in Korea. In addition, it is assumed that main proponent of Paleolithic cultures in Korea might be Homo sapiens rather than any other species. Based on the anatomical characteristics of skull, the axillary border of the scapular and the midshaft of the femur, general appearance of Homo sapiens during the Pleistocene in Korea could be reconstructed.