Journeys Through Shape and Time: Palaeobiology of Cenozoic New Zealand Spissatella and Eucrassatella (Bivalvia, Crassatellidae)

<p>A novel, highly-integrated approach combining morphometric, stratocladistic and sclerochronological methods has been applied to two genera of New Zealand Cenozoic crassatellid bivalve (Family Crassatellidae): Spissatella Finlay, 1926 and Eucrassatella Iredale, 1924. This study builds on previous work on Spissatella that demonstrated their amenability to shape analysis and provided a foundation for evolutionary studies of the group. The taxonomy of these crassatellids has been in need of revision; a number of changes to generic placement having been proposed in recent publications without redescription. These bivalves are character-depauperate and known only from fossil material within New Zealand, making them challenging subjects for the phylogenetic analysis that would, ideally, inform taxonomic revision. Geometric morphometric methods have been used to characterise the morphological variation of the study group in terms of shape. Landmarks/semilandmarks that capture internal hard-part morphology and external shell shape, have been compared with internal landmarks only, outline shape semilandmarks only, and outline shape Fourier transform methods, and are shown to best combine comprehensive coverage of total shell form with high correct reassignment of individuals to taxa in multidimensional morphospace. Procrustes-superimposed landmark/semilandmark configurations have been ordinated using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and PCA plots have been used to compare the shape variation of each species. The independance in morphospace of Spissatella n. sp. C from S. trailli and S. clifdenensis has been established. Covariation of internal morphology and shell-shape has been interpreted as supporting the interdependance of shell and body/mantle proposed by Stasek (1963). PCA scores have been combined with traditional morphological characters and stratigraphic data to produce a phylogenetic tree using stratocladistics, a form of parsimony-based analysis which seeks to minimise combined morphological and stratigraphic debt. This technique also assesses the placement of taxa in ancestral positions on internal nodes of the tree. Combining discretised morphometric data with stratigraphic and morphological data in a single analysis has been shown to produce a more resolved tree than analyses based only on continuous morphometric data. The new analyses demonstrate paraphyly of both Eucrassatella and Spissatella as previously recognised. A taxonomic revision of the studied taxa has been undertaken, incorporating information from both morphometric and phylogenetic studies. Spissatella subobesa and S. maudensis are referred to Eucrassatella. Spissatella discrepans is synonymised with S. acculta. Triplicitella n. gen. and S.maxwelli n. sp. are described. Oxygen isotope analysis has been employed to show that shell-banding in these species is, on average, likely to have been laid down annually. Using this information, the longitudinal dataset of outlines from Crampton & Maxwell (2000) has been recalibrated to use chronological age rather than size to compare shape across taxa, and investigate heterochrony in twelve pairs of species representing either ancestor-descendant, sister-group or lineage-segment relationships. All of the heterochronic processes sensu Gould (1977), namely progenesis, neoteny, acceleration and hypermorphosis, as well as proportioned dwarfism and proportioned gigantism, are identified as having affected evolution within this clade.</p>

Journeys Through Shape and Time: Palaeobiology of Cenozoic New Zealand Spissatella and Eucrassatella (Bivalvia, Crassatellidae)

<p>A novel, highly-integrated approach combining morphometric, stratocladistic and sclerochronological methods has been applied to two genera of New Zealand Cenozoic crassatellid bivalve (Family Crassatellidae): Spissatella Finlay, 1926 and Eucrassatella Iredale, 1924. This study builds on previous work on Spissatella that demonstrated their amenability to shape analysis and provided a foundation for evolutionary studies of the group. The taxonomy of these crassatellids has been in need of revision; a number of changes to generic placement having been proposed in recent publications without redescription. These bivalves are character-depauperate and known only from fossil material within New Zealand, making them challenging subjects for the phylogenetic analysis that would, ideally, inform taxonomic revision. Geometric morphometric methods have been used to characterise the morphological variation of the study group in terms of shape. Landmarks/semilandmarks that capture internal hard-part morphology and external shell shape, have been compared with internal landmarks only, outline shape semilandmarks only, and outline shape Fourier transform methods, and are shown to best combine comprehensive coverage of total shell form with high correct reassignment of individuals to taxa in multidimensional morphospace. Procrustes-superimposed landmark/semilandmark configurations have been ordinated using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), and PCA plots have been used to compare the shape variation of each species. The independance in morphospace of Spissatella n. sp. C from S. trailli and S. clifdenensis has been established. Covariation of internal morphology and shell-shape has been interpreted as supporting the interdependance of shell and body/mantle proposed by Stasek (1963). PCA scores have been combined with traditional morphological characters and stratigraphic data to produce a phylogenetic tree using stratocladistics, a form of parsimony-based analysis which seeks to minimise combined morphological and stratigraphic debt. This technique also assesses the placement of taxa in ancestral positions on internal nodes of the tree. Combining discretised morphometric data with stratigraphic and morphological data in a single analysis has been shown to produce a more resolved tree than analyses based only on continuous morphometric data. The new analyses demonstrate paraphyly of both Eucrassatella and Spissatella as previously recognised. A taxonomic revision of the studied taxa has been undertaken, incorporating information from both morphometric and phylogenetic studies. Spissatella subobesa and S. maudensis are referred to Eucrassatella. Spissatella discrepans is synonymised with S. acculta. Triplicitella n. gen. and S.maxwelli n. sp. are described. Oxygen isotope analysis has been employed to show that shell-banding in these species is, on average, likely to have been laid down annually. Using this information, the longitudinal dataset of outlines from Crampton & Maxwell (2000) has been recalibrated to use chronological age rather than size to compare shape across taxa, and investigate heterochrony in twelve pairs of species representing either ancestor-descendant, sister-group or lineage-segment relationships. All of the heterochronic processes sensu Gould (1977), namely progenesis, neoteny, acceleration and hypermorphosis, as well as proportioned dwarfism and proportioned gigantism, are identified as having affected evolution within this clade.</p>

Sometimes the Hard Part Is Not Solving the Problem; It Is Finding a Way To Deliver the Solution

LiquidPower Specialty Products Inc. (LSPI) said it can increase the flow capacity of subsea flowlines from wells to platforms by up to 35%. Based on the company’s long history in that business, that sounds doable. The hard part is convincing users that it can dependably deliver the chemical to the offshore wells where it is needed. The delivery barrier has made subsea production lines one of the few oil pipeline markets not served by LSPI, whose history dates to 1979 when it began selling an additive, a drag-reducing agent (DRA), that dramatically increased pipeline flows. The polymer was invented by scientists at what was then Conoco, in the early 1970s. Among the inventors was Yung Lee, who is still with the company which is now owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The chemical able to increase oil flows by 80% proved popular, and its use spread around the world. Now, the maker of a product used in 80% of US oil pipelines is looking for new markets. Lines running from offshore wells to platforms look like an attractive growth market, as oil companies focus on finding oil near existing platforms where the risks and costs are low. “It is going to be substantial. It is not huge like pipelines. Still, more and more people are going to discover oil-bearing formations away from platforms,” said Lee, engineering and technical services director for LSPI. The short explanation for how LSPI’s DRA works is that the long molecular chains of the ultrahigh-weight polymer in a pipeline reduce turbulence. That allows more oil to flow through a pipe and reduces the pressure needed to do so. There are offshore markets for DRA, where it is used in large lines delivering oil to shore and in multiphase lines connecting platforms. Pipelines from subsea wells to platforms are not on the list because LSPI has been unable to find a way to deliver DRA to those remote locations. The obvious way to do so would seem to be to pump the relatively small amount of chemical needed each day through an umbilical. For more than 15 years, LSPI tried to develop a DRA molecule that would flow dependably through the narrow tube in an umbilical. The problem was “DRAs contain solid particles [polymer] that will coat the internal wall and eventually plug the umbilical,” according to a recent Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) paper describing the prolonged search (OTC 31054). That problem created an opportunity for Safe Marine Transfer, which was looking for customers needing an alternative delivery method, said Art Schroeder, CEO of the Houston company. Inside the Box Three years ago, at the OTC, LSPI met the founders of Safe Marine, who convinced them to consider delivering DRA in a box. The box intentionally looks like a cargo container. Its dimensions— 40×8×8.5 ft—make it possible to load the box on a truck and move it to a dock on its way offshore. Inside is a large, tough bladder designed to hold 200 bbl of fluid. The container allows water to enter, equalizing the pressure so the frame can stand up to extreme deepwater pressure.

The Effect of Different Soft Core/Hard Shell Ratios on the Coating Performance of Acrylic Copolymer Latexes

Core–shell acrylic copolymer latexes containing bio resourced itaconic acid with different compositions in respect with the core and shell segments were synthesized, characterized, and applied as coating materials for leather. The purpose of the study was to evidence the high coating performance of the latexes when the ratio of the core/shell differed from 90/10 to 50/50 wt %. The copolymers were prepared via emulsion copolymerization technique and the products were isolated and characterized by means of structure identity, thermal behavior (DSC and DMTA), coating performance. The particle size of the latexes varied from 83 to 173 nm with the variation of the ratio of core/shell segments. The influence of the composition of soft part and hard part was highlighted in the thermal and coating properties. The optimal composition giving the best coating performance could be determined as DS 60/40. Further increase of the hard segment content, resulted in decreased emulsion stability and the coating performance on the leathers. The use of itaconic acid seemed to increase the emulsion stability as well the adhesion of the latexes to the substrate.

Fragmentation function of g → $$ Q\overline{Q} $$(3$$ {S}_1^{\left[8\right]} $$) in soft gluon factorization and threshold resummation

We study the fragmentation function of the gluon to color-octet 3S1 heavy quark-antiquark pair using the soft gluon factorization (SGF) approach, which expresses the fragmentation function in a form of perturbative short-distance hard part convoluted with one-dimensional color-octet 3S1 soft gluon distribution (SGD). The short distance hard part is calculated to the next-to-leading order in αs and all orders in velocity expansion. By deriving and solving the renormalization group equation of the SGD, threshold logarithms are resummed to all orders in perturbation theory. The comparison with gluon fragmentation function calculated in NRQCD factorization approach indicates that the SGF formula resums a series of velocity corrections in NRQCD which are important for phenomenological study.

Coyote diet and spatial co-occurrence with caribou

The interplay of predator encounters and anti-predator responses is an integral part of understanding predator-prey interactions and spatial co-occurrence and avoidance can elucidate these interactions. We conducted hard-part dietary analysis of coyotes (Canis latrans Say, 1823) and space use of coyotes and caribou (Rangifer tarandus Gmelin, 1788) to test two competing hypotheses about coyote and caribou predator-prey spatial dynamics using resource selection functions. The high encounter hypothesis predicts that coyotes would maximize encounters with caribou via high spatial co-occurrence, whereas the predator stealth hypothesis predicts that through low spatial co-occurrence with caribou, coyotes act as stealth predators by avoiding habitats that caribou typically select. Our dietary analysis revealed that ~46% of sampled coyote diet is composed of caribou. We found that coyote share space with caribou in lichen-barren habitat in both summer and winter and that coyotes co-occur with caribou in forested habitat during summer, but not winter. Our findings support predictions associated with the high encounter predator hypothesis whereby coyotes and caribou have high spatial co-occurrence promoting caribou in coyote diet.

Now the Hard Part: Creating a

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic killed 1,800,000 people, 346,000 of them Americans. In that same year, if recent estimates are correct, about the same number died as a result of medical errors, all despite the enormous effort of the past 20 years to eliminate preventable harm, an effort that has involved people at all levels: policy makers, government agencies, oversight bodies, quality improvement organizations, major health-care systems, and thousands of providers and caregivers on the frontline.

PERPENDICULAR TURNING SOLAR TRACKER ANTI-COLLISION CAR

"We could definitely make a flying car - but that's not the hard part. The hard part is, how do you make a flying car that is super safe and quiet?” - ELON MUSK While safety, reliability, fuel economy, and low running costs put them at the top of the list of what people consider to be the 'most important' in a car, more than a third (36%) of those tested online rank with the latest driving skills in the same fields. Driving technology includes steering or parking assist, adaptive cruise control, and wireless entry or ignition. More than a quarter (28%) of people online also account for having the latest passenger technology, which includes audio or video streaming and social networking, as 'most important' to them. Our team has developed a vehicle archetype which is incorporated of Azimuth Angle, trimming off the turning radius and anti-collision mitigation system like concepts with a single touch button. The underlying concept of the smart car is to free the driver from many of the mundane tasks associated with driving, making the act of driving more pleasant.

ANALYSIS OF FORMING BLOOD ELEMENTS USING SURFACE PLASMON-POLARITON RESONANCE: MODEL OF TRANSITION LAYER

Despite the great practical importance, the control of blood by optical methods is enormously complicated by the strong scattering of light. This is especially true for formed blood elements (FBEs), which are a compact suspension that remains after plasma removal from blood by centrifugation. The study of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in Kretchman’s geometry together with measurement of the angular dependence of the light internal reflection R( φ ) at the glass/ FBEs boundary is one of the few possibilities to obtain additional information about the structure and molecular composition of this complex inhomogeneous object. Measurement of R( φ ) for contact FBEs with the glass surface allows to determine the total internal reflection (TIR) angle and the effective refractive index N of the binary of erythrocytes-blood plasma mixture. At the same time, the comparison of the angles of TIR and SPR makes it possible to establish the presence of a transition layer between gold surface and the volume of FBEs. In addition, a detailed matching of the experimental dependence R( φ ) with one of calculated curve by regression method allows minimize the objective function and allows to establish a detailed model of the transition layer. The paper shows that the value of N is 1.4003...1.4008. According to the formula of the effective Bruggeman's medium, the packing density of erythrocytes in the volume of FBEs is about 85%, which is well matched with the data known from the literature. At the same time, at least two intermediate layers were detected at the gold /FBEs interface. (1) A layer 33–38 nm thick adjacent to the hydrophobic surface of the gold film and with a refractive index of N p = 1.356–1.357. Presumably, it is a binary phase with a liquid part in the form of water, a buffer solution or blood plasma and a hard part in the form of proteins non-specifically related to gold, most likely molecules of albumin and fibrinogen. (2) A thicker, transition-to- volume FBEs layer is most likely related to the edges curvature and marginal packing of erythrocytes; the effective thickness of this layer is d m = 130-200 nm, and the effective refractive index N m = 1.356... 1.369. The details of this transition layer are currently of considerable practical interest because they can reflect the physiological state of blood cells and whole body, and the parameters d m and N m can be useful from a biological or medical point of view.

Machine Learning and Cryptographic Algorithms – Analysis and Design in Ransomware and Vulnerabilities Detection

The AI, deep learning and machine learning algorithms are gaining the ground in every application domain of information technology including information security. In formation security domain knows for traditional password management systems, auto-provisioning systems and user information management systems. There is another raising concern on the application and system level security with ransomware. On the existing systems cyber-attacks of Ransomware asking for ransom increasing every day. Ransomware is the class of malware where the goal is to gain the data through encryption mechanism and render back with the ransom. The ransomware attacks are mainly on the vulnerable systems which are exposed to the network with weak security measures. With the help of machine learning algorithms, the pattern of the attacks can be analyzed. Create or discuss a workaround solution of a machine learning model with combination of cryptographic algorithm which will enhance the effectiveness of the system response to the possible attacks. The other part of the problem, which is hard part to create an intelligence for the organizations for preventing the ransomware attacks with the help of intelligent system password management and intelligent account provisioning. In this paper I elaborate on the machine learning algorithms analysis for the intelligent ransomware detection problem, later part of this paper would be design of the algorithm.