El significado de Myotragus batei y M. binigausensis en la evolución del género Myotragus (Bovidae, Mammalia) en las islas Baleares

En este artículo pretendemos discutir la hipótesis de Bover y Alcover (2000) que propone sinonimizar M. batei Crusafont y Angel (1966) de Mallorca con M. binigausensis Moyà-Solà y Pons-Moyà (1980) de Menorca. Esta hipótesis taxonómica esta fundamentada en una re-diagnosis de M. batei y a su vez esta se sustenta en una hipótesis de homología dentaria propuesta por los mismos autores y que mantiene que las especies más recientes del género Myotragus, M. kopperi, M. batei y M. balearicus eran monofiodontas. Por tanto, en primer lugar discutiremos esta última hipótesis, y analizaremos con detalle jas homologías entre los dientes de la serie incisivo-canina de las diferentes especies del género Myotragus y los bóvidos actuales. En segundo Jugar analizamos la nueva diagnosis de M. batei propuesta por estos autores y, finalmente, discutimos la propuesta de sinonimia. Concluimos que la hipótesis de homologar los dientes incisiviformes de los adultos de Myotragus a la dentición de leche es incorrecta, que la diagnosis propuesta por estos autores para M. batei también y por tanto la sinonimia propuesta no es considerada como válida. Se discuten las implicaciones taxonómicas y evolutivas del modelo que emerge de este estudio.En aquest article es dicuteix sobre la hipòtesi de Bover i Alcover (2000) que proposen sinonirnitzar M. ba/ei Crusafont y Angel (1966) de Mallorca amb M. binigausensis Moyà-Solà & Pons-Moyà (1980) de Menorca. Aquesta hipòtesi taxonòmica està fonamentada en una re-diagnosi de M. batei i a la vegada aquesta se sustenta en una hipòtesi d'homologia dentària proposada pels mateixos autors i que manté que les espècies més recents del gènere Myotragus, M. kopperi, M. batei i M. balearieus eren monofiodontes. Per tant, en primer lloc es discuteix sobre aquesta última hipòtesi, i s'analitza amb detall les homologies entre les dents de la sèrie incisiva-canina de les diferents espècies del gènere Myotragus i els bòvids actuals. En segon lloc, s'analitza la nova diagnosi de M. ba/ei proposada per aquests autors i, finalment, es discuteix la proposta de sinonímia. Es conclou que la hipòtesi d'homologar les dents incisiviformes dels adults de Myotragus a la dentició de llet és incorrecta, que la diagnosi proposada per aquests autors per a M. batei també i per tant la sinonímia no és considerada vàlida. Se discuteixen les implicacions taxonòmiques i evolutives del model que emergeix d'aquest estudi.The goal of this paper is to discus the recently proposed synonymy between M. batei Crusafont & Angel (1966) and M. binigausensis Moyà-Solà & Pons-Moyà (1980), proposed by Bover & Alcover (2000). This hypothesis is based on a re-diagnosis of M. batei based on the recently proposed hypothesis of Bover & Alcover (1999, 2000) that suggest that the more recent species of Myotragus, M. kopperi, M. batei y M. balearicus are monofiodont and the incisivifonn teeth of the adults of these species are the deciduous or primary teeth. To discus adequately the synonymy, first we present a revision of the homologies of the adult incisiviform teeth of the endemic insular bovid of the Balearic islands Myotragus and recent bovids. The results of this analysis permit to clearly conclude that the hypothesis of homology proposed by Bover & Alcover (1999, 2000) is incorrect, fact that leads these authors to propose an inaccurate diagnosis of M. batei. Thus, the synonymy between M. batei and M. binigausensis is not admitted. The taxonomic and evolutive implications of this study are discussed

Villafranchian large mammals from the Iberian Peninsula: paleobiogeography, paleoecology and dispersal events

The Pleistocene of the Iberian Peninsula is currently a focus of intense paleontological, archaeological and geological research. To a large extent, these inquiries are intended to decipher the ecological factors that might have conditioned early Homo dispersals into the European continent during the late Early Pleistocene. In this respect, the research carried out during the last twenty years in several areas of the Iberian Peninsula (the Guadix-Baza Basin, the Sierra de Atapuerca, the Vallparadís Section and the Banyoles-Besalú Basin) have yielded a large amount of new significant data. Here we review such data and provide for the first time a comprehensive synthesis from a faunal, geologi­cal and paleoecological perspectives, by focusing on the relationship between paleoenvironmental conditions and early human dispersals during the late Early Pleistocene in the Iberian Peninsula. In particular, the Iberian fossil record of Early to Late Villafranchian large mam­mals is synthesized, on the basis of recent publications and unpublished data collected by the authors during the last five years, in order to provide the adequate faunal and paleocological framework for understanding the factors that limited or conditioned human dispersal events.El Pleistoceno de la Península Ibérica es actualmente foco de intensa investigación paleontológica, arqueológica y geológica. En gran medida, estos trabajos están encaminados a descifrar los factores ecológicos que podrían haber condicionado las dispersiones de los Homo iniciales hacia Europa durante el Pleistoceno inferior. En este sentido, la investigación realizada durante los últimos veinte años en diversas zonas de la Península Ibérica (la Cuenca de Guadix-Baza, la Sierra de Atapuerca, la Sección de Vallparadís y la Cuenca de Banyoles- Besalú) ha proporcionado una gran cantidad de nuevos datos significativos. Aquí revisamos estos datos y se proporciona por primera vez una síntesis exhaustiva desde una perspectiva paleontológica, paleoecológica y geológica, centrándonos en las relaciones entre las condi­ciones paleoambientales y las dispersiones de los primeros humanos en el Pleistoceno inferior de la Península Ibérica. Concretamente, se sintetiza el registro fósil ibérico de grandes mamíferos villafranquienses en base a publicaciones recientes y datos inéditos recopilados por los autores en los últimos cinco años, para así proporcionar el marco faunístico y paleoecológico adecuado para comprender los factores que limitaron o condicionaron los eventos de dispersión humana

An updated biostratigraphy for the late Aragonian and Vallesian of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (Catalonia)

The Vallès-Penedès Basin (Catalonia, Spain) is a classical area for the study of the Miocene land mammal faunas and includes one of the densest and most continuous records in Eurasia. Furthermore, it is the type area for the Vallesian European land mammal age. After decades of study a huge amount of bio- and magnetostratigraphic data have been collected, allowing an unprecedented dating accuracy. Here we provide an updated local biostratigraphy for the late Aragonian, Vallesian and Turolian of the Vallès-Penedès Basin. This new biostratigraphic scheme is almost exclusively based on fossil rodents, which are the most abundant and one of the best known mammal orders in the area. Our proposal represents a significant refinement compared to previous attempts and provides a formal diagnosis and description of each zone, as well as clear definition of boundaries and a reference locality and section. The chronology of zone boundaries and main bioevents is based on detailed magnetostratigraphic data. The defined biozones allow for the correlation of the sites without associated magnetostratigraphical data. Finally, the correlation of the Vallès-Penedès local zones with other detailed local biostratigraphies, such as those of the Calatayud-Montalbán and Teruel basins (east-central Spain) is discussed. The sequence and chronology of the main bioevents is roughly comparable, although the rodent succession and the structure of the assemblage show important differences between these areas

The primate fossil record in the Iberian Peninsula

During the last decade, new discoveries in several Iberian basins, together with the description of previously unpublished finds, have significantly increased the recorded paleodiversity of fossil Primates (Mammalia: Euarchonta) in the Iberian Peninsula. Here we provide an updated compendium of the primate fossil record in Iberia during the Cenozoic and further summarize the changes in primate paleo­diversity through time, which are then analyzed in the light of changing climatic conditions. Thanks to favorable climatic conditions, the highest diversity of Iberian primates was reached during the Eocene, thus reflecting the radiation of both adapoids and omomyoids; only a single plesiadapiform genus is in contrast recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. Near the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, paleoclimatic changes led to a primate diversity crisis and other faunal changes, although two Iberian omomyoids survived the Grande Coupure. From the Middle Miocene onwards, catarrhine primates are recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. During the Middle and Late Miocene, they are represented by pliopithecoids and hominoids, restricted to NE Iberia. The Miocene hominoids from Iberia are of utmost significance for understanding the Eurasian hominoid radiation and its role in the origins of the great-ape-and-human clade. Following the local extinction of these taxa during the early Late Miocene, due to progressively increased seasonality and concomitant changes in plant communities, cercopithecoids are also recorded in the Iberian Peninsula from the latest Miocene through the Plio-Pleistocene, although they finally became locally extinct, whereas hominoids are again represented by fossil humans during the Pleistocene.Durante la última década, nuevos descubrimientos en varias cuencas ibéricas, junto con la descripción de hallazgos previos inéditos, han incrementado significativamente la paleodiversidad de Primates fósiles (Mammalia: Euarchonta) registrada en la Península Ibérica. Proporcionamos aquí un compendio actualizado del registro fósil de los primates en Iberia durante el Cenozoico, y resumimos además los cambios en paleodiversidad de los primates a lo largo del tiempo a la luz de las condiciones climáticas cambiantes. Gracias a condiciones climáticas favorables, la diversidad más alta de primates ibéricos se produjo durante el Eoceno, reflejando así la radiación tanto de los adapoideos como de los omomioideos; en cambio, sólo un único género de plesiadapiformes se registra en la Península Ibérica. Hacia el límite Eoceno-Oligoceno, los cambios paleoclimáticos condujeron a una crisis de diversidad de los primates y otros cambios faunísticos, aunque dos omomioideos ibéricos sobrevivieron a la Grande Coupure. Del Mioceno Medio en adelante, los primates catarrinos se registran en la Península Ibérica. Durante el Mioceno Medio y Superior, están representados por pliopitecoideos y hominoideos, restringidos al NE de Iberia. Los hominoideos del Mioceno de Iberia son de gran importancia para comprender la radiación de los hominoideos eurasiáticos y su papel en los orígenes del clado de los grandes antropomorfos y los humanos. A continuación de la extinción local de estos taxones du­rante el Mioceno Superior inicial, debido al incremento progresivo de la estacionalidad así como a cambios en las comunidades vegetales, los cercopitecoideos también se registran en la Península Ibérica a partir del Mioceno más terminal en adelante. Los cercopitecoideos se registran en la Península Ibérica durante todo el Plio-Pleistoceno, aunque finalmente también se extinguieron localmente, mientras que los hominoideos vuelven a estar representados otra vez por los humanos fósiles durante el Pleistoceno

Jamming at Zero Temperature and Zero Applied Stress: the Epitome of Disorder

We have studied how 2- and 3- dimensional systems made up of particles interacting with finite range, repulsive potentials jam (i.e., develop a yield stress in a disordered state) at zero temperature and applied stress. For each configuration, there is a unique jamming threshold, $\phi_c$, at which particles can no longer avoid each other and the bulk and shear moduli simultaneously become non-zero. The distribution of $\phi_c$ values becomes narrower as the system size increases, so that essentially all configurations jam at the same $\phi$ in the thermodynamic limit. This packing fraction corresponds to the previously measured value for random close-packing. In fact, our results provide a well-defined meaning for "random close-packing" in terms of the fraction of all phase space with inherent structures that jam. The jamming threshold, Point J, occurring at zero temperature and applied stress and at the random close-packing density, has properties reminiscent of an ordinary critical point. As Point J is approached from higher packing fractions, power-law scaling is found for many quantities. Moreover, near Point J, certain quantities no longer self-average, suggesting the existence of a length scale that diverges at J. However, Point J also differs from an ordinary critical point: the scaling exponents do not depend on dimension but do depend on the interparticle potential. Finally, as Point J is approached from high packing fractions, the density of vibrational states develops a large excess of low-frequency modes. All of these results suggest that Point J may control behavior in its vicinity-perhaps even at the glass transition.Comment: 21 pages, 20 figure

Volume I. Introduction to DUNE

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early universe, the dynamics of the supernovae that produced the heavy elements necessary for life, and whether protons eventually decay—these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our universe, its current state, and its eventual fate. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions as it searches for leptonic charge-parity symmetry violation, stands ready to capture supernova neutrino bursts, and seeks to observe nucleon decay as a signature of a grand unified theory underlying the standard model. The DUNE far detector technical design report (TDR) describes the DUNE physics program and the technical designs of the single- and dual-phase DUNE liquid argon TPC far detector modules. This TDR is intended to justify the technical choices for the far detector that flow down from the high-level physics goals through requirements at all levels of the Project. Volume I contains an executive summary that introduces the DUNE science program, the far detector and the strategy for its modular designs, and the organization and management of the Project. The remainder of Volume I provides more detail on the science program that drives the choice of detector technologies and on the technologies themselves. It also introduces the designs for the DUNE near detector and the DUNE computing model, for which DUNE is planning design reports. Volume II of this TDR describes DUNE\u27s physics program in detail. Volume III describes the technical coordination required for the far detector design, construction, installation, and integration, and its organizational structure. Volume IV describes the single-phase far detector technology. A planned Volume V will describe the dual-phase technology

(Anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions at 1as=13TeV

The study of (anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. In this paper the production of (anti-)deuterons is studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity in inelastic pp collisions at s=13 TeV using the ALICE experiment. Thanks to the large number of accumulated minimum bias events, it has been possible to measure (anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions up to the same charged particle multiplicity (d Nch/ d \u3b7 3c 26) as measured in p\u2013Pb collisions at similar centre-of-mass energies. Within the uncertainties, the deuteron yield in pp collisions resembles the one in p\u2013Pb interactions, suggesting a common formation mechanism behind the production of light nuclei in hadronic interactions. In this context the measurements are compared with the expectations of coalescence and statistical hadronisation models (SHM)

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU

The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype