Annotated supplements to catalogues of the family Scathophagidae (Diptera) in the world, with new taxonomic data, notes on some species and new list of species

The last catalogues of the species of the family Scathophagidae for the individual zoogeographical regions were published in the following years: for the Afrotropical Region in 1976; for the Nearctic Region in 1965; for the Neotropical Region in 1984 and, partly, in 2010; for the Oriental Region in 1977 and for Palaearctic Region in 2008. The changes or additions published since the last catalogue form four basic groups: (I) new genera described (5 in Nearctic Region, 1 in Oriental Region, 8 in Palaearctic Region), (II) new species described (4 in Nearctic Region, 4 in Oriental Region, and 51 in Palaearctic Region), (III) new established synonyms (2 in Afrotropical Region, 1 in Nearctic Region, 4 in Neotropical Region, 4 in Oriental Region, 22 in Palaearctic Region), and (IV) new proposed combinations (1 in Afrotropical Region, 6 in Nearctic Region, 3 in Neotropical Region, 14 in Palaearctic Region)

Phylogenetic analyses using molecular markers reveal ecological lineages in Medetera (Diptera: Dolichopodidae)

Medetera Fischer von Waldheim is the most speciose genus in the Medeterinae, with a nearly ubiquitous global distribution. Phylogenetic relationships within Medetera and between Medetera and four other medeterine genera were investigated using mitochondrial (COI, 16S) and nuclear (18S) markers to test morphological hypotheses. Our results confirm most of Bickel's hypotheses. Thrypticus Gerstäcker shows a sister-group relationship with Medetera + Dolichophorus Lichtwardt. The Medetera species included here split into two clades. One clade corresponds to the M. diadema L. - veles Loew species group sensu Bickel. The second clade is largely composed of the M. apicalis (Zetterstedt) species group sensu Bickel and the M. aberrans Wheeler species group sensu Bickel + Dolichophorus. Although most Medeterinae are associated with plants (mainly trees), species in at least two separate lineages demonstrate a secondary return to terrestrial habitats. The implication of this evolutionary phenomenon is briefly discusse

CONFRONTO NUMERICO E SPERIMENTALE TRA LA VERSIONE RIVETTATA E INCOLLATA DI UNA GIUNZIONE MECCANICA

Le giunzioni metalliche incollate offrono diversi vantaggi nei confronti dei tradizionali collegamenti meccanici (rivettatura, bullonatura, ecc.), tuttavia richiedono un’estensiva caratterizzazione meccanica al fine di garantire un’adeguata affidabilità delle strutture in cui vengono inserite. In questo lavoro si presentano i risultati delle prove sperimentali e delle simulazioni numeriche condotte nell’ambito della riprogettazione di una giunzione rivettata di un componente reale, sfruttando la tecnologia dell’incollaggio. L’adesivo usato è una resina epossidica bicomponente, caratterizzata attraverso una campagna di prove sperimentali e simulazioni numeriche, su provini di tipo single-lap e T-peel. Si presenta quindi un confronto, sia numerico che sperimentale, delle prestazioni meccaniche della giunzione rivettata con l’analoga giunzione incollata. I risultati hanno evidenziato un sostanziale miglioramento in termini di rigidezza e resistenza con l’uso della tecnica dell’incollaggio

Conceptual modeling for genomics: Building an integrated repository of open data

Many repositories of open data for genomics, collected by world-wide consortia, are important enablers of biological research; moreover, all experimental datasets leading to publications in genomics must be deposited to public repositories and made available to the research community. These datasets are typically used by biologists for validating or enriching their experiments; their content is documented by metadata. However, emphasis on data sharing is not matched by accuracy in data documentation; metadata are not standardized across the sources and often unstructured and incomplete. In this paper, we propose a conceptual model of genomic metadata, whose purpose is to query the underlying data sources for locating relevant experimental datasets. First, we analyze the most typical metadata attributes of genomic sources and define their semantic properties. Then, we use a top-down method for building a global-as-view integrated schema, by abstracting the most important conceptual properties of genomic sources. Finally, we describe the validation of the conceptual model by mapping it to three well-known data sources: TCGA, ENCODE, and Gene Expression Omnibus

Pyrite in contact with supercritical water: the desolation of steam

The supercritical water and pyrite interface has been studied by DFT calculations. A surprisingly dry surface has been found which points to a new reactivity under extreme conditions which has relevance in the iron–sulfur world prebiotic chemistry of the early Earth.</p

Genomic data integration and user-defined sample-set extraction for population variant analysis

Population variant analysis is of great importance for gathering insights into the links between human genotype and phenotype. The 1000 Genomes Project established a valuable reference for human genetic variation; however, the integrative use of the corresponding data with other datasets within existing repositories and pipelines is not fully supported. Particularly, there is a pressing need for flexible and fast selection of population partitions based on their variant and metadata-related characteristics

DNA barcoding of selected alpine beetles with focus on Curculionoidea (Coleoptera)

Christoph Germann, Sofia Wyler, Marco Valerio Bernasconi (2017): DNA barcoding of selected alpine beetles with focus on Curculionoidea (Coleoptera). Revue suisse de Zoologie 124 (1): 15-38, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.32266