First record of Mermithidae (Nematoda) parasitic in Plecoptera

The first record of Nematoda Mermithidae in adults and larvae of two Protonemura species (Plecoptera Nemouridae) and of Isoperla rivulorum (Pictet) (Plecoptera Perlodidae) from North Italy and Bavaria (Germany) is presented. The malformed genitalia of several parasitically castrated adults are described and illustrated. Primi reperti di Mermithidae (Nematoda) endoparassiti di Plecoptera. Viene segnalata per la prima volta la presenza di Mermithidae (Nematoda) nell’addome di adulti e di ninfe di due specie di Protonemura (Plecoptera Nemouridae) e di Isoperla rivulorum (Pictet) (Plecoptera Perlodidae), raccolte rispettivamente nell’Italia settentrionale ed in Baviera (Germania). I genitali malformati di alcuni adulti, deformità causate da castrazione parassitaria, sono descritti e illustrati

Sources of Signal in 62 Protein-Coding Nuclear Genes for Higher-Level Phylogenetics of Arthropods

BACKGROUND: This study aims to investigate the strength of various sources of phylogenetic information that led to recent seemingly robust conclusions about higher-level arthropod phylogeny and to assess the role of excluding or downweighting synonymous change for arriving at those conclusions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The current study analyzes DNA sequences from 68 gene segments of 62 distinct protein-coding nuclear genes for 80 species. Gene segments analyzed individually support numerous nodes recovered in combined-gene analyses, but few of the higher-level nodes of greatest current interest. However, neither is there support for conflicting alternatives to these higher-level nodes. Gene segments with higher rates of nonsynonymous change tend to be more informative overall, but those with lower rates tend to provide stronger support for deeper nodes. Higher-level nodes with bootstrap values in the 80% - 99% range for the complete data matrix are markedly more sensitive to substantial drops in their bootstrap percentages after character subsampling than those with 100% bootstrap, suggesting that these nodes are likely not to have been strongly supported with many fewer data than in the full matrix. Data set partitioning of total data by (mostly) synonymous and (mostly) nonsynonymous change improves overall node support, but the result remains much inferior to analysis of (unpartitioned) nonsynonymous change alone. Clusters of genes with similar nonsynonymous rate properties (e.g., faster vs. slower) show some distinct patterns of node support but few conflicts. Synonymous change is shown to contribute little, if any, phylogenetic signal to the support of higher-level nodes, but it does contribute nonphylogenetic signal, probably through its underlying heterogeneous nucleotide composition. Analysis of seemingly conservative indels does not prove useful. CONCLUSIONS: Generating a robust molecular higher-level phylogeny of Arthropoda is currently possible with large amounts of data and an exclusive reliance on nonsynonymous change

Resolving Discrepancy between Nucleotides and Amino Acids in Deep-Level Arthropod Phylogenomics: Differentiating Serine Codons in 21-Amino-Acid Models

BACKGROUND: In a previous study of higher-level arthropod phylogeny, analyses of nucleotide sequences from 62 protein-coding nuclear genes for 80 panarthopod species yielded significantly higher bootstrap support for selected nodes than did amino acids. This study investigates the cause of that discrepancy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINIDINGS: The hypothesis is tested that failure to distinguish the serine residues encoded by two disjunct clusters of codons (TCN, AGY) in amino acid analyses leads to this discrepancy. In one test, the two clusters of serine codons (Ser1, Ser2) are conceptually translated as separate amino acids. Analysis of the resulting 21-amino-acid data matrix shows striking increases in bootstrap support, in some cases matching that in nucleotide analyses. In a second approach, nucleotide and 20-amino-acid data sets are artificially altered through targeted deletions, modifications, and replacements, revealing the pivotal contributions of distinct Ser1 and Ser2 codons. We confirm that previous methods of coding nonsynonymous nucleotide change are robust and computationally efficient by introducing two new degeneracy coding methods. We demonstrate for degeneracy coding that neither compositional heterogeneity at the level of nucleotides nor codon usage bias between Ser1 and Ser2 clusters of codons (or their separately coded amino acids) is a major source of non-phylogenetic signal. CONCLUSIONS: The incongruity in support between amino-acid and nucleotide analyses of the forementioned arthropod data set is resolved by showing that “standard” 20-amino-acid analyses yield lower node support specifically when serine provides crucial signal. Separate coding of Ser1 and Ser2 residues yields support commensurate with that found by degenerated nucleotides, without introducing phylogenetic artifacts. While exclusion of all serine data leads to reduced support for serine-sensitive nodes, these nodes are still recovered in the ML topology, indicating that the enhanced signal from Ser1 and Ser2 is not qualitatively different from that of the other amino acids.This study was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, U.S.A. (grant numbers 0531626, 1042845 and 0120635). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Spectrometry: Report of panel

Spectroscopic measurements are required to define the spectral background and provide the detailed spectral information that is essential for the design of species-specific systems and the analysis of data obtained from them. This function of spectroscopic measurements is expected to be an important part of any tropospheric remote-sensing program, and both emission and absorption spectroscopy are relevant in this context. The data from such observations are of value to tropospheric science in their own right, during the initial phases while species-specific techniques and instruments are under development. In addition, there are a number of unresolved problems in tropospheric radiative transfer and spectroscopy which presently limit the accuracy and reliability of all remote sensing methods. Only through a supporting program of spectroscopic measurements can progress be made in improving the understanding of these aspects of radiative transfer and ultimately reaching the desired confidence in the accuracy to species-specific monitoring techniques

Improving Test Score Reporting: Perspectives From the ETS Score Reporting Conference

This volume includes 3 papers based on presentations at a workshop on communicating assessment information to particular audiences, held at Educational Testing Service (ETS) on November 4th, 2010, to explore some issues that influence score reports and new advances that contribute to the effectiveness of these reports. Jessica Hullman, Rebecca Rhodes, Fernando Rodriguez, and Priti Shah present the results of recent research on graph comprehension and data interpretation, especially the role of presentation format, the impact of prior quantitative literacy and domain knowledge, the trade‐off between reducing cognitive load and increasing active processing of data, and the affective influence of graphical displays. Rebecca Zwick and Jeffrey Sklar present the results of the Instructional Tools in Educational Measurement and Statistics for School Personnel (ITEMS) project, funded by the National Science Foundation and conducted at the University of California, Santa Barbara to develop and evaluate 3 web‐based instructional modules intended to help educators interpret test scores. Zwick and Sklar discuss the modules and the procedures used to evaluate their effectiveness. Diego Zapata‐Rivera presents a new framework for designing and evaluating score reports, based on work on designing and evaluating score reports for particular audiences in the context of the CBAL (Cognitively Based Assessment of, for, and as Learning) project (Bennett & Gitomer, 2009), which has been applied in the development and evaluation of reports for various audiences including teachers, administrators and students.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108325/1/ets202281.pd