Larval description and phylogenetic placement of the Australian endemic genus Barretthydrus Lea, 1927 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Hydroporinae: Hydroporini: Sternopriscina)

The larvae of the Australian endemic species Barretthydrus tibialis Lea, 1927 and Barretthydrus geminatus Lea, 1927 are described and illustrated for the first time, with detailed morphometric and chaetotaxic analyses of the cephalic capsule, head appendages, legs, last abdominal segment, and urogomphi. A parsimony analysis based on 118 informative larval characteristics of 34 species in all 10 tribes of the subfamily Hydroporinae was conducted using the program TNT. No clear larval morphological synapomorphies support the monophyletic origin of the tribe Hydroporini. Compared to other known larvae of Hydroporini, Barretthydrus Lea is postulated to share a closer phylogenetic relationship with Antiporus Sharp, which reinforces their inclusion in the subtribe Sternopriscina.Fil: Alarie, Yves. Laurentian University. Department of Biology; CanadáFil: Michat, Mariano Cruz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio de Entomología; ArgentinaFil: Hendrich, L.. Zoologische Staatssammlung Munchen; AlemaniaFil: Watts, Chris H. S.. South Australian Museum; Australi

Dealing with a hairy beast-larval morphology and chaetotaxy of the Australian endemic diving beetle genus Spencerhydrus (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae, Cybistrini)

In this contribution, the larval morphology of Spencerhydrus Sharp, 1882 was studied, an Australian endemic genus in the diving beetle tribe Cybistrini. All instars of the only two species included in the genus (S. latecinctus Sharp, 1882 and S. pulchellus Sharp, 1882) are described and illustrated with the exception of the third instar of S. latecinctus. Detailed morphometric and primary chaetotaxic analyses were performed to discover useful characters for generic diagnosis and species distinction. Spencerhydrus can be distinguished from other Cybistrini genera by the medial projection of frontoclypeus slightly indented apically, with lamellae clypeales directed forward in a characteristic V-shaped pattern, the median process of prementum strongly developed, the presence of a single ventral sclerite on prothorax, the presence of basoventral spinulae on claws, and the reduced sclerotization of the abdominal segment VII which covers only the anterior half. Larvae of the two species of Spencerhydrus can readily be distinguished by the shape of the median process of prementum, which is visibly broader in S. pulchellus than in S. latecinctus.Fil: Michat, Mariano Cruz. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio de Entomología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Alarie, Yves. Laurentian University. Department of Biology; CanadáFil: Watts, Chris H. S.. South Australian Museum; Australi

Phylogenetic relationships and comparative larval morphology of epigean and stygobitic species of Limbodessus Guignot, 1939 (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae: Bidessini), with a key of identification

The larvae of five epigean and 25 stygobitic species of the diving beetle genus Limbodessus Guignot, 1939 are described and illustrated for the first time, with special emphasis on morphometry and chaetotaxy of the cephalic capsule, head appendages, legs, last abdominal segment and urogomphi. Those of the following five epigean species are described: L. amabilis (Clark, 1862), L. compactus (Clark, 1862), L. inornatus (Sharp, 1882), L. praelargus (Lea, 1899), L. shuckardii(Clark, 1862). The 25 stygobitic larvae described are: L. barwidgeeensis Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. bigbellensis(Watts & Humphreys, 2000), L. challaensis (Watts & Humphreys, 2001), L. cooperi Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. eberhardi (Watts & Humphreys, 1999), L. exilis Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. fridaywellensis (Watts & Humphreys, 2001), L. hillviewensis (Watts & Humphreys, 2004), L. hinkleri (Watts & Humphreys, 2000), L. leysi Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. macrohinkleri Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. masonensis (Watts & Humphreys, 2001), L. millbilliensis Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. mirandaae Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. morgani (Watts & Humphreys, 2000), L. nambiensisWatts & Humphreys, 2006, L. ordinarius Watts & Humphreys, 2009, L. palmulaoides Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. pulpa (Watts & Humphreys, 1999), L. raeae Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. raesideensis (Watts & Humphreys, 2001), L. windarraensis (Watts & Humphreys, 1999), L. yandalensis Watts & Humphreys, 2006, L. yarrabubbaensis Watts & Humphreys, 2009, L. yuinmeryensis (Watts & Humphreys, 2003). The morphology and chaetotaxy of epigean vs. stygobitic species are compared, and a key for the identification of the species is presented. Contrary to their epigean counterparts, larvae of stygobitic Limbodessus have turned out to be very divergent morphologically. In addition to the common characteristics associated with an underground living (i.e., absence of stemmata, reduced pigmentation, and thin or soft exoskeleton), larvae of these species have undergone a variable modification of the frontoclypeus and have evolved relatively shorter tarsal claws. Two morphological groups of stygobitic species are evident, one including species less deviated from the ancestral (epigean) condition and another group comprising more modified species that typically have a larger size, a more or less pyriform head with a digitiform nasale, and a strongly reduced occipital foramen. Primary chaetotaxy of the species has remained a very conservative expression of the phenotype. Secondary chaetotaxy shows variation among the species, the most obvious being the variable number of lamellae clypeales and the presence or absence of secondary setae on the urogomphus. The phylogenetic relationships of Limbodessus are analyzed cladistically. Larvae of this genus lack the primary pore ABc, which is a synapomorphy of the tribe Bidessini. As presently defined, Limbodessus is probably paraphyletic with respect to Allodessus Guignot, 1953.Fil: Michat, Mariano Cruz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental. Laboratorio de Entomología; ArgentinaFil: Alarie, Yves. Laurentian University. Department of Biology; CanadáFil: Watts, Chris H. S.. South Australian Museum; Australi

Cues and knowledge structures used by mental-health professionals when making risk assessments

Background: Research into mental-health risks has tended to focus on epidemiological approaches and to consider pieces of evidence in isolation. Less is known about the particular factors and their patterns of occurrence that influence clinicians’ risk judgements in practice. Aims: To identify the cues used by clinicians to make risk judgements and to explore how these combine within clinicians’ psychological representations of suicide, self-harm, self-neglect, and harm to others. Method: Content analysis was applied to semi-structured interviews conducted with 46 practitioners from various mental-health disciplines, using mind maps to represent the hierarchical relationships of data and concepts. Results: Strong consensus between experts meant their knowledge could be integrated into a single hierarchical structure for each risk. This revealed contrasting emphases between data and concepts underpinning risks, including: reflection and forethought for suicide; motivation for self-harm; situation and context for harm to others; and current presentation for self-neglect. Conclusions: Analysis of experts’ risk-assessment knowledge identified influential cues and their relationships to risks. It can inform development of valid risk-screening decision support systems that combine actuarial evidence with clinical expertise

Evolution of Blind Beetles in Isolated Aquifers: A Test of Alternative Modes of Speciation

Evidence is growing that not only allopatric but also sympatric speciation can be important in the evolution of species. Sympatric speciation has most convincingly been demonstrated in laboratory experiments with bacteria, but field-based evidence is limited to a few cases. The recently discovered plethora of subterranean diving beetle species in isolated aquifers in the arid interior of Australia offers a unique opportunity to evaluate alternative modes of speciation. This naturally replicated evolutionary experiment started 10-5 million years ago, when climate change forced the surface species to occupy geographically isolated subterranean aquifers. Using phylogenetic analysis, we determine the frequency of aquifers containing closely related sister species. By comparing observed frequencies with predictions from different statistical models, we show that it is very unlikely that the high number of sympatrically occurring sister species can be explained by a combination of allopatric evolution and repeated colonisations alone. Thus, diversification has occurred within the aquifers and likely involved sympatric, parapatric and/or microallopatric speciation

Social Contact Networks and Disease Eradicability under Voluntary Vaccination

Certain theories suggest that it should be difficult or impossible to eradicate a vaccine-preventable disease under voluntary vaccination: Herd immunity implies that the individual incentive to vaccinate disappears at high coverage levels. Historically, there have been examples of declining coverage for vaccines, such as MMR vaccine and whole-cell pertussis vaccine, that are consistent with this theory. On the other hand, smallpox was globally eradicated by 1980 despite voluntary vaccination policies in many jurisdictions. Previous modeling studies of the interplay between disease dynamics and individual vaccinating behavior have assumed that infection is transmitted in a homogeneously mixing population. By comparison, here we simulate transmission of a vaccine-preventable SEIR infection through a random, static contact network. Individuals choose whether to vaccinate based on infection risks from neighbors, and based on vaccine risks. When neighborhood size is small, rational vaccinating behavior results in rapid containment of the infection through voluntary ring vaccination. As neighborhood size increases (while the average force of infection is held constant), a threshold is reached beyond which the infection can break through partially vaccinated rings, percolating through the whole population and resulting in considerable epidemic final sizes and a large number vaccinated. The former outcome represents convergence between individually and socially optimal outcomes, whereas the latter represents their divergence, as observed in most models of individual vaccinating behavior that assume homogeneous mixing. Similar effects are observed in an extended model using smallpox-specific natural history and transmissibility assumptions. This work illustrates the significant qualitative differences between behavior–infection dynamics in discrete contact-structured populations versus continuous unstructured populations. This work also shows how disease eradicability in populations where voluntary vaccination is the primary control mechanism may depend partly on whether the disease is transmissible only to a few close social contacts or to a larger subset of the population

F.J. Turner’s ‘frontier thesis’: the ruse of American ‘character'

American society was transformed by the expansion of capital Westward and the explosion in opportunities that ensued for land grabbing and agricultural and industrial investment. In Turner’s (1961) frontier thesis this was portrayed as resulting in the emergence of ‘the new man’ i.e. the fulfilment of American character. The frontier thesis is a neo-Darwinian contribution. It posits exceptionalism and transcendence as the keys to American character. The gene pool of the Americans, thriving in a new geographical and social environment, is depicted as achieving a higher level of development than the stratified societies of Old Europe. What the thesis ignores is the importance of orthodox Eurocentric strategies of colonization and land appropriation. Turner portrays pioneer/settler society as a heroic departure, but in many ways, it is a continuation of European precedents. Analogously, the proposition that the push West crystallized American character obscures the role of personality, especially in urban-industrial settings, in establishing the parameters of American life. Turner conceived of character as emerging from a struggle with the spatial frontier. But the struggles of personality with the social frontier of repression and establishment values is no less significant. The paper examines the tensions between character and personality by using some ideas developed by Carl Schmitt on the significance of ‘the opportunity’ in competitive advantage. The importance of the opportunity and personality in developing the American way of life are examined by the vaudeville and celebrity traditions. The exploitation of contingency for personal advantage, the use of melodrama to engineer social impact, the social validation of forthright behaviour are examined in the context of the careers of the film actress Mae West and the comedian Bob Hope

Maintaining extensivity in evolutionary multiplex networks

In this paper, we explore the role of network topology on maintaining the extensive property of entropy. We study analytically and numerically how the topology contributes to maintaining extensivity of entropy in multiplex networks, i.e. networks of subnetworks (layers), by means of the sum of the positive Lyapunov exponents, HKS, a quantity related to entropy. We show that extensivity relies not only on the interplay between the coupling strengths of the dynamics associated to the intra (short-range) and inter (long-range) interactions, but also on the sum of the intra-degrees of the nodes of the layers. For the analytically treated networks of size N, among several other results, we show that if the sum of the intra-degrees (and the sum of inter-degrees) scales as N?+1, ? > 0, extensivity can be maintained if the intra-coupling (and the inter-coupling) strength scales as N??, when evolution is driven by the maximisation of HKS. We then verify our analytical results by performing numerical simulations in multiplex networks formed by electrically and chemically coupled neurons

STROBE-X: A probe-class mission for x-ray spectroscopy and timing on timescales from microseconds to years

We describe the Spectroscopic Time-Resolving Observatory for Broadband Energy X-rays (STROBE-X), a probeclass mission concept that will provide an unprecedented view of the X-ray sky, performing timing and spectroscopy over both a broad energy band (0.2-30 keV) and a wide range of timescales from microseconds to years. STROBE-X comprises two narrow-field instruments and a wide field monitor. The soft or low-energy band (0.2-12 keV) is covered by an array of lightweight optics (3-m focal length) that concentrate incident photons onto small solid-state detectors with CCD-level (85-175 eV) energy resolution, 100 ns time resolution, and low background rates. This technology has been fully developed for NICER and will be scaled up to take advantage of the longer focal length of STROBE-X. The higher-energy band (2-30 keV) is covered by large-area, collimated silicon drift detectors that were developed for the European LOFT mission concept. Each instrument will provide an order of magnitude improvement in effective area over its predecessor (NICER in the soft band and RXTE in the hard band). Finally, STROBE-X offers a sensitive wide-field monitor (WFM), both to act as a trigger for pointed observations of X-ray transients and also to provide high duty-cycle, high time-resolution, and high spectral-resolution monitoring of the variable X-ray sky. The WFM will boast approximately 20 times the sensitivity of the RXTE All-Sky Monitor, enabling multi-wavelength and multi-messenger investigations with a large instantaneous field of view. This mission concept will be presented to the 2020 Decadal Survey for consideration