Leveraging BIM and big data to deliver well maintained highways

The Highway infrastructure is one of the most valuable assets for any state or national Government. Efficient operations of Highways lead to success of national and local economies as well as improve the quality of life of the general public dependent on it.  In order to ensure aging road networks continues to move with its ever increasing number of users, requires maintenance and improvements to the road network at the highest standard. Increasing scrutiny over the cost of maintenance along with increasing pressure from Government and the public for transparency over road network spending, has made a strong case for more efficient management of the Highway road asset and traffic management data. Better management of information could allow for life cycle management of asset data and predictive analytics. This paper focuses on proposing a platform that integrates various technologies and systems of Highways Authority and its supply chain, to allow for continuous flow of data throughout an assets life-cycle, leading to seamless, collaborative and effecting working. The integration takes into account developments in the area of BIM and big data; BIM provides a platform to better integrate information whereas big data can provide analytical platform to draw insights

Dung beetle tribal classification (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) : progress, problems, and prospects

The subfamily Scarabaeinae has been traditionally divided into tribes on the basis of morphological similarity between groups of genera or, even, dissimilarity shown by a single genus. Although various tribal units have been described over the past 220 years, they had been recently reduced to a maximum of only 12 through synonymies within some tribes. However, following the advent of morphological and molecular cladistic systematics, it is clear that there are many discrepancies between phylogeny and phenetic tribal classification. As a result the number of tribes has now been expanded to 20 by revalidating some tribes or describing new groupings although this revision is incomplete. Thus, this study provides a comprehensive review of the current status of dung beetle tribal classification with regards to validity in terms of monophyly versus polyphyly or paraphyly. We discuss the systematic position of tribes among Scarabaeinae and provide a summary of the generic and species structure for each tribe. Given the enduring polyphyly or paraphyly in several tribes, it is clear that further tribal units will need to be described or revalidated to resolve the discrepancies. Therefore, we discuss how to use multiple lines of evidence (molecular, morphological, biogeographical, and paleontological) to build the tree of life for dung beetles and consequently provide stability in the tribal classification of the lineage.https://academic.oup.com/aesaZoology and EntomologySDG-15:Life on lan

Dung beetle conservation biogeography in southern Africa: current challenges and potential effects of climatic change

Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene changes to the geomorphology, climate and vegetation of southern Africa are considered responsible for radical differences between southwest and northeast dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) leading to current endemism in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. This bias is supported by distributional analysis of 437 species across vegetation regions and 2° × 2° squares of latitude and longitude using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and minimum spanning trees (MST). The ordinal values for six NMDS dimensions showed significant correlations with annual rainfall, annual temperature, rainfall seasonality and altitude. Significant climatic differences were also shown between six regional centres defined and modelled for the subcontinent: winter/bimodal rainfall, southwest arid, southeast highlands, savanna, sandy savanna and east coast. Twenty-one, principal, subregional centres defined from further NMDS and MST analyses of regional data showed significant intra-regional differences in climatic attributes although published data suggest that soil, vegetation and dung type associations were frequent additional influences. Species showing the smallest ranges were centred primarily around the coast and bordering escarpments, which coincide with regions and subregions showing unique environmental conditions characterized by many endemic genera and species. Published land use data indicate that large parts of these regions are highly transformed or degraded, so that some species are facing strong current threats. Furthermore, published global climatic change data suggest that many endemic species could be further threatened, especially to the southwest where the late Cenozoic trend to unique climatic and environmental conditions could, potentially, be reversed in the future.JRS Biodiversity Foundation Grant No. GNT60313http://link.springer.com/journal/105312020-11-26hj2020Zoology and Entomolog

Comparison with a syntype of Kheper cupreus (Laporte de Castelnau, 1840) confirms that Kheper namibicus Krajcik, 2006 is a synonym

Following its original description, Kheper namibicus Krajcik, 2006, was synonymized with Kheper cupreus (Laporte de Castelnau, 1840) by Deschodt et al. (2011) but later re-erected as a valid species or subspecies (Krajcik 2020). This paper discusses the evidence for validity versus synonymy and provides further support that Kheper namibicus is, indeed, a junior subjective synonym of Kheper cupreus.http://www.mapress.com/zootaxaZoology and Entomolog

Transfer of three species of Namakwanus Scholtz & Howden to Versicorpus Deschodt, Davis & Scholtz or to Namaphilus gen. nov., with descriptions of two new species (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae : Scarabaeinae)

Taxonomic changes are made in the Byrrhidium group of Canthonini dung beetles. The genera Versicorpus Deschodt, Davis & Scholtz, 2011 and Namakwanus Scholtz & Howden, 1987 currently comprise one and four species, respectively. Re-examination of the type material of Namakwanus irishi Scholtz & Howden, 1987 indicates that the holotype and paratypes from mountains near Windhoek, Namibia, differ from the paratype from the Kuiseb River near Gobabeb in the Central Namib, warranting description of a new species, Namakwanus scholtzi spec. nov. Other species included in the genus, Namakwanus davisi Deschodt & Scholtz, 2007 and Namakwanus endroedyi Deschodt, Davis & Scholtz, 2011, differ sufficiently to warrant removal to a new genus, Namaphilus gen. nov. A further new species, Namaphilus ameibensis spec. nov., is added to the new genus. Namakwanus streyi Frolov, 2005 is transferred to Versicorpus. Lastly a new, updated key and some notes on all the known Byrrhidium group species are provided.JRS Biodiversity Foundationhttp://www.journals.co.za/content/journalam2017Zoology and Entomolog

Microfluidic and Nanofluidic Cavities for Quantum Fluids Experiments

The union of quantum fluids research with nanoscience is rich with opportunities for new physics. The relevant length scales in quantum fluids, 3He in particular, are comparable to those possible using microfluidic and nanofluidic devices. In this article, we will briefly review how the physics of quantum fluids depends strongly on confinement on the microscale and nanoscale. Then we present devices fabricated specifically for quantum fluids research, with cavity sizes ranging from 30 nm to 11 microns deep, and the characterization of these devices for low temperature quantum fluids experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Accepted to Journal of Low Temperature Physic

A new synonymy in the fidius group of Copris Müller 1764 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae : Scarabaeinae) and a new species from the highland grasslands of South Africa

The fidius group constitutes the basal clade in a phylogeny of the Afrotropical members of the genus, Copris Müller, 1764. In this paper we describe Copris crassus Deschodt and Davis as a new species in this group. We also demonstrate that the distributional function between two body dimensions (lateral horn length and mid-line elytron length) differs between Copris fidius (Olivier 1789) and C. crassus. Copris bihamatus Balthasar, 1965 is also a member of the fidius group. Nguyen- Phung (1988) suspected that it was a synonym of C. fidius (Olivier) so we compare specimens of similar body size and use the distributional function between body dimensions to demonstrate that C. bihamatus is indeed a synonym of C. fidius. We provide a key for all known valid species in the fidius group, except C. serius Nguyen-Phung, 1987.JRS Biodiversity Foundationhttp://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/hb201

Three new species, a synonymy and taxonomic notes on southern African members of the dung beetle genera Scarabaeus s. str. Linnaeus, 1758 and Escarabaeus Zídek & Pokorný, 2011 (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae)

Three new species are described in the dung beetle genera Scarabaeus s. str. L., 1758, and Escarabaeus Zídek & Pokorný, 2011. Two comprise, Scarabaeus karae sp. nov. and Escarabaeus remii sp. nov. and are novelties. The third comprises Scarabaeus geminogalenus sp. nov., which describes a new species previously misidentified by Péringuey in 1901 and involved in a false synonymy by Janssens (1940). Notes are provided on the type specimen of Scarabaeus galenus. A close relative, Scarabaeus vicinus is recorded for the first time. Scarabaeus natalensis is synonymized with Scarabaeus basuto. Relationships and validity of a further five species are discussed: Scarabaeus convexus with S. spretus and S. rusticus; S. ebenus with S. interstitialis. The type specimen of Scarabaeus rixosus is also discussed galenus. Distribution maps are provided for the new species and those in the S. galenus species complex.This work was supported by the JRS Biodiversity Foundation.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnah202018-06-30hb2017Zoology and Entomolog

Effects of land usage on dung beetle assemblage structure : Kruger National Park versus adjacent farmland in South Africa

Little quantitative evidence exists regarding how effective protected areas are for preserving species. We compared dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera : Scarabaeidae : Scarabaeinae) inside and outside of the Kruger National Park, which protects indeigenous flora and fauna over a large area of savannah in the northeast lowlands of South Africa. Although it is contiguous with other reserves in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, parts of its border abut onto farmland. Some effects of differing land usage either side of this border were studied at the South African Wildlife College (24.541° S 31.335° E) and the nearby farming village of Welverdiend using dung beetle assemblage structure (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) as indicators. Samples were taken from gabbro-derived and granite-derived soils in open woody vegetation, both within the reserve and on adjoining farmland, using composite pig, elephant and cattle dung baits in the early rainy season (November 2009) and separate pig and elephant dung baits in the late rainy season (March 2010). Despite much higher large mammal density around Welverdiend, significantly greater species richness, abundance, and biomass of dung beetles were recorded in the reserve where mammal species diversity is greater and elephants produce much larger droppings than any mammal in the farmland. Assemblage structure also differed strongly between dung types, weather conditions on sample days, and season, but weakly between sampled soil types. These differences in assemblage structure were recorded over short distances as the sites in the reserve were only 3-4 km from those in farmland at Welverdiend.http://www.springerlink.com/content/100177/ab201

Dung beetle assemblage structure across the aridity and trophic resource gradient of the Botswana Kalahari : patterns and drivers at regional and local scales

Understanding pattern and process at both regional and local scales is important for conservation planning although such knowledge of insects is frequently lacking. To assess patterns along a regional gradient of increasing aridity and diminishing food resources in the Botswana Kalahari, Scarabaeine dung beetles were sampled quantitatively using four dung types at three local sites in six regional areas. At regional scale, factor analysis of species abundance extracted a maximum of six factors, each dominated by a single area. Therefore, the statistical significance of regional spatial variation far outweighed that of dung type association. At local scale, six factor analyses of species abundance extracted from four to six factors. The importance of local dung type associations was relatively high but diminished with increasing local spatial heterogeneity. At regional scale, hierarchical analysis of oblique factors divided assemblages into unique local and shared regional components. Primary extended factors accounted for 40–50 % of unique local faunal composition in five out of six areas. Two secondary extended factors showed either high shared proportional contribution to regional assemblage structure in the northeast with a steep decline to the southwest, or an opposite trend. Their point of intersection was consistent with a boundary zone between mesic northeast and arid southwest faunal components in the central Kalahari. Despite some inconsistencies in rank position between regression methods, rainfall, temperature, and mammal density/diversity were the strongest influences on regional patterns defined by secondary factors. Patterns are discussed according to conservation and changes in land usage around reserves.The GEF-Small Grant Programme and the University of Pretoriahttp://www.springerlink.com/content/100177/hb2013ab201