A 5000-year-old souslik fur garment from an elite megalithic tombe in the North Caucasus, Maykop culture

This paper presents the results of a unique fur garment from the megalithic tomb of a rich man in the Northwest Caucasus, dated to the Early Bronze Age, which was excavated in 1898 (Tsarskaya, Russia). The garment was made from the fur of a souslik group animal, most likely the ground squirrel. Direct radiocarbon dating puts the fur at around 4445 ± 35 BP (ca. 3300-3000 BC), making it the earliest known fur garment in Eastern Europe. The choice of souslik fur stands in direct contrast to widely held views on prestigious fur clothes in traditional and contemporary societies

Multiple intrasyntenic rearrangements and rapid speciation in voles

Abstract Remarkably stable genomic chromosome elements (evolutionary conserved segments or syntenies) are the basis of large-scale chromosome architecture in vertebrate species. However, these syntenic elements harbour evolutionary important changes through intrachromosomal rearrangements such as inversions and centromere repositioning. Here, using FISH with a set of 20 region-specific probes on a wide array of 28 species, we analyzed evolution of three conserved syntenic regions of the Arvicolinae ancestral karyotype. Inside these syntenies we uncovered multiple, previously cryptic intrachromosomal rearrangements. Although in each of the three conserved blocks we found inversions and centromere repositions, the blocks experienced different types of rearrangements. In two syntenies centromere repositioning predominated, while in the third region, paracentric inversions were more frequent, whereas pericentric inversions were not detected. We found that some of the intrachromosomal rearrangements, mainly paracentric inversions, were synapomorphic for whole arvicoline genera or tribes: genera Alexandromys and Microtus, tribes Ellobini and Myodini. We hypothesize that intrachromosomal rearrangements within conserved syntenic blocks are a major evolutionary force modulating genome architecture in species-rich and rapidly-evolving rodent taxa. Inversions and centromere repositioning may impact speciation and provide a potential link between genome evolution, speciation, and biogeography

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENGINE EMULATION IN THE AUTOPILOT SYSTEMS

Now a number of the leading firms work on creation of an automobile autopilot. The authors of the presented article offer to complement the system of an autopilot with the control system of the car technical condition. The developed hardware and software complex allows working with virtual mathematical model of the gas engine of the KamAZ truck and can be recustoized under different modifications of gas and diesel engines. At the same time by means of this complex there is an opportunity to reveal the latent defects of a control system and to reduce labor input of calibration procedures. The hardware and software allows testing electronic control units in standard and emergency operation modes of sensors and actuators, thereby providing compliance to the modern Russian and international requirements to control systems of cars