Pliocene Lythrum (loosestrife, Lythraceae) pollen from Portugal and the Neogene establishment of European lineages

Funding Information: We thank Guido W. Grimm, Orleans, France for commenting an earlier version of this manuscript, and two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions to improve this manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The AuthorsThe fossil record of Lythrum is scarce and every new find brings an extra piece of the puzzle to the obscure phytogeographic history of this genus. Lythrum pollen is unique and has the potential to be recognized in palynological assemblages. Therefore, the few pre-Holocene fossil records are all pollen described from North America, Russia, and Europe. The European records are both most numerous and geologically younger than those from other parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Earliest European Lythrum pollen records are of late Miocene age and parallel to starting crown group radiation in the Eurasian clade of Lythrum. European Miocene to Pliocene Lythrum pollen morphology is comparable to that of extant species. Interestingly, the late Miocene expansion of Lythrum into Europe coincides with the decline of Decodon, and Lythrum appears to replace Decodon in late Neogene fossil palynological assemblages.publishersversionpublishe

Detecting potential money laundering addresses in the Bitcoin blockchain using unsupervised machine learning

Money laundering is a serious problem worldwide, especially in the crypto market. This is mostly because of the anonymity that many cryptocurrencies offer. That is one of the reasons why cryptocurrencies are a haven for money laundering, because it is easier for criminal entities to buy the currency and then trade it for real fiat money. Detecting money laundering in cryptocurrency can be tricky because the crypto network is large and convoluted and nearly impossible to analyze by hand. What we can do is look at addresses that took part in transactions as actors and then use machine learning to predict what addresses are possibly laundering money. In this paper we intend to analyze methods that can be used to detect money laundering in Bitcoin using machine learning to empower investigators to more accurately and efficiently determine whether a suspicious activity is money laundering

How to extract and analyze pollen from internal organs and exoskeletons of fossil insects

This protocol explains how to extract pollen from fossil insects with subsequent descriptions of pollen treatment. We also describe how to document morphological and ultrastructural features with light-microscopy and electron microscopy. It enables a taxonomic assignment of pollen that can be used to interpret flower-insect interactions, foraging and feeding behavior of insects, and the paleoenvironment. The protocol is limited by the state of the fossil, the presence/absence of pollen on fossil specimens, and the availability of extant pollen for comparison. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wappler et al. (2015), Ulrich and Grímsson (2020), and Wedmann et al. (2021)

Lung cancer--review

Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenLung cancer is the second most common cancer in Iceland and the most frequent cause of cancer related deaths. Smoking is by far the most important cause but familial factors also contribute. The symptoms of lung cancer are often subtle and the diagnosis, in about 70% of cases, is made when metastases have occurred. Curative surgical treatment is therefore only possible in about a third of the cases whereas other patients receive chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy. In recent years some important advances have been made in the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to lung cancer. New imaging techniques have improved diagnosis and staging practices and consequently also treatment. Recent evidence suggests that screening with low dose CT may improve survival. New approaches to chemotherapy have been shown to improve survival and well being of patients with advanced disease. Chemotherapeutic agents are now being used in conjunction with surgery to reduce the risk of tumour spread. Furthermore, advances in surgical techniques have made resections possible in cases deemed inoperable in the past. In this review we present important advances in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer as reflected by recent literature that should be of interest to a wide variety of specialists.Lungnakrabbamein er annað algengasta krabbameinið á Íslandi og það krabbamein sem dregur flesta Íslendinga til dauða. Orsökina má yfirleitt rekja beint til reykinga en erfðaþættir koma einnig við sögu. Einkenni lungnakrabbameins eru oft almenns eðlis. Sjúklingar greinast því oft seint og um 70% þeirra eru með meinvörp við greiningu. Skurðaðgerð í læknandi tilgangi kemur aðeins til greina í um þriðjungi tilfella en annars er beitt krabbameinslyfjum og/eða geislameðferð. Á síðustu árum hafa orðið framfarir í greiningu og meðferð lungnakrabbameins. Nýjungar í myndgreiningu auðvelda rannsóknir og stigun æxlanna og meðferð hefur því orðið markvissari. Margt bendir til þess að skimun með lágskammta tölvusneiðmyndum geti bætt horfur og lækkað dánartíðni. Nýjar tegundir krabbameinslyfja hafa bætt líðan og lengt líf sumra sjúklinga með útbreitt lungnakrabbamein. Þá er í vaxandi mæli farið að gefa krabbameinslyfjameðferð í tengslum við skurðaðgerðir, aðallega til að minnka líkur á því að krabbameinið nái að dreifa sér. Loks hafa nýjungar í skurðlækningum gert kleift að fjarlægja æxli sem áður voru talin óskurðtæk. Í þessari yfirlitsgrein eru helstu nýjungar í greiningu og meðferð lungnakrabbameins reifaðar. Byggt er á nýjustu þekkingu og heimildum en greinin er skrifuð með lækna úr sem flestum sérgreinum í huga

The onset of the palaeoanthropocene in Iceland: Changes in complex natural systems

This study was financially supported by the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the National Science Foundation of America (through grant 1202692 ‘Comparative Island Ecodynamics in the North Atlantic’ and grant 1249313 ‘Tephra layers and early warning signals for critical transitions’) and the Leverhulme Trust (Study Abroad Fellowship to AJD).Pre-industrial human impacts on the past environment are apparent in different proxy records at different times in different places. Recognizing environmentally transformative human impacts in palaeoenvironmental archives, as opposed to natural variability, is a key challenge in understanding the nature of the transition to the Earth’s current ‘Anthropocene’ condition. Here, we consider the palaeoenvironmental record for Iceland over the past 2.5 ka, both before and after the late ninth century human settlement (landnám). The Scandinavian colonization of the island was essentially abrupt, involving thousands of people over a short period. The colonization triggered extensive changes in Icelandic ecosystems and landscapes. A volcanic ash known as the Landnám tephra was deposited over most of Iceland immediately before the settlement began. The Landnám tephra layer thus provides a uniquely precise litho-chrono-stratigraphic marker of colonization. We utilize this marker horizon as an independent definition of the effective onset of the local palaeoanthropocene (which is conceptually related to, but distinct from, the global Anthropocene). This allows us to evaluate proxy records for human impact on the Icelandic environment and to assess how and when they show transformative impact. Based on this analysis, we consider the implications for understanding and defining the Anthropocene in those areas of the Earth where such a clear independent marker of the onset of significant human impacts is lacking.PostprintPeer reviewe

Getur íslensk þýðing úr japönsku staðið bandarísk-enskri þýðingu framar? Er íslenska betur til þess fallin að þýða japönsku? Þýðing á hljóðskáldsögunni Umineko no naku koro ni reynir að skera úr um það

Ritgerð þessi snýr að því að reyna að sýna fram á að íslenska henti betur til þýðinga á japönsku en bandarísk enska. Þýðingar á japönsku efni eru oftast á bandarísk-ensku og hefur mjög lítið verið þýtt á íslensku úr japönsku. Fjallað er um þau líkindi og þau sameiginlegu atriði sem íslenska og japanska eiga. Einnig er litið til menningarinnar og sýnt fram á að mörgu leyti er margt sem er líkt með þeim. Ritgerðarhöfundur gerði íslenska þýðingu á japanskri hljóðskáldsögu er kallast Umineko no naku koro ni. (Þegar mávarnir gráta í íslensku þýðingunni). Hún hefur verið þýdd á bandaríska ensku og verða þessar þýðingar bornar saman ásamt frumtexta. Hugmyndin með þýðingunni er sú að reyna að hrinda af stað átaki japanskra þýðinga sem geta hjálpað til við námið og leyfa lesandanum að túlka textann eftir sínu eigin höfði. Reynt verður að halda texta þýðingarinnar í þeirri mynd sem frumtextinn var skrifaður upphaflega ef það er hægt