Two new and potentially highly threatened Megophrys Horned frogs (Amphibia: Megophryidae) from Indochina’s highest mountains

Megophrys are a group of morphologically conserved, primarily forest-dependent frogs known to harbour cryptic species diversity. In this study, we examined populations of small-sized Megophrys from mid- and high elevation locations in the Hoang Lien Range, northern Vietnam. On the basis of morphological, molecular and bioacoustic data, individuals of these populations differed from all species of Megophrys known from mainland Southeast Asia north of the Isthmus of Kra and from neighbouring provinces in China. Further, the newly collected specimens formed two distinct species-level groups. We herein describe two new species, Megophrys fansipanensis sp. nov. and Megophrys hoanglienensis sp. nov. Both new species are range restricted and likely to be highly threatened by habitat degradation. These discoveries highlight the importance of the Hoang Lien Range for Vietnam’s amphibian diversity

Hybrid phase-change — Tunnel FET (PC-TFET) switch with subthreshold swing < 10mV/decade and sub-0.1 body factor: Digital and analog benchmarking

In this paper we report the first hybrid Phase-Change - Tunnel FET (PC-TFET) device configurations for achieving a deep sub-thermionic steep subthreshold swing at room temperature and subthreshold power savings. The proposed hybrid device feedbacks the steep transition of Metal-Insulator transition in a VO2 structure into Gate or Source configurations of strained silicon nanowire Tunnel FETs, to achieve a switching with lon/Ioff better that 5.5×106 and with a subthreshold swing of 4.0 mV/dec at 25 °C. We demonstrate that the principle of PC-TFET switching relates to an internal amplification resulting in a sub-unity body factor, m, which is reduced to values below 0.1 for a current range larger than 2-3 decades. We report a full experimental digital and analog benchmarking of the new device and compare it with Tunnel FETs and CMOS. Remarkably, the PC-TFET can achieve analog figures of merit like gm/Id breaking the 40 V-1 limit of MOSFETs. We demonstrate and report the first buffered oscillator cell for neuromorphic computing exploiting the gate configuration of PC-TFET

The Dome C Gattini sky brightness cameras: results from the first year of operation

The Gattini-DomeC project, part of the IRAIT site testing campaign and ongoing since January 2006, consists of two cameras for the measurement of optical sky brightness, large area cloud cover, and auroral detection above the DomeC site, home of the French-Italian Concordia station. The cameras are transit in nature and are virtually identical except for the nature of the lenses. The cameras have operated throughout the past two Antarctic winter seasons and here we present the results obtained from the 2006 winter-time dataset of the wide field “All-sky camera"

Post-traumatic growth as positive personality change: Challenges, opportunities, and recommendations

Objective: Post-traumatic growth typically refers to enduring positive psychological change experienced as a result of adversity, trauma, or highly challenging life circumstances. Critics have challenged insights from much of the prior research on this topic, pinpointing its significant methodological limitations. In response to these critiques, we propose that post-traumatic growth can be more accurately captured in terms of personality change—an approach that affords a more rigorous examination of the phenomenon. Method: We outline a set of conceptual and methodological questions and considerations for future work on the topic of post-traumatic growth. Results: We provide a series of recommendations for researchers from across the disciplines of clinical/counseling, developmental, health, personality, and social psychology and beyond, who are interested in improving the quality of research examining resilience and growth in the context of adversity. Conclusion: We are hopeful that these recommendations will pave the way for a more accurate understanding of the ubiquity, durability, and causal processes underlying post-traumatic growth