Clambus nigrellus Reitter (Coleoptera: Clambidae), an overlooked beetle species in Finland

New records of Clambus nigrellus Reitter are presented. All Finnish specimens have been found along small brooks and this is most probably the main habitat for the species. Poor knowledge of the fauna of this habitat and difficulties in species identification indicate that C. nigrellus in Finland is an overlooked species rather than an expanding species

Bibliography of Esko Kangas (7 January 1906 -26 December 1992)

Entomologica Fennica. 29.III.199

Ceutorhynchus larvatus Schultze and Ceutorhynchus pallidicornis Gougelet & Brisout de Barneville: oPulmonaria obscura living weevils in Finland (Coleoptera: Gurculionidae)

In Finland two weevil species, Ceutorhynchus pallidicornis and C. larvatus, have Pulmonaria obscura as their host plant. Data on the occurrence of both species are presented and their extremely poorly-known biology is commented upon. Both species are rare but seem to be overlooked in Finland because of their secretive habits

Cynaeus opacus Champion, a new tenebrionid beetle in Finland (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae)

From1989 on Cynaeus opacus Champion has been found in waste heaps and similar localities in southern Finland together with other synanthropic beetles. Cynaeus is an American genus spreading with man; another species, C. angustus (LeConte), has recently been recorded from Sweden

Melanophila formaneki (Jakobson) (Coleoptera, Buprestidae) new to Finland

The buprestid Melanophila formaneki (Jakobson) (= Phaenops aerea Formanek) is reported for the first time from Finland. The beetles (5 adults and 32 larvae) were reared from three stems of recently dead approx. 4-m-high Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris L.). The pines had been cut in a heavily polluted industrial arca at Harjavalta, southwestern Finland, in 1989. A specimen collected in 1929 from Sakkola, on the Karelian Isthmus, was redetermined in museum material. M.formaneki is compared with M. cyanea, and the la¡va is described

Ray-Tracing Based Polarized Radiative Transfer in General Spacetimes

This thesis presents a ray-tracing based method for performing polarized radiative transfer in arbitrary spacetimes and a numerical implementation of said method. This method correctly accounts for general relativistic effects on the propagation of radiation, and the polarized im- ages and spectra it produces can be directly compared with observations. Thus it is well suited for studying systems where relativistic effects are significant, such as compact astrophysical objects. The ray-tracing method is based on several approximations, which are discussed in depth. The most important one of these is the geometric optics approximation, which is derived starting from Maxwell’s equations. In the geometric optics approximation, high frequency radiation is described as amplitudes or intensities which are propagated along geodesic rays. Additional assumptions about the properties of the radiation field allow describing it and its interaction with matter using the formalism of kinetic theory, which leads to a simple transfer equation along rays. This transfer equation is valid in arbitrary spacetimes, and forms the basis for the ray-tracing method. The ray-tracing method presented in this work and various similar methods described in the literature are not suited for analytic computations using realistic models. Instead numerical methods are needed. Such numerical methods are implemented in a general fashion in the Arcmancer library (paper in preparation), of which large parts were implemented as a part of this work. The implementation details of Arcmancer are described and its features are compared to those available in other similar codes. Tests of the accuracy of the numerical methods as well as example applications are also presented, including a novel computation of a gravitational lensing event in a binary black hole system. The implementation is found to be correct and easily applicable to a variety of problems

Simulating Supermassive Black Holes in Their Cosmic Environment

Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are found in the centers of essentially all massive galaxies, and their evolution appears to be deeply interlinked with the evolution of their host galaxies. Currently operating and upcoming observational instruments utilizing both electromagnetic radiation, such as the Event Horizon Telescope, as well as gravitational waves (GWs), such as pulsar timing arrays and LISA, will help to improve our understanding of how SMBHs evolve and interact. However, in order to make full use of such observations, comprehensive models connecting theory and observations are needed. This is true in particular for observations of GWs from SMBH binaries, where the properties and rate of observable signals are affected by the preceding dynamical evolution of the binaries over millions of years in a complex galactic environment. Similarly, in the case of electromagnetic observations of SMBHs, strong gravitational effects are intermixed with the complexity of the plasma flows around SMBHs, requiring extensive modeling to interpret the observed features. This thesis develops new methods for numerical simulations of SMBH physics and demonstrates their capabilities in novel applications. The main focus is on improving the modeling of SMBH dynamics leading to the formation and merging of SMBH binaries in simulations of merging galaxies with the KETJU code. Previously this code was capable of simulating only gas-free mergers of two galaxies in isolation, but with the improvements implemented in this work it has now become possible to use KETJU also for cosmological zoom-in simulations. As a result, we have been able to run the first simulations where the SMBH merger process is followed down to the last few dozen orbits before the coalescence of the binary within its full cosmological context. The multiple SMBHs included in these simulations also result in complex phenomena that cannot be captured in simulations of isolated mergers. Such phenomena include SMBH triplet interactions following multiple galactic mergers occurring in rapid succession, as well as the evolution of the host galaxy onto SMBH scaling relations over repeated mergers following the ejection of the central SMBH due to a GW recoil kick. Methods used for predicting the observed GW signals from simulated SMBH mergers are also studied, and the direct dynamical modeling used in these simulations is compared to semianalytic models that have been used in simulations where directly capturing the small-scale SMBH dynamics has not been possible. This thesis also includes work on developing new methods for simulating the propagation of radiation in the vicinity of SMBHs, where the geometry of the curved spacetime needs to be accounted for. The Arcmancer code was developed to provide tools for performing these calculations in a wide variety of systems. In contrast to many other similar codes which have been developed with a single application in mind, Arcmancer includes several novel features that allow for more complicated models to be explored while also taking advantage of the geometric properties of the system. The capabilities of the code are demonstrated with sample applications to a variety of systems including single and binary SMBHs, as well as by implementing a new interpolation method on curved spaces.Supermassiiviset mustat aukot (supermassive black hole, SMBH) ovat kaikkein massiivisimpia ja tiheimpiä yksittäisiä kohteita maailmankaikkeudessa. Niiden massat ovat yli miljoona Auringon massaa, mutta tästä huolimatta ne ovat tyypillisesti kooltaan Aurinkokuntaa pienempiä, minkä vuoksi gravitaatio niiden lähiympäristössä on erittäin voimakasta. Havaintojen perusteella lähes jokaisen lähiuniversumissa sijaitsevan massiivisen galaksin keskellä vaikuttaa olevan SMBH, jonka massa on kytköksissä galaksin ominaisuuksiin, kuten sen tähtien nopeusjakaumaan. SMBH:iden ominaisuuksien ja käyttäytymisen ymmärtäminen on tärkeää, kun halutaan ymmärtää sekä galaksien muodostusta ja kehitystä, että gravitaation käytöstä äärimmäisissä olosuhteissa. Havainnot SMBH:ista sähkömagneettisen säteilyn avulla, kuten esimerkiksi Event Horizon Telescopen ottamat kuvat M87:n ja Linnunradan keskustoissa sijaitsevista SMBH:ista, sekä tulevaisuudessa tehtävät havainnot SMBH:iden säteilemistä gravitaatioaalloista esimerkiksi LISAn avulla auttavat ymmärtämään SMBH:iden ominaisuuksia ja käytöstä paremmin. Näiden havaintojen tulkitsemiseksi tarvitaan kuitenkin mallinnusta yhdistämään teoria ja havainnot, sillä havaittavat suureet riippuvat monimutkaisella tavalla SMBH:iden vuorovaikutuksesta ympäristönsä kanssa. Yksi tärkeimmistä mallinnusmenetelmistä ovat numeeriset simulaatiot, joissa tietokoneiden avulla ratkaistaan SMBH:ita ja niiden ympäristöä kuvaavia fysiikan yhtälöitä likimääräisesti. Tähän väitöskirjaan sisältyvässä tutkimuksessa on kehitetty uusia menetelmiä, joiden avulla voidaan entistä paremmin numeerisesti simuloida SMBH:iden käytöstä galaksien törmäyksissä sekä sähkömagneettisen säteilyn kulkua niiden lähellä. Pääosa tutkimuksesta keskittyy kehittämään ja soveltamaan KETJU-koodia, jolla on mahdollista mallintaa SMBH:iden liikettä galaksien dynamiikkaa mallintavissa simulaatioissa. Tässä työssä koodin käyttöaluetta laajennettiin kosmologisiin simulaatioihin, joissa mallinnetaan pientä osaa maailmankaikkeudesta sisältäen kymmeniä galakseja ja SMBH:ita. Näissä simulaatioissa on mahdollista tutkia SMBH:iden käytöstä monipuolisemmin kuin aiemmissa kahden galaksin törmäykseen keskittyvissä simulaatioissa. Lisäksi, tämän väitöskirjan osana kehitettiin myös Arcmancer-koodia, jonka avulla voidaan mallintaa säteilyn kulkua SMBH:iden lähiympäristön voimakkaassa gravitaatiokentässä

Children and adolescents in full-time special education : an epidemiological and magnetic resonance imaging study

The need for special education (SE) is increasing. The majority of those whose problems are due to neurodevelopmental disorders have no specific aetiology. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of prenatal and perinatal factors and factors associated with growth and development to later need for full-time SE and to assess joint structural and volumetric brain alterations among subjects with unexplained, familial need for SE. A random sample of 900 subjects in full-time SE allocated into three levels of neurodevelopmental problems and 301 controls in mainstream education (ME) provided data on socioeconomic factors, pregnancy, delivery, growth, and development. Of those, 119 subjects belonging to a sibling-pair in full-time SE with unexplained aetiology and 43 controls in ME underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Analyses of structural brain alterations and midsagittal area and diameter measurements were made. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis provided detailed information on regional grey matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume differences. Father’s age ≥ 40 years, low birth weight, male sex, and lower socio-economic status all increased the probability of SE placement. At age 1 year, one standard deviation score decrease in height raised the probability of SE placement by 40% and in head circumference by 28%. At infancy, the gross motor milestones differentiated the children. From age 18 months, the fine motor milestones and those related to speech and social skills became more important. Brain MRI revealed no specific aetiology for subjects in SE. However, they had more often ≥ 3 abnormal findings in MRIs (thin corpus callosum and enlarged cerebral and cerebellar CSF spaces). In VBM, subjects in full-time SE had smaller global white matter, CSF, and total brain volumes than controls. Compared with controls, subjects with intellectual disabilities had regional volume alterations (greater grey matter volumes in the anterior cingulate cortex bilaterally, smaller grey matter volume in left thalamus and left cerebellar hemisphere, greater white matter volume in the left fronto-parietal region, and smaller white matter volumes bilaterally in the posterior limbs of the internal capsules). In conclusion, the epidemiological studies emphasized several factors that increased the probability of SE placement, useful as a framework for interventional studies. The global and regional brain MRI findings provide an interesting basis for future investigations of learning-related brain structures in young subjects with cognitive impairments or intellectual disabilities of unexplained, familial aetiology.Erityisopetukseen siirrettyjen lasten määrä on jatkuvasti kasvanut. Noin puolella kehitysvammaisista lapsista kehitysvammaisuuden syy ei ole tiedossa. Lievemmissä oppimisen vaikeuksissa syy jää vielä edellistä useammin epäselväksi. Tässä väitöskirjatyössä tutkittiin perheeseen, syntymään, kasvuun ja kehitykseen liittyvien tekijöiden yhteyttä myöhemmin ilmenevään täysiaikaisen erityisopetuksen tarpeeseen kouluikäisillä lapsilla ja nuorilla. Lisäksi kartoitimme magneettikuvauksen avulla aivojenrakenteiden poikkeavuuksia ja tilavuuksia niillä lapsilla ja nuorilla, joilla oli myös erityisopetuksessa opiskelevia sisaruksia ja joiden oppimishäiriön syy oli jäänyt tuntematomaksi. Osa tutkittavista oli älyllisesti kehitysvammaisia, osalla oli lievempi kokonaiskehityksen viive ja osalla ns. erityisvaikeuksia, eli oppimisvaikeuksia yhdellä tai useammalla kehityksen osa-alueella. Kontrolliryhmän muodostivat yleisopetuksessa opiskelevat lapset. Lapsen syntymähetkellä yli 40-vuotiaiden isien lapsilla oli yli kaksi kertaa suurempi todennäköisyys täysiaikaisen erityisopetuksen tarpeeseen kuin tätä nuorempien isien lapsilla. Muita tekijöitä, jotka liittyivät suurentuneeseen täysiaikaisen erityisopetuksen tarpeeseen olivat poikasukupuoli, matala absoluuttinen (< 2500 g) ja raskauden kestoon suhteutettu syntymäpaino (vähintään 2 keskihajontaa alle keskiarvon) sekä vanhempien matala sosioekonominen asema. Täysiaikaiseen erityisopetukseen siirrettyjen lasten keskipituus ikävuosina 1-7 ja keskipäänympärys 4, 6 ja 12 kk iässä olivat pienempiä kuin kontrolleilla. Kehitysvammaisten lasten imeväisiän karkeamotorinen kehitys oli hitaampaa kuin kontrolleilla. 18 kk iästä alkaen erityisoppilaiden hienomotorinen kehitys ja puheen- sekä sosiaalinen kehitys hidastui verrattuna yleisoppilaisiin. Aivojen magneettikuvissa erityisoppilailla oli kontrolleja useammin vähintään 3 poikkeavaa löydöstä (ohentunut aivokurkiainen, laajentuneita aivoselkäydinnestetiloja isoaivojen ja pikkuaivojen alueella). Kehitysvammaisilla lapsilla esiintyi lisäksi oppimiseen liittyvillä aivoalueilla (mm. pihtipoimu, talamus, pikkuaivot) paikallisia tilavuuseroja verrattuna kontrolleihin. Tämä tutkimus osoitti useita varhaislapsuudessa havaittavia eroja myöhemmin erityisopetukseen siirrettyjen lasten ja yleisopetuksessa opiskelevien lasten välillä. Näitä tekijöitä voidaan käyttää mm. tutkittaessa hoitomuotojen vaikuttavuutta. Aivojen magneettikuvauksissa esiin tulleet rakenteelliset erot toivat lisää tietoa oppimishäriöiden taustasta ja toimivat perustana jatkotutkimuksissa tutkittaessa moderneilla kuvantamismenetelmillä lapsia ja nuoria, joiden perheessa esiintyy taustaltaan avoimeksi jäänyttä oppimisvaikeutta tai kehitysvammaisuutta

Reviving stochasticity: uncertainty in SMBH binary eccentricity is unavoidable

We study supermassive black hole (SMBH) binary eccentricity of equal-mass galaxy mergers in $N$-body simulations with the KETJU code, which combines the GADGET-4 fast multipole gravity solver with accurate regularized integration and Post-Newtonian corrections around SMBHs. In simulations with realistic, high eccentricity galactic merger orbits, the binary eccentricity is found to be a non-linear function of the deflection angle in the SMBH orbit during the final, nearly radial close encounter between the SMBHs before they form a bound binary. This mapping between the deflection angle and the binary eccentricity has no apparent resolution dependence in our simulations spanning the resolution range of $1\times10^5 - 8\times10^6$ particles per galaxy. The mapping is also captured using a simple model with an analytic potential, indicating that it is driven by the interplay between a smooth asymmetric stellar background potential and dynamical friction acting on the SMBHs. Due to the non-linearity of this mapping, in certain merger configurations small, parsec-scale variations in the merger orbit can result in binary eccentricities varying in nearly the full possible range between $e=0$ and $e=1$. In idealized simulations, such variations are caused by finite resolution effects, and convergence of the binary eccentricity can be achieved with increasing resolution. However, in real galaxies, other mechanisms such as nuclear gas and substructure that perturb the merger orbit are likely to be significant enough for the binary eccentricity to be effectively random. Our results indicate that the distribution of these effectively random eccentricities can be studied using even moderate resolution simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

New faunistic records of threatened saproxylic Coleoptera, Diptera, Heteroptera, Homoptera and Lepidoptera from the Republic of Karelia, Russia

Saproxylic insects were collected during fifteen expeditions to the Republic of Kareliain summers 1991-94. A total of 63 species (48 beetles, 15 others) included in the Finnish red data book are reported. Fourteen species of Coleoptera and Aradus ribauti Wagner are reported as new for Karelia. Notes on the biology of e.g. Hylochares cruentatus (Gyllenhal), Rhizophagus puncticollis Sahlberg, Cis fissicomis Mellié, Sulcacis bidentulus (Rosenhauer) and Leptura thoracica Creutzer are given. The number of threatened species found is striking considering the short period of time spent collecting in the field. We ascribe this to the management history of forests in Karelia, especially to the large amount of decaying wood in managed forests even. The forests in Karelia will be of crucial importance in preserving biodiversity and the last viable populations of numerous species that have disappeared in other parts of Fennoscandia