The phylogeny of Anophelinae revisited: inferences about the origin and classification of Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae)

© 2015 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. "This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: Harbach, R. E. and I. J. Kitching (2016). "The phylogeny of Anophelinae revisited: inferences about the origin and classification of Anopheles (Diptera: Culicidae)." Zoologica Scripta 45(1): 34-47, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zsc.12137/full. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.

The phylogenetic conundrum of Lutzia(Diptera: Culicidae: Culicini): a cautionary account of conflict and support

This is an open access article, available to all readers online, published under a creative commons licensing (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This document is the author's submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it

Heterogeneity in thymic emigrants: implications for thymectomy and immunosenescence.

The development of mature, antigen-inexperienced (naive) T cells begins in the thymus and continues after export into the periphery. Post-thymic maturation of naive T cells, in humans, coincides with the progressive loss of markers such as protein tyrosine kinase 7 (PTK7) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (CD31). As a consequence, subpopulations of naive T cells can be recognised raising questions about the processes that give rise to the loss of these markers and their exact relationship to recent thymic emigrants (RTE). Here, we combine a mathematical survival analysis approach and data from healthy and thymectomised humans to understand the apparent persistence of populations of 'veteran' PTK7 (+) T cells in thymectomised individuals. We show that a model of heterogeneity in rates of maturation, possibly linked to natural variation in TCR signalling thresholds or affinity for self-antigens, can explain the data. This model of maturation predicts that the average post-thymic age of PTK7 (+) T cells will increase linearly with the age of the host suggesting that, despite the immature phenotype, PTK7 (+) cells do not necessarily represent a population of RTE. Further, the model predicts an accelerated increase in the average post-thymic age of residual PTK7 (+) T cells following thymectomy and may also explain in part the prematurely aged phenotype of the naive T cell pool in individuals thymectomised early in life

On Optimal TCM Encoders

An asymptotically optimal trellis-coded modulation (TCM) encoder requires the joint design of the encoder and the binary labeling of the constellation. Since analytical approaches are unknown, the only available solution is to perform an exhaustive search over the encoder and the labeling. For large constellation sizes and/or many encoder states, however, an exhaustive search is unfeasible. Traditional TCM designs overcome this problem by using a labeling that follows the set-partitioning principle and by performing an exhaustive search over the encoders. In this paper we study binary labelings for TCM and show how they can be grouped into classes, which considerably reduces the search space in a joint design. For 8-ary constellations, the number of different binary labelings that must be tested is reduced from 8!=40320 to 240. For the particular case of an 8-ary pulse amplitude modulation constellation, this number is further reduced to 120 and for 8-ary phase shift keying to only 30. An algorithm to generate one labeling in each class is also introduced. Asymptotically optimal TCM encoders are tabulated which are up to 0.3 dB better than the previously best known encoders

Spatially-Coupled LDPC Codes for Decode-and-Forward Relaying of Two Correlated Sources over the BEC

We present a decode-and-forward transmission scheme based on spatially-coupled low-density parity-check (SC-LDPC) codes for a network consisting of two (possibly correlated) sources, one relay, and one destination. The links between the nodes are modeled as binary erasure channels. Joint source-channel coding with joint channel decoding is used to exploit the correlation. The relay performs network coding. We derive analytical bounds on the achievable rates for the binary erasure time-division multiple-access relay channel with correlated sources. We then design bilayer SC-LDPC codes and analyze their asymptotic performance for this scenario. We prove analytically that the proposed coding scheme achieves the theoretical limit for symmetric channel conditions and uncorrelated sources. Using density evolution, we furthermore demonstrate that our scheme approaches the theoretical limit also for non-symmetric channel conditions and when the sources are correlated, and we observe the threshold saturation effect that is typical for spatially-coupled systems. Finally, we give simulation results for large block lengths, which validate the DE analysis.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Communications, to appea

Z2SAL: a translation-based model checker for Z

Despite being widely known and accepted in industry, the Z formal specification language has not so far been well supported by automated verification tools, mostly because of the challenges in handling the abstraction of the language. In this paper we discuss a novel approach to building a model-checker for Z, which involves implementing a translation from Z into SAL, the input language for the Symbolic Analysis Laboratory, a toolset which includes a number of model-checkers and a simulator. The Z2SAL translation deals with a number of important issues, including: mapping unbounded, abstract specifications into bounded, finite models amenable to a BDD-based symbolic checker; converting a non-constructive and piecemeal style of functional specification into a deterministic, automaton-based style of specification; and supporting the rich set-based vocabulary of the Z mathematical toolkit. This paper discusses progress made towards implementing as complete and faithful a translation as possible, while highlighting certain assumptions, respecting certain limitations and making use of available optimisations. The translation is illustrated throughout with examples; and a complete working example is presented, together with performance data

Zero gravity and cardiovascular homeostasis. The relationship between endogenous hyperprolactinemia and plasma aldosterone

Prolactin, thyrotropin and aldosterone were measured by radioimmunoassay and plasma renin activity by the radioimmunoassay of angiotensin I in normal women before and after the intravenous injection of 200 micrograms of thyrotropin releasing hormone. Prolactin increased at 15 minutes following thyrotropin releasing hormone. Plasma renin activity was not different from control levels during the first hour following the administration of thyrotropin releasing hormone, nor did the plasma aldosterone concentration differ significantly from the control levels during this period. However, with upright posture, an increase in aldosterone and in plasma renin activity was noted, demonstrating a normal capacity to secrete aldosterone. Similarly, no change in aldosterone was seen in 9 patients with primary hypothyroidism given thyrotropin releasing hormone, despite the fact that the increase in prolactin was greater than normal. These data demonstrate that acutely or chronically elevated serum prolactin levels do not result in increased plasma aldosterone levels in humans

Concordant preferences for actual height and facial cues to height

Physical height has a well-documented effect on human mate preferences. In general, both sexes prefer opposite-sex romantic relationships in which the man is taller than the woman, while individual preferences for height are affected by a person’s own height. Research in human mate choice has demonstrated that attraction to facial characteristics, such as facial adiposity, may reflect references for body characteristics. Here, we tested preferences for facial cues to height. In general, increasing apparent height in men’s faces and slightly decreasing apparent height in women’s faces maximizes perceived attractiveness. Individual preferences for facial cues to height were predicted by self-reported preferences for actual height. Furthermore, women’s own height predicted opposite-sex preferences for facial cues to apparent height, though this finding did not extend to male participants. These findings validate the use of facial cues to height and demonstrate a further component of facial attractiveness that reflects preferences for body characteristics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Empirical fragility curves: The effect of uncertainty in ground motion intensity

Empirical fragility curves derived from large post-disaster databases with data aggregated at municipality-level, commonly make the assumption that the ground motion intensity level is known and is determined at the centroid of each municipality from a ground motion prediction equation. A flexible Bayesian framework is applied here to the 1980 Irpinia database to explore whether more complex statistical models that account for sources of uncertainty in the intensity can significantly change the shape of the fragility curves. Through this framework the effect of explicitly modelling the uncertainty in the intensity, the spatial correlation of its intra-event component and the uncertainty due to the scatter of the buildings in the municipality are investigated. The analyses showed that the results did not change substantively with increased model complexity or the choice of prior. Nonetheless, informed decisions should be based on the defensible modelling of the significant variability in the data between municipalities