An anocellar polistine wasp (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae) from Texas

A remarkable teratological female of Polistes (Fuscopolistes) dorsalis neotropicus Bequaert, 1940 (Vespidae: Polistinae) is described and illustrated. The specimen lacks all three external dorsal ocelli but is normally developed in almost every other aspect. Additionally, similar findings in other Hymenoptera are briefly discussed, as are the consequences and the reasons that might cause the random loss of ocelli

Synthetic biology - the next phase of biotechnology and genetic engineering. TAB-Fokus

Scientific and technological progress allows to genetically redesign natural organisms in ever more profound ways (synbio in the broader sense). In the long term, the aim is to create artificial biological systems (synbio in the narrow sense). Application areas are chemical and energy production, environmental protection as well as the medical sector. Considering the current, early state of research and development, it is impossible to forecast reliably which approaches of synbio will prevail against procedures that make use of the available biological diversity or that are limited to more subtle interventions. Risk assessment and the evaluation of substantially modified organisms will require the development and exploration of new methods and procedures. Opportunities for different societal groups to participate in the responsible development of synbio are ranging from stakeholder involvement in setting research agendas to DIY biology. Dealing with intellectual property within the framework of an increasingly digital economy will also represent a major challenge for the future use of synbio

Raman cooling and heating of two trapped Ba+ ions

We study cooling of the collective vibrational motion of two 138Ba+ ions confined in an electrodynamic trap and irradiated with laser light close to the resonances S_1/2-P_1/2 (493 nm) and P_1/2-D_3/2 (650 nm). The motional state of the ions is monitored by a spatially resolving photo multiplier. Depending on detuning and intensity of the cooling lasers, macroscopically different motional states corresponding to different ion temperatures are observed. We also derive the ions' temperature from detailed analytical calculations of laser cooling taking into account the Zeeman structure of the energy levels involved. The observed motional states perfectly match the calculated temperatures. Significant heating is observed in the vicinity of the dark resonances of the Zeeman-split S_1/2-D_3/2 Raman transitions. Here two-photon processes dominate the interaction between lasers and ions. Parameter regimes of laser light are identified that imply most efficient laser cooling.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Behind every domain there is a shift: adapting distortion-aware vision transformers for panoramic semantic segmentation

In this paper, we address panoramic semantic segmentation which is under-explored due to two critical challenges: (1) image distortions and object deformations on panoramas; (2) lack of semantic annotations in the 360◦ imagery. To tackle these problems, first, we propose the upgraded Transformer for Panoramic Semantic Segmentation, i.e., Trans4PASS+, equipped with Deformable Patch Embedding (DPE) and Deformable MLP (DMLPv2) modules for handling object deformations and image distortions whenever (before or after adaptation) and wherever (shallow or deep levels). Second, we enhance the Mutual Prototypical Adaptation (MPA) strategy via pseudo-label rectification for unsupervised domain adaptive panoramic segmentation. Third, aside from Pinhole-to-Panoramic (PIN2PAN) adaptation, we create a new dataset (SynPASS) with 9,080 panoramic images, facilitating Synthetic-to-Real (SYN2REAL) adaptation scheme in 360◦ imagery. Extensive experiments are conducted, which cover indoor and outdoor scenarios, and each of them is investigated with PIN2PAN and SYN2REAL regimens. Trans4PASS+ achieves state-of-the-art performances on four domain adaptive panoramic semantic segmentation benchmarks. Code is available at https://github.com/jamycheung/Trans4PASS

Behind Every Domain There is a Shift: Adapting Distortion-aware Vision Transformers for Panoramic Semantic Segmentation

In this paper, we address panoramic semantic segmentation which is under-explored due to two critical challenges: (1) image distortions and object deformations on panoramas; (2) lack of semantic annotations in the 360-degree imagery. To tackle these problems, first, we propose the upgraded Transformer for Panoramic Semantic Segmentation, i.e., Trans4PASS+, equipped with Deformable Patch Embedding (DPE) and Deformable MLP (DMLPv2) modules for handling object deformations and image distortions whenever (before or after adaptation) and wherever (shallow or deep levels). Second, we enhance the Mutual Prototypical Adaptation (MPA) strategy via pseudo-label rectification for unsupervised domain adaptive panoramic segmentation. Third, aside from Pinhole-to-Panoramic (Pin2Pan) adaptation, we create a new dataset (SynPASS) with 9,080 panoramic images, facilitating Synthetic-to-Real (Syn2Real) adaptation scheme in 360-degree imagery. Extensive experiments are conducted, which cover indoor and outdoor scenarios, and each of them is investigated with Pin2Pan and Syn2Real regimens. Trans4PASS+ achieves state-of-the-art performances on four domain adaptive panoramic semantic segmentation benchmarks. Code is available at https://github.com/jamycheung/Trans4PASS.Comment: Extended version of CVPR 2022 paper arXiv:2203.01452. Code is available at https://github.com/jamycheung/Trans4PAS

Synthetische Biologie - die nächste Stufe der Bio- und Gentechnologie. TAB-Fokus

Wissenschaftliche und technologische Fortschritte ermöglichen einen zunehmend tiefer greifenden genetischen Umbau natürlicher Organismen (Synbio i. w. S.), perspektivisch wird die Schaffung künstlicher biologischer Systeme (Synbio i. e. S.) anvisiert. Anwendungsbereiche liegen in der Chemie- und Energieproduktion, in der Medizin und im Umweltschutz. Welche Ansätze der Synbio sich durchsetzen werden gegenüber Verfahren, die die vorhandene biologische Vielfalt nutzen oder sich auf subtile Eingriffe beschränken, ist beim heutigen Stand von Forschung und Entwicklung nicht verlässlich prognostizierbar. Für die Risikoabschätzung und -bewertung substanziell veränderter Organismen müssen neue Methoden und Verfahren entwickelt und erprobt werden. Die Partizipationsmöglichkeiten der Gesellschaft an einer verantwortungsvollen Weiterentwicklung der Synbio reichen von einer Stakeholderbeteiligung an der Forschungsprogrammatik bis zur DIY-Biologie. Der Umgang mit geistigem Eigentum unter den Bedingungen einer zunehmend digitalen Ökonomie stellt eine der zentralen Zukunftsherausforderungen auch für die Nutzung der Synbio dar