Palaeozoic giant dragonfies were hawker predators

The largest insects to have ever lived were the giant meganeurids of the Late Palaeozoic, ancient stem relatives of our modern dragonfies. With wingspans up to 71cm, these iconic insects have been the subject of varied documentaries on Palaeozoic life, depicting them as patrolling for prey through coal swamp forests amid giant lycopsids, and cordaites. Such reconstructions are speculative as few defnitive details of giant dragonfy biology are known. Most specimens of giant dragonfies are known from wings or isolated elements, but Meganeurites gracilipes preserves critical body structures, most notably those of the head. Here we show that it is unlikely it thrived in densely forested environments where its elongate wings would have become easily damaged. Instead, the species lived in more open habitats and possessed greatly enlarged compound eyes. These were dorsally hypertrophied, a specialization for long-distance vision above the animal in fight, a trait convergent with modern hawker dragonfies. Sturdy mandibles with acute teeth, strong spines on tibiae and tarsi, and a pronounced thoracic skewness are identical to those specializations used by dragonfies in capturing prey while in fight. The Palaeozoic Odonatoptera thus exhibited considerable morphological specializations associated with behaviours attributable to ‘hawkers’ or ‘perchers’ among extant Odonata.This work benefted from a grant of the French ‘Agence Nationale de la Recherche’ via the program ‘Investissements d’avenir’ (ANR-11-INBS-0004-RECOLNAT)JP and MP gratefully acknowledge research support from the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic No. 18-03118 SThe work of MSE was supported by US National Science Foundation grant DEB-114416

Methodology of calculation of construction and hydrodynamic parameters of a foam layer apparatus for mass-transfer processes

Промислова реалізація методу стабілізації газорідинного шару дозволяє значно розширити галузь застосування пінних апаратів і відкриває нові можливості інтенсифікації технологічних процесів з одночасним створенням маловідходних технологій. У статті встановлені основні параметри, що впливають на гідродинаміку пінних апаратів, розглянуті основні конструкції та режими роботи пінних апаратів. Виявлено зв'язок гідродинамічних параметрів. Розглянуто гідродинамічні закономірності пінного шару. Вказані фактори, що впливають на процес масообміну, як в газовій, так і в рідкій фазах. Проведений аналіз ряду досліджень показав, що перспективним напрямком інтенсифікації процесу масообміну є розробка апаратів з трифазним псевдозрідженим шаром зрошуваної насадки складних форм із сітчастих матеріалів. Отже, необхідне проведення спеціальних досліджень гідродинамічних режимів роботи апарату з сітчастою насадкою і визначенням параметрів, що впливають на швидкість переходу насадки з одного режиму в інший.Industrial implementation of the stabilization method of the gas-liquid layer can significantly expand the field of use of foaming apparatus and opens up new opportunities for intensifying technological processes with the simultaneous creation of low-waste technologies. The article establishes the basic parameters influencing the hydrodynamics of foam apparatus, considers the basic constructions and operating modes of foam apparatus. The connection of hydrodynamic parameters is revealed. The hydrodynamic laws of the foam layer are considered. The indicated factors affecting the process of mass transfer, both in the gas and in the liquid phases. The conducted analysis of a number of studies showed that the perspective direction of intensification of the mass transfer process is the development of apparatuses with a three-phase fluidized bed of an irrigated nozzle of complex forms with mesh materials

Topographic reorganization in area 18 of adult cats following circumscribed monocular retinal lesions in adolescence

Circumscribed laser lesions were made in the nasal retinae of one eye in adolescent cats. Ten to sixteen months later, about 80 % of single neurones recorded in the lesion projection zone (LPZ) of contralateral area 18 (parastriate cortex, area V2) were binocular but when stimulated via the lesioned eye had ectopic discharge fields (displaced to normal retina in the vicinity of the lesion). Although the clear majority of binocular cells recorded from the LPZ responded with higher peak discharge rates to stimuli presented via the non-lesioned eye, the orientation and direction selectivities as well as preferred and upper cut-off velocities for stimuli presented through either eye were very similar. Furthermore, the sizes of the ectopic discharge fields of binocular cells recorded from the LPZ were not significantly different from those of their counterparts plotted via the non-lesioned eye. Thus, monocular retinal lesions performed in adolescent cats induce topographic reorganization in the LPZ of area 18. Although a similar reorganization occurs in area 17 (striate cortex, area V1) of cats in which monocular retinal lesions were made either in adulthood or adolescence, in view of the very different velocity response profiles of ectopic discharge fields in areas 17 and those in area 18, it appears that ectopic discharge fields in area 17 are largely independent of excitatory feedback input from area 18