Colony size predicts division of labour in Attine ants

Division of labour is central to the ecological success of eusocial insects, yet the evolutionary factors driving increases in complexity in division of labour are little known. The size–complexity hypothesis proposes that, as larger colonies evolve, both non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour become more complex as workers and queens act to maximize inclusive fitness. Using a statistically robust phylogenetic comparative analysis of social and environmental traits of species within the ant tribe Attini, we show that colony size is positively related to both non-reproductive (worker size variation) and reproductive (queen–worker dimorphism) division of labour. The results also suggested that colony size acts on non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour in different ways. Environmental factors, including measures of variation in temperature and precipitation, had no significant effects on any division of labour measure or colony size. Overall, these results support the size–complexity hypothesis for the evolution of social complexity and division of labour in eusocial insects. Determining the evolutionary drivers of colony size may help contribute to our understanding of the evolution of social complexity

Colony size predicts division of labour in Attine ants

Division of labour is central to the ecological success of eusocial insects, yet the evolutionary factors driving increases in complexity in division of labour are little known. The size–complexity hypothesis proposes that, as larger colonies evolve, both non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour become more complex as workers and queens act to maximize inclusive fitness. Using a statistically robust phylogenetic comparative analysis of social and environmental traits of species within the ant tribe Attini, we show that colony size is positively related to both non-reproductive (worker size variation) and reproductive (queen–worker dimorphism) division of labour. The results also suggested that colony size acts on non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour in different ways. Environmental factors, including measures of variation in temperature and precipitation, had no significant effects on any division of labour measure or colony size. Overall, these results support the size–complexity hypothesis for the evolution of social complexity and division of labour in eusocial insects. Determining the evolutionary drivers of colony size may help contribute to our understanding of the evolution of social complexity

Efficient RDF Interchange (ERI) format for RDF data streams

RDF streams are sequences of timestamped RDF statements or graphs, which can be generated by several types of data sources (sensors, social networks, etc.). They may provide data at high volumes and rates, and be consumed by applications that require real-time responses. Hence it is important to publish and interchange them efficiently. In this paper, we exploit a key feature of RDF data streams, which is the regularity of their structure and data values, proposing a compressed, efficient RDF interchange (ERI) format, which can reduce the amount of data transmitted when processing RDF streams. Our experimental evaluation shows that our format produces state-of-the-art streaming compression, remaining efficient in performance

On the high-density expansion for Euclidean Random Matrices

Diagrammatic techniques to compute perturbatively the spectral properties of Euclidean Random Matrices in the high-density regime are introduced and discussed in detail. Such techniques are developed in two alternative and very different formulations of the mathematical problem and are shown to give identical results up to second order in the perturbative expansion. One method, based on writing the so-called resolvent function as a Taylor series, allows to group the diagrams in a small number of topological classes, providing a simple way to determine the infrared (small momenta) behavior of the theory up to third order, which is of interest for the comparison with experiments. The other method, which reformulates the problem as a field theory, can instead be used to study the infrared behaviour at any perturbative order.Comment: 29 page

Monochromatic Propagation-Based Phase-Contrast Microscale Computed-Tomography System with a Rotating-Anode Source

We present an experimental setup for monochromatic propagation-based x-ray phase-contrast imaging based on a conventional rotating-copper-anode source, capable of an integrated flux up to 108 photons/s at 8 keV. In our study, the system is characterized in terms of spatial coherence, resolution, contrast sensitivity, and stability. Its quantitativeness is demonstrated by comparing theoretical predictions with experimental data on simple wire phantoms both in planar and computerized-tomography-scan geometries. Application to two biological samples of medical interest shows the potential for bioimaging on the millimeter scale with spatial resolution of the order of 10 \u3bcm and contrast resolution below 1%. All the scans are performed within laboratory-compatible exposure times, from 10 min to a few hours, and trade-offs between scan time and image quality are discussed

Optimizing Enterprise-Scale OWL 2 RL Reasoning in a Relational Database System

Abstract. OWL 2 RL was standardized as a less expressive but scalable subset of OWL 2 that allows a forward-chaining implementation. However, building an enterprise-scale forward-chaining based inference engine that can 1) take ad-vantage of modern multi-core computer architectures, and 2) efficiently update inference for additions remains a challenge. In this paper, we present an OWL 2 RL inference engine implemented inside the Oracle database system, using novel techniques for parallel processing that can readily scale on multi-core ma-chines and clusters. Additionally, we have added support for efficient incremen-tal maintenance of the inferred graph after triple additions. Finally, to handle the increasing number of owl:sameAs relationships present in Semantic Web data-sets, we have provided a hybrid in-memory/disk based approach to efficiently compute compact equivalence closures. We have done extensive testing to eva-luate these new techniques; the test results demonstrate that our inference en-gine is capable of performing efficient inference over ontologies with billions of triples using a modest hardware configuration.

Fear of Birth Defects Is a Major Barrier to Soil-Transmitted Helminth Treatment (STH) for Pregnant Women in the Philippines

The World Health Organization recommends anthelminthic treatment for pregnant women after the first trimester in soil-transmitted helminth (STH) endemic regions to prevent adverse maternal-fetal consequences. Although studies have shown the high prevalence of infection in the Philippines, no research has evaluated deworming practices. We hypothesized that pregnant women are not receiving deworming treatment and we aimed to identify barriers to World Health Organization guideline implementation. We conducted key informant interviews with local Department of Health (DOH) administrators, focus group discussions with nurses, midwives, and health care workers, and knowledge, attitudes, and practices surveys with women of reproductive age to elicit perspectives about deworming during pregnancy. Key informant interviews revealed that healthcare workers were not deworming pregnant women due to inadequate drug supply, infrastructure and personnel as well as fear of teratogenicity. Focus group discussions showed that healthcare workers similarly had not implemented guidelines due to infrastructure challenges and concerns for fetal malformations. The majority of local women believed that STH treatment causes side effects (74.8%) as well as maternal harm (67.3%) and fetal harm (77.9%). Women who were willing to take anthelminthics while pregnant had significantly greater knowledge as demonstrated by higher Treatment Scores (mean rank 146.92 versus 103.1, z = −4.40, p<0.001) and higher Birth Defect Scores (mean rank 128.09 versus 108.65, z = −2.43, p = 0.015). This study concludes that World Health Organization guidelines are not being implemented in the Philippines. Infrastructure, specific protocols, and education for providers and patients regarding anthelminthic treatment are necessary for the successful prevention of STH morbidity and mortality among pregnant women

Amino acid profiles in older adults with frailty. Secondary analysis from MetaboFrail and BIOSPHERE studies

An altered amino acid metabolism has been described in frail older adults which may contribute to muscle loss and functional decline associated with frailty. In the present investigation, we compared circulating amino acid profiles of older adults with physical frailty and sarcopenia (PF&amp;S, n = 94), frail/pre-frail older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (F-T2DM, n = 66), and robust non-diabetic controls (n = 40). Partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS–DA) models were built to define the amino acid signatures associated with the different frailty phenotypes. PLS–DA allowed correct classification of participants with 78.2 ± 1.9% accuracy. Older adults with F-T2DM showed an amino acid profile characterized by higher levels of 3-methylhistidine, alanine, arginine, ethanolamine, and glutamic acid. PF&amp;S and control participants were discriminated based on serum concentrations of aminoadipic acid, aspartate, citrulline, cystine, taurine, and tryptophan. These findings suggest that different types of frailty may be characterized by distinct metabolic perturbations. Amino acid profiling may therefore serve as a valuable tool for frailty biomarker discovery