Transitional fossil earwigs - a missing link in Dermaptera evolution

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Dermaptera belongs to a group of winged insects of uncertain relationship within Polyneoptera, which has expanded anal region and adds numerous anal veins in the hind wing. Evolutional history and origin of Dermaptera have been in contention.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we report two new fossil earwigs in a new family of Bellodermatidae fam. nov. The fossils were collected from the Jiulongshan Formation (Middle Jurassic) in Inner Mongolia, northeast China. This new family, characterized by an unexpected combination of primitive and derived characters, is bridging the missing link between suborders of Archidermaptera and Eodermaptera. Phylogenetic analyses support the new family to be a new clade at the base of previously defined Eodermaptera and to be a stem group of (Eodermaptera+Neodermaptera).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Evolutional history and origin of Dermaptera have been in contention, with dramatically different viewpoints by contemporary authors. It is suggested that the oldest Dermaptera might possibly be traced back to the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic and they had divided into Archidermaptera and (Eodermaptera+Neodermaptera) in the Middle Jurassic.</p

A New Single-blade Based Hybrid CFD Method for Hovering and Forward-flight Rotor Computation

AbstractA hybrid Euler/full potential/Lagrangian wake method, based on single-blade simulation, for predicting unsteady aerodynamic flow around helicopter rotors in hover and forward flight has been developed. In this method, an Euler solver is used to model the near wake evolution and transonic flow phenomena in the vicinity of the blade, and a full potential equation (FPE) is used to model the isentropic potential flow region far away from the rotor, while the wake effects of other blades and the far wake are incorporated into the flow solution as an induced inflow distribution using a Lagrangian based wake analysis. To further reduce the execution time, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solution and rotor wake analysis (including induced velocity update) are conducted parallelly, and a load balancing strategy is employed to account for the information exchange between two solvers. By the developed method, several hover and forward-flight cases on Caradonna-Tung and Helishape 7A rotors are performed. Good agreements of the loadings on blade surface with available measured data demonstrate the validation of the method. Also, the CPU time required for different computation runs is compared in the paper, and the results show that the present hybrid method is superior to conventional CFD method in time cost, and will be more efficient with the number of blades increasing

CVLight: Decentralized Learning for Adaptive Traffic Signal Control with Connected Vehicles

This paper develops a decentralized reinforcement learning (RL) scheme for multi-intersection adaptive traffic signal control (TSC), called "CVLight", that leverages data collected from connected vehicles (CVs). The state and reward design facilitates coordination among agents and considers travel delays collected by CVs. A novel algorithm, Asymmetric Advantage Actor-critic (Asym-A2C), is proposed where both CV and non-CV information is used to train the critic network, while only CV information is used to execute optimal signal timing. Comprehensive experiments show the superiority of CVLight over state-of-the-art algorithms under a 2-by-2 synthetic road network with various traffic demand patterns and penetration rates. The learned policy is then visualized to further demonstrate the advantage of Asym-A2C. A pre-train technique is applied to improve the scalability of CVLight, which significantly shortens the training time and shows the advantage in performance under a 5-by-5 road network. A case study is performed on a 2-by-2 road network located in State College, Pennsylvania, USA, to further demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm under real-world scenarios. Compared to other baseline models, the trained CVLight agent can efficiently control multiple intersections solely based on CV data and achieve the best performance, especially under low CV penetration rates.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figure

Magnetic Field Enhanced Superconductivity in Epitaxial Thin Film WTe2.

In conventional superconductors an external magnetic field generally suppresses superconductivity. This results from a simple thermodynamic competition of the superconducting and magnetic free energies. In this study, we report the unconventional features in the superconducting epitaxial thin film tungsten telluride (WTe2). Measuring the electrical transport properties of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) grown WTe2 thin films with a high precision rotation stage, we map the upper critical field Hc2 at different temperatures T. We observe the superconducting transition temperature T c is enhanced by in-plane magnetic fields. The upper critical field Hc2 is observed to establish an unconventional non-monotonic dependence on temperature. We suggest that this unconventional feature is due to the lifting of inversion symmetry, which leads to the enhancement of Hc2 in Ising superconductors

Main influencing factors of terrestrial evapotranspiration for different land cover types over the Tibetan Plateau in 1982–2014

Introduction: Terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has important implications for the global water cycle, climate change, and ecosystem, and its changes and driving factors have drawn increasing attention. Previous research studies have minimally quantified the effects and identified the pathways of the influencing factors on ET over different land surface types.Methods: In this study, we analyze the spatiotemporal distribution and variation of ET over the TP in 1982–2014 based on multiple datasets. Furthermore, the effects of each influencing factor on ET are quantified over different land surface types, and the major influencing factors and their affecting pathways are identified using structure equation modeling (SEM), which is a statistical method used to analyze relationships among multiple variables.Results: The results show that the climatology of ET decreases gradually from southeastern to northwestern TP, with the maximum spatial averaged value of 379.979 ± 0.417 mm a−1 for the fifth generation of European Reanalysis (ERA5) and the minimum of 249.899 ± 0.469 mm a−1 for the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS). The most significant differences among the ET datasets mainly occur in the summer. The annual ET averaged over the TP presents an increased trend from 1982 to 2014, as shown by all of the ET datasets. However, there are larger discrepancies in the spatial distribution of the increased trend for these datasets. The assessment result shows that the 0.05° land evapotranspiration dataset for the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (LEDQTP) has the highest temporal correlation coefficient (0.80) and the smallest root-mean-square error (23.50 mm) compared to the observations. Based on LEDQTP, we find that precipitation is the main influencing factor of ET, which primarily affects ET through direct pathways in bare soil and grassland regions, with standardized estimates of 0.521 and 0.606, respectively. However, in meadow and shrub and forest regions, the primary factor influencing ET is air temperature, which is primarily affected by an indirect pathway through a vapor pressure deficit. Air temperature is also the controlling factor in sparse vegetation regions, but it affects ET through a direct pathway.Discussion: This study may provide some new useful information on the effects of climate change on ET in different land cover types over the TP

Dung-associated arthropods influence foraging ecology and habitat selection in Black-necked Cranes (<i>Grus nigricollis</i>) on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Variation in grassland vegetation structure influences the habitat selection of insectivorous birds. This variation presents a trade-off for insectivorous predators: Arthropod abundance increases with vegetation height and heterogeneity, but access to arthropod prey items decreases. In contrast, grazing by large herbivores reduces and homogenizes vegetation, decreasing total arthropod abundance and diversity. However, the presence of livestock dung may help counteract the overall reduction in invertebrates by increasing arthropods associated with dung. It is unclear, however, how the presence of arthropod prey in dung contributes to overall habitat selection for insectivorous birds or how dung-associated arthropods affect trade-offs between vegetation structure, arthropod abundance, and access to prey. To explore these relationships, we studied habitat selection of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis), a large omnivorous bird that breeds on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. We assessed the relationships between habitat selection of cranes and vegetation structure, arthropod abundance, and the presence of yak dung. We found that Black-necked Cranes disproportionately foraged in grassland patches with short sward height, low sward height heterogeneity, and high numbers of dry yak dung, despite these habitats having lower total arthropod abundance. Although total arthropod abundance is lower, these habitats are supplemented with dry yak dung, which are associated with coleopteran larvae, making dung pats an indicator of food resources for breeding Black-necked Cranes. Coleopteran adults and larvae in yak dung appear to be an important factor influencing the habitat selection of Black-necked Cranes and should be considered when assessing grassland foraging trade-offs of insectivorous birds. This research provides new insights into the role of livestock dung in defining foraging habitats and resources for insectivorous predators

Self-injury functions mediate the association between anxiety and self-injury frequency among depressed Chinese adolescents: sex differences

ObjectiveNon-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has become a common clinical problem that severely threatens the mental and physical health of Chinese adolescents. This study explores the mediation effects of NSSI functions on the relationship between anxiety and NSSI frequency among depressed Chinese adolescents as well as the sex differences in the mediating effects.MethodsIn this study, a cross-sectional survey method was used to obtain data of 1773 adolescent patients with major depressive disorders from over 20 specialized psychiatric hospitals across multiple provinces in China. A self-designed questionnaire for demographic information, the Chinese version of Functional Assessment of Self- Mutilation (C-FASM), and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) were employed to investigate demographic data, NSSI frequency, NSSI functions, and anxiety and to analyze the mediating effects of NSSI functions on the association between anxiety and NSSI frequency among adolescents of different sexes.ResultsA total of 316 male patients and 1457 female patients were investigated. Female patients had a higher NSSI frequency (Z=3.195, P=0.001) and higher anxiety scores than did male patients (Z=2.714, P=0.007). Anxiety had a stronger positive predictive effect on the NSSI frequency in females (OR = 1.090) than in males (OR = 1.064). For male patients, the emotion regulation function in NSSI motivation played a full mediating role in the association between anxiety and NSSI frequency. For female patients, the emotion regulation and social avoidance functions in NSSI functions played a partial mediating role between anxiety and NSSI frequency.ConclusionsThere are sex differences in the mediating role of NSSI functions of depressed adolescents in the association between anxiety and NSSI frequency. When experiencing anxiety, both males and females may engage in NSSI behaviors as a means to regulate their emotions. For females, anxiety can directly predict NSSI frequency, and they may attempt NSSI to achieve the purpose of rejecting others. In the face of anxiety among depressed adolescents of different sexes, developing different emotional regulation methods and behavioral regulation strategies may be critical in preventing their NSSI behaviors

Overage labor, intergenerational financial support, and depression among older rural residents: evidence from China

BackgroundDepression is a major factor affecting the happiness of older rural residents. With the increasing aging of the Chinese population, overage labor is becoming more prevalent in rural areas of China. This study aimed to assess whether, and if so, how, overage labor affects depression status in older rural residents.MethodsUsing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study explored the association between overage labor and depression among older rural residents by using ordinary least squares and moderated mediation models.ResultsThe results show that overage labor significantly reduced levels of depression in older rural residents. This result remained robust after using propensity score matching and double machine learning. Furthermore, the improvement of older rural residents' depression via overage labor is mainly achieved through work income, but this mediating effect is negatively moderated by intergenerational financial support. This implies that in traditional Chinese rural society, intergenerational financial support from children plays an important role in reducing depression among older rural residents.ConclusionOur findings have potential policy implications for China and other developing countries in terms of addressing issues related to aging and depression in older adults