Are species occurrence data in global online repositories fit for modeling species distributions? The case of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Final Report of the Task Group on GBIF Data Fitness for Use in Distribution Modelling.

Primary Biodiversity Data (PBD) are defined as the basic attributes of observations or records of the occurrences of species. PBD is a fundamental concept of biodiversity informatics since it is substantial in quantity and provides the links to organize other large and independent bodies of data concerning species (= taxonomic information) and environments. In fact, PBD is at the core of the exploding field of biodiversity informatics, which in some sense now underlies biogeography, macroecology, landscape ecology and several other subdisciplines of biology. A principal - and rapidly growing - class of research that can be performed using PBD is the estimation of a species' environmental requirements and the projection of these in both environmental and geographic spaces to estimate niches or distributional ranges, generally by using models of ecological niches and species' distributions (often called ENMs or SDMs, respectively). The largest point of access to PBD in the world is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and hundreds of papers have now used GBIF-mediated data to fit and apply ENM/SDM. Experience has shown that GBIF, like other aggregated data research infrastructures, holds a number of potential problems related to incomplete or difficult access to all the fields in its schema, inconsistent information among fields, or simply erroneous or incomplete data. These drawbacks complicate ENM/SDM analyses considerably, and detract from the enormous scientific value of this information storehouse. Three overlapping communities participate in GBIF's data process: providers (museums, herbaria, and observer's networks), users (scientists, analysts working for governments, NGOs or the private sector, the public) and the technical staff managing the huge databases, web services and servers at GBIF. Each can play a different role in fixing data issues of GBIF. Our main recommendations for the GBIF Secretariat are the following: GBIF.org should serve indicators of precision, quality, and uncertainty of data that can be calculated practically, and preferably "on the fly", as well as summaries and metrics of completeness of inventories, at scales and for regions defined by the user. The summaries should display maps and graphs of completeness by region, time-period and taxa. The implementation of the GBIF information resource should go beyond unique identifiers of queries (DOIs for downloads, including the capability to re-run queries, http://www.gbif.org/publishing-data/summary#supporteddatasettypes), and to include identifiers of the individual data that make up the queried data. GBIF.org should include applications or functionalities enabling users to annotate errors or problems, and communicate those changes directly to providers, as it may be practical and appropriate. This point may need to be discussed with providers. A procedure enabling users to make accessible versions of their databases that have been improved and annotated should be supported, but this functionality should not lose the vital tie back to the original data records and the actual data provider. GBIF should partner with and/or support initiatives to do more for training and guiding users on the proper use of the data; such initiatives should incorporate actual expert uses in ENM/SDM to assure that current best practices are followed

On perfect fluid models in non-comoving observational spherical coordinates

We use null spherical (observational) coordinates to describe a class of inhomogeneous cosmological models. The proposed cosmological construction is based on the observer past null cone. A known difficulty in using inhomogeneous models is that the null geodesic equation is not integrable in general. Our choice of null coordinates solves the radial ingoing null geodesic by construction. Furthermore, we use an approach where the velocity field is uniquely calculated from the metric rather than put in by hand. Conveniently, this allows us to explore models in a non-comoving frame of reference. In this frame, we find that the velocity field has shear, acceleration and expansion rate in general. We show that a comoving frame is not compatible with expanding perfect fluid models in the coordinates proposed and dust models are simply not possible. We describe the models in a non-comoving frame. We use the dust models in a non-comoving frame to outline a fitting procedure.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. To appear in Phys.Rev.

Surgical approach in correction of a crack in the gnathotheca of a black swan (Cygnus atratus, Latham, 1790) - First case report

ABSTRACT The black swan (Cygnus atratus, LATHAM, 1790) is a bird kept as an ornamental in zoos. Because of their long beaks they tend to have a reserved prognosis in musculoskeletal disorders such as beak trauma, secondary to skull bone fractures, presenting irreversible lesions. The aim of this report is present a clinical surgical innovation in the repair of a black swan’s gnathotheca fissure with the application of non-conventional materials used. It was observed that one of the swans kept in a zoo display area had difficulty feeding, with associated weight loss. It was observed tissue loss and a lacerative lesion in the caudal sublingual region of its beak. The lesion was corrected by a separate simple suture in the cranial region of the beak and with a x-clamping using steel surgical wire and the application of dental resin in the distal region to perform a sustentation bridge in the beak end-gap. After 12 days, the animal was able to feed again and remained perfectly adapted to the restoration, reestablishing the anatomical and physiological function of its beak

Light-Front Approach for Pentaquark Strong Decays

Assuming the two diquark structure for the pentaquark state as advocated in the Jaffe-Wilczek model, we study the strong decays of light and heavy parity-even pentaquark states using the light-front quark model in conjunction with the spectator approximation. The narrowness of the Theta width is ascribed to the p-wave configuration of the diquark pair. Taking the Theta width as a benchmark, we estimate the rates of the strong decays Xi_{3/2}-- to Xi- pi-, Sigma- K-, Sigma_{5c}0 to D_s- p, D_{s0}*- p and Xi_{5c}0 to D_s- Sigma+, D_{s0}^{*-} Sigma+ with Sigma_{5c} Xi_{5c} being antisextet charmed pentaquarks and D_{s0}* a scalar strange charmed meson. The ratio of Gamma(P_c to Baryon D_{s0}*)/Gamma(P_c to Baryon D_s) is very useful for verifying the parity of the antisextet charmed pentaquark P_c. It is expected to be of order unity for an even parity P_c and much less than one for an odd parity pentaquark.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figure

Challenges in Complex Systems Science

FuturICT foundations are social science, complex systems science, and ICT. The main concerns and challenges in the science of complex systems in the context of FuturICT are laid out in this paper with special emphasis on the Complex Systems route to Social Sciences. This include complex systems having: many heterogeneous interacting parts; multiple scales; complicated transition laws; unexpected or unpredicted emergence; sensitive dependence on initial conditions; path-dependent dynamics; networked hierarchical connectivities; interaction of autonomous agents; self-organisation; non-equilibrium dynamics; combinatorial explosion; adaptivity to changing environments; co-evolving subsystems; ill-defined boundaries; and multilevel dynamics. In this context, science is seen as the process of abstracting the dynamics of systems from data. This presents many challenges including: data gathering by large-scale experiment, participatory sensing and social computation, managing huge distributed dynamic and heterogeneous databases; moving from data to dynamical models, going beyond correlations to cause-effect relationships, understanding the relationship between simple and comprehensive models with appropriate choices of variables, ensemble modeling and data assimilation, modeling systems of systems of systems with many levels between micro and macro; and formulating new approaches to prediction, forecasting, and risk, especially in systems that can reflect on and change their behaviour in response to predictions, and systems whose apparently predictable behaviour is disrupted by apparently unpredictable rare or extreme events. These challenges are part of the FuturICT agenda

Light-Front Approach for Heavy Pentaquark Transitions

Assuming the two diquark structure for the pentaquark state as advocated in the Jaffe-Wilczek model, there exist exotic parity-even anti-sextet and parity-odd triplet heavy pentaquark baryons. The theoretical estimate of charmed and bottom pentaquark masses is quite controversial and it is not clear whether the ground-state heavy pentaquark lies above or below the strong-decay threshold. We study the weak transitions of heavy pentaquark states using the light-front quark model. In the heavy quark limit, heavy-to-heavy pentaquark transition form factors can be expressed in terms of three Isgur-Wise functions: two of them are found to be normalized to unity at zero recoil, while the third one is equal to 1/2 at the maximum momentum transfer, in accordance with the prediction of the large-Nc approach or the quark model. Therefore, the light-front model calculations are consistent with the requirement of heavy quark symmetry. Numerical results for form factors and Isgur-Wise functions are presented. Decay rates of the weak decays Theta_b+ to Theta_c0 pi+ (rho+), Theta_c0 to Theta+ pi- (rho-), Sigma'_{5b}+ to Sigma'_{5c}0 pi+ (rho+) and Sigma'_{5c}0 to N_8+ pi- (rho-) with Theta_Q, Sigma'_{5Q} and N_8 being the heavy anti-sextet, heavy triplet and light octet pentaquarks, respectively, are obtained. For weakly decaying Theta_b+ and Theta_c0, the branching ratios of Theta_b+ to Theta_c0 pi+, Theta_c0 to Theta+ pi- are estimated to be at the level of 10^{-3} and a few percents, respectively.Comment: 33 pages, 3 figures, version to be published in Phys. Rev.

A probabilistic method for the operation of three-phase unbalanced active distribution networks

YesThis paper proposes a probabilistic multi-objective optimization method for the operation of three-phase distribution networks incorporating active network management (ANM) schemes including coordinated voltage control and adaptive power factor control. The proposed probabilistic method incorporates detailed modelling of three-phase distribution network components and considers different operational objectives. The method simultaneously minimizes the total energy losses of the lines from the point of view of distribution network operators (DNOs) and maximizes the energy generated by photovoltaic (PV) cells considering ANM schemes and network constraints. Uncertainties related to intermittent generation of PVs and load demands are modelled by probability density functions (PDFs). Monte Carlo simulation method is employed to use the generated PDFs. The problem is solved using ɛ-constraint approach and fuzzy satisfying method is used to select the best solution from the Pareto optimal set. The effectiveness of the proposed probabilistic method is demonstrated with IEEE 13- and 34- bus test feeders