Holocenic proxies of sedimentary organic matter and the evolution of Lake Arari-Amazon Region

Four sediment cores were sampled from Lake Arari, located on Marajo Island at the mouth of the Amazon River. The island's vegetation cover is composed mainly of Amazon coastal forest, herbaceous and varzea vegetation. The integration of data on sedimentary structures, pollen, carbon and nitrogen isotope records, C/N ratios and radiocarbon ages allowed the identification of changes in vegetation and the sources of organic matter accumulated in the lake during the Holocene. The data indicate a relatively high flow energy, marine water influence and the presence of mangroves during the lagoon phase between 8990 and 8690 cal yr B.P. and 2310-2230 cal yr B.P. Between 2310 and 2230 cal yr B.P. and similar to 1000 cal yr B.P., the flow energy decreased and the mangroves were replaced by herbaceous vegetation following the decline in marine influence, likely due to the increase in freshwater river discharge. During the last 1000 years, Lake Arari was established in association with the expansion of herbaceous vegetation and the dominance of freshwater algae. (C) 2011 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.

The submarine volcano eruption off El Hierro Island: Effects on the scattering migrant biota and the evolution of the pelagic communities

[EN] The submarine volcano eruption off El Hierro Island (Canary Islands) on 10 October 2011 promoted dramatic perturbation of the water column leading to changes in the distribution of pelagic fauna. To study the response of the scattering biota, we combined acoustic data with hydrographic profiles and concurrent sea surface turbidity indexes from satellite imagery. We also monitored changes in the plankton and nekton communities through the eruptive and post-eruptive phases. Decrease of oxygen, acidification, rising temperature and deposition of chemicals in shallow waters resulted in a reduction of epipelagic stocks and a disruption of diel vertical migration (nocturnal ascent) of mesopelagic organisms. Furthermore, decreased light levels at depth caused by extinction in the volcanic plume resulted in a significant shallowing of the deep acoustic scattering layer. Once the eruption ceased, the distribution and abundances of the pelagic biota returned to baseline levels. There was no evidence of a volcano-induced bloom in the plankton community.

The submarine volcano eruption off El Hierro island: effects on the scattering biota and the evolution of the pelagic community

Trabajo realizado por Ariza, A. V., Kaartvedt, S. Rostad, A. Garijo, J. C., Arístegui, J. Fraile-Nuez, E., Hernández-León, S.

Jaw mechanics of the pterosaur skull construction and the evolution of toothlessness

In the present study, pterosaur skull constructions were analysed using a combined approach of finite element analysis (FEA), static investigations as well as applying classical beam theory and lever mechanics. The study concentrates on the operating regime „bite“, where loads are distributed via the dentition or a keratinous rhamphotheca into the skull during jaw occlusion. As a first step, pterosaur tooth constructions were analysed. The different morphologies of the tooth construction determine specific operational ranges, in which the teeth perform best (= greatest resistance against failure). The incomplete enamel-covering of the pterosaur tooth constructions thereby leads to a reduction of strain and stress and to a greater lateral elasticity than for a complete enamel cover. This permits the development of high and lateral compressed tooth constructions. Further stress-absorption occurs in the periodontal membrane, although its mechanical properties can not be clarified unambiguously. A three-dimensionally preserved skull of Anhanguera was chosen as a case-study for the investigation of the skull constructions. CT-scans were made to get information about the internal architecture, supplemented by thin-sections of a rostrum of a second Anhanguera specimen. These showed that the rostrum can be approximated as a double-walled triangular tube with a large central vacuity and an average wall-thickness of the bony layers of about 1 mm. On base of the CT-scans, a stereolithography of the skull of Anhanguera was made on which the jaw adductor and abductor muscles were modelled, permitting to determine muscular forces. The values were used for the lever mechanics, cantilever and space frame analysis. These studies and the FEA show, that the jaw reaction forces are critical for the stability of the skull construction. The large jugal area ventral to the orbita and the inclined occipital region act as buttresses against these loads. In contrast to the orbitotemporal region which is subject to varying loading conditions, the pattern in the rostrum is less complex. Here, mainly bending in dorsal direction and torsion occur. The hollow rostrum leads to a reduction of weight of the skull and to a high bending and torsional resistance. Similar to the Anhanguera skull construction, the skulls of those pterosaur taxa were analysed, from which enough skull material is know to permit a reliable reconstruction. Furthermore, FEA were made from five selected taxa. The comparison of the biomechanical behaviour of the different skull constructions results in major transformational processes: elongation of rostra, inclination of the occipital region, variation of tooth morphology, reduction of the dentition and replacement of teeth by a keratinous hook or rhamphotheca, fusion of naris and antorbital fenestra, and the development of bony and soft-tissue crests. These processes are discussed for their biomechanical effects during bite. Certain optional operational ranges for feeding are assigned to the different skull constructions and previous hypotheses (e.g. skimming) are verified. Using the principle of economisation, these processes help to establish irreversible transformations and to define possible evolutionary pathways. The resulting constructional levels and the structural variations within these levels are interpreted in light of a greater feeding efficiency and reduction of bony mass combined with an increased stability against the various loads. The biomechanical conclusive pathways are used for comparison and verification of recent hypothesis of the phylogenetic systematics of pterosaurs.

A panchromatic view of the evolution of supermassive black holes

This PhD Thesis is devoted to the accurate analysis of the physical properties of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and the AGN/host-galaxy interplay. Due to the broad-band AGN emission (from radio to hard X-rays), a multi-wavelength approach is mandatory. Our research is carried out over the COSMOS field, within the context of the XMM-Newton wide-field survey. To date, the COSMOS field is a unique area for comprehensive multi-wavelength studies, allowing us to define a large and homogeneous sample of QSOs with a well-sampled spectral coverage and to keep selection effects under control. Moreover, the broad-band information contained in the COSMOS database is well-suited for a detailed analysis of AGN SEDs, bolometric luminosities and bolometric corrections. In order to investigate the nature of both obscured (Type-2) and unobscured (Type-1) AGN, the observational approach is complemented with a theoretical modelling of the AGN/galaxy co-evolution. The X-ray to optical properties of an X-ray selected Type-1 AGN sample are discussed in the first part. The relationship between X-ray and optical/UV luminosities, parametrized by the spectral index αox, provides a first indication about the nature of the central engine powering the AGN. Since a Type-1 AGN outshines the surrounding environment, it is extremely difficult to constrain the properties of its host-galaxy. Conversely, in Type-2 AGN the host-galaxy light is the dominant component of the optical/near-IR SEDs, severely affecting the recovery of the intrinsic AGN emission. Hence a multi-component SED-fitting code is developed to disentangle the emission of the stellar populationof the galaxy from that associated with mass accretion. Bolometric corrections, luminosities, stellar masses and star-formation rates, correlated with the morphology of Type-2 AGN hosts, are presented in the second part, while the final part concerns a physically-motivated model for the evolution of spheroidal galaxies with a central SMBH. The model is able to reproduce two important stages of galaxy evolution, namely the obscured cold-phase and the subsequent quiescent hot-phase.

National Identity in Lithuania: Processes During the Period of Changes

Under the conditions of rapid and total change in the social, political, economic and legal environment in Lithuania, a re-orientation process is going on in all groups of society. In this process, not only younger but also middle-aged and old people become adherents to what Ms. Liubiniene calls the new, "post-materialist" values, strongly reinforced by powerful agents of socialisation originating in the West, like the media, advertising agencies and lifestyle-consumption models. As a result, the national identity of Lithuania and its inhabitants is being reconstructed. Ms. Liubiniene set out to examine the details of this evolving identity by conducting a survey of 1218 university staff and students. Her conclusions are set out in a 74 page manuscript, written in Lithuanian and available on disc. Change is most noticeable among the young. Indeed, time and time again, Ms. Liubiniene was to find that the age of 36 marks a natural watershed, with, for instance, the younger group valuing individualism highly and the older, collectivism. Ms. Liubiniene ventures to suggest that traditional values are deeply rooted amongst elderly people, women and people with an education in the humanities. Young people on the other hand, and especially those with a professional orientation towards business are more open to change and ready to adapt to new values. Turning to the evaluation of national symbols, Ms. Liubinie finds that those with an education in the humanities might be considered to be the most traditional, placing greater value on the symbols of nature, ethnic culture and religion. Folk songs and the crucifix are also in their top ten. Respondents with a technical education favour symbols of statehood and nature, and respondents with a business orientation assign greater value to the symbols of nature, history, sports and statehood. Ms. Liubinie concludes that the group of respondents most active and ready to adapt to new things is composed of young males of a business orientation. Generally the national identity of the young is weaker compared to that of the old. In the future, the combination of the evolution of values and the process of inter-generational replacement allows us to predict a weakening of the sense of national identity, or at least its transformation into something radically different to what it is today.

Enabling the evolution of J2EE applications through reverse engineering and quality assurance

Enterprise Applications are complex software systems that manipulate much persistent data and interact with the user through a vast and complex user interface. In particular applications written for the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) are composed using various technologies such as Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) or Java Server Pages (JSP) that in turn rely on languages other than Java, such as XML or SQL. In this heterogeneous context applying existing reverse engineering and quality assurance techniques developed for object-oriented systems is not enough. Because those techniques have been created to measure quality or provide information about one aspect of J2EE applications, they cannot properly measure the quality of the entire system. We intend to devise techniques and metrics to measure quality in J2EE applications considering all their aspects and to aid their evolution. Using software visualization we also intend to inspect to structure of J2EE applications and all other aspects that can be investigate through this technique. In order to do that we also need to create a unified meta-model including all elements composing a J2EE application.

Molecular phylogenetic analyses identify Alpine differentiation and dysploid chromosome number changes as major forces for the evolution of the European endemic Phyteuma (Campanulaceae)

Phyteuma is a chromosomally and ecologically diverse vascular plant genus and constitutes an excellent system for studying both the role of chromosomal change for species diversification and the evolution of high-mountain biota. This kind of research is, however, hampered by the lack of a sound phylogenetic framework exacerbated by the notoriously low predictive power of traditional taxonomy with respect to phylogenetic relationships in Campanulaceae. Based on a comprehensive taxon sampling and analyses of nuclear and plastid sequence and AFLP fingerprint data, Phyteuma is confirmed as a monophyletic group sister to the monotypic Physoplexis, which is in line with their peculiar flower morphologies. Within Phyteuma two clades, largely corresponding to previously recognized sections, are consistently found. The traditional circumscription of taxonomic series is largely rejected. Whereas distinctness of the currently recognized species is mostly corroborated, some interspecific relationships remain ambiguous due to incongruences between nuclear and plastid data. Major forces for diversification and evolution of Phyteuma are descending dysploidy (i.e., a decrease in chromosome base number) as well as allopatric and ecological differentiation within the Alps, the genus' center of species diversity. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Investigation on the evolution of an indoor robotic localization system based on wireless networks

This work addresses the evolution of an artificial neural network (ANN) to assist in the problem of indoor robotic localization. We investigate the design and building of an autonomous localization system based on information gathered from wireless networks (WN). The article focuses on the evolved ANN, which provides the position of a robot in a space, as in a Cartesian coordinate system, corroborating with the evolutionary robotic research area and showing its practical viability. The proposed system was tested in several experiments, evaluating not only the impact of different evolutionary computation parameters but also the role of the transfer functions on the evolution of the ANN. Results show that slight variations in the parameters lead to significant differences on the evolution process and, therefore, in the accuracy of the robot position.