1,031 research outputs found
Notes on family-group names for bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)
No full textAbstract. Corrected authorships and dates are provided for four family-group names for bees based on previously unrecognized earlier usages that made them nomenclatorially available. Sagemehl is newly recognized as the author of family-group names based on Dasypoda Latreille (Melittidae: Dasypodainae), Macropis Panzer (Melittidae: Macropidinae), and Hylaeus Fabricius (Colletidae: Hylaeinae), and Kawall as the author the family-group name based on Melitta Kirby, thereby taking precedence over the subsequent use of similar names by Börner, Robertson, Vi-ereck, and Schenck, respectively. In addition, descriptions are provided for three new family-group taxa; Dieunomiini Engel, new tribe (Halictidae: Nomiinae), Eremaphantina Engel, new subtribe (Melittidae: Hesperapini), and Tarsaliini Engel, new tribe (Apidae: Apinae); and one new genus-group taxon, Eremaphantella Engel, new subgenus
Facilitating innovation : an action-oriented approach and participatory methodology to improve innovative social practice in agriculture
No full textThis study focuses upon the social organization of innovation. It makes use of insights from knowledge and information systems research, development sociology, management science and applied philosophy and seeks answers to the following questions: What do social actors, individuals and/or organizations, actually do to innovate their practices? How do they organize themselves? Can this be managed or facilitated, and if so, how? The research is exploratory rather than conclusion-oriented and synthesizes the results of over 50 case studies of agricultural innovation in 15 different countries, including the Netherlands. Its main results are a conceptualization of innovation as a social process and a participatory action-research methodology to enhance innovative performance. The methodology is based on soft systems thinking and offers a variety of 'windows' or analytical perspectives to help social actors analyze the way they are organized for innovation in an action-oriented fashion. The methodology has been field-tested in 15 areas in 7 different countries.The author proposes that agricultural innovation can be looked at as resulting from the interplay between social actors representing relevant social practices. Social practices relevant to agricultural innovation include farming, research, extension, education, agroindustrial processing, marketing, mass media communication, policy-making, product quality control and the development, production, certification and distribution of inputs. Innovation then is a diffuse, social process of both individual and collective inquiry into intentions, alternative solutions and enabling and constraining conditions which leads to new or modified problem definitions and practical choices of solutions. The organization and quality of these inquiries eventually determine innovative performance at a certain point in time. What social actors actually do to innovate their practices can be understood as networking: social actors in search of relevant ideas, knowledge, information and experiences, continuously build and manage relationships with others which, by some standard, they consider relevant to innovating their practices. As a result of networking, over time forms of social organization of innovation emerge. These reflect dynamics of their own and are not fully describable or explicable in terms of micro-events.The author proposes four such emergent forms to be relevant to students of complex innovation theatres: Convergences emerge when social actors narrow down the scope of their arguments and the range of issues and alternative scenarios they consider relevant to innovating their practices. Resource coalitions emerge when social actors decide to pool their resources in a joint performance. Communication networks emerge as a direct consequence of social actors' decisions to create joint learning opportunities and to produce and exchange information among themselves. Over time, where the above forms coincide, a pattern of more or less durable relationships between a limited set of social actors, an innovation configuration, may emerge. In such a configuration strategic consensus, a clear definition of tasks and responsibilities and a rational allocation of resources among social actors is possible. It also appears that each of these forms, but particularly the last one, may demonstrate inertia when faced with rapidly changing demands and/or circumstances. As a result, innovative performance may drop.To enable social actors to assess their current way of organizing for innovation, a participatory action-research methodology is proposed: RAAKS, Rapid or Relaxed Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems. Its design is based upon 'soft knowledge systems thinking', combining the philosophy and guiding principles of soft systems methodology with analytical instruments from knowledge systems research. Through active participation of relevant social actors, RAAKS aims at a threefold objective: to raise awareness and understanding, to probe new alliances and to formulate proposals for action. It guides participants through an accumulative, interactive learning process leading from problem appraisal, via a joint inquiry towards the definition of potentially useful actions and/or interventions. In recognition of the appreciative character of innovation and its social organization, RAAKS offers a choice of perspectives or 'windows' to help stakeholders recognize, organize and debate relevant ideas and events. The conceptual approach mentioned above supports the integration of the findings into a more comprehensive understanding of the social organization of innovation in each particular case.RAAKS has been field-tested over a dozen times in the Netherlands and in six countries in Central America. These experiences confirmed its relevance and applicability as a methodology, as well as its adaptability to particular demands and circumstances. RAAKS proved most useful in situations where, often ill-defined, feelings of unease persist among relevant stakeholders about the course innovation takes or its pace. It has proved useful in training (future) extension and research managers, and helping them to understand the context in which they operate. RAAKS also demonstrated its usefulness to those organizations or individuals who sell or provide 'knowledge/information intensive' products or services, such as research, extension and advisory services. It provides them with an instrument to appreciate the dynamic social context in which their products or services have to be marketed and are to prove themselves. Finally, due to its participatory character and soft systems design, RAAKS seems a promising instrument to help social actors organize themselves to deal with complex societal problems, which require higher levels of effective cooperation among stakeholders, such as natural resource management, regional development, stopping environmental degradation or waste disposal. Several experiences with RAAKS outside agriculture illustrate that its relevance to facilitating complex innovation processes is not limited to agricultural development as such.As a general conclusion, the study points at the need to amplify research on knowledge management. To facilitate knowing between agencies and organizations, interorganizational communication, whether direct or indirect, joint learning, sense making and resource pooling would have to become objects of study and eventually of (knowledge) management. Also, networking would have to be studied, its adequacy, effectiveness and efficiency in specific situations assessed and improvements designed and evaluated. The author argues that the challenge for management sciences with respect to social organization of innovation is to achieve a balance between direction and control on the one hand, and the creation and maintenance of space for serendipitous and epiphenomenal improvements on the other. In addition, he proposes RAAKS may contribute not only to facilitating innovative social practice directly, but to scientific inquiry as well. For such a purpose, its potential and limitations do need to be further evaluated. In general, he suggests, soft (knowledge) systems thinking receives far less attention from the research community than it deserves
Clinonana rafaeli Engel et Takiya, sp. nov.
No full textClinonana rafaeli Engel et Takiya sp. nov. (Figs. 1 D, 6) Measurements in mm (ɗ holotype). Total length: 16.0. Crown median length: 1.1. Pronotum median length: 2.5. Pronotum largest width: 7.2. Mesonotum largest width: 4.0. Mesonotum median length: 4.3. External morphology. Crown (Figs. 1 D, 6 A) median length three-tenths of interocular (ratio= 0.34) and transocular width (ratio= 0.26). Pronotum (Figs. 1 D, 6 A) largest width 2.9 times median length; largest width 1.8 times largest mesonotum visible width. Mesonotum (Figs. 1 D, 6 A) length 1.2 times longer than combined mesal length of crown and pronotum. Other characteristics as in generic description. Male genitalia. Styles (Figs. 6 D, E) in lateral view with median concavity on ventral margin. Aedeagus (Figs. 6 G, H) shaft preatrium pair of processes extending only until two-thirds of shaft length. Female unknown. Notes. Clinonana rafaeli sp. nov. is very similar to C. mirabilis in external morphology and male genitalia. Both species are smaller and have a less laterally expanded pronotum (Figs. 1 C, D, 4 A, 6 A) than C. impensa (Figs. 1 B, 3 A). The new species differs from C. mirabilis by the following male genital characters: style in lateral view with ventral concavity in median portion (Fig. 6 E, arrow); and aedeagal shaft thinner than in C. mirabilis, with preatrium basal processes extending only two-thirds length of shaft (Figs. 6 G, H). In C. mirabilis the basal processes reach the apex of the aedeagus shaft. Etymology. The new species epithet is in honor of the dipterist Dr. José Albertino Rafael (INPA), who coordinated projects including field work in the Brazilian Amazon which made possible the collection of specimens of Clinonana and many other leafhoppers by the junior author, besides being responsible for the collection of about half of specimens studied herein. Material examined. Holotype, Brazil: Rondônia: ɗ, Porto Velho, Campus UNIR, 8 ° 50 ' 4 " S 63 ° 56 ' 35 " W, 17 IV 2006 (F. F. Xavier & J. A. Rafael), (INPA).Published as part of Engel, Giulia & Takiya, Daniela Maeda, 2012, Synopsis of Clinonana Osborn (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Iassinae): new distributional records and description of a new species, pp. 19-30 in Zootaxa 3329 on pages 26-28, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.28122
On the strong connectivity of the 2-Engel graphs of almost simple groups
No full textThe Engel graph of a finite group is a directed graph encoding the pairs
of elements in satisfying some Engel word. Recent work of Lucchini and the
third author shows that, except for a few well-understood cases, the Engel
graphs of almost simple groups are strongly connected. In this paper, we give a
refinement to this analysis
In de marge van het AUP: Inleiding bij twee kaartreeksen
No full textSince 2016 the city of Amsterdam, which is famed for its expansion plans, has been focusing on densification. As part of the council’s vision of a city with high quality of life (a circular economy, health, etc.), its Koers 2025: ruimte voor de stad (Target 2025: room for the city) programme includes densification involving at least 50,000 new dwellings. Most of these will be built in the form of tower blocks in the ‘Ring Zone’: the area between the prewar and postwar city along the A10 motorway, the circular railway line and the banks of the River IJ. In the next few years this area is to become a linking element between the centre and the districts beyond the ring, as well as a gateway to the city from the surrounding region. This will give a remarkable twist to a trend that was launched much earlier. ‘Today the existing city is not a marginal phenomenon within an endless mass of new urban development; on the contrary, new urban expansion lies in the margin of the existing city,’ wrote Erik Pasveer in 1991. The age of major urban expansion was truly over, and with it architects’ and urban planners’ focus on ‘tomorrow’s city’. The Bijlmer development, now known as South-East Amsterdam, was in that sense the last example of it. Yet Koers 2025 appears to be reviving the notion of ‘tomorrow’s city’ in a new form. History, Form & Aesthetic
Family-group names for bees (Anthophila)
No full text33 p. ; 26 cm.Includes bibliographical references (p. 17-27).The 173 family-group names for bees (Apoidea: Anthophila) are cataloged in chronological order. For each name the correct author, date, type genus, and combining stem are provided. The following names are considered nomina nuda: Phenacolletini, Ctenioschelini, Chalicodomopsini, Liphanthini, Austropanurgini, and Hoplitini. The authorship of three names (Tapinotaspidini, Hexepeolini, and Ancyloscelidina) is corrected as each was a nomen nudum when first proposed, but has been subsequently made available by other authors. The following new names are proposed herein: Scraptrinae Ascher and Engel, new subfamily (Colletidae); Neffapini Ascher, new tribe (Andrenidae: Panurginae); Afrodasypodini Engel, new tribe (Melittidae: Dasypodainae), Afrodasypoda Engel, new genus; Hesperapina Ascher and Engel, new subtribe (Melittidae: Dasypodainae); Macrogaleina Engel, new subtribe (Apidae: Xylocopinae); and Ancyloscelidina Engel and Michener, new subtribe (Apidae: Apinae). A hierarchical outline of Apoidea classification (inclusive of the digger wasps), indicating the suggested current usage of all available family-group names is appended. The name Anthophila, as proposed by Latreille, is adopted for the bees as a whole
The Faraway World Stories
No full textFrom Patricia Engel, whose novel Infinite Country was a New York Times bestseller and a Reese's Book Club pick, comes an exquisite collection of ten haunting, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise.Two Colombian expats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers her deceased brother's bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami, to life-altering ends.The Faraway World is a collection of arresting stories from the New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Country, Patricia Engel, "a gifted storyteller whose writing shines even in the darkest corners" (The Washington Post). Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love
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The Faraway World Stories
No full textFrom Patricia Engel, whose novel Infinite Country was a New York Times bestseller and a Reese's Book Club pick, comes an exquisite collection of ten haunting, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice, and moral compromise.Two Colombian expats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers her deceased brother's bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami, to life-altering ends.The Faraway World is a collection of arresting stories from the New York Times bestselling author of Infinite Country, Patricia Engel, "a gifted storyteller whose writing shines even in the darkest corners" (The Washington Post). Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love
Supplements for Tesla Pump optimization
No full textThis repository is supplementary material for the publication:
Multi-objective Design Optimization of a Tesla-type Rotary Blood Pump.
Sebastian Engel, Gábor Janiga, Dominique Thévenin
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
WWW: https://www.lss.ovgu.d
Stilbochlora wedmanorum Engel 2019, new species
No full textStilbochlora wedmanorum Engel, new species (Figs. 5–7, 14, 18) ZooBank: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 1C4305F5-1F24-42D0-AEB3-E037B7AA6C34 DIAGNOSIS: As in all of the new species reported herein, this species has a more densely striate propodeum relative to the type species of the genus. Unlike S. graceae and S. kateae, however, the striae only extend to about midlength and the striate area is roughly crescent shape (Figs. 14, 18). Like S. kateae, this species is predominantly blue, with dark brown legs and clypeal apex (Figs. 5–7). DESCRIPTION: ♀: Total body length 6.74 mm; forewing length 4.68 mm. Head slightly wider than long (length 1.60 mm, width 1.73 mm); distal half of clypeus projecting below lower tangent of compound eyes; frontal line carinate from approximately lower tangent of toruli to about one torular diameter above upper tangent of toruli; upper interorbital distance 0.93 mm; lower interorbital distance 0.67 mm; ocellocular distance approximately 1.75× ocellar diameter. Scape long, extending to level of lateral ocelli; pedicel longer than first flagellomere; first and second flagellomeres subequal in length. Gena narrower than compound eye in profile. Mesoscutum with median and parapsidal lines moderately impressed, parapsidal line approximately 0.75× length of median line; intertegular distance 1.33 mm; mesoscutellum nearly twice as long as metanotum, approximately subequal to basal area of propodeum. Forewing with basal vein distad 1cu-a by 4× vein width; 1rs-m straight, confluent to slightly basad 1m-cu, roughly parallel to 2Rs; 3Rs subequal to r-rs, and subequal to 4Rs; 5Rs comparatively straight, thus marginal cell tapering uniformly to acutely rounded apex; 2M subequal to 3Rs; 3M more than 2× length 2M; 2rs-m nearly straight, distad 2m-cu by 5× vein width; hind wing with distal hamuli arranged 2-1-2. Inner metatibial spur with five branches, not including apical portion of rachis. Clypeus with coarse punctures separated by less than a puncture width centrally, puncture smaller and a bit more spaced near borders, integument between punctures faintly and finely coriarious to nearly smooth, coriarious integument more prominent in metallic areas; supraclypeal area with punctures smaller than on clypeus, separated by 2–5× a puncture width except denser above near intertorular area, integument between punctures weakly and finely coriarious; face below tangent of antennal toruli with minute punctures separated by a puncture width or less, integument between punctures smooth; face above tangent of antennal toruli with minute punctures nearly contiguous, integument between punctures smooth; punctures becoming more spaced toward ocellar area and in ocellocular area, in ocellocular area separated by 3–7× a puncture width, integument between punctures smooth; vertex with integument as described for ocellocular area; gena with punctures separated by 2–3× a puncture width, blending ventrally to coriarious integument of postgena; postgena prominently coriarious and impunctate. Pronotum smooth, with sparsely scatered punctures; mesoscutum with minute punctures separated by 2–5× a puncture width, not noticeably more closely spaced around parapsidal line, integument between punctures smooth; tegula smooth and impunctate except a few, sparsely scatered, weak punctures; mesoscutellum with integument as on central disc of mesoscutum except punctures more widely spaced, punctures along posterior border larger and weaker; metanotum minutely nodulose, integument otherwise finely coriarious; preëpisternum with coarse, shallow punctures nearly contiguous, integument between punctures smooth, hypoepimeral area with sparse, small punctures, otherwise smooth; mesepisternum with small, shallow punctures separated by 3–5× a puncture width; metepisternum smooth with sparsely scatered minute punctures; basal area of propodeum smooth, glabrous, shining, with prominent striae radiating from basal margin, striae short, extending to about midlength of basal area, striae not longer medially, striae closely spaced; lateral and posterior surfaces of propodeum smooth with scatered minute punctures, punctures of posterior surface sparser than those of lateral surface. Metasomal tergum I largely smooth, with scatered minute punctures, apical margin finely, weakly, transversely coriarious and impunctate; terga II–IV as on tergum I except minute punctures of disc more numerous, separated by 2–4× a puncture width, becoming weaker toward apical margin, apical margin as on tergum I; tergum V as on preceding terga except punctures more prominent and more closely spaced; sterna with basal areas smooth and impunctate, central discs finely coriarious and nodulose at setal bases. Mandible brown with reddish apex and lighter center; labrum brown; clypeus brown except metallic blue bordering epistomal sulcus; supraclypeal area and remainder of face brilliant metallic blue with greenish highlights in parocular area; gena as on face; postgena metallic blue-green; antenna dark brown except flagellomeres ventrally lighter, particularly apex and venter of distalmost flagellomere brownish yellow. Pronotum and propleuron dark brown with strong metallic blue highlights and weaker greenish highlights; mesoscutum brilliant metallic blue with greenish highlights; tegula brown, semi-translucent; mesoscutellum and metanotum as on mesoscutum; mes- and metepisternum as on mesoscutum; propodeum as on mesoscutum except greenish highlights lacking; legs largely brown except lighter on tarsi. Wing membranes hyaline and clear; veins dark brown to brown. Metasoma largely dark brown; terga with strong metallic blue highlights and areas of purplish highlights, highlights absent in marginal areas giving metasomal dorsum superficial banded appearance. Pubescence largely white to off white; face with scatered, fine, simple, suberect to erect setae, such setae intermingled with shorter, highly branched to plumose setae on lower face and along ocular borders, such setae not obscuring integument, on upper face fine, short, erect setae, setae becoming longer again on vertex and between ocelli; gena with setae as on vertex except long, erect to suberect setae, with a few apical branches, intermingled with shorter, plumose setae medially; postgena with sparse, elongate, erect setae, some setae with a few apical branches. Mesoscutum with scattered, short, fine, erect, simple setae, some with a few, minute branches, intermixed with shorter erect setae; mesoscutellum as on mesoscutum except intermixed with elongate setae with short branches, such setae most abundant posteriorly, laterally with scatered mid-sized, feathery setae; metanotum as on mesoscutum except elongate setae more numerous; pleura with long, erect to suberect, simple setae, such setae becoming slightly longer ventrally; basal area of propodeum glabrous; lateral and posterior surfaces with setae as on pleura except more numerous on lateral surface and sparser and more erect on posterior surface. Setae of legs largely white, except more yellowish on tarsomeres. Metasomal tergum I with long, erect, simple setae on anterior-facing surface, such setae becoming sparse, short, and more inclined medioapically, dorsal-facing surface with sparse, short, suberect setae, narrow apical margin glabrous; terga II–IV with fine, short, suberect to subappressed, simple setae, intermingled with longer, suberect, simple setae, such longer setae progressively more numerous on succeeding terga; tergum V with setae more numerous than on preceding terga and short setae of disc more fuscous; central discs of sterna with abundant, elongate, erect, simple setae, a few with short branches. ♂: Latet. HOLOTYPE: ♀, Peru: Madre de Dios, Cocha Salvador, Reserved Zone, Manu National Park, 310 m, 12°0’13’’S, 71°31’36’’W, 20–21 Oct 2000, R. Brooks, ex: flight intercept trap (SEMC). PARATYPES: 3♀♀, same data as holotype (SEMC). ETYMOLOGY: The specific epithet honors Scot D. and L. Kim Wedman, inspiring and supportive friends to the author and his spouse, Kellie.Published as part of Engel, Michael S., 2019, New species of the augochlorine bee genus Stilbochlora, with a preliminary key (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), pp. 1-15 in Journal of Melitology 2019 (89) on pages 8-14, DOI: 10.17161/jom.v0i89.11734, http://zenodo.org/record/805743
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