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Agrotis kuamauna Kirkpatrick & Prestes & Eiben & Rubinoff 2019, sp. nov.
No full textAgrotis kuamauna Medeiros & Kirkpatrick, sp. nov. Diagnosis. A. kuamauna is very similar to, and possibly sister to, A. epicremna Meyrick; both species have acute triangular processes on each segment of the male antennal flagellomere. However, A. epicremna occurs on Haleakalā on Maui and is presumed to eat Argyroxiphium sandwicense (Zimmerman 1958) in contrast to a diet based on insects, various plants, and lichens, as observed in A. kuamauna; the spots on the wings of A. kuamauna are consistently more irregular and less well-defined at their edges than those of A. epicremna (see Figs. 1B, 1C, & 1D for comparison). Description (Figs. 1B, 1C, & 2B). Head: Vertex and frontoclypeus mottled black to brown, heavily scaled. Ocelli present. Antenna ca. 0.7–0.8x forewing length; flagellomere bipectinate in males, each segment with acute triangular processes (sensu Zimmerman 1958 pg 216); flagellomere filiform in female. Labial palpus mottled black to brown; porrect; third segment drooping; heavily scaled, length ca. 2.0x diameter of eye; proboscis naked. Thorax: Mottled black to brown dorsally and ventrally. Legs mottled black to brown with light brown scales near apex of each segment; all tibiae and tarsal segments heavily spined; midleg with one pair of tibial spurs; hindlegs with two pairs. Forewing expanse 31–40 mm (n = 15), ground color brown; pronounced black medial reniform spot present near costal margin; several smaller antimedial black spots present; black subbasal band running from costa nearly to anal margin; irregular black subterminal band present running from costa to anal margin; black terminal spots present; fringe brown; brown ventrally. Hindwing light brown dorsally and ventrally. Male genitalia (Fig 3A): Uncus thin, straight except along base, with fine setae along nearly entire length, heavy at apex. Tegumen truncated at apex. Valva subrectangular, gradually widened on dorsal half, long, narrow, with band of strong setae immediately based of corona. Sacculus well defined, extending ~0.6x length of valva and terminating in a pointed apex, ampulla swollen at base. Saccus narrow, U-shaped, with anterior spine-like projection. Juxta subrectangular. Aedeagus broad, cylindrical, with long internal sac (sensu Zimmerman 1 958 pg 216), apex adorned with very short cornuti. Female genitalia (Fig 3B): Posterior apophysis similar in length to anterior apophysis; ductus bursae 1x as long as anterior apophysis; corpus bursae 0.8x as long as anterior apophysis, signum absent; appendix bursae 9x as long as corpus bursae, apex globose; ductus seminalis originating laterally very near corpus bursae apex. Abdomen: Brown with tufts of scales projecting laterally from each segment. Larva (Fig. 2C): Early instar larva mottled light brown to dark brown dorsally, four distinct black spots dorsally on each dorsal segment: two anterior spots near each other per segment and two posterior spots farther apart from each other. Black spots not as distinct in mature larva. Faint dorsal-medial line parallel to body, light in color. Semi-transparent ventrally, segments apparent, with sparse setae. Head capsule semicircular, dark brown, mandible strong, antennae with single setae. Each leg with a single terminal claw and long setae. Pupa (Fig. 2D): ~ 15 x 5 mm, reddish brown, rounded anteriorly, tapered posterior. Brownish red, black spots on wings become visible through membrane, blackish brown before eclosion. Darker color lines the posterior of segments 5–10, single cone on segments 6, 7, 8, black spot on segments 5–8. Cremaster small with two acute hooks; hooks diverging from each other. Holotype: UNITED STATES: HAWAI‘ I: Hawai ‘ i Island: Mauna Kea VLBA, 12,000 ft.: 1 ♂, 8 Jan 2017, J. Kirkpatrick (UHIM). Paratypes: UNITED STATES: HAWAII: Hawai ‘ i Island: Maunakea, 3,840m, 19.81544 -155.45583, 26 Oct 2015, pup. 9 & 11 Nov 2015, em. 1 Dec 2015: 3 ♂, J. Eiben (BPBM). Maunakea, Halepōhaku region, 3171 m, 19.77039 -155.45267, 21–27 Feb 2014, pup. 1 May 2014: 1 ♂, J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea, Halepōhaku region, 3171 m, 19.77028 -155.45221, 21–27 Feb 2014, em. 29 May 2014: 1 ♀, J. Eiben (BPBM). Maunakea, Halepōhaku region, 9605 ft, N19°45.836 W155°27.668 (at UV light), 28 Jun 2013: 2 ♂ (slide LB84), J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea, Halepōhaku Facility, 9,270ft 19°45'40.54"N 155°27'20.63"W, 7 Jun 2012: 1 ♂ (slide LB83), J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea MKSR, 30 Aug 2016: 1 ♀, F. Klasner (BPBM). Site ID: TH7, 26 Oct 2015, pup. 15 Nov 2015, em. 4 Dec 2015: 1 ♂, J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea, Puʻuwēkiu base, 12,750ft 19.81834 -155.4599, 26 Oct 2015, pup. 13 Dec 2015, em. 1 Jan 2016: 1 ♂, J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea, Puʻuwēkiu base 12,650ft, 19.81815 - 155.45627, 26 Oct 2015, pup. 7 Dec 2015: 1 ♂, Dominique Zarders (UHIM). Maunakea, Puʻuwēkiu base, 12,650ft 19.81815 -155.45627, 26 Oct 2015, pup. 12 Nov 2015, em. 1 Jan 2016: 1 ♀, J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea, North of Puʻulilinoe, 12,700ft, 19.81538 -155.45906, 26 Oct 2015, pup. 29 Nov 2015: 1 ♀, J. Eiben (UHIM). Maunakea, West Halepōhaku region, 9,500ft, N19°45.636 W155°27.683 (at UV light), 28 Jun 2013: 1 ♀ (slides LB82 and LB82 “wings”), J. Eiben (UHIM). Mauna Kea, TMT13B, 26 Sept 2008: 1 ♀, J. Eiben & Brenner, (voucher AP115; UHIM). Mauna Kea, PuusVLBA West facing slope, 17 Jul 2006, 1 ♂, D. Rubinoff & J. Eiben, (voucher AP113, UHIM). Mauna Kea, Burns cone, 14 May 2006: 1 ♂, A. Prestes, (voucher AP114; UHIM). Etymology. The Hawaiian word “kuamauna” means “spine [of the] mountain” or “mountaintop,” referring to the presence of A. kuamauna on the uppermost slopes of Maunakea. Remarks. A. kuamauna larvae have been collected throughout the alpine and subalpine ecosystems (3000– 4205m) on Maunakea including tephra rock cinder cones and glacial till substrates. Larvae appear to be associated with ash substrates which are higher in relative humidity and experience smaller changes in temperature than cinder substrates (Eiben & Rubinoff 2010). The ash substrates may reduce larval desiccation and allow for thermoregulation in this extremely dry and harsh environment, as has been observed in the co-occurring wēkiu bug (Duman & Montgomery 1991; Eiben & Rubinoff 2014). Observations made in the lab and field over a decade suggest that the larvae of this species are omnivorous and although they appear to prefer protein sources, they will also feed on plant material blown up to the alpine region (Howarth 1987); A. kuamauna larvae were observed to readily consume tuna and wind-deposited insects in field baited pitfall traps. A generalist carnivorous diet was observed in the laboratory for this species as well, with larvae able to successfully pupate and emerge as adults after being fed an insect-only diet. Unconfirmed field observations suggest that larvae may also feed on lichens (Duman & Montgomery 1991). Generally, larvae stop eating and lay in a supine position 2–3 days before pupation. Most larvae pupated on the surface of the ash, but a few specimens also buried their head under the ash with their abdomen erect. One larva built a loose ash case, apparently combined with salivary excretions, in which it pupated. This casing completely covered the pupa and was about 25 mm in length, 15 mm in width, and 10 mm in height. This particular specimen took about 10 days from the time it stopped eating until pupation. Eclosion for all specimens occurred about 30 days after pupation in laboratory temperatures at 20–22°C. Like A. helela, A. kuamauna is diurnal, though not small or particularly dark in color.Published as part of Kirkpatrick, Jessica, Prestes, Andersonn, Eiben, Jesse & Rubinoff, Daniel, 2019, Two new day-flying species of Agrotis Ochsenheimer (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from the alpine summit of the Maunakea Volcano, pp. 277-285 in Zootaxa 4545 (2) on pages 281-283, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4545.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/261884
Machine learning for human cancer research
No full textEiben, A.E. [Promotor]Vaart, A.W. van der [Promotor]Marchiori, E. [Copromotor
Effect of controlled nursing with one-day fasting on rabbit doe performance.
No full textThis work studied whether the expected better subsequent reproduction for permanent controlled nursing versus free nursing
could be further improved by a caloric biostimulation with temporary fasting and re-feeding of does before artificial insemination
(AI) and how it influences the development of current litters. A total of 240 females were randomly assigned at first day of
lactation to one of three groups each with 80 does in a balanced manner according to the number of kits, litter weight, newborn kit
weight after adjusting to 8 rabbits per litter, doe body weight and parity. Rabbits in the control group (C) were fed ad libitum and
nursed freely up to weaning at 35 days of age. In the group of local farm practice (F) females also received a diet ad libitum but
controlled nursing was used. That meant once a day nursing for the first 14 days of lactation (8 am to 9 am) with using a metalsheet
for doe–litter separation and free nursing afterwards. In the biostimulated group (B) does were subjected to a 24-h fasting
between days 8 and 9 (i.e. only drinking was possible between 10 am Monday and 10 am Tuesday) with a 48–50 h ad libitum refeeding
before AI (at 11 days, between 10 am and 12 am Thursday) and similar controlled nursing regime to F group. This
biostimulation reduced the ratio of does having turgid vulva by 16.9% (46.7 vs. 63.6 and 48.1% for the B, F and C groups,
respectively; Pb0.05) and the kindling rate by 6.8% (78.7 vs. 85.5 and 71.1%; Pb0.05) when compared with merely controlled
nursing (F). However, biostimulation tended (P=0.152) to increase the total-born by one kit per litter (11.2 vs. 10.2 and 10.3).
Individual kit weights and litter weights at weaning were reduced in response to controlled nursing (944, 966 vs. 1033 g; P=0.001
and 7179, 7451 vs. 7900 g; P=0.001). Biostimulation led to 17% lower total weight of 70-day-old rabbits per doe (14.54 vs.
17.53, 17.51 kg; P=0.009) compared to F and C groups due to poorer 35–70 day growth (36.1 vs. 40.5, 40.8 g/day; P=0.001)
and higher mortality than for C group (12.3 vs. 7.9%; Pb0.01). In conclusion, this biostimulation worsened the subsequent
reproductive performance of does and the development of current litter. Further research is required about the presumable
interaction between the nursing system and feeding strategy of does
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Bisection of Bounded Treewidth Graphs by Convolutions
No full textIn the Bisection problem, we are given as input an edge-weighted graph G. The task is to find a partition of V(G) into two parts A and B such that ||A| - |B|| <= 1 and the sum of the weights of the edges with one endpoint in A and the other in B is minimized. We show that the complexity of the Bisection problem on trees, and more generally on graphs of bounded treewidth, is intimately linked to the (min, +)-Convolution problem. Here the input consists of two sequences (a[i])^{n-1}_{i = 0} and (b[i])^{n-1}_{i = 0}, the task is to compute the sequence (c[i])^{n-1}_{i = 0}, where c[k] = min_{i=0,...,k}(a[i] + b[k - i]).
In particular, we prove that if (min, +)-Convolution can be solved in O(tau(n)) time, then Bisection of graphs of treewidth t can be solved in time O(8^t t^{O(1)} log n * tau(n)), assuming a tree decomposition of width t is provided as input. Plugging in the naive O(n^2) time algorithm for (min, +)-Convolution yields a O(8^t t^{O(1)} n^2 log n) time algorithm for Bisection. This improves over the (dependence on n of the) O(2^t n^3) time algorithm of Jansen et al. [SICOMP 2005] at the cost of a worse dependence on t. "Conversely", we show that if Bisection can be solved in time O(beta(n)) on edge weighted trees, then (min, +)-Convolution can be solved in O(beta(n)) time as well. Thus, obtaining a sub-quadratic algorithm for Bisection on trees is extremely challenging, and could even be impossible. On the other hand, for unweighted graphs of treewidth t, by making use of a recent algorithm for Bounded Difference (min, +)-Convolution of Chan and Lewenstein [STOC 2015], we obtain a sub-quadratic algorithm for Bisection with running time O(8^t t^{O(1)} n^{1.864} log n)
On the Parameterized Complexity of Symmetric Directed Multicut
No full textWe study the problem Symmetric Directed Multicut from a parameterized complexity perspective. In this problem, the input is a digraph D, a set of cut requests C = {(s₁,t₁),…,(s_l,t_l)} and an integer k, and the task is to find a set X ⊆ V(D) of size at most k such that for every 1 ≤ i ≤ l, X intersects either all (s_i,t_i)-paths or all (t_i,s_i)-paths. Equivalently, every strongly connected component of D-X contains at most one vertex out of s_i and t_i for every i. This problem is previously known from research in approximation algorithms, where it is known to have an O(log k log log k)-approximation. We note that the problem, parameterized by k, directly generalizes multiple interesting FPT problems such as (Undirected) Vertex Multicut and Directed Subset Feedback Vertex Set. We are not able to settle the existence of an FPT algorithm parameterized purely by k, but we give three partial results: An FPT algorithm parameterized by k+l; an FPT-time 2-approximation parameterized by k; and an FPT algorithm parameterized by k for the special case that the cut requests form a clique, Symmetric Directed Multiway Cut. The existence of an FPT algorithm parameterized purely by k remains an intriguing open possibility
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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