251 research outputs found
Aspidura desilvai Mendis Wickramasinghe & Bandara & Vidanapathirana & Wickramasinghe 2019, sp. nov.
No full textAspidura desilvai sp. nov. (Figures 1–7) Holotype. NMSL-NH 2019.01.0 2, adult male, 168 mm SVL (Figure 2), from Riverstone, Knuckles, Matale District, Central Province, Sri Lanka (07°31’39” N, 80°44’01” E, elevation 1420 m). Collected by L.J.M. W and D.R.V. on 0 7 July 2018. Paratypes. NMSL-NH 2019.01.0 1, adult female, 208 mm SVL, from Panwila in Knuckles Mountain Range, Kandy District, Central Province in Sri Lanka (07°22'00.36’’ N, 080°41'00.10’’ E, elevation 995 m). Collected by L.J.M. W and I.N.B. on 13 March 2011; DWC 2019.05.0 1, adult female, 157 mm SVL, from Dotulugala, Knuckles Mountain Range, Kandy District, Central Province, Sri Lanka (07°27'00.30” N, 080°45'00.20” E, elevation 1700 m). Collected by L.J.M. W and I.N.B. on 17 March 2011; DWC 2019.05.0 2, juvenile male, 93 mm SVL, from Gombaniya Mountain, Knuckles Mountain Range, Matale District, Central Province, Sri Lanka (07°27'51.76’’ N, 080°45'51.79’’ E, elevation 1375 m). Collected by L.J.M. W and I.N.B. on 13 March 2011. Diagnosis. SVL 94–216 mm; snout to eye distance 2.5 times the eye width (SE/EW); prefrontals touching eye; preocular small, does not touch supraocular; postoculars 2, lower one larger than the upper; temporal 1+2/1+2; supralabials 6/6, 4 th touching eye; infralabials 6/6, first pair in contact, progressively increasing in size from 1 st to 6 th; anterior chin shields 2, large, touching 1–4 infralabials; posterior chin shields 2, anterior half in contact while the posterior half separated by 1 st ventral; ventrals 124–139; subcaudals 16–29; dorsal scale rows 15–15–15; laterally spine like tubercles present on two scale rows nearest to the subcaudals of the ischiadic, anal and tail base regions in adult males, feeble in juvenile males, and absent in females; entire dorsum brown colour, much paler towards anterior; three irregular dotted lines on dorsum. Description of holotype. Adult male; SVL 168 mm; TaL 25.1 mm; TL 193.1 mm; TaL/TL 0.13; body elongate and cylindrical; head short (SVL/HL 18.3), elliptical, indistinct from thick neck; snout long, narrowing anteriorly, pointed in dorsal aspect, snout to nostril distance about 2.8 (EW/SN) times as long as nostril width; nasal divided; small, triangular nostril, touching divided nasal and first supralabial, not touching rostral; eye larger than horizontal diameter of nostril, distance between snout to eye about 2.6 (SE/EW) times the eye width, round pupil; snout to eye distance 0.3 times head length (SE/HL); tail short (TaL/SVL 0.1), robust at its base, tapering progressively to a single point. Head scalation. Head scalation includes 1 internasal, 2 prefrontals, 2 supraoculars, 1 frontal, and 2 parietals (Figure 3A). Rostral small, convex, wider than long and rounded in lateral, dorsal and ventral aspects. Nasal vertically divided by a groove above nostril (Figure 3B). Internasal large, irregular hexagonal; widely in contact with prefrontals. Two large prefrontals, longer and wider than internasals, largest distance along the longitudinal axis of prefrontals shorter than frontal (Figure 3A) in length, anterior-most corner of prefrontals touching nasal, bordered by 2 nd and 3 rd supralabial, preocular scale, eye, supraocular and frontal. Preocular small, not in contact with supraocular. Loreal and subocular scales absent. Supraocular smaller than frontal. Two postoculars, lower one larger than upper. Two parietals; largest scales on head. Temporals 1+2/1+2. Supralabials 6/6, 4 th touching eye, progressively increasing in size from 1 st to 6 th (Figure 3B). Mental small and triangular, wider than long. Infralabials 6/6, first pair in contact, progressively increasing in size from 1 st to 6 th. Anterior chin shields 2, large, touching 1–4 infralabials. Posterior chin shields 2, anterior half in contact, posterior portion separated by 1 st ventral (Figure 3C). Body scalation. Ventrals 124, 1 st ventral longer than wide; subcaudals 24, all single; anal single and large; dorsal scale rows 15–15–15; laterally prominent spine like tubercles present on two scale rows nearest to the subcaudals, and its protrusion reducing towards upper scale rows in the ischiadic, anal and tail base regions (Figure 4); vertebral rows and first coastal not enlarged; no apical pit. Hemipenis morphology. Based on Holotype specimen: right everted hemipenis extends for length of 3 subcaudals. Everted organ single subcylindrical, globular, sulcus spermaticus simple. Basal to apex region bearing prominent spines which are evenly distributed and are in uniform length (Figure 5). Colour in life. Supralabials and infralabials light yellow, with dark margins separating each scale (Figure 6A). Entire dorsum reddish brown colour, much paler towards anterior and each scale having tiny dark spots (Figure 2). Three irregular dotted lines on dorsum (Figure 6B). These are symmetrically placed and continues from neck to tail end. Prominent light brown stripe continues dorsolaterally from neck to tail end, marked due to much darker regions which constitutes of dotted lines below and above this region. These lines continue from neck to tail end. Venter primarily peach, with black blotching all over; gular region yellow. Colour in alcohol. Colour pattern remains unchanged. Pupil changes to off white. Darker regions fades to a light brown. Variations in colour. In an unpreserved male specimen (Figure 7D) except the head region and ventre the entire body was black. Natural History. Aspidura desilvai sp. nov. have been observed commonly in its habitat (Figure 1). The species is confined to Knuckles conservation area, and is found in and above the lower montane forests of Knuckles. Authors have observed the snake from 995 m up to 1700 m above sea level (Figure 8). The habitat of A. desilvai sp. nov. is closed canopy forests dominated by Syzigium sp. (Figure 9). The moist-cooler habitat is densely occupied with large and medium sized trees which are heavily covered with epiphytes. No direct sunlight falls to the forest floor, and the undergrowth was not well established where the individuals were found. Relatively thin litter cover was observed in the habitat. Commonly observed under leaf litter and loose soil while they were also observed under rocks, boulders, and decaying logs. Individuals come out to the surface during the day time. Reddish brown latosolic soil in the locality is more or less similar to the body colour of the snake. Etymology. The species is named in honor of Pilippu Hewa Don Hemasiri de Silva (Dr. P. H. D. H. de Silva), a former Director (1965-1981) of the National Museums of Sri Lanka. In recognition of his tireless services to the country, while in service and through his many publications specially as the author of the book titled “ Snake Fauna of Sri Lanka, with special reference to skull, dentition and venom in snakes ”. The species epithet desilvai is a noun in the genitive case. Suggested common names. desilvage madilla, and de Silva’s Rough-Side Snake in native Sinhala language and English language respectively. Comparison. The new species was compared with all known congeners of the genus Aspidura and the species most closely resembles A. ravanai, and A. trachyprocta, due to the following combination of characters: one preocular, two postoculars, 1+2 temporals, supralabials 6, 4 th supralabial in contact with the eye, infralabials 6, coastals 15, single cloacal scale, and overlapping ventral and subcaudal counts, but can easily be distinguished by the following morphological characters: from A. ravanai: entire dorsum brown colour, much paler towards anterior and each scale having tiny dark spots in Aspidura desilvai sp. nov. (vs. entire dorsum jet black in Aspidura ravanai), ventrolaterally darker region which constitutes of irregular longitudinal dotted lines (vs. ventrolaterally an irregular longitudinal yellow stripe), laterally prominent spine like tubercles present on two scale rows nearest to the subcaudals, and its protrusion reducing towards upper scale rows (vs. entire coastal rows coarsely keeled, with 1–3 peaks on each scale) in males (Figures 4 & 10 A–C), entire coastal rows of the ischiadic, anal and tail base regions smooth (vs. feebly keeled) in females, snout to eye distance about 2.5 times its eye width (vs. 3.2 times in A. ravanai) (Figures 3 & 10 D–E); from Aspidura trachyprocta: entire dorsum brown colour, much paler towards anterior and each scale having tiny dark spots in A. desilvai sp. nov. (vs. reddish-yellow to brown with a longitudinal black stripe on mid dorsum in Aspidura trachyprocta), ventrolaterally darker region which constitutes of irregular longitudinal dotted lines (vs. black stripe), laterally prominent spine like tubercles present on two scale rows nearest to the subcaudals, and its protrusion reducing towards upper scale rows (vs. bulging spine like tubercles prominent laterally which reduces towards dorsum) of the ischiadic, anal and tail base regions in males (Figures 4 & 11 A–C), entire coastal rows of the ischiadic, anal and tail base regions smooth (vs. feebly keeled) in females, snout to eye distance about 2.5 times its eye width (vs. twice in A. trachyprocta) (Figures 3 & 11 D–E); from A. brachyorrhos Boie, 1827, by having 15 coastals (vs. 17), preocular not in contact with supraocular (vs. contact), prefrontal contact with eye (vs. separate), single subcaudals (vs. paired); from A. copei Günther, 1864 by having coastals 15 (vs. 17), single subcaudals (vs. paired), single preocular (vs. absent); from A. deraniyagalae Gans & Fetcho, 1982 by having 15 coastals (vs. 17), ventrals 124–139 (vs. 117–122), single subcaudals (vs. paired); from A. drummondhayi Boulenger, 1904, by having single subcaudals (vs. paired), single preocular (vs. absent); from A. guentheri Ferguson, 1876 by having 15 coastals (vs. 17), ventrals 124–139 (vs. 100–127); from A. ceylonensis (Günther, 1858), by prefrontal touching eye (vs. not touching eye), preocular does not touch supraocular (vs. touches), lower postocular larger than the upper (vs. vise versa), mid body coastals not keeled (vs. coarsely keeled).Published as part of Mendis Wickramasinghe, L. J., Bandara, Imesh Nuwan, Vidanapathirana, Dulan Ranga & Wickramasinghe, Nethu, 2019, A new species of Aspidura Wagler, 1830 (Squamata: Colubridae: Natricinae) from Knuckles, World Heritage Site, Sri Lanka, pp. 265-280 in Zootaxa 4559 (2) on pages 266-272, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4559.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/262697
The search for our cosmic ancestry
No full textThe idea that life is a cosmic, rather than a purely terrestrial phenomenon, has progressed from scientific heresy to mainstream science within the short timespan of a few decades. The theory of cometary panspermia developed by Fred Hoyle and the present author in the 1970's has been vindicated by a spate of new discoveries in astronomy and biology, and also with startling new evidence of microbial fossils in meteorites and micrometeorites. The recent Kepler Telescope searches for exoplanets have indicated the presence of over 100 billion habitable planets separated by only a few light years, thus making panspermia and the transfer of microbial life between such planets an inevitable fact. The book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe theory of cometary panspermia in a manner accessible to a wide general readership
Quantifying the impact of policies addressing sustainable and healthy diets
No full textThere is increasing concern regarding the sustainability of global food production. It is unclear whether sustainable diets are healthy diets, and vice versa. The UK Government has declared its intention to achieve sustainable food procurement, but it is unclear whether this would lead to healthier foods provided in the public sector. In this thesis, I developed a method to quantify simultaneously the nutritional impact and carbon footprint of policies addressing sustainable and healthy diets using the primary school meals sector in England as an example. I systematically reviewed the literature to produce a list of the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) in KgCO2e associated with the production of a kilogram of different foods. These data were incorporated into a nutritional database (constructed from a dietary survey) - the Primary School Food Survey (PSFS) 2009 database. This dataset contains information on meals provided by schools and packed lunches from a representative sample of primary school children in England. GHGE values of individual food items from the systematic review were used to allocate a GHGE value for each food item included in the PSFS using a novel method. I analysed this dataset to present the current status of primary school meals with both nutritional and GHGE values. This analysis showed that a higher proportion of primary school lunches are healthier than packed lunches, when healthiness is defined as meeting nutrient-based standards for school foods – 64.5% of school lunches met at least 7 of the 14 standards compared to 43.2% of the packed lunches. But the mean GHGE value associated with a school lunch was slightly higher than packed lunches. Mena value (95% uncertainty interval) of a school lunch was 0.72 (0.71 – 0.74) compared to 0.70 (0.69 -0.71) KgCO2e. Incorporating uncertainty in GHGE parameters inflated the confidence intervals considerably. Scenario analyses showed that if primary school food sector in England achieves new food-based standards (published by the School Food Plan in July 2014) the proportion of meals achieving 7 or more nutrient-based standards would increase but the standards for saturated fat, salt and free sugars would be less likely to be achieved. The carbon foot print would also go up. If we adopt a 'Meat Free Mondays' policy, the proportion of meals achieving 7 or more nutrient-based standards will increase and the carbon foot print will be reduced. In both of those scenarios the nutrient-based standards for saturated fat, salt and non-milk extrinsic sugar are less likely to be achieved. Linear programming analyses showed that to construct a primary school meal which meets specific nutrient based standards with minimum GHGE values, it is possible to achieve a 40% reduction in GHGEs. The results of this thesis can be used to guide Government efforts to achieve healthy, sustainable food provision in primary schools and other sectors. The methods developed here can improve modelling studies that consider nutritional outcomes and sustainability outcomes simultaneously, particularly with regard to incorporating uncertainty into modelling results
WhatsApp Peer Coaching Lessons for eHealth
No full textWhatsApp was evaluated as a peer coach group support tool in a healthy lifestyle intervention with 15 young professionals. These individuals were time-constrained professionals, so two design challenges were to create enough attractiveness and quality in the peer group interactions. There were three main health domains: food, physical activity, and mental energy. As a result of the 12 week pilot, there were 127 WhatsApp peer coaching inputs. The variety of inputs was better than in a previous pilot; peer coaching quality improved; plus there was more continuity following the initial two weeks. Community building remained a challenge, especially in the longer run. Two design solutions seemed to work: pre-designed coach-inputs across health domains, plus the instructions for a health advocate from the group, per health domain. Based on the results, the authors hypothesize that user needs in the first five weeks …Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Interactive Intelligenc
'Because the baby asks for it': a mixed-methods study on local perceptions toward nutrition during pregnancy among marginalised migrant women along the Myanmar-Thailand border
No full textBackground: under- and over-nutrition during pregnancy are known risk factors for pregnancy complications and adverse pregnancy and infant outcomes. Understanding perceptions around nutrition in pregnancy can create culturally appropriate interventions for improved health outcomes.Objective: a mixed-methods study was performed to explore local perceptions and practices of diet and physical activity in pregnancy in a marginalised population along the Myanmar-Thailand border.Methods: from April to July 2017, a cross-sectional survey and focus group discussions were conducted with pregnant women reporting to antenatal care; in-depth interviews were conducted with senior midwives at participating organisations along the Myanmar-Thailand border.Results: a total of 388 pregnant women were interviewed at two clinic sites along the Myanmar-Thailand border. A high proportion of women had limited knowledge of and poor dietary practices. Consuming a sweetened drink in the last 24 hours as well as being a non-teenage, multigravida woman was significantly associated with high body mass index (BMI) compared to normal BMI. Qualitative analysis combined focus group discussions (n = 66) and in-depth interviews (n = 4) summarising emergent themes: common foods eaten or avoided and rationale; benefits of nutrition; perceptions of overweight and weight gain during pregnancy; barriers to a healthy diet; and sources of diet information.Conclusions: there is limited awareness about healthy diets and lifestyle in these marginalised, migrant communities along the Myanmar-Thailand border. This study suggests that simple, culturally appropriate messaging should be provided to women and communities with low health literacy to generate awareness about healthy lifestyles and their effects on pregnancy outcomes as an important element of a broader strategy to address maternal nutrition in this population. However, more studies to determine the effectiveness of a broad range of interventions in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are needed, especially in marginalised migrant populations.</p
Evaluating the impact of World Health Organization ‘Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative’ approaches on adolescent nutrition outcomes in rural Sri Lanka
No full textBackground Sri Lanka is a lower-middle income country (LMIC) currently experiencing a double burden of malnutrition. School-based approaches to promoting a healthy diet are one potentially promising method to address these public health challenges. The World Health Organization’s ‘Nutrition-Friendly Schools Initiative’ (NFSI) provides a framework of best practices for school-based approaches to promote healthy diets among students, but there has been a dearth of research assessing the impact of NFSI approaches on student nutrition outcomes. Objectives This thesis aims to describe the nutritional quality of the diets of adolescent students living in rural Sri Lanka, to identify if there was significant district- or school-level variation in the nutritional quality of these diets, and to see if there were significant associations between the schools’ NFSI approaches (summarised as the number of NFSI actions that schools were implementing) to promote healthy diets and student nutrition outcomes. Methods This study was part of a larger World Bank-funded project entitled ‘Integrating Nutrition Promotion and Rural Development.’ Data were collected in July-August 2014 and August- September 2015 from secondary school students (n=1300) and principals of schools (n=49) in three rural districts of Sri Lanka using clustered randomised sampling methods. Students’ demographics and diets were assessed using the WHO Global school-based student health survey (GSHS) and a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). School actions to promoting healthy diets were collected using the ‘NFSI tool’ which was administered as a semi-structured interview with school staff. Diet quality was summarised using the Diet-Quality Index-International, BMI Z-scores, and intake of selected nutrients. Multilevel analyses were used to examine associations between school NFSI actions and student outcomes, while controlling for confounders at both the school- and student-levels. Results Results indicated that student’s diet quality was low, with notable deficiencies in protein and calcium. There was no significant between-district variation in student outcomes, but there was significant between-school variation, suggesting that there was a ‘school-effect’ on diet quality. However, multilevel analyses indicated that at both baseline and follow-up there were no significant associations between the number of NFSI actions that schools reported and student nutrition outcomes. Conclusions This study was, to the best of my knowledge, the first formal evaluation of NFSI actions and student outcomes. Further research is needed to examine associations between NFSI actions and student outcomes over a longer time-frame. Additionally, more work is needed to identify whether or not school variation in diet quality is due to school nutrition-promoting actions that are not currently included in the NFSI, actions that are not detected by the NFSI tool or other factors that are not measured in this study. In addition to conducting more research on the NFSI, further research is also needed to understand more generally the most effective school-based approaches to improve students’ diets
Rhinophis roshanpererai Wickramasinghe, Vidanapathirana, Rajeev & Gower, 2017, sp. nov.
No full textRhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. Figs. 1–5; Table 1 Holotype. NMSL 2016.08.0 1 NH (Figs. 2–3; Table 1), adult male, 207.9 mm SVL, Galkanda, Beragala, Badulla District, Uva Province, Sri Lanka (6° 45’ 07.98” N, 80° 57’ 20.23” E, elevation 940 m). Collected by L.J. Mendis Wickramasinghe, Dulan Ranga Vidanapathirana, and M. D. Gehan Rajeev, 10 May 2010. Paratypes. DWC 2016.05.0 3, adult female, 205.2 mm SVL (Fig. 4 A); DWC 2016.05.0 4, adult female, 218.2 mm SVL (Fig. 4 B–5). Collection data as for holotype. Diagnosis. A Rhinophis restricted to the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka with 17 dorsal scale rows at midbody, more than 160 and fewer than 175 ventral scales, a small tail shield with spines, three or four of which prominent, and lacking yellowish markings laterally or dorsally. Identification. The new uropeltid species is referred to Rhinophis because it has an eye that lies within an ocular scale (not so in Platyplectrurus Günther, 1868), has a clearly discrete tail shield, lacks a mental groove (present in Melanophidium Günther, 1864), lacks supra- or postoculars or temporals (at least one of which is present in Brachyophidium Wall, 1921, Platyplectrurus, Plectrurus Duméril, 1851, and Teretrurus Beddome, 1886), lacks midline contact between the nasals (present in Brachyophidium, Melanophidium, Platyplectrurus, Plectrurus, Pseudoplectrurus Boulenger, 1890, Teretrurus, and Uropeltis), and it has midbody dorsal scales in 17 rows (15 in Brachyophidium, Melanophidium, Platyplectrurus, Plectrurus, Pseudoplectrurus, Teretrurus). Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. differs from all four Indian species of Rhinophis by having a very small tail shield with spines (versus relatively much larger tail shield without spines). It differs further in having a ventral count of 168 or 169 (versus more than 200 in R. goweri Aengals and Ganesh, 2013, fewer than 150 in R. travancoricus Boulenger, 1893, and more than 170 in R. fergusonianus Boulenger, 1896); and in having 17 midbody dorsal scale rows (versus 15 in R. sanguineus Beddome, 1863). Among Sri Lankan congeners, Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. differs from R. saffragamus (Kelaart, 1853) in not having a large and flat tail shield or midline contact between the opposite nasal shields, and by having dorsal scales in 17 rather than 19 rows at midbody. The new species differs from R. dorsimaculatus Deraniyagala, 1941, R. homolepis (Hemprich, 1820), R. lineatus, R. oxyrynchus (Schneider, 1801), R. porrectus Wall, 1921, R. punctatus Müller, 1832 and R. zigzag by having fewer than 175 ventral scales (versus more than 180), and by having a very small tail shield with spines (versus relatively much larger tail shield without spines). Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. differs from R. phillipsi (Nicholls, 1929) in having fewer than 190 ventrals and in lacking yellow lines on the dorsum. Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. resembles R. melanogaster in having a small tail shield, but the new species has a shield surface with four (or three) notably prominent spines, one pair above the other (versus two slightly larger spines ventrally); absence of yellowish lines laterally (versus present); perhaps more ventral scales (168–169 versus 152–166); and a distinct geographical distribution (central highlands of Badulla District vs Knuckles Range, Matale and Kandy Districts). The ventral scale count in R. roshanpererai sp. nov. is similar to or overlapping with those for R. blythii Kelaart 1853, R. drummondhayi Wall, 1921, R. philippinus (Cuvier, 1829), and R. tricolorata Deraniyagala, 1975, but the new species differs from these four Sri Lankan congeners by having a smaller tail shield with spines, three or four of which are prominent (versus large tail shield without notable spines). The new species differs from R. erangaviraji by having more than 165 ventrals (versus fewer than 155), a smaller tail shield, and by lacking substantial yellow areas on the lateral surface of the body and tail. Description of holotype. See Table 1 for morphometric and meristic data. A preserved specimen in good condition; 20 mm long left of ventral incision into coelom extending anteriorly from 10 mm anterior to vent; outer layer of scales loose and missing in parts; a few flank scales more profoundly damaged on left at approximately midbody. Head small, snout pointed (Figs. 2–3). Rostral pointed, longer than wide, without dorsal crest; widest at level of anterior superior corner of first supralabials. Rostral several times longer (in dorsal view) than rostralfrontal gap (Fig. 3). Frontal irregularly hexagonal, longer than wide, lateral (ocular) margins slightly converging posteriorly, posterolateral margins straight to very slightly concave; lateral (ocular) margin shortest, posterolateral edges longest. Frontal longer, wider than rostral. A pair of nasals, separated from each other by posterior half of rostral. External naris small, subcircular, slightly countersunk within small depression, located in anteroventral corner of nasal. Nasal in contact with first and second supralabials. Prefrontals (for most of their length) in contact with each other along midline (left overlapping right), separating frontal from rostral. Prefrontals wider than long, shorter than frontal. Supralabials four, first smallest, making the least contribution to margin of mouth; fourth much the largest. Ocular in contact with third and fourth supralabials. Eye distinct, diameter approximately one third length of ocular, located near anteroventral corner of ocular, bulging slightly from ocular surface, pupil circular. Paired parietals longer than wide, shorter, very slightly wider than frontal, posteriorly broadly rounded, angle between postermedial and posterolateral edges approximately 90°. Opposite parietals in brief midline contact, left overlapping right. Each parietal contacts four scales other than head shields. No mental groove; mental wider than long, smaller than infralabials, contacting first infralabials and single postmental (= first ventral); three pairs of infralabials, second largest, first smallest. First and second ventrals longer than wide, third approximately as long as wide, fourth and subsequent ventrals wider than long. Six or seven maxillary and approximately seven mandibular teeth on each side. Teeth simple, pointed, distinctly retrorse, straight, evenly spaced. Body cylindrical. Body scales generally evenly sized on dorsum and along body except for those involved in dorsal scale row reductions. Midline ventral scales between mental and anal of even size though anteriormost ones gradually narrow. Ventrals 168, posteriormost ventral notably smaller, penultimate ventral paired. Dorsal scale rows 19 anteriorly, reducing to 17 by level with 30th ventral and maintained along most of body; scale row reduction formula: 3 + 4 (30) 19 --------------- 17 3 + 4 (30) Dorsal scale rows approximately 14 at base of tail. Head and body scales macroscopically smooth, lacking keels. Inconspicuous keels on scales on posteriormost portion of body and on tail, increasingly prominent posteriorly, more obvious ventrally (including on anals) and ventrolaterally. Paired anal scales (right overlying left) considerably larger than posteriormost ventrals and subcaudals. Distal margin of each anal overlaps three other scales in addition to anteriormost subcaudals. Seven right and seven left subcaudals. Tail 'shield' mildly conical, forming tip of tail, small, longer than wide in dorsal view, shorter than the frontal in dorsal view, visible from below and especially above, base (much narrower than base of tail) surrounded by last pair of subcaudals and 6 other scales. In posterior view shield oval to slightly egg-shaped, wider ventrally than dorsally (Fig. 3). Shield surface sparsely spinose, most spines small, inconspicuous but four (arranged in two pairs, one above the other) much longer and substantial, pointing straight backwards; ventral pair of larger spines notably longer than dorsal pair (Fig. 3). Colour in life. Dorsum and lateral background uniform black, with sparse, very small yellow flecks (Fig. 2). Ventral background dark brown for most of length, gradually paler anteriorly, darker posteriorly (similar to dark colour of dorsum). Anterior and underside of snout paler than rest of head. Venter with conspicuous yellow blotching, blotches notably larger than on dorsum and lateral surfaces of body; ventral blotching absent on tail, head and anteriormost and posteriormost of body. Colour in alcohol. Colour pattern remains with a little fading, black to dark brown, yellow to off white and brown to a paler brown (Fig. 3). Paratypes and variation. Paratype DWC 2016.05.0 3 is slightly longer (218.2 mm SVL) than the holotype and the other paratype (DWC 2016.05.04) slightly shorter (205.2 mm SVL), both are female. The two paratypes are very similar to the holotype with respect to the description presented above, including identical scale row reductions (19 to 17 rows by level of 30th ventral). DWC 2016.05.0 3 differs from the holotype in having: parietals more notably wider than frontal (Fig. 4 A); seven rather than six scales plus last pair of subcaudals surround base of tail shield; posteriormost ventral paired; supernumerary scale between second pair of subcaudals (Fig. 4 A). DWC 2016.05.0 4 differs from the holotype in having six rather than seven subcaudals on right side, and in having three rather than four major spines on the tail shield, two posteroventrally and one posterodorsally (Fig. 5). Both paratypes appear to have seven maxillary teeth on each side; mandibular counts are more difficult but are estimated at six or seven on each ramus. Paratypes closely resemble holotype in colour pattern. Etymology. The species epithet roshanpererai is named for the late Roshan Perera, who was an Instructor of the Reptiles group of the Young Zoologist’s Association of Sri Lanka, Department of National Zoological Gardens, in recognition of his dedicated services to wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka. The species name roshanpererai is a noun in the genitive case. Suggested vernacular names. Roshan Pererage thudulla, Roshan Pereravin nilakael pambu, Roshan Perera’s sheildtail (or Roshan Perera’s Rhinophis) in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, respectively. Distribution, habitat and threats. The first author first encountered the new species as a single roadkill specimen at the type locality in 1999. In five or six subsequent visits to the type locality approximately 30 individuals of Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. have been observed, including a second roadkill specimen. The type series of R. roshanpererai sp. nov. was found within a 1 m radius, dug during the day from soil ca. 150 mm deep among banana plants in a home garden. Other specimens have been seen at or close to (within a couple of kilometers) of this site in a wide range of habitats, including shaded patches of grassland, tea plantations, and disturbed riverine forest, always dug from soil or leaf litter during the day. A few specimens have been seen moving on the surface, only at night. Several other individuals of the new species were dug from soil in disturbed riverine forest in 1999 from Uda Diyaluma, approximately 10 km away (6° 44’ 08.55” N, 81° 01’ 57.10” E, elevation 750 m), and from Haldummulla, approximately 6 km from the type locality (6° 45’ 39.95” N, 80° 54’ 05.73” E, elevation 938 m). Despite a substantial amount of fieldwork (including digging through soil and leaf litter) at similar altitudes, we have not observed this species outside this region, including at, for example, Haputale, less than 2 km North of the type locality but approximately 400 m higher in elevation. Rhinophis roshanpererai sp. nov. has not been found in sympatry with other uropeltid species. The nearest observation of other species that we know of (L.J.M.W., pers. obs.) is for R. drummondhayi at 960 m elevation at Kubalwela, approximately 16 km to the northeast by north (bearing of 30°) of the type locality of R. roshanpererai sp. nov.. We suspect that the vertical and horizontal distributional range of the new species is small, and that substantial human disturbance in the form of intensive agriculture and urbanization represent the likely greatest conservation threats.Published as part of Mendis Wickramasinghe, L. J., Vidanapathirana, Dulan Ranga, Gehan Rajeev, M. D. & Gower, David J., 2017, A new species of Rhinophis Hemprich, 1820 (Serpentes: Uropeltidae) from the central hills of Sri Lanka, pp. 153-164 in Zootaxa 4263 (1) on pages 155-161, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4263.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/57259
Conditional Complexity of Compression for Authorship Attribution
No full textWe introduce new stylometry tools based on the sliced conditional compression complexity of literary texts which are inspired by the nearly optimal application of the incomputable Kolmogorov conditional complexity (and presumably approximates it). Whereas other stylometry tools can occasionally be very close for different authors, our statistic is apparently strictly minimal for the true author, if the query and training texts are sufficiently large, compressor is sufficiently good and sampling bias is avoided (as in the poll samplings). We tune it and test its performance on attributing the Federalist papers (Madison vs. Hamilton). Our results confirm the previous attribution of Federalist papers by Mosteller and Wallace (1964) to Madison using the Naive Bayes classifier and the same attribution based on alternative classifiers such as SVM, and the second order Markov model of language. Then we apply our method for studying the attribution of the early poems from the Shakespeare Canon and the continuation of Marlowe’s poem ‘Hero and Leander’ ascribed to G. Chapman.compression complexity, authorship attribution.
Examining trends in cardiovascular disease mortality across Europe:How does the introduction of a new European Standard Population affect the description of the relative burden of cardiovascular disease?
No full textBackground: Some mortality statistics are misleading when comparing between countries due to varying age distributions in their populations. In order to adjust for these differences, age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) are often produced. ASMRs allow for comparisons between countries as if both had the same standardised population. We examined whether the updating of the standard population for Europe affected the description of the relative burden between countries in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality across the continent. Methods: Mortality and population data were obtained from the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database. ASMRs were calculated using the direct method and two European Standard Populations (ESP): 1976 ESP and 2013 ESP. We investigated differences in ASMR76 (calculated using 1976 ESP) and ASMR13 (calculated using 2013 ESP), changes in rankings of countries between the two ASMRs and differences in trends in CVD mortality in each country for the two ASMRs. Results: CVD rates calculated using the 1976 ESP were on average half the size of rates calculated using the 2013 ESP. Spearman's rank coefficient showed that the ranks of countries by ASMRs calculated using the two ESPs were different for both sexes. Joinpoint analyses showed no difference in the direction of trend between ASMR76 and ASMR13 although differences in the magnitude of the change were found in some countries. Conclusion: ASMRs are commonly used in studying the epidemiology of a disease. It is crucial that policy makers understand the effect of changes in standard populations on these rates. This includes how populations with different age distributions compare to each other. Similar effects may be seen in other diseases that are also more prevalent in older age groups, such as cancer and dementia.</p
- …
