Sara G. Arranz, Souzanna Siarabi, Sharrah McKenzie
et al.
The suid assemblages from Europe experienced considerable turnover during the Vallesian (MN9-MN10, early Late Miocene), ultimately leading to a marked decline in diversity during the Turolian. To provide further insight into the timing and paleoecological context of this Vallesian turnover in the suid assemblages, here we revisit the taxonomic composition of the suids from the Late Miocene (9.8 Ma) fossil locality of Can Llobateres 1 (CLL1; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula), with emphasis on species other than the small tetraconodontine Parachleuastochoerus crusafonti (for which CLL1 is the type locality). Although CLL1 is one of the most thoroughly sampled Vallesian sites from Europe, a recent revision of the faunal list evinced that the occurrence of multiple large mammals is based on fossil remains that were described many decades ago or that have never been published, leading to potentially misleading or, at least, insufficiently substantiated attributions. According to published accounts, three additional suid species are recorded at CLL1, being much scarcer than Pa. crusafonti: the listriodontine Listriodon splendens, the suine Propotamochoerus palaeochoerus, and a large tetraconodontine variously assigned to Versoporcus steinheimensis or ‘Parachleuastochoerus’ valentini. Our revision of the available remains, including unpublished material recovered from the 1980s onward, confirms the presence of the two former species and the assignment of the large tetraconodontine to ‘Pa.’ valentini. On biochronological grounds, the association of these taxa is characteristic of the early Vallesian, with the record of L. splendens representing the last well-dated occurrence of this species. From a paleoenvironmental viewpoint, the suid assemblage from CLL1 is consistent with previous inferences indicating the presence of a densely forested and humid environment with more open habitats nearby.
We explore the dexterous manipulation transfer problem by designing simulators. The task wishes to transfer human manipulations to dexterous robot hand simulations and is inherently difficult due to its intricate, highly-constrained, and discontinuous dynamics and the need to control a dexterous hand with a DoF to accurately replicate human manipulations. Previous approaches that optimize in high-fidelity black-box simulators or a modified one with relaxed constraints only demonstrate limited capabilities or are restricted by insufficient simulation fidelity. We introduce parameterized quasi-physical simulators and a physics curriculum to overcome these limitations. The key ideas are 1) balancing between fidelity and optimizability of the simulation via a curriculum of parameterized simulators, and 2) solving the problem in each of the simulators from the curriculum, with properties ranging from high task optimizability to high fidelity. We successfully enable a dexterous hand to track complex and diverse manipulations in high-fidelity simulated environments, boosting the success rate by 11\%+ from the best-performed baseline. The project website is available at https://meowuu7.github.io/QuasiSim/.
Georgios L. Georgalis, Andrea Villa, Martin Ivanov
et al.
Abstract We here describe abundant new fossil material of amphibians and reptiles from different late Neogene localities of northern Greece: the Early Pliocene (MN 14) of Spilia 0, Spilia 1, and Spilia 2; the Early Pliocene (MN 15) of Spilia 3, Spilia 4, Spilia 5, and Vevi; and the Late Miocene or Pliocene of Chalicorrema and Rema Marmara. These new late Neogene herpetofaunas are highly diverse, documenting a considerably rich herpetofauna allowing the identification of at least two salamander, seven frog, two turtle, seven lizard, and eight snake taxa. Salamanders are represented by the salamandrid genera Ommatotriton and Ichthyosaura. Frogs are represented by the bombinatorid Bombina, the discoglossids Latonia cf. ragei and Latonia sp., the pelobatid Pelobates aff. praefuscus and Pelobates sp., the ranids Pelophylax and Rana cf. dalmatina, the hylid Hyla gr. arborea, and the bufonid Bufotes gr. viridis. Turtles are represented by the emydid Emys and an indeterminate geoemydid. Lizards are represented by the scincid Ophiomorus, two lacertids (one of which potentially pertaining to Lacerta), amphisbaenians, agamids, the anguid Pseudopus, and a potential varanid. Snakes are represented by the erycid Eryx, the natricid Natrix aff. rudabanyaensis, a small-sized elapid, an “Oriental viper”, the colubriforms Periergophis and Paraxenophis, as well as two further distinct but still indeterminate morphotypes of colubriforms. For the material from Spilia tentatively referred to Ommatotriton, this is only the third occurrence in the fossil record globally. The new material of Ichthyosaura and Bombina mark the first documentation of these genera in the Greek fossil record. Abundant cranial and postcranial material from Spilia is tentatively referred to Latonia ragei, a taxon previously known from the Early Miocene of Western Europe. The new record of Pelobates represents the oldest documented occurrences of the genus in the Greek fossil record. Interestingly, the Pelobates from Spilia bears much resemblance to an extinct taxon, Pelobates aff. praefuscus, which is otherwise known from the Late Miocene of the Caucasus, and not to the extant species that currently inhabits the area. The identification of Pelophylax and Rana adds to the rather poor Neogene record of ranids from Greece. Particularly for the case of Rana cf. dalmatina from Spilia 4, this corresponds to the only documented occurrence of this extant taxon in the Greek fossil record. Similarly, the identification of Hyla gr. arborea in Spilia 1, Spilia 3, and Spilia 4, marks only the third documented occurrence of this genus in the Greek fossil record. The Bufotes material from Spilia 1, Spilia 3, and Spilia 4 represents the first documented fossil occurrence of the extant Bufotes viridis complex in Greece. The material of Emys gr. orbicularis from Vevi marks the only known pre-Quaternary record of the genus in Greece and one of the only few Neogene members of the genus known from Europe. The scincid Ophiomorus is identified in Spilia 4, known from several cranial and postcranial remains, well outside the extant range of the genus. Practically, the Spilia Ophiomorus is only the fourth known fossil occurrence of this extant genus globally and also represents one of its oldest known occurrences. Material from Spilia 1 and Spilia 3 is tentatively referred to cf. Lacerta sp., and this would mark the first known occurrence of this emblematic extant genus in the Greek fossil record, denoting the presence of the genus since at least the Early Pliocene. The new amphisbaenian specimens from Spilia 4 add to the recently described single vertebra from the same locality, and represent the youngest occurrence of amphisbaenians from continental Eastern Europe. The new agamid material from Vevi and Chalicorrema add substantially to the record of this group, which was in Greece so far known exclusively from the latest Miocene/earliest Pliocene of Maramena. A similarly important addition is the record of Pseudopus from Spilia 4, as this genus had been known in the Greek fossil record only from a very few localities. The potential varanid from Spilia represents one of the few Pliocene occurrences of this group in Europe. We identify Natrix aff. rudabanyaensis among the material from Spilia 0, Spilia 4, and Vevi, adding to the previously known record of this taxon from Maramena, however, its precise species level assignment should await a revision of Neogene European Natrix spp. The find of a small elapid from Spilia 4 represents the youngest occurrence of a coral snake from Europe, extending their statigraphic range up to the Early Pliocene (MN 14). Periergophis and Paraxenophis, two bizarre snakes, so far exclusively known from their type locality in Maramena, could be also present here, even if tentatively identified. Most notably, the new material from these localities comprises forms that are now extinct (e.g., Periergophis and Paraxenophis) or extirpated from Europe (e.g., Latonia, Varanidae, Elapidae) but at the same time also loudly attests the emergence of the extant genera that dominate the extant herpetofaunas of Greece (Ichthyosaura, Bombina, Pelobates, Pelophylax, Rana, Hyla, Bufotes, Emys, Ophiomorus, Lacerta, Pseudopus, Eryx, and Natrix), for some of which their fossil record is documented here for the first time in the area.
Jacky Croke, Chris Thompson, Annegret Larsen
et al.
This paper uses a 30 m record of valley alluviation in the Lockyer Creek, a major tributary of the mid-Brisbane River in Southeast Queensland, to document the timing and nature of Quaternary fluvial response. A combination of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating reveals a sequence of major cut and fill episodes. The earliest aggradation phase is represented by a basal gravel unit, dating to ~220 ka (marine isotope sub-stage 7d), and although little evidence supports higher fluvial discharges during MIS 5, a MIS 3 fluvial episode characterised by incision and aggradation dates to ~60 ka. A penultimate phase of incision to a depth of 30 m prior to ~14 ka saw the lower Lockyer occupy its current position within the valley floor. The Lockyer Creek shows evidence of only minor fluvial activity during MIS 2, suggesting a drier LGM climate. The appearance of alternating fine- and coarse-grained units at about 2 ka is notable and may represent higher-energy flood conditions associated with a strengthening of El Niño Southern Oscillation activity as observed in the flood of 2011. The aggradation rate for this Holocene floodplain unit is ~11 times higher than the long-term rate.
This paper considers some problems of the Late Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods in Northern Italy. More precisely, it deals with chronology, settlement pattern, techno-typological characteristics of knapped stone assemblages, and climatic changes that have taken place in the region from the discovery of the first sites in the 1960s and the excavations that soon followed to the present state of research. The Italian Alps, the Piedmont, and the valleys that descend from the high massifs have yielded important traces of Late Palaeolithic (Final Epigravettian) and Mesolithic (Sauveterrian and Castelnovian) sites and findspots, some of which are rock shelters that were settled throughout several millennia. This paper describes and discusses the evidence available mainly from two regions of the western and eastern Alpine arc, which are characterised by very different landscapes and yielded a great variety of archaeological features.
This paper is devoted to the publication of two newly excavated building structures consisting of underground and ground constructions that are attributed to the latest period of Olbia’s existence. Archaeological artefacts found inside them are presented, including trading amphoras and ceramic pottery that are diagnostic for the final stage of the Cherniakhiv culture dating the last third of the 4th – the first quarter of 5th century AD. Separate attention is paid to a speculative idea about the fortified city, settled by Goths on the territory of the former Roman fortress of Olbia. The results of the recent archaeological excavations give the possibility of refuting this idea. The urban structure of the latest period, its status, and its spatial development are not yet clear and must be studied in depth.
Wojciech Brzezicki, Filomena Forte, Canio Noce
et al.
The phenomenon of negative thermal expansion (NTE) deals with the increase of the lattice parameters and the volume of the unit cell when the material is thermally cooled. The NTE is typically associated with thermal phonons and anomalous spin-lattice coupling at low temperatures. However, the underlying mechanisms in the presence of strong electron correlations in multi-orbital systems are not yet fully established. Here, we investigate the role of Coulomb interaction in the presence of lattice distortions in setting out the NTE effect, by focusing on the physical case of layered Ca$_2$RuO$_4$ with $d^4$ configuration at each Ru ion site. We employ the Slater-Koster parametrization to describe the electron-lattice coupling through the dependence of the $d-p$ hybridization on the Ru-O-Ru bond angle. The evaluation of the minimum of the free energy at finite temperature by fully solving the multi-orbital many-body problem on finite size cluster allows us to identify the regime for which the system is prone to exhibit NTE effects. The analysis shows that the nature of the spin-orbital correlations is relevant to drive the reduction of the bond angle by cooling, and in turn the tendency toward a NTE. This is confirmed by the fact that a changeover of the electronic and orbital configuration from $d^4$ to $d^3$ by transition metal substitution is shown to favor the occurrence of NTE in Ca$_2$RuO$_4$. This finding is in agreement with the experimental observations of a NTE effect which is significantly dependent on the transition metal substitution in the Ca$_2$RuO$_4$ compound.
We investigate several distinct spectral crossovers amongst various integrable and quantum-chaotic limits of a 1D disordered quantum spin-1/2 model, by tuning the relative amplitudes of various Hamiltonian parameters to retain or break relevant unitary and antiunitary symmetries. Since we are specially interested in crossovers involving a Gaussian symplectic ensemble (GSE) limit, we carry out all our calculations with an odd number of spins that naturally results in eigenspectra with Kramers degeneracies. The various crossovers are investigated via detailed studies of both short-range (NNSD) and long-range (spectral rigidity and number variance) spectral correlations. The short-range studies show excellent agreement with RMT predictions. One of the highlights of this study is the systematic investigation of the consequences of retaining both eigenvalues corresponding to every Kramers doublet, in a crossover involving the GSE limit, and see how it evolves to a limit where the KD is naturally lifted. The NNSD plot in the GSE limit exhibits a Dirac delta peak at zero splitting and a renormalized GSE hump at finite splitting, whose general analytical form is derived. With an increasing symmetry breaking magnetic field the NNSD shows an interesting, dynamic two-peaked structure that finally converges to the standard GUE lineshape. We explain this trend in terms of a competition between the splittings amongst distinct Kramers doublets and the Zeeman-like splittings induced by a breaking of time-reversal symmetry. In the long-range spectral correlation studies, we shed light on the extent of agreement between our physical spin systems and RMT predictions. Our studies also show that the long-range correlations may serve to distinguish between the two Poissonian limits (nonlocalized and localized) in the reentrant crossovers, which the short-range correlations fail to distinguish.
Florencia Paula Bamonte, María Alejandra Marcos, Marcos Emanuel Echeverría
et al.
In this research, we reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions from a sedimentary record of a wetland (mallín) located in the Patagonian steppe near to the Subantarctic forest on the northeastern shore of the San Martín Lake basin (SW Santa Cruz, Patagonia, Argentina). The Mallín Ñire (49° 00’ 23.5” S; 72° 13’ 34.5” W) presents a basal age of 10,200 cal. years BP and its pollen content, carbon isotopes, and stratigraphy were analyzed. The relationship with modern pollen assemblages from surface sediment samples allows us to interpret changes in the fossil record. Between 10,200 and 9,000 cal. years BP, we can infer a grass-shrub steppe with dwarf-shrubs under arid conditions and between 9,000 and 6,500 cal. years BP, a grass steppe dominated under an increase of moisture availability. Conditions became drier until 4,000 cal. years BP; later, a grass-shrub steppe developed, which suggests an environmental transition like the modern ones. The last 1,400 cal. years BP present high paleoenvironmental variability. The integration with other sequences allowed us to interpret the regional changes during the Holocene related to moisture availability by precipitation changes related to the westerly variations.
E. Permiakova, V. Batsevich, A. V. Stepanova
et al.
Introduction. Due to the need to identify patterns of formation of the morphophysiological status of rural schoolchildren in modern intensively changing economic and demographic conditions, this work is devoted to the study of the characteristics of schoolchildren in Chuvashia and the Nizhny Novgorod region. Materials and methods. The results of the survey of children and youth of the Yadrinsky district of the Chuvash Republic (333 girls and 298 boys), as well as Russian rural schoolchildren living in the Arzamas district of the Nizhny Novgorod region (1930 girls and 1635 boys), aged 7 to 17 years, were used in the work. The examinations were carried out according to the program adopted in Russian anthropology, the total body dimensions were included and analyzed: body height and weight, BMI, chest circumference. In addition, the rate of ontogenesis in the examined girls was estimated: the frequency of menarche age was calculated in each group. Results and discussion. For schoolchildren of the Arzamas region of the Nizhny Novgorod region, large average values of total body size are characteristic, pronounced in the case of body height and chest circumference. Analysis of the percentile curves of the BMI of the surveyed contingent suggests a shift in the boundaries of variation of the indicator in the greater direction in Russians, especially in the area of increased values of the indicator corresponding to overweight and obesity. The frequency of occurrence of individuals with borderline BMI values in the examined groups does not demonstrate significant differences, which may be evidence of a similar nature of the shifts in physical development occurring in them. The analysis of the rates of ontogenesis using the age of menarche confirms the earlier puberty of schoolgirls of the Nizhny Novgorod region. At the same time, however, intergenerational analysis of tempos of ontogenesis confirms the continuation of acceleration processes in the Chuvash group, while no similar trend was found among Nizhny Novgorod residents. Conclusion. Russian and Chuvash schoolchildren, the results obtained allow us to make a cautious conclusion about the similarity of the shifts in physical development occurring in the groups of Chuvash and Russian schoolchildren, which are more pronounced in the case of the latter, as evidenced by the earlier puberty of Russian girls. The continuation of acceleration processes in the Chuvash group indicates that this group is in conditions of less social stability.
Luc Darmé, Giovanni Grilli di Cortona, Enrico Nardi
Recent lattice determinations of the hadronic vacuum polarization contribution to the muon anomalous magnetic moment $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$ have confirmed the discrepancy with the data-driven dispersive method. In the meanwhile the CMD-3 collaboration has reported a result for the $e^+e^-\to π^+π^-$ cross section considerably larger than previous experimental results (and close to the lattice determinations) exacerbating the discordance between different $e^+e^-$ datasets. We explore to what extent these disagreements can be accounted for by some new physics effect altering selectively the individual experimental determinations of $σ(e^+e^- \to\;$hadrons). We find that specific effects of GeV-scale new particles are able to shift upwards the KLOE and BaBar results in the low and intermediate energy windows, while leaving unaffected the CMD-3 energy scan. Although these new physics effects cannot fully explain all the discrepancies among the different $σ(e^+e^- \to\;$hadrons) datasets, they succeed in mitigating the overall tension between data-driven and lattice estimates of $a_μ^{\rm HVP}$. Remarkably, the additional loop corrections involving the new particles concur to solve the residual discrepancy with the experimental value of $(g-2)_μ$.
Detection and classification of entanglement properties of a multi-qubit system is a topic of great interest. This topic has been studied extensively and thus we found different approaches for the detection and classification of multi-qubit entangled states. We have applied partial transposition operation on one of the qubit of the three-qubit system and then studied the entanglement properties of the three-qubit system, which is under investigation. Since the partial transposition operation is not a quantum operation so we have approximated partial transposition operation in such a way so that it represent a completely positive map. The approximated partial transposition operation is also known as structural physical approximation of partial transposition (SPA-PT). We have studied in detail the application of SPA-PT on a three qubit system and provided explicitly the matrix elements of the density matrix describing SPA-PT of a three qubit system. Moreover, we propose criterion to classify all possible stochastic local operations and classical communication(SLOCC) inequivalent classes of a pure as well as mixed three qubit state through SPA-PT map, which makes our criterion experimentally realizable. We have illustrated our criterion for detection and classification of three-qubit entangled states by considering few examples.
Since the $^4$He dimer supports only one weakly bound state with an average interatomic distance much larger than the van der Waals length and no deeply bound states, $^4$He$_N$ clusters with $N>2$ are a paradigmatic model system with which to explore foundational concepts such as large $s$-wave scattering length universality, van der Waals universality, Efimov physics, and effective field theories. This work presents structural properties such as the pair and triple distribution functions, the hyperradial density, the probability to find the $N$th particle at a given distance from the center of mass of the other $N-1$ atoms, and selected contacts. The kinetic energy release, which can be measured via Coulomb explosion in dedicated size-selected molecular beam experiments -- at least for small $N$ -- , is also presented. The structural properties are determined for three different realistic $^4$He-$^4$He interaction potentials and contrasted with those for an effective low-energy potential model from the literature that reproduces the energies of $^4$He$_N$ clusters in the ground state for $N=2$ to $N=\infty$ at the $\gtrsim 95$~percent level with just four input parameters. The study is extended to unitarity (infinite $s$-wave scattering length) by artificially weakening the interaction potentials. In addition to contributing to the characterization of small bosonic helium quantum droplets, our study provides insights into the effective low-energy theory's predictability of various structural properties.
Andrey Panin, Olga Borisova, Vladimir Belyaev
et al.
The headwaters of fluvial systems on the East European Plain between the boundaries of the Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2) and MIS 6 glaciations evolved during the last 150,000 years. At least three main events of high surface runoff caused intensive erosion: at the end of MIS 6, at the end of MIS 2 and in the Middle Holocene. Erosion developed in the territory with variable resistance of geological substrate, from hard-to-erode tills to weak sandy deposits. All erosional features in moraines formed in the pre-Holocene time. Even relatively large forms, such as balkas (small dry valleys), have not yet reached concave longitudinal profiles. A general tendency of their development was deepening. Short episodes of incision occurring during climatic events with increased water flow alternated with long periods of stabilization. Sand-covered areas are most favorable for linear erosion. The gullies formed in the Middle Holocene developed concave longitudinal profiles. The diversity of catchment areas, initial slope inclinations and sediment properties causing their resistance to erosion led to greater differences in the relief features and evolution of the upper reaches of the fluvial systems within the MIS 6 glaciation area compared to the more uniform landscape conditions in the extraglacial regions.
Juliana Sterli, Diego Pol, José Luis Carballido
et al.
La herpetofauna extinta de la provincial de Chubut es una de las más diversas, temporal y espacialmente extensiva, y mejor conocidas en Argentina y en Sudamérica. Estos fósiles ayudan a entender la evolución de la herpetofauna en la región patagónica durante más de 180 millones de años. Desde su establecimiento en 1990, el Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio juega un rol clave en el descubrimiento, protección, estudio y exhibición de los importantes fósiles de la provincia. El estudio paleoherpetológico en el MPEF ha pasado por tres etapas diferentes: la Inicial, la Intermedia, y la Actual. Al presente, la colección de paleoherpetología del museo contiene aproximadamente 960 especímenes de anuros y reptiles—incluyendo tortugas, lepidosaurios, plesiosaurios, cocodrilos, pterosaurios, dinosaurios, y aves—encontrados en formaciones sedimentarias que abarcan desde el Jurásico Temprano hasta el Mioceno tardío. Basados en estos materiales, al menos 30 nuevas especies han sido nominadas y más de 200 trabajos han sido publicados en menos de tres décadas.
Abstract Background We aimed to obtain the standard values of age-related changes in the activation timing of postural muscles to the prime mover muscle (anterior deltoid [AD]) for bilateral arm flexion during standing. Methods The study participants were 276 children (aged 3–14 years) and 32 adults (aged 20–26 years). In response to a visual stimulus, participants raised both arms from a fully extended position as quickly as possible, stopped their arms voluntarily at a horizontal level at the shoulder, and maintained that position for 2 s. Ten test trials were performed. By using surface electromyography, the duration from the burst onset of the postural muscles to that of AD was measured as the starting time of the postural muscles (rectus abdominis [RA], erector spinae [ES], rectus femoris [RF], biceps femoris [BF], tibialis anterior [TA], gastrocnemius medialis [GcM], and soleus [SOL]). The starting time was presented as a negative value when the burst onset of the postural muscles preceded that of AD, which was defined as the preceding activation. A positive value for the starting time was defined as delayed activation. Results In adults, the burst onsets of ES and BF significantly preceded that of AD. In ES, the starting time preceded the onset of AD in those aged ≥ 5–6 years; no difference with adults was found at age 13–14 years. On the other hand, in BF, significant delayed activation was found at ages 3–4 to 11–12 years. While the starting time decreased with age, no significant preceding activation similar to adults was found, even at age 13–14 years. In TA, no significant difference with the onset of AD was found at age 3–6 years, and significant delayed activation was found at age ≥ 7–8 years. Significant delayed activation in GcM, SOL, RA, and RF was observed in all age groups, and no age-related changes were observed in children. Conclusion These findings could provide standard values from childhood to adolescence for age-related changes in anticipatory postural muscle activity during voluntary movement while standing and contribute to applications in the fields of sports and rehabilitation.
This paper introduces for scientific discussion the results of an archaeological and anthropological study of materials from the rural necropolis of Tselykovka 2, left by the population of the 14 th —15th centuries (the Principality of Yelets). This necropolis was located near Yelets mentioned in the chronicle. Since the necropolis was completely uncovered, the article presents the calculated boundaries and area of it, as well as paleodemographic analysis. As a result of studying the stratigraphy of the necropolis, the location of a small wooden church was determined. The article provides a comparative analysis with rural medieval Russian cemeteries. One of the mysteries of the necropolis, which was filled by 1 or 2 generations, were individuals with Mongoloid features. In addition, the physical type of the rural population of the Yelets Principality was reconstructed, which showed the heterogeneity of the group. Injuries of domestic and military nature are described in detail.
ABSTRACT The proliferation of online commerce has modified retail and wholesale trade. This paper discusses the consequences for the large outdoor marketplaces that emerged in post-Soviet space. These markets, locally designated as bazaars, have become an important feature of economic life, attracting transnational, foreign traders and offering a huge range of commodities. Rather than attempting to define the bazaar as an economic category fixed in time and space, the article draws on anthropological and historical approaches and shifts attention to the idea of bazarnost’ (‘bazaar-ness’, that is, the kind of behaviours and practices seen locally to have a ‘bazaar-like’ quality). Using the case-study of a large container market in Odessa, Ukraine, it is argued that gentrification, changing attitudes to various ‘outsiders’, and the widespread shift to the online commerce have not (yet) annihilated the bazaar as a physical marketplace; rather, while becoming more abrasive, bazarnost’ has adapted to, and found its own niche among, regional unfolding economic and political processes.