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The Niphta Theischinger fauna of South America is revised to include 11 species, nine of which are described as new to science (N. acus Pivar, sp. nov., N. bifurcata Pivar & Moulton, sp. nov., N. bispinosa Pivar & Sinclair, sp. nov., N. brunnea Pivar, sp. nov., N. courtneyi Pivar, sp. nov., N. daniellae Pivar, sp. nov., N. downesi Pivar, sp. nov., N. eurydactyla Pivar, sp. nov., N. mapuche Pivar, sp. nov.). The genus Niphta is redefined, both previously described Chilean species are redescribed, N. halteralis (Edwards) and N. nudipennis (Edwards), and females are described or redescribed where possible. The first descriptions of the immature stages of South American Niphta are provided, which represent a new larval morphotype in Thaumaleidae, as larvae and pupae possess ventral adhesive structures. Furthermore, these larvae were collected from vegetation rather than rocky substrates. Illustrations and micrographs are provided for all species, and scanning electron microscopy images are included for select immatures. A key to species, distribution maps, and discussions regarding phylogenetic affinities and habitat are also included.

A long tradition of separate Nearctic and Palaearctic taxonomic studies of the diverse aleocharine rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) has obscured the recognition of Holarctic species and detection of adventive species in both regions. Recently, integrated study of the two regions through detailed morphological comparisons and development of an authoritatively identified DNA barcode reference library has revealed the degree to which these two aleocharine faunas are interconnected, both naturally and through human activity. Here this approach is adopted to recognize new species, reveal Holarctic species, and recognize adventive species in both North America and Europe. The following new species are described: Isoglossa triangularis Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov. from British Columbia; Gnypeta impressicollis Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov., from Ontario, Maryland and North Carolina; Aloconota pseudogregaria Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov., from Ontario and Virginia; and Philhygra pseudolaevicollis Klimaszewski, Brunke & Pentinsaari, sp. nov. from eastern Canada. Dasygnypeta velata and Philhygra angusticauda are revealed to be Holarctic species, resulting in the following synonymies: Dasygnypeta velata (Erichson, 1839) = Gnypeta minuta Klimaszewski & Webster, 2008, syn. nov. and Philhygra angusticauda (Bernhauer, 1909) = Atheta (Philhygra) pinegensis Muona, 1983, syn. nov. The Nearctic species Hylota ochracea (and genus Hylota), Thecturota tenuissima, and Trichiusa robustula are newly reported from the Palaearctic region as adventive, resulting in the following synonymies: Hylota ochracea Casey, 1906 = Stichoglossa (Dexiogyia) forticornis Strand, 1939, syn. nov.; Thecturota tenuissima Casey, 1893 = Atheta marchii Dodero, 1922, syn. nov.; and Trichiusa robustula Casey, 1893 = T. immigrata Lohse, 1984, syn. nov. The Palaearctic species Amarochara forticornis, Anomognathus cuspidatus, Oligota pumilio, and Parocyusa rubicunda are newly confirmed from the Nearctic region as adventive, resulting in the following synonymies: Parocyusa rubicunda (Erichson, 1837) = Chilopora americana Casey, 1906, syn. nov. and Anomognathus cuspidatus (Erichson, 1839) = Thectura americana Casey, 1893, syn. nov. The genus Dasygnypeta, sensu nov. is newly reported from North America, Paradilacra is newly reported from eastern North America, and Haploglossa is newly reported from Canada, resulting in the following synonymy: Paradilacra densissima (Bernhauer, 1909) = Gnypeta saccharina Klimaszewski & Webster, 2008, syn. nov. Native Cyphea wallisi is newly reported from across Canada and C. curtula is removed from the Nearctic fauna. The status of both Gyrophaena affinis and Homalota plana is uncertain but these species are no longer considered to be adventive in North America. Three new combinations are proposed: Dasygnypeta baranowskii (Klimaszewski, 2020) and D. nigrella (LeConte, 1863) (both from Gnypeta) and Mocyta scopula (Casey, 1893) (from Acrotona). Dolosota Casey, 1910, syn. nov. (type species Eurypronota scopula Casey), currently a subgenus of Acrotona, is therefore synonymized with Mocyta Mulsant & Rey, 1874. Additionally, four new Canadian records and 18 new provincial and state records are reported.

International audience; Sensitivity analysis (SA) is en route to becoming an integral part of mathematical modeling. The tremendous potential benefits of SA are, however, yet to be fully realized, both for advancing mechanistic and data-driven modeling of human and natural systems, and in support of decision making. In this perspective paper, a multidisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners revisit the current status of SA, and outline research challenges in regard to both theoretical frameworks and their applications to solve real-world problems. Six areas are discussed that warrant further attention, including (1) structuring and standardizing SA as a discipline, (2) realizing the untapped potential of SA for systems modeling, (3) addressing the computational burden of SA, (4) progressing SA in the context of machine learning, (5) clarifying the relationship and role of SA to uncertainty quantification, and (6) evolving the use of SA in support of decision making. An outlook for the future of SA is provided that underlines how SA must underpin a wide variety of activities to better serve science and society.

The essential demand for functional materials enabling the realization of new energy technologies has triggered tremendous efforts in scientific and industrial research in recent years. Recently, high-entropy materials, with their unique structural characteristics, tailorable chemical composition and correspondingly tunable functional properties, have drawn increasing interest in the fields of environmental science and renewable energy technology. Herein, we provide a comprehensive review of this new class of materials in the energy field. We begin with discussions on the latest reports on the applications of high-entropy materials, including alloys, oxides and other entropy-stabilized compounds and composites, in various energy storage and conversion systems. In addition, we describe effective strategies for rationally designing high-entropy materials from computational techniques and experimental aspects. Based on this overview, we subsequently present the fundamental insights and give a summary of their potential advantages and remaining challenges, which will ideally provide researchers with some general guides and principles for the investigation and development of advanced high-entropy materials.

Epigaeic beetle assemblages were surveyed using continuous pitfall trapping during the summers of 1992 and 1993 in six widely geographically distributed locations in Alberta’s aspen-mixedwood forests prior to initial forest harvest. Species composition and turnover (β-diversity) were evaluated on several spatial scales ranging from Natural Regions (distance between samples 120–420 km) to pitfall traps (40–60 m). A total of 19,885 ground beetles (Carabidae) representing 40 species and 12,669 rove beetles (non-AleocharinaeStaphylinidae) representing 78 species was collected. Beetle catch, species richness, and diversity differed significantly among the six locations, as did the identity of dominant species. Beetle species composition differed significantly between the Boreal Forest and Foothills Natural Regions for both taxa. Staphylinidae β-diversity differed significantly between Natural Regions, whereas Carabidae β-diversity differed among locations. Climate variables such as number of frost-free days, dry periods, and mean summer temperatures were identified as significant factors influencing beetle assemblages at coarse spatial scales, whereas over- and understory vegetation cover, litter depth, shade, slope, and stand age influenced beetle assemblages at finer spatial scales. Significant interannual variation in assemblage structure was noted for both taxa. Because composition of epigaeic beetle assemblages differed across spatial scales, forest management strategies based only on generalized understanding of a single location will be ineffective as conservation measures. In addition, site history and geographic variation significantly affect species distributions of these two beetle families across the landscape. Thus, we underscore Terry Erwin’s suggestion that biodiversity assessments focused on species assemblages at different spatial scales provide a sound approach for understanding biodiversity change and enhancing conservation of arthropod biodiversity.

The satisfaction of electricity customers and environmental constraints imposed have made the trend towards renewable energies making them more essential due to their advantages as reducing power losses and ameliorating system’s voltage profiles and reliability. This article addresses the optimal location and size of multiple distributed generations (DGs) based on solar photovoltaic panels (PV) connected to electrical distribution network (EDN) using the various proposed hybrid particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms based on chaotic maps and adaptive acceleration coefficients. These algorithms are implemented to optimally allocate the DGs based PV (PV-DG) into EDN by minimizing the multi-objective function (MOF), which is represented as the sum of three technical parameters of the total active power loss (TAPL), total voltage deviation (TVD), and total operation time (TOT) of overcurrent relays (OCRs). The effectiveness of the proposed PSO algorithms were validated on both standards IEEE 33-bus, and 69-bus. The optimal integrating of PV-DGs into EDNs reduced the TAPL percentage by 56.94 % for the IEEE 33-bus and by 61.17 % for the IEEE 69-bus test system, enhanced the voltage profiles while minimizing the TVD by 37.35 % and by 32.27 % for two EDNs, respectively.

Packard (1873) described Menopon picicola as a new species, based on ten lice taken from two species of woodpeckers of the genus Picoides—P. arcticus (Swainson, 1832) and P. dorsalis Baird, 1858—collected in Wyoming, U.S.A. in August 1872. Considering that (1) Packard (1873) neither designated a holotype nor a single type host, (2) his type material is most likely lost, and (3) no additional lice from either of those two species of Picoides have been reported in the literature, the taxonomic status of Menopon picicola has not been confirmed. 

Separate identification keys for females, and for males where known, of the 40 genera of Mymaridae (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea) in the Afrotropical region are given. The subgenera of four genera are also included in the key to females. The genera are illustrated with over 300 photographs. The 122 named, valid species reported from the region are catalogued. Reliable host records are reported for 6 genera and 11 species from rearings undertaken in the region. An appendix lists the 27 species from northern Africa and offshore islands (Canary Islands, Madeira) but not recorded in the Afrotropical region as defined in this publication. Camptoptera (Zemicamptoptera) Ogloblin & Annecke, syn. n. is synonymized with Camptoptera (Camptoptera) Foerster. Eofoersteria Mathot, syn. n. is synonymized with Camptoptera Foerster and is treated as subgenus C. (Eofoersteria) Mathot, stat. n.; its type species Eofoersteria camptopteroides Mathot is transferred to Camptoptera as C. (Eofoersteria) camptopteroides (Mathot), comb. n. Polynema megacephala (Risbec) is transferred to Lymaenon as L. megacephala (Risbec), comb. n. Limacis opuntiae Risbec is transferred to Encarsia Foerster (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) as E. opuntiae (Risbec), comb. n. A few corrections to Huber et al. (2020) are given.

Blood transfusion is an important and lifesaving intervention of the healthcare system there by reducing mortality worldwide, resulting from high level of blood demanding health conditions. Screening and testing of the donated blood are necessary in order to prevent the risks and complications associated with blood transfusion. This study was carried out in retrospective, considering the six (6) month testing and screening of seven hundred and fifty (n= 750) samples from the relative donor of Wuse District Hospital, Abuja, this was done using the screening method with the use of a rapid test kit. The gender showed 689(91.9%) for male and female 61(8.1), result showed that 32(4.3%) were positive with 28(87.5%) male and 4(12.5%) female respectively, the percentage age group showed the highest to be (56.4%)of 29 -38 years. The study showed an overall seroprevalence of (4.3%) falling within (2 – 7%) intermediate risk group for hepatitis B virus infection as described by the WHO. Government should make available the vaccine against HBV, create more awareness for vaccination and make it free for all (without payment) as soon as possible

An ultrastable, highly dense single-molecule assay ideal for observing protein–DNA interactions is demonstrated. Stable click tethered particle motion leverages next generation click-chemistry to achieve an ultrahigh density of surface tethered reporter particles, and has low non-specific interactions, is stable at elevated temperatures to at least 45 °C, and is compatible with Mg2+, an important ionic component of many regulatory protein–DNA interactions. Prepared samples remain stable, with little degradation, for >6 months in physiological buffers. These improvements enable the authors to study previously inaccessible sequence and temperature-dependent effects on DNA binding by the bacterial protein, histone-like nucleoid-structuring protein, a global transcriptional regulator found in Escherichia coli. This greatly improved assay can directly be translated to accelerate existing tethered particle-based, single-molecule biosensing applications.