Mean Divergence Research Articles

A New Species of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus Group (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Surat Thani Province, Thailand Underscores This Group’s Remarkable Diversity on the Thai-Malay Peninsula

An integrative taxonomic study recognized a new species of the Cyrtodactylus pulchellus group from Kanchanadit District, Surat Thani Province, Southern Thailand. Phylogenetic analyses of the mitochondrial ND2 gene revealed a new species, Cyrtodactylus kanchanaditsp. nov., that is closely related to C. lekaguli. The new species differs from its sister lineage by bearing mean genetic divergence of 4.53% and significant differences in both mensural and morphometric characters (p < 0.05). Cyrtodactylus kanchanaditsp. nov. can be differentiated from the remaining members of the C. pulchellus species group because of its genetic divergence of ≥7.99% and a combination of differences in body size: 11–15 supralabial and 10–12 infralabial scales, 29–35 paravertebral tubercles, 18–23 longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles, 32–37 rows of ventral scales, 20–23 subdigital lamellae on the fourth toe, 32–37 femoroprecloacal pores in adult males, and four or five dark body bands; weak tuberculation on body; absence of tubercles in the ventral body fold, absence of precloacal pores in females, and absence of scattered pattern of white tubercles on dorsum; presence of precloacal groove depression; and maculated white caudal bands. Cyrtodactylus kanchanaditsp. nov. is currently known from its type locality.

Diagnostic analystics in the Bayesian vector autoregressive model

The vector autoregressive model is extensively employed in macroeconomics, finance, and the natural sciences. However, it often encounters the issue of over-parametrization, resulting in undesirable behavior within the model. In this paper, we utilize the Bayesian vector autoregressive model as a tool to tackle this problem. Additionally, we employ the Bayesian local influence method to detect possible extreme observations under the model. We use posterior inference to estimate related parameters and construct Bayesian perturbation schemes for priors, variance, and data perturbations. Bayesian local influence is conducted based on three objective functions: Bayes factor, ϕ divergence, and posterior mean. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the diagnostics, we conduct numerical simulations. In the real data example, we use US inflation, unemployment, and interest rate data to verify this method's effectiveness.

Meaning of Mystery as Process of Deification

“Mystery” is a term with divergent meanings in the religious and secular worlds. This term bears history in the philosophical and theological worlds. The meaning of the term includes concepts of secrecy, mysteriousness, incomprehensibility, and transcendence on the one hand and its connection with religious rituals on the other hand. This nature of the term recommends that we re-read its original meaning. This article tries to understand the connection of this term with archaic religious rituals based on mimetic theory. This article finds that the mysteriousness behind the archaic religious rituals is related to the scapegoat mechanism. The hidden process of deification in primitive religions and cultures is the reason behind the meaning of the term mystery. Using mimetic theory as a tool, this article asserts that only "revealed mysteries" remain in human history following the Christ-event and defines mystery as a process of deification.

A Mathematical Model to Enhance Creativity in Generative AI Systems

People often think it will be hard for artificial intelligence (AI) systems to copy creativity because it is a complicated and important part of human intelligence. Generative AI, which tries to make new and useful things, has shown promise in being able to copy creative processes. However, generative AI systems that are already in use often have trouble making results that are truly original. This is mostly because there isn't a clear scientific framework to help people be creative. We present a new mathematical model to improve creativity in creative AI systems in this work. Our model is based on the ideas of lateral and convergent thinking, which are important parts of how people think creatively. Divergent thinking means coming up with many ideas or solutions, while convergent thinking means picking the best ones and making them even better. To put our model into action, we come up with the idea of a "creativity score," which measures how new and useful the results are. The creativity score is determined by looking at a number of things, such as the variety of outputs, how different they are from current solutions, and how useful they are for fixing the problem at hand. Finding the right balance between divergent and convergent thinking is one of the hardest parts of making generative AI systems more creative. Divergent thinking is important for coming up with many ideas, but convergent thinking is needed to pick out the best ones and make them even better. This problem is solved by our model, which uses both divergent and convergent thought. To make sure our model works, we test it on different creative AI tasks, such as making images and writing text. Our results show that our model can greatly improve the creativity of generative AI systems, resulting in more varied, unique, and useful outputs.

Exploring the Macroevolutionary Signature of Asymmetric Inheritance at Speciation.

Popular comparative phylogenetic models such as Brownian Motion, Ornstein-Ulhenbeck, and their extensions, assume that, at speciation, a trait value is inherited identically by two descendant species. This assumption contrasts with models of speciation at a micro-evolutionary scale where descendants' phenotypic distributions are sub-samples of the ancestral distribution. Different speciation mechanisms can lead to a displacement of the ancestral phenotypic mean among descendants and an asymmetric inheritance of the ancestral phenotypic variance. In contrast, even macro-evolutionary models that account for intraspecific variance assume symmetrically conserved inheritance of ancestral phenotypic distribution at speciation. Here we develop an Asymmetric Brownian Motion model (ABM) that relaxes the assumption of symmetric and conserved inheritance of the ancestral distribution at the time of speciation. The ABM jointly models the evolution of both intra- and inter-specific phenotypic variation. It also infers the mode of phenotypic inheritance at speciation, which can range from a symmetric and conserved inheritance, where descendants inherit the ancestral distribution, to an asymmetric and displaced inheritance, where descendants inherit divergent phenotypic means and variances. To demonstrate this model, we analyze the evolution of beak morphology in Darwin finches, finding evidence of displacement at speciation. The ABM model helps to bridge micro- and macro-evolutionary models of trait evolution by providing a more robust framework for testing the effects of ecological speciation, character displacement, and niche partitioning on trait evolution at the macro-evolutionary scale.

Whole-genome analysis reveals phylogenetic and demographic history of Eurasian perch.

The contemporary diversity and distribution of species are shaped by their evolutionary and ecological history. This can be deciphered with the help of phylogenetic and demographic analysis methods, ideally combining and supplementing information from mitochondrial and nuclear genomes. In this study, we investigated the demographic history of Eurasian perch (Perca fluviatilis), a highly adaptable teleost with a distribution range across Eurasia. We combined whole-genome resequencing data with available genomic resources to analyse the phylogeny, phylogeography, and demographic history of P. fluviatilis populations from Europe and Siberia. We identified five highly diverged evolutionary mtDNA lineages, three of which show a strong signal of admixture in the Baltic Sea region. The estimated mean divergence time between these lineages ranged from 0.24 to 1.42 million years. Based on nuclear genomes, two distinct demographic trajectories were observed in European and Siberian samples reflecting contrasting demographic histories ca. 30,000-100,000 years before the present. A comparison of mtDNA and nuclear DNA evolutionary trees and AMOVA revealed concordances, as well as incongruences, between the two types of data, most likely reflecting recent postglacial colonization and hybridization events. Overall, our findings demonstrate the power and usefulness of genome-wide information for delineating historical processes that have shaped the genome of P. fluviatilis. We also highlight the added value of data-mining existing transcriptomic resources to complement novel sequence data, helping to shed light on putative glacial refugia and postglacial recolonization routes.

Climate Change Is Leading to a Convergence of Global Climate Distribution

AbstractThe impact of changes in global temperatures and precipitation on climate distribution remains unclear. Taking the annual global average temperatures and precipitation as the origin, this study determined the climate distribution with the distances of temperature and precipitation from their global averages as the X and Y axes. The results showed that during 1980–2019, the global temperature distribution converged toward the mean (convergence), while the precipitation distribution moved away from the mean (divergence). The combined effects of both led to a convergence in the global climate distribution. During 2025–2100, significant climate convergence is observed under two emission scenarios (SSP245 and SSP585). However, the climate convergence and the area of change in climate type remains insignificant only under SSP126, suggesting that the diversity of the global climate pattern can be maintained under a sustainable emission pathway (SSP126), whereas high emission pathways will lead to greater uniformity in global climate.

Revisiting literary magazines through typographic aesthetics: The case of Planodion (1986–2012)

This article is concerned with the twofold identity of the literary magazine: as a material object, endowed with specific visual and tactile characteristics, and as a textual medium, active in the intellectual sphere. Moving beyond the traditional dichotomy between form and content and following a phenomenological approach, I examine the literary magazine as a multi-layered structure whose visual features (illustration, binding, vignettes and margins) work along its seemingly invisible aspects (form and content of text). I focus on Planodion magazine (1986–2012) and employing the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, I attempt to conceive the literary magazine as a living body, an expressive space capable of accommodating divergent experiences and meanings. Inquiring into the typographic aesthetics of the literary magazine, I also probe the boundaries separating discourse and image, and query their supposed autonomy.

Transcultural Adaptation of the Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (COMPASS)

ABSTRACT This study describes the transcultural adaptation of the Collaborative Model for Promoting Competence and Success for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (COMPASS) to Brazilian Portuguese (BP). A blind translation of the original version in English (OV) to the version in BP, blind back-translation of the BP version into English (BT), comparison of BT with OV to statistically verify the convergence (CO), minimum divergence (MD) and divergence of meaning (DM) between BT and OV, review of the BP version by a committee of experts, maintaining conceptual, idiomatic, semantic and cultural equivalence, and sending of the files to the author of the model, was carried out. 1372 items were translated from English to BP. After comparing BT/OV, 0.6% DM (9 items), 47.9% MD (657 items), and 51.5% CO (706 items) were found. 97 equivalences were made, 43 semantic and 54 conceptual. The author of the model received all files from steps 1 to 4. Having carried out this process, it is possible to state that COMPASS was transcultural adapted to BP. With the future availability of COMPASS in Brazil, we hope that it can contribute to the development of the quality of education for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the country.

Decoding Near Synonyms in Pedestrianization Research: A Numerical Analysis and Summative Approach

Pedestrianization is a significant discourse focus within urban planning and design research. However, the need for more clarity from the inconsistent use of near-synonym concepts or terms necessitates attention. This review article addresses this issue through a comprehensive analysis of synonym proliferation in pedestrian research, culminating in developing a robust “near synonymous toolkit” and “synonym selection framework”. Employing a linear snowball sampling technique, numerical analysis, and a qualitative content analysis-based summative approach, we examined sixteen peer-reviewed articles from 11 scientific journals. Through systematic classification based on consistency and variability, the summative review identifies three primary groups of near synonyms: dominant and widely utilized conceptual or terminological near synonymy in pedestrianization in the urban planning and design literature, near synonyms directly associated with a pedestrian, pedestrianize, and those indirectly linked to another conceptual or terminological synonymy. Further analysis delves into the nature of near-synonym concepts or terms, revealing three discernible patterns: the use of distinct, precise concepts or terms with near-synonym meanings, similar concepts or terms conveying divergent meanings, and the juxtaposition of unrelated vocabulary lacking semantic resemblance. These insights illuminate semantic relationships within the studied vocabulary, underscoring the importance of addressing inconsistency for clarity, precision, and coherence in scientific discourse. By offering practical guidance through the proposed framework, this study empowers academic researchers to navigate synonym selection adeptly, thereby enhancing the caliber of scholarly writing in urban planning and design.

Gymnosperms demonstrate patterns of fine‐root trait coordination consistent with the global root economics space

Abstract Gymnosperms encompass a diverse group of mostly woody plants with high ecological and economic value, yet little is known about the scope and organization of fine‐root trait diversity among gymnosperms due to the undersampling of most gymnosperm families and the dominance of angiosperm groups in recent syntheses. New and existing data were compiled for morphological traits (root diameter, length, tissue density, specific root length [SRL] and specific root area [SRA]), the architectural trait branching ratio, root nitrogen content [N] and mycorrhizal colonization. We used phylogenetic least squares regression and principal component analysis to determine trait–trait relationships and coordination across 66 species, representing 11 of the 12 extant gymnosperm families from boreal, temperate, subtropical and tropical biomes. Finally, we compared the relationship between family divergence time and mean trait values to determine whether evolutionary history structured variation in fine‐root traits within the gymnosperm phylogeny. Wide variation in gymnosperm root traits could be largely captured by two primary axes of variation defined by SRL and diameter, and root tissue density and root nitrogen, respectively. However, individual root length and SRA each had significant correlations with traits defining both main axes of variation. Neither mycorrhizal colonization nor root branching ratio were closely related to other traits. We did not observe a directional evolution of mean trait values from older to more recently diverged gymnosperm families. Synthesis. Despite their unique evolutionary history, gymnosperms display a root economic space similar to that identified in angiosperms, likely reflecting common constraints on plants adapting to diverse environments in both groups. These findings provide greater confidence that patterns observed in broad syntheses justly capture patterns of trait diversity among multiple, distinct lineages. Additionally, independence between root architecture and other traits may support greater diversity in below‐ground resource acquisition strategies. Unlike angiosperms, there were no clear trends towards increasingly thin roots over evolutionary time, possibly because of lower diversification rates or unique biogeographic history among gymnosperms, though additional observations are needed to more richly test evolutionary trends among gymnosperms.

Amplification factors for extreme sea level frequency have problematic features as a metric of coastal hazard

Abstract The future projected frequency of a specified baseline extreme sea level (ESL), often called the amplification factor (AF), is extensively used as a metric of evolving coastal flood hazard with sea level rise (SLR). The baseline ESL is typically analyzed using extreme value analysis, and the SLR is added to the resulting distribution. In the presence of SLR uncertainty, it is natural to analyze AFs probabilistically. I derive probability density functions (PDFs) of AF, given uncertainty distributions of SLR. If the ESL distribution is modeled as Gumbel and the SLR distribution as normal, then the AF distribution is log normal. However, in active tropical cyclone regions, ESL often has a longer tail than Gumbel, and a Frechet (Type-II) Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) is more appropriate. In this case, I show that the AF distribution has a divergent mean, preventing its use as a hazard metric. In addition, I show that for Frechet ESL, the AF cannot even be defined for SLR above a threshold β / ξ f 0 − ξ , where f 0 is the specified baseline frequency (e.g., f 0 = 0.01 yr−1 for the 100-year exceedance), β is the GEV scale parameter and ξ the shape parameter. This SLR threshold can be as low as 0.5 m in the southeast US and Caribbean, within reach mid to late century. Above the threshold, ESL at all frequencies exceeds the baseline reference frequency, preventing the calculation of AF. The resulting probabilistic distribution of AF is insensitive to SLR above the threshold. These features detrimentally impact the utility of AF as a hazard metric. Frechet distributions are appropriate and commonly used for ESL in tropical cyclone regions, but AFs applied to such distributions must interpreted with caution. In such regions, coastal risk managers should consider other flood hazard metrics, such as probabilistic estimates of flood depth.

Pulsed plasma thruster exhaust reconstruction

The transient exhaust of an ablative pulsed plasma thruster is characterized experimentally for three capacitances and three discharge voltages, for discharge energies below 11 J. A novel analysis technique is introduced, which reconstructs the exhaust as a superposition of different Maxwellian-like ion groups. Each ion group is characterized by its own mean velocity, thermal spread, initial density, generation time and divergence rate. The time series of three probes working in the ion saturation regime are used to determine the model parameters by least-squares fitting. This approach allows a higher level of accuracy and insight than time-of-flight analysis based on direct feature correlation alone. A good fit of the main part of the discharge time series is achieved with just three ion groups, with mean velocities ranging in 50–70, 30–45 and 10–25 km s−1 respectively. Each ion group differs in the lateral divergence rate and axial thermal spread, and potentially corresponds with a different charge/mass ratio and/or creation time. Some trends with bank capacitance and discharge voltage are identified and discussed.

Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Neural Network Based on Active Semi-Supervised Learning for Non-Stationary Industrial Processes

Accurate models ensure the efficient and safe operations of industrial processes. However, modeling of industrial processes with non-stationary characteristic is challenging. In this study, an interval type-2 fuzzy neural network (IT2FNN) based on active semi-supervised learning (ASSL-IT2FNN) is proposed for such industrial processes. First, an IT2FNN with adaptive fuzzy membership function (FMF) and hierarchical learning method is utilized to achieve considerable modeling accuracy and efficiency. Second, to better tackle with the non-stationary characteristic, an unsupervised distribution detection method is proposed to identify the occurrence moments of concept drift actively from the perspective of probability and spatial projection. Then, by an active semi-supervised learning method, the concept drift samples with partial labels are used to build a subnetwork, guaranteeing the performance of the constructed IT2FNN models with incomplete data in non-stationary environments. Finally, the proposed ASSL-IT2FNN is verified by benchmark simulations and real industrial data, and the experimental results demonstrate its outperformance. <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Note to Practitioners</i> —Concept drift is an important indicator of a non-stationary environment. It manifests as changes in the distribution of samples over time, which may reduce the accuracy of models constructed based on historical samples. This study aims to alleviate the impact of concept drift on model performance in non-stationary industrial processes while reduce the cost of sample labeling. By using the adaptive FMF and hierarchical learning method, the designed IT2FNN can effectively deal with the inherent nonlinearity of complicated industrial processes. The samples representing concept drift are actively identified by the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence and maximum mean difference (MMD), enabling timely detections of concept drift moments in unsupervised situations. The active semi-supervised learning is used to adapt the constructed model to handle the concept drift, wherein a subnetwork is designed based on concept drift samples and similar historical samples.

Structural and semantic analysis of the concept union in political media discourse (comparative study of the English, German and Russian languages)

The article analyzes the semantic structure of the concept union by comparing its semantic markers for different European languages within the media discourse. The purpose of the article is to determine the features of individual meanings expressed through semantic markers in the media discourse of these languages and reflecting the uniqueness of the implementation of the concept union in semantic terms. When considering the features of meaning, semantic markers associated with the central concept are established; patterns of their frequency of use in the languages under study and factors influencing the transformation of semantics are determined. The interrelation of situations of communicative interaction and its influence on the realization of the specific meaning of the concept union indicate the high relevance of the study.The choice of linguistic means of implementing the concept and the role of the communicative situation in this process has a significant impact on the negative or positive assessment of the phenomenon itself. The research methodology includes elements of system analysis, linguistic description method, discourse analysis, semantic and component analysis. The study uses statistical data extracted from the corpus corresponding to the declared languages by automatic sampling according to the specified parameters.The authors conclude that the semantic structure of the concept is realized depending on the communicative situation by various semantic markers, which, with the similarity of structures in the course of historical development and various social experiences, have a divergence of meaning, which may later serve as a space for various kinds of semantic manipulations in modern media discourse. The peculiarities of the use of the concept union in politically oriented texts of the studied languages are also of interest.

DNA Barcoding of Invasive Terrestrial Plant Species in India.

Invasive plants are known to cause biodiversity loss and pose a major risk to human health and environment. Identification of invasive plants and distinguishing them from native species has been relied on morphological examination. Stringent requirement of floral characters and decreasing number of expert taxonomists are making conventional morphology-based identification system tedious and resource-intensive. DNA barcoding may help in quick identification of invasive species if distinct sequence divergence pattern at various taxonomic levels is observed. The present work evaluates the utility of four molecular markers; rbcL, matK, their combination (rbcL + matK), and psbA-trnH for identification of 37 invasive plant species from India and also in distinguishing them from 97 native species. A psbA-trnH locus was found to be of restricted utility in this work as it was represented by the members of a single family. A hierarchical increase in K2P mean divergence across different taxonomic levels was found to be the maximum for matK alone followed by rbcL + matK and rbcL alone, respectively. NJ clustering analysis, however, confirmed the suitability of combined locus (rbcL + matK) over individual rbcL and matK as the DNA barcode. RbcL showed the lowest resolution power among the three markers studied. MatK exhibited much better performance compared to rbcL alone in identifying most of the species accurately although it failed to show monophyly of genus Dinebra. Two families; Asteraceae and Poaceae, remained polyphyletic in the trees constructed by all three markers. Combined locus (rbcL + matK) was found to be the most suitable marker as it raised the resolution power of both the markers and could identify more than 90% of genera correctly. Phylogenetic tree constructed by Maximum-Parsimony method using combined locus as a molecular marker exhibited the best resolution, thus, supporting the significance of two-locus combination of rbcL + matK for barcoding invasive plant species from India. Present study contributes to the global barcode data of invasive plant species by adding fifty-one new sequences to it. Effective barcoding of additional number of native as well as invasive plant species from India is possible using this dual locus if it is combined with one or more new molecular plastid markers. Expansion of barcode database with a focus on barcode performance optimisation to improve discrimination ability at species level can be undertaken in future.

QScatter: numerical framework for fast prediction of particle distributions in electron-laser scattering

The new generation of multi-PetaWatt laser facilities will allow tests of strong field quantum electrodynamics (QED), as well as provide an opportunity for novel photon and lepton sources. The first experiments are planned to study the (nearly) head-on scattering of intense, focused laser pulses with either relativistic electron beams or high-energy photon sources. In this work, we present a numerical framework that can provide fast predictions of the asymptotic particle and photon distributions after the scattering. The method detailed in this manuscript can include multiple features such as spatial and temporal misalignment between the laser and the scattering beam, broadband electron beams, and beam divergence. The expected mean energy, energy spread, divergence or other observables are calculated by combining an analytical description and numerical integration. This method can provide results within minutes on a personal computer, which would otherwise require full-scale 3D QED-PIC simulations using thousands of cores. The model, which has been compiled into an open-source code QScatter, may be used to support the analysis of large-size data sets from high-repetition rate experiments, leveraging its speed for optimization or reconstruction of experimental parameters.

TOXIC FORMATIONS: Race, Place and the Politics of Pollution on the Banks of the Ganga

AbstractPollution in the environment emerges as a legal and technical object on the one hand, and as a repository of social and cultural beliefs on the other. What happens when we trouble the idea that these belong to different domains and think about seemingly divergent meanings of pollution together? In this article, I draw from anti‐caste and anti‐racist work to explore this question. Extending critical urban scholarship on environmental politics, I attend to formations of caste and religion alongside judicial and political discourse on preventing pollution to the river Ganga in North India. In our present moment, on the banks of the sacred river, extremist leaders mobilize regulations to target minoritized Muslim and Dalit communities in Kanpur's leather industry. I argue that the roots of these actions lie in an environmental petition from the mid‐1980s which transformed urban environmental governance in North India, as the court decoupled questions of environmental protection from economic and social justice. I suggest that the analytic of regional racial formations helps us grapple with uneven socio‐spatial landscapes in postcolonial cities and sharpens our understanding of environmental injustices by moving beyond fixed categories of difference.

Successful colonization of the Red Sea Yellowspotted Puffer, Torquigener flavimaculosus in the Mediterranean without a genetic bottleneck

The Yellowspotted Puffer Torquigener flavimaculosus (Hardy &amp; Randall, 1983) invaded the Mediterranean from the Red Sea via the Suez Canal. In the present study, we analyzed two mitochondrial loci, the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) and the control region (D-loop), from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea populations. Both the COI and the D-loop showed no decrease of genetic variability in the Mediterranean population compared to the source population from the Red Sea. When comparing the genetic variability to two other species of the Tetraodontidae family (Takifugu rubripes and Takifugu obscurus), the mean divergence within the T. flavimaculosus is almost twice as large. T. flavimaculosus has two distinct genetic groups, similarly represented both in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean, with similar coefficients of differentiation in COI, in D-loop, and, not surprisingly, in the two genes combined. This suggests that T. flavimaculosus has most likely established a sustainable population in the Suez Canal, that has gradually dispersed northward and eventually entered the Mediterranean with a large number of individuals, carrying a great deal of its genetic variability.

Understanding the Diversity of CMIP6 Models in the Projection of Precipitation Over Tibetan Plateau

AbstractA reliable projection of precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is crucial for climate adaptation activities in this climate‐sensitive region, but existing studies show a large spread in magnitude. Based on Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 models, we investigate the TP summer precipitation projection and understand the sources of uncertainty. The results show that the TP exhibits a profound wetting trend throughout the 21st century, with precipitation increasing by 0.64 ± 0.06 mm day−1 during 2050–2099 under the SSP5–8.5 scenario. The moisture budget analysis indicates that the thermodynamical response to global warming determines the precipitation increase. However, both the thermodynamical and dynamical components contribute to the uncertainty of precipitation projection. The inter‐model spread of the thermodynamic term arises from divergent global mean warming, which is closely related to model climate sensitivity. The uncertainty of the dynamic component is driven by model‐dependent circulation changes induced by different equatorial Pacific warming rates.