Principal component analysis (PCA) is one of the most widely used approaches for multivariate datasets. Biologists use PCA to visualize data, identify patterns in large datasets, determine independent axes of variation, and reduce dimensionality for further statistical analyses. Phylogenetic PCA is an extension of regular PCA that seeks to identify the major axes of variation independent of the phylogeny. We extend these methods by estimating PCA parameters using an explicit probability modeling framework. We implement multiple models of trait evolution (Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, Early Burst, and Pagel’s λ) and use the Akaike information criterion for model selection. We also introduce a probabilistic approach to select the number of principal components to retain from a PCA. We demonstrate the advantages of probabilistic PCA, such as incorporating the error, or noise, arising from dimensionality reduction, which is ignored in regular PCA. We use extensive simulations and an empirical dataset with 35 traits to show the method’s performance. We implemented the new approach in the R package “do3PCA” available from the RCran repository.

Today, researchers and domain experts in remote sensing typically design their workflows from scratch with limited sharing and reusability across teams and organizations. A component-based approach to workflow engineering addresses these issues by modeling workflows as a DAG of self-contained, reusable tasks, each characterized by its input and output schema, semantics, and metadata. This abstraction enables interchangeable implementations and reuse in future workflows. Furthermore, it would enable fine-grained resource allocation required for a serverless execution of scientific workflows. We demonstrate the flexibility gained in new execution paradigms by implementing a component-based workflow in the Earth Observation (EO) domain. Specifically, we deploy the workflow on a monolithic system and a serverless Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform. We show that the monolithic deployment outperforms serverless execution due to greater availability of computing resources and reduced data transfer requirements. Furthermore, our custom scheduler in the local deployment can leverage the DAG structure of inter-task dependencies, in contrast to the limited parallelization options available in application-agnostic schedulers in FaaS systems. In contrast, the serverless deployment could significantly reduce the estimated cost of a workflow execution. Our component-based approach to workflow engineering enabled the decomposition of the computation into a parallel chain of self-contained serverless functions, thereby improving resource utilization, component reuse, and cost efficiency.

For almost two decades, the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has developed widely used tools to reliably evaluate system efficiency: the SPEC PTDaemonR interface, the SPECpower_ssjR 2008 benchmark, and the SPEC SERTR> suite. To ensure relevant, high?quality, and reproducible measurements, and to adapt continuously to evolving industry and regulatory requirements, these tools are under continuous development. We present an overview of their evolution and describe current progress towards the next major versions of the benchmarks.

For almost two decades, the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has developed widely used tools to reliably evaluate system efficiency: the SPEC PTDaemonR interface, the SPECpower_ssjR 2008 benchmark, and the SPEC SERTR> suite. To ensure relevant, high?quality, and reproducible measurements, and to adapt continuously to evolving industry and regulatory requirements, these tools are under continuous development. We present an overview of their evolution and describe current progress towards the next major versions of the benchmarks.

Today, researchers and domain experts in remote sensing typically design their workflows from scratch with limited sharing and reusability across teams and organizations. A component-based approach to workflow engineering addresses these issues by modeling workflows as a DAG of self-contained, reusable tasks, each characterized by its input and output schema, semantics, and metadata. This abstraction enables interchangeable implementations and reuse in future workflows. Furthermore, it would enable fine-grained resource allocation required for a serverless execution of scientific workflows. We demonstrate the flexibility gained in new execution paradigms by implementing a component-based workflow in the Earth Observation (EO) domain. Specifically, we deploy the workflow on a monolithic system and a serverless Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform. We show that the monolithic deployment outperforms serverless execution due to greater availability of computing resources and reduced data transfer requirements. Furthermore, our custom scheduler in the local deployment can leverage the DAG structure of inter-task dependencies, in contrast to the limited parallelization options available in application-agnostic schedulers in FaaS systems. In contrast, the serverless deployment could significantly reduce the estimated cost of a workflow execution. Our component-based approach to workflow engineering enabled the decomposition of the computation into a parallel chain of self-contained serverless functions, thereby improving resource utilization, component reuse, and cost efficiency.

Today, researchers and domain experts in remote sensing typically design their workflows from scratch with limited sharing and reusability across teams and organizations. A component-based approach to workflow engineering addresses these issues by modeling workflows as a DAG of self-contained, reusable tasks, each characterized by its input and output schema, semantics, and metadata. This abstraction enables interchangeable implementations and reuse in future workflows. Furthermore, it would enable fine-grained resource allocation required for a serverless execution of scientific workflows. We demonstrate the flexibility gained in new execution paradigms by implementing a component-based workflow in the Earth Observation (EO) domain. Specifically, we deploy the workflow on a monolithic system and a serverless Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform. We show that the monolithic deployment outperforms serverless execution due to greater availability of computing resources and reduced data transfer requirements. Furthermore, our custom scheduler in the local deployment can leverage the DAG structure of inter-task dependencies, in contrast to the limited parallelization options available in application-agnostic schedulers in FaaS systems. In contrast, the serverless deployment could significantly reduce the estimated cost of a workflow execution. Our component-based approach to workflow engineering enabled the decomposition of the computation into a parallel chain of self-contained serverless functions, thereby improving resource utilization, component reuse, and cost efficiency.

Today, researchers and domain experts in remote sensing typically design their workflows from scratch with limited sharing and reusability across teams and organizations. A component-based approach to workflow engineering addresses these issues by modeling workflows as a DAG of self-contained, reusable tasks, each characterized by its input and output schema, semantics, and metadata. This abstraction enables interchangeable implementations and reuse in future workflows. Furthermore, it would enable fine-grained resource allocation required for a serverless execution of scientific workflows. We demonstrate the flexibility gained in new execution paradigms by implementing a component-based workflow in the Earth Observation (EO) domain. Specifically, we deploy the workflow on a monolithic system and a serverless Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform. We show that the monolithic deployment outperforms serverless execution due to greater availability of computing resources and reduced data transfer requirements. Furthermore, our custom scheduler in the local deployment can leverage the DAG structure of inter-task dependencies, in contrast to the limited parallelization options available in application-agnostic schedulers in FaaS systems. In contrast, the serverless deployment could significantly reduce the estimated cost of a workflow execution. Our component-based approach to workflow engineering enabled the decomposition of the computation into a parallel chain of self-contained serverless functions, thereby improving resource utilization, component reuse, and cost efficiency.

For almost two decades, the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has developed widely used tools to reliably evaluate system efficiency: the SPEC PTDaemonR interface, the SPECpower_ssjR 2008 benchmark, and the SPEC SERTR> suite. To ensure relevant, high?quality, and reproducible measurements, and to adapt continuously to evolving industry and regulatory requirements, these tools are under continuous development. We present an overview of their evolution and describe current progress towards the next major versions of the benchmarks.

Today, researchers and domain experts in remote sensing typically design their workflows from scratch with limited sharing and reusability across teams and organizations. A component-based approach to workflow engineering addresses these issues by modeling workflows as a DAG of self-contained, reusable tasks, each characterized by its input and output schema, semantics, and metadata. This abstraction enables interchangeable implementations and reuse in future workflows. Furthermore, it would enable fine-grained resource allocation required for a serverless execution of scientific workflows. We demonstrate the flexibility gained in new execution paradigms by implementing a component-based workflow in the Earth Observation (EO) domain. Specifically, we deploy the workflow on a monolithic system and a serverless Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) platform. We show that the monolithic deployment outperforms serverless execution due to greater availability of computing resources and reduced data transfer requirements. Furthermore, our custom scheduler in the local deployment can leverage the DAG structure of inter-task dependencies, in contrast to the limited parallelization options available in application-agnostic schedulers in FaaS systems. In contrast, the serverless deployment could significantly reduce the estimated cost of a workflow execution. Our component-based approach to workflow engineering enabled the decomposition of the computation into a parallel chain of self-contained serverless functions, thereby improving resource utilization, component reuse, and cost efficiency.

Der Arbeitsort außerhalb der Arbeitsstätte verändert die Arbeitsorganisation. Digitale, mobile Arbeit verlangt ein Umdenken der Führungskräfte, die neue Methoden der Interaktion praktizieren und „moderne“ Belastungen in den Blick nehmen müssen.

The SPEC SERT suite is the industry-standard benchmark for evaluating server energy efficiency and is widely adopted in government regulations and certification programs. Current certification rules require every CPU memory channel to be populated with at least one Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM). In real-world deployments, however, servers are sometimes configured with fewer DIMMs, leaving some channels unpopulated. This discrepancy introduces a significant gap between certified efficiency scores and the actual efficiency of deployed systems. To address this issue, there are ongoing discussions about certifying servers with partially populated memory channels. However, the impact of memory configuration on SPEC SERT results has not been systematically studied. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of how different memory configurations affect performance, power consumption, and energy efficiency on two state-of-the-art server systems using the SPEC SERT 2 suite. We vary both the number of populated channels and the type of DIMMs. Our experimental results show that server efficiency scores can be up to 3.4 times lower with only one channel populated and still up to 1.3 times lower with half the channels, compared to fully populated configurations. Detailed analysis of individual SPEC SERT 2 worklets reveals that some CPU worklets are highly sensitive to memory bandwidth, and that the impact of memory configuration is dependent on both server architecture and workload intensity. These findings underscore the need to reconsider certification criteria and highlight the importance of memory configuration for accurate energy efficiency assessment.

The rapid adoption of GPU-accelerated workloads for AI and high-performance computing has driven a sharp rise in data center energy consumption, making reliable energy efficiency measurement critical for research, system design, and operational decisions. Unlike conventional performance benchmarking, energy efficiency benchmarking introduces new sources of variability (e.g., power-domain selection, sampling strategy, thermal and power-management policies, and workload non-determinism) that must be explicitly controlled and documented. Small changes in drivers, firmware, or tuning can produce large, misleading differences in reported efficiency, particularly on modern GPU platforms where hardware/software co-optimization and vendor-specific features are pervasive. In this paper, we summarize best practices and lessons learned from implementing GPU workloads for the latest SPEC efficiency benchmarks, providing guidance for reliable, reproducible energy efficiency experiments on GPU servers. Our contributions aim to standardize methodology, reduce ambiguity in comparisons, and enable trusted energy efficiency benchmarking of GPU-accelerated systems.

The SPEC SERT suite is the industry-standard benchmark for evaluating server energy efficiency and is widely adopted in government regulations and certification programs. Current certification rules require every CPU memory channel to be populated with at least one Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM). In real-world deployments, however, servers are sometimes configured with fewer DIMMs, leaving some channels unpopulated. This discrepancy introduces a significant gap between certified efficiency scores and the actual efficiency of deployed systems. To address this issue, there are ongoing discussions about certifying servers with partially populated memory channels. However, the impact of memory configuration on SPEC SERT results has not been systematically studied. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of how different memory configurations affect performance, power consumption, and energy efficiency on two state-of-the-art server systems using the SPEC SERT 2 suite. We vary both the number of populated channels and the type of DIMMs. Our experimental results show that server efficiency scores can be up to 3.4 times lower with only one channel populated and still up to 1.3 times lower with half the channels, compared to fully populated configurations. Detailed analysis of individual SPEC SERT 2 worklets reveals that some CPU worklets are highly sensitive to memory bandwidth, and that the impact of memory configuration is dependent on both server architecture and workload intensity. These findings underscore the need to reconsider certification criteria and highlight the importance of memory configuration for accurate energy efficiency assessment.

The rapid adoption of GPU-accelerated workloads for AI and high-performance computing has driven a sharp rise in data center energy consumption, making reliable energy efficiency measurement critical for research, system design, and operational decisions. Unlike conventional performance benchmarking, energy efficiency benchmarking introduces new sources of variability (e.g., power-domain selection, sampling strategy, thermal and power-management policies, and workload non-determinism) that must be explicitly controlled and documented. Small changes in drivers, firmware, or tuning can produce large, misleading differences in reported efficiency, particularly on modern GPU platforms where hardware/software co-optimization and vendor-specific features are pervasive. In this paper, we summarize best practices and lessons learned from implementing GPU workloads for the latest SPEC efficiency benchmarks, providing guidance for reliable, reproducible energy efficiency experiments on GPU servers. Our contributions aim to standardize methodology, reduce ambiguity in comparisons, and enable trusted energy efficiency benchmarking of GPU-accelerated systems.

The rapid adoption of GPU-accelerated workloads for AI and high-performance computing has driven a sharp rise in data center energy consumption, making reliable energy efficiency measurement critical for research, system design, and operational decisions. Unlike conventional performance benchmarking, energy efficiency benchmarking introduces new sources of variability (e.g., power-domain selection, sampling strategy, thermal and power-management policies, and workload non-determinism) that must be explicitly controlled and documented. Small changes in drivers, firmware, or tuning can produce large, misleading differences in reported efficiency, particularly on modern GPU platforms where hardware/software co-optimization and vendor-specific features are pervasive. In this paper, we summarize best practices and lessons learned from implementing GPU workloads for the latest SPEC efficiency benchmarks, providing guidance for reliable, reproducible energy efficiency experiments on GPU servers. Our contributions aim to standardize methodology, reduce ambiguity in comparisons, and enable trusted energy efficiency benchmarking of GPU-accelerated systems.

The SPEC SERT suite is the industry-standard benchmark for evaluating server energy efficiency and is widely adopted in government regulations and certification programs. Current certification rules require every CPU memory channel to be populated with at least one Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM). In real-world deployments, however, servers are sometimes configured with fewer DIMMs, leaving some channels unpopulated. This discrepancy introduces a significant gap between certified efficiency scores and the actual efficiency of deployed systems. To address this issue, there are ongoing discussions about certifying servers with partially populated memory channels. However, the impact of memory configuration on SPEC SERT results has not been systematically studied. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of how different memory configurations affect performance, power consumption, and energy efficiency on two state-of-the-art server systems using the SPEC SERT 2 suite. We vary both the number of populated channels and the type of DIMMs. Our experimental results show that server efficiency scores can be up to 3.4 times lower with only one channel populated and still up to 1.3 times lower with half the channels, compared to fully populated configurations. Detailed analysis of individual SPEC SERT 2 worklets reveals that some CPU worklets are highly sensitive to memory bandwidth, and that the impact of memory configuration is dependent on both server architecture and workload intensity. These findings underscore the need to reconsider certification criteria and highlight the importance of memory configuration for accurate energy efficiency assessment.

The SPEC SERT suite is the industry-standard benchmark for evaluating server energy efficiency and is widely adopted in government regulations and certification programs. Current certification rules require every CPU memory channel to be populated with at least one Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM). In real-world deployments, however, servers are sometimes configured with fewer DIMMs, leaving some channels unpopulated. This discrepancy introduces a significant gap between certified efficiency scores and the actual efficiency of deployed systems. To address this issue, there are ongoing discussions about certifying servers with partially populated memory channels. However, the impact of memory configuration on SPEC SERT results has not been systematically studied. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analysis of how different memory configurations affect performance, power consumption, and energy efficiency on two state-of-the-art server systems using the SPEC SERT 2 suite. We vary both the number of populated channels and the type of DIMMs. Our experimental results show that server efficiency scores can be up to 3.4 times lower with only one channel populated and still up to 1.3 times lower with half the channels, compared to fully populated configurations. Detailed analysis of individual SPEC SERT 2 worklets reveals that some CPU worklets are highly sensitive to memory bandwidth, and that the impact of memory configuration is dependent on both server architecture and workload intensity. These findings underscore the need to reconsider certification criteria and highlight the importance of memory configuration for accurate energy efficiency assessment.

The rapid adoption of GPU-accelerated workloads for AI and high-performance computing has driven a sharp rise in data center energy consumption, making reliable energy efficiency measurement critical for research, system design, and operational decisions. Unlike conventional performance benchmarking, energy efficiency benchmarking introduces new sources of variability (e.g., power-domain selection, sampling strategy, thermal and power-management policies, and workload non-determinism) that must be explicitly controlled and documented. Small changes in drivers, firmware, or tuning can produce large, misleading differences in reported efficiency, particularly on modern GPU platforms where hardware/software co-optimization and vendor-specific features are pervasive. In this paper, we summarize best practices and lessons learned from implementing GPU workloads for the latest SPEC efficiency benchmarks, providing guidance for reliable, reproducible energy efficiency experiments on GPU servers. Our contributions aim to standardize methodology, reduce ambiguity in comparisons, and enable trusted energy efficiency benchmarking of GPU-accelerated systems.

BACKGROUND: Oral H1-antihistamines (OAHs) are among the most frequently used medications for the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR). OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review and network meta-analysis comparing the efficacy and safety of individual OAHs in patients with AR. METHODS: We searched 4 electronic bibliographic databases and 3 clinical trial databases for randomized controlled trials assessing adults with perennial or seasonal AR, and comparing (1) OAH versus placebo or (2) different individual OAHs. We performed a network meta-analysis on the Total Nasal Symptom Score, Total Ocular Symptom Score, Rhinoconjunctivitis Quality-of-Life Questionnaire, development of adverse events, and withdrawals due to adverse events. Certainty of evidence for comparisons involving the most clinically relevant second-generation OAHs was assessed using Grading of Recommendations, Assessment and Evaluation approach to network meta-analysis. RESULTS: We included 74 randomized controlled trials (21 on perennial AR and 53 on seasonal AR). Cetirizine, ebastine, bilastine, and rupatadine were among the individual medications associated with the highest efficacy for improving nasal symptoms. For other efficacy outcomes, the most efficacious interventions varied. A similar frequency of adverse events was observed among different individual second-generation OAHs, with serious adverse events being rare. For most comparisons, the certainty of evidence was rated as "low" or "very low," indicating substantial uncertainty regarding the treatment effects. CONCLUSIONS: Although some OAHs seem to be more efficacious than others, most of the differences between individual second-generation medications are trivial or small. In addition, we did not find any relevant differences in the safety profiles of second-generation OAHs.

Abstract This study presents a sea-ice-enhanced K-profile parameterization to improve simulations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in ocean–sea ice coupled models. The modified KPP dynamically scales the background vertical diffusivity with local sea-ice fraction, representing the insulating and turbulence-suppressing effects of sea ice on upper-ocean mixing. Sensitivity experiments forced by the JRA55-do (1958–2018) data set show that the proposed schemes strengthen deep-water formation in the subpolar and Nordic Seas, leading to a more realistic AMOC representation. In addition to AMOC strengthening, the modified scheme produces consistent upper-ocean salinity increases under sea-ice conditions, which enhance density and support deep convection. The enhanced AMOC arises through two main physical pathways: (a) intensified deep-water formation in the Labrador Sea, strengthening the southward branch of the overturning circulation, and (b) increased transport of denser waters to the Nordic Seas, which uplifts isopycnal surfaces across the Greenland–Iceland–Scotland Ridge and promotes the Denmark Strait overflow. Together, these processes reinforce the AMOC and improve agreement with observations. This study establishes a physically based framework for incorporating sea-ice-controlled vertical mixing and demonstrates how Arctic sea-ice-induced density changes can modulate large-scale overturning circulation and its variability.

The Seed Library Network is an organization dedicated to supporting communities to steward their seeds and our connection to each other and the food that nurtures us. Seed libraries can vary from community to community, but the basic idea is that seeds are made available to the community for free. Some of the intentions of seed libraries are: - increase access to locally grown food social justice - local resilience - food security - seed sovereignty - preserve stories and culture - promote seed saving - community building - preserve and increase genetic diversity - pro-active response to climate change - desire to strengthen genetically honest seed. Mission: The Seed Library Network: Cultivating Community Seed Libraries and Seed Sovereignty. Vision: A robust seed library in every community that is accessible to all and that honors the wisdom of the seeds and their keepers.

For almost two decades, the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has developed widely used tools to reliably evaluate system efficiency: the SPEC PTDaemonR interface, the SPECpower_ssjR 2008 benchmark, and the SPEC SERTR> suite. To ensure relevant, high?quality, and reproducible measurements, and to adapt continuously to evolving industry and regulatory requirements, these tools are under continuous development. We present an overview of their evolution and describe current progress towards the next major versions of the benchmarks.

Steigt durch die zunehmende Einführung von Künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) die Arbeitsbelastung? Und sind Arbeitsplätze bedroht? Daten der WSI-Betriebsrätebefragung zeigen, dass sich KI in ihrer Wirkung – zumindest in der frühen Einführungsphase – von anderen digitalen Technologien zu unterscheiden scheint. Statt einer bei anderen Technologien häufiger auftretenden Arbeitsverdichtung berichteten viele Betriebsräte eher von Arbeitsentlastung, und nach einem Beobachtungszeitraum von zwei Jahren zeigte sich per Saldo ein leichter Stellenaufbau.

Mount Kilimanjaro, with its steep elevational gradient (770–5886 m a.s.l.) and pronounced land-use heterogeneity, supports high biodiversity and diverse nature’s contributions to people (NCP), but it is underrepresented in global spatial assessments. We address this gap by mapping NCP supply across 12 ecosystem types on the southern slopes identifying hotspots and coldspots and quantifying synergies and trade-offs among NCP categories. We use 25 context-specific NCP categories that integrate local and scientific knowledge with field measurements and remote-sensing-derived proxies. Combining long-term field data with remote sensing and machine learning, we upscaled plot-scale indicators into standardized supply maps. Total NCP supply is strongly concentrated in mid-elevation ecosystems: the 1100–2200 m band alone accounted for ∼59% of total supply compared with ∼18% in the lowlands (700–1100 m), and the 1100–2800 m belts together provide ∼73%, whereas high-elevation zones (2800–4600 m) contribute <9%. Hotspots clustered in lower montane forest, Ocotea forest and homegardens at mid-elevations, while coldspots occur in Erica forest and Helichrysum vegetation at high elevations and in maize fields and savanna at low elevations. We detected moderate (r = 0.55) to strong synergies (r = 0.83) among the three NCP groups (material, regulating, non-material). After accounting for climatic co-variation, the correlations among NCP groups weakened (r = 0.23–0.44), underscoring the critical role of climate for NCP supply. Our study maps NCP hotspots and coldspots across Mt. Kilimanjaro and provides a decision-support layer for conservation, restoration and agroforestry management, as well as a blueprint for spatially-explicit NCP mapping and analyses.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are being used more for monitoring and surveillance, where nodes with limited energy resources must send a lot of sensed data. One big problem with these kinds of networks is that nodes run out of power quickly because they send the same data repeatedly. This has a direct impact on the network's lifetime and reliability. Many data aggregation methods have been suggested to cut down on communication overhead, but most of them only deal with redundancy between nearby nodes and does not do a good job of stopping repeated transmissions from the same node over multiple sensing rounds. Also, security concerns are often not fully considered in redundancy elimination systems. This paper introduces a Robust and Efficient Redundancy Elimination Secure Data Aggregation (RERESDA) model for clustered Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to address these limitations. The suggested method presents a pattern-based data representation system that takes advantage of changes in sensed data over time. Sensor nodes only send data to the cluster head when they notice a change in the pattern they are making. This keeps them from sending data that is not needed. Also, when a cluster has similar data patterns, the cluster head picks a representative node based on how much energy is left in it. This keeps data safe while making sure that energy use is balanced. We use MATLAB-based simulations to test how well the proposed scheme works with a network of 40 sensor nodes spread out over a 100 m × 100 m area. Experimental results indicate that the proposed model diminishes overall energy consumption by as much as 56% in comparison to non-aggregation methods, while concurrently reducing bandwidth utilization. The results show that RERESDA really does improve energy efficiency and network lifetime by getting rid of redundancy and safely aggregating data at the same time.

Closed-form analytical solutions for displacement, strain, and stress serve as essential benchmarks for validating numerical methods. This work constructs complete function sets that generate two classes of strong solutions to the governing partial differential equations of two-dimensional beams. The boundary conditions are of Neumann type, prescribing displacement derivatives (strains) or equivalently stresses along all surfaces. The proposed framework is demonstrated on orthotropic and isotropic beams, effectively reproducing continuous and discontinuous surface stresses. The results provide a versatile set of benchmark solutions for assessing beam mechanics models.

Each year an estimated 56.8 million people are in need of palliative care, most of whom live in low- and middle-income countries. For children, 98% of those needing palliative care live in low- and middle-income countries with almost half of them living in Africa. Palliative care is care that provides relief from symptoms resulting from disease or injury. In comparison to curative care, which is meant to cure a disease, palliative care is meant to make the patient more comfortable. The definition of palliative care is "to make a disease or its symptoms less severe or unpleasant without removing the cause." Palliative care will lessen or "palliate" the symptoms and improve your quality of life. Palliative care can help ensure that life remains meaningful and fulfilling despite living with a serious illness. It does this through: practical help, for example, some families may need support with adapting their homes to support a person with a serious health problem; physical care: looking after the needs of the body, through mobility aids and exercises, for instance; medicines: medicines can be used to help with symptoms like pain, vomiting, breathlessness, anxiety, depression and confusion; spiritual support: helping people meet their spiritual needs, such as feeling a sense of belonging, repairing relationships and searching for meaning;emotional support: helping people and their families through the complex emotional challenges of living with a serious illness. Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients (adults and children) and their families who are facing problems associated with life-threatening illness. It prevents and relieves suffering through the early identification, correct assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, whether physical, psychosocial or spiritual. Addressing suffering involves taking care of issues beyond physical symptoms. Palliative care uses a team approach to support patients and their caregivers. This includes addressing practical needs and providing bereavement counselling. It offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death. The goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and provide the best possible quality of life for patients and their families. Symptoms may include pain, depression, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety. The team will help you gain the strength to carry on with daily life. In short, palliative care will help improve your quality of life. Palliative care provides relief in a variety of ways. Physical symptoms such as pain, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea/vomiting and sleep loss can all be mitigated with palliative approaches, whether through drugs, nutrition, deep breathing, or acupuncture.

„Femizide in Deutschland“ (FemiziDE) war ein empirisches Verbundforschungsprojekt des Instituts für Kriminologie der Universität Tübingen und des Kriminologischen Forschungsinstituts Niedersachsen e. V. Von 2022 bis 2025 wurde das Projekt von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) sowie dem Sächsischen Staatsministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt gefördert. Der vorliegende Forschungskurzbericht stellt die zentralen Ergebnisse des Projekts vor. Ein Ziel des Forschungsprojekts war es, herauszufinden, wie viele Femizide es in Deutschland gibt. Dazu wurde zunächst das theoretische Konzept „Femizid“ konkretisiert und operationalisiert. Nach der von FemiziDE entwickelten zweistufigen Definition sind Femizide vorsätzliche Tötungsdelikte, die sich gegen eine Frau oder ein Mädchen richten, und die unter anderem darauf zurückzuführen sind, dass das Opfer weiblich und daher potenziell sexistischer Diskriminierung ausgesetzt war. Dieser Geschlechtsbezug kann sich einerseits aus einem sexistischen Motiv der Tatperson ergeben (enger motivbezogener Femizidbegriff). Andererseits kann er daraus resultieren, dass Frauen aufgrund ihrer Stellung in der (deutschen) Gesellschaft für bestimmte Arten von Tötungsdelikten besonders vulnerabel sind (weiter soziostruktureller Femizidbegriff). FemiziDE analysierte mit quantitativen und qualitativen Methoden die Strafverfahrensakten zu fast allen 334 versuchten und vollendeten Tötungsdelikten mit mindestens einem weiblichen Opfer, die im Jahr 2017 in verschiedenen Bundesländern (Baden-Württemberg, Niedersachsen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Sachsen sowie in ausgewählten Städten Nordrhein-Westfalens) polizeilich erfasst worden waren. Auf dieser Grundlage wurden Falltypen von Femiziden gebildet. Außerdem konnten sowohl die polizeilichen Maßnahmen im Vorfeld der Taten als auch die anschließende rechtliche Bewertung durch die Gerichte in den Blick genommen werden.

Ein "Life-Hack" ist ein unkonventioneller Versuch, ein Problem zu lösen oder ein Projekt auf neue Art umzusetzen. Ziel ist es, oftmals mit einfachen Mitteln oder kreativen Ansätzen, Prozesse effizienter zu gestalten oder den Alltag zu erleichtern.Während Life-Hacks in vielen Lebensbereichen längst verbreitet sind, wurden sie im Kontext Öffentlicher Bibliotheken bisher kaum angewendet. Insbesondere die "Hacks" von Betriebsabläufen mit dem Fokus auf Nachhaltigkeit gab es bisher kaum.

RECIDA is the Spanish Network of Green Libraries. RECIDA was born in 2004 within the framework of the Permanent Seminars organized by the National Center for Environmental Education (CENEAM) RECIDA is coordinated by CENEAM with the collaboration of an Executive Committee and an Advisory Committee.

Diese Studie evaluiert die Genauigkeit von Deep-Learning-Algorithmen bei der Analyse von Fundusfotografien im Vergleich zu erfahrenen Augenärzten.

For many problems in population genetics, it is useful to characterize the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) of de novo mutations among a certain class of sites. A DFE is typically estimated by fitting an observed site frequency spectrum (SFS) to an expected SFS given a hypothesized distribution of selection coefficients and demographic history. The development of tools to infer gene trees from haplotype alignments, along with ancient DNA resources, provides us with additional information about the frequency trajectories of segregating mutations. Here, we ask how useful this additional information is for learning about the DFE, using the joint distribution on allele frequency and age to summarize information about the trajectory. To this end, we introduce an accurate and efficient numerical method for computing the density on the age of a segregating variant found at a given sample frequency, given the strength of selection and an arbitrarily complex population size history. We then use this framework to show that the unconditional age distribution of negatively selected alleles is very closely approximated by reweighting the neutral age distribution in terms of the negatively selected SFS, suggesting that allele ages provide little information about the DFE beyond that already contained in the present day frequency. To confirm this prediction, we extended the standard Poisson random field method to incorporate the joint distribution of frequency and age in estimating selection coefficients, and test its performance using simulations. We find that when the full SFS is observed and the true allele ages are known, including ages in the estimation provides only small increases in the accuracy of estimated selection coefficients. However, if only sites with frequencies above a certain threshold are observed, then the true ages can provide substantial information about the selection coefficients, especially when the selection coefficient is large. When ages are estimated from haplotype data using state-of-the-art tools, uncertainty about the age abrogates most of the additional information in the fully observed SFS case, while the neutral prior assumed in these tools when estimating ages induces a downward bias in the case of the thresholded SFS.

Eine klinische Analyse der ästhetischen und funktionellen Verbesserungen der Hautstruktur nach einer Serie von fraktionierten CO2-Laserbehandlungen.

Untersuchung der Korrelation zwischen spezifischen Proteinwerten im Liquor und dem Fortschreiten kognitiver Beeinträchtigungen bei älteren Erwachsenen.

Der Rat für Informationsinfrastrukturen (RfII) wendet sich an die Wissenschaftspolitik sowie an wissenschaftliche Akteure und fordert beim Auf- und Ausbau forschungsermöglichender Informationsinfrastrukturen eine auf Konvergenz ausgerichtete Umsteuerung. Grundlegend dafür sind ein gemeinsames Zielbild sowie eine Arbeits- und Aufgabenteilung, die zu verbindlichen Verantwortlichkeiten im Gesamtsystem führt. Ergänzend schlägt der RfII Bund und Ländern ein gestuftes Verfahren zur weiteren Förderung wissenschaftlicher Informationsinfrastrukturen vor. Darüber hinaus gibt der RfII erneut Empfehlungen zu Fragen der Personalentwicklung sowie zu einem den neuen internationalen Realitäten angepassten Verständnis von Open Science und Open Data. Um die wissenschaftliche Souveränität zu steigern, schlägt der RfII den Aufbau ‚kluger Redundanzen‘ in der deutschen Wissenschaftslandschaft vor.

Diese Forschungsarbeit präsentiert die Ergebnisse der klinischen Phase-III-Studien zu einem neuartigen Molekül, das die Insulinresistenz signifikant verbessert.

This poster showcases literary and artistic initiatives developed by the Green Libraries of the Spanish Network of Environmental Information and Documentation Centres (RECIDA), alongside other notable projects in Spain. The network is coordinated by the National Centre of Environmental Education, Agency for National Parks, Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge. These initiatives are featured in a chapter of the open-access book Libraries Driving Education for Sustainable Development (2025, De Gruyter, IFLA Series). By combining artistic and literary approaches, these activities highlight libraries' essential role in advancing sustainability and climate action. They create emotional connections that make sustainability messages more impactful and memorable, fostering climate action. The initiatives contribute especially to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 4 , 5, 13, 16, and 17. The examples demonstrate how libraries can be powerful agents of change by using culture and creativity to inspire environmental consciousness. Through storytelling, visual arts, and interactive experiences, Green Libraries provide fresh perspectives on environmental education, showing that awareness can be engaging and transformative.

Die Reform soll die Rechte Europäischer Betriebsräte (EBR) stärken. Im Vorfeld hatten die Gewerkschaften für eine Zustimmung mobilisiert. Nun fehlt noch die formale Bestätigung des Rats.

Um dieses Jahr auf der BiblioCon das Thema "Agenda 2030 und nachhaltige Entwicklung" stärker in den Fokus zu bringen, haben Aktive vom Netzwerk Grüne Bibliothek (NGB) seit vergangenem Jahr zusammen mit dem Deutschen Bibliotheksverband (dbv), dem Verein Deutscher Bibliothekarinnen und Bibliothekare (VDB) und weiteren Bibliotheksverbänden in diversen Sitzungen Pläne geschmiedet. Schnell war klar: Die 17 Nachhaltigkeitsziele sollten nicht nur im Fachprogramm sichtbar werden, sondern auch auf den Fluren, in der Ausstellungshalle und im Eingangsbereich -- überall dort, wo kommuniziert wird.

Eine detaillierte Studie über die Effektivität von präzisionsgesteuerter Strahlentherapie zur Minimierung von Nebenwirkungen bei Krebspatienten.

Ein Überblick über die neuesten PCR-Technologien und automatisierte Immunoassays, die in deutschen Laboren nach 2020 eingeführt wurden.

Diese umfassende Studie analysiert die Entwicklung der Antikörperspiegel über einen Zeitraum von 24 Monaten bei Patienten unterschiedlicher Altersgruppen.

Die Studie untersucht den Zusammenhang zwischen ballaststoffreicher Ernährung und der Stabilität des Darm-Mikrobioms in den ersten drei Lebensjahren.

Diese Studie untersucht die Reduzierung von Krankenhausaufenthalten durch den Einsatz von tragbaren Sensoren zur Echtzeit-Überwachung von Herzfrequenz und Blutdruck.

Analyse der motorischen Erholung bei Patienten, die ein Exoskelett-Training im Vergleich zur konventionellen Physiotherapie absolviert haben.

Untersuchung der Resilienz von Sättigungshormonen unter kontrollierter Kalorienrestriktion und deren Auswirkungen auf den langfristigen Gewichtsverlust.

Fuzzy logic offers a method for handling uncertainty and imprecision, proving valuable in natural language processing (NLP). Fuzzy search, a key component, enhances search functionality by permitting approximate matches. This study examines the application of fuzzy search techniques in wholesale pharmaceutical distribution, where data retrieval accuracy is crucial for public health and safety. We present two case studies, each showcasing specific fuzzy search methods designed to overcome unique data retrieval challenges. A Python implementation demonstrates the practical application of these techniques to enhance search accuracy and efficiency in large pharmaceutical datasets. Our results highlight fuzzy logic's potential to revolutionize information retrieval systems. By offering practical insights and technical guidance, this research aims to enable pharmaceutical industry stakeholders to effectively implement fuzzy search techniques, leading to improved data management and decision-making processes

Data anonymization is one of the solutions allowing companies to comply with the GDPR directive in terms of data protection. In this context, developers must follow several steps in the process of data anonymization in development and testing environments. Indeed, real personal and sensitive data must not leave the production environment which is very secure. Often, anonymization experts are faced with difficulties including the lack of data flows and mapping between data sources, the non-cooperation of the database project teams (refusal to change) or even the lack of skills of these teams present due to the age of the systems developed by experienced teams who unfortunately left the project.

Eine Analyse der Effizienzsteigerung durch digitale Meldesysteme und deren Einfluss auf die Eindämmung von Infektionsketten in städtischen Gebieten.

The purpose of this article is to identify green (environmentally friendly) practices in the university libraries of Kocaeli and Istanbul, and to determine the environmental awareness and attitudes of the users (students) of these libraries in their daily lives, as well as conceptually. In addition, students' level of awareness about the environmental impacts of access to and use of information, and the greenness of libraries from the user's perspective were also investigated. Within the scope of the study, data was collected through a face-to-face questionnaire method conducted with the library users of 11 universities. Questionnaires were distributed only to student library users, and a total of 436 students answered them. This study differs from the existing literature by evaluating the environmental measures applied by librarians and their users, in contrast to studies employing conceptual approaches to the subject of green libraries. This study is intended to assist library managers, librarians and researchers conducting research on these issues. It encompasses the users' perceptions of green libraries, environmental approaches and practices that they support in libraries, their awareness of the environmental effects of information access and use, and how they evaluate their library from a green perspective. In a global context, it aims to contribute to the literature on libraries by presenting data from an unresearched region. The study first assesses the green practices of 11 university libraries using a questionnaire given to library managers, and then assesses them using a questionnaire distributed to users. Finally, it seeks to present a concrete link between information literacy and the environment, contrasting green libraries with their users' awareness of environmental impact. The results of the study showed that 7 of the 11 university libraries are in the green library category. When the data obtained from the users was analyzed, the average score for environmental awareness and attitude (EAA) in daily life among those who had received environmental education was found to be significantly higher than those who had not. The level of greenness a library was evaluated as having (EGL) was significantly higher among users of green libraries than non-green users. This can be interpreted as users having noticed the environmentally friendly measures being practiced. No significant difference was found between the green libraries and their users' environmental awareness and attitudes in daily life.

Die Forschungsarbeit untersucht, ob eine glutenfreie Diät ohne medizinische Indikation die bakterielle Diversität im Darm negativ beeinflussen kann.

Summary dadi is a popular software package for inferring models of demographic history and natural selection from population genomic data. But using dadi requires Python scripting and manual parallelization of optimization jobs. We developed dadi-cli to simplify dadi usage and also enable straighforward distributed computing.Availability and Implementation dadi-cli is implemented in Python and released under the Apache License 2.0. The source code is available at https://github.com/xin-huang/dadi-cli. dadi-cli can be installed via PyPI and conda, and is also available through Cacao on Jetstream2 https://cacao.jetstream-cloud.org/.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.

The quest for a third theory uniting macro-cosmos (relativity) and micro-cosmos (quantum mechanics) has coexisted with the denial of feminine/subjective polarity to masculine/objective. The dismissal of electromagnetism as the tension of opposites in quest of inner/outer unity is sourced in the denial of the feminine qualia -- the negative force field attributed to dark energy/dark matter. However, a conversion philosophy sourced in the hieros gamos and signified by the Mobius strip has formulated an integral consciousness methodology producing quantum objects by means of embracing the shadow haunting contemporary physics. This Self-reflecting process integrating subject/object comprises an ontology of kairos as the “quantum leap.” An interdisciplinary quest to create a phenomenological narrative is disclosed via a holistic apparatus of hermeneutics manifesting image/text of a contemporary grail journey. Reflected in this Third space is the sacred reality of autonomous number unifying polarities of feminine/subjective (quality) and objective/masculine (quantity) as new measurement apparatus for the quantum wave collapse.

The application of parametric and topological optimization in the conception of buildings is a problem of high complexity due mainly to the large number of variables of interest to be optimized and to its nature intrinsically multiobjective. Due to the computational development occurred in the last decades, it has arisen the opportunity for a broader study and development of numeric models in this field. For the conception of structural designs, it counts on vary computational software that automate great part of the structural desgin conception process. However, in the stage of definition of the structural elements position, such as columns and beams, there is still a high level of dependency of the designer because it is long the time spent in the conception and not always the solution found is the most viable in economic and executive terms. With that, the current work is the initial development of a computational model of structural optimization of reinforced concrete buildings to decrease the designer dependency with the objective of minimizing the costs – such as concrete volume and steel weight – through the search of columns positions and its dimensions, restricted to an imposed architecture.

The possible evolutionary trajectories a population can follow is determined by the fitness effects of new mutations. Their relative frequencies are best specified through a distribution of fitness effects (DFE) that spans deleterious, neutral, and beneficial mutations. As such, the DFE is key to several aspects of the evolution of a population, and particularly the rate of adaptive molecular evolution (α). Inference of DFE from patterns of polymorphism and divergence has been a longstanding goal of evolutionary genetics. polyDFE provides a flexible statistical framework to estimate the DFE and α from site frequency spectrum (SFS) data. Several probability distributions can be fitted to the data to model the DFE. The method also jointly estimates a series of nuisance parameters that model the effect of unknown demography as well data imperfections, in particular possible errors in polarizing SNPs. This chapter is organized as a tutorial for polyDFE. We start by briefly reviewing the concept of DFE, α, and the principles underlying the method, and then provide an example using central chimpanzees data (Tataru et al., Genetics 207 (3):1103–1119, 2017; Bataillon et al., Genome Biol Evol 7(4):1122–1132, 2015) to guide the user through the different steps of an analysis: formatting the data as input to polyDFE, fitting different models, obtaining estimates of parameters uncertainty and performing statistical tests, as well as model averaging procedures to obtain robust estimates of model parameters

Transnationale Interessenvertretungen stehen vor der Herausforderung, einerseits gemeinsame Arbeitnehmerinteressen zu identifizieren und andererseits das Zusammenspiel zwischen lokalen, nationalen und transnationalen Interessenvertretungsebenen zu organisieren. Beide Herausforderungen verbinden sich in der Artikulationspraxis von Interessenvertretungen und sind sowohl auf Deutungsmuster als auch auf Erwartungen und Machtressourcen zu beziehen, als umkämpfter sozialer Prozess zu verstehen und als fragile Konstruktion von Interessen zu fassen. Bei VW wird die Artikulation der Interessen zum einen durch das enge Zusammenspiel der transnationalen Interessenvertretungsebenen mit den nationalen deutschen Betriebsratsgremien geprägt, die ihre nationalen Machtressourcen auch zur Unterstützung transnationalen Handelns nutzen. Ihre besondere Form erhält die transnationale Koordination bei VW zum anderen durch den formalen Rahmen der Charta der Arbeitsbeziehungen und die unterstützende und aktivierende Rolle der Generalsekretariate. Diese Artikulationspraxis hängt entscheidend von den Deutungen der Interessenvertretungen ab, in deren Zentrum die Gefahren der Standortkonkurrenz sowohl für die Standort- und Beschäftigungssicherung als auch für die Arbeitsbedingungen stehen.

In this paper, a novel guide star catalog generation algorithm is presented, which is a crucial part of an advanced star tracker design since the performance and reliability of star identification and attitude determination depend on the guide star selection. First, we propose an analytical method to estimate the stellar instrument magnitude and characterize the associated errors. Those stars whose instrument magnitudes are higher than the star tracker sensitivity constitute the original catalog. Then, the probability model of each star in the original catalog for attitude determination is established as the function of the field of view (FOV), the brightness accuracy, and the mean number of stars in FOV based on the brightness and uniformity principles, and the stars with larger probability are selected as guide stars. The accuracy of photometry method is validated by estimating the Hipparcos catalog instrument magnitude and comparing them with actual data. The efficiency of guide star selection algorithm is demonstrated by generating guide star catalog for a star tracker with a 16° × 16° FOV.

The rate at which genomes adapt to environmental changes and the prevalence of adaptive processes in molecular evolution are two controversial issues in current evolutionary genetics. Previous attempts to quantify the genome-wide rate of adaptation through amino-acid substitution have revealed a surprising diversity of patterns, with some species (e.g. Drosophila) experiencing a very high adaptive rate, while other (e.g. humans) are dominated by nearly-neutral processes. It has been suggested that this discrepancy reflects between-species differences in effective population size. Published studies, however, were mainly focused on model organisms, and relied on disparate data sets and methodologies, so that an overview of the prevalence of adaptive protein evolution in nature is currently lacking. Here we extend existing estimators of the amino-acid adaptive rate by explicitly modelling the effect of favourable mutations on non-synonymous polymorphism patterns, and we apply these methods to a newly-built, homogeneous data set of 44 non-model animal species pairs. Data analysis uncovers a major contribution of adaptive evolution to the amino-acid substitution process across all major metazoan phyla-with the notable exception of humans and primates. The proportion of adaptive amino-acid substitution is found to be positively correlated to species effective population size. This relationship, however, appears to be primarily driven by a decreased rate of nearly-neutral amino-acid substitution because of more efficient purifying selection in large populations. Our results reveal that adaptive processes dominate the evolution of proteins in most animal species, but do not corroborate the hypothesis that adaptive substitutions accumulate at a faster rate in large populations. Implications regarding the factors influencing the rate of adaptive evolution and positive selection detection in humans vs. other organisms are discussed.

Routing 1protocols determines the shortest path to transfer the data from one host to another and specify how communication takes place between each routers. There are different classes of routing protocols are available in different environments such as intra and inter Autonomous System (AS).A routing protocol can be static or dynamic as well as link state and path vector. We will focus on Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) and Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), OSPF and BGP protocols are dynamic in nature. BGP is an inter-autonomous system routing protocol and OSPF is an intra-a utonomous system routing protocol. We can analyze the performance of Wide Area Network (WAN) by enabling the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) and Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP) of the network and ensure the Quality of Service (QoS).

In this paper, a star tracker attitude estimation procedure with increased robustness and efficiency, using the AIM algorithm, is presented and validated. The unique approach of the AIM algorithm allows one to introduce a reliable quality check that can be efficiently calculated. Unlike existing validation methods, this quality check not only detects that some of the data are unreliable but it also determines which star measurements are unreliable. These unreliable measurements can be removed from the data set, and a new attitude quaternion can be calculated without having to repeat the entire AIM algorithm. This greatly improves the robustness of the attitude estimation, while limiting the computational expense. Furthermore, the structure of AIM allows one to reuse previously calculated data when the change in attitude between subsequent measurements is small. This way, the efficiency of the entire attitude estimation cycle can be increased significantly. These enhancements are validated with simulated star tracker data. The results show that the improvements significantly improve the robustness and lower the computational cost of the star tracker attitude estimation. As a consequence, the overall performance of the attitude determination and control system greatly increases. The increased efficiency of the attitude estimation could also allow the use of star trackers in smaller satellite projects with smaller budgets.

We present an assessment of various image thresholding and centroiding algorithms to improve star tracker centroiding accuracy at moderate slew rates (<;10°/s). Star trackers generally have arc-second accuracy in stationary conditions, however their accuracy degrades as slew rate increases. In dynamic conditions, blur effects add to the challenges of star detection. This work presents an image processing algorithm for star images that preserves star tracker detection accuracy and is able to detect dim stars up to slew rates less than 10°/s. Most of star detection algorithms in literature are designed to work in stationary conditions. We evaluate a number of algorithms from literature and measure their performance in motion. The performance of the algorithms are assessed using simulations. The primary performance metrics are false positive ratio, and false negative ratio of star pixels. We introduced a new algorithm for star acquisition in moderate slew rates that combines positive features of existing algorithms. This algorithm increases the star detection accuracy in moderate slew rates and it is robust to stray light.

The sample frequency spectrum (SFS) is a widely-used summary statistic of genomic variation in a sample of homologous DNA sequences. It provides a highly efficient dimensional reduction of large-scale population genomic data and its mathematical dependence on the underlying population demography is well understood, thus enabling the development of efficient inference algorithms. However, it has been recently shown that very different population demographies can actually generate the same SFS for arbitrarily large sample sizes. Although in principle this nonidentifiability issue poses a thorny challenge to statistical inference, the population size functions involved in the counterexamples are arguably not so biologically realistic. Here, we revisit this problem and examine the identifiability of demographic models under the restriction that the population sizes are piecewise-defined where each piece belongs to some family of biologically-motivated functions. Under this assumption, we prove that the expected SFS of a sample uniquely determines the underlying demographic model, provided that the sample is sufficiently large. We obtain a general bound on the sample size sufficient for identifiability; the bound depends on the number of pieces in the demographic model and also on the type of population size function in each piece. In the cases of piecewise-constant, piecewise-exponential and piecewise-generalized-exponential models, which are often assumed in population genomic inferences, we provide explicit formulas for the bounds as simple functions of the number of pieces. Lastly, we obtain analogous results for the “folded” SFS, which is often used when there is ambiguity as to which allelic type is ancestral. Our results are proved using a generalization of Descartes’ rule of signs for polynomials to the Laplace transform of piecewise continuous functions.

Demographic models built from genetic data play important roles in illuminating prehistorical events and serving as null models in genome scans for selection. We introduce an inference method based on the joint frequency spectrum of genetic variants within and between populations. For candidate models we numerically compute the expected spectrum using a diffusion approximation to the one-locus, two-allele Wright-Fisher process, involving up to three simultaneous populations. Our approach is a composite likelihood scheme, since linkage between neutral loci alters the variance but not the expectation of the frequency spectrum. We thus use bootstraps incorporating linkage to estimate uncertainties for parameters and significance values for hypothesis tests. Our method can also incorporate selection on single sites, predicting the joint distribution of selected alleles among populations experiencing a bevy of evolutionary forces, including expansions, contractions, migrations, and admixture. We model human expansion out of Africa and the settlement of the New World, using 5 Mb of noncoding DNA resequenced in 68 individuals from 4 populations (YRI, CHB, CEU, and MXL) by the Environmental Genome Project. We infer divergence between West African and Eurasian populations 140 thousand years ago (95% confidence interval: 40–270 kya). This is earlier than other genetic studies, in part because we incorporate migration. We estimate the European (CEU) and East Asian (CHB) divergence time to be 23 kya (95% c.i.: 17–43 kya), long after archeological evidence places modern humans in Europe. Finally, we estimate divergence between East Asians (CHB) and Mexican-Americans (MXL) of 22 kya (95% c.i.: 16.3–26.9 kya), and our analysis yields no evidence for subsequent migration. Furthermore, combining our demographic model with a previously estimated distribution of selective effects among newly arising amino acid mutations accurately predicts the frequency spectrum of nonsynonymous variants across three continental populations (YRI, CHB, CEU).

Im Zuge der Debatten über Islam und Einwanderung rücken auch Aleviten ins Zentrum des öffentlichen Interesses. Als »nicht-orthodoxe« Gruppe stellen sie einen Sonderfall dar und gelten häufig als besonders gut integrierte Muslime. Dies ist nicht zuletzt ein Erfolg der alevitischen Bewegung, die sich seit Ende der 1980er Jahre für die Anerkennung des Alevitentums in Deutschland eingesetzt hat. Gleichzeitig führen die Aleviten selbst eine sehr engagierte Debatte über ihre Identität: Sind Aleviten überhaupt Muslime? Wie lässt sich das Alevitentum in Deutschland leben und vermitteln? Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaftler verschiedener Disziplinen greifen in diesem Band Aspekte der Debatte über das alevitische Selbstverständnis auf und geben einen Überblick über den Diskurs in Deutschland.

Population genetics is that branch of genetics, whose object is the study of the genetical make-up of natural populations. By investigating the laws which govern the genetic structure of natural populations, we intend to clarify the mechanism of evolution. In a natural population of sexually reproducing species, with only a hundred loci segregating, the number of possible genotypes may be practically infinite, and the genotype of each individual is quite likely to be unique in the entire his- tory of the species. Thus, as an aggregate of individual genotypes, a population is an enormously complicated system, sometimes too complicated to be treated theoretically. On the other hand, in any reasonably large population, the relative proportion of an allele (a particular form of a gene) within the population changes almost continuously with time. This is because, unlike genotypes, each gene reproduces its own kind with complete fidelity except for the very rare event of mutation. As pointed out by Fisher (1953), "the frequencies with which the different genotypes occur define the gene ratios characteristic of the population, so that it is often convenient to consider a natural population not so much as an aggregate of living individuals as an aggregate of gene ratios. Such a change of viewpoint is similar to that familiar in the theory of gases, where the speci- fication of the population of velocities is often more useful than that of a popu- lation of particles." This line of investigation was initiated by Fisher (1922) and later elaborated by him (Fisher, 1930), Haldane (cf. 1932) and especially by Wright (1931, and later publications). In the present paper, I shall review the theoretical works on population genetics, treating the changes of gene frequencies as stochastic processes, and describing these especially by the use of diffusion equations. Since I started my work in this field as a geneticist, the mathematical sophistication of my approach has been rather limited; I cannot escape from this limitation in the present paper, but I hope it will stimulate mathematicians to work in this fascinating field. Indeed, there is much to be done in the refinement and extension of the mathematical methods involved, as is shown by the works of Feller (1951, 1952) and Moran (cf. 1962)

Under reversible mutation, the frequency (q) of a gene, subject to sys- tematic evolutionary pressure (Aq) and to the accidents of sampling in a limited population (N diploid individuals), varies according to a certain distribution (sp(q)) discussed in previous papers."2'3 If mutation is irre- versible, the distribution curve for such genes should attain constancy of form, but all class frequencies should fall off at a uniform rate (K) as genes drift irreversibly into fixation. The purpose of the present paper is to broaden somewhat the treatment in this latter case.

The discussion of the distribution of the gene ratio of the author's paper of 1922 is amended by the use of a more exact form of the differential equation to be satisfied. It appears that the time needed to halve the variance by random extinction of genes in the total absence of mutations should be 1·4 instead of 2·8 times the number of potential parents in each generation. Either value shows that the loss of variance due to this cause is too trifling to be appreciable in the balance of causes which maintain the actual genetic variability of species.The same correction alters the distribution appropriate for the maintenance of variability at a fixed level by mutations in the absence of selection. The new solution closely resembles the form previously obtained and now confirmed for the practical case in which selection is present. The method of differential equations, however, fails to deal satisfactorily with these cases, owing to the failure of the integrals to converge at the termini representing cases in which one or other allelomorph is extremely rare.A method of functional equations is developed for dealing with the termini, and is shown to lead to the same solutions as the amended differential equations in the central portion of the range for which the latter are valid, and further to give the terminal distribution of rare allelomorphs. The method requires the investigation of a continuous function uv of argument v satisfying the recurrence formulaFrom the asymptotic form of this function its expansion in the neighbourhood of u = 0 is derived, giving the frequencies of the required distributions.Exceedingly minute values for the selective advantage or disadvantage make a great difference to (i) the chance of success of a mutation and (ii) the contributions of such mutations to the specific variance. The order of magnitude to be considered is the inverse of the population of the species. The neutral zone of selective advantage in the neighbourhood of zero is thus so narrow that changes in the environment, and in the genetic constitution of species, must cause this zone to be crossed and perhaps recrossed relatively rapidly in the course of evolutionary change, so that many possible gene substitutions may have a fluctuating history of advance and regression before the final balance of selective advantage is determined.