Molecular phylogeny and diversification history of Prosopis (Fabaceae: Mimosoideae)

The genus Prosopis is an important member of arid and semiarid environments around the world. To study Prosopis diversification and evolution, a combined approach including molecular phylogeny, molecular dating, and character optimization analysis was applied. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from five different molecular markers (matK-trnK, trnL-trnF, trnS-psbC, G3pdh, NIA). Taxon sampling involved a total of 30 Prosopis species that represented all Sections and Series and the complete geographical range of the genus. The results suggest that Prosopis is not a natural group. Molecular dating analysis indicates that the divergence between Section Strombocarpa and Section Algarobia plus Section Monilicarpa occurred in the Oligocene, contrasting with a much recent diversification (Late Miocene) within each of these groups. The diversification of the group formed by species of Series Chilenses, Pallidae, and Ruscifoliae is inferred to have started in the Pliocene, showing a high diversification rate. The moment of diversification within the major lineages of American species of Prosopis is coincident with the spreading of arid areas in the Americas, suggesting a climatic control for diversification of the group. Optimization of habitat parameters suggests an ancient occupation of arid environments by Prosopis species.Fil: Catalano, Santiago Andres. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico - Tucumán. Unidad Ejecutora Lillo; ArgentinaFil: Vilardi, Juan Cesar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Tosto, Daniela Sandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas; ArgentinaFil: Saidman, Beatriz Ofelia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Multi-agent systems negotiation to deal with dynamic scheduling in disturbed industrial context

International audienceIt is now accepted that using multi-agent systems (MAS) improve the reactivity to treat perturbation(s) within flexible manufacturing system. Intelligent algorithms shall be used to address these perturbation(s) and all smart decision entities within their environment have to continuously negotiate until their common and final goal is achieved. This paper proposes a negotiation-based control approach to deal with variability on a manufacturing system. It has initially formulated and modeled an environment in which all contributing entities or agents operate, communicate, and interact with each other productively. Then after, simulation and applicability implementation experiments on the basis of full-sized academic experimental platform have been conducted to validate the proposed control approach. Product and resource entities negotiate considering different key performance measures in order to set best priority-based product sequencing. This has been done with expectations that the applicability of the negotiation-based decision-making will be more adaptable to deal with perturbation(s) than another alternative decision-making approach called pure reactive control approach. The result showed that negotiation among the decisional entities has brought significant improvement in reducing makespan and hence conveyed better global performance of a manufacturing system

Survival and long-term maintenance of tertiary trees in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene. First record of Aesculus L.

The Italian and Balkan peninsulas have been places traditionally highlighted as Pleistocene glacial refuges. The Iberian Peninsula, however, has been a focus of controversy between geobotanists and palaeobotanists as a result of its exclusion from this category on different occasions. In the current paper, we synthesise geological, molecular, palaeobotanical and geobotanical data that show the importance of the Iberian Peninsula in the Western Mediterranean as a refugium area. The presence of Aesculus aff. hippocastanum L. at the Iberian site at Cal Guardiola (Tarrasa, Barcelona, NE Spain) in the Lower– Middle Pleistocene transition helps to consolidate the remarkable role of the Iberian Peninsula in the survival of tertiary species during the Pleistocene. The palaeodistribution of the genus in Europe highlights a model of area abandonment for a widely-distributed species in the Miocene and Pliocene, leading to a diminished and fragmentary presence in the Pleistocene and Holocene on the southern Mediterranean peninsulas. Aesculus fossils are not uncommon within the series of Tertiary taxa. Many appear in the Pliocene and suffer a radical impoverishment in the Lower–Middle Pleistocene transition. Nonetheless some of these tertiary taxa persisted throughout the Pleistocene and Holocene up to the present in the Iberian Peninsula. Locating these refuge areas on the Peninsula is not an easy task, although areas characterised by a sustained level of humidity must have played an predominant role

Automated experience-based learning for plug and produce assembly systems

YesThis paper presents a self-learning technique for adapting modular automated assembly systems. The technique consists of automatically analysing sensor data and acquiring experience on the changes made on an assembly system to cope with new production requirements or to recover from disruptions. Experience is generalised into operational knowledge that is used to aid engineers in future adaptations by guiding them throughout the process. At each step, applicable changes are presented and ranked based on: (1) similarity between the current context and those in the experience base; (2) estimate of the impact on system performance. The experience model and the self-learning technique reflect the modular structure of the assembly machine and are particularly suitable for plug and produce systems, which are designed to offer high levels of self-organisation and adaptability. Adaptations can be performed and evaluated at different levels: from the smallest pluggable unit to the whole assembly system. Knowledge on individual modules can be reused when modules are plugged into other systems. An experimental evaluation has been conducted on an industrial case study and the results show that, with experience-based learning, adaptations of plug and produce systems can be performed in a shorter time.European Union [grant number 314762]

Multiple Origins and Nested Cycles of Hybridization Result in High Tetraploid Diversity in the Monocot Prospero

This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF P21440-B03 to HW-S)

Phylogenetics and taxonomy of the N ew W orld leafy spurges, E uphorbia section T ithymalus ( E uphorbiaceae)

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/1/boj12167-sup-0002-fs2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/2/boj12167-sup-0003-fs3.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/3/boj12167-sup-0004-fs4.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/4/boj12167.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107503/5/boj12167-sup-0001-fs1.pd