Molecular systematics of Thaumaleidae (Insecta: Diptera): The first phylogeny depicting intergeneric relationships and other taxonomic discoveries

Thaumaleidae, commonly referred to as madicolous midges, are a small family of aquatic Diptera (true flies). The larvae are restricted in their habitat to thin films of vertically flowing water, such as the margins of waterfalls, rock face seeps and cascading mountain streams. The restricted larval habitat and inconspicuous adults have led to thaumaleids being uncommonly encountered, under-collected and thus, understudied. The monophyly of the family is well supported, but generic concepts and relationships have never been rigorously tested, no phylogenies have been published and the validity of several genera is questionable. The overarching goal of this research is to produce the first comprehensive phylogeny for Thaumaleidae to ascertain generic relationships and test current generic concepts. Additional goals include alpha taxonomy and diversity studies. A new genus from Brazil, Neothaumalea Pivar, Moulton and Sinclair, is described. This is the first thaumaleid known from Brazil and east of the Andes. The Chilean thaumaleid fauna is also revised, bringing the known South American fauna from six species to seventeen. In addition to new species descriptions, all available life stages for previously known Chilean species are redescribed and illustrated, and distribution maps and keys to adults are provided. New larval morphotypes for Niphta spp. Theischinger are described and phylogenetic relationships hypothesized. Finally, the first phylogeny depicting thaumaleid generic relationships is constructed. Nucleotide sequences from three nuclear genes (big zinc finger, molybdenum cofactor sulfurase and elongation complex protein 1) were acquired from at least one representative of each genus and several outgroup taxa and analyzed with Bayesian methods. Results support the recognition of six genera within two clades: a Northern Hemisphere clade and a Southern Hemisphere clade. The Northern Hemisphere clade includes Trichothaumalea Edwards as sister to Thaumalea Ruthe (expanded to include Androprosopa Mik and Protothaumalea Vaillant). The Southern Hemisphere clade includes Afrothaumalea Stuckenberg as sister to Austrothaumalea Tonnoir (expanded to include Oterere McLellan) + (Neothaumalea + Niphta). This first comprehensive phylogeny for Thaumaleidae establishes a predictive framework with which to erect a stable classification and test myriad evolutionary hypotheses

Conceptual Model of Big Data Technologies Adoption in Smart Cities of the European Union

Big data technologies enable cities to develop towards a smart city. However, the adoption of big data technologies is challenging, which is why it is essential to identify factors that influence the adoption of big data technologies in cities. The main goal of the paper is to propose a conceptual model of big data technologies adoption in smart cities of the European Union. In order to derive the conceptual model following is done: i) overview of the previous Technology-OrganisationEnvironment framework - based research on the adoption of selected information and communications technologies crucial for the development of smart cities, and ii) selection of factors based on the critical examination of the previous research. Selected factors, Absorptive Capacity, Technology Readiness, Compatibility, City Managements Support, the Existence of Smart City Strategy and Stakeholders Support, were incorporated into the conceptual model of big data technologies adoption in smart cities of the European Union. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Phylogenetic analysis and revision of the Nearctic \u3ci\u3eAndroprosopa\u3c/i\u3e Mik (Diptera: Thaumaleidae) with an emphasis on the western species

The family Thaumaleidae, also known as seepage midges, is an uncommonly encountered, understudied family of aquatic Diptera compared to its sister group, the Simuliidae. The goal of this project was to assess species diversity of the Nearctic Thaumaleidae and determine relationships among them. The western Nearctic fauna of Androprosopa Mik is revised to include twenty-eight species, six of which are described as new to science. Descriptions of the adult males of A. apache, A. arnaudi, A. magnipelvim, A. rainierensis, A. sierra and A. uvas are provided. Redescriptions of all remaining species are also provided, as well as genitalic illustrations, updated distribution maps, and a dichotomous key to males of all western Nearctic Androprosopa. Molecular phylogenetic analyses were conducted to determine relationships between eastern and western Nearctic Androprosopa species and between the more structurally heterogeneous western species. Fresh, molecular grade material- was gathered for all Nearctic species, except seven (A. arnaudi, A. fusca, A. sonorensis, A. schmidiana, A. uvas, A. zelmae and A. zempoala ) that eluded capture. Molecular sequence data from two nuclear protein-coding genes, big zinc finger (BZF) and molybdenum cofactor sulfurase (MCS) were acquired using the polymerase chain reaction and Sanger sequencing methods. Analyses using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference methods were conducted. Resulting phylogenies supported monophyly of the western Nearctic species; however, relationships between the western and eastern species were unresolved, as were the relationships between the eastern Nearctic, western Nearctic, and Palearctic species. Based upon both structural and molecular data, six new species groups within the western Nearctic fauna are proposed

Usvajanje tehnologija velikih podataka u pametnim gradovima Europske Unije: Analiza važnosti i performansi tehnoloških čimbenika

Gradovi Europske Unije na svom razvoju prema pametnom gradu usvajaju tehnologije velikih podataka. S obzirom na to da su tehnologije velikih podataka složene i disruptivne tehnologije, potrebno je utvrditi važnost čimbenika i njihovih aspekata za usvajanje tehnologija velikih podataka u gradovima. Cilj rada je identificirati najvažnije aspekte tehnoloških čimbenika usvajanja tehnologija velikih podataka u gradovima Europske Unije. Kako bi se ostvario cilj rada provedeno je istraživanje na uzorku gradova Europske Unije, a na prikupljenim podacima provedena je analiza mape važnosti i performansi čimbenika usvajanja tehnologija velikih podataka. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da su aspekti apsorpcijskog kapaciteta i tehnološke spremnosti gradova EU relativno visoke važnosti, no uz niske razine performansi u odnosu na čimbenike organizacije i okoline. Doprinos rada sastoji se od općih smjernica za povećanje razine tehnološke spremnosti i apsorpcijskog kapaciteta gradova kako bi se povećala uspješnost usvajanja tehnologija velikih podataka u gradovima Europske Unije

Data anonymization patent landscape

The omnipresent, unstoppable increase in digital data has led to a greater understanding of the importance of data privacy. Different approaches are used to implement data privacy. The goal of this paper is to develop a data anonymization patent landscape, by determining the following: (i) the trend in data anonymization patenting, (ii) the type of technical content protected in data anonymization, (iii) the organizations and countries most active in patenting data anonymization know-how; and (iv) the topics emerging most often in patent titles. Patents from the PatSeer database relating to data anonymization from 2001 to 2015 were analyzed. We used the longitudinal approach in combination with text mining techniques to develop a data anonymization patent landscape. The results indicated the following. The number of single patent families is growing with a high increase after 2010, thus indicating a positive trend in the area of patenting data anonymization solutions. The majority of patenting activities relate to the G Physics section. Organizations from the USA and Japan assigned the majority of patents related to data anonymization. The results of text mining indicate that the most often used word in titles of data anonymization patents are “anonym*, “method”, “data” and “system”. Several additional words that indicated the most frequent topics related to data anonymization were: “equipment”, “software”, “protection”, “identification”, or “encryption”, and specific topics such as “community”, “medical”, or “service”