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Satellite DNA (satDNA) is among the fastest evolving elements in the genome and is highly abundant in some eukaryotic genomes. Its highly repetitive nature means it is challenging to assemble, and thus underrepresented in most assemblies and often understudied as a result. Birds are an ideal model organism for the study of satDNA and its evolution, since the large amount of available sequenced genomes of this clade allows for dense sampling across various evolutionary timescales, and the low number of satDNA families within their satellitomes facilitates their study and comparison between species. Here, we characterize satDNA and its evolution across Passeriformes, an avian clade containing two-thirds of all bird species spanning ~50 million years of evolution. With this goal we use both short-read data and long-read assemblies of species representative of over 30 passerine families in this clade to shed light on the evolution of its satellitome. We focus on examining the phylogenetic relationships between satellites common to most species as well as characterizing satellite array structure and location in genome assemblies. We also analyse satellite abundance in each genome, focusing on differences in the satellite content between male and female individuals to look for satellites present in the female-specific W sex chromosome and the germline-restricted chromosome. Seven satDNA families shared by a quarter of the species were found, that were likely present in an ancestral species shared by most, if not all the species of Passeriformes. We observed that satDNA evolution is complex and does not follow species phylogeny and that satellite arrays generally have a simple head-to-tail conformation, with evidence in four of the sampled species of satDNA arrays with higher-order repeats. We also found two satDNA families with fairly consistent monomer length and conserved regions that we hypothesise to might be functional.

No description available.

Games provide ideal environments for assessingreinforcement learning algorithms because of their simple dynamicsand their inexpensive testing, compared to real-worldenvironments. Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic (A3C), developedby DeepMind, has shown significant improvements inperformance over other state-of-the-art algorithms on Atarigames. Additionally, the algorithm A3C(lambda) which is ageneralization of A3C, has previously been shown to furtherimprove upon A3C in these environments. In this work, weimplement A3C and A3C(lambda) on the environment Cart-Poleand Flappy Bird and evaluate their performance via simulation.The simulations show that A3C effectively masters the Cart-Poleenvironment, as expected. In Flappy Bird sparse rewards arepresent, and the simulations reveal that despite this A3C managesto overcome this challenge the majority of times, achievinga linear increase in learning. Further simulations were madeon Flappy Bird with the inclusion of an entropy term andwith A3C(lambda), which display no signs of improvement inperformance when compared to regular A3C. / Spel utgör ideella miljöer för att bedöma reinforcement learning algoritmer på grund av deras enkla dynamik och billiga testning jämfört med verkliga miljöer. Asynchronous advantage actor-critic (A3C) utvecklad av DeepMind har visat betydande förbättringar på Atari spel jämfört med andra etablerade RL-algoritmer. Vidare har algoritmen A3C(lambda), som är en generalisering av A3C, tidigare visats ge ännu bättre resultat för dessa spel. I denna studie implementerar vi A3C och A3C(lambda) på miljöerna Cart-Pole och Flappy Bird och utvärderar algoritmerna via simulering. Simuleringarna visar att A3C på kort tid bemästrar Cart-Pole, som väntat. I Flappy Bird är användbar information glest fördelad och belöningen har ett lokalt optimum vilket leder till att algoritmen riskerar att fastna. Trots detta visar simuleringarna att A3C lyckas ta sig förbi det lokala optimat majoriteten av försöken och förbättrar sin belöning linjärt därefter. Ytterligare simuleringar gjordes på Flappy Bird genom att inkludera en entropiterm och med A3C(lambda). Metoderna visade någon märkbar förbättring jämfört med vanlig A3C. / Kandidatexjobb i elektroteknik 2021, KTH, Stockholm

This dissertation challenges the dominant interpretation in women's history of the 1920s and 1930s as the "doldrums of the women's movement," and demonstrates that Philadelphia's political history is incomplete without the inclusion of African American women's voices. Given their well-developed bases of power in social reform, club, church, and interracial groups and strong tradition of political activism, these women exerted tangible pressure on Philadelphia's political leaders to reshape the reform agenda. When success was not forthcoming through traditional political means, African American women developed alternate strategies to secure their political agenda. While this dissertation is a traditional social and political history, it will also combine elements of biography in order to reconstruct the lives of Philadelphia's African American political women. This work does not describe a united sisterhood among women or portray this period as one of unparalleled success. Rather, this dissertation will bring a new balance to political history that highlights the importance of local political activism and is at the same time sensitive to issues of race, gender, and class. Central to this study will be the development of biographical sketches for the key African American women activists in Philadelphia, reconstructing the challenges they faced in the political arena, as feminists and as reformers. Enfranchisement did not immediately translate into political power, as black women's efforts to achieve their goals were often frustrated by racial tension with white women and gender divisions within the African American community. This dissertation also contributes to the historical debate regarding the shifting partisan alliance of the African American community. African Americans not intimately tied to the club movement or machine politics spearheaded the move away from the Republicans. They did so not out of economic reasons or as a result of Democratic overtures but because of the poor record of the Republicans on racial issues. Crystal Bird Fauset's rise to political power, as the first African American woman elected to a state legislature in the United States, provides important insight into Philadelphia Democratic politics, the African American community, and the extensive organizational and political networks woven by African American women. / History

This study assesses the viability of temporarily halting wind turbine operations as amitigation measure to protect bird populations during migration periods. Conducted in thenorthern Baltic, it examines the migration patterns, timings, and altitudes of various birdspecies, aiming to identify the most critical times for implementing turbine stoppages.Utilizing statistical analyses, including F-tests to evaluate migration intensity differencesamong species, the report proposes that strategic, short-duration shutdowns cansignificantly reduce avian collisions. The research emphasizes the importance of species-specific approaches and evaluates the cost-effectiveness of various bird collision reductiontechniques, such as blade painting and thermal detection for dynamic shutdowns. Thisapproach seeks to balance the ecological impact of wind turbines with the necessity forrenewable energy development, offering practical solutions that could enhance biodiversityconservation efforts without substantially compromising energy production efficiency.

This study assesses the viability of temporarily halting wind turbine operations as amitigation measure to protect bird populations during migration periods. Conducted in thenorthern Baltic, it examines the migration patterns, timings, and altitudes of various birdspecies, aiming to identify the most critical times for implementing turbine stoppages.Utilizing statistical analyses, including F-tests to evaluate migration intensity differencesamong species, the report proposes that strategic, short-duration shutdowns cansignificantly reduce avian collisions. The research emphasizes the importance of species-specific approaches and evaluates the cost-effectiveness of various bird collision reductiontechniques, such as blade painting and thermal detection for dynamic shutdowns. Thisapproach seeks to balance the ecological impact of wind turbines with the necessity forrenewable energy development, offering practical solutions that could enhance biodiversityconservation efforts without substantially compromising energy production efficiency.