Revised checklist of endemic vascular plants of Kazakhstan.

We compiled a checklist of endemic vascular plants occurring in Kazakhstan, employing an exhaustive examination of literature sources, herbarium collections, databases and field observations. Our study reveals that 451 taxa can be considered endemic to Kazakhstan, constituting 7.97% of the total vascular plant diversity in the country. These endemic taxa, originating from 139 genera and 34 families, predominantly thrive in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, specifically in the mountain ridges of the Kazakh part of the Tian Shan, including Karatau (123 taxa), Dzungarian Alatau (80 taxa) and Trans-Ili and Kungey Alatau (50 taxa). Notably, 107 endemic species are granted legal protection. Detailed information regarding life form, life cycle, conservation status and geographical distribution across floristic regions was meticulously compiled for each endemic taxon. Of the six groups of life forms, herbs include the highest part of endemic taxa (367 taxa), followed by dwarf semishrubs (25 taxa), shrubs (23 taxa), subshrubs (20 taxa), undershrubs (13 taxa) and trees (3 taxa). The observed life cycles are perennials (408 taxa), annuals (33 taxa) and biennials (10 taxa). This paper serves as a fundamental groundwork for prospective investigations aimed at assessing population sizes and hotspots of plant endemism throughout Kazakhstan, crucial for determining conservation status of endemic plants.

Population genomics of Bronze Age Eurasia.

The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000-1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought.

Low-voltage p- and n-type organic self-assembled monolayer field effect transistors.

We report on p- and n-type organic self-assembled monolayer field effect transistors. On the base of quaterthiophene and fullerene units, multifunctional molecules were synthesized, which have the ability to self-assemble and provide multifunctional monolayers. The self-assembly approach, based on phosphonic acids, is very robust and allows the fabrication of functional devices even on larger areas. The p- and n-type transistor devices with only one molecular active layer were demonstrated for transistor channel lengths up to 10 µm. The monolayer composition is proven by electrical experiments and by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, XPS, and AFM experiments. Because of the molecular design and the contribution of isolating alkyl chains to the hybrid dielectric, our devices operate at low supply voltages (-4 V to +4 V), which is a key requirement for practical use and simplifies the integration in standard applications. The monolayer devices operate in ambient air and show hole and electron mobilities of 10(-5) cm(2)/(V s) and 10(-4) cm(2)/(V s) respectively. In particular the n-type operation of self-assembled monolayer transistors has not been reported before. Hereby, structure-property relations of the SAMs have been studied. Furthermore an approach to protect the sensitive C(60) from immediate degradation within the molecular design is provided.