Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Extinction pulse at Eocene–Oligocene boundary drives diversification dynamics of two Australian temperate floras

The diversification dynamics of the Australian temperate flora remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate whether differences in plant richness in the southwest Australian (SWA) biodiversity hotspot and southeast Australian (SEA) regions of the Australian continent can be attributed to higher net diversification, more time for species accumulation, or both. We assembled dated molecular phylogenies for the 21 most species-rich flowering plant families found across mesic temperate Australia, encompassing both SWA and SEA regions, and applied a series of diversification models to investigate responses across different groups and timescales. We show that the high richness in SWA can be attributed to a higher net rate of lineage diversification and more time for species accumulation. Different pulses of diversification were retrieved in each region. A decrease in diversification rate across major flowering plant lineages at the Eocene–Oligocene boundary (ca 34 Ma) was witnessed in SEA but not in SWA. Our study demonstrates the importance of historical diversification pulses and differential responses to global events as drivers of present-day diversity. More broadly, we show that diversity within the SWA biodiversity hotspot is not only the result of recent radiations, but also reflects older events over the history of this planet.
Winter is coming: harsh environments limit independent reproduction of cooperative-breeding queens in a socially polymorphic ant

Cooperative breeding animals frequently inhabit harsh environments. It is widely accepted that harsh environments hinder independent reproduction, and this constraint maintains individuals in family groups. Yet the assumption that harsh ecological conditions reduce the success of members of cooperative breeding groups when breeding independently has not been experimentally tested. We addressed this shortcoming using the socially polymorphic Alpine silver ant, Formica selysi. This species has single-queen (independent breeders) and multiple-queen (cooperative breeders) colonies coexisting within populations. We placed newly mated queens emerging from each type of colony to breed alone in either a harsh or mild winter condition and recorded their brood production and survival. Queens emerging from single-queen colonies were unaffected by the winter condition and were more successful at founding a nest independently than queens from multiple-queen colonies. By contrast, queens from multiple-queen colonies had higher mortality after a harsh than after a mild winter. These results support the long-held assumption that harsh environments constrain independent reproduction of members of cooperative breeding groups.
Limited thermal plasticity and geographical divergence in the ovipositor of Drosophila suzukii

Phenotypic plasticity has been repeatedly suggested to facilitate adaptation to new environmental conditions, as in invasions. Here we investigate this possibility by focusing on the worldwide invasion of Drosophila suzukii: an invasive species that has rapidly colonized all continents over the last decade. This species is characterized by a highly developed ovipositor, allowing females to lay eggs through the skin of ripe fruits. Using a novel approach based on the combined use of SEM and photogrammetry, we quantified the ovipositor size and 3D shape, contrasting invasive and native populations raised at three different developmental temperatures. We found a small but significant effect of temperature and geographic origin on the ovipositor shape, showing the occurrence of both geographic differentiation and plasticity to temperature. The shape reaction norms are in turn strikingly similar among populations, suggesting very little difference in shape plasticity among invasive and native populations, and therefore rejecting the hypothesis of a particular role for plasticity of the ovipositor in the invasion success. Overall, the ovipositor shape seems to be a fairly robust trait, indicative of stabilizing selection. The large performance spectrum rather than the flexibility of the ovipositor would thus contribute to the success of D. suzukii worldwide invasion.
A newly identified trigeminal brain pathway in a night-migratory bird could be dedicated to transmitting magnetic map information

Night-migratory songbirds can use geomagnetic information to navigate over thousands of kilometres with great precision. A crucial part of the magnetic ‘map’ information used by night-migratory songbirds is conveyed via the ophthalmic branches of the trigeminal nerves to the trigeminal brainstem complex, where magnetic-driven neuronal activation has been observed. However, it is not known how this information reaches the forebrain for further processing. Here, we show that the magnetically activated region in the trigeminal brainstem of migratory Eurasian blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) represents a morphologically distinctive neuronal population with an exclusive and previously undescribed projection to the telencephalic frontal nidopallium. This projection is clearly different from the known trigeminal somatosensory pathway that we also confirmed both by neuronal tracing and by a thorough morphometric analysis of projecting neurons. The new pathway we identified here represents part of a brain circuit that—based on the known nidopallial connectivities in birds—could potentially transmit magnetic ‘map’ information to key multisensory integration centres in the brain known to be critically involved in spatial memory formation, cognition and/or controlling executive behaviour, such as navigation, in birds.
Glare removal as an ill-conditioned problem

Abstract. Glare is always present in optical acquisition systems, such as photocameras or the eye-bulb. As a consequence, images captured by sensors do not represent an accurate reproduction of the scene, but rather a combination of scene content and glare. We discuss the reasons why this unwanted addition of spread light cannot be removed from an acquired image. To this aim, we cast the problem of glare-removal into an estimation task and focus on the aspects that make the unfolding of glare an ill-posed or ill-conditioned problem—such as nonlinearity, information loss, or eye model uncertainty. For each mechanism of glare formation, we point to the corresponding influence in terms of ill-posedness and ill-conditioning of the problem. We do not aim at proposing or reviewing solutions to the glare problem but rather at identifying more precisely the challenges it poses.
Tunable microlaser based on precisely formed dye-doped microsphere cavity

Abstract. Background: The benefits of microresonator lasers include easy and low-cost fabrication methods and high-quality factor of microresonators, which results in low threshold current of the fabricated laser. However, the lack of tunable fabrication methods with precise size and spacing is a great challenge. Aim: Based on a microsphere fabrication method that relies on injection and surface tension effects, simultaneous demonstration of an array of cavities with precise spacing and sizes is possible where the size of cavities is widely tunable. Approach: Using a maskless lithography setup, pillars with base and tip diameters of 250 and 60μm are fabricated, which are used for demonstration of microspheres with tunable size, depending on the applied pump pressure. Microcavities composed of Rhodamine B dissolved in glycerol are injected into the polydimethylsiloxane carrier through a nozzle with a diameter of 70 μm. Results: An ∼4-μJ / mm2 lasing threshold has been obtained for a laser with a microsphere diameter of ∼350 μm. A redshift originated from the increment of dye concentration has also been observed. Conclusions: Fabrication of precise microspheres for a microresonator laser is feasible using the introduced method, which can be further generalized using different active materials.
Adaptive spatially regularized correlation filter tracking via level set segmentation

Abstract. Correlation filter (CF) has been widely used in visual tracking tasks due to its simplicity and high efficiency. However, the conventional CF-based trackers suffer from boundary effects and object scale changes. To address these problems, we propose an adaptive spatially regularized CF tracking method via level set segmentation (LSS). First, a fast LSS method based on region and boundary information is proposed to accurately estimate the object region. Then an adaptive spatial reliability map is constructed using the estimated object region to regularize the CF, which can significantly mitigate the boundary effects. Meanwhile, the estimated object region is also utilized to construct a series of candidate scales whose aspect ratio is variable, and a novel scale variation (SV) constraint term is proposed to restrain the abnormal scale change. Finally, the position and scale of the object is estimated by maximizing the final response, which combines the CF response, and the histogram response is calculated quickly in frequency domain with the SV constraint term. Experimental results on recent visual tracking benchmark datasets illustrate that the tracking capability of the proposed method is competitive against several state-of-the-art trackers.
Encoder–decoder with double spatial pyramid for semantic segmentation

Abstract. Semantic segmentation, as a dense pixelwise classification task, is of great significance to scene understanding. Many approaches based on convolutional neural network still suffer from two kinds of challenges: (1) insufficient semantic information results in semantic obfuscation between similar categories, (2) loss of spatial information leads to inaccurate location of inconspicuous objects. To tackle these challenges, we design a network with an encoder–decoder architecture based on two proposed modules: global pyramid attention module (GPAM) and pyramid decoder module (PDM). Specifically, GPAM exploits an attention mechanism as global prior knowledge to adaptively capture discriminative features for enhancing semantic representation, and PDM employs small convolutions connected in parallel to predict adjacent position relationships for refining spatial information. A series of ablation experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of our designs, and our network achieves a mean intersection over union score of 83.4% on PASCAL VOC 2012 dataset and 78.5% on Cityscapes dataset.
Un-VDNet: unsupervised network for visual odometry and depth estimation

Abstract. Monocular visual odometry and depth estimation play an important role in augmented reality and robot applications. Recently, deep learning technologies have been widely used in these areas. However, most existing works utilize supervised learning, which requires large amounts of labeled data and assumes that the scene is static. We propose a framework, called Un-VDNet, based on unsupervised convolutional neural networks to predict camera ego-motion and depth maps from image sequences. The framework includes three subnetworks (PoseNet, DepthNet, and FlowNet) and learns temporal motion and spatial association information in an end-to-end network. We propose a pose-consistency loss to penalize errors about the translation and rotation drifts of the pose estimated from the PoseNet. Furthermore, a geometric consistency loss, between the structure flow and scene flow learned from the FlowNet, is proposed to deal with dynamic objects in the real-world scene, which is combined with spatial and temporal photometric consistency constraints. Extensive experiments on the KITTI and TUM datasets demonstrate that our proposed Un-VDNet outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for visual odometry and depth estimation in dealing with dynamic objects of outdoor and indoor scenes.
Photodynamics and quantum efficiency of germanium vacancy color centers in diamond

Abstract. Color centers in diamond—especially group IV defects—have been advanced as a viable solid-state platform for quantum photonics and information technologies. We investigate the photodynamics and characteristics of germanium-vacancy (GeV) centers hosted in high-pressure high-temperature diamond nanocrystals. Through back-focal plane imaging, we analyze the far-field radiation pattern of the investigated emitters and derive a crossed-dipole emission, which is strongly aligned along one axis. We use this information in combination with lifetime measurements to extract the decay rate statistics of the GeV emitters and determine their quantum efficiency, which we estimated to be ∼ ( 22 ± 2 ) % . Our results offer further insight into the photodynamic properties of the GeV center in nanodiamonds and confirm its suitability as a desirable system for quantum technologies.
Surface roughness of two different monolithic materials after chewing simulation

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate two-body wear and surface roughness of two different monolithic ceramics: polymer-infiltrated ceramic (PICN) and lithium disilicate. Materials and Methods: Chewing simulator was used to investigate two-body wear (75,000 cycles, 49N, and 60 cycle/min). The tested samples were divided into two groups according to their materials; each group comprised 14 ceramic discs. Subtractive weight loss was used to statistically analyze the wear of all samples before and after chewing simulation test. Surface roughness was measured before and after chewing simulation test using three-dimensional optical profilometry. Data were collected and analyzed using analysis of variance test, and then verified by unpaired t-test. Results: Statistically significant differences were found for two-body wear, with higher mean weight loss in PICN than lithium disilicate after chewing simulation. PICN had higher mean surface roughness value than lithium disilicate after chewing simulation. Conclusion: PICN showed higher wear regarding weight loss and surface roughness changes than lithium disilicate.
Family Interventions: Basic Principles and Techniques

10.4103/psychiatry. IndianJPsychiatry_770_19 disorders. Various interventions exist for different disorders such as depression, psychoses, child, and adolescent related problems and alcohol use disorders. Such families require psychoeducation about the illness in question, and in addition, will require information about how to deal with the index person with the psychiatric illness. Psychoeducation involves giving basic information about the illness, its course, causes, treatment, and prognosis. These basic informative sessions can last from two to six sessions depending on the time available with clients and their families. Simple interventions may include dealing with parent-adolescent conflict at home, where brief counseling to both parties about the expectations of each other and facilitating direct and open communication is required.
Proximity to Established Populations Explains Moose (Alces alces) Occurrence in Northern Wisconsin

Abstract. Wildlife conservation and management requires an understanding of patterns and changes in the populations and distributions of wildlife. Moose (Alces alces) population trends vary within regions of North America, such as in the upper Midwest region of the United States where sub-populations are declining in Minnesota, but are stable or increasing in Michigan. The population and distribution of moose in Wisconsin, which shares a border with Minnesota and Michigan, is unknown. We examined community scientist observations of moose collected by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources from 1991–2017 to determine the trends of moose occurrence in Wisconsin and the relationship to potential drivers. We used a binomial generalized linear mixed model in a Bayesian framework to understand how variables affect county-level occurrence of moose. We found moose occurrence was greater in counties closer to Minnesota and Michigan, but the effect of distance to Minnesota on moose occurrence has decreased over time. We also found counties with higher habitat suitability and proximity to Michigan are more likely to have a moose occurrence than those with low habitat suitability. This study offers insight for moose populations at the southern fringe of their circumpolar distribution and a foundation for understanding the moose population in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.
Identification of Black Bullhead (Ameiurus melas) and Brown Bullhead (A. nebulosus) from the Western Great Lakes: Recommendations for Small Individuals

Abstract. Distinguishing Black Bullhead (Ameiurus melas) from Brown Bullhead (A. nebulosus) can be difficult, in part, due to conflicting evidence regarding reliable meristic and morphological characters with which to base identifications. The possibility of hybrids with intermediate traits further complicates diagnosis. Identification guides have typically focused on adults, leaving guidance for juveniles largely undescribed. We compared morphological identifications of Black Bullhead and Brown Bullhead with a cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) barcode and microsatellite assignments. Specifically, we examined: (1) gill-raker count, (2) anal-fin ray count, (3) prominence of pectoral-spine serrae, (4) DNA barcoding using the COI gene, and (5) cluster analysis of nine microsatellite loci. With the exception of anal-fin ray counts, we found a high degree of agreement among all methods. Microsatellite analysis identified two clearly distinct genetic groups, and these groups corresponded to individuals identified as Black Bullhead and Brown Bullhead based on morphology. Although Black Bullhead and Brown Bullhead did not share COI haplotypes (except for one individual), we found greater intraspecific genetic distances among individuals identified as Brown Bullhead than between Brown Bullhead and Black Bullhead, demonstrating that caution is warranted against using COI haplotypes as a barcode to solely distinguish the two species. Pectoral-spine serrae prominence was a useful character to distinguish the two species and worked especially well on individuals <125 mm total length. Gill-raker counts of euthanized fish in the laboratory were appropriate for the identification of all sizes of Black Bullhead and Brown Bullhead (using the lowest number of gill rakers on the first gill arch if asymmetry was observed). Finally, microsatellites did not show evidence of recent hybridization at our sampling sites. We recommend using pectoral-spine serrae prominence to distinguish between Black Bullhead and Brown Bullhead in the field and using gill-raker counts for laboratory based identification.
From Digital Mental Health Interventions to Digital “Addiction”: Where the Two Fields Converge

Scientific literature from the last two decades indicates that, when it comes to mental health, technology is presented either as panacea or anathema. This is partly because researchers, too frequently, have planted themselves either in the field of digital mental health interventions (variably called “telepsychiatry”, “digital therapeutics”, “computerized therapy”, etc.), or in that of the problems arising from technology, with little cross-fertilization between the two. Yet, a closer look at the two fields reveals unifying themes that underpin both the advantages and dangers of technology in mental health. This article discusses five such themes. First, the breakneck pace of technology evolution keeps digital mental health interventions updated and creates more potentially problematic activities, leaving researchers perennially behind, so new technologies become outdated by the time they are studied. Second, the freedom of creating and using technologies in a regulatory vacuum has led to proliferation and choice, but also to a Wild-West online environment. Third, technology is an open window to access information, but also to compromise privacy, with serious implications for online psychology and digital mental health interventions. Fourth, weak bonds characterize online interactions, including those between therapists and patients, contributing to high attrition from digital interventions. Finally, economic analyses of technology-enabled care may show good value for money, but often fail to capture the true costs of technology, a fact that is mirrored in other online activities. The article ends with a call for collaborations between two interrelated fields that have been—till now—mutually insular.
Teacher Support and Mental Well-Being in Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Negative Emotions and Resilience

Teacher support has been shown to enhance adolescent mental health. However, the effects of negative emotions and resilience in the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being in adolescents are still unknown. This study investigated (a) the mediating role of negative emotions in the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being, (b) the mediating role of resilience in the association between teacher support and mental well-being, (c) the serial mediating role of negative emotions and then resilience in the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being, and (d) the parallel mediating role of the five dimensions of resilience and the three factors of negative emotions in the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being. Participants were 1228 Chinese adolescents (age, M = 15.43 years; 53.09% male). Participants filled out questionnaires regarding teacher support, negative emotions, resilience, and mental well-being. After controlling for age and gender, we found that teacher support, negative emotions, and resilience were significantly linked with mental well-being. Moreover, negative emotions and resilience were found to mediate the relationship between teacher support and adolescent mental well-being, accounting for 5.45 and 30.00% of the total effect, respectively. We also found that teacher support enhances mental well-being by decreasing negative emotions and then increasing resilience. This serial mediating effect accounted for 8.48% of the total effect. Finally, the mediating effect of resilience between teacher support and mental well-being was significantly greater than the mediating effects of the other two indirect effects (negative emotions in the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being, negative emotions and then resilience in the relationship between teacher support and mental well-being). And the parallel mediation model showed that teacher support can promote adolescent mental well-being by increasing goal planning, affect control, and help-seeking behavior, and decreasing depression. These findings suggest a process through which negative emotions can decrease resilience and identify the mediating effects of negative emotions (including the three dimensions of negative emotions) and resilience (including the five factors of resilience) in the relationship between teacher support and adolescent mental well-being.