bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Health selection in three cohorts of outmigrants, return migrants and non-migrants
Authors: Urquia M , Detillieux G , Debbarman S
Published: October 2024

Background

The two main hypotheses behind the healthy migrant effect are selection of healthier migrants and the salmon bias. However, these hypotheses have not been thoroughly and simultaneously investigated in distinct cohorts due to data limitations.

Methods

Linking national and provincial immigration registers with health care utilization datasets at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, we assembled a cohort of 816,185 adults who resided in Manitoba, Canada and were followed up for at least one year between 1985 to 2023 to outmigration, return migration or death. We included three subcohorts of international immigrants (16.4%), interprovincial migrants (10.8%) and all other Manitobans (AOM) (72.8%). Within each subcohort, we matched ‘stayers’ who never migrated, outmigrants and returnees on sex, birth year and place of residence and compared their hospitalization rates and Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidity scores 1-year before outmigration and 1-year after return migration.

Results

Outmigrants had lower hospitalization rates than stayers among AOM [Adjusted Relative Rate (RR): 0.80; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78, 0.82] and in the other two subcohorts. Comorbidity scores were also consistently lower among outmigrants compared to stayers in all three subcohorts, even after restricting to hospitalized cases. Outmigrants whose destination was another country were healthier than those who migrated to other provinces. Returnees had better health status than stayers upon return in the AOM subcohort only but lower than those who did not return at the time of outmigration in all three subcohorts.

Conclusions

Contrary to common belief, health selection is not restricted to international immigrants but also among interprovincial migrants and the local population. Migration dynamics may bias comparisons between population subgroups.

Key messages

• Migration is not only associated with positive health selection among international immigrants but also among interprovincial migrants and the local population.

• Selective migration may represent a source of bias in health-related population-based studies.
Social prescribers’ referral processes and decision-making about healthy eating and physical activity
Authors: Petre O , Allan J , Craig L , Douglas F , Kyle J , Stephen A , Thies F
Published: October 2024

Background

Social Prescribing (SP) connects primary care patients with non-medical sources of support within the community. There are various SP models, with different referral routes. Many involve patients being referred to a link practitioner, who considers their needs and then “prescribes” or links them to appropriate local support services or resources, typically provided by the third sector. The present study aimed to explore the SP process and the decision-making of link practitioners, particularly around food and physical activity practices.

Methods

Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with link practitioners working across Aberdeen City. A pragmatic Thematic Framework analysis was undertaken.

Findings

Participating link practitioners described their approach with clients as building rapport and trust while maintaining boundaries and managing expectations, and their community role as resource mapping and networking. Three broad categories of factors were considered during referral: 1) practicality (e.g., location, transport, cost, mobility, availability), 2) clients’ engagement (e.g., interest, motivation, readiness for change), and 3) link practitioners’ past experiences with services. Challenges identified included navigating waiting lists and service limitations, clients’ engagement and expectations, under-resourced services, navigating waiting lists with caseloads and the emotional burden of seeing people in very difficult situations. All link practitioners considered diet and exercise to fit within the remit of social prescribing but emphasised that clients should lead this discussion. Dietary support via social prescribing typically revolved around poverty rather than health.

Discussion

The study provides insight into the practical reality of making social prescribing decisions and has the potential to inform training and evaluation processes and support the development of health-focused social prescribing lifestyle interventions.

Key messages

• Social prescribing – a personalised approach, with clients supported to identify and achieve their health and wellbeing goals based on their strengths and resources available in the local community.

• Social Prescribing - a promising platform for offering healthy eating interventions tailored to individual needs.
vEMstitch: an algorithm for fully automatic image stitching of volume electron microscopy
Authors: He Bintao , Zhang Yan , Zhang Zhenbang , Cheng Yiran , Zhang Fa , Sun Fei , Han Renmin
Published: October 2024

Background

As software and hardware have developed, so has the scale of research into volume electron microscopy (vEM), leading to ever-increasing resolution. Usually, data collection is followed by image stitching: the same area is subjected to high-resolution imaging with a certain overlap, and then the images are stitched together to achieve ultrastructure with large scale and high resolution simultaneously. However, there is currently no perfect method for image stitching, especially when the global feature distribution of the sample is uneven and the feature points of the overlap area cannot be matched accurately, which results in ghosting of the fusion area.

Results

We have developed a novel algorithm called vEMstitch to solve these problems, aiming for seamless and clear stitching of high-resolution images. In vEMstitch, the image transformation model is constructed as a combination of global rigid and local elastic transformation using weighted pixel displacement fields. Specific local geometric constraints and feature reextraction strategies are incorporated to ensure that the transformation model accurately and completely reflects the characteristics of biological distortions. To demonstrate the applicability of vEMstitch, we conducted thorough testing on simulated datasets involving different transformation combinations, consistently showing promising performance. Furthermore, in real data sample experiments, vEMstitch successfully gives clear ultrastructure in the stitching region, reaffirming the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Conclusions

vEMstitch serves as a valuable tool for large-field and high-resolution image stitching. The clear stitched regions facilitate better visualization and identification in vEM analysis. The source code is available at https://github.com/HeracleBT/vEMstitch.
Upper mantle flow and crustal deformation patterns beneath the Dangerous Grounds and Borneo where multiple plates converge in South China Sea revealed by 3-D anisotropic magnetotelluric imaging
Authors: Meju M A , Saleh A S , Karpiah A B , Das P S , Miller R V , Kho J H W , Alleyne B G T , Rice-Oxley E D , Legrand X
Published: October 2024

A large-scale magnetotelluric (MT) study was carried out in offshore Borneo to understand the lithospheric structure in this geologically complex region where three tectonic plates converge and past crustal studies generated long-standing debates. Marine MT data were acquired at 1416 stations with 3 km spacing along 13 regional lines (covering 4677 line-km) with periodicities of 0.1 to 10 000 s. These were inverted in 3-D incorporating electrical anisotropy with cross-gradients constraints between vertical and horizontal resistivities and the results were validated with resistivity well-logs from several exploration wells. The models reveal widespread presence of electrically resistive upper crustal and uppermost mantle layers, each underlain by a laterally varying conductive and anisotropic layer. The geometries of the anisotropic layers suggest large-scale ductile flow, thrusting and folding forming belts of alternating deep roots and thin lithosphere, consistent with multiple underthrusting/subduction. Our results are in agreement with the seismologically detected lithospheric variations in northern Borneo suggesting onshore–offshore continuity and a common lithospheric–asthenospheric origin for the deformation patterns. Over thinned lithosphere, we found consistent low resistivity and high anisotropy anomalies in the mantle above the spatial locations of fast shear-wave bodies imaged by recent seismological workers which we interpret to indicate post-subduction lithospheric–asthenospheric ductile flow in response to multidirectional regional compression. We demonstrate that these zones are spatially correlated with the distribution of mainly Cretaceous ophiolitic rocks and melanges exposed onshore and suggest that serpentinization of mantle peridotite can explain some of the anisotropic conductivity anomalies. The taper zones of these deep anisotropic conductors are also associated with Neogene sub-basins, high thermal gradients, and intrasedimentary magmatic bodies indicating a link between lithospheric thinning and magmatism. We propose that such anomalies could be important pathfinders for geothermal and natural hydrogen systems in the ongoing global drive for carbon-free energy resources.
Radon-domain acoustic and elastodynamic interferometric redatuming of VSP data
Authors: Xu Zhuo , Gong Xiangbo , Juhlin Christopher , Zhang Fengjiao , Li Xiaolong , Han Liguo
Published: October 2024

The virtual source method (VSM) is a useful tool for imaging and monitoring below complex and time-varying overburden. When it is applied to VSP geometries, the redatumed virtual source data often suffer from artifacts and aliasing due to the violation of theoretical acquisition conditions and partial focusing of virtual multiples, which further degrade seismic imaging quality. While the conventional Radon-domain VSM (R-VSM) mitigates these issues to some extent, it is still possible to improve upon the imaging. This study develops a simple and effective high-resolution Radon-domain VSM (HR-VSM) to effectively address these issues, offering superior noise and artifact suppression compared to traditional VSM and R-VSM. HR-VSM shows a strong performance across a wide range of VSP configurations and data types, especially in applications to multicomponent and passive seismic data, demonstrating its versatility and effectiveness in seismic exploration and showing potential for use in earthquake seismology. To extend subsurface illumination, we combined correlation-type and convolution-type HR-VSM for automatically redatuming virtual surface seismic profile shot gathers with a complete receiver array covering all surface source locations, without the additional pre-processing steps typically required by VSM. It was also tested on reverse VSP synthetic active data and passive seismic data, proving effective in constructing virtual shot gathers and showing potential for extending its use to earthquake data and ambient-noise seismology. Moreover, HR-VSM can perform elastodynamic interferometric redatuming, enabling the redatuming of pure P-P and pure P-SV waves from multicomponent VSP data. We applied HR-VSM to redatum virtual single well profile data containing fault-related P-P and P-SV reflections from VSP data, which were further used for fault imaging. Finally, HR-VSM was used to generate virtual crosswell data with receivers in both boreholes, eliminating the need for downhole sources. The obtained virtual crosswell containing direct waves, as well as P-P and P-SV reflections, enable constructing a velocity model and imaging the structure between wells.
An extension of the approximate component mode synthesis method to the heterogeneous Helmholtz equation
Authors: Giammatteo Elena , Heinlein Alexander , Schlottbom Matthias
Published: October 2024

In this work, we propose and analyze an extension of the approximate component mode synthesis (ACMS) method to the two-dimensional heterogeneous Helmholtz equation. The ACMS method has originally been introduced by Hetmaniuk and Lehoucq as a multiscale method to solve elliptic partial differential equations. The ACMS method uses a domain decomposition to separate the numerical approximation by splitting the variational problem into two independent parts: local Helmholtz problems and a global interface problem. While the former are naturally local and decoupled such that they can be easily solved in parallel, the latter requires the construction of suitable local basis functions relying on local eigenmodes and suitable extensions. We carry out a full error analysis of this approach focusing on the case where the domain decomposition is kept fixed, but the number of eigenfunctions is increased. The theoretical results in this work are supported by numerical experiments verifying algebraic convergence for the method. In certain, practically relevant cases, even super-algebraic convergence for the local Helmholtz problems can be achieved without oversampling.
Experience with Aposematic Defense Triggers Attack Bias in a Mantid Predator (Stagmomantis carolina)
Authors: Schweikert L E , Chappell D R , Huang Z , Delpizzo G E , Wahi K , Saunders M O , Slye V E , Naughton L F , Rummelt N I , Bagge L E
Published: October 2024

Synopsis

Studies of predator psychology in aposematism have suggested important effects of signal detection through space and time on outcomes of attack behavior. Both the integration of aposematic signals from prey and experience state of the predator can have important effects on attack decisions. The universality of these effects however, especially as it applies to non-avian predators such as arthropods, remains poorly understood. We examined the effects of multimodal aposematic signaling and prior experience with aposematism on attack latency and attack likelihood of the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina). Using artificial prey bearing visual and olfactory signals of the convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens), we tested 2 cohorts of mantids (representing juvenile and adult stages) across 4 groups: visual only, odor only, combined signals, and control. We then used approaches in linear modeling to test the hypotheses that (1) prior experience with aposematism alters attack behavior toward aposematic prey and (2) multimodal signals have synergistic effects on attack behavior relative to either unisensory signal presented alone. We found support for the first hypothesis in that mantids employ attack biases against visual and olfactory aposematic signals, but only after prior exposure to aposematism and only as juveniles. While support is lacking for multimodal integration by the mantids, this study is the first to suggest a response of mantids to an aposematic olfactory signal (in addition to visual signal) and may suggest a developmental window for mantid predators to develop biases toward aposematic prey that are shaped by experience.
Ideological rug-pulling: race, reds, and red herrings in Jordan Peele’s Us
Authors: Roth Ben
Published: October 2024

Viewers of Jordan Peele’s 2019 Us are likely to approach the film expecting it to be about race. Undercutting current cultural orthodoxy about which marker of identity has priority, the story reveals itself instead to be about class, as doppelgängers emerge from underground to free themselves from the affluent originals allegorically oppressing them in a capitalist culture. In what Vera Tobin calls a “narrative rug-pull,” the revelation of the main character’s real identity invites viewers to reinterpret what they have seen and to rethink what their loyalties were and should be. Us thereby performs a rug-pull of a specifically ideological variety, as, prior to the reveal, viewers only make the specific interpretive assumptions they do because of deeper ideological ones. Where Tobin writes against the notion that cognitive biases are necessarily bad, since they can be deployed for aesthetic pleasure, I argue further that they can be weaponized in narrative to artfully combat ideological bias. There is untapped potential for rug-pulling to be used in ideology critique, though I end with some pessimistic caveats about the possibility of doing so in a capitalist culture.
Nietzsche in The Office: the aesthetic justification of capitalist realism
Authors: Hanauer Tom
Published: October 2024

In this paper, I provide an interpretation of the American mockumentary-styled sitcom, The Office (2005–2013), as an instance of what Nietzsche calls an “aesthetic justification” of life. The Office offers an aesthetic justification of the life of lower-tiered North American white-collar workers under neoliberalism. The Office performs this function via an implicit endorsement of what Mark Fisher (2009) calls capitalist realism, or the idea that “it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” I focus on an illuminating scene in episode 16 of Season 3, “Business School” (2007), that exemplifies this especially well. The argument is that The Office orchestrates an aesthetic justification of those aspects of our existence that cannot be justified morally under capitalism, for example, precarity, ruthless competition, and so on. In Section I, I outline Nietzsche’s conception of aesthetic justification. In Section II, I discuss the major themes of The Office, highlighting their resonance with the concerns and experiences of the workforce. In Section III, I bring these together in a Nietzschean analysis of the “Business School” scene. Finally, in Section IV, I close by offering some open-ended but critical reflections on this analysis via Adorno and the Frankfurt School.
Real-world federated learning in radiology: hurdles to overcome and benefits to gain
Authors: Bujotzek Markus Ralf , Akünal Ünal , Denner Stefan , Neher Peter , Zenk Maximilian , Frodl Eric , Jaiswal Astha , Kim Moon , Krekiehn Nicolai R , Nickel Manuel , Ruppel Richard , Both Marcus , Döllinger Felix , Opitz Marcel , Persigehl Thorsten , Kleesiek Jens , Penzkofer Tobias , Maier-Hein Klaus , Bucher Andreas , Braren Rickmer
Published: October 2024

Objective

Federated Learning (FL) enables collaborative model training while keeping data locally. Currently, most FL studies in radiology are conducted in simulated environments due to numerous hurdles impeding its translation into practice. The few existing real-world FL initiatives rarely communicate specific measures taken to overcome these hurdles. To bridge this significant knowledge gap, we propose a comprehensive guide for real-world FL in radiology. Minding efforts to implement real-world FL, there is a lack of comprehensive assessments comparing FL to less complex alternatives in challenging real-world settings, which we address through extensive benchmarking.

Materials and Methods

We developed our own FL infrastructure within the German Radiological Cooperative Network (RACOON) and demonstrated its functionality by training FL models on lung pathology segmentation tasks across six university hospitals. Insights gained while establishing our FL initiative and running the extensive benchmark experiments were compiled and categorized into the guide.

Results

The proposed guide outlines essential steps, identified hurdles, and implemented solutions for establishing successful FL initiatives conducting real-world experiments. Our experimental results prove the practical relevance of our guide and show that FL outperforms less complex alternatives in all evaluation scenarios.

Discussion and Conclusion

Our findings justify the efforts required to translate FL into real-world applications by demonstrating advantageous performance over alternative approaches. Additionally, they emphasize the importance of strategic organization, robust management of distributed data and infrastructure in real-world settings. With the proposed guide, we are aiming to aid future FL researchers in circumventing pitfalls and accelerating translation of FL into radiological applications.
Assessing the impact of social determinants of health on diabetes severity and management
Authors: Ding Xiyu , Kharrazi Hadi , Nishimura Akihiko
Published: October 2024

Objective

Adverse Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are considered major obstacles to effective management of type-2 diabetes. This study aims to quantify the impact of SDoH factors on diabetes management outcomes.

Materials and Methods

We quantified the joint impact of multiple SDoH by applying a self-control case series method—which accounts for confounding by using individuals as their own control—to electronic health record data from an academic health system in Maryland.

Results

We found a consistent increase in HbA1c levels associated with SDoH across alternative study designs. The estimated total contributions of SDoH ranged 0.014–0.065 across the alternative designs. Transportation issues demonstrated particularly significant contributions, with estimates of 0.077–0.144. When assuming SDoH’s risk window to be ±45 days, for example, the total contribution was estimated to be 0.065 (95% CI [0.010, 0.120]) increase in HbA1c and the transportation issues’ contribution 0.134 (95% CI [0.020, 0.249]).

Discussion and Conclusion

Our result suggests that reducing transportation barriers may be an effective SDoH intervention strategy for diabetes management; however, the clinical impact of such interventions warrants further investigation.
Predicting the sample size of randomized controlled trials using natural language processing
Authors: Windisch Paul , Dennstädt Fabio , Koechli Carole , Förster Robert , Schröder Christina , Aebersold Daniel M , Zwahlen Daniel R
Published: October 2024

Objectives

Extracting the sample size from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) remains a challenge to developing better search functionalities or automating systematic reviews. Most current approaches rely on the sample size being explicitly mentioned in the abstract. The objective of this study was, therefore, to develop and validate additional approaches.

Materials and Methods

847 RCTs from high-impact medical journals were tagged with 6 different entities that could indicate the sample size. A named entity recognition (NER) model was trained to extract the entities and then deployed on a test set of 150 RCTs. The entities’ performance in predicting the actual number of trial participants who were randomized was assessed and possible combinations of the entities were evaluated to create predictive models. The test set was also used to evaluate the performance of GPT-4o on the same task.

Results

The most accurate model could make predictions for 64.7% of trials in the test set, and the resulting predictions were equal to the ground truth in 93.8%. GPT-4o was able to make a prediction on 94.7% of trials and the resulting predictions were equal to the ground truth in 90.8%.

Discussion

This study presents an NER model that can extract different entities that can be used to predict the sample size from the abstract of an RCT. The entities can be combined in different ways to obtain models with different characteristics.

Conclusion

Training an NER model to predict the sample size from RCTs is feasible. Large language models can deliver similar performance without the need for prior training on the task although at a higher cost due to proprietary technology and/or required computational power.
Characterization of microbial populations in two distinct dairy manure management systems: seasonal effect and implications for pollutant gases emissions
Authors: Fuertes Esperanza , Seradj Ahmad Reza , Balcells Joaquim , Maynegre Jordi , de la Fuente Gabriel
Published: October 2024

Following an increase in the demand for dairy products, higher quantities of manure are consequently produced, with the subsequent pollutant gas emission charge associated with its management. The 2 mostly used housing systems in the northeast of Spain, cubicles (CUB) and compost-bedded pack (CBP), entail different manure management techniques; thus, our main objective was to describe the microbiota present in the manure of both systems during 2 distinct climatic situations (winter, mean temperature of 6.2 °C; and summer, mean temperature of 36.4 °C). The secondary aim was to correlate these microbiological profiles with literature findings on the emission of certain well-known pollutant gases from manure. CBP showed to have higher alpha biodiversity as well as presenting a remarkable clustering by season but showed lower network complexity than CUB. Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio was found superior in CUB, which also presented a significantly higher abundance of methanogenic genera belonging to Euryarchaeota phylum, such as Methanobrevibacter, Methanosaeta or Methanosarcina. On the other hand, CBP manure presented a significant presence of Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, or Truepera, among other genera, which activity has been linked to nitrogen (N) transformation pathways in manure. The season also had a relevant role to play in the fluctuation of these populations within each housing system under study. These results show how microbial populations change when manure is differently managed, and how these variations can be related to the synthesis of certain pollutant gases in housing systems.
Characterizing local pig breeds as reservoirs for the domestic pig genetic variability worldwide via contributions to gene diversity and allelic richness
Authors: Arias Katherine D , Fernández Iván , Gutiérrez Juan Pablo , Bozzi Riccardo , Álvarez Isabel , Goyache Félix
Published: October 2024

Contributions to gene diversity and allelic richness were computed in a total of 2,260 domestic pig genotypes, sharing 53,626 autosomal SNPs, belonging to 98 pig subpopulations worldwide (41 Asian, 696 genotypes; 20 American, 262 genotypes; and 37 European, 686 genotypes), using 616 pig samples belonging to 5 different Cosmopolitan pig breeds as an outgroup, to ascertain if local pig subpopulation can be considered reservoirs of genetic diversity for the whole domestic pig species worldwide. Assessments were carried out for the whole dataset and separately for the American-European and Asian subsets. Effective population size was computed at the subpopulation level using molecular coancestry and linkage disequilibrium information to ensure that estimates of contributions to diversity were not affected by demographic issues. Most American and European pig subpopulations tended to have favorable contributions to both gene diversity and allelic richness. However, contributions to allelic richness were more consistent than those obtained for gene diversity, whether the computations are performed using either the whole dataset or the American–Asian subset, suggesting that allelic richness can be a key parameter to identify putative reservoirs for the species. The Asian pig subpopulations never contributed favorably to the allelic richness of the domestic pig metapopulation. Although these results can partially be explained by the highly divergent origins of the American-European and the Asian pig subpopulations, it cannot be discarded that the results obtained for the Asian subpopulations are biased due to a worse calling performance of the pig SNP arrays used for genotyping. The use of other potentially less biased sources of genotypic information is advisable to compare the Asian and American-European pig subpopulations genetic diversity.
Genetic determinism of sensitivity to environmental challenges using daily feed intake records in three lines of pigs
Authors: Tusingwiire Tomasi , Garcia-Baccino Carolina , Carillier-Jacquin Céline , Ligonesche Bruno , Larzul Catherine , Vitezica Zulma G
Published: October 2024

In pig breeding, environmental challenges can affect the welfare and productivity of animals. Resilient animals have the capacity to be minimally affected by these environmental challenges. Understanding the genetic basis of sensitivity to these environmental challenges is crucial for selecting more resilient animals, thereby enhancing welfare and productivity. The aims of this study were to 1) estimate the probability of the occurrence of an unrecorded environmental challenge on a given day using daily feed intake (DFI) data and 2) evaluate the genetic determinism of environmental sensitivity in three pig lines bred in real selection conditions. Data comprised of 100,799, 186,247, and 304,826 DFI records from 1,618, 2,517, and 3,788 Landrace (LA), Large White (LW), and Piétrain (PI) male pigs, respectively. The pedigree included 3,730, 5,649, and 9,293 animals for LA, LW, and PI, respectively. The probabilities of the occurrence of an unrecorded environmental challenge on a given day were estimated via a mixture model. The probabilities (p) of being “high coefficient of variation days” were then taken as reference and used in genetic analysis as an environmental descriptor to describe the environment. DFI records were analyzed using two linear models: a linear reaction norm animal model (RNAM) and the animal model. (Co)variance components were estimated using average-information restricted maximum likelihood (AI-REML). The means of the probabilities of the occurrence of an environmental challenge for LA, LW, and PI were 0.24, 0.10, and 0.22, respectively, indicating that the probability of an environmental challenge was low for most of the days. The genetic correlations between the intercept and the slope obtained from the RNAM for LA, LW, and PI were −0.52, 0.06, and −0.36, respectively. These findings suggest that selecting hypothetically for decreased DFI in nonstressful conditions would result in pigs with increased DFI in stressful conditions in the LA and PI lines, whereas it would have a minor impact on the environmental sensitivity of LW. The proportion of resilient animals for LA, LW, and PI was 75.0, 74.2, and 72.2%, respectively, implying that most of the animals were resilient. The study demonstrated that the slope of DFI is heritable and can effectively be used as an indicator of sensitivity to environmental challenges. These results are valuable in improving the resilience of livestock species to environmental challenges through genetic selection.
Impact of substrate particle size on the digging behavior of the juveniles of the smooth fan lobster Ibacus novemdentatus Gibbes, 1850 (Decapoda: Pleocyemata: Scyllaridae)
Authors: Ueda Riku , Wakabayashi Kaori
Published: October 2024

Aquaculture techniques for fan lobsters are still in an early stage of development due to the limited knowledge on their early-benthic stages. As the lobsters are diggers and thus the substrate influences their survival and growth, the physical characteristics of such substrates are a crucial environmental factor in an aquaculture setting. The appropriate size ranges of the substrate particles are nevertheless unknown. We studied the digging behavior of the juvenile of the smooth fan lobster, Ibacus novemdentatusGibbes, 1850, and examined its ability to dig into sand of different particle sizes to determine the optimal substrate conditions. Digging was completed by 100% of the juveniles in fine sand, 85.7% in medium-size sand, 25.7% in medium-coarse sand, and none in coarse sand. Juvenile digging involves three stages: searching for a location to dig, inserting the tail fan, and submerging into the sediment. The median length of time from the beginning of the experiment to the commencement of tail insertion in juveniles that completed digging did not differ significantly (P = 0.97) with the particle size. Juveniles placed on the substrate with medium-size and medium-coarse sand took significantly longer (P < 0.01) from the start of tail insertion to the complete submersion than those on fine sand. Considering the success rates of digging and the time required to complete digging, fine sand was the most appropriate substrate among the tested particle-size ranges. The juveniles that failed to complete the digging repeated a digging position and attempted to insert their tail fan into the sand without submerging. These juveniles took a significantly longer time (P < 0.05) to attempt to insert their tail fan than the juveniles that successfully completed digging, suggesting that juveniles placed on inappropriate substrates may spend more energy on digging and become more stressed.
Diversity, environments, and biogeography of Homoloida (Decapoda: Brachyura) from the Late Jurassic to the present
Authors: Shaffer Austin B , Schweitzer Carrie E
Published: October 2024

The section Homoloida with the sole superfamily Homoloidea comprises both extinct and extant brachyuran crab taxa, with records ranging from the Tithonian (Jurassic) to the present. Examination of fossil and modern occurrence records for this clade provides insight into the biogeography, biodiversity, and environmental preference of the homoloid crabs over time. The fossil record of Homoloidea, comprised of the families Tithonohomolidae, Mithracitidae, Homolidae, Latreilliidae, and Poupiniidae, is global in distribution and peaks in diversity during the uppermost Cretaceous with the most recent fossils known from the Miocene. Modern homoloids are absent from only a handful of regions globally, with particularly high diversity and abundance in the tropical Indo-West Pacific. Comparison of interpreted depositional environments for fossil occurrences and depth records for modern occurrences sheds light on the environmental preferences and potential spatial sampling biases of this clade. By assessing both fossil and modern records of Homoloidea, patterns (e.g., absence from cold-water latitudes, Oligo-Miocene disappearance from the northeastern Pacific) emerge that may have important implications for future study of this clade, particularly in relation to dispersal/turnover events and environmental constraints.
Evolution of mate harm resistance in females from Drosophila melanogaster populations selected for faster development and early reproduction
Authors: Verma Tanya , Das Susnato , Dhodi Lobo Saunri , Mishra Ashish Kumar , Bhattacharyya Soumi , Nandy Bodhisatta
Published: October 2024

Interlocus sexual conflict is predicted to result in sexually antagonistic coevolution between male competitive traits, which are also female-detrimental, and mate harm resistance (MHR) in females. Little is known about the connection between life history evolution and sexually antagonistic coevolution. Here, we investigated the evolution of MHR in a set of experimentally evolved populations, where mate-harming ability has been shown to have substantially reduced in males as a correlated response to the selection for faster development and early reproduction. We measured mortality and fecundity in females of these populations and those in their matched controls under different male exposure conditions. We observed that the evolved females were more susceptible to mate harm—suffering from significantly higher mortality under continuous exposure to control males within the 20-day assay period. Though these evolved females are known to have shorter lifespan substantially higher mortality was not observed under virgin and single-mating conditions. We used fecundity data to show that this higher mortality in the experimentally evolved females was not due to the cost of egg production and hence can only be attributed to reduced MHR. Further analysis indicated that this decreased MHR is unlikely to be due purely to the smaller size of these females. Instead, it is more likely to be an indirect experimentally evolved response attributable to the changed breeding ecology and/or male trait evolution. Our results underline the implications of changes in life history traits, including lifespan, for the evolution of MHR in females.
Identifying key monitoring areas for tree insect pest risks in China under climate change
Authors: Zhang Fei-Xue , Li Hong-Li , Wan Ji-Zhong , Wang Chun-Jing
Published: October 2024

Climate change can exacerbate pest population growth, posing significant threats to ecosystem functions and services, social development, and food security. Risk assessment is a valuable tool for effective pest management that identifies potential pest expansion and ecosystem dispersal patterns. We applied a habitat suitability model coupled with priority protection planning software to determine key monitoring areas (KMA) for tree insect pest risks under climate change and used forest ecoregions and nature reserves to assess the ecological risk of insect pest invasion. Finally, we collated the prevention and control measures for reducing future pest invasions. The KMA for tree insect pests in our current and future climate is mainly concentrated in eastern and southern China. However, with climate change, the KMA gradually expands from southeastern to northeastern China. In the current and future climate scenarios, ecoregions requiring high monitoring levels were restricted to the eastern and southern coastal areas of China, and nature reserves requiring the highest monitoring levels were mainly distributed in southeastern China. Tree insect pest invasion assessment using ecoregions and nature reserves identified that future climates increase the risk of pest invasions in forest ecoregions and nature reserves, especially in northeastern China. The increased risk and severity of tree insect pest invasions require implementing monitoring and preventative measures in these areas. We effectively assessed the pest invasion risks using forest ecoregions and nature reserves under climate change. Our assessments suggest that monitoring and early prevention should focus on southeastern and northeastern China.
Risk zoning of Gynaephora alpherakii (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Wen Xuanye , Yang Ding , You Feng , Li Xiaopeng , Tang Bingmin , He Chuanjie , Wang Rulin , Wang Bingyu , Li Tao , Chai Shouquan
Published: October 2024

Gynaephora alpherakii (Grum-Grschimailo) (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) is a major pest in alpine meadow areas in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) and causes severe losses in the local livestock production industry. Assessing areas at high risk for G. alpherakii infestation is critical for the effective management of this pest. In this study, an ensemble distribution model was used to analyze areas suitable for G. alpherakii on the QTP. Risk zoning was performed based on the vegetation and environmental conditions in areas with high-occurrence points, and differences between high-occurrence points and other occurrence points were compared. The results revealed that the suitable areas for G. alpherakii on the QTP amounted to 28.27 × 104 hm2, accounting for 10.94% of the total area of the QTP; the area of high-risk was 19.07 × 104 hm2, and these areas were located mainly in the eastern part of the QTP. Qinghai Province had the highest risk, accounting for 77% of the total area identified as high-risk. In terms of habitat, G. alpherakii preferred alpine Kobresia meadows, which have abundant sunshine, loose soil, and scarce precipitation. This study supports efforts to manage G. alpherakii outbreaks and contributes to the ecological protection of the QTP.
Bell pepper endornavirus alters green peach aphid (Hemiptera: Aphididae) host choice and population dynamics
Authors: Paudel Sunil , Valverde Rodrigo A , Davis Jeffrey A
Published: October 2024

Bell pepper endornavirus (BPEV) Alphaendornavirus capsici (Endornaviridae) is an RNA virus that infects many pepper (Capsicum annuum) horticultural types and is seed transmitted. BPEV does not cause apparent symptoms and is found at every plant developmental stage. During the domestication of bell pepper, plant breeders, unaware of the existence of endornaviruses in the germplasm, selected endornavirus-infected genotypes. This could be an indication that the presence of endornaviruses in this crop is beneficial. Among the possible beneficial effects that endornaviruses may provide to their host could include tolerance or resistance to biotic and abiotic agents and, therefore, may have evolved a symbiotic relationship with their hosts. With this in mind, we set out to determine host preference, host suitability, and population dynamics of green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) on BPEV-infected and virus-free bell pepper near-isogenic lines. During choice bioassay experiments, we observed that a higher proportion of M. persicae adults settled on BPEV noninfected leaves as compared to BPEV-infected leaves. Life table analysis revealed that M. persicae performed less well on BPEV-infected leaf tissues, with reductions in longevity, progeny, and intrinsic rate of increase. These results indicate BPEV is beneficial to its host, protecting against an important generalist pest.
Adaptive meshless local maximum-entropy finite element method for Navier-Stokes equations
Authors: Young D L , Shih C-L , Yen L J , Chu C-R
Published: October 2024

Based on the successful application of the adaptive meshless local maximum-entropy finite element method to solve the convection-diffusion equation, this study extends the same principle to study the 2-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. Through extensive case studies, this work demonstrates that the present approach is a viable alternative to resolve the high Reynolds number Navier-Stokes equations. The simulation results indicate that by incorporating additional points into the elements without increasing the bandwidth or refinement via the local maximum-entropy procedure, it will enhance the accuracy and efficiency of numerical simulations. A 2-dimensional square lid-driven cavity with various Reynolds numbers will serve as the first example. In the second example, we address a more complex geometry by solving the cavity with a hole inside the cavity center. The numerical results of the model compare favorably with other numerical solutions, including the finite difference method and the finite element method. This paper provides a very powerful tool to study the boundary layer theory with irregular geometry of the Navier-Stokes equations.
The cloud cover and meteorological parameters at the Lenghu site on the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Li Ruiyue , He Fei , Deng Licai , Chen Xiaodian , Yang Fan , Zhao Yong , Zhang Bo , Zhang Chunguang , Yang Chen , Lan Tian
Published: October 2024

The cloud cover and meteorological parameters serve as fundamental criteria for an astronomical observatory working in optical and infrared wavelengths. In this paper, we present a systematic assessment of key meteorological parameters at the Lenghu astronomical observing site on the Tibetan Plateau. The data sets adopted includes the meteorological parameters collected at the local weather stations at the site and in the Lenghu Town, the sky brightness acquired by the Sky Quality Meters and all-sky images from a digital camera, the ERA5 reanalysis data base, and global climate monitoring data. From 2019 to 2023, the fractional observable time of photometric condition is 69.70 per cent, 74.97 per cent, 70.26 per cent, 74.27 per cent, and 65.12 per cent, respectively, which is influenced by a variety of meteorological parameters. Large-scale air–sea interactions affect the climate at Lenghu site, which in fact delivers a clue to understand the irregularity of 2023. Specifically, precipitable water vapour at Lenghu site is correlated to both the westerly wind index and the summer North Atlantic Oscillation index, the yearly average temperature of Lenghu site is observed to increase significantly during the occurrence of a strong El Niño event, and the relative humidity anomaly at Lenghu site is correlated to the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index. The decrease of fractional observing time in 2023 was due to the ongoing strong El Niño event and relevant global climate change. We underscore the substantial role of global climate change in regulating astronomical observing conditions and the necessity for long-term continuous monitoring of the astronomical meteorological parameters at Lenghu site.
Survey of gravitationally lensed objects in HSC imaging (SuGOHI) – X. Strong lens finding in the HSC-SSP using convolutional neural networks
Authors: Jaelani Anton T , More Anupreeta , Wong Kenneth C , Inoue Kaiki T , Chao Dani C -Y , Premadi Premana W , Cañameras Raoul
Published: October 2024

We apply a novel model based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) to identify gravitationally lensed galaxies in multiband imaging of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) Survey. The trained model is applied to a parent sample of 2350 061 galaxies selected from the $\sim$ 800 deg$^2$ Wide area of the HSC-SSP Public Data Release 2. The galaxies in HSC Wide are selected based on stringent pre-selection criteria, such as multiband magnitudes, stellar mass, star formation rate, extendedness limit, photometric redshift range, etc. The trained CNN assigns a score from 0 to 1, with 1 representing lenses and 0 representing non-lenses. Initially, the CNN selects a total of 20 241 cutouts with a score greater than 0.9, but this number is subsequently reduced to 1522 cutouts after removing definite non-lenses for further visual inspection. We discover 43 grade A (definite) and 269 grade B (probable) strong lens candidates, of which 97 are completely new. In addition, we also discover 880 grade C (possible) lens candidates, 289 of which are known systems in the literature. We identify 143 candidates from the known systems of grade C that had higher confidence in previous searches. Our model can also recover 285 candidate galaxy-scale lenses from the Survey of Gravitationally lensed Objects in HSC Imaging (SuGOHI), where a single foreground galaxy acts as the deflector. Even though group-scale and cluster-scale lens systems are not included in the training, a sample of 32 SuGOHI-c (i.e. group/cluster-scale systems) lens candidates is retrieved. Our discoveries will be useful for ongoing and planned spectroscopic surveys, such as the Subaru Prime Focus Spectrograph project, to measure lens and source redshifts in order to enable detailed lens modelling.
Tree Sequences as a General-Purpose Tool for Population Genetic Inference
Authors: Whitehouse Logan S , Ray Dylan D , Schrider Daniel R
Published: October 2024

As population genetic data increase in size, new methods have been developed to store genetic information in efficient ways, such as tree sequences. These data structures are computationally and storage efficient but are not interchangeable with existing data structures used for many population genetic inference methodologies such as the use of convolutional neural networks applied to population genetic alignments. To better utilize these new data structures, we propose and implement a graph convolutional network to directly learn from tree sequence topology and node data, allowing for the use of neural network applications without an intermediate step of converting tree sequences to population genetic alignment format. We then compare our approach to standard convolutional neural network approaches on a set of previously defined benchmarking tasks including recombination rate estimation, positive selection detection, introgression detection, and demographic model parameter inference. We show that tree sequences can be directly learned from using a graph convolutional network approach and can be used to perform well on these common population genetic inference tasks with accuracies roughly matching or even exceeding that of a convolutional neural network-based method. As tree sequences become more widely used in population genetic research, we foresee developments and optimizations of this work to provide a foundation for population genetic inference moving forward.