bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
130‐nm BiCMOS design of low‐pass negative group delay integrated RL‐circuit
Authors: Ravelo Blaise , Rahajandraibe Wenceslas , Guerin Mathieu , Agnus Benoît , Thakur Preeti , Thakur Atul 
Published: March 2022

AbstractA design method of low‐pass (LP) negative group delay (NGD) integrated circuit (IC) implemented in 130‐nm BiCMOS technology is investigated. The LP‐NGD circuit is composed by RL‐network with BiCMOS high Ohmic unsalicided N+poly resistor and symmetrical high current spiral inductor. The design methodology of the investigated LP‐NGD circuit is explained by chip layout process. Then, the pre‐simulation is performed with the design rule check (DRC) and 225 μm × 215 μm layout versus schematic (LVS) approaches. The LP‐NGD design feasibility of the BiCMOS IC implementation is validated by AC frequency domain simulation with realistic component implementation constraints. As expected, the ideally calculated and simulated results show NGD of about −100 ps with 1.12 GHz cut‐off frequency and −6 dB attenuation. Moreover, the LP‐NGD function is also verified with transient analyses with Gaussian pulse and arbitrary waveform signals. As expected, despite the attenuation, the output signal leading and tailing edges appear in time‐advance of about −100 ps compared to the input ones.
Digitally generated Trail Making Test data: Analysis using hidden Markov modeling
Authors: Du Mengtian , Andersen Stacy L. , Cosentino Stephanie , Boudreau Robert M. , Perls Thomas T. , Sebastiani Paola 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe Trail Making Test (TMT) is a neuropsychological test used to assess cognitive dysfunction. The TMT consists of two parts: TMT‐A requires connecting numbers 1 to 25 sequentially; TMT‐B requires connecting numbers 1 to 12 and letters A to L sequentially, alternating between numbers and letters. We propose using a digitally recorded version of TMT to capture cognitive or physical functions underlying test performance. We analyzed digital versions of TMT‐A and ‐B to derive time metrics and used Bayesian hidden Markov models to extract additional metrics. We correlated these derived metrics with cognitive and physical function scores using regression. On both TMT‐A and ‐B, digital metrics associated with graphomotor processing test scores and gait speed. Digital metrics on TMT‐B were additionally associated with episodic memory test scores and grip strength. These metrics provide additional information of cognitive state and can differentiate cognitive and physical factors affecting test performance.
Can gut microbiota throughout the first 10 years of life predict executive functioning in childhood?
Authors: Eckermann Henrik Andreas , Ou Yangwenshan , Lahti Leo , de Weerth Carolina 
Published: March 2022

AbstractAnimal models suggest that the gut microbiota can influence cognitive development and functioning via various pathways. In line with that, a first human study found associations between infant fecal microbiota composition and cognition at 2 years of age. This longitudinal study investigated whether fecal microbiota composition in infancy and childhood is associated with executive functioning in childhood. We followed healthy individuals from birth to their 10th year of life. Executive functioning was assessed using the Digit Span working memory test at 10 years of age and the ecologically valid Behavior Rating Inventory for executive functioning at 8 and 10 years. Stool samples were collected at month 1, 3 and 4 as well as at 6 and 10 years. The V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA was analyzed to determine microbial composition at the genus level. Using established statistical techniques for microbiota analysis, we did not find associations between fecal microbiota composition and executive functioning after accounting for breastfeeding, maternal education, child sex and age. Our study results are most compatible with the absence or only a weak relationship between infant and childhood fecal microbiota composition and executive functioning in childhood in healthy community children.
Exploring joint HPA–inflammatory stress response profiles in adolescent girls: Implications for developmental models of neuroendocrine dysregulation
Authors: Bendezú Jason José , Calhoun Casey D. , Vinograd Meghan , Patterson Megan W. , Rudolph Karen D. , Giletta Matteo , Hastings Paul , Nock Matthew K. , Slavich George M. , Prinstein Mitchell J. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractPrior research has struggled to differentiate cortisol stress response patterns reflective of well‐regulated versus dysregulated hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis function among adolescents. Here, we show how exploring profiles of joint HPA–inflammatory stress responsivity, and linking those profiles to pubertal development and peer stress exposure may aid such distinction. Adolescent girls (N = 157, Mage = 14.72 years, SD = 1.38) at risk for psychopathology completed assessments of salivary cortisol and pro‐inflammatory cytokines (i.e., tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin‐1β, and interleukin‐6) prior to and following the Trier Social Stress Test. Adolescents, a close friend, and a caregiver completed questionnaire measures of peer stress and pubertal status. Multitrajectory modeling of adolescents’ cortisol and cytokine levels revealed three profiles: low cortisol response–stably low cytokine (n = 75), high cortisol response–stably moderate cytokine (n = 47), and low cortisol response–stably high cytokine (n = 35). Relative to low cortisol response–stably low cytokine, adolescents exhibiting the high cortisol response–stably moderate cytokine profile were more advanced in their pubertal development, but presented with similarly low levels of peer stress exposure. Despite showing cortisol responses that were indistinguishable from low cortisol response–stably low cytokine, adolescents exhibiting the low cortisol response–stably high cytokine profile were more pubertally advanced, but also more likely to have experienced chronic peer strain (self‐report) and relational peer victimization (close friend‐report). These findings thus illustrate the potential value of taking a multisystem approach to studying adolescent stress responsivity and underscore the importance of considering developmental and social factors when interpreting cortisol stress response patterns. Ultimately, such work may help inform developmental models of neuroendocrine dysregulation and related risk for psychopathology.
Nhlrc2 is crucial during mouse gastrulation
Authors: Hiltunen Anniina E. , Vuolteenaho Reetta , Ronkainen Veli‐Pekka , Miinalainen Ilkka , Uusimaa Johanna , Lehtonen Siri , Hinttala Reetta 
Published: March 2022

SummaryThe loss of NHL repeat containing 2 (Nhlrc2) leads to early embryonic lethality in mice, but the exact timing is currently unknown. In this study, we determined the time of lethality for Nhlrc2 knockout (KO), C57BL/6NCrl‐Nhlrc2tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi/Oulu, embryos and the in situ expression pattern of Nhlrc2 based on LacZ reporter gene expression during this period. Nhlrc2 KO preimplantation mouse embryos developed normally after in vitro fertilization. Embryonic stem (ES) cells established from KO blastocysts proliferated normally despite a complete loss of the NHLRC2 protein. Nhlrc2 KO embryos from timed matings implanted and were indistinguishable from their wildtype littermates on embryonic day (E) 6.5. On E7.5, Nhlrc2 KO embryo development was arrested, and on E8.5, only 6% of the genotyped embryos were homozygous for the Nhlrc2tm1a(KOMP)Wtsi allele. Nhlrc2 KO E8.5 embryos showed limited embryonic or extraembryonic tissue differentiation and remained at the cylinder stage. Nhlrc2 expression was ubiquitous but strongest in the epiblast/ectoderm and extraembryonic ectoderm on E6.5 and E7.5. NHLRC2 is essential for early postimplantation development, and its loss leads to failed gastrulation and amniotic folding in mice. Future studies on the evolutionarily conserved NHLRC2 will provide new insights into the molecular pathways involved in the early steps of postimplantation development.
Invader abundance and contraction of niche breadth during replacement of a native gammarid amphipod
Authors: Montgomery W. Ian , Elwood Robert W. , Dick Jaimie T. A. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe introduction of non‐native species to new locations is a growing global phenomenon with major negative effects on native species and biodiversity. Such introductions potentially bring competitors into contact leading to partial or total species replacements. This creates an opportunity to study novel species interactions as they occur, with the potential to address the strength of inter‐ and intraspecific interactions, most notably competition. Such potential has often not been realized, however, due to the difficulties inherent in detecting rapid and spatially expansive species interactions under natural field conditions. The invasive amphipod crustacean Gammarus pulex has replaced a native species, Gammarus duebeni celticus, in river and lake systems across Europe. This replacement process is at least partially driven by differential parasitism, cannibalism, and intraguild predation, but the role of interspecific competition has yet to be resolved. Here, we examine how abundance of an invasive species may affect spatial niche breadth of a native congeneric species. We base our analyses of niche breadth on ordination and factor analysis of biological community and physical parameters, respectively, constituting a summative, multidimensional approach to niche breadth along environmental gradients. Results derived from biological and environmental niche criteria were consistent, although interspecific effects were stronger using the biological niche approach. We show that the niche breadth of the native species is constrained as abundance of the invader increases, but the converse effect does not occur. We conclude that the interaction between invasive G. pulex and native G. d. celticus under natural conditions is consistent with strong interspecific competition whereby a native, weaker competitor is replaced by a superior invasive competitor. This study indicates a strong role of interspecific competition, alongside other known interactions such as differential intraguild predation, in rapid and expansive species replacements following biological invasions.
Urbanization increases floral specialization of pollinators
Authors: Suni Sevan , Hall Erin , Bahu Evangelina , Hayes Hannah 
Published: March 2022

AbstractUnderstanding how urbanization alters functional interactions among pollinators and plants is critically important given increasing anthropogenic land use and declines in pollinator populations. Pollinators often exhibit short‐term specialization and visit plants of the same species during one foraging trip. This facilitates plant receipt of conspecific pollen—pollen on a pollinator that is the same species as the plant on which the pollinator was foraging. Conspecific pollen receipt facilitates plant reproductive success and is thus important to plant and pollinator persistence. We investigated how urbanization affects short‐term specialization of insect pollinators by examining pollen loads on insects’ bodies and identifying the number and species of pollen grains on insects caught in urban habitat fragments and natural areas. We assessed possible drivers of differences between urban and natural areas, including frequency dependence in foraging, species richness and diversity of the plant and pollinator communities, floral abundance, and the presence of invasive plant species. Pollinators were more specialized in urban fragments than in natural areas, despite no differences in the species richness of plant communities across site types. These differences were likely driven by higher specialization of common pollinators, which were more abundant in urban sites. In addition, pollinators preferred to forage on invasive plants at urban sites and native plants at natural sites. Our findings reveal indirect effects of urbanization on pollinator fidelity to individual plant species and have implications for the maintenance of plant species diversity in small habitat fragments. Higher preference of pollinators for invasive plants at urban sites suggests that native species may receive fewer visits by pollinators. Therefore, native plant species diversity may decline in urban sites without continued augmentation of urban flora or removal of invasive species.
Traits across trophic levels interact to influence parasitoid establishment in biological control releases
Authors: Jarrett Benjamin J. M. , Szűcs Marianna 
Published: March 2022

AbstractA central goal in ecology is to predict what governs a species’ ability to establish in a new environment. One mechanism driving establishment success is individual species’ traits, but the role of trait combinations among interacting species across different trophic levels is less clear. Deliberate or accidental species additions to existing communities provide opportunities to study larger scale patterns of establishment success. Biological control introductions are especially valuable because they contain data on both the successfully established and unestablished species. Here, we used a recent dataset of importation biological control introductions to explore how life‐history traits of 132 parasitoid species and their herbivorous hosts interact to affect parasitoid establishment. We find that of five parasitoid and herbivore traits investigated, one parasitoid trait—host range—weakly predicts parasitoid establishment; parasitoids with higher levels of phylogenetic specialization have higher establishment success, though the effect is marginal. In addition, parasitoids are more likely to establish when their herbivore host has had a shorter residence time. Interestingly, we do not corroborate earlier findings that gregarious parasitoids and endoparasitoids are more likely to establish. Most importantly, we find that life‐history traits of the parasitoid species and their hosts can interact to influence establishment. Specifically, parasitoids with broader host ranges are more likely to establish when the herbivore they have been released to control is also more of a generalist. These results provide insight into how multiple species’ traits and their interactions, both within and across trophic levels, can influence establishment of species of higher trophic levels.
A bowhead whale in the eastern North Pacific
Authors: Towers Jared R. , Pilkington James F. , Mason Ernest A. , Mason Ernest V. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractBowhead whales occur in the Arctic year‐round. Their movements are largely correlated with seasonal expansions and reductions of sea ice, but a few recent extralimital sightings have occurred in the eastern and western North Atlantic and one was also documented in the western North Pacific over 50 years ago. Here we present details of a juvenile bowhead whale that was photographed and filmed from above and below the water while it was skim‐feeding in Caamaño Sound, BC, Canada on May 31, 2016. This sighting occurred over 2000 km southeast from the nearest known range for this species in the Bering Sea at a time that most bowhead whales in that region would have been migrating northeast. This sighting represents the first and only documentation of a bowhead whale in the eastern North Pacific to date.
Coinfection with a virus constrains within‐host infection load but increases transmission potential of a highly virulent fungal plant pathogen
Authors: Susi Hanna , Sallinen Suvi , Laine Anna‐Liisa 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe trade‐off between within‐host infection rate and transmission to new hosts is predicted to constrain pathogen evolution, and to maintain polymorphism in pathogen populations. Pathogen life‐history stages and their correlations that underpin infection development may change under coinfection with other parasites as they compete for the same limited host resources. Cross‐kingdom interactions are common among pathogens in both natural and cultivated systems, yet their impacts on disease ecology and evolution are rarely studied. The host plantPlantago lanceolatais naturally infected by bothPhomopsis subordinaria, a seed killing fungus, as well asPlantago lanceolata latent virus(PlLV) in the Åland Islands, SW Finland. We performed an inoculation assay to test whether coinfection with PlLV affects performance of twoP.subordinariastrains, and the correlation between within‐host infection rate and transmission potential. The strains differed in the measured life‐history traits and their correlations. Moreover, we found that under virus coinfection, within‐host infection rate ofP.subordinariawas smaller but transmission potential was higher compared to strains under single infection. The negative correlation between within‐host infection rate and transmission potential detected under single infection became positive under coinfection with PlLV. To understand whether within‐host and between‐host dynamics are correlated in wild populations, we surveyed 260 natural populations ofP.lanceolataforP.subordinariainfection occurrence. When infections were found, we estimated between‐hosts dynamics by determining pathogen population size as the proportion of infected individuals, and within‐host dynamics by counting the proportion of infected flower stalks in 10 infected plants. In wild populations, the proportion of infected flower stalks was positively associated with pathogen population size. Jointly, our results suggest that the trade‐off between within‐host infection load and transmission may be strain specific, and that the pathogen life‐history that underpin epidemics may change depending on the diversity of infection, generating variation in disease dynamics.
Differences in brain morphology of brown trout across stream, lake, and hatchery environments
Authors: Závorka Libor , Koene J. Peter , Armstrong Tiffany A. , Fehlinger Lena , Adams Colin E. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractIt has been suggested that a trade‐off between cognitive capacity and developmental costs may drive brain size and morphology across fish species, but this pattern is less well explored at the intraspecific level. Physical habitat complexity has been proposed as a key selection pressure on cognitive capacity that shapes brain morphology of fishes. In this study, we compared brain morphology of brown trout, Salmo trutta, from stream, lake, and hatchery environments, which generally differ in physical complexity ranging from low habitat complexity in the hatchery to high habitat complexity in streams and intermediate complexity in lakes. We found that brain size, and the size of optic tectum and telencephalon differed across the three habitats, both being largest in lake fish with a tendency to be smaller in the stream compared to hatchery fish. Therefore, our findings do not support the hypothesis that in brown trout the volume of brain and its regions important for navigation and decision‐making increases in physically complex habitats. We suggest that the observed differences in brain size might be associated with diet quality and habitat‐specific behavioral adaptations rather than physical habitat complexity.
Land use conversion to agriculture impacts biodiversity, erosion control, and key soil properties in an Andean watershed
Authors: Galindo Víctor , Giraldo Carolina , Lavelle Patrick , Armbrecht Inge , Fonte Steven J. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe conversion of natural vegetation to agricultural land uses in mountainous Andean landscapes threatens an array of key ecological processes and ecosystem services (ES). In protected areas and buffer regions that provide water to cities, it is critical to understand how interactions between plants and soil communities sustain a range of ecosystem functions associated with nutrient recycling, soil structure, and erosion control. We sought to examine how land use conversion within a mountainous tropical forest landscape influences the diversity of vegetation and soil macrofauna communities, soil physicochemical properties, and hydrological regulation services. Biodiversity and a suite of key soil‐based ES were compared in five major land uses of the Cali River watershed: (1) annual cropping systems, (2) coffee plantations, (3) pastures, (4) abandoned shrubland, and (5) secondary forests. The diversity of woody and herbaceous vegetation, as well as soil macrofauna, was assessed in each land use. Soil chemical fertility and aggregate morphology were assessed via laboratory analyses and visual separation of soil aggregates based on their origin. Infiltration, runoff, and sediment production were measured using a portable rainfall simulator. We found a decrease in the diversity of woody vegetation across land uses to be associated with lower diversity of soil macrofauna. At the same time, agricultural management, annual crops in particular, supports the largest earthworm populations, likely due to increased organic inputs and low impact tillage, which appears not to diminish soil fertility and water infiltration. In contrast, the low soil fertility in pastures was associated with the lowest values of soil C, poor aggregation, and high bulk density and likely reflects overgrazing, with negative implications for water infiltration and erosion. Associations between the different sets of variables, evaluated with co‐inertia analysis, highlight the hierarchical relevance of plant cover and woody diversity on ES. The biological complexity associated with intact forest cover appears to generate “bundles” of co‐occurring ES, with this land use demonstrating the highest infiltration, and low runoff and sediment losses. Our findings demonstrate that forests and tree‐based agricultural systems may better contribute to the provision of multiple ES, including biodiversity conservation and hydrologic regulation.
Daily torpor reduces the energetic consequences of microhabitat selection for a widespread bat
Authors: Alston Jesse M. , Dillon Michael E. , Keinath Douglas A. , Abernethy Ian M. , Goheen Jacob R. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractHomeothermy requires increased metabolic rates as temperatures decline below the thermoneutral zone, so homeotherms typically select microhabitats within or near their thermoneutral zones during periods of inactivity. However, many mammals and birds are heterotherms that relax internal controls on body temperature and go into torpor when maintaining a high, stable body temperature, which is energetically costly. Such heterotherms should be less tied to microhabitats near their thermoneutral zones and, because heterotherms spend more time in torpor and expend less energy at colder temperatures, heterotherms may even select microhabitats in which temperatures are well below their thermoneutral zones. We studied how temperature and daily torpor influence the selection of microhabitats (i.e., diurnal roosts) by a heterothermic bat (Myotis thysanodes). We (1) quantified the relationship between ambient temperature and daily duration of torpor, (2) simulated daily energy expenditure over a range of microhabitat temperatures, and (3) quantified the influence of microhabitat temperature on microhabitat selection. In addition, warm microhabitats substantially reduced the energy expenditure of simulated homeothermic bats, and heterothermic bats modulated their use of daily torpor to maintain a constant level of energy expenditure across microhabitats of different temperatures. Daily torpor expanded the range of energetically economical microhabitats, such that microhabitat selection was independent of microhabitat temperature. Our work adds to a growing literature documenting the functions of torpor beyond its historical conceptualization as a last‐resort measure to save energy during periods of extended or acute energetic stress.