Spawning Asynchrony of the Endangered Acropora cervicornis: Are Light Pollution and Abnormally Warm Temperatures the Culprits?

The persistence of reefs relies on mature corals spawning synchronously to maximize fertilization and produce larvae to replenish local populations. Corals synchronize the release of gametes by responding to temperature, sun, and moon light cycles; however, abnormalities in these patterns can disrupt synchrony. This study is the first to describe regional asynchronous spawning of Acropora cervicornis by quantifying gamete development and spawning times among two reefs, an in situ nursery off Fort Lauderdale, and an in situ nursery in the Florida Keys. While A. cervicornis in the Florida Keys synchronously spawned within the predicted window of 2-5 days after the full moon both years, corals off Fort Lauderdale spawned 7-10 days before the full moon in 2022 and 1-9 days after the full moon in 2023. Additionally, A. cervicornis in Fort Lauderdale also spawn an hour longer than those in the Keys. While regional asynchrony cannot be explained by temperature differences, it remains unclear if light pollution or turbidity drive regional asynchrony. Regardless, it is likely that corals in this region are not receiving the moon light cue for spawning causing asynchronism in both the spawning day and hour of A. cervicornis in Fort Lauderdale. This results in dramatically reduced fertilization success and, consequently, lowers coral recruitment and the ability of reef populations to replenish themselves. A reduction in sexual reproduction and therefore reef connectivity and recruitment will reduce the genetic diversity needed for populations to remain resilient to future disturbances such as marine heat waves

Fast times at InnoTech: mandating the speed of entrepreneurial work in an accelerator

Acceleration has long fascinated managers. Their captivation is reflected in a century of popular business strategies designed to speed up work, including "scientific management," "lean production," and "lean startup". Scholars have paid significant attention to acceleration, examining the effects of greater speed on numerous work outcomes (e.g., decisions, new product success) as well as work processes (e.g., information processing, consideration of alternatives). Despite this relatively robust literature, there are two areas where our knowledge of acceleration is still limited. First, we lack knowledge about the varied ways in which organizations enact acceleration; prior research has focused on the use of deadlines to speed up task completion, with little consideration of other approaches. Second, because previous studies have yielded conflicting results regarding the implications of acceleration, it remains unclear exactly how an emphasis on increasing speed shapes people’s experiences and work. To advance theorizing in these two areas, I conducted an ethnographic study of a seed accelerator ("InnoTech"), a relatively new form of organization that runs time-limited programs with the explicit intent of speeding up the process of venture creation. Through an inductive, grounded analysis, I found that InnoTech mandated acceleration through a broad set of tactics that included, but was not limited to, the imposition of deadlines. These tactics were rooted in InnoTech's localized conceptualization of acceleration: securing funding faster. I also found that InnoTech created both time-based (i.e., temporal) and event-based (i.e., sequential) triggers for beginning fundraising. Some of the entrepreneurs participating in InnoTech's program perceived these triggers as compatible, and thus felt a sense of synchrony. Other entrepreneurs perceived the triggers as incompatible, and thus experienced a sense of asynchrony. The entrepreneurs' differing perceptions had important implications for their experiences and work. By building theory about localized approaches to acceleration, and how they may shape people's responses in varying ways, I suggest that speed is a situated phenomenon that must be understood as such. My research contributes to the literatures on acceleration, pacing, deadlines, and time as a form of control in organizations

The transcriptional repressor complex FRS7-FRS12 regulates flowering time and growth in Arabidopsis

Most living organisms developed systems to efficiently time environmental changes. The plant-clock acts in coordination with external signals to generate output responses determining seasonal growth and flowering time. Here, we show that two Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factors, FAR1 RELATED SEQUENCE 7 (FRS7) and FRS12, act as negative regulators of these processes. These proteins accumulate particularly in short-day conditions and interact to form a complex. Loss-of-function of FRS7 and FRS12 results in early flowering plants with overly elongated hypocotyls mainly in short days. We demonstrate by molecular analysis that FRS7 and FRS12 affect these developmental processes in part by binding to the promoters and repressing the expression of GIGANTEA and PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 as well as several of their downstream signalling targets. Our data reveal a molecular machinery that controls the photoperiodic regulation of flowering and growth and offer insight into how plants adapt to seasonal changes

MediaSync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization

This book provides an approachable overview of the most recent advances in the fascinating field of media synchronization (mediasync), gathering contributions from the most representative and influential experts. Understanding the challenges of this field in the current multi-sensory, multi-device, and multi-protocol world is not an easy task. The book revisits the foundations of mediasync, including theoretical frameworks and models, highlights ongoing research efforts, like hybrid broadband broadcast (HBB) delivery and users' perception modeling (i.e., Quality of Experience or QoE), and paves the way for the future (e.g., towards the deployment of multi-sensory and ultra-realistic experiences). Although many advances around mediasync have been devised and deployed, this area of research is getting renewed attention to overcome remaining challenges in the next-generation (heterogeneous and ubiquitous) media ecosystem. Given the significant advances in this research area, its current relevance and the multiple disciplines it involves, the availability of a reference book on mediasync becomes necessary. This book fills the gap in this context. In particular, it addresses key aspects and reviews the most relevant contributions within the mediasync research space, from different perspectives. Mediasync: Handbook on Multimedia Synchronization is the perfect companion for scholars and practitioners that want to acquire strong knowledge about this research area, and also approach the challenges behind ensuring the best mediated experiences, by providing the adequate synchronization between the media elements that constitute these experiences

Time Distortions in Mind

Time Distortions in Mind brings together current research on temporal processing in clinical populations to elucidate the interdependence between perturbations in timing and disturbances in the mind and brain. For the student, the scientist, and the stepping-stone for further research

Time Distortions in Mind

Time Distortions in Mind brings together current research on temporal processing in clinical populations to elucidate the interdependence between perturbations in timing and disturbances in the mind and brain. For the student, the scientist, and the stepping-stone for further research. Readership: An excellent reference for the student and the scientist interested in aspects of temporal processing and abnormal psychology

Experimental validation of 4D log file-based proton dose reconstruction for interplay assessment considering amplitude-sorted 4DCTs

Purpose The unpredictable interplay between dynamic proton therapy delivery and target motion in the thorax can lead to severe dose distortions. A fraction-wise four-dimensional (4D) dose reconstruction workflow allows for the assessment of the applied dose after patient treatment while considering the actual beam delivery sequence extracted from machine log files, the recorded breathing pattern and the geometric information from a 4D computed tomography scan (4DCT). Such an algorithm capable of accounting for amplitude-sorted 4DCTs was implemented and its accuracy as well as its sensitivity to input parameter variations was experimentally evaluated. Methods An anthropomorphic thorax phantom with a movable insert containing a target surrogate and a radiochromic film was irradiated with a monoenergetic field for various 1D target motion forms (sin, sin(4)) and peak-to-peak amplitudes (5/10/15/20/30 mm). The measured characteristic film dose distributions were compared to the respective sections in the 4D reconstructed doses using a 2D gamma-analysis (3 mm, 3%); gamma-pass rates were derived for different dose grid resolutions (1 mm/3 mm) and deformable image registrations (DIR, automatic/manual) applied during the 4D dose reconstruction process. In an additional analysis, the sensitivity of reconstructed dose distributions against potential asynchronous timing of the motion and machine log files was investigated for both a monoenergetic field and more realistic 4D robustly optimized fields by artificially introduced offsets of +/- 1/5/25/50/250 ms. The resulting dose distributions with asynchronized log files were compared to those with synchronized log files by means of a 3D gamma-analysis (1 mm, 1%) and the evaluation of absolute dose differences. Results The induced characteristic interplay patterns on the films were well reproduced by the 4D dose reconstruction with 2D gamma-pass rates >= 95% for almost all cases with motion magnitude

Could fungal infection make ant societies more open?

Ant colonies are a highly rewarding target for many pathogens and parasites and they also host various species of social parasites that exploit their social system. Myrmica ants seem to be particularly susceptible to exploitation by social parasites and by ecto- and endoparasites. Also many Myrmica colonies frequently adopt unrelated gynes, which can be interpreted as temporary social parasites. Myrmica scabrinodis is a common host of the ectoparasitic fungus Rickia wasmannii and its colonies are used by socially parasitic butterfly larvae of Maculinea genus. In some M. scabrinodis populations both R. wasmannii and Maculinea butterflies occur together using the same host colonies. In our study we used such population to check whether fungal infection change the threshold of acceptance of social parasites and unrelated queens by ants and make colonies more open for strangers. For this purpose we performed experiments during which we tested how infection by R. wasmannii affects frequency and time of Maculinea larva adoption and adoption of unrelated ant queens. We also carried out aggression tests where we used M. scabrinodis workers originating from infected and uninfected colonies to check if fungal infection influences the amount of adverse reactions. Our preliminary results indicate that ants infected by the fungus are more readily adopting social parasites, while being less aggressive towards foreign queens. Thus, infected colonies could be more prone for social parasitism

An interhemispheric comparison of GPS phase scintillation with auroral emission observed at the South Pole and from the DMSP satellite

The global positioning system (GPS) phase scintillation caused by highlatitude ionospheric irregularities during an intense high-speed stream (HSS) of the solar wind from April 29 to May 5, 2011, was observed using arrays of GPS ionospheric scintillation and total electron content monitors in the Arctic and Antarctica. The one-minute phase-scintillation index derived from the data sampled at 50 Hz was complemented by a proxy index (delta phase rate) obtained from 1-Hz GPS data. The scintillation occurrence coincided with the aurora borealis and aurora australis observed by an all-sky imager at the South Pole, and by special sensor ultraviolet scanning imagers on board satellites of the Defense Meteorological Satellites Program. The South Pole (SP) station is approximately conjugate with two Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network stations on Baffin Island, Canada, which provided the opportunity to study magnetic conjugacy of scintillation with support of riometers and magnetometers. The GPS ionospheric pierce points were mapped at their actual or conjugate locations, along with the auroral emission over the South Pole, assuming an altitude of 120 km. As the aurora brightened and/or drifted across the field of view of the all-sky imager, sequences of scintillation events were observed that indicated conjugate auroras as a locator of simultaneous or delayed bipolar scintillation events. In spite of the greater scintillation intensity in the auroral oval, where phase scintillation sometimes exceeded 1 radian during the auroral break-up and substorms, the percentage occurrence of moderate scintillation was highest in the cusp. Interhemispheric comparisons of bipolar scintillation maps show that the scintillation occurrence is significantly higher in the southern cusp and polar cap