Predicting global potential distribution of Peromyscopsylla hesperomys and Orchopeas sexdentatus and risk assessment for invading China under climate change

BackgroundPeromyscopsylla hesperomys and Orchopeas sexdentatus are regarded to be representative plague vectors in the United States. The incidence of plague is rising globally, possibly due to climate change and environmental damage. Environmental factors such as temperature and precipitation have a significant impact on the temporal and spatial distribution of plague vectors.MethodsMaximum entropy models (MaxEnt) were utilized to predict the distributions of these two fleas and their trends into the future. The main environmental factors influencing the distribution of these two fleas were analyzed. A risk assessment system was constructed to calculate the invasion risk values of the species.ResultsTemperature has a significant effect on the distribution of the potentially suitable areas for P. hesperomys and O. sexdentatus. They have the potential to survive in suitable areas of China in the future. The risk assessment system indicated that the risk level for the invasion of these two species into China was moderate.ConclusionIn order to achieve early detection, early interception, and early management, China should perfect its monitoring infrastructure and develop scientific prevention and control strategies to prevent the invasion of foreign flea vectors

Determinants of time varying co-movements among international stock markets during crisis and non-crisis periods

In this paper, we use the DCC MIDAS approach to assess the validity of the wake-up call hypothesis for developed and emerging markets during the global financial crisis (GFC). We use this approach to decompose the total correlations into short- (daily) and long-run (quarterly) correlations for the period from 1999 to 2011. We then examine the transmission mechanisms by regressing the quarterly economic, financial, and behavioral variables on the quarterly DCC–MIDAS correlations. We find that country specific factors are crisis contingent transmission mechanisms for the co-movements of emerging country pairs and mixed pairs of advanced and emerging countries during the global financial crisis. However, we do not observe wake-up calls in the transmission of the crisis among advanced country pairs. The classification of the transmission mechanisms for crisis and non-crisis periods with the different country pairs has important implications for crisis management as well as for portfolio investment strategies. Thus, our findings contribute to the discussion on the role and effectiveness of the international financial architecture

Over-expression of a zeatin O-glucosylation gene in maize leads to growth retardation and tasselseed formation

To study the effects of cytokinin O-glucosylation in monocots, maize (Zea mays L.) transformants harbouring the ZOG1 gene (encoding a zeatin O-glucosyltransferase from Phaseolus lunatus L.) under the control of the constitutive ubiquitin (Ubi) promoter were generated. The roots and leaves of the transformants had greatly increased levels of zeatin-O-glucoside. The vegetative characteristics of hemizygous and homozygous Ubi:ZOG1 plants resembled those of cytokinin-deficient plants, including shorter stature, thinner stems, narrower leaves, smaller meristems, and increased root mass and branching. Transformant leaves had a higher chlorophyll content and increased levels of active cytokinins compared with those of non-transformed sibs. The Ubi:ZOG1 plants exhibited delayed senescence when grown in the spring/summer. While hemizygous transformants had reduced tassels with fewer spikelets and normal viable pollen, homozygotes had very small tassels and feminized tassel florets, resembling tasselseed phenotypes. Such modifications of the reproductive phase were unexpected and demonstrate a link between cytokinins and sex-specific floral development in monocots

1st Workshop on Maritime Computer Vision (MaCVi) 2023: Challenge Results

The 1$^{\text{st}}$ Workshop on Maritime Computer Vision (MaCVi) 2023 focused on maritime computer vision for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), and organized several subchallenges in this domain: (i) UAV-based Maritime Object Detection, (ii) UAV-based Maritime Object Tracking, (iii) USV-based Maritime Obstacle Segmentation and (iv) USV-based Maritime Obstacle Detection. The subchallenges were based on the SeaDronesSee and MODS benchmarks. This report summarizes the main findings of the individual subchallenges and introduces a new benchmark, called SeaDronesSee Object Detection v2, which extends the previous benchmark by including more classes and footage. We provide statistical and qualitative analyses, and assess trends in the best-performing methodologies of over 130 submissions. The methods are summarized in the appendix. The datasets, evaluation code and the leaderboard are publicly available at https://seadronessee.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/macvi.Comment: MaCVi 2023 was part of WACV 2023. This report (38 pages) discusses the competition as part of MaCV

Backstepping design of missile guidance and control based on adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control

This paper presents an integrated missile guidance and control law based on adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control. The integrated model is formulated as a block-strict-feedback nonlinear system, in which modeling errors, unmodeled nonlinearities, target maneuvers, etc. are viewed as unknown uncertainties. The adaptive nonlinear control law is designed based on backstepping and sliding mode control techniques. An adaptive fuzzy system is adopted to approximate the coupling nonlinear functions of the system, and for the uncertainties, we utilize an online-adaptive control law to estimate the unknown parameters. The stability analysis of the closed-loop system is also conducted. Simulation results show that, with the application of the adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control, small miss distances and smooth missile trajectories are achieved, and the system is robust against system uncertainties and external disturbances

A light-activatable antibiotic with high activation efficiency and uncompromised bactericidal potency in the activated state

Abstract Achieving activatable antibiotics represents one promising solution to tackle the occurrence of side effects, one major issue now plaguing antibiotic usage in collagen-based biomaterials. Despite considerable effort, however, rationale design of activatable antibiotics that display high activation efficiency and uncompromised bactericidal potency in the activated state remains difficult. Here, we demonstrate a design principle that helps to address this challenge. This strategy differs from previous attempts by underscoring photolytic removal of a functionality directly conjugated to the pharmacophore of an antibiotic, enabling not only an activation efficiency significantly improved beyond previous light-activatable antibiotics, but also bactericidal activity in the activated state as potent as the parent drug. Graphical abstrac

Evaluation of the Effects of Water and Salinity Stress on the Growth and Biochemistry of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) at the Branching Stage

The response of alfalfa to water and salinity stress differs during the whole growth period, and water stress has the most severe effects on the yield of alfalfa at the branching stage. However, the presence of soil salt can also enhance its drought resistance and alleviate the impact of water stress on yield. Thus, information on the responses of aboveground biomass, water-use efficiency and osmolytes to water and salinity stress at the branching stages of alfalfa development is urgently required. A pot experiment that combined three irrigation levels of 55–70% (W1), 70–85% (W2) and 85–100% (W3) of field capacity (FC) and four salinity levels was conducted in Dengkou County, Inner Mongolia, China, in 2018 and 2019. The percentage of mixed salt (NaCl:Na2SO4 = 1:1 [w/w]) added for the salinity treatments was 0, 2, 4 and 6% of the soil dry weight and was designated as S0–S3, respectively. The water consumption, biomass, osmolytes, such as proline and Na+, and the activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD), of alfalfa were measured during its early flowering stage. In general, the plant height, aboveground biomass, root biomass and water consumption of alfalfa increased with the decrease in soil salinity and increase in the amount of irrigation applied. When the salt >3 g kg−1, alfalfa could improve its stress resistance by increasing the contents of proline and Na+ and the activity of POD and decreasing the activity of SOD, but the aboveground biomass and water consumption decreased. However, alfalfa has a certain cross adaptation ability under water and salt stress at the branching stage, particularly when salt is less than 3 g kg−1. Compared with single water stress, adding an appropriate amount of salt (≤3 g kg−1) increased the contents of proline and Na+ and the activities of SOD and POD, which led to water consumption and aboveground biomass of alfalfa increases of 11.93% and 17.51%, respectively. In conclusion, the alfalfa was tolerant to moderate (3 g kg−1) salt stress. The alfalfa with higher proline, SOD and POD activity and Na+ was better able to yield well under salt stress. Meanwhile, combined with moderate irrigation (70–85% FC), the productivity of alfalfa was improved better. The results can provide a theoretical basis for the utilization of alfalfa in salinized land