Are the Neglected Tipuloidea Crane Flies (Diptera) an Important Component for Subterranean Environments?

Usually, biospeleological studies focus on cave-specialist taxa showing strong adaptation to the subterranean environment, as their unusual morphological and ecological features represent intriguing case studies. On the other hand, species occurring in subterranean environments but without marked adaptations have been generally overlooked, probably because they are thought to be accidental and not very important for the ecosystem. Particularly exemplificative is the case of Tipuloidea crane flies (Diptera), which although abundant, are rarely considered in biospeleological studies. Here, by analyzing the crane fly occupancy, we observed that individuals occur within the shallowest areas of subterranean environments throughout the year, with a peak of presence during hot season. Crane flies occupy dark and warm areas close to the connection with surface and with smoother walls. Furthermore, we observed that the presence of crane flies is positively related to the abundance and the richness of cave predators, highlighting their importance for the sustainment of the local community. With this study we aim to stimulate future researches on these important, but still neglected cave species

Photographic database of the European cave salamanders, genus Hydromantes

European Hydromantes are a group of eight salamander species often occurring in subterranean habitats, which are a difficult environment to explore. All Hydromantes are strictly protected species and thus, low-impact methodologies to study these salamanders are strongly needed. Here we used a photographic technique to produce a large dataset of European Hydromantes, providing standardised pictures of 1,052 individuals belonging to the eight species, including hybrids as well. With our methodology we were able to reduce the handling time of individuals, and produce high quality pictures useful to investigate multiple life traits of these endangered species. Furthermore, the standardised photos provided here can be used for future comparisons of individuals from the surveyed populations

Same diet, different strategies : variability of individual feeding habits across three populations of Ambrosi’s cave salamander (Hydromantes ambrosii)

European cave salamanders of the genus Hydromantes are a group of eight species endemic to Italy and south-eastern France. Knowledge on the trophic niche of European Hydromantes is poor, and the few available studies only partially investigate their feeding habits. We performed an indepth study on the trophic niche of the Ambrosi's cave salamander (H. ambrosii), assessing the potential divergences among three different populations. All the populations had a similar diet composition, showing a wider trophic niche in fall compared to spring. In only one population, "true specialists" were present; however, in all three populations, generalist individuals always represented the larger proportion. Interspecific and intraspecific competition did not play an important role in determining individual dietary specialisation in H. ambrosii; contrarily, the characteristics of the surrounding environment seemed to be an important factor. The best body conditions were observed in the population located in the site where the non-arboreal vegetation cover was the highest. Besides providing new information on the trophic niche of H. ambrosii, we here showed that studies encompassing both intrinsic and extrinsic factors at the population level are needed to fully understand the trophic dynamics occurring among European cave salamanders

Numerical Simulation-Based Optimization of Contact Stress Distribution and Lubrication Conditions in the Straight Worm Drive

Tooth contact area optimization/meshing of the straight worm pair is vital for improving its operation efficiency. Geometric parameters of a worm helicoid were derived via the gear meshing theory using the equations of the instantaneous contact line. The visualization function and powerful computing capability of MATLAB are used for the numerical analysis where the instantaneous contact line distribution is simulated for particular worm drive parameters, which yields the induced curvature and slip angle in the direction of the line. The above results are used for further optimization of the meshing performance of the straight worm gear and identification of its influencing factors. A case study of the particular cylindrical worm gear in compliance with the GB 10085-1988 Standard of China demonstrate that a reasonable selection of worm gear parameters can extend the contact line and the working range of the tooth surface of the worm gear and/or make the contact line distribution along the worm wheel more uniform, thus improving the local meshing performanceОптимизация зубчатой контактной поверхности/зацепление прямолинейной червячной пары определяют повышение эффективности ее эксплуатации. Геометрические параметры червячного геликоида получены с использованием теории зацепления зубчатых колес и уравнения линии мгновенного контакта. Численный анализ основан на функции визуализации и вычислительных возможностях программы MATLAB, что позволяет моделировать распределение на линии мгновенного контакта для специфических параметров червячного привода, создавая вынужденную кривизну и угол скольжения в направлении этой линии. Полученные результаты обеспечивают последующую оптимизацию параметров зацепления прямолинейной червячной передачи и установление определяющих факторов. Пример использования специфической цилиндрической червячной передачи в соответствии со стандартом Китая (GB 10085-1988) показывает, что рациональный выбор параметров этой передачи может увеличить линию контакта, а также расширить рабочий диапазон ее зубчатой поверхности и/или обеспечить более равномерный контакт по червячному колесу, повышая тем самым эффективность локального зацепления

A Comparative Study of Machine Learning Regression Methods on LiDAR Data: A Case Study

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) is a remote sensor able to extract vertical information from sensed objects. LiDAR-derived information is nowadays used to develop environmental models for describing fire behaviour or quantifying biomass stocks in forest areas. A multiple linear regression (MLR) with previous stepwise feature selection is the most common method in the literature to develop LiDAR-derived models. MLR defines the relation between the set of field measurements and the statistics extracted from a LiDAR flight. Machine learning has recently been paid an increasing attention to improve classic MLR results. Unfortunately, few studies have been proposed to compare the quality of the multiple machine learning approaches. This paper presents a comparison between the classic MLR-based methodology and common regression techniques in machine learning (neural networks, regression trees, support vector machines, nearest neighbour, and ensembles such as random forests). The selected techniques are applied to real LiDAR data from two areas in the province of Lugo (Galizia, Spain). The results show that support vector regression statistically outperforms the rest of techniques when feature selection is applied. However, its performance cannot be said statistically different from that of Random Forests when previous feature selection is skipped

Mobilization of heavy metals from contaminated paddy soil by EDDS, EDTA, and elemental sulfur

For enhanced phytoextraction, mobilization of heavy metals (HMs) from the soil solid phase to soil pore water is an important process. A pot incubation experiment mimicking field conditions was conducted to investigate the performance of three soil additives in mobilizing HMs from contaminated paddy soil (Gleyi-Stagnic Anthrosol): the [S, S]-isomer of ethylenediamine disuccinate (EDDS) with application rates of 2.3, 4.3, and 11.8 mmol kg¿1 of soil, ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA; 1.4, 3.8, and 7.5 mmol kg¿1), and elemental sulfur (100, 200, and 400 mmol kg¿1). Temporal changes in soil pore water HM and dissolved organic carbon concentrations and pH were monitored for a period of 119 days. EDDS was the most effective additive in mobilizing soil Cu. However, EDDS was only effective during the first 24 to 52 days, and was readily biodegraded with a half-life of 4.1 to 8.7 days. The effectiveness of EDDS decreased at the highest application rate, most probably as a result of depletion of the readily desorbable Cu pool in soil. EDTA increased the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd in the soil pore water, and remained effective during the whole incubation period due to its persistence. The highest rate of sulfur application led to a decrease in pH to around 4. This increased the pore water HM concentrations, especially those of Zn and Cd. Concentrations of HMs in the soil pore water can be regulated to a large extent by choosing the proper application rate of EDDS, EDTA, or sulfur. Hence, a preliminary work such as our pot experiment in combination with further plant experiments (not included in this study) will provide a good tool to evaluate the applicability of different soil additives for enhanced phytoextraction of a specific soil

Vector meson production and nucleon resonance analysis in a coupled-channel approach for energies m_N < sqrt(s) < 2 GeV II: photon-induced results

We present a nucleon resonance analysis by simultaneously considering all pion- and photon-induced experimental data on the final states gamma N, pi N, 2 pi N, eta N, K Lambda, K Sigma, and omega N for energies from the nucleon mass up to sqrt(s) = 2 GeV. In this analysis we find strong evidence for the resonances P_{31}(1750), P_{13}(1900), P_{33}(1920), and D_{13}(1950). The omega N production mechanism is dominated by large P_{11}(1710) and P_{13}(1900) contributions. In this second part we present the results on the photoproduction reactions and the electromagnetic properties of the resonances. The inclusion of all important final states up to sqrt(s) = 2 GeV allows for estimates on the importance of the individual states for the GDH sum rule.Comment: 41 pages, 26 figures, discussion extended, typos corrected, references updated, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Dynamics of the self-interacting chameleon cosmology

In this article we study the properties of the flat FRW chameleon cosmology in which the cosmic expansion of the Universe is affected by the chameleon field and dark energy. In particular, we perform a detailed examination of the model in the light of numerical analysis. The results illustrate that the interacting chameleon filed plays an important role in late time universe acceleration and phantom crossing.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Sc

Tests of the random phase approximation for transition strengths

We investigate the reliability of transition strengths computed in the random-phase approximation (RPA), comparing with exact results from diagonalization in full $0\hbar\omega$ shell-model spaces. The RPA and shell-model results are in reasonable agreement for most transitions; however some very low-lying collective transitions, such as isoscalar quadrupole, are in serious disagreement. We suggest the failure lies with incomplete restoration of broken symmetries in the RPA. Furthermore we prove, analytically and numerically, that standard statements regarding the energy-weighted sum rule in the RPA do not hold if an exact symmetry is broken.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; Appendix added with new proof regarding violation of energy-weighted sum rul

Unconventional Hall response in the quantum limit of HfTe5

Interacting electrons confined to their lowest Landau level in a high magnetic field can form a variety of correlated states, some of which manifest themselves in a Hall effect. Although such states have been predicted to occur in three-dimensional semimetals, a corresponding Hall response has not yet been experimentally observed. Here, we report the observation of an unconventional Hall response in the quantum limit of the bulk semimetal HfTe5, adjacent to the three-dimensional quantum Hall effect of a single electron band at low magnetic fields. The additional plateau-like feature in the Hall conductivity of the lowest Landau level is accompanied by a Shubnikov-de Haas minimum in the longitudinal electrical resistivity and its magnitude relates as 3/5 to the height of the last plateau of the three-dimensional quantum Hall effect. Our findings are consistent with strong electron-electron interactions, stabilizing an unconventional variant of the Hall effect in a three-dimensional material in the quantum limit