Larger testes are associated with a higher level of polyandry, but a smaller ejaculate volume, across bushcricket species (Tettigoniidae)

While early models of ejaculate allocation predicted that both relative testes and ejaculate size should increase with sperm competition intensity across species, recent models predict that ejaculate size may actually decrease as testes size and sperm competition intensity increase, owing to the confounding effect of potential male mating rate. A recent study demonstrated that ejaculate volume decreased in relation to increased polyandry across bushcricket species, but testes mass was not measured. Here, we recorded testis mass for 21 bushcricket species, while ejaculate ( ampulla) mass, nuptial gift mass, sperm number and polyandry data were largely obtained from the literature. Using phylogenetic-comparative analyses, we found that testis mass increased with the degree of polyandry, but decreased with increasing ejaculate mass. We found no significant relationship between testis mass and either sperm number or nuptial gift mass. While these results are consistent with recent models of ejaculate allocation, they could alternatively be driven by substances in the ejaculate that affect the degree of polyandry and/or by a trade-off between resources spent on testes mass versus non-sperm components of the ejaculate

Quantitation of intracellular NAD(P)H can monitor an imbalance of DNA single strand break repair in base excision repair deficient cells in real time

DNA single strand breaks (SSBs) are one of the most frequent DNA lesions in genomic DNA generated either by oxidative stress or during the base excision repair pathways. Here we established a new real-time assay to assess an imbalance of DNA SSB repair by indirectly measuring PARP-1 activation through the depletion of intracellular NAD(P)H. A water-soluble tetrazolium salt is used to monitor the amount of NAD(P)H in living cells through its reduction to a yellow colored water-soluble formazan dye. While this assay is not a direct method, it does not require DNA extraction or alkaline treatment, both of which could potentially cause an artifactual induction of SSBs. In addition, it takes only 4 h and requires less than a half million cells to perform this measurement. Using this assay, we demonstrated that the dose- and time-dependent depletion of NAD(P)H in XRCC1-deficient CHO cells exposed to methyl methanesulfonate. This decrease was almost completely blocked by a PARP inhibitor. Furthermore, methyl methanesulfonate reduced NAD(P)H in PARP-1+/+cells, whereas PARP-1¿/¿ cells were more resistant to the decrease in NAD(P)H. These results indicate that the analysis of intracellular NAD(P)H level using water-soluble tetrazolium salt can assess an imbalance of SSB repair in living cells in real time

A nexus perspective on competing land demands: Wider lessons from a UK policy case study

As nations develop policies for low-carbon transitions, conflicts with existing policies and planning tools are leading to competing demands for land and other resources. This raises fundamental questions over how multiple demands can best be managed. Taking the UK as an empirical example, this paper critiques current policies and practices to explore the interdependencies at the water-energy-food nexus. It considers how current land uses and related policies affect the UK’s resilience to climate change, setting out an agenda for research and practice relevant to stakeholders in land-use management, policy and modelling. Despite recent progress in recognising such nexus challenges, most UK land-related policies and associated science continue to be compartmentalised by both scale and sector and seldom acknowledge nexus interconnections. On a temporal level, the absence of an over-arching strategy leaves inter-generational trade-offs poorly considered. Given the system lock-in and the lengthy policy-making process, it is essential to develop alternative ways of providing dynamic, flexible, practical and scientifically robust decision support for policy-makers. A range of ecosystem services need to be valued and integrated into a resilient land-use strategy, including the introduction of non-monetary, physical-unit constraints on the use of particular services

Male genital titillators and the intensity of post-copulatory sexual selection across bushcrickets

Animal genitalia are diverse and a growing body of evidence suggests that they evolve rapidly under post-copulatory sexual selection. This process is predicted to be more intense in polyandrous species, although there have been very few comparative studies of the relationship between the complexity of genital structures in males and measures of the degree of polyandry. In some bushcricket families, males possess sclerotised copulatory structures known as titillators, which are inserted into the female’s genital chamber and moved rhythmically. Like other genital structures, bushcricket titillators are widely used as important taxonomic characters and show considerable variation across species in structure, shape and the extent to which they are spined. Here, we examine relationships between the presence/absence of titillators, titillator complexity and both mating frequency and the degree of polyandry in bushcrickets, using phylogenetic comparative analyses. Using published sources combined with original observations, data were obtained for the mean level of polyandry, the duration of the male and female sexual refractory periods and the level of complexity of titillators. To analyse data, we fitted phylogenetic generalised least squares models. No significant relationships were found between titillator presence or complexity and either the level of polyandry, duration of the male’s sexual refractory period or the ratio of the female and male sexual refractory periods. The duration of the female’s refractory period, however, was positively associated with titillator presence and negatively associated with titillator complexity. The data therefore partially support the hypothesis that post-copulatory sexual selection drives genital evolution in this taxon

Using Color in Machine Vision Systems for Wood Processing

Color information, already shown to be valuable in distinguishing wood surface features, should prove especially useful for future applications of machine vision in the wood products industry. This review provides investigators interested in such applications with the information necessary for understanding the benefits-and associated difficulties-of using color. Various standard color-measurement systems ("color spaces") are discussed. No one system has been completely successful, at least partly because simple physical measurements are difficult to correlate with a human observer's complex perception of color. Color video camera systems, designed with human viewers in mind, have the potential for machine vision applications, but certain system "features" (white balance, gamma or contour correction) could cause problems. Future applications, including detecting and classifying hard-to-identify defects and matching colors of wood components, will require careful choice of lighting geometry and source, camera system, and color space for the purpose at hand

The Acute Effects of Whole-Body Corrective Exercise on Postural Alignment

International Journal of Exercise Science 8(3): 213-223, 2015. This study examined the acute effects of whole-body corrective exercise on postural alignment in a sample of 50 male participants (18-30 y) displaying asymmetrical postural deviations. All participants were randomly assigned to either a nonexercise control (n = 25) or corrective exercise treatment (n = 25) group. A three-dimensional motion analysis Vicon system was employed to quantify standing postural alignment at the beginning and end of a 6 d study. Postural misalignments were determined in degrees of symmetry (tilt) and rotation using horizontal and vertical virtual plumb lines for the following locations: hip (ASIS), leg (greater trochanter), shoulder (acromion process), and head (ear). The treatment group completed five corrective exercise sessions on separate days which included 11 exercises (requiring about 60 min per session to complete). The control group performed no intervention and maintained a normal lifestyle. At the commencement of the study there were no significant differences in the degree of postural misalignment between the control and treatment groups at any of the postural measurements. At the conclusion of the treatment period (following the five sessions of corrective exercise), there were no significant differences in any of the postural alignments of any of the postural measurements between the treatment and control groups. For example, all of the following postural measurements were not significantly different (critical F ≥ 4.24;df = 1,25) between groups: hip (ASIS) tilt (F = 0.05), hip (ASIS) rotation (F = 0.15), greater trochanter tilt (F = 1.58), greater trochanter rotation (F = 0.33), shoulder tilt (F = 2.63), shoulder rotation (F = 0.07), head tilt (F = 2.39), and head rotation (F = 2.79). The results of this study suggest that in this group of subjects, five sessions of corrective exercise were insufficient to significantly improve standing postural alignment. Although the results are non-significant, five sessions of corrective exercise were insufficient to measurably improve standing postural alignment. Although the results are non-significant, this study appears to be the first to use 3D video capture analysis to evaluate how corrective exercise might enhance standing whole-body postural alignment. Now, similar research methods can be employed to study a longer treatment period with the objective of identifying the minimal dose of corrective exercise necessary to improve postural alignment

A method for exploratory repeated-measures analysis applied to a breast-cancer screening study

When a model may be fitted separately to each individual statistical unit, inspection of the point estimates may help the statistician to understand between-individual variability and to identify possible relationships. However, some information will be lost in such an approach because estimation uncertainty is disregarded. We present a comparative method for exploratory repeated-measures analysis to complement the point estimates that was motivated by and is demonstrated by analysis of data from the CADET II breast-cancer screening study. The approach helped to flag up some unusual reader behavior, to assess differences in performance, and to identify potential random-effects models for further analysis.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOAS481 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Study of aluminoborane compound AlB_4H_(11) for hydrogen storage

Aluminoborane compounds AlB_4H_(11), AlB_5H_(12), and AlB_6H_(13) were reported by Himpsl and Bond in 1981, but they have eluded the attention of the worldwide hydrogen storage research community for more than a quarter of a century. These aluminoborane compounds have very attractive properties for hydrogen storage: high hydrogen capacity (i.e., 13.5, 12.9, and 12.4 wt % H, respectively) and attractive hydrogen desorption temperature (i.e., AlB_4H_(11) decomposes at ~125 °C). We have synthesized AlB_4H_(11) and studied its thermal desorption behavior using temperature-programmed desorption with mass spectrometry, gas volumetric (Sieverts) measurement, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Rehydrogenation of hydrogen-desorbed products was performed and encouraging evidence of at least partial reversibility for hydrogenation at relatively mild conditions is observed. Our chemical analysis indicates that the formula for the compound is closer to AlB_4H_(12) than AlB_4H_(11)

Developing Systems for Cyber Situational Awareness

In both military and commercial settings, the awareness of Cyber attacks and the effect of those attacks on the mission space of an organization has become a targeted information goal for leaders and commanders at all levels. We present in this paper a defining framework to understand situational awareness (SA)—especially as it pertains to the Cyber domain—and propose a methodology for populating the cognitive domain model for this realm based on adversarial knowledge involved with Cyber attacks. We conclude with considerations for developing Cyber SA systems of the future