Contour interaction for foveal acuity targets at different luminances

Single-letter visual acuity is impaired by nearby flanking stimuli, a phenomenon known as contour interaction. We showed previously that when foveal acuity is degraded by a reduction of letter contrast, both the magnitude and angular spatial extent of foveal contour interaction remain unchanged. In this study, we asked whether contour interaction also remains unchanged when foveal visual acuity is degraded by a reduction of the target’s background luminance. Percent correct letter identification was measured for isolated, near-threshold black Sloan letters and for letters surrounded by 4 flanking bars in 10 normal observers, 5 at Anglia Ruskin University, UK (ARU) and 5 at Palacky University, Czech Republic (PU). A stepwise reduction in the background luminance over 3 log units resulted in an approximately threefold increase in the near-threshold letter size. At each background luminance, black flanking bars with a width equal to 1 letter stroke were presented at separations between approximately 0.45 and 4.5 min arc (ARU) or 0.32 and 3.2 min arc (PU). The results indicate that the angular extent of contour interaction remains unchanged at approximately 4 min arc at all background luminances. On the other hand, the magnitude of contour interaction decreases systematically as luminance is reduced, from approximately a 50% reduction to a 30% reduction in percent correct. The constant angular extent and decreasing magnitude of contour interaction with a reduction of background luminance suggest foveal contour interaction is mediated by luminance-dependent lateral inhibition within a fixed angular region

Waste processing facility location problem by stochastic programming: Models and solutions

The paper deals with the so-called waste processing facility location problem (FLP), which asks for establishing a set of operational waste processing units, optimal against the total expected cost. We minimize the waste management (WM) expenditure of the waste producers, which is derived from the related waste processing, transportation, and investment costs. We use a stochastic programming approach in recognition of the inherent uncertainties in this area. Two relevant models are presented and discussed in the paper. Initially, we extend the common transportation network flow model with on-and-off waste-processing capacities in selected nodes, representing the facility location. Subsequently, we model the randomly-varying production of waste by a scenario-based two-stage stochastic integer linear program. Finally, we employ selected pricing ideas from revenue management to model the behavior of the waste producers, who we assume to be environmentally friendly. The modeling ideas are illustrated on an example of limited size solved in GAMS. Computations on larger instances were realized with traditional and heuristic algorithms, implemented within MATLAB. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Sexually Selected Infanticide in a Polygynous Bat

Background: Adult individuals of many species kill unrelated conspecific infants for several adaptive reasons ranging from predation or resource competition to the prevention of misdirected parental care. Moreover, infanticide can increase the reproductive success of the aggressor by killing the offspring of competitors and thereafter mating with the victimized females. This sexually selected infanticide predominantly occurs in polygynous species, with convincing evidence for primates, carnivores, equids, and rodents. Evidence for bats was predicted but lacking. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we report the first case, to our knowledge, of sexually selected infanticide in a bat, the polygynous white-throated round-eared bat, Lophostoma silvicolum. Behavioral studies in a free-living population revealed that an adult male repeatedly attacked and injured the pups of two females belonging to his harem, ultimately causing the death of one pup. The infanticidal male subsequently mated with the mother of the victimized pup and this copulation occurred earlier than any other in his harem. Conclusions/Significance: Our findings indicate that sexually selected infanticide is more widespread than previously thought, adding bats as a new taxon performing this strategy. Future work on other bats, especially polygynous species in the tropics, has great potential to investigate the selective pressures influencing the evolution of sexually selecte

Inter-specific differences in the structure and mechanics but not the chemical composition of antlers in three deer species

Antlers are costly structures produced annually by male cervids using minerals obtained from their diet and from resorption of their skeleton. Availability and nutritive quality of food resources therefore have a great impact on the investment of males in these secondary sexual traits. We studied the structure, mineral composition and mechanical quality of antlers of the Siberian wapiti (Cervus canadensis Sibiricus), Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) and Vietnamese sika deer (Cervus nippon pseudaxis), three closely-related cervid species. The three herds investigated were maintained under the same feeding and management conditions (one male per herd) throughout a 3-year study period. We showed that there was no significant inter-specific difference in antler composition of the three species under the same feeding regime. However, mechanical properties varied between the Siberian wapiti and the other two species; and structural characteristics were different among all of them. Our results show that antler composition has a similar chemical profile across species when grown under the same feeding regime whereas the internal structure and mechanical properties appear to be species dependent.This paper was funded by projects AGL2012-38898 (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain), CIGA20145001 (Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic), IGA20155013 (Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic) and MZERO0714 (Ministry of Agriculture, Czech Republic).Peer Reviewe