Choice consequences: salinity preferences and hatchling survival in the mangrove rivulus (Kryptolebias marmoratus).

In heterogeneous environments, mobile species should occupy habitats in which their fitness is maximized. Mangrove rivulus fish inhabit mangrove ecosystems where salinities range from 0 to 65 ppt, but are most often collected from areas with salinities of ∼25 ppt. We examined the salinity preference of mangrove rivulus in a lateral salinity gradient, in the absence of predators and competitors. Fish could swim freely for 8 h throughout the gradient with chambers containing salinities ranging from 5 to 45 ppt (or 25 ppt throughout in the control). We defined preference as the salinity in which the fish spent most of their time, and also measured preference strength, latency to begin exploring the arena, and number of transitions between chambers. To determine whether these traits were repeatable, each fish experienced three trials. Mangrove rivulus spent a greater proportion of time in salinities lower (5-15 ppt) than they occupy in the wild. Significant among-individual variation in the (multivariate) behavioral phenotype emerged when animals experienced the gradient, indicating strong potential for selection to drive behavioral evolution in areas with diverse salinity microhabitats. We also showed that mangrove rivulus had a significantly greater probability of laying eggs in low salinities compared with control or high salinities. Eggs laid in lower salinities also had higher hatching success compared with those laid in higher salinities. Thus, although mangrove rivulus can tolerate a wide range of salinities, they prefer low salinities. These results raise questions about factors that prevent mangrove rivulus from occupying lower salinities in the wild, whether higher salinities impose energetic costs, and whether fitness changes as a function of salinity

Choice consequences: salinity preferences and hatchling survival in the mangrove rivulus (Kryptolebias marmoratus).

In heterogeneous environments, mobile species should occupy habitats in which their fitness is maximized. Mangrove rivulus fish inhabit mangrove ecosystems where salinities range from 0 to 65 ppt, but are most often collected from areas with salinities of ∼25 ppt. We examined the salinity preference of mangrove rivulus in a lateral salinity gradient, in the absence of predators and competitors. Fish could swim freely for 8 h throughout the gradient with chambers containing salinities ranging from 5 to 45 ppt (or 25 ppt throughout in the control). We defined preference as the salinity in which the fish spent most of their time, and also measured preference strength, latency to begin exploring the arena, and number of transitions between chambers. To determine whether these traits were repeatable, each fish experienced three trials. Mangrove rivulus spent a greater proportion of time in salinities lower (5-15 ppt) than they occupy in the wild. Significant among-individual variation in the (multivariate) behavioral phenotype emerged when animals experienced the gradient, indicating strong potential for selection to drive behavioral evolution in areas with diverse salinity microhabitats. We also showed that mangrove rivulus had a significantly greater probability of laying eggs in low salinities compared with control or high salinities. Eggs laid in lower salinities also had higher hatching success compared with those laid in higher salinities. Thus, although mangrove rivulus can tolerate a wide range of salinities, they prefer low salinities. These results raise questions about factors that prevent mangrove rivulus from occupying lower salinities in the wild, whether higher salinities impose energetic costs, and whether fitness changes as a function of salinity

A Survey on Big Data Technologies and Their Applications to the Metaverse: Past, Current and Future

The development of big data technologies, which have been applied extensively in various areas, has become one of the key factors affecting modern society, especially in the virtual reality environment. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the recent developments in big data technologies, and their applications to virtual reality worlds, such as the Metaverse, virtual humans, and digital twins. The purpose of this survey was to explore several cutting-edge big data and virtual human modelling technologies, and to raise the issue of future trends in big data technologies and the Metaverse. This survey investigated the applications of big data technologies in several key areas—including e-health, transportation, and business and finance—and the main technologies adopted in the fast-growing virtual world sector, i.e., the Metaverse

Selection of Spectral Resolution and Scanning Speed for Detecting Green Jujubes Chilling Injury Based on Hyperspectral Reflectance Imaging

Hyperspectral imaging is a non-destructive method for the detection of chilling injury in fruit. However, the limitation of this technique is the lacking of an appropriate working parameters and a feasible discriminating model for chilling on-line sorting. This research was aimed to select the optimal spectral resolution, scanning speed, and classification model for green jujube chilling injury detection based on hyperspectral reflectance imaging. Criminisi algorithm was firstly carried out to reconstruct the specular reflection region in spectral images before deriving mean spectra, and thus the optimal wavelengths were selected by random frog. Results showed that the Criminisi algorithm presented a desirable ability of spectral image inpainting. The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) achieved overall accuracies of 98.3% and 93.3% for two-class and three-class classification, respectively, at the speed of 20 mm/s with the spectral resolution of 5.03 nm based on selected spectral features. The results demonstrated that 20 mm/s with the spectral resolution of 5.03 nm was more feasible for the detection of green jujube chilling injury in hyperspectral imaging system due to a higher scanning efficiency, but a less data size

The color change and stress response of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) infected with Aeromonas salmonicida

Fish challenged with pathogens often show behavioral disorders. The present study investigated the influence of Aeromonas salmonicida infection on the body color changes of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). In both conditions of a white background and transfer from the black background to the white background, the body color contrast of the fish infected with A. salmonicida (100 μL bacterium solution 8.2 × 109 CFU ml−1 in the dorsal muscle) declined significantly following an initial increase compared with the control group (100 μL 0.9 % NaCl); the greatest differences were observed on day 11, at 57.6 % and 52.7 % respectively (P<0.01). In the black background (transferred from white to the black background), A. salmonicida infection resulted an initial lower and then higher contrast in the challenged fish (P<0.01), and the greatest difference occurred on day 5, reaching 156.7 % (P<0.01). Meanwhile, the cortisol, melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) and melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) levels in serum were also evaluated. Comparing the infected fish with the control fish, the cortisol (7.2 % ∼ 21.2 %), MSH (25.8 % ∼48.6 %) and MCH (36.4 % ∼ 54.4 %) levels of the infected fish were elevated to varying degrees after infection with A. salmonicida (P < 0.05). The results suggested that A. salmonicida challenge altered the color-change behavior, which might be regulated by MSH and MCH

Phosphorus diffusion in germanium following implantation and excimer laser annealing

We focus our study on phosphorus diffusion in ion-implanted germanium after excimer laser annealing (ELA). An analytical model of laser annealing process is developed to predict the temperature profile and the melted depth in Ge. Based on the heat calculation of ELA, a phosphorus diffusion model has been proposed to predict the dopant profiles in Ge after ELA and fit SIMS profiles perfectly. A comparison between the current-voltage characteristics of Ge n +/p junctions formed by ELA at 250 mJ/cm2 and rapid thermal annealing at 650 C for 15 s has been made, suggesting that ELA is promising for high performance Ge n+/p junctions. ? 2014 Elsevier B.V