Tracking the invasive hornet Vespa velutina in complex environments by means of a harmonic radar

An innovative scanning harmonic radar has been recently developed for tracking insects in complex landscapes. This movable technology has been tested on an invasive hornet species (Vespa velutina) for detecting the position of their nests in the environment, in the framework of an early detection strategy. The new model of harmonic radar proved to be effective in tracking hornets either in open landscapes, hilly environments and areas characterised by the presence of more obstacles, such as woodlands and urban areas. Hornets were effectively tracked in complex landscapes for a mean tracking length of 96 ± 62 m with maximum values of ~ 300 m. The effectiveness of locating nests was 75% in new invasive outbreaks and 60% in highly density colonised areas. Furthermore, this technology could provide information on several aspects of insect’s ecology and biology. In this case, new insights were obtained about the mean foraging range of V. velutina (395 ± 208 m with a maximum value of 786 m) and flying features (ground speed), which was 6.66 ± 2.31 m s−1 for foraging individuals (hornets that are not carrying prey’s pellet) and 4.06 ± 1.34 m s−1 for homing individuals

The association between vaginal bacterial composition and miscarriage: a nested case-control study

OBJECTIVE: To characterise vaginal bacterial composition in early pregnancy and investigate its relationship with first and second trimester miscarriages. DESIGN: Nested case-control study. SETTING: Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London. POPULATION: 161 pregnancies; 64 resulting in first trimester miscarriage, 14 in second trimester miscarriage and 83 term pregnancies. METHODS: Prospective profiling and comparison of vaginal bacteria composition using 16S rRNA gene-based metataxonomics from 5 weeks gestation in pregnancies ending in miscarriage or uncomplicated term deliveries matched for age, gestation and body-mass index. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Relative vaginal bacteria abundance, diversity and richness. Pregnancy outcomes defined as first or second trimester miscarriage, or uncomplicated term delivery. RESULTS: First trimester miscarriage associated with reduced prevalence of Lactobacillus spp.-dominated vaginal microbiota classified using hierarchical clustering analysis (65.6% vs. 87·7%; P=0·005), higher alpha diversity (mean Inverse Simpson Index 2.5 (95% confidence interval 1.8-3.0) vs. 1.5 (1.3-1.7), P=0·003) and higher richness 25.1 (18.5-31.7) vs. 16.7 (13.4-20), P=0·017), compared to viable pregnancies. This was independent of vaginal bleeding and observable before first trimester miscarriage diagnosis (P=0·015). Incomplete/complete miscarriage associated with higher proportions of Lactobacillus spp.-deplete communities compared to missed miscarriage. Early pregnancy vaginal bacterial stability was similar between miscarriage and term pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS: These findings associate the bacterial component of vaginal microbiota with first trimester miscarriage and indicate suboptimal community composition is established in early pregnancy. While further studies are required to elucidate the mechanism, vaginal bacterial composition may represent a modifiable risk factor for first trimester miscarriage

Source code of binary_sims.exe and related datasets

Datasets and source code used for the PhD thesis &quot;On the efficiency of data collection and aggregation for the combination of multiple classifiers&quot;</span

ESBMC v7.4:Harnessing the Power of Intervals (Competition Contribution)

ESBMC implements many state-of-the-art techniques that combine abstract interpretation and model checking. Here, we report on new and improved features that allow us to obtain verification results for previously unsupported programs and properties. ESBMC now employs a new static interval analysis of expressions in programs to increase verification performance. This includes interval-based reasoning over booleans and integers, and forward-backward contractors. Other relevant improvements concern the verification of concurrent programs, as well as several operational models, internal ones, and also those of libraries such as pthread and the C mathematics library. An extended memory safety analysis now allows tracking of memory leaks that are considered still reachable