Tropical milkweed herbivore and predator dynamics in suburban South Texas

Tropical milkweed is commonly grown to conserve pollinators, but the presence of non-caterpillar herbivores may prompt treatment. Management is limited to non-chemical methods like biological control, but potential natural enemies have not been well studied in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV). We documented the arthropod community on tropical milkweed in garden and potted settings then analyzed associations between organisms. In the garden, oleander aphids and large milkweed bugs were the primary herbivores, overlapping on seedpods. Natural enemies (lady beetles, syrphid fly larvae, and aphid parasitoids) were positively associated with oleander aphids but not milkweed bugs. The arthropod community experienced similar associations but with reduced natural enemy abundance and richness on potted plants

Red Harvester Ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus F. Smith; Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Preference for Cover Crop Seeds in South Texas

Harvester ants often selectively forage seeds, causing these ants to be viewed as pests in agricultural areas where they may forage on crop seeds. While little research has been done on harvester ant preferences for cover crop seeds, grower observations in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) suggest that ants may remove these seeds before germination. We examined red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus F. Smith) preferences for cover crop seeds (fescue, oat, sunn hemp, radish, vetch, and wheatgrass) and the effects of a commonly used bacterial seed inoculant. We evaluated relative preferences using seed depots presented to colonies with no prior exposure to the selected seeds or inoculants. After 24 h, ants had removed oat and radish seeds at the same rate as the preferred wheatgrass control. Fescue, sunn hemp, and vetch seeds were less preferred. The bacterial inoculation of wheatgrass and radish seeds did not alter the removal rates. Further, ant removal of seeds in both trials was dependent on the month and temperature, indicating potential interactions of colony activity levels, availability of seeds in the seed bank, and the intensity of cover crop seed removal. Together, these data indicate that harvester ant foraging preferences and seasonal activity should be considered to help mitigate potential ant predation of cover crops via planting less preferred seeds and at times of lower ant foraging intensity

A Rad-hard On-chip CMOS Charge Detector with High Dynamic Range

This article introduces a CMOS charge detector tailored for measuring ionizing radiation in a wide range of fluences. It represents an entirely on-chip solution based on capacitive sensing. It was fabricated using a standard 0.18 μm CMOS process and employs Metal-insulator-Metal (MiM) capacitor arrays to attain high matching, low leakage, and minimal process variations. The sensing area was radhardened with a post-CMOS layer of metal deposited with a Focus Ion Beam (FIB) that removes the use of external metallic plates. Experimental testing under the electron beam of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) demonstrated radiation hardness at energies up to 10 keV, with a very high dynamic range of up to 138 dB (externally adjustable), and with a sensitivity of 1.43 μV/e-. By harnessing the detection of relative charge variations instead of relying on absolute values, this approach proves highly suitable for particle event detection and facilitates future integrations compatible with the Address Event Representation (AER) communication protocol.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PGC2018-101538-A-I00, PID2021-128009OBC31, VERSO AT21_00096, P20_0120

An Agent Based Approach of Collective Foraging

In this paper the behaviour of a bee colony is modeled as a society of communicating agents acting in parallel and synchroniz-ing their behaviour. Two computational models for defining the agents behaviour are introduced and compared and tools developed for these models are briefly illustrated.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2002-04220-C03-0

HGF -rs12536657 and Ocular Biometric Parameters in Hyperopic Children, Emmetropic Adolescents, and Young Adults: A Multicenter Quantitative Trait Study

Introduction. Even though ocular refractive state is highly heritable and under strong genetic control, the identification of susceptibility genes remains a challenge. Several HGF (hepatocyte growth factor) gene variants have been associated with ocular refractive errors and corneal pathology. Purpose. Here, we assess the association of an HGF gene variant, previously reported as associated with hyperopia, and ocular biometric parameters in a multicenter Spanish cohort. Methods. An observational prospective multicenter cross-sectional study was designed, including a total of 403 unrelated subjects comprising 188 hyperopic children (5 to 17 years) and 2 control groups: 52 emmetropic adolescents (13 to 17 years) and 163 emmetropic young adults (18 to 28 years). Each individual underwent a comprehensive eye examination including cycloplegic refraction, and topographic and ocular biometric analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from oral swabs. HGF single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs12536657 was genotyped. Genotypic, allelic, and logistic regression analyses were performed comparing the different groups. A quantitative trait association test analyzing several biometric parameters was also performed using generalized estimating equations (GEEs) adjusting for age and gender. Results. No association between rs12536657 and hyperopia was found through gender-adjusted logistic regression comparing the hyperopic children with either of the two control groups. Significant associations between mean topographic corneal curvature and rs12536657 for G/A (slope = +0.32; CI 95%: 0.04-0.60; p=0.023) and A/A (slope = +0.76; CI 95%: 0.12-1.40; p=0.020) genotypes were observed with the age- and gender-adjusted univariate GEE model. Both flat and steep corneal topographic meridians were also significantly associated with rs12536657 for the G/A and A/A genotypes. No association was found between rs12536657 and any other topographic or biometric measurements. Conclusions. Our results support a possible role for HGF gene variant rs12536657 in corneal curvature in our population. To our knowledge, this is the first multicenter quantitative trait association study of HGF genotypes and ocular biometric parameters comprising a pediatric cohort

Vortex dynamics controlled by local superconducting enhancement

A controlled local enhancement of superconductivity yields unexpected modifications in the vortex dynamics. This local enhancement has been achieved by designing an array of superconducting Nb nanostructures embedded in a V superconducting film. The most remarkable findings are: (i) vanishing of the main commensurability effect between the vortex lattice and the array unit cell, (ii) hysteretic behavior in the vortex dynamics, (iii) broadening of the vortex liquid phase and (iv) strong softening of the vortex lattice. These effects can be controlled and they can be quenched by reducing the Nb array superconducting performance applying an in-plane magnetic field. These results can be explained by taking into account the repulsive potential landscape created by the superconducting Nb nanostructures on which vortices move