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

Neues Konzept zur Planung, Ausführung und Überwachung von Roboteraufgaben mit hierarchischen Petri-Netzen

Es wird gezeigt, wie die aufgabenausführungsrelevanten Komponenten einer hybriden Steuerungsarchitektur mit Hilfe von hierarchischen Petri-Netzen umgesetzt, integriert und mit Überwachungsmodulen verknüpft werden können. Hierzu wird zunächst ein Konzept zur Generierung von Aufgabenwissen vorgeschlagen, das es erlaubt Bausteine komplexer Handlungen systematisiert zu entwerfen. Im Anschluss wird ein neues Konzept zur online Überwachung von Bewegungsvorgängen bei humanoiden Robotern vorgestellt

Two species? - Limits of the species concepts in the pygmy grasshoppers of the Tetrix bipunctata complex (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae)

Today, integrative taxonomy is often considered the gold standard when it comes to species recognition and delimitation. Using the Tetrix bipunctata complex, we here present a case where even integrative taxonomy may reach its limits. The Tetrix bipunctata complex consists of two morphs, bipunctata and kraussi, which are easily distinguished by a single character, the length of the hind wing. Both morphs are widely distributed in Europe and reported to occur over a large area in sympatry, where they occasionally may live also in syntopy. The pattern has led to disparate classifications, as on the one extreme, the morphs were treated merely as forms or subspecies of a single species, on the other, as separate species. For this paper, we re-visited the morphology by using multivariate ratio analysis (MRA) of 17 distance measurements, checked the distributional data based on verified specimens and examined micro-habitat use. We were able to confirm that hind wing length is, indeed, the only morphological difference between bipunctata and kraussi. We were also able to exclude a mere allometric scaling. The morphs are, furthermore, largely sympatrically distributed, with syntopy occurring regularly. However, a microhabitat niche difference can be observed. Ecological measurements in a shared habitat confirm that kraussi prefers a drier and hotter microhabitat, which possibly also explains the generally lower altitudinal distribution. Based on these results, we can exclude classification as subspecies, but the taxonomic classification as species remains unclear. Even with different approaches to classify the Tetrix bipunctata complex, this case is, therefore, not settled. We recommend continuing to record kraussi and bipunctata separately

Environmental and social life cycle assessment of growing media for urban rooftop farming

Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MPurpose: New environmental strategies are emerging for cities to become more self-sufficient, such as hydroponic crop production. The implementation of such systems requires materials that usually originate in countries with low labour costs and other legal regulations. To what extent could these strategies be shifting problems across the globe? To answer this question, we performed a comprehensive environmental and social assessment of the various extended soilless systems used to grow vegetables on urban roofs. Methods: Three different growing media constituents were chosen for this study: perlite, peat and coir; which are produced in three countries, Turkey, Germany and the Philippines, respectively, and are imported to Spain. By using a life cycle assessment, we evaluated the environmental performances of the production and transport of these growing media. Additionally, we performed a social life cycle assessment at different levels. First, we used the Social Hotspots Database to analyse the constituents in aggregated sectors. Second, we performed a social assessment at the country and sector levels, and finally, we evaluated primary company data for the social assessment of the constituents through questionnaires given to businesses. Results and discussion: The coir-based growing medium exerted the lowest environmental burden in 5 out of 8 impact categories because it is a by-product from coconut trees. In contrast, perlite obtained the highest environmental impacts, with impacts 44 to 99.9% higher than those of peat and coir, except in the land use. Perlite is a material extracted from open-pit mines that requires high energy consumption and a long road trip. Regarding the social assessment, peat demonstrated the best performance on all the social assessment levels. In contrast, coir showed the worst scores in the Social Hotspots Database and for the impact categories of community infrastructure and human rights, whereas perlite displayed the lowest performance in health and safety. Nevertheless, coir and perlite evidenced much better scores than peat in the impact subcategory of the contribution to economic development. Conclusions: This study contributes to a first comparison of three imported growing media constituents for urban rooftop farming from environmental and social perspectives to choose the most suitable option. Peat appears to be the best alternative from a social perspective. However, from an environmental standpoint, peat represents a growing medium whose availability is aiming to disappear in Germany to preserve peatlands. Therefore, we identify a new market niche for the development of local growing media for future rooftop farming in cities

MRI assessment of changes in adipose tissue parameters after bariatric surgery

Bariatric surgery and other therapeutic options for obese patients are often evaluated by the loss of weight, reduction of comorbidities or improved quality of life. However, little is currently known about potential therapy-related changes in the adipose tissue of obese patients. The aim of this study was therefore to quantify fat fraction (FF) and T1 relaxation time by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery and compare the resulting values with the preoperative ones. Corresponding MRI data were available from 23 patients (16 females and 7 males) that had undergone MRI before (M0) and one month after (M1) bariatric surgery. Patients were 22-59 years old (mean age 44.3 years) and their BMI ranged from 35.7-54.6 kg/m(2) (mean BMI 44.6 kg/m(2)) at M0. Total visceral AT volumes (VVAT-T, in L) were measured by semi-automatic segmentation of axial MRI images acquired between diaphragm and femoral heads. MRI FF and T1 relaxation times were measured in well-defined regions of visceral (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) adipose tissue using two custom-made analysis tools. Average BMI values were 45.4 kg/m(2) at time point M0 and 42.4 kg/m(2) at M1. Corresponding VVAT-T values were 5.94 L and 5.33 L. Intraindividual differences in both BMI and VVAT-T were highly significant (p<0.001). Average relaxation times T1 VAT were 303.7 ms at M0 and 316.9 ms at M1 (p<0.001). Corresponding T1(SAT) times were 283.2 ms and 280.7 ms (p = 0.137). Similarly, FFVAT differences (M0: 85.7%, M1: 83.4%) were significant (p <0.01) whereas FFSAT differences (M0: 86.1, M1: 85.9%) were not significant (p = 0.517). In conclusion, bariatric surgery is apparently not only related to a significant reduction in common parameters of adipose tissue distribution, here BMI and total visceral fat volume, but also significant changes in T1 relaxation time and fat fraction of visceral adipose tissue. Such quantitative MRI measures may potentially serve as independent biomarkers for longitudinal and cross-sectional measurements in obese patients

Embodied Language Learning and Cognitive Bootstrapping:Methods and Design Principles

Co-development of action, conceptualization and social interaction mutually scaffold and support each other within a virtuous feedback cycle in the development of human language in children. Within this framework, the purpose of this article is to bring together diverse but complementary accounts of research methods that jointly contribute to our understanding of cognitive development and in particular, language acquisition in robots. Thus, we include research pertaining to developmental robotics, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics and neuroscience, as well as practical computer science and engineering. The different studies are not at this stage all connected into a cohesive whole; rather, they are presented to illuminate the need for multiple different approaches that complement each other in the pursuit of understanding cognitive development in robots. Extensive experiments involving the humanoid robot iCub are reported, while human learning relevant to developmental robotics has also contributed useful results. Disparate approaches are brought together via common underlying design principles. Without claiming to model human language acquisition directly, we are nonetheless inspired by analogous development in humans and consequently, our investigations include the parallel co-development of action, conceptualization and social interaction. Though these different approaches need to ultimately be integrated into a coherent, unified body of knowledge, progress is currently also being made by pursuing individual methods

Age and gender specific estimation of visceral adipose tissue amounts from radiological images in morbidly obese patients OPEN

Best predictions were found at intervertebral spaces L3-L4 for females (σ 5 = 688 ml, σ 1 = 832 ml) and L1-L2 for males (σ 5 = 846 ml, σ 1 = 992 ml), irrespective of age. In conclusion, VAT volumes in morbidly obese patients can be reliably predicted by multiplying the segmented VAT area at a gender-specific lumbar reference level with a fixed scaling factor and effective slice thickness. Obesity is a worldwide increasing healthcare problem. In the United States, for example, over two thirds of the adult population are either overweight (33%, BMI: 25-30 kg/m 2 ), obese (35%, 30-40 kg/m 2 ) or morbidly obese (6%, &gt; 40 kg/m 2 ) 1 . While prevalence of obesity is still rising, in particular the morbid form 2 , more and more is known about its association with an increased overall mortality, often caused by cardiovascular diseases, diabetes or hypertension Quantification of abdominal VAT volumes by cross-sectional imaging, typically by computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), however, is generally time-consuming 7-9 . Various methods have already been proposed to estimate total VAT volumes from simple measurements on a limited number of slices. Studies using single or five slice VAT areas for VAT volume prediction have mainly focused on patients with BMI values below 40 kg/m 2 and data for the morbidly obese are lackin