Effect of qualitative and quantitative variation in allelochemicals on a generalist insect: Iridoid glycosides and the southern armyworm

The behavioral and physiological effects of plant allelochemicals have been difficult to demonstrate; it is not often clear whether the compounds are deterrent, toxic, or both. In this study, we compared the qualitative and quantitative effects of several iridoid glycosides on a generalist lepidopteran herbivore,Spodoptera eridania (Noctuidae). Larval growth and survivorship and larval preference or avoidance were measured on artificial diets containing different iridoid glycosides at different concentrations. We also tested the toxicity/deterrence of these compounds. We found that iridoid glycosides retarded larval growth significantly at relatively low concentrations and that they were usually avoided in preference tests. The toxicity/ deterrence test did not always reflect the results of these other tests. The merits of using a variety of methods for determining deterrence and/or toxicity of plant allelochemicals are discussed.     

A spatio‐temporal water quality assessment of the Beas and Sutlej Rivers at the Harike Wetland: A Ramsar site in Punjab,India

Lakes play a vital role in regulating water storage, flow of river water, and ultimately maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Spatial and temporal variations in physicochemical parameters of water in Harike Wetland, a Ramsar site in the northwestern state of Punjab, India, were studied. This study was conducted on a monthly basis from January to December 2015. The water quality was studied at ten locations from sites 1 to 10 upstream, central and downstream from Harike Lake for ten physicochemical parameters, including temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen concentration biological oxygen demand, nitrate and phosphate concentrations and salinity. The findings of this study revealed that, except for temperature and pH, all parameters exhibited relatively higher values for the Sutlej River, compared with the Beas River, with sampling sites 5 to site 7 exhibiting intermediate results. The mean seasonal temperature variations ranged from 16.9 to 26.6 °C, the pH from 7.7 to 8.2, electrical conductivity from 223 to 303 μS cm^?1 and TDS concentration from 148.7 to 180.4 ppm. Correlation analysis was conducted to assess the relations between the variables. The electrical conductivity exhibited a high positive correlation with salinity and biological oxygen demand, whereas it correlated negatively with the dissolved oxygen concentration. Box and whisker plots were also plotted for the study results to better examine the data distribution.     

The annual cycle of Flehmen in black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus)

Flehmen is a stereotyped response of ungulates and other mammals to urine. In black-tailed deer, Flehmen occurs typically in males (rarely in females), and its frequency shows an annual cycle. Flehmen in response to female urine was most frequent in November, and to male urine in January. The response minimum to both types of urine occurred in May. Fifty-five to 100% of initial responses to female urine resulted in Flehmen. The deer responded more often to female urine, and the difference between the responses to female and male urine increased from May to November. A male's own urine released Flehmen more often than did urine of other males. The response intensity varied with the spatial orientation of the male to the urinating female, and responses were usually limited to distances of 15 m or less.     

一类考虑病毒发生变异的SIS疾病传播模型

为了研究变异行为对病毒传播的影响,提出了一个病毒发生变异的疾病传播模型,在模型中考虑了两种病毒相互转换的过程,计算机模拟结果表明,两种病毒的稳态感染比例与它们之间的相互转换概率γ1和γ2有关,当γ1＞0且γ2=0时,I1型感染者将消失,当γ1与γ2都大于0时,I1/I2与γ1/γ2成反比,且与α1/β1和α2/β2的取值无关.研究还发现病毒变异时由于缺乏对应的治疗药物和措施而出现一段真空期,这导致变异病毒的感染比例快速增加,但真空期的出现只能增加感染者的瞬时感染比例,而对稳态感染比例没有影响.该研究对人们深入理解病毒传播机理具有启发作用.     

LDE融合光谱回归分类的光照变化人脸识别

针对光照变化人脸识别问题中传统的光谱回归算法不能很好地进行特征提取而严重影响识别性能的问题,提出了局部判别嵌入优化光谱回归分类的人脸识别算法。计算出训练样本的特征向量;借助于数据的近邻和分类关系,利用局部判别嵌入算法构建分类问题所需的嵌入,同时学习每种分类的子流形所需的嵌入;利用光谱回归分类算法计算投影矩阵,并利用最近邻分类器完成人脸的识别。在两大人脸数据库扩展YaleB及CMU PIE上的实验验证了该算法的有效性,实验结果表明,相比其他光谱回归算法,该算法取得了更高的识别率、更好的工作特性,并且降低了计算复杂度。     

药物抗氧化作用对DNA发光动力学行为的影响

本文应用ＣｕＳＯ４－Ｐｈｅｎ－Ｖｃ－Ｈ２Ｏ２－ＤＮＡ化学发光体系观察药物对发光动力学行为的影响，研究了九种药物对ＤＮＡ损伤的保护作用，并对其药物结构对抗氧化能力的影响进行了分析。发现药物在该系统中的抗氧化作用有三种类型，提示它们可能在体内不同的反应过程中起不同的作用。在该系统中具有抑制ＤＮＡ损伤发光能力的药物，按其作用强弱依次为阿魏酸、丹参素、芦丁，茶多酚、ＳＯＤ、、丹参酮Ⅱ－Ａ，丹皮酚，五味子乙     

Induction of DNA-double-strand breaks by auger electrons from 99mTc complexes with DNA-binding ligands

The potential of certain Auger electron emitting nuclides for systemic radiotherapeutic applications has recently gained much attention. In particular, the ability of several nuclides, including 111In, 125I, and 123I, to induce DNA double-strand breaks (dsb), a good indicator of cytotoxicity, has been extensively studied. However, this ability has never previously been shown experimentally for 99mTc, which, besides the well-known gamma radiation that is used for diagnostic applications, also emits an average of 1.1 conversion electrons and 4 Auger or Coster-Kronig electrons per decay. Owing to the short range of Auger electrons, the radionuclide needs to be located very close to the DNA for dsb to occur. We synthesized two cationic 99mTcI-tricarbonyl complexes with pendant DNA binders, pyrene and anthraquinone. The X-ray crystal structures of the two complexes could be elucidated. Linear dichroism and UV/Vis spectroscopy revealed that the complex with pyrene intercalates DNA with a stability constant, K, of 1.1 x 10(6) M(-1), while the analogous complex with anthraquinone interacts with DNA in a groove-binding mode and has an affinity value of K=8.9 x 10(4) M(-1). We showed with phiX174 double-stranded DNA that the corresponding 99mTc complexes induce a significant amount of dsb, whereas non-DNA-binding [TcO4]- and nonradioactive Re compounds did not. These results indicate that the Auger electron emitter 99mTc can induce dsb in DNA when decaying in its direct vicinity and this implies potential for systemic radiotherapy with 99mTc complexes.     

Spatial and temporal variability in lake trout diets in Lake Ontario as revealed by stomach contents and stable isotopes

Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) are an ecologically and economically important piscivore with reported differences in diet and feeding behaviour throughout its range. Eleven stomach content and stable isotope-based metrics were used to describe diets of 349 lake trout between two years (2013 and 2018) and among geographic zones (west, central, east, Kingston basin) in Lake Ontario. Using individual (e.g., volumetric, %V) and aggregate (e.g., index of relative importance, %IRI) diet metrics, we found an overwhelming dominance of alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) in lake trout diets among some zones in 2013 (%V = 23.3 – 92.7; %IRI = 12.2 – 99.5) and all zones in 2018 (%V = 83.9 – 96.7; %IRI = 96.5 – 100). Round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) were secondary lake trout prey items with relative diet percentages only marginally reflected by spatial and temporal variation in prey abundance (round goby: %V = 1.0 – 33.3, %IRI = 0.1 – 13.2; rainbow smelt: %V = 2.5 – 54.0, %IRI = 0.1 – 54.0). Carbon (δ¹³C) and nitrogen (δ¹⁵N) isotopic niche areas and orientations were similar across all year-zone combinations reinforcing temporal and spatial consistency in lake trout diet. The findings of this study advance the time series in describing Lake Ontario lake trout diets and can be used to complement stock assessments and management decisions associated with carrying capacity for the diverse salmonid community.     

基于引力搜索算法的分数阶变异时序回归GSA-TSGM(1,1)模型

为了利用分数阶累加算子在灰色短期预测中的高效性能,首次将分数阶累加算子引入变异时序回归模型以期取得更高的预测精度。主要方法如下：首先取湖北省链子崖某监测点1978—1987年的十年数据作为训练集并使用引力搜索算法确定最佳分数阶累加阶数,而1988—1993年的六年数据作为验证集验证提出的模型;其次对比了经典灰色模型GM(1,1)、分数阶累加灰色模型、变异时序回归模型TSGM(1,1)三种灰色模型。结果如下：首先修正了陈西江等人变异时序回归模型仿真时出现的错误,其次表明了相比于其他的模型,基于引力搜索算法的分数阶累加时序回归模型在进行灰色长期预测中具有较高的预测精度。因此,通过分数阶累加算子提高了灰色理论中长期预测模型的精度,为灰色长期预测提供了指导。