Diets,population structure,and seasonal activity patterns of mudpuppies (Necturus maculosus) in an urban,Great Lakes coastal habitat

Freshwater species native to the Laurentian Great Lakes region face numerous environmental stressors, and the conservation status and ecological relationships of many remain poorly understood. One such species, the mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus), is declining, but better information on their natural history and development of more effective population monitoring techniques is needed. We assessed seasonal variation in capture success, biases in capture techniques, and feeding ecology of mudpuppies in Wolf Lake, a highly perturbed and urban former estuarine wetland complex to Lake Michigan. Trapping periods of ≥ 3 consecutive nights occurred from January to May 2015, and October 2015 to March 2016. Overall trapping success differed among trapping periods (p = 0.01) and declined precipitously at water temperatures above 14.1 °C (p < 0.001). Mudpuppies in traps (mean 26.9 ± 0.5 cm) were larger than those caught with hand nets (mean 14.7 ± 0.8 cm, p < 0.0001), suggesting that multiple methods may be needed to accurately assess demographics. Stomach contents obtained through gastric lavage included mollusks, leeches, insects, isopods, amphipods, crayfish, fish, a frog, and a juvenile conspecific. Invasive species, including rusty crayfish (Orconectes rusticus), round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus), and zebra/quagga mussels (Dreissena spp.) were present in guts, suggesting mudpuppy foraging has changed along with aquatic communities in the region. Prey community analyses revealed differences in overall diet among size classes of mudpuppies (p = 0.001), but relatively weak similarity within size classes. Results suggest that mudpuppies in lake ecosystems occupy a broad niche that changes as they grow.     

洞察高级持久性威胁

正高级持久性威胁(APT)的发起者利用多种意想不到、时间敏感而且各不相同的攻击向量来攻击你的服务器。在尝试识别、抵御和防止此类攻击威胁时,我们的经验、知识和技术可帮助您做出有效的安全干预决策。如果缺乏对环境、实际网络流量及内容的全面了解,您只能凭空猜测,因此最终的决策可能对,也可能不对。出现APT安全问题时,企业通常会向网络安全运行专业人员施加压力,要求他们快速解释并解决问     

Product fit uncertainty and its effects on vendor choice: an experimental study

Recommender systems and other Internet-enabled technologies have changed the surrounding conditions of pre-purchase evaluations on the Internet. In some cases consumers can now sample entire products prior to a purchase – hereby removing all uncertainty about whether a product fits their taste. While previous research has mainly focused on vendor and product quality uncertainty, it is still not clear how declining product fit uncertainty affects consumers. To close this gap, we conducted a laboratory experiment to analyze the effects on consumers’ vendor selection. We find that full elimination of product fit uncertainty is beneficial for vendors, as it increases both the number of purchases and consumer loyalty. Interestingly, if product fit uncertainty is only partially eliminated, consumers do not necessarily show differential behavior for different levels of remaining product fit uncertainty. This has important implications for online vendors that consider the implementation of additional means to reduce product fit uncertainty.     

中国网站用户体验排行榜

网站运营商提高网站用户体验满意度的九条黄金定律中的第五条是：需重点关注网站非功能性部分的设计标准。 在网站的发展进程中,大部分网站把注意力放在了新的附加功能应用方面。例如：一些网站充斥了Flash元素,甚至全部采用Flash来实现页面显示和功能应用。     

Affordance-based robot object retrieval

Autonomous Robots - Natural language object retrieval is a highly useful yet challenging task for robots in human-centric environments. Previous work has primarily focused on commands specifying...     

Electrohydrodynamic‐Induced SERS Immunoassay for Extensive Multiplexed Biomarker Sensing

Cancer diagnosis and patient monitoring require sensitive and simultaneous measurement of multiple cancer biomarkers considering that single biomarker analysis present inadequate information on the underlying biological transformations. Thus, development of sensitive and selective assays for multiple biomarker detection might improve clinical diagnosis and expedite the treatment process. Herein, a microfluidic platform for the rapid, sensitive, and parallel detection of multiple cancer‐specific protein biomarkers from complex biological samples is presented. This approach utilizes alternating current electrohydrodynamic‐induced surface shear forces that provide exquisite control over fluid flow thereby enhancing target–sensor interactions and minimizing non‐specific binding. Further, the use of surface‐enhanced Raman scattering‐based spectral encoding with individual barcodes for different targets enables specific and simultaneous detection of captured protein biomarkers. Using this approach, the specific and sensitive detection of clinically relevant biomarkers including human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2); Mucin 1, cell surface associated (MUC1); epidermal growth factor receptor; and Mucin 16, cell surface associated (MUC16) at concentrations as low as 10 fg mL^?1 in patient serum is demonstrated. Successful target detection from patient samples further demonstrates the potential of this current approach for the clinical diagnosis, which envisages a clinical translation for a rapid and sensitive appraisal of clinical samples in cancer diagnostics.     

Amplification‐Free Multi‐RNA‐Type Profiling for Cancer Risk Stratification via Alternating Current Electrohydrodynamic Nanomixing

Simultaneous analysis of messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)—multi‐RNA‐type profiling—is increasingly crucial in cancer diagnostics. Yet, rapid multi‐RNA‐type profiling is challenging due to enzymatic amplification reliance and RNA‐type‐dependent characteristics. Here, a nanodevice is reported to uniquely use alterable alternating current electrohydrodynamic (ac‐EHD) forces to enhance probe–target hybridization prior to direct native RNA target detection, without target amplification or surface functionalization. To exemplify clinical applicability, noninvasive screening of next‐generation prostate cancer (PCa) RNA biomarkers (of different types) in patient urine samples is performed. A strong correlation between multi‐RNA‐type expression and aggressive PCa is found, and the nanodevice performance is statistically evaluated. It is believed that this miniaturized system exhibits great potential for cancer risk stratification via multi‐RNA‐type profiling.