Social integration of robots into groups of cockroaches to control self-organized choices

Collective behavior based on self-organization has been shown in group-living animals from insects to vertebrates. These findings have stimulated engineers to investigate approaches for the coordination of autonomous multirobot systems based on self-organization. In this experimental study, we show collective decision-making by mixed groups of cockroaches and socially integrated autonomous robots, leading to shared shelter selection. Individuals, natural or artificial, are perceived as equivalent, and the collective decision emerges from nonlinear feedbacks based on local interactions. Even when in the minority, robots can modulate the collective decision-making process and produce a global pattern not observed in their absence. These results demonstrate the possibility of using intelligent autonomous devices to study and control self-organized behavioral patterns in group-living animals.     

Femtotesla magnetic field measurement with magnetoresistive sensors

The measurement of magnetic fields in the femtotesla (fT, 10(-15) tesla) range is important for applications such as magnetometry, quantum computing, solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, and magnetoencephalography. The only sensors capable of detecting these very small fields have been based on low-temperature superconducting quantum interference devices operating at 4.2 kelvin. We present a magnetic field sensor that combines a superconducting flux-to-field transformer with a low-noise giant magnetoresistive sensor. The sensor can be operated up to 77 kelvin. Our small-size prototype provides the capability of measuring 32 fT.     

Protective socking material for cultivated mussels: a potential non-disruptive deterrent to reduce losses to diving ducks

Predation of cultivated mussels by diving ducks can threaten the viability of mussel farms. Conventional scaring tactics have had limited success at deterring ducks from feeding on cultivated mussels, because of rapid habituation and 24-h feeding cycles of some waterfowl species. We tested a socking material containing a biodegradable protective layer against predation by diving ducks on experimental blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) aquaculture sites in Prince Edward Island, Canada. We also assessed the effect of this new socking material on mussel growth and survival. Results showed that the protective socking has the potential to reduce losses to ducks, but did not perform well for all mussel seed sizes used by the industry. The protective layer also did not biodegrade fast enough, trapping a portion of mussels inside the sock, affecting growth and survival of these mussels. Improvements are needed to make this solution effective for all mussel sizes used by the industry and to make its production more cost effective.     

Effects of seed size and density on growth, tissue-to-shell ratio and survival of cultivated mussels (Mytilus edulis) in Prince Edward Island, Canada

In suspended aquaculture, the size of mussel seed and the density at which these mussels are placed in socks are two important factors affecting mussel production. However, the effect of these two factors has yet to be examined simultaneously. We conducted two large-scale field experiments to assess the effect of seed size and initial density on growth, tissue-to-shell ratio and survival of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) grown on longlines. Experimental mussel sites were set up during the autumn of two consecutive years in two bays on the north shore of Prince Edward Island, Canada. At each site, socks containing combinations of three seed sizes (small, medium and large) at two initial densities (low and high) were deployed and monitored over time. Small seed grew faster than large seed and often reached commercial size in the same time period. Furthermore, initial density generally did not affect shell growth. During the pre-spawning period following the autumn deployment, seed at low initial density had a higher tissue-to-shell ratio than seed at high initial density, especially for large seed. This effect of initial density disappeared in early summer. Early in the experiments (< about 10 months), mussel survival on socks was affected by seed size only: small seed generally had lower survival rates than larger seed. Late in the experiments (> 10 months), there appeared to be an interaction between seed size and initial density on mussel survival: survival of small seed generally decreased with increasing initial density, while survival of large seed was not affected by initial density. Since large seed tended to be packed at lower initial density than small seed, lack of crowding was likely responsible for the absence of density-dependent loss. Our study thus assessed different seeding strategies, and results were generally consistent across years and sites.     

Estimation of soil classes and their relationship to grapevine vigor in a Bordeaux vineyard: advancing the practical joint use of electromagnetic induction (EMI) and NDVI datasets for precision viticulture

Precision Agriculture - Working within a vineyard in the Pessac Léognan Appellation of Bordeaux, France, this study documents the potential of using simple statistical methods with...     

Prevalence, antibiotic resistance, virulence traits and genetic lineages of Staphylococcus aureus in healthy sheep in Tunisia

Nasal swabs of 163 healthy sheep were obtained from two farms and one abattoir in Tunisia during 2010. Samples were inoculated in Baird Parker agar and ORSAB medium for Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) recovery, respectively. MRSA was detected in 5 of these 163 samples (3%) in ORSAB medium, and one isolate per sample was further studied. MRSA isolates were mecA-positive, typed as ST153-CC80-t044-agrIII, and contained blaZ, ant(6)-Ia, aph(3')-IIIa, erm(C), tet(K), and fusB genes encoding penicillin, streptomycin, kanamycin, erythromycin, tetracycline and fusidic acid resistance, respectively. These MRSA isolates showed indistinguishable or closely related PFGE-patterns and harboured the lukF/lukS gene encoding the Panton-Valentine leukocidin and the luk-ED, hla, hld, and hlg(v) genes. Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) were recovered in 68 of the 163 samples (41.7%) and one isolate per sample was characterized. Most of MSSA (82.4%) showed susceptibility to the tested antibiotics with exceptions: penicillin (6%, carrying blaZ gene), tetracycline (19%, carrying tet(K) gene) and fusidic acid (9%). The following toxin-genes were identified among MSSA: tst (53 isolates), luk-M (52), luk-ED, hla, hlb, hld and hlg(v) (67), hlg (1), sec (49), sel (52), and the egc-cluster-like sen-sem-sei-seo-seg (1). Ten spa-types (two of them new ones) and nine sequence types (six new ones) were detected among the 73 S. aureus isolates, and they were ascribed to agr types I and III. All MRSA and MSSA isolates were able to coagulate bovine plasma and MRSA harboured the immune-evasion-gene-cluster type E. Conclusions. Nares of healthy sheep could be a reservoir of PVL-positive community-associated-MRSA and also of TSST-positive S. aureus isolates, with potential implications in public health.     

Surface and profile soil moisture spatio-temporal analysis during an excessive rainfall period in the Southern Great Plains,USA

In this work we analyze the temporal stability of soil moisture at the field and watershed scales in the Little Washita River Experimental Watershed (LWREW), as part of the remote sensing Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign (CLASIC07) during June 2007 in south-central Oklahoma. Temporal stability of surface and profile soil moisture data were investigated for 20 LWREW soil moisture measurement stations. In addition, daily surface and profile soil moisture measurements were obtained in four 800 m by 800 m fields (remote sensing footprint), including two rangeland sites and two winter wheat fields. The work aimed to analyze the temporal stability of soil moisture at the watershed and field scale and to identify stations within the watershed, as well as locations within each field, that were representative of the mean areal soil moisture content. We also determined the relationship between sites found to be temporally stable for surface soil moisture versus those determined stable for average profile soil moisture content. For the unusually wet experimental period, results at the watershed scale show that LWREW stations 133 and 134 provided stable underestimates, while stations 132 and 154 provided stable overestimates of the watershed mean at all depths. In addition, station 136 had very high non-zero temporal stability at the 25 cm and 45 cm depths indicating that it could be used as representative watershed site provided a constant offset value is used to acquire a watershed mean soil water content value. In general, the deeper depths exhibited higher soil moisture spatial variability, as indicated by the higher standard deviations. At the field scale, measured average profile soil moisture was higher in the winter wheat fields than the rangeland fields with the majority of the winter wheat depth intervals having high non-zero temporal stability. Field scale temporal stability analysis revealed that 4 of the 16 sampling sites in the rangeland fields and 3 of the 16 sampling sites in the winter wheat fields either under or overestimated the field means in the 0–5 and 0–60 cm depth intervals. Field sites considered temporally stable for the surface soil moisture were not stable for the profile soil moisture, except for the LW45 field where two sites were stable at both the surface and profile soil moisture. This finding is significant in terms of soil moisture ground-truth sampling for calibrating and validating airborne remotely sensed soil moisture products under extremely wet conditions. In addition, identification of temporally stable sites at the watershed and field scales in the LWREW provide insight in determining future measurement station locations and field scale ground sampling protocol, as well as providing data sets for hydrologic modeling.     

Peptides from Chia Present Antibacterial Activity and Inhibit Cholesterol Synthesis

In previous studies, it has not been reported that protein isolated from chia interferes favorably with antibacterial activity, and reduces cholesterol synthesis. The objective of this study was to determine whether commonly used commercial microbial proteases can be utilized to generate chia protein-based antibacterial and hypocholesterolemic hydrolysates/peptides, considering the effects of protein extraction method. Alcalase, Flavourzyme and sequential Alcalase-Flavourzyme were used to produce hydrolysates from chia protein (CF), protein-rich fraction (PRF) and chia protein concentrates (CPC1 and CPC2). These hydrolysates were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive (G⁺) and Gram-negative (G^?) microorganisms. The protein hydrolysates were purified by ultrafiltration through a membrane with 3 kDa nominal molecular weight, for evaluation of hypocholesterolemic activity. An inhibition zone was observed when the hydrolysate was tested against S. aureus, and minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were obtained. Peptides from chia protein with molecular mass lower than 3 kDa reduced up to 80.7% of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase) enzymatic reaction velocity. It was also observed that, independent of the method used to obtain chia proteins, the fractions showed relevant bioactivity. Moreover, the intensity of the bioactivity varied with the method for obtaining the protein and with the enzyme used in the hydrolysis process. This is the first report to demonstrate that chia peptides are able to inhibit cholesterol homeostasis.     

Ecological approaches in veterinary epidemiology: mapping the risk of bat-borne rabies using vegetation indices and night-time light satellite imagery

Rabies remains a disease of significant public health concern. In the Americas, bats are an important source of rabies for pets, livestock, and humans. For effective rabies control and prevention, identifying potential areas for disease occurrence is critical to guide future research, inform public health policies, and design interventions. To anticipate zoonotic infectious diseases distribution at coarse scale, veterinary epidemiology needs to advance via exploring current geographic ecology tools and data using a biological approach. We analyzed bat-borne rabies reports in Chile from 2002 to 2012 to establish associations between rabies occurrence and environmental factors to generate an ecological niche model (ENM). The main rabies reservoir in Chile is the bat species Tadarida brasiliensis; we mapped 726 occurrences of rabies virus variant AgV4 in this bat species and integrated them with contemporary Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The correct prediction of areas with rabies in bats and the reliable anticipation of human rabies in our study illustrate the usefulness of ENM for mapping rabies and other zoonotic pathogens. Additionally, we highlight critical issues with selection of environmental variables, methods for model validation, and consideration of sampling bias. Indeed, models with weak or incorrect validation approaches should be interpreted with caution. In conclusion, ecological niche modeling applications for mapping disease risk at coarse geographic scales have a promising future, especially with refinement and enrichment of models with additional information, such as night-time light data, which increased substantially the model’s ability to anticipate human rabies.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13567-015-0235-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

First reported case of spontaneous hermaphrodism in female date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), cv ‘Alligue’

The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is dioecious with male flowers deficient in functional gynoecium and female flowers deficient in functional androecium borne on separate palms. The presence of male and female flowers on the same plant, a phenomenon known as monoecy, is unusual in male date palms.

This study reports for the first time on hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers borne by two female date palms, ‘Alligue’, that were found growing in an open field in Degache, southern Tunisia. The observations on these two female palms were compared with hermaphrodite male date palms growing in the same location. Hermaphrodite female date palm inflorescence branches bear female flowers predominantly near their base, in contrast to the hermaphrodite flowers that are found primarily toward their upper part. The position of the hermaphrodite flowers in hermaphrodite male date palms is reversed: inflorescence branches bear male flowers toward the upper part while the hermaphrodite flowers are found at the base. Histological examination of female hermaphrodite flowers revealed that they had three carpels and 1–6 stamens. Hermaphrodite flowers on male plants were usually also composed of three carpels of variable size, and six stamens. Hermaphrodite flowers on both female and male palm trees turn generally into parthenocarpic fruits. The present data support the theory that dioecious plants are derived from a common hermaphrodite ancestor. Floral hermaphroditism in date palm should be investigated in relation to the in planta self-fertilization process to identify sex markers and genes that control sex organ development.