scholarly journals Seychelles warblers with silver spoons: juvenile condition is a lifelong predictor of annual survival, but not annual reproduction or senescence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Brown ◽  
Hannah Dugdale ◽  
Martijn Hammers ◽  
Jan Komdeur ◽  
David Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Condition Index ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Annual Survival ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Developmental Conditions ◽  
Somatic Stress ◽  
Term Monitoring ◽  
Intrinsic Condition

1) The environment experienced during development, and its impact on intrinsic condition, can have lasting outcomes for adult phenotypes and could contribute to the individual variation in senescence trajectories. 2) However, the nature of this relationship in wild populations remains uncertain, owing to the difficulties in summarizing environmental complexity and long-term monitoring of individuals from free-roaming long-lived species. 3) In this study, we determine whether juvenile condition (derived from measures of body mass and size) is associated with senescence-related traits of a closely monitored population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis). 4) Juveniles with a higher condition index were more likely to survive to adulthood – suggesting these juveniles experienced better developmental conditions. Furthermore, these juveniles as adults were in better condition and had higher rates of annual survival, independently of age. In contrast, there was no association between juvenile condition and declines in adult telomere length (a measure of somatic stress) nor annual reproduction. 5) These results indicate that juvenile condition, while not associated with senescence trajectories, can influence the likelihood of surviving to old age due to silver-spoon effects. This study shows that measures of intrinsic condition in juveniles can provide important insights into long-term fitness of individuals in wild populations.

scholarly journals Detection of epileptic activity in presumably normal EEG

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Baldini ◽  
Francesca Pittau ◽  
Gwenael Birot ◽  
Vincent Rochas ◽  
Miralena I Tomescu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Focal Epilepsy ◽  
Epileptic Activity ◽  
Scalp Eeg ◽  
Vigilance State ◽  
Explained Variance ◽  
Long Term Monitoring ◽  
Interictal Discharges ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Term Monitoring

Abstract Monitoring epileptic activity in the absence of interictal discharges is a major need given the well-established lack of reliability of patients’ reports of their seizures. Up to now, there are no other tools than reviewing the seizure diary; however, seizures may not be remembered or dismissed voluntarily. In the present study, we set out to determine if EEG voltage maps of epileptogenic activity in individual patients can help to identify disease activity, even if their scalp EEG appears normal. Twenty-five patients with pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy were included. For each patient, 6 min of EEG with spikes (yes-spike) and without visually detectable epileptogenic discharges (no-spike) were selected from long-term monitoring recordings (EEG 31–37 channels). For each patient, we identified typical discharges, calculated their average and the corresponding scalp voltage map (‘spike-map’). We then fitted the spike-map for each patient on their (i) EEG epochs with visible spikes, (ii) epochs without any visible spike and (iii) EEGs of 48 controls. The global explained variance was used to estimate the presence of the spike-maps. The individual spike-map occurred more often in the spike-free EEGs of patients compared to EEGs of healthy controls (P = 0.001). Not surprisingly, this difference was higher if the EEGs contained spikes (P < 0.001). In patients, spike-maps were more frequent per second (P < 0.001) but with a shorter mean duration (P < 0.001) than in controls, for both no-spike and yes-spike EEGs. The amount of spike-maps was unrelated to clinical variables, like epilepsy severity, drug load or vigilance state. Voltage maps of spike activity are present very frequently in the scalp EEG of patients, even in presumably normal EEG. We conclude that spike-maps are a robust and potentially powerful marker to monitor subtle epileptogenic activity.

scholarly journals Short- and long-term effects of developmental corticosterone exposure on avian physiology, behavioral phenotype, cognition, and fitness: A review

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 514-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan J. Schoech ◽  
Michelle A. Rensel ◽  
Rebecca S. Heiss
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Coping Styles ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Altered Expression ◽  
Nervous System Function ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Developmental Conditions ◽  
Best Fit

Abstract A growing body of evidence from across taxa suggests that exposure to elevated levels of glucocorticoids during early development can have long-term effects upon physiological and behavioral phenotypes. Additionally, there is some, though limited, evidence that similar early exposure can also negatively impact cognitive ability. Following pioneering mammalian studies, several avian studies have revealed that the responsiveness of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis as an adult can be explained by levels of corticosterone, the avian glucocorticoid, the individual experienced as a nestling or even as an embryo via yolk exposure. Studies also suggest that perinatal exposure to corticosterone can have effects upon avian ‘personalities’ or coping styles, and findings from mammalian studies suggest that these long-term effects are mediated epigenetically via altered expression of relevant DNA sequences. Although a consistent pattern across-species has yet to emerge, recent work in Florida scrub-jays Aphelocoma coerulescens found that baseline corticosterone levels in 11-day-old nestlings explained 84% of the variation in ‘personality’ (bold vs. timid) when those individuals were tested approximately seven months later. Nestlings with elevated corticosterone levels were more timid than those individuals that as nestlings experienced relatively low corticosterone levels. Some researchers have suggested that parents might use such mechanisms to ‘program’ their offsprings’ phenotype to best fit prevailing environmental conditions. This review will visit what is known about the links between stressful developmental conditions that result in exposure to elevated corticosterone and the short- and long-term effects of this steroid hormone upon central nervous system function and whether alterations thereof are beneficial, deleterious, or neutral. It will concentrate on examples from birds, although critical supporting studies from the mammalian literature will be included as appropriate.

Optimizing energy efficiency in distributed mHealth networks

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Skowron ◽  
Michael Aleithe ◽  
Bogdan Franczyk
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
Sampling Rate ◽  
Optimization Methods ◽  
Distributed Sensors ◽  
Mobile Health Applications ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Term Monitoring ◽  
Health Applications

Energy efficiency in mobile health applications is a relevant problem for long-term monitoring and user acceptance. Various parameters influence the runtime of the system to some degree. One of the parameters is the sampling rate of the individual distributed sensors. Increasing the sampling rate can lead to an increase in energy consumption within the system. By contrast, a reduction can lead to a loss of the data quality, which reduces the informative value of the results of algorithms that use this data. Using optimization methods from reinforcement learning and deep learning to adaptive adjust the sampling rates during runtime, energy efficiency could be improved in only 40 training runs without losing data quality during sampling.

scholarly journals A modular hierarchical array camera

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyun Yuan ◽  
Mengqi Ji ◽  
Jiamin Wu ◽  
David J. Brady ◽  
Qionghai Dai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
Camera System ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Term Monitoring ◽  
Array Camera

AbstractArray cameras removed the optical limitations of a single camera and paved the way for high-performance imaging via the combination of micro-cameras and computation to fuse multiple aperture images. However, existing solutions use dense arrays of cameras that require laborious calibration and lack flexibility and practicality. Inspired by the cognition function principle of the human brain, we develop an unstructured array camera system that adopts a hierarchical modular design with multiscale hybrid cameras composing different modules. Intelligent computations are designed to collaboratively operate along both intra- and intermodule pathways. This system can adaptively allocate imagery resources to dramatically reduce the hardware cost and possesses unprecedented flexibility, robustness, and versatility. Large scenes of real-world data were acquired to perform human-centric studies for the assessment of human behaviours at the individual level and crowd behaviours at the population level requiring high-resolution long-term monitoring of dynamic wide-area scenes.

Behavior of Organophosphoric Acid Triesters in Japanese Riverine and Coastal Environment

1992 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 278-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Fukushima ◽  
S. Kawai ◽  
Y. Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Coastal Waters ◽  
Lake Biwa ◽  
Apparent Difference ◽  
Osaka Bay ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Long Term Monitoring ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Term Monitoring

The long-term monitoring of organophosphoric acid triesters started in 1976 in the Yodo River basin; Lake Biwa, Yodo River and the rivers in Osaka City. An extensive survey was also conducted in the Yamato River and Osaka Bay, Japan. This report presents the current levels and distributions of OPEs as well as the historical trend of TDCPP. Some or all of OPEs studied here have been detected in the entire water samples over the monitoring period. It was clear that OPEs were ubiquitous pollutants in the river and coastal waters. Total OPE levels ranged from 0.4 to 2.4 µgl−1 in the Yodo River basin, 2.4 to 12 µgl−1 in the rivers in Osaka City, 18 to 28 µgl−1 in the Yamato River basin and 0.1 to 1.3 µgl−1 in Osaka Bay. An apparent difference was found in the individual OPE level among the different water areas surveyed. In the Lake Biwa and the Yodo River, the predominant compound was TBXP followed by TCEP and TDCPP. The higher levels were observed for TBXP, TEP, TCPP and TCEP in the rivers in Osaka City. The highest TCPP level, which occupied more than 70% of OPEs' composition, was observed and the mean level reached to 13.1µgl−1 in the Yamato River. In Osaka Bay, 6 kinds of OPEs, except for TPP, TEHP and TCP, were found and the most prevalent compounds were TCEP and TBP. TDCPP had gradually increased in concentration in the Yodo River basin until 1987 from 1976 year by year. However, the reverse trend of TDCPP has been noticed during the last several years.

Assessment of Long-Term Pavement Performance Program Manual Distress Data Variability: Bias and Precision

1997 ◽  
Vol 1592 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonzalo R. Rada ◽  
Rajesh K. Bhandari ◽  
Gary E. Elkins ◽  
William Y. Bellinger
Keyword(s):  
Prediction Models ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Condition Index ◽  
Pavement Performance ◽  
Severity Level ◽  
Data Variability ◽  
Rater Variability ◽  
The Individual

The use of manual survey methods within the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program for the collection of distress data has drastically increased both in intensity and in coverage over the past couple of years. Because these surveys are conducted by individual raters whose biases can lead to variability between raters, it was hypothesized that distress data variability existed and that it could potentially be quite large. Thus, the purpose of the presented study was to quantify manual distress data variability, with special emphasis on the bias and precision of the data. Results from seven LTPP program distress rater accreditation workshops conducted during the period from 1992 to 1995 were used as the only source of data. On the basis of analyses of these data, both the apparent bias and the precision for the common distress type-severity level combinations were quantified. It was also concluded from this study that individual rater variability for any given distress type-severity level combination is typically large and increases as the distress quantity increases; however, when all distress type-severity level combinations are viewed in terms of a single composite number such as the pavement condition index value, there is excellent agreement between the individual raters, the group mean, and the ground truth value, and individual rater variability is also quite small. Because LTPP program distress data are to be used in the development of pavement performance prediction models, improvements in variability are highly desirable to ensure that they serve their intended purpose. Recognizing that the LTPP program distress raters are experienced individuals, such improvements are not envisioned to come through additional training. It is the authors’ contention that the only way of achieving the desired improvement is through the conduct of group consensus surveys.

scholarly journals Long-term monitoring of the dredged material deposit sites in the Eastern Gulf of Finland

2020 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 01010
Author(s):  
Alexander Chusov ◽  
Mikhail Shilin ◽  
George Gogoberidze ◽  
Nikolai Bobylev ◽  
Alexandra Ershova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Zero Point ◽  
Condition Index ◽  
Gulf Of Finland ◽  
Dredged Material ◽  
Monitoring Methods ◽  
Biological Communities ◽  
Environmental Status ◽  
Term Monitoring ◽  
Neva Bay

The goal of the paper is summarizing the results of the 20-years monitoring of the deposit sites of the dredged material in the Eastern Gulf of Finland (EGoF) and in the Neva Bay. The biotic and abiotic components of deposit sites ecosystems were observed there in 1999-2019, with using standard monitoring methods, in order to reveal effects of dumping on hydrobiologic communities and to determine their environmental status. The Biota Condition Index for 6 deposit sites was calculated and compared to areas which are not stressed by dumping. It is shown that the biological communities (especially – benthic) in the deposit sites areas are enormous not-sustainable and start their succession from the zero point every time after repeating stressing effect of dumping.

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