Effects of food availability cycles on phase and period of activity/rest rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster

Foraging and feeding are indispensable for survival and their timing depends not only on the metabolic state of the animal but also on the availability of food resources in their environment. Since both these aspects are subject to change over time, these behaviours exhibit rhythmicity in occurrence. As the locomotor activity of an organism is related to its disposition to acquire food, and peak feeding in fruit flies has been shown to occur at a particular time of the day, we asked if cyclic food availability can entrain their rhythmic activity. By subjecting flies to cyclic food availability i.e., feeding/starvation (FS) cycles, we provided food cues contrasting to the preferred activity times and observed if this imposed cycling in food availability could entrain the activity/rest rhythm. We found that phase control, which is a property integral to entrainment, was not achieved despite increasing starvation duration of FS cycles (FS12:12, FS10:14 and FS8:16). We also found that flies subjected to T21 and T26 FS cycles were unable to match period of the activity rhythm to short or long T-cycles. Taken together these results show that external food availability cycles do not entrain the activity/rest rhythm of fruit flies. However, we find that starvation induced hyperactivity causes masking which results in phase changes. Additionally, T-cycle experiments resulted in minor period changes during FS treatment. These findings highlight that food cyclicity by itself may not be a potent zeitgeber but may act in unison with other abiotic factors like light and temperature to help flies time their activity appropriately.

Relationship between physical activity times and intramuscular adipose tissue contents of the thigh muscle groups in younger and older men

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of daily physical activities evaluated by steps and time on muscle tissue size and intramuscular adipose tissue (IntraMAT) content in the thigh muscle groups for younger and older men. Twenty younger (23.8 ± 3.7 years) and 20 older (70.7 ± 5.6 years) men participated in this study. We measured the muscle tissue cross-sectional area (CSA) and the IntraMAT content in the quadriceps femoris (QF), hamstrings (HM), hip adductors (AD), and total of mid-thigh by magnetic resonance imaging. We measured physical activity time using a triaxial accelerometer and determined four levels of physical activity depending on the metabolic equivalent (METs), e.g., sedentary (≤ 1.5 METs), light-intensity (≤ 2.9 METs), moderate-intensity (3.0 to 5.9 METs) and vigorous-intensity (≥ 6.0 METs). The muscle tissue CSA of AD was a significantly correlated with the time of vigorous-intensity activity in the older group (rs = 0.446, P < 0.05), but not in the younger group. The IntraMAT content of the three muscle groups (QF, AD, and HM) and the total thigh were significantly correlated with the time of moderate-intensity activity (rs = − 0.625 to − 0.489, P < 0.05, for all comparisons) in the younger group, but not in the older group. Our results suggest that the relationship of muscle tissue size and IntraMAT content with physical activity times is affected by age.

Using Reminder Tools to Increase Learning Motivation: A Comparison of Mobile Devices, Email and E-learning Platforms

Most students are not actively concerned about curriculum activity times. However, without reminders, students will miss out on learning opportunities from the course activities. Therefore, due to the use of smartphones — which are central to people's everyday lives —, this study combined apps and the curriculum to develop a course activity notification system — Mobile Secretary of Operating Systems (MSOS) —­, as a curriculum reminder tool. This tool reminds the student of the curriculum activity times anytime and anywhere, like a secretary. This study also investigates students’ preferences between three distinct reminder tools — the reminder app, e-mail notifications and online learning platform announcements — in terms of their effectiveness in accessing curriculum-related matters, and in previewing and reviewing courses. Additionally, the study examines the efficacy of the MSOS app by comparing the questionnaire results of the students who used the app and those who did not use it. From the results of the questionnaire, it is also ascertained whether those students who used MSOS consider the app to be more convenient and immediate than e-mail notifications and the online learning platform, both in giving access to curriculum-related matters and in previewing and reviewing courses.

The chiggerflea Hectopsylla pulex (Siphonaptera: Tungidae): infestation on Molossus molossus (Chiroptera: Molossidae) in the Central Andes of Colombia

Some species of mastiff bats, Molossus Geoffroy, 1805, inhabit human shelters such as houses and barns. Among them, the Pallas’s mastiff bat, Molossus molossus Pallas, 1766, is the most common species in South America. There are a few studies on this bat in Colombia, mostly on colony size, diet, ectoparasite records, and activity patterns in the Andean and Caribbean regions. Here, we provide information on the prevalence of chiggerfleas, Hectopsylla pulex (Haller, 1880), on M. molossus, along with molecular data on the flea, and its distribution in Colombia. In addition, we describe the size and sex ratio of the infested bat colony, located in the central Andes of Colombia. The bat colony was represented by ca. 45 individuals, of which 33 were captured. The colony had more females (25 individuals) than males (8 individuals). A total of four Pallas’s mastiff bats had chiggerfleas, H. pulex, most of which were attached to the bat’s faces and ears. The composition of the colony (sex ratio) and the observed activity times match those reported for other colonies of the species in Colombia. The cytochrome oxidase subunit 1, and the 12S rRNA mitochondrial gene obtained from H. pulex represent the second and first available sequences for the species, respectively. The level of infestation of individuals in the colony was low, similar to that observed in other South American countries, such as Brazil. Finally, the new locality is the seventh confirmed and the highest elevational record of H. pulex in Colombia.

Sistem Informasi Kegiatan Penunjang Akademik Mahasiswa Berbasis Desktop

As science and technology have grown, the role and use of information technology has become important. In creation of the book activities on the campus of the Jakarta high school administration of information and computers that have been carried out each year, there are some problems with the data of the activities being carried out and the list of students who have followed the activities that have been carried out, so the certificates and schedule of the activities are ineffective and efficient. In constructing student information-support information system at the Jakarta high school for information management and computers muhammadiyah using Visual Basic (vb.net) as the language oh this program and mysql as database. The system development uses the waterfall model with the step-by-step analysis, design system, coding and testing, implementation and maintenance. The study produced a student’a educational information system that could facilitate the activity data input processstudents can be done quickly, accurately and efficiently. The built system may show student’s overall data, which consists of a list of activities, activity activity times, and activities that have been followed.

Operational Transparency: Showing When Work Gets Done

Problem definition: Do the benefits of operational transparency depend on when the work is done? Academic/practical relevance: This work connects the operations management literature on operational transparency with the psychology literature on the peak-end effect. Methodology: This study examines how customers respond to operational transparency with parcel delivery data from the Cainiao Network, the logistics arm of Alibaba. The sample comprises 4.68 million deliveries. Each delivery has between 4 and 10 track-package activities, which customers can check in real time, and a delivery service score, which customers leave after receiving the package. Instrumental-variable regressions quantify the causal effect of track-package-activity times on delivery scores. Results: The regressions suggest that customers punish early idleness less than late idleness, leaving higher delivery service scores when track-package activities cluster toward the end of the shipping horizon. For example, if a shipment takes 100 hours, then delaying the time of the average action from hour 20 to hour 80 increases the expected delivery score by approximately the same amount as expediting the arrival time from hour 100 to hour 73. Managerial implications: Memory limitations make customers especially sensitive to how service operations end.

Case Article–Stickley Adhesives

A two-part case study is presented that integrates several operations management topics while addressing service applications. The case describes a globally dispersed service system provided to new and existing customers of an adhesives manufacturer. The firm wishes to centralize the service that is offered to customers in six regions. Part A of the case study asks students to determine capacity requirements using a simulation that mimics the centralized system, in particular with consideration of the variation in both demand and service activity times. Part B of the case study, positioned one year later, describes problems associated with the new system and asks students to apply Lean methods to improve the service. The case study was inspired by an actual service system at an adhesives company, but details have been fictionalized to create a better educational experience for students.

Evaluating the project completion time when activity networks follow beta distribution

By using a recursive method, we determine the project completion time when the activity times are distributed according to a beta distribution. The [Formula: see text]th moment of the maximum of non-identical independent random variables following this distribution-type is evaluated. Applicability and appropriateness of the beta model are illustrated by some examples, which show that the suggested estimate program evaluted and review technique of the project completion time is located between the lower bound estimate (PERT) and the upper estimate that was obtained by Kambarowski An upper bound on the expected completion time of PERT networks, Eur. J. Oper. Res. 21(2) (1985b) 206–212. Moreover, this estimate gives less values of the approximation errors than most of the other known estimates.

Multi-Site and Multi-Year Remote Records of Operative Temperatures with Biomimetic Loggers Reveal Spatio-Temporal Variability in Mountain Lizard Activity and Persistence Proxy Estimates

Commonly, when studies deal with the effects of climate change on biodiversity, mean value is used more than other parameters. However, climate change also leads to greater temperature variability, and many papers have demonstrated its importance in the implementation of biodiversity response strategies. We studied the spatio-temporal variability of activity time and persistence index, calculated from operative temperatures measured at three sites over three years, for a mountain endemic species. Temperatures were recorded with biomimetic loggers, an original remote sensing technology, which has the same advantages as these tools but is suitable for recording biological organisms data. Among the 42 tests conducted, 71% were significant for spatial variability and 28% for temporal variability. The differences in daily activity times and in persistence indices demonstrated the effects of the micro-habitat, habitat, slope, altitude, hydrography, and year. These observations have highlighted the great variability existence in the environmental temperatures experienced by lizard populations. Thus, our study underlines the importance to implement multi-year and multi-site studies to quantify the variability and produce more representative results. These studies can be facilitated by the use of biomimetic loggers, for which a user guide is provided in the last part of this paper.