Background: Cow’s milk allergy can result in anaphylactic reactions. The estimated prevalence of cow’s milk allergy in developed countries ranges from 0.5% to 3% at age 1 year. Objective: Our objective was to perform a systematic review and, if possible, a meta-analysis to assess the frequency of fatal and recurrent anaphylaxis induced by cow’s milk. Methods: We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Web of Science for studies that had assessed fatal and recurrent anaphylaxis induced by cow’s milk for the population of a country or at least an administrative region. Our review included cohort, cross-sectional, and registry studies that had assessed the incidence or prevalence of recurrent anaphylaxis or the incidence of fatal anaphylaxis due to cow’s milk. Results: The pooled prevalence of recurrence (PR) for at least an episode of anaphylaxis was 26.98% (3.41-155.19). Teymourpour et al (Iran) reported the highest PR (53.10%); the 2 studies with the lowest PR were from France (5.16 and 0.42 respectively) (p<0.01). Nine studies on fatal anaphylaxis were selected (41 deaths) and found to be highly heterogeneous (I 2=75.91%). Levy et al and Bassagio et al reported the highest incidence rate (IR 0.15 and 0.6 deaths per million persons-year). Conclusion: The PR of anaphylaxis was approximately one quarter of patients with anaphylaxis due to cow’s milk, while deaths from anaphylaxis caused by cow’s milk were very rare, although some studies report rates as high as 15 times the lowest IR.

It is well known that conservative mechanical systems exhibit local oscillatory behaviours due to their elastic and gravitational potentials, which completely characterise these periodic motions together with the inertial properties of the system. The classification of these periodic behaviours and their geometric characterisation are in an on-going secular debate, which recently led to the so-called eigenmanifold theory. The eigenmanifold characterises nonlinear oscillations as a generalisation of linear eigenspaces. With the motivation of performing periodic tasks efficiently, we use tools coming from this theory to construct an optimization problem aimed at inducing desired closed-loop oscillations through a state feedback law. We solve the constructed optimization problem via gradient-descent methods involving neural networks. Extensive simulations show the validity of the approach.

In this paper, a dual closed-loop active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) scheme based on the swarm intelligent technique is investigated for quadrotors to address several challenging control problems. First, a composite control system is designed to guarantee a satisfied quadrotor flight. Then, an improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm with constriction factors, simulated annealing (SA) and adaptive jump strategy is developed to enhance its capacity of escaping from the local optimal trap and thoroughly exploring the search space. Simultaneously, the IPSO algorithm is employed to obtain the optimal parameters of ADRC controller. Comparative simulation and platform experiments show that the proposed IPSO-based ADRC controller can satisfy the control requirements of the inner-outer loop well.

Heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a global increase in urban greenspace appreciation. Indoor plants are equally important for improving mental health and air quality but despite evolving in humid (sub)tropical environments with aerial root types, planting systems ignore aerial resource supply. This study directly compared nutrient uptake preferences of aerial and soil-formed roots of three common houseplant species under high and ambient relative humidities. Growth and physiology parameters were measured weekly for Anthurium andreanum, Epipremnum aureum and Philodendron scandens grown in custom made growth chambers. Both aerial and soil-formed roots were then fed mixtures of nitrate, ammonium and glycine, with one source labelled with 15N to determine uptake rates and maximum capacities. Aerial roots were consistently better at nitrogen uptake than soil roots but no species, root type or humidity condition showed a preference for a particular nitrogen source. All three species grew more in high humidity, with aerial roots demonstrating the greatest biomass increase. Higher humidities for indoor niches, together with fertiliser applications to aerial roots will support indoor plant growth, creating lush calming indoor environments for people inhabitants.

Chronic depression is a complex disorder with huge societal repercussions. Although currently used antidepressant drugs are generally effective, most of these drugs display serious adverse effects. Moreover, the incompletely elucidated pathological mechanisms of depression constitutes a bottleneck in development of antidepressants. Among them, the field targeting neuroinflammation, which is associated with depression, remains unexplored. Here, we evaluated neuroprotective and antidepressant properties of a phenolic phytochemical, hydroxytyrosol (HT). We observed that HT treatment alleviated depressive-like behaviors in rodent models of learned helplessness (LH), chronic restraint stress (CRS) and chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). HT improved hippocampal neuronal injury with modulation of microglia activation, inflammatory cytokines production, mitochondrial damage and BDNF signaling pathway, as well as the cellular level. In addition, targeted metabolomics results showed that HT compensated for the neurotransmitters deficiency and inhibited the tryptophan-kynurenine metabolism in the brain of CUMS rats. RNA-Seq studies confirmed that the antidepressant effect of HT was modulated by BDNF signaling pathways closely associated with the functions of nerve fibers, myelin formation, microglia differentiation, and nerve regeneration. There is potential for developing neuroprotective agents based on HT to treat depression disorders caused by inflammation-related neuronal injury.

Recently, there is a rapid use of digital imaging information in healthcare enterprises. Hence, it becomes laborious to manage and query in such large databases which need effi- cient medical image retrieval systems. Also, the multi-modal and multi-dimensional aspects of medical images make this a much more demanding task. The imaging data such as the CT, and MRI from the scanners is in the form of 3D images which consist of several slices stacked upon each other. While medical images such as the X- rays are in the 2D format. This imbalance in the medical image databases leads to de- velop an integrated 2D and 3D medical image retrieval sys- tem using Deep Learning architectures. In this context, an integrated framework with hybrid architectures consisting of convolutional neural networks and autoencoder is proposed. A heterogeneous database comprises of 2D and 3D images produced from different sources of modalities to train the proposed networks is used. The learned features are used to retrieve the medical images. Five unsupervised CNN mod- els namely LeNetCoder, VGGCoder, Noisy VGGCoder, LSTM VGGCoder, and ResCoder were trained and tested for both the 2D and 3D images. Finally, the performances of all the models are compared with the metrics like Precision, Recall, and F-Score. Among them, ResCoder has the highest mean average precision (MAP) of 0.96 for 2D and 0.92 for 3D im- ages in this framework.

Background Bipolar disorder’s potential endophenotypes include neurological soft signs (NSS) and neurocognitive disorders (ND). Few research, meanwhile, has coupled NSS and ND as combined endophenotypes of bipolar disorder. object This study intends to investigate NSS and ND and compare their differences in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (EBP), their unaffected first-degree relatives (FDR), and healthy controls (HC). Additionally, search for potential endophenotypic subprojects of NSS and ND and construct and verify a composite endophenotypic. Methods The subjects were all Han Chinese and consisted of 86 EBP, 81 FDR, and 81HC. Cambridge Neurological Inventory and MATRICSTM Consensus Cognitive Battery tested NSS and ND independently. Results All three groups displayed a trapezoidal distribution of NSS levels and cognitive abnormalities, with EBP having the most severe NSS levels and cognitive deficits, followed by FDR and HC. Among them, motor coordination in NSS and Information processing speed (IPS), Verbal learning (VL), and Working memory (WM) in neurocognitive function are consistent with the traits of the endophenotype of bipolar disorder. The accuracy in differentiating EBP and HC or FDRs and HC was higher when these items were combined as predictor factors than in differentiating EBP and FDR. Conclusion These results provide more evidence that motor coordination, IPS, VL, and WM may be internal characteristics of bipolar disease. When these characteristics are combined into a complex endophenotype, it may be possible to distinguish bipolar disorder patients and high-risk groups from normal populations.

Background: Previous research on the electricity supply in Syria identified a gap between production and users’ needs due to infrastructure damage. The aim of this paper was to investigate the social and psychological impact of electricity shortages on people’s lives in north and northwest Syria. Methods: Head of households (N = 412, M age = 40, SD = 9.4) completed the short version of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and answered questions on the available hours of electricity, and displacement. They were also requested to complete, on behalf of their children (N = 716, M age = 10, SD= 2.6), the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results: The results indicated significant correlations between hours of available electricity and well-being, and displacement with well-being. In addition, children’s hyperactivity problems and prosocial behaviour were also associated with the amount of available electricity. Conclusion: Although this pilot study provides an understanding of the impact of electricity shortage on psychosocial well-being, further research should include more targeted studies in each of the areas identified.

This paper aims to answer to what extent do heuristics impact political behavior, using Egypt’s Morsi as a case study, in the context of the democratic 2012 Egyptian presidential elections, this thesis was selected as it proves how cognitive shortcuts determine many of the political decisions and behaviors an individual makes without an actual pertinent thought process as opposed to a more typical optimal thought process, as for the context, it was chosen, as the multitude of pledges, ideological affiliation and personal character of Morsi makes the impact of heuristics visible and helps put this impact in picture, this research is significant in that, it explores the underlying cognitive inner workings of the individual and to what extent that impacts political behavior, as established: according to Stlowijk and Vis (2021) “heuristics are cognitive shortcuts that facilitate judgments and decision making”, current literature has not explored presidential figures in depth, especially as case studies, which will be a power of this research, such that it makes an applicable model out of this specificity, with its strength lying in its capacity for historical analysis, Finally, there will be a focus on representativeness, deservingness and partisanship heuristic .

Optimal regeneration of skin lesions needs to ensure protection against opportunistic infections that may hinder the healing process or increase the risk of infection. The use of antibiotics to avoid infection can, in some cases, interfere with tissue regeneration, and often fails due to resistant bacterial strains. Thus, there is a need to expand the arsenal of safe and effective treatment options available. Here, we document the prevention of infections and tissue repair in skin lesions using treatments based on a chlorine dioxide solution. We document four case reports, that include an abdominal burn by a chemical agent, a palpebral burn by extreme heat, limb ulceration due to vascular insufficiency, and a melanoma of the scalp. All lesions were treated topically with a chlorine dioxide solution, and systemically when necessary, according to previously proposed protocols. All four patients showed complete dermal regeneration, with aesthetic results, no side effects or any evidence of adverse effects or interactions with the concomitant treatments used. The results constitute evidence that a topical or systemic solution of chlorine dioxide is safe as an antiseptic treatment in the adequate and swift resolution of skin lesions.

Locally recurrent papillary carcinoma of thyroid is a treatable disease. For endotracheal invasion, tracheal resection and anastomosis is a viable option in certain cases which gives significant result. Case presentation: A 46 year female patient with a history of total thyroidectomy + bilateral neck dissection for carcinoma thyroid two years back presented with recurrent thyroid mass in neck with endotracheal invasion. This was successfully treated with segmental tracheal resection with end to end anastomosis after 4 cm defect. Post – operative course was uneventful. Conclusion: Endotracheal invasion of recurrent carcinoma thyroid is not a contraindication for surgery. Full circumferential resection and end to end anstomosis is preferred to shaving trachea. It can be safely anastomosed upto 5 cm defect length. Apart from giving immediate relief of intratracheal bleeding and obstructive airways, it gives long term disease free survival.

Objectives: We aimed to examine the prognostic value of inflammatory markers such as neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and anemia on oncological outcomes in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinomas (LSCC) treated with radiotherapy. Design and setting: Inflammatory markers were established by examining blood samples taken within 7 days before treatment. According to threshold values, the patients were categorized into 2 groups as low and high. In addition, 3 groups were formed with each inflammatory marker and hemoglobin (Hb) level. The relationship between inflammatory markers and overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and local regional recurrence-free survival (LRRFS) was investigated. Participants: 213 LSCC patients analyzed retrospectively. Results: The cut-off values of NLR, PLR and SII to predict survival were 2.34, 122 and 564, respectively. In univariate analysis, high NLR, PLR, SII and low Hb (<13 g/dL) level were associated with worse survival (all p<0.022), except for PLR and Hb for LRRFS. OS and DFS were significantly better in patients in each group A with low inflammatory index and high Hb (all p<0.013). In the multivariate analysis, high NLR and group CNLR (high NLR with low Hb) were statistically significant predictors of decreased OS (HR 1.85, 95% CI 1.05-3.28, p=0.033; HR 2.61, 95% CI 1.14-5.97, p=0.022) and DFS (HR 1.81, 95% CI 1.11-2.96, p=0.017; HR 3.32, 95% CI 1.20-9.16, p=0.028). Conclusions: NLR may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker in LSCC, and its predictive ability is further enhanced when NLR is combined with Hb level.

Ageing is the main risk factor common to most primary neurodegenerative disorders. Indeed, age-related brain alterations have been long considered to predispose to neurodegeneration. Although protein misfolding and the accumulation of toxic protein aggregates have been contemplated as causative events in neurodegeneration, several biological pathways affected by brain ageing are also contributing to pathogenesis. Here, we discuss the evidence showing the involvement of the mechanisms controlling neuronal structure, gene expression, autophagy, cell metabolism, and neuroinflammation in the onset and progression of neurodegenerative disorders. Furthermore, we review the therapeutic strategies currently under development or as future approaches designed to normalize these pathways, which may then boost brain resilience to cope with toxic protein species. Therefore, in addition to therapies targeting the insoluble protein aggregates specifically associated with each neurodegenerative disorder, these novel pharmacological approaches may be part of combined therapies designed to rescue brain function.

Salinization is an emerging problem for freshwater biodiversity. Road salt treatment results in salinization of local freshwater, influencing its entire ecosystem throughout the year. The present study examines the impact of road salt on the hatching success of two zooplankton species, Daphnia magna and Thamnocephalus platyurus, using pure laboratory lines from MicroBioTest. Hatching success was determined without incubation (T0) and after 3, 7 and 28 day of incubation at 5°C (T3, T7 and T28, respectively). The number of hatchings decreased with increasing NaCl concentration for T. platyurus, and decreased rapidly after a crucial value of 7 600 mg NaCl/L for D. manga. At the second hatching (eggs washed after first incubation and put into standard freshwater), D. manga demonstrated a low hatching rate regardless of NaCl concentration, while most T. platyurus hatchings were observed at the highest NaCl concentration; hence, the highest (15 200 mg/L) and lowest (1 900 mg/L) NaCl concentrations resulted in similar total hatching for the two species. The incubation time (T0, T3, T7 and T28) in NaCl at 5°C had no significant impact on hatching success; however, T28 resulted in significantly lower hatching success at all NaCl concentrations and controls. No significant differences in hatching success were noted if the eggs were first washed after incubation in NaCl and then put into the standard freshwater for hatching.

Recommender Systems(RSs) are widely used for providing suggestions to users on digital platforms. Recently, there has been a significant amount of interest in the class of session-based recommender systems (SBRSs) in the RS research community. In session-based recommendation scenarios, the task is to provide suggestions to the users subject to the interactions or data available in an ongoing session. In contrast to the traditional recommendation approaches (e.g. collaborative or content-based), which model long-term preferences , the SBRSs attempt to model the short-term preferences of users. Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) are great tools for modelling sequential data; therefore become good choices for SBRSs. This work performs a comparative analysis of the most prominent RNN-based approaches for SBRSs. Firstly, the RNN-based approaches are classified based on the characteristics of session data (such as session length, ordering of session data, etc.) that are exploited in the recommendation process. Secondly, a concise theoretical investigation of these approaches featuring their pros and cons is provided. Further, for each of these approaches, a simplified model architecture illustrating the overall functioning of the approach is also depicted. Finally, we observe that it is difficult to comprehend the state-of-the-art for RNN-based SBRS approaches.

Many challenges are still faced in bridging the gap between Mathematical modeling and biological sciences. Measuring population immunity to assess the epidemiology of health and disease is a challenging task and is currently an active area of research. However, to meet these challenges, mathematical modeling is an effective technique in shaping the population dynamics that can help disease control. In this paper, we introduce a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered (SIR) model and a Susceptible-Infected-Recovered-Exposed-Deceased (SEIRD) model based on conformable space-time PDEs for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. As efficient analytical tools, we present new modifications based on the fractional exponential rational function method (ERFM) and an analytical technique based on the Adomian decomposition method for obtaining the solutions for the proposed models. These analytical approaches are more efficious for obtaining analytical solutions for nonlinear systems of partial differential equations (PDEs) with conformable derivatives. The interesting result of this paper is that it yields new exact and approximate solutions to the proposed COVID-19 pandemic models with conformable space-time partial derivatives

Enterprise Resource Planning systems are the backbone for many firms today. To aggregate business data from diverse department into one single database and let staff make common reports improves business procedures. Intercompany (IC) finance is a common practice for any scale of businesses with multiple operations locally or globally. Many ERP systems running on-premises or cloud capabilities has played a key role improving the IC accounting but in today’s world, IC is not so easy to manage tasks as it used to be a decade before. Many enterprises are running into a serious complication that has real financial impact because of poor IC accountings and practices are in place. There are multiple reasons for the problems such as increasing competition, global consolidation, integrated supply chain, clashing policies, and SEC or country specific legislations and many more. Building right ERP technology play a unique role as a support function in most organization, not only the processes it improves for internal management but also the business it supports. Industrial revolution shift to a manufacturing economy led to improve production efficiency requires huge amount of IT investment that smoothen the entire business operations. The use of cloud computing is expanding and increasingly entering enterprises and corporations. More businesses will start to trust cloud services as they become more refined and well-tested. For sensitive corporate data and information to be stored in cloud services, this is essential. A corporation can pay for the services they require and do away with the need to maintain IT infrastructure with cloud-based enterprise resource planning. This study aims to systematically reviews the Oracle fusion Cloud ERP systems for increasing the efficiency of organization’s performance. When the traditional ERP system is compared with Oracle fusion cloud ERP system for the intercompany transactions, the performance efficiency is increased, and it helps in reducing the cost expenses instead of purchasing the entire infrastructure.

This research had been conducted for calculation of water balance components by Thornthwaite Mather method and simulation model WATBAL model had been used to calculate different water balance components like soil moisture, actual evapotranspiration, surplus, deficit, moisture adequacy index and soil moisture index by using average weekly precipitation and potential evapotranspiration from 1981-2020 for Tarai region of Uttarakhand. In this study, different weather-based indices like, Humidity Index, Aridity Index and Moisture Index also been calculated on the seasonal and annual basis. Based on which climatic classification had been done for Tarai region of Uttarakhand as well as it is of International significance as based on this study water stress condition for the crops and advisories could be done to the farmers for the Tarai region of the world. From, this study it has been concluded that humid climate exists in this region. The results also revealed that there is an increase in the water surplus during 1981-2020 when compared with IMD data for Pantnagar during 1971-2005. Water Surplus was found to be 670.0 mm and water deficit was found to be 440.2 mm. Total potential evapotranspiration was found to be 1339.4 mm, which was calculated by Penman Monteith’s equation during 1981-2020 and was found to be decreased when compared with the PET calculated by IMD for the year 1971-2005 of about 1463.9 mm. When compared with the IMD data over the periods from 1971-2005 with current data from 1981-2020 for Pantnagar region then humidity index had been decreased from 149.0% to 144.7% respectively. Aridity index had been decreased from 73.0% to 50.2%, as water deficit had been decreased from 566.7 mm to 440.2 mm. Moisture index had been increased from 76% to 94.5% as water surplus was increased from 447.7 mm to 670.0 mm respectively on annual basis. Keywords: WATBAL, PET, Thornthwaite Mather, Penman Monteith, Water surplus

This prospective cross-sectional study, aimed to evaluate lymphocyte DNA damage in Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients. In this study, 50 COVID-19 positive patients attending Erzurum City Hospital Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic and 42 control group patients were included. DNA damages were detected in living cells by lymphocyte isolation in 50 COVID-19- positive patients using the comet assay method. DNA tail/head (olive) moments were evaluated and compared. White blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), neutrophil (NEU), lymphocyte (LYM), eosinophil (EO), monocyte (MONO), basophil (BASO), platelet (PLT), neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR). The RBC, lymphocyte, eosinophil, and monocyte means were significantly higher in the control group (p < 0.05). Whereas HGB and neutrophile means were significantly higher in the study group (p < 0.05). There were significant negative correlations between COVID-19 and RBC (r = -0.863), LYM (r = -0.542), EO (r = -0.686), and MONO (r = -0.385). Meanwhile, there were significant positive correlations between COVID-19 and HGB (r = 0.863), NEU (r = 0.307), tail moment (r = 0.598), and olive moment (r = 0.582). Both the tail and olive moment mean differences were significantly higher in the study group with higher ranges (p < 0.05). COVID-19 infection statistically significant is increasing both the tail and olive damage percentage in patients, causing DNA damage. Lastly, the NLR rate was associated with the presence and progression of COVID-19.

Abstract : To address global warming, the carbon sequestration capacity by net primary productivity (NPP) in vegetation on the Loess Plateau (LP) is particularly important as it allows us to adjust the vegetation restoration strategies in response to global changes. However, the spatial correlation of NPP and its impact on vegetation restoration remains unclear. MOD17A3 remote sensing products analyzed the temporal and spatial changes in NPP on the LP over the last two decades (2000–2020). The resulting spatial autocorrelation indices identified cold and hot spots in the spatial clustering patterns. Finally, the effects of climate change and human activities on the anomalous clustering of NPP were assessed using correlation analysis and multi-temporal land use land cover (LULC) data. The results indicate (ⅰ) From 2000 to 2020, the NPP of the LP increased significantly by 6.88   gC m - 2 yr - 1 , and the proportion of revegetated land area > 400   gC m - 2 yr - 1 increased from 4 % (2000) to 37 % (2020). (ⅱ) The vegetation NPP on the LP had a strong positive global spatial autocorrelation (p < 0.01). The hot and cold regions had obvious polarization, in which the cold spots were clustered in the northwest, and the hot spots were distributed in the south and east. The spatial clustering patterns were dominated by high-high (HH) and low-low (LL) clusters. Abnormal patterns mainly existed in the transition areas between HH and LL clusters and insignificant regions, which were jointly affected by human activities and climate change. (ⅲ) Precipitation was the dominant climatic factor (86.31 %) affecting the variation of NPP on the LP, with the annual minimum precipitation showing a synergistic relationship with the interannual variability in NPP and the maximum precipitations greatly influenced the variation in local spatial anomaly patterns. Therefore, climatic extremes affect vegetation. Our research improves our understanding of the driving mechanisms involved in the regional carbon cycle and provides a reference for green ecological management and high-quality development in the LP. Keywords: Net primary productivity, Spatial autocorrelation, Climate change, Human activities, Land use land cover, Loess Plateau

Forage fishes are a critical food web link in marine ecosystems, aggregating in a hierarchical patch structure over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Surface-level forage fish aggregations (FFAs) represent a concentrated source of available prey for surface- and shallow-foraging marine predators. Existing survey and analysis methods are often imperfect for studying forage fishes at scales appropriate to foraging predators, making it difficult to quantify predator-prey interactions. In many cases, general distributions of forage fish species are known; however, these may not represent surface-level prey availability to predators. Likewise, we lack an understanding of the oceanographic drivers of spatial patterns of prey aggregation and availability or forage fish community patterns, generally. Specifically, we applied Bayesian joint species distribution models to bottom trawl survey data to assess species- and community-level forage fish distribution patterns across the US Northeast Continental Shelf (NES) ecosystem. Aerial digital surveys gathered data on surface FFAs at two project sites within the NES, which we used in a spatially explicit hierarchical Bayesian model to estimate the abundance and size of surface FFAs. We used these models to examine the oceanographic drivers of forage fish distributions and aggregations. Our results suggest that, in the NES, regions of high community species richness are spatially consistent with regions of high surface FFA abundance. Bathymetric depth drove both patterns, while subsurface features, such as mixed layer depth, primarily influenced aggregation behavior and surface features, such as sea surface temperature, sub-mesoscale eddies, and fronts influenced forage fish diversity. In combination, these models help quantify the availability of forage fishes to marine predators and represent a novel application of spatial models to aerial digital survey data.

We present a method based on graph community detection algorithms to analyse velocity fields induced by an intruder particle impinging upon a stationary bed of particles. Based on velocity relations between the pairs of adjacent particles, the “velocity similarity” graphs are built where the graph vertices represent the particles and the edge weights are calculated according to the velocities of the respective particle pairs. A few different expressions for the edge weights are tested. Based on the graph, a Louvain community detection algorithm with the “geographic” null model is used to identify the goups of particles moving in a coordinated manner, represented in the graph as a community of vertices, for which the community detection algorithms developed for graph analysis can be applied. Selection of the expression of the graph edge weights based on the velocities of the respective particles influences the resulting graph structure and thereby has an influence on the community detection results.

Strong theory exists regarding population sex ratio evolution that predicts equal sex ratio (when parental investment is equal). In most animals, sex chromosomes determine the sex of offspring, and this fixed genotype for sex has made theory difficult to test since genotypic variance for the trait (sex) is lacking. It has long been argued that the genotype has become fixed in most animals due to the strong selection for equal sex ratios. The marine copepod Tigriopus californicus has no sex chromosomes, multiple genes affecting female brood sex ratio and a brood sex ratio that responds to selection. The species thus provides an opportune system in which to test established sex ratio theory. In this paper we further our exploration on the possibility that T. californicus has polygenic sex determination using an incomplete diallel crossing design and the “animal model” for analysis of the variance components of sex determination in the species. Our data confirm the presence of extra-binomial variance for sex, further confirming that sex is not determined through simple Mendelian trait inheritance. In addition, our crosses and backcrosses of isofemale lines selected for biased brood sex ratios show intermediate phenotypic means, as expected if sex is a threshold trait determined by an underlying “liability” trait controlled by many genes of small effects. Finally, we estimate heritability of an individual to be male or female on the observed binary scale as 0.09 (95% CI: 0.034-0.14). This work furthers our accumulating evidence for polygenic sex determination in T. californicus.

We prove the existence of periodic travelling wave solutions for general discrete nonlinear Klein-Gordon systems, considering both cases of hard and soft on-site potentials. In the case of hard on-site potentials we implement a fixed point theory approach, combining Schauder’s fixed point theorem and the contraction mapping principle. This approach enables us to identify a ring in the energy space for non-trivial solutions to exist, energy (norm) thresholds for their existence and upper bounds on their velocity. In the case of soft on-site potentials, the proof of existence of periodic travelling wave solutions is facilitated by a variational approach based on the Mountain Pass Theorem. The proof of the existence of travelling wave solutions satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions establishes rigorously the presence of compactons in discrete nonlinear Klein-Gordon chains. Thresholds on the averaged kinetic energy for these solutions to exist are also derived.