A document by Kamal Acharya. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by Kamal Acharya. Click on the document to view its contents.

not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown One of the most difficult challenges for wildlife managers is reliably estimating wildlife populations. Camera traps combined with spatial capture recapture (SCR) models are a popular tool for population estimation. They have limitations, however, including long data processing times. Drones with thermal imagery are an emerging tool for estimating wildlife populations, but how they compare to other methods remain poorly studied. We compared the use of camera traps and SCR models to drone surveys for estimating population densities of Sitka black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) on Afognak Island, Alaska. We deployed 26 camera traps from 1 September until 6 October 2022 and individually identified males using antler characteristics, for the SCR model. At the same site we conducted three drone surveys between October and December 2022, obtained deer counts, and identified sex composition. The estimated density from the SCR model was 3.7 males ± 0.8 (SE) /km2, and 14.1 ± 3.1 adults/km2 of clear-cut forest. Results from the drone survey produced similar estimates with 2.1 ± 0.9 males/km2 and 13.4 ± 1.6 adults / km2. The similarity in estimates suggests that both methods converged on an accurate representation of the population in this habitat, but these methods diverge in levels of sampling effort, duration, and financial cost. Camera traps offer further insights on behavior and home-range size but require longer data processing times, can be subject to malfunctions, and are difficult to deploy and maintain in remote areas. Drones are subject to legal restrictions, have difficulty in closed canopy habitat and can be initially costly, but they provide results faster and require less data analysis. Camera traps and drones are useful for determining population dynamics but are subject to their limitations. Wildlife managers should make survey decisions based on their specific goals, habitat type, focal species ecology and financial limitations.

As human-modified landscape and climate changes proliferate, maintaining biodiversity and understanding the function and quality of available habitat is imperative. As Anurans (frogs/toads) can be indicator species of habitat quality and ecosystem productivity, studying the Anuran community in a mixed-land use region provides an opportunity to better understand the relationship between species and landscape modification. Certain species, such as Pseudacris crucifer, can also be utilized as indicator species. We explored this relationship by assessing the effects of spatial and temporal heterogeneity on the presence of Anurans across an urbanization gradient. Within the Toledo Metropolitan Area, including the biodiversity hotspot Oak Openings Region, we surveyed 67 different wetlands (N=1800) over three years. There was a difference in community assemblage between rural and suburban/urban habitats driven by human-modification (impervious surface), composition (landcover type) and productivity (e.g., NDVI). The differences in spatial structure but lack of differences in temporal variables among sites suggest spatial factors explain these discrepancies. Areas with more impervious surface, lower amounts of swamp forest, and lower NDVI had fewer species, lower average species per survey, and lower relative abundance of Anuran species. Utilizing Generalized Linear Mixed Modeling, we found that P. crucifer relative abundance and greater richness were the best predictors of ecosystem productivity. Our research demonstrates the value of non-invasive Anuran call surveys to assess ecosystem productivity and species richness on a large scale, while also offering a method to evaluate conservation efforts internationally. This scalable approach can be applied anywhere with sufficient environmental data, and we recommend utilizing Anurans as indicator taxa for understanding ecosystem function, especially in human-modified landscapes.

Living in a seasonal environment poses challenges for small mammals, such as bats, reliant on insects as their primary food source. Bats may adeptly navigate these energetic challenges by reducing their metabolism and body temperature, entering a state of torpor. Particularly during the winter, bats remain torpid for extended periods, but are dependent on sufficient energy reserves to survive until spring. With the onset of autumn and declining temperature, bats face the challenge of building their fat deposits during a time of decreasing food availability. Bats may therefore transition to cooler roosts to initiate torpor, thereby reducing energy expenditure. However, little is still known about torpor use or roost selection by bats in autumn. This study explores the factors influencing roost selection and torpor use and --duration in two bat species during this critical transition period between the breeding and overwintering season. We show that date in autumn is a stronger driver of torpor use than prevailing ambient temperature, and that bats employ specific strategies in which they first increase daytime torpor use before also increasing the use of nighttime torpor during the pre-hibernation fattening period, most likely to facilitate rapid fat accumulation. Notably, bats commenced nighttime torpor use after spending entire days in torpor. These findings underscore the dynamic nature of torpor and the energy-saving strategies employed during the crucial pre-hibernation period, marking the transition from summer to winter.

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A document by Kamal Acharya. Click on the document to view its contents.

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A document by Kamal Acharya. Click on the document to view its contents.

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In the realm of forthcoming wireless communication systems, various technologies have emerged, with intelligent reflective surfaces (IRSs) standing out as a promising contender for enhancing spectral and energy efficiency. The effectiveness of such systems is significantly influenced by the nonlinear characteristics inherent in their components. This study examines the collective impact of nonlinearity stemming from memory effects in high-power amplifiers (HPAs) and phase noise at IRS on an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal, aiming to assess the performance of a communication system augmented by IRS. This work presents mathematical expressions for determining the outage probability (OP), spectral efficiency (SE), and energy efficiency (EE) in an OFDM communication system aided by an IRS, considering the effects of non-ideal HPA and phase noise in the IRS. We validate our analytical results through comparison with simulations, confirming the accuracy of our approach. Our findings highlight the significant impact of HPA nonlinearity and IRS phase noise on the performance of an OFDM communication system assisted by an IRS.

A document by prudhvi Narayana Bandaru. Click on the document to view its contents.

Wild bees are key witnesses of landscape transformations. Despite a prolific literature on bee conservation, the impact of urbanization on their communities remains unclear, with highly context-dependent results. This limited understanding is aggravated by the fact that few studies have formally examined the impact of diversity indices on their analyses. We addressed this gap by analyzing more than 6,000 specimens across 91 sites, including protected areas, within a highly anthropized landscape. We found that urbanization increased abundance-based diversity indices while simultaneously reducing the richness of threatened species, which only benefited from flower-rich grasslands. This discovery could clarify conflicting results of previous studies, revealing that the decline of threatened species in urban areas may be overshadowed by diverse communities of abundant species. Moreover, we reveal that the existing network of protected areas may not be able to mitigate this decline, as most reserves were dominated by unsuitable forested environments.

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence into critical domains such as healthcare, finance, and legal services has necessitated a closer examination of the robustness and reliability of advanced language models. Adversarial prompt engineering presents a novel and significant method to systematically evaluate and exploit vulnerabilities within these models, highlighting the imperative for enhanced defensive strategies. A comprehensive evaluation was conducted on Claude and Gemini models, employing domain-specific adversarial prompts to test their performance across various sectors. The results indicated significant degradation in accuracy, reliability, and response time under adversarial conditions, revealing context-dependent vulnerabilities that compromise model integrity. Detailed statistical analyses and visualizations illustrated the substantial impact of adversarial inputs, providing robust evidence of the necessity for improved mitigation techniques. Patterns of susceptibility were identified, suggesting the need for tailored defensive approaches for different domains. The study contributes valuable insights into the inherent weaknesses of advanced language models, emphasizing the importance of ongoing research and development to enhance model resilience and ensure their reliable deployment in real-world applications.

Aquifer-Stream Interactions (ASIs) play a critical role in effective groundwater management, yet their complex dynamics remain poorly understood in channelized lowland perennial streams. This study presents a multi-scale, multi-technique investigation of ASIs along two streams in Shelby County, Tennessee, overlying the confined Memphis aquifer. The goal is to define a suitable methodology for characterizing ASIs in this specific hydrological setting, serving as a starting point for developing a standardized approach. The methodology includes an initial evaluation of various field techniques, followed by extensive surveys using potentiomanometers, electromagnetic induction (EMI), vertical temperature profilers (VTPs), and complementary techniques such as seepage meters, bank tests, and well-data analyses. Results reveal distinct hydrogeomorphic behaviors across and along the streams, challenging the ASI homogeneity notions typically assumed in groundwater models. Nonconnah Creek exhibited streambed colmation and negligible hydraulic gradients, resulting in disconnection from the aquifer during low flows, except for a 300-m losing reach with high downward gradients, potentially degrading the Memphis aquifer. In contrast, the Loosahatchie River displays relatively homogeneous streambed properties and small, upward hydraulic gradients, suggesting uniform ASIs along the surveyed reaches. EMI proved highly effective for mapping streambed sediments quickly, while potentiomanometers accurately measure small head differences critical for understanding ASI dynamics. VTPs were less practical due to extended data-collection times and vulnerability to flooding. This study emphasizes the importance of site-specific, multi-scale investigations using diverse techniques to accurately characterize ASIs in lowland streams, highlighting the confounding influences of geological formations, anthropogenic alterations, and depositional processes on groundwater-surface water interactions. The findings contribute to refining local water balances, informing groundwater management strategies, and underscoring the need for incorporating local-scale field data into regional groundwater models. The proposed methodology serves as a foundation for developing a standardized approach for characterizing ASIs in lowland channelized perennial streams, adaptable for similar stream systems worldwide.

The majority of river restoration initiatives are driven by new environmental policies. However, evaluation of management styles for ecosystem services (ESs) within river policies and their implications for restoration has been rarely investigated. This paper aims to evaluate the way in which environmental policy manages river ESs and river restoration initiatives. A content analysis-based approach applied to policy documents was undertaken on China’s River Chief (CRC) policy. ESs attributes were summarized according to categories, values, relationships, and stakeholders. Subsequently, a hierarchical evaluation indicator system, along with its graded keywords, was developed. The occurrence frequencies of these keywords in policy documents were then used to measure the policy regulatory degrees of ESs indicators. The reference values extracted from literature statistics of peer-reviewed papers served as a template to clarify the ESs management style. We found that the CRC policy primarily relied on the management of ESs categories and stakeholders, followed by ESs relationships, with extremely limited consideration of river ESs values. Moreover, the bundle of those ESs incorporated into the policy significantly differ from the typical structure of the ESs provided by rivers. For stakeholders, the CRC policy relies heavily on the authorities and the farm/business operators to manage the rivers. This case study showed a partial and pattern-mismatch management style of river ESs, which will hamper the holistic restoration of rivers. We concluded that the proposed policy document-based evaluation approach can help to identify the policy deficiency in relation to river ESs management, and river restoration possibilities.

THE IMPACT OF VIRTUAL REALITY TOUR ON THE REDUCTION OF STRESS AMONG UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA STUDENTS 1Menakah Vicknecsvarran , 2Siti Salmi Jamali 1,2School of Creative Industry Management & Performing Arts, College of Arts and Sciences Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia Corresponding Author : Menakah Vicknecsvarran; Email: menavicky02@gmail.com In this digital world, globalization has created some impeccable inventions which have benefited society in numerous ways. One of the astonishing inventions would be virtual reality tours, which has proven its worth in many industries such as medical, tourism, entertainment and many more. As such, virtual reality tours have given an opportunity to society to enjoy the privileges of being present in an environment virtually yet able to have the sense of belonging to such an environment. To narrow this down, this research clearly portrayed the interactive relationship that can be created via virtual reality tour to reduce the students’ stress to an acceptable level. In that case, the purpose of this research is to utilize the effect of active motivational status (enjoyment, emotional involvement, engagement) towards stress reduction using virtual reality tour among University Utara Malaysia (UUM) students. In this research, quantitative approach is chosen due to its prominent capability to analyze the relationship between the variables that have been selected. The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale – 21 Items (DASS-21), questionnaire is deployed to measure the level of stress among the participants. 30 UUM students are recruited for this research. The results of this study show that there is a significant difference between the experimental group (the group given the VR tour) and the control group with the sig. amounted to 0.049, which means that the VR tour provides good effectiveness in reducing student stress. Keywords:  Stress, Virtual reality tour, Covid 19

A document by Miao Cheng. Click on the document to view its contents.

Single-cell proteomics (SCP) aims to characterize the proteome of individual cells, providing insights into complex biological systems. It reveals subtle differences in distinct cellular populations that bulk proteome analysis might overlook, which is essential for understanding disease mechanisms and developing targeted therapies. Mass spectrometry (MS) methods in SCP allow the identification and quantification of thousands of proteins from individual cells and this review highlights the role of data-independent acquisition MS (DIA-MS) in SCP. One major hurdle in SCP is the limited material in single-cell samples, but DIA-based techniques offer multiple potential solutions for their analysis. Utilizing wide precursor isolation windows to fragment multiple peptides simultaneously, DIA-based methods improve sensitivity, quantitative accuracy, and reproducibility at a cost in data analysis complexity. DIA methods can also be combined with sample multiplexing methods to increase the sample throughput, currently a key limitation in SCP. Challenges remain for interpreting sample multiplexed data from DIA-based SCP experiments, particularly with regards to isobaric tagging methods. Even still, we believe that DIA-based SCP approaches will play a major role in our understanding of systems biology.