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This paper presents the Smart Logistics Node concept, which combines the physical infrastructure of logistics nodes with digital systems to enhance collaboration. The Smart Logistics Node benefits from data sharing, supporting infrastructure, and Connected and Automated Transport (CAT) technologies. Based on a literature review on logistics nodes and CAT, we propose a general classification of Smart Logistics Nodes distinguishing upon the node function, degree of organisational (de-)centralisation, digital integration, and infrastructure support for automated driving. Then, we classify sixteen logistics nodes and find that high digital integration is common while automation is lacking. Further automation entails mixed traffic on public roads and requires organisational changes that do not always align with current business models. Our work supports the adoption of emerging technology at logistics nodes and the comparability of business cases. Ultimately, node authorities can use our concept and classification to draw a roadmap to develop CAT capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pentatomid insects harbour an obligate gut symbiont, vertically transmitted via egg smearing by the females. The disruption of symbiont acquisition can be exploited for pest management, by spraying the egg surface with anti-symbiont agents, yet the insect response to symbiont deprivation remains a determining aspect of the success of this strategy. Here the effect of anti-symbiont egg masses treatment was assessed in an Italian population of the southern green stink bug Nezara viridula under field and laboratory conditions. In soybean fields, N. viridula was poorly affected by treatment, whereas in laboratory, nymphs deriving from treated egg masses underwent increased mortality and symbiont abundance decline. The primary symbiont dominated the microbiome of non-treated nymphs showing low mortality. Conversely, dysbiosis was recorded in treated samples as well as in control nymphs with high mortality. Nonetheless, dysbiosis induced by treatment was not in all cases associated with high mortality, and symbiont was missing in some non-treated samples as well. Five variants of a Pantoea symbiont were found, with higher variant diversity in untreated samples with low mortality. Altogether, our results provide information about the gut microbiota dynamics in the early nymphal instars of N. viridula and suggest a still incomplete dependence on the symbiont. However, egg masses anti-symbiont treatment increased mortality, therefore symbiont-targeted control may be used against N. viridula as a supplementary tool under high pest pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A subject of particular interest concerns the understanding of which biotic and/or abiotic factors shape the insect's microbiota composition and diversity. In this study, we focus our attention on the microbiota associated with leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) inhabiting a freshwater wetland in Northern Italy for investigating which factors shape it in this peculiar environment. A DNA metabarcoding approach targeting the 16S rRNA has been used to characterize the bacteria associated with seven leaf beetles species living in different zones of the wetland (trees/shrubs, meadow and emergent vegetation zones). The obtained results suggest that three factors potentially affecting microbiota diversity and composition are species membership in the first place, then living zone in the wetland and sex. Within the studied species, males were found possibly more prone to acquire bacteria from the surrounding environment, while females' microbiota of most of the species resulted dominated by symbiotic bacteria (reproductive manipulators, e.g. Wolbachia, or other symbionts with functional roles in the species, e.g. Candidatus Macropleicola in Donacia genus). The present study, even if based on a limited sample size, contributed to exploring the factors affecting the composition and diversity of bacteria associated with Chrysomelidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants generate energy flows through natural food webs, driven by competition for resources among organisms, which are part of a complex network of multitrophic interactions. Here, we demonstrate that the interaction between tomato plants and a phytophagous insect is driven by a hidden interplay between their respective microbiotas. Tomato plants colonized by the soil fungus Trichoderma afroharzianum, a beneficial microorganism widely used in agriculture as a biocontrol agent, negatively affects the development and survival of the lepidopteran pest Spodoptera littoralis by altering the larval gut microbiota and its nutritional support to the host. Indeed, experiments aimed to restore the functional microbial community in the gut allow a complete rescue. Our results shed light on a novel role played by a soil microorganism in the modulation of plant–insect interaction, setting the stage for a more comprehensive analysis of the impact that biocontrol agents may have on ecological sustainability of agricultural systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Chrysomelidae is a family of phytophagous insects with a highly variable degree of trophic specialization. The aim of this study is to test whether species feeding on different plants (generalists) harbour more complex microbiotas than those feeding on a few or a single plant species (specialists). The microbiota of representative leaf beetle species was characterized with a metabarcoding approach targeting V1–V2 and V4 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA. Almost all the analysed species harbour at least one reproductive manipulator bacteria (e.g., Wolbachia, Rickettsia). Two putative primary symbionts, previously isolated only from a single species (Bromius obscurus), have been detected in two species of the same subfamily, suggesting a widespread symbiosis in Eumolpinae. Surprisingly, the well‐known aphid symbiont Buchnera is well represented in the microbiota of Orsodacne humeralis. Moreover, in this study, using Hill numbers to dissect the components of the microbiota diversity (abundant and rare bacteria), it has been demonstrated that generalist insect species harbour a more diversified microbiota than specialists. The higher microbiota diversity associated with a wider host‐plant spectrum could be seen as an adaptive trait, conferring new metabolic potential useful to expand the diet breath, or as a result of environmental stochastic acquisition conveyed by diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA metabarcoding is a widespread approach for the molecular identification of organisms. While the associated wet-lab and data processing procedures are well established and highly efficient, the reference databases for taxonomic assignment can be implemented to improve the accuracy of identifications. Insects are among the organisms for which DNA-based identification is most commonly used; yet, a DNA-metabarcoding reference database specifically curated for their species identification using software requiring local databases is lacking. Here, we present COins, a database of 5' region cytochrome c oxidase subunit I sequences (COI -5P) of insects that includes over 532 000 representative sequences of >106 000 species specifically formatted for the QIIME2 software platform. Through a combination of automated and manually curated steps, we developed this database starting from all COI sequences available in the Barcode of Life Data System for insects, focusing on sequences that comply with several standards, including a species-level identification. COins was validated on previously published DNA-metabarcoding sequences data (bulk samples from Malaise traps) and its efficiency compared with other publicly available reference databases (not specific for insects). COins can allow an increase of up to 30% of species-level identifications and thus can represent a valuable resource for the taxonomic assignment of insects' DNA-metabarcoding data, especially when species-level identification is needed https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.19130465.v1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera Scarabaeidae), is a highly invasive pest recently introduced in Europe. In the current study a nematode is isolated from the third larvae instar of P. japonica collected in northern Italy. Both BLAST search and the phylogenetic maximum likelihood tree inferred from 18S rRNA sequences confirm the attribution of the isolated nematode to the genus Oscheius (Nematoda Rhabditidae). The entomopathogenicity of the isolated nematode was tested on larvae of the model organism Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera Pyralidae). The mortality of the host after five days varied from 54% to 60%, depending on nematodes concentration. Furthermore, the microbiota associated with the isolated nematode was characterized using a metabarcoding approach. Our results suggest that the bacterial community of the isolated nematode is dominated by bacteria belonging to the genus Ochrobactrum, that includes entomopathogenic species. Further studies are needed to test the possibility of using this nematode as a biocontrol agent of P. japonica in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We deduce a one-dimensional model of elastic planar rods starting from the Föppl–von Kármán model of thin shells. Such model is enhanced by additional kinematical descriptors that keep explicit track of the compatibility condition requested in the two-dimensional parent continuum, that in the standard rods models are identically satisfied after the dimensional reduction. An inextensible model is also proposed, starting from the nonlinear Koiter model of inextensible shells. These enhanced models describe the nonlinear planar bending of rods and allow to account for some phenomena of preeminent importance even in one-dimensional bodies, such as formation of singularities and localization (d-cones), otherwise inaccessible by the classical one-dimensional models. Moreover, the effects of the compatibility translate into the possibility to obtain multiple stable equilibrium configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a mixed variational principle for deducing the generalized Marguerre–von Kármán equations, governing the relatively large deflections of thin elastic shallow shells. These equations account for both non-flat stress-free configurations of the shell and inelastic strains. We implement this formulation by using C 0 interior penalty methods within the UFL language provided by the FEniCS project. We present two numerical examples, with the aim to discuss the role of the shallowness and the inelastic strain, comparing the results with the fully non-linear shell model à la Naghdi and the classical displacement formulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alternation of glacial and interglacial cycles of the Quaternary period contributed in shaping the current species distribution. Cold-adapted organisms experienced range expansion and contraction in response to the temperature decrease and increase, respectively. In this study, a fragment of the mitochondrial marker COI was used to investigate the phylogeography of Cryptocephalus barii, a cold-adapted alpine leaf beetle species endemic of Orobie Alps, northern Italy. The relationships among populations, their divergence time, and the most probable migration model were estimated and are discussed in light of the Pleistocene climate oscillations. Through a species distribution modelling analysis, the current habitat suitability was assessed and the distribution in a future global warming scenario predicted. The main divergence events that led to the actual population structure took place from ~750,000 to ~150,000 years ago, almost following the pattern of the climate oscillations that led to the increase of the connections between the populations during cold periods and the isolation on massifs in warm periods. The most supported migration model suggests that the species survived to past adverse climatic conditions within refugia inside and at the limit of the actual range. The species distribution modelling analysis showed that C. barii is extremely sensitive to air temperature variations, thus the increase of temperature caused by global warming will reduce the suitable areas within the species range, leading to its possible extinction in the next 50 years. Cryptocephalus barii is a representative case of how cold adapted and limited distributed species have been and could be affected by climate change, that highlights the implementation of conservation actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate inner shearing constraints for a direct one-dimensional beam model coarsely describing warping. In particular, we study how they affect the field equations for the elastic buckling of open thin-walled beams. We show that the distinction between the axes of the shear centres and of the centroids is crucial for the kinematics of the beam, and to derive expression of reactive actions, hence of buckling critical conditions. We also show how a suitable definition of the warping inertial action and properly introduced inner shearing constraints yield the field equations of the literature for the beam in a general dynamic setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]