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Understanding the genetic basis of adaptive evolution following habitat expansion can have important implications for pest management. The pink rice borer (PRB), Sesamia inferens (Walker), is a destructive pest of rice that was historically restricted to regions south of 34° N latitude in China. However, with changes in global climate and farming practices, the distribution of this moth has progressively expanded, encompassing most regions in North China. Here, 3 highly differentiated subpopulations were discovered using high‐quality single‐nucleotide polymorphism and structural variant datasets across China, corresponding to northern, southern China regions, and the Yunnan‐Guizhou Plateau, with significant patterns of isolation by geographic and environmental distances. Our estimates of evolutionary history indicate asymmetric migration with varying population sizes across the 3 subpopulations. Selective sweep analyses estimated strong selection at insect cuticle glycine‐rich cuticular protein genes which are associated with enhanced desiccation adaptability in the northern group, and at the histone‐lysine‐N‐methyltransferase gene associated with range expansion and local adaptation in the Shandong population. Our findings have significant implications for the development of effective strategies to control this pest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We attempt to determine the effect of the dietary switch from a native to non‐native prey on the gut microbiota in the predaceous ladybird Harmonia axyridis larvae and adults and examine how the dietary effect may vary across generations. We fed H. axyridis with different diets, native aphid Megoura japonica (Matsumura) versus non‐native mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis (Tinsley), for 5 generations and sequenced microbes in the gut of the 3rd instar larvae and adults of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th generations. In addition, we identified microbes in M. japonica and P. solenopsis. The 2 prey species differed in microbial community as measured by abundances of prevalent microbial genera and diversity. In H. axyridis, abundances of some prevalent microbial genera differed between the 2 diets in the 1st and 3rd generations, but the difference disappeared in the 5th generation; this tendency is more obvious in adults than in larvae. Overall, gut microbial assemblages became gradually cohesive over generations. Microbial diversity differed between diets in the 1st and 3rd generations but became similar in the 5th generation. Major prevalent gut microbial genera are predicted to be associated with metabolic functions of H. axyridis and associated genera are more abundant for consuming the mealybug than the aphid. Our findings from this study suggest that the gut microbiota in H. axyridis is flexible in response to the dietary switch, but tends toward homogeneity in microbial composition over generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fundamental understanding of the underlying mechanisms involved in biological invasions is crucial to developing effective risk assessment and control measures against invasive species. The fall armyworm (FAW), Spodoptera frugiperda, is a highly invasive pest that has rapidly spread from its native Americas into much of the Eastern Hemisphere, with a highly homogeneous nuclear genetic background. However, the exact mechanism behind its rapid introduction and propagation remains unclear. Here, a systematic investigation is conducted into the population dynamics of FAW in China from 2019 to 2021 and found that FAW individuals carrying "rice" mitochondria (FAW‐mR) are more prevalent (>98%) than that with "corn" mitochondria (FAW‐mC) at the initial stage of the invasion and in newly‐occupied non‐overwintering areas. Further fitness experiments show that the two hybrid‐strains of FAW exhibit different adaptions in the new environment in China, and this may have been facilitated by amino acid changes in mitochondrial‐encoded proteins. FAW‐mR used increases energy metabolism, faster wing‐beat frequencies, and lower wing loadings to drive greater flight performance and subsequent rapid colonization of new habitats. In contrast, FAW‐mC individuals adapt with more relaxed mitochondria and shuttle energetics into maternal investment, observed as faster development rate and higher fecundity. The presence of two different mitochondria types within FAW has the potential to significantly expand the range of damage and enhance competitive advantage. Overall, the study describes a novel invasion mechanism displayed by the FAW population that facilitates its expansion and establishment in new environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pink stem borer, Sesamia inferens (Walker), is a significant polyphagous pest historically restricted to regions south of N34° latitude. However, with changes in global climate and farming practices, the distribution of this moth has progressively exceeded its traditional limit of 34° N and encompassed most regions in North China. The genetic adaptations of S. inferens remain incompletely understood due to the lack of high-quality genome resources. Here, we sequenced the genome of S. inferens using PacBio and Hi-C technology, yielding a genome assembly of 865.04 Mb with contig N50 of 1.23 Mb. BUSCO analysis demonstrated this genome assembly has a high-level completeness of 96.1% gene coverage. In total, 459.72 Mb repeat sequences (53.14% of the assembled genome) and 20858 protein-coding genes were identified. We used the Hi-C technique to anchor 1135 contigs to 31 chromosomes, yielding a chromosome-level genome assembly with a scaffold N50 of 29.99 Mb. In conclusion, our high-quality genome assembly provided valuable resource that exploring the genetic characteristics of local adaptation and developing an efficient control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inherited bacterial symbionts are very common in arthropods, but infection frequency can vary widely among populations. Experiments and interpopulation comparisons suggest that host genetic background might be important in explaining this variation. Our extensive field investigation showed that the infection pattern of the facultative symbiont Cardinium was heterogeneous across geographical populations of the invasive whitefly Bemisia tabaci Mediterranean (MED) in China, with genetic nuclear differences evident in 2 of the populations: 1 with a low infection rate (SD line) and 1 with a high infection rate (HaN line). However, whether the heterogeneous frequency of Cardinium is associated with the host genetic background remains poorly understood. Here, we compared the fitness of the Cardinium‐infected and uninfected sublines with similar nuclear genetic backgrounds from SD and HaN lines, respectively, and further determine whether host extranuclear or nuclear genotype influenced the Cardinium–host phenotype by performing 2 new introgression series of 6 generations between SD and HaN lines (i.e., Cardinium‐infected females of SD were backcrossed with uninfected males of HaN, and vice versa). The results showed that Cardinium provides marginal fitness benefits in the SD line, whereas Cardinium provides strong fitness benefits in the HaN line. Further, both Cardinium and the Cardinium–host nuclear interaction influence the fecundity and pre‐adult survival rate of B. tabaci, whereas the extranuclear genotype does not. In conclusion, our results provide evidence that Cardinium‐mediated fitness effects were closely associated with the host genetic background, which provides a fundamental basis for understanding the mechanism underlying the heterogeneous distribution of Cardinium in B. tabaci MED populations across China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The gut microbiota has an intimate relationship with insect hosts and this relationship can become complicated with parasitic organisms being involved with the host. To date there has been limited evidence for the relevance of parasitism of the host by parasitoids to host gut microbiota, especially in host insect predators. Here, our study examined gut microbiotas in larvae of the predaceous lady beetle, Coccinella septempunctata, in response to their parasitism by Homalotylus eytelweinii regarding the development progress of offspring parasitoids. RESULTS: Overall 58.5% of gut bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the parasitized lady beetle were different from those in the unparasitized host. The phylum Proteobacteria abundance increased while Firmicutes decreased in parasitized hosts compared to the unparasitized. The abundance of genus Aeribacillus decreased substantially in the parasitized lady beetle across all stages of the offspring development compared to the unparasitized host. The α‐diversity of the gut microbiota in a parasitized lady beetle larva increased at the early stage of offspring parasitoids and then returned over the intermediate and later stages. Analyses of β‐diversity indicated that the gut microbial community in a parasitized lady beetle was distinct from that in an unparasitized one and different between early or middle and late stages of offspring parasitoids in parasitized hosts. CONCLUSION: Our results provide evidence for the relevance of the gut microbiota to interactions between a lady beetle host and its parasitoid. Our study provides a starting point for further investigations of the role the gut microbiota may play in host‐parasitoid interactions. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci MED is a globally invasive species that causes serious economic damage to agroecosystems. Despite the significant threat it poses to agricultural and economic crops worldwide, the global perspective of the invasion patterns and genetic mechanisms contributing to the success of this notorious pest is still poorly understood. The objective of this research was to enhance genome and population genetic analyses to better understand the intricate invasion patterns of B. tabaci MED. Location: Samples were collected in native (Spain, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, and Israel) and invaded regions (China, South Korea and North America). Methods: We first assembled a chromosome‐scale reference genome of B. tabaci MED and then employed the restriction site‐associated 2b‐RAD method to genotype over 20,000 high‐quality single‐nucleotide polymorphisms from 29 geographical populations. Results: A reference genome of B. tabaci MED, with a size of 637.47 Mb, was available. The majority of the assembled sequences (99%) were anchored onto 10 linkage groups, with an N50 size of 58.76 Mb, representing a significant improvement over previous whitefly genome assemblies. We identified rapidly expanded gene families and positively selected genes, probably contributing to successful invasion and rapid adaptation to the new environment. Population genomics analysis showed that three highly differentiated genetic groups were formed, and complex and extensive gene flow occurred across the Mediterranean populations. The genetic admixture patterns in East Asia populations were distinct from those in North America, indicating that they had different source populations. Conclusions: The high‐quality, chromosome‐scale genome of B. tabaci MED offered opportunities for more comprehensive genome‐wide studies and provided solid foundation to the complex introduction events and the differential invasiveness of B. tabaci MED worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), native to Asia, has been introduced to other major continents where it has caused serious negative impacts on local biodiversity. Though notable advances to understand its invasion success have been made during the past decade, especially with then newer molecular tools, the conclusions reached remain to be confirmed with more advanced genomic analyses and especially using more samples from larger geographical regions across the native range. Furthermore, although H. axyridis is one of the best studied invasive insect species with respect to life history traits (often comparing invasive and native populations), the traits responsible for its colonization success in non-native areas warrant more research. Results: Our analyses of genome-wide nuclear population structure indicated that an eastern Chinese population could be the source of all non-native populations and revealed several putatively adaptive candidate genomic loci involved in body color variation, visual perception, and hemolymph synthesis. Our estimates of evolutionary history indicate (1) asymmetric migration with varying population sizes across its native and non-native range, (2) a recent admixture between eastern Chinese and American populations in Europe, (3) signatures of a large progressive, historical bottleneck in the common ancestors of both populations and smaller effective sizes of the non-native population, and (4) the southwest origin and subsequent dispersal routes within its native range in China. In addition, we found that while two mitochondrial haplotypes-Hap1 and Hap2 were dominant in the native range, Hap1 was the only dominant haplotype in the non-native range. Our laboratory observations in both China and USA found statistical yet slight differences between Hap1 and Hap2 in some of life history traits. Conclusions: Our study on H. axyridis provides new insights into its invasion processes into other major continents from its native Asian range, reconstructs a geographic range evolution across its native region China, and tentatively suggests that its invasiveness may differ between mitochondrial haplotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focus on the detection for false data injection (FDI) attacks. Under external conditions, the state and the output variables of Nonlinear Cyber‐Physical Systems (NCPSs) cannot be described by a linear relationship. It is difficult to detect the attacked systems. The Laguerre function model has excellent approximation capability to change structural parameters such as system delay and order, making it convenient for online parameter identification and suitable for complex industrial process control. Accordingly, in order to detect FDI attacks for NCPSs, the Laguerre function is adopted to detect FDI attacks and improve the detection rate. Numerical simulations verify the effectiveness of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the genetic basis of pest adaptive evolution and the risk of adaptation in response to climate change is essential for the development of sustainable agricultural practices. However, the genetic basis of climatic adaptation for the Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis , the main pest of corn in Asia and Oceania, is poorly understood. Here, we revealed the genomic loci underlying the climatic adaptation and evolution in ACB by integrating population genomic and environmental factors. We assembled a 471-Mb chromosome-scale reference genome of ACB and resequenced 423 individuals covering 27 representative geographic areas. We inferred that the ACB effective population size changes tracked with the global temperature and followed by a recent decline. Based on an integrated analysis of whole-genome selection scans and genome-wide genotype–environment association studies, we revealed the genetic basis of ACB adaption to diverse climates. For diapause traits, we identified a major effect association locus containing a circadian clock gene (period) by analyzing a diapause-segregating population. Moreover, our predictions indicated that the northern populations were more ecologically resilient to climate change than the southern populations. Together, our results revealed the genomic basis for ACB environmental adaptation and provided potential candidate genes for future evolutionary studies and genetic adaptation to climate change, intending to maintain the efficacy and sustainability of novel control techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Bemisia tabaci is a globally notorious agricultural pest due to its highly polyphagous characteristic, its composition as a cryptic species, and its transmission of plant viruses. The whitefly has endosymbiotic bacteria in cells inside their bodies that have strong effects on the host biology. Generally, the geographical distribution of these cryptic species and their endosymbionts' infection patterns are related to ecological factors. In this study, we determined eight cryptic species (MED, MEAM1, Asia I, Asia II 1, Asia II 2, Asia II 6, China 1, and China 6) from 29 geographical localities across China. Native cryptic species were still widespread in the Yangtze River Valley and eastern coastal areas. In addition, we found that the cryptic species distribution and their facultative endosymbionts' infection patterns were closely associated with the geographical and environmental factors, i.e., latitude and annual mean temperature. This work highlights that range expansion of invasive species and host–endosymbiont interactions need to be studied within an environmental and geographic context. The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci species complex, comprises at least 44 morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species, whose endosymbiont infection patterns often varied at the spatial and temporal dimension. However, the effects of ecological factors (e.g., climatic or geographical factors) on the distribution of whitefly and the infection frequencies of their endosymbionts have not been fully elucidated. We, here, analyzed the associations between ecological factors and the distribution of whitefly and their three facultative endosymbionts (Candidatus Cardinium hertigii, Candidatus Hamiltonella defensa, and Rickettsia sp.) by screening 665 individuals collected from 29 geographical localities across China. The study identified eight B. tabaci species via mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene sequence alignment: two invasive species, MED (66.9%) and MEAM1 (12.2%), and six native cryptic species (20.9%), which differed in distribution patterns, ecological niches, and high suitability areas. The infection frequencies of the three endosymbionts in different cryptic species were distinct and multiple infections were relatively common in B. tabaci MED populations. Furthermore, the annual mean temperature positively affected Cardinium sp. and Rickettsia sp. infection frequencies in B. tabaci MED but negatively affected the quantitative distribution of B. tabaci MED, which indicates that Cardinium sp. and Rickettsia sp. maybe play a crucial role in the thermotolerance of B. tabaci MED, although the host whitefly per se exhibits no resistance to high temperature. Our findings revealed the complex effects of ecological factors on the expansion of the invasive whitefly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use in uplands is an important factor affecting water quality in its respective catchment, and its influences at the different spatial scales and configurations warrant further investigation. Here, we selected 26 catchments in the upper Han River (China) and sampled the surface water at the outlet of each catchment in four seasons during 2019. Multivariate statistics were used to identify the relationships between land use characteristics in uplands and water quality in river system. The results indicated that chemical oxygen demand (CODMn); pH; dissolved oxygen; electrical conductivity; nutrient, i.e., NH4+–N, NO3−–N; and dissolved phosphorus (DP) in rivers displayed significant seasonal variations. Stepwise regression revealed that landscape metrics such as patch density, landscape shape index, and splitting index were important factors influencing water quality in rivers regardless of their spatiality and seasonality. Urban was the most frequently chosen land-use type in the best prediction models, and forest area showed a negative correlation with water quality parameters in most cases for example, DP. Overall, the influence of land use on river water quality was slightly stronger at reach scale than at catchment and riparian scales. Also, nutrients (i.e., NH4+–N, NO3−–N, and DP) in rivers were primarily impacted by the land use characteristic at catchment and riparian scales. Our results suggested that multi-scale explorations would help to achieve a fully understanding on the impacts of land use on river water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the efficiency of the traffic signal control and alleviate traffic congestion, many researchers focus on applying deep reinforcement learning (DRL) for traffic signal control systems (TSCS). The TSCS consider all the vehicles' waiting time around the intersection and decrease them so as to alleviate the traffic congestion. However, it has been confirmed that the DRL model is vulnerable to backdoor attacks. In this paper, we propose the first backdoor attack against DRL based TSCS. We define a special drive behavior as malicious input (called trigger). Once the trigger is activated via an attacker, the TSCS will only take into waiting time for the attacker's vehicle at the intersection. Our empirical experiments show that our proposed backdoor attacks are effective with negligible impact on TSCS's normal operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a biocontrol agent of aphids and coccids, the harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), was introduced from its native Asian range into North America. There, it has spread quickly and widely, potentially contributing to the decline of endemic ladybirds. This study examined microbial communities residing in H. axyridis in its native and introduced or invaded regions. We collected ladybirds at 11 localities across mainland China (native range) and at seven localities across the USA (invaded range) and applied next‐generation amplicon sequencing to examine microbial communities. We found that the diversity of the microbial community of H. axyridis in the invaded range declined compared to the native range. The microbial community differed markedly in composition between native and invaded ranges. Among all identified 22047 amplicon sequence variants, only 4.2% were shared by the two ranges, whereas 4967 were unique to the invaded and 16159 to the native range. Our findings suggest that the composition of the microbial community of H. axyridis is largely restructured in the invaded North American region compared to the native Asian region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illumination preprocessing is an important ingredient for handling lighting variation face recognition challenge. Nonetheless, existing methods are usually designed to be independent of the face recognition methods and the interaction between them is not yet well explored. In this paper, we formulate the face image illumination preprocessing and recognition into a unified sparse representation framework and propose a novel joint reflectance field estimation and sparse representation (JRSR) method for face recognition under extreme lighting conditions. The proposed method separates the identify factor and the interfered illumination of a query sample simultaneously by one nonconvex sparse optimizing model. We also present an efficient approximation algorithm to solve JRSR in this paper. Evaluation on several face databases and the experimental results of face recognition with illumination variation clearly demonstrate the advantages of our proposed JRSR algorithm in illumination preprocessing efficiency and recognition accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capturing the genetic diversity of different wild populations is crucial for unraveling the mechanisms of adaptation and establishing links between genome evolution and local adaptation. The Asian corn borer (ACB) moth has undergone natural selection during its adaptative evolution. However, structural variants (SVs), which play significant roles in these adaptation processes, have not been previously identified. Here, we constructed a multi-assembly graph pan-genome to highlight the importance of SVs in local adaptation. Our analysis revealed that the graph pan-genome contained 176.60 Mb (∼37.33%) of unique sequences. Subsequently, we performed an analysis of expression quantitative trait loci (QTLs) to explore the impact of SVs on gene expression regulation. Notably, through QTL mapping analysis, we identified the FTZ-F1 gene as a potential candidate gene associated with the traits of larval development rate. In sum, we explored the impact of SVs on the local adaptation of pests, therefore facilitating accelerated pest management strategies. [Display omitted] • A multi-assembly graph pangenome highlights structural variants in local adaptation • More than 50% of SVs are derived from transposable elements • Analysis of expression QTLs to explore the impact of SVs on gene expression regulation • SVs contribute to changes in adaptive traits, such as diapause Most variant analyses depend on a linear reference genome, which is presumed to be missing millions of bases found in the genomes of other populations. Peng et al. utilize a graph pan-genome to highlight the significant impact of structural variants on gene expression and adaptive traits such as diapause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this letter, we investigate the security issue of a discrete linear time-varying system following a fixed switching rule. We first give a sufficient condition for the stability of this two-state switched system. In our scenario, the communication channel between the sensor and the remote estimator is interfered by a jammer with limited energy. Then we prove that the continuous jamming strategy is optimal compared with other strategies, which maximizes the estimation error in the viewpoint of the attacker. Finally, numerical examples are presented to certificate the effectiveness of the proposed optimal jamming strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissimilatory nitrate reduction processes, including denitrification, anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox), and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), are important pathways of nitrate transformation in the aquatic environments. In this study, we investigated potential rates of denitrification, anammox, and DNRA in the sediments of two subtropical rivers, Jinshui River and Qi River, with different intensities of human activities in their respective catchment, China. Our objectives were to assess the seasonality of dissimilatory nitrate reduction rates, quantify their respective contributions to nitrate reduction, and reveal the relationship between dissimilatory nitrate reduction rates, functional gene abundances, and physicochemicals in the river ecosystems. Our results showed higher rates of denitrification and anammox in the intensively disturbed areas in autumn and spring, and higher potential DNRA in the slightly disturbed areas in summer. Generally, denitrification, anammox, and DNRA were higher in summer, autumn, and spring, respectively. Relative contributions of nitrate reduction from denitrification, anammox, and DNRA were quite different in different seasons. Dissimilatory nitrate reduction rates and gene abundances correlated significantly with water temperature, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), sediment total organic carbon (SOC), NO3-, NH4+, DOC/NO3-, iron ions, and sulfide. Understanding dissimilatory nitrate reduction is essential for restoring nitrate reduction capacity and improving and sustaining ecohealth of the river ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop and validate a prediction model for identifying pregnant women at risk of developing pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) to guide treatment decision and classification of management. Methods: This study retrospectively enrolled 907 consecutive pregnant women with de novo hypertension from the Antenatal Care Center of Henan Provincial People's Hospital between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. The cohort was randomly divided into two subgroups: the development cohort (n = 635) and validation cohort (n = 272). Univariate analysis and backward elimination of multivariate logistic regression analyses were utilized to identify predictive factors, and a nomogram was established. The performance was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC), the mean AUC of k-fold cross-validation, and calibration plots. Based on the classification and regression tree model, risk classification was performed. Results: The score included five commonly available predictors: body mass index, proteinuria, age, uric acid, and mean arterial pressure (BPAUM score). When applied to internal validation, the score revealed good discrimination with stratified fivefold cross-validation in the development cohort (AUC = 0.91) and validation cohort (AUC: 0.89) at fixed 10% false-positive rates, and the calibration plots showed good calibration. The total score point was divided into three risk classifications: low risk (0 − 179 points), medium risk (179 − 204 points), and high risk (>204 points). Conclusions: This study established a prediction model for predicting PIH, which could be used in clinical decision-making to improve maternal health and birth outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmonia axyridis Pallas (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has attracted a growing body of research trying to understand its invasion success in North America and Europe after being introduced from its original range central and east Asia. Its endosymbiotic microorganisms along with the introduction are often assumed to play a potential role in the invasion. We examined the prevalence of three common bacterial groups Rickettsia, Wolbachia and Spiroplasma in H. axyridis populations from 30 geographical locations across mainland China and nine across the Americas. Rickettsia was not detected in both native and non-native H. axyridis populations. Wolbachia infected only one native population at 9.5% but three non-native populations at rates from 3.6 to 25%. All Wolbalchia sequences were aligned to four haplotypes in two groups in the phylogenetic reconstruction. Spiroplasma was not found infecting non-native populations while it infected 15 native ones at rates from 1.6 to 20%. All Spiroplasma sequences were aligned to six haplotypes, among which five were new to H. axyridis populations from China and one was identical to that from Japan. All Spiroplasma lineages in native H. axyridis populations were representative of S. ixodetis. This geographic infection pattern across native and non-native H. axyridis populations suggests that these three groups of maternally-inherited bacteria may not be influential at the initial stages of invasion of H. axyridis in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30 yr, multiple species of predatory Coccinellidae, prominently Coccinella septempunctata L. and Harmonia axyridis (Pallas) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) have spread to new continents, influencing biodiversity and biological control. Here we review the mechanisms underlying these ecological interactions, focusing on multi-year field studies of native and non-native coccinellids and those using molecular and quantitative ecological methods. Field data from Asia show that H. axyridis , C. septempunctata , and Propylea japonica (Thunberg) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are regularly among the most abundant predatory species but their rank varies by habitat. Studies of these species in their native Asian range, primarily related to their range in mainland China, document different patterns of seasonal abundance, species specific associations with prey, and habitat separation. Intraguild predation is well documented both in Asia and in newly invaded areas, and H. axyridis benefits most from this interaction. Harmonia axyridis also seems to rely more on cannibalism in times of prey scarcity than other species, and relatively sparse data indicate a lower predation pressure on it from natural enemies of coccinellids. Declines in the abundance of native coccinellids following the spread and increase of non-native species, documented in several multi-year studies on several continents, is a major concern for native biodiversity and the persistence of native coccinellid species. We suggest that future studies focus more attention on the community ecology of these invasive species in their native habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accidentally introduced leaf beetle Ophraella communa LeSage has become widely dispersed over regions with different climates in East Asia, following its host plant—the alien invasive ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia. During this range expansion, some of its life history traits have changed in response to environmental conditions in newly-colonized habitats. In this study we examined genetic variation in mtCOI gene among nine geographical populations of O. communa in East Asia, including one from Japan, one from Korea and seven from China. Our analysis identified two distinct clades (C1 and C2) among these populations, C2 including only the Fujian population from China and C1 including the other populations; haplotype sequence divergence was as large as ≥ 3% between the two clades yet negligible within each of them. Our results suggest that the Fujian population of O. communa is distinctly diverged at mtCOI genetic level from the other populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a data-driven control approach on the basis of polynomial regressors for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). In contrast to conventional control approach, data-driven control does not require modeling for the systems. It only utilizes the analysis of massive stored dataset to predict the future control input, which can achieve the future output. Generally, the massive stored dataset can be analyzed by short-length vectors linearly. In this paper, a novel point is the improvement of existing data-driven control by polynomial regressors, which improve the control performance of AUVs. By numerical simulations, we illustrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although iris recognition verification is considered to be the safest method of biometric verification, studies have shown that iris features may be illegally used. To protect iris features and further improve the security of iris recognition and verification, this study applies the Gaussian and Laplacian mechanisms and to hide iris features by differentiating privacy. The efficiency of the algorithm and evaluation of the image quality by the image hashing algorithm are selected as indicators to evaluate these mechanisms. The experimental results indicate that the security of an iris image can be significantly improved using differential privacy protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the bacterial symbiont Cardinium has profound effects on the ecological adaptation of its host, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype Q (hereafter referred to as B. tabaci Q), the molecular mechanism underlying interactions between these two organisms is not yet fully understood. In this study, sRNA libraries were constructed, amplified, and sequenced for Cardinium -infected (C+) and uninfected (C∗−) B. tabaci Q with identical genetic backgrounds. Subsequently, the genes targeted by the differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted by integrating the B. tabaci Q genome data. A total of 125 known and 100 novel miRNAs were identified, among which 23 significant differentially expressed miRNAs were identified in both libraries. It is noteworthy that an analysis of target genes showed that Cardinium -responsive miRNA-regulated genes were functional in apoptosis, reproduction, development, immune response, thermotolerance and insecticide resistance. GO and KEGG pathway analysis revealed that some miRNA-target genes are closely associated with energy metabolism. A major finding of this study was the identification of several miRNAs that may be involved in physiological processes in response to environmental stress, i.e., insecticides and high temperatures. This information will provide a foundation to help further elucidate the functions of Cardinium in B. tabaci Q. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It has become increasingly clear that symbionts have crucial evolutionary and ecological ramifications for their host arthropods. However, little is known whether these symbiont infections influence the proteome and lysine acetylome of their host arthropods. Here we performed experiments to investigate the proteomes and acetylomes of Cardinium-infected (C*+) and -uninfected (C−) Bemisia tabaci Q with identical backgrounds, through the combination of affinity enrichment and high-resolution LC-MS/MS analysis. Results: Of the 3353 proteins whose levels were quantitated in proteome, a total of 146 proteins dividing into 77 up-regulated and 69 down-regulated proteins were discovered to be differentially expressed as having at least a 1.2-fold change when C*+ strain was compared with C− strain. Furthermore, a total of 528 lysine acetylation sites in 283 protein groups were identified, among which 356 sites in 202 proteins were quantified. The comparison of acetylomes revealed 30 sites in 26 lysine acetylation proteins (Kac) were quantified as up-regulated targets and 35 sites in 29 Kac proteins were quantified as down-regulated targets. Functional analysis showed that these differentially expressed proteins and Kac proteins were mainly involved in diverse physiological processes related to development, immune responses and energy metabolism, such as retinol metabolism, methane metabolism and fatty acid degradation. Notably, protein interaction network analyses demonstrated widespread interactions modulated by protein acetylation. Conclusion: Here we show the proteome and acetylom of B. tabaci Q in response to the symbiont Cardinium infection. This is the first study to utilize the tool of acetylome analysis for revealing physiological responses of arthropods to its symbiont infection, which will provide an important resource for exploring the arthropod-symbiont interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model-free predictive control is a data-driven control method that directly computes the control input from massive input/output datasets. It does not require the mathematical models that are used in conventional model predictive control. It has recently been shown that the control offered by model-free predictive control can be improved by the introduction of polynomial regression vectors containing the control input and measurement output. In this paper, we extend these findings to multi-input multi-output nonlinear systems and investigate the effectiveness of the approach through numerical simulations of a wastewater treatment process. © 2017 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) are one of the most important components in thymic microenvironment supporting thymocyte development and maturation. TECs, composed of cortical and medullary TECs, are derived from a common bipotent progenitor, mediating thymocyte positive and negative selections. Multiple levels of signals including intracellular signaling networks and cell-cell interaction are required for TEC development and differentiation. Transcription factors Foxn1 and autoimmune regulator (Aire) are powerful regulators promoting TEC development and differentiation. Crosstalks with thymocytes and other stromal cells for extrinsic signals like RANKL, CD40L, lymphotoxin, fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and Wnt are also definitely required to establish a functional thymic microenvironment. In this review, we will summarize our current understanding about TEC development and differentiation, and its underlying multiple signal pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sediment particle size and heterogeneity play an important role in sediment denitrification through direct and indirect effects on, for example, the material exchange rate, environmental gradients, microbial biomass, and grazing pressure. However, these effects have mostly been observed in impermeable sediments. On the other hand, the material exchange of permeable sediments is dominated by advection instead of diffusion, with the exchange or transport rates exceeding those of diffusion by two orders of magnitude relative to impermeable sediments. The impact of permeable sediment particle size and heterogeneity on denitrification remains poorly understood, especially at the millimeter scale. Here, we conducted an in situ control experiment in which we sorted sand sediment into four homogeneous-particle-sizes treatments and four heterogeneous treatments. Each treatment was deployed, in replicate, within the riffle in three different river reaches with contrasting physicochemical characteristics. After incubating for three months, sediment denitrifier communities (nirS, nirK, nosZ), denitrification gene abundances (nirS, nirK, nosZ), and denitrification rates in all treatments were measured. We found that most of the denitrifying microbes in permeable sediments were unclassified denitrifying microbes, and particle size and heterogeneity were not significantly correlated with the functional gene abundances or denitrification rates. Water chemistry was the key controlling factor for the denitrification of permeable sediments. Water NO3−-N directly regulated the denitrification rate of permeable sediments, instead of indirectly regulating the denitrification rate of sediments by affecting the chemical characteristics of the sediments. Our study fills a knowledge gap of denitrification in permeable sediment in a headwater river and highlights that particle size and heterogeneity are less important for permeable sediment denitrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding optimal sample sizes is critical for the accurate estimation of genetic diversity of large invasive populations. Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that a minimal sample size of 3–8 individuals is sufficient to dissect the population architecture of the harlequin lady beetle, Harmonia axyridis, a biological control agent and an invasive alien species. Here, equipped with a type IIB endonuclease restriction site-associated (2b-RAD) DNA sequencing approach, we identified 13,766 and 13,929 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), respectively, among native and invasive H. axyridis populations. With this information we simulated populations using a randomly selected 3000 SNPs and a subset of individuals. From this simulation we finally determined that six individuals is the minimum sample size required for the accurate estimation of intra- and inter-population genetic diversity within and across H. axyridis populations. Our findings provide an empirical advantage for population genomic studies of H. axyridis in particular and suggest useful tactics for similar studies on multicellular organisms in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]