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Mosquitoes transmit viruses that affect public health in tropical regions. Identifying factors that influence their fitness can help control mosquito-borne diseases. We investigated the impacts of predation risk effects, from a fish predator, and food availability on the oviposition behavior of Aedes aegypti. We hypothesize that predation risk and food availability interactively affect Ae. aegypti oviposition. Gravid Ae. aegypti females were offered oviposition sites with all possible combinations of predation risk (with vs. without predator cues) and food availability (low vs. high). We found a significant interaction between predation risk and food availability. The magnitude of oviposition and the probability of egg laying in high food availability treatments exceeded the values of low food availability treatments, but only in treatments without predation risk. Predation risk critically modulated the effects of food availability on the oviposition of Ae. aegypti. This study demonstrates the interplay between predation risk and food availability in controlling mosquito-borne diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Artificial intelligence (AI) demonstrates various opportunities and risks. Our study explores the trade-off of AI technology, including existential risks. We develop a theory and a Bayesian simulation model in order to explore what is at stake. The study reveals four tangible outcomes: (i) regulating existential risks has a boundary solution of either prohibiting the technology or allowing a laissez-faire regulation. (ii) the degree of 'normal' risks follows a trade-off and is dependent on AI-intensity. (iii) we estimate the probability of 'normal' risks to be between 0.002% to 0.006% over a century. (iv) regulating AI requires a balanced and international approach due to the dynamic risks and its global nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests provide many different ecosystem services (ESs) to society. We divide these services into three main groups: provisioning, regulating and cultural. The services themselves are usually interrelated, so changes in the level of one of these services can affect the others. Depending on the nature of the mutual relationship, a distinction is made between trade-off and synergy. Understanding the relationships between services in a given area, time period and scale can support conscious management of forest resources, taking into account the concept of ES. This article aims to systematically review the literature with the aim of identifying the relationships between the services and the factors that influence these relationships. Particular attention was paid to the provisioning service, i.e., timber harvesting, and its relationships with other services, taking into account different variants of forest management. The literature search was conducted using the SCOPUS database, which was searched for scientific articles published between 2005 and December 2023 containing the following terms: "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "bundle" or "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "synergy" or "ecosystem services" AND "forest" AND "trade-off". The query resulted in 825 records, of which 55 articles were subjected to a detailed content analysis using a standardised procedure. The results show that most studies analysed the relationships between timber harvesting and biodiversity, carbon storage/sequestration and water erosion. Cultural Ecosystem Services were only examined in a few studies. In most cases, timber harvesting is at trade-off with cultural and regulating services. Many factors influence the supply of services and the relationship between them: climate change, forest management scenarios, temporal and spatial scale of the simulation, species composition and age class or more generally the structure of the forest stand, the history of the study area, its location, habitat productivity and geomorphology. The results show that further work is needed in the area of ES in order to apply this concept in forest management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant biomass allocation is mainly affected by the environment where each individual grows. In this sense, through the rapid global expansion of impermeable areas, urbanization has strong, albeit poorly understood, consequences on the biomass allocation of plants found in this environment. Nevertheless, the comprehension of biomass allocation processes in urban shrubs remains unclear, because most studies of urban ecology focus on tree species. This is an important gap of knowledge because a great part of urban vegetation is composed of shrubs and their association with trees have positive impacts in urban ecosystem services. In this study, we explored the ecological and potential selective pressure effects of an urbanization gradient on the biomass allocation patterns of aboveground organs of Turnera subulata, a widely distributed tropical shrub. We have demonstrated that, for certain reproductive organs, biomass allocation decreases in locations with higher urbanization. Unlike expected, the biomass of vegetative organs was not affected by urbanization, and we did not observe any effect of urbanization intensity on the variance in biomass allocation to vegetative and reproductive organs. We did not record urbanization-mediated trade-offs in biomass allocation for reproductive and vegetative organs. Instead, the biomass of these structures showed a positive relationship. Our data suggest that urbanization does not result in radical changes in biomass allocation of T. subulata, and neither in the variation of these traits. They indicate that the ability of T. subulata to thrive in urban environments may be associated with life history and morphological mechanisms. Our findings contribute to the understanding of shrub plant responses to urbanization and highlight urbanization as a potential factor in resource allocation differences for different structures and functions in plants living in these environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Securing agricultural supplies for the increasing population without negative impacts on environment demands new crop varieties with higher yields, better quality, and stronger stress resilience. But breeding such super crop varieties is restrained by growth–defense (G–D) trade‐off. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are versatile regulators of plant growth and immune responses, with several being demonstrated to simultaneously regulate crop growth and defense against biotic stresses and to balance G–D trade‐off. Increasing evidence also links miRNAs to the metabolism and signaling of phytohormones, another type of master regulator of plant growth and defense. Here, we synthesize the reported functions of miRNAs in crop growth, development, and responses to bio‐stressors, summarize the regulatory scenarios of miRNAs based on their relationship with target(s), and discuss how miRNAs, particularly those involved in crosstalk with phytohormones, can be applied in balancing G–D trade‐off in crops. We also propose several open questions to be addressed for adopting miRNAs in balancing crop G–D trade‐off. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agroecological farming is widely considered to reconcile improved working and living conditions of farmers while promoting social, economic, and ecological sustainability. However, most existing research primarily focuses on relatively narrow trade-offs between workload, economic and ecological outcomes at farm level and overlooks the critical role of contextual factors. This article conducts a critical literature review on the complex nature of agroecological farm work and proposes the holistic concept of sustainable farm work (SFW) in agroecology together with a heuristic evaluation framework. The latter was applied to ten case studies to test its relevance, affirming positive outcomes of agroecology on SFW, such as improved food sovereignty, biodiversity conservation, and social inclusiveness, but also showing trade-offs, including increased workload and potential yield reductions. Further, results show that contextual factors, such as policy support, market regulation, and access to resources, heavily influence the impact of agroecological practices on SFW. This article strongly argues for the importance of a holistic understanding of SFW and its contextualization within multiple socio-ecological system levels. The proposed framework establishes clear relationships between agroecology and SFW. An explicit recognition of these multidimensional relationships is essential for maximizing positive outcomes of agroecology in different contexts and fostering SFW. On a theoretical level, this research concludes that, from a holistic perspective, work is an entry point to studying the potential of agroecology to drive a sustainable agroecological transition in economic, social, and ecological terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a food-borne pathogen, which is often isolated from various seafood products. In this study, two kinds of bacteriophages was isolated from the offshore sediments samples. The anti-phage mutant strain were obtained after seventeen rounds of co-culture of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and mixed bacteriophage, multigroup sequencing was carried out on spontaneous the anti-phage mutant strain and the wild-type strain. We used the Sanger sequencing to verify the accuracy of the mutation sites. Biolog GEN III MicroPlates were used to evaluate the metabolic capacity of wild-type strains and the anti-phage mutant strain. In this study, we found that with flaG gene (slight homology to N terminus of multiple flagellins) mutated, making the bacteriophage unable to absorb to the cell surface of the host. And, the growth competitiveness of the anti-phage mutant strain is lower than the wild-type strain. These results indicated that the fitness cost, including loss of the growth competitiveness, constitutes a barrier to the prevalence of these defense mechanisms. And the selection pressure on different anti-phage strategies depends on the trade-off between mortality imposed by bacteriophages and fitness cost of the defense strategy under the given environmental conditions. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the phagehost interaction and phage resistance in Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Our study provided knowledge for the evolutionary adaption of bacteria against the bacteriophage, which could add more information to understand the phage resistance mechanism before applying in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global land-use changes impact soil's ability to perform essential functions. This study investigates whether soil organic carbon (SOC) can be conserved without altering land use in traditional farming systems and degraded natural forests, focusing on 'disturbed' agricultural soils and 'undisturbed' forest soils. We also examine the influence of dominant crops on SOC within the top 30 cm of soil in data-deficient regions of Nepal. Using a multi-stage cluster sampling design, we tested 12 regression models to identify the best relationships among variables such as SOC, soil bulk density (BD), pH, dominant crops, climate, topography, and management practices. Our analysis revealed similar SOC levels in both disturbed and undisturbed soils, indicating significant degradation in forested areas, whereas traditional farming systems could support SOC and preserve farm-based indigenous knowledge alongside food security. Further, SOC stocks varied significantly (p < 0.05) across different cropping systems, suggesting that managing dominant crops could be a strategy to optimize SOC, with these crops serving as indicators. Additionally, our results show that the weak linear correlation between SOC and BD in regularly disturbed soils, such as farmlands, where anthropogenic activities frequently alter soil bulk density, may be misleading when estimating bulk density-dependent SOC. This finding suggests the need for further research into varying degrees of anthropogenic disturbance in soil to confirm these results. While the site-specific nature of the findings warrants caution with respect to generalization, they provide valuable insights for carbon monitoring, climate actions, ecosystem health, and land-use management in similar traditional farming systems and degraded forests, particularly in data-poor regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pathogen infection and conspecific density may considerably affect key life‐history traits of organisms. For naturally aggregating species, even low concentrations of pathogens or high larval densities may have detrimental effects. However, the detailed influence of these factors, particularly their interaction effect, is often overlooked in ecological and life‐history studies. To investigate the effects of conspecific density and pathogen infection on life‐history traits, we explored the influence of larval density (1 and 5 larvae cm−2, i.e., low and high density, respectively) on phenoloxidase (PO) activity, body mass, and development time of Hermetia illucens L. (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) larvae in the presence of two strains of the entomopathogenic fungus (EPF) Beauveria bassiana (Bals.‐Criv.) Vuill. We observed higher PO activity in EPF‐treated larvae than in the untreated control and a pronounced difference in PO activity between the two EPF‐strain treatments. Larvae reared at high density and treated with EPF showed higher PO activity than untreated larvae at low density. The EPF‐treated larvae and larvae reared at high density had longer larval periods than untreated larvae and larvae reared at low density, respectively. Larvae reared at high density also achieved reduced prepupal and pupal masses compared to conspecifics at low density. Interestingly, untreated larvae only achieved higher prepupal and pupal masses at low density, whereas at high density, the pattern was reversed (treated individuals had higher pupal masses). Overall, our results demonstrate that high density and fungal pathogens both induce a higher immune response compared to low density and pathogen‐free environments, but this comes with a cost of a longer larval period and reduced body mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wire-electrical discharge machining (wire-EDM) is increasingly recommended for the machining of complex-shaped components with high surface finish and geometrical accuracy, specifically for difficult-to-machine advanced materials like Al-matrix composite (Al-MCs). The related research is primarily restricted to ex-situ Al-MCs, although in-situ ordered intermetallics reinforced Al-MCs are receiving growing attention due to their superior comprehensive mechanical properties. The present work deals with an Al-2Mg/20 vol.% in-situ Al3Fe composite manufactured by the reactive stir-casting method and focuses on its machining by wire-EDM via experimental and computational approaches. Experiments have been conducted following the response surface method (RSM) considering four process variables, namely, pulse-on time (TON), servo voltage (SV), peak current (IP) and wire feed rate (WFR). The integrity of the machined surfaces has been characterized by evaluating the change in surface chemistry (CSC) and surface roughness (SR), while the material removal rate (MRR) has been determined as the machining performance index. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and RSM-based mathematical models reveal that TON is the most influencing parameter, and it raises MRR and SR but reduces CSC considerably. The optimization of machining conditions has been performed by metaheuristic approaches, namely, Teaching and Learning-based optimization (TLBO) and Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) apart from multi-objective RSM (MORSM) based on the trade-off analysis. The performances of TLBO and ABC techniques are found to be identical and provide much greater MRR at the cost of diminished surface integrity, i.e., higher SR and CSC, when compared with the MORSM technique. The robustness of the developed models has been validated by confirmatory experiments with a calculated overall error of ≤ ± 8%. Finally, the surface integrity aspects are reaffirmed and correlated with input variables through detailed characterizations of the machining surfaces by FESEM-EDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Soybean is a typical short‐day crop, and most commercial soybean cultivars are restricted to a relatively narrow range of latitudes due to photoperiod sensitivity. Photoperiod sensitivity hinders the utilization of soybean germplasms across geographical regions. When grown in temperate regions, tropical soybean responds to prolonged day length by increasing the vegetative growth phase and delaying flowering and maturity, which often pushes the harvest window past the first frost date. In this study, we used CRISPR/LbCas12a to edit a North American subtropical soybean cultivar named 06KG218440 that belongs to maturity group 5.5. By designing one gRNA to edit the nuclear localization signal (NLS) regions of both E1 and E1Lb, we created a series of new germplasms with shortened flowering time and time to maturity and determined their favourable latitudinal zone for cultivation. The novel partial function alleles successfully achieve yield and early maturity trade‐offs and exhibit good agronomic traits and high yields in temperate regions. This work offers a straightforward editing strategy to modify subtropical and tropical soybean cultivars for temperate growing regions, a strategy that could be used to enrich genetic diversity in temperate breeding programmes and facilitate the introduction of important crop traits such as disease tolerance or high yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is fundamental to high-capacity data hiding schemes due to its ability to condense signals into a few significant coefficients while leaving many high-frequency coefficients relatively insignificant. These high-frequency coefficients are often replaced with secret data, allowing for the embedding of many secret bits while maintaining acceptable stego signal quality. However, because high-frequency components still affect the stego signal's quality, preserving their structure is beneficial. This work introduces a method that maintains the structure of high-frequency DCT components during embedding through polynomial modeling. A scaled-down version of the secret signal is added to or subtracted from the polynomial-generated signal to minimize the error between the cover signal and the polynomial-generated signal. As a result, the stego image retains a structure similar to the original cover image. Experimental results demonstrate that this scheme improves the quality and security of the stego image compared to current methods. Notably, the technique's robustness is confirmed by its resistance to detection by deep learning methods, as a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) could not distinguish between the cover and stego images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Today, the sustainability and outreach of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are crucial to the success of microfinance and the sector's potential to make a lasting impact. The ability of MFIs to operate financially well without sacrificing their social goals has come under scrutiny. This study aims to identify the kind of relationships between the two objectives of MFIs in Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach: This study investigated the association between the outreach and financial sustainability of Ethiopian MFIs from the years 2012 to 2021 using a balanced set of panel data. The study used secondary data and employed a descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach. To this end, random and fixed effects estimation models, as well as three-stage least squares, with the model of seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) are used. Findings: According to the study, outreach performance enables MFIs to achieve sustainability/financial performance. On the other side, MFI that are financially sound improve social performance. There was therefore no trade-off between the two objectives. Originality/value: As Ethiopia's microfinance sector shifts away from government and non-government backing and toward commercialization, such research is crucial. This aspect of the Ethiopian microfinance industry has gotten little consideration in research. The SUR model was used in the study together with random and fixed effect estimators, and the most reliable estimation result was chosen based on the necessary tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Energy allocation between growth and reproduction determines puberty onset and fertility. In mammals, peripheral hormones such as leptin, insulin and ghrelin signal metabolic information to the higher centres controlling gonadotrophin-releasing hormone neurone activity. However, these observations could not be confirmed in lower vertebrates, suggesting that other factors may mediate the energetic trade-off between growth and reproduction. A bioinformatic and experimental study suggested co-regulation of the circadian clock, reproductive axis and growth-regulating genes in zebrafish. While loss-of-function of most of the identified co-regulated genes had no effect or only had mild effects on reproduction, no such information existed about the co-regulated somatostatin, well-known for its actions on growth and metabolism. Results: We show that somatostatin signalling is pivotal in regulating fecundity and metabolism. Knock-out of zebrafish somatostatin 1.1 (sst1.1) and somatostatin 1.2 (sst1.2) caused a 20–30% increase in embryonic primordial germ cells, and sst1.2−/− adults laid 40% more eggs than their wild-type siblings. The sst1.1−/− and sst1.2−/− mutants had divergent metabolic phenotypes: the former had 25% more pancreatic α-cells, were hyperglycaemic and glucose intolerant, and had increased adipocyte mass; the latter had 25% more pancreatic β-cells, improved glucose clearance and reduced adipocyte mass. Conclusions: We conclude that somatostatin signalling regulates energy metabolism and fecundity through anti-proliferative and modulatory actions on primordial germ cells, pancreatic insulin and glucagon cells and the hypothalamus. The ancient origin of the somatostatin system suggests it could act as a switch linking metabolism and reproduction across vertebrates. The results raise the possibility of applications in human and animal fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linking reproductive fitness with adaptive traits at the genomic level can shed light on the mechanisms that produce and maintain sex‐specific selection. Here, we construct a multigenerational pedigree to investigate sex‐specific selection on a maturation gene, vgll3, in a wild Atlantic salmon population. The vgll3 locus is responsible for ~40% of the variation in maturation (sea age at first reproduction). Genetic parentage analysis was conducted on 18,265 juveniles (parr) and 685 adults collected at the same spawning ground over eight consecutive years. A high proportion of females (26%) were iteroparous and reproduced two to four times in their lifetime. A smaller proportion of males (9%) spawned at least twice in their lifetime. Sex‐specific patterns of reproductive fitness were related to vgll3 genotype. Females showed a pattern of overdominance where vgll3*EL genotypes had three‐fold more total offspring than homozygous females. In contrast, males demonstrated that late‐maturing vgll3*LL individuals had two‐fold more offspring than either vgll3*EE or vgll3*EL males. Taken together, these data suggest that balancing selection in females contributes to the maintenance of variation at this locus via increased fitness of iteroparous vgll3*EL females. This study demonstrates the utility of multigenerational pedigrees for uncovering complex patterns of reproduction, sex‐specific selection and the maintenance of genetic variation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals exhibit a variety of strategies to avoid predation; spiders are no exception. We explored whether web-building spiders that differ in the architecture of their webs exhibit morphologies or behaviors suggestive of antipredator strategies that trade-off with the degree of protection offered by their webs. Spiders build webs of 3 types: the more protected tangles and sheet-and-tangles, which are three-dimensional (3D), and the more exposed orbs, which are two-dimensional (2D), both with or without a refuge. We hypothesize that spiders whose webs offer greater protection—a 3D architecture or a refuge—will be less likely to be armored or brightly colored when compared to spiders without these protections. We collected data on 446 spiders and their webs in 2 lowland tropical rainforest sites. We show that 2D web builders with no refuges tended to be brightly colored (background contrasting) and spiny (spiky), whereas those with refuges tended to blend against the background of their refuges. 3D web builders, on the other hand, were neither cryptic nor brightly colored nor armored but were more likely to drop out of the web upon simulated predator contact. These results support the hypothesis that web-building spiders tend to be protected either through the architecture of their webs or their morphology and behavior, suggesting a trade-off between different types of antipredator strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a natural context, many avian species exhibit the ability to assess and balance factors such as food availability, food quality, and energy expenditure when making foraging decisions. However, avian behaviours can also diverge from the predictions, influenced by a range of variables, including social behaviours, predation pressures, and individual personalities. Chilean flamingos, popular social birds native to South America, remain relatively underexplored in terms of their foraging ecology and the interplay between environmental conditions and foraging behaviours, especially within the context of conservation. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a comprehensive study, collecting monthly physical and biological data from foraging flocks of Chilean flamingos at Lagoa do Peixe National Park, a vital contra-nuptial site located in southern Brazil, spanning from October 2021 to September 2022. We employed Generalized Linear Mixed Models to establish correlations between this dataset and the relative frequency and duration of four identified foraging behaviours: Pecking up, Head-dipping, Feet-trembling, and Dredging. Our findings substantiate that the foraging patterns exhibited by Chilean flamingos in this region are intricately linked to the trade-off between energy expenditure and the rewards obtained, primarily influenced by factors such as lagoon depth and the availability of food resources. Moreover, our results unveil a parabolic pattern in the distances maintained between individual flamingos in the flock, potentially attributed to facilitate foraging dynamics within larger groups, despite the concurrent increase in aggressive interactions. In summary, our study underscores the multifaceted variables that influence the foraging strategies of Chilean flamingos in a significant contra-nuptial area in southern Brazil. It sheds light on the behavioural adaptability of these birds and underscores the potential repercussions of this dynamic on individual and population performance and fitness. • Water depth, food type and food availability are the main variables influencing the foraging behaviors of Chilean flamingo in a natural environment; • There are a trade-off between energetic reward and energetic expenditure while performing different foraging behaviors; • The intra-flock distance also influence the foraging behaviors characteristics, with a balance between intraspecific competition and foraging facilitation; [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life‐history theory predicts that investment in reproduction should decrease survival (the 'cost of reproduction'). It is often assumed that energy allocation drives such trade‐offs, with limited energy available for both reproduction and survival. However, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, maybe because survival costs of reproduction are only apparent when resources are limited. Here, we took advantage of a natural experiment created by fluctuating environmental conditions to compare energy expenditure of a seabird, the pelagic cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus), between contrasting population‐scale scenarios of survival costs of reproduction. We used multi‐state capture–recapture modelling across 16 years to identify which breeding seasons induced high survival costs (survival ratebreeders < survival ratenon/failed breeders) and we concomitantly estimated energy expenditure of chick‐rearing males using time‐energy budget models across 4 years. Daily energy expenditure (DEE) of chick‐rearing pelagic cormorants varied significantly among years. However, survival costs of reproduction were observed in only 1 year, and contrary to our expectations, variation in DEE was not associated with population‐level survival costs. Similarly, at the individual level, DEE in 1 year did not predict the probability of being observed again at the colony in following years (apparent survival). Finally, DEE was independent of brood size and brood age, but older individuals tended to expend less energy than younger ones. Given the lack of an apparent energetic 'cost of reproduction', lower DEE in older birds could be due to improved efficiency rather than avoidance of costs in old birds. Although future studies should account for potential sex‐specific energetic constraints by including data on female energy expenditure, we conclude that a direct link between the rate of energy expenditure during breeding and subsequent survival is unlikely in this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trade-off policy framing has been a central feature of green growth since the 1980s, employed to frame the countervailing spheres of social, environmental, and economic policies purported to ensure the sustainable development of the global economy. This article argues that so central has this framing become that IPE scholars have tended to focus on different types of 'greenable' growth observable within capitalism, rather than question the prospect of greening growth itself. Far from value-free, the trade-off framing is ultimately determined by the structural imperative for economic growth, veiling the disciplines anthropocentric ontology in a normative or objective guise. To account for the tacit prioritization, the trade-in policy framing – the compromising of environmental objectives to accommodate the growth imperative – is advanced as an alternative framing. The trading-in of environmental policies is legitimized through political-industrial narratives, of which three, the (i) consequential, (ii) allay, and (iii) finance are outlined in this analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security and privacy have become major issues. Although no one seriously claims that privacy and security are identical, most sources treat them as if they are. Differentiating between privacy and security is essential, for example, in those situations where there is a trade-off between the two concepts, or when a regulator imposes rules concerning privacy or security or both. Moreover, differentiation can support the selection of proper means of defence. Therefore, there is a gap between the need to differentiate and the availability of an appropriate methodology to do so. This article introduces a robust methodology for differentiating between privacy and security, based on four basic components: the target of the attack, the nature of the cost, the presence of a trade-off, and the existence of consent. Since many situations involve both privacy and security, the methodology ranks their level independently. The research addresses several goals: alignment with the prevalent definitions and concepts in the literature; achieving objectivity; and a non-dichotomous classification. The application of this methodology was demonstrated in an empirical study with $n = 155$ n = 155 valid participants. The empirical study indicated significant differences between intuitive classification and methodology-based classification, thereby emphasising the need for this methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police forces around the world are adapting to optimize their current practices through intelligence‐led and evidence‐based policing. This trend towards increasingly data‐driven policing also affects daily police routines. Police patrol is a complex routing problem because of the combination of reactive and proactive tasks. Moreover, a trade‐off exists between these two patrol tasks. In this article, a police patrol algorithm that combines both policing strategies into one strategy and is applicable to everyday policing, is developed. To this end, a discrete event simulation model is built that compares a p‐median redeployment strategy with several benchmark strategies, that is, p‐median deployment, hotspot (re)deployment, and random redeployment. This p‐median redeployment strategy considers the continuous alternation of idle and non‐idle vehicles. The mean response time was lowest for the p‐median deployment strategy, but the redeployment strategy results in better coverage of the area and low mean response times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing the biomass requirements of different functions for the purpose of population reproduction and persistence can be challenging for alpine plants due to extreme environmental stresses from both above- and below-ground sources. The presence of ecosystem engineers in alpine ecosystems effectively alleviates microenvironmental stresses, hence promoting the survival and growth of other less stress-tolerant species. However, the influence of ecosystem engineers on plant resource allocation strategies remains highly unexplored. In this study, we compared resource allocation strategies, including biomass accumulation, reproductive effort (RE), root fraction (RF), as well as relationships between different functions, among four alpine plant species belonging to Gentianaceae across bare ground, tussock grass-, cushion-, and shrub-engineered microhabitats. Shrubengineered microhabitats exerted the strongest effects on regulating plant resource allocation patterns, followed by tussock grass- and cushionengineered microhabitats. Additionally, apart from microhabitats, population background and plant life history also significantly influenced resource allocation strategies. Generally, plants established within engineered microhabitats exhibited higher biomass accumulation, as well as increased flower, leaf and stem production. Furthermore, individuals within engineered microhabitats commonly displayed lower RF, indicating a greater allocation of resources to above-ground functions while reducing allocation to root development. RE of annual plants was significantly higher than that of perennial plants. However, individuals of annual plants within engineered microhabitats showed lower RE compared to their counterparts in bare ground habitats; whereas perennial species demonstrated similar RE between microhabitat types. Moreover, RE was generally independent of plant size in bare-ground habitats but exhibited size-dependency in certain populations for some species within specific engineered microhabitat types. However, size-dependency did exist for absolute reproductive and root biomass allocation in most of the cases examined here. No trade-offs were observed between flower mass and flower number, nor between leaf mass and leaf number. The capacity of ecosystem engineers to regulate resource allocation strategies in associated plants was confirmed. However, the resource allocation patterns resulted synergistically from the ecosystem engineering effects, population environmental backgrounds, and plant life history strategies. In general, such regulations can improve individual survival and reproductive potential, potentially promoting population persistence in challenging alpine environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Nicotiana attenuata styles preferentially select pollen from among accessions with corresponding expression patterns of NaS‐like‐RNases (SLRs), and the postpollination ethylene burst (PPEB) is an accurate predictor of seed siring success. However, the ecological consequences of mate selection, its effect on the progeny, and the role of SLRs in the control of ethylene signaling remain unknown.We explored the link between the magnitude of the ethylene burst and expression of the SLRs in a set of recombinant inbred lines (RILs), dissected the genetic underpinnings of mate selection through genome‐wide association study (GWAS), and examined its outcome for phenotypes in the next generation.We found that high levels of PPEB are associated with the absence of SLR2 in most of the tested RILs. We identified candidate genes potentially involved in the control of mate selection and showed that pollination of maternal genotypes with their favored pollen donors produces offspring with longer roots. When the maternal genotypes are only able to select against nonfavored pollen donors, the selection for such positive traits is abolished.We conclude that plants' ability of mate choice contributes to measurable changes in progeny phenotypes and is thus likely a target of selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In federated learning, benign participants aim to optimize a global model collaboratively. However, the risk of privacy leakage cannot be ignored in the presence of semi-honest adversaries. Existing research has focused either on designing protection mechanisms or on inventing attacking mechanisms. While the battle between defenders and attackers seems never-ending, we are concerned with one critical question: Is it possible to prevent potential attacks in advance? To address this, we propose the first game-theoretic framework that considers both FL defenders and attackers in terms of their respective payoffs, which include computational costs, FL model utilities, and privacy leakage risks. We name this game the federated learning privacy game (FLPG), in which neither defenders nor attackers are aware of all participants' payoffs. To handle the incomplete information inherent in this situation, we propose associating the FLPG with an oracle that has two primary responsibilities. First, the oracle provides lower and upper bounds of the payoffs for the players. Second, the oracle acts as a correlation device, privately providing suggested actions to each player. With this novel framework, we analyze the optimal strategies of defenders and attackers. Furthermore, we derive and demonstrate conditions under which the attacker, as a rational decision-maker, should always follow the oracle's suggestion not to attack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Host plants are an important selective factor for the evolution of reproductive traits in herbivorous insects. Among different host plants, offspring will be exposed to different environmental conditions, and parents are expected to allocate reproductive resources adaptively to their offspring according to such environmental heterogeneity. Elasmucha putoni Scott (Hemiptera: Acanthosomatidae) is a bivoltine shield bug showing maternal care. We examined the variation in reproductive traits, that is, egg size, clutch size and the trade‐off between them, between two generations of a population and two populations of the same (later) generation, which differ in their host plants. Controlling for female body size, a significant difference was detected in egg size, but not in clutch size between the earlier generation on Morus australis and the later one on Euptelea polyandra or Rosa multiflora. Moreover, there was no difference in the two traits between the populations (one using E. polyandra and another using R. multiflora) of the same generation. A significant trade‐off between egg size and clutch size was detected in the earlier generation on M. australis but not in the later generation on E. polyandra or R. multiflora. This is the first study indicating variable reproductive allocation according to different host plants in herbivorous insects with maternal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade‐off conflicts among the Sustainable Development Goals have been a challenge. To reconcile frictional relationships among food production security (Goal 2), water use efficiency (Goal 6), and climate change mitigation (Goal 13), an empirical examination using deterministic frontier analysis was conducted globally. A single volume‐based index for each goal is too simple to evaluate the agricultural sustainability of different areas from the nexus assessment perspective. Our major findings are threefold. First, approximately two‐thirds of African countries have suffered from small food production and excess water use. Second, marked contrasts are observed in the possibilities of an increase in food production and reduction in water use and CO2 emissions among regions. Asian countries use water efficiently, whereas countries in the western regions control CO2 emissions. Third, trade‐offs among food production, water use, and CO2 emissions in agriculture are observed. It is almost impossible to reduce water use in Asia and CO2 emissions in the western regions for food production security. Based on the nexus approach, local strategies need to be compatible with global sustainability. Future research should identify the factors that determine the agricultural efficiency to devise local strategies, and develop policies simultaneously pursuing relevant environmental and well‐being goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Reproductive allocation and cost play a crucial role in the survival of organisms, but research on these traits in bryophytes has been limited and inconsistent. To address this, we conducted a literature review focusing on bryophyte studies. Our goal was to clarify inconsistencies and explore reproductive allocation and cost concepts, as well as current trends in bryophyte reproduction. We examined different approaches and highlighted advantages and limitations. We emphasized five key topics: the importance of understanding reproductive allocation and reproductive cost in bryophytes; the significance of bryophytes as model organisms; historical research; terminological and methodological inconsistencies; sexual dimorphism and reproductive allocation; and measurement methods. Furthermore, we provided insights into future perspectives. Based on our findings, we advocate for standardized quantification of reproductive allocation. Standardization would enhance comparability and synthesis of results, ultimately advancing our understanding of reproductive allocation and cost of reproduction in bryophytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade-offs are central to life history theory and play a role in driving life history diversity. They arise from a finite amount of resources that need to be allocated among different functions by an organism. Yet covariation of demographic rates among individuals frequently do not reflect allocation trade-offs because of variation in resource acquisition. The covariation of traits among individuals can thus vary with the environment and often increases in benign environments. Surprisingly, little is known about how such context-dependent expression of trade-offs among individuals affect population dynamics across species with different life histories. To study their influence on population stability, we develop an individual-based simulation where covariation in demographic rates varies with the environment. We use it to simulate population dynamics for various life histories across the slow-fast pace-of-life continuum. We found that the population dynamics of slower life histories are relatively more sensitive to changes in covariation, regardless of the trade-off considered. Additionally, we found that the impact on population stability depends on which trade-off is considered, with opposite effects of intraindividual and intergenerational trade-offs. Last, the expression of different trade-offs can feed back to influence generation time through selection acting on individual heterogeneity within cohorts, ultimately affecting population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Body color polyphenism is common in Diaphorina citri. Previous studies compared physiological characteristics in D. citri, but the ecological and biological significance of its body color polyphenism remains poorly understood. We studied the ecological and molecular effects of stressors related to body color in D. citri. Crowding or low temperature induced a high proportion of gray morphs, which had smaller bodies, lower body weight, and greater susceptibility to the insecticide dinotefuran. We performed transcriptomic and metabolomics analysiis of 2 color morphs in D. citri. Gene expression dynamics revealed that the differentially expressed genes were predominantly involved in energy metabolism, including fatty acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and carbohydrate metabolism. Among these genes, plexin, glycosidase, phospholipase, take out, trypsin, and triacylglycerol lipase were differentially expressed in 2 color morphs, and 6 hsps (3 hsp70, hsp83, hsp90, hsp68) were upregulated in gray morphs. The metabolome data showed that blue morphs exhibited a higher abundance of fatty acid and amino acid, whereas the content of carbohydrates was elevated in gray morphs. This study partly explains the body color polyphenism of D. citri and provides insights into the molecular changes of stress response of D. citri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggression has multiple benefits and is often coupled with other behaviors ("behavioral syndromes"). The level of aggressiveness is influenced by an adaptive benefit–cost ratio suggesting that benefits should outweigh the costs of aggression. Here, we assess if several behaviors are coupled in two behaviorally different populations (aggressive, peaceful) of the high‐elevation ant Tetramorium alpestre. For three weeks, we collected colony fragments and analyzed boldness, exploring, foraging, and risk‐taking behaviors. We hypothesized that the aggressive population is bolder, more explorative and risk‐prone, and forages more food than the peaceful population. To test whether (a) the combination of experiments and parameters used yields a good setup, (b) populations differ behaviorally, and (c) populations display behavioral syndromes, we assessed (a) the frequency of repeatable behaviors of each experiment, (b) the behavioral means among populations, and (c) the behavioral repeatability, respectively. We found that (a) boldness and exploring were most repeatable and represent a good experimental setup, (b) the aggressive population was bolder and more explorative and risk‐prone than the peaceful population, (c) boldness and exploring behaviors were highly repeatable in both populations, thus corroborating our hypothesis. The results suggest that boldness, exploring, and risk‐taking but not foraging are presumably coupled with aggression and indicate the presence of behavioral syndromes in this ant. Under specific ecological conditions, aggression may be coupled with other behaviors and important for finding food. Aggression is probably adaptive in T. alpestre, possibly indicating that selection favors aggression at least partially, which may counteract the complete loss of intraspecific aggression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversification at the plot level, through the use of intercropping (mixtures of crops), is an alternative to the conventional system of intensive agriculture, based on monospecific, usually single-variety canopies. Intercropping has been shown to provide benefits in terms of disease control. However, competition phenomena and the heterogeneity of the associated crops raise new ecological questions, particularly with regard to the dynamics and evolution of parasite populations. No study has assessed the potential impact of these associations on the dynamics of pathogenic species complexes. Changes in the nutritional status of plants and therefore in their physiological susceptibility to infection within intercropping systems could contribute to an increased diversity of ecological niches and thus affect the composition of the parasitic complex and its spatiotemporal dynamics. In this review, focusing on foliar diseases of fungal origin, and after outlining some elements of the biology and epidemiology of these fungal diseases, we will (i) describe the mechanisms that contribute to the composition of disease clusters and that drive interactions, but we will also review the strategies that these foliar diseases have adopted to deal with these co-infections; (ii) define how intercropping can lead to changes in epidemic dynamics, in particular by presenting the mechanisms that have a direct and indirect effect on disease evolution; and (iii) present the approach that should be adopted to properly study intercropping correctly in a multi-infection situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regeneration has been a topic of interest across a range of taxa for centuries, and arthropods are no exception. Trade‐offs associated with regeneration are likely to involve the reallocation of resources away from other metabolic activities such as growth, development or reproduction. This might be reflected in costs to some developmental traits of the organism, despite regeneration being advantageous. These associated costs might also differ with the stage of injury or amputation. Here, we hypothesise that the extent of regeneration and trade‐offs associated with it may be stage‐specific. To test this hypothesis, the right forelimb of four larval stages of the ladybird beetle Cheilomenes sexmaculata (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) was amputated. Amputated individuals were reared until adulthood, and all developmental transitions were recorded. Regenerated legs in all the treatments were smaller than the controls, which did not experience the amputation, and the regenerative potency of early larval stages was higher than that of late larval stages. Limb regeneration caused delays in post‐amputation developmental duration in all the treatments, increasing their total developmental period. The length of the unamputated left foreleg as well as the wing and antenna size were also reduced in regenerated beetles, showing some internal trade‐off. However, there were no significant differences observed between regenerated and control adults in their fresh body weight and body size. Thus, limb regeneration depends upon the stage of larval development at which the amputation was performed. Amputation also affects the development of other appendages. The delay in normal beetle development might have been observed because of extra resource requirement, their allocation as well as reprogramming of the expression of some genes during regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An understanding of biological fitness is central to theory and practice in ecology and evolution, yet fitness remains an elusive concept to define and is challenging to measure accurately. Fitness reflects an individual's ability to pass its alleles on to subsequent generations. Researchers often quantify proxies for fitness, such as survival, growth, or reproductive success. However, it can be difficult to determine lifetime fitness, especially for species with long life spans. The abiotic and biotic environment strongly affects the expression of fitness, which means that fitness components can vary through both space and time. This spatial and temporal heterogeneity results in the impressive range of adaptations that we see in nature. Here, we review definitions of fitness and approaches to measuring fitness at the level of genes, individuals, genotypes, and populations and highlight that fitness is a key concept linking ecological and evolutionary thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presented paper, we investigate efficient solutions to optimization problems with multiple criteria and bounded trade-offs. A nonlinear optimization problem to find the relationships between the upper bound for trade-offs and objective functions is presented. Due to this problem, we determine some properly efficient points that are closer to the ideal point. To this end, we apply the extended form of the generalized Tchebycheff norm. Note that all the presented results work for general problems and no convexity assumption is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main concerns about fairness in machine learning (ML) is that, in order to achieve it, one may have to trade off some accuracy. To overcome this issue, Hardt et al. (Adv Neural Inf Process Syst 29, 2016) proposed the notion of equality of opportunity (EO), which is compatible with maximal accuracy when the target label is deterministic with respect to the input features. In the probabilistic case, however, the issue is more complicated: It has been shown that under differential privacy constraints, there are data sources for which EO can only be achieved at the total detriment of accuracy, in the sense that a classifier that satisfies EO cannot be more accurate than a trivial (i.e., constant) classifier. In this paper, we strengthen this result by removing the privacy constraint. Namely, we show that for certain data sources, the most accurate classifier that satisfies EO is a trivial classifier. Furthermore, we study the admissible trade-offs between accuracy and EO loss (opportunity difference) and characterize the conditions on the data source under which EO and non-trivial accuracy are compatible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fog computing has emerged as a decentralized computing paradigm that extends cloud services to the network edge, enabling faster data processing and real-time applications. The increasing popularity of fog computing has led to the emergence of a potential market involving users and providers of fog resources. However, both parties are driven by self-interest and seek to maximize their utility, giving rise to multiple conflicts extending beyond mere price considerations. Negotiations can play a crucial role in resolving conflicts and establishing mutually beneficial service level agreements. Moreover, in the heterogeneous fog environment, quality of service attributes, such as throughput, delay, trust, power dissipation, etc., vary significantly among different user-fog associations. These attributes, although non-negotiable, hold great importance for entities and directly influence partner selection. Entities may exhibit a preference for one another based on these non-negotiable attributes. To the best of our knowledge, no existing literature specifically addresses the issue of associating with a preferred trading partner at a negotiated value for multiple issues in the fog environment. This research aims to address this gap and provide insights into this unexplored area. This work presents a novel Preference-based Muti-Issue Negotiation Algorithm, PMINA, for many to many, bilateral and concurrent negotiations in the fog environment. The results confirm the significance of PMINA, demonstrating a substantial enhancement in user and fog utilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Companies are increasingly focusing on sustainable business practices. Internal and external stakeholders' expectations manifest in legal requirements, national and international standards, and market and customer expectations, among other things, must be considered. In addition to profit maximization, which is the usual target for corporate management, management must consider environmental sustainability aspects such as resource efficiency, greenhouse gas intensity, and a company's emissions behavior. In addition, social aspects related to the company's employees, the immediate urban environment, the situation in the supply chain, and effects on the market environment must increasingly be considered. Specifically, companies are faced with the challenge of dealing with conflicting objectives regarding the various aspects of sustainability and, if necessary, weighing them up against each other. These trade-offs must be made against the company's socio-economic and ecological environment, corporate strategy, and sustainability goals. This paper provides an overview of current approaches and research gaps on this topic through a literature review. It highlights the lack of methods and frameworks to specifically deal with trade-offs and conflicts between goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes an optimization model based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) to achieve the objectives of minimizing project duration, project cost, and resource fluctuation while maximizing project quality and schedule flexibility. The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to determine whether the interrelationships between these five objectives affect the outcome of the optimization; (2) to determine whether the presence or absence of resource constraints affects the solution; and (3) to verify that the solution of the PSO-based optimization model coincides with the exact mathematical solution, but faster. An example project was presented to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model. The conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) multiple objectives do interact with each other and should be evaluated simultaneously rather than one at a time to reach realistic solutions, (2) resource constraints do affect the solutions obtained, and (3) the proposed model successfully reaches an optimal solution that is extremely close to the exact mathematical solution much faster than the mathematical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phthalate esters (PAEs) raised serious concerns on their health risk due to their toxicities. However, toxicities of low‐molecular‐weight PAEs, for example, dimethyl phthalates (DMPs), remained poorly investigated. In the present study, the reproductive toxicities of dimethyl (o‐)phthalate (DMOP), dimethyl (p‐)phthalate (DMPP), and dimethyl (m‐)phthalate (DMMP) were measured on Caenorhabditis elegans with mechanical exploration. Results showed that DMPP, DMOP, and DMMP commonly inhibited the total reproduction while stimulated lifespan, showing trade‐off effects. In effects on gene expressions, DMPP, DMOP, and DMMP caused different regulations on the expressions of vab‐1, ceh‐18, and gsa‐1 which are involved in oocyte growth, ovulation, and maturation. Meanwhile, they commonly downregulated those of rme‐2 and rcy‐4 that regulate germ cells and gonads and lipid metabolism in oocytes. Moreover, the effects on biochemicals that regulate reproductive processes showed alteration between stimulation and inhibition over life stages. In addition, effects at apical, biochemical, and molecular levels clearly showed the structure influences on the toxicities. Summing up, reproductive toxicities of DMPs depended on the exposure life stages and also the chemical structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use planning (LUP) to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) needs methods and tools that support the identification of best LUP solutions in terms of transitions from current degradative land use (LU) and land management (LM) practices to better LU and LM options. A crucial need is the identification of context specific sustainable land management (SLM) options. Addressing this need must aim at not only reversing/recovering past degradation (e.g., via restoration or rehabilitation in land degradation hotspots), but also avoiding "new" degradation possibly caused by unsuitable LU and LM. This requires SLM planning based on anticipated impact assessment of the LU‐LM transition scenarios set to achieve LDN, which can be achieved through a participatory planning process that integrates interests/needs and knowledge of stakeholders with science‐based supportive tools to identify rational, plausible, and socially relevant options. The geoinformatics Land Use Planning for LDN (LUP4LDN) conceptual procedure and tool have been designed for this purpose. Their aim is to support national and subnational planners by (i) mapping geographic patterns of past land degradation (LD) utilizing the LDN indicators adopted by the UNCCD (SDG 15.3.1 indicator) for user‐defined regions of interest (RoI); (ii) helping users anticipate future LD by identifying land that is unsustainably managed and that will likely become degraded during the planning period; (iii) partitioning the LD areas into spatial domains of socio‐ecological contextual similarity (i.e., contextual similarity units) to which the LU‐LM transitional options will be fitted; and (iv) providing an interactive procedure for participatory LU‐LM transitional scenario development over selected contextual similarity units and timeframes. LUP4LDN uses the Global Database of the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT), ICARDA's Geoinformatics Options by Context (GeOC) tool, and ELD (Economics of Land Degradation) indicators to identify context‐relevant SLM that are available in the RoI, suggests candidate SLM options, and visualizes related expected levels of impacts on ecosystem services via maps and graphs. The generated maps inform users about trade‐offs upon which users can discuss or negotiate transitional pathways. LUP4LDN has been codeveloped with national stakeholders in Tunisia and Burkina Faso. The piloting implementation in the two countries assessed how LUP4LDN fits with existing LUP processes and the benefits achieved by using the tool to support LUP for LDN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracy and Robins (Psychological Inquiry, 15(2), 103–125, 2004) theorized that there are two facets of pride: authentic (e.g., "accomplished") and hubristic (e.g., "arrogant"). While these facets are assumed to function simultaneously over time, it remains unclear whether they differ by gender, given that pride is associated with various social behaviors (Magee Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(5), 1091–1115, 2015; Yeung & Shen Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(6), 605–624, 2019). In this study, we recruited 118 U.S. college students (54.2% female; 49.18% Non-Hispanic White; mean age = 19.12 years) who participated in a group discussion task and reported their levels of authentic and hubristic pride at three-time points. We used the Repeated-Measures Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (RM-APIM, Kenny et al., 2006) and calculated two change scores (e.g., T2 - T1) as outcomes for the dependent variables. We also graphed the topological state of each facet of pride simultaneously (Butner et al. Psychological Methods, 20, 1–25, 2015). Our findings suggest that: (1) both facets significantly predicted their stability over time for both genders, and (2) females had a lower value of authentic pride but reached stability in authentic pride more quickly than males. These results suggest that females may be more quickly guided by what they perceive as socially expected behavior by themselves and others in authentic pride, even at lower values. In contrast, males may prioritize maintaining higher levels of authentic pride over quickly responding to social cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tracy and Robins (Psychological Inquiry, 15(2), 103–125, 2004) theorized that there are two facets of pride: authentic (e.g., "accomplished") and hubristic (e.g., "arrogant"). While these facets are assumed to function simultaneously over time, it remains unclear whether they differ by gender, given that pride is associated with various social behaviors (Magee Journal of Happiness Studies, 16(5), 1091–1115, 2015; Yeung & Shen Journal of Organizational Behavior, 40(6), 605–624, 2019). In this study, we recruited 118 U.S. college students (54.2% female; 49.18% Non-Hispanic White; mean age = 19.12 years) who participated in a group discussion task and reported their levels of authentic and hubristic pride at three-time points. We used the Repeated-Measures Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (RM-APIM, Kenny et al., 2006) and calculated two change scores (e.g., T2 - T1) as outcomes for the dependent variables. We also graphed the topological state of each facet of pride simultaneously (Butner et al. Psychological Methods, 20, 1–25, 2015). Our findings suggest that: (1) both facets significantly predicted their stability over time for both genders, and (2) females had a lower value of authentic pride but reached stability in authentic pride more quickly than males. These results suggest that females may be more quickly guided by what they perceive as socially expected behavior by themselves and others in authentic pride, even at lower values. In contrast, males may prioritize maintaining higher levels of authentic pride over quickly responding to social cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ungulates commonly select habitat with higher forage biomass and or nutritional quality to improve body condition and fitness. However, predation risk can alter ungulate habitat selection and foraging behavior and may affect their nutritional condition. Ungulates often choose areas with lower predation risk, sometimes sacrificing higher quality forage. This forage-predation risk trade-off can be important for life history strategies and influences individual nutritional condition and population vital rates. We used GPS collar data from adult female mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor) to model mule deer habitat selection in relation to forage conditions, stalking cover and predation risk from mountain lions to determine if a forage-predation risk trade-off existed for mule deer in central New Mexico. We also examined mountain lion kill sites and mule deer foraging locations to assess trade-offs at a finer scale. Forage biomass and protein content were inversely correlated with horizontal visibility, hence associated with higher stalking cover for mountain lions, suggesting a forage-predation risk trade-off for mule deer. Mule deer habitat selection was influenced by forage biomass and protein content at the landscape and within home range spatial scales, with forage protein being related to habitat selection during spring and summer and forage biomass during winter. However, mule deer selection for areas with better foraging conditions was constrained by landscape-scale encounter risk for mountain lions, such that increasing encounter risk was associated with diminished selection for areas with better foraging conditions. Mule deer also selected for areas with higher visibility when mountain lion predation risk was higher. Mountain lion kill sites were best explained by decreasing horizontal visibility and available forage protein, suggesting that deer may be selecting for forage quality at the cost of predation risk. A site was 1.5 timesmore likely to be a kill site with each 1-meter decrease in visibility (i.e., increased stalking cover). Mule deer selection of foraging sites was related to increased forage biomass, further supporting the potential for a trade-off scenario. Mule deer utilized spatio-temporal strategies and risk-conditional behavior to reduce predation risk, and at times selected suboptimal foraging areas with lower predation risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common bean is often considered a woman's crop because they play important roles from production to marketing. However, breeding programs often focus on farmers without adequate attention to the interconnectedness between gender and other socioeconomic variables and how they influence varietal and trait preferences of other value chain actors. This study analyzed gendered differences in bean production and trade, implications of socioeconomic conditions on bean production and marketing, and the role of partnerships in closing gender gaps in the bean value chain in Zimbabwe. The results obtained from the analysis of survey data collected from 131 farmers and 18 trades revealed beans as a dual-purpose crop for male and female farmers and traders. Varietal and trait preferences were the same for both male and female farmers and traders but were prioritized differently. While female farmers prioritized cooking time, men farmers prioritized biofortification and market traits. Whereas male traders equally preferred price, color, and appearance, female traders prioritized price over color and appearance. Poverty and marital statuses of respondents influenced the number of varieties preferred by male and female farmers. We found that the effectiveness of partnerships in closing gender gaps in marketing is variety specific. While having partners closed the gender gaps in the marketing of the NUA45 variety, such partnerships did not have the same effect on closing gender gaps in the marketing of Cherry, Gloria, and other varieties. The results show that considering socioeconomic characteristics of actors and partnerships can reduce gender disparities in the bean value chain. Therefore, breeding programs should recognize the interconnectedness between socioeconomic variables and gender when developing breeding products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a novel dataset on investments by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to quantify a (sizeable) trade‐off between the impact and financial objectives of a large lender. The unique feature of this dataset is ex ante records of impact. These are made at the early stages of work on each transaction alongside probability‐of‐default scores. Impact scores are further updated at the final approval stage with around 55 percent of transaction concepts translating into signed deals. We show that this approach delivers a simultaneous selection of debt investments on the quality of credit and impact with a sizable trade‐off between pursuing commercial and development objectives. For commercially riskier investments, impact characteristics have a greater bearing on the probability of an investment going ahead. We further use machine‐learning analysis to show that the impact of some investments is strengthened prior to project approval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Facultative bacterial endosymbionts have the potential to influence the interactions between aphids, their natural enemies, and host plants. Among the facultative symbionts found in populations of the grain aphid Sitobion avenae in central Chile, the bacterium Regiella insecticola is the most prevalent. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether infected and cured aphid lineages exhibit differential responses to wheat cultivars containing varying levels of the benzoxazinoid DIMBOA (2,4‐dihydroxy‐7‐methoxy‐2H‐1,4‐benzoxazin‐3(4H)‐one), which is a xenobiotic compound produced by plants. Specifically, we examined the reproductive performance responses of the most frequently encountered genotypes of Sitobion avenae when reared on wheat seedlings expressing low, medium, and high concentrations of DIMBOA. RESULTS: Our findings reveal that the intrinsic rate of population increase (rm) in cured lineages of Sitobion avenae genotypes exhibits a biphasic pattern, characterized by the lowest rm and an extended time to first reproduction on wheat seedlings with medium levels of DIMBOA. In contrast, the aphid genotypes harbouring Regiella insecticola display idiosyncratic responses, with the two most prevalent genotypes demonstrating improved performance on seedlings featuring an intermediate content of DIMBOA compared to their cured counterparts. CONCLUSION: This study represents the first investigation into the mediating impact of facultative endosymbionts on aphid performance in plants exhibiting varying DIMBOA contents. These findings present exciting prospects for identifying novel targets for aphid control by manipulating the presence of aphid symbionts. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the heat and cold tolerance of endotherms evolve independently or correlatively remains unresolved. Both physiological trade-offs and natural selection can contribute to a coevolutionary pattern of heat and cold tolerance in endotherms. Using a published database, we tested the correlation between upper and lower thermal limits across endothermic species with multi-response generalized linear mixed models incorporating phylogenies. We found a positive correlation between upper and lower thermal limits, which suggested a coevolutionary pattern of heat and cold tolerance. Specifically, this relationship between heat and cold tolerance is phylogenetically constrained for tropical endotherms but not for temperate endotherms. The correlated evolution between heat and cold tolerance may have a significant influence on endotherms' evolution and ecology and needs to be further investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]