Human–wildlife conflicts occur worldwide. Although many nonlethal mitigation solutions are available, they rarely use the behavioral ecology of the conflict species to derive effective and ...long-lasting solutions. Here, we use a long-term study with 106 GPS-collared free-ranging cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) to demonstrate how new insights into the socio-spatial organization of this species provide the key for such a solution. GPS-collared territory holders marked and defended communication hubs (CHs) in the core area of their territories. The CHs/territories were distributed in a regular pattern across the landscape such that they were not contiguous with each other but separated by a surrounding matrix. They were kept in this way by successive territory holders, thus maintaining this overdispersed distribution. The CHs were also visited by nonterritorial cheetah males and females for information exchange, thus forming hotspots of cheetah activity and presence. We hypothesized that the CHs pose an increased predation risk to young calves for cattle farmers in Namibia. In an experimental approach, farmers shifted cattle herds away from the CHs during the calving season. This drastically reduced their calf losses by cheetahs because cheetahs did not follow the herds but instead preyed on naturally occurring local wildlife prey in the CHs. This implies that in the cheetah system, there are “problem areas,” the CHs, rather than “problem individuals.” The incorporation of the behavioral ecology of conflict species opens promising areas to search for solutions in other conflict species with nonhomogenous space use.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Many mammalian species communicate via olfactory communication placed at particular locations. The majority of these studies focused on intraspecific communication. More recently, studies have also ...investigated interspecific communication and recorded prey animals sniffing olfactory cues left by predators and predators investigating or counter-marking cues left by other predator species. The purpose of exchanging olfactory cues within a species community is little understood. Using a comparative study design, we investigated the behaviour of a mammalian community at cheetah marking trees and paired control trees using camera traps on Namibian farmland. We tested the predictions derived from hypotheses regarding the reasons for visits to the marking trees. Cheetah marking trees and control trees were visited 1101 times by 29 mammalian species (excluding cheetahs), with more species recorded at the marking trees than control trees. Two competitively subordinate carnivore species made more visiting and sniffing events, respectively, at cheetah marking trees than control trees, possibly to assess the time since cheetahs were in the area. Two opportunistic scavenger species sniffed more frequently at the marking trees than control trees, perhaps to feed on undigested prey remains in scats. One common prey species of cheetahs had fewer visiting events at the marking trees than control trees, likely to reduce encounters with cheetahs. Further, one species that is rarely preyed by cheetahs marked cheetah marking trees at the same frequency as control trees, suggesting it uses conspicuous sites rather for intraspecific than interspecific communication. Thus, trees used by cheetahs for marking also play an important role in olfactory communication for a variety of mammalian species.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The composition of the defect, which is responsible for the boron–oxygen‐related light‐induced degradation (BO‐LID) of the carrier lifetime in silicon, still remains an unresolved issue. It has been ...recently suggested that the BO‐LID is due to the ASi‐Sii‐defect. Within this idea, the creation and discreation are governed by the interstitial silicon concentration. Annealing and electron beam (EB) irradiation are applied to influence the interstitial silicon concentration. The BO‐LID is observed in the case of diffusion‐oxygenated FZ (DOFZ) boron‐doped silicon after annealing at 650 and 450 °C for 4 h, respectively. A nearly complete discreation of the BO‐LID defect is found for the long‐term high temperature (16 h at 1050 °C) anneal. This discreation process is explained by the diffusion of the interstitial silicon atoms to other sinks such as the wafer surfaces. The degradation of the carrier lifetime due to illumination after the EB irradiation is unambiguously related to the BO‐LID phenomenon.
The composition of the boron–oxygen‐related light‐induced degradation (BO‐LID) defect is an unresolved issue. Recently, BO‐LID is suggested to be due to the ASi‐Sii‐defect. Thus, creation and discreation of BO‐LID is governed by the interstitial silicon concentration. Annealing and electron beam irradiation are applied. BO‐LID is created in oxygenated silicon after 4 h annealing at 650 °C and discreated by 16 h annealing at 1050 °C.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Nitrogen and oxygen enriched FZ silicon p‐in‐n pad radiation detectors are investigated with respect to the radiation hardness. The leakage current and the charge carrier lifetime are measured before ...and after 1 MeV electron irradiation. Before irradiation the leakage current was found to increase due to enrichment by nitrogen and oxygen. After the irradiation the leakage current as well as the radiation induced defect density are found to be reduced in the nitrogen and oxygen enriched samples. Hence, increased radiation hardness for the enriched FZ silicon is observed. The defect reduction efficiency of nitrogen was found to be about two orders of magnitude higher than that of oxygen.
Nitrogen and oxygen enriched FZ silicon p‐in‐n pad radiation detectors are investigated with respect to the radiation hardness. The leakage current and the charge carrier lifetime are measured before and after 1 MeV electron irradiation. After the irradiation the leakage current as well as the radiation induced defect density are found to be reduced in the nitrogen and oxygen enriched samples. Hence, increased radiation hardness for the enriched FZ silicon is observed.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Diodes processed on n-type epitaxial silicon with a thickness of 25, 50 and 75
μm had been irradiated with reactor neutrons and high-energy protons (24
GeV/
c) up to integrated fluences of
Φ
eq=10
16
...cm
−2. Systematic experiments on radiation-induced damage effects revealed the following results: in contrast to standard and oxygen-enriched float zone (FZ) silicon devices no space charge sign inversion was observed after irradiation. It is shown that the radiation-generated concentration of deep acceptors, dominating the behavior of n-type FZ diodes, is compensated by creation of shallow donors. Thus a positive space charge is maintained throughout the irradiation up to the highest fluence and even during prolonged elevated-temperature annealing cycles. Defect analysis studies using thermally stimulated current measurements attribute the effect to a damage-induced shallow donor at
E
C−0.23
eV. It is argued that, as in the case of thermal donors, oxygen dimers, out diffusing from the Cz substrate during the diode processing, are responsible precursers. Results from extensive annealing experiments at elevated temperatures are verified by comparison with prolonged room-temperature annealing. These results showed that in contrast to FZ detectors, which always have to be cooled, room-temperature storage during beam off periods of future elementary particle physics experiments would even be beneficial for n-type epi-silicon detectors. A dedicated experiment at CERN-PS had successfully proven this expectation. It was verified, that in such a scenario the depletion voltage for the epi-detector could always be kept at a moderate level throughout the full S-LHC operation (foreseen upgrade of the large hadron collider). Practically no difference with respect to FZ-silicon devices was found in the damage-induced bulk generation current. The charge trapping measured with
90Sr electrons (mip's) is also almost identical to what was expected. A charge collection efficiency of 60% (2500
e) in 50
μm n-type epi-diodes after 24
GeV/
c proton irradiation with
Φ
eq=6.2×10
15
cm
−2 was reported recently, independent of the operating temperature down to −20
°C.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE—Perihemorrhagic edema (PHE) is associated with poor outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Infiltration of immune cells is considered a major contributor of PHE. Recent ...studies suggest that immunomodulation via S1PR (sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor) modulators improve outcome in ICH. Siponimod, a selective modulator of sphingosine 1-phosphate receptors type 1 and type 5, demonstrated an excellent safety profile in a large study of patients with multiple sclerosis. Here, we investigated the impact of siponimod treatment on perihemorrhagic edema, neurological deficits, and survival in a mouse model of ICH.
METHODS—ICH was induced by intracranial injection of 0.075 U of bacterial collagenase in 123 mice. Mice were randomly assigned to different treatment groupsvehicle, siponimod given as a single dosage 30 minutes after the operation or given 3× for 3 consecutive days starting 30 minutes after operation. The primary outcome of our study was evolution of PHE measured by magnetic resonance-imaging on T2-maps 72 hours after ICH, secondary outcomes included evolution of PHE 24 hours after ICH, survival and neurological deficits, as well as effects on circulating blood cells and body weight.
RESULTS—Siponimod significantly reduced PHE measured by magnetic resonance imaging (P=0.021) as well as wet-dry method (P=0.04) 72 hours after ICH. Evaluation of PHE 24 hours after ICH showed a tendency toward attenuated brain edema in the low-dosage group (P=0.08). Multiple treatments with siponimod significantly improved neurological deficits measured by Garcia Score (P=0.03). Survival at day 10 was improved in mice treated with multiple dosages of siponimod (P=0.037). Mice treated with siponimod showed a reduced weight loss after ICH (P=0.036).
CONCLUSIONS—Siponimod (BAF-312) attenuated PHE after ICH, increased survival, and reduced ICH-induced sensorimotor deficits in our experimental ICH-model. Findings encourage further investigation of inflammatory modulators as well as the translation of BAF-312 to a human study of ICH patients.
Exposure to pesticides may cause adaptation not only in agricultural pests and pathogens, but also in non-target organisms. Previous studies mainly searched for adaptations in non-target organisms in ...pesticide-polluted sites. However, organisms may propagate heritable pesticide effects, such as increased tolerance, to non-exposed populations through gene flow. We examined the pesticide tolerance—as one of the pre-assumptions of local adaptation—of the freshwater crustacean
Gammarus
spp. (at genus level reflecting the gammarid community). The pesticide tolerance was quantified in acute toxicity tests using the insecticide imidacloprid. Gammarids were sampled at pesticide-polluted agricultural sites (termed agriculture), least impacted upstream sites (termed refuge) and transitional sites (termed edge) in six small streams of south-west Germany. Furthermore, we examined the population genetic structure of
Gammarus fossarum
and the energy reserves (here lipid content) of
G. fossarum
as well as of
Gammarus
spp. at the three site types (i.e. agriculture, edge and refuge). We found significantly lower imidacloprid tolerance of
Gammarus
spp. from agricultural sites compared to edge and refuge sites, potentially due to higher environmental stress at agricultural sites, as indicated by a slightly lower lipid content per mg gammarid tissue. We found no differences in pesticide tolerance between edge and refuge populations, indicating no propagation of pesticide effects to edges. The genetic structure among
G. fossarum
populations showed significant differentiation between streams, but not within a stream across the site types. We suggest that high gene flow within each stream hindered population differentiation and resulted in similar (pre)adaptations to local stress levels between site types, although they exhibited different pesticide pollution. Further studies on target genes (e.g., conferring pesticide tolerance), population structure and fitness of different phenotypes in particular among non-target organisms are required for adjacent pristine ecosystems to detect potential propagations of pesticide effects.
The pathogenesis of ocular adnexal marginal zone lymphomas of mucosa-associated lymphatic tissue-type (OAML) is not fully understood. We performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) and/or whole exome ...sequencing (WES) for 13 cases of OAML and sequenced 38 genes selected from this analysis in a large cohort of 82 OAML. Besides confirmation of frequent mutations in the genes transducin beta like 1 X-linked receptor 1 (
) and cAMP response element binding protein (
), we newly identifed
as a frequently mutated gene in OAML (11% of cases). In our retrospective cohort,
mutant cases had a shorter progression-free survival compared with unmutated cases. Other newly identified genes recurrently mutated in 5-10% of cases included members of the collagen family (collagen type XII alpha 1/2 (
,
)) and
. Evaluation of the WGS data of six OAML did not reveal translocations or a current infection of the lymphoma cells by viruses. Evaluation of the WGS data for copy number aberrations confirmed frequent loss of
, and revealed recurrent gains of the NOTCH target
, and of members of the CEBP transcription factor family. Overall, we identified several novel genes recurrently affected by point mutations or copy number alterations, but our study also indicated that the landscape of frequently (>10% of cases) mutated protein-coding genes in OAML is now largely known.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Temporal and spatial characteristics of sensory inputs are fundamental to multisensory integration because they provide probabilistic information as to whether or not multiple sensory inputs belong ...to the same event. The multisensory temporal binding window defines the time range within which two stimuli of different sensory modalities are merged into one percept and has been shown to depend on training. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the role of the training procedure for improving multisensory temporal discrimination and to test for a possible transfer of training to other multisensory tasks. Participants were trained over five sessions in a two-alternative forced-choice simultaneity judgment task. The task difficulty of each trial was either at each participant's threshold (adaptive group) or randomly chosen (control group). A possible transfer of improved multisensory temporal discrimination on multisensory binding was tested with a redundant signal paradigm in which the temporal alignment of auditory and visual stimuli was systematically varied. Moreover, the size of the spatial audio-visual ventriloquist effect was assessed. Adaptive training resulted in faster improvements compared to the control condition. Transfer effects were found for both tasks: The processing speed of auditory inputs and the size of the ventriloquist effect increased in the adaptive group following the training. We suggest that the relative precision of the temporal and spatial features of a cross-modal stimulus is weighted during multisensory integration. Thus, changes in the precision of temporal processing are expected to enhance the likelihood of multisensory integration for temporally aligned cross-modal stimuli.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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