Egg shape and color mediate acceptance thresholds in diverse avian host species with different rates of antiparasitic egg rejection.

Eggshell recognition in parental birds is vital for nest management, defense against brood parasitism, optimal embryonic development, and minimizing disease and predation risks. This process relies on acceptance thresholds balancing the risk of rejecting own eggs against the benefit of excluding foreign ones, following signal detection theory. We investigated the role of object shape in egg rejection decisions among three host species of the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater), each with a varying known response to parasitic eggs.

Semiautomated measures of foveal immaturity from handheld swept-source optical coherence tomography are associated with retinopathy of prematurity severity.

Background/aims: Handheld swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) was previously used to measure foveal maturity through semiautomated methods in awake premature infants. This study assesses the relationship between foveal maturity and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) severity.

Methods: This is a prospective, observational study using handheld SS-OCT imaging of premature infants undergoing ROP screening.

Fungal Footprints: Soil Fungal Communities in Black Walnut and Red Oak Forests.

Soil fungal communities are critical for forest ecosystem functions in the Central Hardwood Region (CHR) of the USA. This evaluation, which took place in 2022-2023, investigates the influence of (BW, black walnut) and (NRO, Northern red oak) on soil properties and fungal community structures across three CHR sites. The objectives of this study are to investigate how the fungal communities identified beneath and serve to influence biodiversity and soil health within hardwood plantations.

Multiscale Modeling of Nanoparticle Precipitation in Oxide Dispersion-Strengthened Steels Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion.

Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) enables the efficient production of near-net-shape oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) alloys, which possess superior mechanical properties due to oxide nanoparticles (e.g., yttrium oxide, Y-O, and yttrium-titanium oxide, Y-Ti-O) embedded in the alloy matrix.