Development and validation of machine-learning models for monitoring individual behaviors in group-housed broiler chickens.

Animals' individual behavior is commonly monitored by live or video observation by a person. This can be labor intensive and inconsistent. An alternative is the use of machine learning-based computer vision systems.

Dissecting the temporal genetic networks programming soybean embryo development from embryonic morphogenesis to post-germination.

Desiccation-stage transcription factors perform similar functions, with early ones focused on desiccation tolerance and later ones on development. Gene networks governing late embryo development diverge between soybean and Arabidopsis. To understand gene activities programming seed embryo development, we profiled the soybean embryo transcriptome across embryonic morphogenesis through post-germination.

A regulatory network controlling developmental boundaries and meristem fates contributed to maize domestication.

During domestication, early farmers selected different vegetative and reproductive traits, but identifying the causative loci has been hampered by their epistasis and functional redundancy. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing combined with genome-wide association analysis, we uncovered a developmental regulator that controls both types of trait while acting upstream of multiple domestication loci. tasselsheath4 (tsh4) is a new maize domestication gene that establishes developmental boundaries and specifies meristem fates despite not being expressed within them.

Characterization of human lightness discrimination thresholds for independent spectral variations.

The lightness of an object is an intrinsic property that depends on its surface reflectance spectrum. The visual system estimates an object's lightness from the light reflected off its surface. However, the reflected light also depends on object extrinsic properties of the scene, such as the light source.

Micro-Nanoparticle Characterization: Establishing Underpinnings for Proper Identification and Nanotechnology-Enabled Remediation.

Microplastics (MPLs) and nanoplastics (NPLs) are smaller particles derived from larger plastic material, polymerization, or refuse. In context to environmental health, they are separated into the industrially-created "primary" category or the degradation derivative "secondary" category where the particles exhibit different physiochemical characteristics that attenuate their toxicities. However, some particle types are more well documented in terms of their fate in the environment and potential toxicological effects (secondary) versus their industrial fabrication and chemical characterization (primary).

Health Risks of Asphalt Emission: State-of-the-Art Advances and Research Gaps.

Asphalt-related emissions pose significant health risks due to the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that affect both workers in construction and the general public. Even at low concentrations, certain VOCs are highly toxic, with some of their metabolic byproducts, such as epoxides, known to cause DNA damage, oxidative stress, and other genetic alterations. The health implications are particularly concerning given that these emissions are persistent, and exposure can occur over prolonged periods, especially in urban areas where asphalt is prevalent.

Essential(ly forgotten) workers: Latine youth farmworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Essential workers across multiple industries faced a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effects were especially severe for agricultural and food processing workers, many of whom are members of the structurally vulnerable Latine community. Under current U.

Frequencies of house fly proto-Y chromosomes across populations are predicted by temperature heterogeneity within populations.

Sex chromosomes often differ between closely related species and can even be polymorphic within populations. Species with multifactorial sex determination segregate for multiple different sex determining loci within populations, making them uniquely informative of the selection pressures that drive the evolution of sex chromosomes. The house fly (Musca domestica) is a model species for studying multifactorial sex determination because male determining genes have been identified on all six of the chromosomes, which means that any chromosome can be a "proto-Y".

Lethal disruption of the bacterial gut community in Eastern subterranean termite caused by boric acid.

The Eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) (Blattodea: Rhinotermitidae), is a significant pest, causing extensive damage to structures that amount to substantial economic losses. Boric acid is widely used for wood preservation due to its stability and broad-spectrum insecticidal properties, yet its impact on termite gut microbiomes and the implications of such effects remain understudied. Our study evaluates the dose-dependent mortality of R.

Bed bugs, Cimex lectularius: Undercover agents in forensic investigations.

Insects have long played a role in forensic investigations and can be used to estimate minimum time since death, corpse translocation, and link an individual to a crime scene. Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are wingless ectoparasitic insects of potential forensic utility, given that all mobile life stages feed on vertebrate blood. Successful profiling of autosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) from human DNA isolated from bed bugs has been previously reported.

EthoCRED: a framework to guide reporting and evaluation of the relevance and reliability of behavioural ecotoxicity studies.

Behavioural analysis has been attracting significant attention as a broad indicator of sub-lethal toxicity and has secured a place as an important subdiscipline in ecotoxicology. Among the most notable characteristics of behavioural research, compared to other established approaches in sub-lethal ecotoxicology (e.g.

Evaluation of transplant drench and foliar insecticide applications for wireworm (Coleoptera: Elateridae) management in sweetpotato.

The revocation of chlorpyrifos tolerances in 2022 left sweetpotato growers without their most important tool to combat a complex of soil-borne root pests that includes wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae). Since then, growers have reported increased root damage despite a rapid pivot to pyrethroid-based management systems to replace mechanically incorporated preplant chlorpyrifos broadcast sprays. Our goal was to evaluate the efficacy of alternative insecticide chemistries and application methods to expand the portfolio of management options for wireworms, specifically Conoderus spp.

Methodology to enable high-throughput imaging of Arabidopsis seedlings on cover glass-bottom multiwell plates.

High-throughput imaging enables rapid collection of large datasets and is used widely in many systems. However, this is not often used in plant-based systems due to issues related to the need to mount tissues and autofluorescence of plant metabolites. We therefore developed methodology enabling high-throughput imaging of Arabidopsis roots.

Effects of dietary Lactobacillus postbiotics and bacitracin on the modulation of mucosa-associated microbiota and pattern recognition receptors affecting immunocompetence of jejunal mucosa in pigs challenged with enterotoxigenic F18 Escherichia coli.

Background: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a threat to humans and animals that causes intestinal disorders. Antimicrobial resistance has urged alternatives, including Lactobacillus postbiotics, to mitigate the effects of enterotoxigenic E.

School Meal Charge Policies Lack Consistency.

This report discusses school meal charge policies nationwide, with an in-depth look at the contents of these policies in North Carolina. The US Department of Agriculture requires school districts to have policies related to unpaid school meal charges; however, there are no specific requirements for what must be included in these policies. School meal charge policies vary across North Carolina and the US.

Evaluation of flood metrics across the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin and their relation to flood damages.

Societal risks from flooding are evident at a range of spatial scales and climate change will exacerbate these risks in the future. Assessing flood risks across broad geographical regions is a challenge, and often done using streamflow time-series records or hydrologic models. In this study, we used a national-scale hydrological model to identify, assess, and map 16 different streamflow metrics that could be used to describe flood risks across 34,987 HUC12 subwatersheds within the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB).

The Global Dam Watch database of river barrier and reservoir information for large-scale applications.

There are millions of river barriers worldwide, ranging from wooden locks to concrete dams, many of which form associated impoundments to store water in small ponds or large reservoirs. Besides their benefits, there is growing recognition of important environmental and social trade-offs related to these artificial structures. However, global datasets describing their characteristics and geographical distribution are often biased towards particular regions or specific applications, such as hydropower dams affecting fish migration, and are thus not globally consistent.