Benign Environment Research Articles

Literature Review on Media Ethics

Being the embodiment of the professional ethics of journalists, media ethics plays a vital role in maintaining the authenticity and objectivity of news, protecting the public’s right to be informed and of participation, and enhancing the credibility of news media. In contemporary times, the emphasis on media ethics is not only of incredible significance to fulfill the needs of its sustainable development, but also provides an important guarantee for maintaining social public interests and promoting social stability and harmony. In this context, this paper aims at helping researchers clarify the status quo of relevant researches, main viewpoints put forward already, controversial focus and unresolved problems through literature review from different aspects, including the development of media ethics and the connotation and significance so as to determine the positioning of researches, avoid duplication of work, and find research gaps and breakthroughs. At the same time, it is intended to enhance mutual understanding and cooperation among the academic community by presenting research results and academic viewpoints to build up a benign environment for media ethics and news transmission in the new era.

Can recent evolutionary history promote resilience to environmental change?

Principles of social evolution have long been used retrospectively to interpret social interactions, but have less commonly been applied predictively to inform conservation and animal husbandry strategies. We investigate whether differences in developmental environment, facilitated by divergent social conditions, can predict resilience to environmental change. Upon exposure to harsh novel environments, populations that previously experienced more benign social environments are predicted either to suffer fitness losses (the "mutation load hypothesis" and "selection filter hypothesis") or maintain fitness (the "beneficial mutation hypothesis"). We tested these contrasting predictions using populations of burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides we had evolved experimentally for 45 generations under contrasting social environments by manipulating the supply of post-hatching parental care. We exposed sexually immature adults from each population to varying heat stress and measured the effect on survival and reproduction. The greater the level of parental care previously experienced by a population, the better its survival under heat stress during sexual maturation. Although this is consistent with the "beneficial mutation hypothesis," it is also possible that populations that had evolved without post-hatching care were simply more prone to dying during maturation, regardless of their thermal environment. Overall, we suggest that stochastic genetic variation, probably due to founder effects, had a stronger influence on resilience. We discuss the implications for translocation and captive breeding programs.

Cd‐Free High‐Bandgap Cu2ZnSnS4 Solar Cell with 10.7% Certified Efficiency Enabled by Engineering Sn‐Related Defects

AbstractCd‐free high‐bandgap Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) solar cells are expected to offer green and low‐cost solutions to single‐junction and tandem photovoltaic markets. Despite attracting considerable attention in past years, reported certified efficiency has yet to exceed the 10% threshold. Sn‐related defects, especially those originating from Sn2+ oxidation states, lead to severe recombination loss and limit device performance. Here, the formation of these detrimental defects is suppressed by creating a more benign chemical environment during sulfurization annealing. With dominant Sn4+ states in the source material and the precursor, the oxidation state of Sn remains primarily in its native Sn4+ state during annealing and in the final film. Engineering the Sn‐related defects leads to shallower tail states in bulk CZTS and fewer interfacial defects. As a result, both radiative and non‐radiative recombination losses are alleviated, contributing to a certified 10.7% efficiency of the Cd‐free high‐bandgap CZTS solar cell. This strategy may advance various kesterite materials and other technologies with multivalent constituents.

Sensitive Information Detection Based on Deep Learning Models

Currently, a large number of pornographic images on the Internet severely affect the growth of adolescents. In order to create a healthy and benign online environment, it is necessary to recognize and detect these sensitive images. Current techniques for detecting pornographic content are still in an immature stage, with the key issue being low detection accuracy. To address this problem, this paper proposes a method for detecting pornographic content based on an improved YOLOv8 model. Firstly, InceptionNeXt is introduced into the backbone network to enhance the model’s adaptability to images of different scales and complexities by optimizing feature extraction through parallel branches and deep convolution. Simultaneously, the SPPF module is simplified into the SimCSPSPPF module, which further enhances the effectiveness and diversity of features through improved spatial pyramid pooling and cross-layer feature fusion. Secondly, switchable dilated convolutions are incorporated to improve the adaptability of the C2f enhancement model and enhance the model’s detection capability. Finally, SEAattention is introduced to enhance the model’s ability to capture spatial details. The experiments demonstrate that the model achieves an mAP@0.5 of 79.7% on our self-made sensitive image dataset, which is a significant improvement of 5.9% compared to the previous YOLOv8n network. The proposed method excels in handling complex backgrounds, targets of varying scales, and resource-constrained scenarios, while simultaneously improving the model’s computational efficiency without compromising detection accuracy, making it more advantageous for practical applications.

Benign water quality and phytoplankton status during the operation of Guishan offshore wind farm in the Pearl River Estuary, China

Wind power is a clean and renewable source of energy that plays a crucial role in the global effort to combat climate change. Yet, the effects of offshore wind farms on the marine environment remain poorly understood and there is a lack of field data analysis in this area. This study aims to address these gaps by conducting a year-long examination of water quality and phytoplankton communities around the Guishan offshore wind farm (GS-OWF) in the Lingdingyang Bay, Pearl River Estuary, China. The analysis of water quality indicators reveals repelling effect on algae dispersion but no significant contamination resulting from the running of the wind farm over the course of one year. These indicators encompassed various parameters, such as water depth (4.1 − 17.4 m), salinity (16.9 – 28.4 ‰), pH (7.41 – 8.35), temperature (20.5 − 31.2 °C), transparency (⁓ 1.5 m), dissolved oxygen (⁓ 7.5 mg L−1), chemical oxygen demand (⁓ 0.81 mg L−1), chlorophyll-a (14.7 − 0.139 μg L−1), petroleum (0 – 0.0527 mg L−1), and various heavy metals. The cell composition (4 phyla, 158 species, dominated by Bacillariophyta) and density (3 – 1809 cells m−3) demonstrate a healthy phytoplankton community. These results indicate a benign estuary environment after the construction of GS-OWF. This study provides valuable insights into the environmental effects of offshore wind farms, principles for site selection, and the integration of aquaculture convergence with offshore wind farms.

A topological data analysis approach for detecting data poisoning attacks against machine learning based network intrusion detection systems

Data poisoning attacks pose a significant security risk to network security software that utilizes machine learning (ML) for network intrusion detection. As network traffic continues to surge, ML becomes indispensable in detecting and characterizing malicious actors attempting to infiltrate computer networks. However, conventional ML assumes a benign environment, leaving room for adversaries to violate this assumption during the training phase. Detecting data poisoning attacks proves to be a challenging task, as attackers employ subtle alterations in the training data to create backdoors, trojans or triggers. Traditional techniques for addressing data poisoning attacks often focus only on enhancing ML model robustness rather than detecting poisoned data, necessitating the development of novel, more effective approaches. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop new methods for identifying poisoned data, ensuring the security of ML. We introduce a novel approach that harnesses the power of topological data analysis and unsupervised learning, enabling the early identification of poisoned data before training an ML model for network intrusion detection. Leveraging our approach, the extraction of topological features and subsequent application of clustering techniques leads to the creation of new clusters exclusively composed of poisoned data for removal prior to ML model training.

Intraspecific Trait Variation Regulates Biodiversity and Community Productivity of Shrublands in Drylands

Intraspecific variation (Intra-V) has played an important role in determining the responses of ecosystem functions to climate change. However, its specific role in the regulation of ecosystem functions during community assembly is less investigated. In this study, we conducted a transect survey in northwest China and determined different plant functional types, namely resource-conservative, medium, and resource-acquisitive strategies, which describe resource-use strategies of plants in multi-functional dimensions. Plant functional traits including canopy, wood density (WD), height, specific leaf area (SLA), and leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations were determined. Ecological filters, including external filtering (assembly processes at the regional scale), internal filtering (assembly processes within a certain community), and functional redundancy, were employed to examine plant environment interactions. We found that with the decrease in environmental pressure, dominant shrub plants changed from conservative to acquisition species in drylands. Specifically, a benign environment (such as stable and adequate precipitation, loose soil, and increased acid deposition) significantly increased plant mean traits, such as SLA and WD of shrubs, especially for conservative strategy plants. In addition, a benign environment mainly reduced the functional redundancy of SLA (FRedSLA) by strengthening internal filtering and, ultimately, increased aboveground biomass but decreased species richness. Our results suggest that conservative strategy plants with stronger adaptability to the external environment may exhibit more competitive advantages and play a more important role in community construction under future climate scenarios of gradual warming and wetting in northwest China. Our results also revealed that trait-based Intra-V may be a more reasonable ecological filter than plant mean traits for predicting the structure and function of dryland ecosystems.

Is competitive ability the key adaptation to benign environments? Revisiting experiments on closely related species of tidal plants.

A central goal in biology is to understand which traits underlie adaptation to different environments. Yet, few studies have examined the relative contribution of competitive ability towards adaptive divergence among species occupying distinct environments. Here, we test the relative importance of competitive ability as an adaptation to relatively benign versus challenging environments, using previously published studies of closely related species pairs of primarily tidal plants subjected to reciprocal removal with transplant experiments in nature. Subordinate species typically occupy more challenging environments and showed consistent evidence for adaptation to challenging conditions, with no significant competitive effect on non-local, dominant species. In contrast, dominant species typically occupy relatively benign environments and performed significantly better than non-local, subordinate species that faced competition from the dominant species. Surprisingly, when the two species were not allowed to compete, the subordinate species performed as well as the dominant species in the benign environments where the subordinate species do not occur. These results suggest that competitive ability is the most important adaptation distinguishing the species that occupy relatively benign environments. The limited scope and number of suitable experimental studies encourage future work to test if these results are generalizable across taxa and environments.

Biocomposite thermoplastic polyurethanes containing evolved bacterial spores as living fillers to facilitate polymer disintegration

The field of hybrid engineered living materials seeks to pair living organisms with synthetic materials to generate biocomposite materials with augmented function since living systems can provide highly-programmable and complex behavior. Engineered living materials have typically been fabricated using techniques in benign aqueous environments, limiting their application. In this work, biocomposite fabrication is demonstrated in which spores from polymer-degrading bacteria are incorporated into a thermoplastic polyurethane using high-temperature melt extrusion. Bacteria are engineered using adaptive laboratory evolution to improve their heat tolerance to ensure nearly complete cell survivability during manufacturing at 135 °C. Furthermore, the overall tensile properties of spore-filled thermoplastic polyurethanes are substantially improved, resulting in a significant improvement in toughness. The biocomposites facilitate disintegration in compost in the absence of a microbe-rich environment. Finally, embedded spores demonstrate a rationally programmed function, expressing green fluorescent protein. This research provides a scalable method to fabricate advanced biocomposite materials in industrially-compatible processes.

Population Dynamic Consequences of Context-Dependent Trade-Offs across Life Histories.

AbstractTrade-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.

Reduced ornamentation became elaborated in benign environments in Pacific Swallows

Reduced ornamentation became elaborated in benign environments in Pacific Swallows

Immigration delays but does not prevent adaptation following environmental change: experimental evidence.

In today's rapidly changing world, it is critical to examine how animal populations will respond to severe environmental change. Following events such as pollution or deforestation that cause populations to decline, extinction will occur unless populations can adapt in response to natural selection, a process called evolutionary rescue. Theory predicts that immigration can delay extinction and provide novel genetic material that can prevent inbreeding depression and facilitate adaptation. However, when potential source populations have not experienced the new environment before (i.e., are naive), immigration can counteract selection and constrain adaptation. This study evaluated the effects of immigration of naive individuals on evolutionary rescue using the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, as a model system. Small populations were exposed to a challenging environment, and three immigration rates (zero, one, or five migrants per generation) were implemented with migrants from a benign environment. Following an initial decline in population size across all treatments, populations receiving no immigration gained a higher growth rate one generation earlier than those with immigration, illustrating the constraining effects of immigration on adaptation. After seven generations, a reciprocal transplant experiment found evidence for adaptation regardless of immigration rate. Thus, while the immigration of naive individuals briefly delayed adaptation, it did not increase extinction risk or prevent adaptation following environmental change.

Extreme environments simplify reassembly of communities of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

The ecological impacts of long-term (press) disturbance on mechanisms regulating the relative abundance (i.e., commonness or rarity) and temporal dynamics of species within a community remain largely unknown. This is particularly true for the functionally important arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi; obligate plant-root endosymbionts that colonize more than two-thirds of terrestrial plant species. Here, we use high-resolution amplicon sequencing to examine how AM fungal communities in a specific extreme ecosystem-mofettes or natural CO2 springs caused by geological CO2 exhalations-are affected by long-term stress. We found that in mofettes, specific and temporally stable communities form as a subset of the local metacommunity. These communities are less diverse and dominated by adapted, "stress tolerant" taxa. Those taxa are rare in control locations and more benign environments worldwide, but show a stable temporal pattern in the extreme sites, consistently dominating the communities in grassland mofettes. This pattern of lower diversity and high dominance of specific taxa has been confirmed as relatively stable over several sampling years and is independently observed across multiple geographic locations (mofettes in different countries). This study implies that the response of soil microbial community composition to long-term stress is relatively predictable, which can also reflect the community response to other anthropogenic stressors (e.g., heavy metal pollution or land use change). Moreover, as AM fungi are functionally differentiated, with different taxa providing different benefits to host plants, changes in community structure in response to long-term environmental change have the potential to impact terrestrial plant communities and their productivity.IMPORTANCEArbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form symbiotic relationships with more than two-thirds of plant species. In return for using plant carbon as their sole energy source, AM fungi improve plant mineral supply, water balance, and protection against pathogens. This work demonstrates the importance of long-term experiments to understand the effects of long-term environmental change and long-term disturbance on terrestrial ecosystems. We demonstrated a consistent response of the AM fungal community to a long-term stress, with lower diversity and a less variable AM fungal community over time under stress conditions compared to the surrounding controls. We have also identified, for the first time, a suite of AM fungal taxa that are consistently observed across broad geographic scales in stressed and anthropogenically heavily influenced ecosystems. This is critical because global environmental change in terrestrial ecosystems requires an integrative approach that considers both above- and below-ground changes and examines patterns over a longer geographic and temporal scale, rather than just single sampling events.

Velocity Estimation Using Time-Differenced Carrier Phase and Doppler Shift with Different Grades of Devices: From Smartphones to Professional Receivers

Velocity estimation has a key role in several applications; for instance, velocity estimation in navigation or in mobile mapping systems and GNSSs is currently a common way to achieve reliable and accurate velocity. Two approaches are mainly used to obtain velocity based on GNSS measurements, i.e., Doppler observations and carrier phases differenced in time (that is, TDCP). In a benign environment, Doppler-based velocity can be estimated accurately to within a few cm/s, while TDCP-based velocity can be estimated accurately to within a few mm/s. On the other hand, the TDCP technique is more prone to availability shortage and the presence of blunders. In this work, the two mentioned approaches are tested, using three devices of different grades: a high-grade geodetic receiver, a high-sensitivity receiver, and a GNSS chip mounted on a smartphone. The measurements of geodetic receivers are inherently cleaner, providing an accurate solution, while the remaining two receivers provide worse results. The case of smartphone GNSS chips can be particularly critical owing to the equipped antenna, which makes the measurements noisy and largely affected by blunders. The GNSSs are considered separately in order to assess the performance of the single systems. The analysis carried out in this research confirms the previous considerations about receiver grades and processing techniques. Additionally, the obtained results highlight the necessity of adopting a diagnostic approach to the measurements, such as RAIM-FDE, especially for low-grade receivers.

The competitive exclusion-tolerance rule explains habitat partitioning among co-occurring species of burying beetles.

Habitat partitioning among co-occurring, ecologically similar species is widespread in nature and thought to be an important mechanism for coexistence. The factors that cause habitat partitioning, however, are unknown for most species. We experimentally tested among three alternative hypotheses to explain habitat partitioning among two species of co-occurring burying beetle (Nicrophorus) that occupy forest (Nicrophorus orbicollis) and wetland (Nicrophorus hebes) habitats. Captive experiments revealed that the larger N. orbicollis (forest) was consistently dominant to N. hebes (wetland) in competitive interactions for carcasses that they require for reproduction. Transplant enclosure experiments in nature revealed that N. hebes had poor reproductive success whenever the dominant N. orbicollis was present. In the absence of N. orbicollis, N. hebes performed as well, or better, in forest versus its typical wetland habitat. In contrast, N. orbicollis performed poorly in wetlands regardless of the presence of N. hebes. These results support the competitive exclusion-tolerance rule where the competitively dominant N. orbicollis excludes the subordinate N. hebes from otherwise suitable or preferable forest habitat, while the subordinate N. hebes is uniquely able to tolerate the challenges of breeding in wetlands. Transplant experiments further showed that carcass burial depth-an important trait thought to enhance the competitive ability of the dominant N. orbicollis-is costly in wetland habitats. In the presence of N. hebes, N. orbicollis buried carcasses deeper; deeper burial is thought to provide a competitive advantage in forests but further compromised the reproductive success of N. orbicollis in wetlands. Overall, results provide evidence that the competitive exclusion-tolerance rule underlies habitat partitioning among ecologically similar species and that the traits important for competitive dominance in relatively benign environments are costly in more challenging environments, consistent with a trade-off.

Genetic and Phenotypic Consequences of Local Transitions between Sexual and Parthenogenetic Reproduction in the Wild.

AbstractTransitions from sexual to asexual reproduction have occurred in numerous lineages, but it remains unclear why asexual populations rarely persist. In facultatively parthenogenetic animals, all-female populations can arise when males are absent or become extinct, and such populations could help to understand the genetic and phenotypic changes that occur in the initial stages of transitions to asexuality. We investigated a naturally occurring spatial mosaic of mixed-sex and all-female populations of the facultatively parthenogenetic Australian phasmid Megacrania batesii. Analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphisms indicated multiple independent transitions between reproductive modes. All-female populations had much lower heterozygosity and allelic diversity than mixed-sex populations, but we found few consistent differences in fitness-related traits between population types. All-female populations exhibited more frequent and severe deformities in their (flight-incapable) wings but did not show higher rates of appendage loss. All-female populations also harbored more ectoparasites in swamp (but not beach) habitats. Reproductive mode explained little variation in female body size, fecundity, or egg hatch rate. Our results suggest that transitions to parthenogenetic reproduction can lead to dramatic genetic changes with little immediate effect on performance. All-female M. batesii populations appear to consist of high-fitness genotypes that might be able to thrive for many generations in relatively constant and benign environments but could be vulnerable to environmental challenges, such as increased parasite abundance.

FKBP5 activates mitophagy by ablating PPAR-γ to shape a benign remyelination environment

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that is characterized by myelin damage, followed by axonal and ultimately neuronal loss, which has been found to be associated with mitophagy. The etiology and pathology of MS remain elusive. However, the role of FK506 binding protein 5 (FKBP5, also called FKBP51), a newly identified gene associated with MS, in the progression of the disease has not been well defined. Here, we observed that the progress of myelin loss and regeneration in Fkbp5ko mice treated with demyelination for the same amount of time was significantly slower than that in wild-type mice, and that mitophagy plays an important regulatory role in this process. To investigate the mechanism, we discovered that the levels of FKBP5 protein were greatly enhanced in the CNS of cuprizone (CPZ) mice and the myelin-denuded environment stimulates significant activation of the PINK1/Parkin-mediated mitophagy, in which the important regulator, PPAR-γ, is critically regulated by FKBP5. This study reveals the role of FKBP5 in regulating a dynamic pathway of natural restorative regulation of mitophagy through PPAR-γ in pathological demyelinating settings, which may provide potential targets for the treatment of demyelinating diseases.

Ransomware Behavior on Windows Endpoint: An Analysis

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of ransomware behavior on Windows endpoints, exploring the intrusion mechanisms, proliferation methods, and the mitigating strategies that can be employed. It provides a comparative analysis of several ransomware families and their effects on Windows systems, culminating with suggestions for future research directions in enhancing endpoint security against ransomware attacks. In the wake of a rising number of ransomware attacks worldwide, epitomized by the damaging disruptions to the Colonial Pipeline and the Irish Health Service Executive, the persistent threat of ransomware to critical infrastructure has never been more apparent. While Windows endpoints remain primary targets, these attacks have also highlighted a less explored but crucial aspect of ransomware behavior: the exploitation of Application Programming Interface (API) calls integral to the Windows operating system. This comprehensive study provides an exhaustive investigation into the interplay between ransomware and Windows APIs, emphasizing the patterns of invocation and manipulative misuse by various ransomware families. By investigating specific API calls, such as the CryptEncrypt function in the Cryptography API for encryption, and the CreateFile and WriteFile functions in the File API for file system interaction, we illuminate the mechanisms by which ransomware carry out their damaging actions. Further, using the real-world examples drawn from the Colonial Pipeline and Irish Health Service Executive incidents, among others, the study shows how these API calls were manipulated during actual ransomware attacks. In these cases, ransomware like DarkSide and Conti used Windows APIs not just for the primary tasks of encryption and file system manipulation, but also for achieving network communication, maintaining persistence, and even thwarting detection. By presenting a comparative analysis of API call sequences in both benign and ransomware-infected Windows environments, this study serves as a critical exploration into the behavior of these malicious entities. The different patterns observed provide us with valuable insights into their operational strategies and offer opportunities for the development of detection heuristics. The insights derived from this research contribute significantly to our understanding of the behavior patterns of recent, high-profile ransomware attacks. In turn, this work aims to guide the evolution of more sophisticated, behavior-based detection mechanisms, thus strengthening the security posture of Windows endpoints. Ultimately, this study underscores the need for continuous research into API call patterns, as the cybersecurity landscape continues to face dynamic and increasingly sophisticated threats.

Active Reduction of Apparent Cable Capacitance.

This paper presents a method for reducing apparent cable capacitance seen by sensors. The proposed method is designed for sensing in extreme environments including ultra-high temperatures, but can be applied in benign environments as well. By reducing the cable capacitance, high speed signals can be transmitted over longer distances, allowing the application of advanced control systems that require high bandwidth data for stable operation. A triaxial cable with an associated guard circuit is developed that actively reduces cable capacitance while also rejecting extraneous electric and magnetic interference on the signal. The active capacitance reduction method developed is tested experimentally and shown to reduce apparent cable capacitance to two percent of the static value.

Surface modification of CeO2−x nanorods with Sn doping for enhanced nitrogen electroreduction

While the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) represents a prospective blueprint for environmentally renewable ammonia generation, it has yet to overcome the limitations of weak activity and inferior selectivity. In this regard, surface modification tactic was constructed to markedly enhance the activity and selectivity via introducing Sn atoms into the surface of defective cerium oxide (denoted as Sn-CeO2−x) as the active and robust electrocatalyst for NRR under benign environment. The introduction of Sn atoms in CeO2−x can not only inhibit the HER activity of the catalyst but also modulate the electronic structure of ceria and optimize N-Ce interaction, thus enhancing NRR activity and selectivity. Outperforming all previous CeO2-based NRR catalysts, this catalyst has demonstrated an ammonia yield rate of 41.1 μg mgcat−1 h−1 and an exceptional Faradic efficiency of 35.3%. This work presents a viable approach for the development of advanced NRR electrocatalysts.