Group Size Research Articles

Cross-border mobility in the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion: impact of COVID-19 border restrictions on everyday activities and visiting social network members.

Cross-border mobility (CBM) to visit social network members or for everyday activities is an important part of daily life for citizens in border regions, including the Meuse-Rhine Euroregion (EMR: neighboring regions from the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany). We assessed changes in CBM during the COVID-19 pandemic and how participants experienced border restrictions. Impact of COVID-19 on the EMR' is a longitudinal study using comparative cross-border data collection. In 2021, a random sample of the EMR-population was invited for participation in online surveys to assess current and pre-pandemic CBM. Changes in CBM, experience of border restrictions, and associated factors were analyzed using multinomial and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Pre-pandemic, 82% of all 3,543 participants reported any CBM: 31% for social contacts and 79% for everyday activities. Among these, 26% decreased social CBM and 35% decreased CBM for everyday activities by autumn 2021. Negative experience of border restrictions was reported by 45% of participants with pre-pandemic CBM, and was higher (p < 0.05) in Dutch participants (compared to Belgian; aOR= 1.4), cross-border [work] commuters (aOR= 2.2), participants with cross-border social networks of friends, family or acquaintances (aOR= 1.3), and those finding the measures 'limit group size' (aOR= 1.5) and 'minimalize travel' (aOR= 2.0) difficult to adhere to and finding 'minimalize travel' (aOR= 1.6) useless. CBM for social contacts and everyday activities was substantial in EMR-citizens, but decreased during the pandemic. Border restrictions were valued as negative by a considerable portion of EMR-citizens, especially when having family or friends across the border. When designing future pandemic control strategies, policy makers should account for the negative impact of CBM restrictions on their citizens.

Estimating the Individual Treatment Effect with Different Treatment Group Sizes

Estimating the Individual Treatment Effect with Different Treatment Group Sizes

Understanding Multi-user, Handheld Mixed Reality for Group-based MR Games

Research has identified applications of handheld-based VR, which utilizes handheld displays or mobile devices, for developing systems that involve users in mixed reality (MR) without the need for head-worn displays (HWDs). Such systems can potentially accommodate large groups of users participating in MR. However, we lack an understanding of how group sizes and interaction methods affect the user experience. In this paper, we aim to advance our understanding of handheld-based MR in the context of multiplayer, co-located games. We conducted a study (N = 38) to understand how user experiences vary by group size (2, 4, and 8) and interaction method (proximity-based or pointing-based). For our experiment, we implemented a multiuser experience for up to ten users. We found that proximity-based interaction that encouraged dynamic movement positively affected social presence and physical/temporal workload. In bigger group settings, participants felt less challenged and less positive. Individuals had varying preferences for group size and interaction type. The findings of the study will advance our understanding of the design space for handheld-based MR in terms of group sizes and interaction schemes. To make our contributions explicit, we conclude our paper with design implications that can inform user experience design in handheld-based mixed reality contexts.

Comparison of Adult Female and Male PMHS Pelvis and Lumbar Response to Underbody Blast

&lt;div class="section abstract"&gt;&lt;div class="htmlview paragraph"&gt;The goal of this study was to gather and compare kinematic response and injury data on both female and male whole-body Post-mortem Human Surrogates (PMHS) responses to Underbody Blast (UBB) loading. Midsized males (50th percentile, MM) have historically been most used in biomechanical testing and were the focus of the Warrior Injury Assessment Manikin (WIAMan) program, thus this population subgroup was selected to be the baseline for female comparison. Both small female (5th percentile, SF) and large female (75th percentile, LF) PMHS were included in the test series to attempt to discern whether differences between male and female responses were predominantly driven by sex or size. Eleven tests, using 20 whole-body PMHS, were conducted by the research team. Preparation of the rig and execution of the tests took place at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG) in Aberdeen, MD. Two PMHS were used in each test. The Accelerative Loading Fixture (ALF) version 2, located at APG’s Bear Point range was used for all male and female whole-body tests in this series. The ALF was an outdoor test rig that was driven by a buried explosive charge, to accelerate a platform holding two symmetrically mounted seats. The platform was designed as a large, rigid frame with a deformable center section that could be tuned to simulate the floor deformation of a vehicle during a UBB event. PMHS were restrained with a 5-point harness, common in military vehicle seats. Six-degree-of-freedom motion blocks were fixed to L3, the sacrum, and the left and right iliac wings. A three-degree-of freedom block was fixed to T12. Strain gages were placed on L4 and multiple locations on the pelvis. Accelerometers on the floor and seat of the ALF provided input data for each PMHS’ feet and pelvis. Time histories and mean peak responses in z-axis acceleration were similar among the three PMHS groups in this body region. Injury outcomes were different and seemed to be influenced by both sex and size contributions. Small females incurred pelvis injuries in absence of lumbar injures. Midsized males had lumbar vertebral body fractures without pelvis injuries. And large females with injuries had both pelvis and lumbar VB fractures. This study provides evidence supporting the need for female biomechanical testing to generate female response and injury thresholds. Without the inclusion of female PMHS, the differences in the injury patterns between the small female and midsized male groups would not have been recognized. Standard scaling methods assume equivalent injury patterns between the experimental and scaled data. In this study, small female damage occurred in a different anatomical structure than for the midsized males. This is an important discovery for the development of anthropomorphic test devices, injury criteria, and injury mitigating technologies. The clear separation of small female damage results, in combination with seat speeds, suggest that the small female pelvis injury threshold in UBB events lies between 4 – 5 m/s seat speed. No inference can be made about the small female lumbar threshold, other than it is likely at higher speeds and/or over longer duration. Male lumbar spine damage occurred in both the higher- and lower lower-rate tests, indicating the injury threshold would be below the seat pulses tested in these experiments. Large females exhibited injury patterns that reflected both the small female and midsized male groups – with damaged PMHS having fractures in both pelvis and lumbar, and in both higher- and lower- rate tests. The difference in damage patterns between the sex and size groups should be considered in the development of injury mitigation strategies to protect across the full population.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

A flexible theory for the dynamics of social populations: Within‐group density dependence and between‐group processes

AbstractDespite the importance of population structures throughout ecology, relatively little theoretical attention has been paid to understanding the implications of social groups for population dynamics. The dynamics of socially structured populations differ substantially from those of unstructured or metapopulation‐structured populations, because social groups themselves may split, fuse, and compete. These “between‐group processes” remain understudied as drivers of the dynamics of socially structured populations. Here, we explore the role of various between‐group processes in the dynamics of socially structured populations. To do so, we analyze a model that includes births, deaths, migration, fissions, fusions, and between‐group competition and flexibly allows for density dependence in each process. Both logistic growth and an Allee effect are considered for within‐group density dependence. We show that the effect of various between‐group processes is mediated by their influence on the stable distribution of group sizes, with the ultimate impact on the population determined by the interaction between within‐group density dependence and the process's effect on the group size distribution. Between‐group interactions that change the number of groups can lead to both negative and positive density dependence at the global population level (even if birth and death rates depend only on group size and not population size). We conclude with a series of case studies that illustrates different ways that age, sex, and class structure impact the dynamics of social populations. These case studies demonstrate the importance of group‐formation mechanisms, the cost of having excess males in a group, and the potential drawbacks of generating too many reproductive individuals. In sum, our results make clear the importance of within‐group density dependence, between‐group dynamics, and the interactions between them for the population dynamics of social species and provide a flexible framework for modeling social populations.

Urban public transport system accessibility for different groups of residents: Case of Bratislava city

The main goal of the article is to characterize the functioning of the Urban Public Transport System (UPTS) in the capital city of the Slovak Republic (Bratislava) during different time periods (morning rush, evening, night, average working day, and weekend − Sunday) and express its accessibility for various groups of city residents (low-income households, unemployed individuals, seniors (age 60+), children (age 0–14), women (for comparison, men as well). To achieve this goal, we combined datasets of UPTS in Bratislava with the pedestrian communication network and identified an effective service area for which we subsequently determined the sizes of the respective population groups of residents. Finally, we verified the functionality of the entire UPTS model by measuring the accessibility of the selected destination, Ružinov Hospital. Our results could be summarized as follows: The functioning of UPTS is very similar during the morning rush, evening, average working day (Monday to Friday), and weekend − Sunday. During these time periods, approximately the same main lines operate, and there is a higher utilization of the same transfer points. The difference lies mainly in the frequency of departures of specific lines. During the night, the system operates based on different lines compared to the daytime, with transfers possible only at one central point/corridor. This fact also affects the usability and accessibility of UPTS, reflected in the accessibility of Ružinov Hospital, which is very limited during the night-time period. However, the accessibility of the hospital by UPTS is higher for the unemployed residents, low-income individuals, and children than the overall residents average, which is also reflected in the distribution of women. A negative aspect is that UPTS is less accessible for seniors. It must be said that this fact varies significantly in the heterogeneous spatial layout of the city. This was confirmed in our measurement of the accessibility to Ružinov Hospital, where seniors have roughly the same level of accessibility as the overall residents average.

Indoor Air Remediation Using Biochar from Bark: Impact of Particle Size and Pollutant Concentration

The growing emphasis on indoor air quality and public health is fuelling the need for efficient yet affordable air purification techniques. In this study, the influence of biochar particle size on its adsorption efficiency toward airborne pollutants was examined. Bark-derived biochar particles were treated by grinding or ball milling, and then, seven samples with different particle size groups were separated. Biochar particles were characterized by particle size, proximate, SEM, XRD, and physisorption analyses. For adsorption efficiency, two different pollutants were tested at variable initial concentrations. The physical composition and XRD patterns of the biochar with different particle sizes were comparable. The ball-milled sample was an exception in that it had higher ash content and additional XRD peaks signifying contamination of the sample. The porosity of biochar was greater in smaller particles. Ball milling increased the specific surface area and total pore volume by 102% and 48%, respectively. Biochar with finer particle size exhibited the highest adsorption potential towards formaldehyde and methanol among other samples. It should be emphasized that simple mechanical grinding is preferred for reducing biochar size to avoid the risk of eventual contamination, greater energy consumption, and slower processing related to ball milling. When a low concentration of pollutant was tested (1 ppm formaldehyde), the effect of particle size on the adsorption efficiency was more noticeable. However, the effect of particle size was less dominant when higher concentrations of pollutants were tested. Smaller biochar particles (&lt;100 μm) are more favourable for indoor air remediation given their superior adsorption efficiency of volatile organic compounds occurring at low concentrations in the buildings.

Research on the grouped orthonormalization method in ghost imaging

Ghost imaging (GI) has found application across diverse fields owing to its distinctive benefits. When employing the rotating ground-glass scheme and utilizing second-order correlation for image reconstruction, the efficiency of imaging is hindered by the multiple sampling of reference patterns. To address this, the orthonormalization method has been employed to enhance image quality and reduce the required number of measurements. Despite its effectiveness, the original orthonormalization method is prone to accumulating imaging noise and errors as the number of measurements increases, leading to a significant degradation in image quality. To overcome this limitation, this paper introduces the grouped orthonormalization method (GO-GI) as an extension of the orthonormalization technique. By adjusting the ‘group size’, this method enables control over the accumulation of errors, resulting in an improvement in image quality. The evaluation of image quality in terms of Contrast-to-Noise demonstrates the significant advantages of the GO-GI method in both simulation and experimental results. This study establishes the GO-GI method as a simple yet practical approach in the realm of GI.

Prediction of lymph node metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid cancer based on radiomics analysis and intraoperative frozen section analysis: A retrospective study.

To evaluate the diagnostic efficiency among the clinical model, the radiomics model and the nomogram that combined radiomics features, frozen section (FS) analysis and clinical characteristics for the prediction of lymph node (LN) metastasis in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). A total of 208 patients were randomly divided into two groups randomly with a proportion of 7:3 for the training groups (n = 146) and the validation groups (n = 62). The Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression was used for the selection of radiomics features extracted from ultrasound (US) images. Univariate and multivariate logistic analyses were used to select predictors associated with the status of LN. The clinical model, radiomics model and nomogram were subsequently established by logistic regression machine learning. The area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity were used to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the different models. The Delong test was used to compare the AUC of the three models. Multivariate analysis indicated that age, size group, Adler grade, ACR score and the psammoma body group were independent predictors of lymph node metastasis (LNM). The results showed that in both the training and validation groups, the nomogram showed better performance than the clinical model, albeit not statistically significant (p > .05), and significantly outperformed the radiomics model (p < .05). However, the nomogram exhibits a slight improvement in sensitivity that could reduce the incidence of false negatives. We propose that the nomogram holds substantial promise as an effective tool for predicting LNM in patients with PTC.

Yeast-Derived Carbon Dot/Cuprous Oxide Composite Electrochemical Sensor for Paracetamol

A novel yeast-derived carbon dot/cuprous oxide nanocomposite (Y-CDs/Cu2O) electrochemical sensor was developed for paracetamol. The Y-CDs were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal treatment and composited with Cu2O nanoparticles via ultrasonication assembly. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were conducted to characterize the morphology and structure of the synthesized nanomaterials systematically. After modification onto a glassy carbon electrode, the resulting sensor displayed excellent electrochemical performances toward paracetamol with a wide linear range (0.5–100 μM), low limit of detection (LOD, 90 nM), good repeatability, and stability (retaining 94% of initial response after 4 weeks). Remarkably, the electrochemical sensor presented good selectivity against potentially coexisting species. Satisfactory results were obtained for the analysis of commercial pharmaceutical tablets and human serum. The attractive sensitivity could be ascribed to the ultra-small size and surface-abundant functional groups of Y-CDs as well as the superior electroconductivity of Cu2O. Thus, the synergistic effect illustrates the Y-CD-Cu2O hybrid structure is promising for constructing high-performance electrochemical sensors.

Understanding into interfacial properties and reactivity of COFs toward accelerating Menshutkin SN2 reaction

Given the poor understanding about the effects of confined polar microenvironment on interfacial behaviors of Menshutkin SN2 reaction, herein, the interfacial properties and reactivities between 1-methylimidazole and methyl thiocyanate reaction induced by interfacial polar microenvironments of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with varying pore size and functional groups were investigated using in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, molecular dynamics simulations, and metadynamics calculations. The decreased nanopore size of COFs from 3.2 to 1.2 nm can enlarge reaction rates (k) and reduce activation energy barriers (ΔE*). The hydroxyl-modified COF (2.8 nm) can further cause larger k and lower ΔE* by 6.1 and 0.8 kJ/mol compared to the bulk and smaller pore-size COF (1.2 nm) system, respectively, mainly originating from induced higher aggregation, preferred orientation, and the stabilization of charge separation of transition state. This work provides a systematic understanding for the confined interfacial properties toward accelerating the Menshutkin reaction.

Dynamics of fishery and distribution of aggregations for saffron cod Eleginus gracilis (Tilesius) at northern Kuril Islands

The fishery on winter-spring accumulations of saffron cod in the area of northern Kuril Islands has a long history with varying intensity, though this species is not abundant both in the Pacific and Okhotsk Sea waters of this area. The annual catch ranged from 1.8 to 167.4 t in 2003–2022, on average 40.8 t/yr. The fish with length of 24–56 cm were presented in commercial catches of Danish seine, with prevalence of the 36–48 cm size group. The average length of saffron cod in the catches was changed from 35.4 cm in summer to 43.2 cm in winter that coincided with the fishing depth increasing in winter. The main commercial concentrations of the species had formed between the islands of Paramushir and Shumshu and in the area of the First Kuril Strait.

Efficient computation of Top-k G-Skyline groups on large-scale database

The G-Skyline query aims to return the best groups that are not g-dominated by any other group of equal size; this approach plays an important role in many fields, such as multiobjective decision-making. The top-k G-Skyline query has important implications since the output size of the G-Skyline query is often too large to make decisions. Due to the massive number of candidate groups and the high index construction consumption, the existing top-k G-Skyline algorithms cannot handle large-scale databases well. In this paper, an efficient algorithm is proposed called the TGPE (Top-kG-Skyline algorithm based on Presorting and Enumeration) to rapidly compute the top-k G-Skyline groups for large-scale databases. TGPE proposes an efficient scanning method based on a presorted table to obtain tuples making up G-Skyline groups and their dominant relationships. TGPE does not need to repeatedly reconstruct the index for different skyline criteria. Three computational lemmas are presented based on sorting information and monotonicity, and they are utilized to reduce the number of candidate groups to obtain results rapidly. Finally, extensive experiments on synthetic and real datasets verify that TGPE has significant performance advantages over those of the existing algorithms.

Collective Intelligence Increases Diagnostic Accuracy in a General Practice Setting.

General practitioners (GPs) work in an ill-defined environment where diagnostic errors are prevalent. Previous research indicates that aggregating independent diagnoses can improve diagnostic accuracy in a range of settings. We examined whether aggregating independent diagnoses can also improve diagnostic accuracy for GP decision making. In addition, we investigated the potential benefit of such an approach in combination with a decision support system (DSS). We simulated virtual groups using data sets from 2 previously published studies. In study 1, 260 GPs independently diagnosed 9 patient cases in a vignette-based study. In study 2, 30 GPs independently diagnosed 12 patient actors in a patient-facing study. In both data sets, GPs provided diagnoses in a control condition and/or DSS condition(s). Each GP's diagnosis, confidence rating, and years of experience were entered into a computer simulation. Virtual groups of varying sizes (range: 3-9) were created, and different collective intelligence rules (plurality, confidence, and seniority) were applied to determine each group's final diagnosis. Diagnostic accuracy was used as the performance measure. Aggregating independent diagnoses by weighing them equally (i.e., the plurality rule) substantially outperformed average individual accuracy, and this effect increased with increasing group size. Selecting diagnoses based on confidence only led to marginal improvements, while selecting based on seniority reduced accuracy. Combining the plurality rule with a DSS further boosted performance. Combining independent diagnoses may substantially improve a GP's diagnostic accuracy and subsequent patient outcomes. This approach did, however, not improve accuracy in all patient cases. Therefore, future work should focus on uncovering the conditions under which collective intelligence is most beneficial in general practice. We examined whether aggregating independent diagnoses of GPs can improve diagnostic accuracy.Using data sets of 2 previously published studies, we composed virtual groups of GPs and combined their independent diagnoses using 3 collective intelligence rules (plurality, confidence, and seniority).Aggregating independent diagnoses by weighing them equally substantially outperformed average individual GP accuracy, and this effect increased with increasing group size.Combining independent diagnoses may substantially improve GP's diagnostic accuracy and subsequent patient outcomes.

Control of false discoveries in grouped hypothesis testing for eQTL data

BackgroundExpression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) analysis aims to detect the genetic variants that influence the expression of one or more genes. Gene-level eQTL testing forms a natural grouped-hypothesis testing strategy with clear biological importance. Methods to control family-wise error rate or false discovery rate for group testing have been proposed earlier, but may not be powerful or easily apply to eQTL data, for which certain structured alternatives may be defensible and may enable the researcher to avoid overly conservative approaches.ResultsIn an empirical Bayesian setting, we propose a new method to control the false discovery rate (FDR) for grouped hypotheses. Here, each gene forms a group, with SNPs annotated to the gene corresponding to individual hypotheses. The heterogeneity of effect sizes in different groups is considered by the introduction of a random effects component. Our method, entitled Random Effects model and testing procedure for Group-level FDR control (REG-FDR), assumes a model for alternative hypotheses for the eQTL data and controls the FDR by adaptive thresholding. As a convenient alternate approach, we also propose Z-REG-FDR, an approximate version of REG-FDR, that uses only Z-statistics of association between genotype and expression for each gene-SNP pair. The performance of Z-REG-FDR is evaluated using both simulated and real data. Simulations demonstrate that Z-REG-FDR performs similarly to REG-FDR, but with much improved computational speed.ConclusionOur results demonstrate that the Z-REG-FDR method performs favorably compared to other methods in terms of statistical power and control of FDR. It can be of great practical use for grouped hypothesis testing for eQTL analysis or similar problems in statistical genomics due to its fast computation and ability to be fit using only summary data.

Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Circulating DNA Fragments in Glioblastoma Multiforme Patients.

Novel blood-circulating molecules, as potential biomarkers for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) diagnosis and monitoring, are attracting particular attention due to limitations of imaging modalities and invasive tissue biopsy procedures. This study aims to assess the diagnostic and prognostic values of circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) in relation to inflammatory status in GBM patients and to determine the concentration and average size of DNA fragments typical of tumour-derived DNA fractions. Preoperative plasma samples from 40 patients (GBM 65.0 ± 11.3 years) and 40 healthy controls (HC 70.4 ± 5.4 years) were compared. The cfDNA concentrations and lengths were measured using the electrophoresis platform, and inflammatory indices (NLR, PLR, LMR, and SII) were calculated from complete blood cell analysis. More fragmented cfDNA and 4-fold higher 50-700 bp cfDNA concentrations were detected in GBM patients than in healthy controls. The average cfDNA size in the GBM group was significantly longer (median 336 bp) than in the HC group (median 271 bp). Optimal threshold values were 1265 pg/μL for 50-700 bp cfDNA (AUC = 0.857) and 290 bp for average cfDNA size (AUC = 0.814). A Kaplan-Meier survival curves analysis also demonstrated a higher mortality risk in the GBM group with a cut-off >303 bp cfDNA. This study is the first to have revealed glioblastoma association with high levels of cfDNA > 1000 pg/μL of 50-700 bp in length, which can be aggravated by immunoinflammatory reactivity.

Tanner crab at southwestern Kamchatka: fishing, stock condition and specifics of the assessment

Results of the current stage of research on tanner crab at the southwestern coast of Kamchatka, harvested in the Kamchatka-Kuril fishing subzone are presented. The stock dynamics since 2001 is analyzed, with special attention to its assessing and forecasting. Features of the crab biology associated with terminal molting are described. The algorithm for separation of the tanner crab recruits into morphometrically mature and immature males is developed that allows to calculate probability for a particular size group of morphometrically immature males to undergo the terminal molt and join to the commercial stock. This algorithm is applied for the data collected at southwestern Kamchatka since 2010. Two peaks in total male abundance of tanner crab were observed in 2005–2006 and 2020–2022. Landing of this species was banned in the Kamchatka-Kuril fishing subzone in 2019–2020, as the result of the local population abundance drop in the previous two years, but was resumed in 2021 after its full restoration. Possible reasons for underestimation of the crab recruitment are discussed, related both with features of the species biology and methodological problems. The population in the Kamchatka-Kuril fishing subzone is currently the most abundant for tanner crab, and this stock in 2020–2022 has reached the historical peak. The fishing of tanner crab in the last three years is distinguished by high catches and high rate of the total allowable catch (TAC) utilization.

Toward institutional transformation: warming the chilly climate for women in STEM through macrostructural change

IntroductionAlthough the demand for graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) credentials continues to climb, women remain underrepresented as both students and faculty in STEM higher education. Compounding social forces can hinder organizational change for gender equity in STEM, constraining institutions and individuals within them. This study advances macrostructural theory to examine the impact of gender composition (including group size and heterogeneity) of women faculty on structural change, as measured by gender desegregation of STEM degree earners. We advance this theory by incorporating faculty rank, rather than treating group composition as a static category.MethodThis study draws on a federal repository of data to assess institutional change in the share of STEM women faculty in the U.S. We employ quasi-experimental methods to explore the following research questions: (1) does hiring more women onto an institution’s faculty roster shrink the gender gap among STEM degree earners? and (2) does segregation of faculty by gender within institutions shape the gender gap among STEM degree earners?FindingsWhile institutional efforts herald their efforts of hiring more women faculty, our findings indicate that gender desegregation of STEM degree earners partially depends on the promotion of women faculty to tenure.DiscussionImplications for theory, policy, and practice are discussed, with a focus on institutional-level change.

Sexual Selection And Species Recognition Promote Complex Male Courtship Displays In Ungulates

Abstract Identifying the evolutionary drivers of sexual signal complexity is a key challenge in the study of animal communication. Among mammals, male bovids and cervids often perform elaborate gestural displays during courtship, consisting of ritualized movements of various parts of the body but the causes underlying interspecific variation in complexity of such displays remain poorly understood. Here we apply the comparative method to investigate which factors may have either promoted or constrained gestural repertoire size. We found that sexual selection was a strong predictor of gestural display complexity in male bovids and cervids. Repertoire size was positively correlated with breeding group size, an indicator of the intensity of sexual selection on males. Moreover, repertoires were larger in species adopting non-territorial and lek breeding mating systems than in species adopting resource-defence territoriality, a finding that can be explained by more emphasis on direct benefits than indirect benefits in resource-defence systems, where male mating success may also be less skewed due to difficulty in monopolising mates. The results also indicate that gestural repertoire size was positively correlated with the number of closely-related species occurring in sympatry. This is consistent with display complexity being selected to facilitate species recognition during courtship and thereby avoid interspecific hybridization. At the same time, repertoire size was negatively associated with male body mass, possibly due to the energetic and mechanical constraints imposed on movements in very large species. By contrast, we found no evidence that the habitat drives selection for complex gestural courtship displays.

Single-cell profiling reveals transcriptome dynamics during bovine oocyte growth

BackgroundMammalian follicle development is characterized by extensive changes in morphology, endocrine responsiveness, and function, providing the optimum environment for oocyte growth, development, and resumption of meiosis. In cattle, the first signs of transcription activation in the oocyte are observed in the secondary follicle, later than during mouse and human oogenesis. While many studies have generated extensive datasets characterizing gene expression in bovine oocytes, they are mostly limited to the analysis of fully grown and matured oocytes. The aim of the present study was to apply single-cell RNA sequencing to interrogate the transcriptome of the growing bovine oocyte from the secondary follicle stage through to the mid-antral follicle stage.ResultsSingle-cell RNA-seq libraries were generated from oocytes of known diameters (< 60 to > 120 μm), and datasets were binned into non-overlapping size groups for downstream analysis. Combining the results of weighted gene co-expression network and Trendy analyses, and differently expressed genes (DEGs) between size groups, we identified a decrease in oxidative phosphorylation and an increase in maternal -genes and transcription regulators across the bovine oocyte growth phase. In addition, around 5,000 genes did not change in expression, revealing a cohort of stable genes. An interesting switch in gene expression profile was noted in oocytes greater than 100 μm in diameter, when the expression of genes related to cytoplasmic activities was replaced by genes related to nuclear activities (e.g., chromosome segregation). The highest number of DEGs were detected in the comparison of oocytes 100–109 versus 110–119 μm in diameter, revealing a profound change in the molecular profile of oocytes at the end of their growth phase.ConclusionsThe current study provides a unique dataset of the key genes and pathways characteristic of each stage of oocyte development, contributing an important resource for a greater understanding of bovine oogenesis.