Search results for "STICS"
showing 10 items of 21128 documents
Fossorial but widespread: the phylogeography of the common spadefoot toad (Pelobates fuscus), and the role of the Po Valley as a major source of gene…
2007
International audience; Pelobates fuscus is a fossorial amphibian that inhabits much of the European plain areas. To unveil traces of expansion and contraction events of the species' range, we sequenced 702 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. To infer the population history we applied phylogeographical methods, such as nested clade phylogeographical analysis (NCPA), and used summary statistics to analyse population structure under a neutral model of evolution. Populations were assigned to different drainage systems and we tested hypotheses of explicit refugial models using information from analysis of molecular variance, nucleotide diversity, effective population size estimation, NCP…
Fishery-dependent and -independent data lead to consistent estimations of essential habitats
2016
AbstractSpecies mapping is an essential tool for conservation programmes as it provides clear pictures of the distribution of marine resources. However, in fishery ecology, the amount of objective scientific information is limited and data may not always be directly comparable. Information about the distribution of marine species can be derived from two main sources: fishery-independent data (scientific surveys at sea) and fishery-dependent data (collection and sampling by observers in commercial vessels). The aim of this paper is to compare whether these two different sources produce similar, complementary, or different results. We compare them in the specific context of identifying the Es…
OMICfpp: a fuzzy approach for paired RNA-Seq counts
2019
© The Author(s) 2019.
Acoustic communication in crocodilians: from behaviour to brain.
2009
Crocodilians and birds are the modern representatives of Phylum Archosauria. Although there have been recent advances in our understanding of the phylogeny and ecology of ancient archosaurs like dinosaurs, it still remains a challenge to obtain reliable information about their behaviour. The comparative study of birds and crocodiles represents one approach to this interesting problem. One of their shared behavioural features is the use of acoustic communication, especially in the context of parental care. Although considerable data are available for birds, information concerning crocodilians is limited. The aim of this review is to summarize current knowledge about acoustic communication in…
Comment on “Global distribution of earthworm diversity”
2021
Phillips et al . (Reports, 25 October 2019, p. 480) incorrectly conclude that tropical earthworm communities are less diverse and abundant than temperate communities. This result is an artifact generated by some low-quality datasets, lower sampling intensity in the tropics, different patterns in richness-area relationships, the occurrence of invasive species in managed soils, and a focus on local rather than regional richness.
Chemical–Physical, sensory analyses and consumers’ quality perception of local vs. imported loquat fruits: a sustainable development perspective
2020
Local products and their distribution through short supply chains play a key role in the sustainable development of many rural areas, as affirmed by the 2030 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Agenda. Moreover, in the last years, more and more consumers have shown a specific interest towards local production, pushed by the need for healthy eating, protecting the environment, and boosting the local economy. However, the cultivation of local fruit varieties or ecotypes has considerably decreased in the last decades because of their low production potential. As a result, many farmers have been forced to replace local orchards with few worldwide grown cultivars, causi…
How to reach optimal estimates of confidence intervals in microscopic counting of phytoplankton?
2021
Abstract Present practices in the microscopic counting of phytoplankton to estimate the reliability of results rely on the assumption of a random distribution of taxa in sample preparations. In contrast to that and in agreement with the literature, we show that aggregated distribution is common and can lead to over-optimistic confidence intervals, if estimated according to the shortcut procedure of Lund et al. based on the number of counted cells. We found a good linear correlation between the distribution independent confidence intervals for medians and those for parametric statistics so that 95% confidence intervals can be approximated by using a correction factor of 1.4. Instead, the rec…
Colour and luminance contrasts predict the human detection of natural stimuli in complex visual environments.
2017
Much of what we know about human colour perception has come from psychophysical studies conducted in tightly-controlled laboratory settings. An enduring challenge, however, lies in extrapolating this knowledge to the noisy conditions that characterize our actual visual experience. Here we combine statistical models of visual perception with empirical data to explore how chromatic (hue/saturation) and achromatic (luminant) information underpins the detection and classification of stimuli in a complex forest environment. The data best support a simple linear model of stimulus detection as an additive function of both luminance and saturation contrast. The strength of each predictor is modest …
5G IoT system for real-time psycho-acoustic soundscape monitoring in smart cities
2020
In Next-Generation Technologies, the monitoring of environmental noise nuisance in the Smart City should be as efficient as possible. 5G IoT systems offer a great opportunity to offload the node calculation, as they provide a number of new concepts for dynamic computing that previous technologies did not offer. In this case, a complete 5G IoT system for psycho-acoustic monitoring has been implemented using different options to offload the calculation of the parameters to different parts of the system. This offloading has been implemented by directly computing the metrics in the node (as a Raspberry Pi), and in a ESP32 device (FiPy) and by sampling the audio and sending it to the EDGE in the…
Teachers’ intention to use educational video games: The moderating role of gender and age
2018
Educational video games represent an educational change that challenges teachers and managers of Higher Education institutions in several ways including their attitude formation and behavioural intention. Using a Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) approach a research model is developed to predict teachers’ behavioural intention to use educational video games in their courses. The research model is tested via structural equation modelling (SEM) on a sample of 312 Higher Education teachers. Main results suggest that perceived usefulness influences in a direct and positive way teachers’ behavioural intention while perceived ease of use indirectly influences intention through perceived usefulnes…