Find research datasets worth reusing

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Worker survival and egg production depending on the diet

Aging is associated with diverse molecular processes such as oxidative damage, a decrease in immunocompetence, or an increase in epigenetic abnormalities, mutations, and inflammations. Many of these processes are linked to nutrient-sensing signaling pathways, suggesting that diet plays a critical role in the aging process. In fact, the protein content in the diet can affect both longevity and fecundity, but often in opposite directions. In many solitary organisms, protein-rich diets dramatically shorten lifespan but increase egg production. We used the ant Temnothorax rugatulus to investigate the effect of the protein-to-carbohydrate ratio in the diet on the survival and fecundity of fertile workers. We fed colonies either a moderately high-carbohydrate or high-protein diet (1:2 and 2:1 respectively) and monitored worker survival and egg production over nine weeks. The protein-rich diet did not alter the ability of workers to lay eggs, but reduced worker survival, suggesting that consuming large amounts of protein may shorten the lifespan in fertile ant workers without promoting reproduction. Our study shows for the first time that a protein-rich diet reduces the overall fitness of fertile workers.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Correlation between fine root traits and pathogen richness depends on plant mycorrhizal types

Root uptake strategies are associated with the strength of negative plant–soil feedback induced (PSF) induced by soil pathogens. Given the intensified effect of pathogen richness in fine roots on the strength of negative PSF through the synergistic effects of multiple pathogens, researchers have proposed a trade-off between nutrient acquisition and pathogen defence in roots. However, empirical evidence is lacking. In addition, because the interaction between pathogens and fine roots depends on the mycorrhizal types of tree species, both fine root traits and mycorrhizal types should be incorporated to reveal covariation in pathogen richness and the strength of negative PSF. In this study, we selected 50 arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) tree species and 7 ectomycorrhizal (ECM) tree species in a subtropical forest to investigate the relationships between fine root traits and pathogen richness in fine roots and determined whether their relationships depended on plant mycorrhizal types. Our results showed that pathogen richness was negatively correlated with fine root diameter but was positively correlated with specific root length for the AM-associated species, while for the ECM-associated species, the pathogen richness was only found to have a significant negative relationship with the relative abundance of ECM fungi. These findings highlight the difference between AM- and ECM-associated species in pathogen defence and bridge the gap between root traits and pathogen richness, which is significant for improving our understanding of the potential factors mediating the strength of PSF and thus maintaining tree species diversity.

opencc-zeroDec 2021View details →

Reciprocal bark exchange helps to disentangle tree species dependent bark and wood trait effects on invertebrate diversity

1. Previous studies showed that bark cover at early-decay stage had profound control on the invertebrate assemblages of bark and wood, with possible consequence for the decomposition process. However, previous experimental designs could not disentangle how bark versus wood traits affect the invertebrate assemblage process in bark and/or wood separately because wood traits of different tree species may vary independently from bark traits. Furthermore, we do not know whether such tree species specific bark trait effects are still influential at mid-decay stage. 2. To unravel whether and how bark and wood traits influence invertebrate communities in tree logs at mid-decay stage, we introduce reciprocal bark transplantation within pairs of different tree species as a new method. We applied this method to two pairs of phylogenetically contrasting species of gymnosperms (pair I: Araucaria araucana and Cryptomeria japonica, pair II: Picea abies and Thuja plicata) and another gymnosperm (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana) set as disturbance control to test for potential bark manipulation artefacts on invertebrate community composition. 3. Our bark exchange experiment revealed that both bark and wood host abundant and divergent subsets of invertebrates on mid-decay logs of different tree species. We further documented that the invertebrate community composition was predominantly shaped by the traits of host tissue per se, while also being significantly but less strongly affected by the traits of the other tissue, i.e. the adjacent bark or wood. Our results indicated that bark trait effects faded with time and how long bark trait effects persist greatly depends on bark thickness. 4. Synthesis. Our study suggests that maintaining deadwood heterogeneity related to variation between tree species, and to bark versus wood, is important for nursing a large biodiversity of invertebrates. Combined with bark removal methodology, our bark exchange method can be further extended to more decay stages and more forest biomes to track bark trait effects and bark induced priority effects on deadwood decomposition, and its associated invertebrate and microbial communities.

opencc-zeroOct 2022View details →

Data and code for: Social phenotype-dependent selection of social environment in wild great and blue tits: An experimental study

There is growing evidence that individuals actively assess the match between their phenotype and their environment when making habitat choice decisions (so-called matching habitat choice). However, to our knowledge, no studies have considered how the social environment may interact with social phenotype in determining habitat choice, despite habitat choice being an inherently social process and growing evidence for individual variation in sociability. We conducted an experiment using wild great and blue tits to understand how birds integrate their social phenotype and social environment when choosing where and how to feed. We used programmable feeders to (i) record social interactions and estimate social phenotype and (ii) experimentally manipulate the local density experienced by birds of differing social phenotype. By tracking feeder usage, we estimated how social environment and social phenotype predicted feeder choice and feeding behaviour. Both social environment and social phenotype predicted feeder usage, but a bird's decision to remain in a particular social environment did not depend on their social phenotype. In contrast, for feeding behaviour, responses to the social environment depended on social phenotype. Our results provide rare evidence of matching habitat choice and shed light on the dependence of habitat choice on between-individual differences in social phenotype.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2017View details →

Polarization measurements of DOC-dependent IpaB-IpaD interactions

The binding affinity between each of the engineered IpaD alanine mutants and the stable IpaB28-226 construct was measured using fluorescence polarization. Here, the DOC effect on binding affinity between IpaB and the engineered IpaD π-helix mutants was quantified by holding IpaB28-226-Alexa568 concentration constant while the concentration of IpaD or engineered IpaD mutant was titrated from 0-10 μM with identical conditions then tested in the presence of 1 mM DOC.

opencc-by-nc-sa-4.0Dec 2017View details →

Replication Package for "An Empirical Comparison of Dependency Network Evolution in Seven Software Packaging Ecosystems"

This is the replication package for the article "An Empirical Comparison of Dependency Network Evolution in Seven Software Packaging Ecosystems" published in the Empirical Software Engineering journal. This package requires Python 3.5 and all the dependencies that are listed in "requirements.txt". The notebooks (in "notebooks" folder) should be opened and executed with Jupyter. The notebooks require the graphs (in "graphs" folder) to be computed first. To do so, execute "helpers.py" with Python. The graphs are built using the data provided by https://libraries.io under CC BY-SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Those data can be found in the "data" folder.

opencc-zeroApr 2024View details →

Data from: Oral exposure to benzalkonium chlorides in male and female mice reveals sex-dependent alteration of the gut microbiome and bile acid profile

Benzalkonium chlorides (BACs) are commonly used disinfectants in a variety of consumer and food-processing settings, and the COVID-19 pandemic has led to increased usage of BACs. The prevalence of BACs raises the concern that BAC exposure could disrupt the gastrointestinal microbiota, thus interfering with the beneficial functions of the microbes. We hypothesize that BAC exposure can alter the gut microbiome diversity and composition, which will disrupt bile acid homeostasis along the gut-liver axis. In this study, male and female mice were exposed orally to d7-C12- and d7-C16-BACs at 120 µg/g/day for one week. UPLC-MS/MS analysis of liver, blood, and fecal samples of BAC-treated mice demonstrated the absorption and metabolism of BACs. Both parent BACs and their metabolites were detected in all exposed samples. Additionally, 16S rRNA sequencing was carried out on the bacterial DNA isolated from the cecum intestinal content. For female mice, and to a lesser extent in males, we found that treatment with either d7-C12- or d7-C16-BAC led to decreased alpha diversity and differential composition of gut bacteria with notably decreased actinobacteria phylum. Lastly, through a targeted bile acid quantitation analysis, we observed decreases in secondary bile acids in BAC-treated mice, which was more pronounced in the female mice. This finding is supported by decreases in bacteria known to metabolize primary bile acids into secondary bile acids, such as the families of Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae. Together, these data signify the potential impact of BACs on human health through disturbance of the gut microbiome and gut-liver interactions.

Data from: Extinction selectivity obscures patterns of trait-dependent endangerment in Columbiformes

Understanding how extinction has occurred in the recent past is crucial to unravel its main drivers as well as to implement effective conservation practices to minimize global biodiversity loss. It has long been hypothesized that extinction risk is not randomly distributed among traits of species. However, the actual traits making species more prone to extinction may have been overlooked because already extinct species are often not considered in comparative analyses of extinction risk. We characterized the drivers of extinction in a cosmopolitan bird clade, including Holocene and contemporary extinctions potentially related to human impacts, and provided evidence of an 'extinction selectivity' in species traits. We constructed a new phylogenetic hypothesis of the Columbiformes, a cosmopolitan bird clade consisting of 33 recently extinct and 351 extant species. Then, we integrated data on geography, behaviour, and morphology to reveal the drivers of extinction risk. We used phylogenetic generalized least square models to test the effect of geography, behaviour, and morphology on the risk of extinction and identified differences in the drivers of extinction when including vs. excluding recently extinct species. Our analysis revealed that Columbiformes endemic from islands with ground-foraging habits, weak flying abilities, migratory behaviour, and larger body sizes are more vulnerable to extinction. Our results also show that excluding recently extinct species identifies extinction drivers differently from those when including recently extinct species. Only by accurately identifying the traits that increase extinction risk can we develop targeted conservation measures that promote the long-term persistence of threatened species. Extinction selectivity has important implications for the conservation of biological communities and ultimately ecosystem functioning, considering the critical role Columbiformes often play as seed dispersers.

Mass-redshift dependency of Supermassive Black Hole Binaries for the Gravitational Wave Background

These show the posterior distributions as supplementary material for arXiv:2305.18293 and doi:10.1093/mnras/stae1219 The corner plots for the complete 20 parameters with amplitudes hc = 0.5e-15, 1e-15, 2e-15, 3e-15, and 4e-15 for both circular and eccentric population of SMBHBs are presented in the 'free_parameters' folder. The corner plots for the 16 parameters with amplitudes hc = 0.5e-15, 2e-15, and 4e-15 for both circular and eccentric population of SMBHBs using the fitted BH-bulge mass parameters from the simulations can be found in the 'simulation_parameters' folder. The posterior distributions are shown as black contours, while the prior distributions are denoted by light green lines. The top right inlay figure shows the median and central 2sigma range of the recovered characteristic spectrum, where the 5 points denote the frequency bins of 1/(25years), 2/(25years), 3/(25years), 4/(25years) and 5/(25years), which are used as the input data for the Bayesian analysis. To guide the eye the analytic sensitivity curve from the IPTA DR2 is also plotted.

opencc-by-4.0Mar 2024View details →

Protein sialylation affects the pH-dependent binding of ferric ion to human serum transferrin - experimental data

Experimental data for a paper entitled Protein sialylation affects the pH-dependent binding of ferric ion to human serum transferrin (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/D4DT01311E">https://doi.org/10.1039/D4DT01311E</a>).   Separate files are provided with the following information:   1. Experimental data: a) "Fluorescence + IFE corrections" worksheet contains the fluorescence data used for the subsequent calculations. Fluorescence values were measured in triplicate the Tecan Spark M10 multimode microplate reader using multiple z-positions (distance from the lens to the bottom of the microplate well) and baseline correction.  Fluorescence was corrected for the inner filter effect and normalized as described in the Supplementary Information (citation data will be updated pending publication). Additional information on the z-position inner filter effect correction method (ZINFE) can be found here: <a title="DOI URL" href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01031" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.2c01031</a>. b) "Absorbance spectra" worksheet contains the averaged absorbance spectra and absorbance spectra of each replicated measurement.   2. Titrations The dependence of the measured fluorescence on the concentration of added FeNTA was modelled according to the binding polynomial for two iron binding sites (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0076-6879(08)04205-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0076-6879(08)04205-5</a>). The results for all titrations are provided as separate files with 4 worksheets each: titration data, calculation of the free iron according to the binding polynomial (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ay01261a" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1039/d3ay01261a</a>), the least squares calculation of the fluorescence according to the binding polynomial for each data point using the solver routine in Excel, and the “jackknife” procedure for estimating the uncertainties of the titration parameters (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/ed075p119" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1021/ed075p119</a>).  Separate files are provided for the determination of the active protein fraction and the fluorescence signal corresponding to the complete saturation of the binding sites.   3. Results and sensitivity analyses: Local sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the impact of concentration fluctuations on the uncertainties associated with the results. Concentrations were adjusted to both higher (H) and lower (L) estimates, based on adding or subtracting one standard deviation from the average concentrations, creating four scenarios: LL, LH, HL, HH. The results for all titrations are provided as separate files with 5 worksheets each: the results obtained directly from titration data and the results obtained by all 4 scenarios. Standard deviations of the obtained titration parameters were adjusted using this expanded set.   4. All data used for tables and plots in the manuscript, including statistical analyses and miscellaneous data: a) "Tables" worksheet contains all tables in the manuscript and the Supplementary Information (citation data will be updated pending publication), b) "fsp" worksheet contains the data on the pH-dependence of the site preference factor, fsp (<a href="https://doi.org/10.1042/bj1930717" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1042/bj1930717</a>), c) "ΔΔrG" worksheet contains all ΔΔrG values reported in the manuscript, d) "Error propagation" contains the error propagation calculations for all values reported in the manuscript.

Data and scripts (2) for Storkey et al, "Resolution dependence of interlinked Southern Ocean biases in global coupled HadGEM3 models", GMD (2024)

================================================================  Data and scripts for producing plots from Storkey et al (2024):  "Resolution dependence of interlinked Southern Ocean biases in  global coupled HadGEM3 models"  ================================================================ The plots in the paper consist of 10-year mean fields from the third  decade of the spin up and timeseries of scalar quantities for the first 150 years of the spin up. The data to produce these plots are stored in the MEANS_YEARS_21-30 and TIMESERIES_DATA directories respectively. Note that due to the size limit on records on Zenodo, the 10-year mean  output from the N216-ORCA12 integration has been stored as a separate record. Scripts to produce the plots are in SCRIPT, with section definitions in SECTIONS. Bespoke plotting scripts are included in SCRIPT. They use python 3 including the Matplotlib, Iris and Cartopy packages. The  plotting of the timeseries data used the Marine_Val VALSO-VALTRANS  package which is available here:  https://github.com/JMMP-Group/MARINE_VAL/tree/main/VALSO-VALTRANS  Much of the processing of the model output data was performed with the CDFTools package, which is available here:  https://github.com/meom-group/CDFTOOLS and the NCO package:  https://web.mit.edu/course/13/13.715/nco-2.8.1/doc/

Fertility decline in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes is associated with reduced maternal transcript deposition and does not depend on female age

Female mosquitoes undergo multiple rounds of reproduction known as gonotrophic cycles. A gonotrophic cycle spans the period from blood meal intake to egg laying. Nutrients from vertebrate host blood are necessary for completing egg development. During oogenesis, a female pre-packages mRNA into her oocytes, and these maternal transcripts drive the first two hours of embryonic development before zygotic genome activation. In this study, we profiled transcriptional changes in 1-2 hour-old Aedes aegypti embryos across two gonotrophic cycles. We found that homeotic genes which are regulators of embryogenesis are downregulated in embryos from the second gonotrophic cycle. Interestingly, embryos produced by Ae. aegypti females progressively reduced their ability to hatch as the number of gonotrophic cycles increased. We show that this fertility decline is due to increased reproductive output and not the mosquitoes' age. Moreover, we found a similar decline in fertility and fecundity across three gonotrophic cycles in Ae. albopictus. Our results are useful for predicting mosquito population dynamics to inform vector control efforts.

Data from: Phase-dependent red fox expansion into the tundra: Implications for management

Expansion of boreal species into tundra ecosystems is a consequence of climate change and human exploitation that threatens local species through increased predation, competition, and pathogen transmission. Under these circumstances, efficient control of expanding boreal species may be necessary, but the efficiency of such action depends on understanding the ecological influences of expansion. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is expanding into the tundra across the Arctic. In Scandinavia, red foxes threaten local tundra species and communities including the endangered Arctic fox (V. lagopus). The ecological dynamics in the tundra are influenced by small rodent cycles (classified into different phases based on seasonal abundance fluctuations), which can affect red fox expansion, distribution, and abundance. We used a 17-year (2004–2020) dataset from the tundra in Sweden, consisting of raw snow track data, to test how cyclic prey influenced red fox distribution and abundance, and subsequently red fox control. The winter abundance of red fox was influenced by small rodent phase, with higher abundance during high prey availability (i.e., increased number of prey numbers) with no support for a time lag between red fox and small rodent abundance. This suggests that high prey availability attracts red foxes to the tundra and that higher immigration from the boreal zone can be expected in response to increased prey abundances. There was no relationship between red fox control and small rodent availability, but control was influenced by red fox abundance during the previous year, which highlights an opportunistic control strategy. We recommend an adaptive management strategy where authorities include small rodent dynamics in the planning and execution of red fox control.

Dynamin-dependent entry of Chlamydia trachomatis is sequentially regulated by the effectors TarP and TmeA

Chlamydia invasion of epithelial cells is a pathogen-driven process involving two functionally distinct effectors – TarP and TmeA. They collaborate to promote robust actin dynamics at sites of entry. Here, we extend studies on the molecular mechanism of invasion by implicating the host GTPase dynamin 2 (Dyn2) in the completion of pathogen uptake. Importantly, Dyn2 function is modulated by TarP and TmeA at the levels of recruitment and activation through oligomerization, respectively. TarP-dependent recruitment requires phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and the small GTPase Rac1, while TmeA has a post-recruitment role related to Dyn2 oligomerization. This is based on the rescue of invasion duration and efficiency in the absence of TmeA by the Dyn2 oligomer-stabilizing small molecule activator Ryngo 1-23. Notably, Dyn2 also regulated the turnover of TarP- and TmeA-associated actin networks, with disrupted Dyn2 function resulting in aberrant turnover dynamics, thus establishing the interdependent functional relationship between Dyn2 and the effectors TarP and TmeA.

Data from: Frequency-dependent tolerance to aircraft disturbance drastically alters predicted impact on shorebirds

This data package includes data and R script belonging to the publication "Frequency-dependent tolerance to aircraft disturbance drastically alters predicted impact on shorebirds" by van der Kolk et al. (2024) in Ecology Letters. The script analysis_figures_vanderKolketal2024.R can be used to reproduce all analysis and figures in the manuscript. The Figures are stored in the Output folder. The data folder includes an excel file with metadata explaining all columns in the csv files.

Dataset for "Spreading rate dependent anisotropy and thermal structure of the oceanic plate"

This is the dataset for "Spreading rate dependent anisotropy and thermal structure of the oceanic plate" by M. Morishige.

Wavenumber-dependent dynamic light scattering optical coherence tomography measurements of collective and self-diffusion

This repository contains raw data and analysis routines of the publication “Wavenumber-dependent dynamic light scattering optical coherence tomography measurements of collective and self-diffusion” in Optics Express (doi.org/10.1364/OE.521702). The reader is free to use the scripts and data in this depository if the manuscript is correctly cited in their work. For further questions, feel free to contact the corresponding author. Python 3.11 was used for programming. Kindly note that simulating autocorrelation functions from extensive time series data, especially with a high repetition rate, can be time-consuming, often requiring more than 20-30 minutes. Despite parallelized processing routines for the measurement data, the full analysis may still take up to an hour. Please restart the kernel and run the code again if the parallelization fails. Also, keep in mind the significant RAM usage. We've conducted measurements using both a custom-built OCT system and the Thorlabs OCT system. The custom setup specifically focused on measuring diffusion in concentrated suspensions, while the Thorlabs OCT system was used to analyze both concentrated and dilute suspensions. To analyze the data from the custom setup, we require an additional dark measurement file. Conversely, analyzing the Thorlabs measurements necessitates a chirp interpolation file. All filenames, whether for raw data or analysis files, are sufficiently descriptive. Files obtained with the Thorlabs OCT system are easily identifiable as they contain “Thorlabs” in their names. To conduct the analysis of Thorlabs measurements, it's essential to have information regarding the time series length (number of A-scans), the number of repeats (B-scans), and the acquisition rate. The results are plotted at the end of our analysis routines, with the parameters displayed as a function of depth or wavenumber. Raw measurement files and analysis routines are described below. <div> <table> <tbody> <tr> <td> Name </td> <td> Description </td> <td> Parameters </td> </tr> <tr> <td> 10050, 10 us.mat </td> <td> Interference intensity from the custom setup for the concentrated Kostrosöl 10050 sample. </td> <td> Na=8192, Nb=20, 4.5 kHz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> CS50-28, 10 us.mat </td> <td> Interference intensity from the custom setup for the concentrated Levasil CS50-28 sample. </td> <td> Na=8192, Nb=20, 4.5 kHz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Mix, 10 us.mat </td> <td> Interference intensity from the custom setup for the concentrated mixed sample. </td> <td> Na=8192, Nb=20, 4.5 kHz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Dark, 10 us.mat </td> <td> Background interference intensity from a custom setup. </td> <td> Na=2048, Nb=5, 4.5 kHz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Concentrated 8050, Thorlabs.oct </td> <td> Interference intensity from the Thorlabs OCT for the concentrated Kostrosöl 8050 sample. </td> <td> Na=65536, Nb=10, 36 Khz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Concentrated 9550, Thorlabs.oct </td> <td> Interference intensity from the Thorlabs OCT for the concentrated Kostrosöl 9550 sample. </td> <td> Na=65536, Nb=10, 36 Khz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Concentrated mix, Thorlabs.oct </td> <td> Interference intensity from the Thorlabs OCT for the concentrated mixed sample. </td> <td> Na=65536, Nb=10, 36 Khz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Dilute 8050, Thorlabs.oct </td> <td> Interference intensity from the Thorlabs OCT for the dilute Kostrosöl 8050 sample. </td> <td> Na=32768, Nb=20, 36 Khz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Dilute 9550, Thorlabs.oct </td> <td> Interference intensity from the Thorlabs OCT for the dilute Kostrosöl 9550 sample. </td> <td> Na=32768, Nb=20, 36 Khz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Dilute mix, Thorlabs.oct </td> <td> Interference intensity from the Thorlabs OCT for the dilute mixed sample. </td> <td> Na=32768, Nb=20, 36 Khz </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Chirp.data </td> <td> File containing k-interpolation data for the Thorlabs OCT measurements. </td> <td>   </td> </tr> <tr> <td> ReadOCTFile.py </td> <td> Written by Jos de Wit, this module reads and imports spectra from raw Thorlabs OCT files. </td> <td>   </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Data_processing.py </td> <td> This module contains all analysis functions. </td> <td>   </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Custom_concentrated.py </td> <td> The script is for analyzing raw concentrated measurement files from the custom setup. </td> <td>   </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Thorlabs_concentrated.py </td> <td> The script is for analyzing raw concentrated measurement files from the Thorlabs setup. </td> <td>   </td> </tr> <tr> <td> Thorlabs_dilute.py </td> <td> The script is for running analysis of raw dilute measurement files from the Thorlabs setup. </td> <td>   </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> </div>

opencc-by-nc-nd-4.0May 2024View details →

Modeling of Speech-dependent Own Voice Transfer Characteristics for Hearables with In-ear Microphones: Audio Examples

This upload contains audio examples for the preprint "Modeling of Speech-dependent Own Voice Transfer Characteristics for Hearables with In-ear Microphones". The audio files correspond to subplots of the spectrogram shown in the default preview, starting from the upper left corner (subplot 0) to the upper right corner (subplot 1) and so on. <h2>Abstract</h2> Many hearables contain an in-ear microphone, which may be used to capture the own voice of its user. However, due to the hearable occluding the ear canal, the in-ear microphone mostly records body-conducted speech, typically suffering from band-limitation effects and amplification at low frequencies. Since the occlusion effect is determined by the ratio between the air-conducted and body-conducted components of own voice, the own voice transfer characteristics between the outer face of the hearable and the in-ear microphone depend on the speech content and the individual talker. In this paper, we propose a speech-dependent model of the own voice transfer characteristics based on phoneme recognition, assuming a linear time-invariant relative transfer function for each phoneme. We consider both individual models as well as models averaged over several talkers. Experimental results based on recordings with a prototype hearable show that the proposed speech-dependent model enables to simulate in-ear signals more accurately than a speech-independent model in terms of technical measures, especially under utterance mismatch and talker mismatch. Additionally, simulation results show that talker-averaged models generalize better to different talkers than individual models.   The examples are also available here: <a href="https://m-ohlenbusch.github.io/own_voice_modeling_examples/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://m-ohlenbusch.github.io/own_voice_modeling_examples/</a> Arxiv preprint: <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06554">https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06554</a>

Pollination dependency and deficit in three almond varieties from Morocco

The contribution of insects to pollination constitutes a globally important ecosystem service. Due to the increasing demand for entomophilous crops, the nutritional and economic importance of insect-pollinated crops and the inability of managed pollinators (Apis mellifera L) to meet the high demand for their services indicate that agriculture heavily relies on wild pollinators. Almonds are an economically valuable crop in Morocco. Therefore, it is essential to understand the fundamental pollination requirements of major almond varieties to promote their production. The main objectives of this study were to assess the dependency of three almond cultivars (Espoir, Largueta and Planeta) on insect pollination, and then to evaluate the pollination deficit resulting from the lack of these pollinators. For this purpose, we used insect-proof net bags constructed around branches of almond trees to compare fruit set and yield with open and open + hand-pollinated flowers. The results of the fruit set experiment confirmed that all three varieties require insect pollination, as fruit set and yield were significantly higher in insect-pollinated than insect-isolated trees. All three almond varieties were categorized as obligatory dependent on biotic pollinators. In addition, two out of the three studied almond varieties showed high pollination deficit resulting from the lower abundance and/or diversity of pollinating insects. Results of the current study highlights the important role of insect pollinators for almond crops and the urgent need for the implementation of sustainable strategies to preserve pollinators within agricultural ecosystems.