In industrial applications,climbing robots are widely used for climbing and detection of rough or smooth pipe surfaces.Inspired by the special claws of longicorn is that can crawl on rough surfaces and the array of ti...In industrial applications,climbing robots are widely used for climbing and detection of rough or smooth pipe surfaces.Inspired by the special claws of longicorn is that can crawl on rough surfaces and the array of tiny bristles of geckos that can crawl on smooth surfaces,a new type of wall-climbing robot for rough or smooth surfaces is proposed in this paper.The bionic palms of the robot are suggested with special bionic hooks inspired by the longicorn and bionic adhesive materials inspired by the gecko with a good performance on adhering on the surfaces.The special bionic hooks are manufactured by the 3D printing method and the bionic adhesive materials are made by the polymer print lithography technology.These two different bionic adhere accessory are used on the robot’s palm to achieve climbing on the different surfaces.This foldable climbing robot can not only bend its own body to accommodate the cylindrical contact surfaces of different diameters,but also crawl on vertical rough and smooth surfaces using their bionic palms.展开更多
The red palm weevil（RPW; Rhynchophorus ferrugineus） is spreading worldwide and severely harming many palm species. However, most studies on RPW focused on insect biology, and little information is available about th...The red palm weevil（RPW; Rhynchophorus ferrugineus） is spreading worldwide and severely harming many palm species. However, most studies on RPW focused on insect biology, and little information is available about the plant response to the attack. In the present experiment, we used metabolomics to study the alteration of the leaf metabolome of Phoenix canariensis at initial（1^（st） stage） or advanced（2^（nd） stage）attack by RPW compared with healthy（unattacked） plants.The leaf metabolome significantly varied among treatments. At the 1^（st） stage of attack, plants showed a reprogramming of carbohydrate and organic acid metabolism; in contrast, peptides and lipid metabolic pathways underwent more changes during the 2^（nd） than 1^（st） stage of attack. Enrichment metabolomics analysis indicated that RPW attack mostly affected a particular group of compounds rather than rearranging plant metabolic pathways. Some compounds selectively affected during the 1^（st） rather than 2^（nd） stage（e.g. phenylalanine; tryptophan; cellobiose;xylose; quinate; xylonite; idonate; and iso-threonate; cellobiotol and arbutine） are upstream events in the phenylpropanoid,terpenoid and alkaloid biosynthesis. These compounds could be designated as potential markers of initial RPW attack. However,further investigation is needed to determine efficient early screening methods of RPW attack based on the concentrations of these molecules.展开更多
The relationships between vertebrate pests and crop damage are often complex and difficult to study.In palm oil plantations rodents remain the major pests,causing substantial monetary losses.The present study examined...The relationships between vertebrate pests and crop damage are often complex and difficult to study.In palm oil plantations rodents remain the major pests,causing substantial monetary losses.The present study examined the numerical and functional responses of rodents to changes in the availability of oil palm fruit and the damage associated with that response.For the study,200 traps were set in pairs on a 10×10 trapping grid for 3 consecutive nights in each of 6 study plots at 8-week intervals in a 2569 ha oil palm plantation at Labu,Negeri Sembilan state in Peninsular Malaysia over 14 months.A total of 1292 individual rats were captured over 25200 trap-nights.Animals were identified,aged,sexed,weighed and measured.An index of the relative abundance of rats was calculated based on trapping success.Damage to infructescences was assessed at each trap point.Regardless of the age of palms,there were positive and significant relationships between the relative abundance of rats and numbers of infructescences.The levels of damage to infructescences were significantly correlated with the relative abundance of rats.A steep increase in damage was observed with an increase in mature infructescences,indicating a feeding preference of rats for mature infructescences.For both males and females of all rat species,there were weak and non-significant correlations between body condition and infructescence numbers.These results indicated that there was a numerical and a functional response by rats to the availability of palm fruit and a resulting increase in depredation of oil palm fruits.The ways in which this information might aid in future pest control are discussed.展开更多
Aims Knowledge of species richness is of prime importance to both basic and applied aspects of ecological studies.However,quantifying plant species richness in the tropics is potentially time-consuming because of high...Aims Knowledge of species richness is of prime importance to both basic and applied aspects of ecological studies.However,quantifying plant species richness in the tropics is potentially time-consuming because of high species diversity.Plant species richness estimates are also frequently biased,because many rare species are not detected.to address these problems,the use of a variable area method has been proposed as an alternative to fixed area methods,but its appli-cability to plants with aggregated distributions has been questioned based on simulation studies.We use empirical data to compare the efficiency and accuracy of a variable area method and a fixed area method for estimating species richness,density and basal area for plants with aggregated distributions,using palms as a model taxon.Methods Adult palms were sampled in twenty 10×30 m transects in an Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro state,Brazil.All individuals were considered in the fixed area method,while in the variable area method only the first six adults in each transect were sampled;in this case,transect length was defined according to the distance of the sixth adult from the beginning of the transect.When fewer than six individuals were observed in a given transect,transect length was extended up to 50 m to search for additional individuals.the efficiency of both methods was compared based on species rarefaction curves,using the chao 1 statistic(for abundance data).For each species we calculated mean density per transect and basal area,according to each sampling method.Sampling effort in terms of the number of individual plants and the area necessary to characterize maximum species richness in each sampling method,as well as mean time taken to sample a single transect,were compared as measures of efficiency.Important findings An accurate estimate of species richness was achieved using both methods,but in the variable area method,a quarter of the number of individuals and half the area was sufficient to characterize maximum species richness.Densi展开更多
BACKGROUND Acanthosis nigricans(AN),Leser–Trélat sign,and tripe palm are all skin diseases.To date,reports of these appearing as a paraneoplastic syndrome in a gastric cancer patient are quite rare.CASE SUMMARY ...BACKGROUND Acanthosis nigricans(AN),Leser–Trélat sign,and tripe palm are all skin diseases.To date,reports of these appearing as a paraneoplastic syndrome in a gastric cancer patient are quite rare.CASE SUMMARY We report the case of a 61-year-old man with darkened skin color in the face and torso with no obvious inducement after 1 year of treatment for Riehl’s melanosis.He had 40 brown maculopapular eruptions on his face and the top of his head with obvious itching.Papillary wart-like hyperkeratosis with dark brown pigmentation was also observed on both sides of the areola.He had papillomalike lesions on the face,around the orbit,and on the neck.His bilateral palms had small,smooth,papillary projections with millet-like appearance.Histopathological examination of the skin showed that the patient was suffering from AN,tripe palms,and Leser–Trélat sign.Gastroscopy showed the patient’s cardia was affected,and pathological biopsy revealed that he had moderate-to-poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.Computed tomography test results showed that his cardia wall had thickened.Based on these histological and skin characteristics,the patient was diagnosed with gastric cancer with AN,tripe palms,and Leser–Trélat sign.CONCLUSION Researchers should follow up on patients with malignant AN,Leser–Trélat sign,and tripe palms.展开更多
基金This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11774355).
文摘In industrial applications,climbing robots are widely used for climbing and detection of rough or smooth pipe surfaces.Inspired by the special claws of longicorn is that can crawl on rough surfaces and the array of tiny bristles of geckos that can crawl on smooth surfaces,a new type of wall-climbing robot for rough or smooth surfaces is proposed in this paper.The bionic palms of the robot are suggested with special bionic hooks inspired by the longicorn and bionic adhesive materials inspired by the gecko with a good performance on adhering on the surfaces.The special bionic hooks are manufactured by the 3D printing method and the bionic adhesive materials are made by the polymer print lithography technology.These two different bionic adhere accessory are used on the robot’s palm to achieve climbing on the different surfaces.This foldable climbing robot can not only bend its own body to accommodate the cylindrical contact surfaces of different diameters,but also crawl on vertical rough and smooth surfaces using their bionic palms.
基金funded by the Project PROPALMA(D.M.25618/7301/11)by the Italian Ministry of Agricultural,Food and Forestry Policies(Mi PAAF)
文摘The red palm weevil（RPW; Rhynchophorus ferrugineus） is spreading worldwide and severely harming many palm species. However, most studies on RPW focused on insect biology, and little information is available about the plant response to the attack. In the present experiment, we used metabolomics to study the alteration of the leaf metabolome of Phoenix canariensis at initial（1^（st） stage） or advanced（2^（nd） stage）attack by RPW compared with healthy（unattacked） plants.The leaf metabolome significantly varied among treatments. At the 1^（st） stage of attack, plants showed a reprogramming of carbohydrate and organic acid metabolism; in contrast, peptides and lipid metabolic pathways underwent more changes during the 2^（nd） than 1^（st） stage of attack. Enrichment metabolomics analysis indicated that RPW attack mostly affected a particular group of compounds rather than rearranging plant metabolic pathways. Some compounds selectively affected during the 1^（st） rather than 2^（nd） stage（e.g. phenylalanine; tryptophan; cellobiose;xylose; quinate; xylonite; idonate; and iso-threonate; cellobiotol and arbutine） are upstream events in the phenylpropanoid,terpenoid and alkaloid biosynthesis. These compounds could be designated as potential markers of initial RPW attack. However,further investigation is needed to determine efficient early screening methods of RPW attack based on the concentrations of these molecules.
基金Live trapping and The project was funded by the Ministry of Science,Technology and Innovation,Malaysia,under the Science Fund(05-01-04-SF0740)carried out with animal ethics approval from the University of Queensland(NRSM/325/08/NRSM).
文摘The relationships between vertebrate pests and crop damage are often complex and difficult to study.In palm oil plantations rodents remain the major pests,causing substantial monetary losses.The present study examined the numerical and functional responses of rodents to changes in the availability of oil palm fruit and the damage associated with that response.For the study,200 traps were set in pairs on a 10×10 trapping grid for 3 consecutive nights in each of 6 study plots at 8-week intervals in a 2569 ha oil palm plantation at Labu,Negeri Sembilan state in Peninsular Malaysia over 14 months.A total of 1292 individual rats were captured over 25200 trap-nights.Animals were identified,aged,sexed,weighed and measured.An index of the relative abundance of rats was calculated based on trapping success.Damage to infructescences was assessed at each trap point.Regardless of the age of palms,there were positive and significant relationships between the relative abundance of rats and numbers of infructescences.The levels of damage to infructescences were significantly correlated with the relative abundance of rats.A steep increase in damage was observed with an increase in mature infructescences,indicating a feeding preference of rats for mature infructescences.For both males and females of all rat species,there were weak and non-significant correlations between body condition and infructescence numbers.These results indicated that there was a numerical and a functional response by rats to the availability of palm fruit and a resulting increase in depredation of oil palm fruits.The ways in which this information might aid in future pest control are discussed.
文摘Aims Knowledge of species richness is of prime importance to both basic and applied aspects of ecological studies.However,quantifying plant species richness in the tropics is potentially time-consuming because of high species diversity.Plant species richness estimates are also frequently biased,because many rare species are not detected.to address these problems,the use of a variable area method has been proposed as an alternative to fixed area methods,but its appli-cability to plants with aggregated distributions has been questioned based on simulation studies.We use empirical data to compare the efficiency and accuracy of a variable area method and a fixed area method for estimating species richness,density and basal area for plants with aggregated distributions,using palms as a model taxon.Methods Adult palms were sampled in twenty 10×30 m transects in an Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro state,Brazil.All individuals were considered in the fixed area method,while in the variable area method only the first six adults in each transect were sampled;in this case,transect length was defined according to the distance of the sixth adult from the beginning of the transect.When fewer than six individuals were observed in a given transect,transect length was extended up to 50 m to search for additional individuals.the efficiency of both methods was compared based on species rarefaction curves,using the chao 1 statistic(for abundance data).For each species we calculated mean density per transect and basal area,according to each sampling method.Sampling effort in terms of the number of individual plants and the area necessary to characterize maximum species richness in each sampling method,as well as mean time taken to sample a single transect,were compared as measures of efficiency.Important findings An accurate estimate of species richness was achieved using both methods,but in the variable area method,a quarter of the number of individuals and half the area was sufficient to characterize maximum species richness.Densi
基金Supported by the Focus on Research and Transformation Projects of Qinghai Province,No.2018-SF-113.
文摘BACKGROUND Acanthosis nigricans(AN),Leser–Trélat sign,and tripe palm are all skin diseases.To date,reports of these appearing as a paraneoplastic syndrome in a gastric cancer patient are quite rare.CASE SUMMARY We report the case of a 61-year-old man with darkened skin color in the face and torso with no obvious inducement after 1 year of treatment for Riehl’s melanosis.He had 40 brown maculopapular eruptions on his face and the top of his head with obvious itching.Papillary wart-like hyperkeratosis with dark brown pigmentation was also observed on both sides of the areola.He had papillomalike lesions on the face,around the orbit,and on the neck.His bilateral palms had small,smooth,papillary projections with millet-like appearance.Histopathological examination of the skin showed that the patient was suffering from AN,tripe palms,and Leser–Trélat sign.Gastroscopy showed the patient’s cardia was affected,and pathological biopsy revealed that he had moderate-to-poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma.Computed tomography test results showed that his cardia wall had thickened.Based on these histological and skin characteristics,the patient was diagnosed with gastric cancer with AN,tripe palms,and Leser–Trélat sign.CONCLUSION Researchers should follow up on patients with malignant AN,Leser–Trélat sign,and tripe palms.
