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• The diversity of locusts and grasshoppers increased and then decreased along the altitude. • The degree of competition between locusts and grasshoppers changed with increasing altitude. • The interspecific association of locusts and grasshoppers changed with increasing altitude. • Provide new insights for the monitoring, control and protection of grassland insect pests. • Different species of locusts and grasshoppers need to be controlled at different altitudes. Species diversity at different altitudes exhibits different variation patterns. In alpine ecosystems, species migration from low to high altitudes has changed the intensity of interspecific competition and association, inevitably adjusting or changing the existing prevention and control objects and strategies. In this context, selecting a typical area to probe the variations in species diversity and interspecific competition and association is imperative. Thus, this study investigated the diversity of locusts and grasshoppers at 400 m intervals in the grasslands at different altitudes in the Ili River basin of China. The responses of locusts (or grasshoppers) diversity, ecological niche, and interspecific association to altitudinal variations were comprehensively analyzed using univariate linear regression and redundancy analysis. The results showed that the diversity of locusts and grasshoppers declined with rising altitude. Average vegetation height and wind velocity significantly affected the diversity of locusts and grasshoppers at altitudes of 1,000–1,400 and 1,400–1,800 m, respectively. The vegetation dominance, aspect, and relative humidity significantly affected the diversity of locusts and grasshoppers at 1,800–2,200 m. Nonetheless, no ecological factor significantly affected the diversity of locusts and grasshoppers at ≤ 1,000 m. Before 1,400 m, the rise in altitude intensified the interspecific competition and tightened interspecific relationships. From 1,400 m, the interspecific competition was weakened, and interspecific relationships were loosened. Calliptamus italicus , Oedaleus decorus , and Calliptamus barbarus were the dominant locust taxa in the Ili River basin, with C. italicus and O. decorus being distributed at multiple altitudes, especially within ≤ 1,800 m. The high population density of C. italicus and O. decorus within this range required intensive monitoring and control. By contrast, Egnatius apicalis and Conophyma sp. were sparsely distributed within the > 1,400 m range, posing challenges in collection of locusts and grasshoppers. Therefore, protective measures should be taken to increase insect diversity in grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

■ In unprotected grasslands 35% of the patches were converted to other biotope types ■ Expansion of bioenergy-crop cultivation main driver of grassland conversion ■ Nature reserves successfully prevent the conversion of grasslands ■ Well-managed protected grasslands play a vital role for grasshopper conservation Land-use and climate change are considered the major drivers of recent insect loss. Orthoptera (hereinafter termed 'grasshoppers') are the main arthropod consumers in grasslands and, hence, are important elements for supporting ecosystem services. However, for intensively-used agricultural landscapes, it is largely unknown to what extent both factors have affected grasshopper assemblages in protected (nature reserves) and unprotected grasslands. Here, we analysed species richness of grasshopper assemblages in protected (n = 14) and unprotected grasslands (n = 49) by comparing two surveys—one in 1995 and one in 2012—of a landscape with intensive agriculture in the NW-German Lowland. The observed changes were associated with the Community Farmland Index (CFI) and the Community Temperature Index (CTI) in order to disentangle possible effects of land-use and climate change on assemblage shifts. Between the two surveys, environmental conditions substantially changed. Summer temperatures increased by 1.1°C, and grasslands suffered from a severe loss of patches. However, the latter only occurred in unprotected grasslands. Here, 35% of the patches were converted to other biotope types, in particular maize fields as a result of the expansion of bioenergy-crop cultivation. In the grasslands still existing in 2012, irrespective of its protection status, species richness usually increased, except for species with low dispersal ability in unprotected grasslands. By contrast, the development of the CFI and CTI clearly varied between the two grassland types. In protected grasslands, neither the CFI nor the CTI changed. However, in unprotected grasslands, the CFI decreased but the CTI increased. Land-use change has led to a biotic homogenisation at the landscape level and within unprotected grassland patches. Additionally, our study highlights that the legal designation of grasslands as a nature reserve successfully prevents the conversion of grasslands. Overall, well-managed grasslands in nature reserves play a vital role for the conservation of grasshopper biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Comparison of optimized spiral and staggered layouts for different heliostat shapes. • The GOA algorithm is used for the first time to optimize the heliostat layout. • A circular heliostat shape reduces the land area by 25.9% & 28.4% for both layouts. • A circular heliostat shape improves the efficiency to 71% & 71.1% for both layouts. During the design and characterization of Solar Power Tower (SPT) systems, the selection and optimization of the heliostat field distribution are critical. Additionally, selecting the appropriate heliostat shape is an important factor to consider because of the optical losses linked to the heliostat shape. In the current study, the optimization and comparison between biomimetic spiral and Campo radial-staggered layout are carried out by considering various heliostat shapes. The optimization is carried out for the PS10 plant installed in Spain. The Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) approach is used, and the heliostat field efficiency is assessed. The optimized heliostat field showed that the Campo radial-staggered layout provides better efficiency and the lowest land area when compared to the biomimetic spiral layout. In addition, using a circular heliostat shape for the original PS10 field, the land area could be reduced by 25.86% (about 113,538 m2) and 28.39% (about 124,633 m2) for the biomimetic spiral and staggered fields, respectively. On the other hand, for the circular heliostat, the yearly efficiency is improved to ∼ 71 and ∼ 71.1% for biomimetic spiral and staggered fields, respectively, compared to the conventional rectangular heliostat with an efficiency equal to ∼ 69.3%. Indeed, the registered gains in land area and yearly efficiency will reduce the Levelized cost of energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous operation of different energy generation and transmission infrastructures is a subject that has been considered under the concept of energy hub. This subject is highly regarded in the field of microgrids. One of the basic issues for investors is to properly utilize the energy hub for optimally managing energy carriers, especially in the energy price prediction. In the present paper, a new strategy is introduced for the energy hub in order to achieve the optimal performance of a microgrid (MG) that includes different energy carriers for each day. The objective of this strategy is to minimize the operation cost and consider the environmental issues. The proposed energy hub consists of a combined cooling-heating-power (CCHP) system along with a wind turbine and photovoltaic cells. The studied energy hub system is composed of an ice storage conditioner (ISC) system and an energy storage system (ESS) as the energy storage resource (ESR). One of the goals of the present work is to investigate the effect of solar-powered compressed-air energy storage (SPCAES) on the performance of the energy hub. The proposed strategy takes into account the uncertainty of the energy resources such as the wind and sun for meeting the electric, thermal, and cooling needs in different scenarios. In the present paper, to produce various scenarios, the Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) method is used. Also, the k-means method is used to reduce the number of scenarios. The objective function is solved using the modified grasshopper optimization algorithm (MGOA). According to the modeling results, the ESS can exhibit successful performance in the energy management strategy. • Considering the effects of the SPCAES and ISC on optimal performance of the energy hub. • Considering the effects of the SPCAES and ISC on the optimal performance. • Application of generations sources as PV, WT, CHP system, and TESS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grasshopper optimization algorithm is one of the recently population-based optimization techniques inspired by the behaviours of grasshoppers in nature. It is an efficient optimization algorithm and since demonstrates excellent performance in solving continuous problems, but cannot resolve directly binary optimization problems. Many optimization problems have been modelled as binary problems since their decision variables varied in binary space such as feature selection in data classification. The main goal of feature selection is to find a small size subset of feature from a sizeable original set of features that optimize the classification accuracy. In this paper, a new binary variant of the grasshopper optimization algorithm is proposed and used for the feature subset selection problem. This proposed new binary grasshopper optimization algorithm is tested and compared to five well-known swarm-based algorithms used in feature selection problem. All these algorithms are implemented and experimented assessed on twenty data sets with various sizes. The results demonstrated that the proposed approach could outperform the other tested methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Object detection is one of the most important tasks involved in intelligent agriculture systems, especially in pest detection. This paper focuses on a most devastated agricultural disaster: grasshopper plagues. Grasshopper detection and monitoring is of paramount importance in preventing grasshopper plagues. This paper proposes a probabilistic faster R-CNN algorithm with stochastic region proposing, where a probabilistic region proposal network, an image classification network, and an object detection network are integrated to detect and locate grasshoppers. More specifically, in the proposed framework, the probabilistic region proposal network considers attributes (e.g. size, shape) of region proposals and the image classification network identifies the existence of grasshoppers while the object detection network scores recognition confidence for a region proposal. By integrating these three networks, the uncertainty can be passed from end to end, and the final confidence is obtained for each region proposal can be explicitly quantified. To enhance algorithm robustness, a stochastic region proposing algorithm is developed to screen region proposals rather than using a predetermined threshold. The proposed algorithm is validated by recently collected grasshopper datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm not only outperforms competing algorithms in terms of average precision (0.91), average missed rate (0.36), and maximum F 1 -score (0.9263), but also reduces the false positive rate of recognising the existence of grasshoppers in an open field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) is a system that monitors network traffic for suspicious activity and issues alert when such activity is revealed. Moreover, the existing IDSs-based methods are based on outdated attacks that unable to identify modern attacks or malicious trends. For this reason, in this study we developed a new multi-swarm adaptive grasshopper optimization algorithm to utilize adaptation mechanism in a group of swarms based on fuzzy logic to protect against sophisticated attacks. The proposed (MSAGOA) technique has the capability of global optimization and rapid convergence that are used to attain optimal feature subsets to identify attack types on IDS datasets. In the MSAGOA technique, learning engine as Extreme learning Machine, Naive Bayes, Random Forest and Decision Tree is applied as a fitness function to select the highly discriminating features and to maximize classification performance. Afterward, select the best classifier which works as a fitness function in our approach to measure the performance in terms of accuracy, detection rate, and false alarm rate. The simulations are performed on three IDS datasets such as NSL-KDD, AWID-ATK-R, and NGIDS-DS. The experimental results demonstrated that MSAGOA method has performed better and obtained high detection rate of 99.86%, accuracy of 99.89% in NSL-KDD and high detection rate of 98.73%, accuracy of 99.67% in AWID-ATK-R and detection rate of 89.50%, accuracy of 90.23% in NGIDS-DS. In addition, the performance is compared with several other existing techniques to show the efficacy of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morphological diagnoses are given for the cricket family Trigonidiidae and its two monophyletic subfamilies, the Trigonidiinae and the Nemobiinae. Owing to their morphological characters, we transfer the extant genus Lissotrachellus Hubbell, 1838 from the Gryllidae: Pentacentrinae to the Trigonidiidae: Nemobiinae. Lissotrachellus was the type genus of Lissotrachelini including also Trigonidomimus Caudell, 1912 and Tohila Hubbell, 1938 which are here transferred to Pentacentrinae i ncertae sedis. The fossils currently attributed to the Trigonidiidae and its subfamilies are reviewed, in order to facilitate future phylogenetic studies. Few fossils can actually be classified in Nemobiinae or Trigonidiinae, and most are Cenozoic: the oldest nemobiine is the Eocene Baltonemobius fossilis Gorochov, 2010 (37.2–33.9 Ma), while the oldest representatives of the crown group Trigonidiinae date from the Miocene (20.43–13.65). The early Cretaceous Liaonemobius tanae Ren, 1998, originally described in the Trigonidiinae, and currently listed in the Gryllidae, proved an Elcanidae. The mid-Cretaceous Birmaninemobius hirsutus Xu et al., 2020, described in the Nemobiinae, is here transferred to the stem group Trigonidiinae. • We propose updated diagnoses of the cricket family Trigonidiidae (Insecta, Orthoptera, Grylloidea) and its subfamilies, the Trigonidiinae and the Nemobiinae, in order to review the 11 fossils currently attributed to these clades, in view of their potential use for future phylogenetic studies. •Among these fossils, one proved not to be a cricket, but an Elcanidae (Ensifera, Elcanoidea); one is probably of a cricket, but cannot be attributed to a cricket family; two are young nymphs of Nemobiinae that cannot be related to extant genera; four are trigonidiine females that cannot be attributed with certainty to extant genera. Finally, only three fossils could be included in morphological phylogenetic analyses of extant and fossil taxa, i.e. Rhicnogryllus zeuneri Chopard (Pleistocene, Trigonidiinae), ? Cyrtoxipha illegibilis Gorochov, 2010 (Miocene, Trigonidiinae) and Birmaninemobius hirsutus Xu et al., 2020 (Mid-Cretaceous), which we transfer from the Nemobiinae crown group to the stem group of Trigonidiinae, based on several apomorphies. • B. hirsutus is the oldest fossil in the evolutionary history of crickets for dating the whole Trigonidiidae family, and therefore an important reference data point for future phylogenies of Orthoptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Part appearance issues due to dimensional and shape inaccuracies (fidelity) hinder the use of additive manufacturing processes to obtain final products. Inaccuracies come from process parameter definition, post-processing operations, and the slicing process. Regarding the slicing procedure, the conventional approach is the indirect slicing of a tessellation that approximates the part model. Layer computation is straightforward in this method but introduces dimensional deviations for curvilinear surfaces. Direct slicing minimizes these deviations, but computation and layer representation are complex. This work blends both solutions, explaining how to build an improved tessellation from direct slices that can be introduced and processed in usual slicing programs. Two shapes , a simple hemisphere and a component of a retail product (a hair dryer nozzle), were printed by Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), using conventional indirect slicing with different tessellation's resolutions and the proposed Direct Slicing Tessellation (DST). The resulting samples were measured using a 3D scanner. Compared with a reference sample printed from a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model discretized with a tolerance < 6 μ m , maximum deviations were found on more areas of conventional indirect samples and with higher values (from 0.13 to 0.16 mm) than in the case of the DST samples (with maximum deviation of 0.1 mm at few points on the surface). Additionally, DST files are around ten times smaller than reference files. Finally, the deviation between the CAD model and the representation on the resulting surfaces of zebra stripes and mean curvature show that the proposed solution enhances the printed surface fidelity compared to the conventional indirect slicing. [Display omitted] • A tessellation from direct slicing DST was built in a CAD program using GrassHopper. • DST files can be used as conventional STL files in Additive Manufacturing. • Printed samples by material extrusion from conventional STL and proposed DST files. • 3D scan measures: DST surface closer to reference than STL files. • DST file is ten times smaller than the STL with the finest resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pattern-based building envelope is a modern style of contemporary facades. Architects may rely on imitating known practices without knowing the processes involved in their design. Therefore, this paper seeks to identify the algorithmic steps implemented in the derivation of contemporary façade. The design algorithms of pattern-based building envelopes are classified into generative algorithms of the basic pattern and elements, and transformation algorithms. An experimentation method was applied using Grasshopper for Rhino to simulate the formation of nine contemporary pattern-based envelopes. The finding reveals that several approaches are implemented such as elements are extruded from the basic pattern or separated from it. The envelope pattern may result from repeting the elements, or the envelope pattern may be devoid of elements. Modification techniques can manipulate the basic pattern, the elements, or both patterns and elements. They act on the patterns and elements simultaneously in the same way, or separately using different ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discharge for wastewater treatment plays a key role in improving the water quality, thereby guaranteeing living quality of citizens. With high-speed economics growth and economics reforming, total amount of China's discharge of wastewater treatment is sharing high uncertainty, leading to many difficulties in accurate forecasts of discharge of wastewater treatment. Based on grey system theory, the hyperbolic time-delayed term is introduced in this paper to develop a novel forecasting model in order to deal with uncertainties of China's sewage discharge forecasting. The key nonlinear parameter of the proposed model is determined by the Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm. A series of practical numerical cases prove that the proposed model is reliable in comparison with six existing models are used for comparison. Then we apply it to predict the behavior of sewage discharge in China, those results against demonstrating the model our proposed has more satisfactory prediction precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea behind designing digital filters is to compute the optimal filter coefficients such that the magnitude response of the designed matches the ideal frequency response using optimization algorithms. The proposed work employed a recently proposed swarm-based optimization technique, namely, a grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) to design a linear phase finite impulse response (FIR) low pass, high pass, band pass , and band stop filters. This proposed algorithm models the behaviour of grasshoppers while seeking food sources to solve optimization problems. For the designing of the FIR filter, an absolute error difference fitness function is used, which is minimized using GOA to obtain optimal filter coefficients. The performance comparison of the proposed work is done with already existing algorithms such as cuckoo search, particle swarm optimization, artificial bee colony to prove its superiority and consistency. It is found that GOA based filter meets the objective efficiently with reduced ripples in pass band and higher attenuation in stop band with least execution time. • Grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) is utilized to design a linear phase FIR filter. • The proposed algorithm models the behaviour of grasshoppers while seeking food source. • The results have been compared with various other existing algorithms such as CS, PSO and ABC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissemination of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems shall benefit from the education of professional architects and students, currently used to Building Information Modeling (BIM) environment, which includes design tools that may allow integrating solar energy generation in the building's early design phases. This paper presents a feasibility study using Rhinoceros CAD software and plugins Grasshopper and Ladybug to assess BIPV envelopes intended to retrofit 7 institutional office buildings in Brasília, Brazil. The method considers measured data of end-use energy consumption (yearly average 155.31 kWh/m2), building morphology and central urban environment characterization. Results for retrofitting façades and roofs with BIPV solutions for existing institutional office buildings are presented, both from an energetic and an architectural point of view. The evaluation of the results singles out aspects to be improved in the development of future design tools and highlights the importance of the integration between CAD 3D modeling software and the simulation tools for BIPV systems. • Rhinoceros CAD, Grasshopper and Ladybug assessing building envelopes for solar integration. • Measured energy consumption and morphology of office buildings in Brasilia, Brazil. • Results for retrofitting façades and roofs with both energetic and architectural perspectives. • Aspects to be improved in future development of design tools for solar in buildings are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although egg-pods and egg morphology represent useful features for phylogenetic purposes, they are less well known in Pamphagidae when compared with other Orthoptera groups of Caelifera, such as Acrididae. Breeding in the lab some specimens of Acinipe deceptoria (Bolívar, 1878) and Acinipe segurensis (Bolívar, 1908), two sympatric species inhabiting the Southeastern Iberian Peninsula, allowed us to study in detail such structures. The morphology of the egg-pods of both species is very similar and almost undistinguishable. The eggs general morphology is also similar. However, some chorionic features, such as the chorionic mesh-size and the micropyle morphology, make possible to distinguish between both species thus being useful for taxonomic applications. On the other hand, our observations on presence of egg-pods and micropyles arrangement support the classical systematics of Orthoptera splitting it in two suborders. • Egg morphology and chorion sculpturing help to distinguish among Orthopteran species. • Micropile micromorphology is useful to differentiate Orthopteran species. • Egg-pods and egg morphology are phylogenetic useful features in Orthoptera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The degree of wing development has a close relationship with insects' movement ability and range, and it should also be closely related to mitochondrial-related genes. The complete mitochondrial genomes of six species of Catantopidae were sequenced, annotated and analyzed. Then, combined with 37 mitogenomes of grasshoppers, the ratio of nonsynonymous substitution to synonymous substitution (Ka/Ks) of the combined sequences of protein coding genes (PCGs) was calculated by DnaSP5, and the phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed by maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian (BI) methods based on PCGs+rRNAs. The results showed that the sizes of the six complete mitogenomes are Stenocatantops mistshenkoi Willemse F., 1968, 15,573 bp; Traulia lofaoshana Tinkham, 1940, 15,645 bp; Sinopodisma rostellocerca You, 1980, 15,622 bp; Anapodisma miramae Dovnar-Zapolskij, 1932, 15,189 bp; Qinlingacris elaeodes Yin & Chou, 1979, 15,221 bp; and Eozubovskya planicaudata Zhang & Jin, 1985, 15,830 bp; their structures are the same as those of Acridoidea. The AT bias of the wing-degenerated group (lobiform and apterous) is higher than that of the longipennate group, and more nonsynonymous substitutions accumulated in the wing-degenerated group than in the longipennate group (P = 0.000), which indicates that the wing-degenerated group has undergone weaker evolutionary selection than the longipinnate group. The phylogenetic tree shows that the wing-degenerated group in the Catantopidae are multiorigin and present parallel evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The maximum power point tracking (MPPT) in the PV system has become complex due to the stochastic nature of the load, intermittency in solar irradiance and ambient temperature. To address this problem, a novel Grasshopper optimized fuzzy logic control (FLC) approach based MPPT technique is proposed in this paper. In this proposed MPPT, grasshopper optimization is used to tune the membership functions (MFs) of FLC to handle all uncertainties caused by variable irradiances and temperatures. The performance of the proposed grasshopper optimized FLC based MPPT is studied under rapidly changing irradiance and temperature. The proposed MPPT overcomes the limitations such as slow convergence speed, steady-state oscillations, lower tracking efficiency as encountered in conventional methods viz. perturb & observed (P&O) and FLC techniques. The feasibility of the proposed MPPT is validated through experimentation. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is compared with P&O and also with FLC MPPT. • A novel Adaptive fuzzy logic based MPPT technique is proposed. • The GO algorithm optimizes the scaling factors of FLC for better MPPT. • The proposed MPPT technique estimates the exact duty cycle for DC-DC converter. • The test system is examined for variable values of irradiance and temperature. • Proposed MPPT improves the dynamic performance under normal & abnormal conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new robust load frequency control (LFC) technique based on an optimal design of the coefficient diagram method (CDM) in a three area thermal power system equipped with redox flow batteries (RFB). In order to emphasize on a realistic power system and obtain an accurate insight, important nonlinearities due to generation rate constraint (GRC), governor dead band (GDB) and time delay (TD) were considered. The innovation of the proposed controller in this paper is the use of a hybrid intelligent combination of a decentralized CDM technique and optimization throughout its algebraic equations. In addition, a new algorithm namely grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) was used to find the key parameters of the proposed controller in solving the LFC problem for the first time. Furthermore, this study applied a powerful modified objective function by considering the integral of time multiplied squared error (ITSE) criteria for both controller input signal (ACE), to minimize the area control error and output signal (Δ u) to reduce the size of the actuator, settling time (Ts) to have a faster response and a function to increase the minimum damping ratio (MDR) among all eigen values. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, the studied simulated power system was tested through different cases including a large step and sinusoidal load perturbations and wide uncertainty in dynamic parameters of a nonlinear power system. Comparative results have revealed the superiority of the optimal CDM technique, especially when it is equipped with RFB. In addition to graphical results, by taking into account the MDR of different control strategies, the preference of the proposed controller has become more validated. This newly developed strategy leads to a flexible and accurate controller with a powerful mathematical back up which can successfully cope with GRC, GDB and TD nonlinearities in perturbed uncertain power systems and provide fast, stable and robust dynamic responses. Thus, the proposed control strategy can be constructive and successfully applied to real world power system application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work puts an earliest effort to compare the performances of different fractional order based feed-forward type two degree of freedom (2DOF-FO) controllers optimized with Grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) for the study of load frequency control in interconnected system. As fractional order controllers (FOC) are gaining attention of researchers over integer order controller (IOC) in recent era, so the authors' main motive in this article is to highlight a comparative performance analysis between three different structures of feed-forward type 2DOF-FOC namely 2DOF-FO-proportional-integral-derivative (2DOF-FOPID), 2DOF-FO-integral-derivative (2DOF-FOID) and 2DOF-FOPI. These controllers are optimally designed through GOA technique. The 2DOF-FOPID controller ensured as the best one over other two controllers in GOA framework even in the presence of nonlinearities for a two area and three areas thermal system. Also, the robustness of the controllers is verified for two area system by applying different physical conditions like a random pattern of step load variations, changing the loading condition in area-1 and the system parameters within a range of ± 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Males usually come into conflict due to competition for territories and females. However, interference competition can also occur between males of congeneric species when their ecological requirements are overlapping. Using acoustic playback experiments, we investigated male-male interactions within and between Grasshopper (Locustella naevia; GW) and River Warbler (L. fluviatilis ; RW). Our objective was to evaluate the song and behavioural response of tested males of both species to conspecific song stimuli in order to compare this with the response to congeneric stimulus, based on which we could assess whether these two commonly co-existing species show interspecific territorialism. A total of nine GW and 11 RW males were tested in May and June 2019 in western Slovakia. The ability to differentiate between the heterospecific (control), congeneric, and conspecific stimuli was similar between the two species. Conspecific playback elicited the strongest non-vocal response and a significant change in vocalization. The GW males shortened the songs, while the RW males shortened the songs and also increased their syllable rate. The congeneric playback elicited a lower intensity of behavioural response than conspecific playback and no change in vocalization in either species. We conclude that interspecific interference competition between GW and RW is rather low, suggesting that the species' ecological requirements are separated, although these two congeneric species commonly share habitat. • Males of Locustella species differentiate between conspecific and congeneric stimuli. • Males changed vocalization only to the conspecific stimuli. • Interspecific interference competition is low between the two coexisting species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A remarkable characteristic of katydids (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) is the elongated ovipositor, which is associated with oviposition behavior. The high degree of complexity of both sclerites and muscles arrangement of the ovipositor, is only similar to the ovipositor of Hymenoptera. Here we describe the morphology of the ovipositor within Tettigoniidae, and add descriptions of known oviposition behavior. Fifteen skeletal structures can be recognized, of these, three pairs of muscles are new while nine pairs were already described in the literature. The new muscles are ap2vf, anterior projection of second valvifer; bcov, blade complex of the ovipositor; and dbl, dorsal blade. The morphology of the ovipositor blade complex (bcov), the shape of the first valvifer (1vf), posterior intervalvular sclerite (piv), tergite IX (T9), anterior projection of the second valvifer (ap2vf), and the second valvifer (2vf), and their related muscles affect oviposition in Tettigoniidae. This contribution helps to understand katydid's oviposition behavior. Additionally, the new descriptions help in the search for new characters in Tettigoniidae. • This work is focused in better understand the ovipositor of katydids, which is associated with the oviposition behavior. • We explored the morphology of the ovipositor within Tettigoniidae, including all known oviposition habits. • 15 skeletal structures were recognized, from this, three described as new, and nine pairs of muscles. • We related the morphology of sclerites and muscles to oviposition habits. • This contribution can help to understand the evolutionary features of katydid's oviposition behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Random Forests were trained with species samples to predict the decline of insect. • Training with random species samples resulted in prediction accuracy of 0 to 0.4. • Training with taxonomic samples resulted in low accuracy of prediction of decline. • Using taxonomic indicator groups is advised against in case of insects. In decision making for insect conservation, one depends largely on knowledge of the relationship between changes in environmental factors and abundance of a very limited number of species. The species we have knowledge on cannot be regarded as a representative sample of all insects. How accurately do changes in the abundance of these species predict the changes in other species? To answer this question, we studied 373 insect species belonging to the Apidae (bees), Lepidoptera (butterflies), Orthoptera (grasshoppers), Ephemeroptera (mayflies), Trichoptera (caddisflies), Odonata (dragonflies), and Plecoptera (stoneflies), with known population trends and attributes in the Netherlands. The 78 attributes included morphological and demographic trait values, as well as habitat requirements of species. We trained Random Forests (RFs) with random samples and with taxonomic groups to predict the decline of the species based on their attributes. Then we used the trained RFs to predict the decline of the species outside the training groups and checked the accuracy of the predictions. The results showed that accuracy of the predictions of the RFs trained by the random samples increased from 0 to 0.20 (maximum 0.40, on a scale of 0 to 1) with sample size increasing from 10 to 90% of the insects. Moreover, we found that the accuracy of the predictions by the RFs trained with the taxonomic groups were zero in case of butterflies and grasshoppers, and low in other groups (maximum 0.37, in case of bees predicting terrestrial insects). Accuracy depended significantly on the size of the taxonomic group. Large over- or underestimation of number of declining species occurred in all cases. Further, we found that the taxonomic groups had few attributes important for predicting in common. The attribute 'Active dispersion' had the highest importance when all insects were used for training the RF. Using 'indicator groups' for predicting the decline of insects has a high risk of over- or underestimating the actual number of declining species and should therefore be advised against unless the indicator group is sure to be representative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel contribution of a low complexity control scheme for voltage control of a dynamic voltage restorer (DVR). The scheme proposed utilizes an error-driven proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller to guarantee better power quality performance in terms of voltage enhancement and stabilization of the buses, energy efficient utilization, and harmonic distortion reduction in a distribution network. This method maintains the load voltage close to or equal to the nominal value in terms of various voltage disturbances such as balanced and unbalanced sag/swell, voltage imbalance, notching, different fault conditions as well as power system harmonic distortion. A grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA) is used to tune the gain values of the PID controller. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed DVR controller, first, a fractional order PID controller was presented and compared with the proposed one. Further, a comparative performance evaluation of four optimization techniques, namely Cuckoo search (CSA), GOA, Flower pollination (FBA), and Grey wolf optimizer (GWO), is presented to compare between the PID and FOPID performance in terms of fault conditions in order to achieve a global minimum error and fast dynamic response of the proposed controller. Second, a comparative analysis of simulation results obtained using the proposed controller and those obtained using an active disturbance rejection controller (ADRC) is presented, and it was found that the performance of the optimal PID is better than the performance of the conventional ADRC. Finally, the effectiveness of the presented DVR with the controller proposed has been assessed by time-domain simulations in the MATLAB/Simulink platform. • We present a low complexity voltage control scheme for effective control of a DVR. • The control scheme utilizes an error-driven PID controller. • Various voltage disturbances are considered. • FOPID and ADRC controllers are presented and compared with the proposed controller. • Performance of the optimal PID outperforms performance of the other controllers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• New Chaotic bridging mechanism is proposed for Grasshopper Optimisation algorithm. • Chaotic Crossover scheme is proposed. • Implications of the modification on performance of algorithm are validated on CEC-2017. • Various analyses are presented to validate the proposed approach. • Real applications of proposed variants are reported on challenging problems. In recent years, the trend of embedding chaos in the optimization algorithms has grown multifold. Usually, the chaotic algorithms employ chaotic sequences instead of random numbers, in the exploration phase or they employ chaotic numbers for decision making in the exploitation phase. In literature, the positive impact of chaos over the performance of algorithms have been studied and reported. However, very little work is reported on the implications of chaos on the bridging mechanism between the exploration and exploitation phases. This paper presents implications of different chaotic sequences on the performance of Grasshopper Optimisation Algorithm (GOA). A bridging mechanism based on sinusoidal truncated function is proposed first, then 10 different normalize chaotic sequences are employed with this function. Along with this bridging mechanism, a chaotic operator derived crossover scheme is also proposed. These experiments evolve 11 different variants of GOA. The proposed modifications maintain an effective balance between exploration and exploitation phases. Simultaneously, it reduces the attraction, repulsion and comfort zone chaotically. New variants are benchmarked on latest 29 Congress on Evolutionary Computation-2017 (CEC-2017) functions. Efficacy of these variants is validated with several statistical tests and plots. Further, some real life challenging problem of engineering domain are considered for evaluating the efficacy of the proposed variants. These problems are Model Order Reduction (MOR) of control engineering, Protein Structure Prediction (PSP) of bio informatics and Frequency Modulated Sound Wave Parameter Synthesis Problem of parameter estimation. Results reveal that proposed variants exhibit better exploration and exploitation properties as compared to the parent algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two cricetids and three arvicolines are added to the Fiene local fauna (Irvingtonian) of north-central Kansas. Cricetids include the harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys moorei and grasshopper mouse, Onychomys sp. Arvicolines include the muskrat, Ondatra annectens , red-backed vole, Myodes gapperi , and bog lemming, Mictomys kansasensis. The latter two; taxa are extralimital and indicate cooler and wetter summers than at present in the area. Likewise, the record of Myodes represents the earliest occurrence of the taxon on the central Plains. The rarity of Onychomys relative to the previously reported abundant microtids in the Fiene local fauna indicates that the transition from a granivorous diet in the Blancan to a primarily insectivorous diet it has today was completed during Irvingtonian II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate passenger flow prediction is fairly challenging because of chaotic nature of transportation system and influence mechanism originated from multiple factors. It has been found that passenger flow has a nonlinear characteristic and a remarkable seasonal tendency. In this study, two novel hybrid approaches combining seasonal-trend decomposition procedures based on loess(STL) with echo state network(ESN) improved by grasshopper optimization algorithm(GOA) and adaptive boosting(Adaboost) framework respectively are proposed to forecast monthly passenger flow in China. According to the proposed methods(STL-GESN, STL-AESN), the original passenger flow data are firstly decomposed into seasonal, trend and remainder components via STL. Then the improved ESN is adopted to forecast the trend and the remainder components, and the seasonal-naive method is utilized to forecast the seasonal component. Finally, the forecasting results of the three components are summed to obtain the final forecasting of monthly passenger flow. Two passenger flow forecasting applications based on air data and railway data respectively are conducted to verify the effectiveness and scalability of the proposed approaches. The experimental results show that STL-GESN and STL-AESN obtain higher prediction accuracy compared with other forecasting approaches. Application studies also demonstrate that the proposed approaches are practical choice for passenger flow forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bamboo grasshopper, Ceracris kiangsu Tsai, is a pest of bamboos and widely distributed in China from high temperature plains to low temperature plateaus. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the transcriptome of C. kiangsu. Approximately 129,314,084 reads were generated using an Illumina sequencing. De novo assembly yielded 39,013 unigenes with an average length of 987 bp. Based on sequence similarity searches with known proteins, a total of 19,769 (50.67%) unigenes were identified. Of these annotated unigenes, 2114 and 11,412 unigenes were assigned to clusters of orthologous groups and gene ontology, respectively. Furthermore, 2128 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified in the unigenes Differences were observed in gene expression after hypothermic stress, with the most up-regulated genes including heat shock protein genes (Hsps) and genes involved in ATP-binding. The down-regulation of genes involved in the catalytic activity of metabolic mechanisms was also observed. The obtained transcriptome information revealed the ability of C. kiangsu to build cold-tolerance after exposed to a mild low temperature and the transcriptional responses elicited by hypothermic stress. • This is the first study to characterize the complete transcriptome of C. kiangsu. • After hypothermic stress, differentially expressed genes are observed, with the most up-regulated genes including Hsp genes. • The ability of C. kiangsu to build cold-tolerance after exposed to a mild low temperature is revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Load frequency control (LFC) is a well-established issue in design and operation of power systems considering to the extension, restructuring, and complexity of the interconnected power systems and also the emergence utilization of renewable energy resources. This paper studies the frequency control of multi-area multi-source power system based on the importance of the LFC in the stability of the power system which includes various generation units of thermal, hydroelectric, wind, natural gas and diesel under the restructured environment. In this system, non-linear physical constraints, governor dead band (GDB) and generation rate constraint (GRC) are considered. In this paper, a new Predictive Functional Modified PID (PFMPID) controller is proposed that the effectiveness of this controller is verified compared to the traditional one. In order to optimize and demonstrate the superiority of the proposed control method, Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) is proposed as a suitable solution. To further improve the performance of the under study system, the use of the Redox Flow Battery (RFB) energy storage unit has also been proposed. Since the operation evaluation of the proposed process is necessary in different system conditions, the performance of the proposed method is studied under various disturbances and simulation results are presented. • A new PFMPID controller using an appropriate optimization algorithm is proposed for LFC. • The wind and diesel generation units are proposed in some areas to improve the LFC performance. • The Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm is proposed to optimize the control parameters. • In order to further improve the LFC performance, the Redox Flow Battery units are considered. • The effectiveness of the proposed method is investigated under various possible disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Development of a robust rule-based energy management strategy. • Grasshopper optimization algorithm is used for the optimal sizing microgrid. • GOA is applied to minimize the cost of energy and maximize system reliability. • The proposed GOA is compared with Cuckoo Search and Particle Swarm Optimization. This article focuses on the application of a latest nature-inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithm named Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) in the area of microgrid system sizing design problem. The proposed algorithm is applied to an autonomous microgrid system in order to determine the optimal system configuration that will supply energy demand reliably based on the deficiency of power supply probability (DPSP) and cost of energy (COE). Firstly, a robust rule-based energy management scheme (EMS) is proposed to coordinate the power flow among the various system components that formed the microgrid. Then, the GOA is integrated with the EMS to perform the optimal sizing for the hybrid autonomous microgrid for five units of residential in an off-grid location in Yobe State, Nigeria. The proposed microgrid comprises of photovoltaic modules, wind turbine, battery storage system and a diesel generator. The effectiveness of the proposed GOA in solving the optimization problem is examined and its performance is compared with particle swarm optimization (PSO) and cuckoo search (CS) optimization algorithm. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is performed on the COE to highlight the impact of varying sensitive system inputs. The proposed optimization is programmed using MATLAB simulation package. The simulation results confirm that GOA is able to optimally size the system as compared to its counterparts, CS and PSO. In which, a decrement of 14% and 19.3% is achieved in the system capital cost, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An interactive and integrative approach to truss design is proposed by developing a Grasshopper component for simultaneous optimization of geometry and topology of trusses. • Numerical difficulty due to melting nodes can be successfully avoided using force density as design variable, and various optimal geometry and topology can be obtained. • Tensor product Bezier surface is introduced as a design surface to control optimal shapes. • Efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method are demonstrated through two numerical examples of semi-cylindrical and semi-spherical models. This paper presents a new efficient tool for simultaneous optimization of topology and geometry of truss structures. Force density method is applied to formulate optimization problem to minimize compliance under constraint on total structural volume, and objective and constraint functions are expressed as explicit functions of force density only. This method does not need constraints on nodal locations to avoid coalescent nodes, and enables to generate optimal solutions with a variety in topology and geometry. Furthermore, for the purpose of controlling optimal shapes, tensor product Bézier surface is introduced as a design surface. The optimization problem is solved using sensitivity coefficients and the optimizer is compiled as a component compatible with Grasshopper, an algorithmic modeling plug-in for Rhinoceros, which is a popular 3D modeling software. Efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method are demonstrated through two numerical examples of semi-cylindrical and semi-spherical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The band-winged grasshopper Oedaleus asiaticus (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) is an important insect pest in north China. Chemosensory membrane proteins are believed to be crucial factors in direct interactions with odorants in the chemosensory process. However, there is much limited information on the chemosensory system in this pest. In this study, a total of 69 candidate chemosensory membrane protein genes, including 60 olfactory receptors (ORs), 6 ionotropic receptors (IRs) and 3 sensory neuron membrane proteins (SNMPs), were identified for the first time from the antennal transcriptomes of O. asiaticus. Blastp match and phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that these chemosensory membrane proteins were the closest to their orthologous species, Locusta migratoria. The qRT-PCR analysis revealed that all tested 14 OR and two SNMP genes (OasiSNMP1 and OasiSNMP2a) were strongly expressed in adult antennae, and nearly all tested genes (15/16) displayed significant differences in the expression levels between both sexes. Moreover, two IR genes (OasiIR25a and OasiIR76b) had uniquely high expression levels in the antennae, labial palps and maxillary palps, while three IR genes (OasiIR1 , OasiIR2 and OasiIR3) were highly expressed in most tested tissues (heads without antennae and mouthparts, labial palps, maxillary palps, labia without labial palps, thoraxes, tarsi, and abdomens) except for antennae, labra, and wings but OasiIR5a was just faintly expressed in the antennae, labia without labial palps, labial palps, maxillary palps and abdomen. Our results provide important molecular information for further investigation on the chemoreception mechanisms in O. asiaticus. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • A new UHPLC method for the analysis of vitamin B 12 in edible insects is proposed. • Vitamin B 12 was studied in mealworm, cricket, grasshopper and cockroach. • Possible occurrence of pseudovitamin B 12 was reported in all four species. • Risk of overestimation of vitamin B 12 content in edible insects. Abstract Insects are rich in major nutrients, such as protein and fat. Recently, minor nutrients like vitamins have become the subjects of interest in insects. Hence, this study reports on the development and validation of a method for the determination of vitamin B 12 in mealworm (Tenebrio molitor larvae), cricket (Gryllus assimilis), grasshopper (Locusta migratoria) and cockroach (Shelfordella lateralis), using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography approach with preliminary immunoaffinity chromatography sample preparation. The method was validated regarding linearity, specificity, accuracy and precision, as well as limits of detection/quantification, and was found to be satisfactory for the desired application. Found levels of vitamin B 12 were 1.08 µg/100 g for mealworm, 2.88 µg/100 g for cricket, 0.84 µg/100 g for grasshopper, and 13.2 µg/100 g dry weight for cockroach, representing the first validated report on the content of vitamin B 12 in edible insects. Observed interferences are likely caused by the presence of pseudovitamin B 12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The semi-arid shortgrass steppe ecosystem of North America is dominated by blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis), a species with substantial intraspecific variability, ecological significance, and economic value. Yet no studies have addressed within species differences in blue grama palatability or insect herbivore preference with respect to plant traits. We performed an experimental study to test the palatability and preference of two blue grama genotypes, wild type versus cultivar, by grasshopper herbivores in the Gomphocerinae subfamily. We found strong evidence that cultivar blue grama was more palatable than wild type and that grasshoppers preferred cultivar plants. Although we could not detect differences in silica content between the two types, we found that cultivar plants were larger, had lower water content, and surprisingly, had reduced nutrient value (greater C:N). These results suggest that intraspecific variation in blue grama size and water content could influence feeding choices by this group of grasshoppers. Conservation managers will have to consider such variation when considering how remnant and restored prairies might be affected by these arthropod herbivores. Highlights • Plant palatability and preference by grasshopper herbivores differs between cultivar and wild type blue grama grass. • Cultivar plants were larger and had lower water content, but silica content did not differ. • Surprisingly, cultivar plants had reduced nutritive value (higher C:N) which indicates other drivers for palatability and preference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In our research soluble proteins from edible grasshopper (S. gregaria) and honey bee brood (A. mellifera) were exposed to defatting, alkaline, and sonication-assisted extractions. New nitrogen-to-protein conversion factors based on amino acid analysis were estimated for both insects: 4.5 for adult grasshopper, and 4.9 and 5.6 for pupae and larvae of honey bee respectively, in contrary to 6.25 commonly used for insects. All fractions were characterized by their composition, yield, color, protein solubility, and functional properties in comparison to whey protein concentrate. Besides an increase in protein content up to 57.5 and 55.2% for grasshopper and honey bee respectively, protein-enriched fractions showed improved foaming and emulsifying abilities. The highest emulsion stability after 120 min was determined for grasshopper powder extracted with sonication (85.5%) and whey proteins (89.8%). The protein-enriched fractions of both insects had significantly higher foaming stability (74.1% for grasshopper fraction after alkaline extraction and 55.5% for sonication-assisted honey bee fraction) than raw and defatted powder. All fractions obtained from honey bee brood showed significantly higher protein heat coagulation than grasshopper and whey proteins. Changes in protein functionality were found related to alteration in protein charge, surface hydrophobicity, and distribution of proteins according to their molecular weight. Therefore, our results showed that S. gregaria and A. mellifera have a potential for future applications for food, feed, or insect-based dietary supplements. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Grasshopper and honey bee have a well-balanced composition of amino acids. • Alkaline and sonication extractions significantly increase the amount of extracted protein. • Protein-enriched fractions had shown improved functional properties. • Protein molecular characteristics affect protein functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Interest in using insects as an alternative source of food for humans is increasing. However, few analytical methods provide accurate information about the presence of insect species in processed foods. In this study, we developed a fast real-time PCR assay based on a TaqMan probe that can be performed within 40 min to detect edible rice grasshopper in commercial food products. A rice grasshopper-specific primer pair and probe targeting the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI) gene were newly designed, having an amplicon size of 110 bp. The specificity of this primer pair and probe was verified using 19 insects and five crustaceans and no cross-reactivity was obtained against the non-target species. The absolute limit of detection (LOD) was 0.5 pg of rice grasshopper DNA, and as low as 0.1% of rice grasshopper was detected in raw, heat-treated, and autoclaved binary insect mixtures. To evaluate the effect of food matrix, binary mixtures containing rice grasshopper in wheat were used additionally, and at least 0.1% of target species was detected using this assay. The applicability of this assay was confirmed using nine commercial food samples labeled as containing rice grasshopper or locust. The fast real-time PCR developed in this study is a specific and sensitive method for identifying edible rice grasshopper in various food samples. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • A fast real-time PCR was developed for rice grasshopper identification (~ 40 min). • The designed primer/probe amplified only the target species among 10 insects. • The LOD of this assay was 0.5 pg of rice grasshopper DNA. • As low as 0.1% of rice grasshopper was detected in all binary mixtures. • The presence of rice grasshopper in processed foods was successfully detected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The introduction of CSP power stations in wind power generation means to improve the absorption capacity of wind power generation by means of energy complementarity and balance the output fluctuations of the system. • A two-layer capacity allocation method considering the incentive demand response is proposed, and the method is applied to the capacity allocation of the wind power and CSP combined power generation system. • Based on the traditional grasshopper optimization algorithm, the combined spiral motion strategy is added to improve the algorithm. In this paper, a wind-solar combined power generation system is proposed in order to solve the absorption problem of new energy power generation. Based on the existing installed capacity of local wind power, a concentrating solar power (CSP) station and its energy storage system are configured, and a two-layer capacity optimization allocation method considering the incentive user response is proposed. Firstly, a two-layer capacity optimization model considering incentive user response is established. Secondly, grasshopper optimization algorithm based on embedded spiral motion control strategy was used to solve the upper configuration model, and the lower scheduling model was solved by Cplex solver. Finally, three typical scenarios are set up for simulation, and the wind power, CSP and energy storage configuration capacity are respectively given in different scenarios. The simulation results show that the addition of a CSP station can effectively improve the absorption capacity of local wind power generation system and reduce the amount of wind abandonment. The capacity optimization allocation method proposed in this paper can effectively alleviate the load peak demand, improve the optimization allocation model of wind-solar combined power generation system, make the configuration results more reasonable, and improve the economy of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Grasshoppers develop better on a wet agar-based diet than a dry diet. • Diets matched to the amino acids of vitellogenin support juvenile development. • Grasshoppers on low-quality protein diets slowed development but did not alter feeding or adult size. • A feeding threshold can be due solely to the essential amino acids in a diet. • High dietary methionine may slow growth early in the instar that largely determines adult size. Effects of dietary protein quality on insect development (not just growth) are unclear. Dietary amino acid blends matching yolk proteins support reproduction and juvenile development in Drosophila melanogaster. We matched amino acids to vitellogenin and tested development of juvenile male lubber grasshoppers, which do not produce vitellogenin. Last instars were fed classic dry diets with amino acids substituted for proteins. Matching amino acids to vitellogenin allowed molting to adulthood, while an unmatched isonitrogenous diet did not. Health on dry diets was poor, so we developed wet diets with agar, horse feed, and amino acids. Juveniles fed these diets matched to vitellogenin developed comparably to juveniles fed lettuce. However, wet diets with amino acids dissimilar to vitellogenin (low-quality) slowed development but maintained size at adulthood. We observed no compensatory feeding on low-quality diets. Theory suggests accumulation of proteins permits development. To detect a threshold, we started last juvenile instars on high-quality diets, then abruptly switched them to low-qualities diets. When switched to the poor-quality diet at 6 d, grasshoppers molted at a similar age (∼17 d) to grasshoppers continuously on the high-quality diet. Total hemolymph proteins levels were unaffected by the timing of diet switches. Last, methionine is essential but can be noxious at high levels. Diets with low-quality protein except for methionine slowed growth early but did not alter the time or size at molt. Overall, the feeding threshold is solely due to essential amino acids, and low-quality protein diets slowed development but did not affect adult size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In current research on old communities, less attention is given to the comfort and greenhouse gas emissions of the indoor and outdoor physical environment. Only a few studies focus on optimization strategies for these environments in old communities. Thus, the absence of suitable theoretical guidance in specific engineering practices can lead to issues. Renovated old communities still face challenges such as overheating in summer, overcooling in winter, and high energy consumption. In this article, based on the optimization of low- and medium-rise old communities in five typical cities in China, corresponding strategies such as geometric and envelope design parameters are proposed in terms of building greenhouse gas emission and indoor and outdoor thermal environment comfort. Several methods are employed in this study, including parametric simulation using Grasshopper with the Ladybug and Honeybee plugins for data collection. This research conduct sensitivity analysis using Random Forest Regressor (RFR), Gradient Boosting Regressor (GBR) and Decision Tree Regressor (DTR) to explore the relationship between design variables and environmental objectives. Predictive modeling with ensemble models and multi-objective optimization using the NSGA-2 algorithm help identify optimal design parameters for varied urban climates. The results demonstrated indoor and outdoor comfort of communities can be improved to a greater extent while reducing carbon emissions. Quantitatively, compared to the baseline model, all cities except Wuhan can improve the year-round comfort time of the outdoor thermal environment by more than 50%. Besides, communities in hot summer and warm winter regions (e.g. Shenzhen and Nanning) can reduce their annual carbon emissions by more than 300t, and communities in hot summer and cold winter regions (e.g. Hangzhou, Chengdu and Wuhan) can reduce their annual carbon emissions by more than 100t. The research results will serve as a scientific basis for energy saving and emission reduction and provide decision-making methods for the development of old communities. • Sustainable microenvironment evaluation system established. • RFR, GBR, and DTR compared for sensitivity. • Latin Hypercube Sampling enhances meta-models. • Optimal city environmental performance compared with baseline models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel strategy for masonry arch bridges and viaducts model generation is developed. • A versatile strategy for masonry bond generation is presented and tested. • An efficient approach at modelling existing damage is suggested and utilised. • Hierarchically partitioned models have higher computational efficiency. • Overcomplication of hierarchic structure may lead to loss in performance. Detailed modelling of masonry arch bridges and viaducts presents unique computational challenges. Not only do such structures exhibit complex nonlinear behaviour, but they are also difficult to describe within a consistent computational framework for high-fidelity simulations, due to the range of interactive components with varying geometric characteristics. This paper presents a novel parametric model design tool for the generation of detailed 3D FE meshes of realistic masonry arch bridges and viaducts. This tool has been developed according to a modular description as an add-on component within the Rhino – Grasshopper environment. It allows for modular complex bridge assemblages with independent definition of the key viaduct parts, including arch barrels, spandrel walls, piers as well as multi-layered fill. Moreover, new parts can be seamlessly introduced into the framework due to its modular nature. Notably, as all components are geometrically addressable, it is possible to further enhance the model generation tool by adding non-standard routines to create more complex geometry than that allowed by the current parametric definition. Importantly, the developed strategy enables variable fidelity model generation, where different segments of an analysed viaduct can be represented by meso‑ and/or macro-scale masonry descriptions at different levels of detail. This approach further enables the consideration of initial damage in the brick/blockwork, which is a very common feature of many existing masonry bridges and viaducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The Geodetector Method can be used to understand the insect distribution and interactions. • Confirmed the relations between grasshopper distribution and environmental factors. • The main driving factor of grasshopper distribution in steppe ecosystem is elevation. • The high-risk regions were concentrated in the meadow steppe. Grasshoppers are important elements for supporting ecosystem services which make it important to understand their spatial distribution characteristics to reduce outbreaks, implement effective control while minimizing non-target impacts. The spatial software package Geographical Detector (GD) was used to rank the interaction and effects of 19 environmental factors on the distribution of grasshopper species were quantified in four types of steppes in Northwestern, China. Results showed that the distribution of the insect was mainly influenced by elevation (q = 0.44). Among the factor interactions, elevation ∩ average annual precipitation (q = 0.795) was the strongest, followed by elevation ∩ soil available nitrogen (q = 0.722). Temperate meadow steppe and temperate steppe were identified as the areas at greatest risk for grasshopper's occurrence. This research shows that the Geographical Detector could be provided a useful tool to identify the driving forces for grasshopper distribution. Our research also offers a new method to more broadly understand the interactions between different drivers to explain the distribution of other insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Hunger hormones likely play a role in life-extension by dietary restriction. • Neuropeptide F (homology of NPY in vertebrates) increases feeding and proteostasis. • Neuropeptide F on ad libitum feeding can increase carbonyl accumulation. • Neuropeptide F and dietary restriction reduced oxidized proteins in grasshoppers. • Hunger hormones without eating to satiety can reduce protein damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to understand the interactive influence of environmental changes on the total grasshopper density (TGD) becomes an urgent issue in grassland ecosystems. Large-scale studies are ideal for assessing the relative contributions of multiple factors on grasshopper community dynamics. Using data from 634 sites, linkages of community habitats (plant functional groups (PFGs), vegetative litter (VT) and soil types (ST)) and grasshopper occurrence were studied in a farming-pastoral zone across Inner Mongolia. Each of the three primary grassland ecosystem drivers influenced total grasshopper density. The absence of VT (VT absence ) can decrease the total grasshopper density by degrading the habitat conditions. Similarly, grasshopper communities prefer to feed on legumes and forbs rather than grasses due to the plant-trait variance in PFGs. Moreover, total grasshopper density was driven by complex interactions, caused by PFGs, soil types and vegetation litter. Our results improve the understanding of where grasshoppers might occur and provide helpful strategies to prevent the outbreak of grasshoppers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using experiments and monitoring, we find that grasshoppers in a grassland ecosystem impact ecosystem functioning (nutrient cycling and primary production) in different ways among sites in the ecosystem. Experiments conducted over many years at two sites (21 and 15 years, respectively) with the same grasshopper and plant species demonstrated that grasshoppers increased nitrogen availability (N) and consequently annual plant production (ANPP) at one site, and decreased N and consequently ANPP at the other site. Comparing the two sites, N increased on average by 8% and up to 21.6%, and resulting ANPP increased on average by 18.6% and up to 33.3%. Grasshoppers increase N and ANPP by preferentially feeding on slower decomposing plants, and the opposite occurs by preferentially feeding on faster decomposing plants. Monitoring 20 random sites in the ecosystem, grasshoppers consistently increased N and ANPP over 3 years at 40% of sites, consistently decreased N and ANPP at 35% of sites, and sometimes increased and decreased N and ANPP at 25% of sites. Therefore, grassland grasshoppers, and insects in many ecosystems, may strongly affect ecosystem functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective movements are found in several taxa and many different scales. Locusts and grasshoppers are known for their formation of groups and collective movement. These groups exhibit self-organized characteristics of typical shapes and density gradients. Three different species-dependent characteristics of group structures can be distinguished in locusts and grasshoppers: spots (circular form), bands (large form), and ribbons (long form). In order to understand deeper the mechanisms leading to this diversity of structures, we aimed to reproduce the different spatial structures of locust and grasshopper groups by the mean of an agent-based model. The model describes the behaviour of individual insects by three simple processes of attraction, repulsion and cohesion – well known from classical flock models. The individuals’ vision radius is updated according to their neighbours’ density. Individuals update their direction and subsequent movement in response to local neighbours within the vision radius. The movement speed is irregular representing intermittent motion. Simulation experiments were applied to test the effects of the sequence of the processes of cohesion and alignment. As expected, the differences of group structures can be explained by differences in individual behaviours. More interestingly, the characteristic collective movements observed in locusts and grasshoppers need strong alignment behaviour of the individuals. We suggest that the different characteristic group structures found in grasshoppers and locusts depend on the strength of the aggregating behaviour exhibited by the different species. Our work shows that the high frontal densities observed in locust bands are the result of the turning back toward the group by the individuals in the front of the group. The specific behaviours needed to reproduce locust band structures suppose an adaptation to predation avoidance and eventually resource search. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation biologists and ecologists often make use of models to identify important biotic and abiotic factors that constrain species distributions for conservation decisions to be taken. In line with such practices, we developed species distribution models for four localized, Cape Floristic Region (CFR) endemic, flightless, congeneric Euloryma grasshopper species. We chose this group as use of these models has been little explored for narrow range endemics with specific traits. Euloryma larsenorum and E. lapollai are associated with fynbos only, while E. umoja and E. ottei are both associated with fynbos and vineyards. We used the Maximum Entropy algorithm, which showed that vegetation type and soil characteristics were the most important environmental factors affecting local distribution of Euloryma species in the CFR. The models also showed that Euloryma species have a very narrow habitat suitability range in the CFR. We also showed that there are no significant differences in the distribution of species associated with fynbos only as well as those associated with both fynbos and vineyards. E. larsenorum and E lapollai are likely to be the most affected species in the event of further habitat transformation from fynbos to agricultural production. This is not likely to be the case for E. umoja and E. ottei which can tolerate agriculture environment, although they might survive both sets of environments in accordance with their life history traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated brain regions – mostly neuropils – that process auditory information relevant for the initiation of response songs of female grasshoppers Chorthippus biguttulus during bidirectional intraspecific acoustic communication. Male-female acoustic duets in the species Ch. biguttulus require the perception of sounds, their recognition as a species- and gender-specific signal and the initiation of commands that activate thoracic pattern generating circuits to drive the sound-producing stridulatory movements of the hind legs. To study sensory-to-motor processing during acoustic communication we used multielectrodes that allowed simultaneous recordings of acoustically stimulated electrical activity from several ascending auditory interneurons or local brain neurons and subsequent electrical stimulation of the recording site. Auditory activity was detected in the lateral protocerebrum (where most of the described ascending auditory interneurons terminate), in the superior medial protocerebrum and in the central complex, that has previously been implicated in the control of sound production. Neural responses to behaviorally attractive sound stimuli showed no or only poor correlation with behavioral responses. Current injections into the lateral protocerebrum, the central complex and the deuto-/tritocerebrum (close to the cerebro-cervical fascicles), but not into the superior medial protocerebrum, elicited species-typical stridulation with high success rate. Latencies and numbers of phrases produced by electrical stimulation were different between these brain regions. Our results indicate three brain regions (likely neuropils) where auditory activity can be detected with two of these regions being potentially involved in song initiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversities can respond differently to biotic and abiotic filters. However, biodiversity management tends to focus on a single index, generally taxonomic diversity, assuming a strong positive correlation among biodiversity components across scales. This can result in a mismanagement of functional and phylogenetic diversities with negative consequences for ecosystem functioning and long-term maintenance of services. Understanding the relationships among biodiversity components, how they change across scales and which their main drivers are can lead to more sustainable management of biodiversity and its associated ecosystem services and functions. We used an integrative approach of biodiversity where we investigated alpha and beta taxonomic (TD), functional (FD) and phylogenetic (PD) diversity of orthopteran communities as well as species and functional traits composition and their associated drivers at the local and landscape scales in permanent mesic grasslands of the French Jura Mountains. We assessed whether orthopteran TD, FD and PD were positively correlated. We also determined the drivers of TD, FD and PD and their changes across scales and among indices using data related to soil, agricultural practices, elevation, and biotic interactions with plants. Our results showed that (i) elevation was a strong driver of orthopteran community trait composition, (ii) orthopteran alpha TD, FD and PD were correlated among themselves and increased with plant species richness, and (iii) local beta diversity was not correlated with alpha diversity. Beta diversity had different drivers at local and landscape scale: it was influenced by soil chemistry and texture at the local scale and increased with the difference in elevation among plots at the landscape scale. This study evidences distinct processes driving alpha and beta diversity of orthopteran communities at both the local and landscape scales. It supports the hypothesis that less intensive agricultural practices enhance orthopteran diversity and highlights the importance to consider beta diversity at both local and landscape scale when designing and assessing the management regimes of grassland ecosystems. Prioritizing the importance of the different biodiversity components and spatial scales constitutes an important challenge for sustainable grassland management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previously reported Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) library from spores of microsporidian Antonospora locustae includes a number of clones with sequence similarities to plant amalgaviruses. Reexamining the sequence accessions from that library, we found additional such clones, contributing to a 3247-nt contig that approximates the length of an amalga-like virus genome. Using A. locustae spores stored from that previous study, and new ones obtained from the same source, we newly visualized the putative dsRNA genome of this virus and obtained amplicons yielding a 3387-nt complete genome sequence. Phylogenetic analyses suggested it as prototype strain of a new genus in family Amalgaviridae . The genome contains two partially overlapping long ORFs, with downstream ORF2 in the +1 frame relative to ORF1 and a proposed motif for +1 ribosomal frameshifting in the region of overlap. Subsequent database searches using the predicted fusion protein sequence of this new amalga-like virus identified related sequences in the transcriptome of a basal hexapod, the springtail species Tetrodontophora bielanensis . We speculate that this second new amalga-like virus (contig length, 3475 nt) likely also derived from a microsporidian, or related organism, which was associated with the springtail specimens at the time of sampling for transcriptome analysis. Other findings of interest include evidence that the ORF1 translation products of these two new amalga-like viruses contain a central region of predicted α-helical coiled coil, as recently reported for plant amalgaviruses, and transcriptome-based evidence for another new amalga-like virus in the transcriptome of another basal hexapod, the two-pronged bristletail species Campodea augens . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxya velox (Grasshopper ) is considered to be one of the damaging pests. The Mangifera indica ( M. indica ) crude enzyme extracts (5 g powder/20 mL of water, ethyl acetate, butanol and chloroform separately) were evaluated for their cellulose ingestion inhibition activity in O. velox . The extracts activities were studied as a function of substrate concentration, pH and temperature. Dinitrosalisalic acid (DNSA) method was adopted to study the kinetic of both endoglucanase and exoglucanase enzymes. The K m values of both enzymes were recorded to be 2 mg/mL and 0.92 mg/mL, respectively, which revealed greater affinity of enzymes for the substrate. All solvents showed considerable enzymes inhibition activity and variation among solvents was insignificant. Results revealed that the cellulose digestion by O. velox enzymes could possibly be inhibited using M. indica extracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete mitochondrial genome of Tonkinacris sinensis is 15,627 bp long and contains13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes and one A + T-rich region. The gene order and orientation are identical to those of other Orthoptera species, containing the rearrangement of trnD and trnK. Intriguingly, a tRNA Ser -like gene exists on the N strand between the trnSUCN and nad1 genes. The length of this gene is 110 bp, and it has a typical clover-leaf structure, an anticodon, and a high cove score (23.49). On its clover-leaf structure, on the anticodon arm, there is a 41 bp intron with an unknown function. Here, phylogenetic analysis was conducted based on 13 PCGs of 30 species from 9 subfamilies of Acrididae to understand their phylogenetic relationships. According to the phylogenetic tree, the relationship among the 9 subfamilies within Acrididae was as follows: (Spathosterninae + (Oxyinae + (Catantopinae + (Calliptaminae + (Cyrtacanthacridinae + (Melanoplinae + (Gomphocerinae + (Oedipodinae + Acridinae)))))))). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]