scholarly journals Influence of landscape homogenization due to river damming on dragonfly (Odonata) community structuring in a subtropical forest in the southern Atlantic Forest

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breno R. Araujo ◽  
Ângelo Parise Pinto ◽  
André A. Padial
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Abundance Ratio ◽  
South American Species ◽  
Local Fauna ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
River Damming ◽  
Local Diversity ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
High Level

Human activities affect the structure, dynamics, and energy flow of aquatic ecosystems. River damming, a common anthropic impact in Brazil, changes solar incidence, water flow, and temperature of waterbodies, thereby affecting their fauna. Due to their high sensitivity to environmental changes, the Odonata may be indicators of these impacts. We sampled two ecologically distinct sites, (1) a quasi-pristine forested area; and (2) a nearby human-impacted reservoir landscape, to evaluate the effects of damming on odonate community structure. The species composition of quasi-pristine communities was more heterogeneous and differed almost completely (indicating high turnover) from that of the reservoir-area communities. The capacity of the reservoir to maintain local fauna was almost nil. The communities in the changed landscape had the highest local diversity, which is related to the high occurrence of widespread generalist South American species. We also tested two recently proposed bioindication ratio tools based on the abundance of high-level taxonomic categories; both effectively demonstrated the extent of the impacts of damming. The best performing ratios were Coenagrionidae/other Zygoptera richness ratio, Zygoptera/Anisoptera abundance ratio, and Libellulidae/other Anisoptera richness ratio. The reservoir landscape promotes biotic homogenization. However, the water supply system entails the preservation of part of the native habitat in its surrounding areas, consequently maintaining local biodiversity in quasi-pristine environments.

scholarly journals RpoS-Dependent Stress Response and Exoenzyme Production in Vibrio vulnificus

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 6114-6120 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Hülsmann ◽  
T. M. Rosche ◽  
I.-S. Kong ◽  
H. M. Hassan ◽  
D. M. Beam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Peroxide ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Mutant Strain ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Vibrio Vulnificus ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Striking Difference ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Hydrolytic Activities ◽  
In The Wild

ABSTRACT Vibrio vulnificus is an estuarine bacterium capable of causing rapidly fatal infections through both ingestion and wound infection. Like other opportunistic pathogens, V. vulnificus must adapt to potentially stressful environmental changes while living freely in seawater, upon colonization of the oyster gut, and upon infection of such diverse hosts as humans and eels. In order to begin to understand the ability of V. vulnificus to respond to such stresses, we examined the role of the alternate sigma factor RpoS, which is important in stress response and virulence in many pathogens. An rpoS mutant of V. vulnificus strain C7184o was constructed by homologous recombination. The mutant strain exhibited a decreased ability to survive diverse environmental stresses, including exposure to hydrogen peroxide, hyperosmolarity, and acidic conditions. The most striking difference was a high sensitivity of the mutant to hydrogen peroxide. Albuminase, caseinase, and elastase activity were detected in the wild type but not in the mutant strain, and an additional two hydrolytic activities (collagenase and gelatinase) were reduced in the mutant strain compared to the wild type. Additionally, the motility of the rpoS mutant was severely diminished. Overall, these studies suggest that rpoS in V. vulnificus is important for adaptation to environmental changes and may have a role in virulence.

Influence of Irrational Beliefs and Sensitivity to a Person on Future Psychology Students’ Propensity to Coercion or Nonviolence

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-165
Author(s):  
V.G. Maralov ◽  
◽  
V.A. Sitarov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Irrational Beliefs ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
State Universities ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
High Level ◽  
Dependent Type

The relevance of the problem is due to the importance of identifying factors that determine the propensity of students to coercion or nonviolence, creating psychological and pedagogical conditions for the formation of the socionomic sphere of nonviolent competencies for future specialists at universities. The theoretical basis of the study was the position of nonviolence as a daily practice of interaction, by which we understand the ability of a person to choose from a number of possible alternatives that carry the least charge of coercion. The aim of the work was to study the influence of irrational beliefs and sensitivity to a person (interest, empathy, understanding and assistance) on the students’ tendency to coercion, manipulation, non-violence and non-interference in the processes of interaction with people. The hypothesis was tested that the tendency of students to coercion, manipulation, and noninterference will be due to expressed irrational beliefs and low level of sensitivity to a person and the tendency to non-violence will be explained by the absence of irrational beliefs and a high level of sensitivity to a person. The study involved 125 students of pedagogical and psychological faculties of the Moscow Humanitarian and Cherepovets State universities. The authors used questionnaires to identify the positions of interaction among students and sensitivity to a person, as well as a list of irrational beliefs proposed by A. Beck and A. Freeman. It is established that the tendency to both coercion and manipulation are determined by the beliefs of anti-social type and low sensitivity to the person. The tendency to manipulate the narcissistic beliefs, high interest in people and understanding them, at the same time the tendency to non-violence and non-interference are determined by beliefs of avoidant and dependent types with a low level of understanding people. And a tendency to non-interference is determined by beliefs of dependent type with unexpressed orientation on helping. The tendency to nonviolence is determined by the high sensitivity to a person and the absence of irrational beliefs of antisocial, passive-aggressive and narcissistic types. As a result, the conclusion is made about the need to form purposefully the ability to nonviolent interaction among students, which should include the work on awareness and overcoming irrational beliefs and the development of sensitivity to a person. The obtained results can be used in practical work with students on the formation of their nonviolent competencies.

New results of Boda Claystone research: Genesis, mineralogy, geochemistry, petrophysics

2018 ◽  
Vol 482 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferenc Fedor ◽  
Zoltán Máthé ◽  
Péter Ács ◽  
Péter Koroncz
Keyword(s):  
High Level Waste ◽  
Swelling Clays ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Hydrodynamic Behaviour ◽  
Geological Formation ◽  
Porosity And Permeability ◽  
History Of ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
High Level ◽  
Low Porosity

AbstractBoda Claystone is a very tight clayey rock with extreme low porosity and permeability, nano-size pores and small amounts of swelling clays. Due to this character it is ideal as a potential host rock for research into the possibilities of high-level waste deposition in geological formation. Though the research started more than 30 years ago, the genesis, the geotectonic history of the Boda Claystone Formation (BCF) and the geology of surrounding areas has only been sketched out recently. On the basis of research of the past few years the process of sedimentation of different blocks was able to be reconstructed. Equipment and methodological developments were needed for the investigation of reservoir geological and hydrodynamic behaviour of this rock, which began in the early 2000s. Based on them the pore structure and reservoir could be characterized in detail. Only theoretical approaches were available for the chemical composition of free porewater. Traditional water-extracting methods were not adaptable because of excessively low porosity and nano-scale pore size distribution. Hence, new ways have to be found for getting enough water for analysis. These new results of BCF research help to prepare more sophisticated and directed experiments, in which there is a great interest internationally.

scholarly journals Prognostic Metrics Associated with Inflammation and Atherosclerosis Signaling Evaluate the Burden of Adverse Clinical Outcomes in Ischemic Stroke Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (11) ◽  
pp. 1434-1443
Author(s):  
Daoxia Guo ◽  
Zhengbao Zhu ◽  
Chongke Zhong ◽  
Aili Wang ◽  
Xuewei Xie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ischemic Stroke ◽  
Clinical Outcomes ◽  
Pathway Analysis ◽  
Primary Outcome ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Reactive Protein ◽  
Significant Enrichment ◽  
High Level

Abstract Background Conventional prognostic risk factors can only partly explain the adverse clinical outcomes after ischemic stroke. We aimed to establish a set of prognostic metrics and evaluate its public health significance on the burden of adverse clinical outcomes of ischemic stroke. Methods All patients were from the China Antihypertensive Trial in Acute Ischemic Stroke (CATIS). We established prognostic metrics of ischemic stroke from 20 potential biomarkers in a propensity-score-matched extreme case sample (n = 146). Pathway analysis was conducted using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. In the whole CATIS population (n = 3575), we evaluated effectiveness of these prognostic metrics and estimated their population-attributable fractions (PAFs) related to the risk of clinical outcomes. The primary outcome was a composite outcome of death or major disability (modified Rankin Scale score ≥3) at 3 months after stroke. Results Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), S100A8/A9, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) were selected as prognostic metrics for ischemic stroke. Pathway analysis showed significant enrichment in inflammation and atherosclerosis signaling. All 4 prognostic metrics were independently associated with poor prognosis of ischemic stroke. Compared with patients having 1 or 0 high-level prognostic metrics, those with 4 had higher risk of primary outcome (OR: 3.84, 95%CI: 2.67–5.51; PAF: 37.4%, 95%CI: 19.5%–52.9%). Conclusion The set of prognostic metrics, enriching in inflammation and atherosclerosis signaling, could effectively predict the prognosis at 3 months after ischemic stroke and would provide additional information for the burden of adverse clinical outcomes among patients with ischemic stroke.

Signal coding in cockroach photoreceptors is tuned to dim environments

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (10) ◽  
pp. 2641-2652 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Heimonen ◽  
E.-V. Immonen ◽  
R. V. Frolov ◽  
I. Salmela ◽  
M. Juusola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Periplaneta Americana ◽  
Single Photon ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Temporal Integration ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Single Photons ◽  
Low Frequencies ◽  
Whole Cell Patch Clamp ◽  
High Level

In dim light, scarcity of photons typically leads to poor vision. Nonetheless, many animals show visually guided behavior with dim environments. We investigated the signaling properties of photoreceptors of the dark active cockroach ( Periplaneta americana) using intracellular and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to determine whether they show selective functional adaptations to dark. Expectedly, dark-adapted photoreceptors generated large and slow responses to single photons. However, when light adapted, responses of both phototransduction and the nontransductive membrane to white noise (WN)-modulated stimuli remained slow with corner frequencies ∼20 Hz. This promotes temporal integration of light inputs and maintains high sensitivity of vision. Adaptive changes in dynamics were limited to dim conditions. Characteristically, both step and frequency responses stayed effectively unchanged for intensities >1,000 photons/s/photoreceptor. A signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the light responses was transiently higher at frequencies <5 Hz for ∼5 s after light onset but deteriorated to a lower value upon longer stimulation. Naturalistic light stimuli, as opposed to WN, evoked markedly larger responses with higher SNRs at low frequencies. This allowed realistic estimates of information transfer rates, which saturated at ∼100 bits/s at low-light intensities. We found, therefore, selective adaptations beneficial for vision in dim environments in cockroach photoreceptors: large amplitude of single-photon responses, constant high level of temporal integration of light inputs, saturation of response properties at low intensities, and only transiently efficient encoding of light contrasts. The results also suggest that the sources of the large functional variability among different photoreceptors reside mostly in phototransduction processes and not in the properties of the nontransductive membrane.

Economic Elites’ Attitudes Toward Meritocracy in Chile: A Moral Economy Perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (9) ◽  
pp. 1219-1241
Author(s):  
Jorge Atria ◽  
Juan Castillo ◽  
Luis Maldonado ◽  
Simón Ramirez
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
National Development ◽  
Moral Economy ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Redistributive Policies ◽  
Economic Elite ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Economic Elites ◽  
High Level

We analyze economic elites’ perceptions and beliefs about meritocracy from a moral economy perspective. A moral economy perspective considers how norms and beliefs structure socioeconomic practices through the constitution and expression of what is considered acceptable, proper, and legitimate. Our study explores how economic elites make sense of the roles of talent and effort in the distribution of resources and how they reconcile the idea of meritocracy within a rigid social order. The site of our study is Chile, a country with fluid mobility between low and middle classes, but with high and persistent disparities and strong barriers to elite positions. We conducted 44 semistructured interviews with shareholders, board members, and high-level executives of large or high-turnover companies in three major Chilean cities. We find that the economic elite strongly support meritocracy but explain access to top positions based on talent rather than effort. The economic elite define talent in terms of business and leadership skills. They attribute upward mobility in the private sector to meritocratic practice. At the same time, they view the public sector as the epitome of nonmeritocratic practices, incompetence, and inefficiency. They profess empathy with the poor, but they reject redistributive policies. The economic elite believe in the primacy of competition in economic life and the necessity of continual economic growth, and thus, they understand meritocracy as both the means to survive in a market economy and a responsible approach to lead national development.

scholarly journals Identifying Digital Transformation Paths in the Business Model of SMEs during the COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Anjar Priyono ◽  
Abdul Moin ◽  
Vera Nur Aini Oktaviani Putri
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
High Level ◽  
Medium Enterprises

The objective of this study was to analyze how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cope with environmental changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic by pursuing the business model transformation with the support of digital technologies. To achieve the objective, this study used a multiple case study design with qualitative analysis to examine the data obtained from interviews, observation, and field visits. Seven manufacturing SMEs from Indonesia were selected using a theoretical sampling technique, with the purpose of achieving some degree of variation to allow us to undertake replication logic. Our analysis demonstrates that SMEs adopt a different degree of digital transformations, which can be summarized into three paths, depending on the firms’ contextual factors. First, SMEs with a high level of digital maturity who respond to the challenges by accelerating the transition toward digitalized firms; second, SMEs experiencing liquidity issues but a low level of digital maturity who decide to digitalize the sales function only; and, third, the SMEs that have very limited digital literacy but are supported by a high level of social capital. This last group of firms solves the challenges by finding partners who possess excellent digital capabilities. The qualitative case study method allows us to conduct in-depth and detailed analysis, but has thin generalizability. To address this limitation, future research can use a survey covering various industries to test the proposed theory that has resulted from this study, so that the generalizability can be assured.

scholarly journals Differential Involvement of Histidine Kinase Receptors in Pseudohyphal Development, Stress Adaptation, and Drug Sensitivity of the Opportunistic Yeast Candida lusitaniae

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 1782-1794 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Chapeland-Leclerc ◽  
Paméla Paccallet ◽  
Gwenaël Ruprich-Robert ◽  
David Reboutier ◽  
Christiane Chastin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Histidine Kinase ◽  
High Sensitivity ◽  
Triple Mutant ◽  
Mating Ability ◽  
Reverse Transcription Pcr ◽  
Moderate Sensitivity ◽  
Candida Lusitaniae ◽  
High Level

ABSTRACT Fungal histidine kinase receptors (HKRs) sense and transduce many extracellular signals. We investigated the role of HKRs in morphogenetic transition, osmotolerance, oxidative stress response, and mating ability in the opportunistic yeast Candida lusitaniae. We isolated three genes, SLN1, NIK1, and CHK1, potentially encoding HKRs of classes VI, III, and X, respectively. These genes were disrupted by a transformation system based upon the “URA3 blaster” strategy. Functional analysis of disruptants was undertaken, except for the sln1 nik1 double mutant and the sln1 nik1 chk1 triple mutant, which are not viable in C. lusitaniae. The sln1 mutant revealed a high sensitivity to oxidative stress, whereas both the nik1 and chk1 mutants exhibited a more moderate sensitivity to peroxide. We also showed that the NIK1 gene was implicated in phenylpyrrole and dicarboximide compound susceptibility while HKRs seem not to be involved in resistance toward antifungals of clinical relevance. Concerning mating ability, all disruptants were still able to reproduce sexually in vitro in unilateral or bilateral crosses. The most important result of this study was that the sln1 mutant displayed a global defect of pseudohyphal differentiation, especially in high-osmolarity and oxidative-stress conditions. Thus, the SLN1 gene could be crucial for the C. lusitaniae yeast-to-pseudohypha morphogenetic transition. This implication is strengthened by a high level of SLN1 mRNAs revealed by semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR when the yeast develops pseudohyphae. Our findings highlight a differential contribution of the three HKRs in osmotic and oxidant adaptation during the morphological transition in C. lusitaniae.

scholarly journals Chronic 2P-STED imaging reveals high turnover of dendritic spines in the hippocampus in vivo

eLife ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Pfeiffer ◽  
Stefanie Poll ◽  
Stephane Bancelin ◽  
Julie Angibaud ◽  
VVG Krishna Inavalli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dendritic Spines ◽  
Super Resolution ◽  
Mammalian Brain ◽  
Spine Density ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
High Turnover ◽  
Synaptic Circuits ◽  
Working Distance ◽  
High Level

Rewiring neural circuits by the formation and elimination of synapses is thought to be a key cellular mechanism of learning and memory in the mammalian brain. Dendritic spines are the postsynaptic structural component of excitatory synapses, and their experience-dependent plasticity has been extensively studied in mouse superficial cortex using two-photon microscopy in vivo. By contrast, very little is known about spine plasticity in the hippocampus, which is the archetypical memory center of the brain, mostly because it is difficult to visualize dendritic spines in this deeply embedded structure with sufficient spatial resolution. We developed chronic 2P-STED microscopy in mouse hippocampus, using a ‘hippocampal window’ based on resection of cortical tissue and a long working distance objective for optical access. We observed a two-fold higher spine density than previous studies and measured a spine turnover of ~40% within 4 days, which depended on spine size. We thus provide direct evidence for a high level of structural rewiring of synaptic circuits and new insights into the structure-dynamics relationship of hippocampal spines. Having established chronic super-resolution microscopy in the hippocampus in vivo, our study enables longitudinal and correlative analyses of nanoscale neuroanatomical structures with genetic, molecular and behavioral experiments.

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