Metagenomic tracking of microbial consortia of cassava flakes (garri)

The affirmation of several cross-sectional studies on the vulnerability of cassava flakes commonly called 'garri' to microbial attack has long been documented. However, longitudinal data on metagenomic tracking of microbial consortia of this important staple food are scarce. Hence, this study was aimed at tracking the microbial consortia of garri. A total of eight samples (four each from both Nigeria and Republic of Benin markets) were randomly collected aseptically using pre-sterilized aluminum pans and processed through a metagenomic approach, while both the chemical and proximate components of garri were assessed following standard techniques. The analysis of the taxonomic consortia of garri reveals the predomination of bacteria (99.82 and 99.81% for samples from Nigeria and Republic of Benin, respectively) while the remaining sequences matched with the Archae (0.07%), fungi (0.09%) and protozoa (0.09%). A large proportion of the sequences were unclassified at the phylum level (approximately 84.10 and 86.2% for Nigerian and Beninese samples, respectively). The reads of cassava flakes metagenome of both Nigeria and Republic of Benin exhibited analogous level of average GC content with sequence count of between 187773-213444 for samples from Nigeria and 157784-198763 for samples from Republic of Benin. The functional characteristics of the inhabiting metagenomes were found containing the genes encoding for adhesins, bacteriocins, resistance to antibiotics, toxic chemicals as well as toxins and superantigens. Both the chemical and the proximate compositions of the examined garri samples, though exhibited significant disparity, but without any apparent variation in the patterns of metagenomic data. Our findings however revealed bacteria as the major contaminants of these cassava food products. Keywords; Metagenomics, Microorganisms, Cassava flakes (garri), Proximate composition

Realization of the key aspects of the right to adequate housing in affordable housing programs in Egypt

The realization of the right to adequate housing is a critical issue that countries seek to achieve through affordable housing projects. However, there is a discrepancy in fulfilling the right to adequate housing between countries, which has surfaced the dilemma of defining adequate housing. In this respect, scanning relevant literature figured out seven key aspects to meet the right to adequate housing. Using a questionnaire launched to experts in the field, they figured out to what extent the seven aspects have been realized in the affordable housing programs in Egypt. The results showed a significant percentage of realization of the seven key aspects of the right to adequate housing. The findings showed an apparent variation in the completion of the seven key aspects, which decision-makers can improve at different scales with the progression of the programs. Future research can build on this direction to consider aspects like accessibility and cultural adequacy of these programs.

Brazilian Portuguese

The aim of this article is twofold. In the first place, we present evidence that the syntactic change towards overt pronominal subjects observed in Brazilian Portuguese is not a stable phenomenon; rather, our empirical results allow to follow the parametric change in course and to identify the progressive loss of crucial properties related to ‘consistent’ null subject languages. The contrastive analysis with European Portuguese shows the stronger and the weaker structural contexts in this continuous battle towards the implementation of overt pronouns. Personal sentences (with definite and ‘indefinite’ – arbitrary and generic – subjects, usually referred as “impersonal”) are analyzed in more detail than those we consider impersonal sentences, which include a variety of structures, with climate, existential and unaccusative verbs, . They are, however, shown to have been deeply affected by the re-setting of the value of the Null Subject Parameter. Then, we will briefly compare Brazilian Portuguese with Finnish null subjects to conclude that Brazilian Portuguese does not seem to fit the group of the so called ‘partial’ null subject languages, which seem to exhibit null subjects in very restricted contexts, have a lexical expletive in apparent variation with null and generic subjects as well as in impersonal sentences, when it seems to be merged to avoid a verb-initial sentence.

Local causation

The counterfactual and regularity theories are universal accounts of causation. I argue that these should be generalized to produce local accounts of causation. A hallmark of universal accounts of causation is the assumption that apparent variation in causation between locations must be explained by differences in background causal conditions, by features of the causal-nexus or causing-complex. The local account of causation presented here rejects this assumption, allowing for genuine variation in causation to be explained by differences in location. I argue that local accounts of causation are plausible, and have pragmatic, empirical and theoretical advantages over universal accounts. I then report on the use of presheaves as models of local causation. The use of presheaves as models of local variation has precedents in algebraic geometry, category theory and physics; they are here used as models of local causal variation. The paper presents this idea as stemming from an approach using presheaves as models of local truth. Finally, I argue that a proper balance between universal and local causation can be assuaged by moving from presheaves to fully-fledged sheaf models.

Ionospheric Response over Nepal during the 26 December 2019 Solar Eclipse

On 26th December 2019, during morning hours, an annular solar eclipse having a magnitude of 0.96 with a 118 km wide antumbra occurred and lasted for 3 minutes and 40 seconds at the point of maximum eclipse. The partial eclipse was visible in most of Asia, parts of North/East Africa, and North/West Australia. In the context of Nepal, only the partial eclipse was visible from ~ 8:34 LT (02:51 UT) and ended at ~ 11:40 LT (05:55 UT). It was 2 hours 47 mins and 54 secs long with the maximum visible eclipse time at ~ 10:01 LT (04:16 UT). Our study is based on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) measurements from a widely distributed Global Positioning System (GPS) network over different places of Nepal on the day of the eclipse, a day before, and a day after the eclipse. We investigated the ionospheric behavior through the changes in Total Electron Content (TEC) during the partial eclipse by using the data archived at the five different GPS stations of Nepal. The result reveals that there is significant depletion of TEC, in some cases greater than 20% compared to other normal days. Observing the values of TEC before, during, and after the event, our study showed an apparent variation during the time of the eclipse, which agrees with previous studies on ionospheric responses to the eclipse as well as theoretical assumptions.

Measurement of suction pressure dynamics of sea lampreys, Petromyzon marinus

Species-specific monitoring activities represent fundamental tools for natural resource management and conservation but require techniques that target species-specific traits or markers. Sea lamprey, a destructive invasive species in the Laurentian Great Lakes and conservation target in North America and Europe, is among very few fishes that possess and use oral suction, yet suction has not been exploited for sea lamprey control or conservation. Knowledge of specific characteristics of sea lamprey suction (e.g., amplitude, duration, and pattern of suction events; hereafter ‘suction dynamics’) may be useful to develop devices that detect, record, and respond to the presence of sea lamprey at a given place and time. Previous observations were limited to adult sea lampreys in static water. In this study, pressure sensing panels were constructed and used to measure oral suction pressures and describe suction dynamics of juvenile and adult sea lampreys at multiple locations within the mouth and in static and flowing water. Suction dynamics were largely consistent with previous descriptions, but more variation was observed. For adult sea lampreys, suction pressures ranged from –0.6 kPa to –26 kPa with 20 s to 200 s between pumps at rest, and increased to –8 kPa to –70 kPa when lampreys were manually disengaged. An array of sensors indicated that suction pressure distribution was largely uniform across the mouths of both juvenile and adult lampreys; but some apparent variation was attributed to obstruction of sensing portal holes by teeth. Suction pressure did not differ between static and flowing water when water velocity was lower than 0.45 m/s. Such information may inform design of new systems to monitor behavior, distribution and abundance of lampreys.

Genetic variability and correlation studies among yield and yield contributing characters of yardlong bean (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis L. Verdc.)

Twenty-five genotypes of yardlong bean were planted in the field to determine genotypic variances and correlations among characters related to yield. Analysis of variance revealed a highly significant difference among the genotypes for all traits, indicating the presence of variability. The phenotypic coefficients of variations were found slightly higher than the genotypic coefficients of variations, which suggests that the apparent variation is not only genetic but also influenced by the growing environment. High heritability and a high genetic advance were observed in pod yield per plant, pod weight and the number of pods per plant. Yield/plant was positively and significantly correlated with the number of pods/plant, pod length and the number of seeds/pod. The combination of the high heritability along with high genetic advance provides a clear image of the traits in the selection process reflecting the presence of additive gene action for the expression of these traits and improvement of these characters could be done through selection.

Effect of Clonal Variation on Oil Content and Oil Properties of Calophyllum inophyllum L: A Multi Purpose Tree

Calophyllum inophyllum is a potential source of non-edible seed oil. Calophyllum oil is used as a biofuel and also for medicinal purposes. At the Institute of Forest Genetics and Tree Breeding, Coimbatore carried out a study in 2019, on five different clones of C. inophyllum to investigate the effect of clonal variabilty on oil yield and oil physico-chemical properties for use as a biofuel. Oil yield significantly varied among the five clones and ranged from 48.6% to 55.8%. Among the physical properties, except Kinematic Viscosity, Specific Gravity and Refractive Index, the properties such as Flash point, Fire point, Pour point and Cloud point did not vary significantly. However, all the chemical properties studied, such as Acid value, Saponification value, Iodine value and Peroxide value showed apparent variation. From the study it could be derived that clone 15 is more suitable as tree crop for biofuel purpose and the variations among the clones indicate prevalence of scope for tree improvement of C. inophyllum for specific use.

The Effect of Raw Material on the Identification of Knapping Skill: a Case Study from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

The identification of Oldowan hominin knapping skill levels has been a focus of numerous studies, with apparent variation in technical abilities identified between a number of Early Stone Age archaeological sites. Raw material variability, however, can play a significant role in the outcomes of knapping events as well as in the accuracy of analysis. Implications of such variability are yet to be fully understood. Here we present an experimental study to assess the effects that varying raw materials have on the identification of technological attributes typically associated with varying skill levels and whether it is possible to identify knapper skill levels across multiple raw materials. Variation was tested between raw materials from Olduvai Gorge across and between skill levels. The results suggest that knapping skill levels manifest differently in the material record across raw materials. In addition, we suggest that raw material has a significant effect on identifying knapper skill variation. This has implications for future research concerned with identifying knapper skill within and between early assemblages of differing raw materials.

Search for associations containing young stars (SACY)

Context. Nearby young associations offer one of the best opportunities for a detailed study of the properties of young stellar and substellar objects thanks to their proximity (<200 pc) and age (∼5−150 Myr). Previous works have identified spectroscopic (<5 au) binaries, close (5−1000 au) visual binaries, and wide or extremely wide (1000−100 000 au) binaries in the young associations. In most of the previous analyses, single-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB1) were identified based on radial velocities variations. However, this apparent variation may also be caused by mechanisms unrelated to multiplicity. Aims. We seek to update the spectroscopy binary fraction of the Search for Associations Containing Young stars (SACY) sample, taking into consideration all possible biases in our identification of binary candidates, such as activity and rotation. Methods. Using high-resolution spectroscopic observations, we produced ∼1300 cross-correlation functions (CCFs) to disentangle the previously mentioned sources of contamination. The radial velocity values we obtained were cross-matched with the literature and then used to revise and update the spectroscopic binary (SB) fraction in each object of the SACY association. In order to better describe the CCF profile, we calculated a set of high-order cross-correlation features to determine the origin of the variations in radial velocities. Results. We identified 68 SB candidates from our sample of 410 objects. Our results hint that at the possibility that the youngest associations have a higher SB fraction. Specifically, we found sensitivity-corrected SB fractions of 22−11+15% for ϵ Cha, 31−14+16% for TW Hya and 32−8+9% for β Pictoris, in contrast to the five oldest associations we have sampled (∼35−125 Myr) which are ∼10% or lower. This result seems independent of the methodology used to asses membership to the associations. Conclusions. The new CCF analysis, radial velocity estimates, and SB candidates are particularly relevant for membership revision of targets in young stellar associations. These targets would be ideal candidates for follow-up campaigns using high-resolution techniques to confirm binarity, resolve orbits, and, ideally, calculate dynamical masses. Additionally, if the results on the SB fraction in the youngest associations were confirmed, it could hint at a non-universal multiplicity among SACY associations.