Free Life Research Articles

The microbial community spatially varies during a Microcystis bloom event in Lake Kinneret

Abstract Cyanobacterial blooms in lakes frequently display high spatial heterogeneity, which may drive temporal changes in microbial community structure. Here we report on the spatial (horizontal and vertical) structure of the cyanobacteria community and of the co‐occurring heterotroph microbial community during a major lake‐wide bloom event at Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee, Israel). We sampled the upper water layer (0, 1 and 5 m depths) at five locations across the lake, spatially representing north, south, east, west and centre of the lake, on two dates during winter 2016 when the Microcystis biomass was high. We aimed to characterise the spatial distribution of the bloom and the associated microbiota, as well as testing the extent to which variation in the structure of the microbial community could be associated with Microcystis biomass. During the winter 2016 bloom, Microcystis biomass was spatially heterogeneous, but the Microcystis population structure was rather homogenous, dominated by a single genotype (ITS sequence variant). By contrast, the composition of the bacterial community, assessed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, was spatially heterogeneous, differing between depths, sampling locations and time. The largest difference in microbial community structure was between particle‐associated (PA) and free‐living (FL) fractions. The PA community was characterised by a relatively lower diversity, and dominated by Proteobacteria, whereas the FL community was significantly more diverse and dominated by members of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. Variation in the microbial community was significantly correlated with geographical location and sampling depth. However, there was no clear relationship between the Microcystis biomass density (cells biovolume) and the structure of the microbial communities. These results suggest that the structure of the bacterial community is partly decoupled from Microcystis population density, and potentially more affected by other environmental factors such as temperature and/or physicochemical conditions. Our study highlights the importance of spatial information on bloom composition and intensity in clarifying the factors affecting the progression of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms and how this impacts their microbial counterparts.

Virtues in Viveka Chintamani

Viveka Chintamani brings out many wise ideas. In this worldly life, man has to deal with the four essentials in life virtue, wealth, pleasure, and home. Tamil people followed good principles in their life and gained enough wealth through these virtues. When a man leads a guilt free life. It is called virtue. Even a man cannot do good things to others, it does not matter but he should not do evil things. A man should cultivate good humane character and be grateful. Humans must be kind to all living things. Love is considered as the main characteristic of all virtues. One should live like a musk deer. The ancient Tamil sages gave their own life for pride and praises. Those people always welcomed and entertained their guests. It is also known that the king's people followed great moral values in their life. They followed the principles of Periyar. This article examines the virtues mentioned in Viveka Chintamani.

Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North by Crystal Lynn Webster

Reviewed by: Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North by Crystal Lynn Webster Vanessa M. Holden (bio) Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North. By Crystal Lynn Webster. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021. Pp. 208. Cloth, $95.00; paper, $24.95.) Lucinda Ricks, a newly freed single mother, moved with her three children into the Shelter for Coloured Orphans in the City of Brotherly Love in 1827. Stephen, Simon, and Henry Ricks would initially live with their mother as boarders in the shelter, but, because of her precarious financial future, Lucinda surrendered her sons to the shelter and moved out into the city. The family’s story, including that of Simon and Stephen’s deaths while in the care of shelter workers, haunts Crystal Lynn Webster’s book, Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood. In it the Ricks navigate the changing landscape of Black freedom in a city noted in its time as a hub of free Black life. Webster tells their story and the stories of other free Black parents and children to demonstrate the important role that Black children and the contested meanings of their childhood played in shaping free Black life. Webster’s work offers a significant contribution to African American history. Few books have investigated the lives of free and enslaved antebellum Black children. Broadening our understanding of emancipation and free Black life, Webster argues that free Black children and command of their labor were central concerns of activist movements in the antebellum North. But beyond how adults contested the boundaries of Black childhood, Webster demonstrates how Black children acted politically and advocated for themselves. The book begins with an exploration of how white reformers and ante-bellum popular culture racialized childhood as a white and middle-class prerogative. Webster then demonstrates that while play was an essential hallmark of white childhood, Black children at play transgressed society’s expectations. While Black children were institutionalized at benevolent homes and orphanages, reformers instilled the middle-class values of industry and labor. These values were classed, raced, and imposed on the poor and racially marginalized. Benevolent homes, asylums, orphanages, almshouses, and reformatories run by white reformers and activists were sites of abuse, neglect, and suffering for many free children of color. Webster presents the bleak reality of children growing sick and dying. She also reads the building plans and [End Page 554] layouts of these institutions to demonstrate how literal structures reflected authorities’ ideas about the differences between white and Black children. Unlike their approach to white children, authorities also sent Black children to institutions intended for adults, rendering these youths vulnerable to even more abuse. Reformers and officials racialized and criminalized African American children and childhood, denying Black children the innocence and play afforded to white children. The line between placement in a benevolent home and incarceration in developing antebellum prisons was thin, and reformers often pushed Black children across it. For Black children, danger came from within and without institutions. Webster notes how whites targeted institutions for Black children with extralegal violence and destruction. Beyond brick-and-mortar institutions, Webster investigates a significant legal institution: indenture. With roots in systems of apprenticeship, the legal system of indenture bound an apprentice to a master for a set term of service. Ministers of the poor throughout antebellum America bound children, white and Black, to property-owning white adults who were obligated to provide their new wards with basic shelter, clothing, and food. In return, children were expected to work for their masters. As Webster points out, institutions often had stipulations that their charges would be placed through indenture with white adults. Officials also indentured Black children deemed destitute. Once their children were relinquished to or taken to an institution, Black parents faced considerable obstacles to retrieving them. Through this legal system of unfree labor, whites continued to control free Black children and profit from their exploitation. The system did not die when northern states began the process of emancipation, and it did not die in 1865 with the Thirteenth Amendment. Webster’s work presents important consideration of the value of Black children’s labor and the...

퇴직한 교육행정직 공무원의 생애사 연구

Objectives This study is to understand what the personal and professional life course of education administrative officials who retired after working for decades in an organization called school, how those life course affect life after retirement, and how they prepare for life after retirement. Through this, the purpose is to provide an opportunity to recognize educational administrative officials as partners to achieve educational purposes, and to obtain theoretical and practical implications for our lives living in the age of 100.
 Methods To this end, a life history research method was used. The life history research method is a good research method to understand the life transition and adaptation course in the continuity of time by examining the internal dynamics and life changes in an individual's life course on the axis of time of the past, present, and future. In this study, we listened to Administration manager Kim's oral speech, who retired on June 30, 2019, and interpreted the meaning of specific experiences, events, and adaptations by connecting his life experiences in the course of life with socio-cultural and historical contexts.
 Results Administration manager Kim has lived his whole life to keep his promises to his mother and wife, and since he faithfully fulfilled his personal and professional life, he has no regrets in his life, and is very grateful that he can receive a pension, although he has left office without receiving a retirement medal due to unexpected events. Kim wants to return to the “Mountain with Ancestors' Tomb” and grow trees and live a free life like “Wandering Clouds and Wild Cranes,” but his lack of prior knowledge, declining body, and bad news of “COVID-19” forced him to put his dream on hold. He is living his second life by finding a job for the elderly as a way to spend a long time without being bored.
 Conclusions In order for a life after retirement to be satisfactory life, you must first have a healthy body, find yourself a work that will not tire you out no matter how hard you work, and the organization needs to open up a yard that collects various careers after retirement so that those who are scheduled to retire can find the work.

Determinan Kebijakan Dividen di Bursa Efek Indonesia

The study aims to analyze the determinants of dividend policy in companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in the period 2016 to 2021. The variables studied in this study include liquidity, profitability proxied by Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA). , solvency, company size, free cash flow, asset tangibility, investment opportunities, life cycle, and company risk. The research sample totaled 1,620 data obtained from 270 companies during the 2016-2021 period which were selected through purposive sampling. The total number of outlier data is 179 data so that the final data studied is 1,441 data. Panel regression analysis was applied as a test method in this study. The results of the study prove that liquidity, ROA, and free cash flow significantly influence dividend policy, while the other variables studied are not factors that influence dividend policy in companies listed on the IDX.
 Keywords: Dividend Policy; Dividend; Firm Characteristics; Financial Ratios

THE FUTURE OF MARTIM

Este trabalho pretende refletir sobre a liberdade no romance A maçã no escuro (1961), de Clarice Lispector (1920-1977). Neste estudo, problematizaremos a ideia de liberdade que chamamos de autêntica — desligada de qualquer perspectiva racional, burguesa e capitalista. Trata-se, de acordo com a nossa abordagem, de uma vida livre que se revela futura — por vir —, onde se é possível conviver em alteridade com os seres orgânicos e inorgânicos, não os vendo como mercadoria, mas como intensificadores de experiência. Palavras-chave: A maçã no escuro, Clarice Lispector, Liberdade, Futuro, Capitalismo.

A STUDY OF THE MARKET DEMAND OF MOBILE SMART HOUSE UNDER THE SMART CITY DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND

The smart city development is the tendency of China’s urban development. The implementation of smart city provides a guiding direction for the development and integration of the whole industry. The double carbon policy of carbon emissions peak and carbon neutrality is the primary goals in China’s energy transition and environmental protection in the coming decades. Mobile smart house can meet the needs of users in the mobile lifestyle, energy conservation, energy management, smart home and smart house, and support and promote the smart house policy and double carbon policy. Through the secondary data collection and literature analysis methods, the paper concludes that how mobile smart houses meet people’s needs in energy and information and analyzes the kind of free life that mobile smart houses can help people achieve. The SWOT method is used to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of mobile smart house, to provide solutions for the development direction of the mobile smart housing products and for the aim of better meeting the market demand.

Seasonal hydrological dynamics govern lifestyle preference of aquatic antibiotic resistome

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are a well-known environmental concern. Yet, limited knowledge exists on the fate and transport of ARGs in deep freshwater reservoirs experiencing seasonal hydrological changes, especially in the context of particle-attached (PA) and free-living (FL) lifestyles. Here, the ARG profiles were examined using high-throughput quantitative PCR in PA and FL lifestyles during four seasons representing two hydrological phenomena (vertical mixing and thermal stratification) in the Shuikou Reservoir (SR), Southern China. The results indicated that seasonal hydrological dynamics were critical for influencing the ARGs in PA and FL and the transition of ARGs between the two lifestyles. ARG profiles both in PA and FL were likely to be shaped by horizontal gene transfer. However, they exhibited distinct responses to the physicochemical (e.g., nutrients and dissolved oxygen) changes under seasonal hydrological dynamics. The particle-association niche (PAN) index revealed 94 non-conservative ARGs (i.e., no preferences for PA and FL) and 23 and 16 conservative ARGs preferring PA and FL lifestyles, respectively. A sharp decline in conservative ARGs under stratified hydrologic suggested seasonal influence on the ARGs transition between PA and FL lifestyles. Remarkably, the conservative ARGs (in PA or FL lifestyle) were more closely related to bacterial OTUs in their preferred lifestyle than their counterparts, indicating lifestyle-dependent ARG enrichment. Altogether, these findings enhanced our understanding of the ARG lifestyles and the role of seasonal hydrological changes in governing the ARG transition between the lifestyles in a typical deep freshwater ecosystem.

The Ecological Differentiation of Particle-Attached and Free-Living Bacterial Communities in a Seasonal Flooding Lake-the Poyang Lake.

Particle-attached (PA) and free-living (FL) bacterial communities play essential roles in the biogeochemical cycling of essential nutrients in aquatic environments. However, little is known about the factors that drive the differentiation of bacterial lifestyles, especially in flooding lake systems. Here we assessed the compositional and functional similarities between the FL and PA bacterial fractions in a typical flooding lake-the Poyang Lake (PYL) of China. The results revealed that PA communities had significantly different compositions and functions from FL communities in every hydrological period, and the diversity of both PA and FL communities was affected mainly by the water regime rather than bacterial lifestyles. PA communities were more diverse and enriched with Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, while FL communities had more Actinobacteria. There was a higher abundance of photosynthetic and nitrogen-cycling bacterial groups in PA communities, but a higher abundance of members involved in hydrocarbon degradation, aromatic hydrocarbon degradation, and methylotrophy in FL communities. Water properties (e.g., temperature, pH, total phosphorus) significantly regulated the lifestyle variations of PA and FL bacteria in PYL. Collectively, our results have demonstrated a clear ecological differentiation of PA and FL bacterial communities in flooding lakes, suggesting that the connectivity between FL and PA bacterial fractions is water property-related rather than water regime-related.

Early Robinson: Memory, History, and the Local

This essay discusses Kim Stanley Robinson's early fiction: short stories and novellas, Icehenge (1984), and the trilogy set in Orange County (1984-1990). Robinson's early fiction is varied, exploratory, and experimental. Discussion begins by sketching his take on some common genres and topics in sf (for instance, settlement off-Earth), and then focuses on his varied treatment of memory and history. Memory is unreliable or missing; history is uncertain, faked, controverted. The short stories examine these issues from multiple angles. Icehenge depicts memory as haunted and the truth of the past as elusive, controverted, and arguably faked. The main characters are isolates and anomie prevails in the novel's world. With the Orange County trilogy, Robinson realigns his fiction. The setting is now local and restricted; the central characters are young and have scope for both follies and development. Each embarks on a narrative which has an oblique relation to the past. History is both a burden and a blank in The Wild Shore; crowded contemporary society entraps and overwhelms the protagonists in The Gold Coast, but a history reaching back into deep time is achieved; a community in which free life in the present can be enjoyed is achieved by the time of Pacific Edge, but it is bounded by death and unhappiness.

Meiobenthic Assemblages in some Coral Reef Sites in Marsa Alam (Red Sea, Egypt) with Emphasis on Free Living Nematodes

Meiobenthic Assemblages in some Coral Reef Sites in Marsa Alam (Red Sea, Egypt) with Emphasis on Free Living Nematodes

Dosimetric Evaluation of Physical Radiation Delivery Limits of a Weak Magnetic Field Generator on GBM Dose Distributions

<h3>Purpose/Objective(s)</h3> To demonstrate the feasibility of meeting dose prescription criteria when using a weak magnetic field generator to support glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) radiation therapy. <h3>Materials/Methods</h3> Weak magnetic fields extend free radical life, and recent experimental results have shown that adding weak magnetic fields (20G-40G) to radiation therapy delivery enhances free radical production, increases tumor cell death, and slows tumor growth. Based on these results, we have built the first clinical unit, consisting of two 63 cm ID Helmholtz coils, spaced 35 cm apart. The coil system is placed such that the patient and Linac couch are within the coils, and the Linac isocenter is coincident with the center of the coil system. We propose to use GBM for our first clinical trial. The limitation imposed by the coil system is a fixed Linac couch angle, constraining the gantry rotation to slightly more than 180°, from lateral to lateral. The impact on treatment plan quality of the corresponding reduction in available beam angles was unknown, so we conducted a treatment planning study to determine if we could provide clinically equivalent treatment plans with the coil in place. We evaluated the treatment plans for 10 GBM patients that had been treated with arc therapy. The prescription was 60 Gy (2 Gy x 30 fractions) for 6 patients, 55.8 Gy (1.8 Gy x 31 fractions) for 2 patients, 54 Gy (1.8 Gy x 30 fractions) for 1 patient, and 40.05 Gy (2.67 Gy x 15 fractions) for 1 patient. The dose was delivered to 95% of the planning target volume (PTV). The PTV margin was 1.3-2 cm surrounding the gross tumor volume. Critical structures, such as the brainstem, optic nerves, and optic chiasm, were contoured and assigned constraints of 62 Gy, 54 Gy, and 54 Gy, respectively. We repeated the treatment planning session using only coplanar arcs that spanned from 90° to 270° (half-arcs). <h3>Results</h3> All the treatment plans generated with the half-arcs met the clinical criteria. The minimum PTV doses for the half arc and clinical plans were 50.0 ± 6.1 Gy and 51.4 ± 7.1 Gy, and the maximum PTV doses were 61.9 ± 7.1 Gy and 62.7 ± 8.6 Gy, respectively. Table 1 summarizes the results of four reported critical structures. All the critical structures met the criteria, and the half-arc plans were neither better nor worse than the clinical plans. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The physical limits imposed by the magnetic field generator on the Linac beam angles do not degrade treatment planning for GBM radiation therapy. The prescribed dose can be adequately delivered while avoiding critical structures. With this groundwork, we can develop clinical trials to evaluate the impact of utilizing weak magnetic fields in radiation therapy.

Individual lifetime benefit from low-dose colchicine in chronic coronary artery disease patients

Abstract Background Low-dose colchicine reduces the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with chronic coronary artery disease (CAD), but the absolute benefit may vary between patients. Individual benefit from preventive therapies can be estimated using the guideline-recommended SMART-REACH model. Purpose This study aimed to assess the range of individual absolute 10-year and lifetime benefit from low-dose colchicine according to patient risk profile. Methods The SMART-REACH model was combined with the relative treatment effect of low-dose colchicine, and applied to all participants from the LoDoCo2 trial (n=5,522), and patients with chronic CAD from the UCC-SMART cohort (n=5,308). Individual treatment benefit was expressed as (i) 10-year absolute risk reductions (ARRs) for myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or cardiovascular death (MACE), and (ii) life-years gained free of MACE. Predictions were also performed for MACE plus ischemia-driven coronary revascularization (MACE+), through development of a new competing risk-adjusted lifetime prediction model in data from the REACH registry (n=14,522). Low-dose colchicine was compared to alternative intensive prevention goals, i.e. low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) reduction to &amp;lt;1.4 mmol/L, and systolic blood pressure (SBP) reduction to &amp;lt;130 mmHg. Results Median individual 10-year ARR for MACE from low-dose colchicine therapy was 4.6% (interquartile range [IQR] 3.6–6.0%), and median gain in life expectancy free of MACE was 2.0 (IQR 1.6–2.5) years. Median 10-year ARR for MACE+ was 8.6% (IQR 7.6–9.8%), and median gain in MACE+-free life expectancy was 3.4 (IQR 2.6–4.2) years. For intensified LDL-c and SBP reduction respectively, median 10-year ARRs were 3.0% (IQR 1.5–5.1%) and 1.7% (IQR 0.0–5.7%) for MACE, and 5.2% (IQR 2.5–8.7%) and 2.9% (IQR 0.0–9.5%) for MACE+. Median life-years gained from LDL-c and SBP reduction were 1.2 (IQR 0.6–2.1) and 0.7 (IQR 0.0–2.3) years free of MACE, and 1.8 (IQR 0.8–3.3) and 0.9 (IQR 0.0–3.4) years free of MACE+. Conclusion The individual absolute benefit from low-dose colchicine varies between patients. In an era where lipid- and blood pressure-lowering therapies are already routinely used, the benefits of low-dose colchicine are expected to be of at least similar magnitude to those of intensified LDL-c and SBP reduction in patients with chronic CAD. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Microbial hierarchical correlations and their contributions to carbon-nitrogen cycling following a reservoir cyanobacterial bloom

Unraveling how microbial co-occurrences respond to cyanobacterial blooms is central to our understanding of the stability of aquatic ecosystems. Here, we examined the effects of a Microcystis bloom on the inter-domain eukaryotic and two size-fractionated bacterial networks in a subtropical reservoir. Eukaryotes, especially protists, had a central role in microbial networks, followed by particle-attached (PA) bacteria and free-living (FL) bacteria. Eukaryotes had more negative correlations with PA bacteria than with FL bacteria. The environmental changes related to the Microcystis bloom (i.e., water temperature, pH, chlorophyll a, total carbon, total organic carbon and nitrite nitrogen) strongly affected eukaryotes and PA bacteria network as reflected by the dynamics of community composition in major modules. Importantly, the network complexity and stability significantly increased in the post-bloom periods, and eukaryotes (especially protists) enhanced the stability of the microbial network. Compared to keystone FL bacteria, eukaryotic and PA bacterial hubs mainly determined the network structure and key functional potentials (i.e., nitrogen cycling, carbon fixation and carbon degradation). Thus, some keystone eukaryotes and PA bacteria might be used as indicators of the structure and function stability of microbial communities in reservoir ecosystems. Our study highlights the importance of considering microbial cross-kingdom and multiple size-fractionation correlations in evaluating the effects of environmental disturbances on microbial networks.

A Return to the Commons: An Eco-Marxist Reading of Jewett's “The Gray Mills of Farley” and Rebecca Harding Davis’ Life in the Iron Mills

A Return to the Commons: An Eco-Marxist Reading of Jewett's “The Gray Mills of Farley” and Rebecca Harding Davis’ <i>Life in the Iron Mills</i>

Comparison of assembly process and co-occurrence pattern between planktonic and benthic microbial communities in the Bohai Sea.

Unraveling the mechanisms structuring microbial community is a central goal in microbial ecology, but a detailed understanding of how community assembly processes relate to living habitats is still lacking. Here, via 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we investigated the assembly process of microbial communities in different habitats [water verse sediment, free-living (FL) verse particle-associated (PA)] and their impacts on the inter-taxa association patterns in the coastal Bohai Sea, China. The results showed clear differences in the composition and diversity of microbial communities among habitats, with greater dissimilarities between water column and sediment than between FL and PA communities. The microbial community assembly was dominated by dispersal limitation, ecological drift, and homogeneous selection, but their relative importance varied in different habitats. The planktonic communities were mainly shaped by dispersal limitation and ecological drift, whereas homogeneous selection played a more important role in structuring the benthic communities. Furthermore, the assembly mechanisms differed between FL and PA communities, especially in the bottom water with a greater effect of ecological drift and dispersal limitation on the FL and PA fractions, respectively. Linking assembly process to co-occurrence pattern showed that the relative contribution of deterministic processes (mainly homogeneous selection) increased under closer co-occurrence relationships. By contrast, stochastic processes exerted a higher effect when there were less inter-taxa connections. Overall, our findings demonstrate contrasting ecological processes underpinning microbial community distribution in different habitats including different lifestyles, which indicate complex microbial dynamic patterns in coastal systems with high anthropogenic perturbations.

Similar assembly mechanisms but distinct co-occurrence patterns of free-living vs. particle-attached bacterial communities across different habitats and seasons in shallow, eutrophic Lake Taihu

Eutrophication due to nitrogen and phosphorus input is an increasing problem in lake ecosystems. Free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA) bacterial communities play a primary role in mediating biogeochemical processes in these lakes and in responding to eutrophication. However, knowledge of factors governing function, assembly mechanisms, and co-occurrence patterns of these communities remain poorly understood and are key challenges in microbial ecology. To address this knowledge gap, we collected 96 samples from Lake Taihu across four seasons and investigated the bacterial community using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Our results demonstrate that the α-diversity, β-diversity, community composition, and functional composition of FL and PA bacterial communities exhibited differing spatiotemporal dynamics. FL and PA bacterial communities displayed similar distance-decay relationships across seasons. Deterministic processes (i.e., environmental filtering and species interaction) were the primary factors shaping community assembly in both FL and PA bacteria. Similar environmental factors shaped bacterial community structure while different environmental factors drove bacterial functional composition. Habitat filtering influenced enrichment of bacteria within specific functional groups. Among them, the FL bacterial community appeared to play a critical role in methane-utilization, whereas the PA bacteria contributed more to biogeochemical cycling of carbon. FL and PA bacterial communities exhibited distinct co-occurrence pattern across different seasons. In the FL network, Methylotenera and Methylophilaceae were identified as keystone taxa, while Burkholderiaceae and the hgcI clade were keystone taxa in the PA network. The PA bacterial community appeared to possess greater stability in the face of environmental change than did FL counterparts. These results broaden our knowledge of the driving factors, co-occurrence patterns, and assembly processes in FL and PA bacterial communities in eutrophic ecosystems and provide improved insight into the underlying mechanisms responsible for these results.

Metaomics unveils the contribution of Alteromonas bacteria to carbon cycling in marine oxygen minimum zones

Gammaproteobacteria of the genus Alteromonas are prominent members of pelagic marine microbial communities, playing critical roles in the aerobic degradation of particulate organic matter. Comparative genomic studies of these microorganisms have mainly focused on the metabolic and genomic plasticity of strains isolated primarily from oxygenated environments. In this study, we show that Alteromonas significantly contribute to marine microbial communities from suboxic waters ([O2] &amp;lt; 5 uM) in both the free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA) fractions, but considerably decrease in abundance in the anoxic waters. The highest proportion of Alteromonas transcripts was found within the secondary fluorescence maximum (SFM) of Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs). This metatranscriptomic information suggests an in situ coupling of Alteromonas iron (Fe) and carbon metabolisms, and a relevant role of the glyoxylate cycle across the different layers of the OMZs. This study demonstrates that Alteromonas is an abundant and active member of the OMZ microbial communities, with a potentially significant impact on the carbon cycling in these ecosystems. These results provide valuable environmental evidence to support previous culture-based studies assessing the physiology and ecology of these ubiquitous marine heterotrophs under low-oxygen conditions.

Insights into community assembly mechanisms, biogeography, and metabolic potential of particle-associated and free-living prokaryotes in tropical oligotrophic surface oceans

Heterotrophic prokaryotes constitute the largest living biomass in the ocean and can be divided into particle-associated (PA) and free-living (FL) fractions. PA and FL prokaryotic communities play critical roles in the biogeochemical cycles of particulate and dissolved organic matter; however, their community assembly processes, biogeographical distribution patterns, and functional properties in oligotrophic surface water remain to be further elucidated. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and shotgun metagenomics, we investigated the assembly mechanisms, biogeography, and functional potential of PA and FL prokaryotes in the surface waters of the West Pacific and Indian Oceans. FL prokaryotic communities were predominantly structured by deterministic processes, whereas their PA counterparts appeared to be shaped by the combined action of deterministic and stochastic processes. PA and FL prokaryotes in the tropical oligotrophic surface ocean exhibit markedly different community structures and functional potentials. Bacterial PA specialists such as Lentimonas, Alteromonas, and Pirellula as well as archaeal PA specialists Marine Group II and Marine Group III were significantly more abundant in PA assemblages, whereas lineages such as Prochlorococcus, SAR11 clade, and Candidatus Actinomarina were significantly more abundant in FL communities. The metabolic potential of the PA community was more abundant in pathways such as polyamine biosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, and glycosaminoglycan degradation. In contrast, the FL community was more enriched in functions related to amino acid metabolism, lipid biosynthesis, and aromatic degradation.

Affective Geographies and Narratives of Chinese Diaspora ed. by Melody Yunzi Li and Robert T. Tally Jr.

Reviewed by: Affective Geographies and Narratives of Chinese Diaspora ed. by Melody Yunzi Li and Robert T. Tally Jr. Tingting Hu Melody Yunzi Li and Robert T. Tally Jr., editors. Affective Geographies and Narratives of Chinese Diaspora. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. 171 p. Affective Geographies and Narratives of Chinese Diaspora examines the Chinese diaspora, one of the world's largest migration phenomena. Bringing in the perspective of affect to probe the problem, it offers diverse ways of interpreting or complicating "Chineseness" as mainly entangled with "homeness" and illuminates "the affective geographies implicit in diasporic identity and community" and aims to "explore the intricate ways in which diaspora interacts with space, place, and emotional attachment in various cultural forms" (2). Its examination of literature, film, and visual culture texts that "seek to connect and reconnect with their 'homelands,'" strikes a needed discussion about the contemporary tide of precarious migration (2). Affective Geographies understands "diaspora" as a displaced experience of being "far away from 'home'" while at the same time being "homed" in another place (1). Geographically, it covers movements from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, Taiwan, France, the UK, the US, and more. It expands the notion of diaspora, commonly understood as a geographically "transnational" movement of people, and demonstrates the specificity of the Chinese diaspora. The idea of diaspora reveals not only a geographically transnational movement but also a dialogue between the affective, imaginary, and disputed realm. For instance, Kenny K.K. Ng's chapter "Borderscape, Exile, Trafficking: The Geopolitics of Ying Liang's A Family Tour and Bai Xue's The Crossing" discusses the cinematic expression of "intranational migration" that is "occurring within the borders of one country" (5). Huanyu Yue's "Displaced Nostalgia and Literary Déjà vu: On the Quasi-Archaic Style of Li Yongping's Retribution: The Jiling Chronicles" observes the relationship between a Malaysian writer's lived experience as "an overseas wanderer" and his literary construct of a "fantasized motherland of China" (71). Both cases envision "diaspora" as more porous than has been commonly perceived. Underlying the idea of diaspora to understand the flow of people from mainland China to other places including Hong Kong [End Page 336] and Taiwan can be indicative of political controversy due to the "transnational" implication of a "diaspora." Though this problem remains intractable, this book expands the scope of "diaspora" and renders it more flexible in the case of the Chinese diaspora, claiming that it happens "both in and out, both of and off, China" (7). Sheng-mei Ma's "The Holy Hole in Chinese Patriarchal Culture: Going Pop and South" reminds us that rather than be limited to the realm of "China studies" "Sinophone studies" or "diaspora studies," academic research can benefit more from emphasizing a diasporic perspective that looks at the intersection of the homeland with other spatial cultures. In this sense, the keyword "remapping the homeland" highlighted in the introduction serves as an accurate supporting pillar to the study of "Chinese diaspora." The phrase "remapping the homeland" also helps complicate the idea of "homeland" as not purely a space or a place, but a concept immersed in affect. Relying on "China" as the origin of "homeness," it also tries to critique the China-centered perspective, referencing "contact zone" theories and analyzing how "homelands" are reimagined and recreated in diasporic spaces. Chapters include various diasporic experiences, especially those that remain marginalized or understudied. Elizabeth Ho's "'The Geography Helps': Affective Geographies and Maps in Xiaolu Guo's A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers" investigates the linguistic dilemma of immigrants from developing countries. Dorothee Xiaolong Hou's "From Rust Belt to Belleville: Two Recent Films on Chinese Migrant Sex workers in Paris" exposes the hyper-exploitation of women sex workers in the global chain of consumption. Ping Qiu's "Literary Exile in the Third Space: Ha Jin's Critique of Nation-States in A Free Life" and Melody Yunzi Li's "Remapping New York's Chinatowns in the Works of Eric Liu and Ha Jin," both rely on texts by the Chinese immigrant writer Ha Jin. The first examines the relationship between the writer's transnational movement and his literary creation to...