Symbiotic Combination Research Articles

Estimation and control of oscillators through short-range noisy proximity measurements

In this paper, we present a novel estimation and control strategy to balance a formation of discrete-time oscillators on a circle. We consider the case in which each oscillator only gathers noisy proximity measurements, whose range is lower than the desired spacing along the circle, implying that a balanced formation would be completely disconnected. These restrictions pose relevant challenges that are overcome through the symbiotic combination of an estimator that borrows tools from interval analysis and a three-level bang–bang controller. We prove that the formation can be balanced, with an accuracy that can be regulated by tuning a controller parameter. The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is also numerically demonstrated.

Numerical simulation of an oscillating water column device installed over a submerged breakwater

In this paper, an example of a symbiotic combination of marine structures is studied. The base hydrodynamic performance of a traditional offshore oscillating water column (OWC) device is compared against the case in which it is constructed over a submerged breakwater. Numerical simulations are performed with the open source package OpenFOAM and the toolbox waves2Foam. The classical free surface capturing method volume of fluid (VOF) is employed to model first-order Stokes waves. The effects of the dimensions (height and length) of the submerged breakwater on the hydrodynamic characteristics, such as wave energy conversion efficiency (ξ), reflection coefficient (Cr), transmission coefficient (Ct), and energy dissipation ratio (ED) are explored thoroughly. Moreover, the effect of wave nonlinearity induced by increasing incident wave heights on the OWC device is examined. The results show that a proper configuration of the submerged breakwater is significantly helpful to optimize the energy conversion curve. Varying breakwater length will lead to a periodic variation in energy absorption efficiency. In addition, a higher incident wave height will lead to a lower energy absorption efficiency but a stronger dissipation ratio.

Biotransformation of fermented black tea into bacterial nanocellulose via symbiotic interplay of microorganisms.

Bacterial nanocellulose (BNC), a natural origin biopolymer with multi-dimensional applications has captured a great deal of attention owing to its implausible properties. However, low yield of BNC accompanied with high production cost is challenging its usage in various technological applications. In this study, BNC production has been reported utilizing fermented black tea broth brewed from fresh tea leaves (FBTBF) as well as from used tea leaves (FBTBU) as a cost-effective and high-quality BNC yielding medium. The symbiotic combination of bacteria and yeasts (SCOBY) was exploited here to bring fermentation in tea broth. The production yields on dry weight basis were 13.3 g L-1 in FBTBF and 12.8 g L-1 in FBTBU, obtained with 60 g L-1 of glucose in 20 days. The conversion yields of 0.32 and 0.31 g BNC/g sugar were obtained with both the tea broths. The study of produced pellicle using ATR-FTIR, FE-SEM and XRD confirmed its structural, morphological and chemical nature similar to that of BNC. Thus, fermented black tea broth appears to be a potential medium for BNC production. The use of fermented tea broth for the industrial scale production of BNC might significantly reduce its production cost.

<i>In-vitro </i>Prebiotic Activity of Grape Seed Flour Highly Rich in Flavonoid and Dietary Fiber

Interactions between lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and dietary polyphenols are not fully understood. This study determined the prebiotic effects of grape seed flour (GSF, a byproduct of wine making) and their polyphenol extracts (GSE) on the growth of 10 strains of probiotic LAB recently isolated from the kefir and pathogenic Clostridium perfringens. Growth rate of the LAB, Leuconostoc mesenteroides DH 1608, was the highest among 10 strains of LAB when cultivated with GSF. GSE, containing an equivalent amount of polyphenol in GSF, also promoted the growth of L. mesenteroides DH 1608 but at a lower rate compared to GSF. Growth of C. perfringens decreased significantly at 10 mg/mL of GSF, but GSE did not affect the growth. In conclusion, GSF may be a useful prebiotic dietary supplement due to its selective antimicrobial capacity via stimulation of probiotic bacteria and inhibition of pathogenic bacteria. A symbiotic combination of selected lactic acid bacteria and GSF may improve gut health.

江西新余式铁矿地质地球化学、Fe同位素特征及其地质意义

本文对江西新余地区“新余式”铁矿成矿的区域地质背景、矿化地质条件特征、矿石共生组合特征和矿石主微量元素含量以及铁同位素进行了分析。认为该区铁成矿以化学沉积建造为主，同时伴有诸多陆源碎屑物加入，显示成矿物质来源多样，成矿环境复杂。铁同位素分析结果显然新余铁矿富集铁的重同位素的矿物相。各区段同位素值的差异性显示该区不同的氧化还原状态的演化变化状态。重铁同位素富集和Ce异常缺失等特征指示成矿期为低氧逸度环境，新余式铁建造形成于地球冰盖开始融化初期，冰川溶化后大量悬浮细碎屑物质的淡水加入，出现大量氢氧化铁和胶体SiO2先后或同时沉积，形成含铁硅建造，后来再遭受区域变质、挤压变形等地质作用，使氢氧化铁脱水和重结晶变成磁铁矿，胶体SiO2变成石英，原来的隐晶质的铁质燧石岩变成磁铁石英岩，形成现在的新余铁矿BIF标志层。 In this paper, the regional geological background, mineralization geological characteristics, ore symbiotic combination characteristics and main and trace element content and iron isotope of Xinyu type iron ore mineralization in Xinyu area of Jiangxi Province were analyzed. It shows that the iron ore deposits mainly composed of chemical deposition, accompanied by a number of terrestrial debris to join, which show that the mineral resources are diverse and the mineralization environment is complicated. Iron isotope analysis results are clearly enrichment of iron heavy isotope mineral phase. The difference in the isotopic values of each segment shows the evolutionary state of the redox state of the region. Heavy iron isotope enrichment and Ce anomaly and other characteristics indicate that the ore-forming period is a low-oxygen fugacity environment. The iron is formed at the beginning of the melting of the Earth’s ice sheet. At the beginning of the melting of the glacier, with the lots of fine clastic and freshwater, there are lots of colloidal ferric hydroxide and SiO2 deposited in succession or simultaneously to form formation of iron-containing silicon construction. After this, the formation subjected to regional metamorphism, deformation and other geological effects, the dehydration and recrystallization make Fe(OH)3 into magnetite, and colloid SiO2 into quartzite. Ultimately, the original aphanitic iron flint Shiyan transforms magnetite quartzite, finally, form the current Xinyu iron ore BIF marker layer.

Gammatone filterbank and symbiotic combination of amplitude and phase-based spectra for robust speaker verification under noisy conditions and compression artifacts

The main novelty of this work resides in incorporating a Gammatone filter-bank as a substitute of the Mel filter-bank in the extraction pipeline of the Product Spectrum PS. The proposed feature is dubbed the Gammatone Product-Spectrum Cepstral coefficients GPSCC. Experimental results are undertaken on TIMIT and noisy TIMIT corpora using the Gaussian Mixture Model with Universal Background Model (GMM-UBM) recognition algorithm. Performance evaluations indicate that GPSCC shows a drastic reduction in Equal Error Rates compared to other related features and this gain in performance is more pronounced at low signal to noise ratios. Also, our study demonstrates the merit of the Gammatone filter-bank in improving robustness to codec-degraded speech at different bit rates. Furthermore, the proposed GPSCC feature achieves the best verification performance under aggressive compression. Interestingly, at 6.60 kbps we observe that GPSCC achieves an absolute error reduction of 12% compared to the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC).

Effect of drought on growth, physiological and biochemicalprocesses of chickpea-rhizobia symbiosis

The effects of drought on growth, several physiological and biochemical processes in six winter varieties (Zhour, Rizki, Douyet, V46, V34 and P37) of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and two rhizobial strains (MC07 and MC10) were studied. The experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions. Seedlings were grown under three regimes moistening and inoculated separately: 100 % of field capacity (control), 80% of field capacity (optimal irrigation) and 40% of field capacity (water deficit). The results showed that the hydric deficit had significantly perturbed the dry biomass, proline activity, total chlorophyll and nitrogen contents. Moreover, this constraint negatively affected the water deficit saturation (WDS), the membrane permeability and the stomatal conductance of leaves. Under drought, the varieties Zhour and Rizki showed a better water efficiency that was translated by high level in proline accumulation, membrane stability, total chlorophyll and nitrogen contents. These parameters were maintained at the adequate levels with the rhizobial strain MC07 which showed a tolerance in the drought condition. On the contrary, the symbiotic combination least powerful according to the studied parameters is formed by the variety P37-MC10.

English

Low Phosphorus availability in soil is worldwide a frequent major constraint for crops. Rhizobial strains, beneficial N2-fixing symbiotic partners of legumes, were reported to solubilize both organic and inorganic complex phosphates. Thus they may play a significant role as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) in the biofertilization of crops. Natural rock phosphate may play a key role in sustainable agriculture, resulting in economic and environmental benefits. This work aims to evidence the capacity of rhizobial strains nodulating Vicia faba L. plants in Marrakech-Haouz region (Morocco) to solubilize Moroccan rock phosphate in vitro in either agar or liquid medium and to evaluate and compare the effect of these strains on growth and phosphorus uptake by V. faba plants of two Moroccan varieties (Defes and Aguadulce). Four rhizobial strains, contrasting for phosphate solubilization on agar medium, were further studied on liquid medium. RHOF147 and RHOF174 strains formed clear halos around colonies (1.37 cm and 1.2 respectively after 15 days); opposite RHOF170 and RHOF171 strains did not produce halo. The four strains were able to mobilize rock phosphate for growth in liquid medium (up to 0.59 mg/L of assimilated phosphorus). Lower pH values and most mobilized phosphorus production were registered for RHOF147 and RHOF174 strains. By screening the four rhizobial strains for growth on Chrome Azurol S (CAS) medium, only RHOF171 strain formed orange halo indicating its capacity to produce siderophores. Greenhouse experiments were undertaken including comparison of inoculated plants with these four rhizobial strains in the presence of rock phosphate as sole P source versus non-inoculated plants growing on KH2PO4 as sole P source (P-fertilized plants). Results show that the root length, the root dry weight and the ratio root /shoot dry weights were generally higher in the inoculated plants than in the P-fertilized plants, indicating the adaptation of the inoculated plants to phosphorus deficiency conditions. The effect of rock phosphate-solubilizing bacteria on plant growth depends on the symbiotic combination of the inoculated strain and the plant genotype. As for phosphorus uptake, rhizobial strains made phosphorus available to the plant at significant increased concentrations in some symbiotic combinations (e.g. Aguadulce-RHOF147). The use of selected symbiotic combinations having the capacity to solubilize rock phosphate may improve soil fertility and phosphorus availability to plants. (Resume d'auteur)

Adaptation of Selected Ectomycorrhizal Fungi to Increased Concentration of Cadmium and Lead

Abstract Plants together with water and minerals actively take from the soil heavy metals such as cadmium and lead. The negative role of ions of these metals on plant growth and development depends not only on their concentration in the soil, but also on a number of factors that may affect the transport of minerals from the soil to the roots. The harmful effects of xenobiotics getting from the soil to the plants are limited by the organic compounds contained in the soil, soil structure and pH. Particularly noteworthy are biotic factors, such as bacteria and fungi which greatly limit the translocation of heavy metals. Stream of new scientific reports show that the symbiotic combination of fungi with plant roots so called mycorrhizae is a factor that may be important in reducing the impact of soil contamination by heavy metals. Mycorrhiza by filtering solutions of water and mineral salts stop a considerable amount of heavy metals in the internal mycelium or on its surface. It was proved that plants with properly formed mycorrhiza grow better in hard to renew lands, such as salty, sterile soils contaminated with industrial waste. Questions to which answer was sought in this study are: 1) whether mycorrhizal fungi for many years growing in the contaminated areas have managed to adapt to these adverse conditions and 2) do the same species derived from clean areas are less resistant to contamination by heavy metals? Stated problems tried to be solved based on the fruiting bodies of fungi collected from ectomycorrhizal fungi picked from the areas contaminated by industrial emissions and areas free of contamination. The interaction of cadmium and lead ions on the growth of mycelium was examined by plate method and binding of heavy metals in fruiting structures of fungi were done by colorimetric method with use of methylene blue. It has been shown that the fungal resistance, even of the same species, to high concentration of heavy metals varies depending on the origin of symbiont. Isolated fungi from contaminated areas are better adapted to high concentrations of xenobiotics. Ability to bind cadmium and lead to fruiting bodies of fungi varies.

Podemos, de la invisibilidad a la sobre-exposición

The communicative success of Podemos is an example of how to apply the ideological hegemony theories that its academic leaders have researched. The media strategy of Podemos consists of a sequential and symbiotic combination of self-controlled audiovisual production, viralization through digital networks, and visibility in conventional media and formats, such as TV talk-shows. Its limitations show just how important the political economy of conventional media actually is: They still keep an overwhelming audience majority and are decisive in any hegemonic dispute. In a short period of time, this new political party has gone from insivibility to a negative over- exposure.

Underwater acoustics education at the University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin has supported education and research in acoustics since the 1930s. The Cockrell School of Engineering currently offers a wide range of graduate courses and two undergraduate courses in acoustics, not counting the many courses in hearing, speech, seismology, and other areas of acoustics at the university. An important adjunct to the academic program in acoustics has been the Applied Research Laboratories (ARL). Spun off in 1945 from the WW II Harvard Underwater Sound Laboratory (1941–1949) and founded as the Defense Research Laboratory, ARL is one of five University Affiliated Research Centers formally recognized by the US Navy for their prominence in underwater acoustics research and development. ARL is an integral part of UT Austin, and this symbiotic combination of graduate and undergraduate courses, and laboratory and field work, provides one of the leading underwater acoustics education programs in the nation. In this talk, the underwater acoustics education program will be described with special emphasis on the underwater acoustics course and its place in the larger acoustics program. Statistics on education, funding, and placement of graduate students in the program will also be presented.

Therapeutic potential of different commercially available synbiotic on acetaminophen-induced uremic rats.

Currently kidney disease appears a foremost problem across the world. Acetaminophen is a commonly used antipyretic agent, which in high doses, causes uremia and used for experimentally induction of kidney disease. Bacteriotherapy affords a promising approach to mitigate uremic toxins by ingestion of urease positive bacteria, probiotics and symbiotic able to catabolize uremic solutes within the gut. The present study evaluates the effect of seven commercial symbiotic on kidney disease. Fifty-four albino male rats were randomly divided into nine groups. Control group (Group-I) received distilled water interperitoneally for 7 days. Positive control group (Group-II) received 500 mg/kg acetaminophen interperitoneally for 7 days. Commercially available seven symbiotic combinations at a dose of 10(9)cells/day for 3 weeks was administered to the tested groups (Group III-IX) after receiving 500 mg/kg/day acetaminophen interperitoneally for 7 days. Blood, kidney, liver and stool samples were collected after scarification for biochemical tests and DNA fragmentation assay of kidney tissue, kidney histological studies. Limited fecal analysis was conducted. Blood urea nitrogen and toxicity indicators were increased, and antioxidant enzymes were decreased in Group-II. Blood urea nitrogen, toxicity indicators, glomerular necrosis, DNA damage of kidney tissue were reduced, and antioxidant enzymes were increased significantly in the treated Groups IV and IX (p < 0.05) in response to Group-II. Number of pathogenic bacteria decreased in synbiotic treated groups than Group I and II. The study demonstrated that some of commercial symbiotic combination can reduce the sever effect of kidney disease.

Mineral mapping based on secondary scattering mixture model

Traditional geological mapping methods usually cannot conduct mapping for the whole study area and takes little account to the situation that a variety of features has symbiotic combination in one pixel,which makes it difficult to reflect the complex geological distribution characteristics. Since the unmixing accuracy of the linear model cannot meet actual application need, the secondary scattering model was used to the unmixing of hyperspectral data. On such a basis,this paper proposed k( k ≥ 2) class mapping rules based on the unmixing result. The Nevada Cuprite AVIRIS data were used in the experiment,and actual mapping results obtained by Clark et al. were taken as the reference. The comparison results have shown that mapping results based on the secondary scattering mixture model are closer to actual ground feature distribution than those based on the linear model and,in comparison with the results from one class mapping rule,the results using k( k ≥ 2) class mapping rules have richer details and are closer to the results obtained by Clark et al.

Multi-strain Symbiotic Preparations as a Novel Adjuvant Approach to Allergic Rhinitis

Objective. To investigate the effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM / Bifidobacterium lactis BL-04 / fructooligosaccharide and Lactobacillus plantarum LP01/ Lactobacillus paracasei LPC00 / fructo-oligosaccharide preparations in the routine clinical management of seasonal allergic rhinitis (SAR) and perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR), respectively. Materials and Methods. Seventy-six and fifty-one outpatients attending 36 Allergy Clinics in Italy with clinically documented allergic rhinitis consumed a symbiotic combination of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM / Bifidobacterium lactis BL-04/ fructo-oligosaccharide and Lactobacillus plantarum LP01/ Lactobacillus paracasei LPC00 / fructo-oligosaccharide over a period of 4 months. Data on Allergic Rhinitis and Impact on Asthma (ARIA) classification, nasal symptoms severity by Visual Analogical Scale (VAS), and concomitant use of corticosteroids and antihistamines drugs were collected after 2 and 4 months of treatment (T1 and T2 respectively). Results. After the treatment with two multi-strain symbiotic preparations a significant reduction between baseline evaluation (T0) and T1/T2 on total nasal symptoms and ARIA classification of rhinitis were observed. A significant decrease on VAS index at all time points of the treatment vs pre-treatment was detected for Lactobacillus plantarum / Lactobacillus paracasei symbiotic combination; significant decrease was observed for Lactobacillus acidophilus / Bifidobacterium lactis symbiotic combination between T0 and T1, while a further reduction at T2 did not reach statistical significance. In addition a decrease in consumption of orally-administered corticosteroids and antihistamines drugs was found. Conclusion. These data on the effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM/ Bifidobacterium lactis BL-04 / fructooligosaccharide and Lactobacillus plantarum LP01/ Lactobacillus paracasei LPC00 / fructo-oligosaccharide preparations support their potential positive effect in the routine clinical management of subjects with SAR and PAR, respectively. Future studies are warranted to confirm this potential beneficial effect.

Probiotics as a Novel Adjuvant Approach to Atopic Dermatitis

Objective. The aim of this observational study is to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium lactis in atopic dermatitis (AD) in the context of routine clinical practice. Materials and Methods. 107 adult subjects with documented AD receiving a symbiotic combination of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LR05, Bifidobacterium lactis BS01 and fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) were assessed for severity of AD using the SCOring Atopic Dermatitis index (SCORAD) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for AD-related global burden of the disease at baseline and after 2 and 4 months of symbiotic supplementation. Secondary evaluations involved the changes in concomitant use of corticosteroids, antihistamines drugs and calcineurin inhibitors. Results. Treatment with Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium lactis significantly decreased atopic dermatitis severity (determined by SCORAD index) after 2 and 4 months of administration, while no effect was registered on the VAS score. In addition a decrease in consumption of corticosteroids, antihistamines drugs and calcineurin inhibitors was found. Conclusion. The supplementation of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LR05, Bifidobacterium lactis BS01 and fructooligosaccharide (FOS) had a positive effect with a significant reduction in SCORAD index and concomitant decrease in the use of corticosteroids, antihistamines drugs (after 2 and 4 months of treatment) and calcineurin inhibitors (after 4 months of treatment). Our data support the need of future studies to further investigate the positive effect of Lactobacillus rhamnosus LR05, Bifidobacterium lactis BS01 and fructooligosaccharide (FOS) symbiotic combination in the management of AD, with particular focus on strainspecific effects.

A comparative study of phase States of the peribacteroid membrane from yellow lupin and broad bean nodules.

A comparative study of the lipid bilayer phase status and structure of the outer membrane of free-living Bradyrhizobium strain 359a (Nod+Fix+) and 400 (Nod+FixL) or Rhizobium leguminosarum 97 (Nod+Fix+, effective) and 87 (Nod+FixL, ineffective) has been carried out. Also, the effect of the symbiotic pair combination on the lipid bilayer structure of the bacteroid outer membrane and peribacteroid membrane, isolated from the nodules of Lupinus luteus L. or Vicia faba L., has been studied. As a result, it is shown that the lipid bilayer status of the bacteroid outer membrane is mainly determined by microsymbiont, but not the host plant. In the contrast, the lipid bilayer status of the peribacteroid membrane and, as a consequence, its properties depend on interaction of both symbiotic partners.

Gestaltlines

AbstractWe propose a general technique to visualize multivariate data sequences. It is based on a symbiotic combination of three powerful concepts from information visualization: sparklines, glyphs and gestalt theory. By visualizing several well‐known data sets in new ways we first demonstrate how explicit consideration of gestalt principles can be used to leverage visual perception capabilities for the identification of patterns such as trends, periodicities, change points, or outliers. A more detailed case study with complex and noisy data from a psychological experiment then demonstrates how basic design ideas for gestaltlines can be applied in less controlled, and thus more realistic, situations. The case study is complemented with reports on feedback from domain experts and a user study, both indicating that gestaltlines can be a convenient and valid means to explore and communicate patterns in micro‐visualizations.

CSLS: Connectionist Symbolic Learning System

This paper presents CSLS, a symbiotic combination of inductive and neural learning. CSLS has two components, an induction algorithm to carry out inductive learning and a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) to implement neural learning. The paper outlines the operation of the components of CSLS and describes how the combined system is designed to utilise the individual strengths of inductive and neural learning to the best advantage. The paper gives the results of evaluating CSLS on the IRIS data and Breast-Cancer-Wisconsin-data classification problems. These clearly demonstrate the main benefit of the symbiotic combination: the combined system performs better than either of its components.

SYMBIOTIC EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM, A REMEDY FOR LINKAGE PROBLEM

Recombination in Genetic Algorithms (GA) is supposed to extract the component characteristics from two parents and reassemble them in different combinations, hopefully producing an offspring that has the good characteristics of both parents, and this requires explicit chromosome and recombination, operator by design. This paper presents a novel evolutionary approach based on symbiogenesis which uses symbiotic combination instead of sexual recombination, and by using this operator, it requires no domain knowledge for chromosome or combination operator design. The algorithm is benchmarked on three problem sets: combinatorial optimization category, deceptive problems, and fully deceptive problems. The results, compared with that of standard genetic algorithm and symbiotic evolutionary adaptation model, show higher success rates and faster results.

SYMBIOTIC EVOLUTION OF RULE BASED CLASSIFIER SYSTEMS

Evolutionary Algorithms are vastly used in development of rule based classifier systems in data mining where the rule base is usually a set of If-Then rules and an evolutionary trait develops and optimizes these rules. Genetic Algorithm is usually a favorite solution for such tasks as it globally searches for good rule-sets without any prior bias or greedy force, but it is usually slow. Also, designing a good genetic algorithm for rule base evolution requires the design of a recombination operator that merges two rule bases without disrupting the functionalities of each of them. To overcome the speed problem and the need to design recombination operator, this paper presents a novel algorithm for rule base evolution based on natural process of symbiogenesis. The algorithm uses symbiotic combination operator instead of traditional sexual recombination operator of genetic algorithms. This operator takes two chromosomes with different number of genes (rules here) and merges them by combining all the information content of both chromosomes. Using this operator results in two major advantages: First, it totally removes the need to design the recombination operator and therefore is easier to use; second, it outperforms traditional genetic algorithm both in emergence speed and classification rate, this is tested and presented on some globally used benchmarks.