Synergic Relationship Research Articles

Association of COVID with Mycosis in General.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory disease which created havoc worldwide, was accompanied by another peculiar, otherwise rare, secondary fungal infection Mucormycosis which was observed at exceptionally high incidence in India during the second wave of COVID-19. The article explores possible links between the two infectious diseases to understand a higher-than-normal occurrence of Mucormycosis in COVID-19 patients. Coronavirus enters the patients through ACE-2 and many other receptors like- NRP-1, TfR, CD-126, and CD-26. Virus bind to cells possessing these receptors and affect their proper functioning, disturbing homeostatic metabolism and resulting in conditions like hyperglycemia, Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), low serum pH, iron overload, anemia, hypoxia, and immunosuppression as explained in the article. All these outcomes provide a very supportive environment for the attack and spread of Mucormycosis fungi. The major receptor for Mucormycosis in humans is the GRP-78. Its expression is upregulated by coronavirus entry and by hyperferritinemia, hyperglycemia, and acidic conditions prevalent in COVID patients, thus providing an easy entry for the fungal species. Upregulation of GRP-78 furthermore damages pancreatic β-cells and intensifies hyperglycemia, showing quite a synergic relationship. Inordinate rise of Mucormycosis cases in India might be explained by facts like- India possessing a large proportion of diabetic patients, emergence of a very deadly strain of coronavirus- Delta strain, higher doses of steroids and antibodies used to treat patients against this strain, overburdened health care services, sudden much higher need of oxygen supply and use of industrial oxygen could explain the Mucormycosis outbreak observed in India during the second wave of COVID-19. The present review discusses the functional interdependence between COVID-19 and Mucormycosis and summarizes the possible synergic links between COVID and Mucormycosis. The receptors and metabolic pathways affected by COVID-19 result in severe physiological conditions- hyperglycemia, DKA, anemia, iron overload, immunosuppression, and hypoxia. All these conditions not only increase the expression of GRP-78, the major receptor for entry of fungi but also play a crucial role in providing quality media for Mucormycosis fungus to establish and grow. Hence explains the fungal epidemic observed in India during the second wave of COVID-19 in India.

Theoretical study of the synergic relationships between the design parameters in energy-saving building design

With the rapid development of the economy, people have increasingly higher requirements for the comfort of living spaces, and the result is the sharp increase in building energy consumption. Several design parameters influence living space comfort and building energy efficiency. Since the same design standard can include different design parameter combinations, synergic relationships may exist between these criteria for one case. Identifying these synergic relationships requires an inverse problem approach. This paper established a model by combining an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) and numerical calculation to determine the synergic design parameter relationships (e.g. the thermophysical building material properties and energy-saving factors). For Isum=0\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${{\ ext{I}}}_{{\ ext{sum}}}= {0} $$\\end{document}, the shading coefficient significantly influenced the linear function between the thermal conductivity and insulation thickness. In this case, the insulation thickness was exponentially related to the shading coefficient, while the thermal conductivity of the insulation material significantly impacted the synergic relationship. For ESR=65%\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\ ext{ESR}}{=65}\\%$$\\end{document}, the insulation thickness was a segmented function of the shading coefficient. The results verified that the proposed model was efficient and reliable for identifying the synergic relationships between energy-saving parameters. In engineering applications, designers can select the optimal design parameter combination based on the relationship curve between the parameters in this paper according to the local market conditions and specific design requirements.

Candidatus Accumulibacter use fermentation products for enhanced biological phosphorus removal

Previous research suggested that two major groups of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs), i.e., Ca. Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera, play cooperative roles in enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR). The fermentation of complex organic compounds by Tetrasphaera provides carbon sources for Ca. Accumulibacter. However, the viability of the fermentation products (e.g., lactate, succinate, alanine) as carbon sources for Ca. Accumulibacter and their potential effects on the metabolism of Ca. Accumulibacter were largely unknown. This work for the first time investigated the capability and metabolic details of Ca. Accumulibacter cognatus clade IIC strain SCUT-2 (enriched in a lab-scale reactor with a relative abundance of 42.8%) in using these fermentation products for EBPR. The enrichment culture was able to assimilate lactate and succinate with the anaerobic P release to carbon uptake ratios of 0.28 and 0.36 P mol/C mol, respectively. In the co-presence of acetate, the uptake of lactate was strongly inhibited, since two substrates shared the same transporter as suggested by the carbon uptake bioenergetic analysis. When acetate and succinate were fed at the same time, Ca. Accumulibacter assimilated two carbon sources simultaneously. Proton motive force (PMF) was the key driving force (up to 90%) for the uptake of lactate and succinate by Ca. Accumulibacter. Apart from the efflux of proton in symport with phosphate via the inorganic phosphate transport system, translocation of proton via the activity of fumarate reductase contributed to the generation of PMF, which agreed with the fact that PHV was a major component of PHA when lactate and succinate were used as carbon sources, involving the succinate-propionate pathway. Metabolic models for the usage of lactate and succinate by Ca. Accumulibacter for EBPR were built based on the combined physiological, biochemical, metagenomic, and metatranscriptomic analyses. Alanine was shown as an invalid carbon source for Ca. Accumulibacter. Instead, it significantly and adversely affected Ca. Accumulibacter-mediated EBPR. Phosphate release was observed without alanine uptake. Significant inhibitions on the aerobic phosphate uptake was also evident. Overall, this study suggested that there might not be a simply synergic relationship between Ca. Accumulibacter and Tetrasphaera. Their interactions would largely be determined by the kind of fermentation products released by the latter.

B-184 Development and Validation of a High-performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Method for Analyzing Phenolic Acids Metabolites in Feces

Abstract Background Phenolic acids are beneficial metabolites produced by Co-metabolism between a human host and the gastrointestinal microbiota. They play a part in signaling pathways involved in intestinal mucosa homeostasis. The synergic relationship between the microbiota and the nutrient in the gut is associated with the content of phenolic compounds found in the gut system. Recent studies have proven that phenolic acids are linked to weight loss, but such an association needs to be better understood. This research aims to develop and validate a Liquid Chromatography tandem Mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method for quantifying phenolic acids in human fecal samples according to the food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. Moreover, the research focuses on the synergic relationship between the gut microbiota and the prebiotics, and their ability to enhance the production of phenolic acids, as an increase in the phenolic acid level in the gut may reduce obesity. Methods High-pressure liquid chromatography is used to separate the analytes (ferulic acid, gallic acid, and caffeic acid) based on polarity, and AB SCIEX QTRAP triple quadrupole Tendon mass spectrometer is used to conduct mass spectroscopy using electrospray ionization. Solid phase extraction method was used to extract and purify the sample with C18 SPE cartridges before analysis. Quantitative analysis was performed by Analyst software. The developed LC-MS/MS method was applied to fecal samples collected from healthy populations. For testing the influence of prebiotics on the production of phenolic acids. Samples of gut microbiota (lactobacillus acidophilus) mixed with different prebiotics were monitored to measure the outcomes of phenolic acids. Samples were compared with other prebiotics such as fiber, cellulose, and inulin. Target analytes meeting significance of (P < 0.05) will be verified by the development of a targeted LC-MS/MS (MRM) assay. Once compounds of significance have been verified, the method will be evaluated based on the guideline from 2018, Bioanalytical method validation guidance for industry; several parameters must be considered when validating a method. These parameters include selectivity, accuracy, precision & recovery, linearity, sensitivity (LOD and LOQ), stability, and matrix effect. Validation will be applied to the stool samples from an average healthy population. Results Phenolic acids were extracted and quantified using a simplified HPLC-MS/MS, with acidified methanol. A total of five phenolic acids with different concentrations were identified in different fecal samples. The method was used to determine the association between gut microbes and nutrient sources and their influence on the production of phenolic acids when mixed. Initial preliminary data indicate that adding prebiotics to a probiotic media increases the peak intensity suggesting an expansion of the quantity of phenolic acid in the mixture. In addition, changing the amount or the type of prebiotics affects the outcomes. Fiber shows the most significant outcomes when compared to other prebiotics. Conclusion Based on this research’s findings, certain types of Prebiotics may enhance the generation of phenolic acid quantity through co-metabolism between a human host and Probiotics in the gut. Fiber showed the most significant outcomes of phenolic acid formation compared to inulin and cellulose.

Stochastic Resonance with Parameter Estimation for Enhancing Unknown Compound Fault Detection of Bearings.

Although stochastic resonance (SR) has been widely used to enhance weak fault signatures in machinery and has obtained remarkable achievements in engineering application, the parameter optimization of the existing SR-based methods requires the quantification indicators dependent on prior knowledge of the defects to be detected; for example, the widely used signal-to-noise ratio easily results in a false SR and decreases the detection performance of SR further. These indicators dependent on prior knowledge would not be suitable for real-world fault diagnosis of machinery where their structure parameters are unknown or are not able to be obtained. Therefore, it is necessary for us to design a type of SR method with parameter estimation, and such a method can estimate these parameters of SR adaptively by virtue of the signals to be processed or detected in place of the prior knowledge of the machinery. In this method, the triggered SR condition in second-order nonlinear systems and the synergic relationship among weak periodic signals, background noise and nonlinear systems can be considered to decide parameter estimation for enhancing unknown weak fault characteristics of machinery. Bearing fault experiments were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is able to enhance weak fault characteristics and diagnose weak compound faults of bearings at an early stage without prior knowledge and any quantification indicators, and it presents the same detection performance as the SR methods based on prior knowledge. Furthermore, the proposed method is more simple and less time-consuming than other SR methods based on prior knowledge where a large number of parameters need to be optimized. Moreover, the proposed method is superior to the fast kurtogram method for early fault detection of bearings.

A Quantitative Approach to the Study on Length-Frequency Relationship of English Patterns

As a master of lexicology and corpus-driven linguistic studies, pattern grammar shares the features of concern on collocation and approximation to natural language, which provides an optimization idea for the extensively used phrase structure grammar and dependency grammar in natural language processing. This research adopts the methods of quantitative linguistics, taking patterns as the research focus to explore the length-frequency relationship of patterns, verify Zipf law and synergic linguistic model in respect of patterns, and analyze the usage characteristics of patterns in different registers. The results have demonstrated that Zipf's law is also applicable to patterns, and the synergic linguistic model shows a preferable goodness of fit on the description of the pattern length-frequency relations. This study provides bidirectional contributions to pattern grammar and the synergic relationship between length and frequency. In addition, it offers a refinement method for the application of patterns in different registers.

Castor Plant Adaptation to Salinity Stress during Early Seedling Stage by Physiological and Transcriptomic Methods

The early seedling stage is considered the most vulnerable period for plants, especially under salinity conditions. The castor plant (Ricinus communis) is a well-known oil and energy crop worldwide that can survive under stressful conditions. However, the specific mechanisms of this species during its early seedling stage under salt stress are still not clearly understood. Here, the physiological and transcriptome changes in the cotyledons and roots of the castor plant were evaluated. The results indicated that salt stress (150 mM NaCl, 6 d) increased malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline content, whereas it decreased dry weight (DW) and soluble sugar content. The Illumina Hiseq 2500 platform was used to analyze transcriptome profiles in the cotyledons and roots under salt stress conditions. The results showed that 1580 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found in the cotyledons (880 upregulated and 700 downregulated) and 1502 DEGs in the roots (732 upregulated and 770 downregulated). Furthermore, we found that salt stress significantly regulated 22 genes (e.g., 29520.t000005, 29633.t000030, and 29739.t000024) involved in protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum of the cotyledons. However, salt stress induced the expression of 25 genes (e.g., 30068.t000101, 30076.t000022, 29970.t000022, and 29957.t000027) involved in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis in the roots. In addition, a large number of genes participating in plant hormone signal transduction, starch and sucrose metabolisms, and arginine and proline metabolisms were induced in both cotyledons and roots. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the different expression patterns in cotyledons and roots as well as their synergic relationship contributed to enhancing the salt tolerance of castor plants.

Rapid biodegradation of atrazine by a novel Paenarthrobacter ureafaciens ZY and its effects on soil native microbial community dynamic.

An atrazine-utilizing bacterium, designated as ZY, was isolated from agricultural soil and identified as Paenarthrobacter ureafaciens. The P. ureafaciens ZY demonstrated a significant degradation capacity of atrazine, with the degradation efficiency of 12.5 mg L-1 h-1 in liquid media (at pH 7, 30°C, and the atrazine level of 100 mg L-1). The P. ureafaciens ZY contained three atrazine-degrading genes (i.e., trzN, atzB, and atzC) could metabolize atrazine to form cyanuric acid, which showed lower biotoxicity than the parent atrazine as predicted by Ecological Structure Activity Relationships model. A laboratory-scale pot experiment was performed to examine the degradation of atrazine by P. ureafaciens ZY inoculation and investigate its effects on the native microbial communities. The results exhibited that the P. ureafaciens ZY was conductive to the degradation of atrazine, increased the total soil phospholipid fatty acids at the atrazine level of 50, 70, and 100 mg kg-1. By using high-throughput sequencing analysis, Frateuria, Dyella, Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia were considered as the most important indigenous atrazine-degrading microorganisms due to their relative abundances were positively correlated with the atrazine degradation rate. In addition, P. ureafaciens ZY also increased the abundance of atrazine-degrading genus Streptomyces and Bacillus, indicating that there may be a synergic relationship between them in the process of atrazine degradation. Our work provides a new insight between inoculums and native microorganisms on the degradation of atrazine.

Collusive anomalies detection based on collaborative markov random field

Abnormal collusive behavior, widely existing in various fields with concealment and synergy, is particularly harmful in user-generated online reviews and hard to detect by traditional methods. With the development of network science, this problem can be solved by analyzing structure features. As a graph-based anomaly detection method, the Markov random field (MRF)-based model has been widely used to identify the collusive anomalies and shown its effectiveness. However, existing methods are mostly unable to highlight the primary synergy relationship among nodes and consider much irrelevant information, which caused poor detectability. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel MRF-based method (ACEagle), considering node-level and community-level behavior features. Our method has several advantages: (1) based on the analysis of the nodes’ local structure, the community-level behavioral features are combined to calculate the nodes’ prior probability to close the ground truth, (2) it measured the behavior’s collaborative intensity between nodes by time and weight, constructing MRF by the synergic relationship exceeding the threshold to filter irrelevant structural information, (3) it operates in a completely unsupervised fashion requiring no labeled data, while still incorporating side information if available. Through experiments in user-reviewed datasets where abnormal collusive behavior is most typical, the results show that ACEagle is significantly outperforming state-of-the-art baselines in collusive anomalies detection.

Pengaruh Kepemimpinan Transformatif Terhadap Organisasi Pendidikan

Every model or style of leadership has its own characteristics. It happened because of the way how the leader leads. Is the leader uses otoriter style, democratic, or leizesfeire. All of those styles need the maximum resuld for an organization. This resuld will lead the organization to be better organization in the future. In the educational’ organization, one of the effective style of leadership is a transformative leadership. The model always move dynamically. The leader gives the examples to his follower by his charisma. While, the followers also follow the leader because of the motivation given by his leader. Therefore, a synergic relationship between the leader and the follower will happen. They will be together to carry their organization to be better. This process happens countinuoustly. Organization will be better time by time. This model of course has special character to be understood detaily. By knowing the characteristic, it is hooped can be understood its influence to the organization which always goes ahead.

Are Daojing and Dejing stylistically independent of each other: A stylometric analysis with activity and descriptivity

Abstract It has been qualitatively evidenced that Daojing and Dejing, the two sections of DaoDejing, are independent of each other in content, style, and authorship. However, this claim remains controversial because there has been scant quantitative study of them that probes into their syntactic structure to quantitatively evidence the independence due to methodological challenges to quantitative approaches. To address this problem, the present study employed two indexes of quantitative linguistics, activity and descriptivity, to capture the syntactic features of the inner structure of Daojing and Dejing to validate the independence as of the above. Results of this study reveal that (1) the chi-square test shows that both sections are significantly active texts; (2) the u-test and nonparametric two-related-sample test show that the two texts do not differ from each other significantly either holistically or by the 300-character segments in terms of activity and descriptivity; and (3) the activity sequences (Q-sequence) in the two sections can be both better fitted by two different functions, viz. the beta-function and the Morse function. Moreover, with the development of the text, a synergic relationship is found in the distribution of verbs and adjectives, indicative of a dynamic and complex self-regulating process of the text development. To conclude, contrary to the claim of prior studies that they were written by different authors, our stylometric study has quantitatively demonstrated that Daojing and Dejing are not independent of each other stylistically, especially in terms of activity and descriptivity.

First Report of Culturable Skin Bacteria in Melanophryniscus admirabilis (Admirable Redbelly Toad).

Melanophryniscus admirabilis is a small toad, critically endangered with a microendemic distribution in the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. The amphibian skin microbiome is considered one of the first lines of defense against pathogenic infections, such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). The knowledge of skin amphibian microbiomes is important to numerous fields, including species conservation, detection, and quantification of environmental changes and stressors. In the present study, we investigated, for the first time, cultivable bacteria in the skin of wild M. admirabilis, and detected Bd fungus by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Skin swab samples were collected from 15 wild M. admirabilis, and the isolation of bacteria was performed by means of different culture strategies. A total of 62 bacterial isolates being Bacillus (n = 22; 34.48%), Citrobacter (n = 10; 16.13%), and Serratia (n = 12; 19.35%) were more frequently isolated genera. Interestingly, all skin samples tested were Bd negative. Some bacterial genera identified in our study might be acting in a synergic relationship and protecting them against the Bd fungus. In addition, these bacteria may play an essential role in maintaining this species in an environment modulated by anthropic actions. This first report of skin cultivable bacteria from M. admirabilis natural population improves our knowledge of skin amphibian microbiomes, contributing to a better understanding of their ecology and how this species has survived in an environment modulated by anthropic action.

Automated, technified and traditional aquaponic systems

Aquaponics are defined as hydroponic crops merged with recirculating aquaculture systems and bacteria, achieving a synergic relationship that takes fish wastewater and uses it in order to grow plants, then the last one in association with nitrifying bacteria are used as a natural filter that removes dissolved nitrogen, ammonia, among others, controlling the fish waste accumulation. Nowadays there are different research areas in aquaponics, from ones focused on the applied techniques in aquaculture and hydroponic sub-systems; through applied sciences such as modeling from both physical and chemical systems; arriving to the types of aquaponics, qualified from technification grades; concluding with fish and plant crop species and their interaction. In this paper a systematic review is carried out in order to observe the research current state in automated, technified and traditional aquaculture systems, thus having a sight of the investigative orientation in this field. This review is based on scientific papers from four databases, taken in March of 2020, obtaining 1356 results, evaluated and filtered for further analysis. From the review it was found that there is an exponential quantity growth in papers per year, moreover, it is noted that the paper fields of greatest concentration are aquaculture, agriculture, environment, water analysis, horticulture and electronics, the most worked species are lettuce (Lactuca sativa) in hydroponic NFT and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in single recirculating aquaponic systems (SRAPS). With the obtained data it was built a diagram that consolidates current research branches in aquaponics.

Reading buildings: The textual turn of architecture as a parallel to the spatial turn in literary studiesi

Abstract This article seeks to explore the parallels between the spatial turn embraced by contemporary literary theory and the so-called textual turn in architecture. More specifically, links between the contemporary developments of architectural theory and practice and literary criticism are established. In order to highlight the nature and origin of the connection between these two contemporary tendencies, this paper draws on a number of authoritative texts of both literary criticism as well as architectural theory, predominantly within the Anglo-American context. Architecture is presented from the viewpoint of the 20th and 21st centuries, which accentuates its liberation from a purely formal understanding by emphasizing the human involvement in its interpretation. The conception and structuring of physical spaces are therefore regarded as conditioned by processes similar to those involved in the construction of meaning in language and literature. Thus, while literary studies benefits from the extension of its field of study through the inclusion (and contemporary primacy) of the spatial point of view, architectural criticism invites active participation in the construction of its meaning, in other words, its reading. The processes of the mutual influencing and enrichment of both the textual turn in architecture and the spatial turn in literary studies is exemplified by means of contemporary architectural works that embody the synergic relationship of the two traditionally separate fields – (literary) text and architecture.

Changes and Challenges in Human Resources Management: An Analysis of Human Resources Roles in a Bank Context (after COVID-19)

Background: In the coming years, HR in the banking industry will need to play a leading role to develop human capital management, based on people care, evaluation, development, and training. To properly face this change in one of the biggest Italian banks we wanted to contribute to understanding the actual HR areas of change and examine how HR roles are dealing with “being on the frontline” of an unparalleled organisational evolution. Methods: Six focus-group sessions with up to 10 participants per session. Results: The crucial issue that emerged is a profound rupture and crisis that showed the (already existing) fragilities of the HR role interpretation: develop a new synergic relationship with the top management; define a stronger and wider organisational mandate; establish structured moments of discussion between professionals. Conclusion: HR roles in the banking context, especially after the pandemic, entail a high emotional burden related to role assumption. Specifically, our research highlighted the need to discuss the evolution of the HR role with top management, the need for synergies and a definition of the organisational mandate that allows wider participation in terms of decision-making and planning, and finally the need for supervision of HR roles.

The Dao of Maslow: A New Direction for Mentorship

Despite its historical importance for human achievement in many fields, mentorship has received meager research attention until relatively recently. Now recognized as a distinct personal relationship, mentorship is linked to a variety of psychological benefits to mentees including greater self-esteem, well-being, career focus, and leadership capability. Mentors have also been found to experience gains related to generativity. However, lacking has been a meaningful conceptualization of mentorship based on humanistic psychological concerns related to the “whole person.” In particular, the idea that mentoring can facilitate the self-actualization process has been neglected in the literature. In this article, we draw upon Maslow’s writings, particularly related to Daoism, to propose a new conceptual model. For at the time of his sudden death, he was directly seeking to apply Daoist notions to a variety of helping relationships including teaching, counseling, psychotherapy, and even friendship and parenting. After differentiating growth-centered mentorship from skill-centered mentorship, we delineate the former’s essential features based on Maslow’s unfinished legacy in this domain. These aspects include (a) incorporating and fostering the far goal of self-actualization; (b) guiding mentees to better identify their calling by identifying peak and foothill experiences; (c) helping mentees to overcome what Maslow termed the Jonah complex, as well as what subsequent researchers have dubbed the imposter syndrome; and (d) recognizing the mutuality of growth for both participants into a potentially synergic relationship.

Exploring Differentiated Conservation Priorities of Urban Green Space Based on Tradeoffs of Ecological Functions

Urban green space (UGS) can simultaneously provide social and ecological benefits for humans. Although numerous studies have evaluated the multifunctional benefits of urban green space, few of them have determined the differentiated conservation priorities of UGS towards the tradeoff relationship of multiple UGS functions. Here, we proposed an integrated framework to explore the targeted conservation strategies of UGS patches. Specifically, the circuit theory model and gravity floating catchment area method were adopted to evaluate ecological connectivity and spatial accessibility of UGS under multiple scenarios in terms of different species dispersal distances and resident travelling modes, and Pareto ranking analysis was utilized to identify conservation priorities of UGS. Wuhan City in central China was taken as a case study. The results show that Wuhan exhibits low synergic relationship of ecological connectivity and spatial accessibility of UGS, and only approximately 7.51% of UGS patches on average rank high. Based on the frequency of UGS Pareto ranks under different scenarios, the differentiated conservation strategy was developed, which identified 10 key green areas that need to be protected and 11 green areas that need to be restored. This work is expected to provide an applicable framework to identify key UGS patches and assist in urban planning and layout optimization of multifunctional UGS in Wuhan, China.

Bivalve body-size distribution through the Late Triassic mass extinction event

AbstractThe synergic relationship between physiology, ecology, and evolutionary process makes the body-size distribution (BSD) an essential component of the community ecology. Body size is highly susceptible to environmental change, and extreme upheavals, such as during a mass extinction event, could exert drastic changes on a taxon's BSD. It has been hypothesized that the Late Triassic mass extinction event (LTE) was triggered by intense global warming, linked to massive volcanic activity associated with the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province. We test the effects of the LTE on the BSD of fossil bivalve assemblages from three study sites spanning the Triassic/Jurassic boundary in the United Kingdom. Our results show that the effects of the LTE were rapid and synchronous across sites, and the BSDs of the bivalves record drastic changes associated with species turnover. No phylogenetic signal of size selectivity was recorded, although semi-infaunal species were apparently most susceptible to change. Each size class had the same likelihood of extinction during the LTE, which resulted in a platykurtic BSD with negative skew. The immediate postextinction assemblage exhibits a leptokurtic BSD, although with negative skew, wherein surviving species and newly appearing small-sized colonizers exhibit body sizes near the modal size. Recovery was relatively rapid (~100 kyr), and larger bivalves began to appear during the pre-Planorbis Zone, despite recurrent dysoxic/anoxic conditions. This study demonstrates how a mass extinction acts across the size spectrum in bivalves and shows how BSDs emerge from evolutionary and ecological processes.

Influence of C/S ratios on nitrogen removal and microbial community on mixotrophic DEAMOX process

The effect of glucose in an inorganic and organic denitrifying ammonium oxidation (DEAMOX) reactor was assessed during short-term performance. The simultaneous effect of carbon (C) and sulfide (S) ratios on nitrogen removal and microbial community will improve our understanding of mixotrophic synergetic process. The nitrogen removal efficiencies were investigated under six different C/S ratios during DEAMOX process. Increasing C/S ratios promoted the TN removal efficiency which fluctuated widely from 53.28% to 87.39%. The most suitable C/S ratio was 1.6, which achieved a TN removal efficiency of 87.86% and provided a good coupling system. Denitrification was encouraged and accelerated nitrite accumulation with glucose addition, and anammox still played a dominant role in nitrogen removal performance. Denitrification microorganisms (Thiobacillus and Thauera) cooperated with anammox microorganism (Candidatus Kuenenia) during the DEAMOX process, and maintained a synergic relationship with nitrogen removal. Moreover, adding glucose improved the growth of the heterotrophic denitrification microorganism, and decreased the concentration of anammox bacteria. Overall, this research provides a theoretical basic for the practical application of a mixotrophic DEAMOX process.

Clostridium perfringens-Induced Host-Pathogen Transcriptional Changes in the Small Intestine of Broiler Chickens.

Clostridium perfringens is an important opportunistic pathogen that may result in toxin-mediated diseases involving food poisoning/tissue gangrene in humans and various enterotoxaemia in animal species. It is a main etiological agent for necrotic enteritis (NE), the most financially devastating bacterial disease in broiler chickens, especially if raised under antibiotic-free conditions. Importantly, NE is responsible for losses of six billion US dollars annually in the global poultry industry. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of C. perfringens-induced pathogenesis in the gut and its microbiome mRNA levels in C. perfringens-infected and non-infected hosts, we used RNA sequencing technology to perform transcriptional analysis of both host intestine and microbiome using our NE model. The growth rate was significantly impaired in chickens infected by C. perfringens. In total, 13,473 annotated chicken genes were differentially expressed between these two groups, with ninety-six genes showing statistical significance (|absolute fold changes| > 2.0, adjusted p value < 0.05). Genes involved in energy production, MHC Class I antigen, translation, ribosomal structures, and amino acid, nucleotide and carbohydrate metabolism from infected gut tissues were significantly down-regulated. The upregulated genes were mainly engaged in innate and adaptive immunity, cellular processes, genetic information processing, and organismal systems. Additionally, the transcriptional levels of four crucial foodborne pathogens were significantly elevated in a synergic relationship with pathogenic C. perfringens infection. This study presents the profiling data that would likely be a relevant reference for NE pathogenesis and may provide new insights into the mechanism of host-pathogen interaction in C. perfringens-induced NE infection in broiler chickens.