Exploring Microbiome Functional Dynamics through Space and Time with Trait-Based Theory

Microbiomes play essential roles in the health and function of animal and plant hosts and drive nutrient cycling across ecosystems. Integrating novel trait-based approaches with ecological theory can facilitate the prediction of microbial functional traits important for ecosystem functioning and health. In particular, the yield-acquisition-stress (Y-A-S) framework considers dominant microbial life history strategies across gradients of resource availability and stress. However, microbiomes are dynamic, and spatial and temporal shifts in taxonomic and trait composition can affect ecosystem functions. We posit that extending the Y-A-S framework to microbiomes during succession and across biogeographic gradients can lead to generalizable rules for how microbiomes and their functions respond to resources and stress across space, time, and diverse ecosystems. We demonstrate the potential of this framework by applying it to the microbiomes hosted by the carnivorous pitcher plant Sarracenia purpurea, which have clear successional trajectories and are distributed across a broad climatic gradient

Weak hyperon decays in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory: Renormalization and applications

The complete renormalization of the weak Lagrangian to chiral order q^2 in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory is performed using heat kernel techniques. The results are compared with divergences appearing in the calculation of Feynman graphs for the nonleptonic hyperon decay Lambda -> p pi^- and an estimate for the size of the counterterm contributions to the s-wave amplitudes in nonleptonic hyperon decays is given.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

FIP200 Claw Domain Binding to p62 Promotes Autophagosome Formation at Ubiquitin Condensates

The autophagy cargo receptor p62 facilitates the condensation of misfolded, ubiquitin-positive proteins and their degradation by autophagy, but the molecular mechanism of p62 signaling to the core autophagy machinery is unclear. Here, we show that disordered residues 326–380 of p62 directly interact with the C-terminal region (CTR) of FIP200. Crystal structure determination shows that the FIP200 CTR contains a dimeric globular domain that we designated the “Claw” for its shape. The interaction of p62 with FIP200 is mediated by a positively charged pocket in the Claw, enhanced by p62 phosphorylation, mutually exclusive with the binding of p62 to LC3B, and it promotes degradation of ubiquitinated cargo by autophagy. Furthermore, the recruitment of the FIP200 CTR slows the phase separation of ubiquitinated proteins by p62 in a reconstituted system. Our data provide the molecular basis for a crosstalk between cargo condensation and autophagosome formation

Llave electromecánica para determinación de alcoholemia en conductores de vehículos

La “llave electromecánica de control de nivel de alcohol en el aliento” es un sistema activado por un sensor electroquímico, el cual permite leer el nivel de alcohol en el aliento, evitando de esta forma que la persona tenga acceso al vehículo. La problemática de la alcoholemia y los riesgos que genera a nivel interno y externo, son temas que dan mucho de qué hablar día a día. La conducción es una gran responsabilidad de toda persona a quien se le permita hacerlo y realizarlo en estado de embriaguez genera una alta probabilidad de accidentes. La implementación de sensores electroquímicos para la percepción de los niveles de alcohol, es una de la grandes respuestas que el medio necesitaba para evitar lo que el ser humano mismo no hace, responsabilizarse de su consumo y evitar los accidentes. Asa mismo, aplicar esto de una manera sencilla, como un dispositivo de bolsillo o una llave es una herramienta vital para que las personas se responsabilicen con el medio. La tecnología y el desarrollo de nuevos proyectos, da las bases sólidas para la realización de este sistema, una llave electromecánica de control de nivel de alcohol en el aliento, la cual como primera medida implemente un sensor MQ-3, de bajo costo y alta sensibilidad; así mismo un mecanismo impulsado por medio de 2 solenoides, uno que asegura la llave, y otro que le da el retroceso, y por último, un sistema de control dirigido por un mico controlador PIC, el cual genera el algoritmo necesario para determinar si el conductor se encuentra en condición de usar su llave. Todo esto es el principio de este proyecto, el cual se explica de manera más amplia y detallada en el desarrollo del mismo, y el que puede dejar de una manera más clara y entendible su principio de funcionamiento y el fin concreto de su creación

Examinations Question Specialized Marking: A Quantitative Analysis of Inter-marker Reliability Mode at Chinhoyi University of Technology

A ZJER article on a specialized marking scheme at a Zimbabwe university.The report presents findings from a quantitative quasi-experimental control and experiment group study. Its aim was to establish the effectiveness and advantages of examinations question specialized marking mode on inter-marker reliability. It was motivated by the current (2011) university problem of large volumes of marking against very few lecturers and the need to uphold a high level of quality marking. Data was gathered from two experimental marking sessions held in November 2010 and March 2011 at Chinhoyi University ofTechnology in Zimbabwe. Comparative analysis of deviations and time was done for the control and experiment group using paired t-tests, Spearman's rank order correlation and Chi-square for . hypothesis testing. The study found that Question Specialised Marking (QSM) was effective. It reduced marker deviations, stress and marking time significantly. It has an inbuilt team member supervision mechanism, offers answer script security, reduces probability of marker malpractice and is fair to all students. The study recommends that, Universities with large marking loads and two or more lecturers per course can adopt Question Specialised Marking (QSM) for their next examination marking sessions to improve inter-marker reliability

A Sovereign Wealth Turn

On September 2, 2008, a group of leading sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) agreed on generally accepted principles and practices. The process that created the so-called Santiago Principles is important in its own right, as a milestone on the way to what might become international financial architecture. Since SWFs rose to prominence two years ago, they have been trapped in sterile domestic arguments between national security and open investment. These have obscured SWFs\u27 significance and the governance challenge they present. The challenge reflects the power shifts and culture clashes of financial integration, which, thanks to capital flow reversals, no longer looks like an exercise to remake the world in the Anglo-American image. Integration goes beyond opening borders to trade and investment. It entails assimilating public capital in private markets on a vast scale, dealing with new forms of financial organization, and marrying financial systems premised on very different ideas about the role of the state in the economy. The task of governing global finance entails making coherent, legitimate, and accountable a patchwork of public laws, private codes, bureaucratic networks and institutional remnants left in last century\u27s wake. Because SWFs embody so many recent shifts in finance, the new principles go to the heart of the governance task. Their ultimate success or failure will be equally telling. In the meantime, states that had played a limited role in shaping the norms of international finance have taken the lead writing the rules. Competitors came together in a policy coordination forum, and in a substantive, non-hierarchical relationship with established international institutions. Funds from wildly different political systems have had to negotiate domestic and external demands, and reconcile conflicting visions of mixing public and private