Hybridisation generates a hopeful monster: a hermaphroditic selfing cichlid

Compared to other phylogenetic groups, self-fertilization (selfing) is exceedingly rare in vertebrates and is known to occur only in one small clade of fishes. Here we report observing one F1 hybrid individual that developed into a functional hermaphrodite after crossing two closely related sexually reproducing species of cichlids. Microsatellite alleles segregated consistent with selfing and Mendelian inheritance and we could rule out different modes of parthenogenesis including automixis. We discuss why selfing is not more commonly observed in vertebrates in nature, and the role of hybridisation in the evolution of novel trait

Géographie des plantes de La Alcarria de l’Ouest et “Mesa” d’Ocaña (II). Analyse de provenance à cinq localités représentatives

A partir de inventarios florísticos efectuados en el año hidrológico 2002-03 en cinco cuadrículas U.T.M. de 1 km², que forman un transecto representativo en La Alcarria Occidental y Mesa de Ocaña (AM), se continúa el análisis de espectros biológicos iniciado en trabajos anteriores (García-Abad, 2009 y 2011, Partes I y II). Se trata el criterio biogeográfico y se discriminan las plantas autóctonas de las alóctonas y su diferente procedencia. A su vez, se discriminan las plantas invasoras de las no invasoras, de acuerdo a la propuesta de Sanz et al. (2004). Los espectros obtenidos se relacionan con los correspondientes al conjunto de AM, gracias al anidamiento territorial efectuado. Se presenta un listado provisional de plantas alóctonas en AM.Biological spectra analysis initiated in previous papers (García-Abad, 2009 and 2011, Parts I and II) is continued here. Floristic inventories are carried out during one agricultural year (2002-03) in five 1 km²- U.T.M. grid squares. These space tracts form a representative transect in Western La Alcarria and “Mesa” of Ocaña (AM). This Part III is about the biogeographical spectrum. We discriminate between native and no-native plants and analyze their provenance. In turn, Sanz et al. (2004) criteria were designed to discriminate between invasive alien and no-invasive alien plants. Since the both spaces are nested, locally determinated spectra could be related to the spectra of AM region. Finally, we present a provisional checklist of alien plants of AM.À partir des relevés floristiques effectués dans l’année agrologique 2002-03 à cinq carrés U.T.M. de 1 km ², formant un transect représentatif dans la región naturelle de La Alcarria de l’Ouest et “Mesa” d’Ocaña (AM), cet article continue comme troisième de sa série (García- Abad, 2009 et 2011, Parts I et II) l'analyse de spectres biologiques. Le critère biogéographique est appliqué ici. Les xenophytes sont distingués des plantes indigènes et tous les deux provenances géographiques sont analysées. À son tour, la distinction est effectuée entre les plantes invasives et les non invasives, selon le critère de Sanz et al. (2004). Les spectres obtenus se rattachent aux correspondants à l'ensemble d'AM, grâce à l’établissement des espaces imbriqués. Une liste provisoire des xénophytes d’AM est montré

A Role for Pre-mRNA-PROCESSING PROTEIN 40C in the Control of Growth, Development, and Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana

Because of their sessile nature, plants have adopted varied strategies for growing and reproducing in an ever-changing environment. Control of mRNA levels and pre-mRNA alternative splicing are key regulatory layers that contribute to adjust and synchronize plant growth and development with environmental changes. Transcription and alternative splicing are thought to be tightly linked and coordinated, at least in part, through a network of transcriptional and splicing regulatory factors that interact with the carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II. One of the proteins that has been shown to play such a role in yeast and mammals is pre-mRNA-PROCESSING PROTEIN 40 (PRP40, also known as CA150, or TCERG1). In plants, members of the PRP40 family have been identified and shown to interact with the CTD of RNA Pol II, but their biological functions remain unknown. Here, we studied the role of AtPRP40C, in Arabidopsis thaliana growth, development and stress tolerance, as well as its impact on the global regulation of gene expression programs. We found that the prp40c knockout mutants display a late-flowering phenotype under long day conditions, associated with minor alterations in red light signaling. An RNA-seq based transcriptome analysis revealed differentially expressed genes related to biotic stress responses and also differentially expressed as well as differentially spliced genes associated with abiotic stress responses. Indeed, the characterization of stress responses in prp40c mutants revealed an increased sensitivity to salt stress and an enhanced tolerance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola (Psm) infections. This constitutes the most thorough analysis of the transcriptome of a prp40 mutant in any organism, as well as the first characterization of the molecular and physiological roles of a member of the PRP40 protein family in plants. Our results suggest that PRP40C is an important factor linking the regulation of gene expression programs to the modulation of plant growth, development, and stress responses.Fil: Hernando, Carlos Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: García Hourquet, Mariano. Fundación Instituto Leloir; ArgentinaFil: de Leone, María José. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Careno, Daniel Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Iserte, Javier Alonso. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mora Garcia, Santiago. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Yanovsky, Marcelo Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; Argentin

Knowledge Identification for Personnel Allocation to Research Projects: A Proposal Methodology

Today, knowledge has been acknowledged as an important source of competitive advantage and value creation for organizations. The leveraging of individual knowledge in an organization is important to improve its competitiveness and internal processes. The proposal presented in this work is oriented to organizations that develop research projects and need employees with the skills and competencies necessary for their development. This is difficult because the people in charge of personnel allocation to research projects do not always have the sufficient knowledge for doing an efficient allocation. The objective of this article is proposing a methodology that allows the identification of key knowledge of the employees that can be available for the people in charge of personnel allocation to research projects. A first conceptual approach, based on literature review and the comparison with other similar works, allows proposing a methodology focused in five key phases. This proposal will allow the organizations to identify, capture and disseminate key employees’ knowledge to make it available when it is needed. Keywords: Knowledge Management, Knowledge Identification, Key Knowledge, Human Resource Management, Personnel Allocatio

Hybrid Random Forest Survival Model to Predict Customer Membership Dropout

Dropout prediction is a problem that must be addressed in various organizations, as retaining customers is generally more profitable than attracting them. Existing approaches address the problem considering a dependent variable representing dropout or non-dropout, without considering the dynamic perspetive that the dropout risk changes over time. To solve this problem, we explore the use of random survival forests combined with clusters, in order to evaluate whether the prediction performance improves. The model performance was determined using the concordance probability, Brier Score and the error in the prediction considering 5200 customers of a Health Club. Our results show that the prediction performance in the survival models increased substantially in the models using clusters rather than that without clusters, with a statistically significant difference between the models. The model using a hybrid approach improved the accuracy of the survival model, providing support to develop countermeasures considering the period in which dropout is likely to occur.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dropout Prediction: A Systematic Literature Review

Dropout predicting is challenging analysis process which requires appropriate approaches to address the dropout. Existing approaches are applied in different areas such as education, telecommunications, retail, social networks, and banking services. The goal is to identify customers in the risk of dropout to support retention strategies. This research developed a systematic literature review to evaluate the development of existing studies to predict dropout using machine learning, following the guidelines recommended by Kitchenham and Peterson. The systematic review followed three phases planning, conducting, and reporting. The selection of the most relevant articles was based on the use of Active Systematic Review tool using artificial intelligence algorithms. The criteria identified 28 articles and several research lines where identified. Dropout is a transversal problem for several sectors of economic activity, where it can be taken countermeasures before it happens if detected early

Confirmation Of Two New Galactic Bulge Globular Clusters: FSR 19 and FSR 25

Globular clusters (GCs) in the Milky Way (MW) bulge are very difficult to study because: i) they suffer from the severe crowding and galactic extinction; which are characteristic of these inner Galactic regions ii) they are more prone to be affected by dynamical processes. Therefore, they are relatively faint and difficult to map. However, deep near-infrared photometry like that provided by the VISTA Variables in the Via L\'actea Extended Survey (VVVX) is allowing us to map GCs in this crucial yet relatively uncharted region. Our results confirm with high confidence that both FSR 19 and FSR 25 are genuine MW bulge GCs. Each of the performed tests and resulting parameters provides clear evidence for the GC nature of these targets. We derive distances of 7.2$\pm$0.7 kpc and D=7.0$\pm$0.6 (corresponding to distance moduli of 14.29$\pm$0.08 and 14.23$\pm$0.07) for FSR 19 and FSR 25, respectively. Their ages and metallicities are 11 Gyr and [Fe/H]= -0.5 dex for both clusters, which were determined from Dartmouth and PARSEC isochrone fitting. The integrated luminosities are M$_{Ks}$(FSR 19) = -7.72 mag and M$_{Ks}$(FSR 25) = -7.31 mag which places them in the faint tail of the GC Luminosity Function. By adopting a King profile for their number distribution, we determine their core and tidal radii ($r_c$, $r_t$). For FSR 19, r$_{c}$= 2.76$\pm$0.36 pc and r$_{t}$=5.31$\pm$0.49 pc, while FSR 25 appears more extended with r$_{c}$= 1.92$\pm$0.59 pc and r$_{t}$=6.85$\pm$1.78 pc. Finally their mean GC PMs (from Gaia EDR3) are $\mu_{\alpha^\ast}$= -2.50 $\pm$0.76 mas $yr^{-1}$, $\mu_{\delta}$= -5.02 $\pm$0.47 mas $yr^{-1}$ and $\mu_{\alpha^\ast}$= -2.61 $\pm$ 1.27 mas $yr^{-1}$ , $\mu_{\delta}$= -5.23 $\pm$0.74 mas $yr^{-1}$ for FSR 19 and FSR 25, respectively.

A review of schemes for fingerprint image quality computation

Fingerprint image quality affects heavily the performance of fingerprint recognition systems. This paper reviews existing approaches for fingerprint image quality computation. We also implement, test and compare a selection of them using the MCYT database including 9000 fingerprint images. Experimental results show that most of the algorithms behave similarly.Comment: Published at 3rd COST-275 Workshop on Biometrics on the Internet. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2111.0743

Lysyl oxidase is downregulated by the EWS/FLI1 oncoprotein and its propeptide domain displays tumor supressor activities in Ewing sarcoma cells

This study was funded by grants of the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2009-10158), the Fundación Científica de la Científica Española Contra el Cáncer and the Fundación María Francisca de Roviralta. N. Agra was supported by the Fundación General de la U.A.M. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S