The jungle of methods for evaluating phenotypic and phylogenetic structure of communities

13 páginas, 4 figuras, 4 tablas.The way communities are assembled is an old ecological question currently experiencing renewed interest thanks to the recent advances in molecular biology and phylogenetics. The generality of these new methods has allowed us to understand the structure of communities of organisms from different kingdoms and at different scales. Concomitant with this growing interest, new methods, metrics, terms, and software have appeared that independently solve similar questions, but with different approaches. Here we provide a unifying framework on methods for community structure based on the relationships between four key concepts: phylogeny, phenotype, environment, and co-occurrence. The different approaches are based on different community representations of traits, the phylogenetic relationships of species in the community, or species occurrence along the environmental gradients. We finally provide insights on future directions of this emerging discipline.We thank María Clara Castellanos, Steve Kembel, Evan Weiher, and three anonymous referees for helpful comments and suggestions. This work has been developed under the framework of the Spanish projects VIRRA (CGL2009-12048/BOS) and VAMPIRO(CGL2008-05289-C02-01).Peer reviewe

Automatization of process of developing budget in the oil and gas industry

The aim of this study is to analyze and evaluate the software in budget process. Consolidated budget calculation of the cost of enterprises construction, buildings and structures is a document that defines the limit of the estimated funds needed to complete construction of all facilities envisaged by the project. Approved consolidated estimated budget of the cost of construction is the basis for determining the limit of capital investment and the opening of construction financing. The quality of the development of such budget depends on many factors, one of which is the use of advanced software products in the field of budget process automation. The article shows the advantages of modern software this field. The conclusion about the basic requirements to be met by the software in the budget business

Use marketing strategy in the intrnet space

This article deals with the theory and practice of modern methods of promotion products by industrial. The features of the concept of marketing in the Internet space and theiradvantages

Correlation of passivity symptoms and dysfunctional visuomotor action monitoring in psychosis

Passivity experiences are hallmark symptoms of schizophrenia that can be characterized by the belief that one's thoughts or actions are controlled by an external agent. It has recently been suggested that these psychotic experiences result from defective monitoring of one's own actions, i.e. disturbed comparison of actions and perceived outcomes. In this study, we examined the function of the previously characterized action monitoring network of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), medial (mPFC) and lateral prefrontal cortices in patients with different levels of passivity symptoms with an fMRI task. The visuomotor fMRI task demanded control of visually perceived object movements by alternating button presses with the left and the right index finger. In the monitoring condition of this task subjects stopped their actions whenever they detected visuomotor incongruence. fMRI and behavioural data from 15 patients were tested for correlation with passivity symptoms using standardized Scale for Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS)- and AMDP- passivity symptom ratings. Both types of data were tested for differences between the patients group and 15 healthy controls. In the patient group we found the expected correlation of passivity symptoms and visuomotor monitoring performance. There was a significant positive correlation of passivity symptoms with increased latency of incongruence detection and a negative correlation of SAPS-passivity with the number of detected events. fMRI data revealed correlations of passivity symptoms with activation in bilateral IPL, primary motor and sensory cortices in the action monitoring condition. A correlation of passivity symptoms with the main experimental effect (actions with - actions without monitoring) was found in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and in the left IPL. No group differences or group by task interactions were found within the visuomotor-action-monitoring network. Our results demonstrate the association between passivity symptoms and the dysfunction of visuomotor action monitoring and support the idea that psychotic passivity experiences result from dysfunctions of central action monitoring mechanisms: According to pre-existing concepts of parietal cortex function, IPL-hyperactivation may represent an increase in false detections of visuomotor incongruence while the correlation between passivity and the differential effect of monitoring on PCC-activation assumedly represents greater self-monitoring effort in passivity experience

Visuospatial working memory impairment in current and previous ecstasy/polydrug users

Objective: Previous research suggests that ecstasy users are impaired in processing visuospatial information. However, for the most part, the deficits observed appear to involve the recall and recognition of complex visual and geometric patterns. The present research sought to determine whether ecstasy use was associated with deficits in serial spatial recall and visuospatial working memory (VSWM). Methods: Thirty‐eight current ecstasy/polydrug users, 16 previous ecstasy/polydrug users and 52 non ecstasy users completed serial simple spatial recall and VSWM tasks. Results: Both the current and previous users of ecstasy exhibited deficits on the VSWM task. Following controls for group differences in aspects of cannabis and cocaine use, the overall group effect fell to just below statistical significance. However, the difference contrast comparing users with nonusers continued to demonstrate a statistically significant ecstasy‐related VSWM deficit. Conclusions: Ecstasy users were impaired in processing visuospatial information especially under conditions of high processing demand. The results are consistent with ecstasy‐related impairment either in the short‐term posterior parietal and occipital area store or the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex processes, which augment it under conditions of higher processing demands. Further research is needed to pinpoint the actual source of the ecstasy/polydrug‐related VSWM deficits that have been observed here and elsewhere

Study of the effect of thermo - and photosdate on the properties of cotton fabrics by vibrational spectroscopy

By IR and Raman spectroscopy we studied the influence of photo - and thermal impact on dyed cotton fabric. The possibility is shown how the identification of different dyes and to detect signs of different ways impacts on the fabric. Demonstrated that the combined use of IR and Raman spectroscopy extends the study of woven materials