Promises and Prospects of Microbiome Studies

Since Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, first microscopic observations of the unseen microbiota and the more recent realization that little of the microbes in the biosphere are known, humans have developed a deep curiosity to fully understand the inner workings of the microbial realm. Our ability to characterize the complexity of microbial communities in their natural habitats has dramatically improved over the past decade thanks to advances in high-throughput methodologies. By eliminating the need to isolate and culture individual species, metagenomics approaches have removed many of the obstacles that hindered research in the ecology of mixed microbial consortia, providing valuable information about the diversity, composition, function, and metabolic capability of the community. Microbes are the unseen majority with the capability to colonize every environment, including our bodies. The establishment and composition of a stable human microbiome is determined by the host genetics, immunocompetence, and life-style choices. Our life-style choices determine our exposure to many external and internal environmental factors that permanently or temporarily can influence our microbiome composition. Figure 1 illustrates some of the life-style-related factors that might influence the microbiota of the skin, mouth, and gut. It is not limited to what we carry, touch, breath, and eat. Other dispersal vectors include secretion, excretions, aerosols, air flow, animals, moving surfaces, water, beverages, food, contact, wind, tools, toiletry, and others. These influence the microbiome membership, who are present, and they have the ability to participate in the microbiome dynamic within an environment. The establishment of a microbial community is dependent on many environmental factors, including pH, temperature, altitude, weather, soil type, nutrient availability, relative humidity, air quality, pollutants, microbial competitors, and others. In other words, we are superorganisms interconnected with other living forms on this Earth

Nonparametric reconstruction of the Om diagnostic to test LCDM

Cosmic acceleration is usually related with the unknown dark energy, which equation of state, w(z), is constrained and numerically confronted with independent astrophysical data. In order to make a diagnostic of w(z), the introduction of a null test of dark energy can be done using a diagnostic function of redshift, Om. In this work we present a nonparametric reconstruction of this diagnostic using the so-called Loess-Simex factory to test the concordance model with the advantage that this approach offers an alternative way to relax the use of priors and find a possible 'w' that reliably describe the data with no previous knowledge of a cosmological model. Our results demonstrate that the method applied to the dynamical Om diagnostic finds a preference for a dark energy model with equation of state w =-2/3, which correspond to a static domain wall network.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

The Possibility of a Non-Lagrangian Theory of Gravity

General Relativity resembles a very elegant crystal glass: If we touch its principles, that is, its Lagrangian, there is a risk of breaking everything. Or, if we will, it is like a short blanket: Curing some problems creates new problems. This paper is devoted to bring to light the reasons why we pursue the possibility of a non-Lagrangian theory of gravity under the hypothesis of an extension of the original general relativity with an ansatz inspired in the fundamental principles of classical and quantum physics.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure. Version accepted in Universe MDP

A1A_1 theory of weights for rough homogeneous singular integrals and commutators

Quantitative $A_1-A_\infty$ estimates for rough homogeneous singular integrals $T_{\Omega}$ and commutators of $BMO$ symbols and $T_{\Omega}$ are obtained. In particular the following estimates are proved: % $$\|T_\Omega \|_{L^p(w)}\le c_{n,p}\|\Omega\|_{L^\infty} [w]_{A_1}^{\frac{1}{p}}\,[w]_{A_{\infty}}^{1+\frac{1}{p'}}\|f\|_{L^p(w)}$$ % and % $$\| [b,T_{\Omega}]f\|_{L^{p}(w)}\leq c_{n,p}\|b\|_{BMO}\|\Omega\|_{L^{\infty}} [w]_{A_1}^{\frac{1}{p}}[w]_{A_{\infty}}^{2+\frac{1}{p'}}\|f\|_{L^{p}\left(w\right)},$$ % for $1<p<\infty$ and $1/p+1/p'=1$.Comment: 19 page

Discussion of “clustering on dissimilarity Representations for detecting mislabelled Seismic signals at Nevado del Ruiz Volcano” by Mauricio Orozco-Alzate, and César Germán Castellanos-Domínguez

The authors are to be congratulated for a systematic investigationof the accurate and non subjective classifying approach in seismic research. The authors have conducted several clustering algorithms to the seismic event records from Volcanological and SeismologicalObservatory at Manizales. Their objective was to improve the grouping of seismic data (i.e., volcano-tectonic earthquakes, long-period earthquakes and icequakes) digitized at 100.16 Hz sampling frequency.Their study seems adding new approach to their previous work of Langer et al. (2006) who applied different classification techniques to seismic data

Leptonic CP phases near the μ−τ\mu-\tau symmetric limit

The neutrino masses and mixings indicated by current neutrino oscillation experiments suggest that the neutrino mass matrix possesses an approximate $\mu-\tau$ exchange symmetry. In this study, we explore the neutrino parameter space and show that if a small $\mu-\tau$ symmetry breaking is considered, the Majorana $CP$ phases must be unequal and non-zero independently of the neutrino mass scale. Moreover, a small $\mu-\tau$ symmetry breaking favors quasi-degenerate masses. We also show that Majorana phases are strongly correlated with the Dirac $CP$ violating phase. Within this framework, we obtain robust predictions for the values of the Majorana phases when the experimental indications for the Dirac $CP$ phase are used.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Version accepted for publication in PL

A combination of SEM and EDX studies on a clay-based natural composite with animal fibre and its mechanical implications

A variety of natural fibres are nowadays being utilized as soil reinforcement. Test results demonstrate the positive effects of adding natural fibres to soils, in that they decrease shrinkage, reduce curing time and enhance compressive, flexural and shear strength if an optimum reinforcement ratio can be utilised. This paper describes a study which uses a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and an Energy Diffraction Analysis of X-rays (EDX) technique on clay-based composites stabilized with natural polymer and fibres. Different dosages of fibres and several types of soils have been used in this study with the aim of determining advantageous properties for building material applications. SEM and EDX test results reveal the degree of bonding between the particles of soil and the natural fibers. This has enabled a better understanding of the micro-morphology of the natural fibers and their effect on the overall composite material structure. Microscopic analysis was combined with mechanical tests to establish the different strength characteristics of every soil