The gut microbiota structure of the terrestrial isopod Porcellionides pruinosus (Isopoda: Oniscidea)

We used a combination of culture-dependent and independent approaches to study in depth the microbial community associated with the digestive tract of the terrestrial isopod Porcellionides pruinosus (Brandt, 1833). Specimens from different sampling sites in Tunisia harbored distinct microbiota profiles indicating the impact of both host origin and environmental factors on shaping the microbial flora within P. pruinosus. Our results revealed unexpected bacterial diversity especially via metagenomic analysis; a total of 819 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) assigned to two major bacterial phyla; Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. We used Nutrient Agar to isolate the cultivable fraction of bacteria associated with the gut of three geographically distant populations of P. pruinosus. The isolated bacteria belong to Actinobacteria, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Enrichment cultures on carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) medium gave evidence that the gut of this Oniscidea harbors cellulolytic Firmicutes and Proteobacteria probably involved in the lignocellulose degradation and then in mediating the functional role of terrestrial isopods as litter decomposers and regulators of nutrient cycling in soil ecosystems

Indicators of rural youth drug use

The relationships between personal substance use, health beliefs, peer use, sex, and religion were examined using data collected from 265 middle school students in rural northern Michigan and northeastern Wisconsin in January and February 1984. A positive correlation between peer and personal drug use was established. A relationship was also found between health beliefs and personal substance use. In addition, a regression model was able to account for a statistically significant amount of the variance of alcohol, marihuana, and cigarette use in the target population. Recommendations are made concerning future research, methods of improving health education program development, and possible target areas for psychotherapy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45268/1/10964_2005_Article_BF01537674.pd

Early adolescent alcohol abuse in rural northern Michigan

Data concerning several alcohol abuse behaviors were collected from 181 middle school students in Michigan's Upper Peninsula during May, 1982. The findings suggest that alcohol misuse in this region increases significantly with age, and appears to be at rates well above national averages. Examination of gender differences also reveals results which differ from national trends. This paper examines the general alcohol-related abusive behaviors found in this rural youth population, and provides some recommendations for both mental health education program development and therapeutic services.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44302/1/10597_2004_Article_BF00754430.pd

Microbial communities and novel taxa in \uab Continental Smokers \ubb of northern Greece

Analogously to the ocean-bottom black/white smokers, \u201ccontinental smokers\u201d have recently been defined as sites of mantle degassing through continental crust. The goal of this research, carried out within the Deep Carbon Observatory Community, is to investigate the role of deeplysourced fluids in niche ecosystem differentiation in European continental smokers. A 16S rRNA gene survey of microbial communities was carried out on 11 geothermal manifestations of northern Greece, all showing a distinct contribution of mantle fluids (R/Ra up to 1.2) that allow to classify them as continental smokers. The selected sites cover a wide range of temperatures (15-77 \ub0C), pH (6.11-8.46), Eh (-289 \u2013 40 mV), salinities (TDS 0.4-38 g/L) and show significant differences in energy sources for microbial life, like H2 (up to 0.8 \u3bcmol/L), CH4 (up to 400 \u3bcmol/L), NH4 (up to 112 \u3bcmol/L), sulphide (up to 103 \u3bcmol/L), Fe (up to 130 mmol/L). Illumina sequencing revealed negligible presence of Archaea and dominance of Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. Different bacterial taxa dominate depending on physico-chemical features: Deinococcus-Thermus dominates the hottest sites while chemoautotrophic genera (Sulfurovum and Sulfurimonas) are abundant in the most reducing H2S-rich waters. Signatures of deep-sea vent microbial ecosystems were detected in most assemblages, together with novel taxa

Towards Intelligent Integrated Manufacturing Planning-Execution

In today's competitive global market place, agility has become a survival factor for many manufacturers. A key measurement of manufacturing agility is the time it takes an organization to respond to market changes. The production management system used by most manufacturers today has disconnected planning and execution processes. This situation often hinders the manufacturer to fully explore market opportunities because production plans and executions cannot be adjusted to changes in each other quickly. The Consortium for Integrated Intelligent Manufacturing Planning-Execution (CIIMPLEX) is formed to address this problem by developing an open architecture for manufacturing software applications and deliver integrated planning-execution solutions. With integrated planning-execution, a manufacturing plan can reflect real-time factory capacity. This enables a manufacturer to predict product delivery dates accurately. It also enables a manufacturer to change plans quickly (e.g., on a daily..