Tm1: A Mutator/Foldback Transposable Element Family in Root-Knot Nematodes

Three closely related parthenogenetic species of root-knot nematodes, collectively termed the Meloidogyne incognita-group, are economically significant pathogens of diverse crop species. Remarkably, these asexual root-knot nematodes are capable of acquiring heritable changes in virulence even though they lack sexual reproduction and meiotic recombination. Characterization of a near isogenic pair of M. javanica strains differing in response to tomato with the nematode resistance gene Mi-1 showed that the virulent strain carried a deletion spanning a gene called Cg-1. Herein, we present evidence that the Cg-1 gene lies within a member of a novel transposable element family (Tm1; Transposon in Meloidogyne-1). This element family is defined by composite terminal inverted repeats of variable lengths similar to those of Foldback (FB) transposable elements and by 9 bp target site duplications. In M. incognita, Tm1 elements can be classified into three general groups: 1) histone-hairpin motif elements; 2) MITE-like elements; 3) elements encoding a putative transposase. The predicted transposase shows highest similarity to gene products encoded by aphids and mosquitoes and resembles those of the Phantom subclass of the Mutator transposon superfamily. Interestingly, the meiotic, sexually-reproducing root-knot nematode species M. hapla has Tm1 elements with similar inverted repeat termini, but lacks elements with histone hairpin motifs and contains no elements encoding an intact transposase. These Tm1 elements may have impacts on root-knot nematode genomes and contribute to genetic diversity of the asexual species

The biogenic approach to cognition

The original publication can be found at www.springerlink.comAfter half a century of cognitive revolution we remain far from agreement about what cognition is and what cognition does. It was once thought that these questions could wait until the data were in. Today there is a mountain of data, but no way of making sense of it. The time for tackling the fundamental issues has arrived. The biogenic approach to cognition is introduced not as a solution but as a means of approaching the issues. The traditional, and still predominant, methodological stance in cognitive inquiry is what I call the anthropogenic approach: assume human cognition as the paradigm and work ‘down’ to a more general explanatory concept. The biogenic approach, on the other hand, starts with the facts of biology as the basis for theorizing and works ‘up’ to the human case by asking psychological questions as if they were biological questions. Biogenic explanations of cognition are currently clustered around two main frameworks for understanding biology: self-organizing complex systems and autopoiesis. The paper describes the frameworks and infers from them ten empirical principles—the biogenic ‘family traits’—that constitute constraints on biogenic theorizing. Because the anthropogenic approach to cognition is not constrained empirically to the same degree, I argue that the biogenic approach is superior for approaching a general theory of cognition as a natural phenomenon

Constitutive and geometric nonlinear models for the seismic analysis of RC structures with energy dissipators

Nowadays, the use of energy dissipating devices to improve the seismic response of RC structures constitutes a mature branch of the innovative procedures in earthquake engineering. However, even though the benefits derived from this technique are well known and widely accepted, the numerical methods for the simulation of the nonlinear seismic response of RC structures with passive control devices is a field in which new developments are continuously preformed both in computational mechanics and earthquake engineering. In this work, a state of the art of the advanced models for the numerical simulation of the nonlinear dynamic response of RC structures with passive energy dissipating devices subjected to seismic loading is made. The most commonly used passive energy dissipating devices are described, together with their dissipative mechanisms as well as with the numerical procedures used in modeling RC structures provided with such devices. The most important approaches for the formulation of beam models for RC structures are reviewed, with emphasis on the theory and numerics of formulations that consider both geometric and constitutive sources on nonlinearity. In the same manner, a more complete treatment is given to the constitutive nonlinearity in the context of fiber-like approaches including the corresponding cross sectional analysis. Special attention is paid to the use of damage indices able of estimating the remaining load carrying capacity of structures after a seismic action. Finally, nonlinear constitutive and geometric formulations for RC beam elements are examined, together with energy dissipating devices formulated as simpler beams with adequate constitutive laws. Numerical examples allow to illustrate the capacities of the presented formulations.Postprint (published version