Microbiome of a suppressive agricultural amended soil

The application of organic amendments to the soil is a strategy that cause the improvement of avocado agricultural soils. This strategy is included in the integrated management of avocado white root rot, caused by the phytopathogenic fungus Rosellinia necatrix in the Mediterranean area. In this study, we evaluate the suppressive capacity of an agricultural soil amended with composted almond shells and the role of its microbiome. The application of composted almond shells as organic amendment increase the suppressive activity of field soil against the pathogen, and this suppressiveness can be associated to the microbiota present in amended soil. Soil suppressivity is reduced when soil was heat treated, and then recovered when the heat-treated soil was partially complemented with field soil. Accordingly, we characterized the microbial community of amended suppressive soil by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene and ITS regions. This analysis showed the microbiome structure of the suppressive amended soil. The comparison among this community with the microbial community of an unamended soil reveals subtle differences in the structure of the microbiome. Specifically found in amended soil, we observed a high relative abundance of different classes of bacteria as Gammaprotobacteria and Betaproteobacteria (Proteobacteria), Acidimicrobiia (Actinobacteria) and Solibacteres (Acidobacteria). Regarding fungal communities, we observed a high relative abundance of some classes as Dothideomycetes, Lecanoromycetes (Ascomycota) and Tremellomycetes (Basidiomycota). Furthermore, we performed a functional analysis of the suppressive microbiome to understand the potential activities involved in suppressiveness. The use of a comercial microarray (GeoChip) with more than 80000 different probes, showed the significant increase in amended soil of carbon cycle genes, specifically genes of degradation routes of different carbon sources, as well as the significant reduction of virulence, metal resistance or aromatic compounds degradation related genes. By this analysis, we observed unique detected genes belonging to microorgnisms involved in biological control as Gammaproteobacterias, Firmicutes or Dothideomycetes. The role of these subtle changes as final responsible of the induced suppressiveness in agricultural amended soils is discussed.Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. AGL2014-52518-C2-1-

The Implications of China’s Fisheries Industry Regulation and Development for the South China Sea Dispute

Rozdział z: The Quandaries and Foreign Development, ed. D. Mierzejewski, “Contemporary Asian Studies Series

Determinants of Consumer Willingness to Purchase Non-Deceptive Counterfeit Products and the European Union

This study offers insights into non-deceptive counterfeiting by focusing on consumers in a new EU member country. More specifically, consumers’ inclination to purchase counterfeits at various price levels relative to retail prices of genuine branded products is examined, and the effects of various socio-economic and socio-psychological characteristics are explored. In reviewing the consumer behavior literature and recent empirical work, a conceptual model of consumer general willingness to purchase counterfeit products was developed. Using path analyses to test the system of structural relationships among the variables, inconsistent patterns of results were found across three classes of counterfeit products. Implications for management and further research are provided.counterfeit products, consumer unethical behavior, willingness to buy, Slovenia

A Detail-free Mediator and the 3 Player Case

Two players can make use of a trusted third party who mediates and partially resolves their conflict. Usually, the mediator should be aware of the situation and give suggestions to the players accordingly. However, a corrupt mediator can have a big influence on the outcome of the game. We single out a transparent mediator which can be safely applied in any two player game without loss of efficiency. That is, the mediator is independent of the game and the desired outcome. Technically, we show that any correlated equilibrium of any two player game can be obtained as Nash equilibria of the game, extended with cheap, pre-play communication, where players can communicate through the proposed mediator. The key idea is that after the mediated communication the players can have a plain conversation. In particular, the mediating communication device is transparent, controllable and is the same for all games and for all equilibrium distributions. We extend the result to three player games and show that one of the players can play the role of the mediator. We implement the set of correlated equilibrium in Nash equilibria of an extended game where the players have a plain conversation. The central assumption is that players can be invited to eavesdrop a private conversation. We extend the analysis to games with incomplete information and to the set of communication equilibria.cheap talk, communication device, correlated equilibrium, communi- cation equilibrium, detail-free mechanism, mediator

A Center Transversal Theorem for Hyperplanes and Applications to Graph Drawing

Motivated by an open problem from graph drawing, we study several partitioning problems for line and hyperplane arrangements. We prove a ham-sandwich cut theorem: given two sets of n lines in R^2, there is a line l such that in both line sets, for both halfplanes delimited by l, there are n^{1/2} lines which pairwise intersect in that halfplane, and this bound is tight; a centerpoint theorem: for any set of n lines there is a point such that for any halfplane containing that point there are (n/3)^{1/2} of the lines which pairwise intersect in that halfplane. We generalize those results in higher dimension and obtain a center transversal theorem, a same-type lemma, and a positive portion Erdos-Szekeres theorem for hyperplane arrangements. This is done by formulating a generalization of the center transversal theorem which applies to set functions that are much more general than measures. Back to Graph Drawing (and in the plane), we completely solve the open problem that motivated our search: there is no set of n labelled lines that are universal for all n-vertex labelled planar graphs. As a side note, we prove that every set of n (unlabelled) lines is universal for all n-vertex (unlabelled) planar graphs

Evaluating the adaptive capacity of cultural landscapes to climate change: Incorporating site-specific knowledge in National Park Service vulnerability assessments

Cultural landscapes are complex systems of natural and cultural resources that are affected by changes in climatic and non-climatic factors. The National Park Service, Pacific West Region, has developed a vulnerability assessment (VA) model for identifying, evaluating, and responding to the effects of climate change to cultural landscapes by utilizing peer-reviewed data and local knowledge to inform management strategies that can reduce the vulnerability of cultural landscapes to deterioration and loss. Key to developing site-specific adaption plans is a VA based on analysis of the significance, exposure, and sensitivity of landscape characteristics and features, and identification of the management capacity to reduce the sensitivity of the cultural landscape to change. The resulting assessment compares the level of projected vulnerability of the landscape as a whole and of each characteristic or feature under evaluation, and the identification of methods for minimizing the sensitivity of the cultural landscape to climate change. This paper provides an overview of the VA model through case studies from the state of Washington, the territory of Guam, and Tinian, commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands

BP’s use of posture to respond to the deepwater horizon crisis

This paper focuses on the posture the oil company BP adopted when faced with a legitimacy crisis during one of the worst environmental disasters in history. Against a backdrop of a discussion of the rhetorical aspects of image repair discourse and organisational legitimacy, Hearit’s strategy of corporate apologia was employed to determine the posture BP adopted in relation to the crisis. This paper adds to the literature on image repair strategies by heeding a call by Hearit for the context within which corporate apologia takes place to be taken account of, an approach that warrants a distinct line of research. The literature was further extended by complementing Hearit's strategy with semiotics and analysing its use in both the annual and sustainability reports. The additional focus on the sustainability reports is important, due to the high premium placed on sustainability in the changing business environment. On a practical level this paper contributes to an understanding of how organisations use sustainability reports to respond to legitimacy challenges