Thermodynamic Properties of Generalized Exclusion Statistics

We analytically calculate some thermodynamic quantities of an ideal $g$-on gas obeying generalized exclusion statistics. We show that the specific heat of a $g$-on gas ($g \neq 0$) vanishes linearly in any dimension as $T \to 0$ when the particle number is conserved and exhibits an interesting dual symmetry that relates the particle-statistics at $g$ to the hole-statistics at $1/g$ at low temperatures. We derive the complete solution for the cluster coefficients $b_l(g)$ as a function of Haldane's statistical interaction $g$ in $D$ dimensions. We also find that the cluster coefficients $b_l(g)$ and the virial coefficients $a_l(g)$ are exactly mirror symmetric ($l$=odd) or antisymmetric ($l$=even) about $g=1/2$. In two dimensions, we completely determine the closed forms about the cluster and the virial coefficients of the generalized exclusion statistics, which exactly agree with the virial coefficients of an anyon gas of linear energies. We show that the $g$-on gas with zero chemical potential shows thermodynamic properties similar to the photon statistics. We discuss some physical implications of our results.Comment: 24 pages, Revtex, Corrected typo

Energy Consumption of a Hexspider Robot-o as Function of Footwear and Underground: Experimental Investigations

In this paper, the previously designed and implemented spiderino robot-o, or a robot used to act in a swarm for educational purposes, is investigated regarding his energy-consuming properties. An experimental setup consists of a platform inside which the spiderino robot-o can freely move with a fixed random movement program. Furthermore, the robot-o feet were equipped with footwear made of materials with different friction coefficients, non-equipped or plastics, equipped with cork, equipped with rubber, and the underground was chosen to be stone, wood, plastics, and with regard to floor inclination for all variants flat and for the stone variant also inclined by 10%. The results show a characteristic curve in energy consumption according to a slightly different behaviour concerning the material combinations of footwear and floor, which adapts energy consumption physically due to the specific footwear-underground combination

A Mutation in LTBP2 Causes Congenital Glaucoma in Domestic Cats (Felis catus)

The glaucomas are a group of diseases characterized by optic nerve damage that together represent a leading cause of blindness in the human population and in domestic animals. Here we report a mutation in LTBP2 that causes primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) in domestic cats. We identified a spontaneous form of PCG in cats and established a breeding colony segregating for PCG consistent with fully penetrant, autosomal recessive inheritance of the trait. Elevated intraocular pressure, globe enlargement and elongated ciliary processes were consistently observed in all affected cats by 8 weeks of age. Varying degrees of optic nerve damage resulted by 6 months of age. Although subtle lens zonular instability was a common feature in this cohort, pronounced ectopia lentis was identified in less than 10% of cats examined. Thus, glaucoma in this pedigree is attributed to histologically confirmed arrest in the early post-natal development of the aqueous humor outflow pathways in the anterior segment of the eyes of affected animals. Using a candidate gene approach, significant linkage was established on cat chromosome B3 (LOD 18.38, θ = 0.00) using tightly linked short tandem repeat (STR) loci to the candidate gene, LTBP2. A 4 base-pair insertion was identified in exon 8 of LTBP2 in affected individuals that generates a frame shift that completely alters the downstream open reading frame and eliminates functional domains. Thus, we describe the first spontaneous and highly penetrant non-rodent model of PCG identifying a valuable animal model for primary glaucoma that closely resembles the human disease, providing valuable insights into mechanisms underlying the disease and a valuable animal model for testing therapies

Insight dimensions and cognitive function in psychosis: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that lack of insight is significantly associated with cognitive disturbance in schizophrenia. This study examines the longitudinal relationships between insight dimensions and cognitive performance in psychosis. METHODS: Participants were 75 consecutively admitted inpatients with schizophrenia, affective disorder with psychotic symptoms or schizoaffective disorder. Assessments were conducted at two time points during the study: at the time of hospital discharge after an acute psychotic episode and at a follow-up time that occurred more than 6 months after discharge. A multidimensional approach of insight was chosen and three instruments for its assessment were used: the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD), three items concerning insight on the Assessment and Documentation in Psychopathology (AMDP) system and the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire. The neuropsychological battery included a wide range of tests that assessed global cognitive function, attention, memory, and executive functions. RESULTS: After conducting adequate statistical correction to avoid Type I bias, insight dimensions and cognitive performance were not found to be significantly associated at cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments. In addition, baseline cognitive performance did not explain changes in insight dimensions at follow-up. Similar results were found in the subset of patients with schizophrenia (n = 37). The possibility of a Type II error might have increased due to sample attrition at follow-up. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that lack of insight dimensions and cognitive functioning may be unrelated phenomena in psychosis

A concept for international societally relevant microbiology education and microbiology knowledge promulgation in society

Executive summary Microbes are all pervasive in their distribution and influence on the functioning and well-being of humans, life in general and the planet. Microbially-based technologies contribute hugely to the supply of important goods and services we depend upon, such as the provision of food, medicines and clean water. They also offer mechanisms and strategies to mitigate and solve a wide range of problems and crises facing humanity at all levels, including those encapsulated in the sustainable development goals (SDGs) formulated by the United Nations. For example, microbial technologies can contribute in multiple ways to decarbonisation and hence confronting global warming, provide sanitation and clean water to the billions of people lacking them, improve soil fertility and hence food production and develop vaccines and other medicines to reduce and in some cases eliminate deadly infections. They are the foundation of biotechnology, an increasingly important and growing business sector and source of employment, and the centre of the bioeconomy, Green Deal, etc. But, because microbes are largely invisible, they are not familiar to most people, so opportunities they offer to effectively prevent and solve problems are often missed by decision-makers, with the negative consequences this entrains. To correct this lack of vital knowledge, the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative–the IMiLI–is recruiting from the global microbiology community and making freely available, teaching resources for a curriculum in societally relevant microbiology that can be used at all levels of learning. Its goal is the development of a society that is literate in relevant microbiology and, as a consequence, able to take full advantage of the potential of microbes and minimise the consequences of their negative activities. In addition to teaching about microbes, almost every lesson discusses the influence they have on sustainability and the SDGs and their ability to solve pressing problems of societal inequalities. The curriculum thus teaches about sustainability, societal needs and global citizenship. The lessons also reveal the impacts microbes and their activities have on our daily lives at the personal, family, community, national and global levels and their relevance for decisions at all levels. And, because effective, evidence-based decisions require not only relevant information but also critical and systems thinking, the resources also teach about these key generic aspects of deliberation. The IMiLI teaching resources are learner-centric, not academic microbiology-centric and deal with the microbiology of everyday issues. These span topics as diverse as owning and caring for a companion animal, the vast range of everyday foods that are produced via microbial processes, impressive geological formations created by microbes, childhood illnesses and how they are managed and how to reduce waste and pollution. They also leverage the exceptional excitement of exploration and discovery that typifies much progress in microbiology to capture the interest, inspire and motivate educators and learners alike. The IMiLI is establishing Regional Centres to translate the teaching resources into regional languages and adapt them to regional cultures, and to promote their use and assist educators employing them. Two of these are now operational. The Regional Centres constitute the interface between resource creators and educators–learners. As such, they will collect and analyse feedback from the end-users and transmit this to the resource creators so that teaching materials can be improved and refined, and new resources added in response to demand: educators and learners will thereby be directly involved in evolution of the teaching resources. The interactions between educators–learners and resource creators mediated by the Regional Centres will establish dynamic and synergistic relationships–a global societally relevant microbiology education ecosystem–in which creators also become learners, teaching resources are optimised and all players/stakeholders are empowered and their motivation increased. The IMiLI concept thus embraces the principle of teaching societally relevant microbiology embedded in the wider context of societal, biosphere and planetary needs, inequalities, the range of crises that confront us and the need for improved decisioning, which should ultimately lead to better citizenship and a humanity that is more sustainable and resilient. AbstractThe biosphere of planet Earth is a microbial world: a vast reactor of countless microbially driven chemical transformations and energy transfers that push and pull many planetary geochemical processes, including the cycling of the elements of life, mitigate or amplify climate change (e.g., Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2019, 17, 569) and impact the well-being and activities of all organisms, including humans. Microbes are both our ancestors and creators of the planetary chemistry that allowed us to evolve (e.g., Life's engines: How microbes made earth habitable, 2023). To understand how the biosphere functions, how humans can influence its development and live more sustainably with the other organisms sharing it, we need to understand the microbes. In a recent editorial (Environmental Microbiology, 2019, 21, 1513), we advocated for improved microbiology literacy in society. Our concept of microbiology literacy is not based on knowledge of the academic subject of microbiology, with its multitude of component topics, plus the growing number of additional topics from other disciplines that become vitally important elements of current microbiology. Rather it is focused on microbial activities that impact us–individuals/communities/nations/the human world–and the biosphere and that are key to reaching informed decisions on a multitude of issues that regularly confront us, ranging from personal issues to crises of global importance. In other words, it is knowledge and understanding essential for adulthood and the transition to it, knowledge and understanding that must be acquired early in life in school. The 2019 Editorial marked the launch of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative, the IMiLI. Here, we present - our concept of how microbiology literacy may be achieved and the rationale underpinning it; - the type of teaching resources being created to realise the concept and the framing of microbial activities treated in these resources in the context of sustainability, societal needs and responsibilities and decision-making; and - the key role of Regional Centres that will translate the teaching resources into local languages, adapt them according to local cultural needs, interface with regional educators and develop and serve as hubs of microbiology literacy education networks. The topics featuring in teaching resources are learner-centric and have been selected for their inherent relevance, interest and ability to excite and engage. Importantly, the resources coherently integrate and emphasise the overarching issues of sustainability, stewardship and critical thinking and the pervasive interdependencies of processes. More broadly, the concept emphasises how the multifarious applications of microbial activities can be leveraged to promote human/animal, plant, environmental and planetary health, improve social equity, alleviate humanitarian deficits and causes of conflicts among peoples and increase understanding between peoples (Microbial Biotechnology, 2023, 16(6), 1091–1111). Importantly, although the primary target of the freely available (CC BY-NC 4.0) IMiLI teaching resources is schoolchildren and their educators, they and the teaching philosophy are intended for all ages, abilities and cultural spectra of learners worldwide: in university education, lifelong learning, curiosity-driven, web-based knowledge acquisition and public outreach. The IMiLI teaching resources aim to promote development of a global microbiology education ecosystem that democratises microbiology knowledge

Draft Genome Sequences from a Novel Clade of <i>Bacillus cereus Sensu Lato </i>Strains, Isolated from the International Space Station

The draft genome sequences of six Bacillus strains, isolated from the International Space Station and belonging to the Bacillus anthracis-B. cereus-B. thuringiensis group, are presented here. These strains were isolated from the Japanese Experiment Module (one strain), U.S. Harmony Node 2 (three strains), and Russian Segment Zvezda Module (two strains)

A framework for human microbiome research

A variety of microbial communities and their genes (the microbiome) exist throughout the human body, with fundamental roles in human health and disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to develop metagenomic protocols, resulting in a broad range of quality-controlled resources and data including standardized methods for creating, processing and interpreting distinct types of high-throughput metagenomic data available to the scientific community. Here we present resources from a population of 242 healthy adults sampled at 15 or 18 body sites up to three times, which have generated 5,177 microbial taxonomic profiles from 16S ribosomal RNA genes and over 3.5 terabases of metagenomic sequence so far. In parallel, approximately 800 reference strains isolated from the human body have been sequenced. Collectively, these data represent the largest resource describing the abundance and variety of the human microbiome, while providing a framework for current and future studies

Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group. The definitive version was published in Nature 486 (2012): 207-214, doi:10.1038/nature11234.Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat’s signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81–99% of the genera, enzyme families and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants U54HG004969 to B.W.B.; U54HG003273 to R.A.G.; U54HG004973 to R.A.G., S.K.H. and J.F.P.; U54HG003067 to E.S.Lander; U54AI084844 to K.E.N.; N01AI30071 to R.L.Strausberg; U54HG004968 to G.M.W.; U01HG004866 to O.R.W.; U54HG003079 to R.K.W.; R01HG005969 to C.H.; R01HG004872 to R.K.; R01HG004885 to M.P.; R01HG005975 to P.D.S.; R01HG004908 to Y.Y.; R01HG004900 to M.K.Cho and P. Sankar; R01HG005171 to D.E.H.; R01HG004853 to A.L.M.; R01HG004856 to R.R.; R01HG004877 to R.R.S. and R.F.; R01HG005172 to P. Spicer.; R01HG004857 to M.P.; R01HG004906 to T.M.S.; R21HG005811 to E.A.V.; M.J.B. was supported by UH2AR057506; G.A.B. was supported by UH2AI083263 and UH3AI083263 (G.A.B., C. N. Cornelissen, L. K. Eaves and J. F. Strauss); S.M.H. was supported by UH3DK083993 (V. B. Young, E. B. Chang, F. Meyer, T. M. S., M. L. Sogin, J. M. Tiedje); K.P.R. was supported by UH2DK083990 (J. V.); J.A.S. and H.H.K. were supported by UH2AR057504 and UH3AR057504 (J.A.S.); DP2OD001500 to K.M.A.; N01HG62088 to the Coriell Institute for Medical Research; U01DE016937 to F.E.D.; S.K.H. was supported by RC1DE0202098 and R01DE021574 (S.K.H. and H. Li); J.I. was supported by R21CA139193 (J.I. and D. S. Michaud); K.P.L. was supported by P30DE020751 (D. J. Smith); Army Research Office grant W911NF-11-1-0473 to C.H.; National Science Foundation grants NSF DBI-1053486 to C.H. and NSF IIS-0812111 to M.P.; The Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 for P.S. C.; LANL Laboratory-Directed Research and Development grant 20100034DR and the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency grants B104153I and B084531I to P.S.C.; Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) grant to K.F. and J.Raes; R.K. is an HHMI Early Career Scientist; Gordon&BettyMoore Foundation funding and institutional funding fromthe J. David Gladstone Institutes to K.S.P.; A.M.S. was supported by fellowships provided by the Rackham Graduate School and the NIH Molecular Mechanisms in Microbial Pathogenesis Training Grant T32AI007528; a Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada Grant in Aid of Research to E.A.V.; 2010 IBM Faculty Award to K.C.W.; analysis of the HMPdata was performed using National Energy Research Scientific Computing resources, the BluBioU Computational Resource at Rice University

Modeling of land surface evaporation by four schemes and comparison with FIFE observations

Abstract. We tested four land surface parameterization schemes against long-term (

Prenatal alcohol exposure and traumatic childhood experiences : a systematic review

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and traumatic childhood experiences (trauma) such as abuse or neglect can each cause central nervous system neurobiological changes or structural damage which can manifest as cognitive and behavioural dysfunction. In cases where both exposures have occurred, the risk of neurodevelopmental impairment may be greater, but this interaction has not been well studied. Here we present a systematic review that identified five primary research studies which investigated either the impact of trauma in children with PAE, or of PAE in children with trauma. Due to the heterogeneity of studies, narrative analysis was applied. Children in these cohorts with both exposures were more likely to show deficits in language, attention, memory and intelligence, and exhibit more severe behavioural problems than children with one exposure in absence of the other. However, the current literature is scarce and methodologically flawed. Further studies are required that: assess dual exposure in other neurodevelopmental domains; feature developmentally impaired yet non-exposed controls; and account for the wide spectrum of effects and different diagnostic criteria associated with PAE