Exploring the mechanisms by which rhizosphere bacteria promote plantgrowth
Gary Stacey
Professor, Division of Biochemistry, University of Missouri (U.S.A.)

Abstract
It is well established that specific rhizosphere bacteria have the ability topromote plant growth. However, the molecular mechanisms that underlie
the ability of these bacteria to associate with plant roots (both asepiphytes and endophytes), as well as to promote plant growth, are still
poorly understood. In our laboratory, we are exploring both the bacterialand plant functions necessary for the establishment and efficacy of thesebeneficial plant-microbe interactions. We employ plant model systems
such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Brachypodium distachyon and Setaria
viridis to explore the transcriptional, proteomic and metabolic response
to bacterial inoculation. For example, the data demonstrate a clear
difference between the plant response to inoculation with wild-type bacteria and mutant strains unable
to fix atmospheric nitrogen, emphasizing the impact of nitrogen fixation in these associations. We arealso utilizing genome wide association analysis to define those specific plant alleles important for theplant response to bacterial colonization. With regard to the bacteria, we are using well-characterized
plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB), including Azoarcus olearius, Azospirillum brasilense,
Herbaspirillum seropedicae, and Bacillus pumilis. As one approach, we conducted Tn-seq experiments
to define those bacterial genes important for bacterial colonization of the rhizosphere. For example,
these experiments identified genes involved in polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) biosynthesis and catabolism
as playing a crucial role in the ability of the bacteria to promote plant growth. In general, we do not findevidence for a strong role for phytohormone synthesis or response in the experiments we have conducted.
The data suggest that the plant response to bacterial colonization is likely a multigenic, quantitative trait,
which may vary significantly between genotypes of the plant host or bacterial partner.

Assessment of Hydrogeomorphic Hazards in the Context of Sustainable
Land Management
Roy C. Sidle"Professor, Mountain Societies Research Institute, University of Central Asia (Tajikistan) "Abstract

This presentation focuses on the importance of understanding,mitigating, and preventing of natural hazards that impact people andtheir environments around the world, including thehydrogeomorphic processes that affect these hazards, as well as theimplications for sustainable land management. Complexhydrogeomorphic processes contribute to both chronic and episodic
hazards, inducing gully erosion, debris flows, glacial/permafrost
hazards, and landslides depending on the dominant earth surface
dynamics and environmental setting. For example, the 2016
Kumamoto Earthquake caused numerous landslides associated withground shaking, but also poses subsequent susceptibility for debris
flows and landslides due to infilling of headwater channels with landslide sediment anddevelopment of fissures along ridgelines that promote preferential flow. Similarly, preferential
flow in seismically-induced fissures may have induced large landslides in loess deposits in theFergana Basin of Kyrgyzstan. These impacts in Japan and Kyrgyzstan pose major problems forsustainable agriculture and pasture management.
A benchmark finding in hydrology involved the discovery of zero-order basins, including
their hydrogeomorphic function. Much of this initial work was conducted in Tokyo Universityof Agriculture and Technology and TUAT may play a future significant role in related hydrology
and geomorphology topics. These features are now recognized as having unique hydrologicaland sediment generation functions and are recognized as unique landscape elements in landmanagement, such as leave areas in forest harvest plans.
Hydrogeomorphic processes in drylands of Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan control
gully development and erosion, as well as episodic debris flow initiation (e.g., in wadis ofsouthwest Saudi Arabia). In the Pamirs of Tajikistan, melting glaciers and changes in snow
accumulation and snowmelt affect not only the occurrence of floods and landslides, but also
summer droughts. These changes in water resources present major challenges for sustainableagriculture in the dry, high elevation Pamir environment that is disproportionally affected byclimate change. However, climate change impacts are not uniform across this region in termsof snow and glacier melt and subsequent contributions to river and stream flow. Disintegrationof permafrost in a warming climate appears to be an underestimated process in this highelevation region, with great potential to contribute to mass wasting.
Throughout Central Asia, adapting to environmental change, developing sustainable landmanagement and supporting resilient mountain societies will become increasingly important in
an uncertain future. Such adaptations will benefit from implementation of detailed

environmental monitoring networks supported by international collaborations. New
technological advancements, such as drone surveys, can also be applied in remote regions tobenefit disaster mitigation, land degradation recovery, and food security. Accordingly, theMountain Societies Research Institute of University of Central Asia is collaborating with TUAT
and University of Tsukuba in a proposal to SATREPS to assess the impacts of climate change
and variability on local water resources, hazard vulnerability, and agriculture production inPamir mountain communities.
Publications directly related to this 3-year GIR award:
Sidle RC, Gomi T, Usuga JCL, Jarihani B. Hydrogeomorphic processes and scaling issues in thecontinuum from soil pedons to catchments. Earth-Science Reviews 175: 75-96 (2017)
Sidle RC, Gallina J, Gomi T. The continuum of chronic to episodic natural hazards: Implications andstrategies for community and landscape planning. Landscape and Urban Planning 167: 189-197(2017)
Sidle RC, Gomi T, Akasaka M, Koyanagi K. Ecosystem changes following the 2016 Kumamoto
earthquakes in Japan: Future perspectives. Ambio 47(6): 721-734 (2018)
Sidle RC, Gomi T, Tsukamoto Y. Discovery of zero-order basins as an important link for progress inhydrogeomorphology. Hydrological Processes 32(19): 3059-3065 (2018)
Sidle RC, Al-Shaibani AM, Kaka SLI. Geomorphic hazards in south-west Saudi Arabia: the human –environmental nexus. Area 51(4): 670-680 (2019)
Kharismalatri HS, Ishikawa Y, Gomi T, Sidle RC, Shiraki K. Evaluating factors controlling sedimentconnectivity of landslide materials: a flume experiment. Water 11, 17, doi: 10.3390/w11010017(2019)
Koyanagi K, Gomi T, Sidle RC. Characteristics of landslides in forests and grasslands triggered by the2016 Kumamoto Earthquake. Earth Surf. Processes & Landforms (2019, accepted with minorrevisions)
Miyata S, Gomi T, Sidle RC, Hiraoka M, Onda Y, Yamamoto K, Nonoda T. Assessing spatiallydistributed infiltration capacity to evaluate storm runoff in forested catchments: implications forhydrological connectivity. Science of the Total Environment 699: 148-159 (2019)

GaN-on-GaN technology - challenges and perspectives
Michal Bockowski
Professor, Institute of High Pressure Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences (PAS) (Poland)

Abstract
GaN-on-GaN technology will be described. Bulk GaN crystallization by halide vapor phase epitaxy(HVPE) and ammonothermal method will be presented. Scenarios for the further development ofcrystallization and wafering processing (GaN substrates preparation) will be shown. The best
technologies for preparing of electronic device structures will be discussed.

Time Series and Image Reconstruction using Block Hankel Tensors andTensor Networks Completion
Andrzej Cichocki
Professor, Center for Computational and Data-Intensive Science and Engineering,
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Russia)

Abstract
Tensor completion is a problem of estimating the missing or corrupted byoutliers entries of partially observed tensors.
Tensor and matrix completion algorithms have received recently wide
attention due to many potential applications in areas like image
enhancement, denoising and image reconstruction. In this talk, we provide
a modern overview of recent advances in tensor completion algorithms
from the perspective of specific practical applications.
We will discuss and overview efficient approaches for tensor completion
for time series/image reconstruction using hankelization and several waysof construction of high -order block Hankel tensors.
The original noisy and/or incomplete data sets are represented by high order tensors and next thetensor completion is performed in embedded space using low-rank tensor decompositions, especiallytensor train and tensor ring.
In the next stage, original data are reconstructed by converting block Hankel tensors back to originalformats.

References
Solé-Casals, Jordi, Cesar Federico Caiafa, Qibin Zhao, and Adrzej Cichocki. "Brain-computer interface
with corrupted EEG data: A tensor completion approach", Cognitive Computation 10, no. 6 (2018):
1062-1074.
Tatsuya Yokota, Qibin Zhao, and Andrzej Cichocki. "Smooth PARAFAC decomposition for tensor
completion", IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing 64, no. 20 (2016): 5423-5436.
Tatsuya Yokota, Hidekata Hontani, Qibin Zhao, and Andrzej Cichocki. "Manifold Modeling in
Embedded Space: A Perspective for Interpreting "Deep Image Prior"". arXiv preprint arXiv:1908.02995(2019).
Tatsuya Yokota , Burak Erem, Seyhmus Guler, Simon K. Warfield, and Hidekata Hontani. "Missing
slice recovery for tensors using a low-rank model in embedded space" in Proceedings of the IEEE
Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, pp. 8251-8259. 2018.

Changing the Molecular Zip Code: Addressing Small Molecules toSubcellular Compartments Using Chemical Modifications
Micha Fridman
Associate Professor, Micha Fridmana*
School of Chemistry, Raymond & Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University,Tel Aviv, 6997801, Israel.

Abstract
We recently demonstrated, for the first time, that targeting of an
antifungal drug to a particular organelle can significantly improve thetherapeutic properties. Azole antifungal drugs are amongst the very few
classes of antifungal drugs and are often the first line of antifungal
infection therapy. We developed antifungal azoles that were designed tolocalize to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), which harbors the target ofthe azole class of antifungals, the cytochrome P-450DM. The antifungal
activity of these azoles against a panel of Candida pathogens was over
two orders of magnitude more potent than those of the commonly used antifungal azole drug fluconazole
and of antifungal azoles that were found to localize to the mitochondria, which does not harbor
cytochrome P-450DM. Moreover, unlike fluconazole and the mitochondrially-directed antifungal azoles,
ER-directed azoles evoked significantly lower tolerance amongst Candida pathogens, which isassociated with clinically persistent fungal infections. Taken together, this implies that the improved
antifungal activity of ER-directed antifungal azoles results from the higher local concentration of thisazole in proximity to the ER-localized target enzyme.
The results of this study suggest that adoption of the “target-organelle directed drug” approach in general,and the design of the ER-directed antifungal azoles in particular, has the potential to markedly improve
the potency of antifungals and to combat the rapid emergence of drug resistance.