bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pure and Applied Consciousness in Valéry and Sartre
Authors: Webber Insook
Published: January 2014

To speak of the ‘death of the subject’ today might seem anachronistic, even irrelevant. There are flagrant signs, however, of the ‘return of the subject’ in contemporary French literature, suggesting its persistence. Besides, unprecedented innovations in philosophy and literature galvanized precisely by the death of the subject have not produced tangible changes in the world, except perhaps for the rhetoric of diversity. These observations oblige a return to the fundamental question: what is the subject, or, rather, what must the subject be in order for an authentic intersubjective rapport to be freshly conceivable? Long before the subject was declared ‘dead’ in the 1960s, two thinkers for whom this question was a central concern were Valéry and Sartre. Tracing their earliest conceptions of pure consciousness and of its application in the world, this article seeks to go beyond the usual opposition drawn between Sartrean
humanism
and Valéryan
inhumanism
. I argue that their strikingly similar conceptions of pure consciousness based on its dual characteristics — negativity and impersonality — bind the two thinkers, and that the notion of pure consciousness serves each as a theoretical foundation to envision the transformation of society by means, paradoxically, of the negation of human subjectivity.
Corps ‘Enferm’ et Démarche de la parole poétique dans les
congés
des poètes lépreux
Authors: Tanase Gabriela
Published: January 2014

Aspect frappant des
Congés d'Arras
de Jean Bodel et de Baude Fastoul, l'image du corps atteint de maladie reflète le processus de la création poétique. Les études consacrées à ces poètes arrageois n'ont pas manqué de révéler l'importance de la description des symptômes de la lèpre, comme la transformation de la voix, essentielle à la récitation, ou de la peau, suggérant le parchemin sur lequel le poème est inscrit. Le présent article propose de repenser néanmoins le lien entre élaboration poétique et lèpre à partir d'un motif sous-jacent aux
Congés
, à savoir l'évocation de la manière de se déplacer. La métamorphose effarante du corps, qui se répercute sur la démarche malaisée, concrétise la démarche de la parole poétique s'acheminant vers l'espoir du salut ou vers la certitude de la mort. Mais il est possible que cette dimension spirituelle des
Congés
ne tienne que de l'apparence et que les adieux des poètes lépreux relèvent de la parodie, d'autant plus qu'ils exploitent le
topos
des jeux de hasard, récurrent dans des créations littéraires satiriques ou ludiques. Les échos intertextuels, qui supposent aussi des détournements des motifs spécifiques à la lyrique troubadouresque, laissent alors deviner une conscience poétique se mouvant entre divers discours.
Suzaku observation of the symbiotic X-ray binary IGR J16194−2810
Authors: Kitamura Yuiko , Takahashi Hiromitsu , Fukazawa Yasushi
Published: January 2014

We observed IGR J16194−2810 in the low/hard state with the Suzaku X-ray satellite in 2009. The source is a Symbiotic X-ray Binary (SyXB) classified as a category of a Low-Mass X-ray Binary (LMXB), since the system is composed of an M-type giant and probably a neutron star (NS). We detected the 0.8–50 keV signal with the XIS and HXD-PIN. The 2–10 keV luminosity was L ∼ 7 × 1034 erg s−1 corresponding to ∼ 10−3LEdd, where LEdd is the Eddington luminosity of a 1.4 M⊙ NS and a source distance of 3.7 kpc is assumed. The luminosity is similar to those of past observations. The spectral analysis showed that there are two emission components below and above ∼ 2 keV. The hard emission component is represented by a Comptonized blackbody emission model with seed-photon temperature ∼ 1.0 keV and emission radius ∼ 700 m. The seed photon is considered to come from a small fraction of the NS surface. The soft component is reproduced by either a raw blackbody (∼ 0.4 keV, ∼ 1.7 km) or a Comptonized emission (∼ 0.1 keV, ∼ 75 km). We think that the origin is the emission from another part of the NS surface or the accreting stream. The physical parameters of the hard emission component of IGR J16194−2810 are compared with those of an SyXB (4U 1700+24) and two LMXBs (Aql X-1 and 4U 0614+091). This comparison reveals that these SyXBs in the low/hard state have a smaller radiation region (< 1 km) on the NS surface with a higher seed-photon temperature (∼ 1 keV) than the comparison LMXBs.
Effect of High‐Pressure Processing on the Features of Wheat Milling By‐products
Authors: Marti Alessandra , Barbiroli Alberto , Bonomi Francesco , Brutti Andrea , Iametti Stefania , Marengo Mauro , Miriani Matteo , Pagani Maria Ambrogina
Published: January 2014

The ability of high hydrostatic pressure processing to promote changes in both the structural properties of fiber and the interaction of fiber with water were addressed. Both coarse and fine bran from milling of common wheat were considered. Treatment‐induced morphological changes were most pronounced in fine bran, whereas treatment of coarse bran resulted in the largest change in water‐holding capacity. The significance of the process‐induced changes is discussed in terms of their practical relevance in the production of fiber‐enriched foods.
Evaluation of Pepper Fruit for Resistance to Phytophthora capsici in a Recombinant Inbred Line Population, and the Correlation with Fruit Shape
Authors: Naegele R. P. , Hausbeck M. K.
Published: January 2014

Phytophthora capsici causes fruit, root, and foliar blight on pepper (Capsicum annuum) in field production. Breeding for disease-resistant commercial pepper cultivars is essential to long-term management of P. capsici. In this study, the severity of Phytophthora fruit rot was evaluated in an F6 recombinant inbred line population between CM334, a landrace from Mexico, and the commercial ‘Early Jalapeño’. The two parents and 67 progeny lines were evaluated for fruit rot resistance at 3 and 5 days post inoculation (dpi) using three P. capsici isolates. Fruit shape was also evaluated for each line, and the correlation between shape and disease symptoms was investigated. Significant differences were detected among lines in lesion area measured 3 and 5 dpi, and in phenotypic traits (fruit length, width, and shape index). Of the fruit phenotypic traits measured, only fruit shape index had a significant, albeit weak (r = 0.2892, P = 0.02), correlation with lesion area when inoculated, and with only one of the three isolates of P. capsici evaluated. These results suggest that breeding for fruit rot resistance in pepper will have minimal linkage with fruit shape in the CM334 background.
Occurrence and Phenotypes of Pyrimethanil Resistance in Penicillium expansum from Apple in Washington State
Authors: Caiazzo R. , Kim Y. K. , Xiao C. L.
Published: January 2014

Penicillium expansum is the cause of blue mold in stored apple fruit. In 2010–11, 779 isolates of P. expansum were collected from decayed apple fruit from five packinghouses, tested for resistance to the postharvest fungicide pyrimethanil, and phenotyped based on the level of resistance. In 2010, 85 and 7% of the isolates were resistant to pyrimethanil in packinghouse A and B, respectively, where pyrimethanil had been used for four to five consecutive years. In 2011, pyrimethanil or fludioxonil was used in packinghouse A, and 96% of the isolates from the fruit treated with pyrimethanil were resistant but only 4% of the isolates from the fruit treated with fludioxonil were resistant to pyrimethanil, suggesting that fungicide rotation substantially reduced the frequency of pyrimethanil resistance. No pyrimethanil-resistant isolates were detected in 2010 in the three other packinghouses where the fungicide had been used recently on a small scale. However 1.8% of the isolates from one of the three packinghouses in 2011 were resistant to pyrimethanil. A significantly higher percentage of thiabendazole-resistant than thiabendazole-sensitive isolates were resistant to pyrimethanil. Of the pyrimethanil-resistant isolates, 37 to 52, 4 to 5, and 44 to 58% were phenotyped as having low, moderate, and high resistance to pyrimethanil, respectively. Fludioxonil effectively controlled pyrimethanil-resistant phenotypes on apple fruit but pyrimethanil failed to control phenotypes with moderate or high resistance to pyrimethanil and only partially controlled the low-resistance phenotype.
First Report of Grapevine Pinot gris virus Infecting Grapevine in Slovenia
Authors: Pleško I. Mavrič , Marn M. Viršček , Seljak G. , Žežlina I.
Published: January 2014

Unusual virus-like symptoms were first observed in 2001 on grapevine cvs. Pinot gris and Sauvignonasse in vineyards from the western part of Slovenia. Symptomatic plants showed shortened internodes, poor leaf development, mottling, and deformations of leaves that resulted in poor growth of symptomatic plants. In 2003 and 2004, several samples were tested for Arabis mosaic virus, Cherry leafroll virus, Grapevine fanleaf virus, Raspberry bushy dwarf virus, Strawberry latent ringspot virus, Tomato black ring virus, Tomato ringspot virus, and Tobacco ringspot virus by DAS-ELISA, but none of them could be confirmed as the cause of the observed symptoms. During intensive visual inspections between 2002 and 2006, the symptoms were observed on most grapevine cultivars grown in the Primorska region but predominantly on the two previously mentioned cultivars. In Trentino, northern Italy, similar virus-like symptoms, i.e., chlorotic mottling, puckering and deformation of the leaves, reduced yield, and low quality of the berries were observed in grapevine plants cv. Pinot gris in 2003 and in cvs. Traminer and Pinot noir in 2009 (2). No common grapevine viruses could be associated with the disease. In 2012, a new trichovirus named Grapevine Pinot gris virus (GPGV) was found in Pinot gris plants using deep sequencing. The virus was also detected in symptomless plants (2). GPGV was later reported also from Korea causing inner necrosis of berries and poor fruit set in grapevine cv. Tamnara (1). In 2012, 42 leaf samples from mostly symptomatic grapevine plants of cvs. Pinot gris, Pinot noir, and Muscat blanc were collected at three locations in the Primorska region. Total RNA was extracted from leaves using the MagMAX Express magnetic particle processor with MagMAX-96 Total RNA Isolation Kit and Plant RNA Isolation Aid in Lysis Binding Solution Concentrate (all by Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY). DNA fragments of 1,049 bp corresponding to the movement protein gene were successfully amplified by RT-PCR from 40 samples using primers GPgV5619 and GPgV6668 (2). Amplification products from three plants were cloned into the pGEM-T Easy vector (Promega, Madison, WI) and sequenced. The sequences were deposited in the EBI database under the accession numbers HG738850 to 52. All the nucleotide sequences shared 97.4 to 97.6% identity with GPGV from Italy (sequence FR877530) and 97.1 to 98.2% amino acid identity within the translated region. To our knowledge, this is the first report of GPGV in Slovenia. The disease seems to be spreading extensively in the Primorska region, causing considerable economic losses, and in 2013 it was also observed in other regions of Slovenia. Since the virus could be found in symptomless plants in Italy and in Slovenia, its role in the development of the disease should be further investigated.

References: (1) I. S. Cho et al. New Dis. Rep. 27:10, 2013. (2) A. Giampetruzzi et al. Virus Res. 163:262, 2012.
First Report of Impatiens Downy Mildew Caused by Plasmopara obducens in Alabama
Authors: Conner K. N. , Olive J. , Hagan A. K. , Zhang L. , Bloodworth M. E.
Published: January 2014

During spring 2012, potted impatiens (Impatiens walleriana Hook.f.) plants with symptoms of a foliar disease were found in several commercial greenhouses in Mobile County, Alabama. Symptomatic leaves were chlorotic with no distinct lesions, and quickly wilted and abscised from erect green stems. In summer 2012 and 2013, numerous landscape impatiens plants with similar symptoms were observed in a large area from Mobile County north to Lee County, Alabama. A downy mildew was observed on the lower surfaces of symptomatic and abscised leaves from all locations. It consisted of hyaline, monopodial sporangiophores and ovoid, hyaline sporangia. Sporangiophores, which emerged from stomata, consisted of apical branches arranged at right angles to the supporting branches; they measured 69 to 90 μm long with individual branches measuring 7 to 14 μm long. Sporangia were borne on the tips of sporangiophore branches and measured 10 to 16.5 × 17 to 22.5 μm. No oospores were observed. In 2013, symptomatic plants were obtained from two separate locations in Alabama (Mobile and Tallapoosa counties). Total genomic DNA was extracted directly from symptomatic plant tissue and the large ribosomal subunit DNA was amplified by PCR using primers NL-1 and NL-4 (1). From both isolates, amplicons of 600 and 775 bp were obtained. DNA from each amplicon of both isolates was purified, sequenced, and the sequences were deposited in GenBank (Accession Nos. KF956518 to 21). The sequences of the 600-bp amplicons were 99% similar to that of I. walleriana (JX142135); the sequences of the 775-bp amplicons were 99% similar to Plasmopara obducens isolates from Florida (JX217746), Ohio (JX142134), Serbia (HQ246451), and the United Kingdom (AY587558). In pathogenicity tests, 10 potted impatiens plants, I. walleriana‘Super Elfin,’ were inoculated with a sporangial suspension (1 × 105 sporangia/ml washed from infected leaves) from the Mobile County isolate, by spraying until runoff. Controls were inoculated with sterile water. Plants were incubated in a moist chamber at 21°C for 48 h and then maintained in a greenhouse at 22 to 25°C until symptom development. All inoculated plants developed symptoms of downy mildew within 10 days. Microscopic examination of the symptomatic tissue revealed sporangiophores and sporangia similar to those observed in naturally infected plants. Control plants showed no symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first report of downy mildew caused by P. obducens on impatiens in Alabama. This disease has been reported to have a significant economic impact for growers throughout the United States (2,3). Impatiens downy mildew is likely to be a recurring problem in Alabama.

References: (1) K. O'Donnell. Curr. Genet. 22:213, 1992. (2) A. Palmateer et al. Plant Dis. 97:687, 2013. (3) S. Wegulo et al. Plant Dis. 88:909, 2004.
Salmon lice increase the age of returning Atlantic salmon
Authors: Vollset Knut Wiik , Barlaup Bjørn Torgeir , Skoglund Helge , Normann Eirik Straume , Skilbrei Ove Tommy
Published: January 2014

The global increase in the production of domestic farmed fish in open net pens has created concerns about the resilience of wild populations owing to shifts in host–parasite systems in coastal ecosystems. However, little is known about the effects of increased parasite abundance on life-history traits in wild fish populations. Here, we report the results of two separate studies in which 379 779 hatchery-reared Atlantic salmon smolts were treated (or not) against salmon lice, marked and released. Adults were later recaptured, and we specifically tested whether the age distribution of the returning spawners was affected by the treatment. The estimates of parasite-induced mortality were 31.9% and 0.6% in the River Vosso and River Dale stock experiments, respectively. Age of returning salmon was on average higher in treated versus untreated fish. The percentages of fish returning after one winter at sea were 37.5% and 29.9% for the treated and untreated groups, respectively. We conclude that salmon lice increase the age of returning salmon, either by affecting their age at maturity or by disproportionately increasing mortality in fish that mature early.
Rewards and the evolution of cooperation in public good games
Authors: Sasaki Tatsuya , Uchida Satoshi
Published: January 2014

Properly coordinating cooperation is relevant for resolving public good problems, such as clean energy and environmental protection. However, little is known about how individuals can coordinate themselves for a certain level of cooperation in large populations of strangers. In a typical situation, a consensus-building process rarely succeeds, owing to a lack of face and standing. The evolution of cooperation in this type of situation is studied here using threshold public good games, in which cooperation prevails when it is initially sufficient, or otherwise it perishes. While punishment is a powerful tool for shaping human behaviours, institutional punishment is often too costly to start with only a few contributors, which is another coordination problem. Here, we show that whatever the initial conditions, reward funds based on voluntary contribution can evolve. The voluntary reward paves the way for effectively overcoming the coordination problem and efficiently transforms freeloaders into cooperators with a perceived small risk of collective failure.
No universal scale-dependent impacts of invasive species on native plant species richness
Authors: Stohlgren Thomas J. , Rejmánek Marcel
Published: January 2014

A growing number of studies seeking generalizations about the impact of plant invasions compare heavily invaded sites to uninvaded sites. But does this approach warrant any generalizations? Using two large datasets from forests, grasslands and desert ecosystems across the conterminous United States, we show that (i) a continuum of invasion impacts exists in many biomes and (ii) many possible species–area relationships may emerge reflecting a wide range of patterns of co-occurrence of native and alien plant species. Our results contradict a smaller recent study by Powell
et al.
2013 (
Science
339
, 316–318. (
doi:10.1126/science.1226817
)), who compared heavily invaded and uninvaded sites in three biomes and concluded that plant communities invaded by non-native plant species generally have lower local richness (intercepts of log species richness–log area regression lines) but steeper species accumulation with increasing area (slopes of the regression lines) than do uninvaded communities. We conclude that the impacts of plant invasions on plant species richness are not universal.
Ubxpromotes corbicular development inApis mellifera
Authors: Medved Victor , Huang Zachary Y. , Popadić Aleksandar
Published: January 2014

The key morphological feature that distinguishes corbiculate bees from other members of the Apidae family is the presence of the corbicula (pollen basket) on the tibial segment of hind legs. Here, we show that in the honeybee (Apis mellifera), the depletion of the geneUltrabithorax(Ubx) by RNAi transforms the corbicula from a smooth, bristle-free concave structure to one covered with bristles. This is accompanied by a reduction of the pollen press, which is located on the basitarsus and used for packing the pollen pellet as well as a loss of the orderly arrangement of the rows of bristles that form the pollen comb. All these changes make the overall identity of workers’ T3 legs assume that of the queen. Furthermore, in a corbiculate bee of a different genus,Bombus impatiens,Ubxexpression is also localized in T3 tibia and basitarsus. These observations suggest that the evolution of the pollen gathering apparatus in corbiculate bees may have a shared origin and could be traced to the acquisition of novel functions byUbx, which inApiswere instrumental for subsequent castes and behavioural differentiation.
Nonlinear light-sheet fluorescence microscopy by photobleaching imprinting
Authors: Gao Liang , Zhu Liren , Li Chiye , Wang Lihong V.
Published: January 2014

We present a nonlinear light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) scheme based on photobleaching imprinting. By measuring photobleaching-induced fluorescence decay, our method simultaneously achieves a large imaging field of view and a thin optical section. Furthermore, the scattered-light-induced background is significantly reduced, considerably improving image contrast. Our method is expected to expand the application field of LSFM into the optical quasi-ballistic regime, enabling studies on non-transparent biological samples.
The structure–function relationships of a natural nanoscale photonic device in cuttlefish chromatophores
Authors: Deravi Leila F. , Magyar Andrew P. , Sheehy Sean P. , Bell George R. R. , Mäthger Lydia M. , Senft Stephen L. , Wardill Trevor J. , Lane William S. , Kuzirian Alan M. , Hanlon Roger T. , Hu Evelyn L. , Parker Kevin Kit
Published: January 2014

Cuttlefish,
Sepia officinalis
, possess neurally controlled, pigmented chromatophore organs that allow rapid changes in skin patterning and coloration in response to visual cues. This process of adaptive coloration is enabled by the 500% change in chromatophore surface area during actuation. We report two adaptations that help to explain how colour intensity is maintained in a fully expanded chromatophore when the pigment granules are distributed maximally: (i) pigment layers as thin as three granules that maintain optical effectiveness and (ii) the presence of high-refractive-index proteins—reflectin and crystallin—in granules. The latter discovery, combined with our finding that isolated chromatophore pigment granules fluoresce between 650 and 720 nm, refutes the prevailing hypothesis that cephalopod chromatophores are exclusively pigmentary organs composed solely of ommochromes. Perturbations to granular architecture alter optical properties, illustrating a role for nanostructure in the agile, optical responses of chromatophores. Our results suggest that cephalopod chromatophore pigment granules are more complex than homogeneous clusters of chromogenic pigments. They are luminescent protein nanostructures that facilitate the rapid and sophisticated changes exhibited in dermal pigmentation.
Corruption drives the emergence of civil society
Authors: Abdallah Sherief , Sayed Rasha , Rahwan Iyad , LeVeck Brad L. , Cebrian Manuel , Rutherford Alex , Fowler James H.
Published: January 2014

Centralized sanctioning institutions have been shown to emerge naturally through social learning, displace all other forms of punishment and lead to stable cooperation. However, this result provokes a number of questions. If centralized sanctioning is so successful, then why do many highly authoritarian states suffer from low levels of cooperation? Why do states with high levels of public good provision tend to rely more on citizen-driven peer punishment? Here, we consider how corruption influences the evolution of cooperation and punishment. Our model shows that the effectiveness of centralized punishment in promoting cooperation breaks down when some actors in the model are allowed to bribe centralized authorities. Counterintuitively, a weaker centralized authority is actually more effective because it allows peer punishment to restore cooperation in the presence of corruption. Our results provide an evolutionary rationale for why public goods provision rarely flourishes in polities that rely only on strong centralized institutions. Instead, cooperation requires both decentralized and centralized enforcement. These results help to explain why citizen participation is a fundamental necessity for policing the commons.
Intrinsic foot muscles have the capacity to control deformation of the longitudinal arch
Authors: Kelly Luke A. , Cresswell Andrew G. , Racinais Sebastien , Whiteley Rodney , Lichtwark Glen
Published: January 2014

The human foot is characterized by a pronounced longitudinal arch (LA) that compresses and recoils in response to external load during locomotion, allowing for storage and return of elastic energy within the passive structures of the arch and contributing to metabolic energy savings. Here, we examine the potential for active muscular contribution to the biomechanics of arch deformation and recoil. We test the hypotheses that activation of the three largest plantar intrinsic foot muscles, abductor hallucis, flexor digitorum and quadratus plantae is associated with muscle stretch in response to external load on the foot and that activation of these muscles (via electrical stimulation) will generate sufficient force to counter the deformation of LA caused by the external load. We found that recruitment of the intrinsic foot muscles increased with increasing load, beyond specific load thresholds. Interestingly, LA deformation and muscle stretch plateaued towards the maximum load of 150% body weight, when muscle activity was greatest. Electrical stimulation of the plantar intrinsic muscles countered the deformation that occurred owing to the application of external load by reducing the length and increasing the height of the LA. These findings demonstrate that these muscles have the capacity to control foot posture and LA stiffness and may provide a buttressing effect during foot loading. This active arch stiffening mechanism may have important implications for how forces are transmitted during locomotion and postural activities as well as consequences for metabolic energy saving.
Correlations in fertility across generations: can low fertility persist?
Authors: Kolk Martin , Cownden Daniel , Enquist Magnus
Published: January 2014

Correlations in family size across generations could have a major influence on human population size in the future. Empirical studies have shown that the associations between the fertility of parents and the fertility of children are substantial and growing over time. Despite their potential long-term consequences, intergenerational fertility correlations have largely been ignored by researchers. We present a model of the fertility transition as a cultural process acting on new lifestyles associated with fertility. Differences in parental and social influences on the acquisition of these lifestyles result in intergenerational correlations in fertility. We show different scenarios for future population size based on models that disregard intergenerational correlations in fertility, models with fertility correlations and a single lifestyle, and models with fertility correlations and multiple lifestyles. We show that intergenerational fertility correlations will result in an increase in fertility over time. However, present low-fertility levels may persist if the rapid introduction of new cultural lifestyles continues into the future.
Heritable variation in host tolerance and resistance inferred from a wild host–parasite system
Authors: Mazé-Guilmo Elise , Loot Géraldine , Páez David J. , Lefèvre Thierry , Blanchet Simon
Published: January 2014

Hosts have evolved two distinct defence strategies against parasites: resistance (which prevents infection or limit parasite growth) and tolerance (which alleviates the fitness consequences of infection). However, heritable variation in resistance and tolerance and the genetic correlation between these two traits have rarely been characterized in wild host populations. Here, we estimate these parameters for both traits inLeuciscus burdigalensis, a freshwater fish parasitized byTracheliastes polycolpus. We used a genetic database to construct a full-sib pedigree in a wildL. burdigalensispopulation. We then used univariate animal models to estimate inclusive heritability (i.e. all forms of genetic and non-genetic inheritance) in resistance and tolerance. Finally, we assessed the genetic correlation between these two traits using a bivariate animal model. We found significant heritability for resistance (H= 17.6%; 95% CI: 7.2–32.2%) and tolerance (H= 18.8%; 95% CI: 4.4–36.1%), whereas we found no evidence for the existence of a genetic correlation between these traits. Furthermore, we confirm that resistance and tolerance are strongly affected by environmental effects. Our results demonstrate that (i) heritable variation exists for parasite resistance and tolerance in wild host populations, and (ii) these traits can evolve independently in populations.
Increased temperature variation poses a greater risk to species than climate warming
Authors: Vasseur David A. , DeLong John P. , Gilbert Benjamin , Greig Hamish S. , Harley Christopher D. G. , McCann Kevin S. , Savage Van , Tunney Tyler D. , O'Connor Mary I.
Published: January 2014

Increases in the frequency, severity and duration of temperature extremes are anticipated in the near future. Although recent work suggests that changes in temperature variation will have disproportionately greater effects on species than changes to the mean, much of climate change research in ecology has focused on the impacts of mean temperature change. Here, we couple fine-grained climate projections (2050–2059) to thermal performance data from 38 ectothermic invertebrate species and contrast projections with those of a simple model. We show that projections based on mean temperature change alone differ substantially from those incorporating changes to the variation, and to the mean and variation in concert. Although most species show increases in performance at greater mean temperatures, the effect of mean and variance change together yields a range of responses, with temperate species at greatest risk of performance declines. Our work highlights the importance of using fine-grained temporal data to incorporate the full extent of temperature variation when assessing and projecting performance.
Specific non-monotonous interactions increase persistence of ecological networks
Authors: Yan Chuan , Zhang Zhibin
Published: January 2014

The relationship between stability and biodiversity has long been debated in ecology due to opposing empirical observations and theoretical predictions. Species interaction strength is often assumed to be monotonically related to population density, but the effects on stability of ecological networks of non-monotonous interactions that change signs have not been investigated previously. We demonstrate that for four kinds of non-monotonous interactions, shifting signs to negative or neutral interactions at high population density increases persistence (a measure of stability) of ecological networks, while for the other two kinds of non-monotonous interactions shifting signs to positive interactions at high population density decreases persistence of networks. Our results reveal a novel mechanism of network stabilization caused by specific non-monotonous interaction types through either increasing stable equilibrium points or reducing unstable equilibrium points (or both). These specific non-monotonous interactions may be important in maintaining stable and complex ecological networks, as well as other networks such as genes, neurons, the internet and human societies.
Evolution of a unique anatomical precision in angiosperm leaf venation lifts constraints on vascular plant ecology
Authors: Zwieniecki Maciej A. , Boyce Charles K.
Published: January 2014

The main role of leaf venation is to supply water across the photosynthetic surface to keep stomata open and allow access to atmospheric CO
2
despite evaporative demand. The optimal uniform delivery of water occurs when the distance between veins equals the depth of vein placement within the leaf away from the evaporative surface. As presented here, only angiosperms maintain this anatomical optimum across all leaf thicknesses and different habitats, including sheltered environments where this optimization need not be required. Intriguingly, basal angiosperm lineages tend to be underinvested hydraulically; uniformly high optimization is derived independently in the magnoliids, monocots and core eudicots. Gymnosperms and ferns, including available fossils, are limited by their inability to produce high vein densities. The common association of ferns with shaded humid environments may, in part, be a direct evolutionary consequence of their inability to produce hydraulically optimized leaves. Some gymnosperms do approach optimal vein placement, but only by virtue of their ability to produce thick leaves most appropriate in environments requiring water conservation. Thus, this simple anatomical metric presents an important perspective on the evolution and phylogenetic distribution of plant ecologies and further evidence that the vegetative biology of flowering plants—not just their reproductive biology—is unique.
Common-garden studies on adaptive radiation of photosynthetic physiology among Hawaiian lobeliads
Authors: Givnish Thomas J. , Montgomery Rebecca A.
Published: January 2014

Species in an adaptive radiation often occupy different habitats so that individuals of each species develop under different conditions. Showing that a radiation is adaptive thus requires evidence that taxa have diverged genetically and that each has an ecological advantage in using particular habitats or resources, taking into account both phenotypic plasticity and phylogenetic relationships among species. Here, we use a common-garden experiment to show that representative species of Hawaiian lobeliads have diverged adaptively in their leaf-level photosynthetic light responses. Across species, plants genetically shifted their photosynthetic physiology with native light regime in accord with theoretical predictions and exhibited adaptive crossover in net carbon gain—that is, species native to a given light regime outperformed others only under conditions similar to those they occupy in the field, with the rank order of species based on photosynthesis per unit leaf mass changing with light level. These findings make a powerful case for adaptation of photosynthetic light responses to native light regimes and, combined with our earlier field studies, provide the strongest demonstration to date for the evolution of divergent adaptations for energy capture in any group of closely related plants.
Transcriptome pyrosequencing of abnormal phenotypes inTrypanosoma cruziepimastigotes after ectopic expression of a small zinc finger protein
Authors: Westergaard Gaston , Laverrière Marc , Revale Santiago , Reinert Marina , De Gaudenzi Javier G. , Jäger Adriana , Vazquez Martin P.
Published: January 2014

The TcZFPs are a family of small zinc finger proteins harboring WW domains or Proline rich motifs. InTrypanosoma brucei,ZFPs are involved during stage specific differentiation. TcZFPs interact with each other using the WW domain (ZFP2 and ZFP3) and the proline rich motif (ZFP1). The tcZFP1b member is exclusive toTrypanosoma cruziand it is only expressed in trypomastigote stage. We used a tetracycline inducible vector to express ectopically tcZFP1b in the epimastigote stage. Upon induction of tcZFP1b, the parasites stopped dividing completely after five days. Visual inspection showed abnormal distorted-morphology (monster) cells with multiple flagella and increased DNA contents. We were interested in investigate global transcription changes occurred during the generation of this abnormal phenotype. Thus, we performed RNA-seq transcriptome profiling with a 454 pyrosequencer to analyze the global changes after ectopic expression of tcZFP1b. The total mRNAs sequenced from induced and non-induced control epimastigotes showed, after filtering the data, a set of 70 genes having equal or more than 3X fold change upregulation, while 35 genes showed equal or more than 3X fold downregulation. Interestingly, several trans-sialidase-like genes and pseudogenes were upregulated along with several genes in the categories of amino acid catabolism and carbohydrate metabolism. On the other hand, hypothetical proteins, fatty acid biosynthesis and mitochondrial functions dominated the group of downregulated genes. Our data showed that several mRNAs sharing related functions and pathways changed their levels in a concerted pattern resembling post-transcriptional regulons. We also found two different motifs in the 3′UTRs of the majority of mRNAs, one for upregulated and other for downregulated genes
The Role of Arabidopsis ABCG9 and ABCG31 ATP Binding Cassette Transporters in Pollen Fitness and the Deposition of Steryl Glycosides on the Pollen Coat
Authors: Choi Hyunju , Ohyama Kiyoshi , Kim Yu-Young , Jin Jun-Young , Lee Saet Buyl , Yamaoka Yasuyo , Muranaka Toshiya , Suh Mi Chung , Fujioka Shozo , Lee Youngsook
Published: January 2014

The pollen coat protects pollen grains from harmful environmental stresses such as drought and cold. Many compounds in the pollen coat are synthesized in the tapetum. However, the pathway by which they are transferred to the pollen surface remains obscure. We found that two Arabidopsis thaliana ATP binding cassette transporters, ABCG9 and ABCG31, were highly expressed in the tapetum and are involved in pollen coat deposition. Upon exposure to dry air, many abcg9 abcg31 pollen grains shriveled up and collapsed, and this phenotype was restored by complementation with ABCG9pro:GFP:ABCG9. GFP-tagged ABCG9 or ABCG31 localized to the plasma membrane. Electron microscopy revealed that the mutant pollen coat resembled the immature coat of the wild type, which contained many electron-lucent structures. Steryl glycosides were reduced to about half of wild-type levels in the abcg9 abcg31 pollen, but no differences in free sterols or steryl esters were observed. A mutant deficient in steryl glycoside biosynthesis, ugt80A2 ugt80B1, exhibited a similar phenotype. Together, these results indicate that steryl glycosides are critical for pollen fitness, by supporting pollen coat maturation, and that ABCG9 and ABCG31 contribute to the accumulation of this sterol on the surface of pollen.
Nitric Oxide–Triggered Remodeling of Chloroplast Bioenergetics and Thylakoid Proteins upon Nitrogen Starvation inChlamydomonas reinhardtii
Authors: Wei Lili , Derrien Benoit , Gautier Arnaud , Houille-Vernes Laura , Boulouis Alix , Saint-Marcoux Denis , Malnoë Alizée , Rappaport Fabrice , de Vitry Catherine , Vallon Olivier , Choquet Yves , Wollman Francis-André
Published: January 2014

Starving microalgae for nitrogen sources is commonly used as a biotechnological tool to boost storage of reduced carbon into starch granules or lipid droplets, but the accompanying changes in bioenergetics have been little studied so far. Here, we report that the selective depletion of Rubisco and cytochrome b  6  f complex that occurs when Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is starved for nitrogen in the presence of acetate and under normoxic conditions is accompanied by a marked increase in chlororespiratory enzymes, which converts the photosynthetic thylakoid membrane into an intracellular matrix for oxidative catabolism of reductants. Cytochrome b  6  f subunits and most proteins specifically involved in their biogenesis are selectively degraded, mainly by the FtsH and Clp chloroplast proteases. This regulated degradation pathway does not require light, active photosynthesis, or state transitions but is prevented when respiration is impaired or under phototrophic conditions. We provide genetic and pharmacological evidence that NO production from intracellular nitrite governs this degradation pathway: Addition of a NO scavenger and of two distinct NO producers decrease and increase, respectively, the rate of cytochrome b  6  f degradation; NO-sensitive fluorescence probes, visualized by confocal microscopy, demonstrate that nitrogen-starved cells produce NO only when the cytochrome b  6  f degradation pathway is activated.
NITROGEN LIMITATION ADAPTATION Recruits PHOSPHATE2 to Target the Phosphate Transporter PT2 for Degradation during the Regulation of Arabidopsis Phosphate Homeostasis
Authors: Park Bong Soo , Seo Jun Sung , Chua Nam-Hai
Published: January 2014

The NITROGEN LIMITATION ADAPTION (NLA) gene was initially shown to function in nitrogen limitation responses; however, recent work shows that the nla mutant hyperaccumulates Pi, phenocopying the Pi signaling mutant pho2. PHO2 encodes a putative E2 conjugase, UBC24. Here, we show that NLA is an E3 ligase that specifically requires UBC24 for polyubiquitination in Arabidopsis thaliana. Among five members of the Pht1 Pi-transporter family tested, NLA associates only with PT2 (Pht1;4). The NLA-UBC24 pair mediates polyubiquitination of PT2 but not PT1. Posttranslational decay of PT2 at high Pi is blocked in pho2 and inhibited by MG132, indicating the requirement of UBC24 and 26S proteasomes. Consistent with NLA/UBC24 function, induced NLA expression causes a UBC24-dependent decrease in PT2 levels. Confocal microscopy of fusion proteins revealed an NLA/PT2 interaction at the plasma membrane. Collectively, these results show that under Pi-replete conditions, NLA and UBC24 target the PT2 transporter for destruction. During the Pi deprivation response, NLA and PHO2 transcripts are cleaved by miR399 and miR827, respectively, and our results suggest that this downregulation relieves the posttranslational repression of PT2, allowing it to accumulate and participate in Pi uptake. Our work provides additional molecular details describing Pi signaling/homeostasis regulation by identifying NLA and UBC24 as partners and PT2 as one of their downstream targets.
The geometry of Niggli reduction:BGAOL–embedding Niggli reduction and analysis of boundaries
Authors: Andrews Lawrence C. , Bernstein Herbert J.
Published: January 2014

Niggli reduction can be viewed as a series of operations in a six-dimensional space derived from the metric tensor. An implicit embedding of the space of Niggli-reduced cells in a higher-dimensional space to facilitate calculation of distances between cells is described. This distance metric is used to create a program,BGAOL, for Bravais lattice determination. Results fromBGAOLare compared with results from other metric based Bravais lattice determination algorithms. This embedding depends on understanding the boundary polytopes of the Niggli-reduced coneNin the six-dimensional spaceG6. This article describes an investigation of the boundary polytopes of the Niggli-reduced coneNin the six-dimensional spaceG6by algebraic analysis and organized random probing of regions near one-, two-, three-, four-, five-, six-, seven- and eightfold boundary polytope intersections. The discussion of valid boundary polytopes is limited to those avoiding the mathematically interesting but crystallographically impossible cases of zero-length cell edges. Combinations of boundary polytopes without a valid intersection in the closure of the Niggli cone or with an intersection that would force a cell edge to zero or without neighboring probe points are eliminated. In all, 216 boundary polytopes are found. There are 15 five-dimensional boundary polytopes of the fullG6Niggli coneN.
Measurement of X-ray diffraction-line broadening induced by elastic mechanical grain interaction
Authors: Koker M. K. A. , Welzel U. , Mittemeijer E. J.
Published: January 2014

Various grain-interaction models have been proposed in the literature to describe the stress and strain behavior of individual grains within a massive aggregate. Diffraction lines exhibit a response to the occurrence of a strain distribution in the diffracting crystallites, selected by the direction of the diffraction vector with respect to the specimen frame of reference, by correspondingly induced diffraction-line broadening. This work provides a report of synchrotron diffraction investigations dedicated to the measurement of the experimentally observable diffraction-line broadening induced by external elastic loading of various polycrystalline specimens. The experimentally obtained broadening data have been compared with those calculated adopting various grain-interaction models. Although such grain-interaction models have been proven to accurately predict the average (X-ray) diffraction measured lattice strain, as derived from the diffraction-peak position, the present results have demonstrated that the extent of the diffraction-line broadening due to grain interactions, as calculated by employing these grain-interaction models, is much smaller than the experimentally determined broadening. The obtained results have vast implications for diffraction-line broadening analysis and the understanding of the elastic behavior of massive polycrystals.
Direct parameterization of the pressure-dependent volume by using an inverted approximate Vinet equation of state
Authors: Etter Martin , Dinnebier Robert E.
Published: January 2014

Parametric refinement is used for the simultaneous modeling of a series of diffraction data, replacing single independent parameters with physical or empirical equations that are valid for the full sequence of data. For the parametric treatment of diffraction data at high pressure, pressure-dependent constraints can be introduced in the form of an equation of state (EoS). However, the parameterization needs inverse functions of the EoS and most of them are not analytically invertible. In order to overcome this drawback, Taylor series expansions of different orders of the Vinet EoS were calculated and analytically inverted. It is shown that the inverted third-order Vinet EoS approximation, in its volume and linearized version, is applicable to a wide range of materials under high pressure.
Integration techniques for surface X-ray diffraction data obtained with a two-dimensional detector
Authors: Drnec Jakub , Zhou Tao , Pintea Stelian , Onderwaater Willem , Vlieg Elias , Renaud Gilles , Felici Roberto
Published: January 2014

This article proposes two integration methods to determine the structure factors along a surface diffraction rod measured with a two-dimensional detector. The first method applies the classic way of calculating integrated intensities in angular space. This is adapted to work efficiently with two-dimensional data. The second method is based on integration in reciprocal space. An intensity map is created by converting the detected intensity pixel by pixel to the reciprocal space. The integration is then performed directly on this map. A theoretical framework, as well as a comparison between the two integration methods, is provided.
Neutron and X-ray diffraction study of ferrite nanocrystals obtained by microwave-assisted growth. A structural comparison with the thermal synthetic route
Authors: Solano Eduardo , Frontera Carlos , Puig Teresa , Obradors Xavier , Ricart Susagna , Ros Josep
Published: January 2014

Neutron and X-ray powder diffraction have been used to investigate the differences between the crystal growth of ferrite magnetic nanoparticles (MFe2O4withM= Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Zn) by two methodologies: microwave radiation and thermal decomposition routes. Rietveld refinement has been used to extract the cationic distribution, the microstructure and magnetic information. Results for the nanoparticles produced by the two procedures evidence similar cationic distribution, microstructure and magnetic properties: complete cationic disorder forM= Mn and Co, crystal size around/below 10 nmetc. It is thus proven that microwave-assisted growth is a promising eco-friendly synthetic technique for the generation of high-quality nanocrystals with comparable structure and properties to those produced by the thermal methodology, even though the microwave route needs a shorter time and lower annealing temperature to obtain the final crystal nanoparticles.
COSET: a program for deriving and testing merohedral and pseudo-merohedral twin laws
Authors: Boyle Paul D.
Published: January 2014

COSETis a program written in ISO C99 with POSIX extensions which uses left coset decompositions to determine possible merohedral and pseudo-merohedral twin laws. In addition to a stand-alone program, the code may be compiled as a Python extension module. The program can createSHELXLinstruction files which incorporate the appropriate TWIN and BASF instructions for the possible twin law(s).COSETmay also be directed to execute a locally installed copy of theSHELXLbinary executable to test the candidate twin laws in trial refinements. This facilitates the quick screening and assessment of possible twin laws.