Catalogo delle piante vascolari del Monte Baro

La Florula del Monte Baro, sino dalle prime volte che io ebbi occasione di visitare il suo campo, parvomi così ricca da meritare un catalogo speciale. Nè in seguito da tale parere valse a distogliermi il considorare che le suo specie piu notevoli, da gran tempo, in parte già erano state indicate dal Comolli (1), dal Parlatore (2), dall'Artaria (3); imperciocchè le indicazioni di questi autori, mentre costitniscono altrettante preziose contribuzioni alla conoscenza della Florula di quel monte, come è naturale, non possono darne che una rappresentazione affatto insufficiente. Il catalogo da me divisato è ora compiuto e più non mi rimane che di presentario ai giovani amici dell'amabile scienza, ciò che mi induco a fare con la speram:a che valga a facilitare la determinazione delle specie di quella località, così meritevole di essere scelta a meta eli botaniche escursioni

Plan para el estudio de la cromogeografía argentina

Fil: Ardissone, Romualdo. Sociedad Argentina de Estudios Geográfico

Role of BacA in Lipopolysaccharide Synthesis, Peptide Transport, and Nodulation by \u3cem\u3eRhizobium\u3c/em\u3e sp. Strain NGR234

BacA of Sinorhizobium meliloti plays an essential role in the establishment of nitrogen-fixing symbioses with Medicago plants, where it is involved in peptide import and in the addition of very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFA) to lipid A of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We investigated the role of BacA in Rhizobium species strain NGR234 by mutating the bacA gene. In the NGR234 bacA mutant, peptide import was impaired, but no effect on VLCFA addition was observed. More importantly, the symbiotic ability of the mutant was comparable to that of the wild type for a variety of legume species. Concurrently, an acpXL mutant of NGR234 was created and assayed. In rhizobia, AcpXL is a dedicated acyl carrier protein necessary for the addition of VLCFA to lipid A. LPS extracted from the NGR234 mutant lacked VLCFA, and this mutant was severely impaired in the ability to form functional nodules with the majority of legumes tested. Our work demonstrates the importance of VLCFA in the NGR234-legume symbiosis and also shows that the necessity of BacA for bacteroid differentiation is restricted to specific legume-Rhizobium interactions

“In such a dark period, the only light”: Patients’ motivations and strategies to seek care from an online health community during the COVID-19 pandemic

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study conducted in Italy about a peculiar online health community named #TERAPIADOMICILIARECOVID19 (#TDC19), which, since April 2020, has assisted people with COVID-19 with early-at-home therapy delivered by volunteer doctors, free of charge for patients. The aim of the paper was to analyse patients’ motivations and strategies when negotiating risk in the context of this choice. Findings showed that patients’ choices were the outcome of a process that forms an entangled ecology of care involving several dimensions, crossing micro, meso and macro levels: a) the process of knowledge-building by assessing mass-media, ascertaining the best protocol and recalling previous experiences with similar diseases; b) the experience of feeling abandoned by general practitioners (GPs) and healthcare institutions; c) the positive encounter with #TDC19’s posts of gratitude written by people who were cured by #TDC19 doctors. In the end, patients’ choice was not a leap of faith; they negotiated and balanced out the perceived risks associated with COVID-19 and with the possible available choices (GPs, do-it-yourself, #TDC19-doctors) based on a strategy that chiefly encompassed a blend of rational and in-between logics

Information and communication technologies and patient empowerment: A complex skein

This article aims to explore the relationship between patient empowerment and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Indeed, ICTs are considered important for increasing access to medical information and for patients\u2019 other experiences, thereby nourishing the empowering rhetoric. The paper presents a research study conducted in Italy that focuses on the self-assessments made by online health communities (OHCs) users, subdivided in three categories, according to their level of online activity: Lurkers, occasionally active users and frequently active users. The concept of empowerment was operationalised in five issues: autonomy from doctors, involvement in medical decision-making, competence, self-management and acceptance. The results support the relationship between perceptions of empowerment and the higher level of activity played on OHCs, contributing instead to reject the idea of a generalised benefit. Moreover, the paper aims to enrich the theory of patient empowerment by adding a socio-material perspective. This helps broaden the understanding of the relationship between empowerment and ICTs by highlighting its underlying complex skein

Cyclic-β-glucans of Rhizobium (Sinorhizobium) sp. strain NGR234 are required for hypo-osmotic adaptation, motility, and efficient symbiosis with host plants

Cyclic-β-glucans (CβG) consist of cyclic homo-polymers of glucose that are present in the periplasmic space of many Gram-negative bacteria. A number of studies have demonstrated their importance for bacterial infection of plant and animal cells. In this study, a mutant of Rhizobium (Sinorhizobium) sp. strain NGR234 (NGR234) was generated in the cyclic glucan synthase (ndvB)-encoding gene. The great majority of CβG produced by wild-type NGR234 are negatively charged and substituted. The ndvB mutation abolished CβG biosynthesis. We found that, in NGR234, a functional ndvB gene is essential for hypo-osmotic adaptation and swimming, attachment to the roots, and efficient infection of Vigna unguiculata and Leucaena leucocephal

Developing a method of accounting for the material use of biomass/biochar and its positive side benefits within the company carbon footprint: A case study at Hochschule Geisenheim University

The federal state of Hesse announced the aim to achieve a „CO2-neutral administration“. In this context, the carbon footprint (CF) of the 16 universities in the federal area has been accounted. The CF by common units (kg CO2 per student or square meter) of the Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU) is comparably high, due to the campus’ structure with (monument protected) building stock, a big share of greenhouses integrated into the campus and a comparably small number of students (Müller & Person, 2015, S. 27ff). Please click on the file below for full content of the abstract

Design und Evaluation eines automatischen Entscheidungssystems für die Greiferauswahl bei der Kommissionierung

Das Greifen von Objekten stellt aufgrund der vielfältigen Objektarten und komplexen realen Szenarien eine Herausforderung in der Automatisierung des Kommissionierens dar und erfordert die Wahl eines passenden Greifers für die jeweilige Objektart. Vorhandene Methoden zur Greiferauswahl konzentrieren sich auf Greifsysteme, die in der Lage sind, eine breite Vielfalt von Objekten in geordneten industriellen Anwendungen zu greifen. Innerhalb dieser Arbeit wird daher eine wissensbasierte Me-thode zur Greiferauswahl für E-Grocery Artikel in unordentlichen Szenarien als binärer Entscheidungsbaum implementiert. Die Ergebnisse werden durch empirische Tests validiert und zeigen eine Gesamtgenauigkeit von 90,7 %. Da der Prozentsatz der echten Negative bei 81,6 % liegt, ist es erforder-lich, Greifprinzipien zu kombinieren, um zukünftig den Prozentsatz der echten Negativwerte zu reduzieren.Grasping objects poses a challenge in the automation of order picking due to the diverse types of objects and complex real-world scenarios, necessitating the selection of an appropriate gripper for each object type. Existing gripper selection methods focus on generalized gripper selection systems able to grasp a large variety of objects in non-cluttered scenarios for handling in industrial applications. Within this paper, a knowledge-based gripper selection method for e-grocery items in cluttered scenarios is implemented as a binary decision tree. The results are validated through empirical tests, demonstrating an overall accuracy of 90.7 %. As the percentage of true negatives is 81.6 %, it is necessary to combine grasping principles to reduce the percentage of True Negatives in the future