Positioning and Face Work on 4chan’s /r9k/

This thesis uses theories of positioning and politeness to analyze a collection of anonymous discussion board posts gathered from 4chan\u27s ROBOT-9001 message board. I provide an overview of 4chan\u27s history and review recent literature focused on the website. I then examine how users direct gender-based insults at other users within a set of excerpts taken from the larger collection of posts, finding that users who express opposition to misogyny or sexism are identified by others as feminine through the usage of derogatory and misogynistic insults. Next, I examine a second set of excerpts, demonstrating how a user establishes and maintains her identity across multiple anonymous posts in order to respond to insults directed at her by other users. Finally, I conclude with considerations for further research for research interested in 4chan and anonymous text-based computer mediated communication

Rhizospheric Actinomycetes Revealed Antifungal and Plant-Growth-Promoting Activities under Controlled Environment

Actinomycetes has large habitats and can be isolated from terrestrial soil, rhizospheres of plant roots, and marine sediments. Actinomycetes produce several bioactive secondary metabolites with antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. In this study, some Actinomycetes strains were isolated from the rhizosphere zone of four different plant species: rosemary, acacia, strawberry, and olive. The antagonistic activity of all isolates was screened in vitro against Escherichia coli and Bacillus megaterium. Isolates with the strongest bioactivity potential were selected and molecularly identified as Streptomyces sp., Streptomyces atratus, and Arthrobacter humicola. The growth-promoting activity of the selected Actinomycetes isolates was in vivo evaluated on tomato plants and for disease control against Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. The results demonstrated that all bacterized plants with the studied Actinomycetes isolates were able to promote the tomato seedlings' growth, showing high values of ecophysiological parameters. In particular, the bacterized seedlings with Streptomyces sp. and A. humicola showed low disease incidence of S. sclerotiorum infection (0.3% and 0.2%, respectively), whereas those bacterized with S. atratus showed a moderate disease incidence (7.6%) compared with the positive control (36.8%). In addition, the ability of the studied Actinomycetes to produce extracellular hydrolytic enzymes was verified. The results showed that A. humicola was able to produce chitinase, glucanase, and protease, whereas Streptomyces sp. and S. atratus produced amylase and pectinase at high and moderate levels, respectively. This study highlights the value of the studied isolates in providing bioactive metabolites and extracellular hydrolytic enzymes, indicating their potential application as fungal-biocontrol agents

Applications of Absorbent Polymers for Sustainable Plant Protection and Crop Yield

Natural strategies for protecting the environment as well as plant, animal and human health is considered one of the main goals of developed countries. Recently, the use of absorbent polymers and hydrogel in agriculture has demonstrated several benefits for soil amendments, saving water content, reducing the consumption of soil nutrients, minimizing the negative impacts of dehydration and moisture stress in crops and controlling several phytopathogens. The seed-coating technology for establishing the crops is a recent common practice used for improving seed protection and enhancing plant growth. Coating materials include absorbent polymers and hydrogels based on growth regulators, pesticides, fertilizers and antagonist microorganisms. The current review has highlighted the importance of different types of superabsorbent polymers and hydrogels in an integrated strategy to protect seeds, plants and soil in a balanced manner to preserve the ecosystem

An Overview of Metabolic Activity, Beneficial and Pathogenic Aspects of Burkholderia Spp

Burkholderia is an important bacterial species which has different beneficial effects, such as promoting the plant growth, including rhizosphere competence for the secretion of allelochemicals, production of antibiotics, and siderophores. In addition, most of Burkholderia species have demonstrated promising biocontrol action against different phytopathogens for diverse crops. In particular, Burkholderia demonstrates significant biotechnological potential as a source of novel antibiotics and bioactive secondary metabolites. The current review is concerned with Burkholderia spp. covering the following aspects: discovering, classification, distribution, plant growth promoting effect, and antimicrobial activity of different species of Burkholderia, shedding light on the most important secondary metabolites, their pathogenic effects, and biochemical characterization of some important species of Burkholderia, such as B. cepacia, B. andropogonis, B. plantarii, B. rhizoxinica, B. glumae, B. caryophylli and B. gladioli

Investigating the Effects of Plant Essential Oils on Post-Harvest Fruit Decay

Essential oils are one of the most important natural products derived from plants, due to their various biological properties and their medicinal and nutritional uses. This chapter provides an overview of several different aspects relating to essential oils including a historical perspective, the uses of essential oils, their main sources and antifungal activity, their bioactive single constituents and their modes of action. The chapter will also give an insight into the chemical measures necessary for controlling plant pathogens and their negative impact on human health and/or the environment. It will also review the different sources of essential oils such as sage, oregano, thyme and marjoram from the Lamiaceae family, vervain from the Verbanacae family, and magnolia from the Magnoliaceae family. The antimicrobial activity of essential oils is reviewed, with particular emphasis on the antifungal properties exhibited against some serious pathogenic fungi and post-harvest disease. Moreover, various antimicrobial tests and techniques, such as various kill-time studies, killing time determination, LD-50 and growth curve recording, poisoned food techniques, spore germination and measurement of metabolic CO2 are included. Finally, five case studies relating to the antifungal activity of some plant essential oils, either in vitro or in vivo, against post-harvest pathogenic fungi are reviewed at the end of this chapter

Structural and functional organization of the root system: a comparative study on five plant species

Plants are affected by soil environments to the same extent that they affect soil functioning through interactions between environmental and genetic factors. Here, five plant species (broad bean, pea, cabbage, fennel, and olive) grown under controlled pot conditions were tested for their ability to differently stimulate the degradation of standard litter. Litter, soil C and N contents were measured for evaluating chemical changes due to plant presence, while soil microbial abundance was evaluated to assess if it had a positive or negative catalyzing influence on litter decomposition. The architecture and morphological traits of roots systems were also evaluated by using specific open-source software (SmartRoot). Soil chemical and microbiological characteristics were significantly influenced by the plant species. Variations in soil C/N dynamics were correlated with the diversity of root traits among species. Early stage decomposition of the standard litter changed on the basis of the plant species. The results indicated that key soil processes are governed by interactions between plant roots, soil C and N, and the microbial metabolism that stimulate decomposition reactions. This, in turn, can have marked effects on soil chemical and microbiological fertility, both fundamental for sustaining crops, and can promote the development of new approaches for optimizing soil C and N cycling, managing nutrient transport, and sustaining and improving net primary production

Fungal diversity in chestnut galls induced by Dryocosmus kuriphilus from Basilicata Region (Southern Italy)

In recent years, the Asian chestnut gall wasp (ACGW) Dryocosmus kuriphilus has been reported to have a high incidence in Italy and other Mediterranean basin countries. In 2021-2022, a study was undertaken in the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) to investigate the relationship between the galls produced by ACGW on sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) and fungal pathogens. In particular, the fungal diversity from green and necrotic galls collected from two important sweet chestnut sites (Melfi and Rionero in Vulture) was investigated. Nineteen fungal taxa were identified based on their morphological and molecular traits. In both localities, the most frequent species isolated from green and necrotic galls were Gnomoniopsis castaneae, Colletotrichum acutatum, and Pestalotiopsis sp. It is essential to understand the role played by the galls as an inoculum source for sweet chestnut fungal pathogens, particularly for G. castaneae, an emerging pathogen of which biology is still poorly understood. Findings from the present study stressed that the complex relationship between host-insect-microbial community needs to be elucidated to be able to control the pathogenic fungi and consequently maintain sweet chestnut trees' health as they play a key role in the local agriculture (horticulture, forestry) and subsidiary econom

Aceleración del proceso de selección de características en entornos Big Data : Aplicación en biomarcadores oncológicos

La tesis doctoral se centra en el desarrollo y evaluación de un framework para la aceleración de metaheurísticas en entornos distribuidos utilizando Apache Spark, con un enfoque particular en la optimización de la selección de características para la identificación de biomarcadores oncológicos. La motivación surge de la necesidad de superar las limitaciones de algunas plataformas existentes como Bioplat y Multiomics, y de proporcionar herramientas computacionales avanzadas y accesibles a la comunidad científica en el campo de la bioinformática y la oncología. El framework propuesto introduce estrategias inteligentes para la aceleración de metaheurísticas, diseñadas específicamente para mejorar la eficiencia y el rendimiento en su ejecución en entornos distribuidos, en particular en Apache Spark. Estas técnicas se han implementado en una nueva plataforma denominada Multiomix, que no sólo complementa las funcionalidades de sus predecesoras, sino que también supera sus limitaciones, ofreciendo una solución integral para el análisis de datos multiómicos. Un aspecto clave de esta tesis es la disponibilización de Multiomix como Software as a Service (SaaS), accesible a través de Internet. Este enfoque permite a múltiples usuarios trabajar de manera simultánea, democratizando el acceso a capacidades de cómputo avanzadas y facilitando la colaboración en la comunidad científica. El objetivo general de esta tesis consiste en evaluar la viabilidad y eficacia del framework propuesto para la aceleración de metaheurísticas en entornos distribuidos, con un enfoque particular en su aplicación para la selección de características en la identificación de biomarcadores oncológicos. Además, se busca demostrar cómo la implementación de este framework en una plataforma SaaS puede mejorar significativamente la accesibilidad y la colaboración en la investigación biomédica.Doctor en Ciencias InformáticasUniversidad Nacional de La PlataFacultad de Informátic

Detection and identification of Phytophthora species in southern Italy by RFLP and sequence analysis of PCR-amplified nuclear ribosomal DNA.

In four neighbouring regions of southern Italy, Basilicata, Campania, Apulia and Calabria, pepper and zucchini plants showing Phytophthora blight symptoms, tomato plants with either late blight or buckeye rot symptoms, plants of strawberry showing crown rot symptoms and declining clementine trees with root and fruit rot were examined for Phytophthora infections by means of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, using primers directed to nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeat sequences. All diseased plants and trees examined tested positive. The detected fungal-like organisms were differentiated and characterized on the basis of primer specificity as well as through extensive restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequence analysis of PCR-amplified rDNA. Phytophthora capsici was identified in diseased pepper and zucchini plants, P. infestans was identified in tomato with late blight symptoms whereas buckeye rot-affected tomatoes and diseased strawberry plants proved to be infected by P. nicotianae and P. cactorum, respectively. Declining clementine trees were infected with P. citrophthora and P. nicotianae in about the same proportion. Also, thirty-one pure culture-maintained isolates of Phytophthora which had previously been identified in southern Italy by traditional methods but were never examined molecularly, were examined by RFLP and sequence analysis of PCR-amplified nuclear rDNA. Among these, an isolate from gerbera which had previously been identified by traditional methods only at genus level, was assigned to P. tentaculata. For the remaining pure culture-maintained isolates examined, the molecular identification data obtained corresponded with those delineated by traditional methods. Most of the diseases examined were already known to occur in southern Italy but the pathogens were molecularly detected and fully characterized at nuclear rDNA repeat level only from other geographic areas, very often outside Italy. A new disease to southern Italy was the Phytophthora blight of zucchini. This is also the first report on the presence and molecular identification of P. tentaculata from Italy

A Comprehensive Review on the Biological, Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Properties of Secondary Metabolites Based-Plant Origin

: Natural products are compounds produced by living organisms and can be divided into two main categories: primary (PMs) and secondary metabolites (SMs). Plant PMs are crucial for plant growth and reproduction since they are directly involved in living cell processes, whereas plant SMs are organic substances directly involved in plant defense and resistance. SMs are divided into three main groups: terpenoids, phenolics and nitrogen-containing compounds. The SMs contain a variety of biological capabilities that can be used as flavoring agents, food additives, plant-disease control, strengthen plant defenses against herbivores and, additionally, it can help plant cells to be better adapted to the physiological stress response. The current review is mainly focusing on certain key elements related to the significance, biosynthesis, classification, biochemical characterization and medical/pharmaceutical uses of the major categories of plant SMs. In addition, the usefulness of SMs in controlling plant diseases, boosting plant resistance and as potential natural, safe, eco-friendly substitutes for chemosynthetic pesticides were also reported in this review