Drawing parallels from the Hamas atrocities to the Holocaust reveals eerily similar scenes of GBV enacted by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen.2 Reproductive degradation, including mutilation of breasts and ...violence against pregnant women and infants, reflects a systematic assault recognised as a form of genocide by the Rome Statutes. 3 This directive resonates with Richard Horton's call to physicians to “struggle to remain human in inhuman times”4 and refrain from dehumanisation by treating all individuals with dignity. Recognising this complex relationship is crucial for understanding the lasting effects on all people who endure GBV atrocities.
This work presents and experimentally tests the framework used by our context-aware, distributed team of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) capable of operating in real time, in an autonomous ...fashion, and under constrained communications. Our framework relies on a three-layered approach: (1) an operational layer, where fast temporal and narrow spatial decisions are made; (2) a tactical layer, where temporal and spatial decisions are made for a team of agents; and (3) a strategical layer, where slow temporal and wide spatial decisions are made for the team of agents. These three layers are coordinated by an ad hoc, software-defined communications network, which ensures sparse but timely delivery of messages amongst groups and teams of agents at each layer, even under constrained communications. Experimental results are presented for a team of 10 small unmanned aerial systems tasked with searching for and monitoring a person in an open area. At the operational layer, our use case presents an agent autonomously performing searching, detection, localization, classification, identification, tracking, and following of the person, while avoiding malicious collisions. At the tactical layer, our experimental use case presents the cooperative interaction of a group of multiple agents that enables the monitoring of the targeted person over wider spatial and temporal regions. At the strategic layer, our use case involves the detection of complex behaviors, i.e., the person being followed enters a car and runs away, or the person being followed exits the car and runs away, which require strategic responses to successfully accomplish the mission.
This work presents and experimentally test the framework used by our context-aware, distributed team of small Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) capable of operating in real-time, in an autonomous ...fashion, and under constrained communications. Our framework relies on three layered approach: (1) Operational layer, where fast temporal and narrow spatial decisions are made; (2) Tactical Layer, where temporal and spatial decisions are made for a team of agents; and (3) Strategical Layer, where slow temporal and wide spatial decisions are made for the team of agents. These three layers are coordinated by an ad-hoc, software-defined communications network, which ensures sparse, but timely delivery of messages amongst groups and teams of agents at each layer even under constrained communications. Experimental results are presented for a team of 10 small unmanned aerial systems tasked with searching and monitoring a person in an open area. At the operational layer, our use case presents an agent autonomously performing searching, detection, localization, classification, identification, tracking, and following of the person, while avoiding malicious collisions. At the tactical layer, our experimental use case presents the cooperative interaction of a group of multiple agents that enable the monitoring of the targeted person over a wider spatial and temporal regions. At the strategic layer, our use case involves the detection of complex behaviors-i.e. the person being followed enters a car and runs away, or the person being followed exits the car and runs away-that requires strategic responses to successfully accomplish the mission.
MicroRNAs are ~22-nt long regulatory RNAs that serve as critical modulators of post-transcriptional gene regulation. The diversity of miRNAs in endothelial cells (ECs) and the relationship of this ...diversity to epithelial and hematologic cells is unknown. We investigated the baseline miRNA signature of human ECs cultured from the aorta (HAEC), coronary artery (HCEC), umbilical vein (HUVEC), pulmonary artery (HPAEC), pulmonary microvasculature (HPMVEC), dermal microvasculature (HDMVEC), and brain microvasculature (HBMVEC) to understand the diversity of miRNA expression in ECs.
We identified 166 expressed miRNAs, of which 3 miRNAs (miR-99b, miR-20b and let-7b) differed significantly between EC types and predicted EC clustering. We confirmed the significance of these miRNAs by RT-PCR analysis and in a second data set by Sylamer analysis. We found wide diversity of miRNAs between endothelial, epithelial and hematologic cells with 99 miRNAs shared across cell types and 31 miRNAs unique to ECs. We show polycistronic miRNA chromosomal clusters have common expression levels within a given cell type.
EC miRNA expression levels are generally consistent across EC types. Three microRNAs were variable within the dataset indicating potential regulatory changes that could impact on EC phenotypic differences. MiRNA expression in endothelial, epithelial and hematologic cells differentiate these cell types. This data establishes a valuable resource characterizing the diverse miRNA signature of ECs.
The U.S. COVID-19 vaccination program launched on December 14, 2020. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended prioritizing COVID-19 vaccination for specific groups of the U.S. ...population who were at highest risk for COVID-19 hospitalization and death, including adults aged ≥75 years*; implementation varied by state, and eligibility was gradually expanded to persons aged ≥65 years beginning in January 2021. By April 19, 2021, eligibility was expanded to all adults aged ≥18 years nationwide.
To assess patterns of COVID-19 vaccination coverage among U.S. adults, CDC analyzed data submitted on vaccinations administered during December 14, 2020-May 22, 2021, by age, sex, and community-level characteristics. By May 22, 2021, 57.0% of persons aged ≥18 years had received ≥1 COVID-19 vaccine dose; coverage was highest among persons aged ≥65 years (80.0%) and lowest among persons aged 18-29 years (38.3%). During the week beginning February 7, 2021, vaccination initiation among adults aged ≥65 years peaked at 8.2%, whereas weekly initiation among other age groups peaked later and at lower levels. During April 19-May 22, 2021, the period following expanded eligibility to all adults, weekly initiation remained <4.0% and decreased for all age groups, including persons aged 18-29 years (3.6% to 1.9%) and 30-49 years (3.5% to 1.7%); based on the current rate of weekly initiation (as of May 22), younger persons will not reach the same levels of coverage as older persons by the end of August. Across all age groups, coverage (≥1 dose) was lower among men compared with women, except among adults aged ≥65 years, and lower among persons living in counties that were less urban, had higher social vulnerabilities, or had higher percentages of social determinants of poor health. Continued efforts to improve vaccination confidence and alleviate barriers to vaccination initiation, especially among adults aged 18-49 years, could improve vaccination coverage.
Native tallgrass prairies support distinct dark septate endophyte (DSE) communities exemplified by Periconia macrospinosa and Microdochium sp. that were recently identified as common root symbionts ...in this system. Since these DSE fungi were repeatedly isolated from grasses and forbs, we aimed to test their abilities to colonize different hosts. One Microdochium and three Periconia strains were screened for colonization and growth responses using five native grasses and six forbs in an in vitro system. Previously published data for an additional grass (Andropogon gerardii) were included and reanalyzed. Presence of indicative inter- and intracellular structures (melanized hyphae, microsclerotia, and chlamydospores) demonstrated that all plant species were colonized by the DSE isolates albeit to varying degrees. Microscopic observations suggested that, compared to forbs, grasses were colonized to a greater degree in vitro. Host biomass responses varied among the host species. In broad comparisons, more grass species than forbs tended to respond positively to colonization, whereas more forb species tended to be non-responsive. Based on the suspected differences in the levels of colonization, we predicted that tallgrass prairie grasses would support greater DSE colonization than forbs in the field. A survey of field-collected roots from 15 native species supported this hypothesis. Our study supports the “broad host range” of DSE fungi, although the differences in the rates of colonization in the laboratory and in the field suggest a greater compatibility between grasses and DSE fungi. Furthermore, host responses to DSE range from mutualism to parasitism, suggesting a genotype-level interplay between the fungi and their hosts that determines the outcome of this symbiosis.
•Prescribed fire intervals impact the bacterial and fungal communities and soil chemistry, especially in the topmost A horizon.•Fire exclusion results in soil microbial communities distinct from the ...more frequently burned intervals.•Ectomycorrhizal fungi were more abundant in the fire exclusion treatment, indicating potential sensitivity to fire.•Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were more abundant in frequently burned treatments, potentially due to plant community differences.
Prescribed fires are common in forest management, yet we lack a clear picture of how different fire frequencies impact soil systems. Here, we present evidence of microbial community and soil chemistry shifts following sixty years of continuous prescribed fire interval manipulation at the Olustee Experimental Forest in Northeastern Florida. We investigated three fire interval treatments (1 year, 2 years, and 4 years) in addition to an unburned control treatment. We sampled three mineral soil horizons (A, E, and Bh) to elucidate prescribed fire impacts across the soil profile. Our results indicate that only the A horizon was affected by the fire interval manipulations, whereas the deeper E and Bh horizons were minimally impacted. Richness of both bacterial and fungal communities in recurring fire treatments was higher than, and their community composition different from, those in the unburned control in A horizon soils. Similar to the biotic soil attributes, fire interval treatments altered soil chemistry only in the top-most A horizon: the burned treatments had higher total nitrogen, total carbon, phosphorus, and NH4+ than the fire exclusion treatment; the soil chemistry of the deeper E and Bh horizons did not differ among the treatments. All soil chemistry properties correlated with bacterial community composition of the A horizon and nearly all properties correlated with fungal community composition of the A horizon as well, especially when comparing the more frequent burns to the fire exclusion treatment. Indicator taxon analyses identified fire-responsive bacteria and fungi, such as Ktedonobacteria sp. and an unclassified ascomycete that were abundant in the fire exclusion treatment and the ectomycorrhizal Russula spp. that were most abundant in the annual burn treatment. The different fire intervals also impacted fungal guilds, suggesting shifts in community function. The fire exclusion treatment was enriched with ectomycorrhizal, lichenized, and wood saprotrophic fungi, whereas the annual burn treatment was enriched with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi compared to the other treatments. Our results indicate that long-term changes in the type and amount of detrital inputs and changes in the plant community associated with differing fire frequencies can induce shifts in the soil microbial community.
ABSTRACT
Fire can impact terrestrial ecosystems by changing abiotic and biotic conditions. Short fire intervals maintain grasslands and communities adapted to frequent, low-severity fires. Shrub ...encroachment that follows longer fire intervals accumulates fuel and can increase fire severity. This patchily distributed biomass creates mosaics of burn severities in the landscape—pyrodiversity. Afforded by a scheduled burn of a watershed protected from fires for 27 years, we investigated effects of woody encroachment and burn severity on soil chemistry and soil-inhabiting bacteria and fungi. We compared soils before and after fire within the fire-protected, shrub-encroached watershed and soils in an adjacent, annually burned and non-encroached watershed. Organic matter and nutrients accumulated in the fire-protected watershed but responded less to woody encroachment within the encroached watershed. Bioavailable nitrogen and phosphorus and fungal and bacterial communities responded to high-severity burn regardless of encroachment. Low-severity fire effects on soil nutrients differed, increased bacterial but decreased fungal diversity and effects of woody encroachment within the encroached watershed were minimal. High-severity burns in the fire-protected watershed led to a novel soil system state distinct from non-encroached and encroached soil systems. We conclude that severe fires may open grassland restoration opportunities to manipulate soil chemistry and microbial communities in shrub-encroached habitats.
High-severity burns result in a novel soil microbiome regardless of whether applied to grass-dominated or woody-plant invaded patches in a fire-protected, encroached prairie watershed.
Fires occur in most terrestrial ecosystems where they drive changes in the traits, composition, and diversity of fungal communities. Fires range from rare, stand-replacing wildfires to frequent, ...prescribed fires used to mimic natural fire regimes. Fire regime factors, including burn severity, fire intensity, and timing, vary widely and likely determine how fungi respond to fires. Despite the importance of fungi to post-fire plant communities and ecosystem functioning, attempts to identify common fungal responses and their major drivers are lacking. This synthesis addresses this knowledge gap and ranges from fire adaptations of specific fungi to succession and assembly fungal communities as they respond to spatially heterogenous burning within the landscape. Fires impact fungi directly and indirectly through their effects on fungal survival, substrate and habitat modifications, changes in environmental conditions, and/or physiological responses of the hosts with which fungi interact. Some specific pyrophilous, or "fire-loving," fungi often appear after fire. Our synthesis explores whether such taxa can be considered cosmopolitan, and whether they are truly fire-adapted or simply opportunists adapted to rapidly occupy substrates and habitats made available by fires. We also discuss the possible inoculum sources of post-fire fungi and explore existing conceptual models and ecological frameworks that may be useful in generalizing fungal fire responses. We conclude with identifying research gaps and areas that may best transform the current knowledge and understanding of fungal responses to fire.
Fire can impact terrestrial ecosystems by changing abiotic and biotic conditions. Short fire intervals maintain grasslands and communities adapted to frequent, low-severity fires. Shrub encroachment ...that follows longer fire intervals accumulates fuel and can increase fire severity. This patchily distributed biomass creates mosaics of burn severities in the landscape-pyrodiversity. Afforded by a scheduled burn of a watershed protected from fires for 27 years, we investigated effects of woody encroachment and burn severity on soil chemistry and soil-inhabiting bacteria and fungi. We compared soils before and after fire within the fire-protected, shrub-encroached watershed and soils in an adjacent, annually burned and non-encroached watershed. Organic matter and nutrients accumulated in the fire-protected watershed but responded less to woody encroachment within the encroached watershed. Bioavailable nitrogen and phosphorus and fungal and bacterial communities responded to high-severity burn regardless of encroachment. Low-severity fire effects on soil nutrients differed, increased bacterial but decreased fungal diversity and effects of woody encroachment within the encroached watershed were minimal. High-severity burns in the fire-protected watershed led to a novel soil system state distinct from non-encroached and encroached soil systems. We conclude that severe fires may open grassland restoration opportunities to manipulate soil chemistry and microbial communities in shrub-encroached habitats. Keywords: fire severity and history; woody encroachment; tallgrass prairie ecosystem; soil bacteria and fungi; soil chemistry; alternate ecosystem states
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