Hasil untuk "Evolution"

W. Furian, T. Sauter

<p>This study investigates simulated glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) at five glacial lakes in the Everest region of Nepal using the three-dimensional model OpenFOAM. It presents the evolution of GLOF characteristics in the 21st century considering different moraine breach scenarios and two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios. The results demonstrate that in low-magnitude scenarios, the five lakes generate GLOFs that inundate between 0.35 and 2.23 km<span class="inline-formula">²</span> of agricultural land with an average water depth of 0.9 to 3.58 m. These GLOFs reach distances of 59 to 84 km, affect 30 to 88 km of roads or trails, and inundate 183 to 1699 buildings with 1.2 to 4.9 m of water. In higher scenarios, GLOFs can extend over 100 km and also affect larger settlements in the foothills. Between 80 and 100 km of roads, 735 to 1989 houses and 0.85 to 3.52 km<span class="inline-formula">²</span> of agricultural land could be inundated, with average water depths of up to 10 m. The high precision of the 3D flood modeling, with detailed simulations of turbulence and viscosity, provides valuable insights into 21st-century GLOF evolution, supporting more accurate risk assessments and effective adaptation strategies.</p>

Ziqian Wang, Yuhan Qian, Tengteng Sun et al.

Ti-modified AlCuMg alloys have demonstrated great potential in improving the printability and mechanical properties of conventional Al alloys processed by laser powder-bed fusion (LPBF). However, an effective material design method, which considers processing parameters and solidification microstructure, is currently absent. Accordingly, the present work proposed a comprehensive model with which the formation of hot-tearing cracks and lack-of-fusion pores could be more efficiently predicted. The hot-tearing factor was an assistant in the tailoring of crack-free Ti-modified AlCuMg alloys, while the lack-of-fusion factor suggested a volumetric energy density for better printability. This hot-tearing factor could also serve as the supplementary method for evaluating the crack susceptibility of AlCuMg alloys. The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties were also investigated to achieve an optimal processing window for these alloys, which could satisfy the dual requirements of higher mechanical properties and better formability. It was believed that this comprehensive model would facilitate the tailoring of crack-free AlCuMg alloys and the optimisation of processing parameters in a time-efficient manner with high precision.

Yikun Wei, Kang Xiao, Yunong Li et al.

In this paper, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of spike and modal-deep stall cells in a centrifugal compressor are studied at a small mass-flow rate. Three operating points are selected at different stall stages, and the internal unstable flow mechanism is deeply explored based on the downtrend of pressure ratio and isentropic efficiency on the external characteristic curve. The dimensionless mass flow rate (M*) is proposed to reflect the centrifugal compression rate of the whole machine under various stall conditions. A hump-like pulse is captured at deep stall conditions, and its fluctuation amplitude is an order of magnitude different from the near-stall to stall conditions. The fluctuation characteristics at different operating conditions are quantitatively analyzed from the perspective of the time domain. The fluctuation and spectral characteristics of flow field parameters at different stall conditions are obtained by collecting dynamic data of the flow field at different positions and performing a fast Fourier transform. The characteristic frequency of the flow field is closely correlated with the spatiotemporal flow structure. The fitting curve of static pressure distribution along the blade profile at deep stall conditions is increasingly divergent. The stall signals of two different modes are captured by the frequency-domain analysis of the pressure fluctuation on the inner flow surface of the impeller. The spatiotemporal correlation between the evolution of stall clusters in the impeller domain and the existence of vaneless diffusers and volutes is explored, from the axial flow of the impeller domain to circumferential flow. The stall mechanism of circumferential flow in the vaneless zone of the centrifugal compressor is deeply explored from the time domain and frequency domain based on the pressure fluctuation and its root mean square error value.

Kaidi Lu, Ming Xie, Wanping Sun et al.

IntroductionThe economic expansion of the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) industry has prompted the Chinese government to introduce a series of policies focused on the registration review and approval of TCM. These policies aim to provide scientific and practical guidance for the innovation, protection, and progress of TCM. Although scholars have conducted detailed studies on the quantitative assessment of Traditional Chinese Medicine Registration Review and Approval Policies(TCMRAPs), Research on the evolution analysis of these policies is still relatively lacking.MethodsThe evolution of TCMRAPs was analyzed using the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model.ResultsThe results show that the scope of concern of the TCMRAPs in China is vast. TCMRAPs demonstrate their uniqueness at each stage, and over time, they have exhibited a development trend from a basic framework to standardization and refinement.DiscussionThis study provides a reference for the subsequent formulation of TCMRAPs in China. Also, it offers an assessment method and theoretical reference for other countries in formulating their own policies for the drugs.

Jacopo Armini, Fabio Gianni, Stefano Niccolai

Georeferenced Access Points as a Strategic Node in the Evolution of Territorial Information Systems - This paper explores the strategic role of georeferenced access points and civic numbering as foundational components of advanced Territorial Information Systems (SIT) within Italian public administrations. The quality and consistency of georeferenced street and building numbers represent a fundamental component of territorial data infrastructures, enabling reliable integration between cadastral datasets, administrative services and emergency response systems. Drawing from the experience of LdP Progetti GIS — involving more than 130 municipalities across five regions — the article demonstrates how the integration of Accesses, Buildings and Street Toponyms enables an interoperable Web-GIS ecosystem supporting digital services, data governance and operational decision-making. Real case studies from the municipalities of Siena, Arezzo, Empoli and Pistoia illustrate concrete applications such as emergency management, fiscal intelligence (TARI compliance), housing planning and economic activity monitoring. The results highlight significant improvements in administrative efficiency, transparency and open-data availability, positioning geospatial infrastructures as a key enabler of digital transformation in the Public Sector.

Jiaquan Wan, Junchao Wang, Wei Zhang et al.

Study region: The Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) Study focus: TGRA faces increasing vulnerability to extreme precipitation events driven by complex convective weather systems. Radar echo extrapolation—predicting future precipitation patterns from current radar data—is essential for early warning systems but faces significant challenges in this topographically complex region. While data-driven approaches have advanced the field, current convolutional neural network-based diffusion models struggle with the TGRA's dynamic meteorological conditions due to their reliance on translational invariance, which often fails to capture rapid weather transitions in complex terrain. New hydrogeological insights from the region: To address these limitations, we introduce RadarDiT, a Vision Transformer-based diffusion model specifically engineered for radar extrapolation in the TGRA. First, we develop a five-year radar dataset capturing diverse convective weather phenomena unique to this region. Then, leveraging this dataset, RadarDiT employs multi-layer Vision Transformers that effectively model global dependencies and complex spatial relationships, enabling accurate prediction of convective cell evolution. Our model demonstrates superior performance in maintaining strong echo and spatial coherence over longer forecast horizons. Quantitative evaluations across multiple metrics and thresholds confirm RadarDiT's enhanced skill in forecasting heavy precipitation events, with particular improvements in Critical Success Index at higher radar echo values. This work establishes a foundation for more reliable nowcasting systems in regions with complex terrain and dynamic weather patterns, directly supporting enhanced disaster preparedness and response strategies.

Carolien Bastiaanssen, Pilar Bobadilla Ugarte, Kijun Kim et al.

Abstract Argonaute proteins are the central effectors of RNA-guided RNA silencing pathways in eukaryotes, playing crucial roles in gene repression and defense against viruses and transposons. Eukaryotic Argonautes are subdivided into two clades: AGOs generally facilitate miRNA- or siRNA-mediated silencing, while PIWIs generally facilitate piRNA-mediated silencing. It is currently unclear when and how Argonaute-based RNA silencing mechanisms arose and diverged during the emergence and early evolution of eukaryotes. Here, we show that in Asgard archaea, the closest prokaryotic relatives of eukaryotes, an evolutionary expansion of Argonaute proteins took place. In particular, a deep-branching PIWI protein (HrAgo1) encoded by the genome of the Lokiarchaeon ‘Candidatus Harpocratesius repetitus’ shares a common origin with eukaryotic PIWI proteins. Contrasting known prokaryotic Argonautes that use single-stranded DNA as guides and/or targets, HrAgo1 mediates RNA-guided RNA cleavage, and facilitates gene silencing when expressed in human cells and supplied with miRNA precursors. A cryo-EM structure of HrAgo1, combined with quantitative single-molecule experiments, reveals that the protein displays structural features and target-binding modes that are a mix of those of eukaryotic AGO and PIWI proteins. Thus, this deep-branching archaeal PIWI may have retained an ancestral molecular architecture that preceded the functional and mechanistic divergence of eukaryotic AGOs and PIWIs.

Blanca Ines García-Gomez, Tamara Alejandrina Sánchez, Sayra Natalia Cano et al.

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces different insecticidal proteins effective for pest control. Among them, Cry insecticidal proteins have been used in transgenic plants for the control of insect pests. However, evolution of resistance by insects endangers this technology. Previous work showed that the lepidopteran insect Plutella xylostella PxHsp90 chaperone enhanced the toxicity of Bt Cry1A protoxins by protecting them from degradation by the larval gut proteases and by enhancing binding of the protoxin to its receptors present in larval midgut cells. In this work, we show that PxHsp70 chaperone also protects Cry1Ab protoxin from gut proteases degradation, enhancing Cry1Ab toxicity. We also show that both PxHsp70 and PxHsp90 chaperones act cooperatively, increasing toxicity and the binding of Cry1Ab439D mutant, affected in binding to midgut receptors, to cadherin receptor. Also, insect chaperones recovered toxicity of Cry1Ac protein to a Cry1Ac-highly resistant P. xylostella population, NO-QAGE, that has a disruptive mutation in an ABCC2 transporter linked to Cry1Ac resistance. These data show that Bt hijacked an important cellular function for enhancing its infection capability, making use of insect cellular chaperones for enhancing Cry toxicity and for lowering the evolution of insect resistance to these toxins.

Jingmin An, Xiaogang Weng

Abstract Pre-trained natural language processing models on a large natural language corpus can naturally transfer learned knowledge to protein domains by fine-tuning specific in-domain tasks. However, few studies focused on enriching such protein language models by jointly learning protein properties from strongly-correlated protein tasks. Here we elaborately designed a multi-task learning (MTL) architecture, aiming to decipher implicit structural and evolutionary information from three sequence-level classification tasks for protein family, superfamily and fold. Considering the co-existing contextual relevance between human words and protein language, we employed BERT, pre-trained on a large natural language corpus, as our backbone to handle protein sequences. More importantly, the encoded knowledge obtained in the MTL stage can be well transferred to more fine-grained downstream tasks of TAPE. Experiments on structure- or evolution-related applications demonstrate that our approach outperforms many state-of-the-art Transformer-based protein models, especially in remote homology detection.

Elisabetta Doria

The research proposal reports the outcomes of a research track concerning the automation of the architectural census of technological elements in urban environments, aiming at the development of a monitoring and management system for the built heritage. The proposal is focused on a set of specific elements (water tanks) stacked on the coverings of the historical centre of Bethlehem and leverages close-range photogrammetric acquisitions to train Deep Learning models. The model lifecycle management, from training to prediction and deployment, as well as the storage of both image data and metadata, is performed through the scalability of a Cloud enterprise architecture. Periodical scheduled monitoring enables comparisons across different periods, allowing the detection of modifications, removals, and additions, therefore identifying the insurgence of potential criticalities. The goal of the project is the definition of a protocol to automate the identification of recurrent elements and monitor their evolution through time.

Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Anne-Sophie Bonnet-Lebrun, Maria P. Dias et al.

Every year, billions of birds undertake extensive migrations between breeding and non-breeding areas, facing challenges that require behavioural adjustments, particularly to flight timing and duration. Such adjustments in daily activity patterns and the influence of extrinsic factors (e.g., environmental conditions, moonlight) have received much more research attention in terrestrial than marine migrants. Taking advantage of the widespread deployment in recent decades of combined light-level geolocator-immersion loggers, we investigated diel organisation and influence of the moon on flight activities during the non-breeding season of 21 migrant seabird species from a wide taxonomic range (6 families, 3 orders). Migrant seabirds regularly stopped (to either feed or rest) during migration, unlike some terrestrial and wetland birds which fly non-stop. We found an overall increase for most seabird species in time in flight and, for several species, also in flight bout duration, during migration compared to when resident at the non-breeding grounds. Additionally, several nocturnal species spent more of the day in flight during migration than at non-breeding areas, and vice versa for diurnal species. Nocturnal time in flight tended to increase during full moon, both during migration and at the non-breeding grounds, depending on species. Our study provides an extensive overview of activity patterns of migrant seabirds, paving the way for further research on the underlying mechanisms and drivers.

Sebastiano Nucera

The aim of this essay is to demonstrate how, starting from a continuous reconfiguration of ecological patterns, Homo sapiens has performed a transaction of the architectures that allow him to relate to his own conspecifics and to constantly changing contexts. This transaction, which has been realised in particular by the refinement of his artefacts and by a new understanding of these, creates, in fact, new ontological levels that are destined, in turn, to following transformations. More precisely, the interaction between individual and environment has produced, throughout the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, a “creative bond” that has remodelled the very concept of living in (and reacting in) the world. The creative evolution that accompanies the history of the modern man is one of the most powerful and versatile types of “grammar”, which paves the way for new task-scapes, redefines boundaries and ways of interaction between “body” and “environment” but, above all, makes the creation of increasingly more user-friendly communicative niches possible today, creating symbolic flows that are increasingly less infused in biological matrices. In other words, the interactional loop between individual and environment creates the cognitive equivalent (Clarck, 2004) of Dawkins’ Extended Phenotype (1982) that, along with a spatial constraint of the physical world, provokes an expansion in the relationship among agents, culture and social networks at the same time.

Emmanuel Milot, Arnaud Béchet, Virginie Maris

Abstract It is now well admitted by ecologists that the conservation of biodiversity should imply preserving the evolutionary processes that will permit its adaptation to ongoing and future environmental changes. This is attested by the ever‐growing reference to the conservation of evolutionary potential in the scientific literature. The impression that one may have when reading papers is that conserving evolutionary potential can only be a good thing, whatever biological system is under scrutiny. However, different objectives, such as maintaining species richness versus ecosystem services, may express different, when not conflicting, underlying values attributed to biodiversity. For instance, biodiversity can be intrinsically valued, as worth it to be conserved per se, or it can be conserved as a means for human flourishing. Consequently, both the concept of evolutionary potential and the prescriptions derived from the commitment to conserve it remain problematic, due to a lack of explicit mention of the norms underlying different conservation visions. Here, we contend that those who advocate for the conservation of evolutionary potential should position their conception along four dimensions: what vehicles instantiate the evolutionary potential relevant to their normative commitment; what temporality is involved; how measurable evolutionary potential is, and what degree of human influence is tolerated. We need to address these dimensions if we are to determine why and when the maintenance of evolutionary potential is an appropriate target for the conservation of biodiversity.

Monica Marin, Manuela Sofia Stănculescu

This study analyzes developments in the child protection system in Romania for the past 30 years. Based on the typologies created at international level, it identifies three key phases of development, mainly regarding deinstitutionalization process, started in 1997. The first phase of deinstitutionalization, up to 2001, caused by limited funds and the need to get quick results, the efforts concerning development of alternative type of care have mainly targeted a cost-efficient approach like placement in the extended family, foster care and adoption. Family type of services registered an extremely rapid and impressive development. Yet, monitoring capacity has not been adequately developed alongside this progressive development. The second phase of reforms (2002-2007) can be considered as an accelerated phase of deinstitutionalization. It has been very well supported by public awareness campaigns, with a consistent funding, that substantially supported the process. In 2004, a new legislative framework has been adopted, making a transition from a system centered around protecting children in difficult situation towards a system envisaging promotion and fullfiiling rights of all children. After 2007, deinstitutionalization process continued to be developed, but at a much slower pace, while only in 2014 a new more accelerated process of deinstitutionalization has been claimed and started since 2016. Based on the key characteristics of the system presented in evolution, the paper concludes with a series of development needs in the field of child protection system in Romania.

Kushal J. Rohilla, Keith T. Gagnon

Abstract Microsatellites, or simple tandem repeat sequences, occur naturally in the human genome and have important roles in genome evolution and function. However, the expansion of microsatellites is associated with over two dozen neurological diseases. A common denominator among the majority of these disorders is the expression of expanded tandem repeat-containing RNA, referred to as xtrRNA in this review, which can mediate molecular disease pathology in multiple ways. This review focuses on the potential impact that simple tandem repeat expansions can have on the biology and metabolism of RNA that contain them and underscores important gaps in understanding. Merging the molecular biology of repeat expansion disorders with the current understanding of RNA biology, including splicing, transcription, transport, turnover and translation, will help clarify mechanisms of disease and improve therapeutic development.

Maria Cecilia Mancini, Claudio Consiglieri

Typical products can contribute to socio-economic development of their place of origin if they are able to take part in the logic of the global market. The aim of this research is to examine one type of innovation, the use of PDO products as ingredients, as a part of a strategy to re-launch PDO products which have a mature market. The evolution of the concept of innovation is discussed; innovation is then considered in relation to product life cycle and information asymmetry. There is then a case study on the use of PDO Parmigiano Reggiano cheese as an ingredient in industrial processing. This case shows that even incremental innovation can have serious effects for the market when it is applied on production phases which lie outside the direct control of the PDO producers. In order to protect the consumer as well as the PDO producer, it would be advisable for new legislation to regulate in more detail innovation involving products bearing origin certificates.

N. Wever, L. Schmid, A. Heilig et al.

The widely used detailed SNOWPACK model has undergone constant development over the years. A notable recent extension is the introduction of a Richards equation (RE) solver as an alternative for the bucket-type approach for describing water transport in the snow and soil layers. In addition, continuous updates of snow settling and new snow density parameterizations have changed model behavior. This study presents a detailed evaluation of model performance against a comprehensive multiyear data set from Weissfluhjoch near Davos, Switzerland. The data set is collected by automatic meteorological and snowpack measurements and manual snow profiles. During the main winter season, snow height (RMSE: < 4.2 cm), snow water equivalent (SWE, RMSE: < 40 mm w.e.), snow temperature distributions (typical deviation with measurements: < 1.0 °C) and snow density (typical deviation with observations: < 50 kg m⁻³) as well as their temporal evolution are well simulated in the model and the influence of the two water transport schemes is small. The RE approach reproduces internal differences over capillary barriers but fails to predict enough grain growth since the growth routines have been calibrated using the bucket scheme in the original SNOWPACK model. However, the agreement in both density and grain size is sufficient to parameterize the hydraulic properties successfully. In the melt season, a pronounced underestimation of typically 200 mm w.e. in SWE is found. The discrepancies between the simulations and the field data are generally larger than the differences between the two water transport schemes. Nevertheless, the detailed comparison of the internal snowpack structure shows that the timing of internal temperature and water dynamics is adequately and better represented with the new RE approach when compared to the conventional bucket scheme. On the contrary, the progress of the meltwater front in the snowpack as detected by radar and the temporal evolution of the vertical distribution of melt forms in manually observed snow profiles do not support this conclusion. This discrepancy suggests that the implementation of RE partly mimics preferential flow effects.

V. Stolbova, P. Martin, B. Bookhagen et al.

This paper employs a complex network approach to determine the topology and evolution of the network of extreme precipitation that governs the organization of extreme rainfall before, during, and after the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) season. We construct networks of extreme rainfall events during the ISM (June–September), post-monsoon (October–December), and pre-monsoon (March–May) periods from satellite-derived (Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission, TRMM) and rain-gauge interpolated (Asian Precipitation Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards the Evaluation of Water Resources, APHRODITE) data sets. The structure of the networks is determined by the level of synchronization of extreme rainfall events between different grid cells throughout the Indian subcontinent. Through the analysis of various complex-network metrics, we describe typical repetitive patterns in North Pakistan (NP), the Eastern Ghats (EG), and the Tibetan Plateau (TP). These patterns appear during the pre-monsoon season, evolve during the ISM, and disappear during the post-monsoon season. These are important meteorological features that need further attention and that may be useful in ISM timing and strength prediction.

Valerio Alejandro, Whitfield James, Kim Kyung et al.

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Volutin granules appear to be universally distributed and are morphologically and chemically identical to acidocalcisomes, which are electron-dense granular organelles rich in calcium and phosphate, whose functions include storage of phosphorus and various metal ions, metabolism of polyphosphate, maintenance of intracellular pH, osmoregulation and calcium homeostasis. Prokaryotes are thought to differ from eukaryotes in that they lack membrane-bounded organelles. However, it has been demonstrated that as in acidocalcisomes, the calcium and polyphosphate-rich intracellular "volutin granules (polyphosphate bodies)" in two bacterial species, <it>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</it>, and <it>Rhodospirillum rubrum</it>, are membrane bound and that the vacuolar proton-translocating pyrophosphatases (V-H⁺PPases) are present in their surrounding membranes. Volutin granules and acidocalcisomes have been found in organisms as diverse as bacteria and humans.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we show volutin granules also occur in Archaea and are, therefore, present in the three superkingdoms of life (Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya). Molecular analyses of V-H⁺PPase pumps, which acidify the acidocalcisome lumen and are diagnostic proteins of the organelle, also reveal the presence of this enzyme in all three superkingdoms suggesting it is ancient and universal. Since V-H⁺PPase sequences contained limited phylogenetic signal to fully resolve the ancestral nodes of the tree, we investigated the divergence of protein domains in the V-H⁺PPase molecules. Using Protein family (Pfam) database, we found a domain in the protein, PF03030. The domain is shared by 31 species in Eukarya, 231 in Bacteria, and 17 in Archaea. The universal distribution of the V-H⁺PPase PF03030 domain, which is associated with the V-H⁺PPase function, suggests the domain and the enzyme were already present in the Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The importance of the V-H⁺PPase function and the evolutionary dynamics of these domains support the early origin of the acidocalcisome organelle. In particular, the universality of volutin granules and presence of a functional V-H⁺PPase domain in the three superkingdoms of life reveals that the acidocalcisomes may have appeared earlier than the divergence of the superkingdoms. This result is remarkable and highlights the possibility that a high degree of cellular compartmentalization could already have been present in the LUCA.</p> <p>Reviewers</p> <p>This article was reviewed by Anthony Poole, Lakshminarayan Iyer and Daniel Kahn</p>