Phycology

Occurrence of large-scale harmful algal blooms (HABs) in our reservoirs and water bodies threaten both quality of our drinking water and economy of aquaculture immensely. Hence, rapid removal of HAB biomass during and after a bloom is crucial in protecting the quality of our drinking water and preserve our water resources. We reported here a rapidly deployable algae cleaning system based on a high-capacity high-throughput (HCHT) spiral blade continuous centrifuge connected with inlet and effluent water tanks and a series of feed-in and feed-out pumps as well as piping, all fitted into a standard 20 feet metal shipping container. The system separates algal biomass from algae-laden water with a maximum flow rate of 4000 L/h and a centrifugal force of 4500× g. Cells collected by the system are still intact due to the low centrifugal force used. We showed that after HCHT centrifugation, cellular contents of HAB biomass were not found in the effluent water, and hence, could be discharged...

Population dynamics of Noctiluca scintillans (Macartney) Kof. et Swezy containing the photosynthetic endosymbiont Pedinomonas noctilucae (Subrahman.) Sweeney was investigated in relation to environmental conditions in the upper Gulf of Thailand. A clear association was observed between the abundance of N. scintillans and the monsoon cycle, with its blooms occurring during the southwest (SW) monsoon from May to September, and low abundance during the northeast (NE) monsoon from November to February. Nutrient concentrations were higher during the SW monsoon than during the NE monsoon due to the combined effect of increased river discharge into the northern upper gulf and the transport of the riverine inputs by the prevailing clockwise circulation of the water. These nutrient conditions favored the growth of both phytoplankton and the endosymbiont. Correlation analysis revealed that the higher abundance of N. scintillans in the SW monsoon was manifested primarily by higher growth throu...

Pigment analysis performed on 30 Prasinophy- ceae strains revealed two main groups: the prasinoxanthin-containing and prasinoxanthin- less Prasinophyceae. Prasinoxanthin-containing Prasinophyceae comprised the orders Mamiellales, Pseudoscourfieldiales (Pycnococcaceae), and Prasi- nococcales. For this group, classification with pig- ment composition showed a good agreement with molecular phylogeny. Mamiellales, except Crustomastix stigmatica, accumulated uriolide, mi- cromonal, dihydrolutein, and the pigment Uniden- tified M1 as

The cell phone is ever-present on college campuses and frequently used in settings where learning occurs. Several new studies point out that there is an increasingly evident relationship between cell phone usage and behaviors that lead to poor academic performance. Because students are subject to much change in this early part of their adulthood, students cannot afford to add another burden on our psyche. Excessive cell phone usage can often also lead to effects that are not regularly believed to come as effects of its use, such as anxiety, depression, nomophobia, and many more. The purpose of this proposal is to showcase a five-step plan that can help treat and reduce the dependence of individuals on their cell phones. I believe this proposal should be shared on our university’s mental health and wellness department webpage, as there is currently no means to provide support for students that may face the challenges of a behavioral addiction related to their cell phone use.

... Lawrence at Sorel, Quebec, in the east to Thunder Bay on Lake Superior in the west (Fig. ... were the Cyanochloronta and Bacillariophyta (Tables 2 and 3). Three blue-green algae, Lyngbya digiietii, L. cpiphytica and Cìiamaesìphan incrustam were the dom-inants, accounting for ...

Morphological and photosynthetic performance
were analyzed in species of the genus Caulerpa from
an exposed coral reef and a sheltered reef lagoon.
Morphological characters, such as distance between
modules, number of modules, stolon branches and
rhizoid clusters per centimeter of stolon, indicated
a uniformity among species within a specific habitat.
‘‘Guerilla,’’ or diffusive, growth forms were characteristic
for lagoon species and ‘‘phalanx,’’ or compact,
growth forms for reef species. Differences in
photosynthesis were found between Caulerpa species.
Sun-tolerant species were found on the reef,
and both sun- and shade-tolerant species were present
in the lagoon. In the lagoon, shade-tolerant species,
such as C. lanuginosa J. Agardh, were found
growing in the understory, and sun-tolerant species,
such as C. paspaloides (Bory) Greville, formed the
canopy. C. cupressoides (West in Vahl) C. Agardh was
the only species found in both environments; it
showed higher photosynthetic rates and a compressed
morphology when growing on the reef and
lower photosynthetic rates and expanded morphology
for lagoonal ramets. These results suggest that
C. cupressoides possesses a broad phenotypic ability
to acclimate to lagoonal and reef settings in comparison
to other Caulerpa species, enhancing its ecological
success in this particular system.

We designed a new toxic bioassay using the green paramecia Paramecium bursaria as testing organisms. P. bursaria is a unicellular organism that occurs widely in rivers and ponds. Since P. bursaria uses metabolites of endosymbiotic green algae in the cytoplasm as a nutritive source, culturing P. bursaria is much easier than culturing mammalian cells. The use of P. bursaria will thus make quicker and more convenient evaluation of toxicity of various polluting chemicals. Here, we selected thirty-two pollutants such as pesticides, toxic metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Those substances were added at various concentrations to the culture medium of paramecia. Then the IC 50 values, defined as the concentrations of chemicals inhibiting the growth of organisms by 50%, obtained for both paramecia and mammalian cell cultures were compared. We found that parame-cia were much highly sensitive to some chemicals such as methylmercury chloride and mercuric chloride, compared to cultured mammalian cells. We conclude that P. bursaria is one of the best organism for assessing the effect of chemical pollutants in the aqueous environment.

Public Private Partnership (PPP) has appreciably motivated the public sector to provide value for money on short term basis. The PPP is a sharing of responsibility between government and private sector that usually shares in terms of services. Due to budgetary constraints the government of Pakistan is compelled to ask for loan from donor agencies like IMF and others. It cannot cater the monetary requirements of the projects in timely manner. The Corporate Sector plays a vital role through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by providing social infrastructure/ services to the communities in their area of operation.  For this reason the  government has to engage itself into PPP arrangements. Unlike other governmental practices e.g. involving in infrastructure development such as roads, bridges and buildings etc., the Government of Sindh should be involved in social infrastructure development by strengthening community development. In the present study the need of PPP is advocated, practices in exploration of opportunities are highlighted and threats together with the development of criteria for evaluation for yielding optimum and substantial outputs are discussed with special emphasis on developing seaweed industry through PPP.

The red seaweed Porphyra (Bangiophyceae) and related Bangiales have global economic importance. Here, we report the analysis of a comprehensive transcriptome comprising ca. 4.7 million expressed sequence tag (EST) reads from P. umbilicalis (L.) J. Agardh and P. purpurea (Roth) C. Agardh (ca. 980 Mbp of data generated using 454 FLX pyrosequencing). These ESTs were isolated from the haploid gametophyte (blades from both species) and diploid conchocelis stage (from P. purpurea). In a bioinformatic analysis, only 20% of the contigs were found to encode proteins of known biological function. Comparative analysis of predicted protein functions in mesophilic (including Porphyra) and extremophilic red algae suggest that the former has more putative functions related to signaling, membrane transport processes, and establishment of protein complexes. These enhanced functions may reflect general mesophilic adaptations. A near-complete repertoire of genes encoding histones and ribosomal proteins was identified, with some differentially regulated between the blade and conchocelis stage in P. purpurea. This finding may reflect specific regulatory processes associated with these distinct phases of the life history. Fatty acid desaturation patterns, in combination with gene expression profiles, demonstrate differences from seed plants with respect to the transport of fatty acid/lipid among subcellular compartments and the molecular machinery of lipid assembly. We also recovered a near-complete gene repertoire for enzymes involved in the formation of sterols and carotenoids, including candidate genes for the biosynthesis of lutein. Our findings provide key insights into the evolution, development, and biology of Porphyra, an important lineage of red algae.

Here we report the characterization of a new Gracilaria species from the Venice Lagoon , identified through molecular analyses, using the plastid large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rbcL) and the intergenic Rubisco spacer (rbcL-rbcS), combined with morphological observations and pigment composition. This new entity, recorded in the artificial substrata of the Venice Gulf and never found in other localities of the Adriatic Sea, was not described by local or international literature up to now, and adds to the other 12 Gracilaria taxa recorded in the Mediterranean Sea. Thalli exhibit a green-yellowish pigmentation with pink shades and dense bushy and spiny branching in the distal portions. Tetrasporangial plants show abundant short spine-like uni-tribranched branchlets throughout the thallus. This species is an attached form growing on artificial rocky substrata of the low mid-littoral and upper sub-littoral zone in spring and early summer. Molecular analyses based on the plastidial rbcL gene showed a 99.68 % nucleotide identity with another Gracilaria sp. (named Gracilaria-LI02, GenBank AY651040) from southern Sicily reported by Gargiulo and collaborators in 2006 and not identifiable with any other species described for the Mediterranean Sea until now. Probably the recent finding of this new species is not due to an extra-Mediterranean introduction but is the consequence of its misidentification with other specimens whose morphologies are very similar: Gracilaria gracilis and Gracilaria conferta. Moreover the comparison of our rbcL-rbcS spacer sequences with those of these two cryptic species and the phylogenetic analyses confirmed that the Venice specimen is to consider a new distinct species.

Статья посвящена рассмотрению сущности совести c точек зрения религии и науки. Приводятся авторские определения понятий «сознание» и «осознавание», которые обеспечивают понимание совести не как божественного начала в человеке, а как нравственного сознания личности, возникающего в процессе социального развития человека. Обращается внимание на наличие различий в интерпретации морали и нравственности, морального и нравственного сознания, которые способствуют пониманию сущности совести. В качестве основных форм проявления совести рассматриваются переживания вины и стыда. Предпринимается попытка описания сущности и психологических механизмов совести с помощью математических (символьных) выражений. При этом совесть рассматривается как виртуальная личность, существующая в психике человека в форме персонифицированного образа его идеального «Я».

Alcanzar lo que traería consigo una comprensión estética e interpretativa de la vasta creación pianística de Frederic Chopin (1810-1849), obliga a la significación de un rasgo inequívoco que persiste en el gran músico polaco, implicándolo insoslayablemente con el sutil ejercicio de una autorreferencialidad natural a su propia producción compositiva.

El artículo tiene como objetivo analizar algunos patrones de la narrativa del abuso sexual contra mujeres en el contexto peruano desde el modelo de configuración de la trama propuesto por Paul Ricoeur. En la primera parte del trabajo se explica el modelo temporal y los elementos fundamentales para la construcción de la trama que se usaron al elaborar el instrumento de evaluación. En la segunda, se exponen algunos aspectos del antes, inmediatamente-posterior y después del abuso con los que se pueden vislumbrar los estragos que causa en la autocomprensión de la persona. En la tercera, se propone lo que se ha denominado la metáfora del recobrar el tiempo. En otras palabras, la invitación a una narrativa en la que los nudos de la trama permitan desenlaces en las que los abusos son resimbolizados a la luz del final intencional del relato. Por último, en la discusión, se proponen algunos ajustes a la terapia narrativa usada actualmente en psicología desde los presupuestos teóricos expuestos y los datos recolectados en las entrevistas.

Sustainable production of renewable energy is being hotly debated globally since it is increasingly understood that first generation biofuels, primarily produced from food crops and mostly oil seeds are limited in their ability to achieve targets for biofuel production, climate change mitigation and economic growth. These concerns have increased the interest in developing second generation biofuels produced from non-food feedstocks such as microalgae, which potentially offer greatest opportunities in the longer term. This paper reviews the current status of microalgae use for biodiesel production, including their cultivation, harvesting, and processing. The microalgae species most used for biodiesel production are presented and their main advantages described in comparison with other available biodiesel feedstocks. The various aspects associated with the design of microalgae production units are described, giving an overview of the current state of development of algae cultivation systems (photo-bioreactors and open ponds). Other potential applications and products from microalgae are also presented such as for biological sequestration of CO2, wastewater treatment, in human health, as food additive, and for aquaculture.