86,834 research outputs found
Author Correction: A molecular timescale for eukaryote evolution with implications for the origin of red algal-derived plastids
No full textMilk Supply Chain and Efficiency of Smallholder Dairy Producers in Pakistan
No full textMany developing countries are re-orienting their production and marketing systems by linking local agri-producers with organized supply chain networks and supermarkets to meet increasing consumer demands. However, the existing literature is silent on the effects of such integration on relative inefficiency of smallholder producers. This paper analyzes the effects of such supply chains using data from a natural experiment in the dairy sector of Pakistan. We study the impact of rural milk supply chain, known as milk district, on smallholder efficiency of commercial dairy producers by employing stochastic production frontier and technical inefficiency effects model using survey data of 800 dairy households. While location of dairy households in our sample is exogenously determined, building of milk supply chain indeed decreases technical inefficiency. We detect stronger power of milk district in further reducing technical inefficiency if the farms are located in remote areas, or if their size is relatively large. The advice to policy makers from these results conforms to the standard economic view that market competition leads to decreased levels of technical inefficiency of smallholder producers.supply chain, Production frontiers, Dairy efficiency, Food policy
Phylogenomic Insights into the Origin of Primary Plastids
No full textAbstract The origin of plastids was a major evolutionary event that paved the way for an astonishing diversification of photosynthetic eukaryotes. Plastids originated by endosymbiosis between a heterotrophic eukaryotic host and cyanobacteria, presumably in a common ancestor of the primary photosynthetic eukaryotes (Archaeplastida). A single origin of primary plastids is well supported by plastid evidence but not by nuclear phylogenomic analyses, which have consistently failed to recover the monophyly of Archaeplastida hosts. Importantly, plastid monophyly and nonmonophyletic hosts could be explained under scenarios of independent or serial eukaryote-to-eukaryote endosymbioses. Here, we assessed the strength of the signal for the monophyly of Archaeplastida hosts in four available phylogenomic data sets. The effect of phylogenetic methodology, data quality, alignment trimming strategy, gene and taxon sampling, and the presence of outlier genes were investigated. Our analyses revealed a lack of support for host monophyly in the shorter individual data sets. However, when analyzed together under rigorous data curation and complex mixture models, the combined nuclear data sets supported the monophyly of primary photosynthetic eukaryotes (Archaeplastida) and recovered a putative association with plastid-lacking Picozoa. This study represents an important step toward better understanding deep eukaryotic evolution and the origin of plastids. [Archaeplastida; Bayesian; chloroplast; maximum likelihood; mixture model; ortholog; outlier loci; paralog; protist.
Variations on the Author
No full text“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Factors mediating plastid dependency and the origins of parasitism in apicomplexans and their close relatives
No full textApicomplexans are a major lineage of parasites, including causative agents of malaria and toxoplasmosis. How such highly adapted parasites evolved from free-living ancestors is poorly understood, particularly because they contain nonphotosynthetic plastids with which they have a complex metabolic dependency. Here, we examine the origin of apicomplexan parasitism by resolving the evolutionary distribution of several key characteristics in their closest free-living relatives, photosynthetic chromerids and predatory colpodellids. Using environmental sequence data, we describe the diversity of these apicomplexan-related lineages and select five species that represent this diversity for transcriptome sequencing. Phylogenomic analysis recovered a monophyletic lineage of chromerids and colpodellids as the sister group to apicomplexans, and a complex distribution of retention versus loss for photosynthesis, plastid genomes, and plastid organelles. Reconstructing the evolution of all plastid and cytosolic metabolic pathways related to apicomplexan plastid function revealed an ancient dependency on plastid isoprenoid biosynthesis, predating the divergence of apicomplexan and dinoflagellates. Similarly, plastid genome retention is strongly linked to the retention of two genes in the plastid genome, sufB and clpC, altogether suggesting a relatively simple model for plastid retention and loss. Lastly, we examine the broader distribution of a suite of molecular characteristics previously linked to the origins of apicomplexan parasitism and find that virtually all are present in their free-living relatives. The emergence of parasitism may not be driven by acquisition of novel components, but rather by loss and modification of the existing, conserved traits
[Newspaper Clipping: Author Claims Evidence of Second JFK Assassin #1]
No full textNewspaper article titled "Author Claims Evidence of Second JFK Assassin." The article states that author Richard J. Whalen concluded "that there is circumstantial evidence to support the theory of a second assassin in the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.
Mirtogenol potentiates latanoprost in lowering intraocular pressure and improves ocular blood flow in asymptomatic subjects.
No full textAlso By The Same Author: AKTiveAuthor, a Citation Graph Approach to Name Disambiguation
No full textThe desire for definitive data and the semantic web drive for inference over heterogeneous data sources requires co-reference resolution to be performed on those data. In particular, name disambiguation is required to allow accurate publication lists, citation counts and impact measures to be determined. This paper describes a graph-based approach to author disambiguation on large-scale citation networks. Using self-citation, co-authorship and document source analyses, AKTiveAuthor clusters papers, achieving precision of 0.997 and recall of 0.818 over a test group of eight surname clusters
John F. Kennedy telegram to Roosevelt
No full textJersey Homesteads (later the Borough of Roosevelt) was established in the 1930s as an agro-industrial cooperative community. It was established specifically for urban Jewish garment workers, many of whom had emigrated from Europe. President John F. Kennedy sent a telegram to the citizens of Roosevelt, New Jersey, apologizing for not being able to attend the memorial dedication in honor of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (Jersey Homesteads became Roosevelt in 1945 in honor of the president.) President Kennedy expressed his gratitude to the people of Roosevelt for constructing the memorial, and commented that it will serve as a constant reminder of Roosevelt's good works
Data for "New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life"
No full textData associated with the manuscript "New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life" (Jamy et al 2025). It includes the plastid MAGs (metagenome-assembled genomes), along with individual gene alignments, concatenated and trimmed alignments, and maximum-likelihood and Bayesian tree files for the phylogenomic dataset.
General informationAuthor: Jamy et al, 2025
Contact email: [email protected]
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17044/scilifelab.28212173
License: CC BY 4.0
Last updated: 2025-10-27
Please cite as: Jamy et al (2025). Data for "New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life". https://doi.org/10.17044/scilifelab.28212173
Corresponding manuscript: Jamy M, Huber T, Antoine T, Ruscheweyh HJ, Paoli L, Pelletier E, Delmont TO, Burki F. New deep-branching environmental plastid genomes on the algal tree of life. bioRxiv. 2025:2025-01. https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.01.16.63333
- …
