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Many petroleum-polluted areas are considered as extreme environments because of co-occurrence of low and high temperatures, high salt, and acidic and anaerobic conditions. Alkanes, which are major constituents of crude oils, can be degraded under extreme conditions, both aerobically and anaerobically by bacteria and archaea of different phyla. Alkane degraders possess exclusive metabolic pathways and survival strategies, which involve the use of protein and RNA chaperones, compatible solutes, biosurfactants, and exopolysaccharide production for self-protection during harsh environmental conditions such as oxidative and osmotic stress, and ionic nutrient-shortage. Recent findings suggest that the thermophilic sulfate-reducing archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus uses a novel alkylsuccinate synthase for long-chain alkane degradation, and the thermophilic Candidatus Syntrophoarchaeum butanivorans anaerobically oxidizes butane via alkyl-coenzyme M formation. In addition, gene expression data suggest that extremophiles produce energy via the glyoxylate shunt and the Pta-AckA pathway when grown on a diverse range of alkanes under stress conditions. Alkane degraders possess biotechnological potential for bioremediation because of their unusual characteristics. This review will provide genomic and molecular insights on alkane degraders under extreme conditions.

In previous discussions about technological change, appropriate technologies emerged as one of the alternatives to the modernizing technology transfer model that prevailed for many years in Latin America. However, despite the time elapsed since its conceptual creation, it is not easy to find studies assessing interventions carried out with this type of approach. This paper addresses this subject by analyzing a technology transfer experience using goat manure as a fertilizer for household crops in Santiago del Estero (Argentina). Despite having an appropriate a priori design, the technology was not replicated by all the experimenters. A quantitative and qualitative two-stage approach was used to address it: the first approach explored structure variables used by each experimenter and correlated these with the times that he/she repeated the practice; and in the second one, an analysis of the farm operations through case studies was carried out. The results indicate that a particular farm structure did not guarantee a result in terms of adoption of an appropriate technology, and that the operation and the survival strategy (or peasant strategy) of each family gave the farm an individual dynamic that often was decisive in adopting the proposal. In addition, at least for the current experience, technology design using locally controlled resources and the presentation of a unique proposal for all the experimenters was not enough. The multiple adjustments used by peasants suggest the need to investigate local innovation processes.

Incidents disturb schools’ everyday functioning (Barrère, 2002) and are experienced as ordeals by beginning teachers. When these incidents are analysed from a sociology of actors standpoint, the classroom appear as a polemical space; teachers engage in interpersonal power struggles by developing survival strategies (Woods, 1977). The sense of helplessness expressed by beginning teachers who are coping with critical situations show how important it is to develop training resources. Our aim is to analyse this kind of resources, namely the ones produced in the frame of the Néopass@ction project implemented in France under Luc Ria’s leadership. We will insist on the relevance, but also on the limits, of such resources.

This article reports on the results from a study done on the strident economic times in the construction industry following the FIFA Soccer World Cup – from August 2010 to December 2012. The research was conducted among Grade GB7, GB8 and GB9 main contractors in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, to identify the key strategies that are able to keep construction entities in operation. The study further investigated the key elements of a successful turnaround strategy, as well as the most effective methods of implementing strategies in construction organisations. A survey among twenty-two construction companies was conducted, using a questionnaire in which a 5-point Likert scale was used to assess the opinions of the respondents. Results from the study showed that companies tendered on more than one type of work (residential, commercial and/or industrial projects) during recessionary times, whereas they usually tendered on one type of work only. It was also noted that not only did the majority of the companies tender on different types of work (residential/commercial/industrial) during the recessionary period (2010-2012), but this was also found to be the most effective means of ‘keeping their doors open’. Construction industry companies are also advised that they should revise their short-term strategic plans on a quarterly basis, while the long-term vision should be assessed and adapted annually, whenever necessary.

Women's work in fisheries in the Global South is valorized for its role in sustaining small-scale fishing in the face of complex challenges from corporate-backed industrial fishing. This paper examines how capitalist modernization of fisheries and its attendant changes have transformed the worlds of work of artisanal fisherwomen in a Latin Catholic fisher village in the South Indian state of Kerala. Using ethnographic research and qualitative methods, the paper explores women's interfaces and antagonisms with new actors in the commission shops and seashore auctions where they procure fish as well as the public fish markets where they sell fish. The paper discusses women's survival strategies in the face of growing competition in the vending business and examines their implications for women's engagement in collective action for improved work conditions and the rights of artisanal fish workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Cycling of sensitivity to physical dormancy (PY) break has been documented in herbaceous species. However, it has not been reported in tree seeds, nor has the effect of seed size on sensitivity to PY‐breaking been evaluated in any species. Thus, the aims of this study were to investigate how PY is broken in seeds of the tropical legume tree Senna multijuga, if seeds exhibit sensitivity cycling and if seed size affects induction into sensitivity. Dormancy and germination were evaluated in intact and scarified seeds from two collections of S. multijuga. The effects of temperature, moisture and seed size on induction of sensitivity to dormancy‐breaking were assessed, and seasonal changes in germination and persistence of buried seeds were determined. Reversal of sensitivity was also investigated. Fresh seeds were insensitive to dormancy break at wet–high temperatures, and an increase in sensitivity occurred in buried seeds after they experienced low temperatures during winter (dry season). Temperatures ≤20 °C increased sensitivity, whereas temperatures ≥30 °C decreased it regardless of moisture conditions. Dormancy was broken in sensitive seeds by incubating them at 35 °C. Sensitivity could be reversed, and large seeds were more sensitive than small seeds to sensitivity induction. Seeds of S. multijuga exhibit sensitivity cycling to PY‐breaking. Seeds become sensitive during winter and can germinate with the onset of the spring–summer rainy season in Brazil. Small seeds are slower to become sensitive than large ones, and this may be a mechanism by which germination is spread over time. Sensitive seeds that fail to germinate become insensitive during exposure to drought during summer. This is the first report of sensitivity cycling in a tree species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In this study on hydraulic redistribution (HR) in roots, we aimed to use the calibrated average-gradient (CAG) heat-pulse method, the novelty being the use of a much narrower averaging window for the signal analysis, in order to achieve a more linear calibration curve, allowing the HR quantification.Methods: The study was conducted in 12 large roots of a rain-fed olive orchard, for 6 months without significant rain, when the predawn leaf water potential decreased to −2.4 MPa, and immediately following the first autumn rains.Results: Detailed numerical modelling of the CAG method allowed verification of the response of the measurement system to a range of drivers, improving the linear range of the calibration response function, which has remained stable over the observations period. On average, reverse flow was observed during 30% of the summer nights and, in a conservative estimate, it increased to about 5% of total daily root flow before first autumn rain.Conclusions: Reverse flow accounted on average for 2.6% of the total daily root flow, enabling upper roots to stay active during the very dry late-summer period. In qualitative terms, our results confirm the CAG method as a reliable tool to identify reverse flow and quantify HR when it occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While autocracies constitute a third of all signatories of preferential trade agreements (PTAs), very little research has explained why some autocrats join PTAs while others do not. We argue that this variation reflects the leader’s degree of vulnerability to elite-led coups during leadership change–whether a leader enters power legally or extralegally. New extralegal leaders are more vulnerable than new legal leaders, which encourages extralegal leaders to use PTAs to both build support from exporters and pressure disloyal importers. We test our hypotheses using a dyadic data set of 120 autocracies from 1960 to 2014. Our results show that extralegal leaders sign more and deeper PTAs than legal leaders. Moreover, we find that extralegal leaders with a high risk of coups are more likely to form deep PTAs than extralegal leaders with a low risk of coups. In line with our argument, we also provide evidence that extralegal leaders sign trade agreements that are likely to be enforced. Our article has implications for the political economy of trade and for development studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents a reflection on the survival strategies of a group of women, assisted by a social welfare organization and residents from Historical Central Region of Santos, a city on the south coast of São Paulo, facing socio - spatial transformations, generators social inequality and poverty. We, opted for the qualitative approach methodology, involving field observation, semi-structured interview, bibliographical and documentary review. The results of this work point to the establishment of a dynamic and articulated network between the services of social policies and the use of the territory in a strategic way by the population, in an attempt to respond to their demands and needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homelessness is a multifaceted social phenomenon affecting to a significant degree the nature of individuals in multiple dimensions. The consequences of losing a home are usually accompanied by a change in attitudes and how individuals behave toward both themselves and the majority society. The absence of housing shapes the homeless in terms of their awareness and self-fulfillment, as they search for a place to live and apply strategies for survival on the street. This study aims to analyze the results of concrete research and the survival strategies homeless people routinely use in conjunction with the effort to secure their essential needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Information Sciences / Informacijos Mokslai is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuaria is the property of Agrosavia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ABSTRACT The dynamic response of organisms exposed to environmental pathogens determines their survival or demise, and the outcome of this interaction depends on the host’s susceptibility and pathogen-dependent virulence factors. The transmission of acquired information about the nature of a pathogen to progeny may ensure effective defensive strategies for the progeny’s survival in adverse environments. Environmental RNA interference (RNAi) is a systemic and heritable mechanism and has recently been linked to antibacterial and antifungal defenses in both plants and animals. Here, we report that the second generation of Caenorhabditis elegans living on pathogenic bacteria can avoid bacterial infection by entering diapause in an RNAi pathway-dependent mechanism. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the information encoding this survival strategy is transgenerationally transmitted to the progeny via the maternal germ line. IMPORTANCE Bacteria vastly influence physiology and behavior, and yet, the specific mechanisms by which they cause behavioral changes in hosts are not known. We use C. elegans as a host and the bacteria they eat to understand how microbes trigger a behavioral change that helps animals to survive. We found that animals faced with an infection for two generations could enter a hibernationlike state, arresting development by forming dauer larvae. Dauers have closed mouths and effectively avoid infection. Animals accumulate information that is transgenerationally transmitted to the next generations to form dauers. This work gives insight on how bacteria communicate in noncanonical ways with their hosts, resulting in long-lasting effects providing survival strategies to the community.

This paper intends to carry out a brief description, from field data and cartographic surveys on subsistence activities - carried out by populations of Amazonian fishermen - presenting some categories of territorial analysis that can be worked in the use of natural resources, taking into account the livelihoods of this population, the territorial coverage under the influence of fishing and the mechanisms of territorial representation elaborated with the aid of participatory mapping techniques (SILVA; VERBICARO, 2016). Following this purpose, when analyzing Cajueiro residents - located in the district of Mosqueiro, in the municipality of Belém, in the state of Pará - who practice fishing, we seek to construct a theoretical and technical debate about the survival strategies of these social actors, to identify the territorialities of their respective lifestyle directly linked to the fishing activity; to diagnose how the uses and distribution of the natural resources used by these individuals are; as well as trying to understand how the activities used for subsistence and undertaken by these fishermen are represented, when the resources in question are scarce in the territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article documents the biographies of 60 homeless people from a range of different backgrounds in South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria. The article focuses on their right to the city and how the lack thereof affects their daily lives. It explores the challenges they face on a daily basis and the different strategies they implement in mitigating these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: In recent years, Antarctica has become a key source of biotechnological resources. Native microorganisms have developed a wide range of survival strategies to adapt to the harsh Antarctic environment, including the formation of biofilms. Alginate is the principal component of the exopolysaccharide matrix in biofilms produced by Pseudomonas, and this component is highly demanded for the production of a wide variety of commercial products. There is a constant search for efficient alginate-producing organisms. Results: In this study, a novel strain of Pseudomonas mandelii isolated from Antarctica was characterized and found to overproduce alginate compared with other good alginate producers such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Alginate production and expression levels of the alginate operon were highest at 4°C. It is probable that this alginate-overproducing phenotype was the result of downregulated MucA, an anti-sigma factor of AlgU. Conclusion: Because biofilm formation is an efficient bacterial strategy to overcome stressful conditions, alginate overproduction might represent the best solution for the successful adaptation of P. mandelii to the extreme temperatures of the Antarctic. Through additional research, it is possible that this novel P. mandelii strain could become an additional source for biotechnological alginate production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deserts exhibit extreme climatic conditions. Small desert-dwelling vertebrates have physiological and behavioral adaptations to cope with these conditions, including the ability to seek shelter. We investigated the temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) regulating properties of the soil cracks that characterize the extensive cracking-clay landscapes of arid Australia, and the extent of their use by 2 small marsupial species: fat-tailed and stripe-faced dunnarts ( Sminthopsis crassicaudata and Sminthopsis macroura). We measured hourly (over 24-h periods) the T and RH of randomly-selected soil cracks compared to outside conditions, during 2 summers and 2 winters. We tracked 17 dunnarts (8 Sminthopsis crassicaudata and 9 Sminthopsis macroura) to quantify their use of cracks. Cracks consistently moderated microclimate, providing more stable conditions than available from non-crack points, which often displayed comparatively dramatic fluctuations in T and RH. Both dunnart species used crack shelters extensively. Cracks constitute important shelter for small animals during extreme conditions by providing a stable microclimate, which is typically cooler than outside conditions in summer and warmer in winter. Cracks likely play a fundamental sheltering role by sustaining the physiological needs of small mammal populations. Globally, cracking-clay areas are dominated by agricultural land uses, including livestock grazing. Management of these systems should focus not only on vegetation condition, but also on soil integrity, to maintain shelter resources for ground-dwelling fauna. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants have been naturally gifted with mechanisms to adjust under very high or low nutrient concentrations. Heavy metal toxicity is considered as a major growth and yield-limiting factor for plants. This stress includes essential as well as non-essential metals. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known for mediating post-transcriptional regulation by cleaving transcripts or translational inhibition. It is commonly agreed that an extensive understanding of plant miRNAs will significantly help in the induction of tolerance against environmental stresses. With the introduction of the latest technology like next generation sequencing (NGS), a growing figure of miRNAs has been productively recognized in several plants for their diverse roles. These miRNAs are well-known modulators of plant responses to heavy metal (HM) stress. Data regarding metal-responsive miRNAs point out the vital role of plant miRNAs in supplementing metal detoxification by means of transcription factors (TF) or gene regulation. Acting as systemic signals, miRNAs also synchronize different physiological processes for plant responses to metal toxicities. In contrast to practicing techniques, using miRNA is a greatly helpful, pragmatic, and feasible approach. The earlier findings point towards miRNAs as a prospective target to engineer heavy metal tolerance in plants. Therefore, there is a need to augment our knowledge about the orchestrated functions of miRNAs during HM stress. We reviewed the deterministic significance of plant miRNAs in heavy metal tolerance and their role in mediating plant responses to HM toxicities. This review also summarized the topical developments by identification and validation of different metal stress-responsive miRNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript deals with the contemporary lifestyles of a family of artisanal fishermen in the district of Alter do Chão, in Santarém/PA. It is an exploratory study whose analyses seek to establish the hypothesis that the social actors involved in the study mobilize different maneuvers and strategies to escape the difficulties encountered in their "primordial" craft, the fishing. New social configurations within the village and the advancement of external economic forces complicate the social reproduction and the condition of local artisanal fisherman. The data collected in the field from ethnographic immersion highlights aspects of the way of life of these social actors that approximate them of the characterization of polyvalent fishermen in the terms of Furtado (1990, 1993) and which indicate the need for an approach that considers historical and geographical particularities, individual trajectories and relational situations. Thus, it is concluded in the first instance that the native understanding of the fishermen on the meanings of experience and survival strategy is of great value both in the "tricks" to capture the fish and in the "tricks of life" and that multicultural contexts, due mainly to the consolidation of tourism in a small locality, can generate new world perspectives from the contact between cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After suffering the impact of the 2008 crisis, both for internal and external reasons, Portugal requested in 2011financial assistance from the Troika (IMF/ECB/EU). The Portuguese experienced company bankruptcies, cuts to salaries and pensions, rising unemployment, job insecurity, and difficulties in paying their mortgages. Despite severe austerity programs and formal exit of the Troika, Portugal failed to reduce public debt. After giving a brief overview of development models, in this article we will focus our attention on the impacts of the crisis in rural areas and the diverse perceptions of crisis by different groups and families. As a case study, we will consider the strategies employed by residents of a parish in the municipality of Barcelos (Braga, Minho); strategies deployed in order to reduce the damage caused by the crisis. Against the mainstream liberal perspective and the traditional Marxist thesis, we sustain that rural people adopt an attitude of resiliency in relation to the austerity program and, on the basis of empirical qualitative research methods, we can witness creative familial strategies to survive: migration, exploitation of the potentialities of the land, as well as actions that take advantage of artisanal and commercial opportunities in order to cope with the difficulties caused by the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are often portrayed as helpless victims. Yet many women who experience IPV implement strategies to help them survive the abuse. This qualitative study sought to explore the survivor strategies used by low-income black women who experience IPV. Authors used a semistructured interview guide to survey 26 survivors who reported being in an IPV relationship in the past two years. Thematic analysis revealed three types of survivor strategies used by low-income black women: (1) internal (use of religion and becoming self-reliant), (2) interpersonal (leave the abuser or fight back), and (3) external (reliance on informal, formal, or both kinds of sources of support). This article informs social work practitioners of the strategies used by low-income black women in surviving IPV so that practitioners can develop interventions that support these strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vibrio vulnificus , a foodborne pathogen, has a high mortality rate. Despite its relevance to public health, the identification of virulence genes associated with the pathogenicity of currently known clinical isolates of V. vulnificus is incomplete and its synergistic pathogenesis remains unclear. Here, we integrate whole genome sequencing (WGS), genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and genome-wide epistasis studies (GWES), along with phenotype characterization to investigate the pathogenesis and survival strategies of V. vulnificus . GWAS and GWES identified a total of six genes ( purH , gmr , yiaV , dsbD , ramA , and wbpA ) associated with the pathogenicity of clinical isolates related to nucleotide/amino acid transport and metabolism, cell membrane biogenesis, signal transduction mechanisms, and protein turnover. Of these, five were newly discovered potential specific virulence genes of V. vulnificus in this study. Furthermore, GWES combined with phenotype experiments indicated that V. vulnificus isolates were clustered into two ecological groups (EGs) that shared distinct biotic and abiotic factors, and ecological strategies. Our study reveals pathogenic mechanisms and their evolution in V. vulnificus to provide a solid foundation for designing new vaccines and therapeutic targets., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Zhang, Yuan, Hu, Jin, Bai, Xin, Kang and Wang.)

In the neighbourhoods of Dondo, the urban environment materialises through the appropriation of the natural environment by society in order to construct its habitat and fulfill its needs in a lasting, balanced manner, because “human participation in nature’s processes is the natural condition of human existence” (Schmidt, 1971: 79). In order to resist the dualistic city marginalisation, the external space surrounding the house – which I call the ‘outdoor domestic space’ – is adapted to integrate both farming and businesses, shaping a green and ruralised pattern of urbanisation. Assuming that there is an innate relationship between humanity and nature, industrialisation and the rise of capitalism marks the rupture between ‘democracy’ and ‘ecology’. This paper suggests that it is possible for societies to reassert collaborative practices and self‑organisation.

e analiza el clientelismo político en el caso de los movimientos sociales de lucha por vivienda en la ciudad de San José, durante la convulsa década de 1980. La problemática se aborda desde la complejidad de la relación clientelar, tomando en cuenta la subjetividad existente en la base del movimiento, la cual practicó estrategias de sobrevivencia para la resolución de problemas –principalmente de vivienda y servicios básicos–, una de cuyas manifestaciones fue acudir al clientelismo. Por lo tanto, se enfoca la relación clientelar desde una perspectiva que intenta complementar versiones que solo han percibido tal fenómeno como simple manipulación vertical. Abstract This article examines political clientelism in grass-roots social housing movements in San José during the turbulent decade of 1980. The authors analyze the complexity of the patron-client relationship, taking into account the subjectivity of the individuals involved, who adopted clientelism as a survival strategy to secure housing and basic services. Clientage is, therefore, addressed from a perspective that attempts to supplement approaches that view the phenomenon solely as a vertical power relationship.

Today, one of the major challenges in biophysics is to disclose the molecular mechanisms underlying biological processes. In such a frame, the understanding of the survival strategies in extreme conditions received a lot of attention both from the scientific and applicative points of view. Since nature provides precious suggestions to be applied for improving the quality of life, extremophiles are considered as useful model-systems. The main goal of this review is to present an overview of some systems, with a particular emphasis on trehalose playing a key role in several extremophile organisms. The attention is focused on the relation among the structural and dynamic properties of biomolecules and bioprotective mechanisms, as investigated by complementary spectroscopic techniques at low- and high-temperature values.

The increase in Equus africanus asinus Linnaeus population in semiarid areas of Northeast Brazil had significant impacts on wild and rural areas. The objective of this work was to analyze the herbivory of E. africanus asinus on Poincianella pyramidalis (Tul). L.P. Queiroz and determine the dendrophysiological strategies P. pyramidalis used during and after damage caused by E. africanus asinus. The selected areas have significant populations of P. pyramidalis with amplified importance value higher than 50%. Two areas were established: one control and another experimental, with presence of E. africanus asinus. The study was carried out from 2001 to 2015. The evaluated variables of P. pyramidalis were: sap flow, basic density, diameter, volume, biomass and leaf area index. The increase of abandoned E. africanus asinus in semiarid areas resulted in impact and responses from P. pyramidalis. This plant species compensates for biomass losses and physiological activities reduction with two strategies: i) increase in the belowground biomass stock, and ii) increase in sap flow in undisturbed branches.