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Abstract: Evropski bober je v Sloveniji in večjem delu Evrope v začetku 20. stoletja veljal za izumrlo vrsto. Ob koncu 20. stoletja se je po številnih reintrodukcijah in uveljavitvi ohranitvenih ukrepov ponovno razširil. V Sloveniji se je vnovič naselil leta 1998, na Goričkem leta 2016. V zimi 2021/22 smo na Goričkem popisali šest vodnih teles, na katerih je bilo med letoma 2016 in 2020 potrjeno pojavljanje te vrste. Namen popisa je bil ugotoviti značilnosti bobrovega habitata na Goričkem glede na ključne okoljske dejavnike, ki mu omogočajo preživetje. Zaradi zgodnje faze naselitve smo domnevali, da je bober za svoj teritorij izbral optimalne habitate. Na izbranih odsekih vodnih teles smo popisali 82 ploskev. Aktivnost bobra je bila potrjena na 71 % ploskev s stoječo in 26 % ploskev s tekočo vodo. Najpogostejši tip kopenskega habitata so bile njive. Gozd je pokrival le 18 % ploskev. Bober je bil najpogosteje zabeležen prav na ploskvah z gozdom (73 %). Brežine vodnih teles so bile v glavnem zelo strme (> 60°). Sledovi bobra so bili najpogosteje najdeni na brežinah z višino do vključno 1 m, naklonom 30°–60° in povprečno 500 m oddaljenostjo od naselij. Vodotoki, ki jih je na Goričkem naselil bober, so razmeroma ozki in plitki, a jih bober kljub temu naseljuje. Najpomembnejši okoljski dejavnik za bobre je razpoložljivost ustrezne lesne vegetacije, s katero se hrani predvsem jeseni in pozimi. Poznavanje značilnosti in izbire habitata je pomembno za varstveno upravljanje in monitoring bobra na Goričkem in v Sloveniji.
Keywords: Castor fiber, evropski bober, ekološke spremenljivke
Published in DKUM: 06.05.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 1
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Abstract: Criminal activities are predominantly due to males, with females exhibiting a significantly lower involvement, especially in serious offenses. This pattern extends to organized crime, where females are often perceived as less tolerant to illegal practices. However, the roles of males and females within corruption networks are less understood. Here, we analyze data from political scandals in Brazil and Spain to shed light on gender differences in corruption networks. Our findings reveal that females constitute 10% and 20% of all agents in the Brazilian and Spanish corruption networks, respectively, with these proportions remaining stable over time and across different scandal sizes. Despite this disparity in representation, centrality measures are comparable between genders, except among highly central individuals, for which males are further overrepresented. Additionally, gender has no significant impact on network resilience, whether through random dismantling or targeted attacks on the largest component. Males are more likely to be involved in multiple scandals than females, and scandals predominantly involving females are rare, though these differences are explained by a null network model in which gender is randomly assigned while maintaining gender proportions. Our results further reveal that the underrepresentation of females partially explains gender homophily in network associations, although in the Spanish network, male-to-male connections exceed expectations derived from a null model.
Keywords: gender disparity, corruption network, political scandal, social physics, social physics
Published in DKUM: 25.04.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 0
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Abstract: Temperature plays a crucial role in shaping the biology of insects. Developmental temperature and acclimation temperatures influence their ability to cope with extreme thermal conditions. This study investigates the effects of developmental temperatures during the pupal stage and adult acclimation temperatures on the thermal tolerance of Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, 1758. We investigated cold tolerance based on chill-coma recovery time and heat tolerance based on heat knockdown time. Beetles were reared at five developmental temperatures (16, 21, 25, 30 and 35 °C) and later exposed to corresponding adult acclimation temperatures. From developmental temperatures of 21 and 30 °C, the group of beetles was subjected to different temperatures to induce adult acclimation at a different temperature than the developmental temperature. In cold-tolerance tests, beetles reared at lower temperatures showed better recovery from chill coma, while beetles reared at higher temperatures showed greater resistance to heat shock. Adult beetles acclimated to lower temperatures showed better cold tolerance, while those acclimated to higher temperatures performed better in the heat tolerance test. Interestingly, the developmental temperatures during the pupal stage also contributed to resistance, particularly in the heat tolerance test. However, pupal stage temperatures had no effect on cold-shock resistance, as indicated by chill-coma recovery time. The results could provide insights into the rearing of T. molitor.
Keywords: adult acclimation, cold tolerance, developmental acclimation, heat knockdown, heat tolerance, Tenebrio molitor, thermal tolerance, chill coma, yellow mealworm
Published in DKUM: 15.04.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 1
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Abstract: Since December 2019, the new SARS-CoV-2-related COVID-19 disease has caused a global pandemic and shut down the public life worldwide. Several proteins have emerged as potential therapeutic targets for drug development, and we sought out to review the commercially available and marketed SARS-CoV-2-targeted libraries ready for high-throughput virtual screening (HTVS). We evaluated the SARS-CoV-2-targeted, protease-inhibitor-focused and protein–protein-interactioninhibitor-focused libraries to gain a better understanding of how these libraries were designed. The most common were ligand- and structure-based approaches, along with various filtering steps, using molecular descriptors. Often, these methods were combined to obtain the final library. We recognized the abundance of targeted libraries offered and complimented by the inclusion of analytical data; however, serious concerns had to be raised. Namely, vendors lack the information on the library design and the references to the primary literature. Few references to active compounds were also provided when using the ligand-based design and usually only protein classes or a general panel of targets were listed, along with a general reference to the methods, such as molecular docking for the structure-based design. No receptor data, docking protocols or even references to the applied molecular docking software (or other HTVS software), and no pharmacophore or filter design details were given. No detailed functional group or chemical space analyses were reported, and no specific orientation of the libraries toward the design of covalent or noncovalent inhibitors could be observed. All libraries contained pan-assay interference compounds (PAINS), rapid elimination of swill compounds (REOS) and aggregators, as well as focused on the drug-like model, with the majority of compounds possessing their molecular mass around 500 g/mol. These facts do not bode well for the use of the reviewed libraries in drug design and lend themselves to commercial drug companies to focus on and improve.
Keywords: targeted libraries, focused libraries, computer-aided drug design, virtual screening, in silico drug design, high-throughput virtual screening
Published in DKUM: 09.04.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 3
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Abstract: Achiral building blocks forming achiral structures is a common occurrence in nature, while chirality emerging spontaneously from an achiral system is usually associated with important scientific phenomena. We report on the spontaneous chiral symmetry-breaking phenomena upon the topographic confinement of achiral lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals in periodically arranged micrometer scale air pillars. The anisotropic fluid arranges into chiral domains that depend on the arrangement and spacing of the pillars. We characterize the resulting domains by polarized optical microscopy, support their reconstruction by numerical calculations, and extend the findings with experiments, which include chiral dopants. Well-controlled and addressed chiral structures will be useful in potential applications like programmable scaffolds for living liquid crystals and as sensors for detecting chirality at the molecular level.
Keywords: physical chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, chromatography, deformation, silicon, symmetry breaking, chiral domains, liquid crystal
Published in DKUM: 03.04.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 1
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