Can exascale computing and explainable artificial intelligence applied to plant biology deliver on the United Nations sustainable development goals?

Fusing explainable artificial intelligence (X-AI, AI with decipherable decision making process) and exascale computing ― 10¹⁸, or a quintillion, floating-point operations per second (flops) level of performance ― can help plant and computational biologists achieve breakthroughs in designing multi-criteria crop ideotypes (i.e. crops with the optimal combination of traits for a given environment), mapping global climatypes, revealing the underlying biologically relevant interactions (e.g. SNP correlation network, 3D-interactome network) and, consequently, accelerating food and energy plant breeding programs widely recognized as critical to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

1. Download : Download high-res image (179KB)
2. Download : Download full-size image

     

Ethnic conflict and the United Nations

The United Nations [UN] is an organization of states. As such it can be expected to represent the interests of its members and uphold a state‐centric view of international politics. For this reason it has been suggested that the organization cannot respond positively to ethnic conflicts within states, or across state borders. However, since such ethnic conflicts can be a threat to international peace and security and to internationally accepted norms of behaviour, the UN cannot always remain indifferent. In fact, it has become involved in ethnic conflicts in several ways. It has dispatched peace‐keeping operations to Cyprus and Lebanon, which try to keep apart the warring factions. The UN has been involved in peace‐making in ethnic conflicts through mediation and Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. It has also engaged in peace‐building, which involves efforts to change both socio‐economic conditions and the mutually hostile attitudes of the parties to violent ethnic conflict. Finally, even though the UN, unlike the League of Nations, has not been prepared to adopt a system of minority‐rights protection, it has been involved in the issue of group rights in at least three areas. These are the Genocide Convention, the work of the Sub‐Commission for the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities, and the issue of the right of national self‐determination.     

Preliminary investigation on the production of fuels and bio-char from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii biomass residue after bio-hydrogen production

The aim of this work was to investigate the potential conversion of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii biomass harvested after hydrogen production. The spent algal biomass was converted into nitrogen-rich bio-char, biodiesel and pyrolysis oil (bio-oil). The yield of lipids (algal oil), obtained by solvent extraction, was 15 ± 2% w/w_dry-biomass. This oil was converted into biodiesel with a 8.7 ± 1% w/w_dry-biomass yield. The extraction residue was pyrolysed in a fixed bed reactor at 350 °C obtaining bio-char as the principal fraction (44 ± 1% w/w_dry-biomass) and 28 ± 2% w/w_dry-biomass of bio-oil. Pyrolysis fractions were characterized by elemental analysis, while the chemical composition of bio-oil was fully characterized by GC-MS, using various derivatization techniques. Energy outputs resulting from this approach were distributed in hydrogen (40%), biodiesel (12%) and pyrolysis fractions (48%), whereas bio-char was the largest fraction in terms of mass.     

The role of African states in the development of the law of the sea at the third United Nations conference

Abstract

This interpretation of the role of African states in the development of the law of the sea at UNCLOS III analyzes relevant economic and political factors behind policy decisions. First, an analysis is made of the economic factors. The African states are developing states and share the common problems of lack of financial resources, dependence on raw material exports, and lack of managerial and technical skills. As members of the Group of 77, they adopt a common approach to the powers of the International Sea‐bed Authority, the economic zone, scientific research, and transfer of technology. However, there are great divergencies among the African states in natural resources and rate of development; divergent interests have emerged between the coastal states and the landlocked ones, and these differences are reflected in negotiating positions. The major political element dominating the approach of the African states is the colonial heritage of the great majority and their becoming independent in the period between the 1958/60 Conferences and UNCLOS III. This common political background has contributed to the strong cohesion of the African Group and its adherence to a group position throughout the negotiations, despite the divergent economic interests of individual states.

The positions of the African states are analyzed in depth, from the Sea‐bed Committee through the 6th Session of UNCLOS III. One of the major contributions made by the African states to the law of the sea is the development of the economic zone concept, which is essentially different from the extension of the territorial sea proposed by some other developing states, and from the continental shelf concept. The African provision made for participation by landlocked states in access to the living resources of the zone is also an important innovation, which promises a radically new approach to resource management. Finally, the impact made by the African states is examined in the context of the development of a New Economic Order. The law of the sea is seen as one aspect of the global problem of allocating benefits from world resources towards the developing states, and redressing the balance between the industrialized and the developing nations.     

Strategies for the development of a side stream process for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production from sugar cane molasses

A three-stage process was developed to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) from sugar cane molasses. The process includes (1) molasses acidogenic fermentation, (2) selection of PHA-accumulating cultures, (3) PHA batch accumulation using the enriched sludge and fermented molasses. In the fermentation step, the effect of pH (5–7) on the organic acids profile and productivity was evaluated. At higher pH, acetic and propionic acids were the main products, while lower pH favoured the production of butyric and valeric acids. PHA accumulation using fermented molasses was evaluated with two cultures selected either with acetate or fermented molasses. The effect of organic acids distribution on polymer composition and yield was evaluated with the acetate selected culture. Storage yields varied from 0.37 to 0.50 Cmmol HA/Cmmol VFA. A direct relationship between the type of organic acids used and the polymers composition was observed. Low ammonia concentration (0.1 Nmmol/l) in the fermented molasses stimulated PHA storage (0.62 Cmmol HA/Cmmol VFA). In addition, strategies of reactor operation to select a PHA-accumulating culture on fermented molasses were developed. The combination of low organic loading with high ammonia concentration selected a culture with a stable storage capacity and with a storage yield (0.59 Cmmol HA/Cmmol VFA) similar to that of the acetate-selected culture.     

Non-conventional hosts for the production of fuels and chemicals

Biotechnology offers a green alternative for the production of fuels and chemicals using microbes. Although traditional model hosts such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae have been widely studied and used, they may not be the best hosts for industrial application. In this review, we explore recent advances in the use of nonconventional hosts for the production of a variety of fuel, cosmetics, perfumes, food, and pharmaceuticals. Specifically, we highlight twenty-seven popular molecules with a special focus on recent progress and metabolic engineering strategies to enable improved production of fuels and chemicals. These examples demonstrate the promise of nonconventional host engineering.     

Strain engineering for microbial production of value-added chemicals and fuels from glycerol

While the widespread reliance on fossil fuels is driven by their low cost and relative abundance, this fossil-based economy has been deemed unsustainable and, therefore, the adoption of sustainable and environmentally compatible energy sources is on the horizon. Biorefinery is an emerging approach that integrates metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and systems biology principles for the development of whole-cell catalytic platforms for biomanufacturing. Due to the high degree of reduction and low cost, glycerol, either refined or crude, has been recognized as an ideal feedstock for the production of value-added biologicals, though microbial dissimilation of glycerol sometimes can be difficult particularly under anaerobic conditions. While strain development for glycerol biorefinery is widely reported in the literature, few, if any, commercialized bioprocesses have been developed as a result, such that engineering of glycerol metabolism in microbial hosts remains an untapped opportunity in biomanufacturing. Here we review the recent progress made in engineering microbial hosts for the production of biofuels, diols, organic acids, biopolymers, and specialty chemicals from glycerol. We begin with a broad outline of the major pathways for fermentative and respiratory glycerol dissimilation and key end metabolites, and then focus our analysis on four key genera of bacteria known to naturally dissimilate glycerol, i.e. Klebsiella, Citrobacter, Clostridium, and Lactobacillus, in addition to Escherichia coli, and systematically review the progress made toward engineering these microorganisms for glycerol biorefinery. We also identify the major biotechnological and bioprocessing advantages and disadvantages of each genus, and bottlenecks limiting the production of target metabolites from glycerol in engineered strains. Our analysis culminates in the development of potential strategies to overcome the current technical limitations identified for commonly employed strains, with an outlook on the suitability of different hosts for the production of key metabolites and avenues for their future development into biomanufacturing platforms.     

The incompatibility of the United Nations' goals and conventionalist ethical relativism

The Universal Draft Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights seeks to provide moral direction to nations and their citizens on a series of bioethical concerns. In articulating principles, it ranks respect for human rights, human dignity and fundamental freedoms ahead of respect for cultural diversity and pluralism. This ranking is controversial because it entails the rejection of the popular theory, conventionalist ethical relativism. If consistently defended, this theory also undercuts other United Nations activities that assume member states and people around the world can reach trans-cultural judgments having moral authority about health, pollution, aggression, rights, slavery, and so on. To illustrate problems with conventionalist ethical relativism and the importance of rejecting it for reasons of health, human rights, human dignity and fundamental freedoms, the widespread practice of female genital circumcision or cutting is discussed. These surgeries are virtually a test case for conventionalist ethical relativism since they are widely supported within these cultures as religious and health practices and widely condemned outside them, including by the United Nations.     

A novel biochemical route for fuels and chemicals production from cellulosic biomass

The conventional biochemical platform featuring enzymatic hydrolysis involves five key steps: pretreatment, cellulase production, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, and product recovery. Sugars are produced as reactive intermediates for subsequent fermentation to fuels and chemicals. Herein, an alternative biochemical route is proposed. Pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis and cellulase production is consolidated into one single step, referred to as consolidated aerobic processing, and sugar aldonates are produced as the reactive intermediates for biofuels production by fermentation. In this study, we demonstrate the viability of consolidation of the enzymatic hydrolysis and cellulase production steps in the new route using Neurospora crassa as the model microorganism and the conversion of cellulose to ethanol as the model system. We intended to prove the two hypotheses: 1) cellulose can be directed to produce cellobionate by reducing β-glucosidase production and by enhancing cellobiose dehydrogenase production; and 2) both of the two hydrolysis products of cellobionate--glucose and gluconate--can be used as carbon sources for ethanol and other chemical production. Our results showed that knocking out multiple copies of β-glucosidase genes led to cellobionate production from cellulose, without jeopardizing the cellulose hydrolysis rate. Simulating cellobiose dehydrogenase over-expression by addition of exogenous cellobiose dehydrogenase led to more cellobionate production. Both of the two hydrolysis products of cellobionate: glucose and gluconate can be used by Escherichia coli KO 11 for efficient ethanol production. They were utilized simultaneously in glucose and gluconate co-fermentation. Gluconate was used even faster than glucose. The results support the viability of the two hypotheses that lay the foundation for the proposed new route.     

Brazil at the third United Nations conference on the law of the sea

Abstract

As Brazil began to emerge as a major power in the years leading up to theThird United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III), national ocean policy came to have a quite continuous, distinctive impact on global law of the sea negotiations. Brazil's participation at UNCLOS III offers a particularly good vantage point from which to analyze its more prominent international role as an emerging major power, its related growth as a maritime power, and its significant contribution to international organization.

UNCLOS III, in turn, affects Brazil. The broad implications of the emerging ocean order for both national and international jurisdiction issues, within which Brazilian ocean policy must operate, are analyzed. Brazil's distinctive position as an emerging power between the industrialized countries and the Third World has conditioned its involvement at UNCLOS III. As a developing state, Brazil has favored revision of the traditional order for the purpose of redressing the balance with the developed states. At the same time, as an emerging power, Brazil has an interest in supporting a stable, open international order. In spite of such policy dilemmas, Brazil stands out as one of the few big potential winners in the Third World from both the seabed and non‐seabed portions of the law of the sea negotiations.     

贺兰山东麓荒漠藻结皮微生物群落结构及其演替研究

以宁夏贺兰山东麓荒漠藻结皮为研究对象,对处于不同发育阶段的藻结皮中微生物群落结构及其演替进行了研究。结皮样品高通量测序结果分别得到521个16S rDNA序列操作分类单元(OTU)和64个18S rDNA序列OTU,表明藻结皮中原核微生物多样性远高于真核微生物;贺兰山东麓藻结皮中原核微生物分布于26个纲,Cyanobacteria在各个发育阶段中都是优势微生物类群,Actinobacteria、Chloroplast、Alphaproteobacteria和Bacilli在藻结皮发育的各个阶段相对丰度也较高;从属水平上分析,Bacillus、Leptolyngbya、Microcoleus、Microvirga、Chroococcidiopsis、Rubellimicrobium、Phormidium、Mastigocladopsis、Skermanella、Nostoc、Scytonema共11个属在各个发育阶段的藻结皮中都存在,只是出现了丰度的差异。Bacillus在藻结皮形成期、发育初期和发育中期相对丰度较大,成熟期丰度显著下降,而成熟期Microvirga丰度较前3个时期显著增...     

Mapping the information landscape of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Strategy

The strategy of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration identifies three pathways for action for overcoming six global barriers thought to hamper upscaling. We evaluated 6,023 peer-reviewed and gray literature papers published over the last two decades to map the information landscape underlying the barriers and associated pathways for action across world regions, terrestrial ecosystem types, restorative interventions and their outcomes. Overall, the literature addressed more the financial and legislative barriers than the technical and research-related ones, supporting the view that social, economic and political factors hamper scaling up ecosystem restoration. Latin America, Africa, and North America were the most prominent regions in the literature, yet differed in the number of publications addressing each barrier. An overwhelming number of publications focused on forests (78%), while grasslands (6%), drylands (3%), and mangroves (2%) received less attention. Across the three pathways for action, the action lines on (1) promoting long-term ecosystem restoration actions and monitoring and (2) education on restoration were the most underrepresented in the literature. In general, restorative interventions assessed rendered positive outcomes except those of a political, legislative or financial nature which reported negative or inconclusive outcomes. Our indicative assessment reveals critical information gaps on barriers, pathways, and types of restorative interventions across world regions, particularly related to specific social issues such as education for ecosystem restoration. Finally, we call for refining “strength of evidence” assessment frameworks that can systematically appraise, synthesize and integrate information on traditional and practitioner knowledge as two essential components for improving decision-making in ecosystem restoration.     

Trends in the perception of ecological problems in the United Nations general debates

To what extent have recent warnings of deepening ecological problems become topics of discussion among international political elites? To address this question a content analysis was undertaken of the speeches comprising the general debates of the 1968, 1972, and 1976 sessions of the UN General Assembly to identify all instances in which ecological issues were mentioned. Despite other indications of an increase in environmental consciousness in the international community, it was found that ecological problems have not been discussed very extensively in the general debates and are far less salient than several other agenda items for which data were also collected. Moreover, the environment peaked as an issue in the 1972 session and declined in prominence in 1976. It was also found that the more developed a country is, the greater the tendency for its delegates to mention environmental problems in their speeches. The lack of prominence of ecological issues is interpreted on the basis of two alternative assumptions: first, that the degree of international awareness of environmental problems is not adequately represented in the general debates and, second, that the findings accurately reflect what is generally a low level of environmental concern in international circles.