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The present study contributes to the morphogenesis of the Miresii Cave, located in Cheia Mare of Dâmbovița in the area of the Bran—Dragoslavele Corridor, an important tourist axis in Romania. The main aim of the research is the proposal to the Scientific Council of Piatra Craiului National Park to bring to the attention of the national decision-making commissions that the cave be declared a natural monument. The inventory of this speleological geomorphosite suggested its inclusion in a thematic geotouristic circuit integrated into national and EU-protected natural areas. The novelty of the present research lies in the fact that the cave has never been studied before, being difficult to access. This cave, spatially found in the strict protection zone of the national park, is not included in its management plan. When being integrated into other nature protection areas, it is necessary to exclude any form of recreational tourism so that the cave can be exploited as a geotouristic resource strictly for research and educational purposes. The morphogenetic analysis of the cave, based on the information synthesized from geomorphological and geological literature, allowed us to decipher the morphological individualization of Miresii Cave in the local and regional geocronomorphological context, in accordance with the chronological separation of the karstification phenomenon manifested first in phreatic and later in vadose karst. The diversified typology of speleothems has been rendered according to the geomorphologic generating processes. The identification of the Rhinolophus ferrumequinum chiropteran colony and observations of its biotope highlighted the ecological significance of the cave. The inventory of the individuals of the colony led to the conclusion that the cave harbors one of the first two largest bat communities of this species in the national park and the adjacent depressional corridor. The present study may allow the documentation of the photographs and description of the geomorphosite integrated into the proposed thematic circuit to be included on billboards and in promotional brochures. Thus, it could also be useful for the decision-making authorities of Rucar and Podu Dâmboviței villages, which are interested in making decisions related to the promotion of geotourism, especially due to the existence of numerous geological and geomorphological tourist resources in the administrative territories.

The present study contributes to the morphogenesis of the Miresii Cave, located in Cheia Mare of Dâmbovița in the area of the Bran—Dragoslavele Corridor, an important tourist axis in Romania. The main aim of the research is the proposal to the Scientific Council of Piatra Craiului National Park to bring to the attention of the national decision-making commissions that the cave be declared a natural monument. The inventory of this speleological geomorphosite suggested its inclusion in a thematic geotouristic circuit integrated into national and EU-protected natural areas. The novelty of the present research lies in the fact that the cave has never been studied before, being difficult to access. This cave, spatially found in the strict protection zone of the national park, is not included in its management plan. When being integrated into other nature protection areas, it is necessary to exclude any form of recreational tourism so that the cave can be exploited as a geotouristic resource strictly for research and educational purposes. The morphogenetic analysis of the cave, based on the information synthesized from geomorphological and geological literature, allowed us to decipher the morphological individualization of Miresii Cave in the local and regional geocronomorphological context, in accordance with the chronological separation of the karstification phenomenon manifested first in phreatic and later in vadose karst. The diversified typology of speleothems has been rendered according to the geomorphologic generating processes. The identification of the Rhinolophus ferrumequinum chiropteran colony and observations of its biotope highlighted the ecological significance of the cave. The inventory of the individuals of the colony led to the conclusion that the cave harbors one of the first two largest bat communities of this species in the national park and the adjacent depressional corridor. The present study may allow the documentation of the photographs and description of the geomorphosite integrated into the proposed thematic circuit to be included on billboards and in promotional brochures. Thus, it could also be useful for the decision-making authorities of Rucar and Podu Dâmboviței villages, which are interested in making decisions related to the promotion of geotourism, especially due to the existence of numerous geological and geomorphological tourist resources in the administrative territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines the use of gift theory and the metatheory of the Morphogenetic Approach as a framework for the proposal that the relationship between unpaid interns and 'employers' may be conceptualized as a form of transactional, but asymmetrical, gift-exchange. The article begins by applying insights from gift theory to the findings of a range of studies into unpaid internships. It is argued that, while interns are the initial gift-givers in delivering unpaid labour, 'employers' often demonstrate weak reciprocation in terms of offering paid work. Following that, the article combines gift analysis with the Morphogenetic Approach. This framework offers ontological depth to the substantive propositions of gift theory, and provides conceptual tools to study the interplay between structure/culture and agency that form the intern-'employer' relationship. The contribution of this article lies in the combined use of two key theoretical perspectives to a problematic not previously examined through such concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea behind the work is to check for the residence of pesticide degrading genes in plasmids and to transform them on an expression vector allowing them to degrade the pesticide more efficiently. Seven different commercially used toxic pesticides were used for bioremediation study. Around 20 organisms were first isolated and based on their pesticide tolerance, 11 organisms were further used for analysis. Each of the organisms was first subjected to plasmid curing and confirmed for their ability of pesticide degradation ability on plasmids. From the isolated 6 organisms based on their efficiency, 3 isolates containing plasmids were further chosen. Their plasmids were extracted and transformed to E.coli DHa. Upon subjecting them to agarose gel electrophoresis the result implies the successful transformation of only two plasmid DNA to the host cell. The pesticide degradation rate of the genetically modified strain was found to be higher than that of the wild type adapted strain. Morphometeric and germinating ability of Venia radiata was tested in pesticide contaminated soil and was found to support the growth of the plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schistosome eggs play a key role in schistosomiasis diagnosis and research. The aim of this work is to morphogenetically study the eggs of Schistosoma haematobium found in sub-Saharan migrants present in Spain, analyzing their morphometric variation in relation to the geographical origin of the parasite (Mali, Mauritania and Senegal). Only eggs considered “pure” S. haematobium by genetic characterization (rDNA ITS-2 and mtDNA cox1) have been used. A total of 162 eggs obtained from 20 migrants from Mali, Mauritania and Senegal were included in the study. Analyses were made by the Computer Image Analysis System (CIAS). Following a previously standardized methodology, seventeen measurements were carried out on each egg. The morphometric analysis of the three morphotypes detected (round, elongated and spindle) and the biometric variations in relation to the country of origin of the parasite on the egg phenotype were carried out by canonical variate analysis. Mahalanobis distances, when all egg measurements were analyzed, showed differences between: (i) Mali-Mauritania, Mali-Senegal and Mauritania-Senegal in the round morphotype; (ii) Mali-Mauritania and Mauritania-Senegal in the elongated morphotype; and (iii) Mauritania-Senegal in the spindle morphotype. Mahalanobis distances, when spine variables were analyzed, showed differences between Mali-Senegal in the round morphotype. In conclusion, this is the first phenotypic study performed on individually genotyped “pure” S. haematobium eggs, allowing the assessment of the intraspecific morphological variations associated with the geographical origin of the schistosome eggs.

The ichnogenus Helminthorhaphe is a meandering trace fossil valuable to the study of movement behaviours of the trace-making marine invertebrates. In this work, we studied systematically the morphology of selected examples of Helminthorhaphe from the Upper Cretaceous to Miocene by means of primary morphological constructs, morphometrics, and theoretical morphological models. Eleven morphological constructs encompassing meander arrangement, meander tip, and meander course properties are established to illustrate the essential morphological features of meanders, which cover key aspects of the motion and navigation capacities of Helminthorhaphe makers. Tunnel diameter, meander width, and meander length are extracted to explore the size range of Helminthorhaphe , from which an exceptionally large end member is recognised, H . magna ichnosp. nov. Meander width versus tunnel diameter ratio and the fractal dimension of Helminthorhaphe are two prominent morphometric parameters that characterise the average closeness and space usage of the meanders, respectively, which aid differentiation between ichnospecies. Helminthorhaphe miocenica , H . magna , H . flexuosa , and H . japonica generally conform to a series of increasing closeness and space usage of the meanders. Theoretical morphogenetic analysis of the meander-generating process of Helminthorhaphe based on the bilateral phobo-thigmotactic robot car model reveals that the tempo and hierarchy of bilateral movement differentiation contribute to the formation of primary terminal U-turn at the meander tip, as well as lower-level meander-course undulations. The meander tip property proves to be an important morphological feature with biomechanical and neurobiological implications on the body flexibility and lateralisation in the nervous system of Helminthorhaphe producers. Larger-scale meander arrangement styles suggest that Helminthorhaphe makers potentially possessed certain radial or concentric spatial cognition of the environment. With an emphasis on theoretical morphogenetic analysis, this study provides a preliminary attempt in linking ichnology with behavioural, neurobiological, and intelligence sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]