Preprints (not yet peer-reviewed)

The immune system protects a host from foreign pathogens. In rare cases, the immune system can attack the cells of the host organism causing autoimmune diseases. We outline a computational framework that combines bioinformatics and network analysis with an emerging...

Background. Microorganisms govern important ecosystems processes, in particular the degradation of organic matter (OM). However, microorganisms are rarely considered in efforts to monitor ecosystem health and functioning. Evidence suggests that environmental perturbations...

Coastal protection, nutrient cycling, erosion control, water purification, and carbon sequestration are ecosystem services provided by salt marshes. Additionally, the salt ponds offers coastal breeding and nursery habitat to fishes and invertebrates providing abundant...

In industry, the yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa is commonly used for the production of carotenoids. The production of carotenoids is important because they are used as natural colorants in food and some carotenoids are precursors of retinol (vitamin A). However,...

Algal blooms have been the subject of considerable research as they occur over various spatial and temporal scales and can produce toxins that disrupt their ecosystem. Algal blooms are often governed by nutrient availability however other limitations exist. Algae...

Pterosaur embryos and ‘hatchling’ specimens show a surprising level of skeletal development including well-ossified skeletons and large wings. This has prompted interpretations of pterosaurs as being flight-capable from the earliest ontogenetic stages, contrasting...

Within the statistics community, a number of guiding principles for sharing data have emerged; however, these principles are not always made clear to collaborators generating the data. To bridge this divide, we have established a set of guidelines for sharing data....

Dredger-fill silt has been used in the port of Tianjin, China to reclaim land; however, the dredger-fill silt has no soil ecological function. Translating the silt into soil rapidly and accelerating the soil-forming process are key to solving the ecological problems...

Models and the process of modeling are fundamental to the discipline of biology, and therefore should be incorporated into undergraduate biology courses. In this essay, we draw upon the literature and our own teaching experiences to provide practical suggestions...

Social learning provides an effective route to gaining up-to-date information, particularly when information is costly to obtain asocially. Theoretical work predicts that the willingness to switch between using asocial and social sources of information will vary...

A comparative analysis of the kinematic parameters of a goat on different slopes was conducted to study the kinematic parameters of goats on different slopes with walking mechanics. The uphill walking processes on different slopes (0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25° and...

Propensities for different amino acids within a protein site change in the course of evolution, so that an amino acid deleterious in a particular species may be acceptable at the same site in a different species. Here, we study the amino acid-changing variants...

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a powerful technique for thegene-expression profiling of organisms that uses the capabilities of next-generation sequencing technologies.Developing gene-expression-based classification algorithms is an emerging powerful method for diagnosis,...

Traditionally, statistical training has focused primarily on mathematical derivations and proofs of statistical tests. The process of developing the technical artifact—that is, the paper, dashboard, or other deliverable—is much less frequently taught, presumably...

Data wrangling is a critical foundation of data science, and wrangling of categorical data is an important component of this process. However, categorical data can introduce unique issues in data wrangling, particularly in real-world settings with collaborators...