Numerical Taxonomy

118 strains of heterotrophic microorganisms were isolated from goat cheese produced domestically in the IV Region of Northern Chile (Serene, Ovalle, and Illapel) and sold in supermarkets in Valparaı ´so, Chile. The results of 89 phenotypic tests were numerically analyzed against 17 reference strains, using the simple matching coefficient (S SM ). Thirteen phena were found at a 78% similarity level. Five of them (A, B, C, D, and E) were assigned to the family Enterobacteriaceae, phenon F was identified as belonging to the genus Aeromonas and strains of phenon G were assigned to the genus Acinetobacter. The other phena were identified as being members of the genera Bacillus (H, I, and J), Staphylococcus (K), Enterococcus (L), and Micrococcus (M). Approximately 19% of the isolates were Escherichia coli and 27%, Staphylococcus aureus.

SUMMARY The work presents a key made for the identification of hybrids between P. chilensis and P. flexuosa starting from the quantitative characters of leaves and fruits obtained in the field. The key was done based on prior classifications done through numerical taxonomy and the identification of hybrids with isoenzyme analyses with material collected in the Arid Chaco.

On the basis of fifty morphological characters, including vegetative parts, flowers, fruits, seeds, pollen grains, and anatomical structure, a systematic study of 13 taxa belonging to genus Galium (Rubiaceae) from Egypt was conducted by means of numerical analysis. Four branches and clusters were distinguished. Representatives of these groups were clustered together according to characters with high factor loading in the principal coordinates analysis. The results showed congruence between the UPGMA clustering and principal coordinates analysis in suggesting four groups. There was some degree of similarity among the species of sect. Aparine (Kolgyda). The results indicated also that the sect. Leiogalium (G. mollugo) was a separate group, while Aparine (Kolgyda) was the most heterogeneous one.

El conocimiento de la diversidad genética existente en el germoplasma de caña de azúcar permite planificar cruces más efectivos con el propósito de producir nuevos cultivares. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la diversidad genética, mediante la utilización de marcadores moleculares intermicrosatélites (ISSR), en una muestra de 62 genotipos obtenido del banco de germoplasma de caña de azúcar del Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrícolas (INIA). Se evaluaron cinco cebadores que generaron 156 bandas polimórficas en un rango de 240 y 3430 pb. El Análisis de Coordenadas Principales (ACOP) ubicó a los genotipos en tres grupos, con una similitud genética media de 0,46 ± 0,0046; 0,42 ± 0,0061 y 0,46±0,0085, respectivamente. Los resultados obtenidos permiten sugerir que los genotipos con caracteres agronómicos deseables de un grupo distante del otro pudieran ser dirigidos en cruzas con la intención de generar más variabilidad genética.

Genetic divergence among nine genotypes of Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) for fifteen important yield attributing traits and one qualitative trait was studied under the undulating topography of Tripura using multivariate analysis. The genotypes were logically grouped into three clusters on the basis of divergence analysis. The grouping pattern of genotypes indicated no direct relationship between geographical distribution and genetic distance. High inter cluster distance between cluster II and cluster III suggesting that the genotypes belonging to cluster II and cluster III will be taken in hybridization programme for evolving a good hybrid or segregate. Among the characters, vine length contributed the maximum divergence towards total genetic divergence followed by primary branches per plant, Internodal length, days to 1 st male flower and days to 1 st female flower. Five out of 16 characters had eigenvalue more than 1 and together accounted for 100% of total variation. Based on D 2 statistics, principal component analysis and average values, two genotypes namely, Malda local and Pusa Do Mousumi possessed distinct differences of their genotypic characters and optimum combinations of all variables which could be used as parents in hybridization programme for the development of high yielding bitter gourd variety.

Phenetic relationship of shiitake mushroom ( Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler) cultivated in Indonesia especially in Java is still undisclosed. In order to increase adaptability and high production most of cultivators in Indonesia make inter-isolates breeding. Consequently L. edodes isolates grown in Indonesia may have morphological and genetic diversity. Diversity among the isolates of L.edodes can be determined by morphological and molecular assessments. Isolates originating from different locations can show specific morphological characters, and requires more in-depth assessment of the macroscopic and microscopic morphological characters. Four L.edodes isolates from Malang, Cianjur, Lembang and Yogyakarta were understudy to determine their morphological characters and phenetic relationship. Degree of similarity between the isolates was carried out through numerical taxonomy approach and the data obtained were analyzed using the Numerical taxonomy program and multivariate analysis ...

Escalating costs of health care delivery have in the recent past often made the health care industry investigate, adapt, and apply those management techniques relating to budgeting, resource control, and forecasting that have long been used in the manufacturing sector. A strategy that has contributed much in this direction is the definition and classification of a hospital's output into "products" or groups of patients that impose similar resource or cost demands on the hospital. Existing classification schemes have frequently employed cluster analysis in generating these groupings. Unfortunately, the myriad articles and books on clustering and classification contain few formalized selection methodologies for choosing a technique for solving a particular problem, hence they often leave the novice investigator at a loss. This paper reviews the literature on clustering, particularly as it has been applied in the medical resource-utilization domain, addresses the critical...

Eighteen taxa of the genus Jurinea Cass. growing naturally in Turkey were classified by numerical taxonomic analysis. Morphological and palynological characters of each individual were measured and quantified on the basis of 51 traits. Ten plants were chosen randomly for the measurements of metric characters related to the external morphology of the taxa and the average values used for statistical analysis via NTSYS-pc package. Standardized data were used to generate the dendrogram that revealed the phenetic relationships of the taxa. Geographic distribution pattern of the Jurinea species appear to be closely related to the Anatolian Diagonal. Key words: Numerical analyses; Jurinea; Asteraceae; Turkey DOI: 10.3329/bjb.v38i1.5118 Bangladesh J. Bot. 38(1): 47-53, 2009 (June)

Debido a que el conocimiento de la diversidad genética existente en las variedades modernas de caña de azúcar es de vital importancia para los procesos de mejoramiento, el presente estudio examinó 33 variedades usadas por los mejoradores en CENICAÑA, y cinco clones de Saccharum officinarum mediante la técnica de los microsatélites. Se evaluaron 63 iniciadores los

The final goal of this study is to make a modern systematic-based inventory of amylolytic bacterial isolates producing of bioplastic Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) from sago starch substrate. The identity of three local bacterial isolates was examined in this study, using a polyphasic approach. A data set based on phenotypic characteristics, namely morphological, physiological, biochemical and chemical character, namely whole cells protein profiles using SDS-PAGE method, together with phylogenetic studies based on 16S rRNA sequences was used to identified by polyphasic approach. Phenotypic characteristics of 3 local bacterial isolates and 4 reference strains to members of genus Bacillus was analyzed by numerical analysis using MVSP 3,1 program to determine the value of similarity. Based on the preliminary characterization of the profile matching method showed that the three isolates of bacteria producing PHB namely PSA10, PPK5 and PPK6 are members of the genus Bacillus. The results of numerical analysis based on phenotypic characteristic and chemical character of the three bacterial isolates producing PHB with reference strains showed that the PSA10 isolate bacterial identical with Bacillus megaterium, PPK5 isolate identical with Bacillus subtilis and PPK6 isolate identical with Bacillus cereus, and these results also support by the molecular phylogenetic analysis. Therefore, the polyphasic taxonomy is an effective approach to uncover the identity of the novel bacterial isolates.

A numerical taxonomic study of halophilic Vibrio isolated from healthy and brown ring disease (BRD) affected manila clams (Ruditapes philippinarum), harvested from the Atlantic coast of southwestern Spain, was performed. Methods and Results: Characterization of 123 presumptive Vibrio spp. was carried out using 94 phenotypic tests. Simple matching and Jaccard similarity coefficients were used for numerical analysis. Cluster analysis by the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages yielded 15 phena defined at 0AE81 similarity. Large phena corresponded to Vibrio tubiashii, V. splendidus biotype I and V. harveyi (phena 1, 5 and 9, respectively). The species V. splendidus biotype II, V. natriegens, V. mediterranei and V. alginolyticus were also represented. The inhibitory effect of diffusible extracellular products of the isolates against 27 strains of V. tapetis, the aetiological agent of BRD, was also investigated. Only five V. tubiashii isolates inhibited the growth of V. tapetis strains. The antimicrobial effect was inhibited by heating and depended on the culture medium. Conclusions: The main Vibrio species associated with manila clams were V. tubiashii, V. spendidus and V. harveyi. The antagonistic relationship established between V. tapetis and the Vibrio spp. clam microbiota may explain the failure of isolation in plating medium of V. tapetis from BRD-affected clams on the south Atlantic coast of Spain. Significance and Impact of the Study: Some of the strains isolated from manila clams correspond to agarolytic strains that constitute phenon 7 and they do not fit into any of the currently described Vibrio species.

Two new species of Centaurea L. (Asteraceae) from Turkey are described and illustrated. Centaurea cankiriense A. Duran & H. Duman (sect. Cheirolepis (Boiss.) O. Hoffm.) is restricted to the steppes of Dumanlı Daâ (A4: Atkaracalar-Çankırı). Centaurea antalyense H. Duman & A. Duran (sect. Phalolepis (Cass.) DC.) occurs in forest and macchia in the south of Akseki district (C3: Antalya).

Twelve morphological parameters from the leaves, fruits, and pedicel of fifteen (15) species of the subtribe Cassiinae were studied using the methods of numerical taxonomy. Characters such as leaflet length, leaflet width, and leaflet length/width ratio contributed significantly in the delimitation of the species studied. While C. italica and Ch. mimosoides are the most closely related taxa, C. fistula and C. singueana appear to be the most distantly related as reflected by the cluster coefficients. Further illustrations as revealed by the dendrogram and scatter plot generated placed the 15 studied species into three groups. While we acknowledge the relevance of phylogenetic analysis in taxonomic studies as it is in recent times, we strongly support the application of numerical taxonomy to compliment findings.

The Iberian mountain spiny fescues are a reticulate group of five diploid grass taxa consisting of three parental species and two putative hybrids: F. × souliei (F. eskia × F. quadriflora) and F. × picoeuropeana (F. eskia × F. gautieri). Phenotypic and molecular studies were conducted with the aim of determining the taxonomic boundaries and genetic relationships of the five taxa and disentangling the origins of the two hybrids. Statistical analyses of 31 selected phenotypic traits were conducted on individuals from 159 populations and on nine type specimens. Molecular analyses of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were performed on 29 populations. The phenotypic analyses detected significant differences between the five taxa and demonstrated the overall intermediacy of the F. × picoeuropeana and F. × souliei between their respective parents. The RAPD analysis corroborated the genetic differentiation of F. eskia, F. gautieri and F. quadriflora and the intermediate nature of the two hybrids; however, they also detected genetic variation within F. × picoeuropeana. These results suggest distinct origins for F. × picoeuropeana in the Cantabrian and Pyrenean mountains, with the sporadic Pyrenean populations having potentially resulted from recent hybridizations and the stabilized Cantabrian ones from older events followed by potential displacements of the parents.

An attempt has been made to see how far taxonomic characters can be weighted by calculating their information content, as measured by methods due to GYLLENBERG, BRILLOUIN, and SHANNON and WEAVER. Thirty-nine species and subspecies of Butrucomorphus were defied initially by 104 qualitative characters. Subsets of 25 characters with the highest information content were then selected and ordinations of the taxa were made by principal coordinate component analysis for each subset. These ordinations were then compared with others based on randomly selected subsets of 25 characters as well as on the entire reference set of 104 characters. The results show that subsets of 25 characters with high information content yield ordinations that are similar to that based on the entire set and differ from those derived from randomly selected subsets. It follows that classifications based on characters of high information content will be relatively stable, showing little change when other characters of low information content are also included. It also appears that the characters with high information content correspond well to those that have been weighted more heavily in traditional, non-numerical classifications of the genus. .

In this research, Taxonomical relationships of Alyssum (Brassicaceae, sect. Gamosepalum Dudley) were studied by use the numerical Taxonomy analysis, for all Iranian species. Accordingly a character table included 32 qualitative and quantitative characters were made for 50 specimens of 10 Iranian species. After standardization of the data, a simplicity matrix was produced. Then a related dendrogeram was drawn by using the Monhatan coefficient and UPGMA method that in which two main clads of Connata and Libera series were distinguished. Finally the taxonomy of section was accepted and Libera series was divided to two Lepidote and Stellate subseries.

The genetic diversity and the relationships among a collection of Brassica napus L. European populations were evaluated using random amplified polymorphic DNA markers. The study included 33 accessions of B. napus collected from Galicia (northwestern Spain) and 18 British cultivars, 16 accessions of B. napus and two accessions of Brassica oleracea L. used as controls. DNA from 25 individuals per population was analyzed using 18 decamer primers. One hundred thirty-eight amplification products were scored of which 105 were polymorphic. These bands ranged in size from 350 to 2500 base pairs. Similarity coefficients and cluster analysis were computed and six groups were obtained. Cluster I was the largest and included all the landraces from northwestern Spain, except two accessions that grouped separately into Clusters III and IV, respectively. A low level of genetic variability was detected among the B. napus Spanish genotypes, while considerable diversity was present among the British ones, which grouped into three groups, two main clusters and one group formed by one accession. Cluster II included all commercial varieties grown in Great Britain whereas Cluster V grouped local varieties maintained by the growers for many years. Cluster VI was a singularity formed by one entry. British accessions of B. oleracea had the greatest dissimilarity with all the other populations and grouped separately in Clusters VII and VIII. As conclusion, B. napus landraces used in northwestern Spain as leafy-green vegetable probably have an independent origin from B. napus crops grown in other European regions. Besides, separate domestication in northwestern Spain and Great Britain for a different end use might have led to two distinct gene pools.

Nabicol (B. napus L. var. pabularia) is a traditional crop in the Northwest of Iberian Peninsula (South of Galicia and North of Portugal) where it is grown during the winter season on small farms and gardens using traditional varieties. A collection of 36 populations of nabicol from Galicia (northwestern Spain) was evaluated during 2002 and 2003 in two locations and two growing seasons (spring/summer and autumn/spring) for twenty eight agronomic and morphological traits. The objectives of this study were to: (i) evaluate a collection of nabicol landraces from northwestern Spain, (ii) determine suitability of this germplasm as a summer crop and (iii) study the genetic diversity among local populations. Significant differences were observed among populations for most traits. Genotype × environment interaction was significant for most of them. Spring/summer growing season could be recommended for growing nabicol but resistance to Lepidoptera pests attacking Brassica crops should be improved. Most populations had an agronomic value similar to the commercial variety. The most promising variety for horticultural use was MBG-BRS0063 which showed the highest yield. Morphological and agronomic data were subjected to cluster analysis and four groups were defined with a group clustering most populations. The low genetic diversity could be explained because populations were collected in close geographical areas and the selection made by farmers was always for a horticultural use. These results give information about the diversity and breeding value of the nabicol Spanish germplasm, which could be useful in breeding programs.

The GenBank nucleotide sequence database now contains sequence data and associated annotation corresponding to 85,000,000 nucleotides in 67,000 entries from a total of 3,000 organisms. The input stream of data coming into the database is primarily as direct submissions from the scientific community on electronic media, with little or no data being keyboarded from the printed page by the databank staff. The data are maintained in a relational database management system and are made available in flaffile form through on-line access, and through various network and off-line computer-readable media. The data are also distributed in relational form through satellite copies at a number of institutions in the U.S. and elsewhere. In addition, GenBank provides the U.S. distribution center for the BIOSCI electronic bulletin board service.

Introduction: Autistic children have not withdrawn from reality due to some mental illness, rather they have failed to come out in reality due to a serious, and to a large extent, developmental disorder. As a result, autism is not currently considered psychosis, but is classified as a pervasive developmental disorder. This means that it is classified along with the other developmental difficulties rather than the mental illnesses themselves. Aim: The aim of this study was to present an organized context of autism, its symptoms and clinical picture, its diagnostic criteria as well as child rating scales.

Introduction: Autistic children have not withdrawn from reality due to some mental illness, rather they have failed to come out in reality due to a serious, and to a large extent, developmental disorder. As a result, autism is not currently considered psychosis, but is classified as a pervasive developmental disorder. This means that it is classified along with the other developmental difficulties rather than the mental illnesses themselves. Aim: The aim of this study was to present an organized context of autism, its symptoms and clinical picture, its diagnostic criteria as well as child rating scales.

Introduction: Autistic children have not withdrawn from reality due to some mental illness, rather they have failed to come out in reality due to a serious, and to a large extent, developmental disorder. As a result, autism is not currently considered psychosis, but is classified as a pervasive developmental disorder. This means that it is classified along with the other developmental difficulties rather than the mental illnesses themselves. Aim: The aim of this study was to present an organized context of autism, its symptoms and clinical picture, its diagnostic criteria as well as child rating scales.

Introduction: Autistic children have not withdrawn from reality due to some mental illness, rather they have failed to come out in reality due to a serious, and to a large extent, developmental disorder. As a result, autism is not currently considered psychosis, but is classified as a pervasive developmental disorder. This means that it is classified along with the other developmental difficulties rather than the mental illnesses themselves. Aim: The aim of this study was to present an organized context of autism, its symptoms and clinical picture, its diagnostic criteria as well as child rating scales.

Background Phosphorus is an essential macronutrient for the growth of plants. However, in most soils a large portion of phosphorus becomes insoluble and therefore, unavailable to plants. Knowledge on biodiversity of phosphate-solubilizing fluorescent pseudomonads is essential to understand their ecological role and their utilization in sustainable agriculture. Results Of 443 fluorescent pseudomonad strains tested, 80 strains (18%) showed positive for the solubilization of tri-calcium phosphate (Ca3(PO4)2) by the formation of visible dissolution halos on Pikovskaya's agar. These phosphate solubilizing strains showed high variability in utilizing various carbon sources. Numerical taxonomy of the phosphate solubilizing strains based on their carbon source utilization profiles resulted into three major phenons at a 0.76 similarity coefficient level. Genotypic analyses of strains by BOX (bacterial repetitive BOX element)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) resulted into three distinct ge...

A new method is presented here to identify the members of an open cluster, based on computational taxonomy: “the spectral method”. The characters used for the analysis are position and proper motion of all the stars belonging to the cluster’s region. Taxonomy allows to groups the stars together (OTU’s) in clusters, based on its genotypic characteristic, which shows the similarity, between two or more Stars (OTU’s). The method has been applied to open cluster NGC2516. The outcome list of members agrees very well with the one obtained by applying other methods.

Numerical Taxonomy aims to group in clusters, using so-called structure analysis of operational taxonomic units (OTUs or taxons or taxa) through numerical methods. These clusters constitute families. Structural analysis, based on their phenotypic characteristics, exhibits the relationships, in terms of degrees of similarity, between two or more OTUs. Entities formed by dynamic domains of attributes, change according to taxonomical requirements: Classification of objects to form families or clusters. Taxonomic objects are here represented by application of the semantics of the Dynamic Relational Database Model. Families of OTUs are obtained employing as tools i) the Euclidean distance and ii) nearest neighbor techniques. Thus taxonomic evidence is gathered so as to quantify the similarity for each pair of OTUs (pair-group method) obtained from the basic data matrix. The main contribution of the present work is to introduce the concept of spectrum of the OTUs, based in the states of t...

Juniperus excelsa and J. thurifera are considered to originate from the same ancestor. As a result of occurring in geographically isolated refuges-J. excelsa in SE Europe and SW Asia and J. thurifera in SW Europe and NW Africa-their divergence could have taken place at the end of the Tertiary, with the climate cooling. Juniperus foetidissima occurs in SE Europe and SW Asia in territories shared with J. excelsa and is similar to and sometimes misidentified with it. The occurrence of the latter two species over the same area suggests they should be more similar to each other than to the geographically distant J. thurifera. Four populations of J. excelsa ssp. excelsa, four of J. thurifera and two of Juniperus foetidissima were examined on the basis of features of 10 cones and 10 shoots of 18-36 specimens each. Results of discrimination analysis, Mahalanobis distances and cluster analysis showed great similarity to J. excelsa and J. thurifera, while J. foetidissima was more distant. The results support the hypothesis of a common ancestor of J. excelsa and J. thurifera, but suggest another origin of J. foetidissima.

An important line of inquiry in cluster validation involves measuring the stability of a partition with respect to perturbations of the data set. Several authors have recently suggested that the 'correct' number of clusters in a partition can be determined simply by examining the partition stability measures for different values of numbers of clusters. In this paper, we consider the clustering stability measures that were recently proposed in [Bertrand and Bel Mufti, 2005], and we present experiments that compare the method for predicting the number of clusters that is derived from these stability measures with two of the most successful methods reported in recent surveys.

Two new species of Centaurea L. sect. Cynaroides Boiss. ex Walp. (Asteraceae), C. shahuensis Ranjbar and Negaresh and C. ravansarensis Ranjbar and Negaresh are described and illustrated from Kermanshah Province, west Iran. Th ey are closely related to C. regia Boiss. subsp. regia. However, C. shahuensis diff ers from it by median stem leaves broadly oblanceolate or subpandurate, phyllaries densely lanate-tomentose, appendages small, concealing a minor part of phyllaries, and also median appendage margin entire sometimes with 1-2 cilia, 1.2-3.0 mm long on each side. Centaurea ravansarensis is distinguished by upper stem leaves loosely arachnoid, phyllaries loosely fl occose-tomentose, inner appendages deep brown to blackish, and spine 4.5-6.0 mm long. Habitat, conservation status and the geographical distribution of the new species are given. Centaurea L. s.l. is one of the largest genera of the family Asteraceae. Among the more challenging taxonomic problems persisting in the Asteraceae is the delimitation of the genus Centaurea. Depending on the adopted classifi cation,

The species "Thermus thermophilus" was validly described by Oshima and Imahori (1974), but was not included in the Approved Lists of Bacterial Names (Skerman et aI., 1980) nor in subsequent validation lists. DNA: DNA hybridization studies show that several strains from marine hot springs in the Azores and Fiji, and strains (HB-8, AT-62, GK-24, B, and RQ-1) from terrestrial hot springs are closely related. Moreover, all the strains examined can be distinguished from other species or genomic species of the genus Thermus on the basis of growth at 80 to 82°C and in medium containing 3.0% NaC!. On the basis of these results we propose that Thermus thermophilus (ex Oshima and Imahori, 1974) nom. rev. emend. is a valid species and designate strain HB-8 (ATCC 27634) as the type strain.

This paper presents empirical studies of applying numerical taxonomy to component clustering and software partitioning. The technique is based on cohesion and coupling information of a software system as these two properties have great impact on other software quality ...

Twenty-five Onosma (Boraginaceae) taxa belonging to two subsections Haplotricha and Asterotricha from the east Mediterranean region in Turkey were studied by palynological analysis and numerical taxonomy. Application of discriminant function analysis to raw data obtained from the acetolysis and Wodehouse methods resulted in very good allocation of species to their original groups. However the results obtained from acetolysis (99%) resulted in better discrimination than the Wodehouse (97%) method. A similar outcome was reached in principal component analysis and UPGMA. Higher percentage of phenetic variation was explained by the acetolysis method. The utility of palynological data in taxonomic classification with the use of using numerical methods is discussed.

A total of 132 moderately halophilic bacteria were isolated from hypersaline soils with a C1content between 2-36 and 12.72% (w/v) located near Alicante (S.E. Spain) and examined for 98 phenotypic characteristics including their response to cytological, physiological, biochemical and nutritional tests. They were submitted to a numerical analysis together with six reference strains using both simple matching (SsM) and Jaccard (S,) coefficients, and cluster analysis was carried out by the unweighted pair group method of association (UPGMA), single linkage and complete linkage. With the S, coefficient and UPGMA clustering, eight phenons were obtained at the 65% similarity level. From each phenon representative strains were chosen for the determination of DNA base composition and for electron microscopy. Bacteria belonging to phenons D, E, and F were assigned to the genus Alcaligenes. Phenon G included 27 strains assigned to Acinetobacter, but the high G + C composition (58.9 mol%) of a representative strain of this phenon suggests that it may represent a new taxon. Phenons A, B, and C were designated Flavobacterium and phenon H was Pseudomonas. The bacteria found in these environments are not related to those from hypersaline waters or normal soils.

A study was made of 516 randomly selected isolates of moderately halophilic bacteria from solar salterns showing salinities between 8.8 and 40.0% (w/v) total salts, located in S.E. Spain. After purification, many cytological, physiological, biochemical, nutritional and an ti biot ic sensitivity characters were determined for 106 selected saltern isolates and two reference strains. Data were coded and analysed by numerical techniques using the Jaccard coefficient (S J) , and clusters of strains were obtained by average linkage (UPGMA) analysis. Nine major phenons were found at the 72.5 % similarity level. The properties of each phenon are given, their taxonomic affinities are discussed, and typical reference strains are suggested. Almost all the strains were related to genera known to contain marine species. A large number of the strains could be tentatively assigned to the genus Vibrio, suggesting that this may be an abundant taxon of moderately halophilic Gram-negative rods in solar salterns.

We used the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique to decipher the genetic structure of the Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginisnus) in Pakistan. The samples were collected from four cities namely: Dera Ghazi Khan, Jahanian, Khanewal and Gujranwala. The analysis showed a high genetic diversity at species level (H = 0.318, S = 0.467) but low levels at population levels (H = 0.047, S = 0.069 to H = 0.195, S = 0.283). The four populations analyzed were genetically distant from each other and hinted the effect of urbanization role in isolating the urban dwelling species. The genetic distances between populations ranged from D = 0.2403 to D = 0.3419 and the similarity coefficient showed low range from 0.66 to 0.70. This study will help in future conservation plans and also help the understanding of the role of urbanization on fragmentation of species' natural distribution and dispersal mechanism.

A biometric study of cones, seeds, needles, and branchlets was conducted in 15 natural populations of Juniperus turbinata Guss. within its Algerian range. Each population was represented by 20-30 individuals. A total of 386 individuals were examined to evaluate inter-and intraspecific variation, and its geographic patterns, confirming the status of J. turbinata in Algerian populations. Maritime and mainland (Atlas Mountains) populations differed significantly. Cones in the seaside areas tended to be longer and more turbinate, with fewer seeds (mean 4.80) and leaves on the terminal 5-mm section of lateral branchlets (mean 27.87), compared to those from the Atlas, with 5.75 seeds and 29.00 leaves on average. The Aurès Mountain populations had more leaves than other scale-like junipers and other species of the Cupressaceae. Furthermore, maritime populations stood out for having the most turbinated cones among recorded Juniperus phoenicea s.l. populations. Costal populations were more related to those located on oriental Mediterranean shores, while Atlas Mountain populations seemed to be related to Moroccan Atlas ones. A negative gradient of leaf number from east to west was identified in the Atlas group, extending into Morocco. The distinct separation between the 2 geographic patterns supports the hypothesis of migration of J. turbinata along 2 routes and relaunches the proposal of possible varieties within the group.

Numerical taxonomic studies were conducted on thirty six species of Ipomoea found in Southwestern Nigeria to improve the classification and identification of this relatively poorly known genus. Twenty-three species were collected from natural populations; thirteen species were sourced from herbarium specimens. For the field samples, specimen identification was done at the IFE herbarium, following which voucher specimens were deposited. Qualitative and quantitative characters were recorded from the vegetative and reproductive parts of the specimen. The Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Single Linkage Cluster Analysis (SLCA) reveal radial distribution of the Ipomoea species when the power of variance reduces; at high percentage total variance, they are separated into their phenons. The interrelationships observed among the traditional sections delimited by the quantitative analyses further support the suggestion of monophyly of Ipomoea . Key words: Ipomoea , Numerical, Taxonomy,...

The species distribution and biogeography of the Egyptian Tubifl orae were examined in detail. We found 284 species of vascular plants belonging to 96 genera and 12 families. The most species-rich families were Scrophulariaceae, Boraginaceae, Labitae, Convolvulaceae and Solanaceae, constituting more than 85% of total species in the order. The generic spectrum was dominated by a suite of species-rich genera (Convolvulus,

Plantain is one of the most important sources of food in the African lowlands stretching from the lowlands of Guinea and Liberia to the central basin of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo). Because plantain cultivars do not produce seeds, plantain cultivation is based on vegetatively transplanted lateral shoots/suckers. The way by which plantain reached the African continent is still under speculation. The aim of this study was to shed light on the history of plantain cultivars through a linguistic/synonymy study in northern Democratic Republic of Congo. We report the diversity of plantains in 18 villages across the Bas-Uele province based on a survey. Three villages in which plantain production systems dominated were selected in each territory, and ten households were consulted in each village. In each selected village, a focus group discussion was conducted with a group of at least 30 men, and with a separate group of 30 women to establish a list of plantain cultivars grown and known. A total of 46 cultivars were identified and 294 synonyms detected. The cultivar names are mostly related to animal features and agronomic traits, although there is a need to revisit the list for more specific traditional names. The local differences in cultivar identity, density and distribution are explained partly due to the influence of humid forest versus savanna landscapes, but the main part seems to be due to previous movements of Benza, Boa, Ngbandi, Rambo and Zande ethnic groups with their own set of cultivars. We demonstrate that the recorded synonymy data are useful for a tentative partial reconstruction of the history of some cultivars. This is useful for the genetic improvement of plantain cultivars, which most probably will have to rely for a great deal on the unraveling and management of epigenetic mechanisms.

Multivariate analysis was carried out in order to elucidate the taxonomic relationships between Salvia officinalis L., the type species of the genus, and S. fruticosa Mill., both taxa included in section Salvia (Labiatae). Seventy-five different herbarium specimens from all over the Mediterranean Region, belonging to these two taxa, were analysed. Twenty-four specimens belonging to S. lavandulifolia Vahl. s.l., were used as outgroups. Twenty-six morphological characters were measured and a data matrix was constructed prior to multivariate analysis by means of R software. Multiple correspondence analysis was used to obtain a single dendrogram, applying Ward's minimum variance algorithm. This tree was used as a basis to propose a key for the determination of the species and subspecies studied. S. lavandulifolia is separated in two groups, one belonging to S. officinalis and another one representing what was called S. blancoana. Salvia officinalis L. ssp. gallica (W. Lippert) Reales, D. Rivera & Obón and S. officinalis L. ssp. oxyodon (Webb & Heldr.) Reales, D. Rivera & Obón are discussed as new combinations. In addition, a hybrid between S. officinalis and S. fruticosa is identified and its importance in gardening and cultivation is discussed.

In today's highly dynamic economy and society, performance assessment of decision making units (DMUs) is a problem of great significance. In order to make efficient decisions and beneficial improvements, decision makers and top management need to have a comprehensive view over capabilities and performance of DMUs which could be defined as organizational units. This study presents an efficient model for analyzing the outputs of performance measurement methodologies, by means of trust that provides explicit qualitative scales rather than pure numerical data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt for implementing the concept of trust in terms of performance measurement. In order to develop the structure of our proposed framework, fifteen scenarios are established based on number of DMUs and timeslots. These scenarios form the basis of the proposed structure. The efficiency rate of current, previous and upcoming years, as well as the average efficiency and standard deviation, are five inputs for this model. The approach incorporates time series forecasting to predict the future efficiency rate. Furthermore, auto correlation function (ACF) is used as the input selection in time series context. The model utilizes t-norms and t-conorms as the final modeling tools. To show the applicability and superiority of the proposed model, it is applied to a data set which is provided by running a simulation structured by a unique logic. The results provided by this model are more user-centric and have been represented in a potentially more transparent and intelligible way for decision makers.

We have made a detailed phenotypic characterisation of the type strains of 21 species within the genus Halomonas and have also studied any possible intraspecific variation of strains within H. eurihalina, H. halophila, H. maura and H. salina. We used 234 morphological, physiological, biochemical, nutritional and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Nutritional assays were carried out using both classical and miniaturized (BIOLOG system) identification methods. Two different numerical analyses were made using the TAXAN program; the first included the differential data from all the tests carried out whilst the second used only the 57 tests with the highest diagnostic scores (≥ 0.5). The results of both analyses were quite similar and demonstrated the phenotypic heterogeneity of the Halomonas species in question. At a 62% similarity level the type species were grouped into three phena, the main difference between them being the capacity of those included within phenon A (H. aquamarina, H. meridiana, H. cupida, H. pantelleriensis and H. halmophila) to produce acids from sugars. The species grouped in phenon C (H. campisalis, H. desiderata and H. subglasciescola) used fewer organic substrates than the others. The remaining strains were included in phenon B. H. marisflavi was clearly distinct and thus was not included in any of the three phena. High phenotypic similarity (more than 88%) was found between Halomonas campisalis and Halomonas desiderata. The results of our work should allow researchers to minimise the tests required to arrive at a reliable phenotypic characterisation of Halomonas isolates and to select those of most use to differentiate Halomonas species from each other.

A total of 76 pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne ex Poir.) genotypes, purified and maintained as inbreds at Division of Vegetable Science, IARI were morphologically characterized for 21 different traits over two consecutive seasons (spring-summer 2013, 2014) as per DUS guidelines of PPV and FRA. Out of 21 morphological characters under study 14 were assessed visually and seven were measured. All genotypes were grouped into different categories on the basis of these morphological descriptors. With respect to fruit shape at physiological maturity all studied genotypes were observed to have either spherical (CM-350, Punjab Samrat and 25 genotypes) round flat (11 genotypes), oval/oblong oval (Pusa Vishwas and 12 genotypes), oval spherical (DPU-52, DPU-57, and DPU-75 genotypes), oblong cylindrical (DPU-26), flattish round (Kashi Harit and 14 genotypes), flattish (DPU-22, DPU-27, DPU-76), club (DPU- 35), cylindrical (DPU-58) or heart shape (DPU- 80) fruits. Most of the genotypes under s...

In this study, a total of 204 Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNAs from Sicily (n = 144) and Sardinia (n = 60) were studied by three genotyping methods. Results were analyzed both within and across islands, to define the phylogeographical specificities of the genotypes, look for their diversity and infer a molecular evolutionary scenario. A strong link between geography and tuberculosis genotypes was observed in Sardinia. The results were also matched against a worldwide genetic diversity database to compare the population structure of the tubercle bacilli in the islands. Eight common genotypes between Sicily, Sardinia and continental Italy were found which underlines the influences of the Italian mainland on the population structure on the islands and vice versa. A unified evolutionary scenario of M. tuberculosis evolution was built using numerical taxonomy and maximum parsimony (MP) methods. The finding of multiple families of M. tuberculosis strains (S, T, LAM, Haarlem), their presumed links with the major genetic groups (MGG) of M. tuberculosis complex, supports the view of independent introduction of several ancestral genotypes in Sicily and in Sardinia. We conclude that the two PCR-based genotyping combination (spoligotyping-VNTR) is an excellent tool to reconstruct M. tuberculosis phylogeny, that may be used to construct global and local evolutionary scenarios of the M. tuberculosis complex. The results obtained are paradigmatic of the complex interplay that exists between epidemic dynamics and evolutionary genetics of M. tuberculosis.