University of Maribor

About: University of Maribor is a education organization based out in Maribor, Slovenia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & KEKB. The organization has 3987 authors who have published 13077 publications receiving 258339 citations. The organization is also known as: Univerza v Mariboru.

Wisdom of groups promotes cooperation in evolutionary social dilemmas

Abstract: Whether or not to change strategy depends not only on the personal success of each individual, but also on the success of others. Using this as motivation, we study the evolution of cooperation in games that describe social dilemmas, where the propensity to adopt a different strategy depends both on individual fitness as well as on the strategies of neighbors. Regardless of whether the evolutionary process is governed by pairwise or group interactions, we show that plugging into the "wisdom of groups" strongly promotes cooperative behavior. The more the wider knowledge is taken into account the more the evolution of defectors is impaired. We explain this by revealing a dynamically decelerated invasion process, by means of which interfaces separating different domains remain smooth and defectors therefore become unable to efficiently invade cooperators. This in turn invigorates spatial reciprocity and establishes decentralized decision making as very beneficial for resolving social dilemmas.

Particles formation and particle design using supercritical fluids

Abstract: Major recent advances. Particle formation and design of solid particles and powdery composites with unique properties is at the moment a major development of supercritical fluids (synonyms: dense gasses, dense fluids, high pressure) applications. This review will focus on recent advances and on fundamentals of these processes and their applications.

Heterogeneity of large clostridial toxins: importance of Clostridium difficile toxinotypes.

Abstract: Clostridium difficile toxinotypes are groups of strains defined by changes in the PaLoc region encoding two main virulence factors: toxins TcdA and TcdB. Currently, 24 variant toxinotypes (I-XXIV) are known, in addition to toxinotype 0 strains, which contain a PaLoc identical to the reference strain VPI 10463. Variant toxinotypes can also differ from toxinotype 0 strains in their toxin production pattern. The most-studied variant strains are TcdA-, TcdB+ (A-B+) strains and binary toxin CDT-producing strains. Variations in toxin genes are also conserved on the protein level and variant toxins can differ in size, antibody reactivity, pattern of intracellular targets (small GTPases) and consequently in their effects on the cell. Toxinotypes do not correlate with particular forms of disease or patient populations, but some toxinotypes (IIIb and VIII) are currently associated with disease of increased severity and outbreaks worldwide. Variant toxinotypes are very common in animal hosts and can represent from 40% to 100% of all isolates. Among human isolates, variant toxinotypes usually represent up to 10% of strains but their prevalence is increasing.