Systematic Representation of Biology Knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Faletti, Joseph

A major goal of science education is to turn novices (students) into experts (scientists or science literates) with a minimum amount of pain, effort, and time. However, transfer of biology knowledge from instructor to student usually results in a loss of the rich interconnections that an expert has. The papers in this set describe efforts to…

Does scale matter? A systematic review of incorporating biological realism when predicting changes in species distributions.

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Record, Sydne; Strecker, Angela; Tuanmu, Mao-Ning; Beaudrot, Lydia; Zarnetske, Phoebe; Belmaker, Jonathan; Gerstner, Beth

2018-01-01

There is ample evidence that biotic factors, such as biotic interactions and dispersal capacity, can affect species distributions and influence species' responses to climate change. However, little is known about how these factors affect predictions from species distribution models (SDMs) with respect to spatial grain and extent of the models. Understanding how spatial scale influences the effects of biological processes in SDMs is important because SDMs are one of the primary tools used by conservation biologists to assess biodiversity impacts of climate change. We systematically reviewed SDM studies published from 2003-2015 using ISI Web of Science searches to: (1) determine the current state and key knowledge gaps of SDMs that incorporate biotic interactions and dispersal; and (2) understand how choice of spatial scale may alter the influence of biological processes on SDM predictions. We used linear mixed effects models to examine how predictions from SDMs changed in response to the effects of spatial scale, dispersal, and biotic interactions. There were important biases in studies including an emphasis on terrestrial ecosystems in northern latitudes and little representation of aquatic ecosystems. Our results suggest that neither spatial extent nor grain influence projected climate-induced changes in species ranges when SDMs include dispersal or biotic interactions. We identified several knowledge gaps and suggest that SDM studies forecasting the effects of climate change should: 1) address broader ranges of taxa and locations; and 1) report the grain size, extent, and results with and without biological complexity. The spatial scale of analysis in SDMs did not affect estimates of projected range shifts with dispersal and biotic interactions. However, the lack of reporting on results with and without biological complexity precluded many studies from our analysis.

Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

OpenAIRE

Ziegler, Brittany; Montplaisir, Lisa

2014-01-01

Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students’ perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest approach. Significant differences in students’ perception of their knowledge and their determined knowledge exist at the beginning (pretest) and end (postte...

Knowledge translation in healthcare: Incorporating theories of learning and knowledge from the management literature.

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Oborn, Eivor; Barrett, Michael; Racko, Girts

2013-01-01

The authors draw selectively on theories of learning and knowledge, which currently have received little attention from knowledge translation (KT) researchers, and suggest how they might usefully inform future development of the KT literature. The purpose of this paper is to provide conceptual tools and strategies for the growing number of managers, clinicians and decision makers navigating this arena The authors conducted a narrative review to synthesise two streams of literature and examine evolving conceptual landscape concerning knowledge translation over the previous three decades. Conceptual mapping was used iteratively to develop and synthesise the literature. Iterative feedback from relevant research and practice stakeholder groups was used to focus and strengthen the review. KT has been conceptualised along three competing frames; one focusing on linear (largely unidirectional) transfer of knowledge; one focusing on KT as a social process; and another that seeks to more fully incorporate contextual issues in understanding research implementation. Three overlapping themes are found in the management literature that inform these debates in the health literature, namely knowledge boundaries, organisational learning and absorptive capacity. Literature on knowledge boundaries problematizes the nature of boundaries and the stickiness of knowledge. Organisational learning conceptualises the need for organisational wide systems to facilitate learning processes; it also draws on a more expansive view of knowledge. Absorptive capacity focuses at the firm level on the role of developing organisational capabilities that enable the identification, assimilation and use of new knowledge to enable innovation. The paper highlights the need to consider KT processes at multiple levels, including individual, organisational and strategic levels. These are important not only for research but also have practical implications for individuals and organisations involved in KT

Biological knowledge management: the emerging role of the Semantic Web technologies.

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Antezana, Erick; Kuiper, Martin; Mironov, Vladimir

2009-07-01

New knowledge is produced at a continuously increasing speed, and the list of papers, databases and other knowledge sources that a researcher in the life sciences needs to cope with is actually turning into a problem rather than an asset. The adequate management of knowledge is therefore becoming fundamentally important for life scientists, especially if they work with approaches that thoroughly depend on knowledge integration, such as systems biology. Several initiatives to organize biological knowledge sources into a readily exploitable resourceome are presently being carried out. Ontologies and Semantic Web technologies revolutionize these efforts. Here, we review the benefits, trends, current possibilities, and the potential this holds for the biosciences.

Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

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Ziegler, Brittany; Montplaisir, Lisa

2014-01-01

Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students' perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest…

The acquisition of biological knowledge during childhood: Cognitive conflict or tabula rasa?

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Lawson, Anton E.

Clinical interviews were conducted with three elementary school children, who varied in age but not in family or school environment, to determine the extent to which they held naive misconceptions about important biological topics and to determine agewise trends in the development of biological knowledge. Does early biological knowledge acquisition follow a pattern of spontaneous naive theory construction and cognitive conflict or does it follow a pattern of gradual accretion to an initially blank slate? Contrary to findings in the physical sciences, little evidence was found for biological misconceptions as knowledge acquisition appeared to more directly follow the gradual accretion hypothesis with the primary source of that knowledge adult authority rather than personal experience. However, conceptual change teaching is still advocated due to its ability to provoke students to consider and test alternative conceptions (even if they are not their own) as a means of encouraging the development of important general reasoning patterns utilized in the testing of causal hypotheses.

Assessment of knowledge of participants on basic molecular biology techniques after 5-day intensive molecular biology training workshops in Nigeria.

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Yisau, J I; Adagbada, A O; Bamidele, T; Fowora, M; Brai, B I C; Adebesin, O; Bamidele, M; Fesobi, T; Nwaokorie, F O; Ajayi, A; Smith, S I

2017-07-08

The deployment of molecular biology techniques for diagnosis and research in Nigeria is faced with a number of challenges, including the cost of equipment and reagents coupled with the dearth of personnel skilled in the procedures and handling of equipment. Short molecular biology training workshops were conducted at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), to improve the knowledge and skills of laboratory personnel and academics in health, research, and educational facilities. Five-day molecular biology workshops were conducted annually between 2011 and 2014, with participants drawn from health, research facilities, and the academia. The courses consisted of theoretical and practical sessions. The impact of the workshops on knowledge and skill acquisition was evaluated by pre- and post-tests which consisted of 25 multiple choice and other questions. Sixty-five participants took part in the workshops. The mean knowledge of molecular biology as evaluated by the pre- and post-test assessments were 8.4 (95% CI 7.6-9.1) and 13.0 (95 CI 11.9-14.1), respectively. The mean post-test score was significantly greater than the mean pre-test score (p biology workshop significantly increased the knowledge and skills of participants in molecular biology techniques. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(4):313-317, 2017. © 2017 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Fostering Students' Conceptual Knowledge in Biology in the Context of German National Education Standards

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Förtsch, Christian; Dorfner, Tobias; Baumgartner, Julia; Werner, Sonja; von Kotzebue, Lena; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2018-04-01

The German National Education Standards (NES) for biology were introduced in 2005. The content part of the NES emphasizes fostering conceptual knowledge. However, there are hardly any indications of what such an instructional implementation could look like. We introduce a theoretical framework of an instructional approach to foster students' conceptual knowledge as demanded in the NES (Fostering Conceptual Knowledge) including instructional practices derived from research on single core ideas, general psychological theories, and biology-specific features of instructional quality. First, we aimed to develop a rating manual, which is based on this theoretical framework. Second, we wanted to describe current German biology instruction according to this approach and to quantitatively analyze its effectiveness. And third, we aimed to provide qualitative examples of this approach to triangulate our findings. In a first step, we developed a theoretically devised rating manual to measure Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in videotaped lessons. Data for quantitative analysis included 81 videotaped biology lessons of 28 biology teachers from different German secondary schools. Six hundred forty students completed a questionnaire on their situational interest after each lesson and an achievement test. Results from multilevel modeling showed significant positive effects of Fostering Conceptual Knowledge on students' achievement and situational interest. For qualitative analysis, we contrasted instruction of four teachers, two with high and two with low student achievement and situational interest using the qualitative method of thematic analysis. Qualitative analysis revealed five main characteristics describing Fostering Conceptual Knowledge. Therefore, implementing Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in biology instruction seems promising. Examples of how to implement Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in instruction are shown and discussed.

Using expert knowledge to incorporate uncertainty in cause-of-death assignments for modeling of cause-specific mortality

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Walsh, Daniel P.; Norton, Andrew S.; Storm, Daniel J.; Van Deelen, Timothy R.; Heisy, Dennis M.

2018-01-01

Implicit and explicit use of expert knowledge to inform ecological analyses is becoming increasingly common because it often represents the sole source of information in many circumstances. Thus, there is a need to develop statistical methods that explicitly incorporate expert knowledge, and can successfully leverage this information while properly accounting for associated uncertainty during analysis. Studies of cause-specific mortality provide an example of implicit use of expert knowledge when causes-of-death are uncertain and assigned based on the observer's knowledge of the most likely cause. To explicitly incorporate this use of expert knowledge and the associated uncertainty, we developed a statistical model for estimating cause-specific mortality using a data augmentation approach within a Bayesian hierarchical framework. Specifically, for each mortality event, we elicited the observer's belief of cause-of-death by having them specify the probability that the death was due to each potential cause. These probabilities were then used as prior predictive values within our framework. This hierarchical framework permitted a simple and rigorous estimation method that was easily modified to include covariate effects and regularizing terms. Although applied to survival analysis, this method can be extended to any event-time analysis with multiple event types, for which there is uncertainty regarding the true outcome. We conducted simulations to determine how our framework compared to traditional approaches that use expert knowledge implicitly and assume that cause-of-death is specified accurately. Simulation results supported the inclusion of observer uncertainty in cause-of-death assignment in modeling of cause-specific mortality to improve model performance and inference. Finally, we applied the statistical model we developed and a traditional method to cause-specific survival data for white-tailed deer, and compared results. We demonstrate that model selection

[Physicians' knowledge in Israel on the biology and control of head lice].

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Mumcuoglu, Kosta Y; Mumcuoglu, Michael; Danilevich, Maria; Gilead, Leon

2008-10-01

Health providers such as physicians, nurses and pharmacists should be knowledgeable about the biology of head lice and the ways to control them effectively, in order to reduce the proportion of children infested with head lice. To evaluate the knowledge of physicians in Israel on the biology and epidemiology of lice, as well as their experience with infested individuals and their preferences for diagnosis, prophylaxis and control. An anonymous questionnaire with 37 questions was used. The first 20 questions addressed the general knowledge of physicians on lice biology and control, while the remaining 17 questions were related to their personal experience with lice and louse treatment. Out of 273 physicians interviewed 66.8% had good knowledge of lice, while the remaining 33.2% had some knowledge on lice. The difference between the groups of physicians with medium and good knowledge on lice was borderline significant (P=0.0722), with the dermatologists borderline significantly less knowledgeable than the rest (P=0.0765). Significant differences were found between those physicians with 4-6 or 11-20 years of professional experience and the remaining groups (twice Pbiology and control was higher than male physicians (39.4% and 29.4%, respectively), the differences were borderline significant (P=0.09). Pediatricians and dermatologists examined significantly more children than family physicians and general practitioners (P control of head louse infestations.

Student Perceived and Determined Knowledge of Biology Concepts in an Upper-Level Biology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Montplaisir, Lisa

2014-01-01

Students who lack metacognitive skills can struggle with the learning process. To be effective learners, students should recognize what they know and what they do not know. This study examines the relationship between students’ perception of their knowledge and determined knowledge in an upper-level biology course utilizing a pre/posttest approach. Significant differences in students’ perception of their knowledge and their determined knowledge exist at the beginning (pretest) and end (posttest) of the course. Alignment between student perception and determined knowledge was significantly more accurate on the posttest compared with the pretest. Students whose determined knowledge was in the upper quartile had significantly better alignment between their perception and determined knowledge on the pre- and posttest than students in the lower quartile. No difference exists between how students perceived their knowledge between upper- and lower-quartile students. There was a significant difference in alignment of perception and determined knowledge between males and females on the posttest, with females being more accurate in their perception of knowledge. This study provides evidence of discrepancies that exist between what students perceive they know and what they actually know. PMID:26086662

Effects of biology teachers' professional knowledge and cognitive activation on students' achievement

Science.gov (United States)

Förtsch, Christian; Werner, Sonja; von Kotzebue, Lena; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2016-11-01

This study examined the effects of teachers' biology-specific dimensions of professional knowledge - pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and content knowledge (CK) - and cognitively activating biology instruction, as a feature of instructional quality, on students' learning. The sample comprised 39 German secondary school teachers whose lessons on the topic neurobiology were videotaped twice. Teachers' instruction was coded with regard to cognitive activation using a rating manual. Multilevel path analysis results showed a positive significant effect of cognitive activation on students' learning and an indirect effect of teachers' PCK on students' learning mediated through cognitive activation. These findings highlight the importance of PCK in preservice biology teachers' education. Items of the rating manual may be used to provide exemplars of concrete teaching situations during university seminars for preservice teacher education or professional development initiatives for in-service teachers.

Fostering synergy between cell biology and systems biology.

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Eddy, James A; Funk, Cory C; Price, Nathan D

2015-08-01

In the shared pursuit of elucidating detailed mechanisms of cell function, systems biology presents a natural complement to ongoing efforts in cell biology. Systems biology aims to characterize biological systems through integrated and quantitative modeling of cellular information. The process of model building and analysis provides value through synthesizing and cataloging information about cells and molecules, predicting mechanisms and identifying generalizable themes, generating hypotheses and guiding experimental design, and highlighting knowledge gaps and refining understanding. In turn, incorporating domain expertise and experimental data is crucial for building towards whole cell models. An iterative cycle of interaction between cell and systems biologists advances the goals of both fields and establishes a framework for mechanistic understanding of the genome-to-phenome relationship. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Biological evaluation of nanosilver incorporated cellulose pulp for hygiene products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kavitha Sankar, P.C.; Ramakrishnan, Reshmi; Rosemary, M.J., E-mail: rosemarymj@lifecarehll.com

2016-04-01

Cellulose pulp has a visible market share in personal hygiene products such as sanitary napkins and baby diapers. However it offers good surface for growth of microorganisms. Huge amount of research is going on in developing hygiene products that do not initiate microbial growth. The objective of the present work is to produce antibacterial cellulose pulp by depositing silver nanopowder on the cellulose fiber. The silver nanoparticles used were of less than 100 nm in size and were characterised using transmission electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction studies. Antibacterial activity of the functionalized cellulose pulp was proved by JIS L 1902 method. The in-vitro cytotoxicity, in-vivo vaginal irritation and intracutaneous reactivity studies were done with silver nanopowder incorporated cellulose pulp for introducing a new value added product to the market. Cytotoxicity evaluation suggested that the silver nanoparticle incorporated cellulose pulp is non-cytotoxic. No irritation and skin sensitization were identified in animals tested with specific extracts prepared from the test material in the in-vivo experiments. The results indicated that the silver nanopowder incorporated cellulose pulp meets the requirements of the standard practices recommended for evaluating the biological reactivity and has good biocompatibility, hence can be classified as a safe hygiene product. - Highlights: • Different amounts of silver nanoparticles (0.2 g–0.4 g/napkin) were added to cellulose pulp. • The silver nanoparticle incorporated cellulose pulp was proved to be antibacterial by JIS L 1902 method. • The minimum concentration of silver required for antibacterial activity with no cytotoxicity has been found out. • In-vivo vaginal irritation and intracutaneous reactivity studies confirmed the biocompatibility of the material.

Biological evaluation of nanosilver incorporated cellulose pulp for hygiene products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kavitha Sankar, P.C.; Ramakrishnan, Reshmi; Rosemary, M.J.

2016-01-01

Cellulose pulp has a visible market share in personal hygiene products such as sanitary napkins and baby diapers. However it offers good surface for growth of microorganisms. Huge amount of research is going on in developing hygiene products that do not initiate microbial growth. The objective of the present work is to produce antibacterial cellulose pulp by depositing silver nanopowder on the cellulose fiber. The silver nanoparticles used were of less than 100 nm in size and were characterised using transmission electron microscopy and X-ray powder diffraction studies. Antibacterial activity of the functionalized cellulose pulp was proved by JIS L 1902 method. The in-vitro cytotoxicity, in-vivo vaginal irritation and intracutaneous reactivity studies were done with silver nanopowder incorporated cellulose pulp for introducing a new value added product to the market. Cytotoxicity evaluation suggested that the silver nanoparticle incorporated cellulose pulp is non-cytotoxic. No irritation and skin sensitization were identified in animals tested with specific extracts prepared from the test material in the in-vivo experiments. The results indicated that the silver nanopowder incorporated cellulose pulp meets the requirements of the standard practices recommended for evaluating the biological reactivity and has good biocompatibility, hence can be classified as a safe hygiene product. - Highlights: • Different amounts of silver nanoparticles (0.2 g–0.4 g/napkin) were added to cellulose pulp. • The silver nanoparticle incorporated cellulose pulp was proved to be antibacterial by JIS L 1902 method. • The minimum concentration of silver required for antibacterial activity with no cytotoxicity has been found out. • In-vivo vaginal irritation and intracutaneous reactivity studies confirmed the biocompatibility of the material.

Developmental "roots" in mature biological knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Robert F; Thompson-Schill, Sharon L

2009-04-01

Young children tend to claim that moving artifacts and nonliving natural kinds are alive, but neglect to ascribe life to plants. This research tested whether adults exhibit similar confusions when verifying life status in a speeded classification task. Experiment 1 showed that undergraduates encounter greater difficulty (reduced accuracy and increased response times) in determining life status for plants, relative to animals, and for natural and moving nonliving things, relative to artifacts and non-moving things. Experiment 2 replicated these effects in university biology professors. The professors showed a significantly reduced effect size for living things, as compared with the students, but still showed greater difficulty for plants than animals, even as no differences from the students were apparent in their responses to nonliving things. These results suggest that mature biological knowledge relies on a developmental foundation that is not radically overwritten or erased with the profound conceptual changes that accompany mastery of the domain.

Using a Module-Based Laboratory to Incorporate Inquiry into a Large Cell Biology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, David R.; Miskowski, Jennifer A.

2005-01-01

Because cell biology has rapidly increased in breadth and depth, instructors are challenged not only to provide undergraduate science students with a strong, up-to-date foundation of knowledge, but also to engage them in the scientific process. To these ends, revision of the Cell Biology Lab course at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse was…

Lung cancer gene expression database analysis incorporating prior knowledge with support vector machine-based classification method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huang Desheng

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background A reliable and precise classification is essential for successful diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Gene expression microarrays have provided the high-throughput platform to discover genomic biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis. Rational use of the available bioinformation can not only effectively remove or suppress noise in gene chips, but also avoid one-sided results of separate experiment. However, only some studies have been aware of the importance of prior information in cancer classification. Methods Together with the application of support vector machine as the discriminant approach, we proposed one modified method that incorporated prior knowledge into cancer classification based on gene expression data to improve accuracy. A public well-known dataset, Malignant pleural mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma gene expression database, was used in this study. Prior knowledge is viewed here as a means of directing the classifier using known lung adenocarcinoma related genes. The procedures were performed by software R 2.80. Results The modified method performed better after incorporating prior knowledge. Accuracy of the modified method improved from 98.86% to 100% in training set and from 98.51% to 99.06% in test set. The standard deviations of the modified method decreased from 0.26% to 0 in training set and from 3.04% to 2.10% in test set. Conclusion The method that incorporates prior knowledge into discriminant analysis could effectively improve the capacity and reduce the impact of noise. This idea may have good future not only in practice but also in methodology.

[Knowledge and power at a molecular level; biological psychiatry in a social context].

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Verhoeff, B

2009-01-01

How do we acquire our knowledge about psychiatric disorders and how did the current biologically way of thinking in psychiatry originate? With the help of the philosophy of Michel Foucault and Nikolas Rose this essay describes the conditions that made possible today's biological approach in psychiatry. It will become clear that research in the life sciences and the psychiatric knowledge arising from this research are shaped and formed in a complex network of social, economic, political and scientific forces. The biological approach to psychiatric disorders is the product of present-day relationships between scientific developments and commercial corporations.

Representations of the Nature of Scientific Knowledge in Turkish Biology Textbooks

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Irez, Serhat

2016-01-01

Considering the impact of textbooks on learning, this study set out to assess representations of the nature of scientific knowledge in Turkish 9th grade biology textbooks. To this end, the ten most commonly used 9th grade biology textbooks were analyzed. A qualitative research approach was utilized and the textbooks were analyzed using…

Next Generation Risk Assessment: Incorporation of Recent Advances in Molecular, Computational, and Systems Biology (Final Report)

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EPA announced the release of the final report, Next Generation Risk Assessment: Incorporation of Recent Advances in Molecular, Computational, and Systems Biology. This report describes new approaches that are faster, less resource intensive, and more robust that can help ...

Incorporating Indonesian Students' "Funds of Knowledge" into Teaching Science to Sustain Their Interest in Science

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A.N. Md Zain

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of incorporating students’ funds of knowledge in the teaching of science in sustaining Indonesian students’ interest in science. The researchers employed mixed method approach in this study. This study took place within two suburban secondary schools in Indonesia. Two teachers and a total of 173 students (94 males and 79 females participated in this study. The findings revealed that initially, most students expected that the teaching process would mainly include science experiments or other hands-on activities. Their preferences revealed a critical problem related to science learning: a lack of meaningful science-related activities in the classroom. The findings showed that incorporating students’ funds of knowledge into science learning processes -and thus establishing students’ culture as an important and valued aspect of science learning was effective in not only sustaining but also improving students’ attitudes and increasing their interest in science.

Features of Knowledge Building in Biology: Understanding Undergraduate Students' Ideas about Molecular Mechanisms.

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Southard, Katelyn; Wince, Tyler; Meddleton, Shanice; Bolger, Molly S

2016-01-01

Research has suggested that teaching and learning in molecular and cellular biology (MCB) is difficult. We used a new lens to understand undergraduate reasoning about molecular mechanisms: the knowledge-integration approach to conceptual change. Knowledge integration is the dynamic process by which learners acquire new ideas, develop connections between ideas, and reorganize and restructure prior knowledge. Semistructured, clinical think-aloud interviews were conducted with introductory and upper-division MCB students. Interviews included a written conceptual assessment, a concept-mapping activity, and an opportunity to explain the biomechanisms of DNA replication, transcription, and translation. Student reasoning patterns were explored through mixed-method analyses. Results suggested that students must sort mechanistic entities into appropriate mental categories that reflect the nature of MCB mechanisms and that conflation between these categories is common. We also showed how connections between molecular mechanisms and their biological roles are part of building an integrated knowledge network as students develop expertise. We observed differences in the nature of connections between ideas related to different forms of reasoning. Finally, we provide a tentative model for MCB knowledge integration and suggest its implications for undergraduate learning. © 2016 K. Southard et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2016 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

The Notion of Scientific Knowledge in Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Morante, Silvia; Rossi, Giancarlo

2016-03-01

The purpose of this work is to reconsider and critically discuss the conceptual foundations of modern biology and bio-sciences in general, and provide an epistemological guideline to help framing the teaching of these disciplines and enhancing the quality of their presentation in High School, Master and Ph.D. courses. After discussing the methodological problems that arise in trying to construct a sensible and useful scientific approach applicable to the study of living systems, we illustrate what are the general requirements that a workable scheme of investigation should meet to comply with the principles of the Galilean method. The amazing success of basic physics, the Galilean science of election, can be traced back to the development of a radically " reductionistic" approach in the interpretation of experiments and a systematic procedure tailored on the paradigm of " falsifiability" aimed at consistently incorporating new information into extended models/theories. The development of bio-sciences seems to fit with neither reductionism (the deeper is the level of description of a biological phenomenon the more difficult looks finding general and simple laws), nor falsifiability (not always experiments provide a yes-or-no answer). Should we conclude that biology is not a science in the Galilean sense? We want to show that this is not so. Rather in the study of living systems, the novel interpretative paradigm of " complexity" has been developed that, without ever conflicting with the basic principles of physics, allows organizing ideas, conceiving new models and understanding the puzzling lack of reproducibility that seems to affect experiments in biology and in other modern areas of investigation. In the delicate task of conveying scientific concepts and principles to students as well as in popularising bio-sciences to a wider audience, it is of the utmost importance for the success of the process of learning to highlight the internal logical consistency of

TEACHERS’ EXPERIENCES IN INCORPORATING STUDENTS’ FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE TO PROMOTE THE LEARNING OF SCIENCE

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Rohandi Rohandi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Abstrak: Salah satu bidang kajian menarik bagi pendidik bidang sains di negara berkembang dan dalam budaya timur (non-Western adalah hakikat interaksi antara praktik tradisi dan keyakinan yang ada di masyarakat tempat siswa tinggal dan sains yang diajarkan di sekolah. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mempertimbangkan isu-isu budaya dalam konteks pembelajaran sains di Indonesia. Keterkaitan antara budaya siswa, pengalaman siswa di rumah, dan pengalaman pengetahuan siswa yang diidentifikasi sebagai funds of knowledge, telah diintegrasikan ke dalam pembelajaran sains. Penelitian ini berlangsung di dua SMP di Indonesia. Dua guru dan 173 siswa (94 laki-laki dan 79 perempuan berpartisipasi dalam penelitian ini. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa kecocokan antara pengalaman hidup siswa, tingkat pengetahuan, dan konsep ilmu pengetahuan dapat menjadi faktor utama dalam menjaga keberlanjutan pembelajaran ilmiah pada kelas sains. Hal ini penting untuk mengembangkan pengajaran dan pembelajaran sains yang menekankan pada penggabungan pengetahuan siswa, terutama dalam menyajikan ilmu yang relevan dengan siswa kehidupan sehari-hari. Kata Kunci: funds of knowledge, sekolah menengah, pembelajaran sains PENGALAMAN GURU DALAM MENGINTEGRASIKAN PENGALAMAN BUDAYA SISWA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN BELAJAR SAIN Abstract: One area of interest for science educators in developing countries and in non-Western settings is the nature of interaction between traditional practices and beliefs existing in the communities in which students live and the science taught in schools. The purpose of this study is to consider cultural issues in the context of the teaching of science in Indonesia. The connection between students’ culture, home experiences and experiential knowledge of students which is identified as funds of knowledge have been incorporated into learning science. This study took place within two sub-urban Junior High Schools in Indonesia. Two teachers and 173 students (94

Incorporating personalized gene sequence variants, molecular genetics knowledge, and health knowledge into an EHR prototype based on the Continuity of Care Record standard

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Jing, Xia; Kay, Stephen; Marley, Tom; Hardiker, Nicholas R.; Cimino, James J.

2011-01-01

Summary Objectives The current volume and complexity of genetic tests, and the molecular genetics knowledge and health knowledge related to interpretation of the results of those tests, are rapidly outstripping the ability of individual clinicians to recall, understand and convey to their patients information relevant to their care. The tailoring of molecular genetics knowledge and health knowledge in clinical settings is important both for the provision of personalized medicine and to reduce clinician information overload. In this paper we describe the incorporation, customization and demonstration of molecular genetic data (mainly sequence variants), molecular genetics knowledge and health knowledge into a standards-based electronic health record (EHR) prototype developed specifically for this study. Methods We extended the CCR (Continuity of Care Record), an existing EHR standard for representing clinical data, to include molecular genetic data. An EHR prototype was built based on the extended CCR and designed to display relevant molecular genetics knowledge and health knowledge from an existing knowledge base for cystic fibrosis (OntoKBCF). We reconstructed test records from published case reports and represented them in the CCR schema. We then used the EHR to dynamically filter molecular genetics knowledge and health knowledge from OntoKBCF using molecular genetic data and clinical data from the test cases. Results The molecular genetic data were successfully incorporated in the CCR by creating a category of laboratory results called “Molecular Genetics ” and specifying a particular class of test (“Gene Mutation Test”) in this category. Unlike other laboratory tests reported in the CCR, results of tests in this class required additional attributes (“Molecular Structure” and “Molecular Position”) to support interpretation by clinicians. These results, along with clinical data (age, sex, ethnicity, diagnostic procedures, and therapies) were used

Subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge: Implications for alternatively and traditionally trained biology teachers

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Ravgiala, Rebekah Rae

Theories regarding the development of expertise hold implications for alternative and traditional certification programs and the teachers they train. The literature suggests that when compared to experts in the field of teaching, the behaviors of novices differ in ways that are directly attributed to their pedagogical content knowledge. However, few studies have examined how first and second year biology teachers entering the profession from traditional and alternative training differ in their demonstration of subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge. The research problem in this multicase, naturalistic inquiry investigated how subject-specific pedagogical content knowledge was manifested among first and second year biology teachers in the task of transforming subject matter into forms that are potentially meaningful to students when explicit formal training has been and has not been imparted to them as preservice teachers. Two first year and two second year biology teachers were the subjects of this investigation. Allen and Amber obtained their certification through an alternative summer training institute in consecutive years. Tiffany and Tricia obtained their certification through a traditional, graduate level training program in consecutive years. Both programs were offered at the same northeastern state university. Participants contributed to six data gathering techniques including an initial semi-structured interview, responses to the Conceptions of Teaching Science questionnaire (Hewson & Hewson, 1989), three videotaped biology lessons, evaluation of three corresponding lesson plans, and a final semi-structured interview conducted at the end of the investigation. An informal, end-of-study survey intended to offer participants an opportunity to disclose their thoughts and needs as first year teachers was also employed. Results indicate that while conceptions of teaching science may vary slightly among participants, there is no evidence to suggest that

"A mission-driven discipline": the growth of conservation biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Meine, Curt; Soulé, Michael; Noss, Reed E

2006-06-01

Conservation biology emerged in the mid-1980s, drawing on established disciplines and integrating them in pursuit of a coherent goal: the protection and perpetuation of the Earth's biological diversity. Opportunistic in its borrowing and application of knowledge, conservation biology had its roots within the established biological sciences and resource management disciplines but has continually incorporated insights from the empirical experience of resource managers, from the social sciences and humanities, and from diverse cultural sources. The Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) has represented the field's core constituency, while expanding that constituency in keeping with the field's integrative spirit. Conservation Biology has served as SCB's flagship publication, promoting research, dialog, debate, and application of the field's essential concepts. Over the last 20 years the field, SCB, and the journal have evolved to meet changing conservation needs, to explore gaps in our knowledge base, to incorporate new information from related fields, to build professional capacity, and to provide expanded opportunities for international participation. In turn, the field, SCB, and journal have prompted change in related fields, organizations, and publications. In its dedication to advancing the scientific foundations of biodiversity conservation and placing that science at the service of society in a world whose variety, wildness, and beauty we care for conservation biology represents both a continuation and radical reconfiguration of the traditional relationship between science and conservation.

Investigating Lebanese Grade Seven Biology Teachers Mathematical Knowledge and Skills: A Case Study

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Raad, Nawal Abou; Chatila, Hanadi

2016-01-01

This paper investigates Lebanese grade 7 biology teachers' mathematical knowledge and skills, by exploring how they explain a visual representation in an activity depending on the mathematical concept "Function". Twenty Lebanese in-service biology teachers participated in the study, and were interviewed about their explanation for the…

Knowledge Discovery in Biological Databases for Revealing Candidate Genes Linked to Complex Phenotypes.

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Hassani-Pak, Keywan; Rawlings, Christopher

2017-06-13

Genetics and "omics" studies designed to uncover genotype to phenotype relationships often identify large numbers of potential candidate genes, among which the causal genes are hidden. Scientists generally lack the time and technical expertise to review all relevant information available from the literature, from key model species and from a potentially wide range of related biological databases in a variety of data formats with variable quality and coverage. Computational tools are needed for the integration and evaluation of heterogeneous information in order to prioritise candidate genes and components of interaction networks that, if perturbed through potential interventions, have a positive impact on the biological outcome in the whole organism without producing negative side effects. Here we review several bioinformatics tools and databases that play an important role in biological knowledge discovery and candidate gene prioritization. We conclude with several key challenges that need to be addressed in order to facilitate biological knowledge discovery in the future.

Extensive gaps and biases in our knowledge of a well-known fauna: Implications for integrating biological traits into macroecology

KAUST Repository

Tyler, Elizabeth

2011-12-09

Aim Ecologists seeking to describe patterns at ever larger scales require compilations of data on the global abundance and distribution of species. Comparable compilations of biological data are needed to elucidate the mechanisms behind these patterns, but have received far less attention. We assess the availability of biological data across an entire assemblage: the well-documented demersal marine fauna of the United Kingdom. We also test whether data availability for a species depends on its taxonomic group, maximum body size, the number of times it has been recorded in a global biogeographic database, or its commercial and conservation importance. Location Seas of the United Kingdom. Methods We defined a demersal marine fauna of 973 species from 15 phyla and 40 classes using five extensive surveys around the British Isles. We then quantified the availability of data on eight key biological traits (termed biological knowledge) for each species from online databases. Relationships between biological knowledge and our predictors were tested with generalized linear models. Results Full data on eight fundamental biological traits exist for only 9% (n= 88) of the UK demersal marine fauna, and 20% of species completely lack data. Clear trends in our knowledge exist: fish (median biological knowledge score = six traits) are much better known than invertebrates (one trait). Biological knowledge increases with biogeographic knowledge and (to a lesser extent) with body size, and is greater in species that are commercially exploited or of conservation concern. Main conclusions Our analysis reveals deep ignorance of the basic biology of a well-studied fauna, highlighting the need for far greater efforts to compile biological trait data. Clear biases in our knowledge, relating to how well sampled or \\'important\\' species are suggests that caution is required in extrapolating small subsets of biologically well-known species to ecosystem-level studies. © 2011 Blackwell

Negotiating the dynamics of uncomfortable knowledge: The case of dual use and synthetic biology

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Marris, Claire; Jefferson, Catherine; Lentzos, Filippa

2014-01-01

Institutions need to ignore some knowledge in order to function. This is “uncomfortable knowledge” because it undermines the ability of those institutions to pursue their goals (Rayner, 2012). We identify three bodies of knowledge that are relevant to understandings of the dual use threat posed by synthetic biology but are excluded from related policy discussions. We demonstrate how these “unknown knowns” constitute uncomfortable knowledge because they disrupt the simplified worldview that underpins contemporary discourse on the potential misuse of synthetic biology by malign actors. We describe how these inconvenient truths have been systematically ignored and argue that this is because they are perceived as a threat by organisations involved in the promotion of synthetic biology as well as by those involved in managing biosecurity risks. This has led to a situation where concerns about the biosecurity threat posed by synthetic biology are not only exaggerated, but are, more importantly, misplaced. This, in turn, means that related policies are misdirected and unlikely to have much impact. We focus on the dynamics of discussions about synthetic biology and dual use to demonstrate how the same “knowns” that are denied or dismissed as “unknown knowns” in certain circumstances are sometimes mobilised as “known knowns” by the same category of actors in a different context, when this serves to sustain the goals of the individuals and institutions involved. Based on our own experience, we argue that negotiating the dynamics of uncomfortable knowledge is a difficult, but necessary, component of meaningful transdisciplinary collaborations. PMID:25484910

Occupational biological risk knowledge and perception: results from a large survey in Rome, Italy

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Maria De Giusti

2012-06-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A cross-sectional survey on knowledge and perception of occupational biological risk among workers in several occupations was carried out in the industrial area of Rome. METHODS: The study was carried out in the period of March-April 2010 using a questionnaire with 33 items on the following areas: a socio-demographic data; b perception of the biological risks in ordinary occupational activity; c knowledge about biological risks; d biological risks in the working environment. The questionnaire was submitted to a convenience sample of workers of an industrial area in Southern Rome. RESULTS: 729 participants entered the study from the following work activities: food, catering, service, farming and breeding, healthcare, school and research (males 57.2%; mean age 37.4 years, SD = 10.9. Significant associations were found between different activity areas with respect to the relevance of the biological risk (p = 0.044 and the perception of the biological risk (p < 0.001. With respect to vehicles of infectious agents, the highest percentages of the most common biological risk exposures were: air and physical contact for the catering and food group, 66.7% and 61.90% respectively; air and blood for the health and research group, with 73.50% and 57.00% respectively; and physical contact and blood for the service group, 63.10 % and 48.30%. Significant difference of proportions were found about the prevalent effect caused by the biological agents was the occurrence of infectious diseases (59.90% food group, 91.60% health and research and 79.30% service group (p < 0.001. The perception of knowledge resulted in a good rank (sufficient, many or complete in the food and catering group, 78.3% with significant difference compared to other professions (p < 0.001. CONCLUSIONS: All participants show good knowledge the effects induced by biological agents and it is significant that almost half of the respondents are aware of the risks concerning allergies

Discovering Learning Strategy to Increase Metacognitive Knowledge in Biology Learning in Secondary School

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Y. Herlanti

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The study is aimed at finding an effective learning strategy that can increase metacognitive knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge is a standard that based on 2016-revised edition of 2013 curriculum needs to be achieved by every graduate in all level of education in Indonesia. The study is conducted in three different schools and engages 207 students, which then divided into six groups. The groups are students who study under mind mapping strategy, concept mapping, reciprocal teaching using summary notes, reciprocal teaching using mind mapping, problem-based learning, and investigation group. The results showed that those studying under problem-based learning strategy spent a significantly higher numbers in metacognitive knowledge in biology learning and followed by students who study under reciprocal teaching using mind mapping. According to the finding, it is expected that teachers of Biology will practice problem-based learning strategy in their classroom in order to increase the Metacognitive knowledge.

Incorporating Biological Mass Spectrometry into Undergraduate Teaching Labs, Part 2: Peptide Identification via Molecular Mass Determination

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Arnquist, Isaac J.; Beussman, Douglas J.

2009-01-01

Mass spectrometry has become a routine analytical tool in the undergraduate curriculum in the form of GC-MS. While relatively few undergraduate programs have incorporated biological mass spectrometry into their programs, the importance of these techniques, as demonstrated by their recognition with the 2002 Nobel Prize, will hopefully lead to…

Automated quantitative assessment of proteins' biological function in protein knowledge bases.

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Mayr, Gabriele; Lepperdinger, Günter; Lackner, Peter

2008-01-01

Primary protein sequence data are archived in databases together with information regarding corresponding biological functions. In this respect, UniProt/Swiss-Prot is currently the most comprehensive collection and it is routinely cross-examined when trying to unravel the biological role of hypothetical proteins. Bioscientists frequently extract single entries and further evaluate those on a subjective basis. In lieu of a standardized procedure for scoring the existing knowledge regarding individual proteins, we here report about a computer-assisted method, which we applied to score the present knowledge about any given Swiss-Prot entry. Applying this quantitative score allows the comparison of proteins with respect to their sequence yet highlights the comprehension of functional data. pfs analysis may be also applied for quality control of individual entries or for database management in order to rank entry listings.

Automated Quantitative Assessment of Proteins' Biological Function in Protein Knowledge Bases

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Gabriele Mayr

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Primary protein sequence data are archived in databases together with information regarding corresponding biological functions. In this respect, UniProt/Swiss-Prot is currently the most comprehensive collection and it is routinely cross-examined when trying to unravel the biological role of hypothetical proteins. Bioscientists frequently extract single entries and further evaluate those on a subjective basis. In lieu of a standardized procedure for scoring the existing knowledge regarding individual proteins, we here report about a computer-assisted method, which we applied to score the present knowledge about any given Swiss-Prot entry. Applying this quantitative score allows the comparison of proteins with respect to their sequence yet highlights the comprehension of functional data. pfs analysis may be also applied for quality control of individual entries or for database management in order to rank entry listings.

The impact of ecolabel knowledge to purchase decision of green producton biology students

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Sigit, Diana Vivanti; Fauziah, Rizky; Heryanti, Erna

2017-08-01

The world needs real solutions to reduce the impact of environmental damages. Students as agents of changes have a role to overcome these problems. One of the important solution is to be a critical consumer who has purchase decisions in a green product. To show the quality of an environmental friendly product, it is then required an ecolabel on the green product which indicates that the product has been through the production processed and come from environmental friendly substances. The research aimed at finding out whether there was an impact of ecolabel knowledge with purchase decision of green product on biology students. This research was conducted in Biology Department. This research used a survey descriptive method. The population used was biology students of Universitas Negeri Jakarta while the sampling technique was done through simple random sampling technique with 147 respondents. Instrument used were ecolabel knowledge test and a questionnaire of green product purchase decision. The result of prerequisite test showed that the data was normally distributed and homogenous variance. The regression model obtained was Ŷ=77.083+ 0.370X. Meanwhile, the determinant coefficient (r2) obtained was 0.047 or 4.7% that mean ecolabel knowledge just contributed 4,71% to the green product purchase decision. These implied that many factors contributed in the purchase decision of green product instead of ecolabel knowledge.

The Regional Advisory Councils: what is their potential to incorporate stakeholder knowledge into fisheries governance?

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Linke, Sebastian; Dreyer, Marion; Sellke, Piet

2011-03-01

The protection of the Baltic Sea ecosystem is exacerbated by the social, environmental and economic complexities of governing European fisheries. Increased stakeholder participation and knowledge integration are suggested to improve the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), suffering from legitimacy, credibility and compliance problems. As a result, the CFP was revised in 2002 to involve fisheries representatives, NGOs and other stakeholders through so called Regional Advisory Councils (RACs) in the policy process. We address the RAC's task to incorporate stakeholder knowledge into the EU's fisheries governance system in empirical and theoretical perspectives. Drawing on a four-stage governance concept we subsequently suggest that a basic problem is a mismatch between participation purpose (knowledge inclusion) and the governance stage at which RACs are formally positioned (evaluation of management proposals). We conclude that, if the aim is to broaden the knowledge base of fisheries management, stakeholders need to be included earlier in the governance process.

HIV/AIDS Content Knowledge and Presentation Strategies in Biology for Effective Use in Everyday Life

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Mnguni, Lindelani; Abrie, Mia

2012-01-01

HIV/AIDS education should empower students to create knowledge using everyday life experiences. Such knowledge should then be used to construe experience and resolve social problems such as risk behaviour that leads to infection. In South Africa, attempts to reduce the spread of HIV include incorporating HIV/AIDS education in the biology…

Features of Knowledge Building in Biology: Understanding Undergraduate Students’ Ideas about Molecular Mechanisms

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Southard, Katelyn; Wince, Tyler; Meddleton, Shanice; Bolger, Molly S.

2016-01-01

Research has suggested that teaching and learning in molecular and cellular biology (MCB) is difficult. We used a new lens to understand undergraduate reasoning about molecular mechanisms: the knowledge-integration approach to conceptual change. Knowledge integration is the dynamic process by which learners acquire new ideas, develop connections between ideas, and reorganize and restructure prior knowledge. Semistructured, clinical think-aloud interviews were conducted with introductory and upper-division MCB students. Interviews included a written conceptual assessment, a concept-mapping activity, and an opportunity to explain the biomechanisms of DNA replication, transcription, and translation. Student reasoning patterns were explored through mixed-method analyses. Results suggested that students must sort mechanistic entities into appropriate mental categories that reflect the nature of MCB mechanisms and that conflation between these categories is common. We also showed how connections between molecular mechanisms and their biological roles are part of building an integrated knowledge network as students develop expertise. We observed differences in the nature of connections between ideas related to different forms of reasoning. Finally, we provide a tentative model for MCB knowledge integration and suggest its implications for undergraduate learning. PMID:26931398

BOWiki: an ontology-based wiki for annotation of data and integration of knowledge in biology

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Gregorio Sergio E

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Motivation Ontology development and the annotation of biological data using ontologies are time-consuming exercises that currently require input from expert curators. Open, collaborative platforms for biological data annotation enable the wider scientific community to become involved in developing and maintaining such resources. However, this openness raises concerns regarding the quality and correctness of the information added to these knowledge bases. The combination of a collaborative web-based platform with logic-based approaches and Semantic Web technology can be used to address some of these challenges and concerns. Results We have developed the BOWiki, a web-based system that includes a biological core ontology. The core ontology provides background knowledge about biological types and relations. Against this background, an automated reasoner assesses the consistency of new information added to the knowledge base. The system provides a platform for research communities to integrate information and annotate data collaboratively. Availability The BOWiki and supplementary material is available at http://www.bowiki.net/. The source code is available under the GNU GPL from http://onto.eva.mpg.de/trac/BoWiki.

Thinking about Digestive System in Early Childhood: A Comparative Study about Biological Knowledge

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AHI, Berat

2017-01-01

The current study aims to explore how children explain the concepts of biology and how biological knowledge develops across ages by focusing on the structure and functions of the digestive system. The study was conducted with 60 children. The data were collected through the interviews conducted within a think-aloud protocol. The interview data…

Ways of incorporating photographic images in learning and assessing high school biology: A study of visual perception and visual cognition

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Nixon, Brenda Chaumont

This study evaluated the cognitive benefits and costs of incorporating biology-textbook and student-generated photographic images into the learning and assessment processes within a 10th grade biology classroom. The study implemented Wandersee's (2000) 20-Q Model of Image-Based Biology Test-Item Design (20-Q Model) to explore the use of photographic images to assess students' understanding of complex biological processes. A thorough review of the students' textbook using ScaleMaster R with PC Interface was also conducted. The photographs, diagrams, and other representations found in the textbook were measured to determine the percentage of each graphic depicted in the book and comparisons were made to the text. The theoretical framework that guided the research included Human Constructivist tenets espoused by Mintzes, Wandersee and Novak (2000). Physiological and cognitive factors of images and image-based learning as described by Robin (1992), Solso (1997) and Wandersee (2000) were examined. Qualitative case study design presented by Yin (1994), Denzin and Lincoln (1994) was applied and data were collected through interviews, observations, student activities, student and school artifacts and Scale Master IIRTM measurements. The results of the study indicate that although 24% of the high school biology textbook is devoted to photographic images which contribute significantly to textbook cost, the teacher and students paid little attention to photographic images other than as aesthetic elements for creating biological ambiance, wasting valuable opportunities for learning. The analysis of the photographs corroborated findings published by the Association American Association for the Advancement of Science that indicated "While most of the books are lavishly illustrated, these representations are rarely helpful, because they are too abstract, needlessly complicated, or inadequately explained" (Roseman, 2000, p. 2). The findings also indicate that applying the 20-Q

Physico-chemical and Biological Evaluation of Flavonols: Fisetin, Quercetin and Kaempferol Alone and Incorporated in beta Cyclodextrins.

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Corina, Danciu; Bojin, Florina; Ambrus, Rita; Muntean, Delia; Soica, Codruta; Paunescu, Virgil; Cristea, Mirabela; Pinzaru, Iulia; Dehelean, Cristina

2017-01-01

Fisetin,quercetin and kaempferol are among the important representatives of flavonols, biological active phytocomounds, with low water solubility. To evaluate the antimicrobial effect, respectively the antiproliferative and pro apoptotic activity on the B164A5 murine melanoma cell line of pure flavonols and their beta cyclodextrins complexes. Incorporation of fisetin, quercetin and kaempferol in beta cyclodextrins was proved by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differencial scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD). Pure compounds and their complexes were tested for antiproliferative (MTT) and pro-apoptotic activity (Annexin V-PI) on the B164A5 murine melanoma cell line and for the antimicrobial properties (Disk Diffusion Method) on the selected strains. The phytocompounds presented in a different manner in vitro chemopreventive activity against B164A5 murine melanoma cell line and weak antimicrobial effect. The three flavonols: fisetin, quercetin and kaempferol were successfully incorporated in beta-cyclodextrin (BCD) and hydroxylpropyl-beta-cyclodextrin (HPBCD). Incorporation in beta cyclodextrins had a mix effect on the biological activity conducing to decrease, increase or consistent effect compared to pure phytocompound, depending on the screened process and on the chosen combination. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Knowledge Enrichment Analysis for Human Tissue- Specific Genes Uncover New Biological Insights

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Gong Xiu-Jun

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The expression and regulation of genes in different tissues are fundamental questions to be answered in biology. Knowledge enrichment analysis for tissue specific (TS and housekeeping (HK genes may help identify their roles in biological process or diseases and gain new biological insights.In this paper, we performed the knowledge enrichment analysis for 17,343 genes in 84 human tissues using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA and Hypergeometric Analysis (HA against three biological ontologies: Gene Ontology (GO, KEGG pathways and Disease Ontology (DO respectively.The analyses results demonstrated that the functions of most gene groups are consistent with their tissue origins. Meanwhile three interesting new associations for HK genes and the skeletal muscle tissuegenes are found. Firstly, Hypergeometric analysis against KEGG database for HK genes disclosed that three disease terms (Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease are intensively enriched.Secondly, Hypergeometric analysis against the KEGG database for Skeletal Muscle tissue genes shows that two cardiac diseases of “Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM” and “Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC” are heavily enriched, which are also considered as no relationship with skeletal functions.Thirdly, “Prostate cancer” is intensively enriched in Hypergeometric analysis against the disease ontology (DO for the Skeletal Muscle tissue genes, which is a much unexpected phenomenon.

Biological sciences teaching undergraduates’ environmental knowledge: a critical analysis

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Silvana do Nascimento Silva

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, environmental issues have been addressed in a way that goes beyond the natural impacts, embracing socio-economic, political and cultural aspects. This paper makes a description of the types of environmental conceptions, giving special emphasis to the interactions that permeate it, and develops an empirical work by analyzing the conceptions about the environmental knowledge of students majoring in a teacher preparation course on biological sciences of a university in the State of Bahia, Brazil. In a qualitative research, data were collected by application of a questionnaire with open questions with answers in text and drawings. The results revealed a predominance of naturalistic conceptions, while socio-environmental conceptions of systemic or socio-metabolic characteristics were not found. These findings lead to the need for the integration of these critical approaches about the environmental issue in Sciences and Biology teachers’ training, emphasizing the interactions between work, nature and society. Finally, some suggestions also emerge for future research, among which to analyze the biological sciences university teachers’ environmental conceptions and an action-research with these investigated undergraduates concerning environmental critical approaches.

Resisting Official Knowledge: The Incorporation and Abjection of Race and Poverty in High School American History Textbooks, 1960s-2000s

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Kearl, Benjamin Kelsey

2014-01-01

Through an interpretive analysis of how high school American history textbooks depict the urban-riots of the late-1960s, in this article the author discusses how textbooks incorporate and abject official knowledge related to the intersections of race and poverty. Incorporation is related with Raymond Williams' theory of the selective tradition and…

BIOLOGY STUDENTS’ TEACHER OPINIONS ABOUT THE INTEGRATION OF ICT INTO THE LEARNING AND TEACHING PROCESS

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Andreja Špernjak

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Biology laboratory work can be performed in various ways, even using information and communication technologies (ICT. Whether a teacher incorporates it into laboratory work is related to different factors, but educators can influence students’ beliefs about the value of ICT through their pedagogical practice. In our study, student teachers of biology gave opinions on how successfully university professors use ICT in the classroom, where they acquired most knowledge about ICT and their attitude towards using of ICT in laboratory work. Student teachers were critical about the knowledge and usage of ICT of university professors in class. During their student teachers mostly failed to acquire knowledge about ICT and practice in incorporating it into daily routines. These results will be presented to our university professors, at which time we will suggest how they could use ICT more effectively in daily practice because, on the one hand, they are responsible for students teacher attitudes and for the level of student teacher knowledge, while, on the others, they precipitate indirectly in forming the pupils’ attitudes and determining the level of the pupils’ knowledge of ICT. The study was done on 85 student teachers of biology. Attitudes toward ICT are statistically significant by gender.

Biosocial Conservation: Integrating Biological and Ethnographic Methods to Study Human-Primate Interactions.

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Setchell, Joanna M; Fairet, Emilie; Shutt, Kathryn; Waters, Siân; Bell, Sandra

2017-01-01

Biodiversity conservation is one of the grand challenges facing society. Many people interested in biodiversity conservation have a background in wildlife biology. However, the diverse social, cultural, political, and historical factors that influence the lives of people and wildlife can be investigated fully only by incorporating social science methods, ideally within an interdisciplinary framework. Cultural hierarchies of knowledge and the hegemony of the natural sciences create a barrier to interdisciplinary understandings. Here, we review three different projects that confront this difficulty, integrating biological and ethnographic methods to study conservation problems. The first project involved wildlife foraging on crops around a newly established national park in Gabon. Biological methods revealed the extent of crop loss, the species responsible, and an effect of field isolation, while ethnography revealed institutional and social vulnerability to foraging wildlife. The second project concerned great ape tourism in the Central African Republic. Biological methods revealed that gorilla tourism poses risks to gorillas, while ethnography revealed why people seek close proximity to gorillas. The third project focused on humans and other primates living alongside one another in Morocco. Incorporating shepherds in the coproduction of ecological knowledge about primates built trust and altered attitudes to the primates. These three case studies demonstrate how the integration of biological and social methods can help us to understand the sustainability of human-wildlife interactions, and thus promote coexistence. In each case, an integrated biosocial approach incorporating ethnographic data produced results that would not otherwise have come to light. Research that transcends conventional academic boundaries requires the openness and flexibility to move beyond one's comfort zone to understand and acknowledge the legitimacy of "other" kinds of knowledge. It is

Incorporating prior knowledge induced from stochastic differential equations in the classification of stochastic observations.

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Zollanvari, Amin; Dougherty, Edward R

2016-12-01

In classification, prior knowledge is incorporated in a Bayesian framework by assuming that the feature-label distribution belongs to an uncertainty class of feature-label distributions governed by a prior distribution. A posterior distribution is then derived from the prior and the sample data. An optimal Bayesian classifier (OBC) minimizes the expected misclassification error relative to the posterior distribution. From an application perspective, prior construction is critical. The prior distribution is formed by mapping a set of mathematical relations among the features and labels, the prior knowledge, into a distribution governing the probability mass across the uncertainty class. In this paper, we consider prior knowledge in the form of stochastic differential equations (SDEs). We consider a vector SDE in integral form involving a drift vector and dispersion matrix. Having constructed the prior, we develop the optimal Bayesian classifier between two models and examine, via synthetic experiments, the effects of uncertainty in the drift vector and dispersion matrix. We apply the theory to a set of SDEs for the purpose of differentiating the evolutionary history between two species.

Strontium incorporation to optimize the antibacterial and biological characteristics of silver-substituted hydroxyapatite coating

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geng, Zhen; Cui, Zhenduo [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Li, Zhaoyang, E-mail: zyli@tju.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072 (China); Zhu, Shengli [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072 (China); Liang, Yanqin [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Liu, Yunde; Li, Xue; He, Xin; Yu, Xiaoxu; Wang, Renfeng [School of Laboratory Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Yang, Xianjin, E-mail: xjyang@tju.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072 (China)

2016-01-01

Infection in primary total joint prostheses is attracting considerable attention. In this study, silver (Ag) was incorporated into hydroxyapatite (HA) using a hydrothermal method in order to improve its antimicrobial properties. Strontium (Sr) was added as a second binary element to improve the biocompatibility. The substituted HA samples were fixed on titanium (Ti) substrates by dopamine-assisted immobilization in order to evaluate their antibacterial and biological properties. The results showed that Ag and Sr were successfully incorporated into HA without affecting their crystallinity. Further, the antibacterial tests showed that all the Ag-substituted samples had good anti-bacterial properties against Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Despite their good antibacterial ability, the Ag-substituted samples showed evidence of cytotoxicity on MG63 cells, characterized by low cell density and poor spreadability. The addition of Sr to the Ag-substituted samples considerably reduced the cytotoxicity of Ag. Although the viability of the cells grown on the surfaces of co-substituted HA was not as high as that of the cells grown on the HA surfaces, it is believed that excellent antibacterial properties and good biological activity can be achieved by balancing the dosage of Sr and Ag. - Highlights: • Ag- and Sr-substituted HA was prepared by hydrothermal method. • Ag- and Sr-substituted HA coating was deposited on dopamine functionalized titanium. • Ag-substituted HA biofilm showed a remarkable antibacterial activity. • Sr could offset the side effects of Ag.

Insights on Genomic and Molecular Alterations in Multiple Myeloma and Their Incorporation towards Risk-Adapted Treatment Strategy: Concise Clinical Review

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Taiga Nishihori

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Although recent advances in novel treatment approaches and therapeutics have shifted the treatment landscape of multiple myeloma, it remains an incurable plasma cell malignancy. Growing knowledge of the genome and expressed genomic information characterizing the biologic behavior of multiple myeloma continues to accumulate. However, translation and incorporation of vast molecular understanding of complex tumor biology to deliver personalized and precision treatment to cure multiple myeloma have not been successful to date. Our review focuses on current evidence and understanding of myeloma biology with characterization in the context of genomic and molecular alterations. We also discuss future clinical application of the genomic and molecular knowledge, and more translational research is needed to benefit our myeloma patients.

Data Integration and Mining for Synthetic Biology Design.

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Mısırlı, Göksel; Hallinan, Jennifer; Pocock, Matthew; Lord, Phillip; McLaughlin, James Alastair; Sauro, Herbert; Wipat, Anil

2016-10-21

One aim of synthetic biologists is to create novel and predictable biological systems from simpler modular parts. This approach is currently hampered by a lack of well-defined and characterized parts and devices. However, there is a wealth of existing biological information, which can be used to identify and characterize biological parts, and their design constraints in the literature and numerous biological databases. However, this information is spread among these databases in many different formats. New computational approaches are required to make this information available in an integrated format that is more amenable to data mining. A tried and tested approach to this problem is to map disparate data sources into a single data set, with common syntax and semantics, to produce a data warehouse or knowledge base. Ontologies have been used extensively in the life sciences, providing this common syntax and semantics as a model for a given biological domain, in a fashion that is amenable to computational analysis and reasoning. Here, we present an ontology for applications in synthetic biology design, SyBiOnt, which facilitates the modeling of information about biological parts and their relationships. SyBiOnt was used to create the SyBiOntKB knowledge base, incorporating and building upon existing life sciences ontologies and standards. The reasoning capabilities of ontologies were then applied to automate the mining of biological parts from this knowledge base. We propose that this approach will be useful to speed up synthetic biology design and ultimately help facilitate the automation of the biological engineering life cycle.

Efficient fuzzy Bayesian inference algorithms for incorporating expert knowledge in parameter estimation

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Rajabi, Mohammad Mahdi; Ataie-Ashtiani, Behzad

2016-05-01

Bayesian inference has traditionally been conceived as the proper framework for the formal incorporation of expert knowledge in parameter estimation of groundwater models. However, conventional Bayesian inference is incapable of taking into account the imprecision essentially embedded in expert provided information. In order to solve this problem, a number of extensions to conventional Bayesian inference have been introduced in recent years. One of these extensions is 'fuzzy Bayesian inference' which is the result of integrating fuzzy techniques into Bayesian statistics. Fuzzy Bayesian inference has a number of desirable features which makes it an attractive approach for incorporating expert knowledge in the parameter estimation process of groundwater models: (1) it is well adapted to the nature of expert provided information, (2) it allows to distinguishably model both uncertainty and imprecision, and (3) it presents a framework for fusing expert provided information regarding the various inputs of the Bayesian inference algorithm. However an important obstacle in employing fuzzy Bayesian inference in groundwater numerical modeling applications is the computational burden, as the required number of numerical model simulations often becomes extremely exhaustive and often computationally infeasible. In this paper, a novel approach of accelerating the fuzzy Bayesian inference algorithm is proposed which is based on using approximate posterior distributions derived from surrogate modeling, as a screening tool in the computations. The proposed approach is first applied to a synthetic test case of seawater intrusion (SWI) in a coastal aquifer. It is shown that for this synthetic test case, the proposed approach decreases the number of required numerical simulations by an order of magnitude. Then the proposed approach is applied to a real-world test case involving three-dimensional numerical modeling of SWI in Kish Island, located in the Persian Gulf. An expert

Radiological accidents: methodologies of radio nuclides dis incorporation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jimenez F, E. A.; Paredes G, L.; Cortes, A.

2014-08-01

Derived of the radioactive or nuclear material management, exists the risk that accidents can happen where people cases are presented with internal radioactive contamination, who will receive specialized medical care to accelerate the radioactive dis incorporation with the purpose of diminishing the absorbed dose and the associate biological effects. In this work treatments of radioactive dis incorporation were identified, in function of the radionuclide, radiation type, radioactive half life, biological half life, critical organ, ingestion duct and patient type. The factor time is decisive for the effectiveness of the selected treatment in the blockade stage (before the accident) or dis incorporation (after the accident); this factor is related with the radioactive and biological half lives. So to achieve dis incorporation efficiencies of more to 70%, the patient clinical treatment will begin before the first third of the biological half life of the radionuclide that generated the internal contamination. (Author)

Conscious knowledge of learning: accessing learning strategies in a final year high school biology class

Science.gov (United States)

Conner, Lindsey; Gunstone, Richard

2004-12-01

This paper reports on a qualitative case study investigation of the knowledge and use of learning strategies by 16 students in a final year high school biology class to expand their conscious knowledge of learning. Students were provided with opportunities to engage in purposeful inquiry into the biological, social and ethical aspects of cancer. A constructivist approach was implemented to access prior content and procedural knowledge in various ways. Students were encouraged to develop evaluation of their learning skills independently through activities that promoted metacognition. Those students who planned and monitored their work produced essays of higher quality. The value and difficulties of promoting metacognitive approaches in this context are discussed, as well as the idea that metacognitive processes are difficult to research, because they have to be conscious in order to be identified by the learner, thereby making them accessible to the researcher.

Integrating external biological knowledge in the construction of regulatory networks from time-series expression data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lo Kenneth

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Inference about regulatory networks from high-throughput genomics data is of great interest in systems biology. We present a Bayesian approach to infer gene regulatory networks from time series expression data by integrating various types of biological knowledge. Results We formulate network construction as a series of variable selection problems and use linear regression to model the data. Our method summarizes additional data sources with an informative prior probability distribution over candidate regression models. We extend the Bayesian model averaging (BMA variable selection method to select regulators in the regression framework. We summarize the external biological knowledge by an informative prior probability distribution over the candidate regression models. Conclusions We demonstrate our method on simulated data and a set of time-series microarray experiments measuring the effect of a drug perturbation on gene expression levels, and show that it outperforms leading regression-based methods in the literature.

Effect of Hyaluronic Acid Incorporation Method on the Stability and Biological Properties of Polyurethane-Hyaluronic Acid Biomaterials

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiz, Amaliris; Rathnam, Kashmila R.; Masters, Kristyn S.

2014-01-01

The high failure rate of small diameter vascular grafts continues to drive the development of new materials and modification strategies that address this clinical problem, with biomolecule incorporation typically achieved via surface-based modification of various biomaterials. In this work, we examined whether the method of biomolecule incorporation (i.e., bulk vs. surface modification) into a polyurethane (PU) polymer impacted biomaterial performance in the context of vascular applications. Specifically, hyaluronic acid (HA) was incorporated into a poly(ether urethane) via bulk copolymerization or covalent surface tethering, and the resulting PU-HA materials characterized with respect to both physical and biological properties. Modification of PU with HA by either surface or bulk methods yielded materials that, when tested under static conditions, possessed no significant differences in their ability to resist protein adsorption, platelet adhesion, and bacterial adhesion, while supporting endothelial cell culture. However, only bulk-modified PU-HA materials were able to fully retain these characteristics following material exposure to flow, demonstrating a superior ability to retain the incorporated HA and minimize enzymatic degradation, protein adsorption, platelet adhesion, and bacterial adhesion. Thus, despite bulk methods rarely being implemented in the context of biomolecule attachment, these results demonstrate improved performance of PU-HA upon bulk, rather than surface, incorporation of HA. Although explored only in the context of PU-HA, the findings revealed by these experiments have broader implications for the design and evaluation of vascular graft modification strategies. PMID:24276670

Biological standards for the Knowledge-Based BioEconomy: What is at stake.

Science.gov (United States)

de Lorenzo, Víctor; Schmidt, Markus

2018-01-25

The contribution of life sciences to the Knowledge-Based Bioeconomy (KBBE) asks for the transition of contemporary, gene-based biotechnology from being a trial-and-error endeavour to becoming an authentic branch of engineering. One requisite to this end is the need for standards to measure and represent accurately biological functions, along with languages for data description and exchange. However, the inherent complexity of biological systems and the lack of quantitative tradition in the field have largely curbed this enterprise. Fortunately, the onset of systems and synthetic biology has emphasized the need for standards not only to manage omics data, but also to increase reproducibility and provide the means of engineering living systems in earnest. Some domains of biotechnology can be easily standardized (e.g. physical composition of DNA sequences, tools for genome editing, languages to encode workflows), while others might be standardized with some dedicated research (e.g. biological metrology, operative systems for bio-programming cells) and finally others will require a considerable effort, e.g. defining the rules that allow functional composition of biological activities. Despite difficulties, these are worthy attempts, as the history of technology shows that those who set/adopt standards gain a competitive advantage over those who do not. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Incorporating prior knowledge into beam orientation optimization in IMRT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pugachev, Andrei M.S.; Lei Xing

2002-01-01

Purpose: Selection of beam configuration in currently available intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) treatment planning systems is still based on trial-and-error search. Computer beam orientation optimization has the potential to improve the situation, but its practical implementation is hindered by the excessive computing time associated with the calculation. The purpose of this work is to provide an effective means to speed up the beam orientation optimization by incorporating a priori geometric and dosimetric knowledge of the system and to demonstrate the utility of the new algorithm for beam placement in IMRT. Methods and Materials: Beam orientation optimization was performed in two steps. First, the quality of each possible beam orientation was evaluated using beam's-eye-view dosimetrics (BEVD) developed in our previous study. A simulated annealing algorithm was then employed to search for the optimal set of beam orientations, taking into account the BEVD scores of different incident beam directions. During the calculation, sampling of gantry angles was weighted according to the BEVD score computed before the optimization. A beam direction with a higher BEVD score had a higher probability of being included in the trial configuration, and vice versa. The inclusion of the BEVD weighting in the stochastic beam angle sampling process made it possible to avoid spending valuable computing time unnecessarily at 'bad' beam angles. An iterative inverse treatment planning algorithm was used for beam intensity profile optimization during the optimization process. The BEVD-guided beam orientation optimization was applied to an IMRT treatment of paraspinal tumor. The advantage of the new optimization algorithm was demonstrated by comparing the calculation with the conventional scheme without the BEVD weighting in the beam sampling. Results: The BEVD tool provided useful guidance for the selection of the potentially good directions for the beams to incident and was used

Knowledge of Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting and the Pharmacovigilance of Biological Medicines: A Survey of Healthcare Professionals in Ireland.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Callaghan, J; Griffin, B T; Morris, J M; Bermingham, Margaret

2018-06-01

In Europe, changes to pharmacovigilance legislation, which include additional monitoring of medicines, aim to optimise adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting systems. The legislation also makes provisions related to the traceability of biological medicines. The objective of this study was to assess (i) knowledge and general experience of ADR reporting, (ii) knowledge, behaviours, and attitudes related to the pharmacovigilance of biologicals, and (iii) awareness of additional monitoring among healthcare professionals (HCPs) in Ireland. Hospital doctors (n = 88), general practitioners (GPs) (n = 197), nurses (n = 104) and pharmacists (n = 309) completed an online questionnaire. There were differences in mean knowledge scores relating to ADR reporting and the pharmacovigilance of biologicals among the HCP groups. The majority of HCPs who use biological medicines in their practice generally record biologicals by brand name but practice behaviours relating to batch number recording differed between some professions. HCPs consider batch number recording to be valuable but also regard it as being more difficult than brand name recording. Most respondents were aware of the concept of additional monitoring but awareness rates differed between some groups. Among those who knew about additional monitoring, there was higher awareness of the inverted black triangle symbol among pharmacists (> 86.4%) compared with hospital doctors (35.1%), GPs (35.6%), and nurses (14.9%). Hospital pharmacists had more experience and knowledge of ADR reporting than other practising HCPs. This study highlights the important role hospital pharmacists play in post-marketing surveillance. There is a need to increase pharmacovigilance awareness of biological medicines and improve systems to support their batch traceability.

Conceptual Model-based Systems Biology: mapping knowledge and discovering gaps in the mRNA transcription cycle.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith Somekh

2012-12-01

Full Text Available We propose a Conceptual Model-based Systems Biology framework for qualitative modeling, executing, and eliciting knowledge gaps in molecular biology systems. The framework is an adaptation of Object-Process Methodology (OPM, a graphical and textual executable modeling language. OPM enables concurrent representation of the system's structure-the objects that comprise the system, and behavior-how processes transform objects over time. Applying a top-down approach of recursively zooming into processes, we model a case in point-the mRNA transcription cycle. Starting with this high level cell function, we model increasingly detailed processes along with participating objects. Our modeling approach is capable of modeling molecular processes such as complex formation, localization and trafficking, molecular binding, enzymatic stimulation, and environmental intervention. At the lowest level, similar to the Gene Ontology, all biological processes boil down to three basic molecular functions: catalysis, binding/dissociation, and transporting. During modeling and execution of the mRNA transcription model, we discovered knowledge gaps, which we present and classify into various types. We also show how model execution enhances a coherent model construction. Identification and pinpointing knowledge gaps is an important feature of the framework, as it suggests where research should focus and whether conjectures about uncertain mechanisms fit into the already verified model.

Academic Preparation in Biology and Advocacy for Teaching Evolution: Biology versus Non-Biology Teachers

Science.gov (United States)

Nehm, Ross H.; Kim, Sun Young; Sheppard, Keith

2009-01-01

Despite considerable focus on evolution knowledge-belief relationships, little research has targeted populations with strong content backgrounds, such as undergraduate degrees in biology. This study (1) measured precertified biology and non-biology teachers' (n = 167) knowledge of evolution and the nature of science; (2) quantified teacher…

Changes in physicochemical and biological properties of porcine bone derived hydroxyapatite induced by the incorporation of fluoride

Science.gov (United States)

Qiao, Wei; Liu, Quan; Li, Zhipeng; Zhang, Hanqing; Chen, Zhuofan

2017-12-01

As the main inorganic component of xenogenic bone graft material, bone-derived biological apatite (BAp) has been widely used in implant dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery and orthopedics. However, BAp produced via calcination of animal bones still suffers from some drawbacks, such as insufficient mechanical strength and inadequate degradation rate, which impede its application. Fluoride is known to play important roles in both physiological and pathological processes of human hard tissues for its double effects on bones and teeth. In order to understand the effects of fluoride on the properties of BAp, as well as the mechanism behind them, porcine bone derived hydroxyapatite (PHAp) was prepared via thermal treatment, which was then fluoride incorporated at a series concentrations of sodium fluoride, and noted as 0.25-FPHAp, 0.50-FPHAp, and 0.75-FPHAp respectively. The physicochemical characteristics of the materials, including crystal morphology, crystallinity, functional groups, elemental composition, compressive strength, porosity and solubility, were then determined. The biological properties, such as protein adsorption and cell attachment, were also evaluated. It was found that the spheroid-like crystals of PHAp were changed into rod-like after fluoride substitution, resulting in a fluoride concentration-dependent increase in compressive strength, as well as a decreased porosity and solubility of the apatite. However, even though the addition of fluoride was demonstrated to enhance protein adsorption and cell attachment of the materials, the most favorable results were intriguingly achieved in FPHAp with the least fluoride content. Collectively, low level of fluoride incorporation is proposed promising for the modification of clinically used BAp based bone substitute materials, because of its being able to maintain a good balance between physicochemical and biological properties of the apatite.

Evaluation of gene association methods for coexpression network construction and biological knowledge discovery.

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Sapna Kumari

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Constructing coexpression networks and performing network analysis using large-scale gene expression data sets is an effective way to uncover new biological knowledge; however, the methods used for gene association in constructing these coexpression networks have not been thoroughly evaluated. Since different methods lead to structurally different coexpression networks and provide different information, selecting the optimal gene association method is critical. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, we compared eight gene association methods - Spearman rank correlation, Weighted Rank Correlation, Kendall, Hoeffding's D measure, Theil-Sen, Rank Theil-Sen, Distance Covariance, and Pearson - and focused on their true knowledge discovery rates in associating pathway genes and construction coordination networks of regulatory genes. We also examined the behaviors of different methods to microarray data with different properties, and whether the biological processes affect the efficiency of different methods. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the Spearman, Hoeffding and Kendall methods are effective in identifying coexpressed pathway genes, whereas the Theil-sen, Rank Theil-Sen, Spearman, and Weighted Rank methods perform well in identifying coordinated transcription factors that control the same biological processes and traits. Surprisingly, the widely used Pearson method is generally less efficient, and so is the Distance Covariance method that can find gene pairs of multiple relationships. Some analyses we did clearly show Pearson and Distance Covariance methods have distinct behaviors as compared to all other six methods. The efficiencies of different methods vary with the data properties to some degree and are largely contingent upon the biological processes, which necessitates the pre-analysis to identify the best performing method for gene association and coexpression network construction.

Incorporating the knowledge management cycle in e-business

NARCIS (Netherlands)

O, Y.L.; Gordijn, Jaap; Akkermans, Hans

2001-01-01

In e-business, knowledge can be extracted from the recorded information by intelligent data analysis and then utilised in the business transaction. E-knowledge is a foundation for e-business. E-business can be supported by an intelligent information system that provides intelligent business process

The functionality of biological knowledge in the workplace. Integrating school and workplace learning about reproduction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mazereeuw, M.

2013-01-01

This thesis reports on a design research project about a learning, supervising and teaching strategy to enable students in agricultural preparatory vocational secondary education (VMBO) to recognize the functionality of biological knowledge of reproduction in work placement sites. Although

Conservation Biology and Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Integrating Academic Disciplines for Better Conservation Practice

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Joshua A. Drew

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Conservation biology and environmental anthropology are disciplines that are both concerned with the identification and preservation of diversity, in one case biological and in the other cultural. Both conservation biology and the study of traditional ecoloigcal knowledge function at the nexus of the social and natural worlds, yet historically there have been major impediments to integrating the two. Here we identify linguistic, cultural, and epistemological barriers between the two disciplines. We argue that the two disciplines are uniquely positioned to inform each other and to provide critical insights and new perspectives on the way these sciences are practiced. We conclude by synthesizing common themes found in conservation success stories, and by making several suggestions on integration. These include cross-disciplinary publication, expanding memberships in professional societies and conducting multidisciplinary research based on similar interests in ecological process, taxonomy, or geography. Finally, we argue that extinction threats, be they biological or cultural/linguistic are imminent, and that by bringing these disciplines together we may be able to forge synergistic conservation programs capable of protecting the vivid splendor of life on Earth.

A semantic web framework to integrate cancer omics data with biological knowledge.

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Holford, Matthew E; McCusker, James P; Cheung, Kei-Hoi; Krauthammer, Michael

2012-01-25

The RDF triple provides a simple linguistic means of describing limitless types of information. Triples can be flexibly combined into a unified data source we call a semantic model. Semantic models open new possibilities for the integration of variegated biological data. We use Semantic Web technology to explicate high throughput clinical data in the context of fundamental biological knowledge. We have extended Corvus, a data warehouse which provides a uniform interface to various forms of Omics data, by providing a SPARQL endpoint. With the querying and reasoning tools made possible by the Semantic Web, we were able to explore quantitative semantic models retrieved from Corvus in the light of systematic biological knowledge. For this paper, we merged semantic models containing genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic data from melanoma samples with two semantic models of functional data - one containing Gene Ontology (GO) data, the other, regulatory networks constructed from transcription factor binding information. These two semantic models were created in an ad hoc manner but support a common interface for integration with the quantitative semantic models. Such combined semantic models allow us to pose significant translational medicine questions. Here, we study the interplay between a cell's molecular state and its response to anti-cancer therapy by exploring the resistance of cancer cells to Decitabine, a demethylating agent. We were able to generate a testable hypothesis to explain how Decitabine fights cancer - namely, that it targets apoptosis-related gene promoters predominantly in Decitabine-sensitive cell lines, thus conveying its cytotoxic effect by activating the apoptosis pathway. Our research provides a framework whereby similar hypotheses can be developed easily.

Women care about local knowledge, experiences from ethnomycology

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Garibay-Orijel Roberto

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Gender is one of the main variables that influence the distribution of local knowledge. We carried out a literature review concerning local mycological knowledge, paying special attention to data concerning women’s knowledge and comparative gender data. We found that unique features of local mycological knowledge allow people to successfully manage mushrooms. Women are involved in every stage of mushroom utilization from collection to processing and marketing. Local mycological knowledge includes the use mushrooms as food, medicine, and recreational objects as well as an aid to seasonal household economies. In many regions of the world, women are often the main mushroom collectors and possess a vast knowledge about mushroom taxonomy, biology, and ecology. Local experts play a vital role in the transmission of local mycological knowledge. Women participate in the diffusion of this knowledge as well as in its enrichment through innovation. Female mushroom collectors appreciate their mycological knowledge and pursue strategies and organization to reproduce it in their communities. Women mushroom gatherers are conscious of their knowledge, value its contribution in their subsistence systems, and proudly incorporate it in their cultural identity.

Reproductive biology knowledge, and behaviour of teenagers in East, Central and Southern Africa: the Zimbabwe case study.

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Mbizvo, M T; Kasule, J; Gupta, V; Rusakaniko, S; Gumbo, J; Kinoti, S N; Mpanju-Shumbusho, W; Sebina-Zziwa; Mwateba, R; Padayachy, J

1995-11-01

Sexuality in the teenager is often complicated by unplanned/unwanted pregnancy, abortion and the risks of STDs including AIDS. There is therefore a need for improved understanding of factors affecting adolescent sexuality and the implementation of programmes designed to improve their knowledge, risk awareness and subsequent behavioural outcomes. A multicentre study of reproductive health knowledge and behaviour followed by a health education intervention was undertaken amongst teenagers in selected countries of East, Central and Southern Africa. Reported here are findings at baseline derived from the Zimbabwe component on reproductive biology knowledge and behavior. A self-administered questionnaire was used among 1 689 adolescent pupils drawn from rural, urban, co-education, single sex, boarding and day secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Correct knowledge on reproductive biology as measured by the meaning and interpretation of menstruation and wet dreams varied by school from 68 pc to 86 pc, with a significant trend (p < 0,01) based on level of education at baseline. The reported mean age at which menarche took place was 13,5 years +/- 1,3 (mean +/- SD). First coitus was reported to have taken place at the mean age of 12 years for boys and 13,6 years for girls. Seventeen pc of the adolescent pupils reported that they were sexually experienced and 33,2 had relationships. There were misconceptions reported on menstruation with 23 pc reporting that it was an illness. Peers, followed by magazines were the first sources of information on various aspects of reproductive biology, both of which might not provide the correct first information. Among pupils reporting that they were sexually experienced, the largest proportion (56 pc) had unprotected sex. The findings point to the need for targeting the adolescent pupils for information on reproductive biology and increased awareness on the risks of pregnancy, STDs and HIV.

Fully probabilistic knowledge expression and incorporation

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kárný, Miroslav; Guy, Tatiana Valentine; Kracík, J.; Nedoma, Petr; Bodini, A.; Ruggeri, F.

2014-01-01

Roč. 7, č. 4 (2014), s. 503-515 ISSN 1938-7989 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA13-13502S Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : Bayesian estimation * knowledge elicitation * just-in-time modelling * controlled autoregressive model Subject RIV: BB - Applied Statistics, Operational Research Impact factor: 2.933, year: 2014 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2014/AS/karny-0438275.pdf

Forms of Knowledge Incorporated in Clinical Decision-making among Newly-Graduated Nurses: A Metasynthesis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voldbjerg, Siri; Elgaard Sørensen, Erik; Grønkjær, Mette

2014-01-01

Clinical-decision-making is of decisive importance to how evidence-based practice is put into practice. Schools of Nursing have a responsibility to teach and train nursing students to make clinical decisions within a frame of evidence-based practice. Clinical decision-making among nurses has been...... explored from numerous angles using a diversity of methodologies. Existing research has mainly focused on promoting and inhibiting factors for implementation of evidence-based practice and incorporation of research evidence in the clinical-decision. Little attention has been given to the nurses' behavior......, including the knowledge that actually informs the newly graduated nurses’ clinical decision. The aim of the study is to combine and synthesize results from qualitative research. Noblit and Hare’s meta-ethnographic approach is used to conduct a metasynthesis of qualitative research that has studied...

Knowledge management for systems biology a general and visually driven framework applied to translational medicine

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Falciani Francesco

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To enhance our understanding of complex biological systems like diseases we need to put all of the available data into context and use this to detect relations, pattern and rules which allow predictive hypotheses to be defined. Life science has become a data rich science with information about the behaviour of millions of entities like genes, chemical compounds, diseases, cell types and organs, which are organised in many different databases and/or spread throughout the literature. Existing knowledge such as genotype - phenotype relations or signal transduction pathways must be semantically integrated and dynamically organised into structured networks that are connected with clinical and experimental data. Different approaches to this challenge exist but so far none has proven entirely satisfactory. Results To address this challenge we previously developed a generic knowledge management framework, BioXM™, which allows the dynamic, graphic generation of domain specific knowledge representation models based on specific objects and their relations supporting annotations and ontologies. Here we demonstrate the utility of BioXM for knowledge management in systems biology as part of the EU FP6 BioBridge project on translational approaches to chronic diseases. From clinical and experimental data, text-mining results and public databases we generate a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD knowledge base and demonstrate its use by mining specific molecular networks together with integrated clinical and experimental data. Conclusions We generate the first semantically integrated COPD specific public knowledge base and find that for the integration of clinical and experimental data with pre-existing knowledge the configuration based set-up enabled by BioXM reduced implementation time and effort for the knowledge base compared to similar systems implemented as classical software development projects. The knowledgebase enables the

Using Multiple Lenses to Examine the Development of Beginning Biology Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Natural Selection Simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Sickel, Aaron J.; Friedrichsen, Patricia

2018-02-01

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become a useful construct to examine science teacher learning. Yet, researchers conceptualize PCK development in different ways. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to use three analytic lenses to understand the development of three beginning biology teachers' PCK for teaching natural selection simulations. We observed three early-career biology teachers as they taught natural selection in their respective school contexts over two consecutive years. Data consisted of six interviews with each participant. Using the PCK model developed by Magnusson et al. (1999), we examined topic-specific PCK development utilizing three different lenses: (1) expansion of knowledge within an individual knowledge base, (2) integration of knowledge across knowledge bases, and (3) knowledge that explicitly addressed core concepts of natural selection. We found commonalities across the participants, yet each lens was also useful to understand the influence of different factors (e.g., orientation, subject matter preparation, and the idiosyncratic nature of teacher knowledge) on PCK development. This multi-angle approach provides implications for considering the quality of beginning science teachers' knowledge and future research on PCK development. We conclude with an argument that explicitly communicating lenses used to understand PCK development will help the research community compare analytic approaches and better understand the nature of science teacher learning.

Creating biological nanomaterials using synthetic biology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rice, MaryJoe K; Ruder, Warren C

2014-01-01

Synthetic biology is a new discipline that combines science and engineering approaches to precisely control biological networks. These signaling networks are especially important in fields such as biomedicine and biochemical engineering. Additionally, biological networks can also be critical to the production of naturally occurring biological nanomaterials, and as a result, synthetic biology holds tremendous potential in creating new materials. This review introduces the field of synthetic biology, discusses how biological systems naturally produce materials, and then presents examples and strategies for incorporating synthetic biology approaches in the development of new materials. In particular, strategies for using synthetic biology to produce both organic and inorganic nanomaterials are discussed. Ultimately, synthetic biology holds the potential to dramatically impact biological materials science with significant potential applications in medical systems. (review)

Creating biological nanomaterials using synthetic biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, MaryJoe K; Ruder, Warren C

2014-02-01

Synthetic biology is a new discipline that combines science and engineering approaches to precisely control biological networks. These signaling networks are especially important in fields such as biomedicine and biochemical engineering. Additionally, biological networks can also be critical to the production of naturally occurring biological nanomaterials, and as a result, synthetic biology holds tremendous potential in creating new materials. This review introduces the field of synthetic biology, discusses how biological systems naturally produce materials, and then presents examples and strategies for incorporating synthetic biology approaches in the development of new materials. In particular, strategies for using synthetic biology to produce both organic and inorganic nanomaterials are discussed. Ultimately, synthetic biology holds the potential to dramatically impact biological materials science with significant potential applications in medical systems.

A Semiautomated Framework for Integrating Expert Knowledge into Disease Marker Identification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Jing; Webb-Robertson, Bobbie-Jo M.; Matzke, Melissa M.; Varnum, Susan M.; Brown, Joseph N.; Riensche, Roderick M.; Adkins, Joshua N.; Jacobs, Jon M.; Hoidal, John R.; Scholand, Mary Beth; Pounds, Joel G.; Blackburn, Michael R.; Rodland, Karin D.; McDermott, Jason E.

2013-10-01

Background. The availability of large complex data sets generated by high throughput technologies has enabled the recent proliferation of disease biomarker studies. However, a recurring problem in deriving biological information from large data sets is how to best incorporate expert knowledge into the biomarker selection process. Objective. To develop a generalizable framework that can incorporate expert knowledge into data-driven processes in a semiautomated way while providing a metric for optimization in a biomarker selection scheme. Methods. The framework was implemented as a pipeline consisting of five components for the identification of signatures from integrated clustering (ISIC). Expert knowledge was integrated into the biomarker identification process using the combination of two distinct approaches; a distance-based clustering approach and an expert knowledge-driven functional selection. Results. The utility of the developed framework ISIC was demonstrated on proteomics data from a study of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Biomarker candidates were identified in a mouse model using ISIC and validated in a study of a human cohort. Conclusions. Expert knowledge can be introduced into a biomarker discovery process in different ways to enhance the robustness of selected marker candidates. Developing strategies for extracting orthogonal and robust features from large data sets increases the chances of success in biomarker identification.

Biological knowledge bases using Wikis: combining the flexibility of Wikis with the structure of databases.

Science.gov (United States)

Brohée, Sylvain; Barriot, Roland; Moreau, Yves

2010-09-01

In recent years, the number of knowledge bases developed using Wiki technology has exploded. Unfortunately, next to their numerous advantages, classical Wikis present a critical limitation: the invaluable knowledge they gather is represented as free text, which hinders their computational exploitation. This is in sharp contrast with the current practice for biological databases where the data is made available in a structured way. Here, we present WikiOpener an extension for the classical MediaWiki engine that augments Wiki pages by allowing on-the-fly querying and formatting resources external to the Wiki. Those resources may provide data extracted from databases or DAS tracks, or even results returned by local or remote bioinformatics analysis tools. This also implies that structured data can be edited via dedicated forms. Hence, this generic resource combines the structure of biological databases with the flexibility of collaborative Wikis. The source code and its documentation are freely available on the MediaWiki website: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:WikiOpener.

Teaching About "Brain and Learning" in High School Biology Classes: Effects on Teachers' Knowledge and Students' Theory of Intelligence.

Science.gov (United States)

Dekker, Sanne; Jolles, Jelle

2015-01-01

This study evaluated a new teaching module about "Brain and Learning" using a controlled design. The module was implemented in high school biology classes and comprised three lessons: (1) brain processes underlying learning; (2) neuropsychological development during adolescence; and (3) lifestyle factors that influence learning performance. Participants were 32 biology teachers who were interested in "Brain and Learning" and 1241 students in grades 8-9. Teachers' knowledge and students' beliefs about learning potential were examined using online questionnaires. Results indicated that before intervention, biology teachers were significantly less familiar with how the brain functions and develops than with its structure and with basic neuroscientific concepts (46 vs. 75% correct answers). After intervention, teachers' knowledge of "Brain and Learning" had significantly increased (64%), and more students believed that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory). This emphasizes the potential value of a short teaching module, both for improving biology teachers' insights into "Brain and Learning," and for changing students' beliefs about intelligence.

Teaching about ‘Brain & Learning’ in high school biology classes: Effects on teachers’ knowledge and students’ theory of intelligence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sanne eDekker

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study evaluated a new teaching module about ‘Brain&Learning’ using a controlled design. The module was implemented in high school biology classes and comprised three lessons: 1 brain processes underlying learning; 2 neuropsychological development during adolescence; and 3 lifestyle factors that influence learning performance. Participants were 32 biology teachers who were interested in ‘Brain&Learning’ and 1241 students in grades 8-9. Teachers’ knowledge and students’ beliefs about learning potential were examined using online questionnaires. Results indicated that before intervention, biology teachers were significantly less familiar with how the brain functions and develops than with its structure and with basic neuroscientific concepts (46% vs. 75% correct answers. After intervention, teachers’ knowledge of ‘Brain&Learning’ had significantly increased (64%, and more students believed that intelligence is malleable (incremental theory. This emphasizes the potential value of a short teaching module, both for improving biology teachers’ insights into ‘Brain&Learning’, and for changing students’ beliefs about intelligence.

Integrative assessment of Evolutionary theory acceptance and knowledge levels of Biology undergraduate students from a Brazilian university

Science.gov (United States)

Tavares, Gustavo Medina; Bobrowski, Vera Lucia

2018-03-01

The integrative role that Evolutionary theory plays within Biology is recognised by most scientific authors, as well as in governmental education policies, including Brazilian policies. However, teaching and learning evolution seems problematic in many countries, and Brazil is among those. Many factors may affect teachers' and students' perceptions towards evolution, and studies can help to reveal those factors. We used a conceptual questionnaire, the Measure of Acceptance of the Theory of Evolution (MATE) instrument, and a Knowledge test to assess (1) the level of acceptance and understanding of 23 undergraduate Biology students nearing the end of their course, (2) other factors that could affect these levels, including course structure, and (3) the most difficult topics regarding evolutionary biology. The results of this study showed that the students, on average, had a 'Very High Acceptance' (89.91) and a 'Very Low Knowledge' (59.42%) of Evolutionary theory, and also indicated a moderate positive correlation between the two (r = 0.66, p = .001). The most difficult topics were related to the definition of evolution and dating techniques. We believe that the present study provides evidence for policymakers to reformulate current school and university curricula in order to improve the teachers' acceptance and understanding of evolution and other biological concepts, consequently, helping students reduce their misconceptions related to evolutionary biology.

Ranked retrieval of Computational Biology models.

Science.gov (United States)

Henkel, Ron; Endler, Lukas; Peters, Andre; Le Novère, Nicolas; Waltemath, Dagmar

2010-08-11

The study of biological systems demands computational support. If targeting a biological problem, the reuse of existing computational models can save time and effort. Deciding for potentially suitable models, however, becomes more challenging with the increasing number of computational models available, and even more when considering the models' growing complexity. Firstly, among a set of potential model candidates it is difficult to decide for the model that best suits ones needs. Secondly, it is hard to grasp the nature of an unknown model listed in a search result set, and to judge how well it fits for the particular problem one has in mind. Here we present an improved search approach for computational models of biological processes. It is based on existing retrieval and ranking methods from Information Retrieval. The approach incorporates annotations suggested by MIRIAM, and additional meta-information. It is now part of the search engine of BioModels Database, a standard repository for computational models. The introduced concept and implementation are, to our knowledge, the first application of Information Retrieval techniques on model search in Computational Systems Biology. Using the example of BioModels Database, it was shown that the approach is feasible and extends the current possibilities to search for relevant models. The advantages of our system over existing solutions are that we incorporate a rich set of meta-information, and that we provide the user with a relevance ranking of the models found for a query. Better search capabilities in model databases are expected to have a positive effect on the reuse of existing models.

Incorporating functional inter-relationships into protein function prediction algorithms

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Kumar Vipin

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Functional classification schemes (e.g. the Gene Ontology that serve as the basis for annotation efforts in several organisms are often the source of gold standard information for computational efforts at supervised protein function prediction. While successful function prediction algorithms have been developed, few previous efforts have utilized more than the protein-to-functional class label information provided by such knowledge bases. For instance, the Gene Ontology not only captures protein annotations to a set of functional classes, but it also arranges these classes in a DAG-based hierarchy that captures rich inter-relationships between different classes. These inter-relationships present both opportunities, such as the potential for additional training examples for small classes from larger related classes, and challenges, such as a harder to learn distinction between similar GO terms, for standard classification-based approaches. Results We propose a method to enhance the performance of classification-based protein function prediction algorithms by addressing the issue of using these interrelationships between functional classes constituting functional classification schemes. Using a standard measure for evaluating the semantic similarity between nodes in an ontology, we quantify and incorporate these inter-relationships into the k-nearest neighbor classifier. We present experiments on several large genomic data sets, each of which is used for the modeling and prediction of over hundred classes from the GO Biological Process ontology. The results show that this incorporation produces more accurate predictions for a large number of the functional classes considered, and also that the classes benefitted most by this approach are those containing the fewest members. In addition, we show how our proposed framework can be used for integrating information from the entire GO hierarchy for improving the accuracy of

THE ADVERSE OUTCOME PATHWAY (AOP) FRAMEWORK: A FRAMEWORK FOR ORGANIZING BIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE LEADING TO HEALTH RISKS.

Science.gov (United States)

An Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) represents the organization of current and newly acquired knowledge of biological pathways. These pathways contain a series of nodes (Key Events, KEs) that when sufficiently altered influence the next node on the pathway, beginning from an Molecul...

Legislative Regulation of Traditional Medicinal Knowledge in Eritrea vis-à-vis Eritrea's Commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity: Issues and Alternatives

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Senai Andemariam

2010-09-01

Full Text Available On 21 March 1996, Eritrea acceded to the Convention on Biological Diversity which, among others, obliges states to sustainably conserve and develop customary uses of biological resources. Among the many forms of traditional practices of biological resources is traditional medicinal knowledge. Research has revealed that Eritrea has abundant pool of such knowledge and a high percentage of its population, as it is true with many developing and underdeveloped countries, resorts to traditional medicine for curing numerous ailments. However, no specific policy or legislative framework has yet been developed to sift, preserve and encourage the practice. Analysis of existing Eritrean laws and policies will show that they are neither adequate nor specific enough to be used in the preservation and development of Eritrean traditional medicinal knowledge. This article will, therefore, in view of the rich, yet unregulated, traditional medicinal knowledge resource in Eritrea, highlight the need for the development of a specific legal instrument legislation for Eritrea from the perspective of international and country level experiences. It will be argued that the development of a specific legislation is preferred to the alternative of keeping traditional medicinal knowledge as a component of a legal instrument developed for a larger mass such as health or traditional knowledge.

State of Academic Knowledge on Toxicity and Biological Fate of Quantum Dots

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Pelley, Jennifer L.; Daar, Abdallah S.; Saner, Marc A.

2009-01-01

Quantum dots (QDs), an important class of emerging nanomaterial, are widely anticipated to find application in many consumer and clinical products in the near future. Premarket regulatory scrutiny is, thus, an issue gaining considerable attention. Previous review papers have focused primarily on the toxicity of QDs. From the point of view of product regulation, however, parameters that determine exposure (e.g., dosage, transformation, transportation, and persistence) are just as important as inherent toxicity. We have structured our review paper according to regulatory risk assessment practices, in order to improve the utility of existing knowledge in a regulatory context. Herein, we summarize the state of academic knowledge on QDs pertaining not only to toxicity, but also their physicochemical properties, and their biological and environmental fate. We conclude this review with recommendations on how to tailor future research efforts to address the specific needs of regulators. PMID:19684286

Creating Illusions of Knowledge: Learning Errors that Contradict Prior Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Fazio, Lisa K.; Barber, Sarah J.; Rajaram, Suparna; Ornstein, Peter A.; Marsh, Elizabeth J.

2013-01-01

Most people know that the Pacific is the largest ocean on Earth and that Edison invented the light bulb. Our question is whether this knowledge is stable, or if people will incorporate errors into their knowledge bases, even if they have the correct knowledge stored in memory. To test this, we asked participants general-knowledge questions 2 weeks…

An Interdisciplinary Approach for Biology, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (BTEM to Enhance 21st Century Skills in Malaysia.

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Lee Chuo Hiong

2015-07-01

Full Text Available An interdisciplinary approach for Biology, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (BTEM is suggested to develop 21st century skills in the Malaysian context. BTEM allows students to master biological knowledge and at the same time to be adroit in other sub discipline skills. Students master factual knowledge of biology and skills of the 21st century simultaneously. The two main teaching and learning strategies applied in BTEM are problem-based learning and inquiry-based learning. Students are exposed to real world problems that require them to undergo inquiry processes to discover the inventive solutions. The content knowledge of biology adheres to the Malaysian Integrated Curriculum for Secondary Schools. The essence of engineering is inventive problem solving. Incorporation of information communication technologies in teaching and learning will be able to fulfil the needs of the current Net Generation. Mathematics plays an important role as computational tools, especially in analysing data. The highlighted 21st century skills in BTEM include digital literacy, inventive thinking, effective communication, high productivity, and spiritual and noble values.

A modified Wright-Fisher model that incorporates Ne: A variant of the standard model with increased biological realism and reduced computational complexity.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Lei; Gossmann, Toni I; Waxman, David

2016-03-21

The Wright-Fisher model is an important model in evolutionary biology and population genetics. It has been applied in numerous analyses of finite populations with discrete generations. It is recognised that real populations can behave, in some key aspects, as though their size that is not the census size, N, but rather a smaller size, namely the effective population size, Ne. However, in the Wright-Fisher model, there is no distinction between the effective and census population sizes. Equivalently, we can say that in this model, Ne coincides with N. The Wright-Fisher model therefore lacks an important aspect of biological realism. Here, we present a method that allows Ne to be directly incorporated into the Wright-Fisher model. The modified model involves matrices whose size is determined by Ne. Thus apart from increased biological realism, the modified model also has reduced computational complexity, particularly so when Ne⪡N. For complex problems, it may be hard or impossible to numerically analyse the most commonly-used approximation of the Wright-Fisher model that incorporates Ne, namely the diffusion approximation. An alternative approach is simulation. However, the simulations need to be sufficiently detailed that they yield an effective size that is different to the census size. Simulations may also be time consuming and have attendant statistical errors. The method presented in this work may then be the only alternative to simulations, when Ne differs from N. We illustrate the straightforward application of the method to some problems involving allele fixation and the determination of the equilibrium site frequency spectrum. We then apply the method to the problem of fixation when three alleles are segregating in a population. This latter problem is significantly more complex than a two allele problem and since the diffusion equation cannot be numerically solved, the only other way Ne can be incorporated into the analysis is by simulation. We have

Do Knowledge-Component Models Need to Incorporate Representational Competencies?

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Rau, Martina Angela

2017-01-01

Traditional knowledge-component models describe students' content knowledge (e.g., their ability to carry out problem-solving procedures or their ability to reason about a concept). In many STEM domains, instruction uses multiple visual representations such as graphs, figures, and diagrams. The use of visual representations implies a…

Knowledge Gaps in Rodent Pancreas Biology: Taking Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Pancreatic Beta Cells into Our Own Hands.

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Santosa, Munirah Mohamad; Low, Blaise Su Jun; Pek, Nicole Min Qian; Teo, Adrian Kee Keong

2015-01-01

In the field of stem cell biology and diabetes, we and others seek to derive mature and functional human pancreatic β cells for disease modeling and cell replacement therapy. Traditionally, knowledge gathered from rodents is extended to human pancreas developmental biology research involving human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). While much has been learnt from rodent pancreas biology in the early steps toward Pdx1(+) pancreatic progenitors, much less is known about the transition toward Ngn3(+) pancreatic endocrine progenitors. Essentially, the later steps of pancreatic β cell development and maturation remain elusive to date. As a result, the most recent advances in the stem cell and diabetes field have relied upon combinatorial testing of numerous growth factors and chemical compounds in an arbitrary trial-and-error fashion to derive mature and functional human pancreatic β cells from hPSCs. Although this hit-or-miss approach appears to have made some headway in maturing human pancreatic β cells in vitro, its underlying biology is vaguely understood. Therefore, in this mini-review, we discuss some of these late-stage signaling pathways that are involved in human pancreatic β cell differentiation and highlight our current understanding of their relevance in rodent pancreas biology. Our efforts here unravel several novel signaling pathways that can be further studied to shed light on unexplored aspects of rodent pancreas biology. New investigations into these signaling pathways are expected to advance our knowledge in human pancreas developmental biology and to aid in the translation of stem cell biology in the context of diabetes treatments.

Shaping Biological Knowledge: Applications in Proteomics

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R. Appel

2006-04-01

Full Text Available The central dogma of molecular biology has provided a meaningful principle for data integration in the field of genomics. In this context, integration reflects the known transitions from a chromosome to a protein sequence: transcription, intron splicing, exon assembly and translation. There is no such clear principle for integrating proteomics data, since the laws governing protein folding and interactivity are not quite understood. In our effort to bring together independent pieces of information relative to proteins in a biologically meaningful way, we assess the bias of bioinformatics resources and consequent approximations in the framework of small-scale studies. We analyse proteomics data while following both a data-driven (focus on proteins smaller than 10 kDa and a hypothesis-driven (focus on whole bacterial proteomes approach. These applications are potentially the source of specialized complements to classical biological ontologies.

Shaping biological knowledge: applications in proteomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lisacek, F; Chichester, C; Gonnet, P; Jaillet, O; Kappus, S; Nikitin, F; Roland, P; Rossier, G; Truong, L; Appel, R

2004-01-01

The central dogma of molecular biology has provided a meaningful principle for data integration in the field of genomics. In this context, integration reflects the known transitions from a chromosome to a protein sequence: transcription, intron splicing, exon assembly and translation. There is no such clear principle for integrating proteomics data, since the laws governing protein folding and interactivity are not quite understood. In our effort to bring together independent pieces of information relative to proteins in a biologically meaningful way, we assess the bias of bioinformatics resources and consequent approximations in the framework of small-scale studies. We analyse proteomics data while following both a data-driven (focus on proteins smaller than 10 kDa) and a hypothesis-driven (focus on whole bacterial proteomes) approach. These applications are potentially the source of specialized complements to classical biological ontologies.

StrateGene: object-oriented programming in molecular biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Carhart, R E; Cash, H D; Moore, J F

1988-03-01

This paper describes some of the ways that object-oriented programming methodologies have been used to represent and manipulate biological information in a working application. When running on a Xerox 1100 series computer, StrateGene functions as a genetic engineering workstation for the management of information about cloning experiments. It represents biological molecules, enzymes, fragments, and methods as classes, subclasses, and members in a hierarchy of objects. These objects may have various attributes, which themselves can be defined and classified. The attributes and their values can be passed from the classes of objects down to the subclasses and members. The user can modify the objects and their attributes while using them. New knowledge and changes to the system can be incorporated relatively easily. The operations on the biological objects are associated with the objects themselves. This makes it easier to invoke them correctly and allows generic operations to be customized for the particular object.

A critical review of the current knowledge regarding the biological impact of nanocellulose.

Science.gov (United States)

Endes, C; Camarero-Espinosa, S; Mueller, S; Foster, E J; Petri-Fink, A; Rothen-Rutishauser, B; Weder, C; Clift, M J D

2016-12-01

Several forms of nanocellulose, notably cellulose nanocrystals and nanofibrillated cellulose, exhibit attractive property matrices and are potentially useful for a large number of industrial applications. These include the paper and cardboard industry, use as reinforcing filler in polymer composites, basis for low-density foams, additive in adhesives and paints, as well as a wide variety of food, hygiene, cosmetic, and medical products. Although the commercial exploitation of nanocellulose has already commenced, little is known as to the potential biological impact of nanocellulose, particularly in its raw form. This review provides a comprehensive and critical review of the current state of knowledge of nanocellulose in this format. Overall, the data seems to suggest that when investigated under realistic doses and exposure scenarios, nanocellulose has a limited associated toxic potential, albeit certain forms of nanocellulose can be associated with more hazardous biological behavior due to their specific physical characteristics.

The biological knowledge discovery by PCCF measure and PCA-F projection.

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Jia, Xingang; Zhu, Guanqun; Han, Qiuhong; Lu, Zuhong

2017-01-01

In the process of biological knowledge discovery, PCA is commonly used to complement the clustering analysis, but PCA typically gives the poor visualizations for most gene expression data sets. Here, we propose a PCCF measure, and use PCA-F to display clusters of PCCF, where PCCF and PCA-F are modeled from the modified cumulative probabilities of genes. From the analysis of simulated and experimental data sets, we demonstrate that PCCF is more appropriate and reliable for analyzing gene expression data compared to other commonly used distances or similarity measures, and PCA-F is a good visualization technique for identifying clusters of PCCF, where we aim at such data sets that the expression values of genes are collected at different time points.

Do Zoo Visitors Need Zoology Knowledge to Understand Conservation Messages? An Exploration of the Public Understanding of Animal Biology and of the Conservation of Biodiversity in a Zoo Setting

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Dove, Tracy; Byrne, Jenny

2014-01-01

This study explores the current knowledge and understanding about animal biology of zoo visitors and investigates whether knowledge of animal biology influences the ability of people to understand how human activity affects biodiversity. Zoos can play a role in the development of scientific literacy in the fields of animal biology and biodiversity…

Endodontic radiology, practice, and knowledge of radiation biology, hazard, and protection among clinical dental students and interns

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Joan Emien Enabulele

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the practice and knowledge of endodontic radiology as well as assess the knowledge of radiation biology, hazard, and protection among clinical dental students and interns. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study of clinical dental students and interns at University of Benin and University of Benin Teaching hospital respectively. Data was collected using a questionnaire which covered practice and knowledge of endodontic radiography, knowledge of radiation biology, hazard, and protection. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17.0. Result: Seventy participants were included in the study, 40% were final year students and 24.3% house officers. Majority (95.7% agreed that they exposed radiographs as part of endodontic treatment. Only 18.6% knew that the apices of teeth should be 3mm from the border of the X-ray film, while 24.3% knew that 3mm of periapical bone should be visible on X-ray. Less than half (31.4% knew that paralleling technique was the technique of choice for endodontic radiography and this was statistically Significant in relationship to the status of the of the respondents. A few (4.3% of the respondents had knowledge of new horizons in endodontic imaging. Half of the respondents knew that damage by X-rays is mainly due to formation of free radicals. The most frequently reported radiation hazards was reduced salivary flow, while the least reported was rampant caries. Most knew how to protect patients, themselves, and other persons while exposing radiographs. Conclusion: There is need for inclusion of endodontic radiography in the undergraduate curriculum to ensure proper and correct radiographs during endodontic procedure.

Paradigms for biologically inspired design

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lenau, T. A.; Metzea, A.-L.; Hesselberg, T.

2018-01-01

engineering, medical engineering, nanotechnology, photonics,environmental protection and agriculture. However, a major obstacle for the wider use of biologically inspired design isthe knowledge barrier that exist between the application engineers that have insight into how to design suitable productsand......Biologically inspired design is attracting increasing interest since it offers access to a huge biological repository of wellproven design principles that can be used for developing new and innovative products. Biological phenomena can inspireproduct innovation in as diverse areas as mechanical...... the biologists with detailed knowledge and experience in understanding how biological organisms function in theirenvironment. The biologically inspired design process can therefore be approached using different design paradigmsdepending on the dominant opportunities, challenges and knowledge characteristics...

Verbal Final Exam in Introductory Biology Yields Gains in Student Content Knowledge and Longitudinal Performance

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Luckie, Douglas B.; Rivkin, Aaron M.; Aubry, Jacob R.; Marengo, Benjamin J.; Creech, Leah R.; Sweeder, Ryan D.

2013-01-01

We studied gains in student learning over eight semesters in which an introductory biology course curriculum was changed to include optional verbal final exams (VFs). Students could opt to demonstrate their mastery of course material via structured oral exams with the professor. In a quantitative assessment of cell biology content knowledge, students who passed the VF outscored their peers on the medical assessment test (MAT), an exam built with 40 Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) questions (66.4% [n = 160] and 62% [n = 285], respectively; p students performed better on MCAT questions in all topic categories tested; the greatest gain occurred on the topic of cellular respiration. Because the VF focused on a conceptually parallel topic, photosynthesis, there may have been authentic knowledge transfer. In longitudinal tracking studies, passing the VF also correlated with higher performance in a range of upper-level science courses, with greatest significance in physiology, biochemistry, and organic chemistry. Participation had a wide range but not equal representation in academic standing, gender, and ethnicity. Yet students nearly unanimously (92%) valued the option. Our findings suggest oral exams at the introductory level may allow instructors to assess and aid students striving to achieve higher-level learning. PMID:24006399

The Relationships Between Epistemic Beliefs in Biology and Approaches to Learning Biology Among Biology-Major University Students in Taiwan

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Yi-Chun; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2012-12-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between students' epistemic beliefs in biology and their approaches to learning biology. To this end, two instruments, the epistemic beliefs in biology and the approaches to learning biology surveys, were developed and administered to 520 university biology students, respectively. By and large, it was found that the students reflected "mixed" motives in biology learning, while those who had more sophisticated epistemic beliefs tended to employ deep strategies. In addition, the results of paired t tests revealed that the female students were more likely to possess beliefs about biological knowledge residing in external authorities, to believe in a right answer, and to utilize rote learning as a learning strategy. Moreover, compared to juniors and seniors, freshmen and sophomores tended to hold less mature views on all factors of epistemic beliefs regarding biology. Another comparison indicated that theoretical biology students (e.g. students majoring in the Department of Biology) tended to have more mature beliefs in learning biology and more advanced strategies for biology learning than those students studying applied biology (e.g. in the Department of Biotechnology). Stepwise regression analysis, in general, indicated that students who valued the role of experiments and justify epistemic assumptions and knowledge claims based on evidence were more oriented towards having mixed motives and utilizing deep strategies to learn biology. In contrast, students who believed in the certainty of biological knowledge were more likely to adopt rote learning strategies and to aim to qualify in biology.

Practice as source of learning and knowledge that comes from experience: what science and biology teachers say about it

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Luciana M. Lunardi Campos

2001-01-01

Full Text Available This paper is about the possible knowledge that Science and Biology teachers may acquire form their daily work. Fourth three teachers were considered in this research and all belong to the Public School of the city of Botucatu, S.P. All of them were unanimous in stressing the importance of their professional activity as a meaningful aspect. They learned more about themselves, their methods, their employed resources and their pupils through it. Three dimensions can be pointed out here: personal, professional and pedagogical and it can be named nine aspects of the knowledge from experience. An organized and active knowledge may be achieved by reckoning the teacher as the main producer of knowledge about his occupation and assuming as well how important his practice and knowledge from experience are.

Radiological accidents: methodologies of radio nuclides dis incorporation; Accidentes radiologicos: metodologias de desincorporacion de radionuclidos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jimenez F, E. A. [Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico, Facultad de Medicina, Paseo Tollocan s/n, 50180 Toluca, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Paredes G, L. [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico); Cortes, A., E-mail: lydia.paredes@inin.gob.mx [Comision Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear y Salvaguardias, Dr. Jose Ma. Barragan No. 779, Col. Narvarte, 03020 Mexico D. F. (Mexico)

2014-08-15

Derived of the radioactive or nuclear material management, exists the risk that accidents can happen where people cases are presented with internal radioactive contamination, who will receive specialized medical care to accelerate the radioactive dis incorporation with the purpose of diminishing the absorbed dose and the associate biological effects. In this work treatments of radioactive dis incorporation were identified, in function of the radionuclide, radiation type, radioactive half life, biological half life, critical organ, ingestion duct and patient type. The factor time is decisive for the effectiveness of the selected treatment in the blockade stage (before the accident) or dis incorporation (after the accident); this factor is related with the radioactive and biological half lives. So to achieve dis incorporation efficiencies of more to 70%, the patient clinical treatment will begin before the first third of the biological half life of the radionuclide that generated the internal contamination. (Author)

Final Report NESPMAN: improving the knowledge of the biology and the fisheries of the new species for management

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heessen, H.J.L.

2010-01-01

The NESPMAN (New Species for Management) project is meant to improve the knowledge of the biology and the fisheries of the new species for management. Apart from highly priced turbot, brill, striped red mullet and sea bass, these 12 species comprise also 3 gurnard species and 4 flatfishes. This

Educative Mentoring: How a Mentor Supported a Preservice Biology Teacher's Pedagogical Content Knowledge Development

Science.gov (United States)

Barnett, Ellen; Friedrichsen, Patricia J.

2015-11-01

Research suggests discipline-specific, educative mentoring can help preservice teachers develop more sophisticated pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). However, there are few studies examining the nature of mentors' practice and how mentors influence preservice teacher's (PST) PCK. The purpose of this case study was to describe the strategies used by a secondary biology mentor teacher to support the development of a PST's PCK. The primary data sources were the transcripts of audio-recorded, daily meetings between the mentor and the PST during two curriculum units: DNA/Protein Synthesis and Evolution. The mentor influenced the PST's teaching orientation by repeatedly comparing teacher- and student-centered approaches, asking him to consider how students learn, and asking him to self-assess whether his instruction aligned with his teaching beliefs. The mentor helped the PST develop topic-specific knowledge of instructional strategies by sharing strategies she used previously, modeling critical reflection, and inviting him to critically reflect on his own instructional strategies. Topic-specific knowledge of students' understanding of science was developed by discussing common student misconceptions revealed in students' conversations and by sharing the results of test-item analysis from previous unit tests. The mentor helped develop the PST's topic-specific knowledge of assessment by helping him critically analyze and revise previous examinations to better align with the current curriculum units. Topic-specific knowledge of curricula was developed by jointly grappling with decisions about concept sequencing within units. The study includes implications for research, science teacher education, and professional development for mentors.

Enhancing Students’ Local Knowledge Through Themed Garden Project

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Esa Norizan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Traditional or local knowledge is a major issue to be focused on, particularly since the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 and the Aichi Targets “Living in Harmony with Nature”. According to the strategic goals, by 2020, conservation of biodiversity and its sustainable use incorporate what local and indigenous communities have within their traditional knowledge, innovation and practice and their customary use of biological resources are respected at all relevant levels. The older generation among the local people usually use medicinal herbs for various ailments, health care and other cultural purposes. However, encroaching industrialization and the changes in today’s life styles are responsible for the decreasing practice in the local use of herbs especially for healing purposes. It is, therefore, felt worthwhile to encourage young generations such as school children to gain knowledge about these local herbs and record the native uses of these herbs before the information is lost. One biodiversity education program was conducted to facilitate secondary school students to set up a themed garden and find out the local knowledge of the plants they grew in their garden from their family members or communities. The findings revealed that students’ local knowledge on healing improved after they joined the program. Therefore, it is proposed that the themed garden project can enhance students’ local knowledge.

Radiation 2006. In association with the Polymer Division, Royal Australian Chemical Institute. Incorporating the 21st AINSE Radiation Chemistry Conference and the 18th Radiation Biology Conference, conference handbook

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2006-04-01

This conference facilitates a meeting of scientists and researchers to present and discuss their newest areas of research and investigation. It incorporates presentations on medical radiation therapies, biological effects of radiation, future areas of concern and nanotechnology

Effect of the incorporation of chitosan on the physico-chemical, mechanical properties and biological activity on a mixture of polycaprolactone and polyurethanes obtained from castor oil.

Science.gov (United States)

Arévalo, Fabian; Uscategui, Yomaira L; Diaz, Luis; Cobo, Martha; Valero, Manuel F

2016-11-01

In the present study, polyurethane materials were obtained from castor oil, polycaprolactone and isophorone diisocyanate by incorporating different concentrations of chitosan (0.5, 1.0 and 2.0% w/w) as an additive to improve the mechanical properties and the biological activity of polyurethanes. The polyurethanes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, stress/strain fracture tests and swelling analysis, and the hydrophilic character of the surface was determined by contact angle trials. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effect of the incorporation of chitosan on the changes of the physico-chemical and mechanical properties and the in vitro biological activity of the polyurethanes. It was found that the incorporation of chitosan enhances the ultimate tensile strength of the polyurethanes and does not affect the strain at fracture in polyurethanes with 5% w/w of polycaprolactone and concentrations of chitosan ranging from 0 to 2% w/w. In addition, PCL5-Q-PU formulations and their degradation products did not affect cell viability of L929 mouse fibroblast and 3T3, respectively. Polyurethane formulations showed antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria. The results of this study have highlighted the potential biomedical application of this polyurethanes related to soft and cardiovascular tissues. © The Author(s) 2016.

Knowledge Diversity, Transfer and Coordination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laursen, Keld; Moreira, Solon; Markus, Arjan

from the widely accepted view that distant, externally-developed knowledge is difficult to incorporate into the focal firm?s own production. We suggest that high levels of intrafirm network diversity, tie strength, and network density are essential for a diversity of knowledge inputs, knowledge...

Gait Event Detection in Real-World Environment for Long-Term Applications: Incorporating Domain Knowledge Into Time-Frequency Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Khandelwal, Siddhartha; Wickstrom, Nicholas

2016-12-01

Detecting gait events is the key to many gait analysis applications that would benefit from continuous monitoring or long-term analysis. Most gait event detection algorithms using wearable sensors that offer a potential for use in daily living have been developed from data collected in controlled indoor experiments. However, for real-word applications, it is essential that the analysis is carried out in humans' natural environment; that involves different gait speeds, changing walking terrains, varying surface inclinations and regular turns among other factors. Existing domain knowledge in the form of principles or underlying fundamental gait relationships can be utilized to drive and support the data analysis in order to develop robust algorithms that can tackle real-world challenges in gait analysis. This paper presents a novel approach that exhibits how domain knowledge about human gait can be incorporated into time-frequency analysis to detect gait events from long-term accelerometer signals. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed algorithm are validated by experiments done in indoor and outdoor environments with approximately 93 600 gait events in total. The proposed algorithm exhibits consistently high performance scores across all datasets in both, indoor and outdoor environments.

Using the Biology Card Sorting Task to Measure Changes in Conceptual Expertise during Postsecondary Biology Education

Science.gov (United States)

Bissonnette, Sarah A.; Combs, Elijah D.; Nagami, Paul H.; Byers, Victor; Fernandez, Juliana; Le, Dinh; Realin, Jared; Woodham, Selina; Smith, Julia I.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2017-01-01

While there have been concerted efforts to reform undergraduate biology toward teaching students to organize their conceptual knowledge like experts, there are few tools that attempt to measure this. We previously developed the Biology Card Sorting Task (BCST), designed to probe how individuals organize their conceptual biological knowledge.…

Synthesis and biological incorporation of icons into macromolecules for NMR study. Final report, June 1, 1977--May 31, 1978

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grant, D.M.; Horton, W.J.

1978-01-01

Carbon-13 enrichment synthesis and incorporation into three important biological systems have been carried out to provide materials for carbon-13 magnetic resonance studies. These systems include antibody-labeled haptens, labeled t-RNA and 5S-RNA molecules, and pyridoxal-5'-phosphate-labeled substrate mixtures. The synthesis phase of the work has been completed in all three cases, and the NMR studies completed on all but the antibody-hapten system which is still in process having been absorbed into other supported projects. Publications are now in preparation for the RNA and pyridoxal work. Preliminary results on the antibody-haptens work are encouraging as signals of antibody absorbed haptens have been observed but the results are still not yet conclusive

On the Edge of Mathematics and Biology Integration: Improving Quantitative Skills in Undergraduate Biology Education

Science.gov (United States)

Feser, Jason; Vasaly, Helen; Herrera, Jose

2013-01-01

In this paper, the authors describe how two institutions are helping their undergraduate biology students build quantitative competencies. Incorporation of quantitative skills and reasoning in biology are framed through a discussion of two cases that both concern introductory biology courses, but differ in the complexity of the mathematics and the…

Teachers' instructional goals for science practice: Identifying knowledge gaps using cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT)

Science.gov (United States)

Farrar, Cynthia Hamen

In AP Biology, the course goal, with respect to scientific acts and reasoning, has recently shifted toward a reform goal of science practice, where the goal is for students to have a scientific perspective that views science as a practice of a community rather than a body of knowledge. Given this recent shift, this study is interested in the gaps that may exist between an individual teacher's instructional goal and the goals of the AP Biology course. A Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) methodology and perspective is used to analyze four teachers' knowledge, practice, and learning. Teachers have content knowledge for teaching, a form of knowledge that is unique for teaching called specialized content knowledge. This specialized content knowledge (SCK) defines their instructional goals, the student outcomes they ultimately aim to achieve with their students. The study employs a cultural-historical continuum of scientific acts and reasoning, which represents the development of the AP Biology goal over time, to study gaps in their instructional goal. The study also analyzes the contradictions within their teaching practice and how teachers address those contradictions to shift their instructional practice and learn. The findings suggest that teachers have different interpretations of the AP Biology goals of science practice, placing their instructional goal at different points along the continuum. Based on the location of their instructional goal, different micro-communities of teachers exist along the continuum, comprised of teachers with a shared goal, language, and culture of their AP Biology teaching. The in-depth study of one teacher's AP Biology teaching, using a CHAT perspective, provides a means for studying the mechanisms that connect SCK to classroom actions and ultimately to instructional practice. CHAT also reveals the nature and importance of contradictions or cognitive dissonance in teacher learning and the types of support teachers need to

Biology Factual Knowledge at Eleventh Grade of Senior High School Students in Pacitan based on Favorite Schools

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Yustiana, I. A.; Paidi; Mercuriani, I. S.

2018-03-01

This study aimed to determine the Biology factual knowledge at eleventh grade of senior high school students in Pacitan based on favorite schools. This research was a descriptive research by using survey method. The population in this study was all of senior high school students in Pacitan. The sampling technique used purposive sampling technique and obtained 3 favorite schools and 3 non-favorite schools. The technique of collecting data used test form which was as the instrument of the research. Data analysis technique used Mann-Whitney U test. Based on the test, it was obtained p = 0,000 (p <0,05) so there was a significant difference between the factual knowledge of the students in the favorite schools and non-favorite schools in Pacitan. The factual knowledge of students in favorite schools was higher with an average of 5.32 while non-favorite schools were obtained an average of 4.36.

Robust and efficient parameter estimation in dynamic models of biological systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Gábor, Attila; Banga, Julio R

2015-10-29

Dynamic modelling provides a systematic framework to understand function in biological systems. Parameter estimation in nonlinear dynamic models remains a very challenging inverse problem due to its nonconvexity and ill-conditioning. Associated issues like overfitting and local solutions are usually not properly addressed in the systems biology literature despite their importance. Here we present a method for robust and efficient parameter estimation which uses two main strategies to surmount the aforementioned difficulties: (i) efficient global optimization to deal with nonconvexity, and (ii) proper regularization methods to handle ill-conditioning. In the case of regularization, we present a detailed critical comparison of methods and guidelines for properly tuning them. Further, we show how regularized estimations ensure the best trade-offs between bias and variance, reducing overfitting, and allowing the incorporation of prior knowledge in a systematic way. We illustrate the performance of the presented method with seven case studies of different nature and increasing complexity, considering several scenarios of data availability, measurement noise and prior knowledge. We show how our method ensures improved estimations with faster and more stable convergence. We also show how the calibrated models are more generalizable. Finally, we give a set of simple guidelines to apply this strategy to a wide variety of calibration problems. Here we provide a parameter estimation strategy which combines efficient global optimization with a regularization scheme. This method is able to calibrate dynamic models in an efficient and robust way, effectively fighting overfitting and allowing the incorporation of prior information.

Functional knowledge transfer for high-accuracy prediction of under-studied biological processes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Y Park

Full Text Available A key challenge in genetics is identifying the functional roles of genes in pathways. Numerous functional genomics techniques (e.g. machine learning that predict protein function have been developed to address this question. These methods generally build from existing annotations of genes to pathways and thus are often unable to identify additional genes participating in processes that are not already well studied. Many of these processes are well studied in some organism, but not necessarily in an investigator's organism of interest. Sequence-based search methods (e.g. BLAST have been used to transfer such annotation information between organisms. We demonstrate that functional genomics can complement traditional sequence similarity to improve the transfer of gene annotations between organisms. Our method transfers annotations only when functionally appropriate as determined by genomic data and can be used with any prediction algorithm to combine transferred gene function knowledge with organism-specific high-throughput data to enable accurate function prediction. We show that diverse state-of-art machine learning algorithms leveraging functional knowledge transfer (FKT dramatically improve their accuracy in predicting gene-pathway membership, particularly for processes with little experimental knowledge in an organism. We also show that our method compares favorably to annotation transfer by sequence similarity. Next, we deploy FKT with state-of-the-art SVM classifier to predict novel genes to 11,000 biological processes across six diverse organisms and expand the coverage of accurate function predictions to processes that are often ignored because of a dearth of annotated genes in an organism. Finally, we perform in vivo experimental investigation in Danio rerio and confirm the regulatory role of our top predicted novel gene, wnt5b, in leftward cell migration during heart development. FKT is immediately applicable to many bioinformatics

Biology Procedural Knowledge at Eleventh Grade of Senior High School in West Lampung Based on Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Sari, T. M.; Paidi; Mercuriani, I. S.

2018-03-01

This study was aim to determine Biology procedural knowledge of senior high school in West Lampung based on curriculum at 11th grade in even semester. This research was descriptive research. The population was all students of senior high school in West Lampung. The sampling technique in this research used purposive sampling technique, so the researcher obtained 3 schools using K13 and 3 schools using KTSP. Data collecting technique used instrument test. Data analysis technique used U-Mann Whitney test. The result showed that p=0.028 (p<0.05), so there was significant differences between school using K13 and KTSP. The procedural knowledge of schools which using K13 is higher than school which using KTSP, with the mean score K13=4.35 and KTSP=4.00

A community effort towards a knowledge-base and mathematical model of the human pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium LT2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shin Sook-Il

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Metabolic reconstructions (MRs are common denominators in systems biology and represent biochemical, genetic, and genomic (BiGG knowledge-bases for target organisms by capturing currently available information in a consistent, structured manner. Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovar Typhimurium is a human pathogen, causes various diseases and its increasing antibiotic resistance poses a public health problem. Results Here, we describe a community-driven effort, in which more than 20 experts in S. Typhimurium biology and systems biology collaborated to reconcile and expand the S. Typhimurium BiGG knowledge-base. The consensus MR was obtained starting from two independently developed MRs for S. Typhimurium. Key results of this reconstruction jamboree include i development and implementation of a community-based workflow for MR annotation and reconciliation; ii incorporation of thermodynamic information; and iii use of the consensus MR to identify potential multi-target drug therapy approaches. Conclusion Taken together, with the growing number of parallel MRs a structured, community-driven approach will be necessary to maximize quality while increasing adoption of MRs in experimental design and interpretation.

A community effort towards a knowledge-base and mathematical model of the human pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium LT2.

Science.gov (United States)

Thiele, Ines; Hyduke, Daniel R; Steeb, Benjamin; Fankam, Guy; Allen, Douglas K; Bazzani, Susanna; Charusanti, Pep; Chen, Feng-Chi; Fleming, Ronan M T; Hsiung, Chao A; De Keersmaecker, Sigrid C J; Liao, Yu-Chieh; Marchal, Kathleen; Mo, Monica L; Özdemir, Emre; Raghunathan, Anu; Reed, Jennifer L; Shin, Sook-il; Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Sara; Steinmann, Jonas; Sudarsan, Suresh; Swainston, Neil; Thijs, Inge M; Zengler, Karsten; Palsson, Bernhard O; Adkins, Joshua N; Bumann, Dirk

2011-01-18

Metabolic reconstructions (MRs) are common denominators in systems biology and represent biochemical, genetic, and genomic (BiGG) knowledge-bases for target organisms by capturing currently available information in a consistent, structured manner. Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovar Typhimurium is a human pathogen, causes various diseases and its increasing antibiotic resistance poses a public health problem. Here, we describe a community-driven effort, in which more than 20 experts in S. Typhimurium biology and systems biology collaborated to reconcile and expand the S. Typhimurium BiGG knowledge-base. The consensus MR was obtained starting from two independently developed MRs for S. Typhimurium. Key results of this reconstruction jamboree include i) development and implementation of a community-based workflow for MR annotation and reconciliation; ii) incorporation of thermodynamic information; and iii) use of the consensus MR to identify potential multi-target drug therapy approaches. Taken together, with the growing number of parallel MRs a structured, community-driven approach will be necessary to maximize quality while increasing adoption of MRs in experimental design and interpretation.

A community effort towards a knowledge-base and mathematical model of the human pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium LT2

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Thiele, Ines; Hyduke, Daniel R.; Steeb, Benjamin; Fankam, Guy; Allen, Douglas K.; Bazzani, Susanna; Charusanti, Pep; Chen, Feng-Chi; Fleming, Ronan MT; Hsiung, Chao A.; De Keersmaecker, Sigrid CJ; Liao, Yu-Chieh; Marchal, Kathleen; Mo, Monica L.; Özdemir, Emre; Raghunathan, Anu; Reed, Jennifer L.; Shin, Sook-Il; Sigurbjörnsdóttir, Sara; Steinmann, Jonas; Sudarsan, Suresh; Swainston, Neil; Thijs, Inge M.; Zengler, Karsten; Palsson, Bernhard O.; Adkins, Joshua N.; Bumann, Dirk

2011-01-01

Metabolic reconstructions (MRs) are common denominators in systems biology and represent biochemical, genetic, and genomic (BiGG) knowledge-bases for target organisms by capturing currently available information in a consistent, structured manner. Salmonella enterica subspecies I serovar Typhimurium is a human pathogen, causes various diseases and its increasing antibiotic resistance poses a public health problem. Here, we describe a community-driven effort, in which more than 20 experts in S. Typhimurium biology and systems biology collaborated to reconcile and expand the S. Typhimurium BiGG knowledge-base. The consensus MR was obtained starting from two independently developed MRs for S. Typhimurium. Key results of this reconstruction jamboree include i) development and implementation of a community-based workflow for MR annotation and reconciliation; ii) incorporation of thermodynamic information; and iii) use of the consensus MR to identify potential multi-target drug therapy approaches. Finally, taken together, with the growing number of parallel MRs a structured, community-driven approach will be necessary to maximize quality while increasing adoption of MRs in experimental design and interpretation.

Synthetic Biology: Knowledge Accessed by Everyone (Open Sources)

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez Reyes, Patricia Margarita

2016-01-01

Using the principles of biology, along with engineering and with the help of computer, scientists manage to copy. DNA sequences from nature and use them to create new organisms. DNA is created through engineering and computer science managing to create life inside a laboratory. We cannot dismiss the role that synthetic biology could lead in…

Disentangling the Role of Domain-Specific Knowledge in Student Modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Ruppert, John; Duncan, Ravit Golan; Chinn, Clark A.

2017-08-01

This study explores the role of domain-specific knowledge in students' modeling practice and how this knowledge interacts with two domain-general modeling strategies: use of evidence and developing a causal mechanism. We analyzed models made by middle school students who had a year of intensive model-based instruction. These models were made to explain a familiar but unstudied biological phenomenon: late onset muscle pain. Students were provided with three pieces of evidence related to this phenomenon and asked to construct a model to account for this evidence. Findings indicate that domain-specific resources play a significant role in the extent to which the models accounted for provided evidence. On the other hand, familiarity with the situation appeared to contribute to the mechanistic character of models. Our results indicate that modeling strategies alone are insufficient for the development of a mechanistic model that accounts for provided evidence and that, while learners can develop a tentative model with a basic familiarity of the situation, scaffolding certain domain-specific knowledge is necessary to assist students with incorporating evidence in modeling tasks.

Simulating the Incorporation of Geochemical Proxies into Scleractinian Coral Skeletons: Effects of Different Environmental and Biological Factors and Implications for Paleo-reconstruction

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Guo, W.

2017-12-01

Chemical and isotopic compositions of scleractinian coral skeletons reflect the physicochemical condition of the seawater in which corals grow. This makes coral skeleton one of the best archives of ocean climate and biogeochemical changes. A number of coral-based geochemical proxies have been developed and applied to reconstruct past seawater conditions, such as temperature, pH, carbonate chemistry and nutrient concentrations. Detailed laboratory and field-based studies of these proxies, however, indicate interpretation of the geochemistry of coral skeletons is not straightforward, due to the presence of `vital effects' and the variations of empirical proxy calibrations among and within different species. This poses challenges for the broad application of many geochemical proxies in corals, and highlights the need to better understand the fundamental processes governing the incorporation of different proxies. Here I present a numerical model that simulates the incorporation of a suite of geochemical proxies into coral skeletons, including δ11B, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, U/Ca, B/Ca and Ba/Ca. This model, building on previous theoretical studies of coral calcification, combines our current understanding of coral calcification mechanism with experimental constraints on the isotope and element partition during carbonate precipitation. It enables quantitative evaluation of the effects of different environmental and biological factors on each proxy. Specifically, this model shows that (1) the incorporation of every proxy is affected by multiple seawater parameters (e.g. temperature, pH, DIC) as opposed to one single parameter, and (2) biological factors, particularly the interplay between enzymatic alkalinity pumping and the exchange of coral calcifying fluid with external seawater, also exert significant controls. Based on these findings, I propose an inverse method for simultaneously reconstructing multiple seawater physicochemical parameters, and compare the performance of this

TF-finder: A software package for identifying transcription factors involved in biological processes using microarray data and existing knowledge base

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Cui Xiaoqi

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Identification of transcription factors (TFs involved in a biological process is the first step towards a better understanding of the underlying regulatory mechanisms. However, due to the involvement of a large number of genes and complicated interactions in a gene regulatory network (GRN, identification of the TFs involved in a biology process remains to be very challenging. In reality, the recognition of TFs for a given a biological process can be further complicated by the fact that most eukaryotic genomes encode thousands of TFs, which are organized in gene families of various sizes and in many cases with poor sequence conservation except for small conserved domains. This poses a significant challenge for identification of the exact TFs involved or ranking the importance of a set of TFs to a process of interest. Therefore, new methods for recognizing novel TFs are desperately needed. Although a plethora of methods have been developed to infer regulatory genes using microarray data, it is still rare to find the methods that use existing knowledge base in particular the validated genes known to be involved in a process to bait/guide discovery of novel TFs. Such methods can replace the sometimes-arbitrary process of selection of candidate genes for experimental validation and significantly advance our knowledge and understanding of the regulation of a process. Results We developed an automated software package called TF-finder for recognizing TFs involved in a biological process using microarray data and existing knowledge base. TF-finder contains two components, adaptive sparse canonical correlation analysis (ASCCA and enrichment test, for TF recognition. ASCCA uses positive target genes to bait TFS from gene expression data while enrichment test examines the presence of positive TFs in the outcomes from ASCCA. Using microarray data from salt and water stress experiments, we showed TF-finder is very efficient in recognizing

Systematic Representation of Molecular Biology Knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Kathleen M.

A small set of relationships has been identified which appears to be sufficient for describing all molecular and cellular reactions and structures discussed in an introductory biology course. A precise definition has been developed for each relationship. These 20 relationships are of four types: (1) analytical; (2) spatial; (3) temporal; and (4)…

[Knowledge and adherence to bio-safety measures and biological accidents by nursing students during their clinical practice].

Science.gov (United States)

Merino-de la Hoz, Felicitas; Durá-Ros, María Jesús; Rodríguez-Martín, Elías; González-Gómez, Silvia; Mariano López-López, Luis; Abajas-Bustillo, Rebeca; de la Horra-Gutiérrez, Inmaculada

2010-01-01

To identify the degree of knowledge and performance of bio-safety measures by nursing students and knowing the type of biological accidents suffered during their clinical practice. A cross-sectional study was conducted on the students of three Nursing courses held in May of 2008. Data was collected by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire, with a return of 54%. A total of 97% of students seemed to know the standard biosafety measures, and all of them (100%) stated that those measures must be applied to every patient. However, the reality of clinical practice shows that biosafety measures are only partially applied. An average of 60.2% implement the personal hygiene measures, 66.1% use physical barriers, and 44% use sharp materials safely. Around 32.25% of the students have suffered some biological accident, with a greater incidence in the second year: administering injections (24%), drawing blood samples with Venojet needles (18%) and recapping used needles (17%). The high level of knowledge shown by the students on standard precautions is not always shown in clinical practice. There are significant deficiencies in student safety practices: recapping of used needles continues to be one of the most common risk practices carried out. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

Conserving Local Knowledge in Traditional Healing through Knowledge Transfer

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Lah Salasiah Che

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Local knowledge (LK basically refers to the knowledge that people in a given community have developed over time, and continues to develop, through practices and based on experiences. Local beliefs pertaining to ilmu, a central concept in Malay culture that refers to knowledge, is essential among the traditional healers. The vast repository of knowledge and its relevance to locality and local situation makes the conservation of LK a necessity.However, due to the dominance of modern knowledge, diminished inter-generational knowledge transfer has led to LK being threatened with extinction. The fact that LK is practiced by only a few these days could be due to lack of knowledge transfer to the younger generations from the traditional healers who are knowledgeable in the communities. The common transfer mode of local knowledge, usually via words of mouth, may not be sustainable because the LK could vanish when knowledgeable elders die before it is transferred or during resettlements of individuals or communities. The need to conserve LK through knowledge transfer is also pertinent for the continued sustenance of their culture by recognizing, protecting and enforcing the rights of local communities to have continued access to biological resources as well as by protecting their LK, acquired over thousand of years of experimentation and experience, about the uses of these biological resources in traditional healing. Therefore, it is important to have a governance framework to effectively protect this LK of the local communities for the continued sustenance of their culture. This conceptual paper attempts to highlight the significance of conserving LK in traditional healing via effective knowledge transfer method, which should thereafter be translated into a working governance framework that protects the knowledge as well as the holders of such knowledge.

Expansion of Biology Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) During a Long-Term Professional Development Program

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Rozenszajn, Ronit; Yarden, Anat

2014-02-01

Experienced teachers possess a unique teaching knowledge comprised of an inter-related set of knowledge and beliefs that gives direction and justification to a teacher's actions. This study examined the expansion of two components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of three in-service teachers in the course of a professional development program aimed at designing new teaching and learning materials suggested by the teachers themselves. The research presents an enlargement of previous PCK representations by focusing on a detailed representation of two main PCK domains: teaching and learning, including ten PCK components that emerged in the course of data analysis. This representation enabled revealing the unique PCK held by each teacher and to characterize the expansion of the two components of the participating teachers' PCK during the long-term professional development program. Retention of major parts of the expanded PCK a year after termination of the program implies that designing and implementing new teaching and learning materials based on the teachers' experiences, needs, and knowledge in a workshop format accompanied by biology and science education courses might provide a powerful means for PCK expansion. We recommend that designers of professional development programs be aware of the unique PCK held by each teacher in order to promote meaningful professional development of each teacher. Moreover, the PCK representations that were identified in the course of this study enabled clarifying the "orientation toward teaching science" category of PCK which appears to be unclear in current literature.

Synthetic Biology: Putting Synthesis into Biology

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Liang, Jing; Luo, Yunzi; Zhao, Huimin

2010-01-01

The ability to manipulate living organisms is at the heart of a range of emerging technologies that serve to address important and current problems in environment, energy, and health. However, with all its complexity and interconnectivity, biology has for many years been recalcitrant to engineering manipulations. The recent advances in synthesis, analysis, and modeling methods have finally provided the tools necessary to manipulate living systems in meaningful ways, and have led to the coining of a field named synthetic biology. The scope of synthetic biology is as complicated as life itself – encompassing many branches of science, and across many scales of application. New DNA synthesis and assembly techniques have made routine the customization of very large DNA molecules. This in turn has allowed the incorporation of multiple genes and pathways. By coupling these with techniques that allow for the modeling and design of protein functions, scientists have now gained the tools to create completely novel biological machineries. Even the ultimate biological machinery – a self-replicating organism – is being pursued at this moment. It is the purpose of this review to dissect and organize these various components of synthetic biology into a coherent picture. PMID:21064036

Using Multiple Lenses to Examine the Development of Beginning Biology Teachers' Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching Natural Selection Simulations

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Sickel, Aaron J.; Friedrichsen, Patricia

2018-01-01

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has become a useful construct to examine science teacher learning. Yet, researchers conceptualize PCK development in different ways. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to use three analytic lenses to understand the development of three beginning biology teachers' PCK for teaching natural selection…

Development of the Biology Card Sorting Task to Measure Conceptual Expertise in Biology

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Smith, Julia I.; Combs, Elijah D.; Nagami, Paul H.; Alto, Valerie M.; Goh, Henry G.; Gourdet, Muryam A. A.; Hough, Christina M.; Nickell, Ashley E.; Peer, Adrian G.; Coley, John D.; Tanner, Kimberly D.

2013-01-01

There are widespread aspirations to focus undergraduate biology education on teaching students to think conceptually like biologists; however, there is a dearth of assessment tools designed to measure progress from novice to expert biological conceptual thinking. We present the development of a novel assessment tool, the Biology Card Sorting Task, designed to probe how individuals organize their conceptual knowledge of biology. While modeled on tasks from cognitive psychology, this task is unique in its design to test two hypothesized conceptual frameworks for the organization of biological knowledge: 1) a surface feature organization focused on organism type and 2) a deep feature organization focused on fundamental biological concepts. In this initial investigation of the Biology Card Sorting Task, each of six analytical measures showed statistically significant differences when used to compare the card sorting results of putative biological experts (biology faculty) and novices (non–biology major undergraduates). Consistently, biology faculty appeared to sort based on hypothesized deep features, while non–biology majors appeared to sort based on either surface features or nonhypothesized organizational frameworks. Results suggest that this novel task is robust in distinguishing populations of biology experts and biology novices and may be an adaptable tool for tracking emerging biology conceptual expertise. PMID:24297290

Influence of Content Knowledge on Pedagogical Content Knowledge: The Case of Teaching Photosynthesis and Plant Growth

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Kapyla, Markku; Heikkinen, Jussi-Pekka; Asunta, Tuula

2009-01-01

The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of the amount and quality of content knowledge on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The biological content photosynthesis and plant growth was used as an example. The research sample consisted of 10 primary and 10 secondary (biology) teacher students. Questionnaires, lesson preparation task…

Mathematical modeling of biological processes

CERN Document Server

Friedman, Avner

2014-01-01

This book on mathematical modeling of biological processes includes a wide selection of biological topics that demonstrate the power of mathematics and computational codes in setting up biological processes with a rigorous and predictive framework. Topics include: enzyme dynamics, spread of disease, harvesting bacteria, competition among live species, neuronal oscillations, transport of neurofilaments in axon, cancer and cancer therapy, and granulomas. Complete with a description of the biological background and biological question that requires the use of mathematics, this book is developed for graduate students and advanced undergraduate students with only basic knowledge of ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations; background in biology is not required. Students will gain knowledge on how to program with MATLAB without previous programming experience and how to use codes in order to test biological hypothesis.

Creating illusions of knowledge: learning errors that contradict prior knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Fazio, Lisa K; Barber, Sarah J; Rajaram, Suparna; Ornstein, Peter A; Marsh, Elizabeth J

2013-02-01

Most people know that the Pacific is the largest ocean on Earth and that Edison invented the light bulb. Our question is whether this knowledge is stable, or if people will incorporate errors into their knowledge bases, even if they have the correct knowledge stored in memory. To test this, we asked participants general-knowledge questions 2 weeks before they read stories that contained errors (e.g., "Franklin invented the light bulb"). On a later general-knowledge test, participants reproduced story errors despite previously answering the questions correctly. This misinformation effect was found even for questions that were answered correctly on the initial test with the highest level of confidence. Furthermore, prior knowledge offered no protection against errors entering the knowledge base; the misinformation effect was equivalent for previously known and unknown facts. Errors can enter the knowledge base even when learners have the knowledge necessary to catch the errors. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

The Promises of Biology and the Biology of Promises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lee, Jieun

2015-01-01

commitments with differently imagined futures. I argue that promises are constitutive of the stem cell biology, rather than being derivative of it. Since the biological concept of stem cells is predicated on the future that they promise, the biological life of stem cells is inextricably intertwined...... patients’ bodies in anticipation of materializing the promises of stem cell biology, they are produced as a new form of biovaluable. The promises of biology move beyond the closed circuit of scientific knowledge production, and proliferate in the speculative marketplaces of promises. Part II looks at how...... of technologized biology and biological time can appear promising with the backdrop of the imagined intransigence of social, political, and economic order in the Korean society....

The Effects of the SUN Project on Teacher Knowledge and Self-Efficacy Regarding Biological Energy Transfer Are Significant and Long-Lasting: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Science.gov (United States)

Batiza, Ann Finney; Gruhl, Mary; Zhang, Bo; Harrington, Tom; Roberts, Marisa; LaFlamme, Donna; Haasch, Mary Anne; Knopp, Jonathan; Vogt, Gina; Goodsell, David; Hagedorn, Eric; Marcey, David; Hoelzer, Mark; Nelson, Dave

2013-01-01

Biological energy flow has been notoriously difficult to teach. Our approach to this topic relies on abiotic and biotic examples of the energy released by moving electrons in thermodynamically spontaneous reactions. A series of analogical model-building experiences was supported with common language and representations including manipulatives. These materials were designed to help learners understand why electrons move in a hydrogen explosion and hydrogen fuel cell, so they could ultimately understand the rationale for energy transfer in the mitochondrion and the chloroplast. High school biology teachers attended a 2-wk Students Understanding eNergy (SUN) workshop during a randomized controlled trial. These treatment group teachers then took hydrogen fuel cells, manipulatives, and other materials into their regular biology classrooms. In this paper, we report significant gains in teacher knowledge and self-efficacy regarding biological energy transfer in the treatment group versus randomized controls. Significant effects on treatment group teacher knowledge and self-efficacy were found not only post–SUN workshop but even 1 yr later. Teacher knowledge was measured with both a multiple-choice exam and a drawing with a written explanation. Teacher confidence in their ability to teach biological energy transfer was measured by a modified form of the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument, In-Service A. Professional development implications regarding this topic are discussed. PMID:23737635

Knowledge-based operator guidance system for Japanese PWRs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujita, Y.; Ito, K.; Kawanago, S.; Tani, M.; Murata, R.

1986-01-01

A knowledge-based operator support system for nuclear power plant operation is under development. The main theme of the study is the incorporation of operator's cognitive structure as the framework of the knowledge representation and inference control mechanisms. Based upon information collected from interviews, and experiments using a real-time simulator, an operator's model related to diagnostic tasks was developed. A knowledge-based system incorporating the proposed model demonstrated highly efficient problem solving capabilities and the dynamic fitness to operator's perceptual feeling, thereby suggesting the potential importance and practical benefit of such a study

Biological evaluation of silver nanoparticles incorporated into chitosan-based membranes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shao, J.; Yu, N.; Kolwijck, E.; Wang, B.; Tan, K.W.; Jansen, J.A.; Walboomers, X.F.; Yang, F.

2017-01-01

AIM: To evaluate the antibacterial potential and biological performance of silver nanoparticles in chitosan-based membranes. MATERIALS & METHODS: Electrospun chitosan/poly(ethylene oxide) membranes with different amounts of silver nanoparticles were evaluated for antibacterial properties and

Integration of genome-wide association studies with biological knowledge identifies six novel genes related to kidney function.

Science.gov (United States)

Chasman, Daniel I; Fuchsberger, Christian; Pattaro, Cristian; Teumer, Alexander; Böger, Carsten A; Endlich, Karlhans; Olden, Matthias; Chen, Ming-Huei; Tin, Adrienne; Taliun, Daniel; Li, Man; Gao, Xiaoyi; Gorski, Mathias; Yang, Qiong; Hundertmark, Claudia; Foster, Meredith C; O'Seaghdha, Conall M; Glazer, Nicole; Isaacs, Aaron; Liu, Ching-Ti; Smith, Albert V; O'Connell, Jeffrey R; Struchalin, Maksim; Tanaka, Toshiko; Li, Guo; Johnson, Andrew D; Gierman, Hinco J; Feitosa, Mary F; Hwang, Shih-Jen; Atkinson, Elizabeth J; Lohman, Kurt; Cornelis, Marilyn C; Johansson, Asa; Tönjes, Anke; Dehghan, Abbas; Lambert, Jean-Charles; Holliday, Elizabeth G; Sorice, Rossella; Kutalik, Zoltan; Lehtimäki, Terho; Esko, Tõnu; Deshmukh, Harshal; Ulivi, Sheila; Chu, Audrey Y; Murgia, Federico; Trompet, Stella; Imboden, Medea; Coassin, Stefan; Pistis, Giorgio; Harris, Tamara B; Launer, Lenore J; Aspelund, Thor; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; Mitchell, Braxton D; Boerwinkle, Eric; Schmidt, Helena; Cavalieri, Margherita; Rao, Madhumathi; Hu, Frank; Demirkan, Ayse; Oostra, Ben A; de Andrade, Mariza; Turner, Stephen T; Ding, Jingzhong; Andrews, Jeanette S; Freedman, Barry I; Giulianini, Franco; Koenig, Wolfgang; Illig, Thomas; Meisinger, Christa; Gieger, Christian; Zgaga, Lina; Zemunik, Tatijana; Boban, Mladen; Minelli, Cosetta; Wheeler, Heather E; Igl, Wilmar; Zaboli, Ghazal; Wild, Sarah H; Wright, Alan F; Campbell, Harry; Ellinghaus, David; Nöthlings, Ute; Jacobs, Gunnar; Biffar, Reiner; Ernst, Florian; Homuth, Georg; Kroemer, Heyo K; Nauck, Matthias; Stracke, Sylvia; Völker, Uwe; Völzke, Henry; Kovacs, Peter; Stumvoll, Michael; Mägi, Reedik; Hofman, Albert; Uitterlinden, Andre G; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Aulchenko, Yurii S; Polasek, Ozren; Hastie, Nick; Vitart, Veronique; Helmer, Catherine; Wang, Jie Jin; Stengel, Bénédicte; Ruggiero, Daniela; Bergmann, Sven; Kähönen, Mika; Viikari, Jorma; Nikopensius, Tiit; Province, Michael; Ketkar, Shamika; Colhoun, Helen; Doney, Alex; Robino, Antonietta; Krämer, Bernhard K; Portas, Laura; Ford, Ian; Buckley, Brendan M; Adam, Martin; Thun, Gian-Andri; Paulweber, Bernhard; Haun, Margot; Sala, Cinzia; Mitchell, Paul; Ciullo, Marina; Kim, Stuart K; Vollenweider, Peter; Raitakari, Olli; Metspalu, Andres; Palmer, Colin; Gasparini, Paolo; Pirastu, Mario; Jukema, J Wouter; Probst-Hensch, Nicole M; Kronenberg, Florian; Toniolo, Daniela; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Shuldiner, Alan R; Coresh, Josef; Schmidt, Reinhold; Ferrucci, Luigi; Siscovick, David S; van Duijn, Cornelia M; Borecki, Ingrid B; Kardia, Sharon L R; Liu, Yongmei; Curhan, Gary C; Rudan, Igor; Gyllensten, Ulf; Wilson, James F; Franke, Andre; Pramstaller, Peter P; Rettig, Rainer; Prokopenko, Inga; Witteman, Jacqueline; Hayward, Caroline; Ridker, Paul M; Parsa, Afshin; Bochud, Murielle; Heid, Iris M; Kao, W H Linda; Fox, Caroline S; Köttgen, Anna

2012-12-15

In conducting genome-wide association studies (GWAS), analytical approaches leveraging biological information may further understanding of the pathophysiology of clinical traits. To discover novel associations with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), a measure of kidney function, we developed a strategy for integrating prior biological knowledge into the existing GWAS data for eGFR from the CKDGen Consortium. Our strategy focuses on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) in genes that are connected by functional evidence, determined by literature mining and gene ontology (GO) hierarchies, to genes near previously validated eGFR associations. It then requires association thresholds consistent with multiple testing, and finally evaluates novel candidates by independent replication. Among the samples of European ancestry, we identified a genome-wide significant SNP in FBXL20 (P = 5.6 × 10(-9)) in meta-analysis of all available data, and additional SNPs at the INHBC, LRP2, PLEKHA1, SLC3A2 and SLC7A6 genes meeting multiple-testing corrected significance for replication and overall P-values of 4.5 × 10(-4)-2.2 × 10(-7). Neither the novel PLEKHA1 nor FBXL20 associations, both further supported by association with eGFR among African Americans and with transcript abundance, would have been implicated by eGFR candidate gene approaches. LRP2, encoding the megalin receptor, was identified through connection with the previously known eGFR gene DAB2 and extends understanding of the megalin system in kidney function. These findings highlight integration of existing genome-wide association data with independent biological knowledge to uncover novel candidate eGFR associations, including candidates lacking known connections to kidney-specific pathways. The strategy may also be applicable to other clinical phenotypes, although more testing will be needed to assess its potential for discovery in general.

Radiation sterelization of chicken dejections for their incorporation in animal feed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oularbi, S.; Nouani, A.

1992-09-01

Deshydrated chicken dejection obtained from chicken grown in battery were irradiated by using gamma rays and incorporated in the ovine and bovine food. Dejection presented a high content of nitrogen, and other minerals. Treatment done with a dose of 10kGy was biologically safe. Their incorporation in the ovine food allowed us to substitute the soybean by chicken dejection

Preservice Biology Teachers' Conceptions about the Tentative Nature of Theories and Models in Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Reinisch, Bianca; Krüger, Dirk

2018-01-01

In research on the nature of science, there is a need to investigate the role and status of different scientific knowledge forms. Theories and models are two of the most important knowledge forms within biology and are the focus of this study. During interviews, preservice biology teachers (N = 10) were asked about their understanding of theories…

Virtual fetal pig dissection as an agent of knowledge acquisition and attitudinal change in female high school biology students

Science.gov (United States)

Maloney, Rebecca Scudari

One way to determine if all students can learn through the use of computers is to introduce a lesson taught completely via computers and compare the results with those gained when the same lesson is taught in a traditional manner. This study attempted to determine if a virtual fetal pig dissection can be used as a viable alternative for an actual dissection for females enrolled in high school biology classes by comparing the knowledge acquisition and attitudinal change between the experimental (virtual dissection) and control (actual dissection) groups. Two hundred and twenty-four students enrolled in biology classes in a suburban all-girl parochial high school participated in this study. Female students in an all-girl high school were chosen because research shows differences in science competency and computer usage between the genders that may mask the performance of females on computer-based tasks in a science laboratory exercise. Students who completed the virtual dissection scored significantly higher on practical test and objective tests that were used to measure knowledge acquisition. Attitudinal change was measured by examining the students' attitudes toward dissections, computer usage in the classroom, and toward biology both before and after the dissections using pre and post surveys. Significant results in positive gain scores were found in the virtual dissection group's attitude toward dissections, and their negative gain score toward virtual dissections. Attitudinal changes toward computers and biology were not significant. A purposefully selected sample of the students were interviewed, in addition to gathering a sample of the students' daily dissection journals, as data highlighting their thoughts and feelings about their dissection experience. Further research is suggested to determine if a virtual laboratory experience can be a substitute for actual dissections, or may serve as an enhancement to an actual dissection.

Biological screening, knowledge and management of diabetes ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Biological screening of diabetes mellitus was carried out to assess the ... believed that adherence to diet could help in the management of the disease while ... Also health education and public enlightenment of the populace about the disease ...

Towards biologically conformal radiation therapy (BCRT): Selective IMRT dose escalation under the guidance of spatial biology distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Yong; Xing Lei

2005-01-01

It is well known that the spatial biology distribution (e.g., clonogen density, radiosensitivity, tumor proliferation rate, functional importance) in most tumors and sensitive structures is heterogeneous. Recent progress in biological imaging is making the mapping of this distribution increasingly possible. The purpose of this work is to establish a theoretical framework to quantitatively incorporate the spatial biology data into intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) inverse planning. In order to implement this, we first derive a general formula for determining the desired dose to each tumor voxel for a known biology distribution of the tumor based on a linear-quadratic model. The desired target dose distribution is then used as the prescription for inverse planning. An objective function with the voxel-dependent prescription is constructed with incorporation of the nonuniform dose prescription. The functional unit density distribution in a sensitive structure is also considered phenomenologically when constructing the objective function. Two cases with different hypothetical biology distributions are used to illustrate the new inverse planning formalism. For comparison, treatments with a few uniform dose prescriptions and a simultaneous integrated boost are also planned. The biological indices, tumor control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP), are calculated for both types of plans and the superiority of the proposed technique over the conventional dose escalation scheme is demonstrated. Our calculations revealed that it is technically feasible to produce deliberately nonuniform dose distributions with consideration of biological information. Compared with the conventional dose escalation schemes, the new technique is capable of generating biologically conformal IMRT plans that significantly improve the TCP while reducing or keeping the NTCPs at their current levels. Biologically conformal radiation therapy (BCRT

Feyerabend, interculturalism, and ethnobiology: some possible links in Biology teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thales de A. e Tréz

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Usually, the training of educators in Biology is marked by a scientificist approach, legitimating the knowledge on Biology through the Western science, despite any other knowledge about life. Starting from the question on life preferred in the traditional educational approach of Biology, this paper aims to connect the implications of ethnosciences, especially ethnobiology, along with the discussion on inter/multiculturalism and Paul Feyerabend’s thought. According to this literature, it is reasonable to think another Biology is not only possible, but also needed, for the legitimacy of ethno-knowledge in Biology teaching. The selection of one or another ethno-knowledge, considering its context, as a counterpart to a unitism of the scientific view, may contribute to widen the horizons defining the knowledge about life.

Upgrading Undergraduate Biology Education

Science.gov (United States)

Musante, Susan

2011-01-01

On many campuses throughout the country, undergraduate biology education is in serious need of an upgrade. During the past few decades, the body of biological knowledge has grown exponentially, and as a research endeavor, the practice of biology has evolved. Education research has also made great strides, revealing many new insights into how…

MO-G-304-01: FEATURED PRESENTATION: Expanding the Knowledge Base for Data-Driven Treatment Planning: Incorporating Patient Outcome Models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robertson, SP; Quon, H; Cheng, Z; Moore, JA; Bowers, M; McNutt, TR

2015-01-01

Purpose: To extend the capabilities of knowledge-based treatment planning beyond simple dose queries by incorporating validated patient outcome models. Methods: From an analytic, relational database of 684 head and neck cancer patients, 372 patients were identified having dose data for both left and right parotid glands as well as baseline and follow-up xerostomia assessments. For each existing patient, knowledge-based treatment planning was simulated for by querying the dose-volume histograms and geometric shape relationships (overlap volume histograms) for all other patients. Dose predictions were captured at normalized volume thresholds (NVT) of 0%, 10%, 20, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 85% and were compared with the actual achieved doses using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Next, a logistic regression model was used to predict the maximum severity of xerostomia up to three months following radiotherapy. Baseline xerostomia scores were subtracted from follow-up assessments and were also included in the model. The relative risks from predicted doses and actual doses were computed and compared. Results: The predicted doses for both parotid glands were significantly less than the achieved doses (p < 0.0001), with differences ranging from 830 cGy ± 1270 cGy (0% NVT) to 1673 cGy ± 1197 cGy (30% NVT). The modelled risk of xerostomia ranged from 54% to 64% for achieved doses and from 33% to 51% for the dose predictions. Relative risks varied from 1.24 to 1.87, with maximum relative risk occurring at 85% NVT. Conclusions: Data-driven generation of treatment planning objectives without consideration of the underlying normal tissue complication probability may Result in inferior plans, even if quality metrics indicate otherwise. Inclusion of complication models in knowledge-based treatment planning is necessary in order to close the feedback loop between radiotherapy treatments and patient outcomes. Future work includes advancing and validating complication models in the context

MO-G-304-01: FEATURED PRESENTATION: Expanding the Knowledge Base for Data-Driven Treatment Planning: Incorporating Patient Outcome Models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Robertson, SP; Quon, H; Cheng, Z; Moore, JA; Bowers, M; McNutt, TR [Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (United States)

2015-06-15

Purpose: To extend the capabilities of knowledge-based treatment planning beyond simple dose queries by incorporating validated patient outcome models. Methods: From an analytic, relational database of 684 head and neck cancer patients, 372 patients were identified having dose data for both left and right parotid glands as well as baseline and follow-up xerostomia assessments. For each existing patient, knowledge-based treatment planning was simulated for by querying the dose-volume histograms and geometric shape relationships (overlap volume histograms) for all other patients. Dose predictions were captured at normalized volume thresholds (NVT) of 0%, 10%, 20, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 85% and were compared with the actual achieved doses using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Next, a logistic regression model was used to predict the maximum severity of xerostomia up to three months following radiotherapy. Baseline xerostomia scores were subtracted from follow-up assessments and were also included in the model. The relative risks from predicted doses and actual doses were computed and compared. Results: The predicted doses for both parotid glands were significantly less than the achieved doses (p < 0.0001), with differences ranging from 830 cGy ± 1270 cGy (0% NVT) to 1673 cGy ± 1197 cGy (30% NVT). The modelled risk of xerostomia ranged from 54% to 64% for achieved doses and from 33% to 51% for the dose predictions. Relative risks varied from 1.24 to 1.87, with maximum relative risk occurring at 85% NVT. Conclusions: Data-driven generation of treatment planning objectives without consideration of the underlying normal tissue complication probability may Result in inferior plans, even if quality metrics indicate otherwise. Inclusion of complication models in knowledge-based treatment planning is necessary in order to close the feedback loop between radiotherapy treatments and patient outcomes. Future work includes advancing and validating complication models in the context

Incorporating nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria in the global biogeochemical model HAMOCC

Science.gov (United States)

Paulsen, Hanna; Ilyina, Tatiana; Six, Katharina

2015-04-01

Nitrogen fixation by marine diazotrophs plays a fundamental role in the oceanic nitrogen and carbon cycle as it provides a major source of 'new' nitrogen to the euphotic zone that supports biological carbon export and sequestration. Since most global biogeochemical models include nitrogen fixation only diagnostically, they are not able to capture its spatial pattern sufficiently. Here we present the incorporation of an explicit, dynamic representation of diazotrophic cyanobacteria and the corresponding nitrogen fixation in the global ocean biogeochemical model HAMOCC (Hamburg Ocean Carbon Cycle model), which is part of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology Earth system model (MPI-ESM). The parameterization of the diazotrophic growth is thereby based on available knowledge about the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium spp., which is considered as the most significant pelagic nitrogen fixer. Evaluation against observations shows that the model successfully reproduces the main spatial distribution of cyanobacteria and nitrogen fixation, covering large parts of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Besides the role of cyanobacteria in marine biogeochemical cycles, their capacity to form extensive surface blooms induces a number of bio-physical feedback mechanisms in the Earth system. The processes driving these interactions, which are related to the alteration of heat absorption, surface albedo and momentum input by wind, are incorporated in the biogeochemical and physical model of the MPI-ESM in order to investigate their impacts on a global scale. First preliminary results will be shown.

Biological Applications in the Mathematics Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Marland, Eric; Palmer, Katrina M.; Salinas, Rene A.

2008-01-01

In this article we provide two detailed examples of how we incorporate biological examples into two mathematics courses: Linear Algebra and Ordinary Differential Equations. We use Leslie matrix models to demonstrate the biological properties of eigenvalues and eigenvectors. For Ordinary Differential Equations, we show how using a logistic growth…

Incorporating political socialization theory into baccalaureate nursing education.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, S G

1996-01-01

Political socialization theory explains how an individual develops a political belief system. As the health care system undergoes dramatic changes, nursing faculty should use political socialization theory to enhance the education of student nurses. A political thread can be woven through the nursing curricula, and students can be socialized to the political role. The new generation of nurses must incorporate a political component into their professional role identity. Political socialization theory can guide nursing faculty as knowledge of the political system and political skills are incorporated into nursing curricula.

Making Invasion models useful for decision makers; incorporating uncertainty, knowledge gaps, and decision-making preferences

Science.gov (United States)

Denys Yemshanov; Frank H Koch; Mark Ducey

2015-01-01

Uncertainty is inherent in model-based forecasts of ecological invasions. In this chapter, we explore how the perceptions of that uncertainty can be incorporated into the pest risk assessment process. Uncertainty changes a decision maker’s perceptions of risk; therefore, the direct incorporation of uncertainty may provide a more appropriate depiction of risk. Our...

The making of green knowledge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jamison, Andrew

2003-01-01

of such "green knowledge". The general argument is that, in the future, new types of interaction and new spaces for communication will need to be developed if green knowledge is not to be incorporated into the dominant culture or reduced to ineffective forms of protest.......The paper discusses some of the contributions of environmental activism to the development of knowledge. The paper contrasts some of the main forms of knowledge-making that have emerged among activists and raises a number of questions both about the political and cognitive implications...

The structure of surface texture knowledge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan Wang; Scott, Paul J; Jiang Xiangqian

2005-01-01

This research aims to create an intelligent knowledge-based system for engineering and bio-medical engineering surface texture, which will provide expert knowledge of surface texture to link surface function, specification of micro- and nano-geometry through manufacture, and verification. The intelligent knowledge base should be capable of incorporating knowledge from multiple sources (standards, books, experts, etc), adding new knowledge from these sources and still remain a coherent reliable system. A new data model based on category theory will be adopted to construct this system

Lactococcus lactis as expression host for the biosynthetic incorporation of tryptophan analogues into recombinant proteins

NARCIS (Netherlands)

El Khattabi, Mohamed; van Roosmalen, Maarten L.; Jager, Dennis; Metselaar, Heidi; Permentier, Hjalmar; Leenhouts, Kees; Broos, Jaap

2008-01-01

Incorporation of Trp (tryptophan) analogues into a protein may facilitate its structural analysis by spectroscopic techniques. Development of a biological system for the biosynthetic incorporation of such analogues into proteins is of considerable importance. The Gram-negative Escherichia coli is

Automated parameter estimation for biological models using Bayesian statistical model checking.

Science.gov (United States)

Hussain, Faraz; Langmead, Christopher J; Mi, Qi; Dutta-Moscato, Joyeeta; Vodovotz, Yoram; Jha, Sumit K

2015-01-01

Probabilistic models have gained widespread acceptance in the systems biology community as a useful way to represent complex biological systems. Such models are developed using existing knowledge of the structure and dynamics of the system, experimental observations, and inferences drawn from statistical analysis of empirical data. A key bottleneck in building such models is that some system variables cannot be measured experimentally. These variables are incorporated into the model as numerical parameters. Determining values of these parameters that justify existing experiments and provide reliable predictions when model simulations are performed is a key research problem. Using an agent-based model of the dynamics of acute inflammation, we demonstrate a novel parameter estimation algorithm by discovering the amount and schedule of doses of bacterial lipopolysaccharide that guarantee a set of observed clinical outcomes with high probability. We synthesized values of twenty-eight unknown parameters such that the parameterized model instantiated with these parameter values satisfies four specifications describing the dynamic behavior of the model. We have developed a new algorithmic technique for discovering parameters in complex stochastic models of biological systems given behavioral specifications written in a formal mathematical logic. Our algorithm uses Bayesian model checking, sequential hypothesis testing, and stochastic optimization to automatically synthesize parameters of probabilistic biological models.

The Knowledge Grid

CERN Document Server

Zhuge, Hai

2004-01-01

The Knowledge Grid is an intelligent and sustainable interconnection environment that enables people and machines to effectively capture, publish, share and manage knowledge resources. It also provides appropriate on-demand services to support scientific research, technological innovation, cooperative teamwork, problem solving, and decision making. It incorporates epistemology and ontology to reflect human cognitive characteristics; exploits social, ecological and economic principles; and adopts techniques and standards developed during work toward the future web. This book presents its methodology, theory, models and applications systematically for the first time.

Knowledge Management at the Village Level: How Thai Rice Farmers Incorporate Technologies to Improve Production Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jude William R. Genilo

2007-04-01

Full Text Available The shift from agricultural to industrial and from industrial to knowledge societies has affected the ways farmers run their small-scale field activitiesin Central Thailand. To remain competitive, rice farmers need to continuously incorporate innovations and upgrade their technologies to sustain operations. These innovations and technologies may be seen in practically all aspects of the rice production process – from seed selection to fertilization, from seed raising and growth to irrigation, from crop protection to harvesting, threshing and drying. The study basically aims to explore the plausibility of rice farming villages as “learning organizations” and within these villages, the viability of forming “communities of practice.” In so doing, it investigates how the rice farming village under study organizes, shares, moves and gains information on rice farming. The study was conducted in Baan Sap Som Boon, Nonglue Subdistrict, Muang District, Chainat Province. The study uses a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive design. It uses both primary and secondary data and an ethnographic study approach. Research method and techniques consist of review of materials, interview with key persons and farmers in the community, interview with government personnel and field observations. Data generation was conducted from October 2004 to July 2005 in Chainat Province, Thailand.

Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Ingram, M.; Mason, W. B.; Whipple, G. H.; Howland, J. W.

1952-04-07

This report presents a review of present knowledge and concepts of the biological effects of ionizing radiations. Among the topics discussed are the physical and chemical effects of ionizing radiation on biological systems, morphological and physiological changes observed in biological systems subjected to ionizing radiations, physiological changes in the intact animal, latent changes following exposure of biological systems to ionizing radiations, factors influencing the biological response to ionizing radiation, relative effects of various ionizing radiations, and biological dosimetry.

Development of a Knowledge Base for Incorporating Technology into Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Rath, Logan

2013-01-01

This article discusses a project resulting from the request of a group of faculty at The College at Brockport to create a website for best practices in teaching and technology. The project evolved into a knowledge base powered by WordPress. Installation and configuration of WordPress resulted in the creation of custom taxonomies and post types,…

Logical knowledge representation of regulatory relations in biomedical pathways

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zambach, Sine; Hansen, Jens Ulrik

2010-01-01

Knowledge on regulatory relations, in for example regulatory pathways in biology, is used widely in experiment design by biomedical researchers and in systems biology. The knowledge has typically either been represented through simple graphs or through very expressive differential equation...... simulations of smaller parts of a pathway. In this work we suggest a knowledge representation of the most basic relations in regulatory processes regulates, positively regulates and negatively regulates in logics based on a semantic analysis. We discuss the usage of these relations in biology and in articial...... intelligence for hypothesis development in drug discovery....

Analysis of 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine incorporation in murine melanoma for photon activation therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popenoe, E.A.; Commerford, S.L.; Fairchild, R.G.; Laster, B.H.; Stony Brook University Hospital, New York; Wielopolski, L.; Meek, A.; Gahbauer, R.; Goodman, J.

1990-01-01

Quantitative evaluation of the dose enhancement obtained with analog nucleoside agents such as iododeoxyuridine (IdUrd) requires knowledge of the degree to which the thymidine (Thd) in DNA is replaced by IdUrd. In this investigation, mice were infused wit IdUrd using an intravenous infusion apparatus capable of delivering continuous multi-day infusions without restraining the mice. The absolute incorporation of IdUrd in DNA was measured by 125 IdUrd label, both in whole tissue and extracted DNA, showing a good correlation between levels observed in DNA and whole tissue. Replacement in a Harding-Passey murine melanoma tumor carried in BALB/c mice approached 10 per cent. In addition, a Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) technique was developed which showed in vitro, a sensitivity sufficient to evaluate the percentage of replacement of Thd by IdUrd in small biological samples with a sensitivity greater than 0.1 ppm, at 1 per cent replacement in mg samples. This method can provide information on iodine substitution in DNA in humans where the use of a radioactive DNA-seeking substance would be undesirable. Analyses of IdUrd incorporation in cultured cells by NAA and 125 I counting showed good agreement. (author). 21 refs.; 2 figs.; 5 tabs

Marine Education Knowledge Inventory.

Science.gov (United States)

Hounshell, Paul B.; Hampton, Carolyn

This 35-item, multiple-choice Marine Education Knowledge Inventory was developed for use in upper elementary/middle schools to measure a student's knowledge of marine science. Content of test items is drawn from oceanography, ecology, earth science, navigation, and the biological sciences (focusing on marine animals). Steps in the construction of…

Incorporating human aspects in ambient intelligence and smart environments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bosse, T.; Hoogendoorn, M.; Klein, M.C.A.; Lambalgen, R. van; Maanen, P.P. van; Treur, J.

2011-01-01

In this chapter, we propose to outline the scientific area that addresses Ambient Intelligence applications in which not only sensor data, but also knowledge from the human-directed sciences such as biomedical science, neuroscience, and psychological and social sciences is incorporated. This

German National Proficiency Scales in Biology: Internal Structure, Relations to General Cognitive Abilities and Verbal Skills

Science.gov (United States)

KÖLLER, OLAF

2016-01-01

ABSTRACT National and international large‐scale assessments (LSA) have a major impact on educational systems, which raises fundamental questions about the validity of the measures regarding their internal structure and their relations to relevant covariates. Given its importance, research on the validity of instruments specifically developed for LSA is still sparse, especially in science and its subdomains biology, chemistry, and physics. However, policy decisions for the improvement of educational quality based on LSA can only be helpful if valid information on students’ achievement levels is provided. In the present study, the nature of the measurement instruments based on the German Educational Standards in Biology is examined. On the basis of data from 3,165 students in Grade 10, we present dimensional analyses and report the relationship between different subdimensions of biology literacy and cognitive covariates such as general cognitive abilities and verbal skills. A theory‐driven two‐dimensional model fitted the data best. Content knowledge and scientific inquiry, two subdimensions of biology literacy, are highly correlated and show differential correlational patterns to the covariates. We argue that the underlying structure of biology should be incorporated into curricula, teacher training and future assessments. PMID:27818532

Incorporating model parameter uncertainty into inverse treatment planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lian Jun; Xing Lei

2004-01-01

Radiobiological treatment planning depends not only on the accuracy of the models describing the dose-response relation of different tumors and normal tissues but also on the accuracy of tissue specific radiobiological parameters in these models. Whereas the general formalism remains the same, different sets of model parameters lead to different solutions and thus critically determine the final plan. Here we describe an inverse planning formalism with inclusion of model parameter uncertainties. This is made possible by using a statistical analysis-based frameset developed by our group. In this formalism, the uncertainties of model parameters, such as the parameter a that describes tissue-specific effect in the equivalent uniform dose (EUD) model, are expressed by probability density function and are included in the dose optimization process. We found that the final solution strongly depends on distribution functions of the model parameters. Considering that currently available models for computing biological effects of radiation are simplistic, and the clinical data used to derive the models are sparse and of questionable quality, the proposed technique provides us with an effective tool to minimize the effect caused by the uncertainties in a statistical sense. With the incorporation of the uncertainties, the technique has potential for us to maximally utilize the available radiobiology knowledge for better IMRT treatment

Increasing the fidelity of noncanonical amino acid incorporation in cell-free protein synthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gan, Qinglei; Fan, Chenguang

2017-11-01

Cell-free protein synthesis provides a robust platform for co-translational incorporation of noncanonical amino acid (ncAA) into proteins to facilitate biological studies and biotechnological applications. Recently, eliminating the activity of release factor 1 has been shown to increase ncAA incorporation in response to amber codons. However, this approach could promote mis-incorporation of canonical amino acids by near cognate suppression. We performed a facile protocol to remove near cognate tRNA isoacceptors of the amber codon from total tRNAs, and used the phosphoserine (Sep) incorporation system as validation. By manipulating codon usage of target genes and tRNA species introduced into the cell-free protein synthesis system, we increased the fidelity of Sep incorporation at a specific position. By removing three near cognate tRNA isoacceptors of the amber stop codon [tRNA Lys , tRNA Tyr , and tRNA Gln (CUG)] from the total tRNA, the near cognate suppression decreased by 5-fold without impairing normal protein synthesis in the cell-free protein synthesis system. Mass spectrometry analyses indicated that the fidelity of ncAA incorporation was improved. Removal of near cognate tRNA isoacceptors of the amber codon could increase ncAA incorporation fidelity towards the amber stop codon in release factor deficiency systems. We provide a general strategy to improve fidelity of ncAA incorporation towards stop, quadruplet and sense codons in cell-free protein synthesis systems. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Biochemistry of Synthetic Biology - Recent Developments" Guest Editor: Dr. Ilka Heinemann and Dr. Patrick O'Donoghue. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Use of Clinical Interviews to Develop Inservice Secondary Science Teachers' Nature of Science Knowledge and Assessment of Student Nature of Science Knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Peters-Burton, Erin E.

2013-01-01

To fully incorporate nature of science knowledge into classrooms, teachers must be both proficient in their own nature of science knowledge, but also skillful in translating their knowledge into a learning environment which assesses student knowledge. Twenty-eight inservice teachers enrolled in a graduate course which in part required a clinical…

COGMIR: A computer model for knowledge integration

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Z.X.

1988-01-01

This dissertation explores some aspects of knowledge integration, namely, accumulation of scientific knowledge and performing analogical reasoning on the acquired knowledge. Knowledge to be integrated is conveyed by paragraph-like pieces referred to as documents. By incorporating some results from cognitive science, the Deutsch-Kraft model of information retrieval is extended to a model for knowledge engineering, which integrates acquired knowledge and performs intelligent retrieval. The resulting computer model is termed COGMIR, which stands for a COGnitive Model for Intelligent Retrieval. A scheme, named query invoked memory reorganization, is used in COGMIR for knowledge integration. Unlike some other schemes which realize knowledge integration through subjective understanding by representing new knowledge in terms of existing knowledge, the proposed scheme suggests at storage time only recording the possible connection of knowledge acquired from different documents. The actual binding of the knowledge acquired from different documents is deferred to query time. There is only one way to store knowledge and numerous ways to utilize the knowledge. Each document can be represented as a whole as well as its meaning. In addition, since facts are constructed from the documents, document retrieval and fact retrieval are treated in a unified way. When the requested knowledge is not available, query invoked memory reorganization can generate suggestion based on available knowledge through analogical reasoning. This is done by revising the algorithms developed for document retrieval and fact retrieval, and by incorporating Gentner's structure mapping theory. Analogical reasoning is treated as a natural extension of intelligent retrieval, so that two previously separate research areas are combined. A case study is provided. All the components are implemented as list structures similar to relational data-bases.

Developing biology teachers' pedagogical content knowledge through learning study: the case of teaching human evolution

Science.gov (United States)

Bravo, Paulina; Cofré, Hernán

2016-11-01

This work explores how pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) on evolution was modified by two biology teachers who participated in a professional development programme (PDP) that included a subsequent follow-up in the classroom. The PDP spanned a semester and included activities such as content updates, collaborative lesson planning, and the presentation of planned lessons. In the follow-up part, the lessons were videotaped and analysed, identifying strategies, activities, and conditions based on student learning about the theory of evolution. Data were collected in the first round with an interview before the training process, identifying these teachers' initial content representation (CoRe) for evolution. Then, a group interview was conducted after the lessons, and, finally, an interview of stimulated recall with each teacher was conducted regarding the subject taught to allow teachers to reflect on their practice (final CoRe). This information was analysed by the teachers and the researchers, reflecting on the components of the PCK, possible changes, and the rationale behind their actions. The results show that teachers changed their beliefs and knowledge about the best methods and strategies to teach evolution, and about students' learning obstacles and misconceptions on evolution. They realised how a review of their own practices promotes this transformation.

The effect of cooperative learning on the attitudes toward science and the achievement of students in a non-science majors' general biology laboratory course at an urban community college

Science.gov (United States)

Chung-Schickler, Genevieve C.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cooperative learning strategies on students' attitudes toward science and achievement in BSC 1005L, a non-science majors' general biology laboratory course at an urban community college. Data were gathered on the participants' attitudes toward science and cognitive biology level pre and post treatment in BSC 1005L. Elements of the Learning Together model developed by Johnson and Johnson and the Student Team-Achievement Divisions model created by Slavin were incorporated into the experimental sections of BSC 1005L. Four sections of BSC 1005L participated in this study. Participants were enrolled in the 1998 spring (January) term. Students met weekly in a two hour laboratory session. The treatment was administered to the experimental group over a ten week period. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used. Students in the cooperative learning group (nsb1 = 27) were administered the Test of Science-Related Attitudes (TOSRA) and the cognitive biology test at the same time as the control group (nsb2 = 19) (at the beginning and end of the term). Statistical analyses confirmed that both groups were equivalent regarding ethnicity, gender, college grade point average and number of absences. Independent sample t-tests performed on pretest mean scores indicated no significant differences in the TOSRA scale two or biology knowledge between the cooperative learning group and the control group. The scores of TOSRA scales: one, three, four, five, six, and seven were significantly lower in the cooperative learning group. Independent sample t-tests of the mean score differences did not show any significant differences in posttest attitudes toward science or biology knowledge between the two groups. Paired t-tests did not indicate any significant differences on the TOSRA or biology knowledge within the cooperative learning group. Paired t-tests did show significant differences within the control group

A resource about fungi for intercultural dialogue in biology teaching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edilaine Almeida Oliveira Silva

2017-07-01

Full Text Available We are presenting results of a collaborative study with a teacher from a public school in the Bahia State (northeastern Brazil. The main objective was to develop a didactic resource that could be applied in biology teaching based on intercultural dialogue, between students’ cultural knowledge and the school’s biological knowledge about mushrooms. In other words, this didactics of biology links the knowledge inherited culturally. It was applied a questionnaire with students of this school, and from the answers it was prepared Comparative Cognition tables. Relations of similarity and differences between prior knowledge of students and school biological knowledge were scored in these tables. The results revealed relationships between these two forms of knowledge, being mandatory similarity relations. These revelations were important for planning and construction of an educational game based on intercultural dialogue. The present study aims to continue with the application of this teaching resource in the classrooms of the participating teacher, looking for its viability in educational interventions in relation to the intercultural dialogue between students’ preconceptions and school science knowledge about fungi.

Incorporating stakeholders' knowledge to stock assessment: Central Baltic herring

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mäntyniemi, Samu; Haapasaari, Päivi Elisabet; Kuikka, Sakari

2013-01-01

We present a method by which the knowledge of stakeholders can be taken into account in stock assessment. The approach consists of a structured interview process followed by quantitative modelling of the answers. The outcome is a set of probability models, each describing the views of different...... stakeholders. Individual models are then merged to a large model by applying the techniques of Bayesian model averaging, and this model is conditioned on stock assessment data. As a result, the viewsofinterviewedstakeholdershavebeentakenintoaccountandweighedbasedonhowwelltheirviewsaresupportedbythe observed...... data. We applied this method to the Baltic Sea herring (Clupea harengus) stock assessment by interviewing six stakeholders and conditioning the resulting models on stock assessment data provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea....

[History of the Strasbourg Society of Biology].

Science.gov (United States)

Antony, Pierre; Romier, Christophe; Mantz, Jean-Marie

2017-01-01

The Society of Biology of Strasbourg (SBS) is a learned society that was created in 1919 based on the model of the Society of Biology of which it is a subsidiary. Like its Parisian colleague, SBS aims at diffusing and promoting scientific knowledge in biology. To achieve this goal, SBS initiated since its creation a dialogue interface between researchers in biology and physicians, and more recently with other scientific disciplines, industry and the civil society. At the dawn of its first century, the Society of Biology of Strasbourg must continue to reinvent itself to pursue its development and to fulfil its mission of sharing scientific knowledge. This work continues in strong collaboration with our partners that share with SBS the willingness to foster excellence in biological research in Strasbourg, its region and beyond. © Société de Biologie, 2017.

Conceptualising GP teachers' knowledge: a pedagogical content knowledge perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Cantillon, Peter; de Grave, Willem

2012-05-01

Most teacher development initiatives focus on enhancing knowledge of teaching (pedagogy), whilst largely ignoring other important features of teacher knowledge such as subject matter knowledge and awareness of the learning context. Furthermore, teachers' ability to learn from faculty development interventions is limited by their existing (often implicit) pedagogical knowledge and beliefs. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) represents a model of teacher knowledge incorporating what they know about subject matter, pedagogy and context. PCK can be used to explore teachers' prior knowledge and to structure faculty development programmes so that they take account of a broader range of teachers' knowledge. We set out to examine the application of a PCK model in a general practice education setting. This study is part of a larger study that employed a mixed method approach (concept mapping, phenomenological interviews and video-stimulated recall) to explore features of GP teachers' subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of the learning environment in the context of a general practice tutorial. This paper presents data on GP teachers' pedagogical and context knowledge. There was considerable overlap between different GP teachers' knowledge and beliefs about learners and the clinical learning environment (i.e. knowledge of context). The teachers' beliefs about learners were largely based on assumptions derived from their own student experiences. There were stark differences, however, between teachers in terms of pedagogical knowledge, particularly in terms of their teaching orientations (i.e. transmission or facilitation orientation) and this was manifest in their teaching behaviours. PCK represents a useful model for conceptualising clinical teacher prior knowledge in three domains, namely subject matter, learning context and pedagogy. It can and should be used as a simple guiding framework by faculty developers to inform the design and delivery of

Using student motivation to design groups in a non-majors biology course for team-based collaborative learning: Impacts on knowledge, views, attitudes, and perceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Walters, Kristi L.

The importance of student motivation and its connection to other learning variables (i.e., attitudes, knowledge, persistence, attendance) is well established. Collaborative work at the undergraduate level has been recognized as a valuable tool in large courses. However, motivation and collaborative group work have rarely been combined. This project utilized student motivation to learn biology to place non-major biology undergraduates in collaborative learning groups at East Carolina University, a mid-sized southeastern American university, to determine the effects of this construct on student learning. A pre-test measuring motivation to learn biology, attitudes toward biology, perceptions of biology and biologists, views of science, and content knowledge was administered. A similar post-test followed as part of the final exam. Two sections of the same introductory biology course (n = 312) were used and students were divided into homogeneous and heterogeneous groups (based on their motivation score). The heterogeneous groups (n = 32) consisted of a mixture of different motivation levels, while the homogeneous groups (n = 32) were organized into teams with similar motivation scores using tiers of high-, middle-, and low-level participants. Data analysis determined mixed perceptions of biology and biologists. These include the perceptions biology was less intriguing, less relevant, less practical, less ethical, and less understandable. Biologists were perceived as being neat and slightly intelligent, but not very altruistic, humane, ethical, logical, honest, or moral. Content knowledge scores more than doubled from pre- to post-test. Half of the items measuring views of science were not statistically significantly different from pre- to post-test. Many of the factors for attitudes toward biology became more agreeable from pre- to post-test. Correlations between motivation scores, participation levels, attendance rates, and final course grades were examined at both the

Analysis of the IJCNN 2007 agnostic learning vs. prior knowledge challenge.

Science.gov (United States)

Guyon, Isabelle; Saffari, Amir; Dror, Gideon; Cawley, Gavin

2008-01-01

We organized a challenge for IJCNN 2007 to assess the added value of prior domain knowledge in machine learning. Most commercial data mining programs accept data pre-formatted in the form of a table, with each example being encoded as a linear feature vector. Is it worth spending time incorporating domain knowledge in feature construction or algorithm design, or can off-the-shelf programs working directly on simple low-level features do better than skilled data analysts? To answer these questions, we formatted five datasets using two data representations. The participants in the "prior knowledge" track used the raw data, with full knowledge of the meaning of the data representation. Conversely, the participants in the "agnostic learning" track used a pre-formatted data table, with no knowledge of the identity of the features. The results indicate that black-box methods using relatively unsophisticated features work quite well and rapidly approach the best attainable performance. The winners on the prior knowledge track used feature extraction strategies yielding a large number of low-level features. Incorporating prior knowledge in the form of generic coding/smoothing methods to exploit regularities in data is beneficial, but incorporating actual domain knowledge in feature construction is very time consuming and seldom leads to significant improvements. The AL vs. PK challenge web site remains open for post-challenge submissions: http://www.agnostic.inf.ethz.ch/.

Direct imaging of glycans in Arabidopsis roots via click labeling of metabolically incorporated azido-monosaccharides.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoogenboom, Jorin; Berghuis, Nathalja; Cramer, Dario; Geurts, Rene; Zuilhof, Han; Wennekes, Tom

2016-10-10

Carbohydrates, also called glycans, play a crucial but not fully understood role in plant health and development. The non-template driven formation of glycans makes it impossible to image them in vivo with genetically encoded fluorescent tags and related molecular biology approaches. A solution to this problem is the use of tailor-made glycan analogs that are metabolically incorporated by the plant into its glycans. These metabolically incorporated probes can be visualized, but techniques documented so far use toxic copper-catalyzed labeling. To further expand our knowledge of plant glycobiology by direct imaging of its glycans via this method, there is need for novel click-compatible glycan analogs for plants that can be bioorthogonally labelled via copper-free techniques. Arabidopsis seedlings were incubated with azido-containing monosaccharide analogs of N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine, L-fucose, and L-arabinofuranose. These azido-monosaccharides were metabolically incorporated in plant cell wall glycans of Arabidopsis seedlings. Control experiments indicated active metabolic incorporation of the azido-monosaccharide analogs into glycans rather than through non-specific absorption of the glycan analogs onto the plant cell wall. Successful copper-free labeling reactions were performed, namely an inverse-electron demand Diels-Alder cycloaddition reaction using an incorporated N-acetylglucosamine analog, and a strain-promoted azide-alkyne click reaction. All evaluated azido-monosaccharide analogs were observed to be non-toxic at the used concentrations under normal growth conditions. Our results for the metabolic incorporation and fluorescent labeling of these azido-monosaccharide analogs expand the possibilities for studying plant glycans by direct imaging. Overall we successfully evaluated five azido-monosaccharide analogs for their ability to be metabolically incorporated in Arabidopsis roots and their imaging after fluorescent labeling. This expands

Synthetic Biology: A Unifying View and Review Using Analog Circuits.

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, Jonathan J Y; Woo, Sung Sik; Sarpeshkar, Rahul

2015-08-01

We review the field of synthetic biology from an analog circuits and analog computation perspective, focusing on circuits that have been built in living cells. This perspective is well suited to pictorially, symbolically, and quantitatively representing the nonlinear, dynamic, and stochastic (noisy) ordinary and partial differential equations that rigorously describe the molecular circuits of synthetic biology. This perspective enables us to construct a canonical analog circuit schematic that helps unify and review the operation of many fundamental circuits that have been built in synthetic biology at the DNA, RNA, protein, and small-molecule levels over nearly two decades. We review 17 circuits in the literature as particular examples of feedforward and feedback analog circuits that arise from special topological cases of the canonical analog circuit schematic. Digital circuit operation of these circuits represents a special case of saturated analog circuit behavior and is automatically incorporated as well. Many issues that have prevented synthetic biology from scaling are naturally represented in analog circuit schematics. Furthermore, the deep similarity between the Boltzmann thermodynamic equations that describe noisy electronic current flow in subthreshold transistors and noisy molecular flux in biochemical reactions has helped map analog circuit motifs in electronics to analog circuit motifs in cells and vice versa via a `cytomorphic' approach. Thus, a body of knowledge in analog electronic circuit design, analysis, simulation, and implementation may also be useful in the robust and efficient design of molecular circuits in synthetic biology, helping it to scale to more complex circuits in the future.

Tacit knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Alexander Muir

2017-04-01

Information that is not made explicit is nonetheless embedded in most of our standard procedures. In its simplest form, embedded information may take the form of prior knowledge held by the researcher and presumed to be agreed to by consumers of the research product. More interesting are the settings in which the prior information is held unconsciously by both researcher and reader, or when the very form of an "effective procedure" incorporates its creator's (unspoken) understanding of a problem. While it may not be productive to exhaustively detail the embedded or tacit knowledge that manifests itself in creative scientific work, at least at the beginning, we may want to routinize methods for extracting and documenting the ways of thinking that make "experts" expert. We should not back away from both expecting and respecting the tacit knowledge the pervades our work and the work of others.

Incorporating Semantic Knowledge into Dynamic Data Processing for Smart Power Grids

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, Qunzhi; Simmhan, Yogesh; Prasanna, Viktor

2012-11-15

Semantic Web allows us to model and query time-invariant or slowly evolving knowledge using ontologies. Emerging applications in Cyber Physical Systems such as Smart Power Grids that require continuous information monitoring and integration present novel opportunities and challenges for Semantic Web technologies. Semantic Web is promising to model diverse Smart Grid domain knowledge for enhanced situation awareness and response by multi-disciplinary participants. However, current technology does pose a performance overhead for dynamic analysis of sensor measurements. In this paper, we combine semantic web and complex event processing for stream based semantic querying. We illustrate its adoption in the USC Campus Micro-Grid for detecting and enacting dynamic response strategies to peak power situations by diverse user roles. We also describe the semantic ontology and event query model that supports this. Further, we introduce and evaluate caching techniques to improve the response time for semantic event queries to meet our application needs and enable sustainable energy management.

"The evil virus cell": Students' knowledge and beliefs about viruses.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Uwe K; Enzinger, Sonja M; Fink, Andreas

2017-01-01

Education about virus biology at school is of pivotal interest to raise public awareness concerning means of disease transmission and, thus, methods to prevent infection, and to reduce unnecessary antibiotic treatment due to patient pressure on physicians in case of viral diseases such as influenza. This study aimed at making visible the knowledge of Austrian high school and university students with respect to virus biology, virus structure and health-education issues. The data presented here stem from comprehensive questionnaire analyses, including the task to draw a virus, from a cross-sectional study with 133 grade 7 and 199 grade 10 high school students, and 133 first-year biology and 181 first-year non-biology university students. Analyses were performed both quantitatively and qualitatively. ANOVA revealed a highly significant group effect for total knowledge relating to virus biology and health issues (F(3, 642) = 44.17, p students and grade 10 high school students. Students enrolled in university-level biology outperformed all other groups, even though they had not yet encountered this topic at their courses; part of this phenomenon might be due to their affinity for learning about biological topics. However, even many first-year biology students had a high number of severe misconceptions, e.g., defining a virus as a pro- or eukaryotic cell, or falsely naming malaria as a viral disease. Since there was no significant difference in virus-related knowledge between high schools, virus biology seems to have been taught similarly among the tested schools. However, the majority of participants stated that the virus-related knowledge they had acquired at school was not sufficient. Based on the results presented here we urgently suggest improving and intensifying teaching this topic at school, since virus-related knowledge was by far too fragmentary among many participants. Such lack of health-relevant knowledge may contribute to pressure on physicians by patients

Incorporating Learning Outcomes into an Introductory Geotechnical Engineering Course

Science.gov (United States)

Fiegel, Gregg L.

2013-01-01

The article describes the process of incorporating a set of learning outcomes into a geotechnical engineering course. The outcomes were developed using Bloom's taxonomy and define the knowledge, skills, and abilities the students are expected to achieve upon completion of the course. Each outcome begins with an action-oriented verb corresponding…

Theoretical discussion for quantum computation in biological systems

Science.gov (United States)

Baer, Wolfgang

2010-04-01

Analysis of the brain as a physical system, that has the capacity of generating a display of every day observed experiences and contains some knowledge of the physical reality which stimulates those experiences, suggests the brain executes a self-measurement process described by quantum theory. Assuming physical reality is a universe of interacting self-measurement loops, we present a model of space as a field of cells executing such self-measurement activities. Empty space is the observable associated with the measurement of this field when the mass and charge density defining the material aspect of the cells satisfy the least action principle. Content is the observable associated with the measurement of the quantum wave function ψ interpreted as mass-charge displacements. The illusion of space and its content incorporated into cognitive biological systems is evidence of self-measurement activity that can be associated with quantum operations.

Data warehousing in molecular biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Schönbach, C; Kowalski-Saunders, P; Brusic, V

2000-05-01

In the business and healthcare sectors data warehousing has provided effective solutions for information usage and knowledge discovery from databases. However, data warehousing applications in the biological research and development (R&D) sector are lagging far behind. The fuzziness and complexity of biological data represent a major challenge in data warehousing for molecular biology. By combining experiences in other domains with our findings from building a model database, we have defined the requirements for data warehousing in molecular biology.

Three forms of assessment of prior knowledge, and improved performance following an enrichment programme, of English second language biology students within the context of a marine theme

Science.gov (United States)

Feltham, Nicola F.; Downs, Colleen T.

2002-02-01

The Science Foundation Programme (SFP) was launched in 1991 at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa in an attempt to equip a selected number of matriculants from historically disadvantaged schools with the skills, resources and self-confidence needed to embark on their tertiary studies. Previous research within the SFP biology component suggests that a major contributor to poor achievement and low retention rates among English second language (ESL) students in the Life Sciences is the inadequate background knowledge in natural history. In this study, SFP student background knowledge was assessed along a continuum of language dependency using a set of three probes. Improved student performance in each of the respective assessments examined the extent to which a sound natural history background facilitated meaningful learning relative to ESL proficiency. Student profiles and attitudes to biology were also examined. Results indicated that students did not perceive language to be a problem in biology. However, analysis of the student performance in the assessment probes indicated that, although the marine course provided the students with the background knowledge that they were initially lacking, they continued to perform better in the drawing and MCQ tools in the post-tests, suggesting that it is their inability to express themselves in the written form that hampers their development. These results have implications for curriculum development within the constructivist framework of the SFP.

Knowledge management and its essence in academic publishing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Knowledge Management is the establishment of a system that captures knowledge purposefully for incorporating into business strategies, policies, and practices at all levels of the company. I have generated information from my new book and other materials to prepare this presentation, to show the conference attendees ...

Converging biology, economics and social science in fisheries research –lessons learned

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haapasaari, Päivi Elisabet; Kulmala, Soile; Kuikka, Sakari

2011-01-01

of the Baltic salmon stocks, using the Bayesian networks. It enabled the analysis of the outcomes of different management measures from biological, social and economic perspectives. The synthesis was the final output of a learning process of eight years. We reflect how and what kind of interdisciplinarity...... between natural scientists, economists and social scientists grew from the need to better understand complexity related to the salmon fisheries in the Baltic Sea, what we learned about the fishery, and what we learned about interdisciplinary collaboration.......It has been acknowledged that natural sciences cannot provide an adequate basis for the management of complex environmental problems. The scientific knowledge base has to be expanded towards a more holistic direction by incorporating social and economic issues. Besides this, the multifaceted...

The use of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the production of explanations and arguments in an inquiry biology activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maíra Batistoni e Silva

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Agreeing with the scientific literacy as the purpose of science education and with the recent propositions that in order to achieve it we should favor the engagement of students in practices of scientific culture, this study intends to analyze the production of explanations and arguments in an inquiry based teaching activity in order to characterize students' mobilization of theoretical and empirical knowledge by engaging in these practices. Analyzing the scientific reports elaborated by the students (14-15 years old after the inquiry activity on population dynamics, we highlight the importance of empirical knowledge about the experimental context as a repertoire for construction of explanations, especially when students deal with anomalous data. This knowledge was also important for production of valid arguments, since most of the justifications were empirical, regardless of whether or not the data were in accordance with the explanatory model already known. These results reinforce the importance of students' engagement in inquiry activities, as already defended by different authors of this research area, and indicate that the inquiry practice allowed the engagement in epistemic practices, since the knowledge about the experimental conditions and the procedures of data collection provided a repertoire for the production of explanations and arguments. Finally, we discuss the relevance of this research to the field of biology teaching, seeking to defend the promotion of inquiry activities with an experimental approach as an opportunity to integrate conceptual and epistemic objectives and overcome the difficulties generated by the specificities of this area of knowledge in relation to the other disciplines in nature sciences.

The Physics of Marine Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Conn, Kathleen

1992-01-01

Discusses ways in which marine biology can be integrated into the physics classroom. Topics suggested for incorporation include the harmonic motion of ocean waves, ocean currents, the interaction of visible light with ocean water, pressure, light absorption, and sound transfer in water. (MDH)

Molecular biology - Part II: Beneficial liaisons: Radiobiology meets cellular and molecular biology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, Mary Ann; Coleman, C. Norman

1997-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this course is to familiarize radiation oncologists with the concepts and terminology of molecular and cellular biology that are especially relevant to radiation oncology. The ability of radiation oncologists to remain current with the new discoveries of modern biology is essential to the development of improved therapeutic strategies and, importantly, to the proper balance between investment in technology and biology. Objective: This year, this Refresher Course is part of a three-part ''series'' including Drs. McKenna and Dritschilo. The objective is to provide continuing education for the academic and practicing radiation oncologist, physicist and biologist in the modern biologic concepts of cancer and its treatment. An effort will be made to relate these general concepts to the clinic by providing a broad view as to potential new biological treatments which might enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy. The specific focus of this Course will vary from year to year. Some of the classic radiation biology models which form the basis of clinical practice and laboratory research will be examined and 'newer' models will be presented which take into account the emerging knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. A few techniques in molecular and cellular biology will be described to the extent necessary to understand their basic concepts and their applicability. Aspects of radiation biology which will be covered include cell cycle, radiation-induced changes in the cellular phenotype, and considerations of the effect of the tumor microenvironment. It is not the expectation that the attendees will become experts in the particular subjects presented. Rather, it is the intent to increase their curiosity as to the new knowledge that is emerging and to demonstrate that these seemingly complicated areas can be understood and appreciated with a modicum of the effort

Molecular biology - Part II: Beneficial liaisons: Radiobiology meets cellular and molecular biology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, Mary Ann; Coleman, C. Norman

1996-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this course is to familiarize radiation oncologists with the concepts and terminology of molecular and cellular biology that are especially relevant to radiation oncology. The ability of radiation oncologists to remain current with the new discoveries of modern biology is essential to the development of improved therapeutic strategies and, importantly, to the proper balance between investment in technology and biology. Objective: This year, this Refresher Course is part of a three-part 'series' including Drs. Martin Brown and Amato Giaccia. The objective is to provide continuing education for the academic and practicing radiation oncologist, physicist and biologist in the modern biologic concepts of cancer and its treatment. An effort will be made to relate these general concepts to the clinic by providing a broad view as to potential new biological treatments which might enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy. The specific focus of this Course will vary from year to year. Some of the classic radiation biology models which form the basis of clinical practice and laboratory research will be examined and 'newer' models will be presented which take into account the emerging knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. A few techniques in molecular and cellular biology will be described to the extent necessary to understand their basic concepts and their applicability. Aspects of radiation biology which will be covered include cell cycle, radiation-induced changes in the cellular phenotype, and considerations of the effect of the tumor microenvironment. It is not the expectation that the attendees will become experts in the particular subjects presented. Rather, it is the intent to increase their curiosity as to the new knowledge that is emerging and to demonstrate that these seemingly complicated areas can be understood and appreciated with a modicum of the effort

A biological network-based regularized artificial neural network model for robust phenotype prediction from gene expression data.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Tianyu; Ding, Wei; Zhang, Luoyan; Ziemek, Daniel; Zarringhalam, Kourosh

2017-12-19

Stratification of patient subpopulations that respond favorably to treatment or experience and adverse reaction is an essential step toward development of new personalized therapies and diagnostics. It is currently feasible to generate omic-scale biological measurements for all patients in a study, providing an opportunity for machine learning models to identify molecular markers for disease diagnosis and progression. However, the high variability of genetic background in human populations hampers the reproducibility of omic-scale markers. In this paper, we develop a biological network-based regularized artificial neural network model for prediction of phenotype from transcriptomic measurements in clinical trials. To improve model sparsity and the overall reproducibility of the model, we incorporate regularization for simultaneous shrinkage of gene sets based on active upstream regulatory mechanisms into the model. We benchmark our method against various regression, support vector machines and artificial neural network models and demonstrate the ability of our method in predicting the clinical outcomes using clinical trial data on acute rejection in kidney transplantation and response to Infliximab in ulcerative colitis. We show that integration of prior biological knowledge into the classification as developed in this paper, significantly improves the robustness and generalizability of predictions to independent datasets. We provide a Java code of our algorithm along with a parsed version of the STRING DB database. In summary, we present a method for prediction of clinical phenotypes using baseline genome-wide expression data that makes use of prior biological knowledge on gene-regulatory interactions in order to increase robustness and reproducibility of omic-scale markers. The integrated group-wise regularization methods increases the interpretability of biological signatures and gives stable performance estimates across independent test sets.

Incorporating comparative genomics into the design-test-learn cycle of microbial strain engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Sardi, Maria; Gasch, Audrey P

2017-08-01

Engineering microbes with new properties is an important goal in industrial engineering, to establish biological factories for production of biofuels, commodity chemicals and pharmaceutics. But engineering microbes to produce new compounds with high yield remains a major challenge toward economically viable production. Incorporating several modern approaches, including synthetic and systems biology, metabolic modeling and regulatory rewiring, has proven to significantly advance industrial strain engineering. This review highlights how comparative genomics can also facilitate strain engineering, by identifying novel genes and pathways, regulatory mechanisms and genetic background effects for engineering. We discuss how incorporating comparative genomics into the design-test-learn cycle of strain engineering can provide novel information that complements other engineering strategies. © FEMS 2017. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Knowledge and the University

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barnett, Ronald; Bengtsen, Søren Smedegaard

for the university and the university’s place in the world. However, that presupposition has taken a battering recently from many directions. With the incorporation of the university more fully into the world, knowledge is no longer seen as valuable in-itself but now is viewed only instrumentally, and has to have...

Semantic Data Integration and Knowledge Management to Represent Biological Network Associations.

Science.gov (United States)

Losko, Sascha; Heumann, Klaus

2017-01-01

The vast quantities of information generated by academic and industrial research groups are reflected in a rapidly growing body of scientific literature and exponentially expanding resources of formalized data, including experimental data, originating from a multitude of "-omics" platforms, phenotype information, and clinical data. For bioinformatics, the challenge remains to structure this information so that scientists can identify relevant information, to integrate this information as specific "knowledge bases," and to formalize this knowledge across multiple scientific domains to facilitate hypothesis generation and validation. Here we report on progress made in building a generic knowledge management environment capable of representing and mining both explicit and implicit knowledge and, thus, generating new knowledge. Risk management in drug discovery and clinical research is used as a typical example to illustrate this approach. In this chapter we introduce techniques and concepts (such as ontologies, semantic objects, typed relationships, contexts, graphs, and information layers) that are used to represent complex biomedical networks. The BioXM™ Knowledge Management Environment is used as an example to demonstrate how a domain such as oncology is represented and how this representation is utilized for research.

Aboriginal traditional knowledge - panel presentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnaby, J.; Duiven, M.; Garibaldi, A.; McGregor, D.; Straker, J.; Patton, P.

2011-01-01

Aboriginal peoples in Canada are playing a more active role in land use and resource management decisions around industrial development in their traditional territories and communities. Both indigenous and non-indigenous people are therefore increasing efforts to collaborate in decision-making and to effectively interweave Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge (ATK) and Western knowledge or science. Challenges exist, in part because non-Aboriginal people often find it difficult to define ATK and to understand the differences from Western perspectives. ATK is best defined as a holistic system that involves not only knowledge but principles of conduct and a strong relationship component. Research has focused on approaches to more easily bridge ATK and Western knowledge, through dialogue/negotiation and shared decision-making that is complementary to both. There are some examples of organizations and communities that have achieved success in this bridging of the two forms of knowledge. The Skeena Fisheries Commission (SFC) in British Columbia manages the fish resource in the Skeena Watershed and generates scientific research through links to ATK. The observations of indigenous people about apparent changes in the resource are subjected to scientific assessment, which has led to changes in how fish are caught, and in how and by whom data is collected. Traditional knowledge has also been incorporated into the reclamation of lands and species in Fort McKay, Alberta, an indigenous community whose traditional way of life has been significantly affected by development of the oil sands. New models have been developed to incorporate ATK into long-term planning for land use. This includes using ATK to develop a 50-to 60-year projection of probable future effects from development and to build strategies for achieving a 'desired future landscape.' To plan for post-mining land reclamation projects, another project makes use of cultural keystone species (CKS), through which

Aboriginal traditional knowledge - panel presentation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barnaby, J. [JB, Consultant, Paris (France); Duiven, M. [Skeena Fisheries Commission, Kispiox, BC (Canada); Garibaldi, A. [Integral Ecology Group, Ltd., Victoria, BC (Canada); McGregor, D. [Univ. of Toronto, Dept. of Geography and Aboriginal Studies, Toronto, ON (Canada); Straker, J. [Integral Ecology Group, Ltd., Victoria, BC (Canada); Patton, P. [Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Toronto, ON (Canada)

2011-07-01

Aboriginal peoples in Canada are playing a more active role in land use and resource management decisions around industrial development in their traditional territories and communities. Both indigenous and non-indigenous people are therefore increasing efforts to collaborate in decision-making and to effectively interweave Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge (ATK) and Western knowledge or science. Challenges exist, in part because non-Aboriginal people often find it difficult to define ATK and to understand the differences from Western perspectives. ATK is best defined as a holistic system that involves not only knowledge but principles of conduct and a strong relationship component. Research has focused on approaches to more easily bridge ATK and Western knowledge, through dialogue/negotiation and shared decision-making that is complementary to both. There are some examples of organizations and communities that have achieved success in this bridging of the two forms of knowledge. The Skeena Fisheries Commission (SFC) in British Columbia manages the fish resource in the Skeena Watershed and generates scientific research through links to ATK. The observations of indigenous people about apparent changes in the resource are subjected to scientific assessment, which has led to changes in how fish are caught, and in how and by whom data is collected. Traditional knowledge has also been incorporated into the reclamation of lands and species in Fort McKay, Alberta, an indigenous community whose traditional way of life has been significantly affected by development of the oil sands. New models have been developed to incorporate ATK into long-term planning for land use. This includes using ATK to develop a 50-to 60-year projection of probable future effects from development and to build strategies for achieving a 'desired future landscape.' To plan for post-mining land reclamation projects, another project makes use of cultural keystone species (CKS), through which

"The evil virus cell": Students‘ knowledge and beliefs about viruses

Science.gov (United States)

Enzinger, Sonja M.; Fink, Andreas

2017-01-01

Education about virus biology at school is of pivotal interest to raise public awareness concerning means of disease transmission and, thus, methods to prevent infection, and to reduce unnecessary antibiotic treatment due to patient pressure on physicians in case of viral diseases such as influenza. This study aimed at making visible the knowledge of Austrian high school and university students with respect to virus biology, virus structure and health-education issues. The data presented here stem from comprehensive questionnaire analyses, including the task to draw a virus, from a cross-sectional study with 133 grade 7 and 199 grade 10 high school students, and 133 first-year biology and 181 first-year non-biology university students. Analyses were performed both quantitatively and qualitatively. ANOVA revealed a highly significant group effect for total knowledge relating to virus biology and health issues (F(3, 642) = 44.17, p students and grade 10 high school students. Students enrolled in university-level biology outperformed all other groups, even though they had not yet encountered this topic at their courses; part of this phenomenon might be due to their affinity for learning about biological topics. However, even many first-year biology students had a high number of severe misconceptions, e.g., defining a virus as a pro- or eukaryotic cell, or falsely naming malaria as a viral disease. Since there was no significant difference in virus-related knowledge between high schools, virus biology seems to have been taught similarly among the tested schools. However, the majority of participants stated that the virus-related knowledge they had acquired at school was not sufficient. Based on the results presented here we urgently suggest improving and intensifying teaching this topic at school, since virus-related knowledge was by far too fragmentary among many participants. Such lack of health-relevant knowledge may contribute to pressure on physicians by patients

Quantum biological information theory

CERN Document Server

Djordjevic, Ivan B

2016-01-01

This book is a self-contained, tutorial-based introduction to quantum information theory and quantum biology. It serves as a single-source reference to the topic for researchers in bioengineering, communications engineering, electrical engineering, applied mathematics, biology, computer science, and physics. The book provides all the essential principles of the quantum biological information theory required to describe the quantum information transfer from DNA to proteins, the sources of genetic noise and genetic errors as well as their effects. Integrates quantum information and quantum biology concepts; Assumes only knowledge of basic concepts of vector algebra at undergraduate level; Provides a thorough introduction to basic concepts of quantum information processing, quantum information theory, and quantum biology; Includes in-depth discussion of the quantum biological channel modelling, quantum biological channel capacity calculation, quantum models of aging, quantum models of evolution, quantum models o...

Some Tax Implications of Traditional Knowledge Under Conventional Intellectual Property

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T Gutuza

2010-12-01

Full Text Available The proposed incorporation of traditional intellectual property into the definition of copyright, trade-marks and designs as defined in the Copyright Act 98 of 1978, the Trade Marks Act 94 of 1993 and the Designs Act 195 of 1993 may affect the income tax liability of parties where traditional knowledge is the object of such a transaction. The aim of this contribution is to consider the potential income tax consequences of this incorporation for those receiving income and incurring expenditure in relation to the use or disposal of traditional knowledge.

Ultra-Structure database design methodology for managing systems biology data and analyses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hemminger Bradley M

2009-08-01

Ultra-Structure offers substantial benefits for biological information systems, the largest being the integration of diverse information sources into a common framework. This facilitates systems biology research by integrating data from disparate high-throughput techniques. It also enables us to readily incorporate new data types, sources, and domain knowledge with no change to the database structure or associated computer code. Ultra-Structure may be a significant step towards solving the hard problem of data management and integration in the systems biology era.

Knowledge of Aging and Life Satisfaction among Older Adults

Science.gov (United States)

Davis, Neil C.; Friedrich, Douglas

2004-01-01

Four hundred young-, middle-, and old-old adults responded to a battery of quizzes dealing with life satisfaction and objective aging knowledge in the physical, psychological, and social domains. Analyses incorporated domains of aging knowledge, life satisfaction, age, gender, and demographic variables. Both means difference and regression…

A biological compression model and its applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Minh Duc; Dix, Trevor I; Allison, Lloyd

2011-01-01

A biological compression model, expert model, is presented which is superior to existing compression algorithms in both compression performance and speed. The model is able to compress whole eukaryotic genomes. Most importantly, the model provides a framework for knowledge discovery from biological data. It can be used for repeat element discovery, sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis. We demonstrate that the model can handle statistically biased sequences and distantly related sequences where conventional knowledge discovery tools often fail.

Data Linkage Graph: computation, querying and knowledge discovery of life science database networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lange Matthias

2007-12-01

Full Text Available To support the interpretation of measured molecular facts, like gene expression experiments or EST sequencing, the functional or the system biological context has to be considered. Doing so, the relationship to existing biological knowledge has to be discovered. In general, biological knowledge is worldwide represented in a network of databases. In this paper we present a method for knowledge extraction in life science databases, which prevents the scientists from screen scraping and web clicking approaches.

Essentialist Reasoning and Knowledge Effects on Biological Reasoning in Young Children

Science.gov (United States)

Herrmann, Patricia A.; French, Jason A.; DeHart, Ganie B.; Rosengren, Karl S.

2013-01-01

Biological kinds undergo a variety of changes during their life span, and these changes vary in degree by organism. Understanding that an organism, such as a caterpillar, maintains category identity over its life span despite dramatic changes is a key concept in biological reasoning. At present, we know little about the developmental trajectory of…

Chemical form of technetium in corn (Zea mays) and the gastrointestinal absorption of plant-incorporated Tc by laboratory rats

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garten, C.T. Jr.; Myttenaere, C.; Vandecasteele, C.M.; Kirchmann, R.; Van Bruwaene, R.

1984-01-01

The food chain availability of technetium incorporated into plant tissue, its chemical form in corn leaves, and the potential for gastrointestinal absorption of plant-incorporated technetium was investigated. Technetium-95m was incorporated into corn leaves via root uptake. Chemical fractionation of the /sup 95m/Tc in leaves showed that 60% was extractable with boiling ethanol and weak mineral acids. The remainder was associated with cell walls and was extractable by harsh chemical treatment. Gel permeation chromatography of the cytosol, indicated that 50% of the /sup 95m/Tc co-chromatographed with anionic pertechnetate; however, it was impossible to distinguish if this pure pertechnetate or technetium complexed with organic molecules. Technetium-95m was administered to laboratory rats in a single dose as: (1) intravenous injection of pertechnetate, (2) pertechnetate mixed with standard laboratory food, and (3) a meal containing /sup 95m/Tc biologically incorporated into corn leaves. High concentrations of /sup 95m/Tc were found in the thyroids, hair, kidneys, and liver of rats. Technetium rapidly disappeared from the liver, kidneys, and other tissues, but remained in the thyroids and hair. Urinary excretion of technetium decreased, and fecal excretion increased when technetium was fed to rats as a /sup 95m/Tc incorporated into corn leaves. The percent of the administered dose absorbed into thyroid gland and the kidneys was less when technetium was biologically incorporated into corn leaves than when pertechnetate was mixed with food. Biological incorporation of technetium into plants appears to reduce its potential for food chain transfer by decreasing its availability for gastrointestinal absorption. 5 references, 4 figures, 3 tables.

Chemical form of technetium in corn (Zea mays) and the gastrointestinal absorption of plant-incorporated Tc by laboratory rats

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garten, C.T. Jr.; Myttenaere, C.; Vandecasteele, C.M.; Kirchmann, R.; Van Bruwaene, R.

1984-01-01

The food chain availability of technetium incorporated into plant tissue, its chemical form in corn leaves, and the potential for gastrointestinal absorption of plant-incorporated technetium was investigated. Technetium-95m was incorporated into corn leaves via root uptake. Chemical fractionation of the /sup 95m/Tc in leaves showed that 60% was extractable with boiling ethanol and weak mineral acids. The remainder was associated with cell walls and was extractable by harsh chemical treatment. Gel permeation chromatography of the cytosol, indicated that 50% of the /sup 95m/Tc co-chromatographed with anionic pertechnetate; however, it was impossible to distinguish if this pure pertechnetate or technetium complexed with organic molecules. Technetium-95m was administered to laboratory rats in a single dose as: (1) intravenous injection of pertechnetate, (2) pertechnetate mixed with standard laboratory food, and (3) a meal containing /sup 95m/Tc biologically incorporated into corn leaves. High concentrations of /sup 95m/Tc were found in the thyroids, hair, kidneys, and liver of rats. Technetium rapidly disappeared from the liver, kidneys, and other tissues, but remained in the thyroids and hair. Urinary excretion of technetium decreased, and fecal excretion increased when technetium was fed to rats as a /sup 95m/Tc incorporated into corn leaves. The percent of the administered dose absorbed into thyroid gland and the kidneys was less when technetium was biologically incorporated into corn leaves than when pertechnetate was mixed with food. Biological incorporation of technetium into plants appears to reduce its potential for food chain transfer by decreasing its availability for gastrointestinal absorption. 5 references, 4 figures, 3 tables

Socioemotional, Personality, and Biological Development: Illustrations from a Multilevel Developmental Psychopathology Perspective on Child Maltreatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Cicchetti, Dante

2016-01-01

Developmental theories can be affirmed, challenged, and augmented by incorporating knowledge about atypical ontogenesis. Investigations of the biological, socioemotional, and personality development in individuals with high-risk conditions and psychopathological disorders can provide an entrée into the study of system organization, disorganization, and reorganization. This article examines child maltreatment to illustrate the benefit that can be derived from the study of individuals subjected to nonnormative caregiving experiences. Relative to an average expectable environment, which consists of a species-specific range of environmental conditions that support adaptive development among genetically normal individuals, maltreating families fail to provide many of the experiences that are required for normal development. Principles gleaned from the field of developmental psychopathology provide a framework for understanding multilevel functioning in normality and pathology. Knowledge of normative developmental processes provides the impetus to design and implement randomized control trial (RCT) interventions that can promote resilient functioning in maltreated children.

Biological activities of some Xylooligosaccharides from ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Xylooligosaccharides (XOS's) exhibited considerable biological activities and be incorporated into many food products and in pharmaceutical and drug industry. XOS's were produced from xylose-containing polysaccharides (XPS's) obtained from natural, xylan-rich, agro-industrial wastes, i.e., corncobs and sugarcane ...

MIPS Arabidopsis thaliana Database (MAtDB): an integrated biological knowledge resource for plant genomics

Science.gov (United States)

Schoof, Heiko; Ernst, Rebecca; Nazarov, Vladimir; Pfeifer, Lukas; Mewes, Hans-Werner; Mayer, Klaus F. X.

2004-01-01

Arabidopsis thaliana is the most widely studied model plant. Functional genomics is intensively underway in many laboratories worldwide. Beyond the basic annotation of the primary sequence data, the annotated genetic elements of Arabidopsis must be linked to diverse biological data and higher order information such as metabolic or regulatory pathways. The MIPS Arabidopsis thaliana database MAtDB aims to provide a comprehensive resource for Arabidopsis as a genome model that serves as a primary reference for research in plants and is suitable for transfer of knowledge to other plants, especially crops. The genome sequence as a common backbone serves as a scaffold for the integration of data, while, in a complementary effort, these data are enhanced through the application of state-of-the-art bioinformatics tools. This information is visualized on a genome-wide and a gene-by-gene basis with access both for web users and applications. This report updates the information given in a previous report and provides an outlook on further developments. The MAtDB web interface can be accessed at http://mips.gsf.de/proj/thal/db. PMID:14681437

Indigenous Knowledge of the Edible Weaver Ant Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius Hymenoptera: Formicidae from the Vientiane Plain, Lao PDR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joost Van Itterbeeck

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Of major importance in realizing the potential of edible insects as a core element in improving food security, sustainable food production, and biodiversity conservation, are developments in sustainable exploitation of wild edible insect populations and in (semi-cultivating and farming edible insects. Such developments can draw on both western science and indigenous knowledge. Oecophylla smaragdina Fabricius Hymenoptera: Formicidae, of which particularly the queen brood is commonly consumed in Thailand and the Lao PDR, is believed to have the potential to act as flagship/umbrella species in forest conservation and management, to be incorporated simultaneously as biological control agent and direct source of human food in agroforestry practices, and to be (semi-cultivated. We provide a detailed account of indigenous knowledge of O. smaragdina and ant brood collection practices from the Vientiane Plain, Lao PDR, through focus group discussions and participant observations, and then reflect on sustainability and conservation issues, and on semi-cultivating constraints and possibilities embedded in indigenous knowledge and ant brood collection practices. 

Molecular Imaging in Synthetic Biology, and Synthetic Biology in Molecular Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilad, Assaf A; Shapiro, Mikhail G

2017-06-01

Biomedical synthetic biology is an emerging field in which cells are engineered at the genetic level to carry out novel functions with relevance to biomedical and industrial applications. This approach promises new treatments, imaging tools, and diagnostics for diseases ranging from gastrointestinal inflammatory syndromes to cancer, diabetes, and neurodegeneration. As these cellular technologies undergo pre-clinical and clinical development, it is becoming essential to monitor their location and function in vivo, necessitating appropriate molecular imaging strategies, and therefore, we have created an interest group within the World Molecular Imaging Society focusing on synthetic biology and reporter gene technologies. Here, we highlight recent advances in biomedical synthetic biology, including bacterial therapy, immunotherapy, and regenerative medicine. We then discuss emerging molecular imaging approaches to facilitate in vivo applications, focusing on reporter genes for noninvasive modalities such as magnetic resonance, ultrasound, photoacoustic imaging, bioluminescence, and radionuclear imaging. Because reporter genes can be incorporated directly into engineered genetic circuits, they are particularly well suited to imaging synthetic biological constructs, and developing them provides opportunities for creative molecular and genetic engineering.

Predicting Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Clades Using Knowledge-Based Bayesian Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minoo Aminian

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We develop a novel approach for incorporating expert rules into Bayesian networks for classification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC clades. The proposed knowledge-based Bayesian network (KBBN treats sets of expert rules as prior distributions on the classes. Unlike prior knowledge-based support vector machine approaches which require rules expressed as polyhedral sets, KBBN directly incorporates the rules without any modification. KBBN uses data to refine rule-based classifiers when the rule set is incomplete or ambiguous. We develop a predictive KBBN model for 69 MTBC clades found in the SITVIT international collection. We validate the approach using two testbeds that model knowledge of the MTBC obtained from two different experts and large DNA fingerprint databases to predict MTBC genetic clades and sublineages. These models represent strains of MTBC using high-throughput biomarkers called spacer oligonucleotide types (spoligotypes, since these are routinely gathered from MTBC isolates of tuberculosis (TB patients. Results show that incorporating rules into problems can drastically increase classification accuracy if data alone are insufficient. The SITVIT KBBN is publicly available for use on the World Wide Web.

[Biologic therapy in idiopathic inflammatory myopathy].

Science.gov (United States)

Selva-O'Callaghan, Albert; Ramos Casals, Manel; Grau Junyent, Josep M

2014-09-15

The aim of this article is to study the evidence-based knowledge related to the use of biological therapies in patients diagnosed with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (dermatomyositis, polymyositis and inclusion body myositis). In this review the leading published studies related to the use of biological therapy in patients with myositis are analysed; mainly those with high methodological standards, that means randomized and controlled studies. Methodological drawbacks due to the rarity and heterogeneity of these complex diseases are also addressed. Up to now is not possible to ascertain the biologics as a recommended therapy in patients with myositis, at least based in the current evidence-based knowledge, although it can not be neglected as a therapeutic option in some clinical situations, taking into account the scarce of effective treatments in those patients, especially in refractory myositis. Future studies probably will help to better define the role of biological therapies in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

On the debate about teleology in biology: the notion of "teleological obstacle".

Science.gov (United States)

Ribeiro, Manuel Gustavo Leitão; Larentis, Ariane Leites; Caldas, Lúcio Ayres; Garcia, Tomás Coelho; Terra, Letícia Labati; Herbst, Marcelo Hawrylak; Almeida, Rodrigo Volcan

2015-12-01

Among the epistemological obstacles described by Gaston Bachelard, we contend that unitary and pragmatic knowledge is correlated to the teleological categories of Ernst Mayr and is the basis for prevailing debate on the notion of "function" in biology. Given the proximity of the aspects highlighted by these authors, we propose to associate the role of teleological thinking in biology and the notion of unitary and pragmatic knowledge as an obstacle to scientific knowledge. Thus, teleological thinking persists acting as an epistemological obstacle in biology, according to Bachelardian terminology. Our investigation led us to formulate the "teleological obstacle," which we consider important for the future of biology and possibly other sciences.

Network analysis reveals stage-specific changes in zebrafish embryo development using time course whole transcriptome profiling and prior biological knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yuji

2015-01-01

Molecular networks act as the backbone of molecular activities within cells, offering a unique opportunity to better understand the mechanism of diseases. While network data usually constitute only static network maps, integrating them with time course gene expression information can provide clues to the dynamic features of these networks and unravel the mechanistic driver genes characterizing cellular responses. Time course gene expression data allow us to broadly "watch" the dynamics of the system. However, one challenge in the analysis of such data is to establish and characterize the interplay among genes that are altered at different time points in the context of a biological process or functional category. Integrative analysis of these data sources will lead us a more complete understanding of how biological entities (e.g., genes and proteins) coordinately perform their biological functions in biological systems. In this paper, we introduced a novel network-based approach to extract functional knowledge from time-dependent biological processes at a system level using time course mRNA sequencing data in zebrafish embryo development. The proposed method was applied to investigate 1α, 25(OH)2D3-altered mechanisms in zebrafish embryo development. We applied the proposed method to a public zebrafish time course mRNA-Seq dataset, containing two different treatments along four time points. We constructed networks between gene ontology biological process categories, which were enriched in differential expressed genes between consecutive time points and different conditions. The temporal propagation of 1α, 25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3-altered transcriptional changes started from a few genes that were altered initially at earlier stage, to large groups of biological coherent genes at later stages. The most notable biological processes included neuronal and retinal development and generalized stress response. In addition, we also investigated the relationship among

Imaging and the new biology: What's wrong with this picture?

Science.gov (United States)

Vannier, Michael W.

2004-05-01

The Human Genome has been defined, giving us one part of the equation that stems from the central dogma of molecular biology. Despite this awesome scientific achievement, the correspondence between genomics and imaging is weak, since we cannot predict an organism's phenotype from even perfect knowledge of its genetic complement. Biological knowledge comes in several forms, and the genome is perhaps the best known and most completely understood type. Imaging creates another form of biological information, providing the ability to study morphology, growth and development, metabolic processes, and diseases in vitro and in vivo at many levels of scale. The principal challenge in biomedical imaging for the future lies in the need to reconcile the data provided by one or multiple modalities with other forms of biological knowledge, most importantly the genome, proteome, physiome, and other "-ome's." To date, the imaging science community has not set a high priority on the unification of their results with genomics, proteomics, and physiological functions in most published work. Images are relatively isolated from other forms of biological data, impairing our ability to conceive and address many fundamental questions in research and clinical practice. This presentation will explain the challenge of biological knowledge integration in basic research and clinical applications from the standpoint of imaging and image processing. The impediments to progress, isolation of the imaging community, and mainstream of new and future biological science will be identified, so the critical and immediate need for change can be highlighted.

Network Reconstruction of Dynamic Biological Systems

OpenAIRE

Asadi, Behrang

2013-01-01

Inference of network topology from experimental data is a central endeavor in biology, since knowledge of the underlying signaling mechanisms a requirement for understanding biological phenomena. As one of the most important tools in bioinformatics area, development of methods to reconstruct biological networks has attracted remarkable attention in the current decade. Integration of different data types can lead to remarkable improvements in our ability to identify the connectivity of differe...

Teaching biology through statistics: application of statistical methods in genetics and zoology courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Colon-Berlingeri, Migdalisel; Burrowes, Patricia A

2011-01-01

Incorporation of mathematics into biology curricula is critical to underscore for undergraduate students the relevance of mathematics to most fields of biology and the usefulness of developing quantitative process skills demanded in modern biology. At our institution, we have made significant changes to better integrate mathematics into the undergraduate biology curriculum. The curricular revision included changes in the suggested course sequence, addition of statistics and precalculus as prerequisites to core science courses, and incorporating interdisciplinary (math-biology) learning activities in genetics and zoology courses. In this article, we describe the activities developed for these two courses and the assessment tools used to measure the learning that took place with respect to biology and statistics. We distinguished the effectiveness of these learning opportunities in helping students improve their understanding of the math and statistical concepts addressed and, more importantly, their ability to apply them to solve a biological problem. We also identified areas that need emphasis in both biology and mathematics courses. In light of our observations, we recommend best practices that biology and mathematics academic departments can implement to train undergraduates for the demands of modern biology.

Targeted Therapy Database (TTD: a model to match patient's molecular profile with current knowledge on cancer biology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simone Mocellin

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The efficacy of current anticancer treatments is far from satisfactory and many patients still die of their disease. A general agreement exists on the urgency of developing molecularly targeted therapies, although their implementation in the clinical setting is in its infancy. In fact, despite the wealth of preclinical studies addressing these issues, the difficulty of testing each targeted therapy hypothesis in the clinical arena represents an intrinsic obstacle. As a consequence, we are witnessing a paradoxical situation where most hypotheses about the molecular and cellular biology of cancer remain clinically untested and therefore do not translate into a therapeutic benefit for patients. OBJECTIVE: To present a computational method aimed to comprehensively exploit the scientific knowledge in order to foster the development of personalized cancer treatment by matching the patient's molecular profile with the available evidence on targeted therapy. METHODS: To this aim we focused on melanoma, an increasingly diagnosed malignancy for which the need for novel therapeutic approaches is paradigmatic since no effective treatment is available in the advanced setting. Relevant data were manually extracted from peer-reviewed full-text original articles describing any type of anti-melanoma targeted therapy tested in any type of experimental or clinical model. To this purpose, Medline, Embase, Cancerlit and the Cochrane databases were searched. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: We created a manually annotated database (Targeted Therapy Database, TTD where the relevant data are gathered in a formal representation that can be computationally analyzed. Dedicated algorithms were set up for the identification of the prevalent therapeutic hypotheses based on the available evidence and for ranking treatments based on the molecular profile of individual patients. In this essay we describe the principles and computational algorithms of an original method

Targeted Therapy Database (TTD): a model to match patient's molecular profile with current knowledge on cancer biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Mocellin, Simone; Shrager, Jeff; Scolyer, Richard; Pasquali, Sandro; Verdi, Daunia; Marincola, Francesco M; Briarava, Marta; Gobbel, Randy; Rossi, Carlo; Nitti, Donato

2010-08-10

The efficacy of current anticancer treatments is far from satisfactory and many patients still die of their disease. A general agreement exists on the urgency of developing molecularly targeted therapies, although their implementation in the clinical setting is in its infancy. In fact, despite the wealth of preclinical studies addressing these issues, the difficulty of testing each targeted therapy hypothesis in the clinical arena represents an intrinsic obstacle. As a consequence, we are witnessing a paradoxical situation where most hypotheses about the molecular and cellular biology of cancer remain clinically untested and therefore do not translate into a therapeutic benefit for patients. To present a computational method aimed to comprehensively exploit the scientific knowledge in order to foster the development of personalized cancer treatment by matching the patient's molecular profile with the available evidence on targeted therapy. To this aim we focused on melanoma, an increasingly diagnosed malignancy for which the need for novel therapeutic approaches is paradigmatic since no effective treatment is available in the advanced setting. Relevant data were manually extracted from peer-reviewed full-text original articles describing any type of anti-melanoma targeted therapy tested in any type of experimental or clinical model. To this purpose, Medline, Embase, Cancerlit and the Cochrane databases were searched. We created a manually annotated database (Targeted Therapy Database, TTD) where the relevant data are gathered in a formal representation that can be computationally analyzed. Dedicated algorithms were set up for the identification of the prevalent therapeutic hypotheses based on the available evidence and for ranking treatments based on the molecular profile of individual patients. In this essay we describe the principles and computational algorithms of an original method developed to fully exploit the available knowledge on cancer biology with the

Linear energy transfer incorporated intensity modulated proton therapy optimization

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Wenhua; Khabazian, Azin; Yepes, Pablo P.; Lim, Gino; Poenisch, Falk; Grosshans, David R.; Mohan, Radhe

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of incorporating linear energy transfer (LET) into the optimization of intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) plans. Because increased LET correlates with increased biological effectiveness of protons, high LETs in target volumes and low LETs in critical structures and normal tissues are preferred in an IMPT plan. However, if not explicitly incorporated into the optimization criteria, different IMPT plans may yield similar physical dose distributions but greatly different LET, specifically dose-averaged LET, distributions. Conventionally, the IMPT optimization criteria (or cost function) only includes dose-based objectives in which the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) is assumed to have a constant value of 1.1. In this study, we added LET-based objectives for maximizing LET in target volumes and minimizing LET in critical structures and normal tissues. Due to the fractional programming nature of the resulting model, we used a variable reformulation approach so that the optimization process is computationally equivalent to conventional IMPT optimization. In this study, five brain tumor patients who had been treated with proton therapy at our institution were selected. Two plans were created for each patient based on the proposed LET-incorporated optimization (LETOpt) and the conventional dose-based optimization (DoseOpt). The optimized plans were compared in terms of both dose (assuming a constant RBE of 1.1 as adopted in clinical practice) and LET. Both optimization approaches were able to generate comparable dose distributions. The LET-incorporated optimization achieved not only pronounced reduction of LET values in critical organs, such as brainstem and optic chiasm, but also increased LET in target volumes, compared to the conventional dose-based optimization. However, on occasion, there was a need to tradeoff the acceptability of dose and LET distributions. Our conclusion is that the

Strategies for Biologic Image-Guided Dose Escalation: A Review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sovik, Aste; Malinen, Eirik; Olsen, Dag Rune

2009-01-01

There is increasing interest in how to incorporate functional and molecular information obtained by noninvasive, three-dimensional tumor imaging into radiotherapy. The key issues are to identify radioresistant regions that can be targeted for dose escalation, and to develop radiation dose prescription and delivery strategies providing optimal treatment for the individual patient. In the present work, we review the proposed strategies for biologic image-guided dose escalation with intensity-modulated radiation therapy. Biologic imaging modalities and the derived images are discussed, as are methods for target volume delineation. Different dose escalation strategies and techniques for treatment delivery and treatment plan evaluation are also addressed. Furthermore, we consider the need for response monitoring during treatment. We conclude with a summary of the current status of biologic image-based dose escalation and of areas where further work is needed for this strategy to become incorporated into clinical practice

Method Development for Efficient Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids

KAUST Repository

Harris, Paul D.

2014-04-01

The synthesis of proteins bearing unnatural amino acids has the potential to enhance and elucidate many processes in biochemistry and molecular biology. There are two primary methods for site specific unnatural amino acid incorporation, both of which use the cell’s native protein translating machinery: in vitro chemical acylation of suppressor tRNAs and the use of orthogonal amino acyl tRNA synthetases. Total chemical synthesis is theoretically possible, but current methods severely limit the maximum size of the product protein. In vivo orthogonal synthetase methods suffer from the high cost of the unnatural amino acid. In this thesis I sought to address this limitation by increasing cell density, first in shake flasks and then in a bioreactor in order to increase the yield of protein per amount of unnatural amino acid used. In a parallel project, I used the in vitro chemical acylation system to incorporate several unnatural amino acids, key among them the fluorophore BODIPYFL, with the aim of producing site specifically fluorescently labeled protein for single molecule FRET studies. I demonstrated successful incorporation of these amino acids into the trial protein GFP, although incorporation was not demonstrated in the final target, FEN1. This also served to confirm the effectiveness of a new procedure developed for chemical acylation.

Method Development for Efficient Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids

KAUST Repository

Harris, Paul D.

2014-01-01

The synthesis of proteins bearing unnatural amino acids has the potential to enhance and elucidate many processes in biochemistry and molecular biology. There are two primary methods for site specific unnatural amino acid incorporation, both of which use the cell’s native protein translating machinery: in vitro chemical acylation of suppressor tRNAs and the use of orthogonal amino acyl tRNA synthetases. Total chemical synthesis is theoretically possible, but current methods severely limit the maximum size of the product protein. In vivo orthogonal synthetase methods suffer from the high cost of the unnatural amino acid. In this thesis I sought to address this limitation by increasing cell density, first in shake flasks and then in a bioreactor in order to increase the yield of protein per amount of unnatural amino acid used. In a parallel project, I used the in vitro chemical acylation system to incorporate several unnatural amino acids, key among them the fluorophore BODIPYFL, with the aim of producing site specifically fluorescently labeled protein for single molecule FRET studies. I demonstrated successful incorporation of these amino acids into the trial protein GFP, although incorporation was not demonstrated in the final target, FEN1. This also served to confirm the effectiveness of a new procedure developed for chemical acylation.

Perceptions of knowledge management: A local government perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bethuel Sibongiseni Ngcamu

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Public sector institutions are grappling to maintain knowledge management cycle which integrates knowledge into different phases as it also incorporates socialization, externalization, combination and internalization model. Whereas, knowledge management could be used as a strategic tool to advance organizational effectiveness and efficiency whilst accelerating service delivery and achieving operational goals. This article seeks to address the bottlenecks as far as knowledge management is concerned by using biographical profiles with the view of promoting the creation and management of knowledge within eThekwini Municipality. The study reflects that the biographical profiles of employees (age, education, race, job level influences their perceptions of the current knowledge management processes and strategies and their implementation and impact on effectiveness.

Zinc incorporation improves biological activity of beta-tricalcium silicate resin-based cement.

Science.gov (United States)

Osorio, Raquel; Yamauti, Monica; Sauro, Salvatore; Watson, Tim F; Toledano, Manuel

2014-11-01

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibition may improve endodontic treatment prognosis. The purpose of this study was to determine if zinc incorporation into experimental resin cements containing bioactive fillers may modulate MMP-mediated collagen degradation of dentin. Human dentin samples untreated and demineralized using 10% phosphoric acid or 0.5 mol/L EDTA were infiltrated with the following experimental resins: (1) unfilled resin, (2) resin with Bioglass 45S5 particles (OSspray, London, UK), (3) resin with beta-tricalcium silicate particles (βTCS), (4) resin with zinc-doped Bioglass 45S5, and (5) resin with zinc-doped βTCS particles. The specimens were stored in artificial saliva (for 24 hours, 1 week, and 4 weeks) and submitted to radioimmunoassay to quantify C-terminal telopeptide. Scanning electron microscopy analysis was also undertaken on dentin samples after 4 weeks of storage. Collagen degradation was prominent both in phosphoric acid and EDTA-treated dentin. Resin infiltration strongly reduced MMP activity in demineralized dentin. Resin containing Bioglass 45S5 particles exerted higher and stable protection of collagen. The presence of zinc in βTCS particles increases MMP inhibition. Different mineral precipitation was attained in dentin infiltrated with the resin cements containing bioactive fillers. MMP degradation of dentin collagen is strongly reduced after resin infiltration of dentin. Zinc incorporation in βTCS particles exerted an additional protection against MMP-mediated collagen degradation. However, it did not occur in resin containing Bioglass 45S5 particles, probably because of the formation of phosphate-zinc compounds. Copyright © 2014 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An engineering paradigm in the biomedical sciences: Knowledge as epistemic tool.

Science.gov (United States)

Boon, Mieke

2017-10-01

In order to deal with the complexity of biological systems and attempts to generate applicable results, current biomedical sciences are adopting concepts and methods from the engineering sciences. Philosophers of science have interpreted this as the emergence of an engineering paradigm, in particular in systems biology and synthetic biology. This article aims at the articulation of the supposed engineering paradigm by contrast with the physics paradigm that supported the rise of biochemistry and molecular biology. This articulation starts from Kuhn's notion of a disciplinary matrix, which indicates what constitutes a paradigm. It is argued that the core of the physics paradigm is its metaphysical and ontological presuppositions, whereas the core of the engineering paradigm is the epistemic aim of producing useful knowledge for solving problems external to the scientific practice. Therefore, the two paradigms involve distinct notions of knowledge. Whereas the physics paradigm entails a representational notion of knowledge, the engineering paradigm involves the notion of 'knowledge as epistemic tool'. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do Knowledge Arrangements Affect Student Reading Comprehension of Genetics?

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jen-Yi; Tung, Yu-Neng; Hwang, Bi-Chi; Lin, Chen-Yung; Che-Di, Lee; Chang, Yung-Ta

2014-01-01

Various sequences for teaching genetics have been proposed. Three seventh-grade biology textbooks in Taiwan share similar key knowledge assemblages but have different knowledge arrangements. To investigate the influence of knowledge arrangements on student understanding of genetics, we compared students' reading comprehension of the three texts…

Newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Voldbjerg, Siri Lygum; Grønkjaer, Mette; Sørensen, Erik Elgaard

2016-01-01

AIM: To advance evidence on newly graduated nurses' use of knowledge sources. BACKGROUND: Clinical decisions need to be evidence-based and understanding the knowledge sources that newly graduated nurses use will inform both education and practice. Qualitative studies on newly graduated nurses' use...... underscoring progression in knowledge use and perception of competence and confidence among newly graduated nurses. CONCLUSION: The transition phase, feeling of confidence and ability to use critical thinking and reflection, has a great impact on knowledge sources incorporated in clinical decisions....... The synthesis accentuates that for use of newly graduated nurses' qualifications and skills in evidence-based practice, clinical practice needs to provide a supportive environment which nurtures critical thinking and questions and articulates use of multiple knowledge sources....

Teaching Biology through Statistics: Application of Statistical Methods in Genetics and Zoology Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Colon-Berlingeri, Migdalisel; Burrowes, Patricia A.

2011-01-01

Incorporation of mathematics into biology curricula is critical to underscore for undergraduate students the relevance of mathematics to most fields of biology and the usefulness of developing quantitative process skills demanded in modern biology. At our institution, we have made significant changes to better integrate mathematics into the…

Knowledge-Based Hierarchies: Using Organizations to Understand the Economy

Science.gov (United States)

Garicano, Luis; Rossi-Hansberg, Esteban

2015-01-01

Incorporating the decision of how to organize the acquisition, use, and communication of knowledge into economic models is essential to understand a wide variety of economic phenomena. We survey the literature that has used knowledge-based hierarchies to study issues such as the evolution of wage inequality, the growth and productivity of firms,…

On the growth of scientific knowledge: yeast biology as a case study.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xionglei He

2009-03-01

Full Text Available The tempo and mode of human knowledge expansion is an enduring yet poorly understood topic. Through a temporal network analysis of three decades of discoveries of protein interactions and genetic interactions in baker's yeast, we show that the growth of scientific knowledge is exponential over time and that important subjects tend to be studied earlier. However, expansions of different domains of knowledge are highly heterogeneous and episodic such that the temporal turnover of knowledge hubs is much greater than expected by chance. Familiar subjects are preferentially studied over new subjects, leading to a reduced pace of innovation. While research is increasingly done in teams, the number of discoveries per researcher is greater in smaller teams. These findings reveal collective human behaviors in scientific research and help design better strategies in future knowledge exploration.

In silico biology of bone modelling and remodelling: adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhard, Friederike A; Webster, Duncan J; van Lenthe, G Harry; Müller, Ralph

2009-05-28

Modelling and remodelling are the processes by which bone adapts its shape and internal structure to external influences. However, the cellular mechanisms triggering osteoclastic resorption and osteoblastic formation are still unknown. In order to investigate current biological theories, in silico models can be applied. In the past, most of these models were based on the continuum assumption, but some questions related to bone adaptation can be addressed better by models incorporating the trabecular microstructure. In this paper, existing simulation models are reviewed and one of the microstructural models is extended to test the hypothesis that bone adaptation can be simulated without particular knowledge of the local strain distribution in the bone. Validation using an experimental murine loading model showed that this is possible. Furthermore, the experimental model revealed that bone formation cannot be attributed only to an increase in trabecular thickness but also to structural reorganization including the growth of new trabeculae. How these new trabeculae arise is still an unresolved issue and might be better addressed by incorporating other levels of hierarchy, especially the cellular level. The cellular level sheds light on the activity and interplay between the different cell types, leading to the effective change in the whole bone. For this reason, hierarchical multi-scale simulations might help in the future to better understand the biomathematical laws behind bone adaptation.

An integrative approach to inferring biologically meaningful gene modules

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Wang Kai

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The ability to construct biologically meaningful gene networks and modules is critical for contemporary systems biology. Though recent studies have demonstrated the power of using gene modules to shed light on the functioning of complex biological systems, most modules in these networks have shown little association with meaningful biological function. We have devised a method which directly incorporates gene ontology (GO annotation in construction of gene modules in order to gain better functional association. Results We have devised a method, Semantic Similarity-Integrated approach for Modularization (SSIM that integrates various gene-gene pairwise similarity values, including information obtained from gene expression, protein-protein interactions and GO annotations, in the construction of modules using affinity propagation clustering. We demonstrated the performance of the proposed method using data from two complex biological responses: 1. the osmotic shock response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and 2. the prion-induced pathogenic mouse model. In comparison with two previously reported algorithms, modules identified by SSIM showed significantly stronger association with biological functions. Conclusions The incorporation of semantic similarity based on GO annotation with gene expression and protein-protein interaction data can greatly enhance the functional relevance of inferred gene modules. In addition, the SSIM approach can also reveal the hierarchical structure of gene modules to gain a broader functional view of the biological system. Hence, the proposed method can facilitate comprehensive and in-depth analysis of high throughput experimental data at the gene network level.

Microbial Dark Matter Investigations: How Microbial Studies Transform Biological Knowledge and Empirically Sketch a Logic of Scientific Discovery

Science.gov (United States)

Bernard, Guillaume; Pathmanathan, Jananan S; Lannes, Romain; Lopez, Philippe; Bapteste, Eric

2018-01-01

Abstract Microbes are the oldest and most widespread, phylogenetically and metabolically diverse life forms on Earth. However, they have been discovered only 334 years ago, and their diversity started to become seriously investigated even later. For these reasons, microbial studies that unveil novel microbial lineages and processes affecting or involving microbes deeply (and repeatedly) transform knowledge in biology. Considering the quantitative prevalence of taxonomically and functionally unassigned sequences in environmental genomics data sets, and that of uncultured microbes on the planet, we propose that unraveling the microbial dark matter should be identified as a central priority for biologists. Based on former empirical findings of microbial studies, we sketch a logic of discovery with the potential to further highlight the microbial unknowns. PMID:29420719

Incorporation of plutonium, americium and curium into the Irish Sea seabed by biological activity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kershaw, P J; Swift, D J; Pentreath, R J; Lovett, M B

1984-12-01

Bioturbation was considered as a potentially significant mechanism for the incorporation of long-lived radionuclides into the seabed and in particular the activities of a large echiuran Maximulleria lankesteri. Radionuclides of the transuranium elements plutonium, americium and cirium are discharged into the Irish Sea under authorization as part of the low-level liquid effluent from the British Nuclear Fuels plc reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, England. The distribution of Pu-239, 240, Pu-238, Am-241, Cm-244 and Cm-242 concentrations and the Pu-239, 240/Pu-238 quotient in samples taken in April and May 1983 from the sediment surface, burrow linings, sediments adjacent to burrows, and the gut contents and body of a large M. lankesteri clearly indicate that bioturbation is responsible, at least in part, for the incorporation of these radionuclides to depths of up to 140 cm. This area of sediments represents a significant present-day sink, but the permanence of this sink and the likelihood that radioactivity will be remobilized and be returned to man, depends on a large number of factors. 15 references, 18 figures.

Biological fabrication of cellulose fibers with tailored properties

Science.gov (United States)

Natalio, Filipe; Fuchs, Regina; Cohen, Sidney R.; Leitus, Gregory; Fritz-Popovski, Gerhard; Paris, Oskar; Kappl, Michael; Butt, Hans-Jürgen

2017-09-01

Cotton is a promising basis for wearable smart textiles. Current approaches that rely on fiber coatings suffer from function loss during wear. We present an approach that allows biological incorporation of exogenous molecules into cotton fibers to tailor the material’s functionality. In vitro model cultures of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) are incubated with 6-carboxyfluorescein-glucose and dysprosium-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid-glucose, where the glucose moiety acts as a carrier capable of traveling from the vascular connection to the outermost cell layer of the ovule epidermis, becoming incorporated into the cellulose fibers. This yields fibers with unnatural properties such as fluorescence or magnetism. Combining biological systems with the appropriate molecular design offers numerous possibilities to grow functional composite materials and implements a material-farming concept.

AIDS knowledge, attitude and behavioural patterns among high ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AIDS knowledge, attitude and behavioural patterns among high school students in ... Incorporating sex education into the curriculum of secondary schools will be a welcome development in stemming the tide of this dreaded disease.

Segmentation of medical images using explicit anatomical knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Laurie S.; Brown, Stephen; Brown, Matthew S.; Young, Jeanne; Li, Rongxin; Luo, Suhuai; Brandt, Lee

1999-07-01

Knowledge-based image segmentation is defined in terms of the separation of image analysis procedures and representation of knowledge. Such architecture is particularly suitable for medical image segmentation, because of the large amount of structured domain knowledge. A general methodology for the application of knowledge-based methods to medical image segmentation is described. This includes frames for knowledge representation, fuzzy logic for anatomical variations, and a strategy for determining the order of segmentation from the modal specification. This method has been applied to three separate problems, 3D thoracic CT, chest X-rays and CT angiography. The application of the same methodology to such a range of applications suggests a major role in medical imaging for segmentation methods incorporating representation of anatomical knowledge.

"Shut up and Squat!" Learning Body Knowledge within the Gym

Science.gov (United States)

Andreasson, Jesper

2014-01-01

The aim of this article is to describe and analyse learning processes among bodybuilders in bodybuilding environments, focusing on the ways activities form the basis for incorporation of both physical and cultural knowledge. Emanating from an ethnographic study, the arguments are based on a constructionist approach to knowledge. The result…

Scaffolded biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Minelli, Alessandro

2016-09-01

Descriptions and interpretations of the natural world are dominated by dichotomies such as organism vs. environment, nature vs. nurture, genetic vs. epigenetic, but in the last couple of decades strong dissatisfaction with those partitions has been repeatedly voiced and a number of alternative perspectives have been suggested, from perspectives such as Dawkins' extended phenotype, Turner's extended organism, Oyama's Developmental Systems Theory and Odling-Smee's niche construction theory. Last in time is the description of biological phenomena in terms of hybrids between an organism (scaffolded system) and a living or non-living scaffold, forming unit systems to study processes such as reproduction and development. As scaffold, eventually, we can define any resource used by the biological system, especially in development and reproduction, without incorporating it as happens in the case of resources fueling metabolism. Addressing biological systems as functionally scaffolded systems may help pointing to functional relationships that can impart temporal marking to the developmental process and thus explain its irreversibility; revisiting the boundary between development and metabolism and also regeneration phenomena, by suggesting a conceptual framework within which to investigate phenomena of regular hypermorphic regeneration such as characteristic of deer antlers; fixing a periodization of development in terms of the times at which a scaffolding relationship begins or is terminated; and promoting plant galls to legitimate study objects of developmental biology.

Fortify Your Knowledge about Vitamins

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Does Alendronate reduce the risk of fracture in men? A meta-analysis incorporating prior knowledge of anti-fracture efficacy in women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Papaioannou Alexandra

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Alendronate has been found to reduce the risk of fractures in postmenopausal women as demonstrated in multiple randomized controlled trials enrolling thousands of women. Yet there is a paucity of such randomized controlled trials in osteoporotic men. Our objective was to systematically review the anti-fracture efficacy of alendronate in men with low bone mass or with a history of prevalent fracture(s and incorporate prior knowledge of alendronate efficacy in women in the analysis. Methods We examined randomized controlled trials in men comparing the anti-fracture efficacy of alendronate to placebo or calcium or vitamin D, or any combination of these. Studies of men with secondary causes of osteoporosis other than hypogonadism were excluded. We searched the following electronic databases (without language restrictions for potentially relevant citations: Medline, Medline in Process (1966-May 24/2004, and Embase (1996–2004. We also contacted the manufacturer of the drug in search of other relevant trials. Two reviewers independently identified two trials (including 375 men, which met all inclusion criteria. Data were abstracted by one reviewer and checked by another. Results of the male trials were pooled using Bayesian random effects models, incorporating prior information of anti-fracture efficacy from meta-analyses of women. Results The odds ratios of incident fractures in men (with 95% credibility intervals with alendronate (10 mg daily were: vertebral fractures, 0.44 (0.23, 0.83 and non-vertebral fractures, 0.60 (0.29, 1.44. Conclusion In conclusion, alendronate decreases the risk of vertebral fractures in men at risk. There is currently insufficient evidence of a statistically significant reduction of non-vertebral fractures, but the paucity of trials in men limit the statistical power to detect such an effect.

Impact of biology knowledge on the conservation and management of large pelagic sharks

OpenAIRE

Yokoi, Hiroki; Ijima, Hirotaka; Ohshimo, Seiji; Yokawa, Kotaro

2017-01-01

Population growth rate, which depends on several biological parameters, is valuable information for the conservation and management of pelagic sharks, such as blue and shortfin mako sharks. However, reported biological parameters for estimating the population growth rates of these sharks differ by sex and display large variability. To estimate the appropriate population growth rate and clarify relationships between growth rate and relevant biological parameters, we developed a two-sex age-str...

Controversy in Biology Classrooms—Citizen Science Approaches to Evolution and Applications to Climate Change Discussions

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Rachel A. Yoho

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The biological sciences encompass topics considered controversial by the American public, such as evolution and climate change. We believe that the development of climate change education in the biology classroom is better informed by an understanding of the history of the teaching of evolution. A common goal for science educators should be to engender a greater respect for and appreciation of science among students while teaching specific content knowledge. Citizen science has emerged as a viable yet underdeveloped method for engaging students of all ages in key scientific issues that impact society through authentic data-driven scientific research. Where successful, citizen science may open avenues of communication and engagement with the scientific process that would otherwise be more difficult to achieve. Citizen science projects demonstrate versatility in education and the ability to test hypotheses by collecting large amounts of often publishable data. We find a great possibility for science education research in the incorporation of citizen science projects in curriculum, especially with respect to “hot topics” of socioscientific debate based on our review of the findings of other authors.

Male mating biology

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Howell, Paul I.; Knols, Bart G. J.

2009-01-01

Before sterile mass-reared mosquitoes are released in an attempt to control local populations, many facets of male mating biology need to be elucidated. Large knowledge gaps exist in how both sexes meet in space and time, the correlation of male size and mating success and in which arenas matings

Building confidence: an exploration of nurses undertaking a postgraduate biological science course.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Wissen, Kim; McBride-Henry, Karen

2010-01-01

This study aimed to explore the impact of studying biological science at a postgraduate level and how this impacted on nursing practice. The term biological sciences in this research encompasses elements of physiology, genetics, biochemistry and pathophysiology. A qualitative research study was designed, that involved the dissemination of a pre- and post-course semi-structured questionnaire for a biological science course, as part of a Master of Nursing programme at a New Zealand University, thus exploring the impact of undertaking a postgraduate biological sciences course. The responses were analysed into themes, based on interpretive concepts. The primary themes revealed improvement in confidence as: confidence in communication, confidence in linking nursing theoretical knowledge to practice and confidence in clinical nursing knowledge. This study highlights the need to privilege clinically-derived nursing knowledge, and that confidence in this nursing knowledge and clinical practice can be instilled through employing the model of theory-guided practice.

Systems Biology as an Integrated Platform for Bioinformatics, Systems Synthetic Biology, and Systems Metabolic Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Bor-Sen; Wu, Chia-Chou

2013-01-01

Systems biology aims at achieving a system-level understanding of living organisms and applying this knowledge to various fields such as synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and medicine. System-level understanding of living organisms can be derived from insight into: (i) system structure and the mechanism of biological networks such as gene regulation, protein interactions, signaling, and metabolic pathways; (ii) system dynamics of biological networks, which provides an understanding of stability, robustness, and transduction ability through system identification, and through system analysis methods; (iii) system control methods at different levels of biological networks, which provide an understanding of systematic mechanisms to robustly control system states, minimize malfunctions, and provide potential therapeutic targets in disease treatment; (iv) systematic design methods for the modification and construction of biological networks with desired behaviors, which provide system design principles and system simulations for synthetic biology designs and systems metabolic engineering. This review describes current developments in systems biology, systems synthetic biology, and systems metabolic engineering for engineering and biology researchers. We also discuss challenges and future prospects for systems biology and the concept of systems biology as an integrated platform for bioinformatics, systems synthetic biology, and systems metabolic engineering. PMID:24709875

Systems Biology as an Integrated Platform for Bioinformatics, Systems Synthetic Biology, and Systems Metabolic Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bor-Sen Chen

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Systems biology aims at achieving a system-level understanding of living organisms and applying this knowledge to various fields such as synthetic biology, metabolic engineering, and medicine. System-level understanding of living organisms can be derived from insight into: (i system structure and the mechanism of biological networks such as gene regulation, protein interactions, signaling, and metabolic pathways; (ii system dynamics of biological networks, which provides an understanding of stability, robustness, and transduction ability through system identification, and through system analysis methods; (iii system control methods at different levels of biological networks, which provide an understanding of systematic mechanisms to robustly control system states, minimize malfunctions, and provide potential therapeutic targets in disease treatment; (iv systematic design methods for the modification and construction of biological networks with desired behaviors, which provide system design principles and system simulations for synthetic biology designs and systems metabolic engineering. This review describes current developments in systems biology, systems synthetic biology, and systems metabolic engineering for engineering and biology researchers. We also discuss challenges and future prospects for systems biology and the concept of systems biology as an integrated platform for bioinformatics, systems synthetic biology, and systems metabolic engineering.

[The practice and discussion of the physical knowledge stepping into genetics teaching].

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Shen; Luo, Peigao

2014-09-01

Genetics, one of the core courses of biological field, play a key role in biology teaching and research. In fact, there exists high similarity between many genetic knowledge and physical knowledge. Due to strong abstract of genetic contents and the weak basis of genetics, some students lack of interests to study genetics. How to apply the strong physical knowledge which students had been learned in the middle school in genetics teaching is worthwhile for genetics teachers. In this paper, we would like to introduce an infiltrative teaching model on applying physical knowledge into genetic contents by establishing the intrinsic logistic relationship between physical knowledge and genetic knowledge. This teaching model could help students more deeply understand genetic knowledge and enhance students' self-studying ability as well as creating ability.

Selection platforms for directed evolution in synthetic biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Tizei, Pedro A G; Csibra, Eszter; Torres, Leticia; Pinheiro, Vitor B

2016-08-15

Life on Earth is incredibly diverse. Yet, underneath that diversity, there are a number of constants and highly conserved processes: all life is based on DNA and RNA; the genetic code is universal; biology is limited to a small subset of potential chemistries. A vast amount of knowledge has been accrued through describing and characterizing enzymes, biological processes and organisms. Nevertheless, much remains to be understood about the natural world. One of the goals in Synthetic Biology is to recapitulate biological complexity from simple systems made from biological molecules-gaining a deeper understanding of life in the process. Directed evolution is a powerful tool in Synthetic Biology, able to bypass gaps in knowledge and capable of engineering even the most highly conserved biological processes. It encompasses a range of methodologies to create variation in a population and to select individual variants with the desired function-be it a ligand, enzyme, pathway or even whole organisms. Here, we present some of the basic frameworks that underpin all evolution platforms and review some of the recent contributions from directed evolution to synthetic biology, in particular methods that have been used to engineer the Central Dogma and the genetic code. © 2016 The Author(s).

Biological and Psychosocial Processes in the Development of Children’s Appetitive Traits: Insights from Developmental Theory and Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catherine G. Russell

2018-05-01

Full Text Available There has been increasing concern expressed about children’s food intakes and dietary patterns. These are closely linked to children’s appetitive traits (such as disinhibited eating and food fussiness/neophobia. Research has examined both biological and psychosocial correlates or predictors of these traits. There has been less focus on possible processes or mechanisms associated with children’s development of these traits and research that links biological and psychosocial factors. There is an absence of research that links biological and psychosocial factors. In the present article, we outline a model intended to facilitate theory and research on the development of appetitive traits. It is based on scholarship from developmental theory and research and incorporates biological factors such as genetic predispositions and temperament as well as psychosocial factors in terms of parent cognitions, feeding styles and feeding practices. Particular attention is directed to aspects such as emotional eating and feeding, self-regulation of energy intake, and non-shared family environments. We highlight the opportunity for longitudinal research that examines bidirectional, transactional and cascade processes and uses a developmental framework. The model provides a basis for connecting the biological foundations of appetitive traits to system-level analysis in the family. Knowledge generated through the application of the model should lead to more effective prevention and intervention initiatives.

Biological isotopy. Introduction to the isotopic effects and to their applications in biology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tcherkez, G.

2010-01-01

Since their discovery in the beginning of the 20. century, the study of stable isotopes has considerably developed. This domain, which remained limited in its applications until the 1990's, has become particularly important thereafter thanks to its practical applications and in particular to its economical impacts. Many techniques used in fraud control, in drugs use control, in selection of high-yield plants etc are based on isotopic abundance measurements. This reference book gives a synthesis of our actual knowledge on the use of stable isotopes and of isotope fractionation in biology. It presents the basic notions of isotopic biochemistry and explains the origin of the isotopic effects. The application principles of these effects to metabolism, to organisms physiology, to environmental biology etc are explained and detailed using examples and exercises. The first chapters present the basic knowledge which defines, from a mathematical point-of-view, the isotopic effects of chemical reactions or of physical processes taking place in biology. The measurements principle of natural isotopes abundance is then synthesised. Finally, all these notions are applied at different scales: enzymes, physiology, metabolism, environment, ecosystems and fraud crackdown. (J.S.)

Fortify Your Knowledge about Vitamins

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From biology to mathematical models and back: teaching modeling to biology students, and biology to math and engineering students.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiel, Hillel J; McManus, Jeffrey M; Shaw, Kendrick M

2010-01-01

We describe the development of a course to teach modeling and mathematical analysis skills to students of biology and to teach biology to students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, or engineering. The two groups of students have different ways of learning material and often have strong negative feelings toward the area of knowledge that they find difficult. To give students a sense of mastery in each area, several complementary approaches are used in the course: 1) a "live" textbook that allows students to explore models and mathematical processes interactively; 2) benchmark problems providing key skills on which students make continuous progress; 3) assignment of students to teams of two throughout the semester; 4) regular one-on-one interactions with instructors throughout the semester; and 5) a term project in which students reconstruct, analyze, extend, and then write in detail about a recently published biological model. Based on student evaluations and comments, an attitude survey, and the quality of the students' term papers, the course has significantly increased the ability and willingness of biology students to use mathematical concepts and modeling tools to understand biological systems, and it has significantly enhanced engineering students' appreciation of biology.

From Biology to Mathematical Models and Back: Teaching Modeling to Biology Students, and Biology to Math and Engineering Students

Science.gov (United States)

McManus, Jeffrey M.; Shaw, Kendrick M.

2010-01-01

We describe the development of a course to teach modeling and mathematical analysis skills to students of biology and to teach biology to students with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, or engineering. The two groups of students have different ways of learning material and often have strong negative feelings toward the area of knowledge that they find difficult. To give students a sense of mastery in each area, several complementary approaches are used in the course: 1) a “live” textbook that allows students to explore models and mathematical processes interactively; 2) benchmark problems providing key skills on which students make continuous progress; 3) assignment of students to teams of two throughout the semester; 4) regular one-on-one interactions with instructors throughout the semester; and 5) a term project in which students reconstruct, analyze, extend, and then write in detail about a recently published biological model. Based on student evaluations and comments, an attitude survey, and the quality of the students' term papers, the course has significantly increased the ability and willingness of biology students to use mathematical concepts and modeling tools to understand biological systems, and it has significantly enhanced engineering students' appreciation of biology. PMID:20810957

Knowledge synthesis with maps of neural connectivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcelo eTallis

2011-11-01

Full Text Available This paper describes software for neuroanatomical knowledge synthesis based on high-quality neural connectivity data. This software supports a mature neuroanatomical methodology developed since the early 1990s. Over this time, the Swanson laboratory at USC has generated an account of the neural connectivity of the sub-structures of the hypothalamus, amygdala, septum, hippocampus and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. This is based on neuroanatomical data maps drawn into a standard brain atlas by experts. In earlier work, we presented an application for visualizing and comparing anatomical macroconnections using the Swanson 3rd edition atlas as a framework for accurate registration. Here we describe major improvements to the NeuARt application based on the incorporation of a knowledge representation of experimental design. We also present improvements in the interface and features of the neuroanatomical data mapping components within a unified web-application. As a step towards developing an accurate sub-regional account of neural connectivity, we provide navigational access between the neuroanatomical data maps and a semantic representation of area-to-area connections that they support. We do so based on an approach called ’Knowledge Engineering from Experimental Design’ (KEfED model that is based on experimental variables. We have extended the underlying KEfED representation of tract-tracing experiments by incorporating the definition of a neuronanatomical data map as a measurement variable in the study design. This paper describes the software design of a web application that allows anatomical data sets to be described within a standard experimental context and thus incorporated with non-spatial data sets.

Promoting Systems Thinking through Biology Lessons

Science.gov (United States)

Riess, Werner; Mischo, Christoph

2010-01-01

This study's goal was to analyze various teaching approaches within the context of natural science lessons, especially in biology. The main focus of the paper lies on the effectiveness of different teaching methods in promoting systems thinking in the field of Education for Sustainable Development. The following methods were incorporated into the…

OpenBiodiv-O: ontology of the OpenBiodiv knowledge management system.

Science.gov (United States)

Senderov, Viktor; Simov, Kiril; Franz, Nico; Stoev, Pavel; Catapano, Terry; Agosti, Donat; Sautter, Guido; Morris, Robert A; Penev, Lyubomir

2018-01-18

The biodiversity domain, and in particular biological taxonomy, is moving in the direction of semantization of its research outputs. The present work introduces OpenBiodiv-O, the ontology that serves as the basis of the OpenBiodiv Knowledge Management System. Our intent is to provide an ontology that fills the gaps between ontologies for biodiversity resources, such as DarwinCore-based ontologies, and semantic publishing ontologies, such as the SPAR Ontologies. We bridge this gap by providing an ontology focusing on biological taxonomy. OpenBiodiv-O introduces classes, properties, and axioms in the domains of scholarly biodiversity publishing and biological taxonomy and aligns them with several important domain ontologies (FaBiO, DoCO, DwC, Darwin-SW, NOMEN, ENVO). By doing so, it bridges the ontological gap across scholarly biodiversity publishing and biological taxonomy and allows for the creation of a Linked Open Dataset (LOD) of biodiversity information (a biodiversity knowledge graph) and enables the creation of the OpenBiodiv Knowledge Management System. A key feature of the ontology is that it is an ontology of the scientific process of biological taxonomy and not of any particular state of knowledge. This feature allows it to express a multiplicity of scientific opinions. The resulting OpenBiodiv knowledge system may gain a high level of trust in the scientific community as it does not force a scientific opinion on its users (e.g. practicing taxonomists, library researchers, etc.), but rather provides the tools for experts to encode different views as science progresses. OpenBiodiv-O provides a conceptual model of the structure of a biodiversity publication and the development of related taxonomic concepts. It also serves as the basis for the OpenBiodiv Knowledge Management System.

Biological inquiry: a new course and assessment plan in response to the call to transform undergraduate biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Goldey, Ellen S; Abercrombie, Clarence L; Ivy, Tracie M; Kusher, Dave I; Moeller, John F; Rayner, Doug A; Smith, Charles F; Spivey, Natalie W

2012-01-01

We transformed our first-year curriculum in biology with a new course, Biological Inquiry, in which >50% of all incoming, first-year students enroll. The course replaced a traditional, content-driven course that relied on outdated approaches to teaching and learning. We diversified pedagogical practices by adopting guided inquiry in class and in labs, which are devoted to building authentic research skills through open-ended experiments. Students develop core biological knowledge, from the ecosystem to molecular level, and core skills through regular practice in hypothesis testing, reading primary literature, analyzing data, interpreting results, writing in disciplinary style, and working in teams. Assignments and exams require higher-order cognitive processes, and students build new knowledge and skills through investigation of real-world problems (e.g., malaria), which engages students' interest. Evidence from direct and indirect assessment has guided continuous course revision and has revealed that compared with the course it replaced, Biological Inquiry produces significant learning gains in all targeted areas. It also retains 94% of students (both BA and BS track) compared with 79% in the majors-only course it replaced. The project has had broad impact across the entire college and reflects the input of numerous constituencies and close collaboration among biology professors and students.

Clients' Willingness to Incorporate Religion or Spirituality in Counseling: A Brief Report

Science.gov (United States)

Diallo, Abdoulaye

2013-01-01

A total of 84 individuals with addiction issues (e.g., drugs, sex, weight, food, and codependency) were asked about their willingness to incorporate religion or spirituality in their counseling. These respondents expressed willingness to deal with religion or spirituality in counseling if the counselor was knowledgeable about their religion or…

Biological degradation of wood-plastic composites (WPC) and strategies for improving the resistance of WPC against biological decay

Science.gov (United States)

Anke Schirp; Rebecca E. Ibach; David E. Pendleton; Michael P. Wolcott

2008-01-01

Much of the research on wood-plastic composites (WPC) has focused on formulation development and processing while high biological durability of the material was assumed. The gap between assumption and knowledge in biodeterioration of WPC needs to be reduced. Although some information on the short-term resistance of WPC against biological degradation is available, long-...

Academic Knowledge Construction and Multimodal Curriculum Development

Science.gov (United States)

Loveless, Douglas J., Ed.; Griffith, Bryant, Ed.; Bérci, Margaret E., Ed.; Ortlieb, Evan, Ed.; Sullivan, Pamela, Ed.

2014-01-01

While incorporating digital technologies into the classroom has offered new ways of teaching and learning into educational processes, it is essential to take a look at how the digital shift impacts teachers, school administration, and curriculum development. "Academic Knowledge Construction and Multimodal Curriculum Development" presents…

Content-rich biological network constructed by mining PubMed abstracts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharp Burt M

2004-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The integration of the rapidly expanding corpus of information about the genome, transcriptome, and proteome, engendered by powerful technological advances, such as microarrays, and the availability of genomic sequence from multiple species, challenges the grasp and comprehension of the scientific community. Despite the existence of text-mining methods that identify biological relationships based on the textual co-occurrence of gene/protein terms or similarities in abstract texts, knowledge of the underlying molecular connections on a large scale, which is prerequisite to understanding novel biological processes, lags far behind the accumulation of data. While computationally efficient, the co-occurrence-based approaches fail to characterize (e.g., inhibition or stimulation, directionality biological interactions. Programs with natural language processing (NLP capability have been created to address these limitations, however, they are in general not readily accessible to the public. Results We present a NLP-based text-mining approach, Chilibot, which constructs content-rich relationship networks among biological concepts, genes, proteins, or drugs. Amongst its features, suggestions for new hypotheses can be generated. Lastly, we provide evidence that the connectivity of molecular networks extracted from the biological literature follows the power-law distribution, indicating scale-free topologies consistent with the results of previous experimental analyses. Conclusions Chilibot distills scientific relationships from knowledge available throughout a wide range of biological domains and presents these in a content-rich graphical format, thus integrating general biomedical knowledge with the specialized knowledge and interests of the user. Chilibot http://www.chilibot.net can be accessed free of charge to academic users.

Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Some Quinoxaline-Incorporated Schiff Bases and Their Biological Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. Achutha

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Quinoxaline-incorporated Schiff bases (4a–j were synthesized by the condensation of 2-[(3-methylquinoxalin-2-yloxy]acetohydrazide (3 with indole-3-carbaldehyde, furfuraldehyde, 5-(4-nitrophenyl-2-furfuraldehyde, and substituted benzaldehydes under conventional and microwave irradiation methods. The microwave method was found to be remarkably successful with higher yields, less reaction time, and environmentally friendly compared to conventional heating method. The chemical structures of the synthesized compounds have been confirmed by analytical and spectral data. All the compounds have been evaluated for antitubercular and anti-inflammatory activities.

Biological therapy in geriatric patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mego, M.

2012-01-01

Targeted biological therapy, alone or in combination with conventional chemotherapy, make significant progress in the treatment of patients with malignancy. Its use as opposed to high-dose chemotherapy is not limited by age, nevertheless, we have relatively little knowledge of the toxicity and effectiveness in geriatric patients. Aim of this article is to give an overview of the biological effectiveness and toxicity of anticancer therapy in geriatric patients, based on published data. (author)

Using Concept Mapping in the Biology Classroom.

Science.gov (United States)

Donovan, Edward P.

Concept mapping, a technique based on David Ausubel's theory of meaningful learning, involves the organization of concepts into an hierarchical arrangement. Suggestions for incorporating this learning strategy into the biology classroom are presented and discussed. Steps in concept mapping include: (1) identifying important concepts in the study…

Co-production of knowledge: An Inuit Indigenous Knowledge perspective

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Daniel, R.; Behe, C.

2017-12-01

A "co-production of knowledge" approach brings together different knowledge systems while building equitable and collaborative partnerships from `different ways of knowing.' Inuit Indigenous Knowledge is a systematic way of thinking applied to phenomena across biological, physical, cultural and spiritual systems; rooted with a holistic understanding of ecosystems (ICC Alaska 2016). A holistic image of Arctic environmental change is attained by bringing Indigenous Knowledge (IK) holders and scientists together through a co-production of knowledge framework. Experts from IK and science should be involved together from the inception of a project. IK should be respected as its own knowledge system and should not be translated into science. A co-production of knowledge approach is important in developing adaptation policies and practices, for sustainability and to address biodiversity conservation (Daniel et al. 2016). Co-production of knowledge is increasingly being recognized by the scientific community at-large. However, in many instances the concept is being incorrectly applied. This talk will build on the important components of co-production of knowledge from an Inuit perspective and specifically IK. In this presentation we will differentiate the co-production of knowledge from a multi-disciplinary approach or multi-evidence based decision-making. We underscore the role and value of different knowledge systems with different methodologies and the need for collaborative approaches in identifying research questions. We will also provide examples from our experiences with Indigenous communities and scientists in the Arctic. References: Inuit Circumpolar Council of Alaska. 2016. Alaskan Inuit Food Security Conceptual Framework: How to Assess the Arctic From An Inuit Perspective, 201pp. Daniel, R., C. Behe, J. Raymond-Yakoubian, E. Krummel, and S. Gearhead. Arctic Observing Summit White Paper Synthesis, Theme 6: Interfacing Indigenous Knowledge, Community

Prior knowledge-based approach for associating contaminants with biological effects: A case study in the St. Croix River basin, MN, WI, USA

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Schroeder, Anthony L.; Martinovic-Weigelt, Dalma; Ankley, Gerald T.; Lee, Kathy E.; Garcia-Reyero, Natalia; Perkins, Edward J.; Schoenfuss, Heiko L.; Villeneuve, Daniel L.

2017-01-01

Evaluating potential adverse effects of complex chemical mixtures in the environment is challenging. One way to address that challenge is through more integrated analysis of chemical monitoring and biological effects data. In the present study, water samples from five locations near two municipal wastewater treatment plants in the St. Croix River basin, on the border of MN and WI, USA, were analyzed for 127 organic contaminants. Known chemical-gene interactions were used to develop site-specific knowledge assembly models (KAMs) and formulate hypotheses concerning possible biological effects associated with chemicals detected in water samples from each location. Additionally, hepatic gene expression data were collected for fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) exposed in situ, for 12 d, at each location. Expression data from oligonucleotide microarrays were analyzed to identify functional annotation terms enriched among the differentially-expressed probes. The general nature of many of the terms made hypothesis formulation on the basis of the transcriptome-level response alone difficult. However, integrated analysis of the transcriptome data in the context of the site-specific KAMs allowed for evaluation of the likelihood of specific chemicals contributing to observed biological responses. Thirteen chemicals (atrazine, carbamazepine, metformin, thiabendazole, diazepam, cholesterol, p-cresol, phenytoin, omeprazole, ethyromycin, 17β-estradiol, cimetidine, and estrone), for which there was statistically significant concordance between occurrence at a site and expected biological response as represented in the KAM, were identified. While not definitive, the approach provides a line of evidence for evaluating potential cause-effect relationships between components of a complex mixture of contaminants and biological effects data, which can inform subsequent monitoring and investigation.

Leveraging advances in biology to design biomaterials

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Darnell, Max; Mooney, David J.

2017-12-01

Biomaterials have dramatically increased in functionality and complexity, allowing unprecedented control over the cells that interact with them. From these engineering advances arises the prospect of improved biomaterial-based therapies, yet practical constraints favour simplicity. Tools from the biology community are enabling high-resolution and high-throughput bioassays that, if incorporated into a biomaterial design framework, could help achieve unprecedented functionality while minimizing the complexity of designs by identifying the most important material parameters and biological outputs. However, to avoid data explosions and to effectively match the information content of an assay with the goal of the experiment, material screens and bioassays must be arranged in specific ways. By borrowing methods to design experiments and workflows from the bioprocess engineering community, we outline a framework for the incorporation of next-generation bioassays into biomaterials design to effectively optimize function while minimizing complexity. This framework can inspire biomaterials designs that maximize functionality and translatability.

Making evolutionary biology a basic science for medicine

Science.gov (United States)

Nesse, Randolph M.; Bergstrom, Carl T.; Ellison, Peter T.; Flier, Jeffrey S.; Gluckman, Peter; Govindaraju, Diddahally R.; Niethammer, Dietrich; Omenn, Gilbert S.; Perlman, Robert L.; Schwartz, Mark D.; Thomas, Mark G.; Stearns, Stephen C.; Valle, David

2010-01-01

New applications of evolutionary biology in medicine are being discovered at an accelerating rate, but few physicians have sufficient educational background to use them fully. This article summarizes suggestions from several groups that have considered how evolutionary biology can be useful in medicine, what physicians should learn about it, and when and how they should learn it. Our general conclusion is that evolutionary biology is a crucial basic science for medicine. In addition to looking at established evolutionary methods and topics, such as population genetics and pathogen evolution, we highlight questions about why natural selection leaves bodies vulnerable to disease. Knowledge about evolution provides physicians with an integrative framework that links otherwise disparate bits of knowledge. It replaces the prevalent view of bodies as machines with a biological view of bodies shaped by evolutionary processes. Like other basic sciences, evolutionary biology needs to be taught both before and during medical school. Most introductory biology courses are insufficient to establish competency in evolutionary biology. Premedical students need evolution courses, possibly ones that emphasize medically relevant aspects. In medical school, evolutionary biology should be taught as one of the basic medical sciences. This will require a course that reviews basic principles and specific medical applications, followed by an integrated presentation of evolutionary aspects that apply to each disease and organ system. Evolutionary biology is not just another topic vying for inclusion in the curriculum; it is an essential foundation for a biological understanding of health and disease. PMID:19918069

The Impact of Organizational Knowledge Integrators on Cooperative R&D Projects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bulathsinhala, Nadika

2014-01-01

This paper addresses the fact that R&D projects that incorporate external knowledge sources not only depend on the number of sources, but also on integrating the right source. An organizational knowledge integrator has a natural interest due to its position in the value chain and the technology...... phase to pull the knowledge from earlier phases of development closer towards commercialization. The aim of the paper is to examine if organizational knowledge integrators in R&D projects have a positive impact on innovative performance compared to projects that do not involve a knowledge integrator...

The Relationship between Biology Classes and Biological Reasoning and Common Heath Misconceptions

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Keselman, Alla; Hundal, Savreen; Chentsova-Dutton, Yulia; Bibi, Raquel; Edelman, Jay A.

2015-01-01

This study investigates the relationship among (1) college major, (2) knowledge used in reasoning about common health beliefs, and (3) judgment about the accuracy of those beliefs. Seventy-four college students, advanced biology and non-science majors, indicated their agreement or disagreement with commonly believed, but often inaccurate,…

Microfluidic platform for efficient Nanodisc assembly, membrane protein incorporation, and purification.

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Wade, James H; Jones, Joshua D; Lenov, Ivan L; Riordan, Colleen M; Sligar, Stephen G; Bailey, Ryan C

2017-08-22

The characterization of integral membrane proteins presents numerous analytical challenges on account of their poor activity under non-native conditions, limited solubility in aqueous solutions, and low expression in most cell culture systems. Nanodiscs are synthetic model membrane constructs that offer many advantages for studying membrane protein function by offering a native-like phospholipid bilayer environment. The successful incorporation of membrane proteins within Nanodiscs requires experimental optimization of conditions. Standard protocols for Nanodisc formation can require large amounts of time and input material, limiting the facile screening of formation conditions. Capitalizing on the miniaturization and efficient mass transport inherent to microfluidics, we have developed a microfluidic platform for efficient Nanodisc assembly and purification, and demonstrated the ability to incorporate functional membrane proteins into the resulting Nanodiscs. In addition to working with reduced sample volumes, this platform simplifies membrane protein incorporation from a multi-stage protocol requiring several hours or days into a single platform that outputs purified Nanodiscs in less than one hour. To demonstrate the utility of this platform, we incorporated Cytochrome P450 into Nanodiscs of variable size and lipid composition, and present spectroscopic evidence for the functional active site of the membrane protein. This platform is a promising new tool for membrane protein biology and biochemistry that enables tremendous versatility for optimizing the incorporation of membrane proteins using microfluidic gradients to screen across diverse formation conditions.

SIMS applications in biological research

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prince, K.E.; Burke, P.T.; Kelly, I.J.

2000-01-01

Full text: SIMS has been utilised as a tool for biological research since the early 1970's. SIMS' abilities in isotopic detection with high sensitivity, imaging capabilities at a subcellular level, and the possibility of molecular imaging have been the main areas of interest for biological development. However, whilst hundreds of instruments are available in industrial and university laboratories for semiconductor and materials analysis, only a handful successfully perform biological research. For this reason there is generally a lack of awareness of SIMS by the biological community. Biological SIMS analysis requires a working knowledge of both biology and SIMS. Sample preparation is a critical and time consuming prerequisite for any successful biological SIMS study. In addition, for quantification to be possible a homogeneous, matrix matched standard must be available. Once these difficulties are more widely understood and overcome there will be a greater motivation for the biological community to embrace SIMS as a unique tool in their research. This paper provides an overview of some of the more successful biological SIMS application areas internationally, and summarises the types of biological SIMS requests received by ANSTO

Biology and control of Varroa destructor.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenkranz, Peter; Aumeier, Pia; Ziegelmann, Bettina

2010-01-01

The ectoparasitic honey bee mite Varroa destructor was originally confined to the Eastern honey bee Apis cerana. After a shift to the new host Apis mellifera during the first half of the last century, the parasite dispersed world wide and is currently considered the major threat for apiculture. The damage caused by Varroosis is thought to be a crucial driver for the periodical colony losses in Europe and the USA and regular Varroa treatments are essential in these countries. Therefore, Varroa research not only deals with a fascinating host-parasite relationship but also has a responsibility to find sustainable solutions for the beekeeping. This review provides a survey of the current knowledge in the main fields of Varroa research including the biology of the mite, damage to the host, host tolerance, tolerance breeding and Varroa treatment. We first present a general view on the functional morphology and on the biology of the Varroa mite with special emphasis on host-parasite interactions during reproduction of the female mite. The pathology section describes host damage at the individual and colony level including the problem of transmission of secondary infections by the mite. Knowledge of both the biology and the pathology of Varroa mites is essential for understanding possible tolerance mechanisms in the honey bee host. We comment on the few examples of natural tolerance in A. mellifera and evaluate recent approaches to the selection of Varroa tolerant honey bees. Finally, an extensive listing and critical evaluation of chemical and biological methods of Varroa treatments is given. This compilation of present-day knowledge on Varroa honey bee interactions emphasizes that we are still far from a solution for Varroa infestation and that, therefore, further research on mite biology, tolerance breeding, and Varroa treatment is urgently needed. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel retrofit technologies incorporating silica aerogel for lower energy buildings

OpenAIRE

Dowson, Mark

2012-01-01

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Engineering and was awarded by Brunel University. The aim of this Engineering Doctorate is to design, build and test novel environmental retrofit technologies to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. Three contributions to knowledge are documented. The first contribution is the technical verification of a novel proof-of-principle prototype incorporating translucent silica aerogel granules to improve the thermal performance of...

INCORPORATING ROUTINE ACTIVITIES, ACTIVITY SPACES, AND SITUATIONAL DEFINITIONS INTO THE SOCIAL SCHEMATIC THEORY OF CRIME*

Science.gov (United States)

BARR, ASHLEY B.; LEI, MAN-KIT; STEWART, ERIC

2014-01-01

Simons and Burt’s (2011) social schematic theory (SST) of crime posits that adverse social factors are associated with offending because they promote a set of social schemas (i.e., a criminogenic knowledge structure) that elevates the probability of situational definitions favorable to crime. This study extends the SST model by incorporating the role of contexts for action. Furthermore, the study advances tests of the SST by incorporating a measure of criminogenic situational definitions to assess whether such definitions mediate the effects of schemas and contexts on crime. Structural equation models using 10 years of panel data from 582 African American youth provided strong support for the expanded theory. The results suggest that childhood and adolescent social adversity fosters a criminogenic knowledge structure as well as selection into criminogenic activity spaces and risky activities, all of which increase the likelihood of offending largely through situational definitions. Additionally, evidence shows that the criminogenic knowledge structure interacts with settings to amplify the likelihood of situational definitions favorable to crime. PMID:26392633

Using information and communication technology (ICT) to the maximum: learning and teaching biology with limited digital technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Van Rooy, Wilhelmina S.

2012-04-01

Background: The ubiquity, availability and exponential growth of digital information and communication technology (ICT) creates unique opportunities for learning and teaching in the senior secondary school biology curriculum. Digital technologies make it possible for emerging disciplinary knowledge and understanding of biological processes previously too small, large, slow or fast to be taught. Indeed, much of bioscience can now be effectively taught via digital technology, since its representational and symbolic forms are in digital formats. Purpose: This paper is part of a larger Australian study dealing with the technologies and modalities of learning biology in secondary schools. Sample: The classroom practices of three experienced biology teachers, working in a range of NSW secondary schools, are compared and contrasted to illustrate how the challenges of limited technologies are confronted to seamlessly integrate what is available into a number of molecular genetics lessons to enhance student learning. Design and method: The data are qualitative and the analysis is based on video classroom observations and semi-structured teacher interviews. Results: Findings indicate that if professional development opportunities are provided where the pedagogy of learning and teaching of both the relevant biology and its digital representations are available, then teachers see the immediate pedagogic benefit to student learning. In particular, teachers use ICT for challenging genetic concepts despite limited computer hardware and software availability. Conclusion: Experienced teachers incorporate ICT, however limited, in order to improve the quality of student learning.

Lessons we learned from high-throughput and top-down systems biology analyses about glioma stem cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Mock, Andreas; Chiblak, Sara; Herold-Mende, Christel

2014-01-01

A growing body of evidence suggests that glioma stem cells (GSCs) account for tumor initiation, therapy resistance, and the subsequent regrowth of gliomas. Thus, continuous efforts have been undertaken to further characterize this subpopulation of less differentiated tumor cells. Although we are able to enrich GSCs, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of GSC phenotypes and behavior. The advent of high-throughput technologies raised hope that incorporation of these newly developed platforms would help to tackle such questions. Since then a couple of comparative genome-, transcriptome- and proteome-wide studies on GSCs have been conducted giving new insights in GSC biology. However, lessons had to be learned in designing high-throughput experiments and some of the resulting conclusions fell short of expectations because they were performed on only a few GSC lines or at one molecular level instead of an integrative poly-omics approach. Despite these shortcomings, our knowledge of GSC biology has markedly expanded due to a number of survival-associated biomarkers as well as glioma-relevant signaling pathways and therapeutic targets being identified. In this article we review recent findings obtained by comparative high-throughput analyses of GSCs. We further summarize fundamental concepts of systems biology as well as its applications for glioma stem cell research.

Systems Biology Graphical Notation: Entity Relationship language Level 1 Version 2.

Science.gov (United States)

Sorokin, Anatoly; Le Novère, Nicolas; Luna, Augustin; Czauderna, Tobias; Demir, Emek; Haw, Robin; Mi, Huaiyu; Moodie, Stuart; Schreiber, Falk; Villéger, Alice

2015-09-04

The Systems Biological Graphical Notation (SBGN) is an international community effort for standardized graphical representations of biological pathways and networks. The goal of SBGN is to provide unambiguous pathway and network maps for readers with different scientific backgrounds as well as to support efficient and accurate exchange of biological knowledge between different research communities, industry, and other players in systems biology. Three SBGN languages, Process Description (PD), Entity Relationship (ER) and Activity Flow (AF), allow for the representation of different aspects of biological and biochemical systems at different levels of detail. The SBGN Entity Relationship language (ER) represents biological entities and their interactions and relationships within a network. SBGN ER focuses on all potential relationships between entities without considering temporal aspects. The nodes (elements) describe biological entities, such as proteins and complexes. The edges (connections) provide descriptions of interactions and relationships (or influences), e.g., complex formation, stimulation and inhibition. Among all three languages of SBGN, ER is the closest to protein interaction networks in biological literature and textbooks, but its well-defined semantics offer a superior precision in expressing biological knowledge.

The role of scientific knowledge in shaping public attitudes to GM technologies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mielby, Henrik Ole; Sandøe, Peter; Lassen, Jesper

2013-01-01

Depending on the perceived balance of risk and benefit, and on the perceived unnaturalness, some applications of gene technology appear more acceptable to the public than others. This study asks whether a person’s knowledge of biology affects their assessment of these factors differently. A random...... sample of the Danish population (n = 2000) was presented with questionnaires. The respondent’s knowledge was measured by a number of textbook questions on biology. The results indicated that knowledge increases the likelihood that a person will have differentiated opinions on medical and agricultural...

Prior Knowledge Improves Decoding of Finger Flexion from Electrocorticographic (ECoG Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zuoguan eWang

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs use brain signals to convey a user's intent. Some BCI approaches begin by decoding kinematic parameters of movements from brain signals, and then proceed to using these signals, in absence of movements, to allow a user to control an output. Recent results have shown that electrocorticographic (ECoG recordings from the surface of the brain in humans can give information about kinematic parameters (eg{} hand velocity or finger flexion. The decoding approaches in these studies usually employed classical classification/regression algorithms that derive a linear mapping between brain signals and outputs. However, they typically only incorporate little prior information about the target movement parameter. In this paper, we incorporate prior knowledge using a Bayesian decoding method, and use it to decode finger flexion from ECoG signals. Specifically, we exploit the anatomic constraints and dynamic constraints that govern finger flexion and incorporate these constraints in the construction, structure, and the probabilistic functions of the prior model of a switched non-parametric dynamic system (SNDS. Given a measurement model resulting from a traditional linear regression method, we decoded finger flexion using posterior estimation that combined the prior and measurement models. Our results show that the application of the Bayesian decoding model, which incorporates prior knowledge, improves decoding performance compared to the application of a linear regression model, which does not incorporate prior knowledge. Thus, the results presented in this paper may ultimately lead to neurally controlled hand prostheses with full fine-grained finger articulation.

Strategic knowledge management in brazilian organizations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rivadávia Correa Drummond de Alvarenga

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Investigates the theme known as “Knowledge Management” (KM in three large Brazilian organizations trying to discuss its concepts, constituent elements, managerial approaches and tools, while aiming at leaving behind the purely terminological discussion, which is innocuous and naive. The basic presuppositions were two: (i most of what it´s referred to or named KM is actually “Information Management” (IM and IM is just one of the components of KM. KM is more than simply IM due to the fact that it includes and incorporates other concerns, such as the creation, use and sharing of information and knowledge in the organizational context; (ii a conceptual model or map can be formulated based on three basic conceptions: (a a strategic conception of information and knowledge, (b the introduction of such strategy in the tactical and operational levels through the several managerial approaches and informaion technology tools and (c the creation of an organizational space for knowledge. The main objective is to investigate and analyze the conceptions, motivations, practices and results of KM effectively implemented in three large Brazilian organizations. The qualitative research strategy used was the study of multiple cases with incorporated units of analysis and three criteria ere observed for the judgment of the quality of the research project: validity of the construct, external validity and reliability. Multiple sources of evidence were used and data analysis consisted of three flows of activities: data reduction, data displays and conclusion drawing/verification. The results confirmed the presuppositions and the fact that KM means a rethinking of management practices in the information ea. It was also identified that the main challenges facing organizations committed to KM have its focus on change management, cultural and behavioral issues and the creation of an enabling context that favors the creation, use and sharing of information and

MIPS Arabidopsis thaliana Database (MAtDB): an integrated biological knowledge resource based on the first complete plant genome

Science.gov (United States)

Schoof, Heiko; Zaccaria, Paolo; Gundlach, Heidrun; Lemcke, Kai; Rudd, Stephen; Kolesov, Grigory; Arnold, Roland; Mewes, H. W.; Mayer, Klaus F. X.

2002-01-01

Arabidopsis thaliana is the first plant for which the complete genome has been sequenced and published. Annotation of complex eukaryotic genomes requires more than the assignment of genetic elements to the sequence. Besides completing the list of genes, we need to discover their cellular roles, their regulation and their interactions in order to understand the workings of the whole plant. The MIPS Arabidopsis thaliana Database (MAtDB; http://mips.gsf.de/proj/thal/db) started out as a repository for genome sequence data in the European Scientists Sequencing Arabidopsis (ESSA) project and the Arabidopsis Genome Initiative. Our aim is to transform MAtDB into an integrated biological knowledge resource by integrating diverse data, tools, query and visualization capabilities and by creating a comprehensive resource for Arabidopsis as a reference model for other species, including crop plants. PMID:11752263

Finding gene regulatory network candidates using the gene expression knowledge base.

Science.gov (United States)

Venkatesan, Aravind; Tripathi, Sushil; Sanz de Galdeano, Alejandro; Blondé, Ward; Lægreid, Astrid; Mironov, Vladimir; Kuiper, Martin

2014-12-10

Network-based approaches for the analysis of large-scale genomics data have become well established. Biological networks provide a knowledge scaffold against which the patterns and dynamics of 'omics' data can be interpreted. The background information required for the construction of such networks is often dispersed across a multitude of knowledge bases in a variety of formats. The seamless integration of this information is one of the main challenges in bioinformatics. The Semantic Web offers powerful technologies for the assembly of integrated knowledge bases that are computationally comprehensible, thereby providing a potentially powerful resource for constructing biological networks and network-based analysis. We have developed the Gene eXpression Knowledge Base (GeXKB), a semantic web technology based resource that contains integrated knowledge about gene expression regulation. To affirm the utility of GeXKB we demonstrate how this resource can be exploited for the identification of candidate regulatory network proteins. We present four use cases that were designed from a biological perspective in order to find candidate members relevant for the gastrin hormone signaling network model. We show how a combination of specific query definitions and additional selection criteria derived from gene expression data and prior knowledge concerning candidate proteins can be used to retrieve a set of proteins that constitute valid candidates for regulatory network extensions. Semantic web technologies provide the means for processing and integrating various heterogeneous information sources. The GeXKB offers biologists such an integrated knowledge resource, allowing them to address complex biological questions pertaining to gene expression. This work illustrates how GeXKB can be used in combination with gene expression results and literature information to identify new potential candidates that may be considered for extending a gene regulatory network.

A knowledge discovery object model API for Java

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jones Steven JM

2003-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Biological data resources have become heterogeneous and derive from multiple sources. This introduces challenges in the management and utilization of this data in software development. Although efforts are underway to create a standard format for the transmission and storage of biological data, this objective has yet to be fully realized. Results This work describes an application programming interface (API that provides a framework for developing an effective biological knowledge ontology for Java-based software projects. The API provides a robust framework for the data acquisition and management needs of an ontology implementation. In addition, the API contains classes to assist in creating GUIs to represent this data visually. Conclusions The Knowledge Discovery Object Model (KDOM API is particularly useful for medium to large applications, or for a number of smaller software projects with common characteristics or objectives. KDOM can be coupled effectively with other biologically relevant APIs and classes. Source code, libraries, documentation and examples are available at http://www.bcgsc.ca/bioinfo/software.

Review of Pasteuria penetrans: Biology, Ecology, and Biological Control Potential.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Z X; Dickson, D W

1998-09-01

Pasteuria penetrans is a mycelial, endospore-forming, bacterial parasite that has shown great potential as a biological control agent of root-knot nematodes. Considerable progress has been made during the last 10 years in understanding its biology and importance as an agent capable of effectively suppressing root-knot nematodes in field soil. The objective of this review is to summarize the current knowledge of the biology, ecology, and biological control potential of P. penetrans and other Pasteuria members. Pasteuria spp. are distributed worldwide and have been reported from 323 nematode species belonging to 116 genera of free-living, predatory, plant-parasitic, and entomopathogenic nematodes. Artificial cultivation of P. penetrans has met with limited success; large-scale production of endospores depends on in vivo cultivation. Temperature affects endospore attachment, germination, pathogenesis, and completion of the life cycle in the nematode pseudocoelom. The biological control potential of Pasteuria spp. have been demonstrated on 20 crops; host nematodes include Belonolaimus longicaudatus, Heterodera spp., Meloidogyne spp., and Xiphinema diversicaudatum. Pasteuria penetrans plays an important role in some suppressive soils. The efficacy of the bacterium as a biological control agent has been examined. Approximately 100,000 endospores/g of soil provided immediate control of the peanut root-knot nematode, whereas 1,000 and 5,000 endospores/g of soil each amplified in the host nematode and became suppressive after 3 years.

Assessment of Knowledge of Participants on Basic Molecular Biology Techniques after 5-Day Intensive Molecular Biology Training Workshops in Nigeria

Science.gov (United States)

Yisau, J. I.; Adagbada, A. O.; Bamidele, T.; Fowora, M.; Brai, B. I. C.; Adebesin, O.; Bamidele, M.; Fesobi, T.; Nwaokorie, F. O.; Ajayi, A.; Smith, S. I.

2017-01-01

The deployment of molecular biology techniques for diagnosis and research in Nigeria is faced with a number of challenges, including the cost of equipment and reagents coupled with the dearth of personnel skilled in the procedures and handling of equipment. Short molecular biology training workshops were conducted at the Nigerian Institute of…

Looking Through a Social Lens: Conceptualising Social Aspects of Knowledge Management for Global Health Practitioners.

Science.gov (United States)

Limaye, Rupali J; Sullivan, Tara M; Dalessandro, Scott; Jenkins, Ann Hendrix

2017-04-13

Knowledge management plays a critical role in global health. Global health practitioners require knowledge in every aspect of their jobs, and in resource-scarce contexts, practitioners must be able to rely on a knowledge management system to access the latest research and practice to ensure the highest quality of care. However, we suggest that there is a gap in the way knowledge management is primarily utilized in global health, namely, the systematic incorporation of human and social factors. In this paper, we briefly outline the evolution of knowledge management and then propose a conceptualization of knowledge management that incorporates human and social factors for use within a global health context. Our conceptualization of social knowledge management recognizes the importance of social capital, social learning, social software and platforms, and social networks , all within the context of a larger social system and driven by social benefit . We then outline the limitations and discuss future directions of our conceptualization, and suggest how this new conceptualization is essential for any global health practitioner in the business of managing knowledge.

Field Markup Language: biological field representation in XML.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, David; Lovell, Nigel H; Dokos, Socrates

2007-01-01

With an ever increasing number of biological models available on the internet, a standardized modeling framework is required to allow information to be accessed or visualized. Based on the Physiome Modeling Framework, the Field Markup Language (FML) is being developed to describe and exchange field information for biological models. In this paper, we describe the basic features of FML, its supporting application framework and its ability to incorporate CellML models to construct tissue-scale biological models. As a typical application example, we present a spatially-heterogeneous cardiac pacemaker model which utilizes both FML and CellML to describe and solve the underlying equations of electrical activation and propagation.

The Manila Declaration concerning the ethical utilization of Asian biological resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

NN,

1992-01-01

— the maintenance of biological and cultural diversity is of global concern — developing countries are major centres of biological and cultural diversity — there is increased interest in biological material with medicinal and other economic values — indigenous peoples frequently possess knowledge

BayesMD: flexible biological modeling for motif discovery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tang, Man-Hung Eric; Krogh, Anders; Winther, Ole

2008-01-01

We present BayesMD, a Bayesian Motif Discovery model with several new features. Three different types of biological a priori knowledge are built into the framework in a modular fashion. A mixture of Dirichlets is used as prior over nucleotide probabilities in binding sites. It is trained on trans......We present BayesMD, a Bayesian Motif Discovery model with several new features. Three different types of biological a priori knowledge are built into the framework in a modular fashion. A mixture of Dirichlets is used as prior over nucleotide probabilities in binding sites. It is trained...

The use of concept maps during knowledge elicitation in ontology development processes – the nutrigenomics use case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Taylor Chris

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Incorporation of ontologies into annotations has enabled 'semantic integration' of complex data, making explicit the knowledge within a certain field. One of the major bottlenecks in developing bio-ontologies is the lack of a unified methodology. Different methodologies have been proposed for different scenarios, but there is no agreed-upon standard methodology for building ontologies. The involvement of geographically distributed domain experts, the need for domain experts to lead the design process, the application of the ontologies and the life cycles of bio-ontologies are amongst the features not considered by previously proposed methodologies. Results Here, we present a methodology for developing ontologies within the biological domain. We describe our scenario, competency questions, results and milestones for each methodological stage. We introduce the use of concept maps during knowledge acquisition phases as a feasible transition between domain expert and knowledge engineer. Conclusion The contributions of this paper are the thorough description of the steps we suggest when building an ontology, example use of concept maps, consideration of applicability to the development of lower-level ontologies and application to decentralised environments. We have found that within our scenario conceptual maps played an important role in the development process.

Technological Funds of Knowledge in Children's Play: Implications for Early Childhood Educators

Science.gov (United States)

Mawson, Brent

2011-01-01

The technological knowledge the children bring with them into early childhood settings is not well documented or understood. This article discusses the technological knowledge and understanding of the nature of technology present within children's collaborative play in two New Zealand early childhood settings. The children incorporated a wide…

Tub-Tag Labeling; Chemoenzymatic Incorporation of Unnatural Amino Acids.

Science.gov (United States)

Helma, Jonas; Leonhardt, Heinrich; Hackenberger, Christian P R; Schumacher, Dominik

2018-01-01

Tub-tag labeling is a chemoenzymatic method that enables the site-specific labeling of proteins. Here, the natural enzyme tubulin tyrosine ligase incorporates noncanonical tyrosine derivatives to the terminal carboxylic acid of proteins containing a 14-amino acid recognition sequence called Tub-tag. The tyrosine derivative carries a unique chemical reporter allowing for a subsequent bioorthogonal modification of proteins with a great variety of probes. Here, we describe the Tub-tag protein modification protocol in detail and explain its utilization to generate labeled proteins for advanced applications in cell biology, imaging, and diagnostics.

Basis of the biological decomposition of xenobiotica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, R. von

1993-01-01

The ability of micro-organisms to decompose different molecules and to use them as a source of carbon, nitrogen, sulphur or energy is the basis for all biological processes for cleaning up contaminated soil. Therefore, the knowledge of these decomposition processes is an important precondition for judging which contamination can be treated biologically at all and which materials can be decomposed biologically. The decomposition schemes of the most important harmful material classes (aliphatic, aromatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons) are introduced and the consequences which arise for the practical application in biological cleaning up of contaminated soils are discussed. (orig.) [de

The Molecular Era of Surfactant Biology

OpenAIRE

Whitsett, Jeffrey A.

2014-01-01

Advances in the physiology, biochemistry, molecular and cell biology of the pulmonary surfactant system transformed the clinical care and outcome of preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome. The molecular era of surfactant biology provided genetic insights into the pathogenesis of pulmonary disorders, previously termed “idiopathic” that affect newborn infants, children and adults. Knowledge related to the structure and function of the surfactant proteins and their roles in alveolar ...

Averaged Propulsive Body Acceleration (APBA Can Be Calculated from Biologging Tags That Incorporate Gyroscopes and Accelerometers to Estimate Swimming Speed, Hydrodynamic Drag and Energy Expenditure for Steller Sea Lions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colin Ware

Full Text Available Forces due to propulsion should approximate forces due to hydrodynamic drag for animals horizontally swimming at a constant speed with negligible buoyancy forces. Propulsive forces should also correlate with energy expenditures associated with locomotion-an important cost of foraging. As such, biologging tags containing accelerometers are being used to generate proxies for animal energy expenditures despite being unable to distinguish rotational movements from linear movements. However, recent miniaturizations of gyroscopes offer the possibility of resolving this shortcoming and obtaining better estimates of body accelerations of swimming animals. We derived accelerations using gyroscope data for swimming Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus, and determined how well the measured accelerations correlated with actual swimming speeds and with theoretical drag. We also compared dive averaged dynamic body acceleration estimates that incorporate gyroscope data, with the widely used Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration (ODBA metric, which does not use gyroscope data. Four Steller sea lions equipped with biologging tags were trained to swim alongside a boat cruising at steady speeds in the range of 4 to 10 kph. At each speed, and for each dive, we computed a measure called Gyro-Informed Dynamic Acceleration (GIDA using a method incorporating gyroscope data with accelerometer data. We derived a new metric-Averaged Propulsive Body Acceleration (APBA, which is the average gain in speed per flipper stroke divided by mean stroke cycle duration. Our results show that the gyro-based measure (APBA is a better predictor of speed than ODBA. We also found that APBA can estimate average thrust production during a single stroke-glide cycle, and can be used to estimate energy expended during swimming. The gyroscope-derived methods we describe should be generally applicable in swimming animals where propulsive accelerations can be clearly identified in the signal

A planning concept incorporating the knowledge of both planning and operations personnel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valenca, M M; Nepomuceno, L; Teixeira, J C.F.; Santos, Junior, A [Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP (Brazil)

1994-12-31

In this paper, the electrical operation planning problem and the available technological possibilities for the improvement of planner`s work process are analyzed. The importance of the expert`s experience in efficient operation plans production is pointed out. The useful knowledge in planning and operating environments and their automation by Artificial Intelligence techniques are evaluated. Finally, conception of a decision-making support system allowing the interaction of storage expertise with analysis programs proposed, in order to improve the planning process. (author) 15 refs., 4 figs.

An Introductory "How-to" Guide for Incorporating Microbiome Research into Integrative and Comparative Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohl, Kevin D

2017-10-01

Research on host-associated microbial communities has grown rapidly. Despite the great body of work, inclusion of microbiota-related questions into integrative and comparative biology is still lagging behind other disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to offer an introduction into the basic tools and techniques of host-microbe research. Specifically, what considerations should be made before embarking on such projects (types of samples, types of controls)? How is microbiome data analyzed and integrated with data measured from the hosts? How can researchers experimentally manipulate the microbiome? With this information, integrative and comparative biologists should be able to include host-microbe studies into their research and push the boundaries of both fields. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Testing a model of science process skills acquisition: An interaction with parents' education, preferred language, gender, science attitude, cognitive development, academic ability, and biology knowledge

Science.gov (United States)

Germann, Paul J.

Path analysis techniques were used to test a hypothesized structural model of direct and indirect causal effects of student variables on science process skills. The model was tested twice using data collected at the beginning and end of the school year from 67 9th- and 10th-grade biology students who lived in a rural Franco-American community in New England. Each student variable was found to have significant effects, accounting for approximately 80% of the variance in science process skills achievement. Academic ability, biology knowledge, and language preference had significant direct effects. There were significant mediated effects by cognitive development, parents' education, and attitude toward science in school. The variables of cognitive development and academic ability had the greatest total effects on science process skills. Implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed.

From systems biology to systems biomedicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Antony, Paul M A; Balling, Rudi; Vlassis, Nikos

2012-08-01

Systems Biology is about combining theory, technology, and targeted experiments in a way that drives not only data accumulation but knowledge as well. The challenge in Systems Biomedicine is to furthermore translate mechanistic insights in biological systems to clinical application, with the central aim of improving patients' quality of life. The challenge is to find theoretically well-chosen models for the contextually correct and intelligible representation of multi-scale biological systems. In this review, we discuss the current state of Systems Biology, highlight the emergence of Systems Biomedicine, and highlight some of the topics and views that we think are important for the efficient application of Systems Theory in Biomedicine. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FUZZY REASONING AND ITS TEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela SARPE

2006-01-01

Full Text Available The knowledge management systems based on artificial reasoning (KMAR tries to provide computers the capabilities of performing various intelligent tasks for which their human users resort to their knowledge and collective intelligence. There is a need for incorporating aspects of time and imprecision into knowledge management systems, considering appropriate semantic foundations. The aim of this paper is to present the FRTES, a real-time fuzzy expert system, embedded in a knowledge management system. Our expert system is a special possibilistic expert system, developed in order to focus on fuzzy knowledge.

Job Knowledge Test Design: A Cognitively-Oriented Approach

Science.gov (United States)

1993-07-01

34 developed by Gelman and Gallistel (1978) and now incorporated into knowledge engineering techniques for expert systems (Hayes-Roth, Waterman & Lenat... Gallistel , R. (1978). The child’s understanding of number. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Greeno, J. G. (1989). A perspective on thinking

The mammary gland in domestic ruminants: a systems biology perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Ana M; Bislev, Stine L; Bendixen, Emøke; Almeida, André M

2013-12-06

Milk and dairy products are central elements in the human diet. It is estimated that 108kg of milk per year are consumed per person worldwide. Therefore, dairy production represents a relevant fraction of the economies of many countries, being cattle, sheep, goat, water buffalo, and other ruminants the main species used worldwide. An adequate management of dairy farming cannot be achieved without the knowledge on the biological mechanisms behind lactation in ruminants. Thus, understanding the morphology, development and regulation of the mammary gland in health, disease and production is crucial. Presently, innovative and high-throughput technologies such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics allow a much broader and detailed knowledge on such issues. Additionally, the application of a systems biology approach to animal science is vastly growing, as new advances in one field of specialization or animal species lead to new lines of research in other areas or/and are expanded to other species. This article addresses how modern research approaches may help us understand long-known issues in mammary development, lactation biology and dairy production. Dairy production depends upon the knowledge of the morphology and regulation of the mammary gland and lactation. High-throughput technologies allow a much broader and detailed knowledge on the biology of the mammary gland. This paper reviews the major contributions that genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and proteomics approaches have provided to understand the regulation of the mammary gland in health, disease and production. In the context of mammary gland "omics"-based research, the integration of results using a Systems Biology Approach is of key importance. © 2013.

Adding Learning to Knowledge-Based Systems: Taking the "Artificial" Out of AI

Science.gov (United States)

Daniel L. Schmoldt

1997-01-01

Both, knowledge-based systems (KBS) development and maintenance require time-consuming analysis of domain knowledge. Where example cases exist, KBS can be built, and later updated, by incorporating learning capabilities into their architecture. This applies to both supervised and unsupervised learning scenarios. In this paper, the important issues for learning systems-...

Filling Knowledge Gaps for Mimivirus Entry, Uncoating, and Morphogenesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Andrade, Ana Cláudia Dos Santos Pereira; Rodrigues, Rodrigo Araújo Lima; Oliveira, Graziele Pereira; Andrade, Kétyllen Reis; Bonjardim, Cláudio Antônio; La Scola, Bernard; Kroon, Erna Geessien; Abrahão, Jônatas Santos

2017-11-15

Since the discovery of mimivirus, its unusual structural and genomic features have raised great interest in the study of its biology; however, many aspects concerning its replication cycle remain uncertain. In this study, extensive analyses of electron microscope images, as well as biological assay results, shed light on unclear points concerning the mimivirus replication cycle. We found that treatment with cytochalasin, a phagocytosis inhibitor, negatively impacted the incorporation of mimivirus particles by Acanthamoeba castellanii , causing a negative effect on viral growth in amoeba monolayers. Treatment of amoebas with bafilomicin significantly impacted mimivirus uncoating and replication. In conjunction with microscopic analyses, these data suggest that mimiviruses indeed depend on phagocytosis for entry into amoebas, and particle uncoating (and stargate opening) appears to be dependent on phagosome acidification. In-depth analyses of particle morphogenesis suggest that the mimivirus capsids are assembled from growing lamellar structures. Despite proposals from previous studies that genome acquisition occurs before the acquisition of fibrils, our results clearly demonstrate that the genome and fibrils can be acquired simultaneously. Our data suggest the existence of a specific area surrounding the core of the viral factory where particles acquire the surface fibrils. Furthermore, we reinforce the concept that defective particles can be formed even in the absence of virophages. Our work provides new information about unexplored steps in the life cycle of mimivirus. IMPORTANCE Investigating the viral life cycle is essential to a better understanding of virus biology. The combination of biological assays and microscopic images allows a clear view of the biological features of viruses. Since the discovery of mimivirus, many studies have been conducted to characterize its replication cycle, but many knowledge gaps remain to be filled. In this study, we conducted a

Cardiovascular toxicities of biological therapies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ryberg, Marianne

2013-01-01

The development of biological therapy is based on growing knowledge regarding the molecular changes required in cells for the development and progression of cancer to occur. Molecular targeted therapy is designed to inhibit the major molecular pathways identified as essential for a specific...

Biological soil disinfestation : a safe and effective approach for controlling soilborne pests and diseases

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lamers, J.G.; Wanten, P.J.; Blok, W.J.

2004-01-01

Biological soil disinfestation (bsd) is an environmentally friendly method to disinfest the soil from soilborne fungi and nematodes. With biological soil disinfestation a green manure crop (40 tonnes per ha) or other green biomass is homogeneously incorporated into the soil layer that has to be

Development of a Value Inquiry Model in Biology Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeong, Eun-Young; Kim, Young-Soo

2000-01-01

Points out the rapid advances in biology, increasing bioethical issues, and how students need to make rational decisions. Introduces a value inquiry model development that includes identifying and clarifying value problems; understanding biological knowledge related to conflict situations; considering, selecting, and evaluating each alternative;…

Infusing Outdoor Field Experiences into the Secondary Biology Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Owens, Ginny

1984-01-01

To offer students biological field experiences, teachers should use their own basic skills, be enthusiastic motivators, participate in community programs/courses/workshops to acquire additional skills/knowledge for outdoor biological education, plan outdoor excursions with safety considerations in mind, and use available resources for classroom…

Deficient Biological Motion Perception in Schizophrenia: Results from a Motion Noise Paradigm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jejoong eKim

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Schizophrenia patients exhibit deficient processing of perceptual and cognitive information. However, it is not well understood how basic perceptual deficits contribute to higher level cognitive problems in this mental disorder. Perception of biological motion, a motion-based cognitive recognition task, relies on both basic visual motion processing and social cognitive processing, thus providing a useful paradigm to evaluate the potentially hierarchical relationship between these two levels of information processing. Methods: In this study, we designed a biological motion paradigm in which basic visual motion signals were manipulated systematically by incorporating different levels of motion noise. We measured the performances of schizophrenia patients (n=21 and healthy controls (n=22 in this biological motion perception task, as well as in coherent motion detection, theory of mind, and a widely used biological motion recognition task. Results: Schizophrenia patients performed the biological motion perception task with significantly lower accuracy than healthy controls when perceptual signals were moderately degraded by noise. A more substantial degradation of perceptual signals, through using additional noise, impaired biological motion perception in both groups. Performance levels on biological motion recognition, coherent motion detection and theory of mind tasks were also reduced in patients. Conclusion: The results from the motion-noise biological motion paradigm indicate that in the presence of visual motion noise, the processing of biological motion information in schizophrenia is deficient. Combined with the results of poor basic visual motion perception (coherent motion task and biological motion recognition, the association between basic motion signals and biological motion perception suggests a need to incorporate the improvement of visual motion perception in social cognitive remediation.

Publishing activities improves undergraduate biology education.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Michelle K

2018-06-01

To improve undergraduate biology education, there is an urgent need for biology instructors to publish their innovative active-learning instructional materials in peer-reviewed journals. To do this, instructors can measure student knowledge about a variety of biology concepts, iteratively design activities, explore student learning outcomes and publish the results. Creating a set of well-vetted activities, searchable through a journal interface, saves other instructors time and encourages the use of active-learning instructional practices. For authors, these publications offer new opportunities to collaborate and can provide evidence of a commitment to using active-learning instructional techniques in the classroom.

Semantic Web meets Integrative Biology: a survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Huajun; Yu, Tong; Chen, Jake Y

2013-01-01

Integrative Biology (IB) uses experimental or computational quantitative technologies to characterize biological systems at the molecular, cellular, tissue and population levels. IB typically involves the integration of the data, knowledge and capabilities across disciplinary boundaries in order to solve complex problems. We identify a series of bioinformatics problems posed by interdisciplinary integration: (i) data integration that interconnects structured data across related biomedical domains; (ii) ontology integration that brings jargons, terminologies and taxonomies from various disciplines into a unified network of ontologies; (iii) knowledge integration that integrates disparate knowledge elements from multiple sources; (iv) service integration that build applications out of services provided by different vendors. We argue that IB can benefit significantly from the integration solutions enabled by Semantic Web (SW) technologies. The SW enables scientists to share content beyond the boundaries of applications and websites, resulting into a web of data that is meaningful and understandable to any computers. In this review, we provide insight into how SW technologies can be used to build open, standardized and interoperable solutions for interdisciplinary integration on a global basis. We present a rich set of case studies in system biology, integrative neuroscience, bio-pharmaceutics and translational medicine, to highlight the technical features and benefits of SW applications in IB.

iBiology: communicating the process of science.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodwin, Sarah S

2014-08-01

The Internet hosts an abundance of science video resources aimed at communicating scientific knowledge, including webinars, massive open online courses, and TED talks. Although these videos are efficient at disseminating information for diverse types of users, they often do not demonstrate the process of doing science, the excitement of scientific discovery, or how new scientific knowledge is developed. iBiology (www.ibiology.org), a project that creates open-access science videos about biology research and science-related topics, seeks to fill this need by producing videos by science leaders that make their ideas, stories, and experiences available to anyone with an Internet connection. © 2014 Goodwin. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Incorporation of massage into psychotherapy: an integrative and conjoint approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Posadzki, Paul; Parekh-Bhurke, Sheetal

2011-02-01

This article presents the potential integration of psychotherapy and massage when considering the essence of their beneficial effects. The essence of this model of practice is multifaceted, combining principles from anatomy, physiology and neuroscience with psychotherapy to benefit patient care. It has been advocated that possessing multidisciplinary knowledge from these areas of science enhances psychotherapists' holistic care of their depressive patients. A narrative review of the literatures and a qualitative, conceptual synthesis has been performed to create a new theoretical-pragmatic construct. This article introduces the concept of massage practice as a part of psychotherapy practice and presents the potential integration of psychotherapeutic knowledge with clinical decision-making and the management of depressive symptoms. The authors emphasize the usefulness of multi- and interdisciplinary knowledge in the psychotherapeutic process and explain how this knowledge might be extrapolated and incorporated into theoretical and practical settings to benefit depressive patients. The justification for this concept is also presented. The principles set out in this article may be a useful source of information for psychotherapists concerned about their patients' holistic well-being in addition to the psychopathology for which they have sought treatment. Researchers and psychotherapists can obtain valuable and additional knowledge through cross-fertilization of ideas across the arguments presented here.

The incorporation of gender perspective into Spanish health surveys.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohlfs, Izabella; Borrell, Carme; Artazcoz, Lucia; Escribà-Agüir, Vicenta

2007-12-01

Most studies into social determinants of health conducted in Spain based on data from health surveys have focused on social class inequalities. This paper aims to review the progressive incorporation of gender perspective and sex differences into health surveys in Spain, and to suggest design, data collection and analytical proposals as well as to make policy proposals. Changes introduced into health surveys in Spain since 1995 to incorporate gender perspective are examined, and proposals for the future are made, which would permit the analysis of differences in health between women and men as a result of biology or because of gender inequalities. The introduction of gender perspective in health surveys requires the incorporation of questions related to family setting and reproductive work, workplace and society in general to detect gender differences and inequalities (for example, domestic work, intimate partner violence, discrimination, contract type or working hours). Health indicators reflecting differential morbidity and taking into account the different life cycle stages must also be incorporated. Analyses ought to be disaggregated by sex and interpretation of results must consider the complex theoretical frameworks explaining the differences in health between men and women based on sex differences and those related to gender. Analysis of survey data ought to consider the impact of social, political and cultural constructs of each society. Any significant modification in procedures for collection of data relevant to the study of gender will require systematic coordination between institutions generating the data and researchers who are trained in and sensitive to the topic.

Schooling and Local Environmental Knowledge: Do They Complement or Substitute Each Other?

Science.gov (United States)

Reyes-Garcia, Victoria; Kightley, Eric; Ruiz-Mallen, Isabel; Fuentes-Pelaez, Nuria; Demps, Katie; Huanca, Tomas; Martinez-Rodriguez, Maria Ruth

2010-01-01

Schooling and the knowledge acquired at school have been considered both a cause of loss of indigenous knowledge (because it opens pathways to the non-indigenous world and worldviews) and a potential remedy to its demise (if educational curricula is aligned with indigenous realities by giving instruction in local languages and incorporating local…

Some tax implications of traditional knowledge under conventional ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The aim of this contribution is to consider the potential income tax consequences of this incorporation for those receiving income and incurring expenditure in relation to the use or disposal of traditional knowledge. List of keywords: Deductions, expenses, exempt income, gross income, income, person, tax consequences, ...

Biological warfare agents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duraipandian Thavaselvam

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The recent bioterrorist attacks using anthrax spores have emphasized the need to detect and decontaminate critical facilities in the shortest possible time. There has been a remarkable progress in the detection, protection and decontamination of biological warfare agents as many instrumentation platforms and detection methodologies are developed and commissioned. Even then the threat of biological warfare agents and their use in bioterrorist attacks still remain a leading cause of global concern. Furthermore in the past decade there have been threats due to the emerging new diseases and also the re-emergence of old diseases and development of antimicrobial resistance and spread to new geographical regions. The preparedness against these agents need complete knowledge about the disease, better research and training facilities, diagnostic facilities and improved public health system. This review on the biological warfare agents will provide information on the biological warfare agents, their mode of transmission and spread and also the detection systems available to detect them. In addition the current information on the availability of commercially available and developing technologies against biological warfare agents has also been discussed. The risk that arise due to the use of these agents in warfare or bioterrorism related scenario can be mitigated with the availability of improved detection technologies.

Biological warfare agents

Science.gov (United States)

Thavaselvam, Duraipandian; Vijayaraghavan, Rajagopalan

2010-01-01

The recent bioterrorist attacks using anthrax spores have emphasized the need to detect and decontaminate critical facilities in the shortest possible time. There has been a remarkable progress in the detection, protection and decontamination of biological warfare agents as many instrumentation platforms and detection methodologies are developed and commissioned. Even then the threat of biological warfare agents and their use in bioterrorist attacks still remain a leading cause of global concern. Furthermore in the past decade there have been threats due to the emerging new diseases and also the re-emergence of old diseases and development of antimicrobial resistance and spread to new geographical regions. The preparedness against these agents need complete knowledge about the disease, better research and training facilities, diagnostic facilities and improved public health system. This review on the biological warfare agents will provide information on the biological warfare agents, their mode of transmission and spread and also the detection systems available to detect them. In addition the current information on the availability of commercially available and developing technologies against biological warfare agents has also been discussed. The risk that arise due to the use of these agents in warfare or bioterrorism related scenario can be mitigated with the availability of improved detection technologies. PMID:21829313

ChemProt: a disease chemical biology database

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taboureau, Olivier; Nielsen, Sonny Kim; Audouze, Karine Marie Laure

2011-01-01

Systems pharmacology is an emergent area that studies drug action across multiple scales of complexity, from molecular and cellular to tissue and organism levels. There is a critical need to develop network-based approaches to integrate the growing body of chemical biology knowledge with network...... biology. Here, we report ChemProt, a disease chemical biology database, which is based on a compilation of multiple chemical-protein annotation resources, as well as disease-associated protein-protein interactions (PPIs). We assembled more than 700 000 unique chemicals with biological annotation for 30...... evaluation of environmental chemicals, natural products and approved drugs, as well as the selection of new compounds based on their activity profile against most known biological targets, including those related to adverse drug events. Results from the disease chemical biology database associate citalopram...

Knowledge models as agents of meaninful learning and knowledge creation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fermín María González García

2013-08-01

Full Text Available 0 0 1 172 952 USAL 7 2 1122 14.0 Normal 0 21 false false false ES JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:ES; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} The educational change that pushes the current context requires a shift in the unfortunately predominant positivist-behaviourist model that favours mechanical      memoristic learning, ideal breeding ground for the existence and maintenance of conceptual errors, to another cognitive-constructivist that stimulates meaningful learning to allow students to build and master knowledge, therefore to be more creative and critical. We present here a model of knowledge where students construct new knowledge as a result of significant learning. Students play an active role, learning not only about the product, but also about the process itself (meta-cognition. We also show how to promote teacher activity primarily in order to create the conditions that facilitate the student to transform the information in useful, substantive knowledge, to be  incorporated in his knowledge structure and in his long-term memory. Finally, we provide elements to measure what the student knows and to assess how their cognitive structure has changed regarding their ancient knowledge; that is, to assess the necessary conceptual change.

Exploring science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in the teaching of genetics in Swaziland

Science.gov (United States)

Mthethwa-Kunene, Khetsiwe Eunice Faith

Recent trends show that learners' enrolment and performance in science at secondary school level is dwindling. Some science topics including genetics in biology are said to be difficult for learners to learn and thus they perform poorly in examinations. Teacher knowledge base, particularly topic-specific pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), has been identified by many researchers as an important factor that is linked with learner understanding and achievement in science. This qualitative study was an attempt to explore the PCK of four successful biology teachers and how they developed it in the context of teaching genetics. The purposive sampling technique was employed to select the participating teachers based on their schools' performance in biology public examinations and recommendations by science specialists and school principals. Pedagogical content knowledge was used as a theoretical framework for the study, which guided the inquiry in data collection, analysis and discussion of the research findings. The study adopted the case study method and various sources of evidence including concept maps, lesson plans, pre-lesson interviews, lesson observations, post-teaching teacher questionnaire, post-lesson interviews and document analysis were used to collect data on teachers' PCK as well as how PCK was assumed to have developed. The data were analysed in an attempt to determine the individual teachers' school genetics' content knowledge, related knowledge of instructional strategies and knowledge of learners' preconceptions and learning difficulties. The analysis involved an iterative process of coding data into PCK categories of content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of learners' preconceptions and learning difficulties. The findings of the study indicate that the four successful biology teachers generally have the necessary content knowledge of school genetics, used certain topic-specific instructional strategies, but lacked knowledge of

IS IT POSSIBLE TO INTEGRATE BASIC BIOLOGICAL DISCIPLINES IN A PRIVATE INSTITUTION?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L.A. Azzalis

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Basic biological disciplines as biochemistry, genetic and molecular biology have grown faster than any of other sciences. Moreover, those disciplines contribute to the understanding and treatment of an elevated number of illnesses. On the other hand, teachers cannot assure the graduating students that each particular discipline  is essential.  Furthermore,  those disciplines are often studied separately without any interdisciplinary integration between them.  The new curriculum proposed at Anhembi Morumbi University  - a private institution placed at São Paulo city  - incorporates learning blocks that  have been designed to integrate basic biological disciplines and clinical contents from the beginning in order to provide the stimulation and motivation to guide the  student through his learning.  The educational trend has concentrated on the following steps: 1 Biochemistry, genetic, cellular and molecular biology teachers´ from that institution have elaborated a new discipline  that was named Biologic Process. The aim of this new discipline was integrate basic biological sciences in a single content;  2  Selecting problems that could be discussed in the light of biochemistry, genetic and molecular contents; e.g. sickle cell anemia; 3 Developing  an innovative instructional method that challenges students “learn to learn” different from problem-based learning , economically unavailable at any particular university,  and  4 Assessments that measure knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs.  We believe that the future pedagogical system in  private health university will be a combination of “classical”  presentation of contents combined with actively involved students in the educational process and instruction based on either hypothetical  or real clinical cases in order to create  the stimulus for  the student continues to  integrate basic and clinical investigation.

Developing Guided Inquiry-Based Student Lab Worksheet for Laboratory Knowledge Course

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmi, Y. L.; Novriyanti, E.; Ardi, A.; Rifandi, R.

2018-04-01

The course of laboratory knowledge is an introductory course for biology students to follow various lectures practicing in the biology laboratory. Learning activities of laboratory knowledge course at this time in the Biology Department, Universitas Negeri Padang has not been completed by supporting learning media such as student lab worksheet. Guided inquiry learning model is one of the learning models that can be integrated into laboratory activity. The study aimed to produce student lab worksheet based on guided inquiry for laboratory knowledge course and to determine the validity of lab worksheet. The research was conducted using research and developmet (R&D) model. The instruments used in data collection in this research were questionnaire for student needed analysis and questionnaire to measure the student lab worksheet validity. The data obtained was quantitative from several validators. The validators consist of three lecturers. The percentage of a student lab worksheet validity was 94.18 which can be categorized was very good.

Biologically Inspired Micro-Flight Research

Science.gov (United States)

Raney, David L.; Waszak, Martin R.

2003-01-01

Natural fliers demonstrate a diverse array of flight capabilities, many of which are poorly understood. NASA has established a research project to explore and exploit flight technologies inspired by biological systems. One part of this project focuses on dynamic modeling and control of micro aerial vehicles that incorporate flexible wing structures inspired by natural fliers such as insects, hummingbirds and bats. With a vast number of potential civil and military applications, micro aerial vehicles represent an emerging sector of the aerospace market. This paper describes an ongoing research activity in which mechanization and control concepts for biologically inspired micro aerial vehicles are being explored. Research activities focusing on a flexible fixed- wing micro aerial vehicle design and a flapping-based micro aerial vehicle concept are presented.

Reflections on rural people's knowledge and skill and relevance in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

UNLICENSED

objective is to assess the relevance of indigenous knowledge in agriculture. ... transmit the knowledge to the youths and researchers to document it and government to protect it. ... mechanisms to protect the earth's biological diversity. ... and other development agencies to embrace Agenda 21 as .... ecological characteristics.

Integration of biological, economic and sociological knowledge by Bayesian belief networks: the interdisciplinary evaluation of potential management plans for Baltic salmon

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Levontin, Polina; Kulmala, Soile; Haapasaari, Päivi Elisabet

2011-01-01

There is a growing need to evaluate fisheries management plans in a comprehensive interdisciplinary context involving stakeholders. The use of a probabilistic management model to evaluate potential management plans for Baltic salmon fisheries is demonstrated. The analysis draws on several scientific...... studies: a biological stock assessment with integrated economic analysis of the commercial fisheries, an evaluation of recreational fisheries, and a sociological study aimed at understanding stakeholder perspectives and potential commitment to alternative management plans. A Bayesian belief network is used...... is highlighted by modelling the link between commitment and implementation success. Such analyses, relying on prior knowledge, can forewarn of the consequences of management choices before they are implemented...

Nutrition knowledge of young, post-year one, non-biological science ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Methodology: Data were collected from engineering and computer science students using semi-structured questionnaire. Analysis was by frequency, percentage and SPSS version 20 statistical soft-ware. Results: Students generally had fair nutrition knowledge (59.7%). Further, 10.1% of engineering and 3.2% of computer ...

Biology relevant to space radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fry, R.J.M.

1996-01-01

The biological effects of the radiations to which mankind on earth are exposed are becoming known with an increasing degree of detail. This knowledge is the basis of the estimates of risk that, in turn, fosters a comprehensive and evolving radiation protection system. The substantial body of information has been, and is being, applied to questions about the biological effects of radiation is space and the associated risk estimates. The purpose of this paper is not to recount all the biological effect of radiation but to concentrate on those that may occur as a result from exposure to the radiations encountered in space. In general, the biological effects of radiation in space are the same as those on earth. However, the evidence that the effects on certain tissues by the heaviest-charged particles can be interpreted on the basis of our knowledge about other high-LET radiation is equivocal. This specific question will be discussed in greater detail later. It is important to point out the that there are only limited data about the effects on humans of two components of the radiations in space, namely protons and heavy ions. Thus predictions of effects on space crews are based on experimental systems exposed on earth at rates and fluences that are higher than those in space and one the effects of gamma or x rays with estimates of the equivalent doses using quality factors

Challenges and progress in predicting biological responses to incorporated radioactivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Howell, R. W.; Neti, P. V. S. V.; Pinto, M.; Gerashchenko, B. I.; Narra, V. R.; Azzam, E. I.

2006-01-01

Prediction of risks and therapeutic outcome in nuclear medicine largely rely on calculation of the absorbed dose. Absorbed dose specification is complex due to the wide variety of radiations emitted, non-uniform activity distribution, biokinetics, etc. Conventional organ absorbed dose estimates assumed that radioactivity is distributed uniformly throughout the organ. However, there have been dramatic improvements in dosimetry models that reflect the substructure of organs as well as tissue elements within them. These models rely on improved nuclear medicine imaging capabilities that facilitate determination of activity within voxels that represent tissue elements of ∼0.2-1 cm 3 . However, even these improved approaches assume that all cells within the tissue element receive the same dose. The tissue element may be comprised of a variety of cells having different radiosensitivities and different incorporated radioactivity. Furthermore, the extent to which non-uniform distributions of radioactivity within a small tissue element impact the absorbed dose distribution is strongly dependent on the number, type, and energy of the radiations emitted by the radionuclide. It is also necessary to know whether the dose to a given cell arises from radioactive decays within itself (self-dose) or decays in surrounding cells (cross-dose). Cellular response to self-dose can be considerably different than its response to cross-dose from the same radiopharmaceutical. Bystander effects can also play a role in the response. Evidence shows that even under conditions of 'uniform' distribution of radioactivity, a combination of organ dosimetry, voxel dosimetry and dosimetry at the cellular and multicellular levels can be required to predict response. (authors)

Synthesis and characterization of novel halloysite-incorporated adhesive resins.

Science.gov (United States)

Feitosa, Sabrina A; Münchow, Eliseu A; Al-Zain, Afnan O; Kamocki, Krzysztof; Platt, Jeffrey A; Bottino, Marco C

2015-11-01

To investigate the effects of Halloysite® aluminosilicate clay nanotubes (HNTs) addition on selected physical, mechanical, and biological properties of experimental adhesive resins. Experimental dentin adhesive resins were prepared by mixing Bis-GMA, TEGDMA, HEMA (50/25/25wt.%), and photo-initiators. As-received HNTs were then incorporated into the resin mixture at distinct concentrations: 0 (HNT-free, control), 1, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, and 20wt.%. The degree of conversion (DC), radiopacity (RP), Knoop hardness (KHN), flexural strength (FS), and cytotoxicity analyses were carried out for each adhesive formulation. The adhesive resin of Adper Scotchbond Multi-Purpose (SBMP) was used as the commercially available reference for both the RP and cytotoxicity tests. Data were statistically analyzed using One-Way ANOVA and Tukey's test (p≤0.05). All adhesives exhibited similar DC (p=0.1931). The RP of adhesives was improved with the addition of up to 5wt.% of HNTs (p<0.001). Adhesives containing 5-10wt.% of HNTs led to greater KHN when compared to the control (p<0.001). The FS was reduced only when 20wt.% of HNTs was added (p≤0.001). None of the prepared adhesives was cytotoxic. The incorporation of up to 10wt.% of HNTs into the adhesive resins did not jeopardize the tested physical and biological properties. When using HNTs as carriers of drugs/bioactive compounds, the amount of the former added into adhesive resin materials should not exceed 10wt.%; otherwise, a significant reduction in physicomechanical properties may be expected. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessing exposure and health consequences of chemicals in drinking water: current state of knowledge and research needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Villanueva, Cristina M; Kogevinas, Manolis; Cordier, Sylvaine; Templeton, Michael R; Vermeulen, Roel; Nuckols, John R; Nieuwenhuijsen, Mark J; Levallois, Patrick

2014-03-01

Safe drinking water is essential for well-being. Although microbiological contamination remains the largest cause of water-related morbidity and mortality globally, chemicals in water supplies may also cause disease, and evidence of the human health consequences is limited or lacking for many of them. We aimed to summarize the state of knowledge, identify gaps in understanding, and provide recommendations for epidemiological research relating to chemicals occurring in drinking water. Assessing exposure and the health consequences of chemicals in drinking water is challenging. Exposures are typically at low concentrations, measurements in water are frequently insufficient, chemicals are present in mixtures, exposure periods are usually long, multiple exposure routes may be involved, and valid biomarkers reflecting the relevant exposure period are scarce. In addition, the magnitude of the relative risks tends to be small. Research should include well-designed epidemiological studies covering regions with contrasting contaminant levels and sufficient sample size; comprehensive evaluation of contaminant occurrence in combination with bioassays integrating the effect of complex mixtures; sufficient numbers of measurements in water to evaluate geographical and temporal variability; detailed information on personal habits resulting in exposure (e.g., ingestion, showering, swimming, diet); collection of biological samples to measure relevant biomarkers; and advanced statistical models to estimate exposure and relative risks, considering methods to address measurement error. Last, the incorporation of molecular markers of early biological effects and genetic susceptibility is essential to understand the mechanisms of action. There is a particular knowledge gap and need to evaluate human exposure and the risks of a wide range of emerging contaminants. Villanueva CM, Kogevinas M, Cordier S, Templeton MR, Vermeulen R, Nuckols JR, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Levallois P. 2014. Assessing

Incorporation of silver and strontium in hydroxyapatite coating on titanium surface for enhanced antibacterial and biological properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geng, Zhen [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Wang, Renfeng [School of Laboratory Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Zhuo, Xianglong, E-mail: doctorzhuo@139.com [Department of Spinal Surgery, Liuzhou Worker' s Hospital, Liuzhou 545001 (China); Li, Zhaoyang, E-mail: zyli@tju.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072 (China); Huang, Yongcan [Orthopedics Research Center, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen 518036 (China); Ma, Lili; Cui, Zhenduo [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Zhu, Shengli [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072 (China); Liang, Yanqin [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Liu, Yunde; Bao, Huijing; Li, Xue; Huo, Qianyu; Liu, Zhili [School of Laboratory Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Yang, Xianjin, E-mail: xjyang@tju.edu.cn [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072 (China); Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin 300072 (China)

2017-02-01

Implant-related infection in primary total joint prostheses has attracted considerable research attention. As a measure to improve the antimicrobial properties of implant materials, silver (Ag) was incorporated into calcium phosphate (CaP) coatings on Titanium (Ti) via a hydrothermal method. Further, strontium (Sr) was added as a binary dopant to reduce the cytotoxicity of Ag in the coatings. Results showed that the CaP coatings were uniformly deposited on Ti with enhanced hydrophilicity and nanoscale surface roughness. Moreover, cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation were improved after the CaP coating deposition. The antibacterial properties of the coatings were distinctly improved by the incorporation of Ag, but the cell proliferation and differentiation were significantly decreased. Owing to the incorporation of Sr, the Ag-CaP coatings were able to effectively counteract the negative effects of Ag while maintaining good antibacterial properties. In summary, hydrothermally deposited CaP coatings doped with Ag and Sr exhibit excellent biocompatibility and antimicrobial activity. Thus, such co-doped CaP coatings have considerable potential for orthopaedic implant modification. - Highlights: • Ag- and Sr-substituted HA coating is deposited on titanium by hydrothermal method. • This coating shows a remarkable antibacterial activity and good biocompatibility. • The coating process is simple and suitable for large-scale fabrication. • The possible mechanism of Sr{sup 2+} is proposed.

Turkish university students' knowledge of biotechnology and attitudes toward biotechnological applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Öztürk-Akar, Ebru

2017-03-04

This study questions the presumed relation between formal schooling and scientific literacy about biotechnologies. Comparing science and nonscience majors' knowledge of and attitudes toward biotechnological applications, conclusions are drawn if their formal learnings improve pupils' understandings of and attitudes toward biotechnology applications. Sample of the study consists of 403 undergraduate and graduate students, 198 nonscience, and 205 science majors. The Biotechnology Knowledge Questionnaire and the Biotechnology Attitude Questionnaire were administered. Descriptive statistics (mean and percentages), t test, and correlations were used to examine the participants' knowledge of biotechnology and attitudes toward biotechnological applications and differences as regards their majors. Although the science majors had higher knowledge and attitude scores than the nonscience majors, it is not possible to say that they have sufficient knowledge of biotechnologies. Besides, the participants' attitudes toward biotechnological applications were not considerably related to their knowledge of biotechnology. © 2016 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(2):115-125, 2017. © 2016 The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Reconceptualising water quality governance to incorporate knowledge and values: Case studies from Australian and Brazilian Indigenous communities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kate A. Berry

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the significance of knowledge and values for water quality and its governance. Modernist approaches to the governance of water quality in rivers and lakes need to be reconceptualised and overhauled. The problems include: perceiving water only as a physical and chemical liquid, defining quality in narrow terms, rendering water knowledge as invisible, boiling down water values to uses of presumed economic importance and limiting how and by whom objectives are set or actions taken. In addressing the need to reframe water quality governance, and as a counter to the objectification of water quality, we propose a framework that explicitly recognises the significance of knowledge and values relating to water. While our framework could apply to other contexts under the influence of modernist water-management regimes, here we pay particular attention to the relevance of the water knowledge, values and governance of water quality by Indigenous people. In the second half of the paper we address issues related to Indigenous water-quality governance in two countries, Brazil and Australia, showing some of the ways in which, despite enormous obstacles, Indigenous communities re-work governance structures through their engagements with water quality and pay attention to water knowledge and values.

Scientific Opinion on Risk Assessment of Synthetic Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Michelle M; Vermeire, Theo

2016-08-01

In 2013, three Scientific Committees of the European Commission (EC) drafted Scientific Opinions on synthetic biology that provide an operational definition and address risk assessment methodology, safety aspects, environmental risks, knowledge gaps, and research priorities. These Opinions contribute to the international discussions on the risk governance for synthetic biology developments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge representation for integrated plant operation and maintenance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lind, Morten

2010-01-01

Integrated operation and maintenance of process plants has many advantages. One advantage is the improved economy obtained by reducing the number of plant shutdowns. Another is to increase reliability of operation by monitoring of risk levels during on-line maintenance. Integrated plant operation...... and maintenance require knowledge bases which can capture the interactions between the two plant activities. As an example, taking out a component or a subsystem for maintenance during operation will require a knowledge base representing the interactions between plant structure, functions, operating states...... and goals and incorporate knowledge about redundancy and reliability data. Multilevel Flow Modeling can be used build knowledge bases representing plant goals and functions and has been applied for fault diagnosis and supervisory control but currently it does not take into account structural information...

A Diagnostic Assessment for Introductory Molecular and Cell Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Jia; Wood, William B.; Martin, Jennifer M.; Guild, Nancy A.; Vicens, Quentin; Knight, Jennifer K.

2010-01-01

We have developed and validated a tool for assessing understanding of a selection of fundamental concepts and basic knowledge in undergraduate introductory molecular and cell biology, focusing on areas in which students often have misconceptions. This multiple-choice Introductory Molecular and Cell Biology Assessment (IMCA) instrument is designed…

Isotopic incorporation rates and discrimination factors in mantis shrimp crustaceans.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maya S deVries

Full Text Available Stable isotope analysis has provided insights into the trophic ecology of a wide diversity of animals. Knowledge about isotopic incorporation rates and isotopic discrimination between the consumer and its diet for different tissue types is essential for interpreting stable isotope data, but these parameters remain understudied in many animal taxa and particularly in aquatic invertebrates. We performed a 292-day diet shift experiment on 92 individuals of the predatory mantis shrimp, Neogonodactylus bredini, to quantify carbon and nitrogen incorporation rates and isotope discrimination factors in muscle and hemolymph tissues. Average isotopic discrimination factors between mantis shrimp muscle and the new diet were 3.0 ± 0.6 ‰ and 0.9 ± 0.3 ‰ for carbon and nitrogen, respectively, which is contrary to what is seen in many other animals (e.g. C and N discrimination is generally 0-1 ‰ and 3-4 ‰, respectively. Surprisingly, the average residence time of nitrogen in hemolymph (28.9 ± 8.3 days was over 8 times longer than that of carbon (3.4 ± 1.4 days. In muscle, the average residence times of carbon and nitrogen were of the same magnitude (89.3 ± 44.4 and 72.8 ± 18.8 days, respectively. We compared the mantis shrimps' incorporation rates, along with rates from four other invertebrate taxa from the literature, to those predicted by an allometric equation relating carbon incorporation rate to body mass that was developed for teleost fishes and sharks. The rate of carbon incorporation into muscle was consistent with rates predicted by this equation. Our findings provide new insight into isotopic discrimination factors and incorporation rates in invertebrates with the former showing a different trend than what is commonly observed in other animals.

Enhancing Conceptual Knowledge of Energy in Biology with Incorrect Representations

Science.gov (United States)

Wernecke, Ulrike; Schütte, Kerstin; Schwanewedel, Julia; Harms, Ute

2018-01-01

Energy is an important concept in all natural sciences, and a challenging one for school science education. Students' conceptual knowledge of energy is often low, and they entertain misconceptions. Educational research in science and mathematics suggests that learning through depictive representations and learning from errors, based on the theory…

Adapting Knowledge Translation Strategies for Rare Rheumatic Diseases.

Science.gov (United States)

Cellucci, Tania; Lee, Shirley; Webster, Fiona

2016-08-01

Rare rheumatic diseases present unique challenges to knowledge translation (KT) researchers. There is often an urgent need to transfer knowledge from research findings into clinical practice to facilitate earlier diagnosis and better outcomes. However, existing KT frameworks have not addressed the specific considerations surrounding rare diseases for which gold standard evidence is not available. Several widely adopted models provide guidance for processes and problems associated with KT. However, they do not address issues surrounding creation or synthesis of knowledge for rare diseases. Additional problems relate to lack of awareness or experience in intended knowledge users, low motivation, and potential barriers to changing practice or policy. Strategies to address the challenges of KT for rare rheumatic diseases include considering different levels of evidence available, linking knowledge creation and transfer directly, incorporating patient and physician advocacy efforts to generate awareness of conditions, and selecting strategies to address barriers to practice or policy change.

Conceptual Barriers to Progress Within Evolutionary Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Laland, Kevin N; Odling-Smee, John; Feldman, Marcus W; Kendal, Jeremy

2009-08-01

In spite of its success, Neo-Darwinism is faced with major conceptual barriers to further progress, deriving directly from its metaphysical foundations. Most importantly, neo-Darwinism fails to recognize a fundamental cause of evolutionary change, "niche construction". This failure restricts the generality of evolutionary theory, and introduces inaccuracies. It also hinders the integration of evolutionary biology with neighbouring disciplines, including ecosystem ecology, developmental biology, and the human sciences. Ecology is forced to become a divided discipline, developmental biology is stubbornly difficult to reconcile with evolutionary theory, and the majority of biologists and social scientists are still unhappy with evolutionary accounts of human behaviour. The incorporation of niche construction as both a cause and a product of evolution removes these disciplinary boundaries while greatly generalizing the explanatory power of evolutionary theory.

International network on incorporation of ageing effects into PSA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kirchsteiger, C.; Patrik, M.

2006-01-01

This paper describes the background and status of a new International Network on ''Incorporating Ageing Effects into Probabilistic Safety Assessment''. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission organized in September 2004 the kickoff meeting of this Network at JRC's Institute for Energy in Petten, Netherlands, with the aims to open the APSA Network, to start discussion of ageing issues in relation to incorporating ageing effects into PSA tools and to come to consensus on objectives and work packages of the Network, taking into account the specific expectations of potential Network partners. The presentations and discussions at the meeting confirmed the main conclusion from the previously organized PSAM 7 pre-conference workshop on ''Incorporating PSA into Ageing Management'', Budapest, June 2004, namely that incorporating ageing effects into PSA seems to be more and more a hot topic particularly for risk assessment and ageing management of nuclear power plants operating at advanced age (more than 25-30 years) and for the purpose of plant life extension. However, it also appeared that, especially regarding the situation in Europe, at present there are several on-going feasibility or full studies in this area, but not yet a completed Ageing PSA leading to applications. The project's working method is a NETWORK of operators, industry, research, academia and consultants with an active interest in the area (physical networking via a series of workshops and virtual networking via the Internet). The resulting knowledge should help PSA developers and users to incorporate the effects of equipment ageing into current PSA tools and models, to identify and/or develop most effective corresponding methods, to focus on dominant ageing contributors and components and to promote the use of PSA for ageing management of Nuclear Power Plants. (orig.)

Planning and Nuclear Knowledge Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grance Torales, V.L.; Lira, L.

2016-01-01

Full text: The present case aims to share the experience of the Intellectual Capital Section (ICS), part of Planning, Coordination and Control Department of the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) in its search for a sustainable knowledge management. Among the strategic objectives included in CNEA’s Strategic Plan (SP), is the development, preservation and transference of knowledge and experience. Under this framework, the role initially assumed by the ICS, consisted on the observation and diagnosis of the situation of the Institutional Human Capital (HC), through the study of the main characteristics of the staff of CNEA. The second stage of SP (2015–2025), which consisted of updating the HC data, the incorporation of the concept of “knowledge management” was approved by the authorities of the Institution. Based on this background, in 2016 the objectives of the ICS are aimed at organizing and coordinating a network of knowledge management that involves the entire organization. This new phase implies, among other things, the proposal of a knowledge management policy, interaction with other sectors of CNEA for implementation, analysis of the tools to be used, in order to determine a way and work style that suits the culture and structure of the organization. (author

Experiencing Our Anatomy: Incorporating Human Biology into Dance Class via Imagery, Imagination, and Somatics

Science.gov (United States)

Kirk, Johanna

2014-01-01

This article proposes a model for introducing biological perspectives into teaching dance as a means to encourage students toward deeper, healthier, and more personal relationships with their art form as well as appreciation for their physical and cognitive abilities, both inside and outside of the dance studio. It recommends that dance teachers…

Direct Evidence of Mg Incorporation Pathway in Vapor-Liquid-Solid Grown p-type Nonpolar GaN Nanowires

OpenAIRE

Patsha, Avinash; Amirthapandian, S.; Pandian, Ramanathaswamy; Bera, S.; Bhattacharya, Anirban; Dhara, Sandip

2015-01-01

Doping of III-nitride based compound semiconductor nanowires is still a challenging issue to have a control over the dopant distribution in precise locations of the nanowire optoelectronic devices. Knowledge of the dopant incorporation and its pathways in nanowires for such devices is limited by the growth methods. We report the direct evidence of incorporation pathway for Mg dopants in p-type nonpolar GaN nanowires grown via vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) method in a chemical vapour deposition te...

Incorporation of Nuclear Knowledge Management to the Integrated System of Quality and Technological Innovation in Cubaenergía

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oviedo Rivero, I.; González García, A.; Amado Picasso, M.; Yera López, B.; Contreras, M.; López Núñez, A.; García Rodríguez, B.; Elías Hardy, L. L.; Rivero Blanco, J. M.; Peña Tornet, A.; Quintana Castillo, N.

2016-01-01

Full text: Technical knowledge management and innovation become important tools for organizations to meet the needs and expectations of the market and society in general; especially those related to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Since 2011 Cubaenergia, under the model of the UNE 166002, integrated process management Scientific and Technological Innovation to the requirements of NC-ISO 9001, compliance with national regulations applicable to the sector. In September 2015 the new ISO 9001 includes a clause that makes explicit mention knowledge. Although this clause is not a standard for knowledge management nor does it imply its obligatory; Cubaenergia decided to expand its integrated management system to include the Nuclear Knowledge Management system. In this article the conceptual framework for the integration of these three systems, diagnosis in the organization and the proposed design and implementation plan of management knowledge management integrated analyzes R&D and the quality management system in Cubaenergía. (author

Impact of biology knowledge on the conservation and management of large pelagic sharks.

Science.gov (United States)

Yokoi, Hiroki; Ijima, Hirotaka; Ohshimo, Seiji; Yokawa, Kotaro

2017-09-06

Population growth rate, which depends on several biological parameters, is valuable information for the conservation and management of pelagic sharks, such as blue and shortfin mako sharks. However, reported biological parameters for estimating the population growth rates of these sharks differ by sex and display large variability. To estimate the appropriate population growth rate and clarify relationships between growth rate and relevant biological parameters, we developed a two-sex age-structured matrix population model and estimated the population growth rate using combinations of biological parameters. We addressed elasticity analysis and clarified the population growth rate sensitivity. For the blue shark, the estimated median population growth rate was 0.384 with a range of minimum and maximum values of 0.195-0.533, whereas those values of the shortfin mako shark were 0.102 and 0.007-0.318, respectively. The maturity age of male sharks had the largest impact for blue sharks, whereas that of female sharks had the largest impact for shortfin mako sharks. Hypotheses for the survival process of sharks also had a large impact on the population growth rate estimation. Both shark maturity age and survival rate were based on ageing validation data, indicating the importance of validating the quality of these data for the conservation and management of large pelagic sharks.

Socioscientific Argumentation: The effects of content knowledge and morality

Science.gov (United States)

Sadler, Troy D.; Donnelly, Lisa A.

2006-10-01

Broad support exists within the science education community for the incorporation of socioscientific issues (SSI) and argumentation in the science curriculum. This study investigates how content knowledge and morality contribute to the quality of SSI argumentation among high school students. We employed a mixed-methods approach: 56 participants completed tests of content knowledge and moral reasoning as well as interviews, related to SSI topics, which were scored based on a rubric for argumentation quality. Multiple regression analyses revealed no statistically significant relationships among content knowledge, moral reasoning, and argumentation quality. Qualitative analyses of the interview transcripts supported the quantitative results in that participants very infrequently revealed patterns of content knowledge application. However, most of the participants did perceive the SSI as moral problems. We propose a “Threshold Model of Knowledge Transfer” to account for the relationship between content knowledge and argumentation quality. Implications for science education are discussed.

Systems Biology Graphical Notation: Process Description language Level 1 Version 1.3.

Science.gov (United States)

Moodie, Stuart; Le Novère, Nicolas; Demir, Emek; Mi, Huaiyu; Villéger, Alice

2015-09-04

The Systems Biological Graphical Notation (SBGN) is an international community effort for standardized graphical representations of biological pathways and networks. The goal of SBGN is to provide unambiguous pathway and network maps for readers with different scientific backgrounds as well as to support efficient and accurate exchange of biological knowledge between different research communities, industry, and other players in systems biology. Three SBGN languages, Process Description (PD), Entity Relationship (ER) and Activity Flow (AF), allow for the representation of different aspects of biological and biochemical systems at different levels of detail. The SBGN Process Description language represents biological entities and processes between these entities within a network. SBGN PD focuses on the mechanistic description and temporal dependencies of biological interactions and transformations. The nodes (elements) are split into entity nodes describing, e.g., metabolites, proteins, genes and complexes, and process nodes describing, e.g., reactions and associations. The edges (connections) provide descriptions of relationships (or influences) between the nodes, such as consumption, production, stimulation and inhibition. Among all three languages of SBGN, PD is the closest to metabolic and regulatory pathways in biological literature and textbooks, but its well-defined semantics offer a superior precision in expressing biological knowledge.

Rumen microbial growth estimation using in vitro radiophosphorous incorporation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bueno, Ives Claudio da Silva; Machado, Mariana de Carvalho; Cabral Filho, Sergio Lucio Salomon; Gobbo, Sarita Priscila; Vitti, Dorinha Miriam Silber Schmidt; Abdalla, Adibe Luiz

2002-01-01

Rumen microorganisms are able to transform low biological value nitrogen of feed stuff into high quality protein. To determine how much microbial protein that process forms, radiomarkers can be used. Radiophosphorous has been used to mark microbial protein, as element P is present in all rumen microorganisms (as phospholipids) and the P:N ratio of rumen biomass is quite constant. The aim of this work was to estimate microbial synthesis from feedstuff commonly used in ruminant nutrition in Brazil. Tested feeds were fresh alfalfa, raw sugarcane bagasse, rice hulls, rice meal, soybean meal, wheat meal, Tifton hay, leucaena, dehydrated citrus pulp, wet brewers' grains and cottonseed meal. 32 P-labelled phosphate solution was used as marker for microbial protein. Results showed the diversity of feeds by distinct quantities of nitrogen incorporated into microbial mass. Low nutrient availability feeds (sugarcane bagasse and rice hulls) promoted the lowest values of incorporated nitrogen. Nitrogen incorporation showed positive relationship (r=0.56; P=0.06) with the rate of degradation and negative relationship (r=-0.59; P<0.05) with fiber content of feeds. The results highlight that easier fermentable feeds (higher rates of degradation) and/or with lower fiber contents promote a more efficient microbial growth and better performance for the host animal. (author)

Rumen microbial growth estimation using in vitro radiophosphorous incorporation technique

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bueno, Ives Claudio da Silva; Machado, Mariana de Carvalho; Cabral Filho, Sergio Lucio Salomon; Gobbo, Sarita Priscila; Vitti, Dorinha Miriam Silber Schmidt; Abdalla, Adibe Luiz [Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA), Piracicaba, SP (Brazil)

2002-07-01

Rumen microorganisms are able to transform low biological value nitrogen of feed stuff into high quality protein. To determine how much microbial protein that process forms, radiomarkers can be used. Radiophosphorous has been used to mark microbial protein, as element P is present in all rumen microorganisms (as phospholipids) and the P:N ratio of rumen biomass is quite constant. The aim of this work was to estimate microbial synthesis from feedstuff commonly used in ruminant nutrition in Brazil. Tested feeds were fresh alfalfa, raw sugarcane bagasse, rice hulls, rice meal, soybean meal, wheat meal, Tifton hay, leucaena, dehydrated citrus pulp, wet brewers' grains and cottonseed meal. {sup 32} P-labelled phosphate solution was used as marker for microbial protein. Results showed the diversity of feeds by distinct quantities of nitrogen incorporated into microbial mass. Low nutrient availability feeds (sugarcane bagasse and rice hulls) promoted the lowest values of incorporated nitrogen. Nitrogen incorporation showed positive relationship (r=0.56; P=0.06) with the rate of degradation and negative relationship (r=-0.59; P<0.05) with fiber content of feeds. The results highlight that easier fermentable feeds (higher rates of degradation) and/or with lower fiber contents promote a more efficient microbial growth and better performance for the host animal. (author)

Modeling biological gradient formation: combining partial differential equations and Petri nets.

Science.gov (United States)

Bertens, Laura M F; Kleijn, Jetty; Hille, Sander C; Heiner, Monika; Koutny, Maciej; Verbeek, Fons J

2016-01-01

Both Petri nets and differential equations are important modeling tools for biological processes. In this paper we demonstrate how these two modeling techniques can be combined to describe biological gradient formation. Parameters derived from partial differential equation describing the process of gradient formation are incorporated in an abstract Petri net model. The quantitative aspects of the resulting model are validated through a case study of gradient formation in the fruit fly.

Indications of Knowledge Retention in the Transition to Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Harriet; Black, Beth; Green, Jon; Langton, Phil; Rutherford, Stephen; Scott, Jon; Brown, Sally

2015-01-01

First year undergraduate courses in higher education tend to be designed based on assumptions of students' prior knowledge. Almost 600 undergraduates at five UK universities, studying biological sciences, were given an MCQ test in their first week at university, based on biology A-level (pre-university examination) core criteria. Results…

Developing integrated crop knowledge networks to advance candidate gene discovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Hassani-Pak, Keywan; Castellote, Martin; Esch, Maria; Hindle, Matthew; Lysenko, Artem; Taubert, Jan; Rawlings, Christopher

2016-12-01

The chances of raising crop productivity to enhance global food security would be greatly improved if we had a complete understanding of all the biological mechanisms that underpinned traits such as crop yield, disease resistance or nutrient and water use efficiency. With more crop genomes emerging all the time, we are nearer having the basic information, at the gene-level, to begin assembling crop gene catalogues and using data from other plant species to understand how the genes function and how their interactions govern crop development and physiology. Unfortunately, the task of creating such a complete knowledge base of gene functions, interaction networks and trait biology is technically challenging because the relevant data are dispersed in myriad databases in a variety of data formats with variable quality and coverage. In this paper we present a general approach for building genome-scale knowledge networks that provide a unified representation of heterogeneous but interconnected datasets to enable effective knowledge mining and gene discovery. We describe the datasets and outline the methods, workflows and tools that we have developed for creating and visualising these networks for the major crop species, wheat and barley. We present the global characteristics of such knowledge networks and with an example linking a seed size phenotype to a barley WRKY transcription factor orthologous to TTG2 from Arabidopsis, we illustrate the value of integrated data in biological knowledge discovery. The software we have developed (www.ondex.org) and the knowledge resources (http://knetminer.rothamsted.ac.uk) we have created are all open-source and provide a first step towards systematic and evidence-based gene discovery in order to facilitate crop improvement.

Atomic force microscope with integrated optical microscope for biological applications

OpenAIRE

Putman, Constant A.J.; Putman, C.A.J.; van der Werf, Kees; de Grooth, B.G.; van Hulst, N.F.; Segerink, Franciscus B.; Greve, Jan

1992-01-01

Since atomic force microscopy (AFM) is capable of imaging nonconducting surfaces, the technique holds great promises for high‐resolution imaging of biological specimens. A disadvantage of most AFMs is the fact that the relatively large sample surface has to be scanned multiple times to pinpoint a specific biological object of interest. Here an AFM is presented which has an incorporated inverted optical microscope. The optical image from the optical microscope is not obscured by the cantilever...

Structural and Biological Assessment of Zinc Doped Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles

OpenAIRE

Popa , Cristina ,; Deniaud , Aurélien; Michaud-Soret , Isabelle; Guégan , Régis; Motelica-Heino , Mikael; Predoi , Daniela

2016-01-01

International audience; The aim of the current research work was to study the physicochemical and biological properties of synthesized zinc doped hydroxyapatite (ZnHAp) nanoparticles with Zn concentrations í µí±¥ Zn = 0 (HAp), í µí±¥ Zn = 0.07 (7ZnHAp), and í µí±¥ Zn = 0.1 (10ZnHAp) for potential use in biological applications. The morphology, size, compositions, and incorporation of zinc into hydroxyapatite were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron micro...

Nonlinear Knowledge in Kernel-Based Multiple Criteria Programming Classifier

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Dongling; Tian, Yingjie; Shi, Yong

Kernel-based Multiple Criteria Linear Programming (KMCLP) model is used as classification methods, which can learn from training examples. Whereas, in traditional machine learning area, data sets are classified only by prior knowledge. Some works combine the above two classification principle to overcome the defaults of each approach. In this paper, we propose a model to incorporate the nonlinear knowledge into KMCLP in order to solve the problem when input consists of not only training example, but also nonlinear prior knowledge. In dealing with real world case breast cancer diagnosis, the model shows its better performance than the model solely based on training data.

Process fault diagnosis using knowledge-based systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sudduth, A.L.

1991-01-01

Advancing technology in process plants has led to increased need for computer based process diagnostic systems to assist the operator. One approach to this problem is to use an embedded knowledge based system to interpret measurement signals. Knowledge based systems using only symptom based rules are inadequate for real time diagnosis of dynamic systems; therefore a model based approach is necessary. Though several forms of model based reasoning have been proposed, the use of qualitative causal models incorporating first principles knowledge of process behavior structure, and function appear to have the most promise as a robust modeling methodology. In this paper the structure of a diagnostic system is described which uses model based reasoning and conventional numerical methods to perform process diagnosis. This system is being applied to emergency diesel generator system in nuclear stations

Impact of the European Water framework directive on knowledge of biodiversity Impact of the European Water framework directive on knowledge of biodiversity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christine Argillier and Mario Lepage

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The European Water framework directive requires observation and monitoring of certain biological communities to assess the ecological status of aquatic environments. How does the WFD contribute to knowledge and evaluation of aquatic biodiversity? What may be the results in terms of monitoring?The concept of biodiversity is complex and difficult to describe in an exhaustive manner. The Water Framework Directive (WFD, through its aquatic ecosystem monitoring network, aims to assess the ecological and chemical status of water bodies. This assessment requires observations on certain biological communities in a definite number of European sites representing continental, transitional and coastal water bodies. Consequently, the WFD contributes to improving knowledge on biodiversity. Nevertheless, genetic diversity and some communities are clearly not targeted and the monitoring networks are not well designed to assess changes in biodiversity. However, we may expect improvements in scientific knowledge of ecosystems and in the monitoring programmes that will make possible better convergence of environmental objectives.

Knowledge network model of the energy consumption in discrete manufacturing system

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Binzi; Wang, Yan; Ji, Zhicheng

2017-07-01

Discrete manufacturing system generates a large amount of data and information because of the development of information technology. Hence, a management mechanism is urgently required. In order to incorporate knowledge generated from manufacturing data and production experience, a knowledge network model of the energy consumption in the discrete manufacturing system was put forward based on knowledge network theory and multi-granularity modular ontology technology. This model could provide a standard representation for concepts, terms and their relationships, which could be understood by both human and computer. Besides, the formal description of energy consumption knowledge elements (ECKEs) in the knowledge network was also given. Finally, an application example was used to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.

Virtual Reconstruction and Three-Dimensional Printing of Blood Cells as a Tool in Cell Biology Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Augusto, Ingrid; Monteiro, Douglas; Girard-Dias, Wendell; Dos Santos, Thaisa Oliveira; Rosa Belmonte, Simone Letícia; Pinto de Oliveira, Jairo; Mauad, Helder; da Silva Pacheco, Marcos; Lenz, Dominik; Stefanon Bittencourt, Athelson; Valentim Nogueira, Breno; Lopes Dos Santos, Jorge Roberto; Miranda, Kildare; Guimarães, Marco Cesar Cunegundes

2016-01-01

The cell biology discipline constitutes a highly dynamic field whose concepts take a long time to be incorporated into the educational system, especially in developing countries. Amongst the main obstacles to the introduction of new cell biology concepts to students is their general lack of identification with most teaching methods. The introduction of elaborated figures, movies and animations to textbooks has given a tremendous contribution to the learning process and the search for novel teaching methods has been a central goal in cell biology education. Some specialized tools, however, are usually only available in advanced research centers or in institutions that are traditionally involved with the development of novel teaching/learning processes, and are far from becoming reality in the majority of life sciences schools. When combined with the known declining interest in science among young people, a critical scenario may result. This is especially important in the field of electron microscopy and associated techniques, methods that have greatly contributed to the current knowledge on the structure and function of different cell biology models but are rarely made accessible to most students. In this work, we propose a strategy to increase the engagement of students into the world of cell and structural biology by combining 3D electron microscopy techniques and 3D prototyping technology (3D printing) to generate 3D physical models that accurately and realistically reproduce a close-to-the native structure of the cell and serve as a tool for students and teachers outside the main centers. We introduce three strategies for 3D imaging, modeling and prototyping of cells and propose the establishment of a virtual platform where different digital models can be deposited by EM groups and subsequently downloaded and printed in different schools, universities, research centers and museums, thereby modernizing teaching of cell biology and increasing the accessibility to

A Framework for Incorporating General Domain Knowledge into Latent Dirichlet Allocation using First-Order Logic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andrzejewski, D; Zhu, X; Craven, M; Recht, B

2011-01-18

Topic models have been used successfully for a variety of problems, often in the form of application-specific extensions of the basic Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model. Because deriving these new models in order to encode domain knowledge can be difficult and time-consuming, we propose the Fold-all model, which allows the user to specify general domain knowledge in First-Order Logic (FOL). However, combining topic modeling with FOL can result in inference problems beyond the capabilities of existing techniques. We have therefore developed a scalable inference technique using stochastic gradient descent which may also be useful to the Markov Logic Network (MLN) research community. Experiments demonstrate the expressive power of Fold-all, as well as the scalability of our proposed inference method.

Molecular Biological Characterization of Air Samples: A Survey of Four Strategically Important Regions

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Francesconi, Stephen

2003-01-01

.... In support of this requirement, the Joint Program Office for Biological Defense initiated an aggressive program incorporating the development of air-sampling and agent detecting devices, coined...

Knowledge Capture and Management for Space Flight Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Goodman, John L.

2005-01-01

The incorporation of knowledge capture and knowledge management strategies early in the development phase of an exploration program is necessary for safe and successful missions of human and robotic exploration vehicles over the life of a program. Following the transition from the development to the flight phase, loss of underlying theory and rationale governing design and requirements occur through a number of mechanisms. This degrades the quality of engineering work resulting in increased life cycle costs and risk to mission success and safety of flight. Due to budget constraints, concerned personnel in legacy programs often have to improvise methods for knowledge capture and management using existing, but often sub-optimal, information technology and archival resources. Application of advanced information technology to perform knowledge capture and management would be most effective if program wide requirements are defined at the beginning of a program.

MATHEMATICS TEACHER: MOVING KNOWLEDGE UNDER FORMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roselaine Machado Albernaz

2010-07-01

Full Text Available This essay approaches the Mathematics teacher forming process from his/her experiences in the school system and the set of knowledge that hashistorical, philosophical and politically constituted him/her. This set of knowledge not only comprises academic knowledge, but also involves the subjective effects of knowledge it incorporates. Starting from a tale, the character, called ‘researcher-teacher’, conducts the text throughout questions about the forming processes of teachers of such a particular subject as Mathematics. The character seems to have an “interrogative something” which is peculiar to us, teachers, concerned about our disciplinary field. Having the objective of problematize the formation and knowledge of our character, her ways of being, thinking and perceiving, we intend to question, with and through her, the new requirements that have been demanded towards Mathematics teachers and the set of knowledge that constitute her, the way she is, her way of acting and taking  position in the school universe. The proposed essay seeks for an articulation between the fields of Art, Philosophy, Science and Education. It speaks about the intriguing school world, but not least, the ways we think to treat the forming process of Mathematics teachers from a set of logical, subjective and sensitive knowledge.  Key words: Forming process of teachers; mathematics; aesthetic experience; philosophy of difference.

Development of the IAEA’s Knowledge Preservation Portals for Fast Reactors and Gas-Cooled Reactors Knowledge Preservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batra, C.; Menahem, D. Beraha; Kriventsev, V.; Monti, S.; Reitsma, F.; Grosbois, J. de; Khoroshev, M.; Gladyshev, M.

2016-01-01

Full text: The IAEA has been carrying out a dedicated initiative on fast reactor knowledge preservation since 2003. The main objectives of the Fast Reactor Knowledge Portal (FRKP) initiative are to, a) halt the on-going loss of information related to fast reactors (FR), and b) collect, retrieve, preserve and make accessible existing data and information on FR. This portal will help in knowledge sharing, development, search and discovery, collaboration and communication of fast reactor related information. On similar lines a Gas Cooled Fast Reactor Knowledge Preservation portal project also started in 2013. Knowledge portals are capable to control and manage both publicly available as well as controlled information. The portals will not only incorporate existing set of knowledge and information, but will also provide a systemic platform for further preservation of new developments. It will include fast reactor and gas cooled reactor document repositories, project workspaces for the IAEA’s Coordinated Research Projects (CRPs), Technical Meetings (TMs), forums for discussion, etc. The portal will also integrate a taxonomy based search tool, which will help using new semantic search capabilities for improved conceptual retrieve of documents. The taxonomy complies with international web standards as defined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). (author

Assessment of Health Knowledge in College Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Richmond, Gail; And Others

1991-01-01

The level of accurate health knowledge that young adult women possess regarding selected information dealing with nutrition; disease; and over-the-counter, prescription, and social drugs is discussed. Sections include the introduction, methods, results, discussion, and implications for biology teachers. (KR)

Western Hemisphere Knowledge Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Malone, T. F.

2001-05-01

Society in general, and geophysicists in particular, are challenged by problems and opportunities in the prospects for an additional three billion people on finite planet Earth by 2050 in a global economy four to six times larger than it is at present. A problem was identified by the Pilot Assessment of Global Ecosystems (PAGE): "If we choose to continue our current patterns of use, we face almost certain decline in the ability of ecosystems to yield their broad spectrum of benefits - from clean water to stable climate, fuel wood to food crops, timber to wildlife habitat." This is the issue of environmental sustainability. Another problem is the widening gap in wealth and health between affluent nations and impoverished countries. Every day each of the more than a billion people in the industrial nations produces goods and services worth nearly 60 dollars to meet their basic needs and "wants." This figure increases by about 85 cents annually. Every day each of the 600 million people in the least developed countries produces goods and services worth about 75 cents to meet their basic needs and limited wants. That number grows by less that a penny a day annually. This is the issue of economic prosperity and equity. By harnessing revolutionary technologies in communications to distribute expanding knowledge in the physical, chemical, and geophysical sciences and exploding knowledge in the biological and health sciences, a new vision for world society is brought within reach in The Knowledge Age. It is a society in which all of the basic human needs and an equitable share of human wants can be met while maintaining healthy, attractive, and biologically productive ecosystems. This society is environmentally sustainable, economically prosperous and equitable, and therefore likely to be politically stable. The time has arrived to fashion a strategy to pursue that vision. A knowledge-based and human-centered strategy will involve the discovery, integration, dissemination

Examining portfolio-based assessment in an upper-level biology course

Science.gov (United States)

Ziegler, Brittany Ann

Historically, students have been viewed as empty vessels and passive participants in the learning process but students actually are active forming their own conceptions. One way student learning is impacted is through assessment. Alternative assessment, which contrasts traditional assessment methods, takes into account how students learn by promoting engagement and construction of knowledge This dissertation explores portfolio-based assessment, a method of alternative assessment, which requires students to compose a purposeful collection of work demonstrating their knowledge in an upper-level biology course. The research objectives include characterizing and contributing to the understanding of portfolio-based assessment in higher education, examining reflection and inquiry portfolio components, determining student knowledge of biological concepts, and investigating student integrative thinking through the transformation of reflections into concept webs One main finding includes the majority of reflections categorized as naive or novice in quality. There was no difference in quality of reflections among biological topic. There was a relatively equal amount of high and low cognitive level questions. Students' knowledge of biological concepts significantly increased from the beginning to end of the course. Student written reflections were transformed into concept webs to allow for examination of student integrative thinking. Concepts, relationships, and interconnections in concept webs showed variation but declined by the end of the semester This study is one of the first examining portfolio-based assessment in an upper-level biology course We do not contend that this method of assessment is the only way to promote student learning but portfolio-based assessment may be a tool that can transform science education but currently the role of portfolio-based assessment in science education remains unclear. Additional research needs to be conducted before we will fully

Understanding the Knowledge and Use of Experiential Learning within Pennsylvania 4-H Clubs

Science.gov (United States)

Bechtel, Robyn; Ewing, John C.; Threeton, Mark; Mincemoyer, Claudia

2013-01-01

Experiential learning is incorporated into the National 4-H curriculum. However, the state 4-H staff in Pennsylvania is unsure of the current knowledge and use of experiential learning within the local 4-H clubs. An online survey was distributed to Extension educators and volunteer leaders within Pennsylvania to assess the current knowledge and…

Aspartate and glutamate mimetic structures in biologically active compounds.

Science.gov (United States)

Stefanic, Peter; Dolenc, Marija Sollner

2004-04-01

Glutamate and aspartate are frequently recognized as key structural elements for the biological activity of natural peptides and synthetic compounds. The acidic side-chain functionality of both the amino acids provides the basis for the ionic interaction and subsequent molecular recognition by specific receptor sites that results in the regulation of physiological or pathophysiological processes in the organism. In the development of new biologically active compounds that possess the ability to modulate these processes, compounds offering the same type of interactions are being designed. Thus, using a peptidomimetic design approach, glutamate and aspartate mimetics are incorporated into the structure of final biologically active compounds. This review covers different bioisosteric replacements of carboxylic acid alone, as well as mimetics of the whole amino acid structure. Amino acid analogs presented include those with different distances between anionic moieties, and analogs with additional functional groups that result in conformational restriction or alternative interaction sites. The article also provides an overview of different cyclic structures, including various cycloalkane, bicyclic and heterocyclic analogs, that lead to conformational restriction. Higher di- and tripeptide mimetics in which carboxylic acid functionality is incorporated into larger molecules are also reviewed. In addition to the mimetic structures presented, emphasis in this article is placed on their steric and electronic properties. These mimetics constitute a useful pool of fragments in the design of new biologically active compounds, particularly in the field of RGD mimetics and excitatory amino acid agonists and antagonists.

Dissipation of 'dark energy' by cortex in knowledge retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Capolupo, Antonio; Freeman, Walter J; Vitiello, Giuseppe

2013-03-01

We have devised a thermodynamic model of cortical neurodynamics expressed at the classical level by neural networks and at the quantum level by dissipative quantum field theory. Our model is based on features in the spatial images of cortical activity newly revealed by high-density electrode arrays. We have incorporated the mechanism and necessity for so-called dark energy in knowledge retrieval. We have extended the model first using the Carnot cycle to define our measures for energy, entropy and temperature, and then using the Rankine cycle to incorporate criticality and phase transitions. We describe the dynamics of two interactive fields of neural activity that express knowledge, one at high and the other at low energy density, and the two operators that create and annihilate the fields. We postulate that the extremely high density of energy sequestered briefly in cortical activity patterns can account for the vividness, richness of associations, and emotional intensity of memories recalled by stimuli. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Beneficial liaisons: radiobiology meets cellular and molecular biology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, Mary Ann; Coleman, C. Norman

1995-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this course is to familiarize radiation oncologists with the concepts and terminology and molecular and cellular biology that are especially relevant to radiation oncology. The ability of radiation oncologists to remain current with the new discoveries of modern biology is essential to the development of improved therapeutic strategies and, importantly, to the proper balance between investment in technology and biology. Objective: This year, this Refresher Course is part of a three-part ''series'' including Drs. Martin Brown and Amato Giaccia. The objective is to provide continuing education for the academic and practicing radiation oncologist, physicist and biologist in the modern biologic concepts of cancer and its treatment. An effort will be made to relate these general concepts to the clinic by providing a broad view as to potential new biological treatments which might enhance the efficacy of radiation therapy. The specific focus of this Course will vary from year to year. Some of the classic radiation biology models which form the basis of clinical practice and laboratory research will be examined and 'newer' models will be presented which take into account the emerging knowledge of cellular and molecular biology. A few techniques in molecular and cellular biology will be described to the extent necessary to understand their basic concepts and their applicability. Aspects of radiation biology which will be covered include cell cycle, radiation-induced changes in the cellular phenotype, and considerations of the effect of the tumor microenvironment. It is not the expectation that the attendees will become experts in the particular subjects presented. Rather, it is the intent to increase their curiosity as to the new knowledge that is emerging and to demonstrate that these seemingly complicated areas can be understood and appreciated with a modicum of the effort

Difficult Knowledge and the English Classroom: A Catholic Framework Using Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"

Science.gov (United States)

Jarvie, Scott; Burke, Kevin

2015-01-01

In this article, the authors explore the generative possibilities of risk-taking in the Catholic school English classroom. They associate pedagogical risk with what Deborah Britzman (1998) has called "difficult knowledge"--content that causes students to consider social trauma. Incorporating difficult knowledge meaningfully requires…

Computational Tools for Stem Cell Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Bian, Qin; Cahan, Patrick

2016-12-01

For over half a century, the field of developmental biology has leveraged computation to explore mechanisms of developmental processes. More recently, computational approaches have been critical in the translation of high throughput data into knowledge of both developmental and stem cell biology. In the past several years, a new subdiscipline of computational stem cell biology has emerged that synthesizes the modeling of systems-level aspects of stem cells with high-throughput molecular data. In this review, we provide an overview of this new field and pay particular attention to the impact that single cell transcriptomics is expected to have on our understanding of development and our ability to engineer cell fate. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Clinical knowledge management: an overview of current understanding.

Science.gov (United States)

Bali, Rajeev K; Dwivedi, Ashish

2005-01-01

This chapter outlines contributions to a workshop for ICMCC 2005. We details some of the central issues surrounding the incorporation of the Knowledge Management (KM) paradigm for the healthcare and clinical sectors. The complex nature of KM is discussed, together with some essential theories and some contemporary applications of the tools and techniques are presented.

Recent study, but not retrieval, of knowledge protects against learning errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Mullet, Hillary G; Umanath, Sharda; Marsh, Elizabeth J

2014-11-01

Surprisingly, people incorporate errors into their knowledge bases even when they have the correct knowledge stored in memory (e.g., Fazio, Barber, Rajaram, Ornstein, & Marsh, 2013). We examined whether heightening the accessibility of correct knowledge would protect people from later reproducing misleading information that they encountered in fictional stories. In Experiment 1, participants studied a series of target general knowledge questions and their correct answers either a few minutes (high accessibility of knowledge) or 1 week (low accessibility of knowledge) before exposure to misleading story references. In Experiments 2a and 2b, participants instead retrieved the answers to the target general knowledge questions either a few minutes or 1 week before the rest of the experiment. Reading the relevant knowledge directly before the story-reading phase protected against reproduction of the misleading story answers on a later general knowledge test, but retrieving that same correct information did not. Retrieving stored knowledge from memory might actually enhance the encoding of relevant misinformation.

Synthetic biology meets tissue engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Jamie A; Cachat, Elise

2016-06-15

Classical tissue engineering is aimed mainly at producing anatomically and physiologically realistic replacements for normal human tissues. It is done either by encouraging cellular colonization of manufactured matrices or cellular recolonization of decellularized natural extracellular matrices from donor organs, or by allowing cells to self-organize into organs as they do during fetal life. For repair of normal bodies, this will be adequate but there are reasons for making unusual, non-evolved tissues (repair of unusual bodies, interface to electromechanical prostheses, incorporating living cells into life-support machines). Synthetic biology is aimed mainly at engineering cells so that they can perform custom functions: applying synthetic biological approaches to tissue engineering may be one way of engineering custom structures. In this article, we outline the 'embryological cycle' of patterning, differentiation and morphogenesis and review progress that has been made in constructing synthetic biological systems to reproduce these processes in new ways. The state-of-the-art remains a long way from making truly synthetic tissues, but there are now at least foundations for future work. © 2016 Authors; published by Portland Press Limited.

Biology and Mechanics of Blood Flows Part I: Biology

CERN Document Server

Thiriet, Marc

2008-01-01

Biology and Mechanics of Blood Flows presents the basic knowledge and state-of-the-art techniques necessary to carry out investigations of the cardiovascular system using modeling and simulation. Part I of this two-volume sequence, Biology, addresses the nanoscopic and microscopic scales. The nanoscale corresponds to the scale of biochemical reaction cascades involved in cell adaptation to mechanical stresses among other stimuli. The microscale is the scale of stress-induced tissue remodeling associated with acute or chronic loadings. The cardiovascular system, like any physiological system, has a complicated three-dimensional structure and composition. Its time dependent behavior is regulated, and this complex system has many components. In this authoritative work, the author provides a survey of relevant cell components and processes, with detailed coverage of the electrical and mechanical behaviors of vascular cells, tissues, and organs. Because the behaviors of vascular cells and tissues are tightly coupl...

Bioinformatics strategies in life sciences: from data processing and data warehousing to biological knowledge extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Thiele, Herbert; Glandorf, Jörg; Hufnagel, Peter

2010-05-27

With the large variety of Proteomics workflows, as well as the large variety of instruments and data-analysis software available, researchers today face major challenges validating and comparing their Proteomics data. Here we present a new generation of the ProteinScape bioinformatics platform, now enabling researchers to manage Proteomics data from the generation and data warehousing to a central data repository with a strong focus on the improved accuracy, reproducibility and comparability demanded by many researchers in the field. It addresses scientists; current needs in proteomics identification, quantification and validation. But producing large protein lists is not the end point in Proteomics, where one ultimately aims to answer specific questions about the biological condition or disease model of the analyzed sample. In this context, a new tool has been developed at the Spanish Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia Proteomics Facility termed PIKE (Protein information and Knowledge Extractor) that allows researchers to control, filter and access specific information from genomics and proteomic databases, to understand the role and relationships of the proteins identified in the experiments. Additionally, an EU funded project, ProDac, has coordinated systematic data collection in public standards-compliant repositories like PRIDE. This will cover all aspects from generating MS data in the laboratory, assembling the whole annotation information and storing it together with identifications in a standardised format.

Bioinformatics Strategies in Life Sciences: From Data Processing and Data Warehousing to Biological Knowledge Extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thiele Herbert

2010-03-01

Full Text Available With the large variety of Proteomics workflows, as well as the large variety of instruments and data-analysis software available, researchers today face major challenges validating and comparing their Proteomics data. Here we present a new generation of the ProteinScapeTM bioinformatics platform, now enabling researchers to manage Proteomics data from the generation and data warehousing to a central data repository with a strong focus on the improved accuracy, reproducibility and comparability demanded by many researchers in the field. It addresses scientists` current needs in proteomics identification, quantification and validation. But producing large protein lists is not the end point in Proteomics, where one ultimately aims to answer specific questions about the biological condition or disease model of the analyzed sample. In this context, a new tool has been developed at the Spanish Centro Nacional de Biotecnologia Proteomics Facility termed PIKE (Protein information and Knowledge Extractor that allows researchers to control, filter and access specific information from genomics and proteomic databases, to understand the role and relationships of the proteins identified in the experiments. Additionally, an EU funded project, ProDac, has coordinated systematic data collection in public standards-compliant repositories like PRIDE. This will cover all aspects from generating MS data in the laboratory, assembling the whole annotation information and storing it together with identifications in a standardised format.

How to Build a Course in Mathematical-Biological Modeling: Content and Processes for Knowledge and Skill

Science.gov (United States)

Hoskinson, Anne-Marie

2010-01-01

Biological problems in the twenty-first century are complex and require mathematical insight, often resulting in mathematical models of biological systems. Building mathematical-biological models requires cooperation among biologists and mathematicians, and mastery of building models. A new course in mathematical modeling presented the opportunity…

Hidden Markov processes theory and applications to biology

CERN Document Server

Vidyasagar, M

2014-01-01

This book explores important aspects of Markov and hidden Markov processes and the applications of these ideas to various problems in computational biology. The book starts from first principles, so that no previous knowledge of probability is necessary. However, the work is rigorous and mathematical, making it useful to engineers and mathematicians, even those not interested in biological applications. A range of exercises is provided, including drills to familiarize the reader with concepts and more advanced problems that require deep thinking about the theory. Biological applications are t

SHADES, FOLDS AND INCITEMENTS BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND PEDAGOGY THE DEGREE IN BIOLOGY FROM THE NATIONAL PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Liliana Cano Aparicio

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This document reflects an investigative exercise developed from elements of the toolbox of the History Group of the Pedagogical Practice and Foucauldian perspective, in this case from a source tracking and records the relationship between biology and pedagogy problematized Degree in biology from the National Pedagogical University. This relationship emerged with force, shock, nuances, resistors which gave some insight trifold and different times. Also, this paper problematizes from a Bachelor tensions, folds, demonstrations and struggles that occur when entering or science disciplines in connection with pedagogy. Furthermore, some singular relations practices of knowledge, power, subjectivity different denoting a creative practice, politics and aesthetics of Bachelor’s degree in biology.

Test and Evaluation for Enhanced Security: A Quantitative Method to Incorporate Expert Knowledge into Test Planning Decisions.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rizzo, Davinia [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Blackburn, Mark [Stevens Inst. of Technology, Hoboken, NJ (United States)

2017-03-01

Complex systems are comprised of technical, social, political and environmental factors as well as the programmatic factors of cost, schedule and risk. Testing these systems for enhanced security requires expert knowledge in many different fields. It is important to test these systems to ensure effectiveness, but testing is limited to due cost, schedule, safety, feasibility and a myriad of other reasons. Without an effective decision framework for Test and Evaluation (T&E) planning that can take into consideration technical as well as programmatic factors and leverage expert knowledge, security in complex systems may not be assessed effectively. Therefore, this paper covers the identification of the current T&E planning problem and an approach to include the full variety of factors and leverage expert knowledge in T&E planning through the use of Bayesian Networks (BN).

Learning (from) the errors of a systems biology model.

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Engelhardt, Benjamin; Frőhlich, Holger; Kschischo, Maik

2016-02-11

Mathematical modelling is a labour intensive process involving several iterations of testing on real data and manual model modifications. In biology, the domain knowledge guiding model development is in many cases itself incomplete and uncertain. A major problem in this context is that biological systems are open. Missed or unknown external influences as well as erroneous interactions in the model could thus lead to severely misleading results. Here we introduce the dynamic elastic-net, a data driven mathematical method which automatically detects such model errors in ordinary differential equation (ODE) models. We demonstrate for real and simulated data, how the dynamic elastic-net approach can be used to automatically (i) reconstruct the error signal, (ii) identify the target variables of model error, and (iii) reconstruct the true system state even for incomplete or preliminary models. Our work provides a systematic computational method facilitating modelling of open biological systems under uncertain knowledge.

Systems Biology and Stem Cell Pluripotency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mashayekhi, Kaveh; Hall, Vanessa Jane; Freude, Kristine

2016-01-01

Recent breakthroughs in stem cell biology have accelerated research in the area of regenerative medicine. Over the past years, it has become possible to derive patient-specific stem cells which can be used to generate different cell populations for potential cell therapy. Systems biological...... modeling of stem cell pluripotency and differentiation have largely been based on prior knowledge of signaling pathways, gene regulatory networks, and epigenetic factors. However, there is a great need to extend the complexity of the modeling and to integrate different types of data, which would further...... improve systems biology and its uses in the field. In this chapter, we first give a general background on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Stem cell potency is introduced together with the hierarchy of stem cells ranging from pluripotent embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem...

Tannins: current knowledge of food sources, intake, bioavailability and biological effects.

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Serrano, José; Puupponen-Pimiä, Riitta; Dauer, Andreas; Aura, Anna-Marja; Saura-Calixto, Fulgencio

2009-09-01

Tannins are a unique group of phenolic metabolites with molecular weights between 500 and 30 000 Da, which are widely distributed in almost all plant foods and beverages. Proanthocyanidins and hydrolysable tannins are the two major groups of these bioactive compounds, but complex tannins containing structural elements of both groups and specific tannins in marine brown algae have also been described. Most literature data on food tannins refer only to oligomeric compounds that are extracted with aqueous-organic solvents, but a significant number of non-extractable tannins are usually not mentioned in the literature. The biological effects of tannins usually depend on their grade of polymerisation and solubility. Highly polymerised tannins exhibit low bioaccessibility in the small intestine and low fermentability by colonic microflora. This review summarises a new approach to analysis of extractable and non-extractable tannins, major food sources, and effects of storage and processing on tannin content and bioavailability. Biological properties such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiviral effects are also described. In addition, the role of tannins in diabetes mellitus has been discussed.

Traditional knowledge and patient protection: conflicting views on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... and biotech companies continue to search for new and better drugs to treat them. ... And yet, even though the importance of these biological resources to global ... as international legal regulations on patent law and traditional knowledge.

Novelty or knowledge? A study of using a student response system in non-major biology courses at a community college

Science.gov (United States)

Thames, Tasha Herrington

The advancement in technology integration is laying the groundwork of a paradigm shift in the higher education system (Noonoo, 2011). The National Dropout Prevention Center (n.d.) claims that technology offers some of the best opportunities for presenting instruction to engage students in meaningful education, addressing multiple intelligences, and adjusting to students' various learning styles. The purpose of this study was to investigate if implementing clicker technology would have a statistically significant difference on student retention and student achievement, while controlling for learning styles, for students in non-major biology courses who were and were not subjected to the technology. This study also sought to identify if students perceived the use of clickers as beneficial to their learning. A quantitative quasi-experimental research design was utilized to determine the significance of differences in pre/posttest achievement scores between students who participated during the fall semester in 2014. Overall, 118 students (n = 118) voluntarily enrolled in the researcher's fall non-major Biology course at a southern community college. A total of 71 students were assigned to the experimental group who participated in instruction incorporating the ConcepTest Process with clicker technology along with traditional lecture. The remaining 51 students were assigned to the control group who participated in a traditional lecture format with peer instruction embedded. Statistical analysis revealed the experimental clicker courses did have higher posttest scores than the non-clicker control courses, but this was not significant (p >.05). Results also implied that clickers did not statistically help retain students to complete the course. Lastly, the results indicated that there were no significant statistical difference in student's clicker perception scores between the different learning style preferences.

Biology, Ordinary and Higher Grades, Syllabuses and Specimen Question Papers.

Science.gov (United States)

Scottish Certificate of Education Examination Board, Edinburgh.

Included is the prescribed syllabus in biology for the Scottish Certificate of Education. In two separate sections, the syllabus topics and specimen questions for final examinations are explained. This syllabus is intended to present biology as knowledge about living organisms without making the conventional division between plants and animals.…

Expanding the knowledge translation metaphor.

Science.gov (United States)

Engebretsen, Eivind; Sandset, Tony Joakim; Ødemark, John

2017-03-13

Knowledge translation (KT) is a buzzword in modern medical science. However, there has been little theoretical reflection on translation as a process of meaning production in KT. In this paper, we argue that KT will benefit from the incorporation of a more theoretical notion of translation as an entangled material, textual and cultural process. We discuss and challenge fundamental assumptions in KT, drawing on theories of translation from the human sciences. We show that the current construal of KT as separate from and secondary to the original scientific message is close to the now deeply compromised literary view of translation as the simple act of copying the original. Inspired by recent theories of translation, we claim that KT can be more adequately understood in terms of a 'double supplement' - on the one hand, KT offers new approaches to the communication of scientific knowledge to different groups in the healthcare system with the aim of supplementing a lack of knowledge among clinicians (and patients). On the other, it demonstrates that a textual and cultural supplement, namely a concern with target audiences (clinicians and patients), is inevitable in the creation of an 'autonomous' science. Hence, the division between science and its translation is unproductive and impossible to maintain. We discuss some possible implications of our suggested shift in concept by drawing on pharmaceutical interventions for the prevention of HIV as a case. We argue that such interventions are based on a supplementary and paradoxical relation to the target audiences, both presupposing and denying their existence. More sophisticated theories of translation can lay the foundation for an expanded model of KT that incorporates a more adequate and reflective description of the interdependency of scientific, cultural, textual and material practices.

Doing Gener in Brazilian Biology: Obstacles and Prejudices on Knowledge Production within the FAFESP Genome Proyect

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Conceição da Costa, Maria

2008-10-01

Full Text Available This article aims to analyse the participation of women scientist in knowledge production within the Genome Project sponsored by FAPESP (The State of São Paulo Research Foundation. Between 1997 and 2003, FAPESP invested approximately 33 million euros to develop the FAPESP Genome Project (PGF, generating major changes in Molecular Biology in Brazil: institutions devoted to fostering science and technology have been investing large sum of money; bioinformatics became one of the fields with great demand for professionals, and the results of the Xylella Genome Project, first organism sequenced in Brazil, were published in several international scientific journals including Nature, and Brazil became the first country to develop genome projects outside USA, Europe and Japan. As a consequence of this process, women scientists were loosing space as “spokespersons of this new science”, playing secondary roles at the project.Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar la participación de las mujeres en la producción de conocimiento del proyecto genoma financiado por la FAPESP (Fundación de Apoyo a la Investigación del Estado de São Paulo. Entre 1997 y 2003, FAPESP invirtió aproximadamente 33 millones de euros en el desarrollo del Proyecto Genoma Fapesp (PGF, provocando importantes cambios en la Biología Molecular brasileña: las instituciones de fomento a la investigación comenzaron a promoverla con grandes financiaciones; la bioinformática se tornó uno de los campos con mayor demanda de profesionales y, por fin, los resultados del Proyecto Genoma de la Xylella Fastidiosa, primer organismo vivo secuenciado en Brasil, se publicaron en revistas científicas internacionales, como Nature. Con ello se convierte en el primer país fuera de la tríada EUA-Europa-Japón en desarrollar proyectos genoma. Como consecuencia del proceso, las mujeres están perdiendo espacio como “portavoces de esta nueva ciencia”, ocupando papeles secundarios en el

The politics of knowledge: implications for understanding and addressing mental health and illness.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, Emily K

2014-03-01

While knowledge represents a valuable commodity, not all forms of knowledge are afforded equal status. The politics of knowledge, which entails the privileging of particular ways of knowing through linkages between the producers of knowledge and other bearers of authority or influence, represents a powerful force driving knowledge development. Within the health research and practice community, biomedical knowledge (i.e. knowledge pertaining to the biological factors influencing health) has been afforded a privileged position, shaping the health research and practice community's view of health, illness and appropriate intervention. The aim of this study is to spark critical reflection and dialogue surrounding the ways in which the politics of knowledge have constrained progress in addressing mental health and illness, one of today's leading public health issues. I argue that the hegemony of biological knowledge represents an ethical issue as it limits the breadth of knowledge available to support practitioners to 'do good' in terms of addressing mental illness. Given the power and influence inherent within the nursing community, I propose that nurses ought to engage in critical reflection and action in an effort to better situate the health research and practice community to effectively address the mental health of populations. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Green Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles via Biological Entities

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Monaliben Shah

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Nanotechnology is the creation, manipulation and use of materials at the nanometre size scale (1 to 100 nm. At this size scale there are significant differences in many material properties that are normally not seen in the same materials at larger scales. Although nanoscale materials can be produced using a variety of traditional physical and chemical processes, it is now possible to biologically synthesize materials via environment-friendly green chemistry based techniques. In recent years, the convergence between nanotechnology and biology has created the new field of nanobiotechnology that incorporates the use of biological entities such as actinomycetes algae, bacteria, fungi, viruses, yeasts, and plants in a number of biochemical and biophysical processes. The biological synthesis via nanobiotechnology processes have a significant potential to boost nanoparticles production without the use of harsh, toxic, and expensive chemicals commonly used in conventional physical and chemical processes. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of recent trends in synthesizing nanoparticles via biological entities and their potential applications.

Green Synthesis of Metallic Nanoparticles via Biological Entities

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Monaliben; Fawcett, Derek; Sharma, Shashi; Tripathy, Suraj Kumar; Poinern, Gérrard Eddy Jai

2015-01-01

Nanotechnology is the creation, manipulation and use of materials at the nanometre size scale (1 to 100 nm). At this size scale there are significant differences in many material properties that are normally not seen in the same materials at larger scales. Although nanoscale materials can be produced using a variety of traditional physical and chemical processes, it is now possible to biologically synthesize materials via environment-friendly green chemistry based techniques. In recent years, the convergence between nanotechnology and biology has created the new field of nanobiotechnology that incorporates the use of biological entities such as actinomycetes algae, bacteria, fungi, viruses, yeasts, and plants in a number of biochemical and biophysical processes. The biological synthesis via nanobiotechnology processes have a significant potential to boost nanoparticles production without the use of harsh, toxic, and expensive chemicals commonly used in conventional physical and chemical processes. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of recent trends in synthesizing nanoparticles via biological entities and their potential applications. PMID:28793638

Sustainable Capital? The Neoliberalization of Nature and Knowledge in the European “Knowledge-based Bio-economy”

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Theo Papaioannou

2010-09-01

Full Text Available As an EU policy agenda, the “knowledge-based bio-economy” (KBBE emphasizes bio-technoscience as the means to reconcile environmental and economic sustainability. This frames the sustainability problem as an inefficiency to be overcome through a techno-knowledge fix. Here ecological sustainability means a benign eco-efficient productivity using resources which are renewable, reproducible and therefore sustainable. The KBBE narrative has been elaborated by European Technology Platforms in the agri-food-forestry-biofuels sectors, whose proposals shape research priorities. These inform policy agendas for the neoliberalization of both nature and knowledge, especially through intellectual property. In these ways, the KBBE can be understood as a new political-economic strategy for sustainable capital. This strategy invests great expectations for unlocking the productive potential of natural resources through a techno-knowledge fix. Although eco-efficiency is sometimes equated with biological productivity, commercial success will be dependent upon new combinations of “living” and “dead” labour.

Synthesis of nanoparticles and nanomaterials biological approaches

CERN Document Server

Abdullaeva, Zhypargul

2017-01-01

This book covers biological synthesis approaches for nanomaterials and nanoparticles, including introductory material on their structure, phase compositions and morphology, nanomaterials chemical, physical, and biological properties. The chapters of this book describe in sequence the synthesis of various nanoparticles by microorganisms, bacteria, yeast, algae, and actynomycetes; plant and plant extract-based synthesis; and green synthesis methods. Each chapter provides basic knowledge on the synthesis of nanomaterials, defines fundamental terms, and aims to build a solid foundation of knowledge, followed by explanations, examples, visual photographs, schemes, tables and illustrations. Each chapter also contains control questions, problem drills, as well as case studies that clarify theory and the explanations given in the text. This book is ideal for researchers and advanced graduate students in materials engineering, biotechnology, and nanotechnology fields. As a reference book this work is also appropriate ...

A Priori Knowledge and Heuristic Reasoning in Architectural Design.

Science.gov (United States)

Rowe, Peter G.

1982-01-01

It is proposed that the various classes of a priori knowledge incorporated in heuristic reasoning processes exert a strong influence over architectural design activity. Some design problems require exercise of some provisional set of rules, inference, or plausible strategy which requires heuristic reasoning. A case study illustrates this concept.…

[The discussion of the infiltrative model of mathematical knowledge to genetics teaching].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jun; Luo, Pei-Gao

2011-11-01

Genetics, the core course of biological field, is an importance major-basic course in curriculum of many majors related with biology. Due to strong theoretical and practical as well as abstract of genetics, it is too difficult to study on genetics for many students. At the same time, mathematics is one of the basic courses in curriculum of the major related natural science, which has close relationship with the establishment, development and modification of genetics. In this paper, to establish the intrinsic logistic relationship and construct the integral knowledge network and to help students improving the analytic, comprehensive and logistic abilities, we applied some mathematical infiltrative model genetic knowledge in genetics teaching, which could help students more deeply learn and understand genetic knowledge.

A Community College Instructor's Reflective Journey Toward Developing Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Nature of Science in a Non-majors Undergraduate Biology Course

Science.gov (United States)

Krajewski, Sarah J.; Schwartz, Renee

2014-08-01

Research supports an explicit-reflective approach to teaching about nature of science (NOS), but little is reported on teachers' journeys as they attempt to integrate NOS into everyday lessons. This participatory action research paper reports the challenges and successes encountered by an in-service teacher, Sarah, implementing NOS for the first time throughout four units of a community college biology course (genetics, molecular biology, evolution, and ecology). Through the action research cycles of planning, implementing, and reflecting, Sarah identified areas of challenge and success. This paper reports emergent themes that assisted her in successfully embedding NOS within the science content. Data include weekly lesson plans and pre/post reflective journaling before and after each lesson of this lecture/lab combination class that met twice a week. This course was taught back to back semesters, and this study is based on the results of a year-long process. Developing pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for NOS involves coming to understand the overlaps and connections between NOS, other science subject matter, pedagogical strategies, and student learning. Sarah found that through action research she was able to grow and assimilate her understanding of NOS within the biology content she was teaching. A shift in orientation toward teaching products of science to teaching science processes was a necessary shift for NOS pedagogical success. This process enabled Sarah's development of PCK for NOS. As a practical example of putting research-based instructional recommendations into practice, this study may be very useful for other teachers who are learning to teach NOS.

Knowledge discovery about quality of life changes of spinal cord injury patients: clustering based on rules by states.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibert, Karina; García-Rudolph, Alejandro; Curcoll, Lluïsa; Soler, Dolors; Pla, Laura; Tormos, José María

2009-01-01

In this paper, an integral Knowledge Discovery Methodology, named Clustering based on rules by States, which incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and statistical methods as well as interpretation-oriented tools, is used for extracting knowledge patterns about the evolution over time of the Quality of Life (QoL) of patients with Spinal Cord Injury. The methodology incorporates the interaction with experts as a crucial element with the clustering methodology to guarantee usefulness of the results. Four typical patterns are discovered by taking into account prior expert knowledge. Several hypotheses are elaborated about the reasons for psychological distress or decreases in QoL of patients over time. The knowledge discovery from data (KDD) approach turns out, once again, to be a suitable formal framework for handling multidimensional complexity of the health domains.

Medical significance of the essential biological metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davies, I.J.T.

1977-01-01

The medical significance of the essential biological metals such as zinc, copper and molybdenum as well as their nutritional and biochemical importance are reviewed. The following topics are treated: biochemical actions of the essential biological metals; the concept of essentiality; the development of knowledge about the essential biological metals. Data are given on zinc deficiency and hypogonadismi in humans, zinc and acrodermatitis enterophatica, zinc and the skin, zinc in diabetes mellitus, zinc and insulin, zinc and the liver; copper functions, copper deficiency - ''sway back'' in sheep, copper and haemopoiesis, copper and the function of blood vessels; molybdenum and dental caries in humans, oesophageal carcinoma and molybdenum deficiency in humans. (T.G.)

Review: Improving our knowledge of male mosquito biology in relation to genetic control programmes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lees, Rosemary Susan; Knols, Bart; Bellini, Romeo; Benedict, Mark Q; Bheecarry, Ambicadutt; Bossin, Hervé Christophe; Chadee, Dave D; Charlwood, Jacques; Dabiré, Roch K; Djogbenou, Luc; Egyir-Yawson, Alexander; Gato, René; Gouagna, Louis Clément; Hassan, Mo'awia Mukhtar; Khan, Shakil Ahmed; Koekemoer, Lizette L; Lemperiere, Guy; Manoukis, Nicholas C; Mozuraitis, Raimondas; Pitts, R Jason; Simard, Frederic; Gilles, Jeremie R L

2014-04-01

The enormous burden placed on populations worldwide by mosquito-borne diseases, most notably malaria and dengue, is currently being tackled by the use of insecticides sprayed in residences or applied to bednets, and in the case of dengue vectors through reduction of larval breeding sites or larviciding with insecticides thereof. However, these methods are under threat from, amongst other issues, the development of insecticide resistance and the practical difficulty of maintaining long-term community-wide efforts. The sterile insect technique (SIT), whose success hinges on having a good understanding of the biology and behaviour of the male mosquito, is an additional weapon in the limited arsenal against mosquito vectors. The successful production and release of sterile males, which is the mechanism of population suppression by SIT, relies on the release of mass-reared sterile males able to confer sterility in the target population by mating with wild females. A five year Joint FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Project brought together researchers from around the world to investigate the pre-mating conditions of male mosquitoes (physiology and behaviour, resource acquisition and allocation, and dispersal), the mosquito mating systems and the contribution of molecular or chemical approaches to the understanding of male mosquito mating behaviour. A summary of the existing knowledge and the main novel findings of this group is reviewed here, and further presented in the reviews and research articles that form this Acta Tropica special issue. Copyright © 2013 International Atomic Energy Agency 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Systems Biology Graphical Notation: Entity Relationship language Level 1 Version 2

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sorokin Anatoly

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The Systems Biological Graphical Notation (SBGN is an international community effort for standardized graphical representations of biological pathways and networks. The goal of SBGN is to provide unambiguous pathway and network maps for readers with different scientific backgrounds as well as to support efficient and accurate exchange of biological knowledge between different research communities, industry, and other players in systems biology. Three SBGN languages, Process Description (PD, Entity Relationship (ER and Activity Flow (AF, allow for the representation of different aspects of biological and biochemical systems at different levels of detail.

Novel joint TOA/RSSI-based WCE location tracking method without prior knowledge of biological human body tissues.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Takahiro; Anzai, Daisuke; Jianqing Wang

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a novel joint time of arrival (TOA)/received signal strength indicator (RSSI)-based wireless capsule endoscope (WCE) location tracking method without prior knowledge of biological human tissues. Generally, TOA-based localization can achieve much higher localization accuracy than other radio frequency-based localization techniques, whereas wireless signals transmitted from a WCE pass through various kinds of human body tissues, as a result, the propagation velocity inside a human body should be different from one in free space. Because the variation of propagation velocity is mainly affected by the relative permittivity of human body tissues, instead of pre-measurement for the relative permittivity in advance, we simultaneously estimate not only the WCE location but also the relative permittivity information. For this purpose, this paper first derives the relative permittivity estimation model with measured RSSI information. Then, we pay attention to a particle filter algorithm with the TOA-based localization and the RSSI-based relative permittivity estimation. Our computer simulation results demonstrates that the proposed tracking methods with the particle filter can accomplish an excellent localization accuracy of around 2 mm without prior information of the relative permittivity of the human body tissues.

[Knowledge about viral hepatitis in a sample of Brazilian students from Vale do Araguaia, Legal Amazonia].

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, Carlos K B; Savazzi, Kamirri; Honorio-França, Adenilda C; Ferrari, Graziele S L; França, Eduardo L

2012-06-01

Viral and non-viral hepatitis are of great concern among developing nations because of their pathogenicity and virulence, and also their wide spreading by contaminated blood, food or water. The objective of this work was to evaluate the knowledge about hepatitis of academic students from three life/health sciences courses and also students from the last year of high school To measure the students' knowledge on hepatitis an instrument containing 22 questions was applied. Surprinsingly, it was verified that 41.9% of students had poor knowledge of viral hepatitis. Among the high school students, 31.8% ignored that viral hepatitis are infectious and transmissible diseases. Considering hepatitis symptomatology, just 18% of high school students declared knowledge of the symptons, but none of those cited the ictericia. Among the academic students, 75.9% of nursing students had adequate knowledge of hepatitis, followed by pharmacy (51.3%), and biology students (18.2%). Nursing students had also higher scores of right answers regarding viral hepatitis and chronic disease. On contrary, biology and high school students had poor knowledge of that matter (37% and 44.5%, respectively). Less than 15% of nursing and pharmacy students did not know that viral hepatitis are sexually transmissible, whereas 78.6% of the 3rd year and 52.4% of the 4th year biology course ignored the sexual transmission of viral hepatitis. Still considering the same question, 54.5% of the high school students also ignored that viral hepatitis are sexually transmitted diseases. Important conclusions can be drawn from this study, since the higher hepatitis knowledge scores were found among nursing students, followed by pharmacy academics. However, biology students, which will serve as high school teachers, had poor and insufficient knowledge on hepatitis. This finding could explain the same poor disease knowledge among high school pupils.

Biological nitrogen (N) fixation - The source of N nutrient to increase yield

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heiling, M.; Hardarson, G.

2006-01-01

Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient. It is the nutrient that is most commonly deficient, contributing to reduced agricultural yields throughout the world. Developing countries used more than 85 million metric tones of nitrogenous fertilizer in 2003, worth billions of US dollars. Such fertilizer expenditure can be significantly reduced by incorporating biological nitrogen fixed leguminous crops into a growing rotation. In leguminous crops, a symbiotic relationship between a bacterium called Rhizobium and legumes can provide large amounts of nitrogen to the plant and subsequently to soils where they are grown. In this process the bacteria form nodules on the root system and convert the nitrogen coming from air into molecules that can be absorbed by the plants. Beside their fertilizing properties, legumes are rich in protein and constitute a very important role in the human and animal nutrition. In the Soil Science Unit (SSU) of the FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory fellows from all over the world receive training in the use of 15 N stable isotope techniques to optimise the nitrogen fixation. Several parameters such as the placement of the nodules on the legume root system, the amount of soil mineral nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer applied and the temperature have an impact on the amount of nitrogen fixed by the plant. It is therefore important to identify relative importance of these parameters on biological N fixation. The 15 N isotope dilution method is an appropriate technique to test the biological nitrogen fixation in the laboratory first. This useful knowledge can then be communicated to the farmers and can be tested under field conditions

Moving beyond a descriptive aquatic toxicology: the value of biological process and trait information.

Science.gov (United States)

Segner, Helmut

2011-10-01

In order to improve the ability to link chemical exposure to toxicological and ecological effects, aquatic toxicology will have to move from observing what chemical concentrations induce adverse effects to more explanatory approaches, that are concepts which build on knowledge of biological processes and pathways leading from exposure to adverse effects, as well as on knowledge on stressor vulnerability as given by the genetic, physiological and ecological (e.g., life history) traits of biota. Developing aquatic toxicology in this direction faces a number of challenges, including (i) taking into account species differences in toxicant responses on the basis of the evolutionarily developed diversity of phenotypic vulnerability to environmental stressors, (ii) utilizing diversified biological response profiles to serve as biological read across for prioritizing chemicals, categorizing them according to modes of action, and for guiding targeted toxicity evaluation; (iii) prediction of ecological consequences of toxic exposure from knowledge of how biological processes and phenotypic traits lead to effect propagation across the levels of biological hierarchy; and (iv) the search for concepts to assess the cumulative impact of multiple stressors. An underlying theme in these challenges is that, in addition to the question of what the chemical does to the biological receptor, we should give increasing emphasis to the question how the biological receptor handles the chemicals, i.e., through which pathways the initial chemical-biological interaction extends to the adverse effects, how this extension is modulated by adaptive or compensatory processes as well as by phenotypic traits of the biological receptor. 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Virtual Lab Demonstrations Improve Students’ Mastery of Basic Biology Laboratory Techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grace A. Maldarelli

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Biology laboratory classes are designed to teach concepts and techniques through experiential learning. Students who have never performed a technique must be guided through the process, which is often difficult to standardize across multiple lab sections. Visual demonstration of laboratory procedures is a key element in teaching pedagogy. The main goals of the study were to create videos explaining and demonstrating a variety of lab techniques that would serve as teaching tools for undergraduate and graduate lab courses and to assess the impact of these videos on student learning. Demonstrations of individual laboratory procedures were videotaped and then edited with iMovie. Narration for the videos was edited with Audacity. Undergraduate students were surveyed anonymously prior to and following screening to assess the impact of the videos on student lab performance by completion of two Participant Perception Indicator surveys. A total of 203 and 171 students completed the pre- and posttesting surveys, respectively. Statistical analyses were performed to compare student perceptions of knowledge of, confidence in, and experience with the lab techniques before and after viewing the videos. Eleven demonstrations were recorded. Chi-square analysis revealed a significant increase in the number of students reporting increased knowledge of, confidence in, and experience with the lab techniques after viewing the videos. Incorporation of instructional videos as prelaboratory exercises has the potential to standardize techniques and to promote successful experimental outcomes.