Explaining feast or famine in randomized field trials. Medical science and criminology compared.

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, Jonathan P

2003-06-01

A feast of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in medical science and comparative famine in criminology can be explained in terms of cultural and structural factors. Of central importance is the context in which the evaluation of interventions is done and the difference in status of situational research in the two disciplines. Evaluation of medical interventions has traditionally been led by practitioner (clinical) academics. This is not the case in criminal justice, where theory has had higher status than intervention research. Medical science has advanced in, or closely associated with, university teaching hospitals, but links between criminology and criminal justice services are far more tenuous. The late development of situational crime prevention seems extraordinary from a medical perspective, as does the absence of university police schools in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. These structural and cultural factors explain concentration of expectation, resource, and RCT productivity in medical science. The Campbell Collaboration and the Academy of Experimental Criminology are forces which are reducing this polarization of feast and famine in RCTs. But unless scientific criminology is embedded in university schools which are responsible for the education and training of law, probation, and police practitioners, convergence in terms of RCTs and implementation of findings in practice seems unlikely.

Linking Native and Invader Traits Explains Native Spider Population Responses to Plant Invasion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer N Smith

Full Text Available Theoretically, the functional traits of native species should determine how natives respond to invader-driven changes. To explore this idea, we simulated a large-scale plant invasion using dead spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe stems to determine if native spiders' web-building behaviors could explain differences in spider population responses to structural changes arising from C. stoebe invasion. After two years, irregular web-spiders were >30 times more abundant and orb weavers were >23 times more abundant on simulated invasion plots compared to controls. Additionally, irregular web-spiders on simulated invasion plots built webs that were 4.4 times larger and 5.0 times more likely to capture prey, leading to >2-fold increases in recruitment. Orb-weavers showed no differences in web size or prey captures between treatments. Web-spider responses to simulated invasion mimicked patterns following natural invasions, confirming that C. stoebe's architecture is likely the primary attribute driving native spider responses to these invasions. Differences in spider responses were attributable to differences in web construction behaviors relative to historic web substrate constraints. Orb-weavers in this system constructed webs between multiple plants, so they were limited by the overall quantity of native substrates but not by the architecture of individual native plant species. Irregular web-spiders built their webs within individual plants and were greatly constrained by the diminutive architecture of native plant substrates, so they were limited both by quantity and quality of native substrates. Evaluating native species traits in the context of invader-driven change can explain invasion outcomes and help to identify factors limiting native populations.

What explains high plant richness in East Asia? Time and diversification in the tribe Lysimachieae (Primulaceae).

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Hai-Fei; Zhang, Cai-Yun; Anderberg, Arne A; Hao, Gang; Ge, Xue-Jun; Wiens, John J

2018-04-17

What causes the disparity in biodiversity among regions is a fundamental question in biogeography, ecology, and evolutionary biology. Evolutionary and biogeographic processes (speciation, extinction, dispersal) directly determine species richness patterns, and can be studied using integrative phylogenetic approaches. However, the strikingly high richness of East Asia relative to other Northern Hemisphere regions remains poorly understood from this perspective. Here, for the first time, we test two general hypotheses (older colonization time, faster diversification rate) to explain this pattern, using the plant tribe Lysimachieae (Primulaceae) as a model system. We generated a new time-calibrated phylogeny for Lysimachieae (13 genes, 126 species), to estimate colonization times and diversification rates for each region and to test the relative importance of these two factors for explaining regional richness patterns. We find that neither time nor diversification rates alone explain richness patterns among regions in Lysimachieae. Instead, a new index that combines both factors explains global richness patterns in the group and their high East Asian biodiversity. Based on our results from Lysimachieae, we suggest that the high richness of plants in East Asia may be explained by a combination of older colonization times and faster diversification rates in this region. © 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust.

The Fluid Mechanics of the Bible: Miracles Explainable by Christian Science?

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Amy

2015-11-01

The Bible is full of accounts clearly in violation of our scientific understanding of fluid mechanics. Examples include the floating axe head, Jesus walking on the water and immediately calming a storm. ``Jesus of Nazareth was the most scientific man that ever trod the globe. He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause,'' wrote Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), the founder of a now well-established religion known as Christian Science, in her seminal work Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures. She asserted that Jesus' miracles were in accord with the, ``Science of God's unchangeable law.'' She also proclaimed that matter is a derivative of consciousness. Independently with the discovery of quantum mechanics, physicists such as Max Planck and Sir James Jeans began to make similar statements (``The Mental Universe'', Nature, 2005). More recently, Max Tegmark (MIT) theorized that consciousness is a state of matter (New Scientist, April 2014). Using a paradigm shift from matter to consciousness as the primary substance, one can scientifically explain how a mental activity (i.e. prayer) could influence the physical. Since this conference is next door to the original church of Christian Science (Const. 1894), this talk will discuss various fluid-mechanic miracles in the Bible and provide an explanation based on divine metaphysics while providing an overview of scientific Christianity and its unifying influence to the fields of science, theology and medicine.

Do competitive interactions in dry heathlands explain plant abundance patterns and species coexistence?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ransijn, Johannes; Damgaard, Christian; Schmidt, Inger K

2015-01-01

Plant community patterns in space and time may be explained by the interactions between competing plant species. The presented study investigates this in a nutrient and species poor ecosystem. The study presents a methodology for inferring competitive interactions from yearly vegetation inventories...... to predict the community dynamics of C. vulgaris and D. flexuosa. This was compared with the observed plant community structure at 198 Danish dry heathland sites. Interspecific competition will most likely lead to competitive exclusion of D. flexuosa at the observed temporal and spatial scale...... and uses this to assess the outcome of competitive interactions and to predict community patterns and dynamics in a Northwest-European dry heathland. Inferred competitive interactions from five consecutive years of measurements in permanent vegetation frames at a single dry heathland site were used...

A Practical Introduction to Skeletons for the Plant Sciences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Bucksch

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Before the availability of digital photography resulting from the invention of charged couple devices in 1969, the measurement of plant architecture was a manual process either on the plant itself or on traditional photographs. The introduction of cheap digital imaging devices for the consumer market enabled the wide use of digital images to capture the shape of plant networks such as roots, tree crowns, or leaf venation. Plant networks contain geometric traits that can establish links to genetic or physiological characteristics, support plant breeding efforts, drive evolutionary studies, or serve as input to plant growth simulations. Typically, traits are encoded in shape descriptors that are computed from imaging data. Skeletons are one class of shape descriptors that are used to describe the hierarchies and extent of branching and looping plant networks. While the mathematical understanding of skeletons is well developed, their application within the plant sciences remains challenging because the quality of the measurement depends partly on the interpretation of the skeleton. This article is meant to bridge the skeletonization literature in the plant sciences and related technical fields by discussing best practices for deriving diameters and approximating branching hierarchies in a plant network.

78 FR 66892 - BASF Plant Science LP; Availability of Plant Pest Risk Assessment and Environmental Assessment...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-07

.... Kevin Shea, Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. [FR Doc. 2013-26701 Filed 11-6-13... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service [Docket No. APHIS-2012-0028] BASF Plant Science LP; Availability of Plant Pest Risk Assessment and Environmental Assessment for...

Students Explaining Science--Assessment of Science Communication Competence

Science.gov (United States)

Kulgemeyer, Christoph; Schecker, Horst

2013-01-01

Science communication competence (SCC) is an important educational goal in the school science curricula of several countries. However, there is a lack of research about the structure and the assessment of SCC. This paper specifies the theoretical framework of SCC by a competence model. We developed a qualitative assessment method for SCC that is…

Exploring the nature of science through courage and purpose: a case study of Nikolai Vavilov and plant biodiversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Joel I; Loskutov, Igor G

2016-01-01

Historical biographies facilitate teaching the 'nature of science'. This case study focuses on how Nikolai Vavilov's unrelenting sense of purpose, courage, and charismatic personality was maintained during violent revolutionary change in Russia. The rediscovery of Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance provided Vavilov with a scientific foundation for crop improvement, this foundation was later bolstered by Vavilov's personal drive to conserve plant biodiversity. As he advanced theories and pragmatic approaches for genetic improvement and conservation of plants, political leaders in Russian came to reject Mendel's principles and eventually Vavilov's work. This rejection occurred because Joseph Stalin was desperate for a quick remedy to the famine and suffering from forced collective agriculture. Vavilov's work continued, modernizing Russian crop research while inspiring other scientists to save seeds stored in the world's first gene bank. Three themes illustrating the nature of science help examine Vavilov's life: explaining natural phenomena, uncompromising human endeavor, and revising scientific knowledge. The case study concludes with four questions to stimulate student inquiry and self-guided research. They also deepen student understanding of Vavilov's personal sacrifices to ensure use and conservation of plant biodiversity.

Distribution of Cenozoic plant relicts in China explained by drought in dry season.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yongjiang; Jacques, Frédéric M B; Su, Tao; Ferguson, David K; Tang, Hui; Chen, Wenyun; Zhou, Zhekun

2015-09-15

Cenozoic plant relicts are those groups that were once widespread in the Northern Hemisphere but are now restricted to some small isolated areas as a result of drastic climatic changes. They are good proxies to study how plants respond to climatic changes since their modern climatic requirements are known. Herein we look at the modern distribution of 65 palaeoendemic genera in China and compare it with the Chinese climatic pattern, in order to find a link between the plant distribution and climate. Central China and Taiwan Island are shown to be diversity centres of Cenozoic relict genera, consistent with the fact that these two regions have a shorter dry season with comparatively humid autumn and spring in China. Species distribution models indicate that the precipitation parameters are the most important variables to explain the distribution of relict genera. The Cenozoic wide-scale distribution of relict plants in the Northern Hemisphere is therefore considered to be linked to the widespread humid climate at that time, and the subsequent contraction of their distributional ranges was probably caused by the drying trend along with global cooling.

MAGMADIM: Young Explainers Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paltiel, Z.

2005-01-01

Full Text:Physics teachers and educators constantly face the problem of inspiring their students to major in physics. On the other hand, science museums are designed to provide a pleasant environment which will stimulate and encourage a science associated experience to the general public. Typically, there is no intention to teach science as such in science museums. One may, however, use the science museum to teach and inspire certain groups of students in a much deeper sense. In fact they may actually enthusiastically learn much of the school physics curriculum at the museum. This report discusses the Magmadim program through which 10th graders are trained to be young explainers at the Weizmann Institutes Clore Garden of Science. To this end they study the physics underlying its exhibits in an after-school course. The ultimate goal is for the 'magmadim' to become the best possible explainers and be able to face all sorts of museum visitors. Along with learning how to instruct visitors, they must learn the physics behind the exhibits to give a full explanation of the exhibit and be able to answer any question that may arise. Our 5 year experience with the program shows that its self-selected participants not only study a lot of science, but also like it and learn how to explain the content to other people. This program, along with similar programs at the Bloomfield Science Museum and the Madatzim (young physics tutors) program of Ort, help in promoting the interest in science in general and physics in particular among school students. Various ways to expand the programs will also be discussed

Explaining how the mind works: on the relation between cognitive science and philosophy.

Science.gov (United States)

Trigg, Jonathan; Kalish, Michael

2011-04-01

In this paper, we argue that under certain prevalent interpretations of the nature and aims of cognitive science, theories of cognition generate a forced choice between a conception of cognition which depends on the possibility of a private language, and a conception of cognition which depends on mereological confusions. We argue, further, that this should not pose a fundamental problem for cognitive scientists since a plausible interpretation of the nature and aims of cognitive science is available that does not generate this forced choice. The crucial difference between these interpretations is that on the one hand the aim of theories of cognition is to tell us what thinking (etc.) is, and on the other it is to tell us what is causally necessary if an intelligent creature is to be able to think. Our argument draws heavily on a Wittgensteinian conception of philosophy in which no philosophical theory can explain what thinking, perceiving, remembering, etc. are, either. The positive, strictly therapeutic, purpose of a philosophy of cognitive science should be to show that, since the traditional problems which constitute the philosophy of mind are chimerical, there is nothing for philosophical theorizing in cognitive science to achieve. Copyright © 2011 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

Ability of matrix models to explain the past and predict the future of plant populations.

Science.gov (United States)

McEachern, Kathryn; Crone, Elizabeth E.; Ellis, Martha M.; Morris, William F.; Stanley, Amanda; Bell, Timothy; Bierzychudek, Paulette; Ehrlen, Johan; Kaye, Thomas N.; Knight, Tiffany M.; Lesica, Peter; Oostermeijer, Gerard; Quintana-Ascencio, Pedro F.; Ticktin, Tamara; Valverde, Teresa; Williams, Jennifer I.; Doak, Daniel F.; Ganesan, Rengaian; Thorpe, Andrea S.; Menges, Eric S.

2013-01-01

Uncertainty associated with ecological forecasts has long been recognized, but forecast accuracy is rarely quantified. We evaluated how well data on 82 populations of 20 species of plants spanning 3 continents explained and predicted plant population dynamics. We parameterized stage-based matrix models with demographic data from individually marked plants and determined how well these models forecast population sizes observed at least 5 years into the future. Simple demographic models forecasted population dynamics poorly; only 40% of observed population sizes fell within our forecasts' 95% confidence limits. However, these models explained population dynamics during the years in which data were collected; observed changes in population size during the data-collection period were strongly positively correlated with population growth rate. Thus, these models are at least a sound way to quantify population status. Poor forecasts were not associated with the number of individual plants or years of data. We tested whether vital rates were density dependent and found both positive and negative density dependence. However, density dependence was not associated with forecast error. Forecast error was significantly associated with environmental differences between the data collection and forecast periods. To forecast population fates, more detailed models, such as those that project how environments are likely to change and how these changes will affect population dynamics, may be needed. Such detailed models are not always feasible. Thus, it may be wiser to make risk-averse decisions than to expect precise forecasts from models.

Ability of matrix models to explain the past and predict the future of plant populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Crone, Elizabeth E; Ellis, Martha M; Morris, William F; Stanley, Amanda; Bell, Timothy; Bierzychudek, Paulette; Ehrlén, Johan; Kaye, Thomas N; Knight, Tiffany M; Lesica, Peter; Oostermeijer, Gerard; Quintana-Ascencio, Pedro F; Ticktin, Tamara; Valverde, Teresa; Williams, Jennifer L; Doak, Daniel F; Ganesan, Rengaian; McEachern, Kathyrn; Thorpe, Andrea S; Menges, Eric S

2013-10-01

Uncertainty associated with ecological forecasts has long been recognized, but forecast accuracy is rarely quantified. We evaluated how well data on 82 populations of 20 species of plants spanning 3 continents explained and predicted plant population dynamics. We parameterized stage-based matrix models with demographic data from individually marked plants and determined how well these models forecast population sizes observed at least 5 years into the future. Simple demographic models forecasted population dynamics poorly; only 40% of observed population sizes fell within our forecasts' 95% confidence limits. However, these models explained population dynamics during the years in which data were collected; observed changes in population size during the data-collection period were strongly positively correlated with population growth rate. Thus, these models are at least a sound way to quantify population status. Poor forecasts were not associated with the number of individual plants or years of data. We tested whether vital rates were density dependent and found both positive and negative density dependence. However, density dependence was not associated with forecast error. Forecast error was significantly associated with environmental differences between the data collection and forecast periods. To forecast population fates, more detailed models, such as those that project how environments are likely to change and how these changes will affect population dynamics, may be needed. Such detailed models are not always feasible. Thus, it may be wiser to make risk-averse decisions than to expect precise forecasts from models. © 2013 Society for Conservation Biology.

Science assessment of fusion power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Toru; Shimazu, Yasuo

1984-01-01

A concept of SCIENCE ASSESSMENT (SA) is proposed to support a research program of the so-called big science. The SA System should be established before the demonstration reactor is realized, and the system is classified into four categories: (1) Resource Economy Assessment (REA) (cost evaluation and availability of rare resource materials), (2) Risk Assessment (RA) (structural safety during operation and accident), (3) Environmental Assessment (EA) (adaptability to environments), and (4) Socio-Political Assessment (SPA) (from local public acceptance to national policy acceptance). Here, REA to the published conceptual designs of commercial fusion power plants (most of them are TOKAMAK) is carried out as the first step. The energy analysis method is imployed because the final goal of fusion plant is to supply energy. The evaluation index is the energy ratio (= output/input). Computer code for energy analysis was developed, to which the material inventory table from the conceptual design and the database for the energy intensity (= energy required to obtain a unit amount of materials) were prepared. (Nogami, K.)

Explaining Physics – What Skills does a good Explainer Need?

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva; Bartels, Hauke

2018-01-01

Explaining physics in a way that it is both scientifically correct and comprehensible is a highly demanding practice. But are explanations an effective way to teach physics? Under which circumstances should a physics teacher explain – and is there such a thing as a guideline for effective instructional explanations? Of course, explaining is more than just presenting content knowledge in clear language – but what more? In our talk, we want to discuss empirical studies on instructional explanations from science education and psychology to address these questions. Among other things, we will refer to results from a large study aiming to research whether teacher education contributes to the development of explaining skills. Besides, we will give insights into a project that seeks to measure explaining skills with an interactive online test instrument.

Plant-induced changes in soil chemistry do not explain differences in uranium transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duquene, L.; Vandenhove, H.; Tack, F.; Avoort, E. van der; Hees, M. van; Wannijn, J.

2006-01-01

A greenhouse experiment was set up with maize, ryegrass, Indian mustard, wheat and pea to evaluate to what extent differences in uranium (U) transfer factors can be explained by root-mediated changes in selected soil properties. The experiment involved an acid and an alkaline soil contaminated with 238 U. U soil-to-shoot transfer factors (TFs) ranged between 0.0005 and 0.021 on the acid soil and between 0.007 and 0.179 on the alkaline soil. Indian mustard showed the highest U uptake in shoots and maize the lowest. The root TFs, only available for the acid soil, ranged from 0.58 for maize and Indian mustard to 1.38 for ryegrass. The difference in U uptake between the two soils and the five plants was only partially explained by the different initial U concentrations in soil solution or differences in soil properties in the two soils. However, we obtained a significant relation for differences in shoot TFs observed between the two soils when relating shoot TFs with concentration of UO 2 2+ and uranyl carbonate complexes in soil solution (R 2 = 0.88). The physiological mechanisms by which root-to-shoot U transfer is inhibited or promoted seemed at least as important as the plant-induced changes in soil characteristics in determining soil-to-shoot TFs

Interdisciplinary research and training program in the plant sciences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wolk, C.P.

1991-01-01

This document is the compiled progress reports from the Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program in the Plant Sciences funded through the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory. Fourteen reports are included, covering topics such as the molecular basis of plant/microbe symbiosis, cell wall proteins and assembly, gene expression, stress responses, growth regulator biosynthesis, interaction between nuclear and organelle genomes, sensory transduction and tropisms, intracellular sorting and membrane trafficking, regulation of lipid metabolism, the molecular basis of disease resistance and plant pathogenesis, developmental biology of Cyanobacteria and hormonal involvement in environmental control of plant growth. 132 refs. (MHB)

The value and use of social media as communication tool in the plant sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Osterrieder, Anne

2013-07-11

Social media now complements many parts of our lives. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many other social networking sites allow users to share and interact with online content and to connect with like-minded people. Its strengths - rapid dissemination and amplification of content and the ability to lead informal conversations - make it a powerful tool to use in a professional context. This commentary explains the overall concept of social media and offers suggestions on usage and possible types of scientific content. It advises researchers on the potential benefits and how to take a strategic approach towards building a social media presence. It also presents examples of effective social media use within the plant science community. Common reasons for scientists to not engage with social media include the fear of appearing unprofessional, posting something wrong or being misunderstood, or a lack of confidence in their computer skills. With the rapid changes in academic publishing, dissemination and science communication, as well as the rise of 'altmetrics' to track online engagement with scientific content, digital literacy will become an essential skill in a scientist's tool kit.

Can the reproductive system of a rare and narrowly endemic plant species explain its high genetic diversity?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniele M. Rodrigues

2018-01-01

Full Text Available ABSTRACT The reproductive system of flowering plants can be highly variable, affecting their biology, gene flow and genetic variability among populations. Petunia secreta is a rare annual endemic species of Pedra do Segredo, located in the municipality of Caçapava do Sul, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Although rare, the species possesses a high level of genetic variability. We investigated the reproductive system of P. secreta, including fruit production and seed germinability, in order to determine if its reproductive system can explain its genetic diversity. We sampled five populations and conducted five greenhouse hand-pollination treatments: 1 autonomous apomixis; 2 self-pollination; 3 hand self-pollination; 4 geitonogamy; and 5 cross-pollination. We analysed a total of 40 plants, 468 flowers, and 6,500 seeds. Only autonomous apomixis and self-pollination did not produce fruit. No differences in fruit weight were observed among pollination treatments (P > 0.05. Seeds of two colours were produced, with no differences in germinability. Considering all plants, populations, and treatments, the average germinability was 73 % (range 9 % to 100 %. These results, along with other previous studies, indicate that the reproductive systems of P. secreta, and its large effective population size, can explain its high genetic diversity.

A model to explain plant growth promotion traits: a multivariate analysis of 2,211 bacterial isolates.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Beschoren da Costa

Full Text Available Plant growth-promoting bacteria can greatly assist sustainable farming by improving plant health and biomass while reducing fertilizer use. The plant-microorganism-environment interaction is an open and complex system, and despite the active research in the area, patterns in root ecology are elusive. Here, we simultaneously analyzed the plant growth-promoting bacteria datasets from seven independent studies that shared a methodology for bioprospection and phenotype screening. The soil richness of the isolate's origin was classified by a Principal Component Analysis. A Categorical Principal Component Analysis was used to classify the soil richness according to isolate's indolic compound production, siderophores production and phosphate solubilization abilities, and bacterial genera composition. Multiple patterns and relationships were found and verified with nonparametric hypothesis testing. Including niche colonization in the analysis, we proposed a model to explain the expression of bacterial plant growth-promoting traits according to the soil nutritional status. Our model shows that plants favor interaction with growth hormone producers under rich nutrient conditions but favor nutrient solubilizers under poor conditions. We also performed several comparisons among the different genera, highlighting interesting ecological interactions and limitations. Our model could be used to direct plant growth-promoting bacteria bioprospection and metagenomic sampling.

Recent developments in plant science involving use of gamma-ray imaging technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawachi, Naoki

2014-01-01

Gamma-ray imaging technologies based on the use of radiotracers enable us to clearly determine the physiological function of an organ not only during pre-clinical and clinical studies but also in the field of plant science. Serial time-course images can be used to indicate the changing spatial distribution of a radiotracer within a living plant system and to describe the dynamics and kinetics of a substance in an intact plant. Gamma-rays almost completely penetrate a plant body, and the image data obtained using them can potentially be used to quantitatively analyze physiological function parameters. This paper briefly reviews recent progress in the field of plant science to explore the use of positron emission tomography, a gamma camera, and the positron-emitting tracer imaging system, which is one of the most advanced gamma-ray imaging systems available for studying plant physiology, for solving problems in the field of environment and agriculture. (author)

LAILAPS: the plant science search engine.

Science.gov (United States)

Esch, Maria; Chen, Jinbo; Colmsee, Christian; Klapperstück, Matthias; Grafahrend-Belau, Eva; Scholz, Uwe; Lange, Matthias

2015-01-01

With the number of sequenced plant genomes growing, the number of predicted genes and functional annotations is also increasing. The association between genes and phenotypic traits is currently of great interest. Unfortunately, the information available today is widely scattered over a number of different databases. Information retrieval (IR) has become an all-encompassing bioinformatics methodology for extracting knowledge from complex, heterogeneous and distributed databases, and therefore can be a useful tool for obtaining a comprehensive view of plant genomics, from genes to traits. Here we describe LAILAPS (http://lailaps.ipk-gatersleben.de), an IR system designed to link plant genomic data in the context of phenotypic attributes for a detailed forward genetic research. LAILAPS comprises around 65 million indexed documents, encompassing >13 major life science databases with around 80 million links to plant genomic resources. The LAILAPS search engine allows fuzzy querying for candidate genes linked to specific traits over a loosely integrated system of indexed and interlinked genome databases. Query assistance and an evidence-based annotation system enable time-efficient and comprehensive information retrieval. An artificial neural network incorporating user feedback and behavior tracking allows relevance sorting of results. We fully describe LAILAPS's functionality and capabilities by comparing this system's performance with other widely used systems and by reporting both a validation in maize and a knowledge discovery use-case focusing on candidate genes in barley. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists.

Plant Science. Instructor Guide [and] Student Reference. Volume 24, Numbers 3 and 4.

Science.gov (United States)

Humphrey, John Kevin

This document consists of two separately published guides for a course on plant science: an instructor's guide and a student's reference manual. Each part consists of eight lessons and cover the following topics: (1) importance of plants; (2) classification of plants; (3) plant growth factors; (4) weeds, diseases, insects; (5) germination; (6)…

Explaining evolution of plant communication by airborne signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Heil, Martin; Karban, Richard

2010-03-01

In spite of initial doubts about the reality of 'talking trees', plant resistance expression mediated by volatile compounds that come from neighboring plants is now well described. Airborne signals usually improve the resistance of the receiver, but without obvious benefits for the emitter, thus making the evolutionary explanation of this phenomenon problematic. Here, we discuss four possible non-exclusive explanations involving the role of volatiles: in direct defense, as within-plant signals, as traits that synergistically interact with other defenses, and as cues among kin. Unfortunately, there is a lack of knowledge on the fitness consequences of plant communication for both emitter and receiver. This information is crucial to understanding the ecology and evolution of plant communication via airborne cues.

Potato agriculture, late blight science, and the molecularization of plant pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Turner, R Steven

2008-01-01

By the mid-1980s nucleic-acid based methods were penetrating the farthest reaches of biological science, triggering rivalries among practitioners, altering relationships among subfields, and transforming the research front. This article delivers a "bottom up" analysis of that transformation at work in one important area of biological science, plant pathology, by tracing the "molecularization" of efforts to understand and control one notorious plant disease -- the late blight of potatoes. It mobilizes the research literature of late blight science as a tool through which to trace the changing typography of the research front from 1983 to 2003. During these years molecularization intensified the traditional fragmentation of the late blight research community, even as it dramatically integrated study of the causal organism into broader areas of biology. In these decades the pathogen responsible for late blight, the oomycete "Phytophthora infestans," was discovered to be undergoing massive, frightening, and still largely unexplained genetic diversification -- a circumstance that lends the episode examined here an urgency that reinforces its historiographical significance as a case-study in the molecularization of the biological sciences.

Micro-PIXE in plant sciences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesjasz-Przybylowicz, J.; Przybylowicz, W.J.

2013-01-01

Full text: Studies of the role played by elements in fundamental processes in physiology, nutrition, elemental deficiency and toxicity as well as environmental pollution require accurate, quantitative methods with good spatial resolution. the problem of proper measurements of elemental balances and elemental transfers between various levels of biological organisation (from abiotic to biotic systems; along the food chains; within organs and cells) becomes essential for understanding the mechanisms influencing the selection, interaction, distribution and transport of elements. Highly sensitive techniques for bulk elemental analysis are mostly used in these investigations. These techniques usually offer adequate sensitivity, but without spatial resolution. On the other hand, advanced studies of elemental distribution at a cellular level are mostly conducted using techniques with high spatial resolution, but low sensitivity. Ideally, these studies should be conducted on organs and tissues of sizes as far down as the cellular and sub-cellular level. This applies to e.g. future directions in ionomics and metallomics and opens up new, exciting possibilities of studies of trace metal role. The micro-PIXE has been applied in plant sciences for more than thirty years and has reached a high level of maturity. This is one of the few microanalytical, multielemental techniques capable of quantitative studies of elemental distribution at ppm level with with ability to perform quantitative elemental mapping and easy quantification of data extracted from selected micro-areas. Preparation of biological specimens is undoubtedly the crucial and most difficult part of analysis, and only cryotechniques are recommended presently for ali types of microanalytical studies. Established sample preparation protocols will be presented. Most of results are obtained for cryofixed and freeze-dried material but analysis of samples in frozen-hydrated state brings important advantage. Recent

Traditional Knowledge of Western Herbal Medicine and Complex Systems Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Niemeyer, Kathryn; Bell, Iris R; Koithan, Mary

2013-09-01

Traditional knowledge of Western herbal medicine (WHM) supports experiential approaches to healing that have evolved over time. This is evident in the use of polyherb formulations comprised of crude plant parts, individually tailored to treat the cause of dysfunction and imbalance by addressing the whole person holistically. The challenge for WHM is to integrate science with traditional knowledge that is a foundation of the practice of WHM. The purpose of this paper is to provide a plausible theoretical hypothesis by applying complex systems science to WHM, illustrating how medicinal plants are complex, adaptive, environmentally interactive systems exhibiting synergy and nonlinear healing causality. This paper explores the conceptual congruence between medicinal plants and humans as complex systems coherently coupled through recurrent interaction. Complex systems science provides the theoretical tenets that explain traditional knowledge of medicinal plants while supporting clinical practice and expanding research and documentation of WHM.

Communicating climate science to a suspicious public: How best to explain what we know?

Science.gov (United States)

Conway, E. M.; Jackson, R.

2014-12-01

In 2007, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory decided to establish a climate science website aimed at explaining what scientists know about climate science, and what they don't, to the English-speaking public. Because of my prior work in the history of atmospheric and climate sciences, I was asked to help choose the data that would be displayed on the site and to write the basic text. Our site went "live" in 2008, and quickly attracted both widespread media attention and sponsorship from NASA, which funded us to expand it into the NASA Climate Change website, climate.nasa.gov. It's now generally the 3rd or 4th ranked climate change website in Google rankings. A perusal of the NASA Climate Change website will reveal that the word "uncertainty" does not appear in its explanatory essays. "Uncertainty," in science, is a calculated quantity. To calculate it, one must know quite a bit about the phenomenon in question. In vernacular use, "uncertainty" means something like "stuff we don't know." These are radically different meanings, and yet scientists and their institutions routinely use both meanings without clarification. Even without the deliberate disinformation campaigns that Oreskes and Conway have documented in Merchants of Doubt, scientists' own misuse of this one word would produce public confusion. We chose to use other words to overcome this one communications problem. But other aspects of the climate communications problem cannot be so easily overcome in a context of Federal agency communications. In this paper, we'll review recent research on ways to improve public understanding of science, and set it against the restrictions that exist on Federal agency communications—avoidance of political statements and interpretation, focusing on fact over storytelling, narrowness of context—to help illuminate the difficulty of improving public understanding of complex, policy-relevant phenomenon like climate change.

The iPlant collaborative: cyberinfrastructure for enabling data to discovery for the life sciences

Science.gov (United States)

The iPlant Collaborative provides life science research communities access to comprehensive, scalable, and cohesive computational infrastructure for data management; identify management; collaboration tools; and cloud, high-performance, high-throughput computing. iPlant provides training, learning m...

Diverging temperature responses of CO2 assimilation and plant development explain the overall effect of temperature on biomass accumulation in wheat leaves and grains.

Science.gov (United States)

Collins, Nicholas C; Parent, Boris

2017-01-09

There is a growing consensus in the literature that rising temperatures influence the rate of biomass accumulation by shortening the development of plant organs and the whole plant and by altering rates of respiration and photosynthesis. A model describing the net effects of these processes on biomass would be useful, but would need to reconcile reported differences in the effects of night and day temperature on plant productivity. In this study, the working hypothesis was that the temperature responses of CO 2 assimilation and plant development rates were divergent, and that their net effects could explain observed differences in biomass accumulation. In wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants, we followed the temperature responses of photosynthesis, respiration and leaf elongation, and confirmed that their responses diverged. We measured the amount of carbon assimilated per "unit of plant development" in each scenario and compared it to the biomass that accumulated in growing leaves and grains. Our results suggested that, up to a temperature optimum, the rate of any developmental process increased with temperature more rapidly than that of CO 2 assimilation and that this discrepancy, summarised by the CO 2 assimilation rate per unit of plant development, could explain the observed reductions in biomass accumulation in plant organs under high temperatures. The model described the effects of night and day temperature equally well, and offers a simple framework for describing the effects of temperature on plant growth. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

Diversity in plant hydraulic traits explains seasonal and inter-annual variations of vegetation dynamics in seasonally dry tropical forests.

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Xiangtao; Medvigy, David; Powers, Jennifer S; Becknell, Justin M; Guan, Kaiyu

2016-10-01

We assessed whether diversity in plant hydraulic traits can explain the observed diversity in plant responses to water stress in seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs). The Ecosystem Demography model 2 (ED2) was updated with a trait-driven mechanistic plant hydraulic module, as well as novel drought-phenology and plant water stress schemes. Four plant functional types were parameterized on the basis of meta-analysis of plant hydraulic traits. Simulations from both the original and the updated ED2 were evaluated against 5 yr of field data from a Costa Rican SDTF site and remote-sensing data over Central America. The updated model generated realistic plant hydraulic dynamics, such as leaf water potential and stem sap flow. Compared with the original ED2, predictions from our novel trait-driven model matched better with observed growth, phenology and their variations among functional groups. Most notably, the original ED2 produced unrealistically small leaf area index (LAI) and underestimated cumulative leaf litter. Both of these biases were corrected by the updated model. The updated model was also better able to simulate spatial patterns of LAI dynamics in Central America. Plant hydraulic traits are intercorrelated in SDTFs. Mechanistic incorporation of plant hydraulic traits is necessary for the simulation of spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation dynamics in SDTFs in vegetation models. © 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust.

Approaches to Teaching Plant Nutrition. Children's Learning in Science Project.

Science.gov (United States)

Leeds Univ. (England). Centre for Studies in Science and Mathematics Education.

During the period 1984-1986, over 30 teachers from the Yorkshire (England) region have worked in collaboration with the Children's Learning in Science Project (CLIS) developing and testing teaching schemes in the areas of energy, particle theory, and plant nutrition. The project is based upon the constructivist approach to teaching. This document…

The Power Plant Mapping Student Project: Bringing Citizen Science to Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Tayne, K.; Oda, T.; Gurney, K. R.; O'Keeffe, D.; Petron, G.; Tans, P. P.; Frost, G. J.

2014-12-01

An emission inventory (EI) is a conventional tool to quantify and monitor anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants into the atmosphere. Gridded EI can visually show geographical patterns of emissions and their changes over time. These patterns, when available, are often determined using location data collected by regional governments, industries, and researchers. Datasets such as Carbon Monitoring and Action (CARMA, www.carma.org) are particularly useful for mapping emissions from large point sources and have been widely used in the EI community. The EI community is aware of potentially significant errors in the geographical locations of point sources, including power plants. The big challenge, however, is to review tens of thousands of power plant locations around the world and correct them where needed. The Power Plant Mapping Student Project (PPMSP) is a platform designed for students in 4th through 12th grade to improve the geographical location of power plants indicated in existing datasets to benefit international EI research. In PPMSP, we use VENTUS, a web-based platform (http://ventus.project.asu.edu/) that invites citizens to contribute power plant location data. Using VENTUS, students view scenes in the vicinity of reported power plant coordinates on Google Maps. Students either verify the location of a power plant or search for it within a designated radius using various indicators, an e-guide, and a power plant photo gallery for assistance. If the power plant cannot be found, students mark the plant as unverified. To assure quality for research use, the project contains multiple checkpoints and levels of review. While participating in meaningful research that directly benefits the EI research community, students are engaged in relevant science curricula designed to meet each grade level's Next Generation Science Standards. Students study energy, climate change, the atmosphere, and geographical information systems. The curricula is

Environmental niche conservatism explains the accumulation of species richness in Mediterranean-hotspot plant genera.

Science.gov (United States)

Skeels, Alexander; Cardillo, Marcel

2017-03-01

The causes of exceptionally high plant diversity in Mediterranean-climate biodiversity hotspots are not fully understood. We asked whether a mechanism similar to the tropical niche conservatism hypothesis could explain the diversity of four large genera (Protea, Moraea, Banksia, and Hakea) with distributions within and adjacent to the Greater Cape Floristic Region (South Africa) or the Southwest Floristic Region (Australia). Using phylogenetic and spatial data we estimated the environmental niche of each species, and reconstructed the mode and dynamics of niche evolution, and the geographic history, of each genus. For three genera, there were strong positive relationships between the diversity of clades within a region and their inferred length of occupation of that region. Within genera, there was evidence for strong evolutionary constraint on niche axes associated with climatic seasonality and aridity, with different niche optima for hotspot and nonhotspot clades. Evolutionary transitions away from hotspots were associated with increases in niche breadth and elevated rates of niche evolution. Our results point to a process of "hotspot niche conservatism" whereby the accumulation of plant diversity in Mediterranean-type ecosystems results from longer time for speciation, with dispersal away from hotspots limited by narrow and phylogenetically conserved environmental niches. © 2017 The Author(s). Evolution © 2017 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Does plasticity in plant physiological traits explain the rapid increase in water use efficiency? An ecohydrological modeling approach

Science.gov (United States)

Mastrotheodoros, Theodoros; Fatichi, Simone; Pappas, Christoforos; Molnar, Peter; Burlando, Paolo

2016-04-01

The rise of atmospheric CO2 concentration is expected to stimulate plant productivity by enhancing photosynthesis and reducing stomatal conductance and thus increasing plant water use efficiency (WUE) worldwide. An analysis of eddy covariance flux tower data from 21 forested ecosystems across the north hemisphere detected an unexpectedly large increase in WUE (Keenan et al, 2013), which was six times larger than the increase found by most previous studies based on controlled experiments (e.g., FACE), leaf-scale analyses, and numerical modelling. This increase could be solely attributed to the increase in atmospheric CO2 since other confounding factors were ruled out. Here, we investigate the potential contribution of plant plasticity, reflected in the temporal adjustment of major plant physiological traits, on changes in WUE using the ecohydrological model Tethys and Chloris (T&C). We hypothesize that the increase in WUE can be attributed to small variations in plant physiological traits, undetectable through observations, eventually triggered by the atmospheric CO2 increase. Data from the 21 sites in the above mentioned study are used to force the model. Simulation results with and without plasticity in the physiological traits (i.e., model parameters in our numerical experiments) are compared with the observed trends in WUE. We test several plant adaptation strategies in being effective in explaining the observed increase in WUE using a multifactorial numerical experiment in which we perturb in a systematic way selected plant parameters. Keenan, T. F., Hollinger, D. Y., Bohrer, G., Dragoni, D., Munger, J. W., Schmid, H. P., and Richardson, A. D. (2013). Increase in forest water-use efficiency as atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations rise. Nature, 499(7458), 324-7.

A Tale of Two Majors: Explaining the Gender Gap in STEM Employment among Computer Science and Engineering Degree Holders

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sharon Sassler

2017-07-01

Full Text Available We examine factors contributing to the gender gap in employment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM among men and women with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and engineering, the two largest and most male-dominated STEM fields. Data come from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT from 1995 to 2008. Different factors are associated with persistence in STEM jobs among computer science and engineering degree holders. Conditional on receiving a degree in computer science, women are 14 percentage points less likely to work in STEM than their male counterparts. Controlling for demographic and family characteristics did little to change this gender gap. Women with degrees in engineering are approximately 8 percentage points less likely to work in STEM than men, although about half of this gap is explained by observed differences between men and women. We document a widening gender gap in STEM employment in computer science, but this gender gap narrows across college cohorts among those with degrees in engineering. Among recent computer science graduates, the gender gap in STEM employment for white, Hispanic, and black women relative to white men is even larger than for older graduates. Gender and race gaps in STEM employment for recent cohorts of engineering graduates are generally small, though younger Asian women and men no longer have an employment advantage relative to white men. Our results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to increasing women’s representation in the most male-dominated STEM fields may not work.

How brain and neuronal networks explain human reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Monserrat

2017-02-01

Full Text Available How is human reality presented to us in phenomenological experience? It is the one we see daily in our personal and social life. We are made of matter, we are part of the evolutionary universe. In addition, a psychic life is formed in us: sensation, a system of perceptions, an integrated consciousness, a condition of psychological subject; We produce knowledge, emotions, motivations; But, above all, we have a mind that rationally moves and installs us into a world of human emotions; This emotional reason lies at the base of the search for the truth of the universe, the meaning of life and the moral responsibility, in personal and social life. Our human reality is, therefore, a personal reality. We are persons. Now, how does science, neurology, explain today the fact that our human reality possesses these properties that give us the personal condition? This should be able to be explained (this is the initial assumption from the physical-biological world. Now, in particular, how does science make it possible to explain that evolution has produced us in our condition of ratio-emotional persons? That is, what is the physical support that makes intelligible the psycho-bio-physical ontology that evolutionarily produces our personal phenomenological experience? This is, ultimately, still the fundamental question of human sciences. What science, namely neurology, must explain (that is, know the causes that have produced it is obvious: the fact of our sensibility-consciousness, our condition of psychic subjects, knowledge and emotional reason that have emerged in the universe; In such a way that, once the emotional reason emerges, it leads by itself to constitute the rational activity and the emotions of the human person aimed at building the meaning of his life. These are the issues we address in this article.

Foliar pH as a new plant trait: can it explain variation in foliar chemistry and carbon cycling processes among subarctic plant species and types?

Science.gov (United States)

Cornelissen, J H C; Quested, H M; van Logtestijn, R S P; Pérez-Harguindeguy, N; Gwynn-Jones, D; Díaz, S; Callaghan, T V; Press, M C; Aerts, R

2006-03-01

Plant traits have become popular as predictors of interspecific variation in important ecosystem properties and processes. Here we introduce foliar pH as a possible new plant trait, and tested whether (1) green leaf pH or leaf litter pH correlates with biochemical and structural foliar traits that are linked to biogeochemical cycling; (2) there is consistent variation in green leaf pH or leaf litter pH among plant types as defined by nutrient uptake mode and higher taxonomy; (3) green leaf pH can predict a significant proportion of variation in leaf digestibility among plant species and types; (4) leaf litter pH can predict a significant proportion of variation in leaf litter decomposability among plant species and types. We found some evidence in support of all four hypotheses for a wide range of species in a subarctic flora, although cryptogams (fern allies and a moss) tended to weaken the patterns by showing relatively poor leaf digestibility or litter decomposability at a given pH. Among seed plant species, green leaf pH itself explained only up to a third of the interspecific variation in leaf digestibility and leaf litter up to a quarter of the interspecific variation in leaf litter decomposability. However, foliar pH substantially improved the power of foliar lignin and/or cellulose concentrations as predictors of these processes when added to regression models as a second variable. When species were aggregated into plant types as defined by higher taxonomy and nutrient uptake mode, green-specific leaf area was a more powerful predictor of digestibility or decomposability than any of the biochemical traits including pH. The usefulness of foliar pH as a new predictive trait, whether or not in combination with other traits, remains to be tested across more plant species, types and biomes, and also in relation to other plant or ecosystem traits and processes.

The gap between science and perception: the case of plant biotechnology in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Einsele, Arthur

2007-01-01

Although the global area of biotech crops continues to climb for the tenth consecutive year at a sustainable double-digit growth rate, the acceptance of biotech products from agriculture in Europe is still low. There is a gap between science and perception. It is a strong belief that the public turning against science and against GM food has been encouraged by the negative activities of NGO groups. Scientists have to overcome the purely risk-based discussion, and the benefits of plant biotechnology have to be made literally visible. GM food should be available, the benefits should be tangible and the consumer should have fun with such novel food. The gap could be reduced if genetically modified plants and the products thereof were regulated in the same way as classical products.

Development and Assessment of Self-explaining Skills in College Chemistry Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Villalta-Cerdas, Adrian

The prevalent trend in chemistry instruction relies on what has been described as the classroom game. In this model, students take a passive role and the instructor does all the explaining (thinking), and learning is trivialized to knowing the correct answers (memorizing) and being able to produce them when prompted (regurgitating). The generation of explanations is central to scientific and technological development. In the process of figuring out explanations, the generation of inferences relies on the application of skills associated with scientific behaviors (e.g., analytical reasoning and critical thinking). The process of explanation generation causes a deeper analysis and revision of the scientific models, thus impacting the conceptual understanding of such models. Although the process of generating authentic explanations is closer to the experience of doing science, this process is seldom replicated in science instruction. Self-explaining refers to the generation of inferences about causal connections between objects and events. In science, this may be summarized as making sense of how and why actual or hypothetical phenomena take place. Research findings in educational psychology show that implementing activities that elicit self-explaining improves learning in general and specifically enhances authentic learning in the sciences. Research also suggests that self-explaining influences many aspects of cognition, including acquisition of problem-solving skills and conceptual understanding. Although the evidence that links self-explaining and learning is substantial, most of the research has been conducted in experimental settings. The purpose of this work was to advance knowledge in this area by investigating the effect of different self-explaining tasks on self-explaining behavior and the effect of engaging in different levels of self-explaining on learning chemistry concepts. Unlike most of the research in the field, this work did not focus on advancing

DAE-BRNS workshop on applications of image processing in plant sciences and agriculture: lecture notes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-10-01

Images form important data and information in biological sciences. Until recently photography was the only method to reproduce and report such data. It is difficult to quantify or treat the photographic data mathematically. Digital image processing and image analysis technology based on recent advances in microelectronics and computers circumvents these problems associated with traditional photography. WIPSA (Workshop on Applications of Image Processing in Plant Sciences and Agriculture) will feature topics on the basic aspects of computers, imaging hardware and software as well advanced aspects such as colour image processing, high performance computing, neural networks, 3-D imaging and virtual reality. Imaging done using ultrasound, thermal, x-rays and γ rays, neutron radiography and the film-less phosphor-imager technology will also be discussed. Additionally application of image processing/analysis in plant sciences, medicine and satellite imagery are discussed. Papers relevant to INIS are indexed separately

An explainable deep machine vision framework for plant stress phenotyping.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosal, Sambuddha; Blystone, David; Singh, Asheesh K; Ganapathysubramanian, Baskar; Singh, Arti; Sarkar, Soumik

2018-05-01

Current approaches for accurate identification, classification, and quantification of biotic and abiotic stresses in crop research and production are predominantly visual and require specialized training. However, such techniques are hindered by subjectivity resulting from inter- and intrarater cognitive variability. This translates to erroneous decisions and a significant waste of resources. Here, we demonstrate a machine learning framework's ability to identify and classify a diverse set of foliar stresses in soybean [ Glycine max (L.) Merr.] with remarkable accuracy. We also present an explanation mechanism, using the top-K high-resolution feature maps that isolate the visual symptoms used to make predictions. This unsupervised identification of visual symptoms provides a quantitative measure of stress severity, allowing for identification (type of foliar stress), classification (low, medium, or high stress), and quantification (stress severity) in a single framework without detailed symptom annotation by experts. We reliably identified and classified several biotic (bacterial and fungal diseases) and abiotic (chemical injury and nutrient deficiency) stresses by learning from over 25,000 images. The learned model is robust to input image perturbations, demonstrating viability for high-throughput deployment. We also noticed that the learned model appears to be agnostic to species, seemingly demonstrating an ability of transfer learning. The availability of an explainable model that can consistently, rapidly, and accurately identify and quantify foliar stresses would have significant implications in scientific research, plant breeding, and crop production. The trained model could be deployed in mobile platforms (e.g., unmanned air vehicles and automated ground scouts) for rapid, large-scale scouting or as a mobile application for real-time detection of stress by farmers and researchers. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

An explainable deep machine vision framework for plant stress phenotyping

Science.gov (United States)

Blystone, David; Ganapathysubramanian, Baskar; Singh, Arti; Sarkar, Soumik

2018-01-01

Current approaches for accurate identification, classification, and quantification of biotic and abiotic stresses in crop research and production are predominantly visual and require specialized training. However, such techniques are hindered by subjectivity resulting from inter- and intrarater cognitive variability. This translates to erroneous decisions and a significant waste of resources. Here, we demonstrate a machine learning framework’s ability to identify and classify a diverse set of foliar stresses in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] with remarkable accuracy. We also present an explanation mechanism, using the top-K high-resolution feature maps that isolate the visual symptoms used to make predictions. This unsupervised identification of visual symptoms provides a quantitative measure of stress severity, allowing for identification (type of foliar stress), classification (low, medium, or high stress), and quantification (stress severity) in a single framework without detailed symptom annotation by experts. We reliably identified and classified several biotic (bacterial and fungal diseases) and abiotic (chemical injury and nutrient deficiency) stresses by learning from over 25,000 images. The learned model is robust to input image perturbations, demonstrating viability for high-throughput deployment. We also noticed that the learned model appears to be agnostic to species, seemingly demonstrating an ability of transfer learning. The availability of an explainable model that can consistently, rapidly, and accurately identify and quantify foliar stresses would have significant implications in scientific research, plant breeding, and crop production. The trained model could be deployed in mobile platforms (e.g., unmanned air vehicles and automated ground scouts) for rapid, large-scale scouting or as a mobile application for real-time detection of stress by farmers and researchers. PMID:29666265

Do plant traits explain tree seedling survival in bogs?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Limpens, J.; Egmond, van E.; Li, B.; Holmgren, M.

2013-01-01

Moss-dominated peat bogs store approximately 30% of global soil carbon. A climate induced shift from current moss-dominated conditions to tree-dominated states is expected to strongly affect their functioning and carbon sequestration capacity. Consequently, unraveling the mechanisms that may explain

The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for Enabling Data to Discovery for the Life Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Merchant, Nirav; Lyons, Eric; Goff, Stephen; Vaughn, Matthew; Ware, Doreen; Micklos, David; Antin, Parker

2016-01-01

The iPlant Collaborative provides life science research communities access to comprehensive, scalable, and cohesive computational infrastructure for data management; identity management; collaboration tools; and cloud, high-performance, high-throughput computing. iPlant provides training, learning material, and best practice resources to help all researchers make the best use of their data, expand their computational skill set, and effectively manage their data and computation when working as distributed teams. iPlant's platform permits researchers to easily deposit and share their data and deploy new computational tools and analysis workflows, allowing the broader community to easily use and reuse those data and computational analyses.

Linear Algebra Thoroughly Explained

CERN Document Server

Vujičić, Milan

2008-01-01

Linear Algebra Thoroughly Explained provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject suitable for adoption as a self-contained text for courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level. The clear and comprehensive presentation of the basic theory is illustrated throughout with an abundance of worked examples. The book is written for teachers and students of linear algebra at all levels and across mathematics and the applied sciences, particularly physics and engineering. It will also be an invaluable addition to research libraries as a comprehensive resource book for the subject.

Children's Theories and the Drive to Explain

Science.gov (United States)

Schwitzgebel, Eric

Debate has been growing in developmental psychology over how much the cognitive development of children is like theory change in science. Useful debate on this topic requires a clear understanding of what it would be for a child to have a theory. I argue that existing accounts of theories within philosophy of science and developmental psychology either are less precise than is ideal for the task or cannot capture everyday theorizing of the sort that children, if they theorize, must do. I then propose an account of theories that ties theories and explanation very closely together, treating theories primarily as products of a drive to explain. I clarify some of the positions people have taken regarding the theory theory of development, and I conclude by proposing that psychologists interested in the ''theory theory'' look for patterns of affect and arousal in development that would accompany the existence of a drive to explain.

Vitamin Deficiencies in Humans: Can Plant Science Help?[W

Science.gov (United States)

Fitzpatrick, Teresa B.; Basset, Gilles J.C.; Borel, Patrick; Carrari, Fernando; DellaPenna, Dean; Fraser, Paul D.; Hellmann, Hanjo; Osorio, Sonia; Rothan, Christophe; Valpuesta, Victoriano; Caris-Veyrat, Catherine; Fernie, Alisdair R.

2012-01-01

The term vitamin describes a small group of organic compounds that are absolutely required in the human diet. Although for the most part, dependency criteria are met in developed countries through balanced diets, this is not the case for the five billion people in developing countries who depend predominantly on a single staple crop for survival. Thus, providing a more balanced vitamin intake from high-quality food remains one of the grandest challenges for global human nutrition in the coming decade(s). Here, we describe the known importance of vitamins in human health and current knowledge on their metabolism in plants. Deficits in developing countries are a combined consequence of a paucity of specific vitamins in major food staple crops, losses during crop processing, and/or overreliance on a single species as a primary food source. We discuss the role that plant science can play in addressing this problem and review successful engineering of vitamin pathways. We conclude that while considerable advances have been made in understanding vitamin metabolic pathways in plants, more cross-disciplinary approaches must be adopted to provide adequate levels of all vitamins in the major staple crops to eradicate vitamin deficiencies from the global population. PMID:22374394

Alaska Is Our Home--Book 3: A Natural Science Handbook for Alaskan Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Bury, John; Bury, Susan

The third book in a series of natural science handbooks for Alaskan students focuses on Alaskan plantlife. The first chapter, on trees, gives general information about trees and explains how to identify and locate trees in the three main Alaskan tree families: pine, willow, and birch. The second chapter, on plants, describes 14 kinds of edible…

The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for Enabling Data to Discovery for the Life Sciences.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nirav Merchant

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The iPlant Collaborative provides life science research communities access to comprehensive, scalable, and cohesive computational infrastructure for data management; identity management; collaboration tools; and cloud, high-performance, high-throughput computing. iPlant provides training, learning material, and best practice resources to help all researchers make the best use of their data, expand their computational skill set, and effectively manage their data and computation when working as distributed teams. iPlant's platform permits researchers to easily deposit and share their data and deploy new computational tools and analysis workflows, allowing the broader community to easily use and reuse those data and computational analyses.

History, achievements, and future challenges of Japanse Society of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

Science.gov (United States)

Kosaki, Takashi

2013-04-01

Modern soil science was introduced just after the reformation of Japan in 1867 by Max Fesca, Oskar Kellner and other German teachers together with their Japanese students, who were traced back to Justus von Liebig and thus started studying and teaching soils based on agrogeology and agricultural chemistry. After the German teachers left, the graduates from agricultural colleges formed the Foundation of Agricultural Sciences in 1887, based on which the Society of the Science of Soil and Manure, Japan, was established in 1927. The research, education and extension activities then expanded to Korea, Manchuria and Inner Mongolia as well as Taiwan and Sakhalin in accordance with a military invasion to China and Southeast Asian countries until the end of WWII. After WWII together with the reformation guided by the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Allied Forces, soils research and educational units increased in number in the universities and governmental institutions. The society started publication of the journal in English, "Soils and Plant Food" in 1955, which was renamed to "Soil Science and Plant Nutrition (SSPN)" in 1961. There formed a variety of discussion groups in the society such as soil microbiology, pedology, clay science, soil physics, plant physiology, and forest environment, which became independent in the 1960s. Economic growth of Japan in the 1970s accomplished self-sufficiency in rice production and extended the range of crop to grow, however, a variety of environmental issues came out. A new division was established in the society for solving soil-related environmental problems. The society became more involved in international activities and hosted a number of international conferences, workshops, etc., the most significant of which was the 14th International Congress of Soil Science at Kyoto in 1990. The society proposed there a regional organization to cope with the unique issues, e.g. improvement of paddy rice cultivation, for Asian countries and

Carbohydrate Microarrays in Plant Science

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fangel, Jonatan Ulrik; Pedersen, H.L.; Vidal-Melgosa, S.

2012-01-01

Almost all plant cells are surrounded by glycan-rich cell walls, which form much of the plant body and collectively are the largest source of biomass on earth. Plants use polysaccharides for support, defense, signaling, cell adhesion, and as energy storage, and many plant glycans are also important...... industrially and nutritionally. Understanding the biological roles of plant glycans and the effective exploitation of their useful properties requires a detailed understanding of their structures, occurrence, and molecular interactions. Microarray technology has revolutionized the massively high...... for plant research and can be used to map glycan populations across large numbers of samples to screen antibodies, carbohydrate binding proteins, and carbohydrate binding modules and to investigate enzyme activities....

Revising and Updating the Plant Science Components of the Connecticut Vocational Agriculture Curriculum.

Science.gov (United States)

Connecticut Univ., Storrs. Dept. of Educational Leadership.

This curriculum guide provides the plant science components of the vocational agriculture curriculum for Regional Vocational Agriculture Centers. The curriculum is divided into exploratory units for students in the 9th and 10th grades and specialized units for students in grades 11 and 12. The five exploratory units are: agricultural pest control;…

Science + Maths = A Better Understanding of Science!

Science.gov (United States)

Markwick, Andy; Clark, Kris

2016-01-01

Science and mathematics share a common purpose: to explore, understand and explain the pure beauty of our universe and how it works. Using mathematics in science enquiry can enhance children's understanding of science and also provide opportunities for children to apply their mathematical knowledge to "real" contexts. The authors…

Reduced plant competition among kin can be explained by Jensen's inequality.

Science.gov (United States)

Simonsen, Anna K; Chow, Theresa; Stinchcombe, John R

2014-12-01

Plants often compete with closely related individuals due to limited dispersal, leading to two commonly invoked predictions on competitive outcomes. Kin selection, from evolutionary theory, predicts that competition between relatives will likely be weaker. The niche partitioning hypothesis, from ecological theory, predicts that competition between close relatives will likely be stronger. We tested for evidence consistent with either of these predictions by growing an annual legume in kin and nonkin groups in the greenhouse. We grew plant groups in treatments of symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria differing in strain identity and composition to determine if differences in the microbial environment can facilitate or obscure plant competition patterns consistent with kin selection or niche partitioning. Nonkin groups had lower fitness than expected, based on fitness estimates of the same genotypes grown among kin. Higher fitness among kin groups was observed in mixtures of N-fixing bacteria strains compared to single inoculations of bacteria strains present in the soil, which increased fitness differences between kin and nonkin groups. Lower fitness in nonkin groups was likely caused by increased competitive asymmetry in nonkin groups due to genetic differences in plant size combined with saturating relationships with plant size and fitness- i.e. Jensen's inequality. Our study suggests that microbial soil symbionts alter competitive dynamics among kin and nonkin. Our study also suggests that kin groups can have higher fitness, as predicted by kin selection theory, through a commonly heritable trait (plant size), without requiring kin recognition mechanisms.

Students' Development and Use of Models to Explain Electrostatic Interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Mayer, Kristin Elizabeth

The National Research Council (2012) recently published A Framework for K-12 Science Education that describes a vision for science classrooms where students engage in three dimensions--scientific and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas--to explain phenomena or observations they can make about the universe around them. This vision of science instruction is a significant shift from current classroom instruction. This dissertation provides detailed examples of how students developed and used models to build causal explanations of phenomena. I co-taught classes that focused on having students develop and revise models of electric fields and atomic structure using a curriculum that was designed to align with the three-dimensional vision of learning. I developed case studies of eleven students from these classes. I analyzed the students' responses and interviewed the students throughout the school year. By comparing and contrasting the analysis across the analysis of students' interviews, I identified four themes: 1) students could apply their ideas to explain novel and abstract phenomena; 2) students struggled to connect changes in their atomic models to evidence, but ended up with dynamic models of atomic structure that they could apply to explain phenomena; 3) students developed models of atomic structure that they applied to explain phenomena, but they did not use models of electric fields in this way; and 4) too much focus on details interfered with students' ability to apply their models to explain new phenomena. This dissertation highlights the importance of focusing on phenomena in classrooms that aim at aligning with three-dimensional learning. Students struggled to focus on specific content and apply their ideas to explain phenomena at the same time. In order to apply ideas to new context, students had to shift their focus from recalling ideas to applying the ideas they do have. A focus on phenomena allowed students to show

Which plant trait explains the variations in relative growth rate and its response to elevated carbon dioxide concentration among Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes derived from a variety of habitats?

Science.gov (United States)

Oguchi, Riichi; Ozaki, Hiroshi; Hanada, Kousuke; Hikosaka, Kouki

2016-03-01

Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration ([CO2]) enhances plant growth, but this enhancement varies considerably. It is still uncertain which plant traits are quantitatively related to the variation in plant growth. To identify the traits responsible, we developed a growth analysis model that included primary parameters associated with morphology, nitrogen (N) use, and leaf and root activities. We analysed the vegetative growth of 44 ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana L. grown at ambient and elevated [CO2] (800 μmol mol(-1)). The 44 ecotypes were selected such that they were derived from various altitudes and latitudes. Relative growth rate (RGR; growth rate per unit plant mass) and its response to [CO2] varied by 1.5- and 1.7-fold among ecotypes, respectively. The variation in RGR at both [CO2]s was mainly explained by the variation in leaf N productivity (LNP; growth rate per leaf N),which was strongly related to photosynthetic N use efficiency (PNUE). The variation in the response of RGR to [CO2] was also explained by the variation in the response of LNP to [CO2]. Genomic analyses indicated that there was no phylogenetic constraint on inter-ecotype variation in the CO2 response of RGR or LNP. We conclude that the significant variation in plant growth and its response to [CO2] among ecotypes reflects the variation in N use for photosynthesis among ecotypes, and that the response of PNUE to CO2 is an important target for predicting and/or breeding plants that have high growth rates at elevated [CO2].

To explain the world the discovery of modern science

CERN Document Server

Weinberg, Steven

2015-01-01

A masterful commentary on the history of science from the Greeks to modern times, by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg—a thought-provoking and important book by one of the most distinguished scientists and intellectuals of our time. In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg takes us across centuries from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato’s Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of London. He shows that the scientists of ancient and medieval times not only did not understand what we understand about the world—they did not understand what there is to understand, or how to understand it. Yet over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the curious backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of the tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged. Along the way, Weinberg examines historic clashes and collaborations betw...

Functional traits explain ecosystem function through opposing mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Cadotte, Marc W

2017-08-01

The ability to explain why multispecies assemblages produce greater biomass compared to monocultures, has been a central goal in the quest to understand biodiversity effects on ecosystem function. Species contributions to ecosystem function can be driven by two processes: niche complementarity and a selection effect that is influenced by fitness (competitive) differences, and both can be approximated with measures of species' traits. It has been hypothesised that fitness differences are associated with few, singular traits while complementarity requires multidimensional trait measures. Here, using experimental data from plant assemblages, I show that the selection effect was strongest when trait dissimilarity was low, while complementarity was greatest with high trait dissimilarity. Selection effects were best explained by a single trait, plant height. Complementarity was correlated with dissimilarity across multiple traits, representing above and below ground processes. By identifying the relevant traits linked to ecosystem function, we obtain the ability to predict combinations of species that will maximise ecosystem function. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Focal Plant Observations as a Standardised Method for Pollinator Monitoring: Opportunities and Limitations for Mass Participation Citizen Science.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Helen E Roy

Full Text Available Recently there has been increasing focus on monitoring pollinating insects, due to concerns about their declines, and interest in the role of volunteers in monitoring pollinators, particularly bumblebees, via citizen science.The Big Bumblebee Discovery was a one-year citizen science project run by a partnership of EDF Energy, the British Science Association and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology which sought to assess the influence of the landscape at multiple scales on the diversity and abundance of bumblebees. Timed counts of bumblebees (Bombus spp.; identified to six colour groups visiting focal plants of lavender (Lavendula spp. were carried out by about 13 000 primary school children (7-11 years old from over 4000 schools across the UK. 3948 reports were received totalling 26 868 bumblebees. We found that while the wider landscape type had no significant effect on reported bumblebee abundance, the local proximity to flowers had a significant effect (fewer bumblebees where other flowers were reported to be >5m away from the focal plant. However, the rate of mis-identifcation, revealed by photographs uploaded by participants and a photo-based quiz, was high.Our citizen science results support recent research on the importance of local flocal resources on pollinator abundance. Timed counts of insects visiting a lure plant is potentially an effective approach for standardised pollinator monitoring, engaging a large number of participants with a simple protocol. However, the relatively high rate of mis-identifications (compared to reports from previous pollinator citizen science projects highlights the importance of investing in resources to train volunteers. Also, to be a scientifically valid method for enquiry, citizen science data needs to be sufficiently high quality, so receiving supporting evidence (such as photographs would allow this to be tested and for records to be verified.

The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for Plant Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Goff, Stephen A.; Vaughn, Matthew; McKay, Sheldon; Lyons, Eric; Stapleton, Ann E.; Gessler, Damian; Matasci, Naim; Wang, Liya; Hanlon, Matthew; Lenards, Andrew; Muir, Andy; Merchant, Nirav; Lowry, Sonya; Mock, Stephen; Helmke, Matthew; Kubach, Adam; Narro, Martha; Hopkins, Nicole; Micklos, David; Hilgert, Uwe; Gonzales, Michael; Jordan, Chris; Skidmore, Edwin; Dooley, Rion; Cazes, John; McLay, Robert; Lu, Zhenyuan; Pasternak, Shiran; Koesterke, Lars; Piel, William H.; Grene, Ruth; Noutsos, Christos; Gendler, Karla; Feng, Xin; Tang, Chunlao; Lent, Monica; Kim, Seung-Jin; Kvilekval, Kristian; Manjunath, B. S.; Tannen, Val; Stamatakis, Alexandros; Sanderson, Michael; Welch, Stephen M.; Cranston, Karen A.; Soltis, Pamela; Soltis, Doug; O'Meara, Brian; Ane, Cecile; Brutnell, Tom; Kleibenstein, Daniel J.; White, Jeffery W.; Leebens-Mack, James; Donoghue, Michael J.; Spalding, Edgar P.; Vision, Todd J.; Myers, Christopher R.; Lowenthal, David; Enquist, Brian J.; Boyle, Brad; Akoglu, Ali; Andrews, Greg; Ram, Sudha; Ware, Doreen; Stein, Lincoln; Stanzione, Dan

2011-01-01

The iPlant Collaborative (iPlant) is a United States National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project that aims to create an innovative, comprehensive, and foundational cyberinfrastructure in support of plant biology research (PSCIC, 2006). iPlant is developing cyberinfrastructure that uniquely enables scientists throughout the diverse fields that comprise plant biology to address Grand Challenges in new ways, to stimulate and facilitate cross-disciplinary research, to promote biology and computer science research interactions, and to train the next generation of scientists on the use of cyberinfrastructure in research and education. Meeting humanity's projected demands for agricultural and forest products and the expectation that natural ecosystems be managed sustainably will require synergies from the application of information technologies. The iPlant cyberinfrastructure design is based on an unprecedented period of research community input, and leverages developments in high-performance computing, data storage, and cyberinfrastructure for the physical sciences. iPlant is an open-source project with application programming interfaces that allow the community to extend the infrastructure to meet its needs. iPlant is sponsoring community-driven workshops addressing specific scientific questions via analysis tool integration and hypothesis testing. These workshops teach researchers how to add bioinformatics tools and/or datasets into the iPlant cyberinfrastructure enabling plant scientists to perform complex analyses on large datasets without the need to master the command-line or high-performance computational services. PMID:22645531

The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for Plant Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Goff, Stephen A; Vaughn, Matthew; McKay, Sheldon; Lyons, Eric; Stapleton, Ann E; Gessler, Damian; Matasci, Naim; Wang, Liya; Hanlon, Matthew; Lenards, Andrew; Muir, Andy; Merchant, Nirav; Lowry, Sonya; Mock, Stephen; Helmke, Matthew; Kubach, Adam; Narro, Martha; Hopkins, Nicole; Micklos, David; Hilgert, Uwe; Gonzales, Michael; Jordan, Chris; Skidmore, Edwin; Dooley, Rion; Cazes, John; McLay, Robert; Lu, Zhenyuan; Pasternak, Shiran; Koesterke, Lars; Piel, William H; Grene, Ruth; Noutsos, Christos; Gendler, Karla; Feng, Xin; Tang, Chunlao; Lent, Monica; Kim, Seung-Jin; Kvilekval, Kristian; Manjunath, B S; Tannen, Val; Stamatakis, Alexandros; Sanderson, Michael; Welch, Stephen M; Cranston, Karen A; Soltis, Pamela; Soltis, Doug; O'Meara, Brian; Ane, Cecile; Brutnell, Tom; Kleibenstein, Daniel J; White, Jeffery W; Leebens-Mack, James; Donoghue, Michael J; Spalding, Edgar P; Vision, Todd J; Myers, Christopher R; Lowenthal, David; Enquist, Brian J; Boyle, Brad; Akoglu, Ali; Andrews, Greg; Ram, Sudha; Ware, Doreen; Stein, Lincoln; Stanzione, Dan

2011-01-01

The iPlant Collaborative (iPlant) is a United States National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project that aims to create an innovative, comprehensive, and foundational cyberinfrastructure in support of plant biology research (PSCIC, 2006). iPlant is developing cyberinfrastructure that uniquely enables scientists throughout the diverse fields that comprise plant biology to address Grand Challenges in new ways, to stimulate and facilitate cross-disciplinary research, to promote biology and computer science research interactions, and to train the next generation of scientists on the use of cyberinfrastructure in research and education. Meeting humanity's projected demands for agricultural and forest products and the expectation that natural ecosystems be managed sustainably will require synergies from the application of information technologies. The iPlant cyberinfrastructure design is based on an unprecedented period of research community input, and leverages developments in high-performance computing, data storage, and cyberinfrastructure for the physical sciences. iPlant is an open-source project with application programming interfaces that allow the community to extend the infrastructure to meet its needs. iPlant is sponsoring community-driven workshops addressing specific scientific questions via analysis tool integration and hypothesis testing. These workshops teach researchers how to add bioinformatics tools and/or datasets into the iPlant cyberinfrastructure enabling plant scientists to perform complex analyses on large datasets without the need to master the command-line or high-performance computational services.

The iPlant Collaborative: Cyberinfrastructure for Plant Biology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen A Goff

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The iPlant Collaborative (iPlant is a United States National Science Foundation (NSF funded project that aims to create an innovative, comprehensive, and foundational cyberinfrastructure in support of plant biology research (PSCIC, 2006. iPlant is developing cyberinfrastructure that uniquely enables scientists throughout the diverse fields that comprise plant biology to address Grand Challenges in new ways, to stimulate and facilitate cross-disciplinary research, to promote biology and computer science research interactions, and to train the next generation of scientists on the use of cyberinfrastructure in research and education. Meeting humanity's projected demands for agricultural and forest products and the expectation that natural ecosystems be managed sustainably will require synergies from the application of information technologies. The iPlant cyberinfrastructure design is based on an unprecedented period of research community input, and leverages developments in high-performance computing, data storage, and cyberinfrastructure for the physical sciences. iPlant is an open-source project with application programming interfaces that allow the community to extend the infrastructure to meet its needs. iPlant is sponsoring community-driven workshops addressing specific scientific questions via analysis tool integration and hypothesis testing. These workshops teach researchers how to add bioinformatics tools and/or datasets into the iPlant cyberinfrastructure enabling plant scientists to perform complex analyses on large datasets without the need to master the command-line or high-performance computational services.

Developing nanotechnology for biofuel and plant science applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Valenstein, Justin [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

2012-01-01

This dissertation presents the research on the development of mesoporous silica based nanotechnology for applications in biofuels and plant science. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been the subject of great interest in the last two decades due to their unique properties of high surface area, tunable pore size and particle morphology. The robust nature of the silica framework is easily functionalized to make the MSNs a promising option for selective separations. Also, the independent channels that form the pores of MSN have been exploited in the use of particles as platforms for molecular delivery. Pore size and organic functionality are varied to identify the ideal adsorbent material for free fatty acids (FFAs). The resulting material is able to sequester FFAs with a high degree of selectivity from a simulated solution and microalgal oil. The recyclability and industrial implications are also explored. A continuation of the previous material, further tuning of MSN pore size was investigated. Particles with a smaller diameter selectively sequester polyunsaturated free fatty acids (PUFAs) over monounsaturated FFAs and saturated FFAs. The experimental results were verified with molecular modeling. Mesoporous silica nanoparticle materials with a pore diameter of 10 nm (MSN-10) were decorated with small gold nanoparticles. The resulting materials were shown to deliver proteins and DNA into plant cells using the biolistic method.

Season Spotter: Using Citizen Science to Validate and Scale Plant Phenology from Near-Surface Remote Sensing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margaret Kosmala

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The impact of a rapidly changing climate on the biosphere is an urgent area of research for mitigation policy and management. Plant phenology is a sensitive indicator of climate change and regulates the seasonality of carbon, water, and energy fluxes between the land surface and the climate system, making it an important tool for studying biosphere–atmosphere interactions. To monitor plant phenology at regional and continental scales, automated near-surface cameras are being increasingly used to supplement phenology data derived from satellite imagery and data from ground-based human observers. We used imagery from a network of phenology cameras in a citizen science project called Season Spotter to investigate whether information could be derived from these images beyond standard, color-based vegetation indices. We found that engaging citizen science volunteers resulted in useful science knowledge in three ways: first, volunteers were able to detect some, but not all, reproductive phenology events, connecting landscape-level measures with field-based measures. Second, volunteers successfully demarcated individual trees in landscape imagery, facilitating scaling of vegetation indices from organism to ecosystem. And third, volunteers’ data were used to validate phenology transition dates calculated from vegetation indices and to identify potential improvements to existing algorithms to enable better biological interpretation. As a result, the use of citizen science in combination with near-surface remote sensing of phenology can be used to link ground-based phenology observations to satellite sensor data for scaling and validation. Well-designed citizen science projects targeting improved data processing and validation of remote sensing imagery hold promise for providing the data needed to address grand challenges in environmental science and Earth observation.

Decreased losses of woody plant foliage to insects in large urban areas are explained by bird predation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozlov, Mikhail V; Lanta, Vojtěch; Zverev, Vitali; Rainio, Kalle; Kunavin, Mikhail A; Zvereva, Elena L

2017-10-01

Despite the increasing rate of urbanization, the consequences of this process on biotic interactions remain insufficiently studied. Our aims were to identify the general pattern of urbanization impact on background insect herbivory, to explore variations in this impact related to characteristics of both urban areas and insect-plant systems, and to uncover the factors governing urbanization impacts on insect herbivory. We compared the foliar damage inflicted on the most common trees by defoliating, leafmining and gall-forming insects in rural and urban habitats associated with 16 European cities. In two of these cities, we explored quality of birch foliage for herbivorous insects, mortality of leafmining insects due to predators and parasitoids and bird predation on artificial plasticine larvae. On average, the foliage losses to insects were 16.5% lower in urban than in rural habitats. The magnitude of the overall adverse effect of urbanization on herbivory was independent of the latitude of the locality and was similar in all 11 studied tree species, but increased with an increase in the size of the urban area: it was significant in large cities (city population 1-5 million) but not significant in medium-sized and small towns. Quality of birch foliage for herbivorous insects was slightly higher in urban habitats than in rural habitats. At the same time, leafminer mortality due to ants and birds and the bird attack intensity on dummy larvae were higher in large cities than in rural habitats, which at least partially explained the decline in insect herbivory observed in response to urbanization. Our findings underscore the importance of top-down forces in mediating impacts of urbanization on plant-feeding insects: factors favouring predators may override the positive effects of temperature elevation on insects and thus reduce plant damage. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Plant invasions in China: an emerging hot topic in invasion science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jian Liu

2012-12-01

Full Text Available China has shown a rapid economic development in recent decades, and several drivers of this change are known to enhance biological invasions, a major cause of biodiversity loss. Here we review the current state of research on plant invasions in China by analyzing papers referenced in the ISI Web of Knowledge. Since 2001, the number of papers has increased exponentially, indicating that plant invasions in China are an emerging hot topic in invasion science. The analyzed papers cover a broad range of methodological approaches and research topics. While more that 250 invasive plant species with negative impacts have been reported from China, only a few species have been considered in more than a handful of papers (in order of decreasing number of references: Spartina alterniflora, Ageratina adenophora, Mikania micrantha, Alternanthera philoxeroides, Solidago canadensis, Eichhornia crassipes. Yet this selection might rather reflect the location of research teams than the most invasive plant species in China. Considering the previous achievements in China found in our analysis research in plant invasions could be expanded by (1 compiling comprehensive lists of non-native plant species at the provincial and national scales and to include species that are native to one part of China but non-native to others in these lists; (2 strengthening pathways studies (primary introduction to the country, secondary releases within the country to enhance prevention and management; and (3 assessing impacts of invasive species at different spatial scales (habitats, regions and in relation to conservation resources.

Lights, camera…citizen science: assessing the effectiveness of smartphone-based video training in invasive plant identification.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jared Starr

Full Text Available The rapid growth and increasing popularity of smartphone technology is putting sophisticated data-collection tools in the hands of more and more citizens. This has exciting implications for the expanding field of citizen science. With smartphone-based applications (apps, it is now increasingly practical to remotely acquire high quality citizen-submitted data at a fraction of the cost of a traditional study. Yet, one impediment to citizen science projects is the question of how to train participants. The traditional "in-person" training model, while effective, can be cost prohibitive as the spatial scale of a project increases. To explore possible solutions, we analyze three training models: 1 in-person, 2 app-based video, and 3 app-based text/images in the context of invasive plant identification in Massachusetts. Encouragingly, we find that participants who received video training were as successful at invasive plant identification as those trained in-person, while those receiving just text/images were less successful. This finding has implications for a variety of citizen science projects that need alternative methods to effectively train participants when in-person training is impractical.

Science 101: What Constitutes a Good Science Project

Science.gov (United States)

Robertson, Bill

2016-01-01

Having written columns dealing with science fairs before, Bill Robertson notes that it's been a long time since he has tackled the subject of what passes for a "science fair" in schools these days. Because science fairs have changed over the years, Robertson revisits the topic and explains the scientific method. The main focus of the…

Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Fellowship. Fellow Profile. Elected: 2007 Section: Plant Sciences. Grover, Prof. Anil Ph.D. (IARI), FNASc, FNAAS, FNA. Date of birth: 15 August 1958. Specialization: Plant Abiotic Stress Responses, Plant Biotechnology, Molecular Biology and Crop Sciences Address: Professor, Department of Plant Molecular Biology, ...

Explaining the Gender Wage Gap in STEM: Does Field Sex Composition Matter?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katherine Michelmore

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Using the National Science Foundation's SESTAT data, we examine the gender wage gap by race among those working in computer science, life sciences, physical sciences, and engineering. We find that in fields with a greater representation of women (the life and physical sciences, the gender wage gap can largely be explained by differences in observed characteristics between men and women working in those fields. In the fields with the lowest concentration of women (computer science and engineering, gender wage gaps persist even after controlling for observed characteristics. In assessing how this gap changes over time, we find evidence of a narrowing for more recent cohorts of college graduates in the life sciences and engineering. The computer sciences and physical sciences, however, show no clear pattern in the gap across cohorts of graduates.

Science on stage

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

During the opening ceremony, the audience was dazzled by a juggling show involving dramatic light effects. They also took away with them a teacher's sheet explaining some of the scientific concepts involved in juggling. Science teachers can sometimes be quite humorous when it comes to explaining serious matters, as those who took part in the 'Science on Stage' festival held at CERN from 21 to 25 November were able to see for themselves. The 500 or so participants from 27 different countries, mostly science teachers but also some university lecturers, science outreach specialists and students, had the opportunity to share their experience of the teaching of science. They also attended presentations and shows, took part in workshops and visited a fair with stands offering ideas on how to make school science lessons more appealing. The festival, organised by the EIROforum (a partnership between CERN, EFDA, ESA, ESO, EMBL, ESRF and ILL), marked the end of two years of projects for the promotion of science in vir...

Shaping Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Experienced Agriculture Teachers in the Plant Sciences: A Grounded Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Amber H.; Kitchel, Tracy

2017-01-01

This grounded theory study explored the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of experienced agriculture teachers in the plant sciences. The most emergent phenomenon to surface from the data was the influence of beliefs on participants' PCK. This central phenomenon became the cornerstone for the model of what was shaping experienced agriculture…

Changes in Vascular Plant Biodiversity in the Netherlands in the 20th Century Explained by their Climatic and other Environmental Characteristics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tamis, W.L.M.; Van der Meijden, R.; Udo de Haes, H.A. [Nationaal Herbarium Nederland/Leiden University Branch, P.O. Box 9514, 2300, RA, Leiden (Netherlands); Van ' t Zelfde, M. [Institute of Environmental Sciences, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9518, 2300, RA, Leiden (Netherlands)

2005-09-01

In the Netherlands nation-wide databases are available with about 10 million records of occurrences of vascular plant species in the 20th century on a scale of approximately 1 km{sup 2}. These data were analysed with a view to identifying relationships between changes in botanical biodiversity and climatic and other environmental factors. Prior to analysis the data were corrected for several major forms of survey bias. The records were broken down into three periods: 1902-1949, 1975-1984 and 1985-1999. Using multiple regression analysis, differences between successive periods were related to plant functional characteristics as explanatory variables. Between the periods 1902-1949 and 1975-1984 there were small but significant increases in the presence of both thermophilic ('warm') and psychrophilic ('cold') species. However, in the final decades of the 20th century there was a marked increase in thermophilic species only, coinciding with the marked increase in ambient temperature observed during this period, evidence at least of a rapid response of Dutch flora to climate change. Urbanisation was also examined as an alternative explanation for the increase in thermophilic plant species and was found to explain only 50% of the increased presence of such species in the final decades of the 20th century. Besides temperature-related effects, the most important change during the 20th century was a strong decline in oligotrophic and a marked increase in eutrophic plant species.

Local wisdom of Cikondang village community in the utilization of medicinal plants

Science.gov (United States)

Mulyani, Y.; Munandar, A.; Nuraeni, E.

2018-05-01

This study aims to analyze local wisdom Cikondang community in the use of medicinal plants. This research used qualitative method with emic and ethical approach to explain the relationship of public knowledge about the type and utilization of medicinal plants in the view of science. Determination of respondents conducted by purposive sampling, taken 30% of the total respondent. The data of the knowledge of the use of medicinal plants obtained through interview techniques as many as 39 respondents. Cikondang people know 27 known medicinal plants and commonly used. Zingiberaceae family has a type that is more widely used as a medicinal plant. The most widely used plant part is leaf and medicinal plant processing which mostly done by boiling. The species with the highest value of use is owned by Curcuma longa L. with a value of 4.28, which states important species / priorities, while the species with the lowest SUV value is Aracchis hypogaea L. of 0.15, which states species are less important and can be replaced by other plants.

Science, evolution, and creationism

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Committee on Revising Science and Creationism

... are more comfortable. In the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a group of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine explain the fundamental methods of science, document...

Plant Science View on Biohybrid Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Skrzypczak

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Biohybrid consists of a living organism or cell and at least one engineered component. Designing robot–plant biohybrids is a great challenge: it requires interdisciplinary reconsideration of capabilities intimate specific to the biology of plants. Envisioned advances should improve agricultural/horticultural/social practice and could open new directions in utilization of plants by humans. Proper biohybrid cooperation depends upon effective communication. During evolution, plants developed many ways to communicate with each other, with animals, and with microorganisms. The most notable examples are: the use of phytohormones, rapid long-distance signaling, gravity, and light perception. These processes can now be intentionally re-shaped to establish plant–robot communication. In this article, we focus on plants physiological and molecular processes that could be used in bio-hybrids. We show phototropism and biomechanics as promising ways of effective communication, resulting in an alteration in plant architecture, and discuss the specifics of plants anatomy, physiology and development with regards to the bio-hybrids. Moreover, we discuss ways how robots could influence plants growth and development and present aims, ideas, and realized projects of plant–robot biohybrids.

Perspective of the Science Advisor to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

WEART, WENDELL D.

1999-01-01

In 1975 Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) was asked by the predecessor to the Department of Energy to assume responsibility for the scientific programs necessary to assure the safe and satisfactory development of a geologic repository in the salt beds of southeast New Mexico. Sandia has continued in the role of Science Advisor to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) to the present time. This paper will share the perspectives developed over the past 25 years as the project was brought to fruition with successful certification by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 13, 1998 and commencement of operations on April 26, 1999

Journal of Earth System Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Sediment dynamics like deposition, erosion and dispersion are explained with the simulated tidal currents and OCM derived sediment concentrations. ... Geosciences Division, Marine, Geo and Planetary Sciences Group, Earth, Ocean, Atmosphere, Planetary Sciences and Applications Area, Space Applications Centre ...

Effects of a Research-Infused Botanical Curriculum on Undergraduates’ Content Knowledge, STEM Competencies, and Attitudes toward Plant Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Clarke, H. David; Horton, Jonathan L.

2014-01-01

In response to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education initiative, we infused authentic, plant-based research into majors’ courses at a public liberal arts university. Faculty members designed a financially sustainable pedagogical approach, utilizing vertically integrated curricular modules based on undergraduate researchers’ field and laboratory projects. Our goals were to 1) teach botanical concepts, from cells to ecosystems; 2) strengthen competencies in statistical analysis and scientific writing; 3) pique plant science interest; and 4) allow all undergraduates to contribute to genuine research. Our series of inquiry-centered exercises mitigated potential faculty barriers to adopting research-rich curricula, facilitating teaching/research balance by gathering publishable scholarly data during laboratory class periods. Student competencies were assessed with pre- and postcourse quizzes and rubric-graded papers, and attitudes were evaluated with pre- and postcourse surveys. Our revised curriculum increased students’ knowledge and awareness of plant science topics, improved scientific writing, enhanced statistical knowledge, and boosted interest in conducting research. More than 300 classroom students have participated in our program, and data generated from these modules’ assessment allowed faculty and students to present 28 contributed talks or posters and publish three papers in 4 yr. Future steps include analyzing the effects of repeated module exposure on student learning and creating a regional consortium to increase our project's pedagogical impact. PMID:25185223

Volunteers as explainers at the Finnish Science Centre Heureka

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marjatta Väkeväinen

2005-12-01

Full Text Available Heureka is situated in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. Every year, on average, 300.000 visitors come to Heureka; it is one of the largest year-round attractions in the area. 20–25% of the visitors are school classes. Heureka has a main exhibition including Children’s Heureka and also always houses two temporary exhibitions. Special activities supplement the exhibitions: The Verne Theatre, Children’s Laboratory, The Open Laboratory, Science Theatre Minerva and the Basketball Rats.

Insects on plants: explaining the paradox of low diversity within specialist herbivore guilds

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Novotný, Vojtěch; Miller, S. E.; Hrček, Jan; Baje, L.; Basset, Y.; Lewis, O. T.; Stewart, A. J. A.; Weiblen, G. D.

2012-01-01

Roč. 179, č. 3 (2012), s. 351-362 ISSN 0003-0147 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA206/09/0115; GA ČR GD206/08/H044; GA ČR GAP505/10/0673; GA AV ČR IAA600960712; GA MŠk LC06073; GA MŠk(CZ) LH11008; GA MŠk ME09082 Grant - others:National Science Foundation(US) DEB 9628840; National Science Foundation(US) DEB 9707928; National Science Foundation(US) DEB 0211591; National Science Foundation(US) DEB 0515678 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z50070508 Keywords : rainforest * New Guinea * host specialization Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 4.552, year: 2012 http://www.entu.cas.cz/png/NovotnyEtAlAMNAT2012.pdf

Grand challenges for crop science

Science.gov (United States)

Crop science is a highly integrative science using the disciplines of conventional plant breeding, transgenic crop improvement, plant physiology, and cropping system sciences to develop improved varieties of agronomic, turf, and forage crops to produce feed, food, fuel, and fiber for our world's gro...

Understanding Electrochemistry Concepts Using the Predict-Observe-Explain Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Karamustafaoglu, Sevilay; Mamlok-Naaman, Rachel

2015-01-01

The current study deals with freshman students who study at the Department of Science at the Faculty of Education. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of teaching electrochemistry concepts using Predict-Observe-Explain (POE) strategy. The study was quasi-experimental design using 20 students each in the experimental group (EG) and…

A retrospective of an unconventionally trained plant pathologist: plant diseases to molecular plant pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Ouchi, Seiji

2006-01-01

Plant pathology evolved from its mycology-oriented origins into a science dealing with biochemical mechanisms of diseases, along with enhanced crop production through disease control. This retrospective describes first my personal experience from my introduction to plant pathology, to the establishment of the concept of accessibility as a model pertaining to genetically defined basic compatibility induced by pathogens. I then refer to the development of molecular plant pathology from physiological and biochemical plant pathology fostered by the growth in recombinant technology in the second half of the past century. This progress was best reflected by the U.S.-Japan Seminar Series held at 4-5-year intervals from 1966 to 2003 and documented by publications in major journals of our discipline. These seminars emphasized that progress in science has always been supported by the invention of novel techniques and that knowledge integrated from modern genomics and subsequent proteomics should contribute to the progress of basic life sciences and, more importantly, to the elaboration of rational measures for disease control.

Model-based explanation of plant knowledge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huuskonen, P.J. [VTT Electronics, Oulu (Finland). Embedded Software

1997-12-31

This thesis deals with computer explanation of knowledge related to design and operation of industrial plants. The needs for explanation are motivated through case studies and literature reviews. A general framework for analysing plant explanations is presented. Prototypes demonstrate key mechanisms for implementing parts of the framework. Power plants, steel mills, paper factories, and high energy physics control systems are studied to set requirements for explanation. The main problems are seen to be either lack or abundance of information. Design knowledge in particular is found missing at plants. Support systems and automation should be enhanced with ways to explain plant knowledge to the plant staff. A framework is formulated for analysing explanations of plant knowledge. It consists of three parts: 1. a typology of explanation, organised by the class of knowledge (factual, functional, or strategic) and by the target of explanation (processes, automation, or support systems), 2. an identification of explanation tasks generic for the plant domain, and 3. an identification of essential model types for explanation (structural, behavioural, functional, and teleological). The tasks use the models to create the explanations of the given classes. Key mechanisms are discussed to implement the generic explanation tasks. Knowledge representations based on objects and their relations form a vocabulary to model and present plant knowledge. A particular class of models, means-end models, are used to explain plant knowledge. Explanations are generated through searches in the models. Hypertext is adopted to communicate explanations over dialogue based on context. The results are demonstrated in prototypes. The VICE prototype explains the reasoning of an expert system for diagnosis of rotating machines at power plants. The Justifier prototype explains design knowledge obtained from an object-oriented plant design tool. Enhanced access mechanisms into on-line documentation are

Model-based explanation of plant knowledge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huuskonen, P J [VTT Electronics, Oulu (Finland). Embedded Software

1998-12-31

This thesis deals with computer explanation of knowledge related to design and operation of industrial plants. The needs for explanation are motivated through case studies and literature reviews. A general framework for analysing plant explanations is presented. Prototypes demonstrate key mechanisms for implementing parts of the framework. Power plants, steel mills, paper factories, and high energy physics control systems are studied to set requirements for explanation. The main problems are seen to be either lack or abundance of information. Design knowledge in particular is found missing at plants. Support systems and automation should be enhanced with ways to explain plant knowledge to the plant staff. A framework is formulated for analysing explanations of plant knowledge. It consists of three parts: 1. a typology of explanation, organised by the class of knowledge (factual, functional, or strategic) and by the target of explanation (processes, automation, or support systems), 2. an identification of explanation tasks generic for the plant domain, and 3. an identification of essential model types for explanation (structural, behavioural, functional, and teleological). The tasks use the models to create the explanations of the given classes. Key mechanisms are discussed to implement the generic explanation tasks. Knowledge representations based on objects and their relations form a vocabulary to model and present plant knowledge. A particular class of models, means-end models, are used to explain plant knowledge. Explanations are generated through searches in the models. Hypertext is adopted to communicate explanations over dialogue based on context. The results are demonstrated in prototypes. The VICE prototype explains the reasoning of an expert system for diagnosis of rotating machines at power plants. The Justifier prototype explains design knowledge obtained from an object-oriented plant design tool. Enhanced access mechanisms into on-line documentation are

Integrating Forensic Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Funkhouser, John; Deslich, Barbara J.

2000-01-01

Explains the implementation of forensic science in an integrated curriculum and discusses the advantages of this approach. Lists the forensic science course syllabi studied in three high schools. Discusses the unit on polymers in detail. (YDS)

Plant Metabolomics: An Indispensable System Biology Tool for Plant Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jun Hong

2016-06-01

Full Text Available As genomes of many plant species have been sequenced, demand for functional genomics has dramatically accelerated the improvement of other omics including metabolomics. Despite a large amount of metabolites still remaining to be identified, metabolomics has contributed significantly not only to the understanding of plant physiology and biology from the view of small chemical molecules that reflect the end point of biological activities, but also in past decades to the attempts to improve plant behavior under both normal and stressed conditions. Hereby, we summarize the current knowledge on the genetic and biochemical mechanisms underlying plant growth, development, and stress responses, focusing further on the contributions of metabolomics to practical applications in crop quality improvement and food safety assessment, as well as plant metabolic engineering. We also highlight the current challenges and future perspectives in this inspiring area, with the aim to stimulate further studies leading to better crop improvement of yield and quality.

Plant Metabolomics: An Indispensable System Biology Tool for Plant Science

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Jun; Yang, Litao; Zhang, Dabing; Shi, Jianxin

2016-01-01

As genomes of many plant species have been sequenced, demand for functional genomics has dramatically accelerated the improvement of other omics including metabolomics. Despite a large amount of metabolites still remaining to be identified, metabolomics has contributed significantly not only to the understanding of plant physiology and biology from the view of small chemical molecules that reflect the end point of biological activities, but also in past decades to the attempts to improve plant behavior under both normal and stressed conditions. Hereby, we summarize the current knowledge on the genetic and biochemical mechanisms underlying plant growth, development, and stress responses, focusing further on the contributions of metabolomics to practical applications in crop quality improvement and food safety assessment, as well as plant metabolic engineering. We also highlight the current challenges and future perspectives in this inspiring area, with the aim to stimulate further studies leading to better crop improvement of yield and quality. PMID:27258266

Integrating data to acquire new knowledge: Three modes of integration in plant science.

Science.gov (United States)

Leonelli, Sabina

2013-12-01

This paper discusses what it means and what it takes to integrate data in order to acquire new knowledge about biological entities and processes. Maureen O'Malley and Orkun Soyer have pointed to the scientific work involved in data integration as important and distinct from the work required by other forms of integration, such as methodological and explanatory integration, which have been more successful in captivating the attention of philosophers of science. Here I explore what data integration involves in more detail and with a focus on the role of data-sharing tools, like online databases, in facilitating this process; and I point to the philosophical implications of focusing on data as a unit of analysis. I then analyse three cases of data integration in the field of plant science, each of which highlights a different mode of integration: (1) inter-level integration, which involves data documenting different features of the same species, aims to acquire an interdisciplinary understanding of organisms as complex wholes and is exemplified by research on Arabidopsis thaliana; (2) cross-species integration, which involves data acquired on different species, aims to understand plant biology in all its different manifestations and is exemplified by research on Miscanthus giganteus; and (3) translational integration, which involves data acquired from sources within as well as outside academia, aims at the provision of interventions to improve human health (e.g. by sustaining the environment in which humans thrive) and is exemplified by research on Phytophtora ramorum. Recognising the differences between these efforts sheds light on the dynamics and diverse outcomes of data dissemination and integrative research; and the relations between the social and institutional roles of science, the development of data-sharing infrastructures and the production of scientific knowledge. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fundamental plant biology enabled by the space shuttle.

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, Anna-Lisa; Wheeler, Ray M; Levine, Howard G; Ferl, Robert J

2013-01-01

The relationship between fundamental plant biology and space biology was especially synergistic in the era of the Space Shuttle. While all terrestrial organisms are influenced by gravity, the impact of gravity as a tropic stimulus in plants has been a topic of formal study for more than a century. And while plants were parts of early space biology payloads, it was not until the advent of the Space Shuttle that the science of plant space biology enjoyed expansion that truly enabled controlled, fundamental experiments that removed gravity from the equation. The Space Shuttle presented a science platform that provided regular science flights with dedicated plant growth hardware and crew trained in inflight plant manipulations. Part of the impetus for plant biology experiments in space was the realization that plants could be important parts of bioregenerative life support on long missions, recycling water, air, and nutrients for the human crew. However, a large part of the impetus was that the Space Shuttle enabled fundamental plant science essentially in a microgravity environment. Experiments during the Space Shuttle era produced key science insights on biological adaptation to spaceflight and especially plant growth and tropisms. In this review, we present an overview of plant science in the Space Shuttle era with an emphasis on experiments dealing with fundamental plant growth in microgravity. This review discusses general conclusions from the study of plant spaceflight biology enabled by the Space Shuttle by providing historical context and reviews of select experiments that exemplify plant space biology science.

The Naîure of Science and Librarianship and Information Science as a Disciplirıe of Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oya Gürdal

1993-09-01

Full Text Available Science is a systemized from of knowledge which is a product of human creativity. The aim of this study is to try to explain the nature of the concept of science, and to evaluate librarianship and information science as a scientific discipline in accordance with the synthesis achieved; and invite colleagues to consider this issue.

[Development of Plant Metabolomics and Medicinal Plant Genomics].

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Kazuki

2018-01-01

 A variety of chemicals produced by plants, often referred to as 'phytochemicals', have been used as medicines, food, fuels and industrial raw materials. Recent advances in the study of genomics and metabolomics in plant science have accelerated our understanding of the mechanisms, regulation and evolution of the biosynthesis of specialized plant products. We can now address such questions as how the metabolomic diversity of plants is originated at the levels of genome, and how we should apply this knowledge to drug discovery, industry and agriculture. Our research group has focused on metabolomics-based functional genomics over the last 15 years and we have developed a new research area called 'Phytochemical Genomics'. In this review, the development of a research platform for plant metabolomics is discussed first, to provide a better understanding of the chemical diversity of plants. Then, representative applications of metabolomics to functional genomics in a model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana, are described. The extension of integrated multi-omics analyses to non-model specialized plants, e.g., medicinal plants, is presented, including the identification of novel genes, metabolites and networks for the biosynthesis of flavonoids, alkaloids, sulfur-containing metabolites and terpenoids. Further, functional genomics studies on a variety of medicinal plants is presented. I also discuss future trends in pharmacognosy and related sciences.

Effects of a research-infused botanical curriculum on undergraduates' content knowledge, STEM competencies, and attitudes toward plant sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Jennifer Rhode; Clarke, H David; Horton, Jonathan L

2014-01-01

In response to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education initiative, we infused authentic, plant-based research into majors' courses at a public liberal arts university. Faculty members designed a financially sustainable pedagogical approach, utilizing vertically integrated curricular modules based on undergraduate researchers' field and laboratory projects. Our goals were to 1) teach botanical concepts, from cells to ecosystems; 2) strengthen competencies in statistical analysis and scientific writing; 3) pique plant science interest; and 4) allow all undergraduates to contribute to genuine research. Our series of inquiry-centered exercises mitigated potential faculty barriers to adopting research-rich curricula, facilitating teaching/research balance by gathering publishable scholarly data during laboratory class periods. Student competencies were assessed with pre- and postcourse quizzes and rubric-graded papers, and attitudes were evaluated with pre- and postcourse surveys. Our revised curriculum increased students' knowledge and awareness of plant science topics, improved scientific writing, enhanced statistical knowledge, and boosted interest in conducting research. More than 300 classroom students have participated in our program, and data generated from these modules' assessment allowed faculty and students to present 28 contributed talks or posters and publish three papers in 4 yr. Future steps include analyzing the effects of repeated module exposure on student learning and creating a regional consortium to increase our project's pedagogical impact. © 2014 J. R. Ward et al. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2014 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

Multicultural Science Education and Curriculum Materials

Science.gov (United States)

Atwater, Mary M.

2010-01-01

This article describes multicultural science education and explains the purposes of multicultural science curricula. It also serves as an introductory article for the other multicultural science education activities in this special issue of "Science Activities".

Mycorrhizal status helps explain invasion success of alien plant species

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Menzel, A.; Hempel, S.; Klotz, S.; Moora, M.; Pyšek, Petr; Rillig, M. C.; Zobel, M.; Kühn, I.

2017-01-01

Roč. 98, č. 1 (2017), s. 92-102 ISSN 0012-9658 R&D Projects: GA ČR GB14-36079G Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) AP1002 Program:Akademická prémie - Praemium Academiae Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : plant invasion * mycorrhiza * naturalization Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour OBOR OECD: Ecology Impact factor: 4.809, year: 2016

Protection of nuclear power plants against external events

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinet, P.; Roch, R.

1978-01-01

The paper describes the methodology of the safety design of nuclear power plants against external events with particular emphasis of the Belgian Plants. The site analysis and potential hazards evaluation are explained. The different designs incorporating various combinations of reinforced structures and dedicated systems are analysed. The particular lay-out and systems of the Belgian Plants are explained. (author)

Effects of a Research-Infused Botanical Curriculum on Undergraduates' Content Knowledge, STEM Competencies, and Attitudes toward Plant Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Ward, Jennifer Rhode; Clarke, H. David; Horton, Jonathan L.

2014-01-01

In response to the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education initiative, we infused authentic, plant-based research into majors' courses at a public liberal arts university. Faculty members designed a financially sustainable pedagogical approach, utilizing vertically integrated…

Perceptions of Crop Science Instructional Materials.

Science.gov (United States)

Elkins, D. M.

1994-01-01

A number of crop science instructors have indicated that there is a shortage of quality, current crop/plant science teaching materials, particularly textbooks. A survey instrument was developed to solicit information from teachers about the use and adequacy of textbooks, laboratory manuals, and videotapes in crop/plant science instruction. (LZ)

Science field trips to nuclear power plants - A low capital cost program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cramer, E.N.; Gabel, C.; Sayles, C.

1991-01-01

School science field trips to nuclear power plants can be quite rewarding to both students and teachers if the right material is used from a perspective different from the textbooks. One does not need a large, expensive facility to have a program useful to students that addresses adult issues understandably. San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station hosted ∼110 visits (simulator tours) averaging 2,700 visitors in each of calendar years 1989 and 1990 after averaging 75 visits in each of the five preceding years. Most audiences were from middle schools located within a 50-mile radius. The station does not have a separate visitor's center; a classroom is reserved at the station's training and education center. The advantage is using real working laboratories; the disadvantage is not having the more traditional displays and interactive models. Therefore, the instructor emphasizes showing the integrated engineering applications of chemistry, physics, and geology - rather than repeating material that is more easily taught in the school's classroom. Generic issues are emphasized rather than the design details of the plant systems

A Conceptual Characterization of Online Videos Explaining Natural Selection

Science.gov (United States)

Bohlin, Gustav; Göransson, Andreas; Höst, Gunnar E.; Tibell, Lena A. E.

2017-11-01

Educational videos on the Internet comprise a vast and highly diverse source of information. Online search engines facilitate access to numerous videos claiming to explain natural selection, but little is known about the degree to which the video content match key evolutionary content identified as important in evolution education research. In this study, we therefore analyzed the content of 60 videos accessed through the Internet, using a criteria catalog with 38 operationalized variables derived from research literature. The variables were sorted into four categories: (a) key concepts (e.g. limited resources and inherited variation), (b) threshold concepts (abstract concepts with a transforming and integrative function), (c) misconceptions (e.g. that evolution is driven by need), and (d) organismal context (e.g. animal or plant). The results indicate that some concepts are frequently communicated, and certain taxa are commonly used to illustrate concepts, while others are seldom included. In addition, evolutionary phenomena at small temporal and spatial scales, such as subcellular processes, are rarely covered. Rather, the focus is on population-level events over time scales spanning years or longer. This is consistent with an observed lack of explanations regarding how randomly occurring mutations provide the basis for variation (and thus natural selection). The findings imply, among other things, that some components of natural selection warrant far more attention in biology teaching and science education research.

Plants and Medicines. Third World Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Natalie; Hughes, Wyn

This unit, developed by the Third World Science Project, is designed to add a multicultural element to existing science syllabi (for students aged 11-16) in the United Kingdom. The project seeks to develop an appreciation of the: boundless fascination of the natural world; knowledge, skills, and expertise possessed by men/women everywhere;…

Federico Delpino and the foundation of plant biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Mancuso, Stefano

2010-09-01

In 1867, Federico Delpino, with his seminal work "Pensieri sulla biologia vegetale" (Thoughts on plant biology) established plant biology by defining it not in the broad general sense, namely as the science of living beings, but as a branch of natural science dedicated to the study of plant life in relation to the environment. Today, the figure and achievements of this outstanding plant scientist it is almost unknown. In the following pages, I will concisely describe the main realizations of Federico Delpino and outline the significance of his work for modern plant science.

Safety review for human factors engineering and control rooms of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Mengzhuo

1998-01-01

Safety review for human factors engineering and control rooms of nuclear power plants (NPP) is in a forward position of science and technology, which began at American TMI severe accident and had been implemented in China. The importance and the significance of the safety review are expounded, the requirements of its scope and profundity are explained in detail. In addition, the situation of the technical document system for nuclear safety regulation on human factors engineering and control rooms of NPP in China is introduced briefly, on which the safety review is based

Recycled material-based science instruments to support science education in rural area at Central Sulawesi District of Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, M.; Supriyatman; Saehana, S.

2018-03-01

It has been successfully designing low cost of science experiment from recycled materials. The science instruments were produced to explain expansion concept and hydrostatic pressure inside the liquid. Science instruments were calibrated and then validated. It was also implemented in science learning.

Explaining Away Intuitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan Ichikawa

2009-12-01

Full Text Available What is it to explain away an intuition? Philosophers regularly attempt to explain intuitions away, but it is often unclear what the success conditions for their project consist in. I attempt to articulate some of these conditions, taking philosophical case studies as guides, and arguing that many attempts to explain away intuitions underestimate the challenge the project of explaining away involves. I will conclude, therefore, that explaining away intuitions is a more difficult task than has sometimes been appreciated; I also suggest, however, that the importance of explaining away intuitions has often been exaggerated.

Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Elected: 2010 Section: Plant Sciences. Khurana, Prof. Paramjit Ph.D. (Delhi), FNASc, FNA, FNAAS, FTWAS. Date of birth: 15 August 1956. Specialization: Plant Biotechnology, Plant Genomics, Plant Developmental Biology Address: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi South Campus, Benito Juarez ...

Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program in the Plant Sciences

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wolk, C.P.

1992-01-01

Research on plants continued. Topics include: Molecular basis of symbiotic plant-microbe interations; enzymatic mechanisms and regulation of plant cell wall biosynthesis; molecular mechanisms that regulate the expression of genes in plants; resistance of plants to environmental stress; studies on hormone biosynthesis and action; plant cell wall proteins; interaction of nuclear and organelle genomes; sensor transduction in plants; molecular mechanisms of trafficking in the plant cell; regulation of lipid metabolism; molecular bases of plant disease resistance mechanisms; biochemical and molecular aspects of plant pathogenesis; developmental biology of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria; environmental control of plant development and its relation to plant hormones.

Cool Science Explains a Warming World: Using Ice Core Science to Bridge the Gap Between Researchers and the K-12 Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Huffman, L. T.

2017-12-01

Changing ice has urgent implications for people around the world. The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) provides scientific leadership and oversight of ice coring and drilling activities funded by the US National Science Foundation and also has goals to enhance education and communication of current research information. In a time when misinformation is rampant and climate change science is suspect, it is essential that students receive accurate scientific information and engage in learning activities that model complex ideas through engaging and age appropriate ways, while also learning to validate and recognize reliable sources. The IDPO Education and Outreach (EO) office works to create resources, activities and professional development that bridge the gap between ice core science research and educators and their students. Ice core science is on the cutting edge of new discoveries about climate change and understanding better the past to predict the future. Hands-on inquiry activities based on ice core data allow teachers to lead their students to new discoveries about climate secrets hidden deep in the ice. Capitalizing on the inherent interest in the extremes of the Polar Regions, IDPO materials engage students in activities aligned with NGSS standards. Ice drilling technologies make an ideal platform for intertwining engineering concepts and practices with science research to meet the SEP (Science and Engineering Practices) in the NGSS. This session will highlight how the IDPO EO office has built a community of ice core scientists willing to take part in education and outreach projects and events and share some of the resources available to K-12 educators. We will highlight some of the successes and lessons learned as we continually evolve our work toward more effective science education and communication highlighting ice core and climate change science.

A hypothesis to explain childhood cancers near nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fairlie, Ian

2014-01-01

Over 60 epidemiological studies world-wide have examined cancer incidences in children near nuclear power plants (NPPs): most of them indicate leukemia increases. These include the 2008 KiKK study commissioned by the German Government which found relative risks (RR) of 1.6 in total cancers and 2.2 in leukemias among infants living within 5 km of all German NPPs. The KiKK study has retriggered the debate as to the cause(s) of these increased cancers. A suggested hypothesis is that the increased cancers arise from radiation exposures to pregnant women near NPPs. However any theory has to account for the >10,000 fold discrepancy between official dose estimates from NPP emissions and observed increased risks. An explanation may be that doses from spikes in NPP radionuclide emissions are significantly larger than those estimated by official models which are diluted through the use of annual averages. In addition, risks to embryos/fetuses are greater than those to adults and haematopoietic tissues appear more radiosensitive in embryos/fetuses than in newborn babies. The product of possible increased doses and possible increased risks per dose may provide an explanation. - Highlights: • Over 60 studies worldwide on increased cancers near nuclear power plants (NPPs). • German government KiKK study provides very strong evidence. • Hypothesis proposes cancers arise in pregnant women near NPPs. • Nuclide spikes during refuelling could result in increased exposures. • Explanation offered for discrepancy between small dose estimates and large risks

How To Produce and Characterize Transgenic Plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Savka, Michael A.; Wang, Shu-Yi; Wilson, Mark

2002-01-01

Explains the process of establishing transgenic plants which is a very important tool in plant biology and modern agriculture. Produces transgenic plants with the ability to synthesize opines. (Contains 17 references.) (YDS)

Towards a reference plant trait ontology for modeling knowledge of plant traits and phenotypes

Science.gov (United States)

Ontology engineering and knowledge modeling for the plant sciences is expected to contribute to the understanding of the basis of plant traits that determine phenotypic expression in a given environment. Several crop- or clade-specific plant trait ontologies have been developed to describe plant tr...

Explaining international co-authorship in global environmental change research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jappe, A.

2006-04-15

This paper maps the domain of earth and environmental sciences (EES) and investigates the relationship between cognitive problem structures and internationalisation patterns, drawing on the concepts of systemic versus cumulative global environmental change (GEC) and mutual task dependence in scientific fields. We find that scientific output concentration and internationalisation are significantly higher in the systemic GEC fields of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences and Oceanography than in the cumulative GEC fields Ecology and Water Resources. The relationship is explained by stronger mutual task dependence in systemic GEC fields. In contrast, the portion of co-authorships with developing, emerging and transition countries among all international publications is larger for Water Resources than for the three other fields, consistent with the most pressing needs for STI capacity development in these countries. (orig.)

We say ‘. . .’, they say ‘. . .’: How plant science experts draw on reported dialogue to shelve user concerns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mogendorff, Karen; te Molder, Hedwig Frederica Maria; van Woerkum, Cees; Gremmen, Bart

2013-01-01

This study aims to increase insight into the uses of experts’ references to physically absent technology users in government-funded plant science. A discursive psychological analysis of expert board meetings shows that experts invoke various forms of reported dialogue/thoughts and dispositional

Nanotechnology: A New Opportunity in Plant Sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Peng; Lombi, Enzo; Zhao, Fang-Jie; Kopittke, Peter M

2016-08-01

The agronomic application of nanotechnology in plants (phytonanotechnology) has the potential to alter conventional plant production systems, allowing for the controlled release of agrochemicals (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides) and target-specific delivery of biomolecules (e.g., nucleotides, proteins, and activators). An improved understanding of the interactions between nanoparticles (NPs) and plant responses, including their uptake, localization, and activity, could revolutionize crop production through increased disease resistance, nutrient utilization, and crop yield. Herewith, we review potential applications of phytonanotechnology and the key processes involved in the delivery of NPs to plants. To ensure both the safe use and social acceptance of phytonanotechnology, the adverse effects, including the risks associated with the transfer of NPs through the food chain, are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preliminary exploration and thought of promoting library science Indigenization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Wenping; Du Jingling

2014-01-01

The article explains the significance of Library Science Indigenization, Answer some misunderstanding of Library Science Indigenization,reveals express form of Library Science Indigenization, Discusses criteria of Library Science Indigenization, finally give some suggestions and methods of Library Science Indigenization. (authors)

Nanometer-scale structure of alkali-soluble bio-macromolecules of maize plant residues explains their recalcitrance in soil.

Science.gov (United States)

Adani, Fabrizio; Salati, Silvia; Spagnol, Manuela; Tambone, Fulvia; Genevini, Pierluigi; Pilu, Roberto; Nierop, Klaas G J

2009-07-01

The quantity and quality of plant litter in the soil play an important role in the soil organic matter balance. Besides other pedo-climatic aspects, the content of recalcitrant molecules of plant residues and their chemical composition play a major role in the preservation of plant residues. In this study, we report that intrinsically resistant alkali-soluble bio-macromolecules extracted from maize plant (plant-humic acid) (plant-HA) contribute directly to the soil organic matter (OM) by its addition and conservation in the soil. Furthermore, we also observed that a high syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio in the lignin residues comprising the plant tissue, which modifies the microscopic structure of the alkali-soluble plant biopolymers, enhances their recalcitrance because of lower accessibility of molecules to degrading enzymes. These results are in agreement with a recent study, which showed that the humic substance of soil consists of a mixture of identifiable biopolymers obtained directly from plant tissues that are added annually by maize plant residues.

Constructing a philosophy of science of cognitive science.

Science.gov (United States)

Bechtel, William

2009-07-01

Philosophy of science is positioned to make distinctive contributions to cognitive science by providing perspective on its conceptual foundations and by advancing normative recommendations. The philosophy of science I embrace is naturalistic in that it is grounded in the study of actual science. Focusing on explanation, I describe the recent development of a mechanistic philosophy of science from which I draw three normative consequences for cognitive science. First, insofar as cognitive mechanisms are information-processing mechanisms, cognitive science needs an account of how the representations invoked in cognitive mechanisms carry information about contents, and I suggest that control theory offers the needed perspective on the relation of representations to contents. Second, I argue that cognitive science requires, but is still in search of, a catalog of cognitive operations that researchers can draw upon in explaining cognitive mechanisms. Last, I provide a new perspective on the relation of cognitive science to brain sciences, one which embraces both reductive research on neural components that figure in cognitive mechanisms and a concern with recomposing higher-level mechanisms from their components and situating them in their environments. Copyright © 2009 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

A Model of How Different Biology Experts Explain Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Trujillo, Caleb M.; Anderson, Trevor R.; Pelaez, Nancy J.

2015-01-01

Constructing explanations is an essential skill for all science learners. The goal of this project was to model the key components of expert explanation of molecular and cellular mechanisms. As such, we asked: What is an appropriate model of the components of explanation used by biology experts to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms? Do…

Typical IAEA operations at a fuel fabrication plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morsy, S.

1984-01-01

The IAEA operations performed at a typical Fuel Fabrication Plant are explained. To make the analysis less general the case of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Fuel Fabrication Plants is considered. Many of the conclusions drawn from this analysis could be extended to other types of fabrication plants. The safeguards objectives and goals at LEU Fuel Fabrication Plants are defined followed by a brief description of the fabrication process. The basic philosophy behind nuclear material stratification and the concept of Material Balance Areas (MBA's) and Key Measurement Points (KMP's) is explained. The Agency operations and verification methods used during physical inventory verifications are illustrated

Plant biology research and training for the 21st century

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, K. [ed.

1992-12-31

The committee was assembled in response to a request from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the US Department of Energy (DoE). The leadership of these agencies asked the National Academy of Sciences through the National Research Council (NRC) to assess the status of plant-science research in the United States in light of the opportunities arising from advances inother areas of biology. NRC was asked to suggest ways of accelerating the application of these new biologic concepts and tools to research in plant science with the aim of enhancing the acquisition of new knowledge about plants. The charge to the committee was to examine the following: Organizations, departments, and institutions conducting plant biology research; human resources involved in plant biology research; graduate training programs in plant biology; federal, state, and private sources of support for plant-biology research; the role of industry in conducting and supporting plant-biology research; the international status of US plant-biology research; and the relationship of plant biology to leading-edge research in biology.

Plant biology research and training for the 21st century

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kelly, K. (ed.)

1992-01-01

The committee was assembled in response to a request from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the US Department of Energy (DoE). The leadership of these agencies asked the National Academy of Sciences through the National Research Council (NRC) to assess the status of plant-science research in the United States in light of the opportunities arising from advances inother areas of biology. NRC was asked to suggest ways of accelerating the application of these new biologic concepts and tools to research in plant science with the aim of enhancing the acquisition of new knowledge about plants. The charge to the committee was to examine the following: Organizations, departments, and institutions conducting plant biology research; human resources involved in plant biology research; graduate training programs in plant biology; federal, state, and private sources of support for plant-biology research; the role of industry in conducting and supporting plant-biology research; the international status of US plant-biology research; and the relationship of plant biology to leading-edge research in biology.

Opportunities in plant synthetic biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Cook, Charis; Martin, Lisa; Bastow, Ruth

2014-05-01

Synthetic biology is an emerging field uniting scientists from all disciplines with the aim of designing or re-designing biological processes. Initially, synthetic biology breakthroughs came from microbiology, chemistry, physics, computer science, materials science, mathematics, and engineering disciplines. A transition to multicellular systems is the next logical step for synthetic biologists and plants will provide an ideal platform for this new phase of research. This meeting report highlights some of the exciting plant synthetic biology projects, and tools and resources, presented and discussed at the 2013 GARNet workshop on plant synthetic biology.

Carbon and Hydrogen Isotopic Composition of Plant Wax n-Alkanes: A Tool for Characterizing Soil Provenance in Forensic Science

Science.gov (United States)

Pedentchouk, N.; Wagner, T.; Jones, M.

2009-04-01

Forensic science is an integrative discipline that requires material evidence from diverse sources. Geochemical evidence derived from inorganic and organic substances is becoming increasingly popular among law enforcement agencies in industrialized countries. Previous investigations indicate that the relative distributions of individual plant-derived biomarkers found in soils are linked to the biomarker patterns found in the overlying vegetation. However, identification of soil provenance based on the distribution of plant-derived biomarkers for forensic purposes is inhibited by the fact that a significant number of terrestrial plant species have overlapping biomarker distributions. In order to enhance the resolving power of plant-derived biomarker signal, we propose to enhance the molecular approach by adding a stable isotope component, i.e. the delta13C/deltaD values of individual biomarkers. The first objective of this project is to determine the delta13C/deltaD signatures of n-alkanes derived from various higher plant types commonly growing in the UK. The second objective is to investigate whether the same species/plant types differ isotopically between two locations affected by different weather patterns in the UK: a relatively warmer and drier Norwich, Norfolk and a cooler and wetter Newcastle-upon-Tyne in NE England. The n-C29 alkane data from 14 tree species sampled during July 2007 and August 2008 in Newcastle show a clear negative trend between delta13C and deltaD values. When these data are plotted against each other, the six deciduous angiosperms (delta13C: c. -39 to -35 per mil; deltaD: c. -155 to -130 per mil) are completely separated from four evergreen angiosperms (delta13C: c. -33 to -28 per mil; deltaD: c. -195 to -165 per mil). The four gymnosperm species data plot between those of the deciduous and evergreen angiosperms. Because all 14 species in Newcastle experience the same environmental conditions, we suggest that the observed isotopic

Once upon an algorithm how stories explain computing

CERN Document Server

Erwig, Martin

2017-01-01

How Hansel and Gretel, Sherlock Holmes, the movie Groundhog Day, Harry Potter, and other familiar stories illustrate the concepts of computing. Picture a computer scientist, staring at a screen and clicking away frantically on a keyboard, hacking into a system, or perhaps developing an app. Now delete that picture. In Once Upon an Algorithm, Martin Erwig explains computation as something that takes place beyond electronic computers, and computer science as the study of systematic problem solving. Erwig points out that many daily activities involve problem solving. Getting up in the morning, for example: You get up, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast. This simple daily routine solves a recurring problem through a series of well-defined steps. In computer science, such a routine is called an algorithm. Erwig illustrates a series of concepts in computing with examples from daily life and familiar stories. Hansel and Gretel, for example, execute an algorithm to get home from the forest. The movie Groundho...

Differences in U root-to-shoot translocation between plant species explained by U distribution in roots

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Straczek, Anne; Duquene, Lise [Belgium Nuclear Research Centre (SCK.CEN), Biosphere Impact Studies, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol (Belgium); Wegrzynek, Dariusz [IAEA, Seibersdorf Laboratories, A-2444 Seibersdorf (Austria); Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, Al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow (Poland); Chinea-Cano, Ernesto [IAEA, Seibersdorf Laboratories, A-2444 Seibersdorf (Austria); Wannijn, Jean [Belgium Nuclear Research Centre (SCK.CEN), Biosphere Impact Studies, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol (Belgium); Navez, Jacques [Royal Museum of Africa, Department of Geology, Leuvensesteenweg 13, 3080 Tervuren (Belgium); Vandenhove, Hildegarde, E-mail: hvandenh@sckcen.b [Belgium Nuclear Research Centre (SCK.CEN), Biosphere Impact Studies, Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol (Belgium)

2010-03-15

Accumulation and distribution of uranium in roots and shoots of four plants species differing in their cation exchange capacity of roots (CECR) was investigated. After exposure in hydroponics for seven days to 100 mumol U L{sup -1}, distribution of uranium in roots was investigated through chemical extraction of roots. Higher U concentrations were measured in roots of dicots which showed a higher CECR than monocot species. Chemical extractions indicated that uranium is mostly located in the apoplasm of roots of monocots but that it is predominantly located in the symplasm of roots of dicots. Translocation of U to shoot was not significantly affected by the CECR or distribution of U between symplasm and apoplasm. Distribution of uranium in roots was investigated through chemical extraction of roots for all species. Additionally, longitudinal and radial distribution of U in roots of maize and Indian mustard, respectively showing the lowest and the highest translocation, was studied following X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of specific root sections. Chemical analysis and XRF analysis of roots of maize and Indian mustard clearly indicated a higher longitudinal and radial transport of uranium in roots of Indian mustard than in roots of maize, where uranium mostly accumulated in root tips. These results showed that even if CECR could partly explain U accumulation in roots, other mechanisms like radial and longitudinal transport are implied in the translocation of U to the shoot.

Differences in U root-to-shoot translocation between plant species explained by U distribution in roots

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Straczek, Anne; Duquene, Lise; Wegrzynek, Dariusz; Chinea-Cano, Ernesto; Wannijn, Jean; Navez, Jacques; Vandenhove, Hildegarde

2010-01-01

Accumulation and distribution of uranium in roots and shoots of four plants species differing in their cation exchange capacity of roots (CECR) was investigated. After exposure in hydroponics for seven days to 100 μmol U L -1 , distribution of uranium in roots was investigated through chemical extraction of roots. Higher U concentrations were measured in roots of dicots which showed a higher CECR than monocot species. Chemical extractions indicated that uranium is mostly located in the apoplasm of roots of monocots but that it is predominantly located in the symplasm of roots of dicots. Translocation of U to shoot was not significantly affected by the CECR or distribution of U between symplasm and apoplasm. Distribution of uranium in roots was investigated through chemical extraction of roots for all species. Additionally, longitudinal and radial distribution of U in roots of maize and Indian mustard, respectively showing the lowest and the highest translocation, was studied following X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis of specific root sections. Chemical analysis and XRF analysis of roots of maize and Indian mustard clearly indicated a higher longitudinal and radial transport of uranium in roots of Indian mustard than in roots of maize, where uranium mostly accumulated in root tips. These results showed that even if CECR could partly explain U accumulation in roots, other mechanisms like radial and longitudinal transport are implied in the translocation of U to the shoot.

Social Community: A Mechanism to Explain the Success of STEM Minority Mentoring Programs

Science.gov (United States)

Mondisa, Joi-Lynn; McComb, Sara A.

2015-01-01

Social community may be a mechanism that explains the success of minority mentoring programs. We define a social community as an environment where like-minded individuals engage in dynamic, multidirectional interactions that facilitate social support. In this conceptual article, we propose a social community model for science, technology,…

Journal of Genetics | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Department of Crop Science and Production, Plant Breeding, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P.O. Box 3005, Morogoro, Tanzania; Present address: Agricultural Faculty of Sciences (FACAGRO), Department of Crop Production, University of Burundi, P.O. Box 5132, Bujumbura, Burundi; Plant Breeding Genetics and ...

Children Explain the Rainbow: Using Young Children's Ideas to Guide Science Curricula

Science.gov (United States)

Siry, Christina; Kremer, Isabelle

2011-01-01

This study examines young children's ideas about natural science phenomena and explores possibilities in starting investigations in kindergarten from their ideas. Given the possibilities inherent in how young children make sense of their experiences, we believe it is critical to take children's perspectives into consideration when designing any…

Global patterns of plant root colonization intensity by mycorrhizal fungi explained by climate and soil chemistry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soudzilovskaia, N.A.; Douma, J.C.; Akhmetzhanova, A.A.; van Bodegom, P.M.; Cornwell, W.K.; Moens, E.J.; Treseder, K.K.; Tibbett, M.; Wang, Y.P.; Cornelissen, J.H.C.

2015-01-01

Aim Most vascular plants on Earth form mycorrhizae, a symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi. Despite the broad recognition of the importance of mycorrhizae for global carbon and nutrient cycling, we do not know how soil and climate variables relate to the intensity of colonization of plant

'Everyone may think whatever they like, but scientists...': Or how and to what end plant scientists manage the science-society relationship.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mogendorff, K.; te Molder, Hedwig Frederica Maria; Gremmen, B.; van Woerkum, C.

2012-01-01

In this study, the authors examine the performative functions of scientists’ discursive constructions of the science-society relationship. They use discursive psychology to analyze interviews with Dutch plant scientists and show that interviewees contrast the freedom of people in the private sphere

Physiology of Plants, Science (Experimental): 5315.41.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, William C.

This unit of instruction deals with the physiological activities of plants. Attention is focused on the principles which underlie the activities of the typical green land plant. Emphasis is placed on biological processes such as photosynthesis, water transport, light responses, mineral nutrition, reproduction, and growth. The prerequisite for…

Ayahuasca, psychedelic studies and health sciences: the politics of knowledge and inquiry into an Amazonian plant brew.

Science.gov (United States)

Tupper, Kenneth W; Labate, Beatriz C

2014-01-01

This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into psychedelics. Applying ideas from the field of science and technology studies, we consider how ayahuasca's myriad ontological representations in the 21st century--for example, plant teacher, traditional medicine, religious sacrament, material commodity, cognitive tool, illicit drug--influence our understanding of it as an object of inquiry. We then explore epistemological issues related to ayahuasca studies, including how the indigenous and mestizo concept of "plant teacher" or the more instrumental notion of psychedelics as "cognitive tools" may impact understanding of knowledge. This leads to questions about whether scientists engaged in ayahuasca research should be expected to have personal experiences with the brew, and how these may be perceived to help or hinder the objectivity of their pursuits. We conclude with some brief reflections on the politics of psychedelic research and impediments to academic knowledge production in the field of psychedelic studies.

Bulletin of Materials Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Bulletin of Materials Science; Volume 33; Issue 4 ... Permittivity; polarization effects; strontium tartrate; thermal properties; dielectric properties. ... It is explained that crystallographic change due to polymorphic phase transition may be occurring in the material, besides the change due to loss of water ...

Sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica hiding time depends on individual and state

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sarah Reed-Guy

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The decisions animals make to adjust their antipredator behavior to rapidly changing conditions have been well studied. Inducible defenses in plants are an antipredator behavior that acts on a longer time scale, but sensitive plants, Mimosa pudica, have a much more rapid antipredator response; they temporarily close their leaves when touched. The time they remain closed is defined as hiding time. We studied hiding time in sensitive plants and found that individual plants differed significantly in their hiding times. We then showed that the effect of individual explained substantial variation in hiding time on a short time scale. Finally, on a longer time scale, individuality persisted but the amount of variation attributed to individual decreased. We hypothesized that variation in plant condition might explain this change. We therefore manipulated sunlight availability and quantified hiding time. When deprived of light for 6 h, sensitive plants significantly shortened their hiding times. But when only half a plant was deprived of light, hiding times on the deprived half and light exposed half were not significantly different. This suggests that overall condition best explains variation in sensitive plant antipredator behavior. Just like in animals, sensitive plant antipredator behavior is condition dependent, and, just like in animals, a substantial amount of the remaining variation is explained by individual differences between plants. Thus, models designed to predict plasticity in animal behavior may be successfully applied to understand behavior in other organisms, including plants.

Research on integrated simulation of fluid-structure system by computation science techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamaguchi, Akira

1996-01-01

In Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation, the research on the integrated simulation of fluid-structure system by computation science techniques has been carried out, and by its achievement, the verification of plant systems which has depended on large scale experiments is substituted by computation science techniques, in this way, it has been aimed at to reduce development costs and to attain the optimization of FBR systems. For the purpose, it is necessary to establish the technology for integrally and accurately analyzing complicated phenomena (simulation technology), the technology for applying it to large scale problems (speed increasing technology), and the technology for assuring the reliability of the results of analysis when simulation technology is utilized for the permission and approval of FBRs (verifying technology). The simulation of fluid-structure interaction, the heat flow simulation in the space with complicated form and the related technologies are explained. As the utilization of computation science techniques, the elucidation of phenomena by numerical experiment and the numerical simulation as the substitute for tests are discussed. (K.I.)

Endangered Species (Plants). LC Science Tracer Bullet.

Science.gov (United States)

Niskern, Diana, Comp.

This guide is intended for those who wish to study the literature dealing with various aspects of endangered plant species. This document includes the following sections, some of which are bibliographies: (1) "Introductions to the Topic"; (2) "Subject Headings" (for endangered species of plants used by the Library of Congress); (3) "General…

Resins production: batch plant automation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Banti, M.; Mauri, G.

1996-01-01

Companies that look for automation in their plants without external resources, have at their disposal flexible, custom and easy to use DCS, open towards PLC. In this article it is explained why Hoechts has followed this way of new plants for resins production automation

The Sound of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Merwade, Venkatesh; Eichinger, David; Harriger, Bradley; Doherty, Erin; Habben, Ryan

2014-01-01

While the science of sound can be taught by explaining the concept of sound waves and vibrations, the authors of this article focused their efforts on creating a more engaging way to teach the science of sound--through engineering design. In this article they share the experience of teaching sound to third graders through an engineering challenge…

Nicotinic plant poisoning.

Science.gov (United States)

Schep, Leo J; Slaughter, Robin J; Beasley, D Michael G

2009-09-01

A wide range of plants contain nicotinic and nicotinic-like alkaloids. Of this diverse group, those that have been reported to cause human poisoning appear to have similar mechanisms of toxicity and presenting patients therefore have comparable toxidromes. This review describes the taxonomy and principal alkaloids of plants that contain nicotinic and nicotinic-like alkaloids, with particular focus on those that are toxic to humans. The toxicokinetics and mechanisms of toxicity of these alkaloids are reviewed and the clinical features and management of poisoning due to these plants are described. This review was compiled by systematically searching OVID MEDLINE and ISI Web of Science. This identified 9,456 papers, excluding duplicates, all of which were screened. Reviewed plants and their principal alkaloids. Plants containing nicotine and nicotine-like alkaloids that have been reported to be poisonous to humans include Conium maculatum, Nicotiana glauca and Nicotiana tabacum, Laburnum anagyroides, and Caulophyllum thalictroides. They contain the toxic alkaloids nicotine, anabasine, cytisine, n-methylcytisine, coniine, n-methylconiine, and gamma-coniceine. These alkaloids act agonistically at nicotinic-type acetylcholine (cholinergic) receptors (nAChRs). The nicotinic-type acetylcholine receptor can vary both in its subunit composition and in its distribution within the body (the central and autonomic nervous systems, the neuromuscular junctions, and the adrenal medulla). Agonistic interaction at these variable sites may explain why the alkaloids have diverse effects depending on the administered dose and duration of exposure. Nicotine and nicotine-like alkaloids are absorbed readily across all routes of exposure and are rapidly and widely distributed, readily traversing the blood-brain barrier and the placenta, and are freely distributed in breast milk. Metabolism occurs predominantly in the liver followed by rapid renal elimination. Following acute exposure

A man who would shake up science; physicist says he's explained the way nature operates

CERN Multimedia

Rothstein, E

2002-01-01

Stephen Wolfram is finally publishing his long-awaited book "A New Kind of Science". In it he claims he has discovered underlying principles that affect the development of everything from the human brain to the workings of the universe, requiring a revolutionary rethinking of physics, mathematics, biology and other sciences (1 page).

Improving the Science Curriculum with Bioethics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lundmark, Cathy

2002-01-01

Explains the importance of integrating bioethics into the science curriculum for student learning. Introduces a workshop designed for middle and high school science teachers teaching bioethics, its application to case studies, and how teachers can fit bioethics into their classroom. (YDS)

Social cognitive theories used to explain physical activity behavior in adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Plotnikoff, Ronald C; Costigan, Sarah A; Karunamuni, Nandini; Lubans, David R

2013-05-01

To systematically review and examine the explanatory power of key social-cognitive theories used to explain physical activity (PA) intention and behavior, among adolescents. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature was performed using the electronic databases Medline, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, SPORTdiscus, EBSCO and Education Resources Information Center, Proquest Education Journals Collection, Science Direct, Web of Science and Scopus for social-cognitive theories (i.e., Health Promotion Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, Theory of Reasoned Action, Protection Motivation Theory, Social Cognitive Theory/Self-Efficacy Theory, Health Belief Model, Self-Determination Theory, Transtheoretical Model) used to explain PA intention and behavior. Related keywords in titles, abstracts, or indexing fields were searched. Twenty-three studies satisfied the inclusion criteria and were retained for data extraction and analysis; 16 were cross-sectional studies and seven were longitudinal studies. Most studies employed self-report measures. In general, the models explained greater proportions of variance for intention compared to behavior. The meta-analyses revealed 33% and 48% of the variance respectively for PA and intention were explained by social cognitive models. Few studies have tested the predictive capacity of social cognitive theories to explain objectively measured PA. The majority of PA variance remains unexplained and more theoretical research is needed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dynamic preferential allocation to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi explains fungal succession and coexistence.

Science.gov (United States)

Bachelot, Benedicte; Lee, Charlotte T

2018-02-01

Evidence accumulates about the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in shaping plant communities, but little is known about the factors determining the biomass and coexistence of several types of AM fungi in a plant community. Here, using a consumer-resource framework that treats the relationship between plants and fungi as simultaneous, reciprocal exploitation, we investigated what patterns of dynamic preferential plant carbon allocation to empirically-defined fungal types (on-going partner choice) would be optimal for plants, and how these patterns depend on successional dynamics. We found that ruderal AM fungi can dominate under low steady-state nutrient availability, and competitor AM fungi can dominate at higher steady-state nutrient availability; these are conditions characteristic of early and late succession, respectively. We also found that dynamic preferential allocation alone can maintain a diversity of mutualists, suggesting that on-going partner choice is a new coexistence mechanism for mutualists. Our model can therefore explain both mutualist coexistence and successional strategy, providing a powerful tool to derive testable predictions. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Science and Measurement Requirements for a Plant Physiology and Functional Types Mission: Measuring the Composition, Function and Health of Global Land and Coastal Ocean Ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Robert O.; Rogez, Francois; Green, Rob; Ungar, Steve; Knox, Robert; Asner, Greg; Muller-Karger, Frank; Bissett, Paul; Chekalyuk, Alex; Dierssen, Heidi;

Translational plant proteomics: a perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, Ganesh Kumar; Pedreschi, Romina; Barkla, Bronwyn J; Bindschedler, Laurence Veronique; Cramer, Rainer; Sarkar, Abhijit; Renaut, Jenny; Job, Dominique; Rakwal, Randeep

2012-08-03

Translational proteomics is an emerging sub-discipline of the proteomics field in the biological sciences. Translational plant proteomics aims to integrate knowledge from basic sciences to translate it into field applications to solve issues related but not limited to the recreational and economic values of plants, food security and safety, and energy sustainability. In this review, we highlight the substantial progress reached in plant proteomics during the past decade which has paved the way for translational plant proteomics. Increasing proteomics knowledge in plants is not limited to model and non-model plants, proteogenomics, crop improvement, and food analysis, safety, and nutrition but to many more potential applications. Given the wealth of information generated and to some extent applied, there is the need for more efficient and broader channels to freely disseminate the information to the scientific community. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Translational Proteomics. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Changing the conversation: how ANS is telling a different story about nuclear science and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raap, B.

2014-01-01

'Full text': As nuclear scientists and engineers, our focus and expertise is in science and technology that yields benefits for society. Yet, we are also often in the position of explaining what can be very complex and technical issues to individuals who are not technical, and who perhaps are guided by misinformation about nuclear science and technology. Being effective communicators, and having an effective communications program at organizations like ANS,is critical if we are to maintain support for nuclear energy. Nuclear plants have shut down in the United States over the past year largely due to economic circumstances. The low price of natural gas and other factors make it extremely challenging for some nuclear plants to be competitive right now. Although this situation will eventually change, clear communications is critical.Fostering a good understanding of nuclear science and technology is needed now more than ever to help people gain an appreciation for the benefits that nuclear energy offers. Last year, ANS created a strategic communications plan. This communications plan called for improvements in all of our communication and outreach efforts. We have many work groups actively working on those improvements, which will be highlighted during the session. We also publicly launched the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information, a special communications initiative of ANS. The Center allows ANS to better leverage resources while building awareness about nuclear science and technology among a variety of audiences. Through the Center, ANS seeks to improve public understanding of nuclear science and technology, inform policy makers and their staff about nuclear fundamentals,engage journalists in telling a truthful story based on science, and inspire young people to explore nuclear science and technology. The Center allows ANS to produce improved public education tools that nuclear professionals and advocates can use when doing outreach. The

Changing the conversation: how ANS is telling a different story about nuclear science and technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raap, B. [American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL (United States)

2014-07-01

'Full text': As nuclear scientists and engineers, our focus and expertise is in science and technology that yields benefits for society. Yet, we are also often in the position of explaining what can be very complex and technical issues to individuals who are not technical, and who perhaps are guided by misinformation about nuclear science and technology. Being effective communicators, and having an effective communications program at organizations like ANS,is critical if we are to maintain support for nuclear energy. Nuclear plants have shut down in the United States over the past year largely due to economic circumstances. The low price of natural gas and other factors make it extremely challenging for some nuclear plants to be competitive right now. Although this situation will eventually change, clear communications is critical.Fostering a good understanding of nuclear science and technology is needed now more than ever to help people gain an appreciation for the benefits that nuclear energy offers. Last year, ANS created a strategic communications plan. This communications plan called for improvements in all of our communication and outreach efforts. We have many work groups actively working on those improvements, which will be highlighted during the session. We also publicly launched the Center for Nuclear Science and Technology Information, a special communications initiative of ANS. The Center allows ANS to better leverage resources while building awareness about nuclear science and technology among a variety of audiences. Through the Center, ANS seeks to improve public understanding of nuclear science and technology, inform policy makers and their staff about nuclear fundamentals,engage journalists in telling a truthful story based on science, and inspire young people to explore nuclear science and technology. The Center allows ANS to produce improved public education tools that nuclear professionals and advocates can use when doing outreach. The

A guided science

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Valsiner, Jaan

That sciences are guided by explicit and implicit ties to their surrounding social world is not new. Jaan Valsiner fills in the wide background of scholarship on the history of science, the recent focus on social studies of sciences, and the cultural and cognitive analyses of knowledge making....... The theoretical scheme that he uses to explain the phenomena of social guidance of science comes from his thinking about processes of development in general—his theory of bounded indeterminacy—and on the relations of human beings with their culturally organized environments. Valsiner examines reasons for the slow...... and nonlinear progress of ideas in psychology as a science at the border of natural and social sciences. Why is that intellectual progress occurs in different countries at different times? Most responses are self-serving blinders for presenting science as a given rather than understanding it as a deeply human...

Modeling as an Anchoring Scientific Practice for Explaining Friction Phenomena

Science.gov (United States)

Neilson, Drew; Campbell, Todd

2017-12-01

Through examining the day-to-day work of scientists, researchers in science studies have revealed how models are a central sense-making practice of scientists as they construct and critique explanations about how the universe works. Additionally, they allow predictions to be made using the tenets of the model. Given this, alongside research suggesting that engaging students in developing and using models can have a positive effect on learning in science classrooms, the recent national standards documents in science education have identified developing and using models as an important practice students should engage in as they apply and refine their ideas with peers and teachers in explaining phenomena or solving problems in classrooms. This article details how students can be engaged in developing and using models to help them make sense of friction phenomena in a high school conceptual physics classroom in ways that align with visions for teaching and learning outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards. This particular unit has been refined over several years to build on what was initially an inquiry-based unit we have described previously. In this latest iteration of the friction unit, students developed and refined models through engaging in small group and whole class discussions and investigations.

Nonlinear Science

CERN Document Server

Yoshida, Zensho

2010-01-01

This book gives a general, basic understanding of the mathematical structure "nonlinearity" that lies in the depths of complex systems. Analyzing the heterogeneity that the prefix "non" represents with respect to notions such as the linear space, integrability and scale hierarchy, "nonlinear science" is explained as a challenge of deconstruction of the modern sciences. This book is not a technical guide to teach mathematical tools of nonlinear analysis, nor a zoology of so-called nonlinear phenomena. By critically analyzing the structure of linear theories, and cl

Remaining life assessment and plant life extension in high temperature components of power and petrochemical plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fleming, A.

2003-01-01

This paper explains the reasons why plant life can so easily be extended beyond the original design life. It details the means by which plant life extension is normally achieved, a structured plan for achieving such plant life extension at reasonable cost and some of the key techniques used in assessing the remaining life and discusses the simple repair options available. (author)

Condensation induced water hammer (CIWH). Relevance in the nuclear industry and state of science and technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Swidersky, Harald [TUeV Sued Industrie Service GmbH, Muenchen (Germany)

2013-03-15

Condensation-induced water hammers (CIWH) are consequences of rapid condensation of steam in partially filled pipes. They present a particular hazard potential, as they seem to occur spontaneously and out of stagnation. The entire process still eludes a secured analytical or numerical predictability and determination of the fluid dynamic loads. The simulation of these processes is one of the most difficult tasks of thermal hydraulic transient analyses. Condensation induced water hammers in plants - mostly power plants - can lead to significant costs if they result in long downtimes, detailed analyses and upgrades. In this contribution, the phenomenon CIWH is explained and the relevance for nuclear engineering will be discussed. An outlook on the actual requirements of regulatory guidelines and the state of science and technology will be given. (orig.)

Condensation induced water hammer (CIWH). Relevance in the nuclear industry and state of science and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swidersky, Harald

2013-01-01

Condensation-induced water hammers (CIWH) are consequences of rapid condensation of steam in partially filled pipes. They present a particular hazard potential, as they seem to occur spontaneously and out of stagnation. The entire process still eludes a secured analytical or numerical predictability and determination of the fluid dynamic loads. The simulation of these processes is one of the most difficult tasks of thermal hydraulic transient analyses. Condensation induced water hammers in plants - mostly power plants - can lead to significant costs if they result in long downtimes, detailed analyses and upgrades. In this contribution, the phenomenon CIWH is explained and the relevance for nuclear engineering will be discussed. An outlook on the actual requirements of regulatory guidelines and the state of science and technology will be given. (orig.)

Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Elected: 2005 Section: Plant Sciences ... Address: INSA Senior Professor, Division of Plant Biology, Bose Institute, P-1/12, ... Ph.D. (Madras), FNA, FNASc, FTWAS ... Gases for Atmospheric Processes and Environmental & Climatic Changes

Public Dialogue on Science in Sweden.

Science.gov (United States)

Dyring, Annagreta

1988-01-01

Explains how Sweden has proceeded to popularize science. Addresses topics dealing with policy, the energy debate, booklets with large circulation, computers and society, contacts between schools and research, building up small science centers, mass media, literary quality, children's responsibility, and some of the challenges. (RT)

The Science DMZ: A Network Design Pattern for Data-Intensive Science

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dart, Eli; Rotman, Lauren; Tierney, Brian; Hester, Mary; Zurawski, Jason

2013-08-13

The ever-increasing scale of scientific data has become a significant challenge for researchers that rely on networks to interact with remote computing systems and transfer results to collaborators worldwide. Despite the availability of high-capacity connections, scientists struggle with inadequate cyberinfrastructure that cripples data transfer performance, and impedes scientific progress. The Science DMZ paradigm comprises a proven set of network design patterns that collectively address these problems for scientists. We explain the Science DMZ model, including network architecture, system configuration, cybersecurity, and performance tools, that creates an optimized network environment for science. We describe use cases from universities, supercomputing centers and research laboratories, highlighting the effectiveness of the Science DMZ model in diverse operational settings. In all, the Science DMZ model is a solid platform that supports any science workflow, and flexibly accommodates emerging network technologies. As a result, the Science DMZ vastly improves collaboration, accelerating scientific discovery.

Influence of science and technology magnet middle schools on students' motivation and achievement in science

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, David

Some informal discussions among educators regarding motivation of students and academic performance have included the topic of magnet schools. The premise is that a focused theme, such as an aspect of science, positively affects student motivation and academic achievement. However, there is limited research involving magnet schools and their influence on student motivation and academic performance. This study provides empirical data for the discussion about magnet schools influence on motivation and academic ability. This study utilized path analysis in a structural equation modeling framework to simultaneously investigate the relationships between demographic exogenous independent variables, the independent variable of attending a science or technology magnet middle school, and the dependent variables of motivation to learn science and academic achievement in science. Due to the categorical nature of the variables, Bayesian statistical analysis was used to calculate the path coefficients and the standardized effects for each relationship in the model. The coefficients of determination were calculated to determine the amount of variance each path explained. Only five of 21 paths had statistical significance. Only one of the five statistically significant paths (Attended Magnet School to Motivation to Learn Science) explained a noteworthy amount (45.8%) of the variance.

Explaining public support for space exploration funding in America: A multivariate analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Nadeau, François

2013-05-01

Recent studies have identified the need to understand what shapes public attitudes toward space policy. I address this gap in the literature by developing a multivariate regression model explaining why many Americans support government spending on space exploration. Using pooled data from the 2006 and 2008 General Social Surveys, the study reveals that spending preferences on space exploration are largely apolitical and associated instead with knowledge and opinions about science. In particular, the odds of wanting to increase funding for space exploration are significantly higher for white, male Babyboomers with a higher socio-economic status, a fondness for organized science, and a post-secondary science education. As such, I argue that public support for NASA's spending epitomizes what Launius termed "Apollo Nostalgia" in American culture. That is, Americans benefitting most from the old social order of the 1960s developed a greater fondness for science that makes them more likely to lament the glory days of space exploration. The article concludes with suggestions for how to elaborate on these findings in future studies.

Plant Research Department annual report 2003

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kossmann, J.; Jakobsen, Iver; Nielsen, K.K.

2004-01-01

In 2003 the Plant Research Department (PRD) at Risø National Laboratory was involved in establishing the consortium Plant Biotech Denmark, which is unifying most of the Danish Plant Biotechnology activities. Within the consortium, PRD has the uniqueopportunity to be the only life science department...... to genes, which are widely applicable in the life sciences, such as non-invasive and non-destructive technologies to determine metabolite concentrationswith high spatial and temporal resolution. The Plant Research Department applies these and state-of-the-art technologies to increase knowledge to develop...... located in an environment that is largely dominated by physicists. PRD is challenged to optimally interface Plant Biology with the different fields of expertise that are established at Risø NationalLaboratory. These activities are mainly related to develop novel post-genomic tools to assign function...

Iranian Native Plants on Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniosis: A Narrative Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Moghaddas, Elham; Khamesipour, Ali; Mohebali, Mehdi; Fata, Abdolmajid

2017-01-01

Chemotherapy still relies on the use of pentavalent antimonials, amphotericin B, paromomycin, miltefosin, and allopurinol. In this study, we explained about the native plant that grows in different regions of Iran and used as anti-leishmanial in Iran and even many other countries. This narrative review covers all information about local herbal medicine in Iran that used in treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in all the worlds, published in local and international journals from 1996 to 2015 using various databases including PubMed, SID, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Science Direct. Overall, 150 articles in databases were identified. Many local plants grown in some places of Iran were used to treat this endemic disease. The cutaneous leishmaniasis is also a major health problem in Iran, especially in Mashhad (Northeast of Iran). Therefore, many patients seek for herbal therapy that is cheaper and readily available. This review provides information regarding plant that exists in Iran and exhibiting effects on anti- Leishmania activity. Among the anti-leishmanial mentioned in this review, most have never been tested for cytotoxicity and very few have been tested for in vivo activity.

Iranian Native Plants on Treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniosis: A Narrative Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elham MOGHADDAS

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Chemotherapy still relies on the use of pentavalent antimonials, amphotericin B, paromomycin, miltefosin, and allopurinol. In this study, we explained about the native plant that grows in different regions of Iran and used as anti-leishmanial in Iran and even many other countries. Methods: This narrative review covers all information about local herbal medicine in Iran that used in treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in all the worlds, published in local and international journals from 1996 to 2015 using various databases including PubMed, SID, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Science Direct. Results: Overall, 150 articles in databases were identified. Many local plants grown in some places of Iran were used to treat this endemic disease.Conclusion: The cutaneous leishmaniasis is also a major health problem in Iran, especially in Mashhad (Northeast of Iran. Therefore, many patients seek for herbal therapy that is cheaper and readily available. This review provides information regarding plant that exists in Iran and exhibiting effects on anti- Leishmania activity. Among the anti-leishmanial mentioned in this review, most have never been tested for cytotoxicity and very few have been tested for in vivo activity.

Developmental Science: Past, Present, and Future

Science.gov (United States)

Lerner, Richard M.

2012-01-01

The goal of developmental science is to describe, explain, and optimize intraindividual changes in adaptive developmental regulations and, as well, interindividual differences in such relations, across life. The history of developmental science is reviewed and its current foci, which are framed by relational developmental systems models that…

When science takes centre stage

CERN Multimedia

2005-01-01

The teachers at 'Science on stage' are not emotionally attached to their chalk. Neither are they are weary old men who sport tweed jackets with elbow-patches and enter into conversation with their blackboards. Actually, 'Science on stage' teachers are far from the cliché of the boring physics teacher who can only inspire yawns from his pupils. Some present the basic principles of mechanics using a bicycle, others explain chemistry with examples from everyday life. The most audacious of them go so far as to explain the Doppler effect by means of a play in which Einstein dreams about jumping cows... These are but a few of the activities and plays that will be shown during the EIROforum1 Science on Stage Festival (organised by 7 European scientific organisations including CERN), to be held from 21 to 25 November at CERN, Geneva. This festival is dedicated to the teaching science in order to make it more attractive. After the first edition 'Physics on Stage' which was held in 2000 at CERN, the laboratory agai...

PlantDB – a versatile database for managing plant research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gruissem Wilhelm

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Research in plant science laboratories often involves usage of many different species, cultivars, ecotypes, mutants, alleles or transgenic lines. This creates a great challenge to keep track of the identity of experimental plants and stored samples or seeds. Results Here, we describe PlantDB – a Microsoft® Office Access database – with a user-friendly front-end for managing information relevant for experimental plants. PlantDB can hold information about plants of different species, cultivars or genetic composition. Introduction of a concise identifier system allows easy generation of pedigree trees. In addition, all information about any experimental plant – from growth conditions and dates over extracted samples such as RNA to files containing images of the plants – can be linked unequivocally. Conclusion We have been using PlantDB for several years in our laboratory and found that it greatly facilitates access to relevant information.

The Science DMZ: A Network Design Pattern for Data-Intensive Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eli Dart

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The ever-increasing scale of scientific data has become a significant challenge for researchers that rely on networks to interact with remote computing systems and transfer results to collaborators worldwide. Despite the availability of high-capacity connections, scientists struggle with inadequate cyberinfrastructure that cripples data transfer performance, and impedes scientific progress. The Science DMZ paradigm comprises a proven set of network design patterns that collectively address these problems for scientists. We explain the Science DMZ model, including network architecture, system configuration, cybersecurity, and performance tools, that creates an optimized network environment for science. We describe use cases from universities, supercomputing centers and research laboratories, highlighting the effectiveness of the Science DMZ model in diverse operational settings. In all, the Science DMZ model is a solid platform that supports any science workflow, and flexibly accommodates emerging network technologies. As a result, the Science DMZ vastly improves collaboration, accelerating scientific discovery.

Lunar Plants

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — We present an open design for a first plant growth module on the Moon (LPX). The primary science goal of lunar habitat is to investigate germination and initial...

The evolution of plant-insect mutualisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Bronstein, Judith L; Alarcón, Ruben; Geber, Monica

2006-01-01

Mutualisms (cooperative interactions between species) have had a central role in the generation and maintenance of life on earth. Insects and plants are involved in diverse forms of mutualism. Here we review evolutionary features of three prominent insect-plant mutualisms: pollination, protection and seed dispersal. We focus on addressing five central phenomena: evolutionary origins and maintenance of mutualism; the evolution of mutualistic traits; the evolution of specialization and generalization; coevolutionary processes; and the existence of cheating. Several features uniting very diverse insect-plant mutualisms are identified and their evolutionary implications are discussed: the involvement of one mobile and one sedentary partner; natural selection on plant rewards; the existence of a continuum from specialization to generalization; and the ubiquity of cheating, particularly on the part of insects. Plant-insect mutualisms have apparently both arisen and been lost repeatedly. Many adaptive hypotheses have been proposed to explain these transitions, and it is unlikely that any one of them dominates across interactions differing so widely in natural history. Evolutionary theory has a potentially important, but as yet largely unfilled, role to play in explaining the origins, maintenance, breakdown and evolution of insect-plant mutualisms.

“Everyone may think whatever they like, but scientists . . .”: Or how and to what end plant scientists manage the science-society relationship

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mogendorff, K.; Molder, te H.; Gremmen, B.; Woerkum, van C.

2012-01-01

In this study, the authors examine the performative functions of scientists’ discursive constructions of the science-society relationship. They use discursive psychology to analyze interviews with Dutch plant scientists and show that interviewees contrast the freedom of people in the private sphere

The Instructional Model for Using History of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Seker, Hayati

2012-01-01

This paper discusses the levels of The Instructional Model for Using History of Science (UHOS) to explain the relationship between the history of science and science teaching. The UHOS model proposes four levels: Conceptual Level, Epistemological Level, Sociocultural Level, and Interest Level. Each Level has sublevels with regards to types of…

Data mining with iPlant: a meeting report from the 2013 GARNet workshop, Data mining with iPlant.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Lisa; Cook, Charis; Matasci, Naim; Williams, Jason; Bastow, Ruth

2015-01-01

High-throughput sequencing technologies have rapidly moved from large international sequencing centres to individual laboratory benchtops. These changes have driven the 'data deluge' of modern biology. Submissions of nucleotide sequences to GenBank, for example, have doubled in size every year since 1982, and individual data sets now frequently reach terabytes in size. While 'big data' present exciting opportunities for scientific discovery, data analysis skills are not part of the typical wet bench biologist's experience. Knowing what to do with data, how to visualize and analyse them, make predictions, and test hypotheses are important barriers to success. Many researchers also lack adequate capacity to store and share these data, creating further bottlenecks to effective collaboration between groups and institutes. The US National Science Foundation-funded iPlant Collaborative was established in 2008 to form part of the data collection and analysis pipeline and help alleviate the bottlenecks associated with the big data challenge in plant science. Leveraging the power of high-performance computing facilities, iPlant provides free-to-use cyberinfrastructure to enable terabytes of data storage, improve analysis, and facilitate collaborations. To help train UK plant science researchers to use the iPlant platform and understand how it can be exploited to further research, GARNet organized a four-day Data mining with iPlant workshop at Warwick University in September 2013. This report provides an overview of the workshop, and highlights the power of the iPlant environment for lowering barriers to using complex bioinformatics resources, furthering discoveries in plant science research and providing a platform for education and outreach programmes. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Does competition for phosphate supply explain the invasion pattern of Elodea species?

Science.gov (United States)

Thiébaut, Gabrielle

2005-09-01

Two invasive aquatic plants, Elodea canadensis and Elodea nuttallii, occurred in north-eastern France. In this study, we examine the influence of phosphorus availability in soft water streams to explain the invasion pattern of exotic species (E. nuttallii and E. canadensis) compared to native plants (Callitriche platycarpa, Ranunculus peltatus). Total phosphorus was measured in these four aquatic macrophytes. Sediment total phosphorus and water-soluble reactive phosphorus were also analysed each season in 2001. Phosphorus content in the two invasive species and in R. peltatus was higher than in C. platycarpa. Elodea species are adapted to the seasonal phosphorus fluctuations as well as R. peltatus and exhibited high phosphorus storage ability. The high fluctuation availability of resources in space or/and time favoured the spread of the invasive plants and confirms the theory of invasibility of Davis et al. [2000. Fluctuating resources in plant communities: a general theory of invasibility. J. Ecol. 88, 528-534]. The eutrophication process increases the invasibility of E. nuttallii's, while inducing competition between E. nuttallii and native macrophyte species.

Explaining Feast or Famine in Randomized Field Trials: Medical Science and Criminology Compared.

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, Jonathan P.

2003-01-01

Discusses the contrast between the frequency of randomized clinical trials in the health sciences and the relative famine of such studies in criminology. Attributes this difference to the contexts in which research is done and the difference in the status of situational research in the two disciplines. (SLD)

The Viability of Distance Education Science Laboratories.

Science.gov (United States)

Forinash, Kyle; Wisman, Raymond

2001-01-01

Discusses the effectiveness of offering science laboratories via distance education. Explains current delivery technologies, including computer simulations, videos, and laboratory kits sent to students; pros and cons of distance labs; the use of spreadsheets; and possibilities for new science education models. (LRW)

Citizen science contributes to our knowledge of invasive plant species distributions

Science.gov (United States)

Crall, Alycia W.; Jarnevich, Catherine S.; Young, Nicholas E.; Panke, Brendon; Renz, Mark; Stohlgren, Thomas

2015-01-01

Citizen science is commonly cited as an effective approach to expand the scale of invasive species data collection and monitoring. However, researchers often hesitate to use these data due to concerns over data quality. In light of recent research on the quality of data collected by volunteers, we aimed to demonstrate the extent to which citizen science data can increase sampling coverage, fill gaps in species distributions, and improve habitat suitability models compared to professionally generated data sets used in isolation. We combined data sets from professionals and volunteers for five invasive plant species (Alliaria petiolata, Berberis thunbergii, Cirsium palustre, Pastinaca sativa, Polygonum cuspidatum) in portions of Wisconsin. Volunteers sampled counties not sampled by professionals for three of the five species. Volunteers also added presence locations within counties not included in professional data sets, especially in southern portions of the state where professional monitoring activities had been minimal. Volunteers made a significant contribution to the known distribution, environmental gradients sampled, and the habitat suitability of P. cuspidatum. Models generated with professional data sets for the other four species performed reasonably well according to AUC values (>0.76). The addition of volunteer data did not greatly change model performance (AUC > 0.79) but did change the suitability surface generated by the models, making them more realistic. Our findings underscore the need to merge data from multiple sources to improve knowledge of current species distributions, and to predict their movement under present and future environmental conditions. The efficiency and success of these approaches require that monitoring efforts involve multiple stakeholders in continuous collaboration via established monitoring networks.

Plant toxicity, adaptive herbivory, and plant community dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Z.; Liu, R.; DeAngelis, D.L.; Bryant, J.P.; Kielland, K.; Stuart, Chapin F.; Swihart, R.K.

2009-01-01

We model effects of interspecific plant competition, herbivory, and a plant's toxic defenses against herbivores on vegetation dynamics. The model predicts that, when a generalist herbivore feeds in the absence of plant toxins, adaptive foraging generally increases the probability of coexistence of plant species populations, because the herbivore switches more of its effort to whichever plant species is more common and accessible. In contrast, toxin-determined selective herbivory can drive plant succession toward dominance by the more toxic species, as previously documented in boreal forests and prairies. When the toxin concentrations in different plant species are similar, but species have different toxins with nonadditive effects, herbivores tend to diversify foraging efforts to avoid high intakes of any one toxin. This diversification leads the herbivore to focus more feeding on the less common plant species. Thus, uncommon plants may experience depensatory mortality from herbivory, reducing local species diversity. The depensatory effect of herbivory may inhibit the invasion of other plant species that are more palatable or have different toxins. These predictions were tested and confirmed in the Alaskan boreal forest. ?? 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Identifying Relevant Anti-Science Perceptions to Improve Science-Based Communication: The Negative Perceptions of Science Scale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melanie Morgan

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Science communicators and scholars have struggled to understand what appears to be increasingly frequent endorsement of a wide range of anti-science beliefs and a corresponding reduction of trust in science. A common explanation for this issue is a lack of science literacy/knowledge among the general public (Funk et al. 2015. However, other possible explanations have been advanced, including conflict with alternative belief systems and other contextual factors, and even cultural factors (Gauchat 2008; Kahan 2015 that are not necessarily due to knowledge deficits. One of the challenges is that there are limited tools available to measure a range of possible underlying negative perceptions of science that could provide a more nuanced framework within which to improve communication around important scientific topics. This project describes two studies detailing the development and validation of the Negative Perceptions of Science Scale (NPSS, a multi-dimensional instrument that taps into several distinct sets of negative science perceptions: Science as Corrupt, Science as Complex, Science as Heretical, and Science as Limited. Evidence for the reliability and validity of the NPSS is described. The sub-dimensions of the NPSS are associated with a range of specific anti-science beliefs across a broad set of topic areas above and beyond that explained by demographics (including education, sex, age, and income, political, and religious ideology. Implications for these findings for improving science communication and science-related message tailoring are discussed.

The plant ontology as a tool for comparative plant anatomy and genomic analyses

Science.gov (United States)

Plant science is now a major player in the fields of genomics, gene expression analysis, phenomics and metabolomics. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have led to a windfall of data, with new species being added rapidly to the list of species whose genomes have been decoded. The Plant Ontol...

Scientific Opinion addressing the state of the science on risk assessment of plant protection products for in-soil organisms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

EFSA PPR Panel (EFSA Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues); Ockleford, Colin; Adriaanse, Paulien

2017-01-01

Following a request from EFSA, the Panel on Plant Protection Products and their Residues developed an opinion on the science behind the risk assessment of plant protection products for in-soil organisms. The current risk assessment scheme is reviewed, taking into account new regulatory frameworks...... exposure routes for in-soil organisms and the potential direct and indirect effects is proposed. In order to address species recovery and long-term impacts of PPPs, the use of population models is also proposed....... and scientific developments. Proposals are made for specific protection goals for in-soil organisms being key drivers for relevant ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes such as nutrient cycling, soil structure, pest control and biodiversity. Considering the time-scales and biological processes related...

Spreaders, igniters, and burning shrubs: plant flammability explains novel fire dynamics in grass-invaded deserts.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuentes-Ramirez, Andres; Veldman, Joseph W; Holzapfel, Claus; Moloney, Kirk A

2016-10-01

Novel fire regimes are an important cause and consequence of global environmental change that involve interactions among biotic, climatic, and human components of ecosystems. Plant flammability is key to these interactions, yet few studies directly measure flammability or consider how multiple species with different flammabilities interact to produce novel fire regimes. Deserts of the southwestern United States are an ideal system for exploring how novel fire regimes can emerge when fire-promoting species invade ecosystems comprised of species that did not evolve with fire. In these deserts, exotic annual grasses provide fuel continuity across landscapes that did not historically burn. These fires often ignite a keystone desert shrub, the fire-intolerant creosote bush, Larrea tridentata (DC.) Coville. Ignition of Larrea is likely catalyzed by fuels produced by native plants that grow beneath the shrubs. We hypothesize that invasive and native species exhibit distinct flammability characteristics that in combination determine spatial patterns of fire spread and intensity. We measured flammability metrics of Larrea, two invasive grasses, Schismus arabicus and Bromus madritensis, and two native plants, the sub-shrub Ambrosia dumosa and the annual herb Amsinckia menziesii. Results of laboratory experiments show that the grasses carry fire quickly (1.32 cm/s), but burn for short duration (0.5 min) at low temperatures. In contrast, native plants spread fire slowly (0.12 cm/s), but burn up to eight times longer (4 min) and produced hotter fires. Additional experiments on the ignition requirements of Larrea suggest that native plants burn with sufficient temperature and duration to ignite dead Larrea branches (time to ignition, 2 min; temperature at ignition 692°C). Once burning, these dead branches ignite living branches in the upper portions of the shrub. Our study provides support for a conceptual model in which exotic grasses are "spreaders" of fire and native

Traits related to species persistence and dispersal explain changes in plant communities subjected to habitat loss

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marini, Lorenzo; Bruun, Hans Henrik; Heikkinen, Risto

2012-01-01

Aim Habitat fragmentation is a major driver of biodiversity loss but it is insufficiently known how much its effects vary among species with different life-history traits; especially in plant communities, the understanding of the role of traits related to species persistence and dispersal in dete...... rural landscapes in NW Europe, mitigating the spatial isolation of remaining grasslands should be accompanied by restoration measures aimed at improving habitat quality for low competitors, abiotically dispersed and perennial, clonal species.......Aim Habitat fragmentation is a major driver of biodiversity loss but it is insufficiently known how much its effects vary among species with different life-history traits; especially in plant communities, the understanding of the role of traits related to species persistence and dispersal...... in determining dynamics of species communities in fragmented landscapes is still limited. The primary aim of this study was to test how plant traits related to persistence and dispersal and their interactions modify plant species vulnerability to decreasing habitat area and increasing isolation. Location Five...

Translational plant proteomics: A perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Agrawal, G.K.; Pedreschi, R.; Barkla, B.J.; Bindschedler, L.V.; Cramer, R.; Sarkar, A.; Renaut, J.; Job, D.; Rakwal, R.

2012-01-01

Translational proteomics is an emerging sub-discipline of the proteomics field in the biological sciences. Translational plant proteomics aims to integrate knowledge from basic sciences to translate it into field applications to solve issues related but not limited to the recreational and economic

Science teacher’s idea about environmental concepts in science learning as the first step of science teacher training

Science.gov (United States)

Tapilouw, M. C.; Firman, H.; Redjeki, S.; Chandra, D. T.

2018-05-01

To refresh natural environmental concepts in science, science teacher have to attend a teacher training. In teacher training, all participant can have a good sharing and discussion with other science teacher. This study is the first step of science teacher training program held by education foundation in Bandung and attended by 20 science teacher from 18 Junior High School. The major aim of this study is gathering science teacher’s idea of environmental concepts. The core of questions used in this study are basic competencies linked with environmental concepts, environmental concepts that difficult to explain, the action to overcome difficulties and references in teaching environmental concepts. There are four major findings in this study. First finding, most environmental concepts are taught in 7th grade. Second finding, most difficult environmental concepts are found in 7th grade. Third finding, there are five actions to overcome difficulties. Fourth finding, science teacher use at least four references in mastering environmental concepts. After all, teacher training can be a solution to reduce difficulties in teaching environmental concepts.

Strange history: the fall of Rome explained in Hereditas.

Science.gov (United States)

Bengtsson, Bengt O

2014-12-01

In 1921 Hereditas published an article on the fall of Rome written by the famous classical scholar Martin P:son Nilsson. Why was a paper on this unexpected topic printed in the newly founded journal? To Nilsson, the demise of the Roman Empire was explained by the "bastardization" occurring between "races" from different parts of the realm. Offspring from mixed couples were of a less stable "type" than their parents, due to the breaking up by recombination of the original hereditary dispositions, which led to a general loss of competence to rule and govern. Thus, the "hardness" of human genes, together with their recombination, was - according to Nilsson - the main cause of the fall of Rome. Nilsson's argument is not particularly convincingly presented. Human "races" are taken to have the same genetic structure as inbred crop strains, and Nilsson believes in a metaphysical unity between the individual and the race to which it belongs. However, in my view, Martin P:son Nilsson and his friend Herman Nilsson-Ehle had wider aims with the article than to explain a historical event. The article can be read as indicating strong support from the classical human sciences to the ambitious new science of genetics. Support is also transferred from genetics to the conservative worldview, where the immutability and inflexibility of the Mendelian genes are used to strengthen the wish for greater stability in politics and life. The strange article in Hereditas can, thus, be read as an early instance in the - still ongoing - tug-of-war between the conservative and the liberal ideological poles over how genetic results best are socially interpreted. © 2015 The Authors.

Immediate survival focus: synthesizing life history theory and dual process models to explain substance use.

Science.gov (United States)

Richardson, George B; Hardesty, Patrick

2012-01-01

Researchers have recently applied evolutionary life history theory to the understanding of behaviors often conceived of as prosocial or antisocial. In addition, researchers have applied cognitive science to the understanding of substance use and used dual process models, where explicit cognitive processes are modeled as relatively distinct from implicit cognitive processes, to explain and predict substance use behaviors. In this paper we synthesized these two theoretical perspectives to produce an adaptive and cognitive framework for explaining substance use. We contend that this framework provides new insights into the nature of substance use that may be valuable for both clinicians and researchers.

Marine Science

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Aims and scope: The Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science provides an avenue for the wide dissem- ... consist of special issues on major events or important thematic issues. ... of sources, including plant and animal by- products.

Janata biogas plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bahadur, S; Singh, K K

1980-03-01

The Janata biogas plant is based on the use of local materials and locally available skills only. It is a proven technology at low cost and easy maintenance which should facilitate its extension at a much faster pace especially among the low income groups. This technology is important at this time because of the current crisis in the availability of firewood and mineral fuels. This handbook explains in non-technical language the basic features, design, and construction of this biogas plant. (DC)

Plant pathology: a story about biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Gordon, Thomas R; Leveau, Johan H J

2010-01-01

Disease is a universal feature of life for multicellular organisms, and the study of disease has contributed to the establishment of key concepts in the biological sciences. This implies strong connections between plant pathology and basic biology, something that could perhaps be made more apparent to undergraduate students interested in the life sciences. To that end, we present an instructional narrative that begins with a simple question: Why are there diseases? Responses and follow-up questions can facilitate exploration of such topics as the evolution of parasitism, plant adaptations to parasitism, impacts of parasites on native plant communities, and ways in which human intervention can foster the emergence of aggressive plant pathogens. This approach may help to attract students who would not have found their way to plant pathology through traditional pathways. Packaging the narrative as a game may render it more interesting and accessible, particularly to a younger audience.

Using a plant health system framework to assess plant clinic performance in Uganda

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Danielsen, Solveig; Matsiko, Frank B.

2016-01-01

and expand, new analytical frameworks and tools are needed to identify factors influencing performance of services and systems in specific contexts, and to guide interventions. In this paper we apply a plant health system framework to assess plant clinic performance, using Uganda as a case study...... factors, influenced by basic operational and financial concerns, inter-institutional relations and public sector policies. Overall, there was a fairly close match between the plant health system attributes and plant clinic performance, suggesting that the framework can help explain system functioning....... A comparative study of plant clinics was carried out between July 2010 and September 2011 in the 12 districts where plant clinics were operating at that time. The framework enabled us to organise multiple issues and identify key features that affected the plant clinics. Clinic performance was, among other...

Can mathematics explain the evolution of human language?

Science.gov (United States)

Witzany, Guenther

2011-09-01

Investigation into the sequence structure of the genetic code by means of an informatic approach is a real success story. The features of human language are also the object of investigation within the realm of formal language theories. They focus on the common rules of a universal grammar that lies behind all languages and determine generation of syntactic structures. This universal grammar is a depiction of material reality, i.e., the hidden logical order of things and its relations determined by natural laws. Therefore mathematics is viewed not only as an appropriate tool to investigate human language and genetic code structures through computer science-based formal language theory but is itself a depiction of material reality. This confusion between language as a scientific tool to describe observations/experiences within cognitive constructed models and formal language as a direct depiction of material reality occurs not only in current approaches but was the central focus of the philosophy of science debate in the twentieth century, with rather unexpected results. This article recalls these results and their implications for more recent mathematical approaches that also attempt to explain the evolution of human language.

Formative Assessment Probes: Pendulums and Crooked Swings--Connecting Science and Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Keeley, Page

2013-01-01

The "Next Generation Science Standards" provide opportunities for students to experience the link between science and engineering. In the December 2011 issue of "Science and Children," Rodger Bybee explains: "The relationship between science and engineering practices is one of complementarity. Given the inclusion of…

Automation technology in power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Essen, E.R.

1995-01-01

In this article a summery of the current architecture of modern process control systems in power plants and future trends have been explained. The further development of process control systems for power plants is influenced both by the developments in component and software technologies as well as the increased requirements of the power plants. The convenient and low cost configuration facilities of new process control systems have now reached a significance which makes it easy for customers to decide to purchase. (A.B.)

Safety of industrial irradiation plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-01-01

Radiation is nowadays used in many applications in industry and medicine; accidental exposure, however, can have grave consequences as large doses of radiation occur in the 600 accelerator or gamma source plants in use around the world. This film explains the operation of irradiation plants and the safety procedures that must be followed to prevent accidents and to ensure safe use

Bulletin of Materials Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Biogenic ZnO nanoparticles synthesized using L. aculeata leaf extract and their antifungal activity against plant fungal pathogens. S Narendhran Rajeshwari ... Rajeshwari Sivaraj1. Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Eachanari Post, Coimbatore 641 021, India ...

Predicting Turkish Preservice Elementary Teachers' Orientations to Teaching Science with Epistemological Beliefs, Learning Conceptions, and Learning Approaches in Science

Science.gov (United States)

Sahin, Elif Adibelli; Deniz, Hasan; Topçu, Mustafa Sami

2016-01-01

The present study investigated to what extent Turkish preservice elementary teachers' orientations to teaching science could be explained by their epistemological beliefs, conceptions of learning, and approaches to learning science. The sample included 157 Turkish preservice elementary teachers. The four instruments used in the study were School…

Countermeasures to earthquakes in nuclear plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sato, Kazuhide

1979-01-01

The contribution of atomic energy to mankind is unmeasured, but the danger of radioactivity is a special thing. Therefore in the design of nuclear power plants, the safety has been regarded as important, and in Japan where earthquakes occur frequently, the countermeasures to earthquakes have been incorporated in the examination of safety naturally. The radioactive substances handled in nuclear power stations and spent fuel reprocessing plants are briefly explained. The occurrence of earthquakes cannot be predicted effectively, and the disaster due to earthquakes is apt to be remarkably large. In nuclear plants, the prevention of damage in the facilities and the maintenance of the functions are required at the time of earthquakes. Regarding the location of nuclear plants, the history of earthquakes, the possible magnitude of earthquakes, the properties of ground and the position of nuclear plants should be examined. After the place of installation has been decided, the earthquake used for design is selected, evaluating live faults and determining the standard earthquakes. As the fundamentals of aseismatic design, the classification according to importance, the earthquakes for design corresponding to the classes of importance, the combination of loads and allowable stress are explained. (Kako, I.)

Current Status of Regulatory Science Education in Faculties of Pharmaceutical Science in Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Tohkin, Masahiro

2017-01-01

I introduce the current pharmaceutical education system in Japan, focusing on regulatory science. University schools or faculties of pharmaceutical science in Japan offer two courses: a six-year course for pharmacists and a four-year course for scientists and technicians. Students in the six-year pharmaceutical course receive training in hospitals and pharmacies during their fifth year, and those in the four-year life science course start research activities during their third year. The current model core curriculum for pharmaceutical education requires them to "explain the necessity and significance of regulatory science" as a specific behavior object. This means that pharmacists should understand the significance of "regulatory science", which will lead to the proper use of pharmaceuticals in clinical practice. Most regulatory science laboratories are in the university schools or faculties of pharmaceutical sciences; however, there are too few to conduct regulatory science education. There are many problems in regulatory science education, and I hope that those problems will be resolved not only by university-based regulatory science researchers but also by those from the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory authorities.

Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Date of birth: 22 March 1960. Specialization: Physical Biochemistry and Protein Folding Address: Director, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Homi Bhabha Road, Pashan, Pune 411 008, Maharashtra Contact: Office: (020) 2590 8000. Email: director@iiserpune.ac.in. Elected: 1992 Section: Plant Sciences.

Explaining cooperation in the finitely repeated simultaneous and sequential prisoner's dilemma game under incomplete and complete information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, Jacob; van Assen, Marcel A. L. M.

2017-01-01

Explaining cooperation in social dilemmas is a central issue in behavioral science, and the prisoner's dilemma (PD) is the most frequently employed model. Theories assuming rationality and selfishness predict no cooperation in PDs of finite duration, but cooperation is frequently observed. We

The Roots of Science in Ancient China.

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Arthur

1982-01-01

A 45-year-old research project (culminating in the multivolume "Science and Civilization in China") is examining major scientific innovations in ancient China and attempting to explain why, although the Chinese gained a technological edge in the past, they did not make the forward leap into modern science. (JN)

Nuclear power plants in post-war thought

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Toya, Hiroshi

2015-01-01

This paper overviews how nuclear power plants have been talked about in the post-war thought. Science and technology sometimes significantly change the thinking way of humans, and nuclear power generation is an extreme technology. This paper overviews how nuclear power plants and humans are correlated. The following three points are discussed as the major issues of contemporary thought over nuclear power plants. First, on the danger of nuclear power plants, the risk of destructive power that nuclear energy has, and the danger of unreasoning development in science and technology civilization are discussed. Second, on the ethics issues surrounding nuclear power plants, the ethics that are based on unbalanced power relations, and democratic responsibility ethics based on discussion ethics are discussed. Third, on the issues of nuclear power plants and imagination, the limitations of democratic discussion surrounding nuclear power plants, the formation of imagination commensurate with the destructive power of nuclear power plants, and the formation of imagination that can represent the distant future are discussed. (A.O.)

The usefulness of science knowledge for parents of hearing-impaired children.

Science.gov (United States)

Shauli, Sophie; Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet

2018-04-01

Hearing-impaired children's chances of integrating into hearing society largely depend on their parents, who need to learn vast amounts of science knowledge in the field of hearing. This study characterized the role played by science knowledge in the lives of nonscientists faced with science-related decisions by examining the interactions between general science knowledge, contextual science knowledge in the field of hearing, and parents' advocacy knowledge and attitudes. Based on six semi-structured interviews and 115 questionnaires completed by parents of hearing-impaired children, contextual science knowledge emerged as the only predictor for having slightly better advocacy attitudes and knowledge (5.5% explained variance). Although general science knowledge was the best predictor of contextual knowledge (14% of explained variance), it was not a direct predictor of advocacy knowledge and attitudes. Science knowledge plays some role in the lives of hearing-impaired families, even if they do not list it as a resource for successful rehabilitation.

Mathematical models for plant-herbivore interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zhilan; DeAngelis, Donald L.

2017-01-01

Mathematical Models of Plant-Herbivore Interactions addresses mathematical models in the study of practical questions in ecology, particularly factors that affect herbivory, including plant defense, herbivore natural enemies, and adaptive herbivory, as well as the effects of these on plant community dynamics. The result of extensive research on the use of mathematical modeling to investigate the effects of plant defenses on plant-herbivore dynamics, this book describes a toxin-determined functional response model (TDFRM) that helps explains field observations of these interactions. This book is intended for graduate students and researchers interested in mathematical biology and ecology.

Plant-derived nanostructures: types and applications

Science.gov (United States)

Plant-derived nanostructures and nanoparticles (NPs) have functional applications in numerous disciplines such as health care, food and feed, cosmetics, biomedical science, energy science, drug-gene delivery, environmental health, and so on. Consequently, it is imperative for res...

Role of land-based prototype plants in propulsion nuclear power plants engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Voronin, V.E.; Prokhorov, Yu.A.

1993-01-01

Prototype plants provide a powerful tool for accomplishing tasks of development and construction of newly designed new power plants (NPPs). Leaving aside momentary political or economical considerations, one should admit that the use of prototype plants in testing of new NPPs is quite a necessity. To make the most of prototype plant, its commissioning should precede lead plant construction by 2-3 years. To make good use of prototype plants, a set of basic requirements should be fulfilled: greatest possible identity beteen the facility under test and a new series NPP; provision of high performance data acquisitoin, processing and storage firmware and a modelling system using update computer technique; and developed science infrastructure, engineering support and adequate maintenance. Prototype plants should comply with safety requirements to meet environmental protection standards

Predicting phenology by integrating ecology, evolution and climate science

Science.gov (United States)

Pau, Stephanie; Wolkovich, Elizabeth M.; Cook, Benjamin I.; Davies, T. Jonathan; Kraft, Nathan J.B.; Bolmgren, Kjell; Betancourt, Julio L.; Cleland, Elsa E.

2011-01-01

Forecasting how species and ecosystems will respond to climate change has been a major aim of ecology in recent years. Much of this research has focused on phenology — the timing of life-history events. Phenology has well-demonstrated links to climate, from genetic to landscape scales; yet our ability to explain and predict variation in phenology across species, habitats and time remains poor. Here, we outline how merging approaches from ecology, climate science and evolutionary biology can advance research on phenological responses to climate variability. Using insight into seasonal and interannual climate variability combined with niche theory and community phylogenetics, we develop a predictive approach for species' reponses to changing climate. Our approach predicts that species occupying higher latitudes or the early growing season should be most sensitive to climate and have the most phylogenetically conserved phenologies. We further predict that temperate species will respond to climate change by shifting in time, while tropical species will respond by shifting space, or by evolving. Although we focus here on plant phenology, our approach is broadly applicable to ecological research of plant responses to climate variability.

Harmful effects on plants. 2. rev. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hock, B.; Elstner, E.F.

1988-01-01

The book deals with accidentally or purposefully induced harmful effects on plants, i.e. eukariyotes and fungi, with emphasis being placed on chemicals as the main pollutants. After discussing the quantification of damage as a prerequisite for detecting, defining, and possibly preventing, damage to plants by toxic substances in the environment, the second part of the book deals with the harmful effects that are purposefully induced, for example in agriculture or horticulture, by employment of pesticides (herbicides or fungicides). In this context, all aspects of uptake, metabolism, and detoxication are discussed, especially referring to the molecular conditions of relevance to a selective elimination of metabolic or developmental processes in the plants, which is explained by the effects of pesticides and antibiotics. Injuries caused by autogenous substances in the plants, upon exceeding a certain amount or dose are also explained, together with effects of physical factors (as e.g. ionizing radiation), or biogenic factors (as e.g. parasites). (ECB) [de

Measuring and explaining eco-efficiencies of wastewater treatment plants in China: An uncertainty analysis perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Xin; Zhang, Xinyi; Zeng, Siyu

2017-04-01

In the context of sustainable development, there has been an increasing requirement for an eco-efficiency assessment of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Data envelopment analysis (DEA), a technique that is widely applied for relative efficiency assessment, is used in combination with the tolerances approach to handle WWTPs' multiple inputs and outputs as well as their uncertainty. The economic cost, energy consumption, contaminant removal, and global warming effect during the treatment processes are integrated to interpret the eco-efficiency of WWTPs. A total of 736 sample plants from across China are assessed, and large sensitivities to variations in inputs and outputs are observed for most samples, with only three WWTPs identified as being stably efficient. Size of plant, overcapacity, climate type, and influent characteristics are proven to have a significant influence on both the mean efficiency and performance sensitivity of WWTPs, while no clear relationships were found between eco-efficiency and technology under the framework of uncertainty analysis. The incorporation of uncertainty quantification and environmental impact consideration has improved the liability and applicability of the assessment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sesquiterpene lactone stereochemistry influences herbivore resistance and plant fitness in the field.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahern, Jeffrey R; Whitney, Kenneth D

2014-03-01

Stereochemical variation is widely known to influence the bioactivity of compounds in the context of pharmacology and pesticide science, but our understanding of its importance in mediating plant-herbivore interactions is limited, particularly in field settings. Similarly, sesquiterpene lactones are a broadly distributed class of putative defensive compounds, but little is known about their activities in the field. Natural variation in sesquiterpene lactones of the common cocklebur, Xanthium strumarium (Asteraceae), was used in conjunction with a series of common garden experiments to examine relationships between stereochemical variation, herbivore damage and plant fitness. The stereochemistry of sesquiterpene lactone ring junctions helped to explain variation in plant herbivore resistance. Plants producing cis-fused sesquiterpene lactones experienced significantly higher damage than plants producing trans-fused sesquiterpene lactones. Experiments manipulating herbivore damage above and below ambient levels found that herbivore damage was negatively correlated with plant fitness. This pattern translated into significant fitness differences between chemotypes under ambient levels of herbivore attack, but not when attack was experimentally reduced via pesticide. To our knowledge, this work represents only the second study to examine sesquiterpene lactones as defensive compounds in the field, the first to document herbivore-mediated natural selection on sesquiterpene lactone variation and the first to investigate the ecological significance of the stereochemistry of the lactone ring junction. The results indicate that subtle differences in stereochemistry may be a major determinant of the protective role of secondary metabolites and thus of plant fitness. As stereochemical variation is widespread in many groups of secondary metabolites, these findings suggest the possibility of dynamic evolutionary histories within the Asteraceae and other plant families showing

by fermented plant extracts of neem leaf and wild garlic

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Bombiti

1Department of Soil Science, Plant Production and Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Science and Agriculture,. University of ... Additionally, due to frequent use of .... Average number of whitefly adults as affected by fermented plant extracts of garlic, neem and garlic + neem (CarNeem) at five sampling intervals. Application.

Deep Learning for Plant Phenotyping

OpenAIRE

Mori, Matteo

2016-01-01

Plant Phenotyping is an emerging science which provides us the knowledge to better understand plants. Indeed, the study of the link between genetic background and environment in which plants develop can help us to determine cures for plants’ sicknesses and new ways to improve yields using limited resources. In this regard, one of the main aspects of Plant Phenotyping that were studied in the past, was Root Phenotyping, which is based on the study of the root architectures. In particular, toda...

Immediate Survival Focus: Synthesizing Life History Theory and Dual Process Models to Explain Substance Use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George B. Richardson

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Researchers have recently applied evolutionary life history theory to the understanding of behaviors often conceived of as prosocial or antisocial. In addition, researchers have applied cognitive science to the understanding of substance use and used dual process models, where explicit cognitive processes are modeled as relatively distinct from implicit cognitive processes, to explain and predict substance use behaviors. In this paper we synthesized these two theoretical perspectives to produce an adaptive and cognitive framework for explaining substance use. We contend that this framework provides new insights into the nature of substance use that may be valuable for both clinicians and researchers.

Efficient coding explains the universal law of generalization in human perception.

Science.gov (United States)

Sims, Chris R

2018-05-11

Perceptual generalization and discrimination are fundamental cognitive abilities. For example, if a bird eats a poisonous butterfly, it will learn to avoid preying on that species again by generalizing its past experience to new perceptual stimuli. In cognitive science, the "universal law of generalization" seeks to explain this ability and states that generalization between stimuli will follow an exponential function of their distance in "psychological space." Here, I challenge existing theoretical explanations for the universal law and offer an alternative account based on the principle of efficient coding. I show that the universal law emerges inevitably from any information processing system (whether biological or artificial) that minimizes the cost of perceptual error subject to constraints on the ability to process or transmit information. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

Between Faith and Science

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Carney, Stephen; Rappleye, Jeremy; Silova, Iveta

2012-01-01

World culture theory seeks to explain an apparent convergence of education through a neoinstitutionalist lens, seeing global rationalization in education as driven by the logic of science and the myth of progress. While critics have challenged these assumptions by focusing on local manifestations...

A Passion for Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Nancy

2000-01-01

Explains the process of developing the unit "Building an Aquarium" and introduces four hands-on activities which include teaching students how to read a metric ruler, observing and illustrating an aquatic plant, learning fish anatomy, and learning animal behavior. (YDS)

Third international congress of plant molecular biology: Molecular biology of plant growth and development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hallick, R.B. [ed.

1995-02-01

The Congress was held October 6-11, 1991 in Tucson with approximately 3000 scientists attending and over 300 oral presentations and 1800 posters. Plant molecular biology is one of the most rapidly developing areas of the biological sciences. Recent advances in the ability to isolate genes, to study their expression, and to create transgenic plants have had a major impact on our understanding of the many fundamental plant processes. In addition, new approaches have been created to improve plants for agricultural purposes. This is a book of presentation and posters from the conference.

Melatonin: current status and future perspectives in plant science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Azher Nawaz

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine is a ubiquitous molecule with pleiotropic actions in different organisms. It performs many important functions in human, animals and plants; these range from regulating circadian rhythms in animals to controlling senescence in plants. In this review, we summarize the available information regarding the presence of melatonin in different plant species, along with highlighting its biosynthesis and mechanisms of action. We also collected the available information on the effects of melatonin application on commercially important crops to improve their growth and development. Additionally, we have identified many new aspects where melatonin may have possible roles in plants, for example, its function in improving the storage life and quality of fruits and vegetables, its role in vascular reconnection during the grafting process and nutrient uptake from roots by modifying root architecture. Another potentially important aspect is the production of melatonin-rich food crops (cereals, fruits and vegetables through combination of conventional and modern breeding approaches, to increase plant resistance against biotic and abiotic stress, leading to improved crop yields and the nutraceutical value of produce to solve food security issues.

Transnational science guanxi

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertelsen, Rasmus Gjedssø; Du, Xiangyun; Søndergaard, Morten Karnøe

2016-01-01

Genetics is observed as a particularly active field of Sino-Danish science collaboration, brain circulation and funding. Explaining the level of activity of this scientific field is therefore valuable for understanding the conditions allowing such activity. This paper identifies Danish scientific...... excellence as a necessary, but insufficient, condition. This condition becomes sufficient together with another necessary, but insufficient, condition, which is Sino-Danish transnational science guanxi, or networks and acquaintanceship. This guanxi is based on the previous graduate studies of Chinese...... in Denmark, or brain circulation. The paper finds that brain circulation in the form of graduate students can have revolutionary long-term effects on Sino-Danish science collaboration and investments, exemplified in the location of Beijing Genomics Institute Europe in Copenhagen....

Bioinformatic and Biometric Methods in Plant Morphology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Surangi W. Punyasena

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Recent advances in microscopy, imaging, and data analyses have permitted both the greater application of quantitative methods and the collection of large data sets that can be used to investigate plant morphology. This special issue, the first for Applications in Plant Sciences, presents a collection of papers highlighting recent methods in the quantitative study of plant form. These emerging biometric and bioinformatic approaches to plant sciences are critical for better understanding how morphology relates to ecology, physiology, genotype, and evolutionary and phylogenetic history. From microscopic pollen grains and charcoal particles, to macroscopic leaves and whole root systems, the methods presented include automated classification and identification, geometric morphometrics, and skeleton networks, as well as tests of the limits of human assessment. All demonstrate a clear need for these computational and morphometric approaches in order to increase the consistency, objectivity, and throughput of plant morphological studies.

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Biosciences; Volume 29; Issue 4 ... Plant Biotechnology Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, ... D Center, School of Life Sciences, Morgan-Tan International Center for Life Sciences, Fudan University ...

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Biosciences; Volume 32; Issue 2 ... School of Life Sciences, Morgan-Tan International Center for Life Sciences, Fudan University, ... of China; Plant Biotechnology Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, ...

Health Sciences in Iran; Past and Present

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dehghani R.* PhD

2014-08-01

Full Text Available As this is the first issue of the International Archives of Health Sciences, a scholarly journal of Kashan University of medical Sciences, we start with an editorial of Dr. Rouhullah Dehghani, the editor-in-chief, to explain the aims and views of the editorial board members and the scope of the journal.

Leading Change in the Primary Science Curriculum

Science.gov (United States)

Waller, Nicky; Baker, Chris

2014-01-01

Nicky Waller and Chris Baker believe that change can be a good thing and explain how their training has helped others to adjust to the new science curriculum. In September 2013, teachers across England received the definitive version of the new primary curriculum "Leading Change in the Primary Science Curriculum." This course aimed to…

Explaining cooperation in the finitely repeated simultaneous and sequential prisoner’s dilemma game under incomplete and complete information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, Jacob; Van Assen, M.A.L.M.

2017-01-01

Explaining cooperation in social dilemmas is a central issue in behavioral science, and the prisoner’s dilemma (PD) is the most frequently employed model. Theories assuming rationality and selfishness predict no cooperation in PDs of finite duration, but cooperation is frequently observed. We

Explaining cooperation in the finitely repeated simultaneous and sequential prisoner’s dilemma game under incomplete and complete information

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijkstra, Jacob; van Assen, Marcel A L M

2016-01-01

Explaining cooperation in social dilemmas is a central issue in behavioral science, and the prisoner’s dilemma (PD) is the most frequently employed model. Theories assuming rationality and selfishness predict no cooperation in PDs of finite duration, but cooperation is frequently observed. We

Effectiveness of Plants and Vegetation in Erosion Control and Restoration

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sandercock, P.; Hooke, J.; De Baets, S.; Poesen, J.; Meerkerk, A.; van Wesemael, B.; Cammeraat, L.H.; Hooke, J.; Sandercock, P.

2017-01-01

In this chapter the approaches and methods used to measure plant effectiveness in reducing runoff and erosion are explained and results presented for each of the major land units, hillslopes and channels. Evaluations of the properties of plants required are made to inform plant selection for

Introduction: contexts and concepts of adaptability and plasticity in 20th-century plant science.

Science.gov (United States)

Baranski, Marci; Peirson, B R Erick

2015-04-01

Nowhere is the problem of understanding the complex linkages between organisms and their environments more apparent than in the science of plants. Today, efforts by scientists to predict and manage the biological consequences of shifting global and regional climates depend on understanding how organisms respond morphologically, physiologically, and behaviorally to changes in their environments. Investigating organismal "adaptability" (or "plasticity") is rarely straightforward, prompting controversy and discourse among and between ecologists and agricultural scientists. Concepts like agro-climatic adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, and genotype-environment interaction (GxE) are key to those debates, and their complex histories have imbued them with assumptions and meanings that are consequential but often opaque. This special section explores the diverse ways in which organismal adaptability has been conceptualized and investigated in the second half of the 20th century, and the multifarious political, economic, environmental, and intellectual contexts in which those conceptions have emerged and evolved. The papers in this section bring together perspectives from the histories of agriculture, population ecology, evolutionary theory, and plant physiology, cutting across Asian, North American, and British contexts. As a whole, this section highlights not only the diversity of meanings of "adaptability" and "plasticity," but also the complex linkages between those meanings, the scientific practices and technologies in which they are embedded, and the ends toward which those practices and technologies are employed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Effect of a Laboratory Approach Based on Predict-Observation-Explain (POE Strategy on the Development of Students’ Science Process Skills and Views about Nature of Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kadir Bilen

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a laboratory instruction prepared based on “Predict-Observation-Explain” (POE strategy compared to a verification laboratory approach on the development of pre-service science teachers’ science skill processes and their views of nature of sceince in a general biology laboratory course. The participants of this study consisted of 122 pre-service teachers who took the General Biology Laboratory at the department of science education at Pamukkale University during the fall semester of 2007-2008 academic year. Data was collected through Science Process Skills Test (SPST and Nature of Science Questionnaire. Results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the verification laboratory approach and the laboratory approach based on the POE strategy on the development of students’ science process skills [F=10.41, p

Invited to Academia. Recruited for Science or Teaching in Education Sciences

Science.gov (United States)

Angervall, Petra; Gustafsson, Jan

2016-01-01

In the context of higher education in Sweden, we see how major policy change is forming the field of Education Sciences. This change has promoted an increased focus on competitiveness, while reducing inefficiencies in mass-education. It has given legitimacy to specific recruitment strategies and career paths, but can also explain what determines…

Annual Plant Reviews

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

, three dimensional structures and functions of each protein in a biological system. In plant science, the number of proteome studies is rapidly expanding after the completion of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome sequence, and proteome analyses of other important or emerging model systems and crop plants...... are in progress or are being initiated. Proteome analysis in plants is subject to the same obstacles and limitations as in other organisms, but the nature of plant tissues, with their rigid cell walls and complex variety of secondary metabolites, means that extra challenges are involved that may not be faced when...... analysing other organisms. This volume aims to highlight the ways in which proteome analysis has been used to probe the complexities of plant biochemistry and physiology. It is aimed at researchers in plant biochemistry, genomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics who wish to gain an up-to-date insight...

Disentangling the role of management, vegetation structure, and plant quality for Orthoptera in lowland meadows.

Science.gov (United States)

Schirmel, Jens; Gerlach, Rebekka; Buhk, Constanze

2017-08-17

Seminatural grasslands provide habitats for various species and are important for biodiversity conservation. The understanding of the diverse responses of species and traits to different grassland management methods is therefore urgently needed. We disentangled the role of grassland management (fertilization and irrigation), vegetation structure (biomass, sward height) and plant quality (protein and fiber content) for Orthoptera communities in lowland hay meadows in Germany. We found vegetation structure to be the most important environmental category in explaining community structure of Orthoptera (species richness, total individuals, functional diversity and species composition). Intensively used meadows (fertilized, irrigated, high plant biomass) were characterized by assemblages with few species, low functional diversity, and low conservation value. Thereby, the relatively moderate fertilizer inputs in our study system of up to ∼75 kg N/ha/year reduced functional diversity of Orthoptera, while this negative effect of fertilization was not detectable when solely considering taxonomic aspects. We found strong support for a prominent role of plant quality in shaping Orthoptera communities and especially the trait composition. Our findings demonstrate the usefulness of considering both taxonomic and functional components (functional diversity) in biodiversity research and we suggest a stronger involvement of plant quality measures in Orthoptera studies. © 2017 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Plagiarism explainer for students

OpenAIRE

Barba, Lorena A.

2016-01-01

A slide deck to serve as an explainer of plagiarism in academic settings, with a personal viewpoint. For my students.Also on SpeakerDeck:https://speakerdeck.com/labarba/plagiarism-explainer-for-students(The slide viewer on SpeakerDeck is much nicer.)

Disturbances in production of progesterone and their implications in plant studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Janeczko, Anna; Oklestkova, Jana; Novak, Ondrej; Śniegowska-Świerk, Katarzyna; Snaczke, Zuzanna; Pociecha, Ewa

2015-04-01

Progesterone is a mammalian hormone that has also been discovered in plants but its physiological function in plants is not explained. Experiments using inhibitors of progesterone synthesis and binding would be useful in studies on the significance of this compound in plants. Until now, trilostane and mifepristone have been used in medical sciences as progesterone biosynthesis and binding inhibitors, respectively. We tested these synthetic steroids for the first time in plants and found that they reduced the content of progesterone in wheat. The aim of further experiments was to answer whether the potential disturbances in the production/binding of progesterone, influence resistance to environmental stress (drought) and the development of wheat. Inhibitors and progesterone were applied to plants via roots in a concentration of 0.25-0.5mg/l water. Both inhibitors lowered the activity of CO2 binding enzyme (Rubisco) in wheat exposed to drought stress and trilostane additionally lowered the chlorophyll content. However, trilostane-treated plants were rescued by treatment with exogenous progesterone. The inhibitors also modulated the development of winter wheat, which indicated the significance of steroid regulators and their receptors in this process. In this study, in addition to progesterone and its inhibitors, brassinosteroid (24-epibrassinolide) and an inhibitor of biosynthesis of brassinosteroids were also applied. Mifepristone inhibited the generative development of wheat (like 24-epibrassinolide), while trilostane (like progesterone and an inhibitor of biosynthesis of brassinosteroids) stimulated the development. We propose a model of steroid-induced regulation of the development of winter wheat, where brassinosteroids act as inhibitors of generative development, while progesterone or other pregnane derivatives act as stimulators. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Growing Plants and Scientists: Fostering Positive Attitudes toward Science among All Participants in an Afterschool Hydroponics Program

Science.gov (United States)

Patchen, Amie K.; Zhang, Lin; Barnett, Michael

2017-06-01

This study examines an out-of-school time program targeting elementary-aged youth from populations that are typically underrepresented in science fields (primarily African-American, Hispanic, and/or English Language Learner participants). The program aimed to foster positive attitudes toward science among youth by engaging them in growing plants hydroponically (in water without soil). Participants' attitudes toward science, including anxiety, desire, and self-concept, were examined through pre-post survey data ( n = 234) over the course of an afterschool program at three separate sites. Data showed that participants' anxiety decreased and desire increased for both male and female participants over the program. Self-concept increased for female participants at all three sites but did not change significantly for male participants. Participants' first language (English or Spanish) was not a factor in attitude outcomes. The primarily positive outcomes suggest that hydroponics can be a useful educational platform for engaging participants in garden-based programming year round, particularly for settings that do not have the physical space or climate to conduct outdoor gardening. Similarities in positive attitude outcomes at the three sites despite differences in format, implementation, and instructor background experience suggest that the program is resilient to variation in context. Understanding which aspects of the program facilitated positive outcomes in the varied contexts could be useful for the design of future programs.

Moving Towards a New Urban Systems Science

Science.gov (United States)

Peter M. Groffman; Mary L. Cadenasso; Jeannine Cavender-Bares; Daniel L. Childers; Nancy B. Grimm; Morgan Grove; Sarah E. Hobbie; Lucy R. Hutyra; G. Darrel Jenerette; Timon McPhearson; Diane E. Pataki; Steward T. A. Pickett; Richard V. Pouyat; Emma Rosi-Marshall; Benjamin L. Ruddell

2016-01-01

Research on urban ecosystems rapidly expanded in the 1990s and is now a central topic in ecosystem science. In this paper, we argue that there are two critical challenges for ecosystem science that are rooted in urban ecosystems: (1) predicting or explaining the assembly and function of novel communities and ecosystems under altered environmental conditions and (2)...

Journal of Genetics | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

ac.in/article/fulltext/jgen/092/02/0273-0280 ... Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanas 221 005, India; Department of Mycology and Plant Pathology, Institute of Agricultural ...

Chemical Control of Plant Growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Agricultural Research Center (USDA), Beltsville, MD.

Seven experiments are presented in this Science Study Aid to help students investigate the control of plant growth with chemicals. Plant growth regulators, weed control, and chemical pruning are the topics studied in the experiments which are based on investigations that have been and are being conducted at the U. S. Agricultural Research Center,…

Field Botany and Creative Writing: Where the Science of Writing Meets the Writing of Science

Science.gov (United States)

Killingbeck, Keith

2006-01-01

Merging science and writing to enhance both subjects was the objective of a venture known as "Plant Notes." At first, teacher-written notes served as the inspiration for this writing assignment. Later, eclectic student-written novellas, poems, song lyrics, mnemonic devices, and field trip recollections made their way into "Plant Notes" and stole…

Plant root proliferation in nitrogen-rich patches confers competitive advantage

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, D.; Hodge, A.; Griffiths, B. S.; Fitter, A. H.

1999-01-01

Plants respond strongly to environmental heterogeneity, particularly below ground, where spectacular root proliferations in nutrient-rich patches may occur. Such 'foraging' responses apparently maximize nutrient uptake and are now prominent in plant ecological theory. Proliferations in nitrogen-rich patches are difficult to explain adaptively, however. The high mobility of soil nitrate should limit the contribution of proliferation to N capture. Many experiments on isolated plants show only a weak relation between proliferation and N uptake. We show that N capture is associated strongly with proliferation during interspecific competition for finite, locally available, mixed N sources, precisely the conditions under which N becomes available to plants on generally infertile soils. This explains why N-induced root proliferation is an important resource-capture mechanism in N-limited plant communities and suggests that increasing proliferation by crop breeding or genetic manipulation will have a limited impact on N capture by well-fertilized monocultures.

A global synthesis of plant extinction rates in urban areas.

Science.gov (United States)

Hahs, Amy K; McDonnell, Mark J; McCarthy, Michael A; Vesk, Peter A; Corlett, Richard T; Norton, Briony A; Clemants, Steven E; Duncan, Richard P; Thompson, Ken; Schwartz, Mark W; Williams, Nicholas S G

2009-11-01

Plant extinctions from urban areas are a growing threat to biodiversity worldwide. To minimize this threat, it is critical to understand what factors are influencing plant extinction rates. We compiled plant extinction rate data for 22 cities around the world. Two-thirds of the variation in plant extinction rates was explained by a combination of the city's historical development and the current proportion of native vegetation, with the former explaining the greatest variability. As a single variable, the amount of native vegetation remaining also influenced extinction rates, particularly in cities > 200 years old. Our study demonstrates that the legacies of landscape transformations by agrarian and urban development last for hundreds of years, and modern cities potentially carry a large extinction debt. This finding highlights the importance of preserving native vegetation in urban areas and the need for mitigation to minimize potential plant extinctions in the future.

What Is Science? Some Research from Primary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Crompton, Zoe

2013-01-01

By the end of primary school, we might expect children to be able to give a reasonable description of what science is. In their response to the question "What is science?", Eshach and Fried (2005) distinguish between conceptual and procedural knowledge and understanding. They explain that children's conceptual knowledge is developed…

Scientific Opinion on the science behind the development of a risk assessment of Plant Protection Products on bees (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luttik, R.; Arnold, G.; Boesten, J.J.T.I.; Cresswell, J.; Hart, A.; Pistorius, J.; Sgolastra, F.; Delso, N.S.; Steurbaut, W.; Thompson, H.

2012-01-01

The PPR Panel was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the science behind the development of a risk assessment of plant protection products on bees (Apis mellifera, Bombus spp. and solitary bees). Specific protection goals options were suggested based on the ecosystem services approach. The

Explaining the resurgent popularity of the wild: motivations for wild plant gathering in the Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal, Austria.

Science.gov (United States)

Schunko, Christoph; Grasser, Susanne; Vogl, Christian R

2015-06-30

Wild plant gathering becomes again a popular and fashionable activity in Europe after gathering practices have been increasingly abandoned over the last decades. Recent ethnobotanical research documented a diversity of gathering practices from people of diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds who gather in urban and rural areas. Few efforts were though made to study the motivations for gathering wild plants and to understand the resurgent popularity of wild plant gathering. This paper addresses the following research questions: (1) which motivations activate wild plant gatherers? (2) which motivation-types of gatherers exist in the Grosses Walsertal? (3) how do the motivations for gathering relate to the socio-demographic background of gatherers? Field research was conducted in the Grosses Walsertal, Austria in the years 2008 and 2009 in two field research periods. Thirty-six local farmers were first interviewed with semi-structured interviews. The motivations identified in these interviews were then included in a structured questionnaire, which was used to interview 353 residents of the valley. Pupils of local schools participated in the data collection as interviewers. Principal Component Analysis was used to categorize the motivations and to identify motivation-types of wild plant gatherers. Generalized Linear Models were calculated to identify relations between motivations and the socio-demographic background of gatherers. The respondents listed 13 different motivations for gathering wild plants and four motivations for not gathering. These 17 motivations were grouped in five motivation-types of wild plant gatherers, which are in decreasing importance: product quality, fun, tradition, not-gathering, income. Women, older respondents and homegardeners gather wild plants more often for fun; older respondents gather more often for maintaining traditions; non-homegardeners more frequently mention motivations for not gathering. The resurgent popularity of

The Relationships among Scientific Epistemic Beliefs, Conceptions of Learning Science, and Motivation of Learning Science: A Study of Taiwan High School Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ho, Hsin-Ning Jessie; Liang, Jyh-Chong

2015-01-01

This study explores the relationships among Taiwanese high school students' scientific epistemic beliefs (SEBs), conceptions of learning science (COLS), and motivation of learning science. The questionnaire responses from 470 high school students in Taiwan were gathered for analysis to explain these relationships. The structural equation modeling…

Complexity explained

CERN Document Server

Erdi, Peter

2008-01-01

This book explains why complex systems research is important in understanding the structure, function and dynamics of complex natural and social phenomena. Readers will learn the basic concepts and methods of complex system research.

ELWIRA "Plants, wood, steel, concrete - a lifecycle as construction materials": University meets school - science meets high school education

Science.gov (United States)

Strauss-Sieberth, Alexandra; Strauss, Alfred; Kalny, Gerda; Rauch, Hans Peter; Loiskandl, Willibald

2016-04-01

The research project "Plants, wood, steel, concrete - a lifecycle as construction materials" (ELWIRA) is in the framework of the Sparkling Science programme performed by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences together with the Billroth Gymnasium in Vienna. The targets of a Sparkling Science project are twofold (a) research and scientific activities should already be transferred in the education methods of schools in order to fascinate high school students for scientific methods and to spark young people's interest in research, and (b) exciting research questions not solved and innovative findings should be addressed. The high school students work together with the scientists on their existing research questions improve the school's profile and the high school student knowledge in the investigated Sparkling Science topic and can lead to a more diverse viewing by the involvement of the high school students. In the project ELWIRA scientists collaborate with the school to quantify and evaluate the properties of classical building materials like concrete and natural materials like plants and woodlogs in terms of their life cycle through the use of different laboratory and field methods. The collaboration with the high school students is structured in workshops, laboratory work and fieldworks. For an efficient coordination/communication, learning and research progress new advanced electronic media like "Moodle classes/courses" have been used and utilized by the high school students with great interest. The Moodle classes are of high importance in the knowledge transfer in the dialogue with the high school students. The research project is structured into four main areas associated with the efficiencies of building materials: (a) the aesthetic feeling of people in terms of the appearance of materials and associated structures will be evaluated by means of jointly developed and collected questionnaires. The analysis, interpretation and evaluation are carried

Cloud computing with e-science applications

CERN Document Server

Terzo, Olivier

2015-01-01

The amount of data in everyday life has been exploding. This data increase has been especially significant in scientific fields, where substantial amounts of data must be captured, communicated, aggregated, stored, and analyzed. Cloud Computing with e-Science Applications explains how cloud computing can improve data management in data-heavy fields such as bioinformatics, earth science, and computer science. The book begins with an overview of cloud models supplied by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and then:Discusses the challenges imposed by big data on scientific

Plant science meets food science: genetic effects of glucosinolate degradation during food processing in Brassica

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hennig, K.

2013-01-01

Background

Phytochemicals in plant-based foods have been linked to a reduced incidence and progression of diseases. Glucosinolates (GLs) are phytochemicals that are typical for Brassicaand other Cruciferousplants, such as cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts,

Opinion piece: genomics and crop plant science in Europe.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, Steve

2006-01-01

Recent report reviews and funding initiatives in the field of plant genomic research are considered in the context of their translation into practical and economic value via plant breeding. It is concluded that there is a deficit in investment and that a change in working styles towards knowledge sharing and connectivity is required.

Science of consciousness and the hard problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stapp, H.P.

1996-05-22

Quantum theory is essentially a rationally coherent theory of the interaction of mind and matter, and it allows our conscious thoughts to play a causally efficacious and necessary role in brain dynamics. It therefore provides a natural basis, created by scientists, for the science of consciousness. As an illustration it is explained how the interaction of brain and consciousness can speed up brain processing, and thereby enhance the survival prospects of conscious organisms, as compared to similar organisms that lack consciousness. As a second illustration it is explained how, within the quantum framework, the consciously experienced {open_quotes}I{close_quotes} directs the actions of a human being. It is concluded that contemporary science already has an adequate framework for incorporating causally efficacious experimential events into the physical universe in a manner that: (1) puts the neural correlates of consciousness into the theory in a well defined way, (2) explains in principle how the effects of consciousness, per se, can enhance the survival prospects of organisms that possess it, (3) allows this survival effect to feed into phylogenetic development, and (4) explains how the consciously experienced {open_quotes}I{close_quotes} can direct human behaviour.

The wireless internet explained

CERN Document Server

Rhoton, John

2001-01-01

The Wireless Internet Explained covers the full spectrum of wireless technologies from a wide range of vendors, including initiatives by Microsoft and Compaq. The Wireless Internet Explained takes a practical look at wireless technology. Rhoton explains the concepts behind the physics, and provides an overview that clarifies the convoluted set of standards heaped together under the umbrella of wireless. It then expands on these technical foundations to give a panorama of the increasingly crowded landscape of wireless product offerings. When it comes to actual implementation the book gives abundant down-to-earth advice on topics ranging from the selection and deployment of mobile devices to the extremely sensitive subject of security.Written by an expert on Internet messaging, the author of Digital Press''s successful Programmer''s Guide to Internet Mail and X.400 and SMTP: Battle of the E-mail Protocols, The Wireless Internet Explained describes and evaluates the current state of the fast-growing and crucial...

Normative Ethics Does Not Need a Foundation : It Needs More Science

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Quintelier, Katinka; van Speybroeck, Linda; Braeckman, Johan

2011-01-01

The impact of science on ethics forms since long the subject of intense debate. Although there is a growing consensus that science can describe morality and explain its evolutionary origins, there is less consensus about the ability of science to provide input to the normative domain of ethics.

Communicating Climate Science to Kids and Adults Through Citizen Science, Hands-On Demonstrations, and a Personal Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Cherry, L.; Braasch, G.

2008-12-01

There is a demonstrated need to increase the amount of formal and non-formal science education and to raise the level of climate literacy for children and adults. Scientists and technical leaders are more and more being called on to speak in non-academic settings ranging from grade schools to assemblies and seminars for the general public. This abstract describes some effective ways to teach and talk about climate change science in a way that engenders hope and empowerment while explaining scientific facts and research methods to non-scientists. Citizen participation in Science People's interest and learning increases when offered chances to do what scientists do. Relating science to their daily lives and showing the adventure of science can greatly increase communication. Citizen participation in science works because data collection stimulates experiential and cognitive ways of learning. Learn what programs for citizen science are available in your area. For instance, GLOBE and Budburst tie into the research of Smithsonian scientists who determined that the cherry blossoms and 40 other species of plants were blooming earlier due to climate warming. Hands-on Outdoor Activities Information enters the human brain through many different neural pathways and the more avenues that information comes in on, the more likely people are to retain that knowledge for their lifetimes. For instance, kids knowledge of how ice cores tell us about the earth's ancient history will be reinforced through making ice cores in the classroom. Gary Braasch's photographs from the children's book How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming and from his adult book Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming is Changing the World will illustrate the presentation. . Making the Message Personal to the Audience. Reaching people through things they care about, their family lives, work or school and telling personal stories helps reach people. The videos

Accident prevention in power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steyrer, H.

Large thermal power plants are insured to a great extent at the Industrial Injuries Insurance Institute of Instrument and Electric Engineering. Approximately 4800 employees are registered. The accident frequency according to an evaluation over 12 months lies around 79.8 per year and 1000 employees in fossil-fired power plants, around 34.1 per year and 1000 employees in nuclear power plants, as in nuclear power plants coal handling and ash removal are excluded. Injuries due to radiation were not registered. The crucial points of accidents are mechanical injuries received on solid, sharp-edged and pointed objects (fossil-fired power plants 28.6%, nuclear power plants 41.5%), stumbling, twisting or slipping (fossil-fired power plants 21.8%, nuclear power plants 19.5%) and injuries due to moving machine parts (only nuclear power plants 12.2%). However, accidents due to burns or scalds obtain with 4.2% and less a lower portion than expected. The accident statistics can explain this fact in a way that the typical power plant accident does not exist. (orig./GL) [de

An experience of science theatre: Earth Science for children

Science.gov (United States)

Musacchio, Gemma; Lanza, Tiziana; D'Addezio, Giuliana

2015-04-01

The present paper describes an experience of science theatre addressed to children of primary and secondary school, with the main purpose of explaining the Earth interior while raising awareness about natural hazard. We conducted the experience with the help of a theatrical company specialized in shows for children. Several performances have been reiterated in different context, giving us the opportunity of conducting a preliminary survey with public of different ages, even if the show was conceived for children. Results suggest that science theatre while relying on creativity and emotional learning in transmitting knowledge about the Earth and its hazard has the potential to induce in children a positive attitude towards the risks

Journal of Genetics | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Author Affiliations. HASSAN MANSOUR1 TOMAS BRYNGELSSON2 LARISA GARKAVA-GUSTAVSSON2. Faculty of Science, Department of Botany, Suez Canal University, 41522 Ismailia, Egypt; Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp SE-230 53, Sweden ...

Nuclear science for food security. IAEA says plant breeding technique can help beat world hunger

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2008-12-02

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today called for increased investment in a plant breeding technique that could bolster efforts aimed at pulling millions of people out of the hunger trap. IAEA scientists use radiation to produce improved high-yielding plants that adapt to harsh climate conditions such as drought or flood, or that are resistant to certain diseases and insect pests. Called mutation induction, the technique is safe, proven and cost-effective. It has been in use since the 1920s. 'The global nature of the food crisis is unprecedented. Families all around the world are struggling to feed themselves,' says Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the IAEA. 'To provide sustainable, long-term solutions, we must make use of all available resources. Selecting the crops that are better able to feed us is one of humankind's oldest sciences. But we've neglected to give it the support and investment it requires for universal application. The IAEA is urging a revival of nuclear crop breeding technologies to help tackle world hunger.' For decades the IAEA, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has assisted its Member States to produce more, better and safer food. In plant breeding and genetics, its expertise is helping countries around the world to achieve enhanced agricultural output using nuclear technology. Already more than 3000 crop varieties of some 170 different plant species have been released through the direct intervention of the IAEA: they include barley that grows at 5000 meters (16,400 ft) and rice that thrives in saline soil. These varieties provide much needed food as well as millions of dollars in economic benefits for farmers and consumers, especially in developing countries. But with increased investment and broader application, the technology could positively impact the health and livelihood of even greater numbers of people. And as world hunger grows, the need has never been more urgent.

Nuclear science for food security. IAEA says plant breeding technique can help beat world hunger

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today called for increased investment in a plant breeding technique that could bolster efforts aimed at pulling millions of people out of the hunger trap. IAEA scientists use radiation to produce improved high-yielding plants that adapt to harsh climate conditions such as drought or flood, or that are resistant to certain diseases and insect pests. Called mutation induction, the technique is safe, proven and cost-effective. It has been in use since the 1920s. 'The global nature of the food crisis is unprecedented. Families all around the world are struggling to feed themselves,' says Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the IAEA. 'To provide sustainable, long-term solutions, we must make use of all available resources. Selecting the crops that are better able to feed us is one of humankind's oldest sciences. But we've neglected to give it the support and investment it requires for universal application. The IAEA is urging a revival of nuclear crop breeding technologies to help tackle world hunger.' For decades the IAEA, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), has assisted its Member States to produce more, better and safer food. In plant breeding and genetics, its expertise is helping countries around the world to achieve enhanced agricultural output using nuclear technology. Already more than 3000 crop varieties of some 170 different plant species have been released through the direct intervention of the IAEA: they include barley that grows at 5000 meters (16,400 ft) and rice that thrives in saline soil. These varieties provide much needed food as well as millions of dollars in economic benefits for farmers and consumers, especially in developing countries. But with increased investment and broader application, the technology could positively impact the health and livelihood of even greater numbers of people. And as world hunger grows, the need has never been more urgent

Brain-Based Learning and Standards-Based Elementary Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Konecki, Loretta R.; Schiller, Ellen

This paper explains how brain-based learning has become an area of interest to elementary school science teachers, focusing on the possible relationships between, and implications of, research on brain-based learning to the teaching of science education standards. After describing research on the brain, the paper looks at three implications from…

Nitrate Water Activities, Science Study Aid No. 4.

Science.gov (United States)

Agricultural Research Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

Intended to supplement a regular program, this pamphlet provides background information, related activities, and suggestions for other activities on the subject of nitrate as a water pollutant. Two activities related to plant nutrient pollution, nitrate filtration and measuring mitrate used by plants, are explained in detail, outlining objectives,…

GENETIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLANT GROWTH, SHOOT ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

AISA

2Department of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USA. ABSTRACT. Maize (Zea mays L.) ear vascular tissue transports nutrients that contribute to grain yield. To assess kernel heritabilities that govern ear development and plant growth, field studies were conducted to determine the combining ...

77 FR 5403 - Conservation of Antarctic Animals and Plants

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-03

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 45 CFR Part 670 Conservation of Antarctic Animals and Plants AGENCY: National Science Foundation. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Antarctic Conservation Act of 1978, The National Science Foundation (NSF) is amending its regulations to reflect newly designated...

Plant DB link - PGDBj Registered plant list, Marker list, QTL list, Plant DB link & Genome analysis methods | LSDB Archive [Life Science Database Archive metadata

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available List Contact us PGDBj Registered plant list, Marker list, QTL list, Plant DB link & Genome analysis methods ...e Site Policy | Contact Us Plant DB link - PGDBj Registered plant list, Marker list, QTL list, Plant DB link & Genome analysis methods | LSDB Archive ...

Introduction to the Plant World, Science (Experimental): 5311.11.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Leonard O.

This unit of instruction was designed as a laboratory-oriented course for very low achievers to show how plants are involved in every aspect of their lives. Detailed practical experience in handling and investigating plants, and the use of films, models, and field trips are combined with basic minimal research to guide the student to a better…

Higher Social-Science Education in the U.S.S.R.

Science.gov (United States)

Volkov, F. M.

1979-01-01

Examines social science teaching in the Soviet Union and explains how it is related to technological advancement. Topics discussed include social progress, developments within the social sciences, political influences, teaching methods, and teacher characteristics. Journal availability: see SO 507 303. (DB)

Computer jargon explained

CERN Document Server

Enticknap, Nicholas

2014-01-01

Computer Jargon Explained is a feature in Computer Weekly publications that discusses 68 of the most commonly used technical computing terms. The book explains what the terms mean and why the terms are important to computer professionals. The text also discusses how the terms relate to the trends and developments that are driving the information technology industry. Computer jargon irritates non-computer people and in turn causes problems for computer people. The technology and the industry are changing so rapidly; it is very hard even for professionals to keep updated. Computer people do not

NEON Citizen Science: Planning and Prototyping

Science.gov (United States)

Newman, S. J.; Henderson, S.; Gardiner, L. S.; Ward, D.; Gram, W.

2011-12-01

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed population of "human sensors." As a continental-scale ecological observatory, NEON is uniquely positioned to develop strategies to effectively integrate data collected by non-scientists into scientific databases. Ultimately, we plan to work collaboratively to transform the practice of science to include "citizens" or non-scientists in the process. Doing science is not limited to scientists, and breaking down the barriers between scientists and citizens will help people better understand the power of using science in their own decision making. In preparation for fully developing the NEON citizen science program, we are partnering with Project BudBurst (PBB), a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology. The educational goals of PBB are to: (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process. Phenology was

Micro-PIXE in plant sciences: Present status and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesjasz-Przybylowicz, Jolanta; Przybylowicz, Wojciech J.

2002-01-01

Fundamental processes of plant physiology are affected or regulated by mineral nutrients. Hence understanding the mechanisms of nutrient uptake and their functions in plant metabolism is of fundamental importance in both basic and applied plant studies. The present knowledge of ion uptake mechanisms is based mostly on techniques for bulk analysis, including analysis of small (mg-sized) samples but without spatially resolved results. On the other hand, advanced studies of elemental transport at a cellular level are conducted using techniques with high and very high spatial resolution, but with low sensitivity for elemental analysis. Thus the results obtained are usually restricted to macronutrients or elements present in high quantities. There is a high demand for studies of the functions of trace elements. In addition, it is known that, depending on their concentrations, elements can play different roles in plant life. Studies related to elemental deficiency and toxicity, as well as environmental pollution, require accurate, fully quantitative methods with good spatial resolution. Ideally, these studies should be conducted on organs and tissues as far down as the cellular level. This is where micro-PIXE has been applied until present and can in the near future play a much more important role. Progress is subject to closer collaboration between plant biologists and the PIXE community in terms of addressing problems of specimen preparation, refinement of analytical protocols such as quantitative elemental mapping and the interpretation of results

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

High Altitude Plant Physiology Research Centre, Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal 246 174 Uttarakhand, India; Department of Forestry & Natural Resources, School of Agriculture & Allied Sciences, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, Pauri Garhwal 246 174, Uttarakhand, India; Department of Horticulture, Aromatic & Medicinal Plant, ...

To Your Health: NLM update transcript - Rebuilding public trust in science

Science.gov (United States)

... science is so uncertain that any opinion or political assertion is as valid as evidence' (end of ... we quote): 'It comes down to good science communication —not simply choosing the right words to explain ...

Registered plant list - PGDBj Registered plant list, Marker list, QTL list, Plant DB link & Genome analysis methods | LSDB Archive [Life Science Database Archive metadata

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available List Contact us PGDBj Registered plant list, Marker list, QTL list, Plant DB link & Genome analysis methods ...the Plant DB link list in simple search page) Genome analysis methods Presence or... absence of Genome analysis methods information in this DB (link to the Genome analysis methods information ...base Site Policy | Contact Us Registered plant list - PGDBj Registered plant list, Marker list, QTL list, Plant DB link & Genome analysis methods | LSDB Archive ...

Can observed ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 and N fertilisation be explained by optimal plant C allocation?

Science.gov (United States)

Stocker, Benjamin; Prentice, I. Colin

2016-04-01

The degree to which nitrogen availability limits the terrestrial C sink under rising CO2 is a key uncertainty in carbon cycle and climate change projections. Results from ecosystem manipulation studies and meta-analyses suggest that plant C allocation to roots adjusts dynamically under varying degrees of nitrogen availability and other soil fertility parameters. In addition, the ratio of biomass production to GPP appears to decline under nutrient scarcity. This reflects increasing plant C export into the soil and to symbionts (Cex) with decreasing nutrient availability. Cex is consumed by an array of soil organisms and may imply an improvement of nutrient availability to the plant. These concepts are left unaccounted for in Earth system models. We present a model for the coupled cycles of C and N in grassland ecosystems to explore optimal plant C allocation under rising CO2 and its implications for the ecosystem C balance. The model follows a balanced growth approach, accounting for the trade-offs between leaf versus root growth and Cex in balancing C fixation and N uptake. We further model a plant-controlled rate of biological N fixation (BNF) by assuming that Cex is consumed by N2-fixing processes if the ratio of Nup:Cex falls below the inverse of the C cost of N2-fixation. The model is applied at two temperate grassland sites (SwissFACE and BioCON), subjected to factorial treatments of elevated CO2 (FACE) and N fertilization. Preliminary simulation results indicate initially increased N limitation, evident by increased relative allocation to roots and Cex. Depending on the initial state of N availability, this implies a varying degree of aboveground growth enhancement, generally consistent with observed responses. On a longer time scale, ecosystems are progressively released from N limitation due tighter N cycling. Allowing for plant-controlled BNF implies a quicker release from N limitation and an adjustment to more open N cycling. In both cases, optimal plant

The operation of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brosche, D.

1992-01-01

The duties to be performed in managing the operation of a nuclear power plant are highly diverse, as will be explained in this contribution by the examples of the Grafenrheinfeld Nuclear Power Station. The excellent safety record and the high availabilities of German nuclear power plants demonstrate that their operators have adopted the right approaches. Systematic evaluation of the operating experience accumulated inhouse and in other plants is of great significance in removing weak spots and improving operation. The manifold and complex activities in the structure of organization and of activities in a nuclear power plant require a high degree of division of labor. (orig.) [de

Life, the universe ... and nothing?; Science still can't explain what happened to half of everything

CERN Multimedia

Davidson, K

2002-01-01

New measurements at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre have refined measurements of sub-atomic particles that explain why there is a dominance of matter over antimatter in the Universe. The results partially confirm an announcement made last year that describes the imbalance in these physical opposites (1 page).

Phytozome Comparative Plant Genomics Portal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goodstein, David; Batra, Sajeev; Carlson, Joseph; Hayes, Richard; Phillips, Jeremy; Shu, Shengqiang; Schmutz, Jeremy; Rokhsar, Daniel

2014-09-09

The Dept. of Energy Joint Genome Institute is a genomics user facility supporting DOE mission science in the areas of Bioenergy, Carbon Cycling, and Biogeochemistry. The Plant Program at the JGI applies genomic, analytical, computational and informatics platforms and methods to: 1. Understand and accelerate the improvement (domestication) of bioenergy crops 2. Characterize and moderate plant response to climate change 3. Use comparative genomics to identify constrained elements and infer gene function 4. Build high quality genomic resource platforms of JGI Plant Flagship genomes for functional and experimental work 5. Expand functional genomic resources for Plant Flagship genomes

A Model of How Different Biology Experts Explain Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Trujillo, Caleb M.; Anderson, Trevor R.; Pelaez, Nancy J.

2015-01-01

Constructing explanations is an essential skill for all science learners. The goal of this project was to model the key components of expert explanation of molecular and cellular mechanisms. As such, we asked: What is an appropriate model of the components of explanation used by biology experts to explain molecular and cellular mechanisms? Do explanations made by experts from different biology subdisciplines at a university support the validity of this model? Guided by the modeling framework of R. S. Justi and J. K. Gilbert, the validity of an initial model was tested by asking seven biologists to explain a molecular mechanism of their choice. Data were collected from interviews, artifacts, and drawings, and then subjected to thematic analysis. We found that biologists explained the specific activities and organization of entities of the mechanism. In addition, they contextualized explanations according to their biological and social significance; integrated explanations with methods, instruments, and measurements; and used analogies and narrated stories. The derived methods, analogies, context, and how themes informed the development of our final MACH model of mechanistic explanations. Future research will test the potential of the MACH model as a guiding framework for instruction to enhance the quality of student explanations. PMID:25999313

What is Science?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quinn, H.

2009-01-01

Helen Quinn is a theoretical particle physicist at SLAC. Throughout her career, she has been passionately involved in science education and public understanding of science. In talking about science, whether to the public or to students, we scientists often assume that they share with us a common idea of science. In my experience that is often not the case. To oversimplify, scientists think of science both as a process for discovering properties of nature, and as the resulting body of knowledge, whereas most people seem to think of science, or perhaps scientists, as an authority that provides some information--just one more story among the many that they use to help make sense of their world. Can we close that gap in understanding? Middle school teachers typically spend a day or so teaching something called the scientific method, but the process by which scientific ideas are developed and tested is messier and much more interesting than that typical capsule description. Some remarkable features of the process are seldom stressed in teaching science, nor are they addressed in explaining any one piece of science to the public. My goal in this column is to provide some ideas for closing that gap in understanding, and to encourage scientists and teachers to communicate about the process as they discuss scientific work

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Author Affiliations. Rahul Kumar1 Ashima Khurana2. Repository of Tomato Genomics Resources, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, India; Zakir Husain Delhi College, Botany Department, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110 002, India ...

Interest, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy Beliefs Explaining Upper-Secondary School Students' Orientation Towards Biology-Related Careers

Science.gov (United States)

Uitto, Anna

2014-01-01

The aim of the study was to discover the contribution of students' interest in school biology, as well as their self-efficacy and attitudes towards different science subjects and mathematics when explaining students' orientation towards biology-related careers at upper-secondary school. The data of 321 K-11 students (49% women) were…

Network science

CERN Document Server

Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo

2016-01-01

Networks are everywhere, from the Internet, to social networks, and the genetic networks that determine our biological existence. Illustrated throughout in full colour, this pioneering textbook, spanning a wide range of topics from physics to computer science, engineering, economics and the social sciences, introduces network science to an interdisciplinary audience. From the origins of the six degrees of separation to explaining why networks are robust to random failures, the author explores how viruses like Ebola and H1N1 spread, and why it is that our friends have more friends than we do. Using numerous real-world examples, this innovatively designed text includes clear delineation between undergraduate and graduate level material. The mathematical formulas and derivations are included within Advanced Topics sections, enabling use at a range of levels. Extensive online resources, including films and software for network analysis, make this a multifaceted companion for anyone with an interest in network sci...

Can soil microbial diversity influence plant metabolites and life history traits of a rhizophagous insect? A demonstration in oilseed rape.

Science.gov (United States)

Lachaise, Tom; Ourry, Morgane; Lebreton, Lionel; Guillerm-Erckelboudt, Anne-Yvonne; Linglin, Juliette; Paty, Chrystelle; Chaminade, Valérie; Marnet, Nathalie; Aubert, Julie; Poinsot, Denis; Cortesero, Anne-Marie; Mougel, Christophe

2017-12-01

Interactions between plants and phytophagous insects play an important part in shaping the biochemical composition of plants. Reciprocally plant metabolites can influence major life history traits in these insects and largely contribute to their fitness. Plant rhizospheric microorganisms are an important biotic factor modulating plant metabolites and adaptation to stress. While plant-insects or plant-microorganisms interactions and their consequences on the plant metabolite signature are well-documented, the impact of soil microbial communities on plant defenses against phytophagous insects remains poorly known. In this study, we used oilseed rape (Brassica napus) and the cabbage root fly (Delia radicum) as biological models to tackle this question. Even though D. radicum is a belowground herbivore as a larva, its adult life history traits depend on aboveground signals. We therefore tested whether soil microbial diversity influenced emergence rate and fitness but also fly oviposition behavior, and tried to link possible effects to modifications in leaf and root metabolites. Through a removal-recolonization experiment, 3 soil microbial modalities ("high," "medium," "low") were established and assessed through amplicon sequencing of 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA genes. The "medium" modality in the rhizosphere significantly improved insect development traits. Plant-microorganism interactions were marginally associated to modulations of root metabolites profiles, which could partly explain these results. We highlighted the potential role of plant-microbial interaction in plant defenses against Delia radicum. Rhizospheric microbial communities must be taken into account when analyzing plant defenses against herbivores, being either below or aboveground. © 2017 Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Preparation for commissioning of nuclear plant with reference to British Nuclear Fuels Plc fuel handling plant project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bamber, D.R.

1987-01-01

The new Fuel Handling Plant at British Nuclear Fuels Sellafield is part of a Pound 550M complex which provides facilities for the receipt, storage and mechanical preparation of both Magnox and A.G.R. fuel. The plant is very large and complex with considerable use of computer based process control systems, providing for physical and nuclear safety. The preparation of such plant for active commissioning necessitates a great many physical checks and technical evaluations in support of its safety case. This paper describes arrangements for plant commissioning checks, against the regulatory framework and explains the physical preparations necessary for their timely accomplishment. (author)

Preparation for commissioning of nuclear plant with reference to British Nuclear Fuels Plc fuel handling plant project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bamber, D.

1987-01-01

The new Fuel Handing Plant at British Nuclear Fuels Sellafield is part of a Pound 550M complex which provides facilities for the receipt, storage and mechanical preparation of both magnox and A.G.R. fuel. The plant is very large and complex with considerable use of computer based process control systems, providing for physical and nuclear safety. The preparation of such plant for ''active'' commissioning necessitates a great many physical checks and technical evaluations in support of its safety case. This paper describes arrangements for plant commissioning checks, against the regulatory framework and explains the physical preparations necessary for their timely accomplishment. (author)

The Increasingly Important Role of Science Competency Beliefs for Science Learning in Girls

Science.gov (United States)

Vincent-Ruz, Paulette; Schunn, Christian D.

2017-01-01

The number of women studying STEM careers and pursuing graduate degrees has not changed in the last decade (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2015; Science & Engineering Degree Attainment: 2004-2014). Most prior research to explain this problem has focused on the topics of identity, access, pedagogy, and choice (Brotman &…

Foliar pH as a new plant trati: van it explain variation in foliar chemistry and carbon cycling processes among subarctiv plant species and types?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cornelissen, J.H.C.; Quested, H.M.; van Logtestijn, R.S.P; Perez-Harguindeguy, N.; Gwynn-Jones, D.; Diaz, S.; Callaghan, T.V.; Press, M.C.; Aerts, R.

2006-01-01

Plant traits have become popular as predictors of interspecific variation in important ecosystem properties and processes. Here we introduce foliar pH as a possible new plant trait, and tested whether (1) green leaf pH or leaf litter pH correlates with biochemical and structural foliar traits that

Soil biota suppress positive plant diversity effects on productivity at high but not low soil fertility

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luo, Shan; Deyn, De Gerlinde B.; Jiang, B.; Yu, Shixiao

2017-01-01

Plant community productivity commonly increases with increasing plant diversity, which is explained by complementarity among plant species in resource utilization (complementarity effect), or by selection of particularly productive plant species in diverse plant communities (selection effect).

Income Inequality Explains Why Economic Growth Does Not Always Translate to an Increase in Happiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Oishi, Shigehiro; Kesebir, Selin

2015-10-01

One of the most puzzling social science findings in the past half century is the Easterlin paradox: Economic growth within a country does not always translate into an increase in happiness. We provide evidence that this paradox can be partly explained by income inequality. In two different data sets covering 34 countries, economic growth was not associated with increases in happiness when it was accompanied by growing income inequality. Earlier instances of the Easterlin paradox (i.e., economic growth not being associated with increasing happiness) can thus be explained by the frequent concurrence of economic growth and growing income inequality. These findings suggest that a more even distribution of growth in national wealth may be a precondition for raising nationwide happiness. © The Author(s) 2015.

Evolution and the Human Population. Science In a Social CONtext.

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, Joan

Science In a Social CONtext is a series of eight books based on the project SISCON-in-Schools. The books provide a new course in science and society for general studies at sixth-form level. The course has been specially designed to make scientific problems accessible to the non-scientist, as well as to explain the social aspects of science to the…

Influence of plant productivity over variability of soil respiration: a multi-scale approach

Science.gov (United States)

Curiel Yuste, J.

2009-04-01

To investigate the role of plant photosynthetic activity on the variations in soil respiration (SR), SR data obtained from manual sampling and automatic soil respiration chambers placed on eddy flux towers sites were used. Plant photosynthetic activity was represented as Gross Primary Production (GPP), calculated from the half hourly continuous measurements of Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE). The role of plant photosynthetic activity over the variation in SR was investigated at different time-scales: data averaged hourly, daily and weekly were used to study the photosynthetic effect on SR dial variations (Hourly data), 15 days variations (Daily averages), monthly variations (daily and weekly averages) and seasonal variations (weekly data). Our results confirm the important role of plant photosynthetic activity on the variations of SR at each of the mentioned time-scales. The effect of photosynthetic activity on SR was high on hourly time-scale (dial variations of SR). At half of the studied ecosystems GPP was the best single predictor of dial variations of SR. However at most of the studied sites the combination of soil temperature and GPP was the best predictor of dial variations in SR. The effect of aboveground productivity over dial variations of SR lagged on the range of 5 to 15 hours, depending on the ecosystem. At daily to monthly time scale variations of SR were in general better explained with the combination of temperature and moisture variations. However, ‘jumps' in average weekly SR during the growing season yielded anomaly high values of Q10, in some cases above 1000, which probably reflects synoptic changes in photosynthates translocation from plant activity. Finally, although seasonal changes of SR were in general very well explained by temperature and soil moisture, seasonality of SR was better correlated to seasonality of GPP than to seasonality of soil temperature and/or soil moisture. Therefore the magnitude of the seasonal variation in SR was in

The drivers of plant diversity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Kristine Engemann

dataset consisting of 72,533 vascular plant species in 432 families covering the New World. Eight plant growth forms were defined based on woodiness, structure, and root traits, and species names were standardized to the latest accepted scientific name. The data is used in Paper II and IV In Paper II we....... The study emphasise that using big, collected datasets is not without limitations, and we recommend using rarefaction for species richness estimation from such datasets. Paper IV investigates a well-known macroecological pattern, the latitudinal diversity gradient, for nine vascular plant functional groups......In this thesis we use a “big data” approach to describe and explain large-scale patterns of plant diversity. The botanical data used for the six papers come from three different databases covering the New World, North America, and Europe respectively. The data on plant distributions were combined...

Unpreferred plants affect patch choice and spatial distribution of European brown hares

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kuijper, D.P.J.; Bakker, J.P.

2008-01-01

Many herbivore species prefer to forage on patches of intermediate biomass. Plant quality and forage efficiency are predicted to decrease with increasing plant standing crop which explains the lower preference of the herbivore. However, often is ignored that on the long-term, plant species

Improving plant bioaccumulation science through consistent reporting of experimental data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fantke, Peter; Arnot, Jon A.; Doucette, William J.

2016-01-01

Experimental data and models for plant bioaccumulation of organic contaminants play a crucial role for assessing the potential human and ecological risks associated with chemical use. Plants are receptor organisms and direct or indirect vectors for chemical exposures to all other organisms. As new...... experimental data are generated they are used to improve our understanding of plant-chemical interactions that in turn allows for the development of better scientific knowledge and conceptual and predictive models. The interrelationship between experimental data and model development is an ongoing, never......-ending process needed to advance our ability to provide reliable quality information that can be used in various contexts including regulatory risk assessment. However, relatively few standard experimental protocols for generating plant bioaccumulation data are currently available and because of inconsistent...

Selective Pressures Explain Differences in Flower Color among Gentiana lutea Populations.

Science.gov (United States)

Sobral, Mar; Veiga, Tania; Domínguez, Paula; Guitián, Javier A; Guitián, Pablo; Guitián, José M

2015-01-01

Flower color variation among plant populations might reflect adaptation to local conditions such as the interacting animal community. In the northwest Iberian Peninsula, flower color of Gentiana lutea varies longitudinally among populations, ranging from orange to yellow. We explored whether flower color is locally adapted and the role of pollinators and seed predators as agents of selection by analyzing the influence of flower color on (i) pollinator visitation rate and (ii) escape from seed predation and (iii) by testing whether differences in pollinator communities correlate with flower color variation across populations. Finally, (iv) we investigated whether variation in selective pressures explains flower color variation among 12 G. lutea populations. Flower color influenced pollinator visits and differences in flower color among populations were related to variation in pollinator communities. Selective pressures on flower color vary among populations and explain part of flower color differences among populations of G. lutea. We conclude that flower color in G. lutea is locally adapted and that pollinators play a role in this adaptation.

Selective Pressures Explain Differences in Flower Color among Gentiana lutea Populations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mar Sobral

Full Text Available Flower color variation among plant populations might reflect adaptation to local conditions such as the interacting animal community. In the northwest Iberian Peninsula, flower color of Gentiana lutea varies longitudinally among populations, ranging from orange to yellow. We explored whether flower color is locally adapted and the role of pollinators and seed predators as agents of selection by analyzing the influence of flower color on (i pollinator visitation rate and (ii escape from seed predation and (iii by testing whether differences in pollinator communities correlate with flower color variation across populations. Finally, (iv we investigated whether variation in selective pressures explains flower color variation among 12 G. lutea populations. Flower color influenced pollinator visits and differences in flower color among populations were related to variation in pollinator communities. Selective pressures on flower color vary among populations and explain part of flower color differences among populations of G. lutea. We conclude that flower color in G. lutea is locally adapted and that pollinators play a role in this adaptation.

Science Academies Refresher Course on Traditional and Modern

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 17; Issue 9. Science Academies Refresher Course on Traditional and Modern Approaches in Plant Taxonomy'. Information and Announcements Volume 17 Issue 9 September 2012 pp 921-921 ...

Can changes in soil biochemistry and plant stoichiometry explain loss of animal diversity of heathlands?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vogels, J.J.; Verberk, W.C.E.P.; Lamers, L.P.M.; Siepel, H.

2017-01-01

Increased atmospheric deposition rates of nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) are known to affect soil biogeochemistry and cause a decline in plant biodiversity of heathlands. Concomitant declines of heathland invertebrates are mainly attributed to changes in vegetation composition and altered habitat

75 Easy Life Science Demonstrations. Teacher Book.

Science.gov (United States)

Kardos, Thomas

This book is a collection of life science classroom demonstrations. Explanations that review key concepts are included. Topics are: stimulus and response; gravitropism; phototropism; living organisms; carbon dioxide; gases emitted by plants; greenhouse effect; stomata; transpiration; leaf skeletons; seed growth; water evaporation in plants; carbon…

Botany in children's literature: A content analysis of plant-centered children's picture books that have a plot and characters

Science.gov (United States)

Goins, Sheila Lewis

This content analysis study examined 36 plant-centered children's science picture books that have a plot and characters published from 1950 to present. Botanical subject matter and learning opportunities offered by these books were analyzed, along with the range and frequency of the National Science Education Standards-consistent and age-appropriate plant science concepts and principles. The science graphics, artistic innovations, and story plot of these books were also examined. Rubrics and research-based recommendations were developed to offer parents, teachers, and librarians assistance in identifying, evaluating, and using such books to help children of ages 4--8 learn about plants and enjoy plant science. This genre of children's literature was identified and selected primarily through extensive research at four major, nationally recognized children's literature collections: The Kerlan Collection, The de Grummond Collection, The Center for Children's Books, and The Central Children's Room at the Donnell Library. This study determined that there was a substantial increase in the number of books written in this genre of children's literature from 1990 to 2000. Botanical subject-matter knowledge and learning opportunities offered by these books include biodiversity of plants; characteristics of plants; life cycles of plants; economic botany, ecology, and ethnobotany. The range and frequency of National Standards-consistent and age-appropriate plant science concepts and principles identified within these books, in part, though not exclusively, included the emergent categories of the process of photosynthesis; basic needs of plants; plant structures; external signals affecting plant growth; environmental stress to plants; biodiversity of plants; plants as animal habitats; and common uses of plants. With regard to plant science graphics, 13 books were identified as presenting some type of science graphic, beyond simple illustrations. The most frequently used

The effects of plant traits and phylogeny on soil-to-plant transfer of 99Tc

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willey, N.J.; Tang, S.; McEwen, A.; Hicks, S.

2010-01-01

Assessments of the behaviour of 99 Tc in terrestrial environments necessitate predicting soil-to-plant transfer. An experiment with 116 plant taxa showed that 99 Tc transfer to plants was positively related to plant dry weight but negatively related to % dry matter and age at exposure. Activities of 99 Tc analysed by hierarchical ANOVA coded with an angiosperm phylogeny revealed significant effects, with 55% of the variance between species explained at the Ordinal level and above. Monocots had significantly lower transfer of 99 Tc than Eudicots, within which Caryophyllales > Solanales > Malvales > Brassicales > Asterales > Fabales. There was a significant phylogenetic signal in soil-to-plant transfer of 99 Tc. This phylogenetic signal is used to suggest that, for example, a nominal Tc Transfer Factor of 5 could be adjusted to 2.3 for Monocots and 5.3 for Eudicots.

Positron emission tomography basic sciences

CERN Document Server

Townsend, D W; Valk, P E; Maisey, M N

2003-01-01

Essential for students, science and medical graduates who want to understand the basic science of Positron Emission Tomography (PET), this book describes the physics, chemistry, technology and overview of the clinical uses behind the science of PET and the imaging techniques it uses. In recent years, PET has moved from high-end research imaging tool used by the highly specialized to an essential component of clinical evaluation in the clinic, especially in cancer management. Previously being the realm of scientists, this book explains PET instrumentation, radiochemistry, PET data acquisition and image formation, integration of structural and functional images, radiation dosimetry and protection, and applications in dedicated areas such as drug development, oncology, and gene expression imaging. The technologist, the science, engineering or chemistry graduate seeking further detailed information about PET, or the medical advanced trainee wishing to gain insight into the basic science of PET will find this book...

Fellowship | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

UAS, Bangalore). Date of birth: 19 March 1956. Specialization: Biodiversity, Endophytes, Plant Evolutionary Biology, Conservation Genetics, Bio-prospecting. Address: Professor, Department of Crop Physiology, Univeristy of Agricultural Sciences, ...

Teaching Science Down on the Farm

Science.gov (United States)

Hicks, Debbie

2016-01-01

Throughout the United Kingdom's (UK's) primary science curriculum, there are numerous opportunities for teachers to use the farming industry as a rich and engaging real-world context for science learning. Teachers can focus on the animals and plants on the farm as subjects for children to learn about life processes. They can turn attention…

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), # 659 5th A Main, Hebbal, Bangalore 560 024, India; Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore 560 065, India; Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK, Bangalore ...

Framework of Information Science in Japan − Introduction: Comparison with United States −

OpenAIRE

加藤, 淳一; KATO, Junichi

2008-01-01

This report concisely explains the history of information science in the United States. The purpose of this report is to reconfirm the field framework of information science. The framework of information science of Japan is different from the information science that Machlup and Mansfield define, because it is a framework similar to informatics for Japan.

Lunar plant biology--a review of the Apollo era.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferl, Robert J; Paul, Anna-Lisa

2010-04-01

Recent plans for human return to the Moon have significantly elevated scientific interest in the lunar environment with emphasis on the science to be done in preparation for the return and while on the lunar surface. Since the return to the Moon is envisioned as a dedicated and potentially longer-term commitment to lunar exploration, questions of the lunar environment and particularly its impact on biology and biological systems have become a significant part of the lunar science discussion. Plants are integral to the discussion of biology on the Moon. Plants are envisioned as important components of advanced habitats and fundamental components of advanced life-support systems. Moreover, plants are sophisticated multicellular eukaryotic life-forms with highly orchestrated developmental processes, well-characterized signal transduction pathways, and exceedingly fine-tuned responses to their environments. Therefore, plants represent key test organisms for understanding the biological impact of the lunar environment on terrestrial life-forms. Indeed, plants were among the initial and primary organisms that were exposed to returned lunar regolith from the Apollo lunar missions. This review discusses the original experiments involving plants in association with the Apollo samples, with the intent of understanding those studies within the context of the first lunar exploration program and drawing from those experiments the data to inform the studies critical within the next lunar exploration science agenda.

Investment in plant research and development bears fruit in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Chong, Kang; Xu, Zhihong

2014-04-01

Recent rapid progress in plant science and biotechnology in China demonstrates that China's stronger support for funding in plant research and development (R&D) has borne fruit. Chinese groups have contributed major advances in a range of fields, such as rice biology, plant hormone and developmental biology, genomics and evolution, plant genetics and epigenetics, as well as plant biotechnology. Strigolactone studies including those identifying its receptor and dissecting its complex structure and signaling are representative of the recent researches from China at the forefront of the field. These advances are attributable in large part to interdisciplinary studies among scientists from plant science, chemistry, bioinformatics, structural biology, and agronomy. The platforms provided by national facilities facilitate this collaboration. As well, efficient restructuring of the top-down organization of state programs and free exploration of scientists' interests have accelerated achievements by Chinese researchers. Here, we provide a general outline of China's progress in plant R&D to highlight fields in which Chinese research has made significant contributions.

Why science does not disprove God

CERN Document Server

Aczel, Amir D

2014-01-01

The renowned science writer, mathematician, and bestselling author of Fermat's Last Theorem masterfully refutes the overreaching claims the "New Atheists," providing millions of educated believers with a clear, engaging explanation of what science really says, how there's still much space for the Divine in the universe, and why faith in both God and empirical science are not mutually exclusive. A highly publicized coterie of scientists and thinkers, including Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens, and Lawrence Krauss, have vehemently contended that breakthroughs in modern science have disproven the existence of God, asserting that we must accept that the creation of the universe came out of nothing, that religion is evil, that evolution fully explains the dazzling complexity of life, and more. In this much-needed book, science journalist Amir Aczel profoundly disagrees and conclusively demonstrates that science has not, as yet, provided any definitive proof refuting the existence of God. Why Scienc...

Journal of Genetics | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Author Affiliations. Gargi Meur1 K. Gaikwad2 S. R. Bhat2 S. Prakash2 P. B. Kirti1. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, India; National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India ...

Explaining the resurgent popularity of the wild: motivations for wild plant gathering in the Biosphere Reserve Grosses Walsertal, Austria

OpenAIRE

Schunko, Christoph; Grasser, Susanne; Vogl, Christian R.

2015-01-01

Background Wild plant gathering becomes again a popular and fashionable activity in Europe after gathering practices have been increasingly abandoned over the last decades. Recent ethnobotanical research documented a diversity of gathering practices from people of diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds who gather in urban and rural areas. Few efforts were though made to study the motivations for gathering wild plants and to understand the resurgent popularity of wild plant gathering....

Physical foundations of materials science

CERN Document Server

Gottstein, Günter

2004-01-01

In this vivid and comprehensible introduction to materials science, the author expands the modern concepts of metal physics to formulate basic theory applicable to other engineering materials, such as ceramics and polymers. Written for engineering students and working engineers with little previous knowledge of solid-state physics, this textbook enables the reader to study more specialized and fundamental literature of materials science. Dozens of illustrative photographs, many of them Transmission Electron Microscopy images, plus line drawings, aid developing a firm appreciation of this complex topic. Hard-to-grasp terms such as "textures" are lucidly explained - not only the phenomenon itself, but also its consequences for the material properties. This excellent book makes materials science more transparent.

Long-term regional shifts in plant community composition are largely explained by local deer impact experiments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katie Frerker

Full Text Available The fact that herbivores and predators exert top-down effects to alter community composition and dynamics at lower trophic levels is no longer controversial, yet we still lack evidence of the full nature, extent, and longer-term effects of these impacts. Here, we use results from a set of replicated experiments on the local impacts of white-tailed deer to evaluate the extent to which such impacts could account for half-century shifts in forest plant communities across the upper Midwest, USA. We measured species' responses to deer at four sites using 10-20 year-old deer exclosures. Among common species, eight were more abundant outside the exclosures, seven were commoner inside, and 16 had similar abundances in- and outside. Deer herbivory greatly increased the abundance of ferns and graminoids and doubled the abundance of exotic plants. In contrast, deer greatly reduced tree regeneration, shrub cover (100-200 fold in two species, plant height, plant reproduction, and the abundance of forbs. None of 36 focal species increased in reproduction or grew taller in the presence of deer, contrary to expectations. We compared these results to data on 50-year regional shifts in species abundances across 62 sites. The effects of herbivory by white-tailed deer accurately account for many of the long-term regional shifts observed in species' abundances (R2 = 0.41. These results support the conjecture that deer impacts have driven many of the regional shifts in forest understory cover and composition observed in recent decades. Our ability to link results from shorter-term, local experiments to regional long-term studies of ecological change strengthens the inferences we can draw from both approaches.

Slovenske elektrarne, a.s., Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1998-01-01

In this booklet the uranium atom nucleus fission as well as electricity generation in a nuclear power plant (primary circuit, reactor, reactor pressure vessel, fuel assembly, control rod and reactor power control) are explained. Scheme of electricity generation in nuclear power plant and Cross-section of Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant unit are included. In next part a reactor scram, refuelling of fuel, instrumentation and control system as well as principles of nuclear safety and safety improvements are are described

Antimicrobial properties of Honduran medicinal plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Lentz, D L; Clark, A M; Hufford, C D; Meurer-Grimes, B; Passreiter, C M; Cordero, J; Ibrahimi, O; Okunade, A L

1998-12-01

Ninety-two plants used in the traditional pharmacopoeia of the Pech and neighboring Mestizo peoples of central Honduras are reported. The results of in vitro antimicrobial screens showed that 19 of the extracts from medicinal plants revealed signs of antifungal activity while 22 demonstrated a measurable inhibitory effect on one or more bacterial cultures. Bioassay-guided fractionation of extracts from Mikania micrantha, Neurolaena lobata and Piper aduncum produced weak to moderately active isolates. The broad spectrum of activity of the extracts helps to explain the widespread use of these plants for wound healing and other applications.

Enhancing Elementary Pre-service Teachers' Plant Processes Conceptions

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Stephen L.; Lotter, Christine; Fann, Xumei; Taylor, Laurie

2016-06-01

Researchers examined how an inquiry-based instructional treatment emphasizing interrelated plant processes influenced 210 elementary pre-service teachers' (PTs) conceptions of three plant processes, photosynthesis, cellular respiration, and transpiration, and the interrelated nature of these processes. The instructional treatment required PTs to predict the fate of a healthy plant in a sealed terrarium (Plant-in-a-Jar), justify their predictions, observe the plant over a 5-week period, and complete guided inquiry activities centered on one of the targeted plant processes each week. Data sources included PTs' pre- and post-predictions with accompanying justifications, course artifacts such as weekly terrarium observations and science journal entries, and group models of the interrelated plant processes occurring within the sealed terraria. A subset of 33 volunteer PTs also completed interviews the week the Plant-in-a-Jar scenario was introduced and approximately 4 months after the instructional intervention ended. Pre- and post-predictions from all PTs as well as interview responses from the subgroup of PTs, were coded into categories based on key plant processes emphasized in the Next Generation Science Standards. Study findings revealed that PTs developed more accurate conceptions of plant processes and their interrelated nature as a result of the instructional intervention. Primary patterns of change in PTs' plant process conceptions included development of more accurate conceptions of how water is used by plants, more accurate conceptions of photosynthesis features, and more accurate conceptions of photosynthesis and cellular respiration as transformative processes.

Nuclear science public education - ANS at the onramp to the Information Superhighway

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cramer, E.N. [SCE, San Onofre, CA (United States); Swenson, L.; Slone, B. III

1994-12-31

The objective of this paper is to alert public communicators to the new opportunity provided by Internet. Beginning in the late 1950s, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission public information program included a motion picture loan library, an excellent set of booklets, and a set of vans, each based at a college or university. The driver-teacher and van could be booked to make presentations at schools to explain the new nuclear science and to demonstrate the use of scarce and expensive radiation-measuring equipment. This national program was canceled in the mid-1970s because of Congressional pressure for the federal government to stop {open_quotes}promoting nuclear energy.{close_quotes} Remaining were local information centers at nuclear power plants and national programs at the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and the Atomic Industrial Forum (AIF) - fragmented and weak by comparison.

Explaining DAMPE results by dark matter with hierarchical lepton-specific Yukawa interactions

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guoli; Wang, Fei; Wang, Wenyu; Yang, Jin-Min

2018-02-01

We propose to interpret the DAMPE electron excess at 1.5 TeV through scalar or Dirac fermion dark matter (DM) annihilation with doubly charged scalar mediators that have lepton-specific Yukawa couplings. The hierarchy of such lepton-specific Yukawa couplings is generated through the Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism, so that the dark matter annihilation products can be dominantly electrons. Stringent constraints from LEP2 on intermediate vector boson production can be evaded in our scenarios. In the case of scalar DM, we discuss one scenario with DM annihilating directly to leptons and another scenario with DM annihilating to scalar mediators followed by their decays. We also discuss the Breit-Wigner resonant enhancement and the Sommerfeld enhancement in the case where the s-wave annihilation process is small or helicity-suppressed. With both types of enhancement, constraints on the parameters can be relaxed and new ways for model building can be opened in explaining the DAMPE results. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11105124, 11105125, 11375001, 11675147, 11675242), the Open Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Y5KF121CJ1), the Innovation Talent project of Henan Province (15HASTIT017), the Young-Talent Foundation of Zhengzhou University, the CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP), the CAS Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences and a Key R&D Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2017YFA0402200-04)

Ecological effects of aphid abundance, genotypic variation, and contemporary evolution on plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Turley, Nash E; Johnson, Marc T J

2015-07-01

Genetic variation and contemporary evolution within populations can shape the strength and nature of species interactions, but the relative importance of these forces compared to other ecological factors is unclear. We conducted a field experiment testing the effects of genotypic variation, abundance, and presence/absence of green peach aphids (Myzus persicae) on the growth, leaf nitrogen, and carbon of two plant species (Brassica napus and Solanum nigrum). Aphid genotype affected B. napus but not S. nigrum biomass explaining 20 and 7% of the total variation, respectively. Averaging across both plant species, the presence/absence of aphids had a 1.6× larger effect size (Cohen's d) than aphid genotype, and aphid abundance had the strongest negative effects on plant biomass explaining 29% of the total variation. On B. napus, aphid genotypes had different effects on leaf nitrogen depending on their abundance. Aphids did not influence leaf nitrogen in S. nigrum nor leaf carbon in either species. We conducted a second experiment in the field to test whether contemporary evolution could affect plant performance. Aphid populations evolved in as little as five generations, but the rate and direction of this evolution did not consistently vary between plant species. On one host species (B. napus), faster evolving populations had greater negative effects on host plant biomass, with aphid evolutionary rate explaining 23% of the variation in host plant biomass. Together, these results show that genetic variation and evolution in an insect herbivore can play important roles in shaping host plant ecology.

Modeling Operating Modes for the Monju Nuclear Power Plant

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lind, Morten; Yoshikawa, H.; Jørgensen, Sten Bay

2012-01-01

of the process plant, its function and its structural elements. The paper explains how the means-end concepts of MFM can be used to provide formalized definitions of plant operation modes. The paper will introduce the mode types defined by MFM and show how selected operation modes can be represented...

The issues and discussion of modern concrete science

CERN Document Server

Yang, Wenke

2015-01-01

This book is devoted to two primary objectives. The first is to present the errors, inadaptability, and mistakes arising when the current theory on concrete is applied to explaining practical construction of concrete; the second is to put forward viewpoints in modern concrete science. Taking a number of engineering cases as examples, we experimentally studied and theoretically analyzed the errors, inadaptability, and mistakes when the current theory on concrete is applied to explaining practical construction of concrete. Moreover, we investigated the use of mixing ratios, aggregates, cement, high-performance concrete and fibers, as well as the frost resistance, cracking behavior, durability, dry shrinkage and autogenous healing to address and remedy the shortcomings in today’s concrete science, put forward new proposals, and make a number of innovative achievements in the field, particularly in modern theory on concrete science. The results and topics which will be of particular interest to engineers and...

The issues and discussion of modern concrete science

CERN Document Server

Yang, Wenke

2015-01-01

This book is devoted to two primary objectives. The first is to present the errors, inadaptability, and mistakes arising when the current theory on concrete is applied to explaining practical construction of concrete; the second is to put forward viewpoints in modern concrete science. Taking a number of engineering cases as examples, we experimentally studied and theoretically analyzed the errors, inadaptability, and mistakes when the current theory on concrete is applied to explaining practical construction of concrete. Moreover, we investigated the use of mixing ratios, aggregates, cement, high-performance concrete and fibers, as well as the frost resistance, cracking behavior, durability, dry shrinkage and autogenous healing to address and remedy the shortcomings in today’s concrete science, put forward new proposals, and make a number of innovative achievements in the field, particularly in modern theory on concrete science. The results and topics which will be of particular interest to engineers and re...

Plant traits related to nitrogen uptake influence plant-microbe competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreau, Delphine; Pivato, Barbara; Bru, David; Busset, Hugues; Deau, Florence; Faivre, Céline; Matejicek, Annick; Strbik, Florence; Philippot, Laurent; Mougel, Christophe

2015-08-01

Plant species are important drivers of soil microbial communities. However, how plant functional traits are shaping these communities has received less attention though linking plant and microbial traits is crucial for better understanding plant-microbe interactions. Our objective was to determine how plant-microbe interactions were affected by plant traits. Specifically we analyzed how interactions between plant species and microbes involved in nitrogen cycling were affected by plant traits related to 'nitrogen nutrition in interaction with soil nitrogen availability. Eleven plant species, selected along an oligotrophic-nitrophilic gradient, were grown individually in a nitrogen-poor soil with two levels of nitrate availability. Plant traits for both carbon and nitrogen nutrition were measured and the genetic structure and abundance of rhizosphere. microbial communities, in particular the ammonia oxidizer and nitrate reducer guilds, were analyzed. The structure of the bacterial community in the rhizosphere differed significantly between plant species and these differences depended on nitrogen availability. The results suggest that the rate of nitrogen uptake per unit of root biomass and per day is a key plant trait, explaining why the effect of nitrogen availability on the structure of the bacterial community depends on the plant species. We also showed that the abundance of nitrate reducing bacteria always decreased with increasing nitrogen uptake per unit of root biomass per day, indicating that there was competition for nitrate between plants and nitrate reducing bacteria. This study demonstrates that nitrate-reducing microorganisms may be adversely affected by plants with a high nitrogen uptake rate. Our work puts forward the role of traits related to nitrogen in plant-microbe interactions, whereas carbon is commonly considered as the main driver. It also suggests that plant traits related to ecophysiological processes, such as nitrogen uptake rates, are more

Light interception efficiency explained by two simple variables: a test using a diversity of small- to medium-sized woody plants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duursma, R.A.; Falster, D.S.; Valladares, F.; Sterck, F.J.; Pearcy, R.W.; Lusk, C.; Sendall, K.M.; Nordenstahl, M.; Houter, N.C.; Atwell, B.J.; Kelly, N.; Kelly, J.W.G.; Liberloo, M.; Tissue, D.T.; Medlyn, B.E.; Ellsworth, D.S.

2012-01-01

Plant light interception efficiency is a crucial determinant of carbon uptake by individual plants and by vegetation. Our aim was to identify whole-plant variables that summarize complex crown architecture, which can be used to predict light interception efficiency. •We gathered the largest database

Passive Flora? Reconsidering Nature’s Agency through Human-Plant Studies (HPS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John Charles Ryan

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Plants have been—and, for reasons of human sustenance and creative inspiration, will continue to be—centrally important to societies globally. Yet, plants—including herbs, shrubs, and trees—are commonly characterized in Western thought as passive, sessile, and silent automatons lacking a brain, as accessories or backdrops to human affairs. Paradoxically, the qualities considered absent in plants are those employed by biologists to argue for intelligence in animals. Yet an emerging body of research in the sciences and humanities challenges animal-centred biases in determining consciousness, intelligence, volition, and complex communication capacities amongst living beings. In light of recent theoretical developments in our understandings of plants, this article proposes an interdisciplinary framework for researching flora: human-plant studies (HPS. Building upon the conceptual formations of the humanities, social sciences, and plant sciences as advanced by Val Plumwood, Deborah Bird Rose, Libby Robin, and most importantly Matthew Hall and Anthony Trewavas, as well as precedents in the emerging areas of human-animal studies (HAS, I will sketch the conceptual basis for the further consideration and exploration of this interdisciplinary framework.

Resonance – Journal of Science Education | News

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Science Academies' 91st Refresher Course on Innovations in Genetics and Plant Breeding with Special Reference to Biotic and Abiotic Stress · More Details Abstract Fulltext PDF. pp 718-718 Information and Announcements. Workshops on Writing Science · More Details Abstract Fulltext PDF. pp 719-719 Flowering Trees.

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Soo-Dong Woo1 Jae Young Choi2 Yeon Ho Je2 Byung Rae Jin3. Department of Plant Medicine, College of Agriculture, Life and Environment Sciences, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 361-763, Korea; School of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul ...

Editorial: from plant biotechnology to bio-based products.

Science.gov (United States)

Stöger, Eva

2013-10-01

From plant biotechnology to bio-based products - this Special Issue of Biotechnology Journal is dedicated to plant biotechnology and is edited by Prof. Eva Stöger (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria). The Special Issue covers a wide range of topics in plant biotechnology, including metabolic engineering of biosynthesis pathways in plants; taking advantage of the scalability of the plant system for the production of innovative materials; as well as the regulatory challenges and society acceptance of plant biotechnology. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Questions as a tool for bridging science and everyday language games

Science.gov (United States)

Lundin, Mattias

2007-01-01

Research has shown how students can shift between different ways of communicating about natural phenomena. The point of departure in this text is that school science comprises science ways to communicate as well as everyday ways to communicate. In school science activities transitions, from for example everyday ways to explain to science ways to explain, occur and the purpose of this paper is to show what role questions play in these transitions. Data consists of video observations of a group of 24 students, 15 years of age, doing their ordinary school science work without my interference in their planning. Relevant conversations including questions were transcribed. The analysis was made by examining the establishment of relations between utterances in the transcribed conversations. Relations that bridge science and everyday language games are described in the results. Questions that were formulated in an everyday language game illustrate the difficulties of making transitions to a science language game. Without teacher guidance, students' questions are potential promoters for making the topic drift and to develop into something totally different from the topic as planned by the teacher. However, questions promote transitions to an everyday language game. These can be used by teachers for example to adjust an everyday explanation and guide students in making science knowledge useful in daily life.

Reduced growth due to belowground sink limitation is not fully explained by reduced photosynthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Campany, Courtney E; Medlyn, Belinda E; Duursma, Remko A

2017-08-01

Sink limitation is known to reduce plant growth, but it is not known how plant carbon (C) balance is affected, limiting our ability to predict growth under sink-limited conditions. We manipulated soil volume to impose sink limitation of growth in Eucalyptus tereticornis Sm. seedlings. Seedlings were grown in the field in containers of different sizes and planted flush to the soil alongside freely rooted (Free) seedlings. Container volume negatively affected aboveground growth throughout the experiment, and light saturated rates of leaf photosynthesis were consistently lower in seedlings in containers (-26%) compared with Free seedlings. Significant reductions in photosynthetic capacity in containerized seedlings were related to both reduced leaf nitrogen content and starch accumulation, indicating direct effects of sink limitation on photosynthetic downregulation. After 120 days, harvested biomass of Free seedlings was on average 84% higher than seedlings in containers, but biomass distribution in leaves, stems and roots was not different. However, the reduction in net leaf photosynthesis over the growth period was insufficient to explain the reduction in growth, so that we also observed an apparent reduction in whole-plant C-use efficiency (CUE) between Free seedlings and seedlings in containers. Our results show that sink limitation affects plant growth through feedbacks to both photosynthesis and CUE. Mass balance approaches to predicting plant growth under sink-limited conditions need to incorporate both of these feedbacks. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Opportunities and limitations related to the application of plant-derived lipid molecular proxies in soil science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Jansen

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The application of lipids in soils as molecular proxies, also often referred to as biomarkers, has dramatically increased in the last decades. Applications range from inferring changes in past vegetation composition, climate, and/or human presence to unraveling the input and turnover of soil organic matter (SOM. The molecules used are extractable and non-extractable lipids, including ester-bound lipids. In addition, the carbon or hydrogen isotopic composition of such molecules is used. While holding great promise, the application of soil lipids as molecular proxies comes with several constraining factors, the most important of which are (i variability in the molecular composition of plant-derived organic matter both internally and between individual plants, (ii variability in (the relative contribution of input pathways into the soil, and (iii the transformation and/or (selective degradation of (some of the molecules once present in the soil. Unfortunately, the information about such constraining factors and their impact on the applicability of molecular proxies is fragmented and scattered. The purpose of this study is to provide a critical review of the current state of knowledge with respect to the applicability of molecular proxies in soil science, specifically focusing on the factors constraining such applicability. Variability in genetic, ontogenetic, and environmental factors influences plant n-alkane patterns in such a way that no unique compounds or specific molecular proxies pointing to, for example, plant community differences or environmental influences, exist. Other components, such as n-alcohols, n-fatty acids, and cutin- and suberin-derived monomers, have received far less attention in this respect. Furthermore, there is a high diversity of input pathways offering both opportunities and limitations for the use of molecular proxies at the same time. New modeling approaches might offer a possibility to unravel such mixed input

Fernbank Science Center Forest Teacher's Guide-1967.

Science.gov (United States)

Cherry, Jim; And Others

This guide is designed primarily to familiarize teachers with the types of programs available through the Fernback Science Center. Instructional programs involving the use of the Fernbank Forest are outlined. Programs for secondary students include Plant Taxonomy, Field Ecology, Winter Taxonomy of Plants, and Climax Forest Succession. Elementary…

Discovering Socio-cultural Aspects of Science Through Artworks

Science.gov (United States)

Güney, Burcu Gülay; Şeker, Hayati

2017-11-01

Scientific literacy is one of the primary purposes of science education which briefly focuses on using and interpreting scientific explanations, understanding science within its culture. However, science curricula emphasize science with its cognitive aspects and underestimate affective and aesthetic aspects of science. Science education needs to cover beauty of science for students to cross borders between their own culture and culture of science and to achieve the aim of scientific literacy. Relating aesthetic aspects of science with content of science and paving the way for aesthetic experiences through artworks may enrich science education. The purposes of this study are to discuss the need of integrating aesthetic aspects of science in science instruction and to propose examples and pedagogical suggestions to promote aesthetic experiences into the science education. Artworks are selected to present socio-cultural aspects of science to demonstrate the culture of science, their stories are explained, and pedagogical suggestions are proposed. Advantages and difficulties of using artworks in science instruction are discussed as a result of the study.

Plant community responses to simultaneous changes in temperature, nitrogen availability, and invasion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elise S Gornish

Full Text Available Increasing rates of change in climate have been observed across the planet and have contributed to the ongoing range shifts observed for many species. Although ecologists are now using a variety of approaches to study how much and through what mechanisms increasing temperature and nutrient pollution may influence the invasions inherent in range shifts, accurate predictions are still lacking.In this study, we conducted a factorial experiment, simultaneously manipulating warming, nitrogen addition and introduction of Pityopsis aspera, to determine how range-shifting species affect a plant community. We quantified the resident community using ordination scores, then used structural equation modeling to examine hypotheses related to how plants respond to a network of experimental treatments and environmental variables. Variation in soil pH explained plant community response to nitrogen addition in the absence of invasion. However, in the presence of invasion, the direct effect of nitrogen on the community was negligible and soil moisture was important for explaining nitrogen effects. We did not find effects of warming on the native plant community in the absence of invasion. In the presence of invasion, however, warming had negative effects on functional richness directly and invasion and herbivory explained the overall positive effect of warming on the plant community.This work highlights the variation in the biotic and abiotic factors responsible for explaining independent and collective climate change effects over a short time scale. Future work should consider the complex and non-additive relationships among factors of climate change and invasion in order to capture more ecologically relevant features of our changing environment.

[Nurses are not into personal marketing: do history explain why?].

Science.gov (United States)

Gentil, Rosana Chami

2009-01-01

Reflection on the nurse's personal marketing based on beliefs and values explained by the history of the main characters that care for patients. It brings to the surface reflections on the ambiguity between the social image of nursing and scientific, technological and humanistic knowledge developed over the time. It recognizes that there is still a fixation on the attributes relating to attitude and moral of the professionals to the detriment of having high regard for the technical and scientific knowledge. It verifies that the History of Nursing allows understanding that the fight against prejudice in the collective imagination lends weight to the social acceptance and recognition of this profession through the promotion of Nursing Science and the demonstration of its application in the professional practice.

Is biomass a reliable estimate of plant fitness?

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Younginger, B.S.; Sirová, Dagmara; Cruzan, M.B.; Ballhorn, D.J.

2017-01-01

Roč. 5, č. 2 (2017), č. článku 1600094. ISSN 2168-0450 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : biomass * fecundity * fitness * plant performance * selection Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour OBOR OECD: Plant sciences, botany Impact factor: 1.492, year: 2016

Construction technique for a chemical plant (II)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-08-01

This book deals with design and construction for a chemical plant which includes design and building of steel structure for a chemical plant with types, basic regulation, plan, shop fabrication for steel structure and field construction. It explains design and construction of making building for a chemical construction with measurement, types of building and basic rule of the building, design of the building, constructing plumbing for a chemical plant with plan, management of material, checking for construction, construction of electrical installation on plan, know-how to construction and maintenance.

Science Academies Refresher Course on Traditional and Modern ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Admin

The National Academy of Sciences, India, Allahabad. In collaboration with. Botanical Garden & Herbarium, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore from 15 to 29 November. 2012. A Refresher Course on Traditional and Modern Approaches in Plant Taxonomy for postgraduate college/university teachers and research ...

Office of Basic Energy Sciences: 1984 summary report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-11-01

Subprograms of the OBES discussed in this document include: materials sciences, chemical sciences, nuclear sciences, engineering and geosciences, advanced energy projects, biological energy research, carbon dioxide research, HFBR, HFIR, NSLS, SSRL, IPNS, Combustion Research Facility, high-voltage and atomic resolution electron microscopic facilities, Oak Ridge Electron Linear Accelerator, Dynamitron Accelerator, calutrons, and Transuranium Processing Plant. Nickel aluminide and glassy metals are discussed

Genetics and plant development.

Science.gov (United States)

Prunet, Nathanaël; Meyerowitz, Elliot M

2016-01-01

There are only three grand theories in biology: the theory of the cell, the theory of the gene, and the theory of evolution. Two of these, the cell and gene theories, originated in the study of plants, with the third resulting in part from botanical considerations as well. Mendel's elucidation of the rules of inheritance was a result of his experiments on peas. The rediscovery of Mendel's work in 1900 was by the botanists de Vries, Correns, and Tschermak. It was only in subsequent years that animals were also shown to have segregation of genetic elements in the exact same manner as had been shown in plants. The story of developmental biology is different - while the development of plants has long been studied, the experimental and genetic approaches to developmental mechanism were developed via experiments on animals, and the importance of genes in development (e.g., Waddington, 1940) and their use for understanding developmental mechanisms came to botanical science much later - as late as the 1980s. Copyright © 2016 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Bayesian optimization for materials science

CERN Document Server

Packwood, Daniel

2017-01-01

This book provides a short and concise introduction to Bayesian optimization specifically for experimental and computational materials scientists. After explaining the basic idea behind Bayesian optimization and some applications to materials science in Chapter 1, the mathematical theory of Bayesian optimization is outlined in Chapter 2. Finally, Chapter 3 discusses an application of Bayesian optimization to a complicated structure optimization problem in computational surface science. Bayesian optimization is a promising global optimization technique that originates in the field of machine learning and is starting to gain attention in materials science. For the purpose of materials design, Bayesian optimization can be used to predict new materials with novel properties without extensive screening of candidate materials. For the purpose of computational materials science, Bayesian optimization can be incorporated into first-principles calculations to perform efficient, global structure optimizations. While re...

Data analysis method for plant experience feedback data bank

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ployart, R.; Lannoy, A.

1988-01-01

French pressurized water reactors (PWRs) represent at the moment about fifty units, among which the oldest have been in operation for ten years. Furthermore, these PWRs developed according to a growth strategy of standardized plants and with a single plant operator are quite homogeneous in their design as well as in their operating and maintenance procedures. Lastly, the improvements brought about are usually passed on to the whole of the concerned standardized plant. In this context, the operating plant experience feedback data banks hold valuable information that starts being statistically significant. The reliability oriented methods are rather well known; the ones that enable to read out some information on performance and availability, susceptible to guide the plant operator in the decision making are less tested. It concerns changes of operating or maintenance procedure, or technical changes which could be decided from an assessment of the effects of previous changes, or by observing and explaining a posteriori natural evolutions in the behaviour of components. The method used within the framework of this report leads to reveal and explain singularities, correlations, regroupings and trends in the behaviour of the french PWRs

Synergy Between Pathogen Release and Resource Availability in Plant Invasion

Science.gov (United States)

Why do some exotic plant species become invasive? Two common hypotheses, increased resource availability and enemy release, may more effectively explain invasion if they favor the same species, and therefore act in concert. This would be expected if plant species adapted to high levels of available ...

Statistical analysis of nuclear power plant pump failure rate variability: some preliminary results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martz, H.F.; Whiteman, D.E.

1984-02-01

In-Plant Reliability Data System (IPRDS) pump failure data on over 60 selected pumps in four nuclear power plants are statistically analyzed using the Failure Rate Analysis Code (FRAC). A major purpose of the analysis is to determine which environmental, system, and operating factors adequately explain the variability in the failure data. Catastrophic, degraded, and incipient failure severity categories are considered for both demand-related and time-dependent failures. For catastrophic demand-related pump failures, the variability is explained by the following factors listed in their order of importance: system application, pump driver, operating mode, reactor type, pump type, and unidentified plant-specific influences. Quantitative failure rate adjustments are provided for the effects of these factors. In the case of catastrophic time-dependent pump failures, the failure rate variability is explained by three factors: reactor type, pump driver, and unidentified plant-specific influences. Finally, point and confidence interval failure rate estimates are provided for each selected pump by considering the influential factors. Both types of estimates represent an improvement over the estimates computed exclusively from the data on each pump

Medicinal Plant Research Group, School of Pharmacy, College of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Medicinal Plant Research Group, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi,. P.O. Box 19676-00202, ... of plant used, the dosage form and procedures for preparation and ... by thermal gravimetric methods. In finely.

The Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science

Science.gov (United States)

Bornstein, Marc H.

2016-01-01

The Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science asserts that specific setting conditions of specific people at specific times moderate specific domains in acculturation by specific processes. Our understanding of acculturation depends critically on what is studied where, in whom, how, and when. This article defines, explains, and illustrates the Specificity Principle in Acculturation Science. Research hypotheses about acculturation can be more adequately tested, inconsistencies and discrepancies in the acculturation literature can be satisfactorily resolved, acculturation interventions can be tailored to be more successful, and acculturation policies can be brought to new levels of effectiveness if the specificity principle that governs acculturation science is more widely recognized. PMID:28073331

Opportunities in Biological Sciences; [VGM Career Horizons Series].

Science.gov (United States)

Winter, Charles A.

This book provides job descriptions and discusses career opportunities in various fields of the biological sciences. These fields include: (1) biotechnology, genetics, biomedical engineering, microbiology, mycology, systematic biology, marine and aquatic biology, botany, plant physiology, plant pathology, ecology, and wildlife biology; (2) the…

Goethe's phenomenology of nature: a juvenilization of science.

Science.gov (United States)

Skaftnesmo, Trond

2009-01-01

Empirical science is not a mere collection of facts. It builds theories and frames hypotheses within those theories. Empirical theories are stated as plausible answers to questions we pose to nature. According to the Galilean-Baconian tradition within science, these questions should basically explore the causes of observed phenomena, and further be restricted to the measurable and quantitative realm. Thus, the answers are generally expected to explain the effective causes behind the actual phenomena. By framing falsifiable hypotheses, the theories are tested against the empirical foundation on which they rest. In this way we try to relieve science from false theories. Thus, we have two epistemological levels: First, the theoretical level; the scientific theory explaining the phenomena, and second, the empirical level; the phenomena or facts verifying or falsifying those theories. According to the poet and multi-scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), there is however another way of science, namely an approach where these two levels fuse and become one. Goethe intended this approach to be a complementation of the Galilean-Baconian method, more than an alternative. He considered his "hypothesis-free method" to be a more comprehensive and secure way to understand nature. Whereas the Galilean-Baconian method aimed at explaining the effective causes of natural phenomena, in order to control and exploit nature for technical and industrial purposes, Goethe aimed at an exposition of the inherent meaning of the phenomena.We will explore, exemplify and discuss this approach with reference to the inherently Goethean phenomenology of evolution credited to the Dutch anatomist Louis Bolk (1866-1930), later commented and complemented by Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) and Jos Verhulst (1949 ). In the course of this presentation we will outline the Goethean approach as a method representing a juvenilization or in Bolk's terms, a fetalization of science.

How Cosmology Became a Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Brush, Stephen G.

1992-01-01

Describes the origin of the science of cosmology and the competing theories to explain the beginning of the universe. The big bang theory for the creation of the universe is contrasted with the steady state theory. The author details discoveries that led to the demise of the steady state theory. (PR)

Historical Roots of Information Sciences and the Making of E-Humanities.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van den Heuvel, C.M.J.M.; Bod, Rens; Maat, Jaap; Westeijn, Thijs

2014-01-01

Christine Borgman in Scholarship in the Digital Age. Information, Infrastructure and the Internet (2007) distinguishes between data of the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. This distinction has been used as one of the arguments to explain why scholars in the humanities and social

Plant biology in the future.

Science.gov (United States)

Bazzaz, F A

2001-05-08

In the beginning of modern plant biology, plant biologists followed a simple model for their science. This model included important branches of plant biology known then. Of course, plants had to be identified and classified first. Thus, there was much work on taxonomy, genetics, and physiology. Ecology and evolution were approached implicitly, rather than explicitly, through paleobotany, taxonomy, morphology, and historical geography. However, the burgeoning explosion of knowledge and great advances in molecular biology, e.g., to the extent that genes for specific traits can be added (or deleted) at will, have created a revolution in the study of plants. Genomics in agriculture has made it possible to address many important issues in crop production by the identification and manipulation of genes in crop plants. The current model of plant study differs from the previous one in that it places greater emphasis on developmental controls and on evolution by differential fitness. In a rapidly changing environment, the current model also explicitly considers the phenotypic variation among individuals on which selection operates. These are calls for the unity of science. In fact, the proponents of "Complexity Theory" think there are common algorithms describing all levels of organization, from atoms all the way to the structure of the universe, and that when these are discovered, the issue of scaling will be greatly simplified! Plant biology must seriously contribute to, among other things, meeting the nutritional needs of the human population. This challenge constitutes a key part of the backdrop against which future evolution will occur. Genetic engineering technologies are and will continue to be an important component of agriculture; however, we must consider the evolutionary implications of these new technologies. Meeting these demands requires drastic changes in the undergraduate curriculum. Students of biology should be trained in molecular, cellular, organismal

A Little Knowledge of Ground Motion: Explaining 3-D Physics-Based Modeling to Engineers

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, K.

2014-12-01

Users of earthquake planning scenarios require the ground-motion map to be credible enough to justify costly planning efforts, but not all ground-motion maps are right for all uses. There are two common ways to create a map of ground motion for a hypothetical earthquake. One approach is to map the median shaking estimated by empirical attenuation relationships. The other uses 3-D physics-based modeling, in which one analyzes a mathematical model of the earth's crust near the fault rupture and calculates the generation and propagation of seismic waves from source to ground surface by first principles. The two approaches produce different-looking maps. The more-familiar median maps smooth out variability and correlation. Using them in a planning scenario can lead to a systematic underestimation of damage and loss, and could leave a community underprepared for realistic shaking. The 3-D maps show variability, including some very high values that can disconcert non-scientists. So when the USGS Science Application for Risk Reduction's (SAFRR) Haywired scenario project selected 3-D maps, it was necessary to explain to scenario users—especially engineers who often use median maps—the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of the two approaches. We used authority, empirical evidence, and theory to support our choice. We prefaced our explanation with SAFRR's policy of using the best available earth science, and cited the credentials of the maps' developers and the reputation of the journal in which they published the maps. We cited recorded examples from past earthquakes of extreme ground motions that are like those in the scenario map. We explained the maps on theoretical grounds as well, explaining well established causes of variability: directivity, basin effects, and source parameters. The largest mapped motions relate to potentially unfamiliar extreme-value theory, so we used analogies to human longevity and the average age of the oldest person in samples of

Protein Kinases in Shaping Plant Architecture.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Juan; Wang, Bo; Xin, Xiaoyun; Ren, Dongtao

2018-02-13

Plant architecture, the three-dimensional organization of the plant body, includes the branching pattern and the size, shape, and position of organs. Plant architecture is genetically controlled and is influenced by environmental conditions. The regulations occur at most of the stages from the first division of the fertilized eggs to the final establishment of plant architecture. Among the various endogenous regulators, protein kinases and their associated signaling pathways have been shown to play important roles in regulating the process of plant architecture establishment. In this review, we summarize recent progress in the understanding of the mechanisms by which plant architecture formation is regulated by protein kinases, especially mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK). Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Improving plant bioaccumulation science through consistent reporting of experimental data.

Science.gov (United States)

Fantke, Peter; Arnot, Jon A; Doucette, William J

2016-10-01

Experimental data and models for plant bioaccumulation of organic contaminants play a crucial role for assessing the potential human and ecological risks associated with chemical use. Plants are receptor organisms and direct or indirect vectors for chemical exposures to all other organisms. As new experimental data are generated they are used to improve our understanding of plant-chemical interactions that in turn allows for the development of better scientific knowledge and conceptual and predictive models. The interrelationship between experimental data and model development is an ongoing, never-ending process needed to advance our ability to provide reliable quality information that can be used in various contexts including regulatory risk assessment. However, relatively few standard experimental protocols for generating plant bioaccumulation data are currently available and because of inconsistent data collection and reporting requirements, the information generated is often less useful than it could be for direct applications in chemical assessments and for model development and refinement. We review existing testing guidelines, common data reporting practices, and provide recommendations for revising testing guidelines and reporting requirements to improve bioaccumulation knowledge and models. This analysis provides a list of experimental parameters that will help to develop high quality datasets and support modeling tools for assessing bioaccumulation of organic chemicals in plants and ultimately addressing uncertainty in ecological and human health risk assessments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Coordination effect between vapor water loss through plant stomata and liquid water supply in soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (SPAC): a review].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Li-Min; Qi, Hua; Luo, Xin-Lan; Zhang, Xuan

2008-09-01

Some important phenomena and behaviors concerned with the coordination effect between vapor water loss through plant stomata and liquid water supply in SPAC were discussed in this paper. A large amount of research results showed that plants show isohydric behavior when the plant hydraulic and chemical signals cooperate to promote the stomatal regulation of leaf water potential. The feedback response of stomata to the change of environmental humidity could be used to explain the midday depression of stomatal conductance and photosynthesis under drought condition, and also, to interpret the correlation between stomatal conductance and hydraulic conductance. The feed-forward response of stomata to the change of environmental humidity could be used to explain the hysteresis response of stomatal conductance to leaf-atmosphere vapor pressure deficit. The strategy for getting the most of xylem transport requires the rapid stomatal responses to avoid excess cavitation and the corresponding mechanisms for reversal of cavitation in short time.

Science Communication in the Post-Expert Digital Age

Science.gov (United States)

Luers, Amy; Kroodsma, David

2014-06-01

Recently, Popular Science disabled its online comments. In explaining this decision, the magazine cited research that showed that online comments, especially uncivil ones, strongly influence readers, often leading to misleading or incorrect interpretations of the articles. Popular Science wrote, "If you carry out those results to their logical end…you start to see why we feel compelled to hit the `off' switch" [Labarre, 2013].

Results of the gas carrier reliquefaction plant trial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Y. Fatyhov

2007-12-01

Full Text Available In the paper results of the gas carrier reliquefaction plant trial are considered. Safe transportation of liquefied gases is explained. The construction of the ship on trial is described. Designed parameters of the reliquefaction plant are presented. Heat gain into cargo tanks is obtained. Volumetric capacity, cooling capacity, volumetric efficiency and power consumption of the compressors are determined. Results of the main engine trial, diesel generator trial, reliquefaction plant trial, and calculations performed after wards are represented in five tables. The results obtained may be used for optimisation calculations of gas carriers’ reliquefaction plants.

Culinary plants and their potential impact on metabolic overload.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ji Yeon; Kwon, Oran

2011-07-01

Contemporary human behavior has led a large proportion of the population to metabolic overload and obesity. Postprandial hyperlipidemia and hyperglycemia evoke redox imbalance in the short term and lead to complex chronic disease in the long term with repeated occurrence. Complex diseases are best prevented with complex components of plants; thus, current nutrition research has begun to focus on the development of plant-based functional foods and dietary supplements for health and well-being. Furthermore, given the wide range of species, parts, and secondary metabolites, culinary plants can contribute significant variety and complexity to the human diet. Although understanding the health benefits of culinary plants has been one of the great challenges in nutritional science due to their inherent complexity, it is an advantageous pursuit. This review will address the challenges and opportunities relating to studies of the health benefits of culinary plants, with an emphasis on obesity attributed to metabolic overload. © 2011 New York Academy of Sciences.

Towards development of new ornamental plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kuligowska, Katarzyna; Lütken, Henrik Vlk; Müller, Renate

2016-01-01

is one of the oldest breeding techniques that contributed enormously to the development of modern plant cultivars. Within ornamental breeding, it represents the main source of genetic variation. During the long history of wide hybridization, a number of methods were implemented allowing the evolution...... from a conventional breeding tool into a modern methodology. Nowadays, the research on model plants and crop species increases our understanding of reproductive isolation among distant species and partly explains the background of the traditional approaches previously used for overcoming hybridization...... barriers. Characterization of parental plants and hybrids is performed using molecular and cytological techniques that strongly facilitate breeding processes. Molecular markers and sequencing technologies are used for the assessment of genetic relationships among plants, as the genetic distance...

Root chemistry and soil fauna, but not soil abiotic conditions explain the effects of plant diversity on root decomposition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, Hongmei; Oram, Natalie J.; Barry, Kathryn E.; Mommer, Liesje; Ruijven, van Jasper; Kroon, de Hans; Ebeling, Anne; Eisenhauer, Nico; Fischer, Christine; Gleixner, Gerd; Gessler, Arthur; González Macé, Odette; Hacker, Nina; Hildebrandt, Anke; Lange, Markus; Scherer-lorenzen, Michael; Scheu, Stefan; Oelmann, Yvonne; Wagg, Cameron; Wilcke, Wolfgang; Wirth, Christian; Weigelt, Alexandra

2017-01-01

Plant diversity influences many ecosystem functions including root decomposition. However, due to the presence of multiple pathways via which plant diversity may affect root decomposition, our mechanistic understanding of their relationships is limited. In a grassland biodiversity experiment, we

Plant growth regulator interactions in physiological processes for controlling plant regeneration and in vitro development of Tulbaghia simmleri

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kumari, A.; Baskaran, P.; Plačková, Lenka; Omámiková, Hana; Nisler, Jaroslav; Doležal, Karel; Van Staden, J.

2018-01-01

Roč. 223, APR (2018), s. 65-71 ISSN 0176-1617 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LO1204 Institutional support: RVO:61389030 Keywords : Endogenous hormone * Exogenous hormone application * In vitro regeneration * Ornamental and medicinal plant * Physiological process * Tulbaghia simmleri Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology OBOR OECD: Plant sciences, botany Impact factor: 3.121, year: 2016

Knowledge gain and behavioral change in citizen-science programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Rebecca C; Gray, Steven A; Howe, David V; Brooks, Wesley R; Ehrenfeld, Joan G

2011-12-01

Citizen-science programs are often touted as useful for advancing conservation literacy, scientific knowledge, and increasing scientific-reasoning skills among the public. Guidelines for collaboration among scientists and the public are lacking and the extent to which these citizen-science initiatives change behavior is relatively unstudied. Over two years, we studied 82 participants in a three-day program that included education about non-native invasive plants and collection of data on the occurrence of those plants. Volunteers were given background knowledge about invasive plant ecology and trained on a specific protocol for collecting invasive plant data. They then collected data and later gathered as a group to analyze data and discuss responsible environmental behavior with respect to invasive plants. We tested whether participants without experience in plant identification and with little knowledge of invasive plants increased their knowledge of invasive species ecology, participation increased knowledge of scientific methods, and participation affected behavior. Knowledge of invasive plants increased on average 24%, but participation was insufficient to increase understanding of how scientific research is conducted. Participants reported increased ability to recognize invasive plants and increased awareness of effects of invasive plants on the environment, but this translated into little change in behavior regarding invasive plants. Potential conflicts between scientific goals, educational goals, and the motivation of participants must be considered during program design. ©2011 Society for Conservation Biology.

Animal and plant stem cells concepts, propagation and engineering

CERN Document Server

Pavlović, Mirjana

2017-01-01

This book provides a multifaceted look into the world of stem cells and explains the similarities and differences between plant and human stem cells. It explores the intersection between animals and plants and explains their cooperative role in bioengineering studies. The book treats both theoretical and practical aspects of stem cell research. It covers the advantages and limitations of many common applications related to stem cells: their sources, categories, engineering of these cells, reprogramming of their functions, and their role as novel cellular therapeutic approach. Written by experts in the field, the book focuses on aspects of stem cells ranging from expansion-propagation to metabolic reprogramming. It introduces the emergence of cancer stem cells and different modalities in targeted cancer stem cell therapies. It is a valuable source of fresh information for academics and researchers, examining molecular mechanisms of animal and plant stem cell regulation and their usage for therapeutic applicati...

Turnover of plant lineages shapes herbivore phylogenetic beta diversity along ecological gradients.

Science.gov (United States)

Pellissier, Loïc; Ndiribe, Charlotte; Dubuis, Anne; Pradervand, Jean-Nicolas; Salamin, Nicolas; Guisan, Antoine; Rasmann, Sergio

2013-05-01

Understanding drivers of biodiversity patterns is of prime importance in this era of severe environmental crisis. More diverse plant communities have been postulated to represent a larger functional trait-space, more likely to sustain a diverse assembly of herbivore species. Here, we expand this hypothesis to integrate environmental, functional and phylogenetic variation of plant communities as factors explaining the diversity of lepidopteran assemblages along elevation gradients in the Swiss Western Alps. According to expectations, we found that the association between butterflies and their host plants is highly phylogenetically structured. Multiple regression analyses showed the combined effect of climate, functional traits and phylogenetic diversity in structuring butterfly communities. Furthermore, we provide the first evidence that plant phylogenetic beta diversity is the major driver explaining butterfly phylogenetic beta diversity. Along ecological gradients, the bottom up control of herbivore diversity is thus driven by phylogenetically structured turnover of plant traits as well as environmental variables. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd/CNRS.

Functional traits and root morphology of alpine plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Pohl, Mandy; Stroude, Raphaël; Buttler, Alexandre; Rixen, Christian

2011-09-01

Vegetation has long been recognized to protect the soil from erosion. Understanding species differences in root morphology and functional traits is an important step to assess which species and species mixtures may provide erosion control. Furthermore, extending classification of plant functional types towards root traits may be a useful procedure in understanding important root functions. In this study, pioneer data on traits of alpine plant species, i.e. plant height and shoot biomass, root depth, horizontal root spreading, root length, diameter, tensile strength, plant age and root biomass, from a disturbed site in the Swiss Alps are presented. The applicability of three classifications of plant functional types (PFTs), i.e. life form, growth form and root type, was examined for above- and below-ground plant traits. Plant traits differed considerably among species even of the same life form, e.g. in the case of total root length by more than two orders of magnitude. Within the same root diameter, species differed significantly in tensile strength: some species (Geum reptans and Luzula spicata) had roots more than twice as strong as those of other species. Species of different life forms provided different root functions (e.g. root depth and horizontal root spreading) that may be important for soil physical processes. All classifications of PFTs were helpful to categorize plant traits; however, the PFTs according to root type explained total root length far better than the other PFTs. The results of the study illustrate the remarkable differences between root traits of alpine plants, some of which cannot be assessed from simple morphological inspection, e.g. tensile strength. PFT classification based on root traits seems useful to categorize plant traits, even though some patterns are better explained at the individual species level.

Climate suitability and human influences combined explain the range expansion of an invasive horticultural plant

Science.gov (United States)

Carolyn M. Beans; Francis F. Kilkenny; Laura F. Galloway

2012-01-01

Ecological niche models are commonly used to identify regions at risk of species invasions. Relying on climate alone may limit a model's success when additional variables contribute to invasion. While a climate-based model may predict the future spread of an invasive plant, we hypothesized that a model that combined climate with human influences would most...

Wilhelm Hofmeister and the foundations of plant science.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Cyrus

2017-09-11

On January 12 th 1877, the Grim Reaper visited Wilhelm Hofmeister (Figure 1) for the last time. Having recently witnessed the death of a wife, two daughters, and two sons (only two of his nine children survived him), the German botanist, perhaps succumbing to the weight of his own grief, suffered a series of strokes and then promptly died at the age of 52 in Lindenau, Germany. He has since faded into the dusty annals of 19 th century botany, his contributions to our knowledge about plants, how they come into being, develop and interact with their environment, mostly forgotten. In an ode to Hofmeister marking 100 years since his birth, Douglas Haughton Campbell of Stanford University, referring to Hofmeister's studies in comparative morphology, wrote, "…there is no question that Hofmeister's work will remain as probably the most brilliant contribution ever made to this fundamental department of botany" [1]. And in an essay published in Plant Physiology, Donald Kaplan and Todd Cooke went further still, writing, "Frederich Wilhelm Benedikt Hofmeister stands as one of the most remarkable figures in the history of botany and one who made fundamental contributions to all areas of plant biology" [2]. If that wasn't enough, Kaplan and Cooke added "In terms of native genius, he is certainly the peer of both Darwin and Mendel and may have even exceeded them in the breadth and depth of his talents." Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flipped Classrooms for Advanced Science Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Tomory, Annette; Watson, Sunnie Lee

2015-12-01

This article explains how issues regarding dual credit and Advanced Placement high school science courses could be mitigated via a flipped classroom instructional model. The need for advanced high school courses will be examined initially, followed by an analysis of advanced science courses and the reform they are experiencing. Finally, it will conclude with an explanation of flipped classes as well as how they may be a solution to the reform challenges teachers are experiencing as they seek to incorporate more inquiry-based activities.

Advances in nuclear science and technology

CERN Document Server

Henley, Ernest J

1962-01-01

Advances in Nuclear Science and Technology, Volume 1 provides an authoritative, complete, coherent, and critical review of the nuclear industry. This book covers a variety of topics, including nuclear power stations, graft polymerization, diffusion in uranium alloys, and conventional power plants.Organized into seven chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the three stages of the operation of a power plant, either nuclear or conventionally fueled. This text then examines the major problems that face the successful development of commercial nuclear power plants. Other chapters consider

Facts or friction: the evolving role of science in phytosanitary issues

Science.gov (United States)

Eric Allen

2008-01-01

With the expansion of global trade, problems with invasive alien pests have also grown. In order to reduce the international movement of plant pests and protect valuable plant resources, national plant protection regulations and international standards continue to be developed. Science is critical to the development of effective national and international plant...

Journal of Biosciences | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Author Affiliations. R Chakrabarty1 N Viswakarma1 S R Bhat1 P B Kirti2 B D Singh3 V L Chopra1. National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi 110 012, India; Department of Plant Sciences, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad 500 046, India; School of Biotechnology, ...

The ability to manipulate plant glucosinolates and nutrients explains the better performance of Bemisia tabaci Middle East-Asia Minor 1 than Mediterranean on cabbage plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Hongying; Guo, Litao; Wang, Shaoli; Xie, Wen; Jiao, Xiaoguo; Wu, Qingjun; Zhang, Youjun

2017-08-01

The performance of herbivorous insects is greatly affected by host chemical defenses and nutritional quality. Some herbivores have developed the ability to manipulate plant defenses via signaling pathways. It is currently unclear, however, whether a herbivore can benefit by simultaneously reducing plant defenses and enhancing plant nutritional quality. Here, we show that the better performance of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1; formerly the "B" biotype) than Mediterranean (MED; formerly the "Q" biotype) on cabbage is associated with a suppression of glucosinolate (GS) content and an increase in amino acid supply in MEAM1-infested cabbage compared with MED-infested cabbage. MEAM1 had higher survival, higher fecundity, higher intrinsic rate of increase ( r m ), a longer life span, and a shorter developmental time than MED on cabbage plants. Amino acid content was higher in cabbage infested with MEAM1 than MED. Although infestation by either biotype decreased the levels of total GS, aliphatic GS, glucoiberin, sinigrin, glucobrassicin, and 4OH-glucobrassicin, and the expression of related genes in cabbage, MED infestation increased the levels of 4ME-glucobrassicin, neoglucobrassicin, progoitrin, and glucoraphanin. The GS content and expression of GS-related genes were higher in cabbage infested with MED than with MEAM1. Our results suggest that MEAM1 performs better than MED on cabbage by manipulating host defenses and nutritional quality.

Identifying the Factors Leading to Success: How an Innovative Science Curriculum Cultivates Student Motivation

Science.gov (United States)

Scogin, Stephen C.

2016-01-01

"PlantingScience" is an award-winning program recognized for its innovation and use of computer-supported scientist mentoring. Science learners work on inquiry-based experiments in their classrooms and communicate asynchronously with practicing plant scientist-mentors about the projects. The purpose of this study was to identify specific…

Critique and Fiction: Doing Science Right in Rural Education Research

Science.gov (United States)

Howley, Craig

2009-01-01

This essay explains the relevance of fiction to the practice of rural education research, in so doing engaging questions about the nature and purposes of research and, therefore, of science itself. Although many may assume science and fiction (in this account, novels) harbor contrary purposes and devices, this essay argues that, to the contrary,…

Legislator voting and behavioral science theory: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Tung, Gregory J; Vernick, Jon S; Reiney, Erin V; Gielen, Andrea C

2012-11-01

To examine the application of behavioral science theories to explain the voting behavior of legislators for public health policies. We conducted a systematic review to identify studies that examined factors associated with legislator support, intention to vote, or actual votes on public health policies, emphasizing those grounded in behavior science theory. Twenty-one papers met our inclusion criteria, and 6 were explicitly grounded in a behavioral science theory. Behavioral science theories, and the theory of planned behavior in particular, provide a framework for understanding legislator voting behavior and can be used by advocates to advance pro-health policies.

The development of Arabidopsis as a plant model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koornneef, M.; Meinke, D.W.

2010-01-01

Twenty-five years ago, Arabidopsis thaliana emerged as the model organism of choice for research in plant biology. A consensus was reached about the need to focus on a single organism to integrate the classical disciplines of plant science with the expanding fields of genetics and molecular biology.

Online Teaching Resources about Medicinal Plants and Ethnobotany

Science.gov (United States)

Straus, Kristina M.; Chudler, Eric H.

2016-01-01

Classroom exploration of plant-based medicines and ethnobotany is a timely and valuable way to engage students in science. This Feature highlights Internet-based resources to help teachers in primary and secondary classrooms incorporate lessons and activities to teach about plant medicines. These Internet resources include curricula, videos, sites…

Advantages of butterfly valves for power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lapadat, J.T.

1977-01-01

Butterfly valves are increasingly used in nuclear power plants. They are used in CANDU reactors for class 2 and 3 service, to provide emergency and tight shutoff valves for all inlets and outlets of heat exchangers and all calandria penetrations. Guidelines for meeting nuclear power plant valve specifications are set out in ASME Section 3, Nuclear Power Plant Components. Some details of materials of construction, type of actuator, etc., for various classes of nuclear service are tabulated in the present article. The 'fishtail' butterfly valve is an improved design with reduced drag, as is illustrated and explained. (N.D.H.)

Safety culture of nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Beixin

2008-01-01

This paper is a summary on the basis of DNMC safety culture training material for managerial personnel. It intends to explain the basic contents of safety, design, management, enterprise culture, safety culture of nuclear power plant and the relationship among them. It explains especially the constituent elements of safety culture system, the basic requirements for the three levels of commitments: policy level, management level and employee level. It also makes some analyses and judgments for some typical safety culture cases, for example, transparent culture and habitual violation of procedure. (authors)

In vitro embryo rescue and plant regeneration following self ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

EJIRO

2015-07-08

Jul 8, 2015 ... 2Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere ... Key words: Cassava, doubled haploids, embryo rescue, plant regeneration, pollen germination, pollen ... breeding as inbred lines are readily tested and used within a ... dominance, allowing the separation of homozygotes from.

NEON Citizen Science: Planning and Prototyping (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Gram, W.

2010-12-01

The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) will be a national resource for ecological research and education. NEON citizen science projects are being designed to increase awareness and educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change, land-use change, and invasive species on continental-scale ecological processes as well as expand NEON data collection capacity by enabling laypersons to collect geographically distributed data. The citizen science area of the NEON web portal will enable citizen scientists to collect, contribute, interpret, and visualize scientific data, as well as access training modules, collection protocols and targeted learning experiences related to citizen science project topics. For NEON, citizen science projects are a means for interested people to interact with and contribute to NEON science. Investigations at vast spatial and temporal scales often require rapid acquisition of large amounts of data from a geographically distributed population of “human sensors.” As a continental-scale ecological observatory, NEON is uniquely positioned to develop strategies to effectively integrate data collected by non-scientists into scientific databases. Ultimately, we plan to work collaboratively to transform the practice of science to include “citizens” or non-scientists in the process. Doing science is not limited to scientists, and breaking down the barriers between scientists and citizens will help people better understand the power of using science in their own decision making. In preparation for fully developing the NEON citizen science program, we are partnering with Project BudBurst (PBB), a citizen science project focused on monitoring plant phenology. The educational goals of PBB are to: (1) increase awareness of climate change, (2) educate citizen scientists about the impacts of climate change on plants and the environment, and (3) increase science literacy by engaging participants in the scientific process

Plant Biotech Lab Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

Tant, Carl

This book provides laboratory experiments to enhance any food science/botany curriculum. Chapter 1, "Introduction," presents a survey of the techniques used in plant biotechnology laboratory procedures. Chapter 2, "Micronutrition," discusses media and nutritional requirements for tissue culture studies. Chapter 3, "Sterile Seeds," focuses on the…

National Science Resources Center Project to Improve Science Teaching in Elementary Schools. Appendix C. Elementary Science Information Database

Science.gov (United States)

1988-12-01

individual particles. They mix the powders with water and perform tests with heat, iodine, and vinegar in order to gain additional information about the...illusions ; light ; fermentation ; chromatography ; moon ; astronomy AN SCIENCE - A PROCESS APPROACH, PART G focuses on experimentation, incorporating all...skills ; flowers plants astronomy ; animals ; sensory perception ; vision ; optical illusions ; eyes ; density ; viscosity ; fermentation ; moon

Automated hydroponics nutrition plants systems using arduino uno microcontroller based on android

Science.gov (United States)

Sihombing, P.; Karina, N. A.; Tarigan, J. T.; Syarif, M. I.

2018-03-01

Technological developments today make the combination of science is very common, including in Computer Science and Agriculture to make both of science need each other. This paper aims to develop a control tool for the flow of nutrients of hydroponic plants automatically using Arduino microcontroller and controlled by smartphone. We use an Arduino Uno microcontroller to automatically control the flow of nutrient solution with logic if else. The microcontroller can also send data of fluid level (solution) and temperature around the plant to smartphone android of the owner of the hydroponics plant. The height of the nutrient solution (water) is detected by the Ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04 and the temperature is detected by the temperature sensor LM35. Data from the sensor will forward into Arduino Uno and displayed in liquid crystal display (LCD) then via wireless fidelity (WIFI) ESP8266 module will transmit the height of the nutrient solution and the temperature around of the plants to Android smartphone.

Science toys

Science.gov (United States)

Crease, Robert P.

2009-01-01

"I have a low boredom threshold," Tim Rowett explains, ushering in my son Alex and me. Rowett is a jovial, professorishlooking man with wire-rimmed glasses and a short, white beard. Alex and I have gone to his flat in Twickenham, on the edge of London, to see his collection of fun stuff - jokes, games, puzzles and other toys related to science. When I ask what they have in common, Rowett has a ready, if not illuminating, answer: "They're just things that make people go 'Wow!'."

Resonance – Journal of Science Education | Indian Academy of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 22; Issue 10. Science Academies' Refresher Course in Plant Taxonomy and Ethnobotany. Information and Announcements Volume 22 Issue 10 October 2017 pp 975-975. Fulltext. Click here to view fulltext PDF. Permanent link:

The good and the bad of poisonous plants: an introduction to the USDA-ARS Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Welch, Kevin D; Panter, Kip E; Gardner, Dale R; Stegelmeier, Bryan L

2012-06-01

This article provides an overview of the Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory (PPRL), about the unique services and activities of the PPRL and the potential assistance that they can provide to plant poisoning incidences. The PPRL is a federal research laboratory. It is part of the Agricultural Research Service, the in-house research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The mission of the PPRL is to identify toxic plants and their toxic compounds, determine how the plants poison animals, and develop diagnostic and prognostic procedures for poisoned animals. Furthermore, the PPRL's mission is to identify the conditions under which poisoning occurs and develop management strategies and treatments to reduce losses. Information obtained through research efforts at the PPRL is mostly used by the livestock industry, natural resource managers, veterinarians, chemists, plant and animal scientists, extension personnel, and other state and federal agencies. PPRL currently has 9 scientists and 17 support staff, representing various disciplines consisting of toxicology, reproductive toxicology, veterinary medicine, chemistry, animal science, range science, and plant physiology. This team of scientists provides an interdisciplinary approach to applied and basic research to develop solutions to plant intoxications. While the mission of the PPRL primarily impacts the livestock industry, spinoff benefits such as development of animal models, isolation and characterization of novel compounds, elucidation of biological and molecular mechanisms of action, national and international collaborations, and outreach efforts are significant to biomedical researchers. The staff at the PPRL has extensive knowledge regarding a number of poisonous plants. Although the focus of their knowledge is on plants that affect livestock, oftentimes, these plants are also poisonous to humans, and thus, similar principles could apply for cases of human poisonings. Consequently, the information provided

Outline and operations of benzene plant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Omori, S; Hirooka, N; Nakamura, M; Goto, T

1983-01-01

An account is given of plant which can process 130,000 tonnes of by-product coke oven gas light oil (GLO) per year (via hydrodesulfurization, extraction and distillation) to produce benzene, toluene and xylene. The flowsheets and component equipment of the various production processes are explained, together with special features such as the production of hydrogen from coke oven gas by the PSA process and the processing of GLO by the ARCO process. Plant operation is outlined and the results of performance tests are noted.

Enhancing Life Sciences Teachers' Biodiversity Knowledge

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper provides insights into how Life Sciences teachers in the Eastern Cape ..... Even simulations, in most cases they are quite artificial in the sense that the ... explain the concept of human impacts on biodiversity; and field activities were .... integrated and applied knowledge required for quality teaching (disciplinary, ...

Volatile science? Metabolic engineering of terpenoids in plants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Aharoni, A.; Jongsma, M.A.; Bouwmeester, H.J.

2005-01-01

Terpenoids are important for plant survival and also possess biological properties that are beneficial to humans. Here, we describe the state of the art in terpenoid metabolic engineering, showing that significant progress has been made over the past few years. Subcellular targeting of enzymes has

Improvements in the nuclear power plants - a permanent task for the plant management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Langetepe, G.

1991-01-01

The main motives of the operators of nuclear power plants for carrying out backfitting measures are given by the following objectives: (1) to operate the nuclear power plants, older ones too, at a high level of safety, and to keep a lowest possible difference to the respective level of science and technology, (2) to ensure preconditions for a best possible economical operation, also with changing cost structures, (3) to create preconditions for the longest possible operational time. Operational times of more than 40 years have been throught to be realistic. A constant analysis of the operational safety of the whole plant is necessary for laying down the measures for backfitting of the plant. This analysis must also include the valuation of the nuclear safety in accordance with the progressive level of sience and technology. The proccess of backfitting in the German nuclear power plants will be illustrated with the help of several examples. (orig.) [de

Basic versus applied research: Julius Sachs (1832-1897) and the experimental physiology of plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Kutschera, Ulrich

2015-01-01

The German biologist Julius Sachs was the first to introduce controlled, accurate, quantitative experimentation into the botanical sciences, and is regarded as the founder of modern plant physiology. His seminal monograph Experimental-Physiologie der Pflanzen (Experimental Physiology of Plants) was published 150 y ago (1865), when Sachs was employed as a lecturer at the Agricultural Academy in Poppelsdorf/Bonn (now part of the University). This book marks the beginning of a new era of basic and applied plant science. In this contribution, I summarize the achievements of Sachs and outline his lasting legacy. In addition, I show that Sachs was one of the first biologists who integrated bacteria, which he considered to be descendants of fungi, into the botanical sciences and discussed their interaction with land plants (degradation of wood etc.). This "plant-microbe-view" of green organisms was extended and elaborated by the laboratory botanist Wilhelm Pfeffer (1845-1920), so that the term "Sachs-Pfeffer-Principle of Experimental Plant Research" appears to be appropriate to characterize this novel way of performing scientific studies on green, photoautotrophic organisms (embryophytes, algae, cyanobacteria).

Interdisciplinary Study of Numerical Methods and Power Plants Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana OPRIS

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The development of technology, electronics and computing opened the way for a cross-disciplinary research that brings benefits by combining the achievements of different fields. To prepare the students for their future interdisciplinary approach,aninterdisciplinary teaching is adopted. This ensures their progress in knowledge, understanding and ability to navigate through different fields. Aiming these results, the Universities introduce new interdisciplinary courses which explore complex problems by studying subjects from different domains. The paper presents a problem encountered in designingpower plants. The method of solvingthe problem isused to explain the numerical methods and to exercise programming.The goal of understanding a numerical algorithm that solves a linear system of equations is achieved by using the knowledge of heat transfer to design the regenerative circuit of a thermal power plant. In this way, the outcomes from the prior courses (mathematics and physics are used to explain a new subject (numerical methods and to advance future ones (power plants.

“Women in Science: A career in Science”

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

ranjeetha

2014-10-17

Oct 17, 2014 ... The Council of the Indian Academy of Sciences had in January 2003 constituted a committee on "Women in. Science" to look ... (WiS), in January 2005, to study the issues of women scientists and to suggest measures for obtaining suitable solutions. ... Engineering Plants for the Changing Climatic Scenario.

Assessment of plant biomass and nitrogen nutrition with plant height in early-to mid-season corn.

Science.gov (United States)

Yin, Xinhua; Hayes, Robert M; McClure, M Angela; Savoy, Hubert J

2012-10-01

The physiological basis for using non-destructive high-resolution measurements of plant height through plant height sensing to guide variable-rate nitrogen (N) applications on corn (Zea mays L.) during early (six-leaf growth stage, V6) to mid (V12) season is largely unknown. This study was conducted to assess the relationships of plant biomass and leaf N with plant height in early- to mid-season corn under six different N rate treatments. Corn plant biomass was significantly and positively related to plant height under an exponential model when both were measured at V6. This relationship explained 62-78% of the variations in corn biomass production. Leaf N concentration was, in general, significantly and positively related to plant height when both were measured at V6, V8, V10 and V12. This relationship became stronger as the growing season progressed from V6 to V12. The relationship of leaf N with plant height in early- to mid-season corn was affected by initial soil N fertility and abnormal weather conditions. The relationship of leaf N concentration with plant height may provide a physiological basis for using plant height sensing to guide variable-rate N applications on corn. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

Advances in software science and technology

CERN Document Server

Hikita, Teruo; Kakuda, Hiroyasu

1993-01-01

Advances in Software Science and Technology, Volume 4 provides information pertinent to the advancement of the science and technology of computer software. This book discusses the various applications for computer systems.Organized into two parts encompassing 10 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the historical survey of programming languages for vector/parallel computers in Japan and describes compiling methods for supercomputers in Japan. This text then explains the model of a Japanese software factory, which is presented by the logical configuration that has been satisfied by

Embracing community ecology in plant microbiome research

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dini-Andreote, F.; Raaijmakers, J.M.

2018-01-01

Community assembly is mediated by selection, dispersal, drift, and speciation. Environmental selection is mostly used to date to explain patterns in plant microbiome assembly, whereas the influence of the other processes remains largely elusive. Recent studies highlight that adopting community

How do Plants Absorb Nutrients from the Soil? - Study of Nutrient ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Logo of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Indian Academy of Sciences. Home · About ... Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 3; Issue 7. How do Plants Absorb Nutrients from the ... Author Affiliations. G Sivakumar Swamy1. Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad 580 003, India.

Phenological changes in bamboo carbohydrates explain the preference for culm over leaves by giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca during spring.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katrina K Knott

Full Text Available Seasonal changes in the foodscape force herbivores to select different plant species or plant parts to meet nutritional requirements. We examined whether the search for calorie-rich carbohydrates explained giant panda's selection for bamboo culm over leaves during spring. Leaves and culms were collected from four Phyllostachys bamboos (P. aurea, P. aureosulcata, P. glauca, and P. nuda once per month over 18-27 months. Monthly changes in annual plant part nutrients were examined, and compared to seasonal foraging behaviors of captive giant pandas. Although total fiber was greater (p<0.0001 in culm (85.6 ± 0.5% than leaves (55.3 ± 0.4% throughout the year, culm fiber was at its lowest in spring (79-85% when culm selection by giant pandas exceeded 70% of their overall diet. Culm starch also was greatest (p = 0.044 during spring (5.5 ± 1.1% and 2.5-fold the percentage of starch in leaves (2.2 ± 0.6%. The free sugars in spring culm consisted of a high proportion of glucose (35% and fructose (47%, whereas sucrose made up 42% of the total free sugar content of spring leaves. Bound sugars in culm consisted of 60% glucose and 38% xylose likely representative of hemicellulose. The concentrations of bound sugars (hemicelluloses in spring culms (543.7 ± 13.0 mg/g was greater (p<0.001 than in leaves (373.0 ± 14.8 mg/g. These data help explain a long-standing question in giant panda foraging ecology: why consume the plant part with the lowest protein and fat during the energetically intensive spring breeding season? Giant pandas likely prefer spring culm that contains abundant mono- and polysaccharides made more bioavailable as a result of reduced fiber content. These data suggest that phenological changes in bamboo plant part nutrition drive foraging decisions by giant pandas.

Biowaste-derived hydrolysates as plant disease suppressants for oilseed rape

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Jindřichová, Barbora; Burketová, Lenka; Montoneri, E.; Francavilla, M.

2018-01-01

Roč. 183, MAY 10 (2018), s. 335-342 ISSN 0959-6526 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LD14056 Institutional support: RVO:61389030 Keywords : Biogas digestate * Compost * Induced resistance * Leptosphaeria maculans * Oilseed rape Subject RIV: GF - Plant Pathology, Vermin, Weed, Plant Protection OBOR OECD: Plant sciences, botany Impact factor: 5.715, year: 2016

Plant genetic resources management in Ghana: Some challenges in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Plant genetic resources management in Ghana: Some challenges in legumes. ... Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science ... The Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, serving as the national gene bank of Ghana, together with other stakeholders, had made strenuous efforts in managing the legume genetic resources in ...

Simulation technology for power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuwabara, Kazuo; Yanai, Katsuya.

1988-01-01

In the simulation of nuclear power stations, there are the simulation for the training of plant operation, the plant simulation for analyzing the operation of an electric power system, the simulation for controlling a core, the simulation for the safety analysis of reactors, the simulation for the design analysis of plants and so on as the typical ones. The outline and the technical features of these simulations are described. With the increase of capacity and complexity of thermal power plants, recently the automation of operation has advanced rapidly. The chance of starting up and stopping plants by operators themselves is few, and the chance of actually experiencing troubles also is few as the reliability of plants improved. In order to maintain the ability of coping with plant abnormality, an operation supporting system is strongly demanded. Operation training simulators and used widely now, and there are the simulators for analysis, those of replica type, those of versatile compact type and so on. The system configuration, modeling techniques, training function and others of the replica type are explained. In hydroelectric plants, the behavior of water in penstocks, the characteristics of water turbines, the speed control system for water turbines and the characteristics of generators become the main subjects of simulation. These are described. (Kako, I.)

The Level of Power Quality Measurement and Evaluation in A Stone Crusher Plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mustafa ŞEKKELİ

2009-03-01

Full Text Available Both electric utilities and end users of electric power are becoming increasingly concerned about the quality of electric power. Quality of electrical energy in the electrical system that is requested continuous power (uninterrupted power, constant frequency and with constant amplitude can be explained by sinusoidal voltage. Deformation of voltage in the form of sinusoidal waveform is explained as a harmonic. Harmonics are most important factors in decreasing quality of energy in the electrical system. In industrial plants, existence of harmocins and voltage drop, causes serious problems both in plant and network. This problem affects the cost. In this study, a power quality measurements are carried out in stone crusher plant. Harmonics and voltage drop has been measured and evaluated with the power analyzer. In the power quality measurements, harmonic level of the plant is not so bad. However, it is recommended that compensation system with harmonic elimination can be established in plant.

Why Do Women Leave Science and Engineering?

OpenAIRE

Hunt, Jennifer

2012-01-01

I use the 1993 and 2003 National Surveys of College Graduates to examine the higher exit rate of women compared to men from science and engineering relative to other fields. I find that the higher relative exit rate is driven by engineering rather than science, and show that 60\\% of the gap can be explained by the relatively greater exit rate from engineering of women dissatisfied with pay and promotion opportunities. Contrary to the existing literature, I find that family--related constraint...

Effect of plant spacing and variety on weed and performance of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ACSS

1College of Crop and Soil Sciences, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State,. Nigeria. 2National ... Key words: Plant spacing, variety, yield, orange-fleshed, sweet potato, Nigeria. Introduction ... fertiliser (15:15:15) at 400kg/ha was ..... Sattelmacher, B. 2001. Plant ... rapa) plant density influence Tartary.

Common cause failure rate estimates for diesel generators in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Steverson, J.A.; Atwood, C.L.

1982-01-01

Common cause fault rates for diesel generators in nuclear power plants are estimated, using Licensee Event Reports for the years 1976 through 1978. The binomial failure rate method, used for obtaining the estimates, is briefly explained. Issues discussed include correct classification of common cause events, grouping of the events into homogeneous data subsets, and dealing with plant-to-plant variation

Rodent seed predation as a biotic filter influencing exotic plant abundance and distribution

Science.gov (United States)

D. E. Pearson; J. L. Hierro; M. Chiuffo; D. Villarreal

2014-01-01

Biotic resistance is commonly invoked to explain why many exotic plants fail to thrive in introduced ranges, but the role of seed predation as an invasion filter is understudied. Abiotic conditions may also influence plant populations and can interact with consumers to determine plant distributions, but how these factors jointly influence invasions is poorly understood...

The Benefits of Using Engineering as a Context for Science Lessons

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Gemma

2014-01-01

"Real life" learning has often been suggested as a good method for engaging students in the science curriculum. In this article, an evidence-based rationale for the use of engineering as a context for "real life" science study is explained. This has been achieved through development work undertaken by the National Science…

Bridging Human and Natural Sciences for a Better Understanding of Urban Floral Patterns: the Role of Planting Practices in Mediterranean Gardens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Audrey Marco

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Biodiversity research in urban settings constitutes an interdisciplinary field combining both the natural and human sciences. A full understanding of the patterns and processes underlying the dynamic of biodiversity in urban ecosystems needs to include humans in models of ecological functioning. We focus on the planting practices of gardeners to identify the bottom-up and top-down human influences on the floral diversity of the Mediterranean gardens in an urbanizing rural zone. An initial ecological study of cultivated flora in 120 private gardens showing floristic pattern variations along an urbanization gradient was combined with a sociological survey. This survey aimed at collecting reasons for planting in gardens in connection with cultivated species. These reasons were classified into categories and analyzed according to the frequency of cultivated species within the entire gradient. Floristic heterogeneity in gardens, represented by the richness of uncommon species, is predominantly caused by social factors, particularly related to the practices and social networks of gardeners who tend to diversify the range of species that are planted. Floristic uniformity, defined by a high frequency of occurrence of plant species, results not only from social factors but also from natural factors that exert high pressure in the Mediterranean region. This "floristic norm" is also influenced by the urban context, which can modify the expression of natural and social factors and lead to differences in plant species compositions between housing density zones. More generally, these results stress the importance of considering both individual choices and city-level influences through an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the underlying processes that establish urban biodiversity patterns at a small scale.

Super-resolution Microscopy in Plant Cell Imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Komis, George; Šamajová, Olga; Ovečka, Miroslav; Šamaj, Jozef

2015-12-01

Although the development of super-resolution microscopy methods dates back to 1994, relevant applications in plant cell imaging only started to emerge in 2010. Since then, the principal super-resolution methods, including structured-illumination microscopy (SIM), photoactivation localization microscopy (PALM), stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), and stimulated emission depletion microscopy (STED), have been implemented in plant cell research. However, progress has been limited due to the challenging properties of plant material. Here we summarize the basic principles of existing super-resolution methods and provide examples of applications in plant science. The limitations imposed by the nature of plant material are reviewed and the potential for future applications in plant cell imaging is highlighted. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plant biotechnology patents: applications in agriculture and medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Hefferon, Kathleen

2010-06-01

Recent advances in agricultural biotechnology have enabled the field of plant biology to move forward in great leaps and bounds. In particular, recent breakthroughs in molecular biology, plant genomics and crop science have brought about a paradigm shift of thought regarding the manner by which plants can be utilized both in agriculture and in medicine. Besides the more well known improvements in agronomic traits of crops such as disease resistance and drought tolerance, plants can now be associated with topics as diverse as biofuel production, phytoremediation, the improvement of nutritional qualities in edible plants, the identification of compounds for medicinal purposes in plants and the use of plants as therapeutic protein production platforms. This diversification of plant science has been accompanied by the great abundance of new patents issued in these fields and, as many of these inventions approach commercial realization, the subsequent increase in agriculturally-based industries. While this review chapter is written primarily for plant scientists who have great interest in the new directions being taken with respect to applications in agricultural biotechnology, those in other disciplines, such as medical researchers, environmental scientists and engineers, may find significant value in reading this article as well. The review attempts to provide an overview of the most recent patents issued for plant biotechnology with respect to both agriculture and medicine. The chapter concludes with the proposal that the combined driving forces of climate change, as well as the ever increasing needs for clean energy and food security will play a pivotal role in leading the direction for applied plant biotechnology research in the future.

NASA-HBCU Space Science and Engineering Research Forum Proceedings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanders, Y.D.; Freeman, Y.B.; George, M.C.

1989-01-01

The proceedings of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) forum are presented. A wide range of research topics from plant science to space science and related academic areas was covered. The sessions were divided into the following subject areas: Life science; Mathematical modeling, image processing, pattern recognition, and algorithms; Microgravity processing, space utilization and application; Physical science and chemistry; Research and training programs; Space science (astronomy, planetary science, asteroids, moon); Space technology (engineering, structures and systems for application in space); Space technology (physics of materials and systems for space applications); and Technology (materials, techniques, measurements)

Ethical issues in communicating science.

Science.gov (United States)

Garrett, J M; Bird, S J

2000-10-01

Most of the publicized work on scientific ethics concentrates on establishing professional norms and avoiding misconduct. The successful communication of science is the responsibility of all involved in the process. In one study, the increased incidence of autism and other social developmental disorders in males was investigated by examining individuals with Turner's syndrome (XO females). In the national newspaper this became "Genetic X-factor explains why boys will always be boys". The steps by which a study on developmental disorders, published in a highly prestigious journal, was transformed into an article in the science section which 'explained' the socially expected gender-based behavior of genetically normal children are fascinating and, unfortunately far too typical. The scientists wrote an excellent article that has just one sentence at the end that hesitantly suggests that the findings might, with further study, have some relevance to understanding normal behavior. The general interest article in the front of the journal gave a good account of the research, but suggested more strongly that there could be an in-built biological dimorphism in social cognition. This was misrepresented in the press as proof of gender differences that "undermines the trend towards sexual equality", and both illustrates cultural bias and provides fodder for feminist critiques of science. The study has been made to appear to be biased in favor of justifying the social structure of society, and yet it was the translation from the scientific study to national news that produced this transformation to biased genetic determinism. It is poor communication of the actual science, coupled with a lack of skepticism on the part of the public, that contributes to such a misapplication of science. Scientists should resist the urge to generalize their results to make them more compelling. The science community should not allow misconstructions of scientific facts to go unchallenged

Can differences in phosphorus uptake kinetics explain the distribution of cattail and sawgrass in the Florida Everglades?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

McKee Karen L

2010-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Cattail (Typha domingensis has been spreading in phosphorus (P enriched areas of the oligotrophic Florida Everglades at the expense of sawgrass (Cladium mariscus spp. jamaicense. Abundant evidence in the literature explains how the opportunistic features of Typha might lead to a complete dominance in P-enriched areas. Less clear is how Typha can grow and acquire P at extremely low P levels, which prevail in the unimpacted areas of the Everglades. Results Apparent P uptake kinetics were measured for intact plants of Cladium and Typha acclimated to low and high P at two levels of oxygen in hydroponic culture. The saturated rate of P uptake was higher in Typha than in Cladium and higher in low-P acclimated plants than in high-P acclimated plants. The affinity for P uptake was two-fold higher in Typha than in Cladium, and two- to three-fold higher for low-P acclimated plants compared to high-P acclimated plants. As Cladium had a greater proportion of its biomass allocated to roots, the overall uptake capacity of the two species at high P did not differ. At low P availability, Typha increased biomass allocation to roots more than Cladium. Both species also adjusted their P uptake kinetics, but Typha more so than Cladium. The adjustment of the P uptake system and increased biomass allocation to roots resulted in a five-fold higher uptake per plant for Cladium and a ten-fold higher uptake for Typha. Conclusions Both Cladium and Typha adjust P uptake kinetics in relation to plant demand when P availability is high. When P concentrations are low, however, Typha adjusts P uptake kinetics and also increases allocation to roots more so than Cladium, thereby improving both efficiency and capacity of P uptake. Cladium has less need to adjust P uptake kinetics because it is already efficient at acquiring P from peat soils (e.g., through secretion of phosphatases, symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, nutrient conservation growth

Popper, Rationality and the Possibility of Social Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danny Frederick

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Social science employs teleological explanations which depend upon the rationality principle, according to which people exhibit instrumental rationality. Popper points out that people also exhibit critical rationality, the tendency to stand back from, and to question or criticise, their views. I explain how our critical rationality impugns the explanatory value of the rationality principle and thereby threatens the very possibility of social science. I discuss the relationship between instrumental and critical rationality and show how we can reconcile our critical rationality with the possibility of social science if we invoke Popper’s conception of limited rationality and his indeterminism.

Job creation, heterogeneous workers and technical change : matched worker/plant data : evidence from Norway

OpenAIRE

Salvanes, Kjell G.; Førre, Svein Erik

2001-01-01

Abstract: Using matched worker/plant level data for Norway, theories explaining the change in skill composition are assessed using direct evidence on the job creation and destruction for high, medium and low skilled workers. Skill based job creation is analysed in detail for plants in a high-skill service sector and in low- and high-tech manufacturing sectors. Given a compressed wage structure in Norway and increased supply of high skilled workers, the supply of skills may also explain the...

Floating plant dominance as a stable state

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Scheffer, M.; Szabo, S.; Gragnani, A.; Nes, van E.H.; Rinaldi, S.; Kautsky, N.; Norberg, J.; Roijackers, R.M.M.; Franken, R.J.M.

2003-01-01

The authors demonstrate that floating-plant dominance can be a self-stabilizing ecosystem state, which may explain its notorious persistence in many situations. Their results, based on experiments, field data, and models (in Dutch ditches and Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe), represent evidence for

Administrative procedures for regulating construction and operation of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cochaud, J.P.

1981-01-01

This article first explains that nuclear power plants in France are governed by a complex system of regulations within the framework of different laws concerning, in particular, protection of the environment, public health and workers. It then examines the administrative procedures and the licensing regime for nuclear power plants. (NEA) [fr

Science and society

CERN Document Server

Avery, John Scales

2017-01-01

The latest advancements and discoveries in science have made, and continue to make, a huge impact on our lives. This book is a history of the social impact of science and technology from the beginnings of civilization up to the present. The book explains how the key inventions: agriculture, writing and printing with movable type, initiated an explosive growth of knowledge and human power over the environment. It also shows how the Industrial Revolution changed the relationship between humans and nature, and initiated a massive use of fossil fuels. Problems related to nuclear power, nuclear weapons, genetic engineering, information technology, exhaustion of non-renewable resources, use of fossil fuels and climate change are examined in the later chapters of the book. Finally, the need for ethical maturity to match our scientific progress is discussed.

Resonance – Journal of Science Education | Indian Academy of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education. Thomas G Shanower. Articles written in Resonance – Journal of Science Education. Volume 3 Issue 3 March 1998 pp 41-45 General Article. Plant Glandular Trichomes Chemical Factories with Many Potential Uses · A John Peter Thomas G Shanower.

Trends in the Use of Supplementary Materials in Environmental Science Journals

Science.gov (United States)

Kenyon, Jeremy; Sprague, Nancy R.

2014-01-01

Our research examined the use of supplementary materials in six environmental science disciplines: atmospheric sciences, biology, fisheries, forestry, geology, and plant sciences. Ten key journals were selected from each of these disciplines and the number of supplementary materials, such as data files or videos, in each issue was noted over a…

PWR plant construction in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tamura, Toshifumi

2002-01-01

The construction methods based on the experiences on the Nuclear Island, which is a critical path in the total construction schedule, have been studied and reconsidered in order to construct by more reliable and economical method. So various improved construction method are being applied and the duration of construction is being reduced continuously. So various improved construction method are being applied and the duration of construction is being reduced continuously. In this paper, the history of construction of twenty-three (23) PWR Plant, the actual construction methods and schedule of Ohi-3/4, to which the many improved methods were applied during their construction, are introduced mainly with the improved points for previously constructed plants. And also the situation of construction method for the next PWR Plant is simply explained

State of the science and challenges of breeding landscape plants with ecological function

Science.gov (United States)

Wilde, H Dayton; Gandhi, Kamal J K; Colson, Gregory

2015-01-01

Exotic plants dominate esthetically-managed landscapes, which cover 30–40 million hectares in the United States alone. Recent ecological studies have found that landscaping with exotic plant species can reduce biodiversity on multiple trophic levels. To support biodiversity in urbanized areas, the increased use of native landscaping plants has been advocated by conservation groups and US federal and state agencies. A major challenge to scaling up the use of native species in landscaping is providing ornamental plants that are both ecologically functional and economically viable. Depending on ecological and economic constraints, accelerated breeding approaches could be applied to ornamental trait development in native plants. This review examines the impact of landscaping choices on biodiversity, the current status of breeding and selection of native ornamental plants, and the interdisciplinary research needed to scale up landscaping plants that can support native biodiversity. PMID:26504560

Diverse urban plantings managed with sufficient resource availability can increase plant productivity and arthropod diversity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathon eMuller

2014-10-01