Search

"Proceedings of International Conference on Research in Education and Science" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Research in Education and Science (ICRES) which took place on April 1-4, 2021 in Antalya, Turkey. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, to discuss theoretical and practical issues and to connect with the leaders in the fields of education and science. The conference is organized annually by the International Society for Technology, Education, and Science (ISTES). The ICRES invites submissions which address the theory, research or applications in all disciplines of education and science. The ICRES is organized for: faculty members in all disciplines of education and science, graduate students, K-12 administrators, teachers, principals and all interested in education and science. After peer-reviewing process, all full papers are published in the Conference Proceedings. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

A word association test was used to determine knowledge structures on biochemistry concepts of secondary school chemistry students, aged between 18-19 years. The basic biochemistry concepts related to the topic of Carbohydrates that take place in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme curriculum were determined as stimulus words: "Monosaccharides", "Glucose", "Cellular respiration", "Fructose", "Disaccharides", "Glycosidic bonds", "Polysaccharides", "Starch". Students were required to provide response words for each of the eight stimulus words within the pre-determined period of time. Analysis of data was done in order to find the stimulus words with the highest number of associations in students' knowledge structures and to calculate the relatedness coefficient between the stimulus words, in order to construct the relatedness networks that should model the students' knowledge structures. The results showed that students managed to relate most of the stimulus words with strong or medium strength links, however, "Cellular respiration" remained unconnected to other stimulus words in the students' knowledge structures. [For the full proceedings, see ED629086.]

Gamification is a very useful technique, that has been fully increasing in the last years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our innovation teaching group sent to our students several games, that were used by them for self-studying. Considering that many numerical problems can be proposed in Biochemistry, rather than numerical games (sudoku, adding and subtracting number games, …) word games were preferred to learn biomolecule nomenclature. Among these word games, we adapted to Biochemistry: connecting dots, labyrinths, mazes, matching two sets, amidakuji, logic games, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, knight's tour games or anagrams. In this work, we present several games related to labyrinths and mazes. Connecting dot games were adapted to Biochemistry by using intermediate metabolite of a pathway instead of numbers to develop a picture when connecting the dots. Anyway, as pathways don't contain a big number of metabolites, no difficult pictures can be used. Thus, a labyrinth with questions and answers and letters connecting questions with answers can be better used. Correct answers can develop the letters of a biomolecule's name. Other kind of labyrinth can be those where the letters can be taken from the shortest route. Labyrinths can also be used to develop a word following the route in labyrinths and taking letters to get the word, as an anagram. Several examples are shown hereby, adapted for Biochemistry students of Chemistry degree. [For the full proceedings, see ED654100.]

Failing test scores in reading proficiency have been a blemish on our nation's report card for decades as scores have remained static despite the readily-available information on language and literacy attainment, and the employment of research-based strategies in classrooms. While we continue our quest to efficiently bolster reading skills, a less obvious solution may have little to do with literacy and everything to do with neuroscience. Over 60% of youths have suffered from one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and children who experience adversity are more likely to struggle in school. Cortisol, a hormone released under stress, limits brain function and negatively impacts one's working memory, decision-making skills, and attention, all of which are required for reading proficiency. Researchers have proven that oxytocin, the "love hormone", reverses the effects of cortisol and is easily triggered in classroom settings via physical contact. By reversing the effects of cortisol, students will have the "mental real estate" to learn and retain the skills and knowledge necessary to become proficient readers. [For the full proceedings, see ED656038.]

Games are fully accepted by students, as they stimulate memory, activate reasoning capacities in brain, improve the knowledge and keep out the stress. Our innovation teaching group is interested in using games for teaching Biochemistry of the Chemistry degree. Most of the individual games found in Internet are classified in numerical games (sudoku, calculation games, a grid to paint black squares depending on the file and column numbers, …) and word games (anagrams, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, connecting dots, mazes, labyrinths, matching two sets, amidakuji, logic games, or knight's tour games). Biochemistry books often contain glossaries and word index, and usually students must learn many difficult words, including biomolecules. In Chemical degree, it is important that students also know the structure of these biomolecules. In this work, we present some examples of chained-words games. Some of these games can be difficult to prepare, as most of the biomolecules end in -ose (most carbohydrates), -ase (most enzymes), whereas not many biomolecules begin with e-. Thus, domino games can be a good option to learn two aspects of biomolecules: structure and nomenclature. Dominoes tiles contain two zones (one with a structure of a molecule, and the other with the name of another molecule). Student must fit the structure of one molecule with its name, thus learning both structure and name. Depending on the dominoes, this game can be played individually or in groups of students. The game was very appreciated by all our students. [For the full proceedings, see ED630948.]

Games are highly appreciated by the population, so due to the COVID-19 pandemic confinement we decided to carry out an Internet research of several games, in order to use them for the assimilation of new words of Biochemical students. Games found in puzzle books allow the stimulation of memory, reasoning and other brain capacities, such as keeping us out of stress and improving our knowledge. For this reason, we thought that they could be interesting for relieving students of the stress of confinement, and at the same time allowing to learn Biochemical words with those games. Games found in puzzle books are based on two types of problems, based in numbers or in letters. Among the games based in numbers, the most frequent include sudokus, suzenjou, kakuros, arithmograms; while those based in letters include crosswords, self-defined, and games of words or letters. We decided to perform various puzzles based on letters, and the easiest to implement were those based on words and syllables games. The simplest word games are based on searching within a set of words, those that have some part in common. In this sense, we invented rhyming games, in which words ended in -ine (frequent ending of amino acids, nitrogenous bases, nucleosides and some proteins), in -ose (frequent ending in carbohydrates), or in -ic / -ate (frequent termination of fatty acids and other intermediate acids of metabolism, or of their corresponding salts). Thus, the students were able to observe these characteristics in the nomenclature. On the other hand, incomplete word games allow you to fill in the names of the metabolites using groups of letters to choose from. Our proposal includes various word games that we can apply to the Biochemistry course so that students remember them. [For the full proceedings, see ED626668.]

The aim of research was validation of a method for the assessment of cognitive complexity of chemical technology problem tasks. The method included an assessment of the difficulty of concepts and an assessment of their interactivity. As a research instrument for assessing performance, test of knowledge was used. Each task in the test was followed by a 5-point Likert scale for the evaluation of invested mental effort. The validity of this method was confirmed by a series of linear regression analysis where extremely high values of correlation coefficients are obtained among the examined variables: student's performance, invested mental effort and cognitive complexity. Keywords: cognitive complexity, problem solving, chemical technology. [For the full proceedings, see ED619611.]

The aim of the International Society for Technology, Education, and Science (iHSES) conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, discuss theoretical and practical issues, and connect with the leaders in the fields of "humanities," "education" and "social sciences." It is organized for: (1) faculty members in all disciplines of humanities, education and social sciences; (2) graduate students; (3) K-12 administrators; (4) teachers; (5) principals; and (6) all interested in education and social sciences. [Individual papers are indexed in ERIC.]

The objective of the present work was to evaluate the possibility of converting three different kinds of paper sludge (PS) into ethanol using xylose-fermenting yeast SHY07-1 and common yeast SHY08-3 in separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF). Effects of pH, temperature and enzyme loading on saccharification of different PS were investigated and the enzymatic hydrolysis performance of chemical pulping PS was superior to that of deinking PS. The hydrolysate produced from enzymatically-digested PS (on a consistency of 6% (w/v, expressed in terms of total carbohydrate mass)) was fermented by yeast without prior detoxification and nutrient supplementation. A final ethanol concentration of 34.72 and 29.29 g/L was achieved by SHY07-1 and SHY08-3 separately, corresponding to an ethanol yield of 0.42 and 0.41 g/g with a fermentation efficiency of 80.84% and 68.18%. The results indicate that PS can be enzymatically hydrolyzed without pretreatment and the hydrolysate can be fermented efficiently to ethanol by using xylose-fermenting yeast SHY07-1. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ancylis sativa Liu is a kind of insects to cause severe damage to jujube trees. This paper studies the recognition of Ancylis sativa Liu from catchers via using computer vision technique. The image of a Ancylis sativa catcher generally shows not only Ancylis sativa but also other objects. Consequently it leads to that the image has a complicated background and an uncertain interesting region. Ancylis sativa Liu are able successfully to be recognized from the image as follows. Firstly, the region of interest is extracted from the image by enhancing the contrast of Ancylis sativa Liu to the background. Secondly, the outline of Ancylis sativa Liu shape is drawn by identifying the vertexes of the object figure. The recognition of Ancylis sativa Liu is effective and practical. It can be expected to be applied to the detections of similar kinds of jujube insects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Metallurgical coke, as a fuel and a reducing agent, also allows for the gas to go through a charge in the blast furnace. The coke must have a strength, porosity, reactivity and a uniform granulation, because reaction of CO2 at high temperatures in the furnace. There are various mathematical models for the optimization of coal blend, which allow the forecasting of mechanical properties of coke in cold conditions as well as at high temperatures and presence of blast furnace gas. The so-called Modified Basicity Index (MBI) model is used for forecasting the following coke quality parameters: CRI (coke reactivity index) and CSR (coke strength after reaction with CO2), based on the content of volatile matters and ash in coal, as well as the chemical composition of coal ash. In this paper will be given the calculation of coke quality parameters based on the mathematical model MBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent work we have shown how to use the von Neumann entropy to construct a Jensen-Shannon kernel on graphs. The kernel is defined as the difference in entropies between a product graph and the separate graphs being compared. To develop this graph kernel further, in this paper we explore how to render the computation of the Jensen-Shannon kernel more efficient by using the information functionals defined by Dehmer to compute the required entropies. We illustrate how the resulting Jensen-Shannon graph kernels can be used for the purposes of graph clustering. Experimental results reveal that the methods gives good classification performance on graphs extracted from an object recognition dataset and several bioinformatics datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a new procedure to find the impact of the time-delay (TD) of the patient and instrumentations such as bispectral index (BIS) monitor on closed-loop control of depth of anaesthesia during surgery. In the current work, the TD is estimated using Smith Predictive control technique. The method is validated with measured BIS signals in simulation. The results showed that the proposed procedure improves the performance of the closed-loop system for reference tracking and overall stability, and the proposed method has less overshoot, shorter settling time and is more robust to disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Target tracking with the wireless sensor networks (WSN) has been an issue full of potentialities and challenges. In this paper, an improved hormone secreting mechanism for object tracking based on the information exchange principle of the endocrine system of human body is proposed. The nodes in a completely decentralized network can tune themselves spontaneously by exchanging information about the environment with their regional neighbors. Comparative simulation shows that proposed strategy can perform independently without the aid of other auxiliary algorithms for maintain the network status. The tracking mission towards the invading object can also be conducted more efficiently and persistently, and the energy consumption can therefore be distributed to the whole network. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We present an aggressive task allocation strategy for an Artificial Hormone System (AHS). The AHS is a completely decentralized operation principle for a middleware which can be used to allocate tasks in a system of heterogeneous processing elements (PEs) or cores. Tasks are scheduled according to suitability of the heterogeneous PEs, current PE load and task relationships. In addition, the AHS provides properties like self-configuration, self-optimization and self-healing by task allocation. The AHS is able to guarantee real-time bounds regarding these self-X-properties. The aggressive task allocation strategy presented in this paper allows to halve the worst case execution times for the self-X-properties compared to previous strategies thus improving the suitability of the AHS for hard real-time systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the last century there has been a considerable increase in human longevity and this made a large number of people to reach a critical age for development of several diseases. As a result of this increase in life expectancy health issues related to ageing appeared, some examples are hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia and increased levels of blood urea. This paper presents a portable and low cost system using Artificial Neural Networks to Hemo metabolites identification. The system developed is based in amperometric biosensors and is able to perform the identification of glucose, cholesterol and urea concentrations in the blood. The main goals of this system is: the identification of three types of Hemo metabolites with their concentrations, the low cost of the entire system and the reuse capability of the biosensor. Cost of the entire system and the reuse capability of the biosensor. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Biosensors are heterogenous devices, incorporating biological structures combined with electronics, optical or other readout systems. They have been developed for detecting different biomolecules and/or pathogens and represent a key technology for advanced and point-of-care diagnostics as well as patient monitoring. In this paper we present a systematic classification of biosensors described in literature, particularly focusing on nanotechnology-based sensing. Then, we present our approach to develop electrochemical biosensors for measuring metabolites and anticancer drugs, based on a platform for multiple target detection. This platform is modular and achieves a clear separation between the chemical and the electrical components, thus easing design and manufacturing. It shows superior performance thanks to the excellent properties of electron transfer and selectivity showed by enzymes immobilized on carbon nanotubes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research focused in detecting cause and progression of the diseases is gathering an impressive amount of data. Integrating available information in a systemic approach requires knowledge about details as well as overview about predictable interconnections. The amount of accumulated data often underscores human mind capabilities to perceiving links and correlations. The paper offers an overview about several schools of thoughts perceiving OA as a systemic disease Bioinformatics is proposed as a tool in organizing existent knowledge aiming introduction of the discovery approach in using clinical and experimental data. Computational biology is used to detect possible correlations and links in molecular pathways and further pointed as one useful method to design focused systematic research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adaptability is undoubtedly one of the most important characteristics of autonomous robots working in real-world outdoor applications. Due to the fact that real-world outdoor environments are dynamic and uncertain, an ability to adapt to cues provided from environments is a potentially important aspect for adaptable robots. This paper proposes an artificial hormone network as a mechanism to alter robot behaviours in order to lessen the effects of environmental changes. Hormone dynamics are subjected to environmental cues and used to help an autonomous robot to deal with environmental variations. The proposed system is tested on a physically-realistic simulated robot and environment. The results are promising in helping the robot to deal with both internal and external environmental changes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Relevant researches in the past semi century have shown that there is a significant decrease in fertility during the hot months. The most important factor is a consequence of increased temperature. Heat stress (HS) can have large effects on most aspects of reproductive function in mammals. In this paper, the effects and possible mechanisms of heat stress on the reproduction of mammalians are discussed in three aspects: gametes production, embryo development and litter size, so as to guide the production practice and offer a theoretical basis for exploring mitigation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Lignocellulosic biodegradation by microorganism is difficult as the complicated structure of lignocellulose and there are different views on the anaerobic degradation mechanism. In this paper, anaerobic degradation mechanism of lignocellulose is outlined. The research orientation has some preliminary discussions further more. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cellulose is the largest renewable resource in the world, and it has the highest utilization value in biomass energy. But the biggest problem in usage of cellulose is degradation, the most effective solution is to make use of cellulase to degradated it, which is thorough and free from contamination. With gradually increased understanding of cellulase, more and more people start to study the cellulase from animals. In this paper, methods of cellulase extraction from Cipangopaludina Cahayensis were studied. Effects from extraction temperature, time, pH and extraction buffer on extraction result were studied and optimal conditions were determined. Moreover cellulase activity was measured and cellulase were purified preliminary by sulphat precipitation and dialysis. All these will be a new way on cellulose energy-oriented use. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The effect of different mixed fertilizer on soil environment and nutrient in stevia rebaudiana Bertoni had been studied in open field. The result showed that application of organic fertilizer could significantly increase the organic matter, microbial biomass, and the activities of urease and phosphatase and catalase in soil. The potential nutrient and nutrient supplying capacity of soil had been improved by organic fertilizer cultivation as illustrated in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents the effect of polypyrrole electro-deposition under pulsed electric field. The effect of pulsed electrochemical deposition can clearly be seen from the improved results of sensitivity and the linear range. The main reason behind this effect is the growth of different polypyrrole islands on the Pt/ITO substrate. Sensor performance were further enhanced by introducing glutaraldihyde as a cross-linking agent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper deals with a hybrid system comprised of scalar continuous dynamics and a pulse-modulated feedback that represents a simplified version of a model earlier proposed for describing the mechanism of pulsatile hormone regulation in endocrinology. It is shown that even in this drastically reduced form, the system demonstrates a wide range of complex behaviors, including chaotic dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper proposes an improved adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm (IAPSO) for the minimization of makespan in job shop scheduling problems (JSP). Inspired by hormone modulation mechanism, an adaptive hormonal factor (HF) is designed to be used in the updating equations of particle swarm. Using the HF, each particle of the swarm can adjust its particle position self-adaptively to avoid the premature phenomena and get better solution. Computational experiments demonstrate that the proposed IAPSO reaches high-quality solutions in short computational times. By employing IAPSO, machines can be used more efficiently, which means tasks can be allocated appropriately, production efficiency can be improved, and the production cycle can be shortened efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Parameter monitoring and testing of explosive substances under certain conditions, as well as control of raw materials used in the production process, contributes to obtaining the finest quality product. The aim of this paper was to test the key parameters in the process of explosive production and compare the results with the standard (reference) values, all with the aim of optimizing the process parameters in the production of powder explosives in PS Vitezit. The examination of mentioned parameters was carried out in the premises of the company PS Vitezit in Vitez during the period from October 9 to November 9 2017. In the experimental part is analyzed the chemical composition of powdered explosive methane vitezit- 1(MV-1): ethereal extract, aqueous extract and residue and it was analyzed moisture and sodium chloride content in powdered explosive (MV-1). From technical mining characteristics, it was determined the rate of detonation transfer and the safety on ignition of methane and dangerous coal dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamification is a very useful technique, that has been fully increasing in the last years. During the CoVid19 pandemic, our innovation teaching group sent to our students several games, that were used by them for self-studying. Considering that many numerical problems can be proposed in Biochemistry, rather than numerical games (sudoku, adding and subtracting number games, …) word games were preferred to learn biomolecule nomenclature. Among these word games, we adapted to Biochemistry: connecting dots, labyrinths, mazes, matching two sets, amidakuji, logic games, crossword puzzles, word search puzzles, knight’s tour games or anagrams. In this work, we present several games related to labyrinths and mazes. Connecting dot games were adapted to Biochemistry by using intermediate metabolite of a pathway instead of numbers to develop a picture when connecting the dots. Anyway, as pathways don’t contain a big number of metabolites, no difficult pictures can be used. Thus, a labyrinth with questions and answers and letters connecting questions with answers can be better used. Correct answers can develop the letters of a biomolecule’s name. Other kind of labyrinth can be those where the letters can be taken from the shortest route. Labyrinths can also be used to develop a word following the route in labyrinths and taking letters to get the word, as an anagram. Several examples are shown hereby, adapted for Biochemistry students of Chemistry degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equilibrium property of the photosynthetic carbon metabolic network plays an important role on how to improve photosynthesis. In this paper, with respect to the independent subsystem of the photosynthetic carbon metabolic network, the one-at-a-time sensitivity measure is used to analyze sensitivity in whether or not it has multiple equilibria. Finally, we can get the maximum field of the two most sensitive parameters under the condition that the subsystem has only one equilibrium. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fold-change detection (FCD), the (approximate) invariance of the complete output trajectory with respect to a rescaling of input magnitudes, is exhibited by many biological systems. Such a “logarithmic sensing” property of scale invariance is a genuinely nonlinear behavior, as it can never be exhibited by linear systems. This paper employs a combination of computational search and theoretical analysis to characterize 3-node enzymatic networks that have an approximate FCD property. After showing the impossibility of perfect FCD for these systems, it describes a computational screen and its results, and a novel property, “uniform linearizations with fast output” (ULFO). All tested networks which are (approximately) scale invariant also satisfy (approximate) ULFO, and the (exact) ULFO property implies approximate scale invariance. We also discuss a pair of other behaviors related to FCD, in which the shape of the response is the same up to time or output rescalings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Endocrine system is one of the most important control systems of human body. It cooperates with neural system and immune system to maintain homeostasis of human body. Endocrine system modulates human body by a substance called hormone. It contains substantial information processing algorithms in hormone's working mechanism. Inspired by biological hormone, this paper proposes an algorithm used in formation problem in multi-robot system. This algorithm can help multi-robot system adapt to dynamic environment and form various kinds of shapes. Simulated experiments prove correctness and effectiveness of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper provides an approach to Genetic Engineering as an engineering discipline. It views the genetic engineering as part of Engineering needed to design, develop, and maintain functionality of a biological system. We propose a terminology that is helpful in explaining genetics and genetics engineering to engineers and engineering students, as well as to computer scientists and computer science students. This terminology is based on robotics/flexible manufacturing as well as systems software metaphor. Also we present our experience in using this approach in computer science education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aiming at the time delay existing in measuring process of stabilized platform motion attitude, a novel combined forecasting method based on hierarchical structure theory is proposed. AR(p) model and metabolism GM(1, 1) model are employed as single models, and hierarchical structure based weight determining method is used to ascertain the weights of each single model. To improve the forecasting precision, residual errors are compensated with GM(1, 1) model. At the end of the paper, simulation analysis with observed data from stabilized platform experiment is carried out, and the simulation results show that the method is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The free-living Nostoc flagelliforme was inoculated into desert soil and ecologic effects of N. flagelliforme were studied in this paper. Results showed that the water permeability of soil decreased while the water holding capacity of soil increased as the growth of N. flagelliforme. The soil respiration and enzyme activity were markedly increased by the growth of N. flagelliforme. The CO2 release quantity was 0.29 mg•g-1•h-1 in the soil sample which 361ml of N. flagelliforme inoculated in, which was 2.0 times than that of control. The activity of urease, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and polyphenoloxidaze increased also because of the growth of N. flagelliforme. The maximum activities of these four enzymes were 6.03 mg•g-1•d-1, 0.45 mg•g-1•d-1, 11.66 mg•g-1•d-1 and 1.77 mg•g-1•d-1 respectively, which were 2.2 times, 2.1times, 1.3 times and 1.2 times respectively than those of control. According to the DGGE result, microbial diversity of soil increased with the growth of N. flagelliforme. Four species of bacteria appear in the samples which N. flagelliforme was inoculated in. The results indicated that the N. flagelliforme had a significant effect on the soil physical-chemical properties and microbial community. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The world's forests generate oxygen and store carbon, mitigating global climate change. Monitoring the health of these forests is an international priority, which benefits from the use of remote sensing. With hyperspectral sensors capable of discerning forest species and foliar chemistry, many forest information products can be generated including maps of forest species, canopy chemistry, biomass, and carbon. Methods and challenges related to forest monitoring and mapping are discussed, with reference to our past and current work in the field of hyperspectral imaging, and with an emphasis on biomass and carbon mapping. The processes explained in this paper have been tested primarily on a study site on Vancouver Island, Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Filling pathway hole is a point of research in the field of Bioinformatics especially in metabolic pathway where the analysis of metabolic pathways is an essential topic in understanding the relationship between genotype and phenotype [4]. The pillar of the research cycle is the data collection which precedes the analysis phase to solve the pathway hole. The required data for this area is scattered among different data sources, which represent a problem for the researchers of this area. This paper provides a solution to this obstacle by collecting the required data from various data sources in one database RGB MAPS. Also we have developed a tool that could be used by other researchers to analyze the pathway holes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Biomarker-based translational research enables deep insight into cellular processes and human diseases. As a result, high throughput technologies promulgating a fast and cost-effective generation of data are widely used to advance our understanding in the molecular background of individuals. However, the increasing volume and complexity of data increases the need for sustainable infrastructures and state-of the- art tools allowing management, analysis, and integration of OMICS data. To address these challenges, we have performed site visits of core facilities with a focus on high throughput technologies to explore their (IT) infrastructure, organizational aspects, and data management strategies. Different stakeholders were interviewed regarding requirements and needs for dealing with high-throughput data. We have identified four different fields of action: (1) the interface from biorepositories to service providers of high throughput technologies, (2) aspects within services providers, (3) the interface from service providers to bioinformatical analysis, and (4) organizational and other aspects. For each field, recommendations and strategies were developed for implementation of a seamless pipeline from biorepositories to highly specialized high-throughput laboratories including the sustainable management and integration of OMICS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laboratory test results in primary care are flagged as 'abnormal' when they fall outside a population-based Reference Interval (RI), typically generating many alerts with a low specificity. In order to decrease alert frequency while retaining clinical relevance, we developed a method to assess dynamic, patient-tailored RIs based on mixed-effects linear regression models. Potassium test results from primary care were used as proof-of-concept test bed. Clinical relevance was assessed via a survey administered to general practitioners (GPs). Overall, the dynamic, patient-tailored method and the combination of both methods flagged 20% and 36% fewer values as abnormal than the population-based method. Nineteen out of 43 invited GPs (44%) completed the survey. The population-based method yielded a better sensitivity than the patient-tailored and the combined methods (0.51 vs 0.41 and 0.38, respectively) but a lower PPV (0.66 vs 0.67 and 0.76, respectively). We conclude that a combination of population-based and patient-tailored RIs can improve the detection of abnormal laboratory results. We suggest that lab values outside both RIs be flagged with high priority in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents a novel technique to form a thin enzyme-doped ion selective membrane (ED-ISM) in a microfluidic chip utilizing surface tension force for on-site bio-reaction, ion selection and electrochemical detection of urea. Diamond shape microstructures assisted with neighboring air sheath flows are used to trap trace amount of polymer liquid for ED-ISM formation. Since bio-reactive enzyme of urease is immobilized on the ISM, passing urea molecules are converted into ammonia ion then diffuse through the ISM for further electrochemical detection. The produced ED-ISM has a thinner thickness (< 10 μm) and higher surface-area than typical ISM for such that the sensing performance can be greatly enhanced due to the faster ion diffusion through the membrane. Experimental results show that the developed microchip device with the ED-ISM has good response in the concentration range from 0.1 to 1000 ppm (R2∼0.9102). The limit of detection is measured to be as low as 0.1 ppm (S/N=3). Result also indicates that the response reached 95% in 8s for detecting 1 ppm of urea using the developed microchip device, which is much faster than that obtained using typical commercial ion selective electrode. The developed microchip with ED-ISM provides a low-cost yet high performance way for on-site reaction and detection of biosamples. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Thermophiles are microorganisms that inhabit at extremely high temperature environment. Thermoenzymes from thermophilic microorganisms are heat-stable, able to withstand denaturants of extremely acidic and alkaline conditions, and thus, have a considerable potential for many industrial applications. Thermophilic microorganisms are able to degrade on certain substrates and its subsequent utilization are said to be important for global carbon sources. The aim of this study was to screen and isolate the thermophiles capable of producing thermostable lipase, amylase and cellulase. The highly sedimented water sample was taken from the local hot spring located at Hulu Langat, Selangor. The pH of the hot springs within the area was recorded to be slightly alkaline with the temperature ranging from 55°C to 70°C. The results of this study showed five bacterial strains with positive results for lipolytic activity via screening on selective medium containing Tween 80, 11 positive isolates of amylase-producing thermophiles that displayed large and distinct halo-forming zone upon the treatment of flooding iodine method on starch-nutrient medium and 5 positive isolates of cellulolytic thermophiles screened via selective carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) medium. These positive isolates were further characterized and identified using morphological characterization techniques and conventional biochemical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As Magnetic Resonance is the imaging modality of choice, it is necessary to design highly sensitive systems to overcome the relatively low sensitivity of the technique. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Biologically Inspired Computing places its emphasis on robustness, adaptability, and emergent organization considering the interaction of many processes. Bio-inspired algor [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban solid waste management is an important component of urban sustainability. The concept of evaluating technologies from both life cycle and urban metabolism perspectives is proposed in this study. The analysis from life cycle perspective (using physical input-output life cycle assessment model) provides support for determining the priority of technologies, and the analysis from urban metabolism perspective (using physical input-output model) provides support for identifying the acceptability of technologies. Suzhou City in China is taken as an example. From urban metabolism perspective, sludge recycling is regarded as an accepted method, while current fly ash recycling method is unsatisfying. Technical levels of scrap tire recycling and food waste recycling should be improved to reduce their negative effects on Suzhou's urban metabolism. From life cycle perspective, sludge recycling has the smallest environmental impacts, and scrap tire recycling has larger environmental impacts than food waste recycling does. Thus, more concerns should be paid to technical improvements of scrap tire recycling than to that of food waste recycling. The concept of evaluating technologies from both life cycle and urban metabolism perspectives in this study provides foundations for evaluating technologies in other countries and cities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The function of a constructed wetland system may be affected by high ammonia concentrations, which are toxic to wetland plants. This research was conducted to assess the tolerance of Phragmites australis to ammonia. P. australis is a reed species commonly used in constructed wetlands. The photosynthetic rate (Pn), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities and the proline and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents were investigated under different concentrations of ammonia (0, 80, 160, 320, and 640 mg L-1). P. australis grew well at ammonia concentrations of up to 160 mg L-1, but growth was inhibited at higher levels. Ammonia also induced the activity of antioxidative enzymes such as SOD, POD, and CAT, suggesting that ammonia can cause oxidative stress. Oxidative stress may be part of the mechanism of ammonia toxicity. Thus, ammonia concentrations should be managed to maintain the effectiveness of constructed wetland systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Experimental platform of free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) was established in mid June of 2004 over a rice-wheat rotation ecosystem located at a suburb of Jiangdu, China. We compared the dynamics of soil neutral sugars from a wheat field with high (225.0 kg N/hm2) and low (112.5 kg N/hm2) levels of N fertilization exposed to the elevated and ambient CO2 after the wheat growing season in 2008. The results showed that soil glucose sugar accounted for the majority of total neutral sugars irrespective of elevated CO2 and N fertilization. Compared with the ambient treatments, elevated CO2 increased the amount of soil neutral sugars irrespectively of low N fertilization and high N fertilization, however, the difference was not significant. The ratios of (G+M)/(A+X) indicated that the origin of soil neutral sugars came from both plants and microbes. The elevated CO2 and N fertilization had no effects on the ratio of (G+M)/(A+X) (P > 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Seeds of rice were treated with serial concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) for observation of germination and development. PFOS of 150 mg/L dose resulted in a germ inability rate of 87% and a germination rate of 88%, which was 96% and 97% respectively in control group. PFOS dose =120 mg/L all resulted in visible poor growth by seedlings falling or death. PFOS dose =90 mg/L inhibited chlorophyll a content, catalase activity, peroxidase activity and super oxide dismutase activity in the leaves (P [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Through inoculating Amorpha fruiticosa with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi and without, the dynamic characteristics of plant endogenous hormone levels, soluble sugar contents in roots and in leaves respectively were systemic studied. The results showed that AM fungi could obviously influenced soluble sugar contents and endogenous hormone levels in host plants with colonization percentage changing. Two kinds of AM fungi, Glomus mosseae and Glomus intraradices, were chose as tested strains to infect A. fruiticosa roots for forming the mycorrhizal complex using pot-experiment methods, and G. mosseae had a better colonization effect than G. intraradices on A. fruiticosa roots. After 70 days growth of A. fruiticosa seedings in the greenhouse, the colonization percentage of G. mosseae on hosts reached 88.5% that of the highest. The soluble sugar contents in roots and leaves of seedlings inoculated with AM fungi were significantly higher than control treatments, and had positive correlation with colonization percentage. AM fungi dramatically increased the contents of auxin (IAA), gibberellin (GA) and zeatin (ZR) in roots, but had litter impact on abscisic acid (ABA). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new criterion to divide the pattern of phosphorylation to produce ATP was suggested. According to whether it was related to redox reaction, the pattern of substrate-level phosphorylation could be divided into the oxidative substrate-level phosphorylation ( or the substrate-level phosphorylation caused by dehydrogenation of metabolites ) and the non-oxidative substrate-level phosphorylation ( or the substrate-level phosphorylation caused by dehydration of metabolites ). On the basis, a new noun, phosphorylation related to redox reaction, was suggested to be used to include classical oxidative phosphorylation (or respiratory chain phosphorylation ) and the oxidative substrate-level phosphorylation suggested above. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]