Effect of chromium toxicity on germination and early seedling growth in melon (Cucumis melo L.)

This study was conducted to determine and compare the inhibitory effects of chromium on seed germination and early seedling growth of melon (Cucumis melo L.). Chromium applications were controls; 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, 200 and 300 mgl-1 Cr in germination stage, and controls; 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 mgl-1 Cr in early seedling stage. Excess chromium was limited to germination rate, germination index, mean germination time and germination uniformity index values in germination level. Radicle length, radicle fresh and dry weight, hypocotyll length, hypocotyll fresh and dry weight, growth tolerance index and seedling relative growth rate was negatively affected by the increased chromium concentrations at the seedling stage. Response of seedlings to chromium was more than that of seed germination. This event is based on the impermeability of seed coats and selectivity of embryos against chromium

Excessive Memory Usage of the ELLPACK Sparse Matrix Storage Scheme throughout the Finite Element Computations

Sparse matrices are occasionally encountered during solution of various problems by means of numerical methods, particularly the finite element method. ELLPACK sparse matrix storage scheme, one of the most widely used methods due to its implementation ease, is investigated in this study. The scheme uses excessive memory due to its definition. For the conventional finite element method, where the node elements are used, the excessive memory caused by redundant entries in the ELLPACK sparse matrix storage scheme becomes negligible for large scale problems. On the other hand, our analyses show that the redundancy is still considerable for the occasions where facet or edge elements have to be used

A cross-disciplinary study of stance markers in research articles written by students and experts

Building on previous studies that suggest notable differences between levels of writing and disciplines, this study investigates stance devices across two parameters: disciplinary differences and academic level of the writer. It investigates disciplinary differences in terms of writer-reader interactions in the domain of academic writing and how disciplinary communities employ stance markers in research articles. This study also examines what strategies student writers and academics employ in terms of identity within their own writing and how these writers convey their ideas and present themselves. Based on a corpus of 39 academic research articles, this comparative study, following Hyland\u27s (2005a) framework, explores whether four categories of stance features (hedges, boosters, attitude markers and self-mentions) show any similarities and differences across the disciplines of Civil Engineering and Applied Linguistics and student and expert writing. The results showed that student writing featured more stance markers than those written by academics, although the differences were small. Moreover, the results revealed cross-disciplinary differences in terms of the frequency of stance markers. The Applied Linguistics research articles contained more stance markers than those in Civil Engineering with a large discrepancy particularly in the use of self-mentions. Findings from this research may help inform student writers and writing instructors about the use of stance markers in academic research articles and help particularly students promote their way of presenting their opinions and themselves in the text

Case Study: Nicosia Master Plan; Cooperation in the Midst of Conflict

The Nicosia Master Plan reflects the courageous vision of Lellos Demetriades and Mustafa Akinci- the former Mayors, respectively, of the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities of Nicosia. While both leaders looked forward to a common solution to the political crisis they believed that no time should be lost in dealing with the immediate problems of a divided city. They worked on a common sewage system that was a pressing need at that time on both sides of Nicosia. This thesis examined the process that was used to develop the Nicosia Master Plan. The success of this cooperation was due to mutual need, unifying leadership and political will. The question is whether any of the factors that allowed its success can be used to facilitate the process that needs to occur between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot leaderships in regard to the future status of Cyprus in the European Union. As a conclusion, it can be said that mutual needs and political will do exist on the island on different levels for the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots. Unifying leadership has been missing on both sides. As of May 1, 2004 Cyprus will officially join the European Union. Whether it goes as a united or divided island will be up to Turkey\u27s determination to solve the Cyprus problem, and the two communities\u27 genuine desire to unite their island

In View of Today’s Realities: What should any Work with the Plant World Actually Gain us?

Studies on plants are important evidence not only for their diversity and richness in the world, but also for revealing the relationship between the environment and the organisms. How important are the concepts of climate crisis and global warming? What is the number of people in the world, other than scientists, who are aware of the seriousness of the problem? Do we have any information about the number of people who have knowledge about what can be done? Do we want to experience the carbon richness of millions of years ago (Carboniferous) again? Let's not forget that this reality, which seems to be an advantageous situation at first glance, has actually been moved to a platform where today's leaders discuss the effects of climate balance. We need more and more plants all over the planet. With the increase in the human population, it is time to change our prejudices about “uncertain or suspicious” plants to be used. Could some toxic metabolites be usable or even edible by appropriate treatments? Can countries that are lucky in terms of endemic species make better use of these reserves? Plant biochemistry studies should be encouraged in this respect.In addition, there is evidence that the consumption of a large number of products that we use as food causes health problems that we do not know yet, but which can increase greatly with daily use and even be fatal when contaminated by pathogenic organisms