Ethical Mastery of Innovative Technologies

In this paper we present an alternative bio-epistemological-based approach to economic ethics issues, which suggests that economists need not only an understanding of the ecosystem in terms of irreversibility, but even more an understanding of the way the process in ecosystem make actual the principle of ameliorative equilibration. This means that among many technological innovations that extend the field of the possibilities only those that prove to be integrative and able to ameliorate the adaptation process will be chosen and preserved. In our view, only this type of prospective approach could be considered ethical as it realizes the principle of ameliorative equilibration and harmonizes the technological innovation process with the process of the ecosystem.social cooperation, biophysical constraints, negentropic rocess, ameliorative equilibration, vection, cross-disciplinary research.

Rapid Field-Cycling MRI using Fast Spin-Echo

The author acknowledges funding from the EPSRC through the Centre for Doctoral Training in Integrated Magnetic Resonance.Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Calibration of a Fast Field Cycling Relaxometer for Ultra-Low Field Measurements of T1-Dispersion

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Correction of environmental magnetic fields for the acquisition of Nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion profiles below Earth’s field

V.Z. acknowledges funding from EPSRC under grant number EP/J500045/1, “A UK Magnetic Resonance Basic Technology Centre for Doctoral Training”. Aspects of the work were funded by EPSRC grant EP/K020293/1, “Zero-Field MRI to Enhance Diagnosis of Neurodegeneration”. This project has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No 668119, project “IDentIFY”. The authors are grateful to Mr. G.P. Ashcroft and Dr. W. Mathieson for providing access to the biological samples used.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Controlling Cyanobacterial Growth Using Plant Extracts

With an increased rate of water eutrophication, Florida is facing a serious problem of frequent algal blooms. Massive development of algae can negatively impact freshwater environments in different ways; (1) decomposition of algal biomass can create anaerobic zones or (2) in the case of toxic algal blooms it can endanger human and animal health. Therefore, controlling algal growth is essential for both maintaining balanced ecosystem as well as human health. Algal growth is controlled with the use chemical agents such as copper-based algaecides. However, some of these chemical agents are known to be toxic both to humans and environment. Here we are proposing to use natural, non-toxic compounds such as plant polyphenols to control algal growth. Polyphenolsare products that have antimicrobial activity and protect plants from disease and help them recover from injury. In this preliminary work, we prepared the extracts from ten different plants and screened these extracts for their anti-algal activity. For that purpose, as test organisms we used two strains of cyanobacteria(Anabaena sp. and Cylindrospermopsis sp.) which are known to cause harmful algal blooms in Florida. The cyanobacteria were grown in the presence of different concentrations of the crude extract and their growth rate was recorded. The obtained results showed that of ten plants tested, Bucida buceras had a bioactive compound which potentially could be used for inhibition of cyanobacterial growth. Separation of the compounds from the crude extract and identification of the active agent, is work in progress

Rapid field-cycling MRI using fast spin-echo

Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Peer reviewedPostprin