EUNIS E-Learning Snapshots 2008

The paper presents an analysis of the information obtained through the third EUNIS E-Learning Snapshots scheme. Around 50 member universities of EUNIS have contributed information on the way e-learning is organised and deployed at their universities along with their views on e-learning. The results of this survey present a picture of the deployment of e-learning in the universities represented in our sample. The Snapshots scheme is one of the activities of the EUNIS E-Learning Task Force, which met in Malta in February 2008

Failures of US Foreign Aid: Jordan and its Unique History of Refugee Absorption

The United States began giving aid to Jordan as a geopolitical strategy in 1951 to assists with Jordan’s absorption of Palestinian refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948. Since 1951, the United States has given nearly $15.833 billion in support. Foreign aid to Jordan began, and has been perpetuated, in order to keep the country economically stable. Jordan’s total population is 55–57% refugees. Most of these refugees require financial, health, and housing assistance, and they suffer from untreated mental health conditions. US foreign aid policy needs to have programming to treat the mental health trauma that refugees experience. Research needs to be done on the connection between this trauma and social, political, and economic problems that affect Jordan in relation to refugees. Implementing programs to treat mental illness through aid will allow US foreign aid in Jordan to be more effective in assisting the socio-economic growth of refugees and entire country as a whole

Preliminary investigations into the vertical structure of propagule banks of temporary freshwater rockpools in the Maltese Islands

The vertical structure of the propagule bank of five angiosperms (Elatine gussonei, Damasonium bourgaei, Callitriche truncata, Ranunculus saniculaefolius, Zannichellia palustris) and one charophyte (Chara vulgaris) was studied in eight ephemeral autumnal rockpools from two localities in the Maltese Islands. Distribution of seeds and oospores was distinctly non-uniform, with 94% of propagules being located in the top 4cm {)f sediment. Propagules that were recovered from depths exceeding 4cm are unlikely to have been buried in situ but are probably due to percolation from the surface during the dry season when cracks and fissures in desiccated sediment provide such a route. Operation of this process is indicated by over-representation of the smallest propagules in the deepest strata. The presence of large numbers ofpropagules in the surface layers is adaptive, facilitating reception of germination cues and attainment of the soil surface by young shoots. However this strategy also exposes propagules to predation as well as to high temperatures during the dry season. The data obtained in the present study suggest that quantification of contributions to and losses from the propagule bank should be the focus of subsequent work aimed at constructing a predictive model of the population dynamics of these species.peer-reviewe

4D flow imaging of the thoracic aorta: is there an added clinical value?

Four-dimensional (4D) flow MRI has emerged as a powerful non-invasive technique in cardiovascular imaging, enabling to analyse in vivo complex flow dynamics models by quantifying flow parameters and derived features. Deep knowledge of aortic flow dynamics is fundamental to better understand how abnormal flow patterns may promote or worsen vascular diseases. In the perspective of an increasingly personalized and preventive medicine, growing interest is focused on identifying those quantitative functional features which are early predictive markers of pathological evolution. The thoracic aorta and its spectrum of diseases, as the first area of application and development of 4D flow MRI and supported by an extensive experimental validation, represents the ideal model to introduce this technique into daily clinical practice. The purpose of this review is to describe the impact of 4D flow MRI in the assessment of the thoracic aorta and its most common affecting diseases, providing an overview of the actual clinical applications and describing the potential role of derived advanced hemodynamic measures in tailoring follow-up and treatment

Challenges in developing a solar powered stirling engine for domestic electricity generation

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.This paper investigates the challenges in developing a solar powered Stirling engine for domestic electricity generation. All the system components, the parabolic troughs, heat transfer fluid and the Stirling engine are individually analysed. The analysis includes a market survey and performance assessments of such components. A mathematical analysis for the Stirling engine is carried out in order to understand the affect of varies parameters with the work output per cycle and the engine efficiency. Such parameters are the phase angle between pistons, the diameter ratio of the power and displacer piston, and change in temperature.dc201

Intercellular trafficking of a KNOTTED1 green fluorescent protein fusion in the leaf and shoot meristem of Arabidopsis

Dominant mutations in the maize homeobox gene knotted1 (kn1) act nonautonomously during maize leaf development, indicating that Kn1 is involved in the generation or transmission of a developmental signal that passes from the inner layers of the leaf to epidermal cells. We previously found that this nonautonomous activity is correlated with the presence of KN1 protein in leaf epidermal cells, where KN1 mRNA could not be detected. Furthermore, KN1 protein expressed in Escherichia coli and labeled with a fluorescent dye can traffic between leaf mesophyll cells in microinjection assays. Here we show that green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged KN1 is able to traffic between epidermal cells of Arabidopsis and onion. When expressed in vivo, the GFP approximately KN1 fusion trafficked from internal tissues of the leaf to the epidermis, providing the first direct evidence, to our knowledge, that KN1 can traffic across different tissue layers in the leaf. Control GFP fusions did not show this intercellular trafficking ability. GFP approximately KN1 also trafficked in the shoot apical meristem, suggesting that cell-to-cell trafficking of KN1 may be involved in its normal function in meristem initiation and maintenance

Response to novel objects and foraging tasks by common marmoset (Callithrix Jacchus) female Pairs

Many studies have shown that environmental enrichment can significantly improve the psychological well-being of captive primates, increasing the occurrence of explorative behavior and thus reducing boredom. The response of primates to enrichment devices may be affected by many factors such as species, sex, age, personality and social context. Environmental enrichment is particularly important for social primates living in unnatural social groupings (i.e. same-sex pairs or singly housed animals), who have very few, or no, benefits from the presence of social companions in addition to all the problems related to captivity (e.g. increased inactivity). This study analyses the effects of enrichment devices (i.e. novel objects and foraging tasks) on the behavior of common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) female pairs, a species that usually lives in family groups. It aims to determine which aspects of an enrichment device are more likely to elicit explorative behaviors, and how aggressive and stress-related behaviors are affected by its presence. Overall, the marmosets explored foraging tasks significantly longer than novel objects. The type of object, which varied in size, shape and aural responsiveness (i.e. they made a noise when the monkey touched them), did not affect the response of the monkeys, but they explored objects that were placed higher in the enclosure more than those placed lower down.Younger monkeys were more attracted to the enrichment devices than the older ones. Finally, stress-related behavior (i.e. scratching) significantly decreased when the monkeys were presented with the objects; aggressive behavior as unaffected. This study supports the importance of environmental enrichment for captive primates and shows that in marmosets its effectiveness strongly depends upon the height of the device in the enclosure and the presence of hidden food. The findings can be explained ifone considers the foraging behavior of wild common marmosets. Broader applications for the research findings are suggested in relation to enrichment

A General Method for Targeted Quantitative Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry

Chemical cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) provides protein structural information by identifying covalently linked proximal amino acid residues on protein surfaces. The information gained by this technique is complementary to other structural biology methods such as x-ray crystallography, NMR and cryo-electron microscopy[1]. The extension of traditional quantitative proteomics methods with chemical cross-linking can provide information on the structural dynamics of protein structures and protein complexes. The identification and quantitation of cross-linked peptides remains challenging for the general community, requiring specialized expertise ultimately limiting more widespread adoption of the technique. We describe a general method for targeted quantitative mass spectrometric analysis of cross-linked peptide pairs. We report the adaptation of the widely used, open source software package Skyline, for the analysis of quantitative XL-MS data as a means for data analysis and sharing of methods. We demonstrate the utility and robustness of the method with a cross-laboratory study and present data that is supported by and validates previously published data on quantified cross-linked peptide pairs. This advance provides an easy to use resource so that any lab with access to a LC-MS system capable of performing targeted quantitative analysis can quickly and accurately measure dynamic changes in protein structure and protein interactions

Challenges in developing a solar powered stirling engine for domestic electricity generation

This paper investigates the challenges in developing a solar powered Stirling engine for domestic electricity generation. All the system components, the parabolic troughs, heat transfer fluid and the Stirling engine are individually analysed. The analysis includes a market survey and performance assessments of such components. A mathematical analysis for the Stirling engine is carried out in order to understand the affect of varies parameters with the work output per cycle and the engine efficiency. Such parameters are the phase angle between pistons, the diameter ratio of the power and displacer piston, and change in temperature.peer-reviewe

Reduction in Phencyclidine Induced Sensorimotor Gating Deficits in the Rat Following Increased System Xc − Activity in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Rationale: Aspects of schizophrenia, including deficits in sensorimotor gating, have been linked to glutamate dysfunction and/or oxidative stress in the prefrontal cortex. System xc −, a cystine–glutamate antiporter, is a poorly understood mechanism that contributes to both cellular antioxidant capacity and glutamate homeostasis. Objectives: Our goal was to determine whether increased system xc − activity within the prefrontal cortex would normalize a rodent measure of sensorimotor gating. Methods: In situ hybridization was used to map messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of xCT, the active subunit of system xc −, in the prefrontal cortex. Prepulse inhibition was used to measure sensorimotor gating; deficits in prepulse inhibition were produced using phencyclidine (0.3–3 mg/kg, sc). N-Acetylcysteine (10–100 μM) and the system xc − inhibitor (S)-4-carboxyphenylglycine (CPG, 0.5 μM) were used to increase and decrease system xc − activity, respectively. The uptake of 14C-cystine into tissue punches obtained from the prefrontal cortex was used to assay system xc − activity. Results: The expression of xCT mRNA in the prefrontal cortex was most prominent in a lateral band spanning primarily the prelimbic cortex. Although phencyclidine did not alter the uptake of 14C-cystine in prefrontal cortical tissue punches, intraprefrontal cortical infusion of N-acetylcysteine (10–100 μM) significantly reduced phencyclidine- (1.5 mg/kg, sc) induced deficits in prepulse inhibition. N-Acetylcysteine was without effect when coinfused with CPG (0.5 μM), indicating an involvement of system xc −. Conclusions: These results indicate that phencyclidine disrupts sensorimotor gating through system xc − independent mechanisms, but that increasing cystine–glutamate exchange in the prefrontal cortex is sufficient to reduce behavioral deficits produced by phencyclidine