Mutation and Complementation of a Cellulose Synthase (CesA) Gene

Cellulose is a carbohydrate polymer that is composed of repeating glucose subunits. Being the most abundant organic compound in the biosphere and comprising a large percentage of all plant biomass, cellulose is extremely plentiful and has a significant role in nature. Cellulose is present in plant cell walls, in commercial products such as those made from wood or cotton, and is of interest to the biofuel industry as a potential alternative fuel source. Although indigestible by humans, cellulose is nutritionally valuable, serving as a dietary fiber. Because of its ubiquity and importance in many areas, studying cellulose will prove to be useful. Understanding its production mechanisms would lead to the ability to control cellulose synthesis and composition. Furthermore, since the cellulose producing machinery differs amongst all types of plants, learning more about cellulose production could increase our understanding of the evolution of certain plants and the cellulose producing proteins. Cellulose fibers are synthesized by a Cellulose Synthesizing Complex (CSC). Each CSC is comprised of hypothetically 36 cellulose synthase proteins (CesA proteins), which are arranged in a six-lobed “rosette” structure. Therefore, a CSC is made up of six lobes, each of which is composed of six CesA proteins/subunits. However, the organization of the subunits is undetermined, so for example, whether there is a specific, ordered arrangement to the positioning of the subunits, what the ratios of the subunits are, or which subunits associate with like or unlike subunits is unknown. The objectives of this project are to create a “knockout” mutation in the gene that encodes the CesA4 protein in the moss Physcomitrella patens, and to subsequently determine whether CesA4 mutants are phenotypically distinct from the wild-type organism. Mutation of P. patens will be achieved by knocking out CesA4. P. patens is a model organism because it spends a large portion of its life cycle in a haploid phase where the organism has only one set of chromosomes, and thus one set of genes. This, along with P. patens’ high rate of homologous recombination makes knocking out and integrating genes into its genome feasible. In conclusion, the purpose of this project is to further the understanding of the role of the CesA proteins, specifically CesA4, and of the synthesis of cellulose

Global Governance for Environmentally Sustainable Food Systems: Certified Organics in a North – South and South-South Perspective

Challenged to consume with less environmental impact, consumers buy certified organic products to “proxy” environmental governance. The paper explores how far certified organic agriculture is institutionally embedded in Brazil, China, and Egypt. The three case studies illustrate how regulation, including standard-setting and certification processes differ between south and north, in terms of the evolution and nature of certification, as well as stakeholders and agency involved in shaping the regulation. A comparative analysis is presented on south-south differences in this regard along with some possible explanations of these. The paper finally discusses the perspectives in the global success of organic certification and whether it has potential to transform global agriculture towards higher overall levels of sustainability

Exceptional and regular spectra of a generalized Rabi model

We study the spectrum of the generalized Rabi model in which co- and counter-rotating terms have different coupling strengths. It is also equivalent to the model of a two-dimensional electron gas in a magnetic field with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. Like in case of the Rabi model, the spectrum of the generalized Rabi model consists of the regular and the exceptional parts. The latter is represented by the energy levels which cross at certain parameters' values which we determine explicitly. The wave functions of these exceptional states are given by finite order polynomials in the Bargmann representation. The roots of these polynomials satisfy a Bethe ansatz equation of the Gaudin type. At the exceptional points the model is therefore quasi-exactly solvable. An analytical approximation is derived for the regular part of the spectrum in the weak- and strong-coupling limits. In particular, in the strong-coupling limit the spectrum consists of two quasi-degenerate equidistant ladders.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figure

Order parameter, correlation functions, and fidelity susceptibility for the BCS model in the thermodynamic limit

The exact ground state of the reduced BCS Hamiltonian is investigated numerically for large system sizes and compared with the BCS ansatz. A “canonical” order parameter is found to be equal to the largest eigenvalue of Yang's reduced density matrix in the thermodynamic limit. Moreover, the limiting values of the exact analysis agree with those obtained for the BCS ground state. Exact results for the ground-state energy, level occupations, and a pseudospin-pseudospin correlation function are also found to converge to the BCS values already for relatively small system sizes. However, discrepancies persist for a pair-pair correlation function, for interlevel correlations of occupancies and for the fidelity susceptibility, even for large system sizes where these quantities have visibly converged to well-defined limits. Our results indicate that there exist nonperturbative corrections to the BCS predictions in the thermodynamic limit

Dimension Reduction Using Quantum Wavelet Transform on a High-Performance Reconfigurable Computer

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.The high resolution of multidimensional space-time measurements and enormity of data readout counts in applications such as particle tracking in high-energy physics (HEP) is becoming nowadays a major challenge. In this work, we propose combining dimension reduction techniques with quantum information processing for application in domains that generate large volumes of data such as HEP. More specifically, we propose using quantum wavelet transform (QWT) to reduce the dimensionality of high spatial resolution data. The quantum wavelet transform takes advantage of the principles of quantum mechanics to achieve reductions in computation time while processing exponentially larger amount of information. We develop simpler and optimized emulation architectures than what has been previously reported, to perform quantum wavelet transform on high-resolution data. We also implement the inverse quantum wavelet transform (IQWT) to accurately reconstruct the data without any losses. The algorithms are prototyped on an FPGA-based quantum emulator that supports double-precision floating-point computations. Experimental work has been performed using high-resolution image data on a state-of-the-art multinode high-performance reconfigurable computer. The experimental results show that the proposed concepts represent a feasible approach to reducing dimensionality of high spatial resolution data generated by applications such as particle tracking in high-energy physics

The impact of legislation on NGO\u27s role in programme delivery: the case of Egypt

NGOs are a vital partner and contributor to economic and social development, and an impactful tool for community participation in providing initiatives that the state might not able to implement. It is therefore important to provide an enabling environment for NGOs to organize their operation without constructing limitations, as to reach the most impoverished and marginalized communities. Therefore, restrictive laws prevent NGOs from operating, and hinder the implementation of development programmes, whilst progressive laws promote the role of NGOs in programme delivery and support its application. This study aims to determine how legislation impacts the role of NGOs in programme delivery in Egypt. Building on existing work on NGO law no. 84 of 2002 and how it may have provided NGOs with an enabling environment to operate in Egypt at a time where the country was ruled by an authoritarian regime, I ask: is it probable that the legislative system could function in a way that supports NGO activities? Based on a review of the literature, the main hypothesis of the study is built on the thought that although a regime could be authoritarian, the legislative body could contribute to the promotion of the role of NGOs, given the following: the neoliberal agenda adopted by a country due to economic challenges that made NGO support inevitable, and the strengthening of security bodies that protect the regime. In this context to efficiently measure the progressiveness of the mentioned law, the following indicators were considered: the number of NGOs available before and after the ratification of the law, the scope and diversity in activities undergone with the law in place, the number of NGOs in geographic locations where NGOs have operated at the time, and finally the financial capabilities of NGOs following the ratification of the law. In favor of investigating and answering the research question along confirming the proposed hypothesis, I collected secondary data from past literary works such as articles, journals, and contributions to the topic. This was in addition to compiling primary data, which was generated through interviews and questionnaires. I interviewed four local NGOs and one foreign NGO to understand their opinions regarding the impact of legislation on the role of NGOs in programme delivery. I focused on large, medium, and small size NGOs implementing development activities, since they are the ones affecting millions of marginalized Egyptians in poor and challenging circumstances. To provide thorough analyses, I circulated a questionnaire among 54 NGO staff members with a response rate of 100 percent. This provided additional insights from NGO staff in addition to information gathered from NGO board members through interviews. The analysis of the collected data demonstrated that NGO law no. 84 of 2002 may have led to promoting the role of NGOs (although the law was ratified under an authoritarian regime), due to the neoliberal agenda adopted by the country because of economic challenges that made NGO support inevitable, and the strengthening of security bodies that protected the regime at the time. The research findings revealed that another factor may have promoted the role of NGOs during that time which was the flooding of foreign donations to the country aimed at NGO-implemented activities. This study can be used by other researchers as a starting point for a more in-depth research of other factors that may have led to the ratification of NGO law no. 84 of 2002 and enabled NGOs in Egypt to deliver development programmes. Additional ideas for future research may include Egypt’s newly proposed NGO law no. 70 of 2017 which could be further explored by researchers once its executive regulation is published

Education and Social Protection Systems in Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries. MEDPRO Technical Report No. 20/January 2013

This report assesses the current status of the education and social protection systems in 11 southern and eastern Mediterranean countries. It compares these countries using various education indicators and attempts to highlight the main differences in the social protection systems among the countries using qualitative analysis. The report finds that despite the differences among the countries, they share a common feature: when measured by the UN Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI), their inequality-adjusted values are significantly lower than their HDI values and ranks when not taking inequality into account. Nevertheless, significant improvements have been achieved in all the quantitative indicators for education, while the qualitative performance is still modest in the majority of the countries studied. As to the social protection aspect, the research reveals that various social protection programmes are being adopted in the 11 countries. As most of their financing is covered by government budgets, however, this places a high fiscal burden on them. Yet few of the countries (Turkey being the most notable) are trying to improve the sustainability of their social insurance schemes

Assessment of Knowledge of Saudi Mothers Regarding Causes of Obesity Among Children, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

During the last few decades, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) experienced rapid socio-cultural changes caused by the accelerating economy in the Arabian Gulf region. That was associated with major changes in the activities, food choices and eating habits which, progressively, became more and more "Westernized". Such "a nutritional transition" has been claimed for the rising rates of overweight and obesity which were recently observed among Saudi children. Therefore the objective of this study is to assess the knowledge of Saudi mothers regarding causes of obesity among children Descriptive cross sectional design was utilized in this study. The study was carried out  from mothers at work, and from a community at shopping malls, and the beauty salons. , Riyadh city, (KSA). The study population included a convenient sample of 254 mothers was interviewed in a semi structured interview. Data were collected from October to December, 2015. The tool used was an interview questionnaire which developed and used to collect the necessary data, the questionnaire consisted of 3 parts that include demographics, Questions related to children’s lifestyle and questions related to mother’s knowledge of causes of obesity among children. The results showed that more than half of the sample was in age group 31 to 40 years old about a quarter had high school education, the majority of the sample was married and nearly about two third of them were working. Regarding lifestyle of children, data showed that more than three quarters of children in this study did not practice any kind of sport, while one eights of them practice sport for 3 to 4 hours per day. More than half of the children receive3 basic meals a day, while nearly two third of them eat fast food sometimes., the majority of mothers know that unbalanced diet could be a cause of obesity among children, while about one third of them don’t know that family problems might be a reason for obesity among children. Some demographic variables such as age, education, work, and income were correlated to total mother’s knowledge of causes of obesity among children. The study concluded that thechildren in this study had poor life style regarding practicing of sport, fast food, preferred food elements, watching TV, video games and diet regimen. Mother’s knowledge about causes of obesity among children conveyed a relatively good level. It is recommended strategies and coordinated efforts at all levels to reduce the tendency of overweight, obesity and elevated body fat, and to promote healthy life style in our youth. Keywords: knowledge, causes of obesity, children DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/61-03 Publication date: April 30th 201

Spin polarization through Floquet resonances in a driven central spin model

Adiabatically varying the driving frequency of a periodically-driven many-body quantum system can induce controlled transitions between resonant eigenstates of the time-averaged Hamiltonian, corresponding to adiabatic transitions in the Floquet spectrum and presenting a general tool in quantum many-body control. Using the central spin model as an application, we show how such controlled driving processes can lead to a polarization-based decoupling of the central spin from its decoherence-inducing environment at resonance. While it is generally impossible to obtain the exact Floquet Hamiltonian in driven interacting systems, we exploit the integrability of the central spin model to show how techniques from quantum quenches can be used to explicitly construct the Floquet Hamiltonian in a restricted many-body basis and model Floquet resonances.Comment: 6+4 page

Effectiveness of Self-instructional Module on Knowledge and Remedial Practices Regarding Selected Minor Ailments Among Primigravida

Context: Most pregnant women complain of some degree of minor ailments that are not serious in themselves, but their presence decreases the mother's feeling of comfort and wellbeing, particularly among the primigravida.Aim: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the self-instructional module on knowledge and remedial practices regarding selected minor ailments among primigravida. Methods: A quasi-experimental design (one group pretest/posttest) was utilized to achieve the aim of this study—a purposive sample of 120 primigravida women. The study was carried out at the obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic in Benha university hospital. Data were collected through four main tools: A self-administered questionnaire to assess women's characteristics and obstetrical history, a maternal knowledge assessment questionnaire; maternal health practices assessment questionnaire, and a women's satisfaction questionnaire. Results: showed that the mean age of the studied sample was 23.02±7.57 years. An improvement with highly statistically significant differences was observed in women's knowledge and remedial practices regarding minor ailments at the post-intervention phase compared to the pre-intervention phase at (p<0.001). The majority of pregnant women were satisfied after the implementation of the self-instructional module. There was a non-significant positive correlation between total knowledge and total healthy practices regarding minor ailments at the pre-intervention phase (P>0.05) while there was a highly positive statistical correlation between total knowledge and total healthy practices regarding minor ailments at the post-intervention phase (P≤ 0.001). Conclusion: The research hypotheses were supported, and the self-instructional module had a positive effect on the improvement of pregnant women's knowledge and, in turn, remedial practices after its implementation. Also, there was a statistically significant reduction in the frequency of minor ailments at the post-intervention phase compared to the pre-intervention phase in favor of post-intervention. The antenatal self-instructional module regarding minor ailments should be restructured and reviewed to meet up the health needs of pregnant women, particularly primigravida