Effects of organic fertilisers and compost extracts on organic tomato production

The effects of various fertilizers and different compost extracts on crop health and tomato yield were studied in the field in 2004–2005 in two locations in Iran. Treatments included different fertilizers (cattle, sheep and chicken manures, green waste and household composts and chemical fertilizers) and five aqueous extracts (from cattle manure, chicken manure, green-waste and house-hold composts and water as control). The effect of fertilizer type on tomato yield was significant in both locations (P < 0.05). Organic fertilizer use did not obtain higher yields compared to using chemical fertiliser. Generally, chicken manure and green-waste compost led to the highest and lowest tomato yield among different organic fertilizers, respectively. The effect of aqueous extracts was not significant on either crop health or tomato yield with these results were being very limited and inconsistent. Improved efficacy of acceptable alternatives to agrochemicals, especially in organic farming, is required

Transmission Capacity as a Common-Pool Resource: The Case of Gas Interconnector Capacity

We investigated the very real problem of congestion at gas interconnectors. Instead of suggesting further incremental change to the European regulation in force to remedy congestion problems, we took a step back and consider gas interconnectors as a Common-Pool Resource (CPR). We suggest to wait and see what institutions the shippers let emerge to govern and manage interconnector capacity. To explore this idea, we developed a model to simulate the possible emergence of institutions that would coordinate the shippers and help overcome congestion. We simulate 40 shippers at the Dutch and Belgian interconnectors and allow them to autonomously book capacity. Agents can learn over time to improve their behaviour and coordinate with each other to collectively define a new institution in the system. The main simulator indicators are the observed booking behaviour, agent profits and emerging institutions. We present and discuss preliminary results from a set of simulation runs

Comparative (computational) analysis of the DNA methylation status of trinucleotide repeat expansion diseases

Copyright © 2013 Mohammadmersad Ghorbani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Previous studies have examined DNA methylation in different trinucleotide repeat diseases. We have combined this data and used a pattern searching algorithm to identify motifs in the DNA surrounding aberrantly methylated CpGs found in the DNA of patients with one of the three trinucleotide repeat (TNR) expansion diseases: fragile X syndrome (FRAXA), myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1), or Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA). We examined sequences surrounding both the variably methylated (VM) CpGs, which are hypermethylated in patients compared with unaffected controls, and the nonvariably methylated CpGs which remain either always methylated (AM) or never methylated (NM) in both patients and controls. Using the J48 algorithm of WEKA analysis, we identified that two patterns are all that is necessary to classify our three regions CCGG* which is found in VM and not in AM regions and AATT* which distinguished between NM and VM + AM using proportional frequency. Furthermore, comparing our software with MEME software, we have demonstrated that our software identifies more patterns than MEME in these short DNA sequences. Thus, we present evidence that the DNA sequence surrounding CpG can influence its susceptibility to be de novo methylated in a disease state associated with a trinucleotide repeat.European Union Seventh Framework Programme and The Brunel University Graduate Program

Tendency to Hookah among Adolescents in Kurdkoy City

Background and Objective: Nowadays, smoking is a widespread health problem in the world. Hookah smoking is common in many countries, especially in the Middle East and Africa. This study aimed to investigate the causes of hookah smoking in adolescents in Kurdkoy, 2013. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 266 teenagers selected via multi stage sampling. The questionnaires were distributed among the people who were present at the Coffeehouses and the results were reported by descriptive statistics. Results: The results showed that 51.5% of the participants said they use Hookah every day. The reasons were pastime (56.4), unemployment (41.7), Pleasant feeling (33.8), being with friends (33.5), fatigue reduction (33.5) and the availability of hookah (32.3). Conclusion: To minimize the tendency to Hookah smoking, we recommend planning some activities for leisure time, "learning to say no" and training how to reduce anxiety and fatigue

Investigating the relationship between knowledge management and employees’ empowerment in agriculture bank of Tehran.

The purpose of current study is to investigate the relationship between knowledge management and employees’ empowerment in Agriculture Bank of Tehran Province. Method is descriptive-survey and correlation type. Statistical population of the research is all employees of Agriculture Bank in Tehran that are 2800 employees. A sample of 338 respondents was selected based on Kochran’s formula and simple random sampling approach. In this research, two questionnaires of knowledge management and employees’ empowerment were used that their reliability has been confirmed by Cronbakh’s alpha of 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. Validity was also confirmed by experts’ views. Data was analyzed by Spearman test and analysis of variance with SPSS software. It was shown that there is a significant relationship between knowledge management and the dimensions of employees’ empowerment.Keywords: Employees’ empowerment, Knowledge management, Agriculture Ban

Application of the Cloude-Pottier decomposition to weather radar signatures

In this paper we apply the Cloude-Pottier decomposition to Weather Radar Signatures. First, we present the results of a simulation carried out at the Chemnitz University of Technology and give the expected H-α values for different rain intensities. A comparison with standard radarmeteorological variables is also given. Then, first ever images of Entropy and Anisotropy are presented for clouds and precipitation. Experimental Data are from the POLDIRAD Weather Facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany