Life Beyond the Solar System: Remotely Detectable Biosignatures

For the first time in human history, we will soon be able to apply to the scientific method to the question "Are We Alone?" The rapid advance of exoplanet discovery, planetary systems science, and telescope technology will soon allow scientists to search for life beyond our Solar System through direct observation of extrasolar planets. This endeavor will occur alongside searches for habitable environments and signs of life within our Solar System. While these searches are thematically related and will inform each other, they will require separate observational techniques. The search for life on exoplanets holds potential through the great diversity of worlds to be explored beyond our Solar System. However, there are also unique challenges related to the relatively limited data this search will obtain on any individual world

Çepnilerde din ve sosyal-kültürel hayat (Giresun örneği)

Anahtar Kelimeler : Çepniler, Giresun, Alevi, Sünni, Din, Sosyal-Kültürel Hayat.ÖZET ÇEPNİLERDE DİN VE SOSYAL-KÜLTÜREL HAYAT (GİRESUN ÖRNEĞİ) Orta Asya’dan Anadolu’ya göç eden Oğuz boylarının en büyüklerinden biri olan Çepnilerin Anadolu’daki varlıkları 12. yüzyıla kadar dayanmaktadır. Başta Balıkesir ve civarı olmak üzere Karadeniz, İç Anadolu, Sivas ve Kırşehir gibi çok geniş bir coğrafyaya yayılan Çepniler Anadolu’nun Türkleşmesi ve İslamlaşmasında çok önemli rol oynamışlardır. Gerek Selçuklu gerek Osmanlı dönemindeki faaliyetleri buna en güzel örmektir. Yapı olarak savaşçı bir boy olan Çepnilerin, inanç olarak bazısı Alevi bazısı Sünni akideye sahiptir. Ama sonuçta hepsi Türk toplumunun standart bir parçasıdır. Bu nedenle Giresun Çepnilerinin üzerinde mülakat ve katılımcı gözlem tekniği kullanılarak yapılan bu çalışmada Çepnilerin hem tarihi, hem dini, hem de sosyal-kültürel yönleri incelenmiştir. GENERAL KNOWLEDGEName and Surname: B. Zahide KaçarField: TeologyProgramme: Sociology of ReligionSupervisor: Professor Zeki ArslanturkDegree Awarded and Date: PhD- June 2010Keywords: Cepniees, Giresun, Alevi, Sunni, Religion, Social-Cultural Life ABSTRACTRELIGION AND SOCIAL-CULTURAL LIFE IN CEPNIEES ( THE CASE OF GIRESUN)Existance of one of the biggest Oguz tribes Cepniees which immigrated from Central Asia to Anatolia traces back to XII. centry. The Cepniees which extended to firstly Balıkesir and around than to Karadeniz, Ic Anadolu, Sivas, Kırşehir played an important rol in the process of Turkization and Islamation of Anatolia. Their activitiees in both Selcukites and Ottoman periods are best example of these position.As a charactare of them Cepniees are worrier and their believes are sometimes Sunni and sometimes Alevi. But consequently all of them one part of Turkish society. In this study we examined Giresun Cepniees , their history, religions, social-cultural aspects by using interwiev and participiant observation technies

A Comprehensive Literature Search on Crises Affecting the Aviation Industry

The aviation industry is one of the fastest and most affected industries by the developments in the world. In the study, the historical events that shape the development of civil aviation in the world and in Turkey and the events that cause the sectoral characteristics of the industry to change and develop were examined. It has been concluded that the contribution of the aviation industry to the global economy is 4.3 times higher than other business lines worldwide. For this reason, the resistances and activities of various airports from around the world to the crises were researched and suggestions were presented. The motivation of this study has been to investigate the factors affecting the aviation industry, which has such a global importance, and the managerial decisions that have allowed the industry to survive until now

An assessment of stoichiometric autocatalysis across element groups

Autocatalytic chemical reaction systems have been proposed to play critical roles during the transition from an abiotic world to one that contains living systems. These proposals are at odds with a limited number of known examples of abiotic (and in particular, inorganic) autocatalytic systems that might reasonably function in a prebiotic environment. In this study, we broadly assess the occurrence of stoichiometries that can support autocatalytic chemical systems through comproportionation reactions. If the product of a comproportionation process can be coupled with an auxiliary oxidation or reduction pathway that furnishes a reactant, then a candidate comproportionation-based autocatalytic cycle (CompAC) structure can exist. Using this strategy, we surveyed the literature and chemical databases for reactions that can be organized into CompACs that consume some chemical species as food to synthesize more autocatalysts. 226 CompACs and 44 Broad-sense CompACs were documented, and it was found that each of the 18 groups, lanthanoid series, and actinoid series in the periodic table has at least two CompACs. Our findings demonstrate that stoichiometric relationships underpinning abiotic autocatalysis could broadly exist across a range of geochemical and cosmochemical conditions, some of which are substantially different from the modern Earth. At the same time, the observation of some autocatalytic systems requires effective spatial or temporal separation between the food chemicals while allowing comproportionation and auxiliary reactions to proceed, which may explain why naturally occurring autocatalytic systems are not frequently observed. The collated CompACs and the conditions in which they might plausibly support complex, “life-like” chemical dynamics, can directly aid an expansive assessment of life’s origins and provide a compendium of alternative hypotheses concerning false-positive biosignatures

Green Airport building certification comparison: a practical approach for Airport Management

In this study, six certificates have proposed and three of them used by airport terminal building to analyze, measure, and score environmental damage were compared. Certifications handled in the study are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment for Building Environmental Efficiency), SBTool (Sustainable Building Tool), ACA (Airport Carbon Accreditation) and Green Airport and Green Company certificates. As a result, this research gathered the most widely used certificates in the literature. In addition, the Green Airport and Green Company certificate, the first green airport certificate in Turkiye, was added to the study for comparison, which has been offered just for airports. Hong Kong International Airport’s sustainability report was examined to determine how many points it would have received if it had applied for the most widely used LEED, BREEAM, and Green Airport and Green Company Certificates regarding the reported activities. The results have shown that the energy and atmosphere category is vital for all certification systems. Also, the study reveals that LEED gets 89.09 over 100 points, BREEAM 93.1 over 100 points, and Green Airport 75 over 100 points which display BREEAM to get a higher environmental response. This study aims to guide green building practices to decision-makers, which has become necessary in many countries. Employees and managers want to know the quality and quantity of sustainable tasks or planning at airports

A preliminary proteomic evaluation of smooth muscle cells in thoracic aortic aneurysms

WOS: 000332944300010Aortic aneurysm is characterized as localized degeneration of the aorta leading to advanced weakening and widening of the vessel. While the exact mechanisms have yet to be determined, current studies indicate that the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) may result in extendibility, dilation, and rupture of the vessel. Within the aortic wall, SMCs are implicated as key components involved in disease development, as numerous molecular changes have been reported to occur. Most current studies involve either investigation of proteins constituting a group or pathway in SMCs, or analyses of the whole aortic tissue. In order to determine which proteins are important in the development of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAAs), we performed comparative proteomic analyses using cultured SMCs from TAAs versus controls. Label-free nano LC-MS/MS analysis of cell extracts resulted in the identification of 256 proteins, 26 of which were differentially regulated by >= 1.4-fold. Both previously described and new proteins were identified that were involved in oxidative stress, ECM formation, energy metabolism, or the 14-3-3 pathway. Among these, differential expression of SerpinH1, a protease inhibitor for collagenases, was further verified via immunoblotting. Here we have attempted to shed light on the cellular mechanisms of TAAs.European Union [200647]This work was supported by the European Union 7th Framework Programme Project entitled Fighting Aneurysmal Disease (FAD), Health-2007-2.4.2-2, Grant Agreement No. 200647, and internal funding through TUBITAK.Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK

Early Nitrogenase Ancestors Encompassed Novel Active Site Diversity

Ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) infers predicted ancestral states for sites within sequences and can constrain the functions and properties of ancestors of extant protein families. Here, we compare the likely sequences of inferred nitrogenase ancestors to extant nitrogenase sequence diversity. We show that the most-likely combinations of ancestral states for key substrate channel residues are not represented in extant sequence space, and rarely found within a more broadly defined physiochemical space-supporting that the earliest ancestors of extant nitrogenases likely had alternative substrate channel composition. These differences may indicate differing environmental selection pressures acting on nitrogenase substrate specificity in ancient environments. These results highlight ASR's potential as an in silico tool for developing hypotheses about ancestral enzyme functions, as well as improving hypothesis testing through more targeted in vitro and in vivo experiments

Early divergence of translation initiation and elongation factors

Protein translation is a foundational attribute of all living cells. The translation function carried out by the ribosome critically depends on an assortment of protein interaction partners, collectively referred to as the translation machinery. Various studies suggest that the diversification of the translation machinery occurred prior to the last universal common ancestor, yet it is unclear whether the predecessors of the extant translation machinery factors were functionally distinct from their modern counterparts. Here we reconstructed the shared ancestral trajectory and subsequent evolution of essential translation factor GTPases, elongation factor EF-Tu (aEF-1A/eEF-1A), and initiation factor IF2 (aIF5B/eIF5B). Based upon their similar functions and structural homologies, it has been proposed that EF-Tu and IF2 emerged from an ancient common ancestor. We generated the phylogenetic tree of IF2 and EF-Tu proteins and reconstructed ancestral sequences corresponding to the deepest nodes in their shared evolutionary history, including the last common IF2 and EF-Tu ancestor. By identifying the residue and domain substitutions, as well as structural changes along the phylogenetic history, we developed an evolutionary scenario for the origins, divergence and functional refinement of EF-Tu and IF2 proteins. Our analyses suggest that the common ancestor of IF2 and EF-Tu was an IF2-like GTPase protein. Given the central importance of the translation machinery to all cellular life, its earliest evolutionary constraints and trajectories are key to characterizing the universal constraints and capabilities of cellular evolution