Cross - fertilization between three different teaching modes for geo - informatics education

Objective of this study was to determine if the use and student appreciation of course materials differs for native materials (materials that were developed for that course type in which they are used) and foreign materials (materials that were developed for another course type) and if the way the materials are used, (compulsory versus optional, interchangeable versus the only source of information) affects the student appreciation. A comparison was made between a face-to-face course, a blended learning course and a distance course. The comparison was based on a questionnaire, the course evaluation and the statistics from the digital learning environments. Results show no difference between native and foreign course materials, but do however show the influence of the way the materials were used. Appreciation for compulsory, non-interchangeable materials is higher than for optional interchangeable ones, but even for this last category the general appreciation is high. Distance students have the highest overall appreciation for study materials, followed by the face-to-face students

Object identification and characterization with hyperspectral imagery to identify structure and function of Natura 2000 habitats

Habitat monitoring of designated areas under the EU Habitats Directive requires every 6 years information on area, range, structure and function for the protected (Annex I) habitat types. First results from studies on heathland areas in Belgium and the Netherlands show that hyperspectral imagery can be an important source of information to assist the evaluation of the habitat conservation status. Hyperspectral imagery can provide continuous maps of habitat quality indicators (e.g., life forms or structure types, management activities, grass, shrub and tree encroachment) at the pixel level. At the same time, terrain managers, nature conservation agencies and national authorities responsible for the reporting to the EU are not directly interested in pixels, but rather in information at the level of vegetation patches, groups of patches or the protected site as a whole. Such local level information is needed for management purposes, e.g., exact location of patches of habitat types and the sizes and quality of these patches within a protected site. Site complexity determines not only the classification success of remote sensing imagery, but influences also the results of aggregation of information from the pixel to the site level. For all these reasons, it is important to identify and characterize the vegetation patches. This paper focuses on the use of segmentation techniques to identify relevant vegetation patches in combination with spectral mixture analysis of hyperspectral imagery from the Airborne Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS). Comparison with traditional vegetation maps shows that the habitat or vegetation patches can be identified by segmentation of hyperspectral imagery. This paper shows that spectral mixture analysis in combination with segmentation techniques on hyperspectral imagery can provide useful information on processes such as grass encroachment that determine the conservation status of Natura 2000 heathland areas to a large extent. A limitation is that both advanced remote sensing approaches and traditional field based vegetation surveys seem to cause over and underestimations of grass encroachment for specific categories, but the first provides a better basis for monitoring if specific species are not directly considered

Characterization of human UTF1, a chromatin-associated protein with repressor activity expressed in pluripotent cells

AbstractIn mice, during early embryonic development UTF1 (undifferentiated embryonic cell transcription factor 1) is expressed in the inner cell mass of blastocysts and in adult animals expression is restricted to the gonads. (Embryonic) Cells expressing UTF1 are generally considered pluripotent, meaning they can differentiate into all cell types of the adult body. In mouse it was shown that UTF1 is tightly associated with chromatin and that it is required for proper differentiation of embryonic carcinoma and embryonic stem cells. In this study we functionally characterized the human UTF1 protein. We show with localization, subnuclear fractionation, and strip-FRAP analyses that human UTF1 is a tightly DNA-associated protein with transcriptional repressor activity. Our data identify human UTF1 as a pluripotency-associated chromatin component with core histone-like characteristics

Моделі динаміки пружних збурень у неоднорідно деформованому континуумі

Розвинуто нелінійну теорію пружності стосовно задач томографії тензорних полів у неоднорідно деформованих твердих тілах. За визначальні параметри локального термодинамічного стану, що відповідають процесові деформування, прийнято тензорні характеристики, означені щодо актуальної (деформованої) конфігурації — тензор напружень Коші та міри деформації Альманзі або Фінґера. У рамках запропонованої нелінійної теорії побудовано декілька варіантів системи рівнянь динаміки малих пружних збурень у неоднорідно деформованому твердому континуумі, лінеаризованої стосовно деформації збурення. Коефіцієнти отриманих рівнянь залежать від локальних параметрів початкового напружено-деформованого стану, заданих в актуальній конфігурації. У такому вигляді їх зручно застосовувати для опису хвильових процесів, які збуджують у неоднорідно деформованих тілах, щоб отримати апостеріорну інформацію про актуальний напружено-деформований стан цих об’єктів.A nonlinear theory of elasticity as applied to problems of tensor fields tomography in non-uniformly strained solids has been developed. As constitutive thermodynamic parameters of the theory, corresponding the process of deformation, the tensor characteristics determinate in the actual configuration — tensors Almansi’s and Finger’s have been used. In the frame of the theory several variants of system equations for dynamics of small elastic disturbances in non-uniformly strained continuum, linearized with respect to the amplitude of the disturbance, have been built. These equations coefficients are depended on local parameters of the body stress-strained state, determined in local base of the actual configuration. In such a form they are convenient to use for describing of the wave processes in non-uniformly strained solids activated to obtain some a posteriori information about the actual stress-strained state of such objects.Развита нелинейная теория упругости применительно к задачам томографии тензорных полей в неоднородно деформированных твердых телах. В качестве определяющих параметров локального термодинамического состояния, соответствующих процессу деформирования, приняты тензорные характеристики, определяемые относительно актуальной (деформированной) конфигурации — тензор напряжений Коши и меры деформации Альманзи или Фингера. В рамках предложенной нелинейной теории построено несколько вариантов системы уравнений динамики малых упругих возмущений в неоднородно деформированном твердом континууме, линеаризированной относительно деформации возмущения. Коэффициенты полученных уравнений зависят от локальных параметров напряженно-деформированного состояния, заданных в актуальной конфигурации. В таком виде их удобно применять для описания волновых процессов, которые возбуждают в неоднородно деформированных телах для получения апостериорной информации об актуальном напряженно-деформированном состоянии этих объектов

Mouse models of central nervous system ageing

Ageing is accompanied by decreased overall fitness and performance. Studying brain ageing in humans is challenging due to limited or no access to healthy tissue, limited opportunities for interventions and complicated confounding factors. The generation of mouse ageing models with uniform genetic backgrounds significantly contributed to understanding (brain) ageing at the molecular level. Research has focused on evolutionarily conserved mechanisms or pathways that control ageing to facilitate data extrapolation to humans. Understanding how these pathways contribute to pathological ageing may help us understand human central nervous system (CNS) ageing and assist in the development of possible therapeutic targets. In this review, we focus on the functional consequences and pathological changes in the CNS of ageing mouse models