Size fractionation of trace elements in the surface water and groundwater of the Ganjiang River and Xiushui River basins, China

The research of trace element behaviour and size fractionation is significant to understand the processes in the water-rock system. Moreover, the aqueous speciation of trace elements is strongly related to their distribution and toxicity. In this research, trace elements behaviour and their size fractionation are investigated in the natural water (the surface water and shallow groundwater) of the Ganjiang River and Xiushui River basins. Trace element concentrations were measured by ICP-MS. The authors estimated the size fractionation of the trace elements between suspended forms (>0.45 [mu]m) and dissolved fractions, which included truly dissolved (1 kDa) and colloidal particles (0.45 [mu]m-1 kDa)), after filtration through a 0.45 [mu]m acetate cellulose membrane filter. The distinct features of the trace element size fractionation were identified. The size fractionation of the trace elements under different conditions (in the surface water and shallow groundwater) was studied

What can be recommended to engineering teachers from the analysis of 16 European teaching and learning best practices?

European Higher Education institutions have been implementing active learning strategies in different contexts. In order to learn and disseminate these approaches, it is important to understand how these successful active learning strategies can be implemented in new contexts. The EXTEND ERASMUS+ project aims to develop Engineering Education Centres in Russia and Tajikistan in order to make a contribution for the development of these countries' schools of Engineering. One of the first steps in pursue of this objective is the study of European teaching and learning best practices and the definition of a set of useful recommendations for the teachers of Engineering schools. A question raised by this approach was what can be recommended to engineering teachers from the analysis of teaching and learning best practices? The objective of this paper is to develop a method for the analysis and recommendations and to present the results of the application of this method in 16 European teaching and learning best practices. The method was qualitative and developed by brainstorming between experts of the projects from different areas of knowledge. This method included the definition of a glossary, selection of best practices, collection of the information, analysis in relation to the best practices, analysis of maturity levels regarding the current level of partner countries and development of collaborative recommendations. The main recommendations for the Russia and Tajik contexts are to develop Project Based Learning approaches in interaction with industry, and additionally for Tajik partners to develop entrepreneurial and management competences in engineering students.This work is based on outcomes of the project EXTEND –“Excellence in Engineering Education through Teacher Training and New Pedagogic Approaches in Russia and Tajikistan” that has been funded with support from the European Commission (Project Number: 586060-EPP-1-2017-1-RO-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. The authors would like to thank to the members of the consortium and all that made possible to collect the data we used in this paper.This work has been supported by FCT –Fundação para aCiência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope UIDCEC003192019

Фактор запаздывания и десинхронизация колебаний связанных осцилляторов ФитцХью-Нагумо

The dynamics of two weakly coupled close oscillators FitzHugh - Nagumo occuring in the simulation of the electric impulse exchange between nerve cells is considered. The delay in a connecting element between two oscillators is taken into account. Despite of the weakness of interaction, it is shown by local asymptotic methods that the introduction of a delay leads to significant changes in the script of phase reconstructions. The corresponding numerical analysis allows us to demonstrate that the introduction of the appropriate delay let us avoid the situation of the coexistence of a stable synchronous cycle and nonsynchronous oscillations.Изучается динамика слабого взаимодействия пары близких осцилляторов типа ФитцХью-Нагумо, возникающих при моделировании электрического обмена импульсами между нервными клетками. В цепи связи между осцилляторами учтено запаздывание прохождения импульса. Локальными асимптотическими методами показано, что, несмотря на слабость взаимодействия, введение запаздывания приводит к существенным изменениям в сценарии фазовых перестроек. Соответствующий численный анализ позволил продемонстрировать, что введение подходящего запаздывания позволяет избежать ситуации, в которой сосуществуют устойчивый синхронный цикл и несинхронные колебания

Modelling of regulatory factor and managerial impact assessment in the regional economy sectors: a case-study of the Kaliningrad region (Russia)

This article discusses the methodology of developing tools for assessing regulatory factors and managerial impacts on the regional economy and individual sectors and businesses. The potential of projection models is investigated, including balance models, convergence of regional and sectoral projection and compiling reliable and representative data sets capable of describing the current economic situation. An attempt was made to develop a series of models for several regional economies; to that end, the modelling of managerial and regulatory impact assessment was used in combination with the well-known value chain approach. In the interests of effective public administration, one of the requirements is to create sectoral model formats compatible with the regional projection models. Results of pilot modelling managerial and regulatory impacts on Kaliningrad region’s economies are presented through examples of agribusiness, transport, industry, tourism and recreation. Implementation of regulatory impact modelling in the framework of the suggested approach is proved for other regions. The main advantage of the developed models for the regional management is their ability to reduce uncertainty in decision-making due to obtaining estimates of the impact of the decisions on the changing situation and the conditions for the development of sectors and industries

RDFScape: Semantic Web meets Systems Biology

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The recent availability of high-throughput data in molecular biology has increased the need for a formal representation of this knowledge domain. New ontologies are being developed to formalize knowledge, e.g. about the functions of proteins. As the Semantic Web is being introduced into the Life Sciences, the basis for a distributed knowledge-base that can foster biological data analysis is laid. However, there still is a dichotomy, in tools and methodologies, between the use of ontologies in biological investigation, that is, in relation to experimental observations, and their use as a knowledge-base.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>RDFScape is a plugin that has been developed to extend a software oriented to biological analysis with support for reasoning on ontologies in the semantic web framework. We show with this plugin how the use of ontological knowledge in biological analysis can be extended through the use of inference. In particular, we present two examples relative to ontologies representing biological pathways: we demonstrate how these can be abstracted and visualized as interaction networks, and how reasoning on causal dependencies within elements of pathways can be implemented.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The use of ontologies for the interpretation of high-throughput biological data can be improved through the use of inference. This allows the use of ontologies not only as annotations, but as a knowledge-base from which new information relevant for specific analysis can be derived.</p

Reading performance with various lamps in age-related macular degeneration

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was an objective difference in reading between four commonly available lamps, of varying spectral radiance, for 13 subjects with age-related maculopathy (ARM) or non-exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) - logMAR visual acuity between 0.04 and 0.68. At a constant illuminance of 2000 lux, there was no interaction between ARM and AMD subgroups and no statistically significant difference between the lamps: standard (clear envelope) incandescent, daylight simulation (blue tint envelope) incandescent, compact fluorescent and halogen incandescent, for any reading outcome measure (threshold print size p = 0.67, critical print size p = 0.74, acuity reserve p = 0.84 and mean reading rate p = 0.78). For lamps typically used in low-vision rehabilitation, a clinically significant effect of spectral radiance on reading for people with ARM or non-exudative AMD is unlikely. © 2007 The College of Optometrists

On the need for an international effort to capture, share and use crystallization screening data

Development of an ontology for the description of crystallization experiments and results is proposed