A Neurogenetic Dissociation between Punishment-, Reward-, and Relief-Learning in Drosophila

What is particularly worth remembering about a traumatic experience is what brought it about, and what made it cease. For example, fruit flies avoid an odor which during training had preceded electric shock punishment; on the other hand, if the odor had followed shock during training, it is later on approached as a signal for the relieving end of shock. We provide a neurogenetic analysis of such relief learning. Blocking, using UAS-shibirets1, the output from a particular set of dopaminergic neurons defined by the TH-Gal4 driver partially impaired punishment learning, but left relief learning intact. Thus, with respect to these particular neurons, relief learning differs from punishment learning. Targeting another set of dopaminergic/serotonergic neurons defined by the DDC-Gal4 driver on the other hand affected neither punishment nor relief learning. As for the octopaminergic system, the tbhM18 mutation, compromising octopamine biosynthesis, partially impaired sugar-reward learning, but not relief learning. Thus, with respect to this particular mutation, relief learning, and reward learning are dissociated. Finally, blocking output from the set of octopaminergic/tyraminergic neurons defined by the TDC2-Gal4 driver affected neither reward, nor relief learning. We conclude that regarding the used genetic tools, relief learning is neurogenetically dissociated from both punishment and reward learning. This may be a message relevant also for analyses of relief learning in other experimental systems including man

Why do peace negotiations fail? : a case study of the 2012-2015 peace talks between Turkey and the PKK

Pourquoi les négociations de paix échouent-elles? Pour répondre à cette question, ce mémoire synthétise la littérature sur les théories de la négociation et l’intervention de tierces parties dans les conflits intra-étatiques. À l’aide de la méthode de l’étude de cas, j’applique ce cadre théorique au troisième cycle de négociations de paix entre la Turquie et le Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan, qui s’est tenu de la fin décembre 2012 à Juillet 2015. Le modèle de négociation de guerre met l’accent sur les problèmes d’information asymétrique et engagement crédible qui mènent à l’échec de négociations. Les problèmes d’information asymétrique et engagement crédible sont habituellement plus aigus dans les conflits intra-étatiques. Car il est plus difficile d’obtenir les informations sur les capacités militaires des groupes armés non-étatiques (GANE) et il y a généralement de grandes asymétries de pouvoir entre les États et les GANE. Cette étude de cas apporte ainsi quatre contributions à la compréhension du sujet. Premièrement, lors d’un processus de paix, les deux parties impliquées peuvent consciemment faire des choix qui ne leur permettront pas d’atteindre leurs objectifs. Deuxièmement, ces choix résultent des mesures mal-conçues dans les pratiques de négociation et/ou l’absence de tierce partie qui rétablirait l’équilibre relatif de pouvoir et qui le maintiendrait pendant les négociations de paix. En fin de compte, cela accentue les problèmes d’engagement crédible. Troisièmement, les changements exogènes perturbateurs en matière des capacités relatives, en particulier en faveur des GANE, peuvent produire les problèmes d’information asymétrique. Quatrièmement, certains conflits ne se prêtent pas à l’intervention de tierce partie. Il peut être très difficile ou lourd de conséquence pour les tierces parties de rétablir l’équilibre relatif des pouvoirs.Why do peace negotiations fail? Answering this question, this dissertation synthesizes the literature on bargaining theory and third party involvement in intrastate conflicts. Using qualitative case study methods, I employ this theoretical framework to the third round of the peace talks between Turkey and Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which was held between December 2012 and July 2015. Bargaining model of war highlights the problems of information asymmetries and credible commitment that lead to bargaining failures. Information asymmetries and commitment problems are usually more severe in intrastate conflicts because it tends to be more difficult to obtain information about the military capabilities of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) and there tends to be larger power asymmetries between states and NSAGs. The case highlights four sets of implications. First, both sides in a peace process can willingly make choices that fail to achieve the ends to which they aspired. Second, these choices result from ill-designed measures in bargaining practices and/or the lack of a third party that would redress the relative balance of power and maintain it during the peace talks. This ultimately intensifies the problems of credible commitment. Third, disruptive exogenous shifts in relative capabilities, especially in favor of the NSAG, may produce asymmetric information problems. Fourth, some conflicts do not lend themselves to third-party involvement, as it may be too difficult or costly for third parties to redress the relative balance of power

Event Timing in Associative Learning

Associative learning relies on event timing. Fruit flies for example, once trained with an odour that precedes electric shock, subsequently avoid this odour (punishment learning); if, on the other hand the odour follows the shock during training, it is approached later on (relief learning). During training, an odour-induced Ca++ signal and a shock-induced dopaminergic signal converge in the Kenyon cells, synergistically activating a Ca++-calmodulin-sensitive adenylate cyclase, which likely leads to the synaptic plasticity underlying the conditioned avoidance of the odour. In Aplysia, the effect of serotonin on the corresponding adenylate cyclase is bi-directionally modulated by Ca++, depending on the relative timing of the two inputs. Using a computational approach, we quantitatively explore this biochemical property of the adenylate cyclase and show that it can generate the effect of event timing on associative learning. We overcome the shortage of behavioural data in Aplysia and biochemical data in Drosophila by combining findings from both systems

Comparison of photocatalytic systems including silver and titanium dioxide nanoparticles efficiencies for the E. coli removal from drinking water

The removal and destruction of organic contaminants in groundwater can be addressed through the impregnation of adsorbents with photoactive catalysts. In this paper removal trend of E. coli from drinking water examined by nano silver and nano titanium dioxide. To perform this, four different concentration of silver nano particles and titanium dioxide under UV radiation (with 247 nm- wavelength) used. The results showed the nano particles of silver and titanium reach to 100% disinfection efficiency at the concentrations of 0.4 mg/l (with 20 minutes contact time) and 0.8 mg/l (with 40 minutes contact time), respectively. For equal amounts of disinfectant and equal number of E. coli colonies in drinking water, disinfection potential for (nAg + V) is significantly higher than (nTiO2 + UV). When the nano particles concentration increases, the disinfection rate rises, and it was higher and faster done by the nano silver particles comparing to nano-titanium particles (Pvalue < 0.05, R²= 0.705)

COMPARING THE GENERAL HEALTH, LIFE EXPECTANCY AND HAPPINESS OF MOTHERS OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN WITH MOTHERS OF NORMAL CHILDREN

This study compares life expectancy, public health and happiness of mothers of normal students with mothers of autistic children. Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that is yet unknown as most serious and most childhood disorders. As long the incidence of autism is increasing, the focusing on the needs and experiences of parents is urgent. This study compared general health, happiness and hope to the lives of mothers of children normal with mothers of autistic children. Participants in the study were mothers of autistic and normal school students in Mazandaran Province, Iran. 112 mothers were selected through cloning method. Miller hopes questionnaire, a questionnaire with 28 questions GHO, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire used as research tools for statistical analysis of data, descriptive statistics (such as frequency tables, charts, etc.) and inferential statistics, independent t-test to compare two groups were used. The results showed that hope, health and happiness of mothers of autistic and normal students the difference was significant. The results showed that students' disabilities and autism has negative effects on their mothers' general health, hope, and happiness.  Article visualizations

Examination of Goal Commitment and Subjective Happiness Levels of the Students Studying at the Faculty of Sport Sciences According to Gender, Active Sport Participation and Sports Type Variables

This study was carried out to examine the goal commitment and subjective happiness levels of students studying in the faculty of sport sciences according to some variables. The research group consisted of 346 students who voluntarily participated from the faculty of sport sciences of a state university in Turkey. “Goal Commitment Scale” was used to determine the level of goal commitment of the participants, and the “Subjective Happiness Scale” was used to determine the levels of subjective happiness. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of demographic variables, Pearson correlation was used to determine the direction and strength of the variables, independent sample t-test was used for comparisons of the groups. The results of the study showed that subjective happiness levels of students differed according to gender and goal commitment levels differ depending on the active sport participation. In addition, significant and positive relationships were observed between the goal commitment and subjective happiness levels of the students and between the academic grade averages and the goal commitment levels. These results indicate that the goal commitment levels of students will increase as a result of encouraging active sports, and thus their academic success and subjective happiness may increase

Creating a Deep Learning Environment in a Virtual Lab for Cybersecurity

In today’s world, there is an increasing need for cybersecurity professionals because of the increase of Internet-connected devices, digital assets, and information systems infrastructure. Growth of automation and digitization, enterprise safety risks, the illusion of privacy and consumer data breaching, data storage, and management in the world of massive internet device connectivity that is expected in the near future collectively bring new security concerns. In order for students to gain the required skill sets to enter the workforce, they need hands-on experience to build essential employability qualities, confidence, knowledge, and experience. Murray State University’s Telecommunications Systems Management program uses a lab environment that has been developed using Netlab software to create a secure environment isolated from the campus network, allowing students to experience the execution of these attacks and exploits

The Effect of Basic Life Skills Training on Adaptability and Psychological Well-Being in Married Female Students

Background: Effective communication and the establishment of a good communication model among individuals have a prominent role in adaptation and can play an essential role in creating the psychological well being of married students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of basic life skills training on adaptability and psychological well being in married female students.Methods: The present study was a semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with the control group. A sample of 40 female undergraduate students of Qaemshahr Azad University University in the academic year of 2017-2018 was selected with convenience sampling and divided into 2 experimental and control groups randomly (each group 20 student). The experimental group received eight sessions of basic life skills training in 2 sessions of 90 minutes per week. Control group received no training. In order to collect information, Bell’s adaptive scale and psychological well-being questionnaire used. Covariance analysis by SPSS-22 software was used to analyze the data.Results: results of covariance analysis showed that the training of basic skills of life increased the adaptability (P &lt; 0.001) and psychological well-being (P &lt; 0.001) in the experimental group compared to the control group at the post-test stage.Conclusion: According to the results of the current study, it can be used basic life skills training as an effective way to increase the psychological well-being and student adaptability

The Effectiveness Companion of Cognitive Behavioral Interventions and the Sensory Processing Styles Training on Behavioral Problems in Children Aged 7-12 Years

Background: Children’s health is very important in societies. Children’s behavioral problems result in efficiency rate reducing in educational performance. Therefore, solving these problems is necessary. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral interventions and sensory processing styles training on children’s behavioral problems (7-12 aged).Methods: The current study was quasi-experimental with the pretest-posttest design. The statistical population of this research included all elementary students of sari city in 2017-2018. Among them, 90 target students (30 students per intervention) were selected as samples by the clustering sampling method and were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. Experimental groups received cognitive-behavioral interventions and sensory processing styles training orderly. Control group received no training. A child behavioral questionnaire was used to collect information. After scoring the questionnaire and extracting the data, SPSS-21 software used for statistical analysis of multivariate covariance and independent t test.Results: The findings showed that cognitive-behavioral interventions and the training of sensory processing styles have a significant effect on behavioral problems in children and have reduced the internalization and extraversion problems in experimental groups and the effectiveness of the cognitive-behavioral intervention in reducing behavioral problems in children is more significant than teaching sensory processing styles.Conclusion: We suggest that cognitive-behavioral therapy and sensory processing styles training are useful for parents. They help to thought control, ethical behavior and parents, mental health.

The effect of dietary protein and some amino acids on immunity in parasitised lambs

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of dietary protein and methionine and lysine on the immune system of lambs infected with gastrointestinal parasites. Both experiments were run concurrently. In experiment I, the effect of dietary protein on the immune system of lambs was investigated: Thirty two, 8 week old lambs were individually penned, divided into two groups (n=16) and each group was fed either a low or high level of dietary protein [low protein group (79g MP/kg DM) and high protein group (157g MP/kg DM)]. These two groups of lambs were further divided in two groups (n=8), one acting as an unsensitized control, the other being sensitized with parasite larvae. Infective larvae (L3) of Trichostrongylus colubriformis (95 %) and Ostertagia circumcincta (5 %) were administered as a trickle infection at rates of 600, 1200, 1800 and 3000 L3/week for the first 4, second 4, third 3 and last 4 weeks, respectively. All lambs including unsensitized control animals were challenged with 30,000 L3 of T. colubriformis 17 days after the end of the trickle infection and lambs were slaughtered 11 days after this challenge. In experiment II, the effect of methionine and lysine (ML) in the diet on development of immunity in lambs was investigated. The same low protein (LP) diet used in experiment I was supplemented with ML that had been protected from rumen degradation. Neither diet significantly increased live weight gain (LWG) in the 8-27 week old lambs over the whole period of the trial. However, there was a strong trend (p<0.09) for an enhancement due to HP at a number of different time points during sensitization and ML supplementation tended to improve (p=0.06) growth rate 6-9 week into the trickle infection. The effect of the high dietary protein on established small intestinal and abomasal worm burdens was not statistically significant, but the HP group tended to have decreased survival of T. colubriformis after challenge (p=0.091). The HP diet had no effect on abomasal worm population and faecal egg numbers. However with ML supplementation there was a significant difference in the worm counts of T. colubriformis in the small intestine acquired during trickle infection and the worm count of the ML group was half that of the LP group. Abomasal worm population of O. circumcincta were also similar after sensitization and challenge irrespective of ML intake. Faecal egg output was decreased during trickle infection and following challenge due to ML intake. In general, both protein and ML supplementation improved parasite (L3) specific and nonspecific (mitogen) lymphocyte proliferation in vitro during the early trickle period (p<0.05). All sensitized animals irrespective of diet had elevated blood eosinophils and higher proliferative responses to L3 antigen (p<0.05). Levels of eosinophils correlated negatively with challenge L3 survival but L3 proliferation correlated negatively and positively with HP and ML diet groups respectively