Worldviews and discursive construction of GMO-related risk perceptions in Turkey

This paper analyses the discursive construction of the genetically modified organisms (GMOs) issue in the Turkish political arena following the public debate on the pending legislation on biosecurity. The study proposes an operational approach to semiotic/actor network theory (Latour) applied to public representations of a new technology within the theoretical frameworks of social representation theory and cultural theory of risks. It aims to highlight how different worldviews produce different risk discourses of GMOs in Turkey. Using cluster analysis to inductively extract evaluative categories, we use these to identify themes by human coding. Lastly, we apply formal concept analysis to link themes to actors and their worldviews, establishing their semantic networks. Formal concept analysis revealed four discourse networks reflecting nationalist, Islamist, progressive (left) and neo-liberal worldviews. Finally, these structures will be grounded back in the articles for a richer interpretive analysis

Classical and Quantum Transport in Antidot Arrays

The story of solid state physics is the story of electrons in periodic potentials caused by the periodic arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. It was early recognized that an additionally imposed periodic potential can significantly modify the solid’s properties [1]. A major breakthrough in this respect was the concept of bandstructure engineering introduced by L. Esaki and R. Tsu [2,3]. The advent of molecular beam epitaxy with the possibility to grow semiconductor crystals atom by atom (see, e.g. [4]) allowed one not only to fabricate such one-dimensional superlattices superimposed upon the three-dimensional crystallographic lattice but also to realize two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) of superior quality [5]. Two-dimensional electron systems offered a wealth of new phenomena and are still the subject of current research. Prominent examples of effects based on the reduction of dimensionality for conduction electrons (or holes), are the quantum Hall effect (QHE) [6] and the fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) [7]. New phenomena were also expected for a one- or two-dimensional (2D) periodic potential imposed upon a two-dimensional electron system [8,9]. By using nanolithographic techniques it is possible these days to impress periodic potentials of different strength, period and shape upon high mobility two-dimensional electron systems such that the electron mean free path l e and phase coherence lenght l ø is much longer than the period of the periodic potentials. Two different types of potential landscapes are displayed in Fig. 5.1 showing weak and strong 2D-periodic potentials imposed upon a two-dimensional electron system

Antimicrobial peptides: Modes of mechanism, modulation of defense responses

Complicated schemes of classical breeding and their drawbacks, environmental risks imposed by agrochemicals, decrease of arable land, and coincident escalating damages of pests and pathogens have accentuated the necessity for highly efficient measures to improve crop protection. During co-evolution of host-microbe interactions, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have exhibited a brilliant history in protecting host organisms against devastation by invading pathogens. Since the 1980s, a plethora of AMPs has been isolated from and characterized in different organisms. Nevertheless the AMPs expressed in plants render them more resistant to diverse pathogens, a more orchestrated approach based on knowledge of their mechanisms of action and cellular targets, structural toxic principle, and possible impact on immune system of corresponding transgenic plants will considerably improve crop protection strategies against harmful plant diseases. This review outlines the current knowledge on different modes of action of AMPs and then argues the waves of AMPs' ectopic expression on transgenic plants' immune system