Water and Ecosystem Cycles Mediated by Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Plant genetic resources for food and agriculture play essential roles in sustainable development and the conservation of global biodiversity. Especially, water cycle and related material circulation are deeply influenced by the loss of plant species diversity and external inputs through agricultural practices. This chapter overviews the water and ecosystem cycles mediated by the ecosystem functions of naturally occurring plant communities and discusses possibilities for the transformation of agriculture into sustainable modality with the primary importance on the recovery of water cycle. The transformation requires an intensive utilization of plant genetic resources in various ways compatible with a multi-scale integrated model of water and material cycles based on the processes of ecological succession and evolution. This foresight sheds light on the new importance and utility of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, in the face of climate uncertainty and in repairing disrupted water and ecosystem cycles

Research Prospects for Controlling the Quiet Standing Posture: Discussion for the Creation of New Research Findings for People with Cerebral Palsy

Humans adopt postures and move while being affected by Earth’s gravity. Adopting and controlling a standing posture in particular involves extremely complex adjustments to balance. In addition, people with cerebral palsy often have difficulty maintaining a standing posture. The aim of this paper was to discuss the acquisition of new research findings regarding standing postural control in people with cerebral palsy through insights into research findings that reveal how humans control a static standing posture. To achieve the goal, this paper discusses the historical development of research on standing postural control and prospects for its future. This paper also reviews research on standing postural control in people with cerebral palsy and prospects for the future. In summary, the process by which people with cerebral palsy master standing postural control needs to be painstakingly identified, and reorganization of postural control in those people needs to be examined.This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 20K03000

BIOMECHANICAL ANALYSIS OF MOVEMENT TRANSFORMATION BY THE KNEE SUPPORTER WEARING

The purpose of this study was to clarify the effect of the soft knee brace, " knee supporter " in continuous squat motion under the fatigue condition. The results were summarized as follows; 1) the influence of knee supporter to the squat motion was different according to the subjects' characteristics, but in Wear condition, almost all subjects was getting to be improved the stability of knee flexion-extension motion. 2) In Wear condition, the stability of the hip joint was decreased gradually while fatigued, because the hip joint was the compensation of knee flexion-extension motion. 3) In the variation of the changes in the knee joint flexion-extension motion from the 1st set to 10th set, the subjects could be divided into three types

Multi-agent systems for power engineering applications - part 1 : Concepts, approaches and technical challenges

This is the first part of a 2-part paper that has arisen from the work of the IEEE Power Engineering Society's Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) Working Group. Part 1 of the paper examines the potential value of MAS technology to the power industry. In terms of contribution, it describes fundamental concepts and approaches within the field of multi-agent systems that are appropriate to power engineering applications. As well as presenting a comprehensive review of the meaningful power engineering applications for which MAS are being investigated, it also defines the technical issues which must be addressed in order to accelerate and facilitate the uptake of the technology within the power and energy sector. Part 2 of the paper explores the decisions inherent in engineering multi-agent systems for applications in the power and energy sector and offers guidance and recommendations on how MAS can be designed and implemented

Multi-agent systems for power engineering applications - part 2 : Technologies, standards and tools for building multi-agent systems

This is the second part of a 2-part paper that has arisen from the work of the IEEE Power Engineering Society's Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) Working Group. Part 1 of the paper examined the potential value of MAS technology to the power industry, described fundamental concepts and approaches within the field of multi-agent systems that are appropriate to power engineering applications, and presented a comprehensive review of the power engineering applications for which MAS are being investigated. It also defined the technical issues which must be addressed in order to accelerate and facilitate the uptake of the technology within the power and energy sector. Part 2 of the paper explores the decisions inherent in engineering multi-agent systems for applications in the power and energy sector and offers guidance and recommendations on how MAS can be designed and implemented. Given the significant and growing interest in this field, it is imperative that the power engineering community considers the standards, tools, supporting technologies and design methodologies available to those wishing to implement a MAS solution for a power engineering problem. The paper describes the various options available and makes recommendations on best practice. It also describes the problem of interoperability between different multi-agent systems and proposes how this may be tackled

DNA stability and thiol-disulphide status of rat sperm nuclei during epididymal maturation and penetration of oocytes

DNA stability and thiol-disulphide status of rat sperm nuclei was observed in vivo during maturation in the epididymis and penetration of oocytes. When spermatids and spermatozoa were stained with acridine orange after fixation with acetic alcohol, the red/green fluorescence ratio observed under a confocal microscope was not different between spermatids (3.81 ± 0.16) and testicular spermatozoa (4.03 ± 0.34), and then decreased sharply (p &#60; 0.01) as the spermatozoa descended the epidymis to the caput epididymis (1.13 ± 0.03). However, the ratio was not different among corpus (0.69 ± 0.01), cauda epididymis (0.68 ± 0.11) and ejaculated spermatozoa (0.63 ± 0.01). On the other hand, when spermatozoa were labelled with monobromobimane (mBBr), the fluorescence intensities gradually decreased (p &#60; 0.01) during passage of spermatozoa from testis (4.74 ± 0.16) through epididymis (caput, 2.72 ± 0.08; corpus, 1.07 ± 0.03; cauda, –0.05 ± 0.05; ejaculated, 0.08 ± 0.03). The acridine orange red/green fluorescence ratio increased (p &#60; 0.01) during zona penetration (binding sperm, 0.52 ± 0.09; perivitelline sperm, 0.64 ± 0.16) and sperm decondensation (decondensed sperm, 0.69 ± 0.12). When spermatozoa in the perivitelline space were labelled with mBBr, the fluorescence was detected. These results demonstrate that DNA stability against acid appears to be ahead of the oxidation of protamine during sperm maturation in the epididymis and is an initial event of the unpackaging process in rat genome occurring during or just after zona penetration but before ooplasm penetration.</p

Attitudes of Secondary School Science Teachers toward Teaching Diverse Students

Teachers’ attitudes are crucial to promote inclusive science practices, including those with special educational needs (SEN). This study aimed to investigate science teachers’ attitudes toward teaching diverse student and to identify the elements that may influence teachers in a positive manner toward including SEN students in science classrooms. 202 science teachers in the Banjarnegara Regency, Indonesia participate this study. A survey was conducted and analyzed by a three-way ANOVA test to know the relationship among teachers’ variables and their attitudes toward teaching diverse student groups. The results suggested that 71.8% teachers have moderately positive attitudes concerning teaching diverse student groups in general education classrooms. There were no statistically significant interaction effects among teachers’ variables. Teachers’ personal experiences in interacting with SEN students were found to be the main effect that contributes teachers in acquiring positive attitudes toward involving SEN students in regular classrooms (p &lt; 0.01). Sikap guru sangat penting untuk mendukung praktik pembelajaran IPA yang inklusif, termasuk pada Anak Berkebutuhan Khusus (ABK). Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menyelidiki sikap guru IPA dalam menghadapi peserta didik yang beragam dan mengidentifikasi faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi secara positif sikap guru IPA dalam mengikutsertakan ABK pada pembelajaran IPA. Survei dilakukan pada 202 guru IPA di Kabupaten Banjarnegara, Indonesia menggunakan kuisioner ATTDS dan dianalisis dengan tes ANOVA tiga arah untuk mengetahui hubungan antara variable guru IPA yang diteliti dan sikap guru IPA terhadap pembelajaran di kelas. Hasil survei menunjukkan bahwa 71,8% guru IPA memiliki sikap yang cukup positif terhadap seluruh skala ATTDS. Secara statistik tidak ditemukan efek interaksi yang signifikan antara ketiga variabel. Pengalaman guru IPA berinteraksi dengan ABK ditemukan sebagai aspek utama yang memberikan konstibusi signifikan pada perbedaan sikap guru IPA dalam memperoleh sikap positif untuk melibatkan ABK di kelas IPA reguler (p&lt;0,01)

Exploring social distance as a boundary condition of indirect contact

Outgroup members, such as individuals who are homeless are often dehumanized. While indirect contact (observing or learning about another person’s interaction with a member of a marginalized group) can reduce negative attitudes towards outgroup members, the conditions under which indirect contact is most (and least) likely to mitigate dehumanization have yet to be explored. In two studies, we investigated similarity as a boundary condition of indirect contact. Results indicated a significant effect of similarity when defined by university affiliation and interest in psychology (study 1), but not when defined by state of origin, political & religious identity (study 2). These conflicting findings indicate that some forms of similarity might be more impactful than others, or that the efficacy of indirect contact could be better explained by confounding variables (e.g., likability, warmth) not measured in the current studies