STUDIES ON THE NUTRIENT CONTENT OF SPECIES Mytilus galloprovincialis OF THE BLACK SEA

It is well known that, among the marine organisms, mollusks are highly appreciated in many European, Asian and North American countries. In the Romanian area of the Black Sea, mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis can be found in deep areas which form a belt around the sea on the continental platform. There are significant variations of the main environmental factors which directly influence the physiological behavior of the organisms and the accumulation of the biochemical components with nutritional value. This paper correlates the study of the dynamics of the main biochemical compounds with the environmental factors and the annual ontogenetic phases of the organisms. There are also presented comparative studies concerning the rock mollusks and mollusks of deep from the Black Sea. It was found variations in quantitative results for biochemical composition. Cases are due to seasonal variations of physical-chemical conditions of seawater

Radiation Hardness Studies in a CCD with High-Speed Column Parallel Readout

Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) have been successfully used in several high energy physics experiments over the past two decades. Their high spatial resolution and thin sensitive layers make them an excellent tool for studying short-lived particles. The Linear Collider Flavour Identification (LCFI) collaboration is developing Column-Parallel CCDs (CPCCDs) for the vertex detector of the International Linear Collider (ILC). The CPCCDs can be read out many times faster than standard CCDs, significantly increasing their operating speed. The results of detailed simulations of the charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) of a prototype CPCCD are reported and studies of the influence of gate voltage on the CTI described. The effects of bulk radiation damage on the CTI of a CPCCD are studied by simulating the effects of two electron trap levels, 0.17 and 0.44 eV, at different concentrations and operating temperatures. The dependence of the CTI on different occupancy levels (percentage of hit pixels) and readout frequencies is also studied. The optimal operating temperature for the CPCCD, where the effects of the charge trapping are at a minimum, is found to be about 230 K for the range of readout speeds proposed for the ILC. The results of the full simulation have been compared with a simple analytic model.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures; presented at IEEE'07, ALCPG'07, ICATPP'0

Comparative Study of Sustainable Development Indicators in CEE Countries (2000 – 2010)

Environment is the basic factor to continue human survival and long-term prosperity of mankind is unthinkable if we are not able to ensure that future generations can enjoy the full benefits of nature. At the same time, development is needed to tackle poverty in developing countries and to empower people everywhere to live in a civilized manner in a more favorable environment. The aim of this article is to examine if the sustainable development indicators (greenhouse gas emissions, resource productivity and people at risk of poverty or social exclusion) have an impact on the economic growth and if there are significant discrepancies between countries in 2010 compared to the base year of analysis (2000), using this indicators. The analysis focuses particularly on the countries situated in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia). Based on the result obtained, the author shall try to trace, in the conclusion, a few guiding lines which could be of strategic importance for stimulating action and awareness that environmental protection and economic development must be contemporary concerns

How research and development spending shapes societal welfare and sustainability metrics in Europe

This research delves into the intricate relationship between Research and Development expenditure and key societal indicators within European Union nations. Through this research we aim to elucidate the overarching relationship between the research and development investment and societal wellbeing, transcending borders and regions. Furthermore, we aim to assess the universal patterns between innovation funding and digital inclusivity, represented by the internet access rates. Another objective of this research is to determine the potential European impact of research and development allocations on sustainable practices, using the recycling rate of municipal waste and circular material use rate as key indicators. Nevertheless, we aim to contribute to the global dialogue on optimizing research and development spending for multifaceted societal and environmental advancements. Previous studies have illustrated the importance of research and development expenditure as a significant factor influencing a nation’s growth, technological innovation and societal well-being. Within the European context, research has consistently shown the intricate dynamics between innovation spending and societal indicators. However, few have delved deep into the multi-dimensional outcomes of such expenditures, particularly in areas like poverty internetaccess and sustainable practices. Drawing upon prior studies highlight the significance of the Research and Development expenditure to national growth and societal well-being, this investigation employs a quantitative approach, sourcing data from official EU databases. Utilizing SPSS for statistical analysis, preliminary results reveal a positive correlation between the expenditure on research and development and internet access, as well as sustainable practices. The findings offer profound implications for both academia and practitioners, suggesting that investments on research and development shape diverse societal and environmental outcomes. Unique in its comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted impacts of research and development spending, this research bridges economic, societal and environmental paradigms, thereby enriching the existing academic discourse and aiding in the formulation of holistic developmental strategies within the European Union

OpenDSU: Digital Sovereignty in PharmaLedger

Distributed ledger networks, chiefly those based on blockchain technologies, currently are heralding a next generation of computer systems that aims to suit modern users' demands. Over the recent years, several technologies for blockchains, off-chaining strategies, as well as decentralised and respectively self-sovereign identity systems have shot up so fast that standardisation of the protocols is lagging behind, severely hampering the interoperability of different approaches. Moreover, most of the currently available solutions for distributed ledgers focus on either home users or enterprise use case scenarios, failing to provide integrative solutions addressing the needs of both. Herein we introduce the OpenDSU platform that allows to interoperate generic blockchain technologies, organised - and possibly cascaded in a hierarchical fashion - in domains. To achieve this flexibility, we seamlessly integrated a set of well conceived OpenDSU components to orchestrate off-chain data with granularly resolved and cryptographically secure access levels that are nested with sovereign identities across the different domains. Employing our platform to PharmaLedger, an inter-European network for the standardisation of data handling in the pharmaceutical industry and in healthcare, we demonstrate that OpenDSU can cope with generic demands of heterogeneous use cases in both, performance and handling substantially different business policies. Importantly, whereas available solutions commonly require a pre-defined and fixed set of components, no such vendor lock-in restrictions on the blockchain technology or identity system exist in OpenDSU, making systems built on it flexibly adaptable to new standards evolving in the future.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figure

The Plurivocal Character of Hermeneutics – Moving beyond the Quest for Objectivity

As a science, hermeneutics started out in the area of theology. Dealing with revealed texts, the interpreters would be interested in searching out for the authorial intent. Therefore, one could say that, at its beginnings, the interpretation was concerned with discovering the meaning that was already there, namely the meaning intended by the author. However, the history of Christian thoughts reveals that the schools of interpretations did not agree on the methods of hermeneutics. Things are not different now, except for the fact that it is much harder for the interpreter to reach the authorial intent due to the time gap. Though objectivity in interpretation is desirable, as it keeps the interpreters away from far off interpretations, it is impossible to achieve. In this article I underline the plurivocal character of hermeneutics as a result of interactions among the participants in the act of interpretation: the author, the text and the reader. While the first two keep the interpreter within some objective perimeters, the reader would never be a passive recipient of a text. The goal of hermeneutics is transformational rather than informational. Thus, the interpreter moves from the quest for objectivity to ontolog

Novel Regulators of Vascular Development in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant vascular tissues are supporting and conductive tissues composed of two major components, xylem and phloem. These tissues transport water, food, hormones and minerals within the plant. In my thesis work, I used the Arabidopsis root as a model system to study vascular tissue formation. The first part of my thesis work is focused on the formation of xylem, the water transporting tissue. In the Arabidopsis root, the xylem is organized as an axis of cell files with two distinct cell fates: the central metaxylem and the peripheral protoxylem. It has been previously reported that high and low expression levels of the class III HD-ZIP transcription factors promote metaxylem and protoxylem identities, respectively. In this work, we provide evidence that auxin biosynthesis promotes HD-ZIP III expression and metaxylem formation. We observed that plants with mutations in auxin biosynthesis genes, such as trp2-12, wei8 tar2, or the quintuple yucca mutant, as well as plants treated with a pharmacological inhibitor of auxin biosynthesis, show reduced expression of the HD-ZIP III genes accompanied by specific defects in metaxylem formation. We were able to induce a partial rescue of the metaxylem defects by introducing an endogenous auxin supply. In addition, some of the patterning defects can be suppressed by synthetically elevating HD-ZIP III expression in the stele of the Arabidopsis root. The second part of my thesis work is focused on phloem tissue formation. Phloem is the tissue responsible for long-distance molecular transport and signaling. The conductive components of the phloem, the sieve elements, rely on specific junctions between the conducting cells in the form of highly perforated sieve areas. We identified mutations in the CHER1 (CHOLINE TRANSPORTER LIKE 1) locus of Arabidopsis which result in altered phloem conductivity, reduced sieve pore density, and defects in sieve pore formation. CHER1 encodes a member of a poorly characterized choline transporter-like protein family in plants and animals. We provide data showing that CHER1 facilitates choline transport, localizes to the trans-Golgi network, and is associated with the late stage of phragmoplast formation during cytokinesis. Interestingly, CHER1 has a sustained, polar localization in forming sieve plates, which is consistent with its function in the elaboration of the sieve areas.Kasvien johtojänteet koostuvat pääosin kahdesta solutyypistä, puu- ja nilasoluista, jotka tukevat kasvia ja ovat erilaistuneet veden, ravintoaineiden, kasvihormonien sekä mineraalien kuljettamiseen kasvin eri osien välillä. Väitöstyössäni tutkin johtosolukon muodostumista käyttäen mallina lituruohon juurta. Väitöstyöni ensimmäinen osio pureutuu puusolukon eli ksyleemin, vettä kuljettavan putkiston muodostumiseen. Lituruohon pääjuuressa kahdenlaiset puusolut muodostavat keskuslieriöön poikittaisen akselin jonka kummassakin päädyssä on yksi ns. protoksyleemi solu ja niiden välissä metaksyleemi soluja. Aiempien tutkimusten perusteella on tiedetty että HD-ZIP III transkriptiofaktorin korkea ilmenemistaso edistää metaksyleemin erilaistumista kun taas alhainen taso on kytköksissä protoksyleemiin. Väitöstyöni puitteissa selvitimme että kasvihormoni auksiinin tuotanto edistää HD-ZIP III ilmenemistä ja siten myös metaksyleemin muodostumista. Poikkeavan alhainen auksiinin määrä kasveissa joiden auksiinin tuotantoa oli heikennetty joko geneettisin tai kemiallisin menetelmin alensi HD-ZIP III ilmenemistä, mikä puolestaan johti poikkeavuuksiin metaksyleemin erilaistumisessa. Näitä poikkeavuuksia voitiin osittain korjata nostamalla joko auksiinin määrää tai HD-ZIP III ilmenemistasoa juuren keskuslieriössä. Väitöstyöni toisessa osassa tutkin nilan muodostumista. Nila on erikoistunut useiden molekyylien pitkänmatkan kuljetukseen, mikä perustuu siiviläputkien huokosellisten poikkiseinien eli siivilälevyjen ominaisuuteen yhdistää peräkkäiset siiviläputkisolut toisiinsa pitkäksi solujonoksi. Havaitsimme että lituruoholla siivilälevyjen huokoisuus ja siten siiviläputkien kuljetuskyky poikkeaa normaalista jos CHER1 (CHOLINE TRANSPORTER LIKE 1) geenin toiminta on estynyt. CHER1 proteiini paikallistuu kehittyviin siiviläputkiin polaarisesti ennakoiden siivilälevyn sijaintia, ja on siis siivilälevyjen kehittymisen kannalta tärkeä jo varhaisessa vaiheessa. Lisäksi osoitimme että CHER1 osallistuu koliinin kuljetukseen, paikallistuu solutasolla Golgi verkostoon, ja liittyy tiettyjen rakenteiden muodostumiseen solunjakautumisen yhteydessä

North, east, south, west: mapping vascular tissues onto the Arabidopsis root

The Arabidopsis root has provided an excellent model for understanding patterning processes and cell fate specification. Vascular patterning represents an especially interesting process, as new positional information must be generated to transform an approximately radially symmetric root pole into a bisymmetric structure with a single xylem axis. This process requires both growth of the embryonic tissue alongside the subsequent patterning. Recently researchers have identified a series of transcription factors that modulate cell divisions to control vascular tissues growth. Spatial regulation in the signalling of two hormones, auxin and cytokinin, combine with other transcription factors to pattern the xylem axis. We are now witnessing the discovery of increasingly complex interactions between these hormones that can be interpreted through the use of mathematical models

Correlations Between Deaf-Muteness and Cephalometric Characteristics in Adults

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess any existing correlations between the phonatory function obviously affected in deaf-mute patients and dento-maxillary and/or facial anomalies. Material and Methods: The study comprised 55 deaf-mute patients (28 males and 27 females) aged between 23 and 76 from 2 cities of Romania, belonging to the Hearing Deficiency Persons’ Association. 13 were edentulous. Each patient was clinically and radiographically assessed. We applied computer assisted interpretetation of the profile teleradiographies using AudaxCeph and Scanora Lite 3.2.6 software for the following parameters: SNA, SNB, ANB, SN/ML, FH/ML, NL/ML, NL/+1 and ML/-1 angles, Ls-ELine, Li-ELine, UP and LP distances.The data was compared to normal values as referred to in the mentioned computer programs by using Student’s t-tests and the Bland Altman plot. Results: The following characteristics were identified as being statistically different from the normal values: SN/ML with a mean of -5,5°, FH/ML by 6,2°, NL/ML with -5,2°, Ls-ELine by -4,2 mm and Li-ELine with a mean of -3,7 mm. Conclusions: Deaf-mute patients tend to present hypodivergent vertical skeletal patterns, anterior mandibular growth/rotation and skeletal deep bite and also protruded lips, aspects which must be taken into consideration when commencing an orthodontic treatment