Three overlapping genomic clones covering 29.0 kilobases of cotton DNA were found to encompass a cluster of two presumptive osmotin genes (OSMI and OSMII) and two osmotin pseudogenes (OSMIII and OSMIV). A segment of 16,007 basepairs of genomic DNA was sequenced from the overlapping genomic clones (GenBank Accessions AY303690 and AF304007). The two cotton osmotin genes were found to have open reading frames of 729 basepairs without any introns, and would encode presumptive osmotin preproteins of 242 amino acids. The open reading frames of the genes are identical in sequence to two corresponding cDNA clones (GenBank Accessions AF192271 and AY301283). The two cDNA inserts are almost full-length, since one lacks codons for the four N-terminal amino acids, and the other cDNA insert lacks the coding region for the 34 N-terminal amino acids. The cotton osmotin preproteins can be identified as PR5 proteins from their similarities to the deduced amino acid sequences of other plant osmotin PR5 preproteins. The preproteins would have N-terminal signal sequences of 24 amino acids, and the mature 24 kilodalton isoforms would likely be targeted for extracellular secretion. Prospective promoter elements, including two ethylene response elements, implicated as being positive regulatory elements in the expression of a number of PR-proteins, occur in the 5'-flanking regions. The mature osmotin proteins accumulate in cotton plants treated with the inducers ethephon and hydrogen peroxide. Thus, the two cotton osmotin genes encode osmotin proteins. The coding regions of the two genes have been expressed and isolated as fusion polypeptides in a bacterial expression system. Binary constructs containing the open reading frames of the two osmotin genes under the control of the 35S CaMV promoter have been generated for eventual production of transgenic Arabidopsis and cotton plants for potential constitutive expression of the osmotin proteins for increased resistance against fungal pathogens.

The purpose with this report was to compare three commonly occurring methods for measuring plant available nitrogen in soils. The methods extraction, incubation and Plant root simulator (PRS) probe - an ion exchange membrane (Western Ag Innovations, Inc., Saskatoon, Canada) method were used and comparison between these methods were conducted. A full factorial experiment were set up in northern Finland with the treatments excluding herbivores, warming and fertilization to see how the inorganic nitrogen content in the soil was effected by the treatments. Soil cores were taken and from them a subsample was incubated for 18 days and thereafter analyzed for inorganic N in laboratory. PRS- probes were in the ground for 1 month. It was a strong positive correlation between extracted and incubated samples but no correlation between the PRS- probes and extraction or incubation samples. The PRS- probes showed several significant changes in inorganic N content after the treatments where fertilization increased the tot-N and NO3 levels and warming reduced the inorganic tot-N, NH4 and NO3. These findings were not confirmed by the results of the extraction. The incubation showed negative net mineralization rates for tot- N and NH4. PRS- probes showed a slightly dominance of NO3 over NH4 while extraction showed a many times higher amount of NH4 compared to NO3. Extraction shows a strong correlation with incubation even though extraction measure an instantaneous value and incubation measure the production of inorganic nitrogen over time.

In 2003 the Swedish Land Management Program (LAMP) initiated the Village Legal Workers (VLW) Training in the Babati District aiming at empowering local communities through raising awareness of legal rights among the villagers. A VLW is trained in legal rights and will then share his/her knowledge with other villagers through meetings and seminars. The aim of this thesis is to examine the effectiveness of Swedish aid on empowerment of local communities and empowerment of women. To meet these aims of the paper three questions were formulated: to what extent have the goals (empowering local communities) of LAMPs VLWs Training been achieved in Dareda Kati and Haysam, to what extent has the project used a Bottom-up approach and has LAMPs VLWs Training contributed to empowerment of women? To answer these questions a qualitative method was used through semistructured interviews with VLWs and participants of the education by VLWs. Bottom-up approach has been chosen to describe the methods for achieving empowerment and Gender theory has been chosen to describe the procedure of empowerment of women, which consider the social constructions of men and women. The results of this study indicate that VLWs and participants of the education thought that raising awareness of legal rights is of great importance. The expectations and the goals of the project have not quite been fulfilled due to lack of financial resources and support from the Babati District Council (BDC) and the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC).

In this work the topic of breast cancer treated more generally and mainly focused on risk factors for the development. The theoretical part describes the general knowledge about breast cancer as a stage or treatment. The practical part is to have clarified the risk factors that have some bearing on the diagnosis of breast cancer. What level are involved in the probability of occurrence? Can we eliminate them? As a comparison of risk factors examined in the Czech Republic, England, Australia and the United States.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of acculturation on the parent and teacher ratings of non-clinical Mexican American children's behavior, using the BASC Parent Rating Scale-C (PRS-C ) and the Teacher Rating Scale-C (TRS-C ). One hundred twenty-three children of Mexican descent (ages 6-11) attending Texas public schools were rated by their parents and teachers. Parent acculturation level was measured using the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II. Parents were assigned to High, Medium or Low acculturation groups based on a combination of linear acculturation levels (Part 1) and obtained typologies (Part 2). Parent acculturation level was then assigned to TRS-C data creating matched-rater pairs (PRS-C and TRS-C of same child) for use in this study. Internal consistency reliabilities for the Total Mexican American sample's Teacher Rating Scale-C (TRS-C) were more similar to the published BASC general norms than the Total Mexican American sample's Parent Rating Scale-C (PRS-C ) on six of the nine clinical scales investigated and on all three of the shared adaptive scales. The most striking internal consistency result emerged when the sample was subdivided by acculturation, the High acculturation TRS-C Conduct Problems scale showed no cohesion of items for this sample (.00). Comparison of the Total, High, Medium, and Low groups' obtained distributions on each of the 16 selected scales of the PRS-C and TRS-C to the published BASC general norms revealed: 1) six significant differences of potential clinical relevance on the PRS-C scales, and 2) thirteen significant differences of potential clinical relevance on the TRS-C scales. Both parents and teachers rated the children as demonstrating less maladaptive symptoms on the Aggression, Depression, Hyperactivity, and Behavioral Symptom Index. Only parents reported lower Adaptability and Adaptive Skills scores. And only teachers of the High acculturation group reported higher Adaptability scores. No systematic influence of acculturation was present among any of the 16 selected scales. However, the parents and teachers of the High acculturation subgroup did have more moderate correlations than the Medium and Low groups combined.

A study on Prince Edward Island was initiated to assess the impact of organic fertility amendment rate and timing treatments and deflowering on the growth, yield, and berry size and soluble solids, and plant and soil available nutrients of blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum L cv. Titania.). Plants at the site with lower leaf P and K showed lower growth and yield (492-2540 kg ha-1) than the other site (3935-5016 kg ha-1No significant differences were found in final size or 2011 yield at the site with larger bushes, while at the other site the medium spring fertility treatment gave the greatest growth and yield, followed by the high spring fertility treatment. Deflowering increased yield but not growth at the site with recommended ranges of leaf P and K; at the site with P and K deficiencies, growth increased in 2010 and 2011. There was no interaction between deflowering and amendment timing.

abstract: Protracted Refugee Situations (PRS) are of serious concern due to their adverse impacts on human rights and stability in host countries. This thesis profiles three, so-called, durable solutions for refugees: local integration, third country resettlement, and voluntary repatriation. However, refugees living in PRS are not given any durable solutions, and they remain confined to refugee camps while the conflicts that forced them from their homelands continue. Refugees usually find themselves in PRS as a result of the restrictive policies of the country in which they have sought refuge. These conditions not only deprive refugees of basic human rights, but act as catalysts for political violence, insurgency, and radicalization. This thesis examines, in detail, one such case: Nahr al-Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon where refugees have been living in PRS for decades due to stringent refugee policies that contributed to violent clashes that took place in May 2007. The denial of human rights for Palestinians in Lebanon has effectively marginalized already disempowered refugee populations, thereby increasing the likelihood of instability and radicalization. The denial of rights, a lack of opportunities, and confinement to the poor conditions of the refugee camp, are driving forces of political violence and militant rhetoric. This situation can endanger the refugee host country as well as the refugees, who are civilians in need of international protection. Therefore, there is a strong connection between the inclusion of rights for refugee populations in a host country, and peace and security. The case of Palestinians in Lebanon is examined as a microcosm of the notion that human rights and state security are interdependent. Recognition of this interdependence necessitates a paradigm shift in perspectives and policies of international refugee protection and state security, from regarding PRS as an indefinite state of emergency to be contained, to acknowledgment that the indefinite duty to protect refugees in protracted situations simultaneously serves the host country's security concerns. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Social Justice and Human Rights 2010

Interaction is an important and essential aspect of the educational learning processes, since it can be used in a wide range of educational settings, in diverse ways (Anderson, 2002). Personal response system technologies (PRS), also known as Clickers, facilitates interactivity with an audience, enabling participants to instantly respond to posed questions and provides a representation of the collected data. The implementation of such systems in real pedagogical settings enables teachers to obtain interactions within big classes while preserving the lesson’s flow (Martyn, 2007).SMS-HIT is a PRS based on mobile devices enabling student interactions via SMS or web, designed and developed in order to support learning and assessment activities in real educational or training situations (Kohen-Vacs, Ronen, & Bar-Ness, 2012). The users create and manage various activities in different topics and pedagogical goals. Types of interactivities offered by this system include voting by selection, free text and submission of quantitative data.A Design based research was conducted in order to evaluate different capabilities that SMS-HIT enables; this study aims to develop additional types of interactions to be added to the system, in order to promote the use of class interaction supported by PRS. During each of the three research iterations, the users’ usage, needs and suggestions have been investigated. According to the findings suitable additions were developed using .NET, combined with JQuery, HTML and CSS.The additional capabilities that have been developed, engage in a new ability of SMS-HIT - sequences activities: creating and managing sequences activities, presenting them and allowing audience to respond to them using mobile devices – one activity after the other.As a result of improving the system, users enjoy new and effective capabilities that were developed to meet these needs. In practice, the use of the SMS-HIT has become wider as more users create varied activities which contains diverse pedagogies.