Fertile Environment Research Articles

Experiential Education Programs: Fertile Environments for Identity Formation

Background: Understanding how contextual elements within educational environments relate to identity formation can help educators design experiences intended to support identity formation processes. Purpose: This study examined identity formation among students enrolled in immersion semester high schools and how contextual elements and identity formation actions influence identity formation process profiles. Methodology: Data were collected from middle to late adolescents using the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale, and analyzed using latent profile analysis, crosstabulation, and regression. Conclusions: The findings showed that thinking about values and beliefs in school is related to increased identity exploration and that the teacher–student relationship and novelty in these contexts facilitates thinking about values and beliefs. Students prone to rumination may particularly benefit from the supportive environment, which can increase the likelihood that they discuss their values and beliefs. Implications: Experiential educators working with middle to late adolescents who want to help their participants engage in identity formation should prioritize teacher–student relationships, novel experiences, and a supportive community.

Something Beautiful and Powerful: Politics, Art, and Bread and Puppet Theater

Something Beautiful and Powerful: Politics, Art, and Bread and Puppet Theater

PORTRAIT OF THE PADISHAH: FORMING THE VISUAL IMAGE OF UZUN HASAN

Abstract: The personality of Uzun Hasan, the ruler of the Aggoyunlu dynasty, one of the important figures in the history of the medieval East, occupies a special place in the history of art. His direct role in the cultural revival of Tabriz, patronage of science and art created a fertile environment for the development of the art of miniatures, monumental painting and architecture. Well-known studies connect the development of the pictorial image of Uzun Hasan with the context of the historical genre of the 15th century and its recording in palace wall paintings and miniatures. The paper analyzes the image of Uzun Hasan in the tradition of Western painting, and attributes a misidentified engraving from “Icones virorum illustrium doctrina et eruditione praestantium ad. vivum effictae cum eorum" (1597). Here, appeals to the image of recent years are considered, the iconographic series associated with the visual image of Uzun Hasan, the battle of Otlugbeli, Sara-Khatun, Despina-Khatun, the Trebizond princess are analyzed.

A Strategic Research Framework for Defeating Diabetes in India: A 21st-Century Agenda.

Indian people are at high risk for type 2 diabetes (T2DM) even at younger ages and lower body weights. Already 74 million people in India have the disease, and the proportion of those with T2DM is increasing across all strata of society. Unique aspects, related to lower insulin secretion or function, and higher hepatic fat deposition, accompanied by the rise in overweight (related to lifestyle changes) may all be responsible for this unrelenting epidemic of T2DM. Yet, research to understand the causes, pathophysiology, phenotypes, prevention, treatment, and healthcare delivery of T2DM in India seriously lags behind. There are major opportunities for scientific discovery and technological innovation, which if tapped can generate solutions for T2DM relevant to the country's context and make leading contributions to global science. We analyze the situation of T2DM in India, and present a four-pillar (etiology, precision medicine, implementation research, and health policy) strategic research framework to tackle the challenge. We offer key research questions for each pillar, and identify infrastructure needs. India offers a fertile environment for shifting the paradigm from imprecise late-stage diabetes treatment toward early-stage precision prevention and care. Investing in and leveraging academic and technological infrastructures, across the disciplines of science, engineering, and medicine, can accelerate progress toward a diabetes-free nation.

Toward Distributive Classroom Management: Cogenerative Dialogue and Cooperative Inquiry

The strict classroom control philosophy often adopted within public schools can have counterproductive effects on students, especially African Diaspora and Latinx students. Public schools should ideally provide quality instruction for all students. Unfortunately, teacher-centered practices reinforce stereotypes that African Diaspora and Latinx students are unruly and need institutionally imposed discipline and management, thereby undermining the mission of equitable educational achievement. Students, especially diverse urban students, would benefit from a shift in classroom management from strict control and discipline to student-centered inclusion and cooperative inquiry. We recommend distributive classroom management and examine the practice in the context of its enactment by stakeholders in one social studies classroom in the East New York Alternative Learning Center. Under this model, students demonstrated distributed classroom management actions that fostered improved classroom behaviors and expressions of group solidarity. Students maintained a fertile learning environment by proposing a distributive management practice during the research period. Additionally, students enacted the same approach in the classroom. The study’s findings suggest that teachers and students can integrate standard classroom management rules with transformative stakeholder-directed practices to benefit all participants.

Effects of organic cultivation on soil fertility and soil environment quality in greenhouses

Organic cultivation has been considered as an important cultivation approach for sustainable agriculture in the world. Whether organic cultivation can mitigate the negative impact of agriculture on the environment especially in greenhouses is still unclear. The purpose of this study is to investigate the long-term impacts in soil fertility and environment quality through organic cultivation (OC), low-input cultivation (LC) and conventional cultivation (CC) in greenhouses after 15 years of cultivation. We found that the soil organic carbon (SOC) content in the OC treatment was 1.7 times of that in CC, 1.2 times of that in the LC treatments. Vegetable yield and the content of alkali nitrogen, available phosphorus and available potassium in the OC treatment was significantly higher than those in the LC and CC treatments. Due to the high input of organic fertilizers, increased content of heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr and As) were observed in the OC treatment. In addition, organic cultivation resulted in considerable residue accumulation of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) and pesticides in the soil. Ecological risk assessment of soil pollutants showed that organic cultivation has the highest ecological risk index. At present, organic partial substitution or low-input cultivation could be a promising approach for the development of sustainable agriculture.

The New Fiscal and Tax Policies Promote the Path of Fertility Level Improvement

In view of the current highly complex and uncertain fertility environment, China has adopted a gradual fertility policy adjustment strategy, but China's birth rate still shows a fluctuating downward trend, and there is still a long way to go to improve the relevant supporting measures of fertility support to promote the improvement of fertility level. Starting from the analysis of fertility theory, this paper selects the three dimensions of economy, time and employment, explores the internal mechanism of fiscal policy affecting fertility level, and sorts out the existing fiscal policies related to improving fertility level and their existing problems in China. Combined with the experience of foreign fertility policy implementation and the actual situation in China, it is recommended to improve China's fertility support policy from four aspects: policy targets, financial investment, development of childcare industry, and multiple subjects, so as to realize the new fiscal policy to promote the improvement of fertility level.

Technology transfer from procurement relationships in big science contexts

Big Science is a fertile learning environment for the transfer of knowledge and technology to suppliers since it boosts economic performance, innovation and reputation. However, despite the growing importance of this topic in the literature, empirical evidence is still limited. This paper investigates technology transfer from Big Science through procurement relationships related to the need to develop front-end technologies for Big Science research infrastructures. The results show that the benefits generated for companies include intangible dimensions, such as the acquisition of technical knowledge and improved reputation. In addition, this procurement relationship leads to organizational changes such as the introduction of new specific organizational units and improved investment in R&D. In turn companies are able enter new markets thanks to the newly acquired competencies.

Effects of Different Fertilizer Treatments, Environment and Varieties on the Yield-, Grain-, Flour-, and Dough-Related Traits and Cookie Quality of Weak-Gluten Wheat.

Weak-gluten wheat is the main raw material for crisp and soft foods such as cookies, cakes, and steamed breads in China. However, it remains challenging to find an appropriate fertilization regime to balance the yield and quality of wheat for special uses (such as cookie making). Here, four nitrogen (N) fertilizer treatments were compared in terms of effects on the yield-, grain-, flour-, and dough-related traits and cookie quality of nine weak-gluten wheat varieties. Compared with other treatments, the treatment M (which had 180 kg ha-1 N fertilizers with basal fertilizer:tillering fertilizer:jointing fertilizer = 5:1:4) was a superior fertilization strategy as it could ensure a higher yield (4.46 kg block-1) and proper traits related to cookie quality. Moreover, environmental conditions and wheat genotypes exhibited significant effects on many quality-related traits. The quality of Chinese crisp biscuits showed a significant association with unit weight, redness, and solvent retention capacity in lactic acid solution, while that of American cookies was influenced by thousand-grain weight, hardness, rate of yield flour, and formation time as indicated by the Mantel test. Additional Pearson correlation analysis demonstrated that thousand-grain weight, hardness, and rate of yield flour can affect the quality of American cookies. Our findings demonstrate that it is necessary to comprehensively consider local conditions, variety selection, and optimal fertilization to achieve high-quality weak-gluten wheat for cookie making.

Mass Spectrometry Analysis of the Human Brain Sphingolipidome.

In recent decades, mass spectrometry-based lipidomics has provided a fertile environment for scientific investigations of biochemical and mechanistic processes in biological systems. Notably, this approach has been used to characterize physiological and pathological processes relevant to the central nervous system by identifying changes in the sphingolipid content in the brain, cerebral spinal fluid, and blood plasma. However, despite a preponderance of studies identifying correlations between specific lipids and disease progression, this powerful resource has not yet substantively translated into clinically useful diagnostic assays. Part of this gap may be explained by insufficient depth of the lipidomic profiles in many studies, by lab-to-lab inconsistencies in methodology, and a lack of absolute quantification. These issues limit the identification of specific molecular species and the harmonization of results across independent studies. In this chapter, we contextualize these issues with recent reports identifying correlations between brain lipids and neurological diseases, and we describe the workflow our group has optimized for analysis of the blood plasma sphingolipidome, adapted to the characterization of the human brain tissue.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Key Insights into Fertility Conversion in the Thermo-Sensitive Cytoplasmic Male Sterile Wheat.

Thermo-sensitive cytoplasmic male sterility (TCMS) plays a crucial role in hybrid production and hybrid breeding; however, there are few studies on molecular mechanisms related to anther abortion in the wheat TCMS line. In this study, FA99, a new wheat thermo-sensitive cytoplasmic male sterility line, was investigated. Fertility conversion analysis showed that FA99 was mainly controlled by temperature, and the temperature-sensitive stage was pollen mother cell formation to a uninucleate stage. Further phenotypic identification and paraffin section showed that FA99 was characterized by indehiscent anthers and aborted pollen in a sterile environment and tapetum was degraded prematurely during the tetrad period, which was the critical abortion period of FA99. The contents of O2-, H2O2, MDA and POD were significantly changed in FA99 under a sterile environment by the determination of physiological indexes. Furthermore, through transcriptome analysis, 252 differentially expressed genes were identified, including 218 downregulated and 34 upregulated genes. Based on KOG function classification, GO enrichment and KEGG pathways analysis, it was evident that significant transcriptomic changes in FA99 under different fertility environments, and the major differences were "phenylalanine metabolism", "phenylpropanoid biosynthesis", "cutin, suberine and wax biosynthesis", "phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis" and "citrate cycle (TCA cycle)". Finally, we proposed an intriguing transcriptome-mediated pollen abortion and male sterility network for FA99. These findings provided data on the molecular mechanism of fertility conversion in thermo-sensitive cytoplasmic male sterility wheat.

OIL INDUSTRY AND INVESTMENT POLICY

Favorable conditions for domestic and foreign investment are being created in our country. Especially, considering the dependence of the country's economy on the oil and gas industry, increasing the volume of exports and reducing the dependence on the import of non-oil sector products, attracting investment flows to those areas is considered an urgent issue. The organization of various state programs and projects in the country for the purpose of attracting foreign investors to service, agriculture and other industries can be considered a reasonable step. At a time when countries are trying to offer a more fertile and optimal environment to foreign investors in order to get out of the increasingly competitive environment in global conditions, it is important that our state offers the most appropriate incentive and stimulating options to foreign investors. Increasing foreign investments allocated to various sectors of the economy, especially to the non-oil sector, is one of the priority issues nowadays. Fluctuations in the world oil market cause significant financial losses or additional income in oil exporting and importing countries and companies. Therefore, the focus is on the process of managing financial resources. Unexpected price changes are one of the most important and most difficult issues in the field of financial resource management. Generally speaking, the most important and difficult part of the financial management of the expenses of any enterprise is to ensure the formation of the immunity of the enterprise when unexpected expenses appear. In some cases, as a result of additional costs, enterprises face large financial losses and eventually face bankruptcy. Therefore, ensuring proper management of expenses and financial resources is quite vital to prevent such negative situations.

Maize yield as affected by the interaction of fertilizer nitrogen and phosphorus in the Guinea savanna of Nigeria

The soils of the Nigeria savannas are particularly low in nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) and negatively affects maize productivity. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the interactive effect of N and P fertilizers on maize growth, grain yield, nitrogen uptake and N use efficiency. Field experiments were conducted during the 2015 and 2016 cropping seasons at Iburu in southern Guinea and Zaria in northern Guinea savanna zones of Nigeria. The treatments consisted of three levels of nitrogen (0, 60, and 120 kg N ha−1) and three levels of phosphorus (0, 13, and 26 kg P ha−1). The experimental design consisted of three replications in a split-plot design, with N as the main plot and P as the subplot. Our results show that the response of maize to N depends on the application of P. Higher yields were obtained with the combined application of 120 kg N ha−1 and 26 kg P ha−1 in both locations. With no P applied, plant N uptake (PNU) was greater at N rate of 120 kg ha−1 at Iburu while in Zaria, it increases with increase in N from 0 to 60 kg ha−1. When P was applied at 13 kg ha−1, the PNU increased by 52 and 66% at Iburu while in Zaria the increases were 51 and 57% each with N application of 60 and 120 kg ha−1, respectively, compared with zero N rate. The values for N recovery efficiency (NRE) and agronomic efficiency (AE) were lower for N rate of 120 than for 60 kg ha−1 irrespective of P application rate at both locations. The N utilization efficiency (NUTE) however was higher at 120 N kg ha−1 under 26 kg P ha−1across locations. It can be concluded from these results that in low fertile soils environments such as the Nigeria savannas, N fertilizer should be applied along with P fertilizer for optimum growth, grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency of maize.

Polarization Topology at the Nominally Charged Domain Walls in Uniaxial Ferroelectrics.

Ferroelectric domain walls provide a fertile environment for novel materials physics. If a polarization discontinuity arises, it can drive a redistribution of electronic carriers and changes in band structure, which often result in emergent 2D conductivity. If such a discontinuity is not tolerated, then its amelioration usually involves the formation of complex topological patterns, such as flux-closure domains, dipolar vortices, skyrmions, merons, or Hopfions. The degrees of freedom required for the development of such patterns, in which dipolar rotation is a hallmark, are readily found in multiaxial ferroelectrics. In uniaxial ferroelectrics, where only two opposite polar orientations are possible, it has been assumed that discontinuities are unavoidable when antiparallel components of polarization meet. This perception has been borne out by the appearance of charged conducting domain walls in systems such as hexagonal manganites and lithium niobate. Here, experimental and theoretical investigations on lead germanate (Pb5 Ge3 O11 ) reveal that polar discontinuities can be obviated at head-to-head and tail-to-tail domain walls by mutual domain bifurcation along two different axes, creating a characteristic saddle-point domain wall morphology and associated novel dipolar topology, removing the need for screening charge accumulation and associated conductivity enhancement.

A test for plasticity in sperm motility activation in response to osmotic environment in an anuran amphibian.

Evolutionary theory predicts that selection will favor phenotypic plasticity in sperm traits that maximize fertilization success in dynamic fertilization environments. In species with external fertilization, osmolality of the fertilization medium is known to play a critical role in activating sperm motility, but evidence for osmotic‐induced sperm plasticity is limited to euryhaline fish and marine invertebrates. Whether this capacity extends to freshwater taxa remains unknown. Here, we provide the first test for plasticity in sperm‐motility activation in response to osmotic environment in an anuran amphibian. Male common eastern froglets (Crinia signifera) were acclimated to either low (0 mOsmol kg−1) or high (50 mOsmol kg−1) environmental osmolality, and using a split‐sample experimental design, sperm were activated across a range of osmolality treatments (0, 25, 50, 75, 100, and 200 ± 2 mOsmol kg−1). Unexpectedly, there was no detectable shift in the optimal osmolality for sperm‐motility activation after approximately 13 weeks of acclimation (a period reflecting the duration of the winter breeding season). However, in both the low and high acclimation treatments, the optimal osmolality for sperm‐motility activation mirrored the osmolality at the natural breeding site, indicating a phenotypic match to the local environment. Previously it has been shown that C. signifera display among‐population covariation between environmental osmolality and sperm performance. Coupled with this finding, the results of the present study suggest that inter‐population differences reflect genetic divergence and local adaptation. We discuss the need for experimental tests of osmotic‐induced sperm plasticity in more freshwater taxa to better understand the environmental and evolutionary contexts favoring adaptive plasticity in sperm‐motility activation.

Distinct community assembly and co-existence of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and diazotrophs across large-scale soil fertility to improve functions in alfalfa cultivation systems.

Unravelling the community assembly processes of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and diazotrophs as well as their co-existence under different soil fertility environments are vital to develop a better understanding of agroecosystem functions, which is a crucial yet poorly understood topic. We examined the soils from 99 typical alfalfa cultivation systems to formulate a comprehensive picture of AMF and diazotrophic community and presented the first simultaneous investigation of the assembly processes and their co-existence. The distributions of both AMF and diazotrophic communities were significantly (p <0.05) corresponded to soil integrated fertility index (IFI). We quantified the relative contributions of five ecological processes in AMF and diazotrophic community assembly under different soil fertility environments, with stochastic assembly primarily determined across all soil fertility groups. The coexistence networks of AMF and diazotrophs were also notably different among typical soil fertility systems, where the most complex interactions were observed in high fertility system while medium fertility system was found to be the simplest. The active hubs detected in different fertility system were sensitively responded to different soil variables. We offered new opportunities to improve agroecosystem functions, especially for legumes, by regulating the potential key species or indirectly manipulating their drivers.

Seeing and seeking relevance in the challenges of a STEM school–university partnership

ABSTRACT School–university partnerships can be fertile environments for collaboration by educators and researchers. So far, studies of these partnerships have mostly focused on identifying partnership challenges and presenting them as difficulties to be prevented or solved. In this case study, we examine challenges in relation to the partnership’s future directions, using a boundary-crossing perspective. We pose that some challenges, experienced by partners as discontinuities in perspectives and/or practices, are connected to envisioned opportunities for boundary crossing, and thus hold potential for partnership advancement. We provide proof of concept by analysing the challenges and opportunities of a STEM school–university partnership between 48 high schools and two universities (one research university and one applied sciences university) that offers an enrichment program for secondary school students and teachers. Data involved partnership documents, 12 semi-structured interviews, and 42 survey responses from partners of schools and universities. By presenting this case study, we show that partnership challenges are connected to expansive opportunities posed by partners, and this connection is relevant to the advancement of the program and the collaboration between partners, as well as the emergence of new purposes.

Impact of Advertising in Creating Brand Equity with Reference to E-Tailers

As India embraces digitisation, the number of its residents who are comfortable using the internet has grown, creating a fertile environment for the expansion of e-commerce. These webizens are gradually moving away from traditional retail outlets and toward the virtual ones. The rise of services like home delivery and fast returns has contributed greatly to this transition. Since e-commerce is becoming increasingly popular, more and more Indian businesses are entering this industry. As more and more businesses enter the e-commerce space, shoppers have a plethora of options to choose from. The online shopper has the final say in the store they do business with. The content of various e-commerce companies’ websites greatly influences the sites that consumers choose to shop from. Moreover, the rise of digitalisation has proven once again that content is king when it comes to establishing rapport with consumers. There is a greater impact on purchasing decisions when online shopping is supported by factors such as convenience, durability, low perceived risk and a high-quality product’s features and attributes. For marketers, understanding the factors that shape consumers’ decisions requires an understanding of customer behaviour. Thus, innovations in e-commerce and its business model can be liable for change in the purchasing behaviour. Let us examine the results of e-commerce on online purchasing in this article. The purpose of this research is to examine the role of advertising in the development of brands among online merchants.

저출산·고령화사회에 대한 공법적 과제

Demographic change is one of the major social changes in recent years. And the core trend of these demographic changes is the declining birthrate and aging population. As for the current demographic structure, the number of young people is decreasing due to the falling fertility rate and the proportion of the elderly is increasing, and this trend is expected to continue for the time being. This reality we are now facing causes the need for a systematic response through paradigm shift rather than recognizing the low birth rate and aging population as a unique population phenomenon.&#x0D; The low fertility and aging population is a social phenomenon that appears as a relatively large number of people choose not to conceive and have children. And since these backgrounds and causes have limitations that are difficult to overcome by individual strength, not only the basic view of 'the right of pregnancy and childbirth', but also the problem of social integration through national identity, issues of sustainability and intergenerational justice, etc. It is necessary to discuss public law from the point of view of national tasks.&#x0D; In conclusion, in response to the low birth rate and aging population, national policies should not only maintain national sustainability, but also create a fertility and parenting-friendly environment so that individuals can respect their choices and happiness. In addition, in order to improve the social and economic structure, which is the cause of the low birth rate and aging population, it is of utmost importance to set the legislative direction considering the stabilization of the working environment and the sharing of the burden of childrearing through work-family balance. Now is the time to sympathize with the seriousness of the low fertility and aging problem and to focus on solving the direct cause of the problem.

Mechanism of Human Tubal Ectopic Pregnancy Caused by Cigarette Smoking.

In the past few decades, the smoking rate of women of childbearing age has increased. Epidemiological data has repeatedly shown that smoking women have an increased risk of various reproductive diseases, including ectopic pregnancy (EP), decreased fertility, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and failure of assisted reproduction. The oviduct was the target of cigarette smoke in many in vivo and in vitro studies. The fallopian tube is a well-designed organ. Its function is to collect and transport the ova to the fertilized site and provide a suitable environment for fertilization and early embryonic development. Lastly, the fallopian tube transports the pre-implantation embryo to the uterus. Various biological processes can be studied in the fallopian tubes, making it an excellent model for toxicology. This paper reviews the roles of the fallopian tube in gametes and embryo transportation, and the possible mechanism tobacco smoke contributes to tubal EP. A possible signal pathway might be a model to develop intervention of EP for pregnant women exposed to smoking.