The World Maritime University—Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute: A New Institute in a Unique University

Abstract

Building capacity in ocean affairs, the law of the sea, and marine scientific research in relation to the needs of developing countries is an integral part of the U. Convention on the Law of the Sea and associated instruments, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO) treaty regime. This article traces the development of capacity-building initiatives at the World Maritime University (WMU) over the past three decades, including the establishment of the WMU–Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute in 2018. The establishment of the new institute should be viewed within the wider context of the extraordinary philanthropy of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the Nippon Foundation in building human resource capacity and in supporting advanced academic research on complicated and contentious ocean issues. The article describes the extensive consultation process that informs the research, education, and capacity development agenda of the new institute, including work on the ocean-related goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.     

Creating parts that allow for rational design: Synthetic biology and the problem of context-sensitivity

The parts-based engineering approach in synthetic biology aims to create pre-characterised biological parts that can be used for the rational design of novel functional systems. Given the context-sensitivity of biological entities, a key question synthetic biologists have to address is what properties these parts should have so that they give a predictable output even when they are used in different contexts. In the first part of this paper I will analyse some of the answers that synthetic biologists have given to this question and claim that the focus of these answers on parts and their properties does not allow us to tackle the problem of context-sensitivity. In the second part of the paper, I will argue that we might have to abandon the notions of parts and their properties in order to understand how independence in biology could be achieved. Using Robert Cummins’ account of functional analysis, I will then develop the notion of a capacity and its condition space and show how these notions can help to tackle the problem of context-sensitivity in biology.     

A mathematical model for the survivorship curve

A mathematical function describing the various kinds of survivorship curve is formulated with the useful parameter, environmental capacity. Three types of the survivorship curve illlustrated byDeevey can be obtained from changing the value of this function. When a cohort is large and the competition occurs in the scramble type, this function shows the third type ofDeevy 's and this to the first type in the case of low density and the contest type of competition. But the second type would rather be obtained by the action of density independent agencies.     

Inferential explanations in biology

Among philosophers of science, there is now a widespread agreement that the DN model of explanation is poorly equipped to account for explanations in biology. Rather than identifying laws, so the consensus goes, researchers explain biological capacities by constructing a model of the underlying mechanism.We think that the dichotomy between DN explanations and mechanistic explanations is misleading. In this article, we argue that there are cases in which biological capacities are explained without constructing a model of the underlying mechanism. Although these explanations do not conform to Hempel’s DN model (they do not deduce the explanandum from laws of nature), they do invoke more or less stable generalisations. Because they invoke generalisations and have the form of an argument, we call them inferential explanations. We support this claim by considering two examples of explanations of biological capacities: pigeon navigation and photoperiodism. Next, we will argue that these non-mechanistic explanations are crucial to biology in three ways: (i) sometimes, they are the only thing we have (there is no alternative available), (ii) they are heuristically useful, and (iii) they provide genuine understanding and so are interesting in their own right.In the last sections we discuss the relation between types of explanations and types of experiments and situate our views within some relevant debates on explanatory power and explanatory virtues.     

Red-wine Beneficial Long-term Effect on Lipids but not on Antioxidant Characteristics in Plasma in a Study Comparing Three Types of Wine--Description of two O-methylated Derivatives of Gallic Acid in Humans

The purpose of this double clinical study was (1) to evaluate the effect of one single intake (300 ml) of red wine (RW) on the plasma antioxidant capacity (pAOC) and plasma phenolics over the 24-h time period following the intake, and (2) to compare the long-term effects of daily intakes (250 ml/d) of RW, white wine (WW) and Champagne (CH) on the plasma and LDL characteristics of healthy sujects. In the first part, blood samples were collected just before and after wine consumption. In the second part, subjects received the 3 types of wine successively, only at the mealtime, over 3-week periods separated by a 3-week wash out. Blood samples were drawn in fasting condition before and after each 3-week wine consumption period. The peak of pAOC was at 3-4 h following the single intake of RW, that of catechin was at 4 h (0.13 μmol/l) and that of gallic acid and caffeic acid was earlier (≤?1.5 and 0.3 μmol/l, respectively). In plasma, the major form of gallic acid was 4-O-methylated, but a minor form (the 3-O-methyl derivative) appeared. In the long term study, no wine was able to change LDL oxidizability, but some other parameters were modified specifically: RW decreased pAOC (without changing TBARS and uric acid plasma levels), LDL lipids and total cholesterol (TC), and increased plasma apoA1, whereas CH increased plasma vitamin A. The beneficial effect of RW seems to mainly be explained by its action on lipid and lipoprotein constants, and not by its antioxidant one.     

生物技术专业课程体系教学创新探索

面对现代生物技术的快速发展,结合目前的贵州省生物技术发展状况和丰富的生物资源,开展了对传统教学体系起补充作用的教学实践,提高本专业学生实际分析问题的能力和动手能力,探讨一条适合贵州实际情况,有利于贵州生物技术领域发展的新型生物技术专业教育模式。     

Profiling services for resource optimization and capacity planning in distributed systems

The capacity needs of online services are mainly determined by the volume of user loads. For large-scale distributed systems running such services, it is quite difficult to match the capacities of various system components. In this paper, a novel and systematic approach is proposed to profile services for resource optimization and capacity planning. We collect resource consumption related measurements from various components across distributed systems and further search for constant relationships between these measurements. If such relationships always hold under various workloads along time, we consider them as invariants of the underlying system. After extracting many invariants from the system, given any volume of user loads, we can follow these invariant relationships sequentially to estimate the capacity needs of individual components. By comparing the current resource configurations against the estimated capacity needs, we can discover the weakest points that may deteriorate system performance. Operators can consult such analytical results to optimize resource assignments and remove potential performance bottlenecks. In this paper, we propose several algorithms to support capacity analysis and guide operator’s capacity planning tasks. Our algorithms are evaluated with real systems and experimental results are also included to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

Efficacy of two intervention approaches on functional walking capacity and balance in children with Duchene muscular dystrophy

Objectives:Children with Duchene muscular dystrophy have weak muscles, which may impair postural adjustments. These postural adjustments are required for gait and dynamic balance during the daily living activities. The aim was to compare between the effect of bicycle ergometer versus treadmill on functional walking capacity and balance in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.Methods:Thirty boys aged from 6 to 10 years old diagnosed as Duchene muscular dystrophy participated in this study. Children were assigned randomly into two groups (A&B). Children in group (A) underwent a designed program of physical therapy plus aerobic exercise training in form of bicycle ergometer while, group (B) received the same program as group (A) and aerobic exercise training by treadmill for one hour, at three times a week for three successive months. Functional walking capacity and balance were assessed before and after treatment by using the 6-minute walk test and Biodex balance system equipment respectively.Results:The post treatment results revealed significant difference in all measured variables (P<0.05) as compared with its pre-treatment results. Post-treatment values indicated that there was a significant difference in all measured variables in favor of group B.Conclusions:treadmill training as an aerobic exercise can improve walking capacity and balance more effectively than bicycle ergometer in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.     

Safeguarding China′s Botanical HeritageFoundation item: BGCI′S Program in China——BGCI′s integrated conservation programme in China

China′s rich floral diversity includes more than 33000 vascular plant species, representing approximately 10 percent of all known plant species. Over half of these species are endemic to China. However, China′s rapid economic development in the last 30 years and continuous population growth have seriously damaged plant resources in the wild and the ecological environment, resulting in a dramatic increase in the number of endangered species. There are nearly 4000 to 5000 higher plants that are now threatened or on the verge of extinction. To help halt the loss of Chinese plant diversity, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) has developed a China programme and opened its first office based in Guangzhou in 2008. This office works along with Chinese partners aiming to secure Chinese plant diversity through integrated conservation approaches with reintroduction/population reinforcement, engagement of local communities in conservation activities, capacity building in horticulture and environmental education and public outreach.     

城市边缘区生态脆弱性时空演变——以大连市甘井子区为例

以1998年的土地利用数据和2003、2007、2013 SPOT5遥感数据等多元数据为基础,运用ESC模型结合空间分析法,线性加权方法计算社区的EVI值,并将甘井子区生态脆弱性划分为5个等级;以及运用二乘算法计算变化斜率,F值测算变化显著性,将变化斜率和变化显著性分为4个等级,研究大连市甘井子区1998—2013生态脆弱性的时空分异。结果表明:(1)从城市边缘区生态脆弱性等级分布特征来看,城市边缘区生态环境呈现出相同等级聚集,以邻近沙河口区社区为中心,相邻等级呈现出明显的辐射状,东西方向差异明显的特征。(2)从社区间生态脆弱性差异的角度来看,甘井子内部各社区生态状态差异显著。邻近市区的社区生态脆弱性变化显著生态环境迅速恶化,平均EVI由0.62增加至0.73,变化显著性指数为2.26。远离市区的部分社区生态环境变化不大,生态环境保持良好状态。部分社区EVI变化值呈现负增长,生态逐渐恢复。(3)从城市边缘区生态脆弱性整体变化趋势来看,1998—2013年间甘井子区的生态脆弱性变化与城市化发展速度密切相关,以2007年为节点,1998—2007年平均变化斜率指数为0.51,2007—2013年平均变化斜率指数为0.19,呈现出先快后慢的下降趋势。