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Integrative analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome reveals the potential mechanism of fruit flavor formation in wild hawthorn Crataegus chungtienensis
Get PDFHawthorns are important medicinal and edible plants with a long history of health protection in China. Besides cultivated hawthorn, other wild hawthorns may also have excellent medicinal and edible value, such as Crataeguschungtienensis, an endemic species distributed in the Southwest of China. In this study, by integrating the flavor-related metabolome and transcriptome data of the ripening fruit of C. chungtienensis, we have developed an understanding of the formation of hawthorn fruit quality. The results show that a total of 849 metabolites were detected in the young and mature fruit of C. chungtienensis, of which flavonoids were the most detected metabolites. Among the differentially accumulated metabolites, stachyose, maltotetraose and cis-aconitic acid were significantly increased during fruit ripening, and these may be important metabolites affecting fruit flavor change. Moreover, several flavonoids and terpenoids were reduced after fruit ripening compared with young fruit. Therefore, using the unripe fruit of C. chungtienensis may allow us to obtain more medicinal active ingredients such as flavonoids and terpenoids. Furthermore, we screened out some differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to fruit quality formation, which had important relationships with differentially accumulated sugars, acids, flavonoids and terpenoids. Our study provides new insights into flavor formation in wild hawthorn during fruit development and ripening, and at the same time this study lays the foundation for the improvement of hawthorn fruit flavor
Promoting good practice in relation to alcohol use in care homes for older people
Get PDFThere are an increasing number of people who drink alcohol in later life and older people who are alcohol dependent. However, internationally there has been very limited research on alcohol policy and practice in care homes and no research has been conducted in England. The international research has not included the voices of all key stakeholders, including residents, families, care staff and inspectors. This is important because these groups may have differences in perceptions, values and priorities
Wenhua dacai (great cultural talent): paradoxical discourses and practices in the revival of Confucian classical education in contemporary China
No full textCultivating wenhua dacai (great cultural talent) is a central goal of the ongoing dujing (classics reading) education movement, which is an integral part of the broad Confucian revival in contemporary China. Focusing on the concept of wenhua dacai, this article explores three interrelated issues. First, as a term used in the context of dujing education, wenhua dacai refers to an idealized Confucian subject shaped by an interweaving of nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Moreover, it is expected not only to revive Confucian/Chinese culture but also to contribute to human cultural exchange. Second, the tendency of students to embrace individualistic virtues in their experience of classics reading poses a challenge to the lofty and sacred ideal of wenhua dacai, which reinforces the need for rigid discipline in learners. Finally, contextualizing the idea of wenhua dacai into the general transformation of education in China can contribute to a more thorough understanding of it. This article concludes that the cultivation of wenhua dacai dreamed of by Confucian dujing education activists is constituted by paradoxical discourses and practices embedded in the ideological complexities of Chinese education
The role of artificial intelligence in international commercial arbitration in the post-Covid era
No full textThe emergence of the global pandemic has recently propelled increased usage of artificial intelligenceHereinafter referred to as 'AI'. in our workplace. Technological advancement in the legal environment, mostly portrayed in the form of digitalization, blockchain and machine learning, among others, has significantly affected international arbitration - a critical procedural element underpinning digital trade. The application of these technologies may promote efficiency, cost and speed on the one hand, while on the other it may violate the current regulatory frameworks in international arbitration. This chapter, therefore, engages in analysing the future of international arbitration vis-à-vis the introduction of new technologies. In order to do this, this chapter aims at evaluating the possibility of replacing human arbitrators with AI arbitrators, the public policy requirements and the ethical issues that may arise therefrom
An investigation into the impact of soil particle conductivity and percolation threshold on the Hilhorst model to estimate pore water conductivity in soils
No full textThe aim of this work has been to assess the Hilhorst model, used for estimating in-soil pore water conductivity, against soil properties of percolation threshold and soil particle conductivity. The Hilhorst model has the benefit of requiring a single soil-specific parameter which makes this model easy to apply from soil permittivity and bulk conductivity measurements. However, the Hilhorst model requires that the bulk conductivity measurement is dominated by pore water conductivity, which is not always the case in many ‘‘real-world’’ settings. This work examines a mathematical framework derived from combining the Hilhorst and Ewing and Hunt models which allows the Hilhorst soil parameter to be derived for a range of soil particle conductivities (0 to 10 mS m−1) and percolation thresholds (0 to 0.1 m3 m−3). The analysis in this work indicates that the Hilhorst parameter is highly sensitive to both soil properties with respect to the default value of 4.1 that is often employed. This assessment indicates that: (i) soil particle conductivity can result in the Hilhorst model overestimating pore water conductivity, which becomes more significant for lower bulk conductivities, and, (ii) percolation threshold can result in the Hilhorst model underestimating pore water conductivity, which becomes more significant for lower soil moisture contents. The results from this analysis suggest that the application of the Hilhorst model should be considered against the context of soil particle conductivity and percolation threshold for a given soil under test
Educating the autonomous learner in a Confucian school: subjectivity, memorisation and dilemma
No full textThe current literature on Chinese governmentality and subjectivity lacks rigorous discussion of the involvement of Confucian education. This article applies Foucauldian conceptual tools to explore this scholarship gap empirically. Based on ethnographic fieldwork at a Confucian school, we explore how Confucian pedagogical techniques are used to create a type of subject. This article first presents pedagogical reform in a Confucian school. The resultant pedagogy of individualised memorisation combines two paradoxical knowledge sources: the individualised teaching principle and the method of repetitive memorisation. We then demonstrate how the Confucian teaching techniques used in the classroom result in contradictory processes of subject-making. Students are governed by the technologies of power in the disciplined classroom but are also encouraged to be the "master" of their own study according to the technologies of the self, so as to become autonomous learners. The revived Confucian education is encountering a profound cultural dilemma between autonomy/individuality and coercion/authority in the making of subjects
Intangible cultural heritage: safeguarding embodied Creole cultures
No full textIn principle, the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage aims to 'ensure the visibility of the intangible cultural heritage and awareness of its significance, and to encourage dialogue which respects cultural diversity' (UNESCO, Text of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Retrieved May 8, 2022, from https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention, 2003). In practice, however, intangible cultural heritage is vulnerable to value judgements made by national institutions, which may be limited in their capacity to certify the significance of cultural practices or to support them in ways that enable them to thrive. Nevertheless, the Convention provides welcome recognition of the role of the non-artefactual aspect of cultural heritage and importantly, by adopting the notion of 'safeguarding' rather than 'preserving' acknowledges the living nature of cultural practices. This is found to be particularly valuable in relation to examples of Creole cultural practices which sustain Creole identities that may be vulnerable in a global, post-colonial context. However, the designation of cultural practices as 'intangible' may work against full consideration of the interrelationships between embodied practices, the materials utilised and the physical and social contexts within which they take place. In contrast, it is argued that in developing approaches to safeguard cultural heritage, more attention should be directed towards facilitating the embodied interactions between people, things and place through which some forms of culture are constantly being re-created
Managerial information processing in the era of Big Data and AI – a conceptual framework from an evolutionary review
No full textInformation processing forms an essential part of managerial behavior in the decision-making process. With big data and intelligent technologies available, business environment becomes ever dynamic and challenging, e.g. the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of misinformation and disinformation, etc., this paper aims to examine the emerging patterns of managerial information processing from both individual and organizational perspectives. This research identifies three driving forces based on an evolutionary review of studies and theories related to information processing behavior and develops a theoretical framework, which provides valuable implications on managerial information processing and organizational responses and calls for reduction of information needs on routine tasks, a shift of managers’ information attention towards uncertainties, and increased capabilities and responsibilities in analytics and AI within an effective digital governance framework
‘Why them?’ ‘Why then?’ ‘Why there?’: the political economy of gangland
No full text‘Why them?’ ‘Why then?’ ‘Why there?’: The Political Economy of Gangland, John Pitts, argues that European gang scholarship has largely ignored the social, economic and political contexts from which street gangs emerge or in which they mutate. And it has therefore failed to understand the ‘politics of gangland’. The chapter considers how changes in the social, economic and political circumstances surrounding the emergence of different types of twentieth-century youth gangs in England, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Russia have affected their constitution, affiliations and activities. In exploring the differences and commonalities between these different groupings, he finds that, in each instance, the young people involved are drawn from socially and economically disadvantaged populations who experience social stigma by virtue of their ethnicity or social status. However, as he argues, that their involvement in gang crime and/or oppositional youth movements is profoundly affected by historical and contemporaneous economic and/or political events
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