CAM Plants Survival in the Desert

There are several mechanisms at work behind drought tolerance in plants, but one group of plants possesses a way to utilize that allows it to live in low-water conditions and even in arid regions of the world such as the desert. These plants are called Crassulacean acid metabolism plants, or CAM plants. Surprisingly, over 5% of all vascular plant species use CAM as their photosynthetic pathway, and others may exhibit CAM activity when needed. CAM is not an alternative biochemical variant but rather a mechanism enabling certain plants to survive in droughty areas. It may, in fact, be an ecological adaptation. Examples of CAM plants, besides the aforementioned cactus (family Cactaceae), are pineapple (family Bromeliaceae), agave (family Agavaceae), and even some species of Pelargonium (the geraniums). Many orchids are epiphytes and also CAM plants, as they rely on their aerial roots for water absorption. History and Discovery of CAM plants The discovery of CAM plants was begun in a rather unusual manner when Roman people discovered that some plant leaves used in their diets tasted bitter if harvested in the morning, but were not so bitter if harvested later in the day. A scientist named Benjamin Heyne noticed the same thing in 1815 while tasting Bryophyllum calycinum, a plant in the Crassulaceae family (hence, the name Crassulacean acid metabolism for this process). Why he was eating the plant is unclear, since it can be poisonous, but he apparently survived and stimulated research as to why this was happening. A few years before, however, a Swiss scientist named Nicholas-Theodore de Saussure wrote a book called Recherches Chimiques sur la Vegetation (Chemical Research of Plants). He is considered as the first scientist to document the presence of CAM, as he wrote in 1804 that the physiology of gas exchange in plants such as the cactus differed from that in thin-leaved plants. How CAM Plants Work CAM plants differ from regular plants (called C3 plants) in how they photosynthesize. In normal photosynthesis, glucose is formed when carbon dioxide (CO2), water (H2O), light, and an enzyme called Rubisco to work together to create oxygen, water, and two carbon molecules containing three carbons each (hence, the name C3). This is actually an inefficient process for two reasons: low levels of carbon in the atmosphere and the low-affinity Rubisco has for CO2. Therefore, plants must produce high levels of Rubisco to grab as much CO2 as it can. Oxygen gas (O2) also affects this process, because any unused Rubisco is oxidized by O2. The higher the oxygen gas levels are in the plant, the less Rubisco there is; therefore, the less carbon is assimilated and made into glucose. C3 plants deal with this by keeping their stomata open during the day in order to gather as much carbon as possible, even though they can lose a lot of water (via transpiration) in the process. Plants in the desert cant leave their stomata open during the day because they will lose too much valuable water. A plant in an arid environment has to hold onto all the water that it can! So, it must deal with photosynthesis in a different way. CAM plants need to open the stomata at night when there is less of a chance of water loss via transpiration. The plant can still take in CO2 at night. In the morning, malic acid is formed from the CO2 (remember the bitter taste Heyne mentioned?), and the acid is decarboxylated (broken down) to CO2 during the day under closed stomata conditions. The CO2 is then made into the necessary carbohydrates via the Calvin cycle. Current Research Research is still being performed on the fine details of CAM, including its evolutionary history and genetic foundation. In August 2013, a symposium  on C4 and CAM plant biology was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, addressing the possibility of the use of CAM plants for biofuel production feedstocks and to further elucidate the process and evolution of CAM.

Different Viewpoints on Human Nature Essay - 520 Words

Different Viewpoints on Human Nature Throughout history there have been arguments about anything and everything that is disagreeable. People innately have there own and often different opinions. A prominent discussion topic throughout history has been the nature of mankind. Many have written works about human nature but few are discussed in greater detail than Candide, The Prince, and Essay on Man. Voltaire, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Alexander Pope, who wrote these three works respectively, concur with each other on many view points. But it is their differences that make the works unique. Voltaire wrote Candide in 1759 during the period known as the Enlightenment. It is a story that has a deeper symbolic meaning about life and human†¦show more content†¦Both Machiavelli and Pope were straightforward in their works. Another difference between Voltaire and the others is his sarcasm. Candide translated into English means optimism. In this work, Voltaire was not saying that people are good. He says that people are greedy, power driven beings that put themselves above others. Yet his literal words all seem happy and joyful. He uses his wit and sarcasm to get his point across. The Prince, written in 1513 by Niccolo Machiavelli, is an essay about how to rule a state and keep its adjuncts content. Whether it be a princedom, a republic or a mixture of the two. In his essay, human nature and how it interacts with the prince is discussed greatly. Machiavelli tells the prince that he should be as greedy and as devious as can be gotten away with. He explains how to gain and control states and gives examples of how his points are proven. Machiavellis main point is that there are classes of people and that people are in a certain class for a reason. He says people should remain that way so that all the roles are filled. He differs from the others in this aspect and also in his view that people are ignorant fools. Another way Machiavelli differs from the other two is religion and god. Where as Alexander Pope tries to intervene god in human nature, Machiavelli says to ignore it and try to become as powerful as one can without thought about what moral consequences could occur. Alexander PopeShow MoreRelatedThe Conflicts Between Seeing Nature As A Medium Of Art997 Words   |  4 Pagesscenery around. Some people consider nature as the purest form of natural expression. Some artists consider nature as a medium of art. But what is a medium of art? Art is expressed to be man made, a form of human expression, a tale of beauty or tragedy. The world is a beautiful place filled with unique creatures, beautiful scenery and an overwhelming sense of power and importance. But a medium is considered as materials used to help express the viewpoint of the artist. In this evaluation argumentRead MoreTo What Extent Is Conservatism a Philosophy of Imperfection?1675 Words   |  7 PagesConservatism does not have one single viewpoint or stance on human nature or imperfection as Conservatism as a whole encompasses different strands or beliefs within it. For example One Nation conservatives have a different philosophy on human imperfection than New Right conservatives do. One Nation conservatives hold the belief that we as humans are: greedy and have a limited capacity for altruism, a complex mix of emotions and contradictory motivations making us irrational, not totally consistentRead MoreEncouraging Hunting in Modern Society832 Words   |  3 Pagesa love of nature and wild things, offers the best guaranty for the preservation of wild things, said Theodore Roosevelt. Many people say that hunting should be discouraged, and that it is no good for the environment or the animals. 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The traditional viewRead MorePlato s Symposium, By Plato1273 Words   |  6 Pagesphysician; Aristophanes, eminent comic playwright; Agathon ,a tragic poet and host of the banquet; Socrates, eminent philosopher and Plato s teacher; and Alcibiades, a prominent Athenian statesman, orator and general; discuss their own versions and viewpoints to praise the god of love. First, we have Phaedrus, who starts to say that love is the most ancient of the gods and should be praiseworthy, next we have Eryximachus who states that love affects everything in the universe and that it should be protectedRead MoreAnimal Mating And The Development Of Behavioral Characters1111 Words   |  5 PagesMarlene Zuk observes the disputes that arise when nature is explained among various palliative, humanizing, and political viewpoints in Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can’t Learn about Sex from Animals. She has discovered that biologists and sociologists and the society persist to view the behavi or of animal as human beings’ behavior. We elucidate such interpretations for our own egoisms, and that results in us being unaware of what’s actually happening with the animals themselves. In this bookRead MoreThe Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne1156 Words   |  5 PagesScarlet Letter was, by far, the most successful. The Scarlet Letter is an engaging and decisive work defined by Hawthorne’s use of symbolism. He used the symbols often throughout the book to create different themes. One of the key themes is that the definition of good and evil are subject to the varying viewpoints of certain people or groups of people and this is clear through the use of multiple symbols and characters. The very first symbol to appear in the novel is the red rose. Hawthorne uses theRead MorePlatos and Aristotles Views on Knowledge1407 Words   |  6 Pagesthem have been astonished me in certain ways, but I found that rationalism and wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is make the most sense to me regarding the nature of knowledge. As the following, we will discuss about why these two philosophical viewpoints are superior and the others are inferior. Aristotle believes that sensory perception of material objects is knowledge and he says, Our senses begin the process of finding the answer, because they areRead MorePlatos and Aristotles Views on Knowledge1414 Words   |  6 Pagesthem have been astonished me in certain ways, but I found that rationalism and wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is make the most sense to me regarding the nature of knowledge. As the following, we will discuss about why these two philosophical viewpoints are superior and the others are inferior. Aristotle believes that sensory perception of material objects is knowledge and he says, Our senses begin the process of finding the answer, because they are

Banco de Compartamos Free Essays

Any company that decides to go into the stock exchange must exude extra caution before making the bold step to go public. Initial public Offer (IPO) of a company mostly can tell how that company is going to do in the stock markets depending on the number of subscriptions received. It is worthy to note that stock prices keep fluctuating and that the price of a company’s share represents the financial position of the company. We will write a custom essay sample on Banco de Compartamos or any similar topic only for you Order Now Companies with a higher share price in the stock exchange are taken by the public and other stake holders to be doing well. In addition to that, the company’s affairs become public as they are now prone to analyst reports and public shareholders criticism. In this study, Banco de Compartamos, a micro finance bank offers its shares in the Mexico Stock Exchange which arouses a lot of controversies among major shareholders. Can Compartamos still perform their duties to the poor? Is it possible for them to combine these two without deviating from the purpose for which the bank was originally established? Can they handle the pressures presenting themselves to it as a public company? This is a thorough review and analysis of Compartamos’ decision to make the bank a public entity and how it has affected their performance. Banco Compartamos IPO Going public for a micro finance company and in particular Compartamos may prove to be a good thing as well as a bad thing. In the eyes of the public, it may seem like Compartamos is getting too business oriented and that it may lose its focus on helping the low income group that it has been serving. Going public is also a risky endevour because it exposes the business to a lot of external forces. The bank’s performance must now be published and analyst’s comments go far into exposing the company’s weak points which the competitors may take advantage of. Every quarter shareholders, analysts, fund managers and competitors will be waiting to see the financial outcome of the period. This means that the company must work extra hard to maintain positive image or otherwise cause their own downfall. Another note is that Compartamos was doing quite well financially with return on equity (ROE) increasing from 47. 7% to 56. 1% between 2004 and 2006 as compared to others who were averaging at 21. 2% in 2006. In fact, Daniel confirmed that from the operational point of view there was no need to sell the shares. They were only doing it as a secondary offering. Compartamos IPO on the other hand proves to be a good venture from the look of its performance in the stock exchange. As a matter of fact, interest by investors was so high that there had to be several revisions of the share price up to P$40 per share. Compartamos market capitalization was $1. 56 billion dollars which is so much to go for hence my agreement that it was the right choice for them to go public. Most impressive was the high interest investors had in the bank which saw them register thirteen times over subscription. From my point of view, a private sale would have been even worse in terms of catering to the customers’ needs. This is because the buyers may not have the welfare of the low income group at heart which was the largest target for the bank. The choice was also better than taking debts being offered to them by non-financial debtor which were being offered at the investor’s rates. The other thing is that activities of the bank are not going to change as it will continue providing services to the Popular Financial Sector (PFS) which was the main purpose of its introduction back in 1990. Serving the poor and the capital markets demand. It seems like Banco Compartamos has deviated from its objective of serving the poor by getting into the stock exchange. This is according to several stakeholders and analysts such as Richardson of World Council of Credit unions and Chuck Waterfield who thinks the decision is untimely. The question however lies on Compartamos. Can they manage both serving the poor and meeting the capital market demands? So far, Compartamos has been doing very well in the stock market with its the book value of shares rising to $126 million in 2006 from $6 million at the time of the IPO and an internal rate of return of over 100% in only eight years! Most analysts recommended it because of its prospects for growth and high profitability. The co-CEO of Compartamos seems concerned about the clients. They discuss how they can offer better services and hence improve their lives. Apart from GDI (Generadora de Ingresos) or ‘the income generator loan’, they are considering coming up with new products for the people. This means that Compartamos is still committed in its duties improve the lives of the poor. According to ACCION international, Compartamos IPO sent a message that service to the poor can go hand in hand with profits. â€Å"The two Carlos† Strategic options for the future The future of Compartamos looks bright but challenges are never ending in the world of business. The strategies put forth by the â€Å"two Carlos† will have to be met by the end of the year. Client base must be increased to one million, they have to preserve the social mission and at the same time cope with the daily pressures of becoming a public company. The Charlies surely have a great role ahead of them. In order to attain new markets to increase their client base and defend their leading position in the sector coordinated planning is essential. First of all they should lay a good strategy and make plans on how they are going to accomplish their goals. I particularly like that they have set a time limit. This acts as a goal by itself and a motivating factor. With the high rise in competition due to many entrants in the micro finance sector, their strategy should include expanding by coming up with new products that are unique to compliment GDI. A new product will always appeal to customers especially if it comes with an attractive package. Maybe they should consider lowering their interest rates so as to attract new clients and keep the current ones. This would also mean they are helping the poor socially because now they can take cheaper loans hence develop themselves. Compartamos has no market penetration in Mexico as much as it has wide branch coverage. New products will definitely help it in overcoming this challenge. As long as you are a public company, there will always be politics and attacks mostly aimed at breaking the company by presenting a bad name about it. The Charlies know that their bank has not deviated from their original mission. What remains as the challenge is proving it to the public. This can be done by constantly reminding people that they are still committed to serving them while at the same time showing it through action. The best thing for the Charlies is to increase their efforts of serving the poor so that the bad image portrayed by the attackers can be dissolved in the face of the good work that they are doing. It’s about playing with the psychology of the shareholders and its clients to avoid the negative effect that would otherwise result. Before deciding to set up new branches, it should consider the viability of the area and whether the market is promising. Areas outside the country especially if micro finance is not well established in the market are a good opportunity though care should be taken to properly establish expected risks and returns. This can be done through conducting researches before investing there. Mergers and acquisitions should also be performed with extra caution to maintain the quality of services offered. The advantage of mergers is that they add to a company’s competitiveness. If not well calculated though it may lead to the downfall of an otherwise good businesses. The future of micro finance industry. The IPO will undoubtedly attract more players into the micro finance sector and probably other market-led approaches to poverty. For now, Compartamos remains the lead among them all. There is a possibility of new models coming up that may pose a challenge to Compartamos. Compartamos should be the future of the micro finance sector. This is because most junior micro finance organizations will want to emulate its success and in doing so they may consider copying some of its policies. In the past, most micro finance organizations in Mexico have only concentrated on giving soft loans to regular customers as their only business. Compartamos is more advanced giving insurance policies and also engaging in normal bank business activities. The structure of the market however is that it is always dynamic and one can never tell what tomorrow may bring. Mergers may be forged leading to bigger organizations that would overtake Compartamos. Conclusion and Recommendations Banco de Compartamos has led by example. In the hands of Carlos Labarthe and Carlos Danel, it is bound to spring even higher in the micro finance sector after going public. During the IPO shareholders presented the organization with a cheap source of finance that is barely available to other companies of its nature therefore placing them at an absolute advantage. It becomes one of the largest companies in the Mexican Stock Exchange with over $2 billion in market capitalization. I do believe that their bold step into going public has a lot in the benefit package which if used well could see the bank grow outside its boundaries. On the side of helping the poor, they have not failed in that area yet. As a matter of fact, it is a case of logic to see that by they use the obtained finance to expand their business activities and to offer more loans. It is like giving the financially stable a chance to be owners of the bank an in return making them bring their billions to the poor. Furthermore, if more loans are given out, development of the poor is enhanced. Now that Compartamos have entered the league of companies listed in the stock exchange, a lot is expected to change which calls for extra caution. We have already seen them suffering their first challenge with attacks from various shareholders about their decision to enter the stock exchange. However, should their shares in the stock exchange do well; the good public image will work to ensure they always do well financially. It is worthwhile to note that the visibility of the IPO will showcase the superior financial performance of the micro finance sector. This is bound to cause an increase in competition in Mexico. Challenges are more forthcoming now but they should not treat them as problems but as stepping stones to higher grounds. Since Compartamos is confident that it can serve both their clients and the financial sector as well, they should come up with well defined policies to make sure that they do not deviate from their course. It is quite normal for businesses to concentrate more on what is bringing in the most cash but they should always remember the sole objective for which they were set up; to help the poor grow financially. Word Count (1887) References Cuellar, R. G. Chu, M. (2008) Banco Compartamos: Life after the IPO. Harvard: Harvard Business School How to cite Banco de Compartamos, Papers

Centralized Cloud PACS-Free-Samples for Students-Myassignmenthelp

Question: How the Medical Images and Radiologists Connect to each other using Centralized Cloud PACS. Answer: Introduction The system that is mainly designated to support the medical image workflow can be termed as Private achieve and communication system (PACS). The PACS has mainly paired with the appearance of the digital acquisition device which have mainly lowered the upkeep and has improved the radiology department quality of service. PACS is simplistically commonly comprised of three major group of components; repositories, acquisition devices and viewer workstation. Despite the concept perfectly fits in the workflow of the radiology, these components can be stated as heterogeneous. Moreover, in the manufacturing sector specialist are there. Recently the concept of the cloud and the internet technology have been put together in deploying the concept of the PACS. The main aim of the report is to focus on the concept of medical image and radiologist and taking into consideration how it connects each other using the centralized cloud PACS. the main points which are discussed are the concept of the cloud computing and how it is applied to PACS, issue related to the migration to the cloud, the current situation which is being faced by the company and the sector of innovation and advantage. Background The DICOM protocol was introduced 2013. This was a major driving force for the adaptation of the Private achieve and communication system (PACS) [1]. The standard mainly enabled the factor of coexistence of vendors mainly defining how the image data of the medical image should be transmitted and stored with the PACS. Beside the actual data image, the DICOM image file are mainly composed of meta data section. This section mainly comprises of data related to the image such as clinical staff identification and patient details. both the image file and the message related to the network are composed by the DICOM objects which follows a concept of TLV (Tag, length and value). The value can directly be encoded in different formats as virtual representation (VR). The VR of an object mainly involve explicitly in the Structure of TLV or on the other hand simply defined in a dictionary [2]. The main result of the concept is that the repositories of medical image have started to be very much seen as a rich bank of data due to the factor that meta data held by the DICOM images mainly contain information which are important that are needed for the medical practice. Concept of cloud computing applied to PACS The concept can be referred to as a model of provisioning for the storage capacity and virtualized processing [7]. The storage system and the physical processor are mainly housed in large data centre and mainly managed by IT organisation. all the functionality based on the web service accessed with the help of internet. The concept of cloud computing may also be referred to as a term of exclusivity and privacy. Issue to migration to cloud The first challenge which is basically faced is what type of model is to be used. The choosing of the proper model which provides better delivery of the health care service which is given to the patient is a very issue. Generally, every health organisation contains a huge data base which mainly comprise of sensitive data as well as non-sensitive data. The sensitive data are those details which include X-RAY, CT/MRI scan and the patient medical report [1]. On the other hand, the non-sensitive data are those data such as patient bill and payment details. Recently the concept of the cloud and the internet are put together in the concept of the PACS. One of the most important issue is the retrieval of the image in this scenario. It can be stated that the issue which is related to the Private achieve and communication system is a very important factor [3]. Current situation The PACS system is mainly image management system and more difficult than the text database. The main abstract of the image alone is a very challenging sector. CBMIR (content based medical image retrieval mainly overcomes the shortcoming which is related to the traditional image retrieval system. This mainly provides retrieval method which is based on the colour, texture, space relation and other content features which are related to the medical image. CBMIR is a technology which can be used in order to achieve automatic reasoning process of the medical image and thus achieving computerised auxiliary diagnosis of any disease. Recently one of the focus point of the CBMIR research is to achieve content based medical image retrieval via the process of machine learning such as metric learning based on boosting framework [5]. Innovations and advantage Innovations and the advantage can be indicated by the following points. Based on the services which are related to the cloud, the image is mainly processed on the server side rather than the browser side. This makes full use of the powerful image processing capability of the server. This does not develop complex image algorithm based on processing but on the other hand also ensures the speed of the image and the efficiency related to processing. Compared to the traditional PACS which was based on C/S structure in the hospital, the system does not need to install the complex client. java applet or the flash plug in are not required. The system provides a scalability which is considerable good. It mainly deals with the image processing algorithm in a C++ project. Certain type of algorithm in this project is compiled and build into dynamic link library then the PHP middleware which can be used to implement certain processing which is related to the image [6]. Conclusion It can be concluded from the report that how the technology related to the image and radiologist mainly connect with using the centralized cloud PACS. There is always predefined advantage that can be achieved in migration of the concept of the cloud. The main advantage that can be stated is that the processing of the image is not at the browser side rather it is on the server side. This would directly involve less mistake and would directly involve efficiency in different sectors. References Wan, Yanli, et al. "Analysis and Design of Multi-pattern Retrieval Scheme of Regional PACS System Based Medical Images." Information Technology in Medicine and Education (ITME), 2016 8th International Conference on. IEEE, 2016. Bellam, Ravindra Babu, et al. "Issues while migrating medical imaging services on cloud based infrastructure." Next Generation Computing Technologies (NGCT), 2015 1st International Conference on. IEEE, 2015. Hai, Jinjin, et al. "Fast medical image segmentation based on patch sharing." Image, Vision and Computing (ICIVC), 2017 2nd International Conference on. IEEE, 2017. Lei, Wang, Wang Xi-lian, and Yuan Ke-hong. "Design and implementation of remote medical image reading and diagnosis system based on cloud services." Medical Imaging Physics and Engineering (ICMIPE), 2013 IEEE International Conference on. IEEE, 2013. Godinho, Tiago Marques, Lus Marques Silva, and Carlos Costa. "An automation framework for PACS workflows optimization in shared environments." Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), 2015 10th Iberian Conference on. IEEE, 2015. da Silva Cordeiro, Saulo, et al. "A Risk Analysis Model for PACS Environments in the Cloud." Computer-Based Medical Systems (CBMS), 2015 IEEE 28th International Symposium on. IEEE, 2015. Abdelaziz, E. A., R. Saidur, and S. Mekhilef. "A review on energy saving strategies in industrial sector." Renewable and sustainable energy reviews 15.1 (2011): 150-168.