Religionin the Information Society (Sociological Etude)

The main central questions asked in the article are the following: Is the role of religion belittled in the contemporary information society? If culture turned into mass-culture, is it possible that the same fate awaits religion? If it is so and religion will lose its significance for and influence on society, then what final result will this process bring? Are we moving towards an areligious society? But if the processes go vice-versa,they can evoke an opposite reaction and traditional religions will fill with fresh energy and begin a full-blooded life. According to the authors of the article, an information space is simply a superficial cover of man’s spiritual life. That is why a virtual cyber-church will never replace a real temple. It is a parody and simulation of a real church. And the day will come when man escapes from the slavery of this simulation and virtual reality and will return to the eternal truth and genuine religious faith. It seems that man enfeebled by the illusion of pseudo-religion and pseudo faith has a serious exam to pass.It can be easily seen that pseudo-religion which is constructed in the artificial virtual space has no future and that any experiments in this sphere are, from the very beginning doomed to failure. Religious life means a live communication with the transcendent and it is lost in the case of virtualization. The internet can be a fine means for spreading the word of God, but it (Internet) has its own rules of speech that are not relevant for the language of the divine service. We think that a digital expression of religion is absurd and nothing more.

Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analysis of Flavonoid 3'-Hydroxylase Gene Family in Carthamus Tinctorius L.

ObjectiveThrough experiments and bioinformatic analysis clearly demonstrate considerable information about the genetic evolution of the flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase (F3'H) gene in Safflower and in plants.ResultsHere, we performed genome wide survey of safflower genome and identified a total of 22 CtF3'H enzyme encoding genes. Phylogenetic analyses revealed the classifications of these CtF3'Hs into nine subgroups demonstrating their evolutionary relationship. The distribution of the conserved protein motifs, and cis-regulatory units of CtF3'Hs indicated essential structure-to-function components leading to the final function of protein or its interactions. Furthermore, the results of digital expression analysis and the qRT-PCR pattern of 22 putative CtF3’H genes during different flowering stages suggested their requisite roles in safflower petal pigmentation. In addition, the fusions construct of plant expression vector pCAMBIA1302-GFP-CtF3’H5 in onion epidermal cells verified the subcellular localization of CtF3’H5 to the plasma membrane. Subsequently, the prokaryotic expression and western blot hybridization of CtF3’H5 resulted in a stable 50.3kD target protein. These results partly demonstrate the influence of F3'Hs on plants.ConclusionsIn this study, the results of digital expression and qRT-PCR analysis of 22 putative CtF3'H genes in different flowering stages indicate their essential role in safflower petal pigmentation. clearly demonstrates significant information on the genetic evolution of important enzyme-coding genes and will provide a pathway for future functional studies of F3'Hs in safflower as well as in plants.

C-Fos Digital Expression Analysis in Human PapillomavirusRelated Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: Fos Proto-Oncogene (c-Fos) represents a well analyzed gene involved in solid malignancies’ development and progression. The corresponding protein forms heterodimer with c-jun, a strong transcription factor. C-Fos/c-Jun complex influences critically the intracellular signal transduction to the nucleus. Our aim was to detect and evaluate c-Fos protein expression patterns in oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC) tissues. Materials and Methods: Fifty (n=50) formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary OSCCs tissue sections were used. Immunohistochemistry and digital image analysis were implemented for identifying and evaluating c-Fos protein expression levels, respectively. Results: C-Fos protein over expression (moderate to high imunostaining intensity values) was observed in 28/50 (56%) tissue cores, whereas low expression rates were detected in the rest of the examined cases (22/50- 44%). C-Fos overall expression was strongly associated with the stage and grade of the examined tumors (p=0.014, p=0.003, respectively) and also with Human papillomavirus (HPV) persistent infection (p=0.004). c-Fos up regulation is frequently observed in OSCCs. Conclusion: C-Fos high expression levels are correlated with an aggressive phenotype (advanced stage/lymph node metastasis) in patients with OSCC, especially in HPV positive cases, especially High Risk subtypes. Due to its elevated oncogenic activity, c-Fos should be a target for novel therapeutic strategies in OSCC combined or not with other oncogenes involving in signaling transduction pathways.

Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals Osmotic and Ionic Stress Key Genes Contributing To Salinity Tolerance Differential in Two Pak Choi Cultivars

Background: Pak choi is an important leafy vegetable crop. Salinity is among the most harmful agents that negatively influence pak choi yield. However, the mechanism of salinity tolerance in pak choi has not been well understood. In this study, the root transcriptomics of two cultivars differing in salinity tolerant, Shanghaijimaocai (S, salinity tolerant) and Te’aiqing (T, salinity sensitive), were investigated under 0 and 100 mM NaCl treatments.Results: Using de novo assembly, 214,952 assembled unigenes were generated. Totals of 6765, 2454, 2451 and 5798 differentially expressed unigenes (DEUs) were identified in comparison of S100/S0, T100/T0, S0/T0 and S100/T100, respectively. Shanghaijimaocai is more sensitive to NaCl stress than Te’aiqing in terms of root transcriptomics. Based on GO and KEGG pathway analysis, several osmotic and ionic stress-related genes including MP3K18, PYL8, PP2C15/16/49, ARF2, bHLH112, bZIP43, COL5, CDF1/3, ERF25/60, HSFA6, MYBS3/59/92/CCA1/PHL5, POD21, GOLS7, CIPK4/7/12, NHX7, SLAH1 and ALMT13, showed higher expression in Shanghaijimaocai than in Te’aiqing. These genes, therefore, might be contributed to the difference in salinity tolerance. Moreover, the physiological shift of peroxidase activity was in accordance with dynamic transcript profile of the relevant unigenes. Conclusions: We determined digital expression profile and discovered a broad survey of unigenes associated with the difference of salinity tolerance between Shanghaijimaocai and Te’aiqing. These findings would be useful for further functional analysis as potential targets to improve resistance to salinity stress via genetic engineering.

IS IT A SMART CITY A CREATIVE PLACE?

Along this article we share our research in the field of urban creativity, in particular on how smart cities are becoming more and more independent and developing a spirit of sustainable autonomy that somehow creates creative opportunities in terms of memory and cultural identity. Our current article raises the issue of how can smart cities affect the creative process? We believe that creativity becomes a process linked into a digital world and becomes much more interactive. That is why new ways of artistic and digital expression can be welcomed by those who are used to new technologies, which daily influence human activity in the space of the city. In other words, with the use of the existing technology inside the cities and their interconnections with other cities we can conceive creative strategies that will contribute to preserve the memory as well as the cultural and creative identity of a people. Video-mapping is precisely one of those creative strategies, once it will directly interact between the real dimension and the virtual dimension. The use of video-mapping, as an element of covering the facades of buildings, can somehow help to make the streets more dynamic and transform them into other atmospheres. The city becomes part of the third dimension and people are interacting between the real and the virtual. The management of the urban space has been gradually changing and following the technological advance. Mobility and sustainability is one of the key factors in which a smart city has invested the most. Now is the time to invest in a relationship between the city and the people, making it more humane and giving space for creativity.

From Expression to Expulsion: Digital Public Spaces as Theatres of Operations in Nepal

On 2 May 2016, Robert Penner, Canadian national residing in Nepal with a working visa, was arrested and then deported to Canada and his visa being cancelled. Based upon an analysis of the documentation related to his arrest and expulsion, this article analyses the articulation of different operations of control. A chain of public interventions and governmental actions makes the substance of the management of digital expression in Nepal and this has to be analysed with tools from media studies and science and technology studies. We present different operative regimes: Twitter accounts and discussions, police action and arrests, and court petitions. We analyse how operational levels are connected and how their interconnections lead to the criminalisation of one individual, most notably through the reformulations of the accusations by different groups of people via different devices. This in turn shows how specific technical interventions determine the control of the public space. These analyses then add to the debate upon the ‘digital public sphere’ by offering a critique of its spatial metaphor from a view focused on its performative stakes—public spaces not as sites of discussion, but as theatres of operations.