Sensing Absence

Chapter 1 of this book is open access under a CC BY license. This is a chapter from Absence in Science, Security and Policy edited by Brian Rappert and Brian Balmer. This chapter is available open access under a CC BY license. Part reflection on the forthcoming chapters, part analysis of academic literature, and part programmatic agenda setting, this introduction chapter forwards the importance of questioning taken for granted assumptions in sensing what is absent as a concern. It undertakes this through initially examining what it means to characterize concern as absent or present in the first place. While absence and presence are often treated as binary opposites, it will be argued this distinction is difficult to sustain and unhelp for analysis. On the back of an appreciation of the inter-relation of absence and presence, this chapter then reviews the literature in sociology, ethics, STS and elsewhere relevant to the themes of the volume. A goal is to outline the methodological and epistemological possibilities and problematics of studying what is missing. By way of then proposing what is required, and to set the stage for the other chapters in Part 1, this chapter ends by asking how autostereograms provide a metaphor for viewing that can guide the study of absence.

Environmental stresses and metabolic by-products can severely affect the integrity of genetic information by inducing DNA damage and impairing genome stability. As a consequence, plant growth and productivity are irreversibly compromised. To overcome genotoxic injury, plants have evolved complex strategies relying on a highly efficient repair machinery that responds to sophisticated damage perception/signaling networks. The DNA damage signaling network contains several key components: DNA damage sensors, signal transducers, mediators, and effectors. Most of these components are common to other eukaryotes but some features are unique to the plant kingdom. ATM and ATR are well-conserved members of PIKK family, which amplify and transduce signals to downstream effectors. ATM primarily responds to DNA double strand breaks while ATR responds to various forms of DNA damage. The signals from the activated transducer kinases are transmitted to the downstream cell-cycle regulators, such as CHK1, CHK2, and p53 in many eukaryotes. However, plants have no homologue of CHK1, CHK2 nor p53. The finding of Arabidopsis transcription factor SOG1 that seems functionally but not structurally similar to p53 suggests that plants have developed unique cell cycle regulation mechanism. The double strand break repair, recombination repair, postreplication repair, and lesion bypass, have been investigated in several plants. The DNA double strand break, a most critical damage for organisms are repaired non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR) pathway. Damage on template DNA makes replication stall, which is processed by translesion synthesis (TLS) or error-free postreplication repair (PPR) pathway. Deletion of the error-prone TLS polymerase reduces mutation frequencies, suggesting PPR maintains the stalled replication fork when TLS is not available. Unveiling the regulation networks among these multiple pathways would be the next challenge to be completed. Some intriguing issues have been disclosed such as the cross-talk between DNA repair, senescence and pathogen response and the involvement of non-coding RNAs in global genome stability. Several studies have highlighted the essential contribution of chromatin remodeling in DNA repair DNA damage sensing, signaling and repair have been investigated in relation to environmental stresses, seed quality issues, mutation breeding in both model and crop plants and all these studies strengthen the idea that components of the plant response to genotoxic stress might represent tools to improve stress tolerance and field performance. This focus issue gives researchers the opportunity to gather and interact by providing Mini-Reviews, Commentaries, Opinions, Original Research and Method articles which describe the most recent advances and future perspectives in the field of DNA damage sensing, signaling and repair in plants. A comprehensive overview of the current progresses dealing with the genotoxic stress response in plants will be provided looking at cellular and molecular level with multidisciplinary approaches. This will hopefully bring together valuable information for both plant biotechnologists and breeders.

Although there are many books available on WSNs, most are low-level, introductory books. The few available for advanced readers fail to convey the breadth of knowledge required for those aiming to develop next-generation solutions for WSNs.Filling this void, Wireless Sensor Networks: From Theory to Applications supplies comprehensive coverage of WS

The reference provides interdisciplinary discussion for diverse II-VI semiconductors with a wide range of topics. The third volume of a three volume set, the book provides an up-to-date account of the present status of multifunctional II-VI semiconductors, from fundamental science and processing to their applications as various sensors, biosensors, and radiation detectors, and based on them to formulate new goals for the further research. The chapters in this volume provide a comprehensive overview of the manufacture, parameters and principles of operation of these devices. The application of these devices in various fields such medicine, agriculture, food quality control, environment monitoring and others is also considered. The analysis carried out shows the great potential of II-VI semiconductor-based sensors and detectors for these applications. Considers solid-state radiation detectors based on semiconductors of II-VI group and their applications; Analyzes the advantages of II-VI compounds to develop chemical and optical gas and ion sensors; Describes all types of biosensors based on II-VI semiconductors and gives examples of their use in various fields.

Proceedings of the ISA Conference and Exhibit.

Remote Sensing of the Terrestrial Water Cycle is an outcome of the AGU Chapman Conference held in February 2012. This is a comprehensive volume that examines the use of available remote sensing satellite data as well as data from future missions that can be used to expand our knowledge in quantifying the spatial and temporal variations in the terrestrial water cycle. Volume highlights include: - An in-depth discussion of the global water cycle - Approaches to various problems in climate, weather, hydrology, and agriculture - Applications of satellite remote sensing in measuring precipitation, surface water, snow, soil moisture, groundwater, modeling, and data assimilation - A description of the use of satellite data for accurately estimating and monitoring the components of the hydrological cycle - Discussion of the measurement of multiple geophysical variables and properties over different landscapes on a temporal and a regional scale Remote Sensing of the Terrestrial Water Cycle is a valuable resource for students and research professionals in the hydrology, ecology, atmospheric sciences, geography, and geological sciences communities.