•The relationship between four screen activities and online reading of 10-year-olds in six European countries was examined.•Gaming and surfing the web showed a right-skewed inversed U-shape with ...moderate use having a mildly positive association.•Online chatting and watching videos showed a negative association with online reading above the threshold of 1 hour daily.•Heavy gaming was associated with 26-point lower score for low-performers and 6-point lower score for high-performers.•The paper documents the emergence of online-offline reading gaps of the same children.
The paper analyses how four screen activities relate to reading scores using the representative sample of 21,217 ten-year-olds who sat online and offline Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) test in six high-income European countries. In regression models, gaming and Internet use showed a right-skewed inverted U-shape relationship to online reading with moderate use (30–60 min daily) showing a positive association when compared to both no-use and heavy use (above 2 h). Online chatting and watching videos showed negative relationship to online reading above the threshold of approximately one hour daily. Quantile regression showed that all four types of screen time had similar influence on top and bottom performers except for gaming over 2 h daily which was associated with 26-point (or over a quarter of a standard deviation) lower score for low-performers and 6-point lower score for top-performers. The paper documents the emergence of online-offline reading gaps: children who reported no screen use scored 6–11 points lower on online than offline test. Similarly, children who spent more time online scored higher on online tests than on offline tests. Whenever the heavy screen use yielded significant results, it was associated with higher online score (ranging from 8 to 16 points) when compared to offline score. A common finding for all screen activities, testing modes and groups of performers is an adverse effect on reading of more than two hours daily of screen time.
The paper analyses the legislation, media communication and the planned evaluation of the ‘Family 500+” Programme conducted in order to identify its goals as part of the public policy. Seven ...identified goals have been compared with the objectives of Poland’s leading party’s politics. From the public policy viewpoint, due to unclear goals of the programme, its effectiveness and efficiency are impossible to assess. Yet, from the party’s politics perspective, the transfer is well-calibrated to be politically safe with the ruling party serving as its guarantor.
Why and how do workers stay in bad jobs? Based on 972 questionnaires and longitudinal data from 45 interviews, the article finds substantial support for the labor of love and the psychic income ...theories and no support for the miscalculated risk and commitment device theories. It documents personal strategies (overworking and childlessness) and institution-related strategies (diploma-hoarding and institutional pegs—a term introduced in this article). The article argues that the existing dichotomy of market-driven art and the state-subsidy-driven art could be enriched by the third model epitomized by Poland—a country with neither the art market comparable to that of the United States or the United Kingdom nor a state spending on art comparable to that of France or the Netherlands—where free higher education is used as a fallback option in the context of scarce resources.
Red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) is a forage legume cultivated worldwide. This plant is capable of establishing a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with Rhizobium leguminosarum symbiovar trifolii strains. ...To date, no comparative analysis of the symbiotic properties and heterogeneity of T. pratense microsymbionts derived from two distinct geographic regions has been performed. In this study, the symbiotic properties of strains originating from the subpolar and temperate climate zones in a wide range of temperatures (10-25 °C) have been characterized. Our results indicate that all the studied T. pratense microsymbionts from two geographic regions were highly efficient in host plant nodulation and nitrogen fixation in a wide range of temperatures. However, some differences between the populations and between the strains within the individual population examined were observed. Based on the nodC and nifH sequences, the symbiotic diversity of the strains was estimated. In general, 13 alleles for nodC and for nifH were identified. Moreover, 21 and 61 polymorphic sites in the nodC and nifH sequences were found, respectively, indicating that the latter gene shows higher heterogeneity than the former one. Among the nodC and nifH alleles, three genotypes (I-III) were the most frequent, whereas the other alleles (IV-XIII) proved to be unique for the individual strains. Based on the nodC and nifH allele types, 20 nodC-nifH genotypes were identified. Among them, the most frequent were three genotypes marked as A (6 strains), B (5 strains), and C (3 strains). Type A was exclusively found in the temperate strains, whereas types B and C were identified in the subpolar strains. The remaining 17 genotypes were found in single strains. In conclusion, our data indicate that R. leguminosarum sv. trifolii strains derived from two climatic zones show a high diversity with respect to the symbiotic efficiency and heterogeneity. However, some of the R. leguminosarum sv. trifolii strains exhibit very good symbiotic potential in the wide range of the temperatures tested; hence, they may be used in the future for improvement of legume crop production.
Mutagenesis and adaptation of the psychrotrophic fungus
A-1 to the toxic substrate β-pinene were used to obtain a biocatalyst with increased resistance to this terpene and improved bioconversion ...properties. Mutants of the parental strain were induced with UV light and
-methyl-
'-nitro-
-nitrosoguanidine. Mutants resistant to β-pinene were isolated using agar plates with a linear gradient of substrate concentrations. Active mutants were selected based on their general metabolic activity (GMA) expressed as oxygen consumption rate. Compared to the parental strain, the most active mutant showed an enhanced biotransformation ability to convert β-pinene to
-pinocarveol (315 mg per g of dry mycelium), a 4.3-fold greater biocatalytic activity, and a higher resistance to H
O
-induced oxidative stress. Biotransformation using adapted mutants yielded twice as much
-pinocarveol as the reaction catalyzed by non-adapted mutants. The results indicate that mutagenesis and adaptation of
A-1 is an effective method of enhancing β-bioconversion of terpenes.
Legume-rhizobial symbiosis plays an important role in agriculture and ecological restoration. This process occurs within special new structures, called nodules, formed mainly on legume roots. Soil ...bacteria, commonly known as rhizobia, fix atmospheric dinitrogen, converting it into a form that can be assimilated by plants. Various environmental factors, including a low temperature, have an impact on the symbiotic efficiency. Nevertheless, the effect of temperature on the phenotypic and symbiotic traits of rhizobia has not been determined in detail to date. Therefore, in this study, the influence of temperature on different cell surface and symbiotic properties of rhizobia was estimated. In total, 31 Rhizobium leguminosarum sv. trifolii strains isolated from root nodules of red clover plants growing in the subpolar and temperate climate regions, which essentially differ in year and day temperature profiles, were chosen for this analysis. Our results showed that temperature has a significant effect on several surface properties of rhizobial cells, such as hydrophobicity, aggregation, and motility. Low temperature also stimulated EPS synthesis and biofilm formation in R. leguminosarum sv. trifolii. This extracellular polysaccharide is known to play an important protective role against different environmental stresses. The strains produced large amounts of EPS under tested temperature conditions that facilitated adherence of rhizobial cells to different surfaces. The high adaptability of these strains to cold stress was also confirmed during symbiosis. Irrespective of their climatic origin, the strains proved to be highly effective in attachment to legume roots and were efficient microsymbionts of clover plants. However, some diversity in the response to low temperature stress was found among the strains. Among them, M16 and R137 proved to be highly competitive and efficient in nodule occupancy and biomass production; thus, they can be potential yield-enhancing inoculants of legumes.
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•Low temperature stimulated EPS synthesis and biofilm formation by R. leguminosarum sv. trifolii strains.•Temperature significantly influenced hydrophobicity, aggregation, and motility of rhizobial cells.•The strains from two subpolar and temperate climate regions exhibited diversity in cell surface and symbiotic properties.•The strains were effective in attachment to abiotic and biotic surfaces and were efficient microsymbionts of clover plants.•M16 and R137 were highly efficient in nodule occupancy and clover production, being potential yield-enhancing inoculants.
The article presents types of animal therapy used in work with a child
with intellectual disabilities and then focuses on dog-assisted therapy as a form of
developmental support. It discusses forms ...of its practice, its aims and benefits for
children. The article also reviews research concerning animal therapy in rehabilitation
of children with intellectual disabilities.
This paper assesses two approaches to the measurement of educational inequality in international comparisons between countries and over time. We analyse reading literacy performance of 15-year-old ...students using data from PISA 2009 and 2015 for 37 EU and OECD countries. We show that inequality of outcome and inequality of opportunity do not necessarily co-vary; they can go in opposite directions both across countries and over time. Our results suggest that indicators of variation in educational outcomes are more suitable to the types of problems that affect international comparisons of educational achievement than the more common approach of measuring of inequality of opportunity.
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•Abiotic stress factors may improve the yield of terpene biotransformation.•The bioconversion activity increased after pre-incubation of the psychrotrophic fungus with dioxane.•Some ...organic solvents create changes in the ratio of the bioconversion products.•Dioxane, chloroform and ethanol and thermal stress at 50°C caused predominance of trans-pinocarveol over trans-verbenol.
Biotransformation of hydrophobic terpenes is limited by their toxicity and low bioavailability to biocatalyst cells. The metabolic activity of microorganisms, which is strongly dependent on environmental parameters, may also be affected by stressful conditions. The influence of pre-incubation of the fungus Chrysosporium pannorum in different stress conditions (organic solvents, medium pH and temperatures) on its activity in the oxidative bioconversion of α-pinene to verbenone and verbenol was examined. The total bioconversion activity increased over 2-fold after 15-min pre-treatment with 1.4-dioxane as an abiotic stress factor. Also, the change of the medium pH from the optimal 5.6 to 2.0 and 10 for 1h before biotransformation enhanced product yield nearly 1.5-fold. Moreover, the use of dioxane, chloroform and ethanol and thermal stress at 50°C caused changes in the oxidation product profile (predominance of trans-pinocarveol over trans-verbenol). A maximum increase in the yield of verbenol was observed when the biocatalyst was subjected to 15-min dioxane stress before 24-h biotransformation of 1% (v/v) pinene. The significance of the data presented is that abiotic stresses may improve the bioconversion activity or create changes in the proportion of the main biotransformation products.
A strain of
Aspergillus niger (G-IV-10) most effective for simultaneous production of catalase and glucose oxidase (GOD) was selected out of molds belonging to 15 different species by the method of ...test-tube microculture. Conidia of the selected strain were further subjected to mutagenesis with both UV and
n-methyl-
n′-nitro-
n-nitrosoguanidine (NTG) and the products were analyzed for catalase activity with our own diffusion plate method. Among 1,055 strains isolated after mutagenesis eight showed higher catalase (from 44.4–102.1%) and GOD (from 8.9 to over 77%) activities than the starting
Aspergillus niger G-IV-10.
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