Identification of low inorganic and total grain arsenic rice cultivars from Bangladesh

For the world's population, rice consumption is a major source of inorganic arsenic (As), a nonthreshold class 1 carcinogen. Reducing the amount of total and inorganic As within the rice grain would reduce the exposure risk. In this study, grain As was measured in 76 cultivars consisting of Bangladeshi landraces, improved Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) cultivars, and parents of permanent mapping populations grown in two field sites in Bangladesh, Faridpur and Sonargaon, irrigated with As-contaminated tubewell water. Grain As ranged from 0.16 to 0.74 mg kg(-1) at Faridpur and from 0.07 to 0.28 mg kg(-1) at Sonargaon. Highly significant cultivar differences were detected and a significant correlation (r = 0.802) in the grain As between the two field sites was observed, indicating stable genetic differences in As accumulation. The cultivars with the highest concentration of grain As were the Bangladeshi landraces. Landraces with red bran had significantly more grain As than the cultivars with brown bran. The percent of inorganic As decreased linearly with increasing total As, but genetic variation within this trend was identified. A number of local cultivars with low grain As were identified. Some tropical japonica cultivars with low grain As have the potential to be used in breeding programs and genetic studies aiming to identify genes which decrease grain As.

Higher education in flight:a new direction for international assignments research

This paper draws attention to the significant internationalisation of the higher education sector and role of international assignments in supporting and driving this. The paper then proceeds to identify the similarities and unique features of the sector in the context of international assignments which we argue, primarily revolve around alternative forms, namely international frequent flyers and short-term assignments. Finally, a model is proposed that may facilitate higher education institutes in more effective international assignment utilisation. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Variation in grain arsenic assessed in a diverse panel of rice (Oryza sativa) grown in multiple sites

• Inorganic arsenic (As(i) ) in rice (Oryza sativa) grains is a possible threat to human health, with risk being strongly linked to total dietary rice consumption and consumed rice As(i) content. This study aimed to identify the range and stability of genetic variation in grain arsenic (As) in rice. • Six field trials were conducted (one each in Bangladesh and China, two in Arkansas, USA over 2 yr, and two in Texas, USA comparing flooded and nonflood treatments) on a large number of common rice cultivars (c. 300) representing genetic diversity among international rice cultivars. • Within each field there was a 3-34 fold range in grain As concentration which varied between rice subpopulations. Importantly, As(i) correlated strongly with total As among a subset of 40 cultivars harvested in Bangladesh and China. • Genetic variation at all field sites was a large determining factor for grain As concentration, indicating that cultivars low in grain As could be developed through breeding. The temperate japonicas exhibited lower grain As compared with other subpopulations. Effects for year, location and flooding management were also statistically significant, suggesting that breeding strategies must take into account environmental factors.

A research-based approach to exploring the adoption of novel UK-based concrete test methods in Chinese construction sector

As part of a UK-China science bridge project - a UK government funded initiative linking leading universities and businesses in selective partnering countries in 2009 a collaborative research programme was initiated between Queen's University and the Research Institute of High Performance Concrete (part of the Central Research Institute of Building and Construction) in Beijing.

For further details email b.magee@ulster.ac.uk

Ultra-Compact and Robust FPGA-Based PUF Identification Generator

Physically Unclonable Functions (PUFs), exploit inherent manufacturing variations and present a promising solution for hardware security. They can be used for key storage, authentication and ID generations. Low power cryptographic design is also very important for security applications. However, research to date on digital PUF designs, such as Arbiter PUFs and RO PUFs, is not very efficient. These PUF designs are difficult to implement on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or consume many FPGA hardware resources. In previous work, a new and efficient PUF identification generator was presented for FPGA. The PUF identification generator is designed to fit in a single slice per response bit by using a 1-bit PUF identification generator cell formed as a hard-macro. In this work, we propose an ultra-compact PUF identification generator design. It is implemented on ten low-cost Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA LX9 microboards. The resource utilization is only 2.23%, which, to the best of the authors' knowledge, is the most compact and robust FPGA-based PUF identification generator design reported to date. This PUF identification generator delivers a stable range of uniqueness of around 50% and good reliability between 85% and 100%.