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Sample records for constitutive promoter directs

  1. A comparative analysis of constitutive promoters located in adeno-associated viral vectors.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lkhagvasuren Damdindorj

    Full Text Available The properties of constitutive promoters within adeno-associated viral (AAV vectors have not yet been fully characterized. In this study, AAV vectors, in which enhanced GFP expression was directed by one of the six constitutive promoters (human β-actin, human elongation factor-1α, chicken β-actin combined with cytomegalovirus early enhancer, cytomegalovirus (CMV, simian virus 40, and herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase, were constructed and introduced into the HCT116, DLD-1, HT-1080, and MCF-10A cell lines. Quantification of GFP signals in infected cells demonstrated that the CMV promoter produced the highest GFP expression in the six promoters and maintained relatively high GFP expression for up to eight weeks after infection of HCT116, DLD-1, and HT-1080. Exogenous human CDKN2A gene expression was also introduced into DLD-1 and MCF-10A in a similar pattern by using AAV vectors bearing the human β-actin and the CMV promoters. The six constitutive promoters were subsequently placed upstream of the neomycin resistance gene within AAV vectors, and HCT116, DLD-1, and HT-1080 were infected with the resulting vectors. Of the six promoters, the CMV promoter produced the largest number of G418-resistant colonies in all three cell lines. Because AAV vectors have been frequently used as a platform to construct targeting vectors that permit gene editing in human cell lines, we lastly infected the three cell lines with AAV-based targeting vectors against the human PIGA gene in which one of the six promoters regulate the neomycin resistance gene. This assay revealed that the CMV promoter led to the lowest PIGA gene targeting efficiency in the investigated promoters. These results provide a clue to the identification of constitutive promoters suitable to express exogenous genes with AAV vectors, as well as those helpful to conduct efficient gene targeting using AAV-based targeting vectors in human cell lines.

  2. Functional characterization of a strong bi-directional constitutive plant promoter isolated from cotton leaf curl Burewala virus.

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    Zainul A Khan

    Full Text Available Cotton leaf curl Burewala virus (CLCuBuV, belonging to the genus Begomovirus, possesses single-stranded monopartite DNA genome. The bidirectional promoters representing Rep and coat protein (CP genes of CLCuBuV were characterized and their efficacy was assayed. Rep and CP promoters of CLCuBuV and 35S promoter of Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV were fused with β-glucuronidase (GUS and green fluorescent protein (GFP reporter genes. GUS activity in individual plant cells driven by Rep, CP and 35S promoters was estimated using real-time PCR and fluorometric GUS assay. Histochemical staining of GUS in transformed tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi leaves showed highest expression driven by Rep promoter followed by 35S promoter and CP promoter. The expression level of GUS driven by Rep promoter in transformed tobacco plants was shown to be two to four-fold higher than that of 35S promoter, while the expression by CP promoter was slightly lower. Further, the expression of GFP was monitored in agroinfiltrated leaves of N. benthamiana, N. tabacum and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum plants using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Rep promoter showed strong consistent transient expression in tobacco and cotton leaves as compared to 35S promoter. The strong constitutive CLCuBuV Rep promoter developed in this study could be very useful for high level expression of transgenes in a wide variety of plant cells.

  3. The whole set of constitutive promoters recognized by RNA polymerase RpoD holoenzyme of Escherichia coli.

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    Tomohiro Shimada

    Full Text Available The promoter selectivity of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase is determined by the sigma subunit with promoter recognition activity. The model prokaryote Escherichia coli contains seven species of the sigma subunit, each recognizing a specific set of promoters. The major sigma subunit, sigma-70 encoded by rpoD, plays a major role in transcription of growth-related genes. Concomitant with the increase in detection of promoters functioning in vivo under various stressful conditions, the variation is expanding in the consensus sequence of RpoD promoters. In order to identify the canonical sequence of "constitutive promoters" that are recognized by the RNA polymerase holoenzyme containing RpoD sigma in the absence of supporting transcription factors, an in vitro mixed transcription assay was carried out using a whole set of variant promoters, each harboring one base replacement, within the model promoter with the conserved -35 and -10 sequences of RpoD promoters. The consensus sequences, TTGACA(-35 and TATAAT(-10, were identified to be ideal for the maximum level of open complex formation and the highest rate of promoter opening, respectively. For identification of the full range of constitutive promoters on the E. coli genome, a total of 2,701 RpoD holoenzyme-binding sites were identified by Genomic SELEX screening, and using the reconfirmed consensus promoter sequence, a total of maximum 669 constitutive promoters were identified, implying that the majority of hitherto identified promoters represents the TF-dependent "inducible promoters". One unique feature of the constitutive promoters is the high level of promoter sequence conservation, about 85% carrying five-out-of-six agreements with -35 or -10 consensus sequence. The list of constitutive promoters provides the community resource toward estimation of the inducible promoters that operate under various stressful conditions in nature.

  4. Identification, isolation and evaluation of a constitutive sucrose phosphate synthase gene promoter from tomato

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naqvi, R.Z.; Mubeen, H.; Maqsood, A.; Khatoon, A.

    2017-01-01

    Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) is one of the abundantly expressed genes in plants. The promoters of SPS gene was identified, analyzed and retrieved from high throughput genomic sequence (HTGS) database. The cis-acting regulatory elements and transcription start sites of promoter were identified through different bioinformatics tools. The SPS promoter was isolated from Solanum lycopersicum and was initially cloned in TA vector (pTZ57R/T). Later on this promoter was transferred to a plant expression binary vector, pGR1 (pGRSPS) that was used for the transient GUS expression studies in various tissues of Nicotiana tabacum. SPS promoter was also cloned in plant stable expression vector pGA482 (pGASPS) and was transformed in Nicotiana tabacum through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. The histochemical GUS expression analysis of both transient and stable transgenic plants for this promoter indicated its functional importance in regulating gene expression in a constitutive manner. It was concluded that SPS promoter is constitutively expressed with a strength equivalent to CaMV 2X35S promoter. The promoter isolated through these studies may be effectively substituted in plant genetic engineering with other constitutive promoter for transgene expression in economically important agricultural crops. (author)

  5. Identification and analysis of an efficient dicot constitutive promoter from tomato

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bacha, S.; Khatoon, A.; Asif, M.; Bashir, A.

    2015-01-01

    The regulatory sequence of sucrose synthase (susy) was explored in HTGS and screened using various bioinformatics tools for promoter prediction and identification of functional regulatory motifs. Transcription start site (TSS) was predicted in the promoter sequence. Species specific motifs were identified by using Plant PAN database. The Plant Care predicted various light responsive, hormone inducible and tissue specific motifs in the full length promoter which may be essential for the constitutive expression governed by this promoter. Full length susy promoter isolated from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) drove maximum transient expression of GUS gene in various tissues of tobacco, cotton and peas. The susy promoter identified and analyzed in this study is suitable for transgene expression in economically important agricultural crops, especially to avoid strong over-expression. (author)

  6. Identification of functional DNA variants in the constitutive promoter region of MDM2

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    Lalonde Marie-Eve

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Although mutations in the oncoprotein murine double minute 2 (MDM2 are rare, MDM2 gene overexpression has been observed in several human tumors. Given that even modest changes in MDM2 levels might influence the p53 tumor suppressor signaling pathway, we postulated that sequence variation in the promoter region of MDM2 could lead to disregulated expression and variation in gene dosage. Two promoters have been reported for MDM2; an internal promoter (P2, which is located near the end of intron 1 and is p53-responsive, and an upstream constitutive promoter (P1, which is p53-independent. Both promoter regions contain DNA variants that could influence the expression levels of MDM2, including the well-studied single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP SNP309, which is located in the promoter P2; i.e., upstream of exon 2. In this report, we screened the promoter P1 for DNA variants and assessed the functional impact of the corresponding SNPs. Using the dbSNP database and genotyping validation in individuals of European descent, we identified three common SNPs (−1494 G > A; indel 40 bp; and −182 C > G. Three major promoter haplotypes were inferred by using these three promoter SNPs together with rs2279744 (SNP309. Following subcloning into a gene reporter system, we found that two of the haplotypes significantly influenced MDM2 promoter activity in a haplotype-specific manner. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments indicated that the 40 bp insertion/deletion variation is causing the observed allelic promoter activity. This study suggests that part of the variability in the MDM2 expression levels could be explained by allelic p53-independent P1 promoter activity.

  7. CINPA1 binds directly to constitutive androstane receptor and inhibits its activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherian, Milu T; Chai, Sergio C; Wright, William C; Singh, Aman; Alexandra Casal, Morgan; Zheng, Jie; Wu, Jing; Lee, Richard E; Griffin, Patrick R; Chen, Taosheng

    2018-03-31

    The constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) are xenobiotic sensors that regulate the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and efflux transporters. CAR activation promotes drug elimination, thereby reducing therapeutic effectiveness, or causes adverse drug effects via toxic metabolites. CAR inhibitors could be used to attenuate these adverse drug effects. CAR and PXR share ligands and target genes, confounding the understanding of the regulation of receptor-specific activity. We previously identified a small-molecule inhibitor, CINPA1, that inhibits CAR (without activating PXR at lower concentrations) by altering CAR-coregulator interactions and reducing CAR recruitment to DNA response elements of regulated genes. However, solid evidence was not presented for the direct binding of CINPA1 to CAR. In this study, we demonstrate direct interaction of CINPA1 with the CAR ligand-binding domain (CAR-LBD) and identify key residues involved in such interactions through a combination of biophysical and computational methods. We found that CINPA1 resides in the ligand-binding pocket to stabilize the CAR-LBD in a more rigid, less fluid state. Molecular dynamics simulations, together with our previously reported docking model, enabled us to predict which CAR residues were critical for interactions with CINPA1. The importance of these residues for CINPA1 binding were then validated by directed mutations and testing the mutant CAR proteins in transcription reporter and coregulatory interaction assays. We demonstrated strong hydrogen bonding of CINPA1 with N165 and H203 and identified other residues involved in hydrophobic contacts with CINPA1. Overall, our data confirm that CINPA1 directly binds to CAR. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Identification of constitutional MLH1 epimutations and promoter variants in colorectal cancer patients from the Colon Cancer Family Registry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ward, Robyn L.; Dobbins, Timothy; Lindor, Noralane M.; Rapkins, Robert W.; Hitchins, Megan P.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Constitutional MLH1 epimutations manifest as promoter methylation and silencing of the affected allele in normal tissues, predisposing to Lynch syndrome–associated cancers. This study investigated their frequency and inheritance. Methods: A total of 416 individuals with a colorectal cancer showing loss of MLH1 expression and without deleterious germline mutations in MLH1 were ascertained from the Colon Cancer Family Registry (C-CFR). Constitutive DNA samples were screened for MLH1 methylation in all 416 subjects and for promoter sequence changes in 357 individuals. Results: Constitutional MLH1 epimutations were identified in 16 subjects. Of these, seven (1.7%) had mono- or hemi-allelic methylation and eight had low-level methylation (2%). In one subject the epimutation was linked to the c.-27C>A promoter variant. Testing of 37 relatives from nine probands revealed paternal transmission of low-level methylation segregating with a c.+27G>A variant in one case. Five additional probands had a promoter variant without an MLH1 epimutation, with three showing diminished promoter activity in functional assays. Conclusion: Although rare, sequence changes in the regulatory region of MLH1 and aberrant methylation may alone or together predispose to the development of cancer. Screening for these changes is warranted in individuals who have a negative germline sequence screen of MLH1 and loss of MLH1 expression in their tumor. PMID:22878509

  9. The constitutional right to freedom of expression: How enforceable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Erna Kinsey

    have been directly affected by the need to ensure that their operations and rules are constitutionally and legislatively compatible. .... decisions about dress in the educational context of the school. .... time, until she was paid at the end of the month, to purchase the shoes ..... The Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair.

  10. Direct test of a nonlinear constitutive equation for simple turbulent shear flows using DNS data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmitt, François G.

    2007-10-01

    Several nonlinear constitutive equations have been proposed to overcome the limitations of the linear eddy-viscosity models to describe complex turbulent flows. These nonlinear equations have often been compared to experimental data through the outputs of numerical models. Here we perform a priori analysis of nonlinear eddy-viscosity models using direct numerical simulation (DNS) of simple shear flows. In this paper, the constitutive equation is directly checked using a tensor projection which involves several invariants of the flow. This provides a 3 terms development which is exact for 2D flows, and a best approximation for 3D flows. We provide the quadratic nonlinear constitutive equation for the near-wall region of simple shear flows using DNS data, and estimate their coefficients. We show that these coefficients have several common properties for the different simple shear flow databases considered. We also show that in the central region of pipe flows, where the shear rate is very small, the coefficients of the constitutive equation diverge, indicating the failure of this representation for vanishing shears.

  11. Public health promotion of "local food": Constituting the self-governing citizen-consumer.

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    Derkatch, Colleen; Spoel, Philippa

    2017-03-01

    This article explores how the recent and growing promotion of local foods by public health units in Ontario, Canada, rhetorically interpellates the "good" health citizen as someone who not only takes responsibility for personal health but, through the consumption and support of "local food," also accepts and fulfills her responsibilities to care for the local economy, the community's well-being, and the natural environment. Drawing on Charland's concept of constitutive rhetoric, we analyze a selection of public health unit documents about local food to develop a textured account of the complex, multifaceted forms of health citizenship they constitute. Our analysis reveals that, despite their appeals to environmental sustainability and community well-being, these materials primarily characterize the ideal health citizen as an informed consumer who supports the interests of the neoliberal state through individualized lifestyle behaviors, consuming goods produced and distributed through private enterprise. By exhorting individuals to "buy local," public health discourse therefore frames responsible health citizenship principally in consumerist terms that constrain the range of available options for citizens to engage in meaningful action vis-à-vis their food systems.

  12. Constitutively active transforming growth factor β receptor 1 in the mouse ovary promotes tumorigenesis

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    Gao, Yang; Vincent, David F.; Davis, Anna Jane; Sansom, Owen J.; Bartholin, Laurent; Li, Qinglei

    2016-01-01

    Despite the well-established tumor suppressive role of TGFβ proteins, depletion of key TGFβ signaling components in the mouse ovary does not induce a growth advantage. To define the role of TGFβ signaling in ovarian tumorigenesis, we created a mouse model expressing a constitutively active TGFβ receptor 1 (TGFBR1) in ovarian somatic cells using conditional gain-of-function approach. Remarkably, these mice developed ovarian sex cord-stromal tumors with complete penetrance, leading to reproductive failure and mortality. The tumors expressed multiple granulosa cell markers and caused elevated serum inhibin and estradiol levels, reminiscent of granulosa cell tumors. Consistent with the tumorigenic effect, overactivation of TGFBR1 altered tumor microenvironment by promoting angiogenesis and enhanced ovarian cell proliferation, accompanied by impaired cell differentiation and dysregulated expression of critical genes in ovarian function. By further exploiting complementary genetic models, we substantiated our finding that constitutively active TGFBR1 is a potent oncogenic switch in mouse granulosa cells. In summary, overactivation of TGFBR1 drives gonadal tumor development. The TGFBR1 constitutively active mouse model phenocopies a number of morphological, hormonal, and molecular features of human granulosa cell tumors and are potentially valuable for preclinical testing of targeted therapies to treat granulosa cell tumors, a class of poorly defined ovarian malignancies. PMID:27344183

  13. Constitutive Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Membrane Elements under Tri-directional Shear

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    Labib, Moheb

    The two-dimensional behavior of typical reinforced concrete (RC) structures has been extensively studied in the past several decades by investigating the constitutive behavior of full-scale reinforced concrete elements subjected to a bi-axial state of stress. In order to understand the true behavior of many large complex structures, the goal of this investigation is to develop new constitutive relationships for RC elements subjected to tri-directional shear stresses. Recently, additional out-of-plane jacks were installed on the panel tester at University of Houston so that concrete elements could be subjected to tri-directional shear stresses. This upgrade makes the panel tester the only one of its kind in the US that is capable of applying such combinations of stresses on full-scale reinforced concrete elements. This dissertation presents the details of the mounting and installation of the additional hydraulic jacks on the universal panel tester. The experimental program includes a series of seven reinforced concrete elements subjected to different combinations of in-plane and out-of-plane shear stresses. Increasing the applied out-of-plane shear stresses reduced the membrane shear strength of the elements. The effect of applying out-of-plane shear stresses on the in-plane shear strength was represented by modifying the softening coefficient in the compression stress strain curve of concrete struts. The modified model was able to capture the behavior and the ultimate capacity of the tested elements. The effect of the in-plane shear reinforcement ratio on the interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane shear stresses was evaluated. The model was implemented in the Finite Element package FEAP and was used to predict the ultimate capacity of many structures subjected to a combination of in-plane and out-of-plane shear stresses. The results of the analytical model were used to develop simplified design equations for members subjected to bi-directional shear loads

  14. The ban on "off-label" pharmaceutical promotion: constitutionally permissible prophylaxis against false or misleading commercial speech?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenwood, Kate

    2011-01-01

    Critics of the Food & Drug Administration's ban on off-label promotion often claim that it violates the First Amendment because it suppresses pharmaceutical manufacturers' truthful speech about their legal--and beneficial--products. Characterizing the ban on off-label promotion in this way has more than rhetorical significance. Bans on truthful, non-misleading speech elicit special skepticism because of the belief that they "usually rest solely on the offensive assumption that the public will respond 'irrationally' to the truth." The legislative history of the provisions of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act that underlie the ban on off-label promotion, however, reveals that Congress was concerned that physicians were responding rationally to false and misleading promotional claims. In this Article, I explore the doctrinal questions raised by conceiving of the ban on off-label promotion not as a ban on "truthful speech to physicians" but instead as a prophylaxis against false and misleading pharmaceutical promotion. I review the evidence that false and misleading claims were commonplace before the ban's adoption and persist today, along with the enforcement challenges the FDA confronted at that time and would confront were the ban lifted, and conclude the government likely could develop the factual record necessary to establish that Congress' rejection of an after-the-fact case-by-case approach to combating false and misleading prescription drug promotion is constitutional.

  15. Biallelic MLH1 SNP cDNA expression or constitutional promoter methylation can hide genomic rearrangements causing Lynch syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morak, Monika; Koehler, Udo; Schackert, Hans Konrad; Steinke, Verena; Royer-Pokora, Brigitte; Schulmann, Karsten; Kloor, Matthias; Höchter, Wilhelm; Weingart, Josef; Keiling, Cortina; Massdorf, Trisari; Holinski-Feder, Elke

    2011-08-01

    A positive family history, germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair genes, tumours with high microsatellite instability, and loss of mismatch repair protein expression are the hallmarks of hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (Lynch syndrome). However, in ~10-15% of cases of suspected Lynch syndrome, no disease-causing mechanism can be detected. Oligo array analysis was performed to search for genomic imbalances in patients with suspected mutation-negative Lynch syndrome with MLH1 deficiency in their colorectal tumours. A deletion in the LRRFIP2 (leucine-rich repeat flightless-interacting protein 2) gene flanking the MLH1 gene was detected, which turned out to be a paracentric inversion on chromosome 3p22.2 creating two new stable fusion transcripts between MLH1 and LRRFIP2. A single-nucleotide polymorphism in MLH1 exon 8 was expressed from both alleles, initially pointing to appropriate MLH1 function at least in peripheral cells. In a second case, an inherited duplication of the MLH1 gene region resulted in constitutional MLH1 promoter methylation. Constitutional MLH1 promoter methylation may therefore in rare cases be a heritable disease mechanism and should not be overlooked in seemingly sporadic patients.

  16. Predicting the constitutive behavior of semi-solids via a direct finite element simulation: application to AA5182

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillion, A. B.; Cockcroft, S. L.; Lee, P. D.

    2009-07-01

    The methodology of direct finite element (FE) simulation was used to predict the semi-solid constitutive behavior of an industrially important aluminum-magnesium alloy, AA5182. Model microstructures were generated that detail key features of the as-cast semi-solid: equiaxed-globular grains of random size and shape, interconnected liquid films, and pores at the triple-junctions. Based on the results of over fifty different simulations, a model-based constitutive relationship which includes the effects of the key microstructure features—fraction solid, grain size and fraction porosity—was derived using regression analysis. This novel constitutive equation was then validated via comparison with both the FE simulations and experimental stress/strain data. Such an equation can now be used to incorporate the effects of microstructure on the bulk semi-solid flow stress within a macro- scale process model.

  17. Predicting the constitutive behavior of semi-solids via a direct finite element simulation: application to AA5182

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Phillion, A B; Cockcroft, S L; Lee, P D

    2009-01-01

    The methodology of direct finite element (FE) simulation was used to predict the semi-solid constitutive behavior of an industrially important aluminum-magnesium alloy, AA5182. Model microstructures were generated that detail key features of the as-cast semi-solid: equiaxed-globular grains of random size and shape, interconnected liquid films, and pores at the triple-junctions. Based on the results of over fifty different simulations, a model-based constitutive relationship which includes the effects of the key microstructure features—fraction solid, grain size and fraction porosity—was derived using regression analysis. This novel constitutive equation was then validated via comparison with both the FE simulations and experimental stress/strain data. Such an equation can now be used to incorporate the effects of microstructure on the bulk semi-solid flow stress within a macro- scale process model

  18. Direct and indirect effects in the regulation of overlapping promoters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bendtsen, Kristian Moss; Erdossy, Janos; Csiszovski, Zsolt

    2011-01-01

    promoter database we found that ~14% of the identified 'forward' promoters overlap with a promoter oriented in the opposite direction. In this article we combine a mathematical model with experimental analysis of synthetic regulatory regions to investigate interference of overlapping promoters. We find...... that promoter interference depends on the characteristics of overlapping promoters. The model predicts that promoter strength and interference can be regulated separately, which provides unique opportunities for regulation. Our experimental data suggest that in principle any DNA binding protein can be used......Optimal response to environmental stimuli often requires activation of certain genes and repression of others. Dual function regulatory proteins play a key role in the differential regulation of gene expression. While repression can be achieved by any DNA binding protein through steric occlusion...

  19. The constitutional court review of judicial decisions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojanović Dragan M.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In principle, the constitutional precepts envisage that judicial decisions are not subject to extrajudicial control. However, in the course of deciding on constitutional complaints, the Constitutional Court reviews the compliance of individual legal acts and actions of state authorities with the Constitution, including court decisions on cases involving the constitutionally guaranteed rights. Hence, in order to eliminate tension or even contradiction between the constitutional precepts, the constitutional review of judicial decisions should be considered as a special form of judicial control, regardless of the fact that the Constitutional Court is not part of the judicial structure in the strict organizational sense. Thus, unlike the cases where the Court is involved in the normative control of the applicable law, in the process of reviewing judicial decision of lower courts the constitutional judiciary acts in the capacity of a specific judicial authority. According to another possible interpretation of the aforementioned constitutional norms, the direct constitutional protection of the constitutionally guaranteed rights may only be pursued in the process of reviewing individual legal acts and actions of state authorities, but not by pursuing a judicial review of court decisions which the Constitutional Court has no jurisdiction to decide upon. Thus, the dogma of judicial independence would prevail over the dogma of direct protection of fundamental rights. The third interpretation of this relationship maintains that that judicial decisions may be subject to control but, in this specific case, the Constitutional Court may only issue an opinion (a statement rather than a binding decision which would cancel the lower court judgment. Then, it is up to the judicial authorities of the lower instance to adjust their judicial decision, which in the opinion of the Constitutional Court constitutes a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed rights

  20. Direct Speaker Gaze Promotes Trust in Truth-Ambiguous Statements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreysa, Helene; Kessler, Luise; Schweinberger, Stefan R

    2016-01-01

    A speaker's gaze behaviour can provide perceivers with a multitude of cues which are relevant for communication, thus constituting an important non-verbal interaction channel. The present study investigated whether direct eye gaze of a speaker affects the likelihood of listeners believing truth-ambiguous statements. Participants were presented with videos in which a speaker produced such statements with either direct or averted gaze. The statements were selected through a rating study to ensure that participants were unlikely to know a-priori whether they were true or not (e.g., "sniffer dogs cannot smell the difference between identical twins"). Participants indicated in a forced-choice task whether or not they believed each statement. We found that participants were more likely to believe statements by a speaker looking at them directly, compared to a speaker with averted gaze. Moreover, when participants disagreed with a statement, they were slower to do so when the statement was uttered with direct (compared to averted) gaze, suggesting that the process of rejecting a statement as untrue may be inhibited when that statement is accompanied by direct gaze.

  1. Identification of constitutive theory parameters using a tensile machine for deposited filaments of microcrystalline ink by the direct-write method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lourdel, N; Therriault, D; Lévesque, M

    2009-01-01

    A custom-designed tensile machine is developed to characterize the mechanical properties of ink micro-filaments deposited by the direct-write method. The direct-write method has been used for the fabrication of a wide variety of micro-systems such as microvascular networks, chaotic mixers and laboratory on chips. The tensile machine was used to measure the induced force in ink filaments during tensile and tension-relaxation tests as a function of the applied strain rate, the ink composition and the filament diameter. Experimental data were fitted by a linearly viscoelastic model using a data reduction procedure in order to identify the constitutive theory parameters of the deposited ink filaments. The model predictions based on the linearly viscoelastic model and the defined constitutive theory parameters give a close approximation of all experimental data generated in this study. Such models will be useful for the development and optimization of future 3D complex structures made by the direct-write method

  2. Direct Speaker Gaze Promotes Trust in Truth-Ambiguous Statements.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helene Kreysa

    Full Text Available A speaker's gaze behaviour can provide perceivers with a multitude of cues which are relevant for communication, thus constituting an important non-verbal interaction channel. The present study investigated whether direct eye gaze of a speaker affects the likelihood of listeners believing truth-ambiguous statements. Participants were presented with videos in which a speaker produced such statements with either direct or averted gaze. The statements were selected through a rating study to ensure that participants were unlikely to know a-priori whether they were true or not (e.g., "sniffer dogs cannot smell the difference between identical twins". Participants indicated in a forced-choice task whether or not they believed each statement. We found that participants were more likely to believe statements by a speaker looking at them directly, compared to a speaker with averted gaze. Moreover, when participants disagreed with a statement, they were slower to do so when the statement was uttered with direct (compared to averted gaze, suggesting that the process of rejecting a statement as untrue may be inhibited when that statement is accompanied by direct gaze.

  3. Integrating ribosomal promoter vectors that offer a choice of constitutive expression profiles in Leishmania donovani.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soysa, Radika; Tran, Khoa D; Ullman, Buddy; Yates, Phillip A

    2015-12-01

    We have designed a novel series of integrating ribosomal RNA promoter vectors with five incrementally different constitutive expression profiles, covering a 250-fold range. Differential expression was achieved by placing different combinations of synthetic or leishmanial DNA sequences upstream and downstream of the transgene coding sequence in order to modulate pre-mRNA processing efficiency and mRNA stability, respectively. All of the vectors have extensive multiple cloning sites, and versions are available for producing N- or C- terminal GFP fusions at each of the possible relative expression levels. In addition, the modular configuration of the vectors allows drug resistance cassettes and other components to be readily exchanged. In toto, these vectors should be useful additions to the toolkit available for molecular and genetic studies of Leishmania donovani. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Right Product, Wrong Packaging: Not 'Constitution', but 'Constitutional Charter'

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    John Law

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available The article seeks to locate the principal cause of Europe’s prevailing ratification crisis in the inappropriate title arrived at in the European Convention, Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe. This over-ambitious styling led the media to characterise the text as simply an ‘EU Constitution’. Yet, the text was not a Constitution as we traditionally understand the term, i.e. the founding document of a State: scholars are agreed that the EU is not, and will not become upon ratification, a State.In terms of substance, whilst the text certainly strengthened some emerging constitutional aspects, it was not a major departure from the status quo like the Single European Act and Treaty on European Union had been; and it remained technically a treaty like all its predecessors. Arguably, therefore, it did not require referenda to ratify. However, confusion over the scale and importance of what was proposed, stemming from ambiguity in the title, pushed politicians down this unfortunate path.The article identifies a high level of consensus among commentators as to the true nature of the text: most are happy designating it a treaty (noun with constitutional (adjective aspects. The early proposed title Constitutional Treaty for Europe was arguably, therefore, the correct one; but it is now too late to choose this option, as the terms Constitution and Constitutional Treaty have already been muddled in debate. A more distinctive change is required. One idea could be to follow the principle employed elsewhere in the text of codifying the generally accepted but presently unwritten legal concepts of the European Court of Justice, as was done for example for ‘primacy’ and ‘direct effect’. The Court has characterised the EU treaties as a ‘constitutional charter’ for over twenty years now, and on this basis a modified title could read Treaty Establishing a Constitutional Charter for Europe. Importantly, the term ‘charter’ is recognised

  5. The Causes of Failure of the European Constitution From the Perspective of the Constitution-Making Process

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    Robert Podolnjak

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available The basic argument of the article is that the main causes of failure of the European Constitution stem from an inadequate preparation and implementation of a complex procedure of constitution-making for a federation of countries on a continental scale. This process includes the issues of temporal aspects of constitutionmaking, the subject of constitution-making, the text of the constitution, the strategy of constitutional ratifi cation and the constitution-makers themselves. The principal causes of failure of the European Constitution will be presented in the form of certain preliminary assumptions, which will then be examined in the light of certain comparative experiences of constitution-making in two federal systems – the American and the Swiss system. The primary mistakes of the European constitution-making are refl ected in the lack of an appropriate moment for making the constitution, in the vagueness of the document in terms of its constitutional or contractual quality, in the creation of a text of the Constitution which is completely incomprehensible to the average citizen, in the making of the Constitution without a vision or ambition, in the complete lack of any strategy of ratifi cation of the Constitution, in the insistence on the direct participation of the people in the adoption of the Constitution, which is legally and politically considered primarily an international treaty, and in badly managed media presentation and defence of the Constitution before the European public. The most important mistakes, crucial to the failure of the Constitution, are the ambivalent approach of the European constitutionmakers to the mode of ratifi cation of the Constitution, and their disregard of the constitution-making experience of other federal countries.

  6. Constitutive Signaling from an Engineered IL7 Receptor Promotes Durable Tumor Elimination by Tumor-Redirected T Cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shum, Thomas; Omer, Bilal; Tashiro, Haruko; Kruse, Robert L; Wagner, Dimitrios L; Parikh, Kathan; Yi, Zhongzhen; Sauer, Tim; Liu, Daofeng; Parihar, Robin; Castillo, Paul; Liu, Hao; Brenner, Malcolm K; Metelitsa, Leonid S; Gottschalk, Stephen; Rooney, Cliona M

    2017-11-01

    Successful adoptive T-cell immunotherapy of solid tumors will require improved expansion and cytotoxicity of tumor-directed T cells within tumors. Providing recombinant or transgenic cytokines may produce the desired benefits but is associated with significant toxicities, constraining clinical use. To circumvent this limitation, we constructed a constitutively signaling cytokine receptor, C7R, which potently triggers the IL7 signaling axis but is unresponsive to extracellular cytokine. This strategy augments modified T-cell function following antigen exposure, but avoids stimulating bystander lymphocytes. Coexpressing the C7R with a tumor-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) increased T-cell proliferation, survival, and antitumor activity during repeated exposure to tumor cells, without T-cell dysfunction or autonomous T-cell growth. Furthermore, C7R-coexpressing CAR T cells were active against metastatic neuroblastoma and orthotopic glioblastoma xenograft models even at cell doses that had been ineffective without C7R support. C7R may thus be able to enhance antigen-specific T-cell therapies against cancer. Significance: The constitutively signaling C7R system developed here delivers potent IL7 stimulation to CAR T cells, increasing their persistence and antitumor activity against multiple preclinical tumor models, supporting its clinical development. Cancer Discov; 7(11); 1238-47. ©2017 AACR. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1201 . ©2017 American Association for Cancer Research.

  7. New Zimbabwe Constitution and the Right to Health Campaign 2010

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    In September 2008 the three main political parties in Zimbabwe signed a Global Political Agreement (GPA), undertaking to engage in the development of a new democratic constitution of over the next 24 months. This project will feed into that process by promoting the inclusion of right to health in the new constitution.

  8. Promoting advance directives among African Americans: a faith-based model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullock, Karen

    2006-02-01

    Studies show that African Americans are less likely than other ethnic groups to complete advance directives. However, what influences African Americans' decisions to complete or not complete advance directives is unclear. Using a faith-based promotion model, 102 African Americans aged 55 years or older were recruited from local churches and community-based agencies to participate in a pilot study to promote advance care planning. Focus groups were used to collect data on participants' preferences for care, desire to make personal choices, values and attitudes, beliefs about death and dying, and advance directives. A standardized interview was used in the focus groups, and the data were organized and analyzed using NUDIST 4 software (QRS Software, Victoria, Australia). Three fourths of the participants refused to complete advance directives. The following factors influenced the participants' decisions about end-of-life care and completion of an advance directive: spirituality; view of suffering, death, and dying; social support networks; barriers to utilization; and mistrust of the health care system. The dissemination of information apprises individuals of their right to self-determine about their care, but educational efforts may not produce a significant change in behavior toward completion of advance care planning. Thus, ongoing efforts are needed to improve the trust that African Americans have in medical and health care providers.

  9. Self-Punishment Promotes Forgiveness in the Direct and Indirect Reciprocity Contexts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Ruida; Shen, Xueyi; Tang, Honghong; Ye, Peixia; Wang, Huagen; Mai, Xiaoqin; Liu, Chao

    2017-06-01

    Most previous studies regarding self-punishment have focused on the correlation between moral emotion and self-punishment. Only a few studies have attempted to understand self-punishment from the perspective of seeking forgiveness, and no study has yet directly tested whether wrongdoers' self-punishment promotes others to forgive the wrongdoers. In three studies, the participants judged the wrongdoers' self-punishment behaviors following an unfair allocation and reported the extent to which they forgave the wrongdoers. The results demonstrated that self-punishment did promote forgiveness in both the direct (Studies 1 and 2) and indirect reciprocity (Study 3) contexts. Consistent with costly signaling theory, the costlier the self-punishment was, the stronger the effect it had on forgiveness. Moreover, communicative self-punishment had a better effect than silent self-punishment when the cost was relatively high in the direct-reciprocity studies. These findings can guide us regarding how to address a damaged relationship via self-punishment when compensation is not feasible or acceptable.

  10. Recombinant vectors construction for cellobiohydrolase encoding gene constitutive expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leontina GURGU

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Cellobiohydrolases (EC 3.2.1.91 are important exo enzymes involved in cellulose hydrolysis alongside endoglucanases (EC 3.2.1.4 and β-glucosidases (EC 3.2.1.21. Heterologous cellobiohydrolase gene expression under constitutive promoter control using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as host system is of great importance for a successful SSF process. From this point of view, the main objective of the work was to use Yeplac181 expression vector as a recipient for cellobiohdrolase - cbhB encoding gene expression under the control of the actin promoter, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Two hybridvectors, YEplac-Actp and YEplac-Actp-CbhB, were generated usingEscherichia coli XLI Blue for the cloning experiments. Constitutive cbhB gene expression was checked by proteine gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE after insertion of these constructs into Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

  11. Cicero and the Mixed Constitution (res publica mixta

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mitja Sadek

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available The story of the mixed constitution is the story of the most stable and just constitution. In theory, this is a combination of at least two of the three elementary forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, with some advantages that elementary forms may lack. It originated with the deliberation of Greek philosophers, who wanted to draw up a constitution safeguarding against the permanent variation of elementary constitutional forms and against coups d’état. For both Plato and Aristotle, the mixed constitution was, above all, the reflection of a search for balance between the two extreme forms of government, direct (Athenian democracy on the one hand and the exclusion of the people from governing on the other. The Greek theory was applied by the historian Polybius to the traditional tripartite constitution of the Roman republic. In his view, the consuls were monarchic elements, the senate an aristocratic element, and the comitia a democratic one. Cicero’s introduction of the idea of the mixed constitution in De re publica can only be understood in the light of the author’s personal situation and contemporary political circumstances. His political engagement at a time when the republic was gradually transforming into a monarchy aimed at restoring the important role of the nobility, represented by the senate. For Cicero, the mixed constitution was mainly an instrument for restoring the lost balance between the consuls, the senate, and the comitia, a last chance to save the decaying republic. The concluding part of the article addresses Alois Riklin’s recent discussion of the modern reception of the mixed constitution idea, which advances the controversial thesis that the paradigm of power division, the foundation of modern representative democracy, originates directly from the mixed constitution.

  12. Effects of Physician-directed Pharmaceutical Promotion on Prescription Behaviors: Longitudinal Evidence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datta, Anusua; Dave, Dhaval

    2017-04-01

    Spending on prescription drugs (Rx) represents one of the fastest growing components of US healthcare spending and has coincided with an expansion of pharmaceutical promotional spending. Most (83%) of Rx promotion is directed at physicians in the form of visits by pharmaceutical representatives (known as detailing) and drug samples provided to physicians' offices. Such promotion has come under increased public scrutiny, with critics contending that physician-directed promotion may play a role in raising healthcare costs and may unduly affect physicians' prescribing habits towards more expensive, and possibly less cost-effective, drugs. In this study, we bring longitudinal evidence to bear upon the question of how detailing impacts physicians' prescribing behaviors. Specifically, we examine prescriptions and promotion for a particular drug class based on a nationally representative sample of 150,000 physicians spanning 24 months. The use of longitudinal physician-level data allows us to tackle some of the empirical concerns in the extant literature, virtually all of which have relied on aggregate national data. We estimate fixed-effects specifications that bypass stable unobserved physician-specific heterogeneity and address potential targeting bias. In addition, we also assess differential effects at both the extensive and intensive margins of prescribing behaviors and differential effects across physician-level and market-level characteristics, questions that have not been explored in prior work. The estimates suggest that detailing has a significant and positive effect on the number of new scripts written for the detailed drug, with an elasticity magnitude of 0.06. This effect is substantially smaller than those in the literature based on aggregate information, suggesting that most of the observed relationship between physician-directed promotion and drug sales is driven by selection bias. We find that detailing impacts selective brand-specific demand but does

  13. Constitutional changes and the dilemmas of constitutionalism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arsen Bačić

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The need to develop constitutional mechanisms whose aim is to resolve fundamental relations in society demands the widest possible inclusion of all of society’s active participants in the discussion on the need to adopt or revise the Constitution. The opening of every new round of constitutional changes is of great importance because it always unlocks certain new and important questions. The answers to those questions should be offered by state authority (policy and civil society including science and its disciplines. In this paper, the author mentions several topics which are of interest in the current discussion on the significance of current constitutional changes for the future of the development of constitutionalism and democracy in the Republic of Croatia. These are above all topics of political and legal constitutionalism and suggestions linked to strengthening the independence of judicial powers. The author advocates consistent application of constitutional control and check mechanisms which exclude all insularity of judicial powers in relation to democratic control.

  14. Constitutive activation of Gli2 impairs bone formation in postnatal growing mice.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kyu Sang Joeng

    Full Text Available Indian hedgehog (Ihh signaling is indispensable for osteoblast differentiation during endochondral bone development in the mouse embryo. We have previously shown that the Gli2 transcription activator critically mediates Ihh function in osteoblastogenesis. To explore the possibility that activation of Hedgehog (Hh signaling may enhance bone formation, we generated mice that expressed a constitutively active form of Gli2 in the Osx-lineage cells. Unexpectedly, these mice exhibited severe osteopenia due to a marked decrease in osteoblast number and function, although bone resorption was not affected. Quantitative analyses of the molecular markers indicated that osteoblast differentiation was impaired in the mutant mouse. However, the osteoblast-lineage cells isolated from these mice exhibited more robust osteoblast differentiation than normal in vitro. Similarly, pharmacological stimulation of Hh signaling enhanced osteoblast differentiation from Osx-expressing cells isolated from the wild-type mouse. Thus, even though Hh signaling directly promotes osteoblast differentiation in vitro, constitutive activation of this pathway impairs bone formation in vivo, perhaps through an indirect mechanism.

  15. Constitutional MLH1 methylation presenting with colonic polyposis syndrome and not Lynch syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kidambi, Trilokesh D; Blanco, Amie; Van Ziffle, Jessica; Terdiman, Jonathan P

    2016-04-01

    At least one-third of patients meeting clinical criteria for Lynch syndrome will have no germline mutation and constitutional epimutations leading to promoter methylation of MLH1 have been identified in a subset of these patients. We report the first case of constitutional MLH1 promoter methylation associated with a colonic polyposis syndrome in a 39 year-old man with a family history of colorectal cancer (CRC) and a personal history of 21 polyps identified over 8 years as well as the development of two synchronous CRCs over 16 months who was evaluated for a hereditary cancer syndrome. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of multiple tumors showed absent MLH1 and PMS2 expression, though germline testing with Sanger sequencing and multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification of these mismatch repair genes (MMR) genes was negative. A next generation sequencing panel of 29 genes also failed to identify a pathogenic mutation. Hypermethylation was identified in MLH1 intron 1 in tumor specimens along with buccal cells and peripheral white blood cells, confirming the diagnosis of constitutional MLH1 promoter methylation. This case highlights that constitutional MLH1 methylation should be considered in the differential diagnosis for a polyposis syndrome if IHC staining shows absent MMR gene expression.

  16. A Prospect and Challenges for Adopting Constitutional Complaint and Constitutional Question in the Indonesian Constitutional Court

    OpenAIRE

    Faiz, Pan Mohamad

    2016-01-01

    A jurisdiction of the Indonesian Constitutional Court concerning constitutional adjudication is only limited to review the constitutionality of national law. There is no mechanism for challenging any decision or action made by public authorities that violate fundamental rights enshrined in the Indonesian Constitution. This article argues that constitutional complaint and constitutional question might be adopted as new jurisdictions of the Indonesian Constitutional Court in order to strengthen...

  17. [Women, gender, and the Constitution].

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-12-01

    Although all the constitutions of Latin America directly or indirectly acknowledge the juridical equality of the sexes, these patriarchal societies continue to maintain institutional power in male hands and to neutralize legal actions favoring women. International instruments such as the Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, approved by the UN in 1979, have given a firmer basis to policies and actions to improve the status of women. Obstacles to full equality of Latin American women are rooted in economic and sociopolitical factors, but lack of true political will also plays a significant role. A number of new laws in the past several years as well as the new Constitution have improved the legal position of Colombian women. The new Constitution recognizes fundamental rights that may be claimed directly before a judge, and social, economic, and collective rights requiring legislative development. Article 43 of the new Constitution states that women will not be subjected to any form of discrimination. Another norm states that women will enjoy special assistance and protection before and after childbirth, in recognition of the social functions of maternity. Article 43 also states that women who are heads of households will receive special assistance, but the corresponding regulations have not yet been promulgated. The mechanism of tutelage has become an important recourse that has been used in several cases in which fundamental rights of women have been violated or threatened because of their sex. The order of tutelage has been used in cases of adolescents expelled from school for pregnancy and of abused wives, as well as to force recognition of the social and economic contributions of housework.

  18. Urgensi Pengaturan Perkara Constitutional Complaint Dalam Kewenangan Mahkamah Konstitusi

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rahmat Muhajir Nugroho

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available This study aimed to evaluate the mechanism for settling disputes in the Constitutional Court containing elements of constitutional complaint. In particular, this study focused on two things: first assessing the urgency/ importance of the idea of setting constitutional complaint in the Constitutional Court's authority. Secondly, to formulate recommendations on setting constitutional complaint in the Constitutional Court's authority. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative. This type of research is a doctrinal law. This research studied the concept and implementation of the judicial settlement of cases that contain elements of constitutional complaint (complaint constitution by the Constitutional Court. The conclusion of this study is an important constitutional complaint mechanism is contained within the competence of the Constitutional Court to solve problems of injustice experienced by citizens as a result of public policies undertaken by the government in a broad sense, namely the executive, legislature and judiciary. Setting constitutional complaint within the competence of the Constitutional Court does not have to be explicitly stipulated in the constitution, but enough in the explanation of the Constitutional Court Act. That is not to add direct authority of the Court, but expand the meaning of the authority of the Court in testing the law.

  19. Will the No Child Left Behind Act Promote Direct Instruction of Science?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hake, Richard

    2005-03-01

    Education research in physics at the high school and undergraduate level strongly suggests that interactive engagement enhances students' conceptual understanding much more than traditional Direct Science Instruction (DSI). Similar conclusions can be drawn from K-8 science-education research. Nevertheless, DSI predominates in CA because of the DSI- orientation of the CA State Board of Education and Curriculum Commission [1]. Likewise the U.S. Dept. of Education's (USDE's): (a) DSI-orientation as demonstrated by its recent national-education summit showcasing of the research of Klahr and Nigam [2]; and (b) science achievement testing starting in 2007; threatens to promote DSI nationwide. It might be hoped that NRC's expert science education committees will steer the USDE away from promoting DSI, the antithesis of the NRC's own recommendations for inquiry methods. [1] R.R. Hake. ``Direct Science Instruction Suffers a Setback in California - Or Does It?" (2004), pdf>. [2] Klahr, D. & M. Nigam. 2004. ``The equivalence of learning paths in early science instruction: effects of direct instruction and discovery learning" (2004), .

  20. Constitutional problems in the handling of plutonium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Papier, H.J.

    1989-01-01

    In principle the decision between direct storage and reprocessing comes into the scope of regulation by the first or second power, resp., reserved for them according to the constitutional principle of necessity. The author thinks that a possibly increased hazard potential might result in increased protection requirements or protection measures as envisaged by the licensing preconditions of the Atomic Energy Law and those of other normative protection regulations. This is no issue of constitutional jurisdiction but of political intent and technical-economic capabilities whether or not certain technologies are precluded a prior or permitted and implemented at a safety level satisfying the specific constitutional protection requirements. (orig./HSCH) [de

  1. Relationships among Constitution, Stress, and Discomfort in the First Trimester

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsiao-Ling Wang

    2012-01-01

    trimester of pregnancy. We adopted a descriptive and correlational research design and collected data from 261 pregnant women during their first trimester in southern Taiwan using structured questionnaires. Results showed that (1 stress was significantly and positively correlated with Yang-Xu, Yin-Xu, and Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi constitutions, respectively; (2 Yin-Xu and Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi constitutions had significant correlations with all symptoms of discomfort, while Yang-Xu had significant correlations with all symptoms of discomfort except for “running nose”; (3 Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi constitution and stress were two indicators for “fatigue”; Tan-Shi-Yu-Zhi was the indicator for “nausea”; Yang-Xu and Yin-Xu were indicators for “frequent urination.” Our findings also indicate that stress level affects constitutional changes and that stress and constitutional change affect the incidence of discomfort. This research can help healthcare professionals observe these discomforts and provide individualized care for pregnant women, to nurture pregnant women into neutral-type constitution, minimize their levels of discomfort, and promote the health of the fetus and the mother.

  2. Promotion of self-directed learning using virtual patient cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benedict, Neal; Schonder, Kristine; McGee, James

    2013-09-12

    To assess the effectiveness of virtual patient cases to promote self-directed learning (SDL) in a required advanced therapeutics course. Virtual patient software based on a branched-narrative decision-making model was used to create complex patient case simulations to replace lecture-based instruction. Within each simulation, students used SDL principles to learn course objectives, apply their knowledge through clinical recommendations, and assess their progress through patient outcomes and faculty feedback linked to their individual decisions. Group discussions followed each virtual patient case to provide further interpretation, clarification, and clinical perspective. Students found the simulated patient cases to be organized (90%), enjoyable (82%), intellectually challenging (97%), and valuable to their understanding of course content (91%). Students further indicated that completion of the virtual patient cases prior to class permitted better use of class time (78%) and promoted SDL (84%). When assessment questions regarding material on postoperative nausea and vomiting were compared, no difference in scores were found between the students who attended the lecture on the material in 2011 (control group) and those who completed the virtual patient case on the material in 2012 (intervention group). Completion of virtual patient cases, designed to replace lectures and promote SDL, was overwhelmingly supported by students and proved to be as effective as traditional teaching methods.

  3. Constitutive equations for Zr1Nb. II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Novak, J.

    1986-01-01

    Based on existing knowledge and constitutive equations for non-irradiated material, constitutive equations were written for Zr1Nb irradiated at 573 K at deformation in the direction of forming. Constitutive equations express the following material characteristics: dependence of shear strength on fast neutron fluence, superposition of deformation hardening and subsequent radiation hardening, the effect of stress on deformation rate, and for fluences above ca. 10 24 n.m -2 (E>1 MeV) the course of the deformation curve for various fluence levels. The values apply for temperatures and rates of deformation which are characteristic of transient processes during changes in the power output of fuel elements of pressurized water reactors. (J.B.)

  4. Phenobarbital indirectly activates the constitutive active androstane receptor (CAR) by inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mutoh, Shingo; Sobhany, Mack; Moore, Rick; Perera, Lalith; Pedersen, Lee; Sueyoshi, Tatsuya; Negishi, Masahiko

    2013-05-07

    Phenobarbital is a central nervous system depressant that also indirectly activates nuclear receptor constitutive active androstane receptor (CAR), which promotes drug and energy metabolism, as well as cell growth (and death), in the liver. We found that phenobarbital activated CAR by inhibiting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling. Phenobarbital bound to EGFR and potently inhibited the binding of EGF, which prevented the activation of EGFR. This abrogation of EGFR signaling induced the dephosphorylation of receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) at Tyr(52), which then promoted the dephosphorylation of CAR at Thr(38) by the catalytic core subunit of protein phosphatase 2A. The findings demonstrated that the phenobarbital-induced mechanism of CAR dephosphorylation and activation is mediated through its direct interaction with and inhibition of EGFR.

  5. Constitutional judges (guarantee of the Constitution and responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Javier Ansuátegui Roig

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available My aim in this paper is to propose a reflection on the position and the importance that the constitutional judge has in the legal systems of contemporary constitutionalism. The figure of the judge responsible of protecting the Constitution is a key institution, without which we cannot understand the laws of constitutional democracies, their current lines of development, and the guarantee of rights and freedoms that constitute the normative core of these systems. Moreover, the reflection on the exercise of the powers of the judge, its scope and its justification is an important part of contemporary legal discussion, still relevant, albeit not exclusively - in the field of legal philosophy. The object of attention of my reflection is the judge who has the power of judicial review, in a scheme of defense of the Constitution, regardless the specific ways of this defense.

  6. A macroscopic constitutive model of temperature-induced phase transition of polycrystalline Ni2MnGa by directional solidification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Yuping; Gu, Yunling; Liu, Hongguang

    2015-01-01

    Directional solidification technology has been widely used to improve the properties of polycrystalline Ni 2 MnGa materials. Mechanical training can adjust the internal organizational structures of the materials, reduce the stress of twin boundaries motion, and then result in larger strain at lower outfield levels. In this paper, we test the microscopic structure of Ni 2 MnGa polycrystalline ferromagnetic shape memory alloy produced by directional solidification and compress it along two axes successively for mechanical training. The influences of pre-compressive stresses on the temperature-induced strains are analyzed. The macroscopic mechanical behaviors show anisotropy. According to the generating mechanism of the macroscopic strain, a three-dimensional constitutive model is established. Based on thermodynamic method, the kinetic equations of the martensitic transformation and inverse transformation are presented considering the driving force and energy dissipation. The prediction curves of temperature-induce strains along two different directions are investigated. And the results coincide well with the experiment data. It well explains the macroscopic anisotropy mechanical behaviors and fits for using in engineering

  7. Bt rice harbouring cry genes controlled by a constitutive or wound-inducible promoter: protection and transgene expression under Mediterranean field conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breitler, Jean Christophe; Vassal, Jean Michel; del Mar Catala, Maria; Meynard, Donaldo; Marfà, Victoria; Melé, Enric; Royer, Monique; Murillo, Isabel; San Segundo, Blanca; Guiderdoni, Emmanuel; Messeguer, Joaquima

    2004-09-01

    Seven homozygous transgenic lines of two European commercial cultivars of rice (Ariete (A) and Senia (S)), harbouring the cry1B or cry1Aa Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) delta-endotoxin genes, were field evaluated for protection from striped stem borer (SSB) (Chilo suppressalis) damage during the 2001 and 2002 summer crop seasons in the Delta de l'Ebre region, Spain. The plant codon-optimized toxin gene was placed under the control of the promoter of either the constitutive ubi1 gene or the wound-inducible mpi gene from maize. Stable, high-level, insecticidal protein accumulation was observed throughout root, leaf and seed tissues of field-grown plants harbouring the cry1B (lines A64.1, A33.1, A3.4 and S98.9) or cry1Aa (lines S05.1 and A19.14) genes under the control of the ubi1 promoter. Conversely, no toxin was detected in unwounded vegetative tissues of the A9.1 line harbouring the cry1B gene controlled by the mpi promoter, indicating that natural environmental stresses did not trigger the activity of the wound-inducible promoter. However, the toxin accumulated at 0.2% total soluble proteins in A9.1 sheath tissue exhibiting brown lesions resulting from SSB damage. The agronomical traits and performance of the transgenic lines were generally comparable with parental controls, except in the two lines accumulating Cry1Aa, which exhibited a high frequency of plants non-true to type. Natural infestation was assisted with manual infestations of L2/L3 SSB larvae in border control plants surrounding the experimental plots, which served as a reservoir for the second-cycle SSB population. The observation of damage (brown lesions and dead hearts) during the crop season and dissection of plants at harvest stage revealed a range of protection amongst the transgenic lines, which was highly consistent with the level of toxin accumulation and with previous experience in greenhouse assays. Lines A3.4 and S05.1 were found to exhibit stable and full protection against SSB attacks

  8. Engineering Escherichia coli to grow constitutively on D-xylose using the carbon-efficient Weimberg pathway

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rossoni, Luca; Carr, Reuben; Baxter, Scott; Cortis, Roxann; Thorpe, Thomas; Eastham, Graham; Stephens, Gill

    2018-01-01

    Bio-production of fuels and chemicals from lignocellulosic C5 sugars usually requires the use of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) to produce pyruvate. Unfortunately, the oxidation of pyruvate to acetyl-coenzyme A results in the loss of 33 % of the carbon as CO2, to the detriment of sustainability and process economics. To improve atom efficiency, we engineered Escherichia coli to utilize d-xylose constitutively using the Weimberg pathway, to allow direct production of 2-oxoglutarate without CO2 loss. After confirming enzyme expression in vitro, the pathway expression was optimized in vivo using a combinatorial approach, by screening a range of constitutive promoters whilst systematically varying the gene order. A PPP-deficient (ΔxylAB), 2-oxoglutarate auxotroph (Δicd) was used as the host strain, so that growth on d-xylose depended on the expression of the Weimberg pathway, and variants expressing Caulobacter crescentus xylXAB could be selected on minimal agar plates. The strains were isolated and high-throughput measurement of the growth rates on d-xylose was used to identify the fastest growing variant. This strain contained the pL promoter, with C. crescentus xylA at the first position in the synthetic operon, and grew at 42 % of the rate on d-xylose compared to wild-type E. coli using the PPP. Remarkably, the biomass yield was improved by 53.5 % compared with the wild-type upon restoration of icd activity. Therefore, the strain grows efficiently and constitutively on d-xylose, and offers great potential for use as a new host strain to engineer carbon-efficient production of fuels and chemicals via the Weimberg pathway. PMID:29458683

  9. Direct-to-consumer Internet promotion of robotic prostatectomy exhibits varying quality of information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirkin, Joshua N; Lowrance, William T; Feifer, Andrew H; Mulhall, John P; Eastham, James E; Elkin, Elena B

    2012-04-01

    Robotic surgery to remove a cancerous prostate has become a popular treatment. Internet marketing of this surgery provides an intriguing case study of direct-to-consumer promotions of medical devices, which are more loosely regulated than pharmaceutical promotions. We investigated whether the claims made in online promotions of robotic prostatectomy were consistent with evidence from comparative effectiveness studies. After performing a search and cross-sectional analysis of websites that mentioned the procedure, we found that many sites claimed benefits that were unsupported by evidence and that 42 percent of the sites failed to mention risks. Most sites were published by hospitals and physicians, which the public may regard as more objective than pages published by manufacturers. Unbalanced information may inappropriately raise patients' expectations. Increasing enforcement and regulation of online promotions may be beyond the capabilities of federal authorities. Thus, the most feasible solution may be for the government and medical societies to promote the production of balanced educational material.

  10. Direct-To-Consumer Internet Promotion Of Robotic Prostatectomy Exhibits Varying Quality Of Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirkin, Joshua N.; Lowrance, William T.; Feifer, Andrew H.; Mulhall, John P.; Eastham, James E.; Elkin, Elena B.

    2013-01-01

    Robotic surgery to remove a cancerous prostate has become a popular treatment. Internet marketing of this surgery provides an intriguing case study of direct-to-consumer promotions of medical devices, which are more loosely regulated than pharmaceutical promotions. We investigated whether the claims made in online promotions of robotic prostatectomy were consistent with evidence from comparative effectiveness studies. After performing a search and crosssectional analysis of websites that mentioned the procedure, we found that many sites claimed benefits that were unsupported by evidence and that 42 percent of the sites failed to mention risks. Most sites were published by hospitals and physicians, which the public may regard as more objective than pages published by manufacturers. Unbalanced information may inappropriately raise patients’ expectations. Increasing enforcement and regulation of online promotions may be beyond the capabilities of federal authorities. Thus, the most feasible solution may be for the government and medical societies to promote the production of balanced educational material. PMID:22492893

  11. Constituting the healthy employee? : Governing gendered subjects in workplace health promotion

    OpenAIRE

    Björklund, Erika

    2008-01-01

    With a post-structural approach and an analytical focus on processes of governmentality and biopower, this study is concerned with how discourses of health are contextualized in educational practice and interaction between educators and participants in workplace health promotion (WHP) interventions. Of concern are issues of the discursive production, regulation and representation of power, knowledge and subjects as gendered beings in workplace health promotion interventions. The methods for g...

  12. National constitutional courts in the European Constitutional Democracy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Komárek, Jan

    2014-01-01

    This article critically assesses the transformation of national constitutional courts’ place in the law and politics of the EU and its member states. This process eliminates the difference between constitutional and ordinary national courts, which is crucial for the institutional implementation...... of the discourse theory of law and democracy. It also disrupts the symbiotic relationship between national constitutional democracies established after World War II and European integration. The article argues that maintaining the special place of national constitutional courts is in the vital interest of both...... the EU and its member states, understood together as the European Constitutional Democracy—the central notion developed in this article in order to support an argument that should speak to both EU lawyers and national constitutionalists....

  13. Constitution, 5 October 1988.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-01-01

    This document contains major provisions of the constitution adopted by Brazil on 5 October 1988. This constitution seeks to promote the welfare of all citizens without discrimination. The equality of all citizens is guaranteed, and the equal rights of women are specifically mentioned. Property rights are also guaranteed and defined. Female inmates are granted the right to remain with their children while breast feeding. Workers are guaranteed a minimum wage, a family allowance for dependents, maternity/paternity leave, specific incentives to protect the labor market for women, retirement benefits, free day care for preschool-age children, pay equity, and equal rights between tenured and sporadically employed workers. Agrarian reform provisions are given, including the authority to expropriate land. Social and economic policies to promote health are called for, and public health services are to be decentralized, to be integrated, and to foster community participation. Pension plan and social assistance provisions are outlined as are duties of the state in regard to education. The amount of money to be dedicated to education is set out, and a national educational plan is called for to achieve such goals as the eradication of illiteracy, the universalization of school attendance, the improvement of instruction, and the provision of vocational training. Specific measures are set out to protect and preserve the environment. Family policy deals with issues of marriage, the definition of a family, divorce, the right to family planning services, and the deterrence of domestic violence. Social protection provisions cover mothers and children, handicapped persons, and protection of minors. Finally, the customs and rights of Indians are protected, with special provisions given to protect land tenure and to protect the rights of Indians in water resource development and prospecting and mining activities.

  14. Health promotion in context:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Liveng, Anne; Andersen, Heidi Myglegård; Lehn Christiansen, Sine

    2018-01-01

    Health promotion constitutes a complex field of study, as it addresses multifaceted problems and involves a range of methods and theories. Students in the field of health promotion can find this challenging. To raise their level of reflexivity and support learning we have developed the “context m...

  15. Engineering of synthetic, stress-responsive yeast promoters

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rajkumar, Arun Stephen; Liu, Guodong; Bergenholm, David

    2016-01-01

    Advances in synthetic biology and our understanding of the rules of promoter architecture have led to the development of diverse synthetic constitutive and inducible promoters in eukaryotes and prokaryotes. However, the design of promoters inducibleby specific endogenous or environmental conditions...

  16. A macroscopic constitutive model of temperature-induced phase transition of polycrystalline Ni{sub 2}MnGa by directional solidification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhu, Yuping, E-mail: zhuyuping@126.com; Gu, Yunling; Liu, Hongguang

    2015-02-25

    Directional solidification technology has been widely used to improve the properties of polycrystalline Ni{sub 2}MnGa materials. Mechanical training can adjust the internal organizational structures of the materials, reduce the stress of twin boundaries motion, and then result in larger strain at lower outfield levels. In this paper, we test the microscopic structure of Ni{sub 2}MnGa polycrystalline ferromagnetic shape memory alloy produced by directional solidification and compress it along two axes successively for mechanical training. The influences of pre-compressive stresses on the temperature-induced strains are analyzed. The macroscopic mechanical behaviors show anisotropy. According to the generating mechanism of the macroscopic strain, a three-dimensional constitutive model is established. Based on thermodynamic method, the kinetic equations of the martensitic transformation and inverse transformation are presented considering the driving force and energy dissipation. The prediction curves of temperature-induce strains along two different directions are investigated. And the results coincide well with the experiment data. It well explains the macroscopic anisotropy mechanical behaviors and fits for using in engineering.

  17. A novel BDNF gene promoter directs expression to skeletal muscle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Heinrich Gerhard

    2003-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cell-specific expression of the gene that encodes brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF is required for the normal development of peripheral sensory neurons and efficient synaptic transmission in the mature central and peripheral nervous system. The control of BDNF gene expression involves multiple tissue and cell-specific promoters that are differentially regulated. The molecular mechanisms that are responsible for tissue and cell-specific expression of these promoters are still incompletely understood. Results The cloning and analysis of three additional zebrafish (Danio rerio BDNF gene exons and two associated promoters, is reported. Among them are two exons that generate a novel tripartite mature transcript. The exons were located on the transcription unit, whose overall organization was determined by cloning, Southern blot hybridization and sequence analysis, and compared with the pufferfish (Fugu rubripes and mammalian BDNF loci, revealing a conserved but more compact organization. Structural and functional analysis of the exons, their adjacent promoters and 5' flanks, showed that they are expressed cell-specifically. The promoter associated with the 5' exon of the tripartite transcript is GC-rich, TATA-less and the 5' flank adjacent to it contains multiple Sp1, Mef2, and AP1 elements. A fusion gene containing the promoter and 1.5 KB of 5' flank is directed exclusively to skeletal muscle of transiently transfected embryos. The second promoter, whose associated 5' exon contains a 25-nucleotide segment of identity with a mammalian BDNF gene exon, was transiently expressed in yolk of the early embryo. RT-PCR analysis of total RNA from whole juvenile fish and adult female skeletal muscle revealed tissue-specific expression of the 5' exons but the novel exon could not be detected even after two rounds of nested PCR. Conclusion The zebrafish BDNF gene is as complex as the mammalian gene yet much more compact. Its exons are

  18. The tightness of control procedures in the legal protection provided by jurisdiction against directives issued by the Federal Government - a problem of competence distribution between the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Administrative Court?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zimmermann, B.

    1992-01-01

    The tightness of control procedures in the legal protection provided by jurisdiction against directives issued by the Federal Government - a problem of competence distribution between the Federal Constitutional Court and the Federal Administrative Court? The article examines questions of recourse to the competent court, problems concerning the admissibility of legal proceedings before the Federal Admininstrative Court, the competence of the Laender in performing administrative acts on behalf of the Federation, the effectiveness of legal protection and the relationship between the Laender and the Federation in terms of responsibility for constitutional rights. The legal protection offered by administrative law, against a directive of the Federal Government is wholly ineffective, as there is no legal position a Land could bring into play to defened itself against a directive leading to unlawful action. Inequites which thus occur can however be met via a dispute between the Federation and the Laender as provided by the constitution, as the content of a directive becomes relevant in attempts to exert influence on the competence issue. Ultimately the rulings of the Basic Law on competence serve to protect the citizen and the community against excesses. In this connection the constitutional rights in their capacity as negative competence rulings disqualify executive acts. (orig./HSCH) [de

  19. The Finance Paradox: How American Constitutional Values Inhibit the Funding of Quality Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thro, William

    2004-01-01

    In America free public education is a constitutional value. Yet, although free public education for all is a constitutional value, America's public schools remain ravaged by "savage inequalities", many of which are the direct result of significant financial disparities. Given the obvious conflict between the constitutional value of free public…

  20. Cell-type specific expression of constitutively-active Rheb promotes regeneration of bulbospinal respiratory axons following cervical SCI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urban, Mark W; Ghosh, Biswarup; Strojny, Laura R; Block, Cole G; Blazejewski, Sara M; Wright, Megan C; Smith, George M; Lepore, Angelo C

    2018-05-01

    Damage to respiratory neural circuitry and consequent loss of diaphragm function is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in individuals suffering from traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI). Repair of CNS axons after SCI remains a therapeutic challenge, despite current efforts. SCI disrupts inspiratory signals originating in the rostral ventral respiratory group (rVRG) of the medulla from their phrenic motor neuron (PhMN) targets, resulting in loss of diaphragm function. Using a rat model of cervical hemisection SCI, we aimed to restore rVRG-PhMN-diaphragm circuitry by stimulating regeneration of injured rVRG axons via targeted induction of Rheb (ras homolog enriched in brain), a signaling molecule that regulates neuronal-intrinsic axon growth potential. Following C2 hemisection, we performed intra-rVRG injection of an adeno-associated virus serotype-2 (AAV2) vector that drives expression of a constitutively-active form of Rheb (cRheb). rVRG neuron-specific cRheb expression robustly increased mTOR pathway activity within the transduced rVRG neuron population ipsilateral to the hemisection, as assessed by levels of phosphorylated ribosomal S6 kinase. By co-injecting our novel AAV2-mCherry/WGA anterograde/trans-synaptic axonal tracer into rVRG, we found that cRheb expression promoted regeneration of injured rVRG axons into the lesion site, while we observed no rVRG axon regrowth with AAV2-GFP control. AAV2-cRheb also significantly reduced rVRG axonal dieback within the intact spinal cord rostral to the lesion. However, cRheb expression did not promote any recovery of ipsilateral hemi-diaphragm function, as assessed by inspiratory electromyography (EMG) burst amplitudes. This lack of functional recovery was likely because regrowing rVRG fibers did not extend back into the caudal spinal cord to synaptically reinnervate PhMNs that we retrogradely-labeled with cholera toxin B from the ipsilateral hemi-diaphragm. Our findings demonstrate that enhancing neuronal

  1. Global Constitutionalism, Control of Conventionality and the Right to Strike in Chile

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalo Aguilar Cavallo

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available n the Inter-American context, the control of conventionality promoted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights is linked to the process of construction of an ius commune in human rights. Human rights are identified as norm of constitutional character. The universality of human rights allows its consideration as an aspect of global constitutionalism. This paper aims at determining whether the control of conventionality can be considered an expression of global constitutionalism within the Inter-American region. We hold that the control of conventionality in the Inter-American system has propelled the application of a minimum standard of human rights and has stimulated the emergence of an ius commune in human rights.

  2. Urgency of Attorney Governed by the Constitution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rommy Patra

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Attorney existence in the Indonesian constitutional structure has a dilemma for this position. On one side is the Prosecutor’s law enforcement agencies to exercise power independently prosecution while on the other hand is part of a government institution under Law No. 16 of 2004 regarding the Attorney. The position of Attorney as an institution of government has been led to the independence of the Prosecutor is not optimal so that it appears stigma that the Prosecutor merely as a tool of the ruling power. In addition the terms of the arrangement just under the Act, the Attorney General has no legal standing as a constitutional organ that has the constitutional authority so that the current position does not reflect the urgency of its duties and functions. In an effort to organize the next Attorney institutions should be regulated directly by the Constitution. It is intended to make the Attorney as part of the main state organs have the same legal standing as other law enforcement agencies, the police and the courts (Supreme Court and Constitutional Court. As well as to strengthen and clarify the position as a state institution, prosecution authorities are focusing on the Attorney as central of authority, to fix the institutional relations between the members of law enforcement and related agencies and strengthen the independence of the Prosecutor in performing the function of prosecution in the constitutional structure of Indonesia.

  3. Development of an Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation Method and Evaluation of Two Exogenous Constitutive Promoters in Oleaginous Yeast Lipomyces starkeyi.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Xinping; Liu, Sasa; Bao, Ruiqi; Gao, Ning; Zhang, Sufang; Zhu, Rongqian; Zhao, Zongbao Kent

    2017-11-01

    Oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starkeyi, a promising strain of great biotechnical importance, is able to accumulate over 60% of its cell biomass as triacylglycerols (TAGs). It is promising to directly produce the derivatives of TAGs, such as long-chain fatty acid methyl esters and alkanes, in L. starkeyi. However, techniques for genetic modification of this oleaginous yeast are lacking, thus, further research is needed to develop genetic tools and functional elements. Here, we used two exogenous promoters (pGPD and pPGK) from oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides to establish a simpler Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (AMT) method for L. starkeyi. Hygromycin-resistant transformants were obtained on antibiotic-contained plate. Mitotic stability test, genotype verification by PCR, and protein expression confirmation all demonstrated the success of this method. Furthermore, the strength of these two promoters was evaluated at the phenotypic level on a hygromycin-gradient plate and at the transcriptional level by real-time quantitative PCR. The PGK promoter strength was 2.2-fold as that of GPD promoter to initiate the expression of the hygromycin-resistance gene. This study provided an easy and efficient genetic manipulation method and elements of the oleaginous yeast L. starkeyi for constructing superior strains to produce advanced biofuels.

  4. Right to privacy and some methods of direct marketing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hana Kelblová

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Promotion constitutes part of the marketing mix which consists of advertising, sales support, public relations, personal sale and direct marketing. It may be stated that the law delimits boundaries to all these elements of the communication mix. In the following contribution I will only focus on some methods of direct marketing and I intend to investigate the “purposeful appeal to purchase and consumer behaviour of clients” as viewed by the present Czech law. These communications often disturb the privacy of individuals, harass in an inappropriate time, marketing companies often illegally collect and share customers’ personal information. My target is to list legal limits instituted in the sphere of direct marketing for the individual marketing practices by the Czech law.

  5. What you do every day matters: A new direction for health promotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gewurtz, Rebecca E; Moll, Sandra E; Letts, Lori J; Larivière, Nadine; Levasseur, Mélanie; Krupa, Terry M

    2016-08-15

    Canadian health promotion campaigns directed towards healthy living have traditionally emphasized discrete behaviours that influence health and wellbeing, such as diet, physical activity and smoking. Although this traditional approach is important and supported by evidence, it does not account for broader determinants of health. The purpose of this commentary is to propose an innovative health promotion approach that expands the healthy living discourse through a focus on patterns of daily activity. We highlight four key public health messages derived from a synthesis of existing research evidence. The messages are based on the premise that what you do every day has an important impact on health and well-being. Rather than being prescriptive or outlining minimum requirements, this approach invites reflection on various experiences and activity patterns that shape the health and well-being of individuals and communities. This broader and more inclusive approach to healthy living reflects diverse needs and experiences, making it relevant and attainable for people of all ages and abilities. Future efforts directed at operationalizing the key messages for individuals and communities hold much promise for populations that may be at risk of activity patterns believed to contribute to poor health and well-being.

  6. Expansion of myeloid immune suppressor Gr+CD11b+ cells in tumor-bearing host directly promotes tumor angiogenesis | Center for Cancer Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    We demonstrate a novel tumor-promoting role of myeloid immune suppressor Gr+CD11b+ cells, which are evident in cancer patients and tumor-bearing animals. These cells constitute approximately 5% of total cells in tumors. Tumors coinjected with Gr+CD11b+ cells exhibited increased vascular density, vascular maturation, and decreased necrosis. These immune cells produce high

  7. Study on the constitutive model for jointed rock mass.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiang Xu

    Full Text Available A new elasto-plastic constitutive model for jointed rock mass, which can consider the persistence ratio in different visual angle and anisotropic increase of plastic strain, is proposed. The proposed the yield strength criterion, which is anisotropic, is not only related to friction angle and cohesion of jointed rock masses at the visual angle but also related to the intersection angle between the visual angle and the directions of the principal stresses. Some numerical examples are given to analyze and verify the proposed constitutive model. The results show the proposed constitutive model has high precision to calculate displacement, stress and plastic strain and can be applied in engineering analysis.

  8. Comparison of efficacy of the disease-specific LOX1- and constitutive cytomegalovirus-promoters in expressing interleukin 10 through adeno-associated virus 2/8 delivery in atherosclerotic mice.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongqing Zhu

    Full Text Available The development of gene therapy vectors for treating diseases of the cardiovascular system continues at a steady pace. Moreover, in the field of gene therapy the utility of "disease-specific promoters" has strong appeal. Many therapeutic genes, including transforming growth factor beta 1 or interleukin 10, are associated to adverse effects. The use of a disease-specific promoter might minimize toxicity. The lectin-like oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor 1 is a marker of cardiovascular disease and a potential therapeutic target. The lectin-like oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor 1 is known to be up-regulated early during disease onset in a number of cell types at the sites where the disease will be clinically evident. In this study an adeno-associated virus-2 DNA vector (AAV2 using the AAV8 capsid, and containing the full length The lectin-like oxidized low density lipoprotein receptor 1 promoter, was generated and assayed for its ability to express human interleukin 10 in low density lipoprotein receptor knockout mice on high cholesterol diet. The cytomegalovirus early promoter was used for comparison in a similarly structured vector. The two promoters were found to have equal efficacy in reducing atherogenesis as measured by aortic systolic blood velocity, aortic cross sectional area, and aortic wall thickness. This is the first head-to-head comparison of a constitutive with a disease-specific promoter in a therapeutic context. These data strongly suggest that the use of a disease-specific promoter is appropriate for therapeutic gene delivery.

  9. Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: Teaching Drug Marketers How to Inform Better or Spin Better? Comment on "Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doran, Evan

    2016-02-21

    Hyosun Kim's report "Trouble Spots in Online Direct to Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters" aims to teach marketers how to avoid breaching current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines in their online drug promotion. While Kim hopes to minimise the potential for online promotion to misinform consumers and the study is carefully conducted, teaching drug marketers how to avoid the common mistakes in online drug promotion is more likely to make marketers more adept at spinning information than appropriately balancing it. © 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.

  10. Isolation and characterization of an ubiquitin extension protein gene (JcUEP) promoter from Jatropha curcas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tao, Yan-Bin; He, Liang-Liang; Niu, Long-Jian; Xu, Zeng-Fu

    2015-04-01

    The JcUEP promoter is active constitutively in the bio-fuel plant Jatropha curcas , and is an alternative to the widely used CaMV35S promoter for driving constitutive overexpression of transgenes in Jatropha. Well-characterized promoters are required for transgenic breeding of Jatropha curcas, a biofuel feedstock with great potential for production of bio-diesel and bio-jet fuel. In this study, an ubiquitin extension protein gene from Jatropha, designated JcUEP, was identified to be ubiquitously expressed. Thus, we isolated a 1.2 kb fragment of the 5' flanking region of JcUEP and evaluated its activity as a constitutive promoter in Arabidopsis and Jatropha using the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. As expected, histochemical GUS assay showed that the JcUEP promoter was active in all Arabidopsis and Jatropha tissues tested. We also compared the activity of the JcUEP promoter with that of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV35S) promoter, a well-characterized constitutive promoter conferring strong transgene expression in dicot species, in various tissues of Jatropha. In a fluorometric GUS assay, the two promoters showed similar activities in stems, mature leaves and female flowers; while the CaMV35S promoter was more effective than the JcUEP promoter in other tissues, especially young leaves and inflorescences. In addition, the JcUEP promoter retained its activity under stress conditions in low temperature, high salt, dehydration and exogenous ABA treatments. These results suggest that the plant-derived JcUEP promoter could be an alternative to the CaMV35S promoter for driving constitutive overexpression of transgenes in Jatropha and other plants.

  11. The comparative constitutional law on national constitutional system: with regard to the IX World Congress of Constitutional Law

    OpenAIRE

    Landa Arroyo, César

    2015-01-01

    From  the  process  of  globalization  of  law,  the  comparative constitutional law has gained a leading role for a better understanding and solving old and new constitutional national and international challenges. Therefore, some assumptions and considerations to take into account are presented for the development of the national constitutional order within the framework of the comparative constitutional law, such as universality and relativism of human rights; the concept of power and cons...

  12. Exploiting nucleotide composition to engineer promoters.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manfred G Grabherr

    Full Text Available The choice of promoter is a critical step in optimizing the efficiency and stability of recombinant protein production in mammalian cell lines. Artificial promoters that provide stable expression across cell lines and can be designed to the desired strength constitute an alternative to the use of viral promoters. Here, we show how the nucleotide characteristics of highly active human promoters can be modelled via the genome-wide frequency distribution of short motifs: by overlapping motifs that occur infrequently in the genome, we constructed contiguous sequence that is rich in GC and CpGs, both features of known promoters, but lacking homology to real promoters. We show that snippets from this sequence, at 100 base pairs or longer, drive gene expression in vitro in a number of mammalian cells, and are thus candidates for use in protein production. We further show that expression is driven by the general transcription factors TFIIB and TFIID, both being ubiquitously present across cell types, which results in less tissue- and species-specific regulation compared to the viral promoter SV40. We lastly found that the strength of a promoter can be tuned up and down by modulating the counts of GC and CpGs in localized regions. These results constitute a "proof-of-concept" for custom-designing promoters that are suitable for biotechnological and medical applications.

  13. UNDERSTANDING INFORMAL CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephen M. Griffin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Amid much recent American work on the problem of informal constitutional change, this article stakes out a distinctive position. I argue that theories of constitutional change in the US must address the question of the relationship between the “small c” and “big C” Constitution and treat seriously the possibility of conflict between them. I stress the unavoidable role the text of the Constitution and structural doctrines of federalism and separation of powers play in this relationship and thus in constitutional change, both formal and informal. I therefore counsel against theories that rely solely on a practice-based approach or analogies between “small c” constitutional developments and British or Commonwealth traditions of the “unwritten” constitution and constitutional “conventions.” The alternative I advocate is to approach constitutional change from a historicist perspective that focuses attention on state building and the creation of new institutional capacities. This approach will allow us to make progress by highlighting that there can be multiple constitutional orders in a given historical era, thus accounting for the conflictual nature of contemporary constitutional development in the US.

  14. Transnational Constitutional Law

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zumbansen, P (Peer); K.I. Bhatt (Kinnari)

    2018-01-01

    textabstractThis chapter provides an overview of the emerging field of transnational constitutional law (TCL). Whilst questions of constitutional law are typically discussed in the context of a specific domestic legal setting, a salient strategy of TCL is to understand constitutional law and its

  15. Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: Teaching Drug Marketers How to Inform Better or Spin Better?; Comment on “Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Evan Doran

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Hyosun Kim’s report “Trouble Spots in Online Direct to Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters”aims to teach marketers how to avoid breaching current Food and Drug Administration (FDA guidelines in their online drug promotion. While Kim hopes to minimise the potential for online promotion to misinform consumers and the study is carefully conducted, teaching drug marketers how to avoid the common mistakes in online drug promotion is more likely to make marketers more adept at spinning information than appropriately balancing it.

  16. The Constitutional Reform in Romania after the 2009 Referendum

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony Murphy

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article sets to analyse the issue of constitutional reform in Romania in the aftermath of the 2009 referendum which approved the transition to a unicameral legislature and the reduction of the number of its members to 300 at most. Accordingly, constitutional change should be made only in respect to the option expressed by the people, albeit only one of the two subsequent proposals of revision contained such provisions. In turn, the conflict between the President and the Parliament withheld any prospect of change for some time. Seven years on, the issue remains a sensible part of the debate, with the Constitutional Court previously ruling that the results of the referendum are binding although its deliberative nature prevents any direct entry into force.

  17. Deletion analysis of susy-sl promoter for the identification of optimal promoter sequence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bacha, S.; Khatoon, A.; Asif, M.; Bshir, A.

    2015-01-01

    The promoter region of sucrose synthase (susy-Sl) was identified and isolated from tomato. The 5? deletion analysis was carried out for the identification of minimum optimal promoter. Transgenic lines of Arabidopsis thaliana were developed by floral dip method incorporating various promoter deletion cassettes controlling GUS reporter gene. GUS assay of transgenic tissues indicated that full length susy-Sl promoter and its deletion mutants were constitutively expressed in vegetative and floral tissues of A. thaliana. The expression was observed in roots, shoots and flowers of A. thaliana. Analysis of 5? deletion series of susy-Sl promoter showed that a minimum of 679 bp fragment of the promoter was sufficient to drive expression of GUS reporter gene in the major tissues of transgenic A. thaliana. (author)

  18. Brief Considerations on the German Constitutional Approach of the Freedom of Expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carmen MOLDOVAN

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The process of understanding the concept of freedom of expression is very complex and it implies thorough knowledge of the constitutional values and the analysis of the constitutional tradition of different legal systems. At the same time, a balancing operation is necessary between the value of freedom of speech and other fundamental rights, process that establishes limits of the expression such as criminalizing hate speech or other actions which affect the individual dignity. The human dignity has become a constant component of the constitutional case law of many States that share the same characteristics due to the promotion of fundamental rights. In the absence of a hierarchy of rights and fundamental freedom, freedom of expression is analyzed in many cases as a primary right (Kentridge, 1996, p. 254 that prevails over other fundamental rights. This study aims to analyze the landmarks of the German constitutional interpretation of the concept of freedom of expression, to identify its scope and types of speech excluded from the constitutional protection. The choice of this constitutional legal order was justified by the complexity of this topic and the specificity of the German history and tradition, elements that have contributed to an interesting vision in the matter of conflict between different fundamental rights.

  19. Proposal for a directive for the promotion of electricity based on renewable energy sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2000-04-01

    The amended ''Directives concerning common rules for the internal markets in electricity and natural gas'', adopted in June 2003, organizes the future framework of electricity and gas, making all European consumers eligible, from 2004 onwards and at the latest by 2007 for the domestic sector, as well as integrating some components related to general interest services. Energie-Cites gives in this document its opinion and its expectations concerning this proposal for a directive for the promotion of electricity based on renewable energy sources. (A.L.B.)

  20. Catholic Modernity and the Italian Constitution

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomassen, Bjørn; Forlenza, Rosario

    2016-01-01

    and give direction to the very idea of political modernity, bridging a positive encounter between Catholicism, democracy, and freedom. The specific argument is embedded within a larger aim to recognize attempts within Catholic philosophy and political thought to articulate a trajectory that moved away from......This article analyzes the Catholic contribution to the Italian republican and democratic Constitution of 1948. The focus is on the specific way in which the Italian citizen became symbolically coded as a ‘person’ and not as an ‘individual’, inspired by Catholic social philosophy. The Catholic...... project for the new Constitution had a considerable impact on modern Italian culture and politics and on the building of a modern mass democracy and welfare state. During the crucial historical juncture that followed the collapse of Fascism, Catholic politicians and intellectuals sought to interpret...

  1. Constitutional Rights in Indonesia

    OpenAIRE

    Judhariksawan

    2018-01-01

    The constitution is fundamental to the life of the modern state as a major foothold in state governance. Includes the guarantee of constitutional rights of citizens. The The constitution is the basis of state organizers to be implemented so that the state is obliged to guarantee the fulfillment of citizens' constitutional rights. Human rights have become an important part of the modern constitution. This study will describe how human rights guarantees become part of consti...

  2. Effector Protein Cig2 Decreases Host Tolerance of Infection by Directing Constitutive Fusion of Autophagosomes with the Coxiella-Containing Vacuole

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lara J. Kohler

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Coxiella burnetii replicates in an acidified lysosome-derived vacuole. Biogenesis of the Coxiella-containing vacuole (CCV requires bacterial effector proteins delivered into host cells by the Dot/Icm secretion system. Genetic and cell biological analysis revealed that an effector protein called Cig2 promotes constitutive fusion of autophagosomes with the CCV to maintain this compartment in an autolysosomal stage of maturation. This distinguishes the CCV from other pathogen-containing vacuoles that are targeted by the host autophagy pathway, which typically confers host resistance to infection by delivering the pathogen to a toxic lysosomal environment. By maintaining the CCV in an autolysosomal stage of maturation, Cig2 enabled CCV homotypic fusion and enhanced bacterial virulence in the Galleria mellonella (wax moth model of infection by a mechanism that decreases host tolerance. Thus, C. burnetii residence in an autolysosomal organelle alters host tolerance of infection, which indicates that Cig2-dependent manipulation of a lysosome-derived vacuole influences the host response to infection.

  3. International law, constitutional law, and public support for torture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adam S Chilton

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The human rights movement has spent considerable energy developing and promoting the adoption of both international and domestic legal prohibitions against torture. Empirical scholarship testing the effectiveness of these prohibitions using observational data, however, has produced mixed results. In this paper, we explore one possible mechanism through which these prohibitions may be effective: dampening public support for torture. Specifically, we conducted a survey experiment to explore the impact of international and constitutional law on public support for torture. We found that a bare majority of respondents in our control group support the use of torture, and that presenting respondents with arguments that this practice violates international law or constitutional law did not produce a statistically significant decrease in support. These findings are consistent with prior research suggesting, even in democracies, that legal prohibitions on torture have been ineffective.

  4. The constitutional right to freedom of expression: how enforceable ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    reaching consequences on society. As organs of state, schools have been directly affected by the need to ensure that their operations and rules are constitutionally and legislatively compatible. Human rights do not exist purely as an ideal but must ...

  5. The Constitutional Amendment Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chism, Kahlil

    2005-01-01

    This article discusses the constitutional amendment process. Although the process is not described in great detail, Article V of the United States Constitution allows for and provides instruction on amending the Constitution. While the amendment process currently consists of six steps, the Constitution is nevertheless quite difficult to change.…

  6. Constitutional Politics, Constitutional Texts and Democratic Variety in Central and Eastern Europe

    OpenAIRE

    Blokker, Paul

    2008-01-01

    In the paper, it is argued that democratization in Central and Eastern Europe involves important forms of differentiation of democracy, rather than merely convergence to a singular – liberal-democratic, constitutional - model. One way of taking up democratic differentiation in post-communist societies is by analysing the constitutional documents of the new democratic orders, and the constitutional politics leading to the foundational documents. In a first step, the paper analyses constitution...

  7. Identification of a type 1 diabetes-associated CD4 promoter haplotype with high constitutive activity

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristiansen, O P; Karlsen, A E; Larsen, Z M

    2004-01-01

    screened the human CD4 promoter for mutations and identified three frequent single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs): CD4-181C/G, CD4-521C/G and CD4-1050T/C. The SNPs are in strong linkage disequilibrium (LD) and association with the CD4-1188(TTTTC)(5-14) alleles, and we observed nine CD4 promoter haplotypes...... promoter activity and (2) the CD4-181G variant encodes higher stimulated promoter activity than the CD4-181C variant. This difference is in part neutralized in the frequently occurring CD4 promoter haplotypes by the more upstream genetic variants. Thus, we report functional impact of a novel CD4-181C/G SNP...

  8. Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hyosun Kim

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Background For the purpose of understanding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s concerns regarding online promotion of prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers, this study examines notices of violations (NOVs and warning letters issued by the FDA to pharmaceutical manufacturers. Methods The FDA’s warning letters and NOVs, which were issued to pharmaceutical companies over a 10-year period (2005 to 2014 regarding online promotional activities, were content-analyzed. Results Six violation categories were identified: risk information, efficacy information, indication information, product labeling, material information issues, and approval issues. The results reveal that approximately 95% of the alleged violations were found on branded drug websites, in online paid advertisements, and in online videos. Of the total 179 violations, the majority of the alleged violations were concerned with the lack of risk information and/or misrepresentation of efficacy information, suggesting that achieving a fair balance of benefit versus risk information is a major problem with regard to the direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA of prescription drugs. In addition, the character space limitations of online platforms, eg, sponsored links on search engines, pose challenges for pharmaceutical marketers with regard to adequately communicating important drug information, such as indication information, risk information, and product labeling. Conclusion Presenting drug information in a fair and balanced manner remains a major problem. Industry guidance should consider addressing visibility and accessibility of information in the web environment to help pharmaceutical marketers meet the requirements for direct-to-consumer promotion and to protect consumers from misleading drug information. Promotion via social media warrants further attention, as pharmaceutical manufacturers have already begun actively establishing a social media presence, and the

  9. Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A Content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyosun

    2015-08-25

    For the purpose of understanding the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) concerns regarding online promotion of prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers, this study examines notices of violations (NOVs) and warning letters issued by the FDA to pharmaceutical manufacturers. The FDA's warning letters and NOVs, which were issued to pharmaceutical companies over a 10-year period (2005 to 2014) regarding online promotional activities, were content-analyzed. Six violation categories were identified: risk information, efficacy information, indication information, product labeling, material information issues, and approval issues. The results reveal that approximately 95% of the alleged violations were found on branded drug websites, in online paid advertisements, and in online videos. Of the total 179 violations, the majority of the alleged violations were concerned with the lack of risk information and/or misrepresentation of efficacy information, suggesting that achieving a fair balance of benefit versus risk information is a major problem with regard to the direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs. In addition, the character space limitations of online platforms, eg, sponsored links on search engines, pose challenges for pharmaceutical marketers with regard to adequately communicating important drug information, such as indication information, risk information, and product labeling. Presenting drug information in a fair and balanced manner remains a major problem. Industry guidance should consider addressing visibility and accessibility of information in the web environment to help pharmaceutical marketers meet the requirements for direct-to-consumer promotion and to protect consumers from misleading drug information. Promotion via social media warrants further attention, as pharmaceutical manufacturers have already begun actively establishing a social media presence, and the FDA has thus begun to keep tabs on social media promotions of

  10. Direct Marketing Promotion and Electronic Cigarette Use Among US Adults, National Adult Tobacco Survey, 2013-2014.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dai, Hongying; Hao, Jianqiang

    2017-09-21

    The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among US adults has increased since 2007. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of direct marketing promotion of e-cigarettes and its association with e-cigarette use among US adults. We used using data from the 2013-2014 National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS) to estimate prevalence of e-cigarette promotions received by mail or email. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations between e-cigarette promotions and the prevalence and frequency of e-cigarette use among US adults. In the 2013-2014 survey period, 7.1% of adults (about 16.0 million) reported receiving mail or email e-cigarette promotions in the previous 6 months; 3.2% received mail promotions, and 5.1% received email promotions. A higher prevalence of promotions was found among men versus women, adults aged under 65 years versus those older, current e-cigarette users, current smokers, and people with no smoking restriction rules in their homes or vehicles. In the multivariable analysis, receiving mail or email e-cigarette promotions was associated with higher odds of being current e-cigarette users (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.0; P marketing promotions was prevalent among US adults. Receiving e-cigarette promotions was associated with increased odds of both prevalence and frequency of e-cigarette use. Future longitudinal studies are needed to measure causal effects of e-cigarette promotions on e-cigarette use among adults.

  11. Structure and Calibration of Constitutive Equations for Granular Soils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sawicki Andrzej

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The form of incremental constitutive equations for granular soils is discussed for the triaxial configuration. The classical elasto-plastic approach and the semi-empirical model are discussed on the basis of constitutive relations determined directly from experimental data. First, the general structure of elasto-plastic constitutive equations is presented. Then, the structure of semiempirical constitutive equations is described, and a method of calibrating the model is presented. This calibration method is based on a single experiment, performed in the triaxial apparatus, which also involves a partial verification of the model, on an atypical stress path. The model is shown to give reasonable predictions. An important feature of the semi-empirical incremental model is the definition of loading and unloading, which is different from that assumed in elasto-plasticity. This definition distinguishes between spherical and deviatoric loading/unloading. The definition of deviatoric loading/unloading has been subject to some criticism. It was therefore discussed and clarified in this paper on the basis of the experiment presented.

  12. Effective delivery of a nematode-repellent peptide using a root-cap-specific promoter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lilley, Catherine J; Wang, Dong; Atkinson, Howard J; Urwin, Peter E

    2011-02-01

    The potential of the MDK4-20 promoter of Arabidopsis thaliana to direct effective transgenic expression of a secreted nematode-repellent peptide was investigated. Its expression pattern was studied in both transgenic Arabidopsis and Solanum tuberosum (potato) plants. It directed root-specific β-glucuronidase expression in both species that was chiefly localized to cells of the root cap. Use of the fluorescent timer protein dsRED-E5 established that the MDK4-20 promoter remains active for longer than the commonly used constitutive promoter CaMV35S in separated potato root border cells. Transgenic Arabidopsis lines that expressed the nematode-repellent peptide under the control of either AtMDK4-20 or CaMV35S reduced the establishment of the beet cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii. The best line using the AtMDK4-20 promoter displayed a level of resistance >80%, comparable to that of lines using the CaMV35S promoter. In transgenic potato plants, 94.9 ± 0.8% resistance to the potato cyst nematode Globodera pallida was achieved using the AtMDK4-20 promoter, compared with 34.4 ± 8.4% resistance displayed by a line expressing the repellent peptide from the CaMV35S promoter. These results establish the potential of the AtMDK4-20 promoter to limit expression of a repellent peptide whilst maintaining or even improving the efficacy of the cyst-nematode defence. © 2010 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal © 2010 Society for Experimental Biology, Association of Applied Biologists and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  13. Contribution of MLH1 constitutional methylation for Lynch syndrome diagnosis in patients with tumor MLH1 downregulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, Diana; Pinto, Carla; Guerra, Joana; Pinheiro, Manuela; Santos, Rui; Vedeld, Hege Marie; Yohannes, Zeremariam; Peixoto, Ana; Santos, Catarina; Pinto, Pedro; Lopes, Paula; Lothe, Ragnhild; Lind, Guro Elisabeth; Henrique, Rui; Teixeira, Manuel R

    2018-02-01

    Constitutional epimutation of the two major mismatch repair genes, MLH1 and MSH2, has been identified as an alternative mechanism that predisposes to the development of Lynch syndrome. In the present work, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of MLH1 constitutional methylation in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients with abnormal expression of the MLH1 protein in their tumors. In a series of 38 patients who met clinical criteria for Lynch syndrome genetic testing, with loss of MLH1 expression in the tumor and with no germline mutations in the MLH1 gene (35/38) or with tumors presenting the BRAF p.Val600Glu mutation (3/38), we screened for constitutional methylation of the MLH1 gene promoter using methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MS-MLPA) in various biological samples. We found four (4/38; 10.5%) patients with constitutional methylation in the MLH1 gene promoter. RNA studies demonstrated decreased MLH1 expression in the cases with constitutional methylation when compared with controls. We could infer the mosaic nature of MLH1 constitutional hypermethylation in tissues originated from different embryonic germ layers, and in one family we could show that it occurred de novo. We conclude that constitutional MLH1 methylation occurs in a significant proportion of patients who have loss of MLH1 protein expression in their tumors and no MLH1 pathogenic germline mutation. Furthermore, we provide evidence that MLH1 constitutional hypermethylation is the molecular mechanism behind about 3% of Lynch syndrome families diagnosed in our institution, especially in patients with early onset or multiple primary tumors without significant family history. © 2018 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  14. Transnational Constitutional Law

    OpenAIRE

    Zumbansen, P (Peer); Bhatt, Kinnari

    2018-01-01

    textabstractThis chapter provides an overview of the emerging field of transnational constitutional law (TCL). Whilst questions of constitutional law are typically discussed in the context of a specific domestic legal setting, a salient strategy of TCL is to understand constitutional law and its values by placing them ‘in context’ with existing and evolving cultural norms and political, social and economic discourses and struggles. Drawing on socio-legal investigations into the relationships ...

  15. Reaffirming Diversity: A Legal Analysis of the University of Michigan Affirmative Action Cases. A Joint Statement of Constitutional Law Scholars.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harvard Civil Rights Project, Cambridge, MA.

    On June 23, 2003, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions policies designed to promote diversity in higher education. The Grutter versus Bollinger decision upheld the University of Michigan Law School race-conscious admissions policy as constitutional. However, in Gratz versus Bollinger, it held…

  16. Constitution, 5 May 1989.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1989-01-01

    This document contains provisions of Cambodia's Constitution of May 5, 1989. Article 7 gives men and women equal rights in marriage and the family, calls for monogamous marriages, and affords social protection to mothers and children. Article 8 guides parent-child relationships. The 14th article defines state property, and the 15th gives citizens full rights to own, use, and inherit land. The use of agricultural and forested land can only be changed with permission. Article 22 assigns educational responsibilities to the state, including free elementary education and a gradual expansion of higher education. Adult literacy classes are also promoted. Article 26 guarantees free medical consultations, and article 27 gives women a 90-day paid maternity leave. Breast-feeding women are also given special privileges. Article 33 guarantees the right to pay equity and to social security benefits. Article 36 grants the freedom to travel, the inviolability of homes, and privacy in correspondence of all types.

  17. CAN THE MUSLIM WORLD BORROW FROM INDONESIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM? A Comparative Constitutional Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadirsyah Hosen

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper attempts to analytically examine the possibility of constitutional borrowing for the Muslim world regardless the differences in history, system, culture, language, and cha­racteristics. It discusses this issue by looking at the arguments put forth by the oppo­nents of comparative cons­titutional interpre­tation and their counter arguments. It will consider materials from Canada, USA, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia, and Hungary, taking the position that constitutional borrowing can be justified. The paper argues that the 1999-2002 Indonesian constitutional reform should be taken into account by other Muslim countries in undertaking their constitutional reform. The substantive approach of the Shari‘ah that has been used in Indonesia has shown that Muslim world can reform its constitutions without the “assistance” of Western foreign policy. Indo­nesian constitutional reform has demonstrated that Islamic constitutionalism comes from within Islamic teaching and the Islamic community itself; it is a home grown product.

  18. You've got mail! An examination of a statewide direct-mail marketing campaign to promote deceased organ donor registrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quick, Brian L; LaVoie, Nicole R; Morgan, Susan E; Bosch, Dave

    2015-11-01

    This study extends previous direct-mail campaigns by evaluating the effectiveness of a marketing campaign promoting organ donation message strategies from the vantage point of organ donors, organ recipients, individuals on the waiting list, or a combination of these three frames. Illinois residents were randomly assigned to one of four organ donation brochures disseminated via U.S. postal mail. Registrations occurred via the Internet and U.S. postal mail. Individuals register at a greater rate following exposure to the combination framed message compared to organ donor, organ recipient, and waiting list narratives. The campaign revealed that individuals are more likely to register via U.S. postal mail than the Internet. Direct-mail marketing efforts were shown to be an effective approach to promote organ and tissue donation registrations. The results demonstrated a preference for the combination framed brochure. The results are discussed with an emphasis on the practical implications of utilizing direct-mail marketing efforts to promote organ donation among young adults. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  19. Constitutional Issues--Watergate and the Constitution. Teaching with Documents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC.

    When U.S. President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 in the wake of the Watergate scandal, it was only the second time that impeachment of a president had been considered. Although the U.S. Constitution has provisions for a person removed from office to be indicted, there are no guidelines in the Constitution about a President who has resigned. The…

  20. Light-grown plants of transgenic tobacco expressing an introduced oat phytochrome A gene under the control of a constitutive viral promoter exhibit persistent growth inhibition by far-red light

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCormac, A.; Whitelam, G.; Smith, H.

    1992-01-01

    A comparison of the photoregulation of development has been made for etiolated and light-grown plants of wild-type (WT) tobacco (Nicotiana tabacun L.) and an isogenic transgenic line which expresses an introduced oat phytochrome gene (phyA) under the control of a constitutive viral promoter. Etiolated seedlings of both the WT and transgenic line showed irradiance-dependent inhibition of hypocotyl growth under continuous far-red (FR) light; transgenic seedlings showed a greater level of inhibition under a given fluence rate and this is considered to be the result of the heterologous phytochrome protein (PhyA) functioning in a compatible manner with the native etiolated phytochrome. Deetiolation of WT seedlings resulted in a loss of responsiveness to prolonged FR. Light-grown transgenic seedlings, however, continued to respond in an irradiance-dependent manner to prolonged FR and it is proposed that this is a specific function of the constitutive PhyA. Mature green plants of the WT and transgenic lines showed a qualitatively similar growth promotion to a brief end-of-day FR-treatment but this response was abolished in the transgenic plants under prolonged irradiation by this same FR source. Growth inhibition (McCormac et al. 1991, Planta 185, 162-170) and enhanced levels of nitrate-reductase activity under irradiance of low red:far-red ratio, as achieved by the FR-supplementation of white light, emphasised that the introduced PhyA was eliciting an aberrant mode of photoresponse compared with the normal phytochrome population of light-grown plants. Total levels of the oat-encoded phytochrome in the etiolated transgenic tobacco were shown to be influenced by the wavelength of continuous irradiation in a manner which was qualitatively similar to that seen for the native, etiolated tobacco phytochrome, and distinct from that seen in etiolated oat tissues. These results are discussed in terms of the proposal that the constitutive oat-PhyA pool in the transgenic plants

  1. KSHV Rta promoter specification and viral reactivation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan eGuito

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available Viruses are obligate intracellular pathogens whose biological success depends upon replication and packaging of viral genomes, and transmission of progeny viruses to new hosts. The biological success of herpesviruses is enhanced by their ability to reproduce their genomes without producing progeny viruses or killing the host cells, a process called latency. Latency permits a herpesvirus to remain undetected in its animal host for decades while maintaining the potential to reactivate, or switch, to a productive life cycle when host conditions are conducive to generating viral progeny. Direct interactions between many host and viral molecules are implicated in controlling herpesviral reactivation, suggesting complex biological networks that control the decision. One viral protein that is necessary and sufficient to switch latent KSHV into the lytic infection cycle is called K-Rta. Rta is a transcriptional activator that specifies promoters by binding direct DNA directly and interacting with cellular proteins. Among these cellular proteins, binding of K-Rta to RBP-Jk is essential for viral reactivation.. In contrast to the canonical model for Notch signaling, RBP-Jk is not uniformly and constitutively bound to the latent KSHV genome, but rather is recruited to DNA by interactions with K-Rta. Stimulation of RBP-Jk DNA binding requires high affinity binding of Rta to repetitive and palindromic CANT DNA repeats in promoters, and formation of ternary complexes with RBP-Jk. However, while K-Rta expression is necessary for initiating KSHV reactivation, K-Rta’s role as the switch is inefficient. Many factors modulate K-Rta’s function, suggesting that KSHV reactivation can be significantly regulated post-Rta expression and challenging the notion that herpesviral reactivation is bistable. This review analyzes rapidly evolving research on KSHV K-Rta to consider the role of K-Rta promoter specification in regulating the progression of KSHV reactivation.

  2. Essential Medicines in National Constitutions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toebes, Brigit; Hogerzeil, Hans

    2016-01-01

    Abstract A constitutional guarantee of access to essential medicines has been identified as an important indicator of government commitment to the progressive realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The objective of this study was to evaluate provisions on access to essential medicines in national constitutions, to identify comprehensive examples of constitutional text on medicines that can be used as a model for other countries, and to evaluate the evolution of constitutional medicines-related rights since 2008. Relevant articles were selected from an inventory of constitutional texts from WHO member states. References to states’ legal obligations under international human rights law were evaluated. Twenty-two constitutions worldwide now oblige governments to protect and/or to fulfill accessibility of, availability of, and/or quality of medicines. Since 2008, state responsibilities to fulfill access to essential medicines have expanded in five constitutions, been maintained in four constitutions, and have regressed in one constitution. Government commitments to essential medicines are an important foundation of health system equity and are included increasingly in state constitutions. PMID:27781006

  3. ECHR and national constitutional courts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nastić Maja

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Comprising fundamental rights and freedoms and establishing the effective control system, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR encroaches upon the area that is traditional reserved for constitutional law. Although built on the doctrine reserved for international treaty law, the Convention goes beyond the traditional boundaries that exist between international and constitutional law. It has gradually infiltrated into the national legal systems. Constitutional courts have had the crucial role in this process. This paper will focus on the applicability of the ECHR in proceedings before national constitutional courts. Having in mind the jurisdiction of the national constitutional court, the ECHR may be applied in two ways: first, in the process of constitutional review by national constitutional courts and, second, in the process of deciding on constitutional complaints.

  4. (E)-Specific direct Julia-olefination of aryl alcohols without extra reducing agents promoted by bases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Chuan-Zhi; Li, Qiang-Qiang; Wang, Mei-Mei; Ning, Xiao-Shan; Kang, Yan-Biao

    2015-05-04

    An unprecedented base-promoted direct olefination of aryl alcohols with sulfones via a Julia-type reaction has been described. No extra reductants are needed for Julia reaction since alcohols work as double sources of aldehydes and the hydride. Generally high yields were given for both terminal and highly (E)-selective internal olefins.

  5. El control de constitucionalidad de la ‘legislación popular’ (Constitutional Review of Direct Legislation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel López Rubio

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available El control de constitucionalidad de las leyes implica lo que Cappelletti denominó “un formidable problema”: jueces sin legitimidad democrática directa controlan normas creadas por los representantes electos de los ciudadanos. El mecanismo produce una importante tensión entre la racionalidad jurídica y los principios puramente democráticos. El presente trabajo estudia cómo esta tensión llega a cotas máximas cuando la norma legal a enjuiciar ha sido aprobada por los ciudadanos a través de referéndum y analiza cómo se ha desarrollado este tipo de control en Estados Unidos, Francia y España. A la luz de los casos estudiados, se sugiere la necesidad de que la jurisdicción constitucional actúe en determinadas circunstancias con especial deferencia cuando se enfrente a productos normativos aprobados de modo directo por la ciudadanía.Judicial review of legislation implies what Cappelletti called “a mighty problem”: judges without direct democratic legitimacy review legal regulations created by elected representatives. The mechanism generates great tension between legal rationality and democratic principles. This paper analyzes how this tension reaches a high point when the regulation at issue has been approved by the people through a referendum and examines how this review process has developed in the United States, France and Spain. In the light of the analyzed cases, it is suggested that the constitutional jurisdiction act, under certain circumstances, with special deference when it faces legal rules directly approved by the people.DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3033020

  6. We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution. 2004 National Finalists' Knowledge of and Support for American Democratic Institutions and Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soule, Suzanne; Bennett, Sharareh Frouzesh

    2004-01-01

    "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution," is an educational program developed by the Center for Civic Education. The program instructs students on the history and principles of American constitutional democracy with the primary goal of promoting civic competence and responsibility among the nation's elementary, middle, and…

  7. Direct Marketing Promotion and Electronic Cigarette Use Among US Adults, National Adult Tobacco Survey, 2013–2014

    OpenAIRE

    Dai, Hongying; Hao, Jianqiang

    2017-01-01

    Introduction The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among US adults has increased since 2007. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of direct marketing promotion of e-cigarettes and its association with e-cigarette use among US adults. Methods We used using data from the 2013–2014 National Adult Tobacco Survey (NATS) to estimate prevalence of e-cigarette promotions received by mail or email. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the associations ...

  8. Systems Biology Reveals Cigarette Smoke-Induced Concentration-Dependent Direct and Indirect Mechanisms That Promote Monocyte-Endothelial Cell Adhesion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poussin, Carine; Laurent, Alexandra; Peitsch, Manuel C; Hoeng, Julia; De Leon, Hector

    2015-10-01

    Cigarette smoke (CS) affects the adhesion of monocytes to endothelial cells, a critical step in atherogenesis. Using an in vitro adhesion assay together with innovative computational systems biology approaches to analyze omics data, our study aimed at investigating CS-induced mechanisms by which monocyte-endothelial cell adhesion is promoted. Primary human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs) were treated for 4 h with (1) conditioned media of human monocytic Mono Mac-6 (MM6) cells preincubated with low or high concentrations of aqueous CS extract (sbPBS) from reference cigarette 3R4F for 2 h (indirect treatment, I), (2) unconditioned media similarly prepared without MM6 cells (direct treatment, D), or (3) freshly generated sbPBS (fresh direct treatment, FD). sbPBS promoted MM6 cells-HCAECs adhesion following I and FD, but not D. In I, the effect was mediated at a low concentration through activation of vascular inflammation processes promoted in HCAECs by a paracrine effect of the soluble mediators secreted by sbPBS-treated MM6 cells. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), a major inducer, was actually shed by unstable CS compound-activated TNFα-converting enzyme. In FD, the effect was triggered at a high concentration that also induced some toxicity. This effect was mediated through an yet unknown mechanism associated with a stress damage response promoted in HCAECs by unstable CS compounds present in freshly generated sbPBS, which had decayed in D unconditioned media. Aqueous CS extract directly and indirectly promotes monocytic cell-endothelial cell adhesion in vitro via distinct concentration-dependent mechanisms. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Institute of constitutional revision in the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, comparative view

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Makbule Çeço

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In its very dynamic essence, a democratic society bears the need for continuous reformation and perfection, and that is why the application of reforms represents an inseparable feature for this type of society. The consolidation of the rule of law, the institutional independence, and the cause of justice itself comprise, inter alia, the need for constitutional revision. This study puts forward a theoretical-historical comparative view of the relevant and dynamic issue of the institute of constitutional revision in the framework of the Constitution of the Republic of Albania, as a complex process accompanied by limitations on constitutional revision. The historical evolution of constitutional drafting, modern constitutions, relevant issues, political and social circumstances as well as drafting and adoption procedures, dynamism of constitutions to cope with the course of time achieved by revisions for the purpose of their stability as well as consolidation of the role of constitutions as a factor that facilitates and precedes social development, comprise the pillar of this study addressed in a comparative point of view.

  10. Isolating Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) B1 Hordein Gene Promoter ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Promoters play the most important role in determining the temporal and spatial expression pattern and transcript level of a gene. Some strong constitutive promoters, such as cauliflower mosaic virus 35s promoter, are widely used in plant genetic engineering research. However, the expression levels of the foreign genes in ...

  11. Impact of a targeted direct marketing price promotion intervention (Buywell) on food-purchasing behaviour by low income consumers: a randomised controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stead, M; MacKintosh, A M; Findlay, A; Sparks, L; Anderson, A S; Barton, K; Eadie, D

    2017-08-01

    Price promotions are a promising intervention for encouraging healthier food purchasing. We aimed to assess the impact of a targeted direct marketing price promotion combined with healthy eating advice and recipe suggestions on the purchase of selected healthier foods by low income consumers. We conducted a randomised controlled trial (n = 53 367) of a direct marketing price promotion (Buywell) combined with healthy eating advice and recipe suggestions for low income consumers identified as 'less healthy' shoppers. Impact was assessed using electronic point of sale data for UK low income shoppers before, during and after the promotion. The proportion of customers buying promoted products in the intervention month increased by between 1.4% and 2.8% for four of the five products. There was significantly higher uptake in the promotion month (P marketing price promotions combined with healthy eating advice and recipe suggestions targeted at low income consumers are feasible and can have a modest impact on short-term food-purchasing behaviour, although further approaches are needed to help sustain these changes. © 2017 The British Dietetic Association Ltd.

  12. Hope and self-regulatory goals applied to an advertising context : promoting prevention stimulates goal-directed behavior.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poels, K.; Dewitte, S.

    2008-01-01

    This article proposes the existence of two types of hope which differ in terms of self-regulatory goals: prevention hope and promotion hope. Consistent with the functional emotion approach and regulatory focus theory, we show that prevention hope generates more goal-directed behavior compared to

  13. Hope and self regulatory goals applied to an advertising context : promoting prevention stimulates goal-directed behavior

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Poels, K.; Dewitte, S.; Astregaard, S.; Dwight, M.

    2007-01-01

    This article proposes the existence of two types of hope which differ in terms of self-regulatory goals: prevention hope and promotion hope. Consistent with the functional emotion approach and regulatory focus theory, we show that prevention hope generates more goal-directed behavior compared to

  14. Constitutive expression of tert in thymocytes leads to increased incidence and dissemination of T-cell lymphoma in Lck-Tert mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canela, Andrés; Martín-Caballero, Juan; Flores, Juana M; Blasco, María A

    2004-05-01

    Here we describe a new mouse model with constitutive expression of the catalytic subunit of telomerase (Tert) targeted to thymocytes and peripheral T cells (Lck-Tert mice). Two independent Lck-Tert mouse lines showed higher incidences of spontaneous T-cell lymphoma than the corresponding age-matched wild-type controls, indicating that constitutive expression of Tert promotes lymphoma. Interestingly, T-cell lymphomas in Lck-Tert mice were more disseminated than those in wild-type controls and affected both lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues, while nonlymphoid tissues were never affected with lymphoma in age-matched wild-type controls. Importantly, these roles of Tert constitutive expression in promoting tumor progression and dissemination were independent of the role of telomerase in telomere length maintenance, since telomere length distributions on a single-cell basis were identical in Lck-Tert and wild-type thymocytes. Finally, Tert constitutive expression did not interfere with telomere capping in Lck-Tert primary thymocytes, although it resulted in greater chromosomal instability upon gamma irradiation in Lck-Tert primary lymphocytes than in controls, suggesting that Tert overexpression may interfere with the cellular response to DNA damage.

  15. Directed polymers versus directed percolation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halpin-Healy, Timothy

    1998-10-01

    Universality plays a central role within the rubric of modern statistical mechanics, wherein an insightful continuum formulation rises above irrelevant microscopic details, capturing essential scaling behaviors. Nevertheless, occasions do arise where the lattice or another discrete aspect can constitute a formidable legacy. Directed polymers in random media, along with its close sibling, directed percolation, provide an intriguing case in point. Indeed, the deep blood relation between these two models may have sabotaged past efforts to fully characterize the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang universality class, to which the directed polymer belongs.

  16. We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution 2005 National Finalists' Knowledge of and Support for American Democratic Institutions and Processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Sharareh Frouzesh; Soule, Suzanne

    2005-01-01

    We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is an educational program developed by the Center for Civic Education (the Center). The program instructs students on the history and principles of American constitutional democracy with the primary goal of promoting civic competence and responsibility among the nation's elementary, middle, and…

  17. Trouble Spots in Online Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: Teaching Drug Marketers How to Inform Better or Spin Better?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doran, Evan

    2016-01-01

    Hyosun Kim’s report "Trouble Spots in Online Direct to Consumer Prescription Drug Promotion: A content Analysis of FDA Warning Letters" aims to teach marketers how to avoid breaching current Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines in their online drug promotion. While Kim hopes to minimise the potential for online promotion to misinform consumers and the study is carefully conducted, teaching drug marketers how to avoid the common mistakes in online drug promotion is more likely to make marketers more adept at spinning information than appropriately balancing it PMID:27239884

  18. Extended irreversible thermodynamics and the Jeffreys type constitutive equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Serdyukov, S.I.

    2003-01-01

    A postulate of extended irreversible thermodynamics is considered, according to which the entropy density is a function of the internal energy, the specific volume, and their material time derivatives. On the basis of this postulate, entropy balance equations and phenomenological equations are obtained, which directly lead to the Jeffreys type constitutive equations

  19. The Possibility of Vice-Presidents’ Authority Arrangement in the 1945 Constitution through Constitutional Amendment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fajar L. Suroso

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The debate over the vice-presidents’ authority reappeared in the administration of President Jokowi after the “authority expansion of the Chief of Presidency Staff” and the case of “Rizal Ramli vs Jusuf Kalla”. This article is intended to provide arguments for the idea of some parties to organize more explicit and detailed the authority of vice-president in the 1945 Constitution. The idea arises from the absence of further arrangement on the authority of vice-president in the 1945 Constitution. This article is systematized into 3 (three sub-theme; 1 the arrangement of the vice-presidents’ authority in the constitution for several countries; 2 The authority of the vice-president according to the 1945 Constitution, and 3 New resultant and the possibility of 1945 Constitution amendment. The result revealed a number of interesting things; 1 the constitutions of other countries do not specify the authority of the vice-president and put the vice-president as a “spare tire” when the president is absent; 2 no new resultant about the position and authority of the vice-president so that theoretically is not reason enough to regulate in detail the authority of the vice-president through the 1945 Constitution amendment; 3 arrangement in detail in the authority of vice-president in the 1945 Constitution holds the potential to confuse the presidential system design as the 1945 Constitution. Therefore, the possibility of vice-presidents’ authority arrangement in the 1945 Constitution through amendment is very small, both in terms of momentum and the substance of issues.

  20. Constitutional Fundamentals of Conscription and Some Aspects of the Ordinary Legal Regulation of Constitutionality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kenstavičienė Kristina

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Article 139 of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania is one of the constitutional fundamentals of state defense and stipulates the defense of the state as the right of citizens on the one hand and the duty on the other. This article of the Constitution gives the legislative power the right of discretion to detail by law the order of the implementation of citizens’ duty to perform military or alternative country defense service. Due to the reorganization of the armed forces into a professional and volunteer army, the issue of some ordinary regulation rules concerning the constitutionality of nationwide conscription, though at present suspended but not abolished, is becoming urgent. Though the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Lithuania presented their ruling on the constitutionality of the suspension of military conscription, it does not mean that all problems related to conscription have been settled. The aim of this article is to analyze the constitutional basis of nationwide conscription as well as the constitutionality of some ordinary regulation provisions related to nationwide conscription. Therefore, the issue to be analyzed is whether nationwide conscription, if it were to be implemented, complies with the constitutional principles of human equality and military justice1. Consequently, the question is posed how the constitutional objective of ensuring the defense of the state determines conscription. Because of the growing employment of the army abroad, yet the dwindling demand for conscripts, it should be explored whether the suspension of the nationwide conscription as a part of the defense reform is further feasible in order to guarantee the defense of the state. In answering the raised questions, the author will analyze the abundant and long-lasting constitutional doctrine of Germany which provides clarifications of the Basic Law, as the legal act of the establishing power, which can doubtless be of assistance in

  1. Comprehensive analysis of the MLH1 promoter region in 480 patients with colorectal cancer and 1150 controls reveals new variants including one with a heritable constitutional MLH1 epimutation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morak, Monika; Ibisler, Ayseguel; Keller, Gisela; Jessen, Ellen; Laner, Andreas; Gonzales-Fassrainer, Daniela; Locher, Melanie; Massdorf, Trisari; Nissen, Anke M; Benet-Pagès, Anna; Holinski-Feder, Elke

    2018-04-01

    Germline defects in MLH1 , MSH2 , MSH6 and PMS2 predisposing for Lynch syndrome (LS) are mainly based on sequence changes, whereas a constitutional epimutation of MLH1 (CEM) is exceptionally rare. This abnormal MLH1 promoter methylation is not hereditary when arising de novo, whereas a stably heritable and variant-induced CEM was described for one single allele. We searched for MLH1 promoter variants causing a germline or somatic methylation induction or transcriptional repression. We analysed the MLH1 promoter sequence in five different patient groups with colorectal cancer (CRC) (n=480) composed of patients with i) CEM (n=16), ii) unsolved loss of MLH1 expression in CRC (n=37), iii) CpG-island methylator-phenotype CRC (n=102), iv) patients with LS (n=83) and v) MLH1-proficient CRC (n=242) as controls. 1150 patients with non-LS tumours also served as controls to correctly judge the results. We detected 10 rare MLH1 promoter variants. One novel, complex MLH1 variant c.-63_-58delins18 is present in a patient with CRC with CEM and his sister, both showing a complete allele-specific promoter methylation and transcriptional silencing. The other nine promoter variants detected in 17 individuals were not associated with methylation. For four of these, a normal, biallelic MLH1 expression was found in the patients' cDNA. We report the second promoter variant stably inducing a hereditary CEM. Concerning the classification of promoter variants, we discuss contradictory results from the literature for two variants, describe classification discrepancies between existing rules for five variants, suggest the (re-)classification of five promoter variants to (likely) benign and regard four variants as functionally unclear. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  2. Questions concerning constitutional law - Lander administration on behalf of the Federal Government

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ossenbuehl, F.

    1991-01-01

    The lecture gives a basic perspective of a reform of the Laender administration on behalf of the Federal Government and first covers its nature, purpose and structure with respect to the atomic energy administration after the latest decisions of the Federal Constitutional Court. There follows a section on the constitutional and administrative reality of the Laender administration on behalf of the Federal Government as applied to atomic energy law, in which three conflict cases are pointed out. The last section gives an appraisal from the points of view of loyalty in execution, instruments of control (general administrative regulations - single directives - general directives), scope of the Laender administration on behalf of the Federal Government. It is determined whether the situations envisaged by the norms coincide with reality, where there are deficits and how they can be ameliorated by reform. As the Laender administration on behalf of the Federal Government is shaped on constitutional law it is only periphally accessible to an amendment of atomic energy law through normal legislation. (HSCH) [de

  3. Characterization of a Lactococcus lactis promoter for heterologous protein production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christian E. Ogaugwu

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Constitutively active promoter elements for heterologous protein production in Lactococcus lactis are scarce. Here, the promoter of the PTS-IIC gene cluster from L. lactis NZ3900 is described. This promoter was cloned upstream of an enhanced green fluorescent protein, GFPmut3a, and transformed into L. lactis. Transformants produced up to 13.5 μg of GFPmut3a per milliliter of log phase cells. Addition of cellobiose further increased the production of GFPmut3a by up to two-fold when compared to glucose. Analysis of mutations at two specific positions in the PTS-IIC promoter showed that a ‘T’ to ‘G’ mutation within the −35 element resulted in constitutive expression in glucose, while a ‘C’ at nucleotide 7 in the putative cre site enhanced promoter activity in cellobiose. Finally, this PTS-IIC promoter is capable of mediating protein expression in Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli Nissle 1917, suggesting the potential for future biotechnological applications of this element and its derivatives.

  4. Modeling flow stress constitutive behavior of SA508-3 steel for nuclear reactor pressure vessels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sun Mingyue, E-mail: mysun@imr.ac.cn [Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016 (China); Luhan, Hao; Shijian, Li; Dianzhong, Li; Yiyi, Li [Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 72 Wenhua Road, Shenyang 110016 (China)

    2011-11-15

    Highlights: > A series of flow stress constitutive equations for SA508-3 steel were successfully established. > The experimental results under different conditions have validated the constitutive equations. > An industrial application of the model was present to simulate a large conical shell forging process. - Abstract: Based on the measured stress-strain curves under different temperatures and strain rates, a series of flow stress constitutive equations for SA508-3 steel were firstly established through the classical theories on work hardening and softening. The comparison between the experimental and modeling results has confirmed that the established constitutive equations can correctly describe the mechanical responses and microstructural evolutions of the steel under various hot deformation conditions. We further represented a successful industrial application of this model to simulate a forging process for a large conical shell used in a nuclear steam generator, which evidences its practical and promising perspective of our model with an aim of widely promoting the hot plasticity processing for heavy nuclear components of fission reactors.

  5. Direct interactions of OCA-B and TFII-I regulate immunoglobulin heavy-chain gene transcription by facilitating enhancer-promoter communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Xiaodi; Siegel, Rachael; Kim, Unkyu; Roeder, Robert G

    2011-05-06

    B cell-specific coactivator OCA-B, together with Oct-1/2, binds to octamer sites in promoters and enhancers to activate transcription of immunoglobulin (Ig) genes, although the mechanisms underlying their roles in enhancer-promoter communication are unknown. Here, we demonstrate a direct interaction of OCA-B with transcription factor TFII-I, which binds to DICE elements in Igh promoters, that affects transcription at two levels. First, OCA-B relieves HDAC3-mediated Igh promoter repression by competing with HDAC3 for binding to promoter-bound TFII-I. Second, and most importantly, Igh 3' enhancer-bound OCA-B and promoter-bound TFII-I mediate promoter-enhancer interactions, in both cis and trans, that are important for Igh transcription. These and other results reveal an important function for OCA-B in Igh 3' enhancer function in vivo and strongly favor an enhancer mechanism involving looping and facilitated factor recruitment rather than a tracking mechanism. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Activity of platinum/carbon and palladium/carbon catalysts promoted by Ni2 P in direct ethanol fuel cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Guoqiang; Feng, Ligang; Chang, Jinfa; Wickman, Björn; Grönbeck, Henrik; Liu, Changpeng; Xing, Wei

    2014-12-01

    Ethanol is an alternative fuel for direct alcohol fuel cells, in which the electrode materials are commonly based on Pt or Pd. Owing to the excellent promotion effect of Ni2 P that was found in methanol oxidation, we extended the catalyst system of Pt or Pd modified by Ni2 P in direct ethanol fuel cells. The Ni2 P-promoted catalysts were compared to commercial catalysts as well as to reference catalysts promoted with only Ni or only P. Among the studied catalysts, Pt/C and Pd/C modified by Ni2 P (30 wt %) showed both the highest activity and stability. Upon integration into the anode of a homemade direct ethanol fuel cell, the Pt-Ni2 P/C-30 % catalyst showed a maximum power density of 21 mW cm(-2) , which is approximately two times higher than that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The Pd-Ni2 P/C-30 % catalyst exhibited a maximum power density of 90 mW cm(-2) . This is approximately 1.5 times higher than that of a commercial Pd/C catalyst. The discharge stability on both two catalysts was also greatly improved over a 12 h discharge operation. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  7. The Promotion of Foreign Direct Investment into Japan - The Measures' Impact on FDI Series

    OpenAIRE

    Maiko Wada

    2005-01-01

    At the occasion of delivering the fiscal year 2003 policy speech, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed to double foreign direct investment (hereafter, FDI) stock into Japan within five years to revitalize the Japanese economy. Against this background, various measures aimed at promoting FDI into Japan have been investigated and implemented by the government and concerned ministries. A number of significant measures implemented in the most recent years to improve the investment environmen...

  8. 78 FR 57777 - Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week, 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-19

    ... strength of our common ideals. In a document that has endured for more than two and a quarter centuries, the Framers put forth their vision for a more perfect Union. Our Constitution was signed on September... citizenship, recognize the enduring strength of our Constitution, and reaffirm our commitment to the rights...

  9. Change of position of constitutional judiciary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Orlović Slobodan P.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Constitutional judiciary is the youngest branch of authority in the horizontal level of state power. Constitutional judiciary has, during its existence - during two centuries as an ordinary court and during one century as a special authority, changed its position, role and importance. Those characteristics of constitutional judiciary had an increasing way - the position became better, in political and law sense, its role has expanded and the importance has increased. Today, constitutional judiciary is an inevitable subject of constitutional regimes in huge number of states (between them are almost all federations but, in the same time, constitutional judiciary is an authority which is at least limited by the constitution. The constitution is "soft" to the constitutional judiciary because the judiciary interpreted the constitution in accordance to its political and law attitudes, hidden by the guise of protection. Different separation of power, a rise of executive power, requests for better protections of fundamental human rights, a changed role of state and executive power, altogether, have influenced to change of position of constitutional judiciary.

  10. Constitutive behavior of as-cast AA1050, AA3104, and AA5182

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Haaften, W. M.; Magnin, B.; Kool, W. H.; Katgerman, L.

    2002-07-01

    Recent thermomechanical modeling to calculate the stress field in industrially direct-chill (DC) cast-aluminum slabs has been successful, but lack of material data limits the accuracy of these calculations. Therefore, the constitutive behavior of three aluminum alloys (AA1050, AA3104, and AA5182) was determined in the as-cast condition using tensile tests at low strain rates and from room temperature to solidus temperature. The parameters of two constitutive equations, the extended Ludwik equation and a combination of the Sellars-Tegart equation with a hardening law, were determined. In order to study the effect of recovery, the constitutive behavior after prestraining at higher temperatures was also investigated. To evaluate the quantified constitutive equations, tensile tests were performed simulating the deformation and cooling history experienced by the material during casting. It is concluded that both constitutive equations perform well, but the combined hardening-Sellars-Tegart (HST) equation has temperature-independent parameters, which makes it easier to implement in a DC casting model. Further, the deformation history of the ingot should be taken into account for accurate stress calculations.

  11. Contested constitutions: Legitimacy of constitution-making and constitutional conflict in Central Europe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Raadt, J.B.

    2009-01-01

    What were the effects of constitution-making procedures on the acceptance of the new "rules of the political game" in postcommunist Central Europe? This article sets out to scrutinise the increasingly popular claim among politicians and scholars of democratisation that inclusiveness and popular

  12. Constitutional Referendums:A Theoretical Enquiry

    OpenAIRE

    Tierney, Stephen

    2009-01-01

    In recent decades the use of referendums to settle major constitutional questions has increased dramatically. Addressing this phenomenon as a case study in the relationship between democracy and constitutional sovereignty, this article has two aims.The first is to argue that these constitutional referendums are categorically different from ordinary, legislative referendums, and that this has important implications for theories of constitutional sovereignty. Secondly, the article suggests that...

  13. Constitutional Challenge to Dormitory Residency Requirements: End of the Tunnel?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Omer Lee, Jr.; Irving, Joe D.

    1976-01-01

    Since 1969 dormitory residency requirements have been under constitutional challenge. This discussion suggests a judicial trend supporting the requirements has been established. Housing administrators should note that not every requirement has been upheld and that the present trend is no guarantee against a future reversal of direction by the…

  14. The main directions of banking products promotion in the banking marketing system in Russian commercial banks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Markova O.M.

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available the article is devoted to the research of directions of client-oriented approach application during bank products promotion in Russian banks. Attention is paid to the development of electronic banking, social networks through which consumers receive the necessary information about beneficial offers and special conditions for providing banking services.

  15. Constitutional reform as process

    OpenAIRE

    Schultze, Rainer-Olaf (Prof.)

    2000-01-01

    Constitutional reform as process. - In: The politics of constitutional reform in North America / Rainer-Olaf Schultze ... (eds.). - Opladen : Leske + Budrich, 2000. - S. 11-31. - (Politikwissenschaftliche paperbacks ; 30)

  16. Post-Revolution Constitutionalism: The Impact of Drafting Processes on the Constitutional Documents in Tunisia and Egypt

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Elsayed, Ahmed Mohamed Abdelfattah

    2014-01-01

    This paper seeks to address the constitutional paths that followed the Arab awakening in both Tunisia and Egypt. The Tunisian constitutional process, despite some tensions, was largely peaceful and consensual. On the other hand, the process in Egypt of establishing a new constitutional arrangement...... at identifying the factors have impacted both the constitutional drafting process and the popular perception of the produced constitutions in each of Tunisia and Egypt....

  17. Direct marketing of parenting programs: comparing a promotion-focused and a prevention-focused strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salari, Raziye; Backman, Anna

    2017-06-01

    : For parenting programs to achieve a public health impact, it is necessary to develop more effective marketing strategies to increase public awareness of these programs and promote parental participation. In this article, we compared a promotion-focused and a prevention-focused strategy via two studies. : We designed two ads inviting parents to participate in a universal parenting program; one ad focused on the program increasing the likelihood of positive outcomes for children (promotion-focused) and the other on the program reducing the likelihood of negative outcomes (prevention-focused). In study I, the two ads were run online simultaneously. Those who clicked on an ad were directed to a website where they could read about and sign up for the program. In study II, a community sample of 706 parents answered a questionnaire about the ads. : In study I, over 85 days, the prevention ad generated more clicks. There was no difference in the number of pages visited on the website nor in the number of parents who signed up for the program. In study II, parents showed a preference for the promotion ad, perceiving it as more relevant and rating it as more effective in getting them interested in the program. : A prevention strategy may be more effective in drawing public attention, in general. However, a promotion strategy is more likely to reach parents, in particular, and inspire them to consider participating in parenting programs. These strategies should be developed further and tested in both general and clinical populations. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

  18. The diffusion of constitutional rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goderis, B.V.G.; Versteeg, M.

    Constitutions are commonly regarded as uniquely national products, shaped by domestic ideals and politics. This paper develops and empirically investigates a novel hypothesis, which is that constitutions are also shaped by transnational influence, or “diffusion.” Constitutional rights can diffuse

  19. Implementation and verification of interface constitutive model in FLAC3D

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hai-min Wu

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Due to the complexity of soil-structure interaction, simple constitutive models typically used for interface elements in general computer programs cannot satisfy the requirements of discontinuous deformation analysis of structures that contain different interfaces. In order to simulate the strain-softening characteristics of interfaces, a nonlinear strain-softening interface constitutive model was incorporated into fast Lagrange analysis of continua in three dimensions (FLAC3D through a user-defined program in the FISH environment. A numerical simulation of a direct shear test for geosynthetic interfaces was conducted to verify that the interface model was implemented correctly. Results of the numerical tests show good agreement with the results obtained from theoretical calculations, indicating that the model incorporated into FLAC3D can simulate the nonlinear strain-softening behavior of interfaces involving geosynthetic materials. The results confirmed the validity and reliability of the improved interface model. The procedure and method of implementing an interface constitutive model into a commercial computer program also provide a reference for implementation of a new interface constitutive model in FLAC3D.

  20. Pre-salt new regulatory mark and the economic order: constitutionality analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinheiro, Marcela Brasil Pedrosa; Araujo, Mayara de Carvalho; Xavier, Yanko Marcius; Guimaraes, Patricia Borba Vilar

    2010-01-01

    The discovery of vast reserves of hydrocarbons in the pre-salt layer that extends from Espirito Santo to Santa Catarina, added with the economic and strategic value of oil and natural gas, has brought discussion about the reasonableness of the regulatory model adopted so far. Would be prudent to explore these resources through the concession model? From detailed analysis of the doctrinal and bills that aim to inaugurate the new regulatory bills, we sought to answer this question, based majorly on the principles of economic activity applied in our constitutional system. Motivated by the analysis of these constitutional principles proposed, the State is seen as a regulating agent of the economic activities, fulfilling its role to supervise, encourage and plan the direction of national economic system. The sharing model gives greater state involvement and is able to convert the wealth of pre-salt in citizenship, but only if well implemented. Thus, based on constitutional principles and the notion of development as freedom, the conclusion of this paperwork is for the constitutionality of the new regulatory bills. (author)

  1. Legitimacy of Constitutional Justice: Democracy, Constitutional Court and Theory Against Majority Interest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thaminne Nathalia Cabral Moraes e Silva

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This article has as its theme the analysis of the separation of powers and the rule of democracy, in addition to the possibility of the Constitutional Court be composed of people appointed by the President of the Republic, not fulfilling the democratic rule, and make the control of constitutionality of laws, created through democratic process. Will be answered: the separation of powers obey the democratic rule? When the Legislature fails to fulfill its function of legislating, opens the opportunity for the Supreme Court, as the Constitutional Court that is, create, through judicial activism, silent rules? That injured the democratic rule?

  2. Transgenic Expression of Constitutively Active RAC1 Disrupts Mouse Rod Morphogenesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Hongman; Bush, Ronald A.; Vijayasarathy, Camasamudram; Fariss, Robert N.; Kjellstrom, Sten; Sieving, Paul A.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose. Dominant-active RAC1 rescues photoreceptor structure in Drosophila rhodopsin-null mutants, indicating an important role in morphogenesis. This report assesses the morphogenetic effect of activated RAC1 during mammalian rod photoreceptor development using transgenic mice that express constitutively active (CA) RAC1. Methods. Transgenic mice were generated by expressing CA RAC1 under control of the Rhodopsin promoter, and morphological features of the photoreceptors were evaluated by histology, immunohistochemistry, and transmission electron microscopy. Function was evaluated by electroretinography. Potential protein partners of CA RAC1 were identified by co-immunoprecipitation of retinal extracts. Results. Constitutively active RAC1 expression in differentiating rods disrupted outer retinal lamination as early as postnatal day (P)6, and many photoreceptor cell nuclei were displaced apically into the presumptive subretinal space. These photoreceptors did not develop normal inner and outer segments and had abnormal placement of synaptic elements. Some photoreceptor nuclei were also mislocalized into the inner nuclear layer. Extensive photoreceptor degeneration was subsequently observed in the adult animal. Constitutively active RAC1 formed a complex with the polarity protein PAR6 and with microtubule motor dynein in mouse retina. The normal localization of the PAR6 complex was disrupted in CA RAC1-expressing rod photoreceptors. Conclusions. Constitutively active RAC1 had a profound negative effect on mouse rod cell viability and development. Rod photoreceptors in the CA RAC1 retina exhibited a defect in polarity and migration. Constitutively active RAC1 disrupted rod morphogenesis and gave a phenotype resembling that found in the Crumbs mutant. PAR6 and dynein are two potential downstream effectors that may be involved in CA RAC1-mediated defective mouse photoreceptor morphogenesis. PMID:24651551

  3. Legal theology in imposed constitutionalism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abat Ninet, Antoni

    2018-01-01

    The focus of this paper is the question of legitimacy, and how can we consider legitimate an imposed constitution and the subsequent constitutional principles, practices and values that go hand-in-hand with the legal and political acculturation. Constitutional texts around the world are good...

  4. Constitutive model development needs for reactor safety thermal-hydraulic codes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelly, J.M.

    1998-01-01

    This paper discusses the constitutive model development needs for our current and future generation of reactor safety thermal-hydraulic analysis codes. Rather than provide a simple 'shopping list' of models to be improved, a detailed description is given of how a constitutive model works within the computational framework of a current reactor safety code employing the two-fluid model of two-phase flow. The intent is to promote a better understanding of both the types of experiments and the instrumentation needs that will be required in the USNRCs code improvement program. First, a summary is given of the modeling considerations that need to be taken into account when developing constitutive models for use in reactor safety thermal-hydraulic codes. Specifically, the two-phase flow model should be applicable to a control volume formulation employing computational volumes with dimensions on the order of meters but containing embedded structure with a dimension on the order of a centimeter. The closure relations are then required to be suitable when averaged over such large volumes containing millions or even tens of millions of discrete fluid particles (bubbles/drops). This implies a space and time averaging procedure that neglects the intermittency observed in slug and chum turbulent two-phase flows. Furthermore, the geometries encountered in reactor systems are complex, the constitutive relations should therefore be component specific (e.g., interfacial shear in a tube does not represent that in a rod bundle nor in the downcomer). When practicable, future modeling efforts should be directed towards resolving the spatial evolution of two-phase flow patterns through the introduction of interfacial area transport equations and by modeling the individual physical processes responsible for the creation or destruction of interfacial area. Then the example of the implementation and assessment of a subcooled boiling model in a two-fluid code is given. The primary parameter

  5. Modeling flow stress constitutive behavior of SA508-3 steel for nuclear reactor pressure vessels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Mingyue; Hao Luhan; Li Shijian; Li Dianzhong; Li Yiyi

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → A series of flow stress constitutive equations for SA508-3 steel were successfully established. → The experimental results under different conditions have validated the constitutive equations. → An industrial application of the model was present to simulate a large conical shell forging process. - Abstract: Based on the measured stress-strain curves under different temperatures and strain rates, a series of flow stress constitutive equations for SA508-3 steel were firstly established through the classical theories on work hardening and softening. The comparison between the experimental and modeling results has confirmed that the established constitutive equations can correctly describe the mechanical responses and microstructural evolutions of the steel under various hot deformation conditions. We further represented a successful industrial application of this model to simulate a forging process for a large conical shell used in a nuclear steam generator, which evidences its practical and promising perspective of our model with an aim of widely promoting the hot plasticity processing for heavy nuclear components of fission reactors.

  6. Political dimension of European constitutionalism

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaplánová Patricia

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Author in the article tries to analyse different elements of document called European Constitution. Analysis is supported with theoretical framework of federalism, presented by Brezovšek. Authors is playing with idea of (confederal and international organization elements of European Constitution and their mix. They are also trying to set some connections between so called common European identity as necessary condition to give legitimacy to the European Constitution. This became important question after „votes of non-confidence“ to the European Constitution in France, despite it should be addressed already before. However, European Constitution is important document on the path of European integration and lack of support to it will slow down this process of widening and deepening European ties.

  7. COUNTERMAJORITARIAN INSTITUTIONS IN THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION OF 1993 AS AN INSTRUMENT ENSURING CONSTITUTIONAL AND POLITICAL STABILITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Shakhray

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The article enriches the discussion on the legal reasons and conditions fostering the viability of democratic constitutions by analyzing the rich experience of the Russian Constitution of 1993. Particular attention is paid to the concept of countermajoritarian institutions. The authors elaborate the idea that countermajoritarian institutions can play an important role in ensuring the viability (put in other terms, the proper balance between stability, adaptability, and dynamic development of modern democratic constitutions as well as political regimes.The article presents evidence-based data showing that the President and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation systematically acted as countermajoritarian institutions at the initial stage of the implementation of the “blueprint for the future” set down in the 1993 Russian Constitution. As a result of the activities of these institutions, strong legal frameworks were created that are necessary for the establishment of anew constitutional system of the Russian state and law.Today, the Russian Constitution of 1993 is one of the longest lasting democratic constitutions in the world (the average “life expectancy” of democratic constitutions adopted over the past 250 years is about seventeen years. The study of the countermajoritarian provisions in the 1993 Russian Constitution is of both theoretical and practical importance. In particular, the results of the study can be useful in creating efficient legal instruments for the maintenance of political stability and social development management both within sovereign states and within interstate communities.

  8. Magnetohydrodynamic pump with a system for promoting flow of fluid in one direction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lemoff, Asuncion V [Union City, CA; Lee, Abraham P [Irvine, CA

    2010-07-13

    A magnetohydrodynamic pump for pumping a fluid. The pump includes a microfluidic channel for channeling the fluid, a MHD electrode/magnet system operatively connected to the microfluidic channel, and a system for promoting flow of the fluid in one direction in the microfluidic channel. The pump has uses in the medical and biotechnology industries for blood-cell-separation equipment, biochemical assays, chemical synthesis, genetic analysis, drug screening, an array of antigen-antibody reactions, combinatorial chemistry, drug testing, medical and biological diagnostics, and combinatorial chemistry. The pump also has uses in electrochromatography, surface micromachining, laser ablation, inkjet printers, and mechanical micromilling.

  9. A developmental perspective on the ideal of reason in American constitutional law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dailey, Anne C

    2005-01-01

    The ideal of reason is central to contemporary accounts of citizenship in American constitutional law. The individual capacity for reasoned choice lies closely aligned with the constitutional values of personal liberty and democratic self-government as they have evolved in Supreme Court decisions over the past century. Yet as presently conceived, the ideal of reason in constitutional law overlooks the process by which individuals actually acquire the capacity to choose their own values and commitments or to engage in reasoned thinking about collective ends. This paper argues that we cannot hope to sustain and foster a constitutional polity committed to the principles of individual liberty and democratic self-government without knowing something about how individual citizens come to possess this requisite skill of mind. A developmental perspective on reason in constitutional law provides a framework for examining the source and contours of the psychological skills that make it possible to lead an autonomous, self-directed life and to participate meaningfully in the processes of democratic self-government. Developmental psychology, together with research in related fields, provides empirical support for the proposition that the psychological capacity for reasoned thinking has its roots in the early caregiving relationship. Thus, a comprehensive and integrated constitutional family law must recognize the role of early caregiving in the political socialization of children. This developmental approach offers a substantial reworking of constitutional doctrine in the areas of family privacy, parental rights, congressional power, and affirmative welfare rights.

  10. The power of direct context as revealed by eye tracking: A model tracks relative attention to competing editorial and promotional content

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Smit, E.G.; Boerman, S.C.; van Meurs, L.

    2015-01-01

    Many previous studies on attention have ignored the eye-catching potential of 'direct context'—the entire promotional and editorial content an observer can view at the same time—in print media. In the current study, characteristics of 183 magazine advertisements and their direct context were coded

  11. WEBSITES AS A PROMOTING TOOL FOR THE IDENTITY OF TOURISTIC DESTINATIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francisco Vicente Sales Melo

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Since its advent, the Internet has become an important tool for tourism. Furthermore, some studies tend to indicate that this may contribute directly to the process of identity formation of a tourism destination. Thus, this paper investigates how websites can help in promoting the identity of tourist destinations on the Internet. The study is characterized as exploratory qualitative in nature, which is constituted from a desk research. It was possible to verify that the website is a key means for managing the identity of a tourist destination, as this can help visitors to form a positive image of the place being visited from the information that makes up the identity of the destination.

  12. CD13-positive bone marrow-derived myeloid cells promote angiogenesis, tumor growth, and metastasis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dondossola, Eleonora; Rangel, Roberto; Guzman-Rojas, Liliana; Barbu, Elena M; Hosoya, Hitomi; St John, Lisa S; Molldrem, Jeffrey J; Corti, Angelo; Sidman, Richard L; Arap, Wadih; Pasqualini, Renata

    2013-12-17

    Angiogenesis is fundamental to tumorigenesis and an attractive target for therapeutic intervention against cancer. We have recently demonstrated that CD13 (aminopeptidase N) expressed by nonmalignant host cells of unspecified types regulate tumor blood vessel development. Here, we compare CD13 wild-type and null bone marrow-transplanted tumor-bearing mice to show that host CD13(+) bone marrow-derived cells promote cancer progression via their effect on angiogenesis. Furthermore, we have identified CD11b(+)CD13(+) myeloid cells as the immune subpopulation directly regulating tumor blood vessel development. Finally, we show that these cells are specifically localized within the tumor microenvironment and produce proangiogenic soluble factors. Thus, CD11b(+)CD13(+) myeloid cells constitute a population of bone marrow-derived cells that promote tumor progression and metastasis and are potential candidates for the development of targeted antiangiogenic drugs.

  13. The Obligations on Government and Society in our Constitutional State to Respect and Support Independent Constitutional Structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LWH Ackermann

    2000-05-01

    Full Text Available Constitutional democracy recognises the ancient democratic principle that government of a country is based on and legitimated by the will and consent of the governed, which is determined by regular multi-party elections based on universal adult franchise. Constitutional democracy limits this principle by subjecting the democratically elected government and the will of the majority subject to a written constitution and the norms embodied in it. Such constitution is enshrined as the supreme law of the country in question. An almost universal feature of modern constitutionalism is a Bill of Rights that forms part of the Constitution and which is designed to protect and enforce individual rights principally, although not exclusively, against the state. Constitutionalism also embodies the principle of the separation of powers. A competent and independent judiciary, with the power to review all legislative and executive conduct that is inconsistent with the Constitution, is regarded, almost universally, as the prime and most effective check on the legislative and executive branches of government. Recently it has come to be realised that for the truly effective and meaningful operation of constitutionalism, other independent state institutions are necessary. The collective objective of these institutions is to ensure that the Constitution in fact produces what it proclaims: that constitutionalism becomes a way of life in all institutional structures. The South African Constitution has clearly designated the judiciary as the prime upholder and enforcer of the Constitution. The Constitution has, however, gone further and makes provision for a variety of independent state institutions whose purpose is to "strengthen constitutional democracy in the Republic". Apart from these state institutions the Constitution also makes provision for other independent bodies designed to play an important checking and balancing role. The regular effective functioning of

  14. Governmental control of public expenditure in the constitutional State: thoughts regarding General Comptroller sanctioning powers approval on functional administrative responsibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika García Cobián Castro

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Constitutional doctrine has little addressed on the General Comptroller of the Republic and its controlling function of public resources execution and management. Efforts have been made to explain this situation in other realities, regarding high budgetary, accounting and auditing content needed to carry out auditing activities constitutionally assigned to this kind of entities. Nevertheless, identifying competences of the General Comptroller of the Republic and its nature of autonomous constitutional body shapes an important expression of Constitutional State and the principle of powers division. This entity controls State’s Public Budget execution contributing to constitutional property protection, legality of budget implementation and the appropriate management of public resources, also the «efficiency» of social needs, proper functioning of public administration and prevention of corruption, among others duties. This article analyzes the constitutional mission of the General Comptroller in a Constitutional State promoting the process of given a constitutional status to the legal system in its area of influence, also optimizing constitutional properties protected. For such purpose, the 29622 recent law («Law that modifies the 27785 Organic Law of National Control System and the General Comptroller of the Republic extending powers in order to sanction in accordance of functional administrative responsibility» shall be used as object of constitutional analysis.

  15. On the Constitution and the Constitutions in Contemporary Egypt (2011-2014: Analysis and Early Thoughts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Carlos Castañeda Reyes

    2016-01-01

    world witnessed, a testament to what massive popular participation can attain. We believe the Constitution has true potential to guide the forces of change in the country. Therefore, the struggle for “bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity” will continue and is actually continuing in the Nile country via constitutional and non-constitutional means.

  16. Clinical Requirements in the Implementation of the European Medical Exposure Directive

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ringertz, H.

    2000-01-01

    The requirements of Directive 97/43/EURATOM are specific and explicit. There are significant resource implications at hospital, academic and state levels in order to comply with the Directive. At hospital level, implications for rapid patient throughput as is currently required need to be addressed. A key element in improving radiation protection at hospital level is a properly constituted and functioning Radiation Safety Committee including members from departments involved in the use of ionising radiation. It should promote quality assurance programmes and receive reports and may also be responsible for audit of radiation procedures and outcomes. The primary objective should be to put satisfactory arrangements in place at local and national level. This will prove challenging in the time scale provided given the rigorous requirements of the Directives. Harmonisation of radiation protection arrangements across Europe is a long-term ambition as diversity of medical, legal and social legislation within the EU is considerable. (author)

  17. Modulating ectopic gene expression levels by using retroviral vectors equipped with synthetic promoters

    OpenAIRE

    Ferreira, Joshua P.; Peacock, Ryan W. S.; Lawhorn, Ingrid E. B.; Wang, Clifford L.

    2011-01-01

    The human cytomegalovirus and elongation factor 1α promoters are constitutive promoters commonly employed by mammalian expression vectors. These promoters generally produce high levels of expression in many types of cells and tissues. To generate a library of synthetic promoters capable of generating a range of low, intermediate, and high expression levels, the TATA and CAAT box elements of these promoters were mutated. Other promoter variants were also generated by random mutagenesis. Evalua...

  18. Nac1 promotes self-renewal of embryonic stem cells through direct transcriptional regulation of c-Myc.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruan, Yan; He, Jianrong; Wu, Wei; He, Ping; Tian, Yanping; Xiao, Lan; Liu, Gaoke; Wang, Jiali; Cheng, Yuda; Zhang, Shuo; Yang, Yi; Xiong, Jiaxiang; Zhao, Ke; Wan, Ying; Huang, He; Zhang, Junlei; Jian, Rui

    2017-07-18

    The pluripotency transcriptional network in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is composed of distinct functional units including the core and Myc units. It is hoped that dissection of the cellular functions and interconnections of network factors will aid our understanding of ESC and cancer biology. Proteomic and genomic approaches have identified Nac1 as a member of the core pluripotency network. However, previous studies have predominantly focused on the role of Nac1 in psychomotor stimulant response and cancer pathogenesis. In this study, we report that Nac1 is a self-renewal promoting factor, but is not required for maintaining pluripotency of ESCs. Loss of function of Nac1 in ESCs results in a reduced proliferation rate and an enhanced differentiation propensity. Nac1 overexpression promotes ESC proliferation and delays ESC differentiation in the absence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF). Furthermore, we demonstrated that Nac1 directly binds to the c-Myc promoter and regulates c-Myc transcription. The study also revealed that the function of Nac1 in promoting ESC self-renewal appears to be partially mediated by c-Myc. These findings establish a functional link between the core and c-Myc-centered networks and provide new insights into mechanisms of stemness regulation in ESCs and cancer.

  19. Isolation and sequencing analysis on the seed-specific promoter from soybean

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    CAIYIN Qinggele; LI Mingchun; WEI Dongsheng; CAI Yi; XING Laijun

    2007-01-01

    The low level of foreign genes' expression in transgenic plants is a key factor that limits plant genetic engineering.Because of the critical regulatory activity of the promoters on gene transcription,they are studied extensively to improve the efficiency of the plant transgenic system.The constitutive promoters,such as CaMV 35S promoter,are usually used in plant genetic engineering.But those constitutive promoters continuously express their downstream genes during the whole life span in all the tissues of the host plants.This is not only wasteful to host plant's energy,but also harmful to host plants and usually affects their agronomic characteristics.In contrast,the seed-specific promoter only expresses its downstream genes from mid to late stage of seed maturation,and there is no expression or much lower expression in other tissues.So the seed-specific promoters are distinguished for their improvement and what they have brought to plant quality engineering.The aim of this article is to characterize a new seed-specific promoter and improve grain quality.The promoter region of β-conglycinin α-subunit gene was isolated from the genomic DNA of soybean Jilin 43 by PCR method,and successfully extended this fragment by TAIL PCR method and obtained the promoter fragment BCSP666.Sequencing analysis showed that the cloned fragment BCSP666 contained all of the motifs,such as RY repeat element,AG/CCCCA motif,TACACAT motif,ACGTmotif,A/T rich motif and E-box etc.,which constituted the seed-specific promoter activity.Based on this sequencing analysis,the seed-specific promoter activity of the fragment BCSP666 was predicted.And then the seed-specific expression vector pBI121-666,which contained GUS reporter gene,was constructed with the fragment BCSP666.Transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana plants by Agrobacterium-mediated floral-dip method with the recombined vector pBI121-666was conducted.The transgenic plants were selected on the kanamycin-resistant MS medium

  20. ECHR and national constitutional courts

    OpenAIRE

    Nastić, Maja

    2015-01-01

    Comprising fundamental rights and freedoms and establishing the effective control system, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) encroaches upon the area that is traditional reserved for constitutional law. Although built on the doctrine reserved for international treaty law, the Convention goes beyond the traditional boundaries that exist between international and constitutional law. It has gradually infiltrated into the national legal systems. Constitutional courts have had the cruc...

  1. The U.S. Constitution in Today's World.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick, John J.

    A comparative study of constitutions and governments in world history is a key to deeper understanding of the U.S. Constitution. While many countries have constitutions, the United States is among a minority of nations in today's world that has a constitutional government. Many nations' constitutions truly guarantee few protections of individual…

  2. Transitional processes: Territorial organization of authorities and the future constitution of Serbia comparative analysis of five constitutional models

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Despotović Ljubiša M.

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the authors give a comparative analysis of territorial organization of authorities in five constitutional models for Serbia. The paper consists of the following chapters: Introduction, Outline of the Constitution of Kingdom of Serbia, Basic Principles of the New Constitution of Serbia - DSS, Outline of Constitution of Republic of Serbia - DS Constitutional Solutions for Serbia - BCLJP, Project of Constitution of Republic of Serbia - Forum iuris, Conclusion. The analysis of territorial organization of authorities has been seen in the context of the processes of transition and archiving the important principles of civil society and civil autonomies.

  3. Constitution and religiosity of/in the constitutional order of the National Socialist Empire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Velez, Pedro

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In this article, we will analyse the National Socialist regime as a politico-constitutional reality. We will do it from a new way of looking at politico-constitutional phenomena, interpreting them as registered in a religious grounding. It seeks to show that the National Socialist regime was characterised by having identified the political community – a racially interpreted and raised community to the Absolute – with an empirical historic personality regarded as eminently communitarian. It suggests that the regime constitutes a sui generis case, either in a context of regimes conventionally classified as "right-wing authoritarian and/or totalitarian" or in a larger context of contemporary politics.

  4. A physically-based constitutive model for SA508-III steel: Modeling and experimental verification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dong, Dingqian; Chen, Fei; Cui, Zhenshan

    2015-01-01

    Due to its good toughness and high weldability, SA508-III steel has been widely used in the components manufacturing of reactor pressure vessels (RPV) and steam generators (SG). In this study, the hot deformation behaviors of SA508-III steel are investigated by isothermal hot compression tests with forming temperature of (950–1250)°C and strain rate of (0.001–0.1)s −1 , and the corresponding flow stress curves are obtained. According to the experimental results, quantitative analysis of work hardening and dynamic softening behaviors is presented. The critical stress and critical strain for initiation of dynamic recrystallization are calculated by setting the second derivative of the third order polynomial. Based on the classical stress–dislocation relation and the kinetics of dynamic recrystallization, a two-stage constitutive model is developed to predict the flow stress of SA508-III steel. Comparisons between the predicted and measured flow stress indicate that the established physically-based constitutive model can accurately characterize the hot deformations for the steel. Furthermore, a successful numerical simulation of the industrial upsetting process is carried out by implementing the developed constitutive model into a commercial software, which evidences that the physically-based constitutive model is practical and promising to promote industrial forging process for nuclear components

  5. A physically-based constitutive model for SA508-III steel: Modeling and experimental verification

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dong, Dingqian [National Die & Mold CAD Engineering Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Rd., Shanghai 200030 (China); Chen, Fei, E-mail: feechn@gmail.com [National Die & Mold CAD Engineering Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Rd., Shanghai 200030 (China); Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD (United Kingdom); Cui, Zhenshan, E-mail: cuizs@sjtu.edu.cn [National Die & Mold CAD Engineering Research Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 1954 Huashan Rd., Shanghai 200030 (China)

    2015-05-14

    Due to its good toughness and high weldability, SA508-III steel has been widely used in the components manufacturing of reactor pressure vessels (RPV) and steam generators (SG). In this study, the hot deformation behaviors of SA508-III steel are investigated by isothermal hot compression tests with forming temperature of (950–1250)°C and strain rate of (0.001–0.1)s{sup −1}, and the corresponding flow stress curves are obtained. According to the experimental results, quantitative analysis of work hardening and dynamic softening behaviors is presented. The critical stress and critical strain for initiation of dynamic recrystallization are calculated by setting the second derivative of the third order polynomial. Based on the classical stress–dislocation relation and the kinetics of dynamic recrystallization, a two-stage constitutive model is developed to predict the flow stress of SA508-III steel. Comparisons between the predicted and measured flow stress indicate that the established physically-based constitutive model can accurately characterize the hot deformations for the steel. Furthermore, a successful numerical simulation of the industrial upsetting process is carried out by implementing the developed constitutive model into a commercial software, which evidences that the physically-based constitutive model is practical and promising to promote industrial forging process for nuclear components.

  6. CONSTITUTIONAL INTERPRETATION OF ROMANIA: POST MODERNITY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. RATHNASWAMY

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Austria had in 1920 Constitutional Court followed by Italy in 1946, Germany in 1949, Romania in 1989, South Africa in 1991, and Ethiopia in 1995. Each Constitution has its provisions on the constitutional interpretation. Romania has its own provisions and it is considered here its legality and the best possible measures and recommendations for future. Judicial power is vested in judiciary to interpret constitution, laws, and actions of other organs of government. Judicial review is the function resulted upon judicial power. Political body joins through the appointment of its members in the judicial review and it limits the independence of judiciary. It also reduces the values of separation of powers. Challenges and opportunities of growth and development do influence the spirit of separation of powers and judicial independence. The principle of inherent judicial power in judiciary inducts upon the constitutional interpretation. Thus, the principles of constitutional interpretation are varying in Romania and other similar constitutional courts of Germany, Ethiopia, and Italy but not in South Africa.

  7. Economic Reforms and Constitutional Transition

    OpenAIRE

    Jeffrey D. Sachs; Wing Thye Woo; Xiaokai Yang

    2000-01-01

    This paper investigates the relationship between economic reforms and constitutional transition, which has been neglected by many transition economists. It is argued that assessment of reform performance might be very misleading if it is not recognized that economic reforms are just a small part of large scale of constitutional transition. Rivalry and competition between states and between political forces within each country are the driving forces for constitutional transition. We use Russia...

  8. What Is a Promotion?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pergamit, Michael R.; Veum, Jonathan R.

    1999-01-01

    For a sample of young workers, "promotion" involved no change in position or duties; promotion was more likely for males than females and Whites than Blacks or Hispanics. Company training and prior promotions were important predictors. Promotion did not appear to have a direct impact on job satisfaction. (SK)

  9. The constitutional momentum of European contract law (II): The DCFR and the European constitutional order

    OpenAIRE

    Mak, C.

    2009-01-01

    This paper analyses the potential impact of the recently published Draft Common Frame of Reference for European contract law (DCFR) on the European constitutional process. Looking at the combination of characteristics of codification and aspects of constitutionalism reflected in the DCFR, it is submitted that the further harmonisation of European contract law may contribute to the definition of the European constitutional order both on the institutional level (regarding the forms in which Eur...

  10. Constitutional relevance of atomic energy law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lettow, S.

    1980-01-01

    In a decision publicized on December 20, 1979 the German Federal Constitutional Court rejected a claim of unconstitutionality in connection with the licensing procedure of the Muelheim-Kaerlich Nuclear Power Station currently under construction. This constitutes confirmation, by the 1st Department of the Court, of a decision in 1978 by the 2nd Department about the Kalkar fast breeder power plant, in which the peaceful utilization of nuclear energy had been found to be constitutional. However, the new decision by the Federal Constitutional Court particularly emphasizes the constitutional relevance of the rules of procedure under the Atomic Energy Act and their function with respect to the protection of civil rights. (orig.) [de

  11. Promotional Strategies Direct Marketing and Technological Innovations in Banking

    OpenAIRE

    Valeria Arina BALACEANU

    2011-01-01

    Modern advertising strategies involve the use of a bank's media and consumer incentives, so that banking institution, and thus offer products/services to cause favorable changes in mentality and their consumption habits, also important is the establishment an effective communication with employees, shareholders, competitors. Promotion strategies are essential to business success. Success is guaranteed if the message is sent to the right people at the right time. Promotion has a special place ...

  12. Constitutional aneuploidy and cancer predisposition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganmore, Ithamar; Smooha, Gil; Izraeli, Shai

    2009-04-15

    Constitutional aneuploidies are rare syndromes associated with multiple developmental abnormalities and the alterations in the risk for specific cancers. Acquired somatic chromosomal aneuploidies are the most common genetic aberrations in sporadic cancers. Thus studies of these rare constitutional aneuploidy syndromes are important not only for patient counseling and clinical management, but also for deciphering the mechanisms by which chromosomal aneuploidy affect cancer initiation and progression. Here we review the major constitutional aneuploidy syndromes and suggest some general mechanisms for the associated cancer predisposition.

  13. Synthesis of benzimidazoles by PIDA-promoted direct C(sp2)-H imidation of N-arylamidines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Jinbo; He, Yimiao; Wang, Yong; Zhu, Qiang

    2012-10-29

    A metal-free synthesis of diversified benzimidazoles from N-arylamidines through a phenyliodine(III) diacetate (PIDA) promoted intramolecular direct C(sp(2))-H imidation has been developed. The reaction proceeds smoothly at 0 °C or ambient temperature to provide the desired products in good to excellent yields. The synthesis of 2-alkyl- or 2-alkyl-fused benzimidazoles, which are generally inaccessible by similar Pd- or Cu-catalyzed approaches, can also be achieved. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  14. MLH1 constitutional and somatic methylation in patients with MLH1 negative tumors fulfilling the revised Bethesda criteria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crucianelli, Francesca; Tricarico, Rossella; Turchetti, Daniela; Gorelli, Greta; Gensini, Francesca; Sestini, Roberta; Giunti, Laura; Pedroni, Monica; Ponz de Leon, Maurizio; Civitelli, Serenella; Genuardi, Maurizio

    2014-10-01

    Lynch syndrome (LS) is a tumor predisposing condition caused by constitutional defects in genes coding for components of the mismatch repair (MMR) apparatus. While hypermethylation of the promoter of the MMR gene MLH1 occurs in about 15% of colorectal cancer samples, it has also been observed as a constitutional alteration, in the absence of DNA sequence mutations, in a small number of LS patients. In order to obtain further insights on the phenotypic characteristics of MLH1 epimutation carriers, we investigated the somatic and constitutional MLH1 methylation status of 14 unrelated subjects with a suspicion of LS who were negative for MMR gene constitutional mutations and whose tumors did not express the MLH1 protein. A novel case of constitutional MLH1 epimutation was identified. This patient was affected with multiple primary tumors, including breast cancer, diagnosed starting from the age of 55 y. Investigation of her offspring by allele specific expression revealed that the epimutation was not stable across generations. We also found MLH1 hypermethylation in cancer samples from 4 additional patients who did not have evidence of constitutional defects. These patients had some characteristics of LS, namely early age at onset and/or positive family history, raising the possibility of genetic influences in the establishment of somatic MLH1 methylation.

  15. [Comparative research into the process of forming the theory of constitution in ancient western medicine and that of four trigrams constitution in Korean medicine and contents of two theories of constitution].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Joo-Hong

    2009-06-01

    After conducting comparative research into the process of forming the Theory of Constitution in Ancient Western Medicine and that of Four Trigrams Constitution(Sasang Constitution) in Korean Medicine and contents of two Theories of Constitution in terms of medical history, both theories were found to be formed by an interaction between philosophy and medicine, followed by a combination of the two, on a philosophical basis. The Theory of Constitution in Ancient Western Medicine began with the Theory of Four Elements presented by Empedocles, followed by the Theory of Four Humors presented by Hippocrates and the Theory of Four Temperaments by Galenos, forming and developing the Theory of Constitution. After the Middle Ages, there was no significant advance in the Theory of Constitution by modern times ; however, it developed into the theory of constitution type of Kretschmer and others after the 19th century and into the scientific theory of constitution based on genetics presented by Garrod and others early in the 20th century. The Theory of Four Trigrams Constitution began with the Theory of Constitution in Huangdi Neijing, followed by developments and influences of existing medicine called beginning, restoration, and revival periods and DongeuisoosebowonSaSangChoBonGwon based on the original philosophy of Four Trigrams presented by Lee Je-ma, which is found in GyeokChiGo, DongMuYuGo and so on, ultimately forming and developing into the Theory of Four Trigrams Constitution in Dongeuisoosebowon. Recently, a lot of research is being conducted into making it objective in order to achieve reproducibility in diagnosis and so forth of Four Trigrams Constitution.

  16. Constitutional aneuploidy and cancer predisposition†

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganmore, Ithamar; Smooha, Gil; Izraeli, Shai

    2009-01-01

    Constitutional aneuploidies are rare syndromes associated with multiple developmental abnormalities and the alterations in the risk for specific cancers. Acquired somatic chromosomal aneuploidies are the most common genetic aberrations in sporadic cancers. Thus studies of these rare constitutional aneuploidy syndromes are important not only for patient counseling and clinical management, but also for deciphering the mechanisms by which chromosomal aneuploidy affect cancer initiation and progression. Here we review the major constitutional aneuploidy syndromes and suggest some general mechanisms for the associated cancer predisposition. PMID:19297405

  17. Culture (and religion in constitutional adjudication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C Rautenbach

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available The faculty of law of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in corroboration with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stifttung embarked on a study on Politics, Socio-Economic Issues and Culture in Constitutional Adjudication. The aim of the project is twofold. The first aim is to analyse the influence of political, socio-economic and cultural considerations on the constitutional court’s interpretation and application of the Bill of Rights. The second aim is to develop practical guidelines (based on the findings during the analysing process for South African courts confronted with issues of a political, socio-economic and cultural nature. This article is concerned with initiating discussions of the decisions of the constitutional court with regard to cultural and religious rights.Before we can explore the role of political, socio-economic and cultural (and religious rights in the decisions of the constitutional court it is important to discuss a few preliminary issues. In this article the meaning of culture and religion within the South African context receives some attention. Secondly, some preliminary comments regarding constitutional protection of culturally and religiously based rights will be made.We are well aware that this is a daunting task, not only in view of the seemingly abysmal gap between the applicable constitutional rights and values enshrined in the 1996 Constitution that, in some instances over centuries, brought about customs and practices within “traditional” communities which, seemingly, infringe on certain constitutional values and rights.

  18. Native Phytoremediation Potential of Urtica dioica for Removal of PCBs and Heavy Metals Can Be Improved by Genetic Manipulations Using Constitutive CaMV 35S Promoter.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jitka Viktorova

    Full Text Available Although stinging nettle (Urtica dioica has been shown to reduce HM (heavy metal content in soil, its wider phytoremediation potential has been neglected. Urtica dioica was cultivated in soils contaminated with HMs or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs. After four months, up to 33% of the less chlorinated biphenyls and 8% of HMs (Zn, Pb, Cd had been removed. Bacteria were isolated from the plant tissue, with the endophytic bacteria Bacillus shackletonii and Streptomyces badius shown to have the most significant effect. These bacteria demonstrated not only benefits for plant growth, but also extreme tolerance to As, Zn and Pb. Despite these results, the native phytoremediation potential of nettles could be improved by biotechnologies. Transient expression was used to investigate the functionality of the most common constitutive promoter, CaMV 35S in Urtica dioica. This showed the expression of the CUP and bphC transgenes. Collectively, our findings suggest that remediation by stinging nettle could have a much wider range of applications than previously thought.

  19. Native Phytoremediation Potential of Urtica dioica for Removal of PCBs and Heavy Metals Can Be Improved by Genetic Manipulations Using Constitutive CaMV 35S Promoter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viktorova, Jitka; Jandova, Zuzana; Madlenakova, Michaela; Prouzova, Petra; Bartunek, Vilem; Vrchotova, Blanka; Lovecka, Petra; Musilova, Lucie; Macek, Tomas

    2016-01-01

    Although stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) has been shown to reduce HM (heavy metal) content in soil, its wider phytoremediation potential has been neglected. Urtica dioica was cultivated in soils contaminated with HMs or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). After four months, up to 33% of the less chlorinated biphenyls and 8% of HMs (Zn, Pb, Cd) had been removed. Bacteria were isolated from the plant tissue, with the endophytic bacteria Bacillus shackletonii and Streptomyces badius shown to have the most significant effect. These bacteria demonstrated not only benefits for plant growth, but also extreme tolerance to As, Zn and Pb. Despite these results, the native phytoremediation potential of nettles could be improved by biotechnologies. Transient expression was used to investigate the functionality of the most common constitutive promoter, CaMV 35S in Urtica dioica. This showed the expression of the CUP and bphC transgenes. Collectively, our findings suggest that remediation by stinging nettle could have a much wider range of applications than previously thought.

  20. VALUATION IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL ERA

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Brimer

    16 ..... stem from the pre-constitutional era, and the constitutional framework and its legitimate reform efforts. A decision on what is just ...... Carroll L Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Digital Scanning Scituate MA. 2007). Dagan 1999 Va L Rev.

  1. A survey on constitutional justice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kheirollah Parvin

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The idea of supervising the conformity of statutory law with constitutional law, is due to necessities rooted in two essential principles: the supremacy of constitution and the hierarchy of the law. Constitution as the supreme law in the sense of status and legal value , is placed at the top of the legal pyramid of every political system and therefore requires a special organization and discipline that will act as the sanction of the principles and the main content incorporated in this legal instrument. this special organization and discipline known as Constitutional justice in legal Literature now and have studing in two main patterns. Firs pattern based on Supervision of courts on rules and other pattern is Apply by Emphasis on role of Political Institutions in Supervision on rules. This two patterns have common purpose but have different backgrounds and methods.

  2. A unified inelastic constitutive equation in terms of anisotropic yield function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Inoue, T.; Imatani, S.

    1989-01-01

    In order to describe the material behavior under complicated loading conditions, inelastic constitutive equations accounting for the plasticity-creep interaction have been proposed by several researchers. However, these models are developed to predict the hardening and/or softening phenomena during the inelastic deformation processes, and two important features still remain to be considered; material anisotropy induced by the prior deformation history and inelastic flow or, in another word, directionality of the inelastic strain rate. This paper deals with a unified constitutive model capable of expressing both the deformation-induced anisotropy and the anisotropic flow. In the first part of the paper, an anisotropic yield function which can simulate both the Bauschinger effect and the cross effect is proposed. Then, the excess stress theory is applied to a viscoplastic constitutive relationship so as to describe the plasticity-creep interaction behavior. The experimental verification is carried out for SUS304 stainless steel at 650 degrees C in a biaxial stress state. Moreover, a generalized flow rule of the inelastic strain rate is also developed, by which the description of the ratcheting process can be improved

  3. How do the Constitutional Courts decide?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pasquale Pasquino

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to explore the mode of production of judicial sentences drafted by constitutional courts in Europe. The natural object of study of the constitutional theory is the analysis of this final product of judicial creation of Law by Constitutional Courts. However, the doctrine has not given sufficient attention –from a comparative law perspective– to the mechanisms and procedures that lead to the decisions of these institutions. Thus, this document will classify the different types of decision-making processes in the courts, analyzing the stages that make up the «mode of production», from the study of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Constitutional Council of the French Republic, The Constitutional Court of Italy and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. At the end of the paper, some conclusions are made about the period of the magistrates, their party affiliation, the temporary restrictions of deliberation and institutional factors such as the number of attendees or the personalization of its members.

  4. Constitutionalism and Development in Nigeria: The 1999 Constitution

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Fr. Ikenga

    the 3 arms of government the Executive, Legislative, Judiciary, Public Service and Marketing .... Rotation principle of a presidency position in Nigeria which will cultivate a sense of ... the issues survived inclusion in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 13. S. 2 of Decree No. ..... Oxford, 5th Edition p.245.

  5. Validation of an instrument to measure tutor performance in promoting self-directed learning by using confirmatory factor analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Genoveva Amador Fierros

    Full Text Available Objective.This work sought to validate and propose an instrument to measure the performance of tutors in promoting self-directed learning in students involved in processes of problem-based learning. Methods. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA was applied to validate the instrument composed of 60 items and six factors (self-assessment of learning gaps within the United Nations specific context: self-assessment, reflexion, critical thinking, administration of information, group skills, using a sample of 207 students from a total of 279, which comprise the student population of the Faculty of Nursing at Universidad de Colima in Mexico. (2007. Results. The CFA results demonstrated that the instrument is acceptable to measure performance of tutors in promoting self-directed learning, given that all the indicators, variances, covariances, and thresholds are statistically significant. Conclusion. The instrument permits obtaining students' opinions on how much professors contribute for them to develop each of the 60 skills described in the scale. Lastly, the results could report if professors are placing more emphasis in some areas than in other areas they should address during the problem-based learning (PBL process, or if definitely their actions are removed from the premises of PBL, information that will be useful for school management in decision making on the direction of teaching as a whole.

  6. La légitimité de la Constitution dans la doctrine constitutionnelle japonaise The Legality of the Constitution in the Japanese constitutional Doctrine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simon Serverin

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available La Constitution japonaise, promulguée en novembre 1946 et entrée en vigueur en mai 1947, pose à la théorie constitutionnelle un certain nombre de problèmes qui ne sont toujours pas résolus. Adoptée sous occupation américaine, rédigée par les services du GHQ dirigés par le général MacArthur, la Constitution a en outre été promulguée comme une simple révision de la Charte impériale de 1889, dite Constitution de Meiji, alors que par les principes démocratiques nouveaux qu’elle instaurait, elle p...

  7. Constitutive Modelling in Geomechanics Introduction

    CERN Document Server

    Puzrin, Alexander M

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this book is to bridge the gap between the traditional Geomechanics and Numerical Geotechnical Modelling with applications in science and practice. Geomechanics is rarely taught within the rigorous context of Continuum Mechanics and Thermodynamics, while when it comes to Numerical Modelling, commercially available finite elements or finite differences software utilize constitutive relationships within the rigorous framework. As a result, young scientists and engineers have to learn the challenging subject of constitutive modelling from a program manual and often end up with using unrealistic models which violate the Laws of Thermodynamics.  The book is introductory, by no means does it claim any completeness and state of the art in such a dynamically developing field as numerical and constitutive modelling of soils. The author gives basic understanding of conventional continuum mechanics approaches to constitutive modelling, which can serve as a foundation for exploring more advanced theories....

  8. Constitutive activation of a plasma membrane H+-ATPase prevents abscisic acid-mediated stomatal closure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Merlot, Sylvain; Leonhardt, Nathalie; Fenzi, Francesca; Valon, Christiane; Costa, Miguel; Piette, Laurie; Vavasseur, Alain; Genty, Bernard; Boivin, Karine; Müller, Axel; Giraudat, Jérôme; Leung, Jeffrey

    2007-01-01

    Light activates proton (H+)-ATPases in guard cells, to drive hyperpolarization of the plasma membrane to initiate stomatal opening, allowing diffusion of ambient CO2 to photosynthetic tissues. Light to darkness transition, high CO2 levels and the stress hormone abscisic acid (ABA) promote stomatal closing. The overall H+-ATPase activity is diminished by ABA treatments, but the significance of this phenomenon in relationship to stomatal closure is still debated. We report two dominant mutations in the OPEN STOMATA2 (OST2) locus of Arabidopsis that completely abolish stomatal response to ABA, but importantly, to a much lesser extent the responses to CO2 and darkness. The OST2 gene encodes the major plasma membrane H+-ATPase AHA1, and both mutations cause constitutive activity of this pump, leading to necrotic lesions. H+-ATPases have been traditionally assumed to be general endpoints of all signaling pathways affecting membrane polarization and transport. Our results provide evidence that AHA1 is a distinct component of an ABA-directed signaling pathway, and that dynamic downregulation of this pump during drought is an essential step in membrane depolarization to initiate stomatal closure. PMID:17557075

  9. La tutela constitucional de las personas con discapacidad // The constitutional protection of persons with disabilities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Héctor Álvarez García

    2017-12-01

    The work begins with an historical journey through the different models implemented by public authorities to address the phenomenon of disability. This journey culminates with the mixed paradigm —medical and social— embodied in the Spanish Constitution of 1978. The article interprets the «social protections norms» of the Constitution, in the light of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the doctrine of the Constitutional Court, in order to determine the content and scope of constitutional protection of the capacity to act of persons with disabilities. This is essential to ensure the free development of the personality of this large group of citizens, whose lives have traditionally been governed by the will of others, if not been directly deprived of their liberty through their institutionalization.

  10. Reconstructing Dynamic Promoter Activity Profiles from Reporter Gene Data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kannan, Soumya; Sams, Thomas; Maury, Jérôme

    2018-01-01

    activity despite the fact that the observed output may be dynamic and is a number of steps away from the transcription process. In fact, some promoters that are often thought of as constitutive can show changes in activity when growth conditions change. For these reasons, we have developed a system......Accurate characterization of promoter activity is important when designing expression systems for systems biology and metabolic engineering applications. Promoters that respond to changes in the environment enable the dynamic control of gene expression without the necessity of inducer compounds......, for example. However, the dynamic nature of these processes poses challenges for estimating promoter activity. Most experimental approaches utilize reporter gene expression to estimate promoter activity. Typically the reporter gene encodes a fluorescent protein that is used to infer a constant promoter...

  11. Post-Revolution Constitutionalism: The Impact of Drafting Processes on the Constitutional Documents in Tunisia and Egypt

    OpenAIRE

    El-Sayed, Ahmed

    2014-01-01

    This paper seeks to address the constitutional paths that followed the Arab awakening in both Tunisia and Egypt. The Tunisian constitutional process, despite some tensions, was largely peaceful and consensual. On the other hand, the process in Egypt of establishing a new constitutional arrangement had been tumultuous with repercussions that are likely to linger on for a protracted period of time. Therefore, despite apparent resemblance in socio-political actors in both countries, (political I...

  12. What do health-promoting schools promote?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Simovska, Venka

    2012-01-01

    -promotion interventions. Directly or indirectly the articles reiterate the idea that health promotion in schools needs to be linked with the core task of the school – education, and to the values inherent to education, such as inclusion, democracy, participation and influence, critical literacy and action competence......Purpose – The editorial aims to provide a brief overview of the individual contributions to the special issue, and a commentary positioning the contributions within research relating to the health-promoting schools initiative in Europe. Design/methodology/approach – The members of the Schools...... for Health in Europe Research Group were invited to submit their work addressing processes and outcomes in school health promotion to this special issue of Health Education. Additionally, an open call for papers was published on the Health Education web site. Following the traditional double blind peer...

  13. Radioactive waste disposal and constitution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stober, R.

    1983-01-01

    The radioactive waste disposal has many dimensions with regard to the constitutional law. The central problem is the corret delimitation between adequate governmental precautions against risks and or the permitted risk which the state can impose on the citizen, and the illegal danger which nobody has to accept. The solution requires to consider all aspects which are relevant to the constitutional law. Therefore, the following analysis deals not only with the constitutional risks and the risks of the nuclear energy, but also with the liberal, overall-economic, social, legal, and democratic aspects of radioactive waste disposal. (HSCH) [de

  14. Economic and social rights in the Constitution of Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rapajić Milan M.

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The work is an attempt of the author to, in a relatively systematic way, presents the norms of Economic and Social Rights in the Constitution of Serbia from 2006. Before that, in the introduction the author refers to the commonplace with regard to human rights and their institutionalization, constitutionalization and internationalization. The process of institutionalization of human rights was started in England by adoption of the Great Charter of Freedoms (Magna Carta Libertatum in 1215. Constitutionalization of human rights begins with the adoption of the first ten amendments to the US Constitution in 1791. French writers of the Constitution unlike the American in Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen proclaimed certain new rights such as freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, the right to free expression of thought, right to petition or freedom of culture. At first human rights were an asset to limit state power, but with new theories by which the state can not be seen only as a political organization, but as a community that has a socio-economic content, the state must guarantee to the citizens a certain corpus of economic and social rights by Constitution. Economic, social and cultural rights are classified as second generation of rights. Economic and social rights are directed to the fact that individuals are brought to the position that they can enjoy their civil and political rights. These rights, known as social welfare, are rights based on the principles of equality and solidarity, and their purpose is, inter alia, to help to the socially vulnerable members of the community. Constitutional act, which is important for the world the constitutional recognition of these rights is the Weimar Constitution from 1919. which predicted legislative measures to implement these rights. For the internationalization of these rights very important is Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948 and the International Covenant on

  15. RECONSTRUCTION THE AUTHORITY OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ON IMPEACHMENT PROCESS OF PRESIDENT AND/OR VICE PRESIDENT IN INDONESIAN CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hezron Sabar Rotua Tinambunan

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available In the process of impeachment, Constitutional Court has the obligation to give its judgement to House of Representatives’s opinion regarding allegation of violation by the President and/or Vice President. Constitutional Court checks and judges House of Representatives’s opinion on whether or not the President and/or Vice President works fulfill Article 7A of Constitution of Republic Indonesia 1945 (UUD NRI 1945. The inspection done by Constitutional Court is the judicial process whose decision is in the form of justisil. The result of this impeachment process heavily depends on the judgement of People's Consultative Assembly in its plenary meeting which is also a politics forum, where President and/or Vice President could be dismissed or not. Constitutional Court’s judgement does not apply to People's Consultative Assembly, hence, the difference of Constitutional Court and People's Consultative Assembly’s judgement in plenary meeting that is very political by its nature is very likely to happen. Involvement of Constitutional Court in the procss of impeachment is, of course, different in each country. It depends on governance system in that particular country, it also relies on how much authority that is given by Constitution to Constitutional Court in the process of impeachment itself.

  16. Faith communities and their assets for health promotion: the views from health professionals and faith leaders in Dundee, in Scotland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fagan, Donna M; Kiger, Alice; van Teijlingen, Edwin

    2012-06-01

    Within the European Union, as well as in Canada and the United States (US), health promoters employ a number of strategies to encourage community-based health improvements. This involves the creation of innovative health promotion partnerships to support and enable people to choose and engage in healthy living practices. Compared to the US, in other Western countries, such as the United Kingdom, faith communities have largely been ignored in health promotion partnerships. This study established existing evidence about health promotion in faith communities in Scotland by examining the perceptions and attitudes concerning health promotion among faith leaders and health promotion professionals. We conducted 33 semi-structured interviews with health promotion professionals (n = 9) and representatives of Christian and non-Christian faith communities (n = 24). The majority of participants expressed an interest in the concept of health promotion in a faith community and could readily envision its application in their area of work. Both groups identified multiple physical assets, as well as social supports within faith communities that could be directed towards healthy living activities. Faith groups and church organisations may constitute potential partners and new settings to increase community capacity for health promotion. Further research and funding for demonstration projects may be particularly helpful to provide evidence of the strengths and limitations of faith-based health promotion in Scotland, which in turn could inform health promotion practice and policy.

  17. The constitutional momentum of European contract law (II): The DCFR and the European constitutional order

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mak, C.

    2009-01-01

    This paper analyses the potential impact of the recently published Draft Common Frame of Reference for European contract law (DCFR) on the European constitutional process. Looking at the combination of characteristics of codification and aspects of constitutionalism reflected in the DCFR, it is

  18. The constitutional view

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Horácio Sá Pereira

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2016v20n2p165   This brief paper is devoted to criticizing the widespread reading of Kant’s first Critique, according to which reference to subject-independent objects is “constituted” by higherorder cognitive abilities (concepts. Let us call this the “constitutional view”. In this paper, I argue that the constitutional reading confuses the un-Kantian problem of how we come to represent objects (which I call the intentionality thesis, with the quite different problem of how we cognize (erkennen (which I call the “cognition thesis” that we do represent objects, that is, things that exist independently of the subject.

  19. Essential Medicines in National Constitutions: Progress Since 2008.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katrina Perehudoff, S; Toebes, Brigit; Hogerzeil, Hans

    2016-06-01

    A constitutional guarantee of access to essential medicines has been identified as an important indicator of government commitment to the progressive realization of the right to the highest attainable standard of health. The objective of this study was to evaluate provisions on access to essential medicines in national constitutions, to identify comprehensive examples of constitutional text on medicines that can be used as a model for other countries, and to evaluate the evolution of constitutional medicines-related rights since 2008. Relevant articles were selected from an inventory of constitutional texts from WHO member states. References to states' legal obligations under international human rights law were evaluated. Twenty-two constitutions worldwide now oblige governments to protect and/or to fulfill accessibility of, availability of, and/or quality of medicines. Since 2008, state responsibilities to fulfill access to essential medicines have expanded in five constitutions, been maintained in four constitutions, and have regressed in one constitution. Government commitments to essential medicines are an important foundation of health system equity and are included increasingly in state constitutions.

  20. Unanimous Constitutional Consent and the Immigration Problem

    OpenAIRE

    Josten, Stefan D.; Zimmermann, Klaus W.

    2004-01-01

    This paper utilizes the cross-cutting cleavages approach to evaluate the probability of a unanimous constitutional consent and, based on these results, discusses the implications of immigration on an existing constitutional consent. It is shown that previous conclusions of beneficial effects stemming from a multitude of political dimensions for a unanimous constitutional consent crucially depend on the assumption of an extreme mode of intrapersonal compensation of constitutional majority and ...

  1. Analysis on constitution of American college republicans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Minghua Su

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper, based on internet survey and comparative analysis, according to the firsthand materials, comprehensively and systematically probes the formation of the constitution form and structure, and analyzes its contents of Constitution of American College Republicans among 15 colleges respectively, which includes the illustration of constitution, membership, personnel, meeting, financial amendment, etc. Finally, this essay analyzes the characteristics of constitution of college republicans and its advantages.

  2. Crushed Salt Constitutive Model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callahan, G.D.

    1999-01-01

    The constitutive model used to describe the deformation of crushed salt is presented in this report. Two mechanisms -- dislocation creep and grain boundary diffusional pressure solution -- are combined to form the basis for the constitutive model governing the deformation of crushed salt. The constitutive model is generalized to represent three-dimensional states of stress. Upon complete consolidation, the crushed-salt model reproduces the Multimechanism Deformation (M-D) model typically used for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) host geological formation salt. New shear consolidation tests are combined with an existing database that includes hydrostatic consolidation and shear consolidation tests conducted on WIPP and southeastern New Mexico salt. Nonlinear least-squares model fitting to the database produced two sets of material parameter values for the model -- one for the shear consolidation tests and one for a combination of the shear and hydrostatic consolidation tests. Using the parameter values determined from the fitted database, the constitutive model is validated against constant strain-rate tests. Shaft seal problems are analyzed to demonstrate model-predicted consolidation of the shaft seal crushed-salt component. Based on the fitting statistics, the ability of the model to predict the test data, and the ability of the model to predict load paths and test data outside of the fitted database, the model appears to capture the creep consolidation behavior of crushed salt reasonably well

  3. CINPA1 Is an Inhibitor of Constitutive Androstane Receptor That Does Not Activate Pregnane X Receptor

    OpenAIRE

    Cherian, Milu T; Lin, Wenwei; Wu, Jing; Chen, Taosheng

    2015-01-01

    Constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) are xenobiotic sensors that enhance the detoxification and elimination of xenobiotics and endobiotics by modulating the expression of genes encoding drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters. Elevated levels of drug-metabolizing enzymes and efflux transporters, resulting from CAR activation in various cancers, promote the elimination of chemotherapeutic agents, leading to reduced therapeutic effectiveness and acquired drug ...

  4. Mediator, TATA-binding Protein, and RNA Polymerase II Contribute to Low Histone Occupancy at Active Gene Promoters in Yeast*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansari, Suraiya A.; Paul, Emily; Sommer, Sebastian; Lieleg, Corinna; He, Qiye; Daly, Alexandre Z.; Rode, Kara A.; Barber, Wesley T.; Ellis, Laura C.; LaPorta, Erika; Orzechowski, Amanda M.; Taylor, Emily; Reeb, Tanner; Wong, Jason; Korber, Philipp; Morse, Randall H.

    2014-01-01

    Transcription by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in eukaryotes requires the Mediator complex, and often involves chromatin remodeling and histone eviction at active promoters. Here we address the role of Mediator in recruitment of the Swi/Snf chromatin remodeling complex and its role, along with components of the preinitiation complex (PIC), in histone eviction at inducible and constitutively active promoters in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that recruitment of the Swi/Snf chromatin remodeling complex to the induced CHA1 promoter, as well as its association with several constitutively active promoters, depends on the Mediator complex but is independent of Mediator at the induced MET2 and MET6 genes. Although transcriptional activation and histone eviction at CHA1 depends on Swi/Snf, Swi/Snf recruitment is not sufficient for histone eviction at the induced CHA1 promoter. Loss of Swi/Snf activity does not affect histone occupancy of several constitutively active promoters; in contrast, higher histone occupancy is seen at these promoters in Mediator and PIC component mutants. We propose that an initial activator-dependent, nucleosome remodeling step allows PIC components to outcompete histones for occupancy of promoter sequences. We also observe reduced promoter association of Mediator and TATA-binding protein in a Pol II (rpb1-1) mutant, indicating mutually cooperative binding of these components of the transcription machinery and indicating that it is the PIC as a whole whose binding results in stable histone eviction. PMID:24727477

  5. Analysis of Microbe-Associated Molecular Pattern-Responsive Synthetic Promoters with the Parsley Protoplast System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanofsky, Konstantin; Lehmeyer, Mona; Schulze, Jutta; Hehl, Reinhard

    2016-01-01

    Plants recognize pathogens by microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs) and subsequently induce an immune response. The regulation of gene expression during the immune response depends largely on cis-sequences conserved in promoters of MAMP-responsive genes. These cis-sequences can be analyzed by constructing synthetic promoters linked to a reporter gene and by testing these constructs in transient expression systems. Here, the use of the parsley (Petroselinum crispum) protoplast system for analyzing MAMP-responsive synthetic promoters is described. The synthetic promoter consists of four copies of a potential MAMP-responsive cis-sequence cloned upstream of a minimal promoter and the uidA reporter gene. The reporter plasmid contains a second reporter gene, which is constitutively expressed and hence eliminates the requirement of a second plasmid used as a transformation control. The reporter plasmid is transformed into parsley protoplasts that are elicited by the MAMP Pep25. The MAMP responsiveness is validated by comparing the reporter gene activity from MAMP-treated and untreated cells and by normalizing reporter gene activity using the constitutively expressed reporter gene.

  6. Esrrb directly binds to Gata6 promoter and regulates its expression with Dax1 and Ncoa3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uranishi, Kousuke; Akagi, Tadayuki; Koide, Hiroshi; Yokota, Takashi

    2016-01-01

    Estrogen-related receptor beta (Esrrb) is expressed in embryonic stem (ES) cells and is involved in self-renewal ability and pluripotency. Previously, we found that Dax1 is associated with Esrrb and represses its transcriptional activity. Further, the disruption of the Dax1–Esrrb interaction increases the expression of the extra-embryonic endoderm marker Gata6 in ES cells. Here, we investigated the influences of Esrrb and Dax1 on Gata6 expression. Esrrb overexpression in ES cells induced endogenous Gata6 mRNA and Gata6 promoter activity. In addition, the Gata6 promoter was found to contain the Esrrb recognition motifs ERRE1 and ERRE2, and the latter was the responsive element of Esrrb. Associations between ERRE2 and Esrrb were then confirmed by biotin DNA pulldown and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Subsequently, we showed that Esrrb activity at the Gata6 promoter was repressed by Dax1, and although Dax1 did not bind to ERRE2, it was associated with Esrrb, which directly binds to ERRE2. In addition, the transcriptional activity of Esrrb was enhanced by nuclear receptor co-activator 3 (Ncoa3), which has recently been shown to be a binding partner of Esrrb. Finally, we showed that Dax1 was associated with Ncoa3 and repressed its transcriptional activity. Taken together, the present study indicates that the Gata6 promoter is activated by Esrrb in association with Ncoa3, and Dax1 inhibited activities of Esrrb and Ncoa3, resulting maintenance of the undifferentiated status of ES cells. - Highlights: • Esrrb induced Gata6 expression in ES cells. • Gata6 promoter activity was enhanced by Esrrb, which was repressed by Dax1. • Dax1 associated with the Gata6 promoter via Esrrb. • Dax1 associated with Ncoa3 and repressed its transcriptional activity.

  7. Protection of constitutional rights, technological development, and responsibility towards future generations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawrence, C.

    1989-01-01

    Nuclear engineering and the peaceful use of nuclear energy still is a major issue in the dispute about technological progress. There are the two most ambiguous concepts in the nuclear controversy which illustrate the uncertainty in dealing with the 'new technologies': The 'risk to be accepted', and the 'responsibility towards future generations'. The study in hand focusses on the 'risk to be accepted', which from the constitutional point of view still lacks legitimation. The concept of 'social adequacy' used in the Kalkar judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court is based on custom and consensus and today, in view of the lack of consensus, can no longer be used to derive a constitutional legitimation. This gap is filled in this study by examining the applicability of the basic right of physical integrity (Art. 2, section 2, first sentence of the GG). In addition, it is a particular feature of the concept of 'risk to be accepted' that neither the Constitution nor the Atomic Energy Act allow direct limits to the quantitative increase of that risk to be derived from their provisions. However, it is just the need for legal provisions checking and controlling the risk growing with technological progress that creates the major problem in the effort to prevent a possible intrinsic dynamic development of risks. The study investigates whether there are such instruments provided by the law. Another aspect discussed in connection with the safe ultimate disposal of radioactive wastes with half-life periods of up to 24.000 years is the responsibility we have towards the future generations. The author examines whether there are constitutional rights affecting nuclear technology in relation to this topic. (orig./HSCH) [de

  8. The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2009-01-01

    Sisaldab ka: The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia Amendment Act. The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia Implementation Act. Act to Amend the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia for Election of Local Government Councils for Term of Four Years

  9. CHAPTER FOUR LİBERTY AND TURKISH CONSTITUTIONS:

    OpenAIRE

    FENDOĞLU, Doç.Dr.Hasan Tahsin

    2002-01-01

    CHAPTER FOUR LIBERTY AND TURKISH CONSTITUTIONS: Doç.Dr.Hasan Tahsin FENDOĞLU ABSTRACT: Turkish Constitution of 1982 is the first and only Turkish Constitution that has a main purpose on strengthening the political power not the liberty or democr...

  10. Direct-to-consumer promotion of prescription drugs. Economic implications for patients, payers and providers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Findlay, S D

    2001-01-01

    Spending on outpatient prescription drugs in the US is accelerating rapidly. Although numerous factors are driving this trend, attention has recently focused on the role played by the marketing, promotion and advertising of pharmaceuticals, in particular direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. In 1997, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a 'guidance' on such mass media promotion. The guidance altered existing FDA rules and effectively permitted pharmaceutical companies to promote prescription drugs on television and radio without giving detailed or even summary information on indications, efficacy or potential adverse effects. Since then, television commercials, in particular, and print advertisements in consumer magazines and newspapers have proliferated rapidly. Pharmaceutical companies spent $US1.8 billion on DTC advertising in 1999, a 40% increase over 1998. This spending in 1999 was heavily concentrated on about 50 drugs. Evidence is growing that DTC promotion of prescription drugs is: (i) alerting consumers to the existence of new drugs and the conditions they treat; (ii) increasing consumer demand for many drugs; (iii) contributing increasingly to the recent sharp increase in the number of prescriptions being dispensed; (iv) raising sales revenues; and, thus, (v) contributing to the higher pharmaceutical costs of health insurers, government and consumers. The public policy issues surrounding DTC advertisements centre on the following questions: (i) are the advertisements leading to the inappropriate clinical use of some drugs? (ii) are the advertisements inducing both consumers and physicians to choose more costly new brand-name drugs over less expensive, but equally effective, older brand or generic drugs? (iii) do television advertisements for prescription drugs contain a balanced amount of information on benefits versus potential adverse effects? and (iv) will the revenue benefits generated by DTC advertising cause pharmaceutical companies to

  11. Ultima Ratio as a Constitutional Principle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kaarlo Tuori

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper argues the criminal law notion of ultima ratio is an instance of a broader constitutional law principle of proportionality. However, ultima ratio is not the only principle relevant in a constitutional assessment of criminalization. The role of ultima ratio is to impose limitations on criminalization. But constitutional doctrines also exist which call for criminalization and might even be seen as establishing a criminalization obligation. The paper examines three constitutional counter weights to ultima ratio. The first of these is discussed in the context of state constitutions. This is the cluster of the interrelated constitutional doctrines of the horizontal effect of fundamental rights and the protective duty of the state, as well as the understanding of collective security as a basic right. These doctrines are analysed in the light of the praxis of the German Constitutional Court and the Finnish Constitutional Law Committee. The two other constitutional counterweights are discussed at the level of the transnational, European constitution. These are the principles of precaution and effectiveness. Este artículo defiende que el concepto de ultima ratio es una instancia más amplia del principio de proporcionalidad dentro del derecho constitucional. Sin embargo, el ultima ratio no es el único principio relevante en la valoración constitucional de la criminalización. El papel del ultima ratio es imponer límites a la criminalización. Pero también existen doctrinas constitucionales que exigen la criminalización e incluso dan pie a entender que obligan a establecer una pena. El documento examina tres contrapesos constitucionales al ultima ratio. En primer lugar, se analiza en el contexto de las constituciones estatales. Este es el conjunto de las doctrinas constitucionales interrelacionadas entre el efecto horizontal de los derechos fundamentales y el deber de protección del Estado, así como la asunción de la seguridad colectiva

  12. HIF-1α Promotes Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Metastasis through Direct Regulation of ZEB1 in Colorectal Cancer.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wenjing Zhang

    Full Text Available It is well recognized that hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1α is involved in cancer metastasis, chemotherapy and poor prognosis. We previously found that deferoxamine, a hypoxia-mimetic agent, induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT in colorectal cancer. Therefore, here we explored a new molecular mechanism for HIF-1α contributing to EMT and cancer metastasis through binding to ZEB1. In this study, we showed that overexpression of HIF-1α with adenovirus infection promoted EMT, cell invasion and migration in vitro and in vivo. On a molecular level, HIF-1α directly binding to the proximal promoter of ZEB1 via hypoxia response element (HRE sites thus increasing the transactivity and expression of ZEB1. In addition, inhibition of ZEB1 was able to abrogate the HIF-1α-induced EMT and cell invasion. HIF-1α expression was highly correlated with the expression of ZEB1 in normal colorectal epithelium, primary and metastatic CRC tissues. Interestingly, both HIF-1α and ZEB1 were positively associated with Vimentin, an important mesenchymal marker of EMT, whereas negatively associated with E-cadherin expression. These findings suggest that HIF-1α enhances EMT and cancer metastasis by binding to ZEB1 promoter in CRC. HIF-1α and ZEB1 are both widely considered as tumor-initiating factors, but our results demonstrate that ZEB1 is a direct downstream of HIF-1α, suggesting a novel molecular mechanism for HIF-1α-inducing EMT and cancer metastasis.

  13. Human Rights in Indonesian Constitutional Amendments

    OpenAIRE

    Kharlie, Ahmad Tholabi

    2013-01-01

    Human Rights in Indonesian Constitutional Amendments. Indonesian constitutional amendments incorporated human rights principles into the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia 1945 (UUD NRI), especially in the second amendment in 2000. Under that amendment, the UUD NRI currently stipulates human rights principles as provided for in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). However, there are some important notes, which at its core is a lack of emphasis on the vision and mission of ...

  14. Promotion of Human Rights in the Republic of Kosovo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    MSc. Albulena Ukimeraj

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Fundamental rights and freedoms are constitutional category of democratic states whereas the standards for guaranteeing these rights have been determined in the highest international acts of the United Nations. Promotion of equality and compliance with human rights initially originated in social developments in antiquity period. The Greek philosophy represented by world class philosophers Plato and Aristotle, created the foundation for complying with these rights which still serve as principles in the modern times and democratic developments. In later stages of social developments, despite the progress, compliance with human rights in the slavery era but even in the medieval times was faced with many challenges. Meanwhile, the development of the modern world, as an enlightening historic moment, it is the French Revolution, which was of course preceded by important documents in the history of development and advancement of human rights such as: Magna Carta Libertatum and the US Constitution. The reason for addressing this topic consists in the fact that these fundamental rights and freedoms are parts of constitutions of many countries including Kosovo, which are proclaimed and protected by different acts and norms, however they continue to be infringed either by individuals or institutions. Thus, with the aim of promotion of human rights and legal basis related to them in the Republic of Kosovo, this paper will elaborate development of human rights and the legal infrastructure for protection and compliance of human rights in a chronological manner by providing conclusions on the promotion of human rights in the Republic of Kosovo.

  15. The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2005-01-01

    Raamat sisaldab ka: The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia amendment act ; The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia implementation act ; Act to amend the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia for election of local government councils for term of four years

  16. A Plan for improving the industrial constitution in Korea for the Convention on Climate Change - concentrated on manufacturing CO{sub 2} unit analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Sang In; Kim, Tae Wan; Kim, Yong Kun; Sohn, Yang Hoon; Kim, Seung Woo [Korea Environment Institute, Seoul (Korea)

    1998-12-01

    Due to the implementation of the Convention on Climate Change in future, a policy plan to prepare for the Convention on Climate Change was promoted to improve constitution of domestic economy practically including foreign negotiation strategies, national energy policy and change in consumption pattern. Based on the CO{sub 2} unit analysis in manufacturing, this study proposed an improvement plan of industrial constitution in Korea to prepare for emission trading system. 31 refs., 30 figs., 68 tabs.

  17. Childrens' Rights in the South African Constitution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JA Robinson

    2003-10-01

    Full Text Available Children were in many respects defenceless victims of discriminatory practices in ‘apartheid South Africa’. In fact, discrimination on the basis of gender, race and other inequalities were inscribed in the social fabric of the previous constitutional dispensation. The constitutional dispensation that came into effect on the 27th April 1994 was therefore designed to innovate social, political and legal structures that would be radically different from those of the country’s past history.In this contribution the impact of the Constitution upon the rights of children are considered. In order to fathom the impact. a general overview of constitutional principles and provisions necessary for the comprehension of the rights of children is provided. Thereafter the rights of children expressly mentioned in the Constitution will be addressed. Attention is also paid to the equal protection and non-discrimination provisions of the Constitution, albeit only indirectly.

  18. Constitutional Conservatism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berkowitz, Peter

    2009-01-01

    After their dismal performance in election 2008, conservatives are taking stock. As they examine the causes that have driven them into the political wilderness and as they explore paths out, they should also take heart. After all, election 2008 shows that America's constitutional order is working as designed. Indeed, while sorting out their errors…

  19. The constitutional control system in Colombia

    OpenAIRE

    Luis Javier Moreno Ortiz

    2010-01-01

    The system of constitutional control in Colombia designed in the Legislative Act n.º 3 of 1910 is a milestone in a long and fruitful political and constitutional tradition owes much to his Hispanic roots and its American developments. Both the public action of unconstitutionality as the plea of unconstitutionality have clear precedents in the constitutionalism of Spain and the Colony were prepared by a Constituent Assembly acted with knowledge and faithfulness to that tradition and have been ...

  20. 29 CFR 541.503 - Promotion work.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Promotion work. 541.503 Section 541.503 Labor Regulations... Outside Sales Employees § 541.503 Promotion work. (a) Promotion work is one type of activity often.... Promotion activities directed toward consummation of the employee's own sales are exempt. Promotional...

  1. Constitutive Effects of Performance Indicators

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dahler-Larsen, Peter

    2014-01-01

    that are demonstrably problematic. Based on a distinction between trivial and advanced measure fixation, an argument is made for constitutive effects that are based on less problematic assumptions. Through this conceptual move, the political dimension of performance indicators is appreciated. The conceptual dimensions...... of constitutive effects are carved out, empirical illustrations of their applicability are offered and implications discussed....

  2. Constitutional compatibility of energy systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rossnagel, A.

    1983-01-01

    The paper starts from the results of the Enquiry Commission on 'Future Nuclear Energy Policy' of the 8th Federal German Parliament outlining technically feasible energy futures in four 'pathways'. For the purpose of the project, which was to establish the comparative advantages and disadvantages of different energy systems, these four scenarios were reduced to two alternatives: cases K (= nuclear energy) and S (= solar energy). The question to Ge put is: Which changes within our legal system will be ushered in by certain technological developments and how do these changes relate to the legal condition intended so far. Proceeding in this manner will not lead to the result of a nuclear energy system or a solar energy system being in conformity or in contradiction with the constitutional law, but will provide a catalogue of implications orientated to the aims of legal standards: a person deciding in favour of a nuclear energy system or a solar energy system supports this or that development of constitutional policy, and a person purishing this or that aim of legal policy should be consistent and decide in favour of this or that energy system. The investigation of constitutional compatibility leads to the question what effects different energy systems will have on the forms of political intercourse laid down in the constitutional law, which are orientated to models of a liberal constitutional tradition of citizens. (orig./HSCH) [de

  3. Phrenology, heredity and progress in George Combe's Constitution of Man.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jenkins, Bill

    2015-09-01

    The Constitution of Man by George Combe (1828) was probably the most influential phrenological work of the nineteenth century. It not only offered an exposition of the phrenological theory of the mind, but also presented Combe's vision of universal human progress through the inheritance of acquired mental attributes. In the decades before the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, the Constitution was probably the single most important vehicle for the dissemination of naturalistic progressivism in the English-speaking world. Although there is a significant literature on the social and cultural context of phrenology, the role of heredity in Combe's thought has been less thoroughly explored, although both John van Wyhe and Victor L. Hilts have linked Combe's views on heredity with the transformist theories of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. In this paper I examine the origin, nature and significance of his ideas and argue that Combe's hereditarianism was not directly related to Lamarckian transformism but formed part of a wider discourse on heredity in the early nineteenth century.

  4. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW. CONSTITUTIONAL COURT BETWEEN THE STATUS OF NEGATIVE LEGISLATOR AND THE STATUS OF POSITIVE CO-LEGISLATOR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marieta Safta

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available The study wants to emphasize that Constitutional Courts belonging to the European model depart from their traditional role as ”negative legislator” – which refers to the effect of their acts consisting in removal from the legal system of those rules contrary to the Basic Law -, becoming, to a certain extent, a ”positive legislator”. Official interpreters of the Constitution, Constitutional Courts assume, sometimes, a role of co-legislators, creating provisions they deduct from the Constitution - when controlling the absence of legislation or legislative omissions -, and revealing the content of constitutional and even infraconstitutional rules accordingly with the Constitution in their case-law, whose effects are nothing but specific forms of „impulse” or „coercion” of the legislator to proceed in a certain sense, and whose continuous development guides the evolution of the entire legal system. Case – law selected presents ways in which the Constitutional Court of Romania is associated to law-making activity. Without minimizing in any way its traditional role as "negative legislator", the study refers mainly to acts and situations that give expression to the creative role of the Constitutional Court of Romania.

  5. Constitutionalism and good governance in Nigeria (1999-2014 ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    While the country, at present, has a written constitution which in reality, was derived from a military decree, there has been constant debate as to whether what the country has is really a constitution and whether the subsequent civilian regimes are constitutional governments. This paper attempts to analyse the constitutional ...

  6. 75 FR 57835 - Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-22

    ... four short months, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia established a... government, a protector of liberties, and a guarantee that we are all free to shape our own destiny. As we...

  7. Direct photons in WA98

    CERN Document Server

    Aggarwal, M M; Ahammed, Z; Angelis, Aris L S; Antonenko, V G; Arefev, V; Astakhov, V A; Avdeichikov, V; Awes, T C; Baba, P V K S; Badyal, S K; Barlag, C; Bathe, S; Batyunya, B; Bernier, T; Bhalla, K B; Bhatia, V S; Blume, C; Bock, R; Bohne, E M; Böröcz, Z K; Bucher, D; Buijs, A; Büsching, H; Carlén, L; Chalyshev, V; Chattopadhyay, S; Cherbachev, R; Chujo, T; Claussen, A; Das, A C; Decowski, M P; Delagrange, H; Dzhordzhadze, V; Dönni, P; Dubovik, I; Dutt, S; Dutta-Majumdar, M R; El-Chenawi, K F; Eliseev, S; Enosawa, K; Foka, P Y; Fokin, S L; Ganti, M S; Garpman, S; Gavrishchuk, O P; Geurts, F J M; Ghosh, T K; Glasow, R; Gupta, S K; Guskov, B; Gustafsson, Hans Åke; Gutbrod, H H; Higuchi, R; Hrivnacova, I; Ippolitov, M S; Kalechofsky, H; Kamermans, R; Kampert, K H; Karadzhev, K; Karpio, K; Kato, S; Kees, S; Klein-Bösing, C; Knoche, S; Kolb, B W; Kosarev, I G; Kucheryaev, I; Krümpel, T; Kugler, A; Kulinich, P A; Kurata, M; Kurita, K; Kuzmin, N A; Langbein, I; Lee, Y Y; Löhner, H; Luquin, Lionel; Mahapatra, D P; Man'ko, V I; Martin, M; Martínez, G; Maksimov, A; Mgebrishvili, G; Miake, Y; Mir, M F; Mishra, G C; Miyamoto, Y; Mohanty, B; Morrison, D; Mukhopadhyay, D S; Naef, H; Nandi, B K; Nayak, S K; Nayak, T K; Neumaier, S; Nyanin, A; Nikitin, V A; Nikolaev, S; Nilsson, P O; Nishimura, S; Nomokonov, V P; Nystrand, J; Obenshain, F E; Oskarsson, A; Otterlund, I; Pachr, M; Pavlyuk, S; Peitzmann, Thomas; Petracek, V; Pinganaud, W; Plasil, F; Von Poblotzki, U; Purschke, M L; Rak, J; Raniwala, R; Raniwala, S; Ramamurthy, V S; Rao, N K; Retière, F; Reygers, K; Roland, G; Rosselet, L; Rufanov, I A; Roy, C; Rubio, J M; Sako, H; Sambyal, S S; Santo, R; Sato, S; Schlagheck, H; Schmidt, H R; Schutz, Y; Shabratova, G; Shah, T H; Sibiryak, Yu; Siemiarczuk, T; Silvermyr, D; Sinha, B C; Slavin, N V; Söderström, K; Solomey, Nickolas; Sood, G; Sørensen, S P; Stankus, P; Stefanek, G; Steinberg, P; Stenlund, E; Stüken, D; Sumbera, M; Svensson, S; Trivedi, M D; Tsvetkov, A A; Tykarski, L; Urbahn, J; Van den Pijll, E C; van Eijndhoven, N; van Nieuwenhuizen, G J; Vinogradov, A; Viyogi, Y P; Vodopyanov, A S; Vörös, S; Wyslouch, B; Yagi, K; Yokota, Y; Young, G R

    2002-01-01

    A measurement of direct photon production in /sup 208/Pb+/sup 208/Pb collisions at 158 A GeV has been carried out in the CERN WA98 experiment. The invariant yield of direct photons was extracted as a function of transverse momentum in the interval 0.51.5 GeV/c. the result constitutes the first observation of direct photons in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. (19 refs).

  8. Mediator, TATA-binding protein, and RNA polymerase II contribute to low histone occupancy at active gene promoters in yeast.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansari, Suraiya A; Paul, Emily; Sommer, Sebastian; Lieleg, Corinna; He, Qiye; Daly, Alexandre Z; Rode, Kara A; Barber, Wesley T; Ellis, Laura C; LaPorta, Erika; Orzechowski, Amanda M; Taylor, Emily; Reeb, Tanner; Wong, Jason; Korber, Philipp; Morse, Randall H

    2014-05-23

    Transcription by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in eukaryotes requires the Mediator complex, and often involves chromatin remodeling and histone eviction at active promoters. Here we address the role of Mediator in recruitment of the Swi/Snf chromatin remodeling complex and its role, along with components of the preinitiation complex (PIC), in histone eviction at inducible and constitutively active promoters in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that recruitment of the Swi/Snf chromatin remodeling complex to the induced CHA1 promoter, as well as its association with several constitutively active promoters, depends on the Mediator complex but is independent of Mediator at the induced MET2 and MET6 genes. Although transcriptional activation and histone eviction at CHA1 depends on Swi/Snf, Swi/Snf recruitment is not sufficient for histone eviction at the induced CHA1 promoter. Loss of Swi/Snf activity does not affect histone occupancy of several constitutively active promoters; in contrast, higher histone occupancy is seen at these promoters in Mediator and PIC component mutants. We propose that an initial activator-dependent, nucleosome remodeling step allows PIC components to outcompete histones for occupancy of promoter sequences. We also observe reduced promoter association of Mediator and TATA-binding protein in a Pol II (rpb1-1) mutant, indicating mutually cooperative binding of these components of the transcription machinery and indicating that it is the PIC as a whole whose binding results in stable histone eviction. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  9. Power: Constitutional Update. Bar/School Partnership Programs Series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    American Bar Association, Chicago, IL. Special Committee on Youth Education for Citizenship.

    The fourth in a special series of handbooks dealing with constitutional themes, this document looks at power in the context of the U.S. Constitution. "The Constitution's Prescription for Freedom" (L. Peach) examines the separation of powers provided for in the Constitution. "The Concept of Power" (C. Roach) is a series of…

  10. SPORT PROMOTION STRATEGIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandru Lucian MIHAI

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available In sport marketing, the word promotion covers a range of interrelated activities. All of these activities are designed to attract attention, stimulate the interest and awareness of consumers, and of course, encourage them to purchase a sport product. Promotion is about communicating with and educating consumers. The purpose of a sport promotional strategy is to build brand loyalty and product credibility, develop image, and position the brand. A promotional strategy is similar to a marketing strategy, but the promotional strategy seeks short-term objectives, both direct and indirect. Promotional objectives usually include increased sales, stimulate impulse buying, raise customer traffic, and present and reinforce image. It also provides information about products and services, publicizes new stores or websites, and creates and enhances customer satisfaction.

  11. Mechanosensitivity of Embryonic Neurites Promotes Their Directional Extension and Schwann Cells Progenitors Migration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalo Rosso

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Background/Aims: Migration of Schwann cells (SCs progenitors and neurite outgrowth from embryonic dorsal root ganglions (DRGs are two central events during the development of the peripheral nervous system (PNS. How these two enthralling events preceding myelination are promoted is of great relevance from basic research and clinical aspects alike. Recent evidence demonstrates that biophysical cues (extracellular matrix stiffness and biochemical signaling act in concert to regulate PNS myelination. Microenvironment stiffness of SCs progenitors and embryonic neurites dynamically changes during development. Methods: DRG explants were isolated from day 12.5 to 13.5 mice embryos and plated on laminin-coated substrates with varied stiffness values. After 4 days in culture and immunostaining with specific markers, neurite outgrowth pattern, SCs progenitors migration, and growth cone shape and advance were analyzed with confocal fluorescence microscopy. Results: We found out that growing substrate stiffness promotes directional neurite outgrowth, SCs progenitors migration, growth cone advance and presumably axons fasciculation. Conclusions: DRG explants are in vitro models for the research of PNS development, myelination and regeneration. Consequently, we conclude the following: Our observations point out the importance of mechanosensitivity for the PNS. At the same time, they prompt the investigation of the important yet unclear links between PNS biomechanics and inherited neuropathies with myelination disorders such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A and hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsies. Finally, they encourage the consideration of mechanosensitivity in bioengineering of scaffolds to aid nerve regeneration after injury.

  12. The Spanish Constitution, the Constitutional Court and the Catalan Referendum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abat Ninet, Antoni

    2015-01-01

    and politeia that Aristotle defined now clashes between two powerful symbolic and romantic phenomena. In the Spanish-Catalan binomial scenario, there are some elements that need to be analysed to obtain a complete picture of the constitutional possibilities to of accommodating a Catalan self...

  13. Separation of powers and constitutional loyalty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marieta SAFTA

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The complexity and dynamics of political life leads to developments and reconsiderations in terms of classical theories of constitutional law. Such a process occurs also in the case of separation of powers. Many factors have a bearing on how this theory is currently translated into practice, which requires additional perspectives of analysis in order to develop improved models of cooperation and balance of powers, according to new political realities. This study aims at examining the principle of separation and balance of powers in terms of mutual respect and loyal cooperation between institutions, or, in a broader sense, of constitutional loyalty, an intrinsic value-principle of all constitutions, without which no fundamental law, no matter of how democratic it might be, could function properly2. Based on examination of concrete cases drawn from the case-law of the Constitutional Court of Romania, the study demonstrates that, in lack of constitutional loyalty, the objective pursued by enshrining the principle of separation of powers cannot be achieved effectively, i.e. compliance of public authorities and political actors with constitutional provisions is purely formal and the alleged collaboration between them is a "dialogue of the deaf" at the expense of democracy. The seriousness of the consequences of this type of behaviour requires identification of remedies. What are the limits and what solutions can be identified in this regard are questions that also we aim to answer.

  14. The Arabidopsis mutant cev1 has constitutively active jasmonate and ethylene signal pathways and enhanced resistance to pathogens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, C; Turner, J G

    2001-05-01

    Jasmonates (JAs) inhibit plant growth and induce plant defense responses. To define genes in the Arabidopsis JA signal pathway, we screened for mutants with constitutive expression of a luciferase reporter for the JA-responsive promoter from the vegetative storage protein gene VSP1. One mutant, named constitutive expression of VSP1 (cev1), produced plants that were smaller than wild type, had stunted roots with long root hairs, accumulated anthocyanin, had constitutive expression of the defense-related genes VSP1, VSP2, Thi2.1, PDF1.2, and CHI-B, and had enhanced resistance to powdery mildew diseases. Genetic evidence indicated that the cev1 phenotype required both COI1, an essential component of the JA signal pathway, and ETR1, which encodes the ethylene receptor. We conclude that cev1 stimulates both the JA and the ethylene signal pathways and that CEV1 regulates an early step in an Arabidopsis defense pathway.

  15. Nuclear energy and the constitutional state

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saladin, P.

    1984-01-01

    This article puts the main emphasis on the problems of the constitutional principles of democracy, federalism, peaceful living together of peoples and constitutional state, i.e. problems caused by the development of nuclear energy. The fact that these problems are explained by way of the example of Switzerland, does not reduce the validity of the findings also for the German constitutional system, since the problems are identical and comparable. A long-term goal is a state theory which helps to define the aims and tasks of the state under technical, social, economic and cultural conditions of the end of the 20th and perhaps of the 21st century. Nuclear technology challenges the modern Western state and puts to the test the firmness of its legitimacy basis and the efficiency of its principles. It was conceived in a time which is separated from the present by technological revolutions. Safeguarding of humanity is aim and obligation of the modern constitutional state; the constitutional state stipulates the rules of conduct and, if the state remains true to its claim, it sets the procedures and the organization which give due priority order to the development of modern technology. (orig./HSCH) [de

  16. Loading method of core constituting elements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kasai, Shigeo

    1976-01-01

    Purpose: To provide a remote-controlled replacing method for core constituting elements in a liquid-metal cooling fast breeder, wherein particularly, the core constituting elements are prevented from being loaded on the core position other than as designated. Constitution: The method comprises a first step which determines a position of a suitable neutron shielding body in order to measure a reference level of complete insertion of the core constituting elements, a second step which inserts a gripper for a fuel exchanger, a third step which decides stroke dimensions of the complete insertion, and a fourth step which discriminates the core constituting elements to begin handling of fuel rods. The method further comprises a fifth step which determines a loading position of fuel rod, and a sixth step which inserts and loads fuel rods into the core. The method still further comprises a seventh step which compares and judges the dimension of loading stroke and the dimension of complete inserting stroke so that when coincided, loading is completed, and when not coincided, loading is not completed and then the cycle of the fourth step is repeated. (Kawakami, Y.)

  17. Estabilidade constitucional e acordos constitucionais: os processos constituintes de Brasil (1987-1988 e Espanha (1977-1978 Constitutional stability and constitutional agreements: the constituent process of Brazil (1987-1988 and Spain (1977-1978

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Gomes Moreira Maués

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available O artigo analisa os acordos que formaram as maiorias nas assembléias constituintes de Brasil (1987-1988 e Espanha (1977-1978, buscando indentificar sua contribuição para a estabilidade constitucional dos dois países. O estudo foi desenvolvido em três níveis: estudo das normas regimentais das assembléias constituintes; tabulação das votações que aprovaram dispositivos constitucionais; e análise dos debates constitucionais, na qual foram identificados três processos de formação de maiorias, concessões mútuas, não-decisão e maioria aritmética. O trabalho demonstra que o uso de concessões mútuas e da não-decisão na constituinte favorece o processo de construção do consenso em torno da constituição, contribuindo para sua estabilidade.The article analyses the agreements which formed the majorities in the constituent assemblies of Brazil (1987-1988 and Spain (1977-1978, trying to identify its contribution to the constitutional stability in both countries. This analysis is developed through three steps: study of the rules that governed the constituent assemblies; organization of data about the votings which approved constitutional provisions; and analysis of the constitutional debates, in which three process of majority formation have been identified, mutual concessions; no-decision and arithmetical majority. The work shows that the use of mutual concessions and no-decision in the constituent assembly promotes the process of consensus building regarding the constitution, contributing to its stability.

  18. 76 FR 58705 - Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week, 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-21

    ... vision, we resolve to stay true to their spirit of patriotism and unity. In remembrance of the signing of... citizenship, recognize the enduring strength of our Constitution, and reaffirm our commitment to the rights...

  19. Creation of a synthetic xylose-inducible promoter for Saccharomyces cerevisiae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saccharomyces cerevisiae is currently used to produce ethanol from glucose, but it cannot utilize five-carbon sugars contained in the hemicellulose component of biomass feedstocks. S. cerevisiae strains engineered for xylose fermentation have been made using constitutive promoters to express the req...

  20. Constitutional Verbosity and Social Trust

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bjørnskov, Christian; Voigt, Stefan

    2014-01-01

    A common argument in the trust literature is that high-trust cultures allow efficient commercial contracts to be shorter, covering fewer contingencies. We take this idea to the topic of social contracts. Specifically, we ask whether social trust affects the length and detail of constitutions. Cross......-country estimates suggest that national trust levels are indeed robustly and negatively associated with the length of countries’ constitutions....

  1. The constitutional control system in Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luis Javier Moreno Ortiz

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The system of constitutional control in Colombia designed in the Legislative Act n.º 3 of 1910 is a milestone in a long and fruitful political and constitutional tradition owes much to his Hispanic roots and its American developments. Both the public action of unconstitutionality as the plea of unconstitutionality have clear precedents in the constitutionalism of Spain and the Colony were prepared by a Constituent Assembly acted with knowledge and faithfulness to that tradition and have been and are institutions of our capital social and democratic state of law.

  2. The negotiation of The Constitution of Romania of 1923 and The Constitution of Romania of 1991

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivona-Arina Raef

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available In the present study the author is trying to find if there was a negotiation between main parties regarding The Constitution of Romania of 1923 and The Constitution Of Romania of 1991 or if there was a project imposed by one party to the others.

  3. Retrieving Constitutive Parameters of Plasmonic Multilayers from Reflection and Transmission Coefficients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Orlov, Alexey A.; Yankovskaya, E. A.; Zhukovsky, Sergei

    2014-01-01

    We show how to correctly extract the effective permittivity and permeability of plasmonic multilayers in the optical domain. For material parameters retrieval the classical Nicolson-Ross-Weir method is commonly used. However, its direct application leads to spurious zero-permittivity points and f...... and false permeability resonances in the case of total reflection from the slab. We offer a way to overcome this issue and retrieve correct constitutive parameters of plasmonic multilayers...

  4. Unpacking complexities of managerial subjectivity: An analytic fixation on constitutive dynamics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Plotnikof, Mie

    2012-01-01

    , and the analytic challenges of discourse/Discourse-distinctions and avoiding agency-structure-dualism. This paper proposes an integral conceptualization of subjectification that directs analytic attention to the complex constitutive dynamics of organizational discourses and agency normative to organizational...... is discussed with a case-study of public managers in collaborative governance processes in the Danish day-care sector. With complex-sensitive analytics the paper contributes to the ‘plurivocal’ debate on advancing organizational discourse approaches....

  5. A non-linear elastic constitutive framework for replicating plastic deformation in solids.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Roberts, Scott Alan; Schunk, Peter Randall

    2014-02-01

    Ductile metals and other materials typically deform plastically under large applied loads; a behavior most often modeled using plastic deformation constitutive models. However, it is possible to capture some of the key behaviors of plastic deformation using only the framework for nonlinear elastic mechanics. In this paper, we develop a phenomenological, hysteretic, nonlinear elastic constitutive model that captures many of the features expected of a plastic deformation model. This model is based on calculating a secant modulus directly from a materials stress-strain curve. Scalar stress and strain values are obtained in three dimensions by using the von Mises invariants. Hysteresis is incorporated by tracking an additional history variable and assuming an elastic unloading response. This model is demonstrated in both single- and multi-element simulations under varying strain conditions.

  6. Health promotion viewed as processes of subjectification in the education of Danish Social and Healthcare Workers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lehn-Christiansen, Sine

    2011-01-01

    problems of both a social and moral character. It is shown how health promotion has a thorough impact on the students' possibilities of coming into being as ( professional) subjects. The article points to the conclusion that in this particular educational setting, health promotion constitutes...

  7. [Health-Promoting Schools Regional Initiative of the Americas].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ippolito-Shepherd, Josefa; Cerqueira, Maria Teresa; Ortega, Diana Patricia

    2005-01-01

    In Latin America, comprehensive health promotion programmes and activities are being implemented in the school setting, which take into account the conceptual framework of the Health-Promoting Schools Regional Initiative of the Pan American Health Organization, Regional office of the World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). These programmes help to strengthen the working relationships between the health and education sectors. The Health-Promoting Schools Regional Initiative, officially launched by PAHO/WHO in 1995, aims to form future generations to have the knowledge, abilities, and skills necessary for promoting and caring for their health and that of their family and community, as well as to create and maintain healthy environments and communities. The Initiative focuses on three main components: comprehensive health education, the creation and maintenance of healthy physical and psychosocial environments, and the access to health and nutrition services, mental health, and active life. In 2001, PAHO conducted a survey in 19 Latin American countries to assess the status and trends of Health-Promoting Schools in the Region, for the appropriate regional, subregional, and national planning of pertinent health promotion and health education programmes and activities. The results of this survey provided information about policies and national plans, multisectoral coordination mechanisms for the support of health promotion in the school settings, the formation and participation in national and international networks of Health-Promoting Schools and about the level of dissemination of the strategy. For the successful development of Health-Promoting Schools is essential to involve the society as a whole, in order to mobilise human resources and materials necessary for implementing health promotion in the school settings. Thus, the constitution and consolidation of networks has been a facilitating mechanism for the exchange of ideas, resources and experiences to strengthen

  8. The Constitutional Court and the Imperative of its Reform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia Gilia

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Recent debates on the upcoming review of the Constitution have determined us to pay close attention to the basic institution in a democratic state, that is the Constitutional Court. Being caught in the crossfire between power and opposition, the Constitutional Court had a hard time lately, facing severe attacks. The aim of our study is to analyze the evolution of the Constitutional Court within the inland constitutional system, particularly bringing up the flaws describing the Court’s activity. We have also analyzed the proposals put forth by several bodies or experts regarding the constitutional contentious court. At the end of our study, following an analysis of different constitutional types of constitutional review, used by a number of states in Europe, we introduced several resolutions that may improve the role, the course and, last but not least, the activity of the Romanian Constitutional Court.

  9. Elastic-plastic constitutive modeling of concrete

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Y.

    1983-03-01

    The need to understand concrete behavior under high temperatures in the nuclear industry has become rather accute. For this purpose, a constitutive model of concrete especially developed for this severe environment is indispensable. This report reviews the presently available constitutive models of concrete at standard-temperature conditions and considers their advantages and drawbacks. A rather simple but effective approach is selected to treat concrete behavior at high temperatures. Special emphasis is devoted to the modeling of concrete up to and including failure. The derived constitutive model is checked with biaxial and triaxial benchmark experimental results. Very good agreement is obtained

  10. Atypical Rulings of the Indonesian Constitutional Court

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bisariyadi

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available In deciding judicial review cases, the Court may issue rulings that is not in accordance to what is stipulated in the Constitutional Court Law (Law Number 8 Year 2011. Atypical rulings means that the court may reconstruct a provision, delay the legislation/rulings enactment or give instruction to lawmakers. In addition, the court also introduce the “conditionally (unconstitutional” concept. This essay attempts to identify and classify these atypical rulings, including conditionally (un constitutional rulings, by examined the constitutional court judicial review rulings from 2003 to 2015. This study will provide a ground work for advance research on typical rulings by the Indonesian constitutional court.

  11. PROMOTING AND ATTRACTING FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena CHIRILA DONCIU

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available FDI is an important element of the economic development of any country and its functioning on market principles. They have a great importance for strengthening the economy of countries in transition and their integration into the world’s economy. The modernization of national economies occurs with FDI help, by implementing advanced technologies, know-how sites, the most powerful equipment and the new quality standards by switching to a higher type of growth. The purpose of this research is to identify of the policies to attract and promote FDI, adopted by host countries for foreign investors and are highlighted beneficial aspects of foreign investments flows on recipient economies. The research results show that policies aimed at ensuring access to foreign markets, those that are considering providing commercial facilities and last, but not least, policies focused on tax incentives are very important for foreign investors.

  12. Synthetic promoter libraries for Corynebacterium glutamicum

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rytter, Jakob Vang; Helmark, Søren; Chen, Jun

    2014-01-01

    The ability to modulate gene expression is an important genetic tool in systems biology and biotechnology. Here, we demonstrate that a previously published easy and fast PCR-based method for modulating gene expression in lactic acid bacteria is also applicable to Corynebacterium glutamicum. We co...... promoter library (SPL) technology is convenient for modulating gene expression in C. glutamicum and should have many future applications, within basic research as well as for optimizing industrial production organisms....... constructed constitutive promoter libraries based on various combinations of a previously reported C. glutamicum -10 consensus sequence (gngnTA(c/t)aaTgg) and the Escherichia coli -35 consensus, either with or without an AT-rich region upstream. A promoter library based on consensus sequences frequently found...... in low-GC Gram-positive microorganisms was also included. The strongest promoters were found in the library with a -35 region and a C. glutamicum -10 consensus, and this library also represents the largest activity span. Using the alternative -10 consensus TATAAT, which can be found in many other...

  13. CINPA1 Is an Inhibitor of Constitutive Androstane Receptor That Does Not Activate Pregnane X Receptor

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherian, Milu T; Lin, Wenwei; Wu, Jing

    2015-01-01

    Constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) are xenobiotic sensors that enhance the detoxification and elimination of xenobiotics and endobiotics by modulating the expression of genes encoding drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters. Elevated levels of drug-metabolizing enzymes and efflux transporters, resulting from CAR activation in various cancers, promote the elimination of chemotherapeutic agents, leading to reduced therapeutic effectiveness and acquired drug resistance. CAR inhibitors, in combination with existing chemotherapeutics, could therefore be used to attenuate multidrug resistance in cancers. Interestingly, all previously reported CAR inverse-agonists are also activators of PXR, rendering them mechanistically counterproductive in tissues where both these xenobiotic receptors are present and active. We used a directed high-throughput screening approach, followed by subsequent mechanistic studies, to identify novel, potent, and specific small-molecule CAR inhibitors that do not activate PXR. We describe here one such inhibitor, CINPA1 (CAR inhibitor not PXR activator 1), capable of reducing CAR-mediated transcription with an IC50 of ∼70 nM. CINPA1 1) is a specific xenobiotic receptor inhibitor and has no cytotoxic effects up to 30 µM; 2) inhibits CAR-mediated gene expression in primary human hepatocytes, where CAR is endogenously expressed; 3) does not alter the protein levels or subcellular localization of CAR; 4) increases corepressor and reduces coactivator interaction with the CAR ligand-binding domain in mammalian two-hybrid assays; and 5) disrupts CAR binding to the promoter regions of target genes in chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. CINPA1 could be used as a novel molecular tool for understanding CAR function. PMID:25762023

  14. EGFRvIII promotes glioma angiogenesis and growth through the NF-κB, interleukin-8 pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonavia, R; Inda, M M; Vandenberg, S; Cheng, S-Y; Nagane, M; Hadwiger, P; Tan, P; Sah, D W Y; Cavenee, W K; Furnari, F B

    2012-09-06

    Sustaining a high growth rate requires tumors to exploit resources in their microenvironment. One example of this is the extensive angiogenesis that is a typical feature of high-grade gliomas. Here, we show that expression of the constitutively active mutant epidermal growth factor receptor, ΔEGFR (EGFRvIII, EGFR*, de2-7EGFR) is associated with significantly higher expression levels of the pro-angiogenic factor interleukin (IL)-8 in human glioma specimens and glioma stem cells. Furthermore, the ectopic expression of ΔEGFR in different glioma cell lines caused up to 60-fold increases in the secretion of IL-8. Xenografts of these cells exhibit increased neovascularization, which is not elicited by cells overexpressing wild-type (wt)EGFR or ΔEGFR with an additional kinase domain mutation. Analysis of the regulation of IL-8 by site-directed mutagenesis of its promoter showed that ΔEGFR regulates its expression through the transcription factors nuclear factor (NF)-κB, activator protein 1 (AP-1) and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP). Glioma cells overexpressing ΔEGFR showed constitutive activation and DNA binding of NF-κB, overexpression of c-Jun and activation of its upstream kinase c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and overexpression of C/EBPβ. Selective pharmacological or genetic targeting of the NF-κB or AP-1 pathways efficiently blocked promoter activity and secretion of IL-8. Moreover, RNA interference-mediated knock-down of either IL-8 or the NF-κB subunit p65, in ΔEGFR-expressing cells attenuated their ability to form tumors and to induce angiogenesis when injected subcutaneously into nude mice. On the contrary, the overexpression of IL-8 in glioma cells lacking ΔEGFR potently enhanced their tumorigenicity and produced highly vascularized tumors, suggesting the importance of this cytokine and its transcription regulators in promoting glioma angiogenesis and tumor growth.

  15. Financial Accounting Constitution or its Referential Matrix

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Niculae Feleaga

    2006-07-01

    Full Text Available Using a simplified approach it may be stated that the financial accounting theoretical framework is structured on three levels. At the first level, reference is made to the accounting objectives. These objectives are fundamental for the theoretical framework. At the second level, we find the accounting information characteristics and explicit mentions about the headings of financial statements. The mentioned characteristics of accounting information represent the basic issues for ensuring its utility. The headings represent the main categories of elements disclosed in the financial statements, like assets and liabilities – these two elements’ definitions brought radical changes both in the accounting thinking and practices. Overall, the second level’s components represent the basis for building the practice directives as a matter of recognition (identification and measurement (evaluation. Inside the third level, the recognition and measurement directives are being detailed, which will be further used by the accounting specialist in order to identify and apply the accounting standards. These two directives enclose postulates, principles and restrictions. Such specifications prove to be useful whenever precise answers must be given to relative financial information issues. Usually, it is accepted that the theoretical framework, also called the accounting framework is the standard-setting, metaphorically speaking is actually the constitution of financial accounting, or in other words, its reference matrix.

  16. Constitutional orders in multinational firms

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hull Kristensen, Peer; Morgan, Glenn

    Multinationals are faced with the problem of how to coordinate different actors and stop `fiefdoms' emerging that inhibits the achievement of transnational cooperation? We identify this as a problem of `constitutional ordering' in the firm. Drawing on Varieties of Capitalism approaches, we explore...... how multinationals from different contexts seek to create constitutional orders. We argue that the models which exist appear to be destructive of coordination. We explore the implications for MNCs....

  17. Evaluation of Chitosan-Microcrystalline Cellulose Blends as Direct Compression Excipients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emmanuel O. Olorunsola

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study was aimed at evaluating chitosan-microcrystalline cellulose blends as direct compression excipients. Crab shell chitosan, α-lactose monohydrate, and microcrystalline cellulose powders were characterized. Blends of the microcrystalline cellulose and chitosan in ratios 9 : 1, 4 : 1, 2 : 1, and 1 : 1 as direct compression excipients were made to constitute 60% of metronidazole tablets. Similar tablets containing blends of the microcrystalline cellulose and α-lactose monohydrate as well as those containing pure microcrystalline cellulose were also produced. The compact density, tensile strength, porosity, disintegration time, and dissolution rate of tablets were determined. Chitosan had higher moisture content (7.66% and higher moisture sorption capacity (1.33% compared to microcrystalline cellulose and lactose. It also showed better flow properties (Carr’s index of 18.9% and Hausner’s ratio of 1.23. Compact density of tablets increased but tensile strength decreased with increase in the proportion of chitosan in the binary mixtures. In contrast to lactose, the disintegration time increased and the dissolution rate decreased with increase in the proportion of chitosan. This study has shown that chitosan promotes flowability of powder mix and rapid disintegration of tablet. However, incorporation of equal proportions of microcrystalline cellulose and chitosan leads to production of extended-release tablet. Therefore, chitosan promotes tablet disintegration at low concentration and enables extended-release at higher concentration.

  18. Territory in the Constitutional Standards of Unitary States

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marina V. Markhgeym

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The article is based on the analysis of the constitutions of seven European countries (Albania, Hungary, Greece, Spain, Malta, Poland, Sweden. The research allows to reveal general and specific approaches to consolidation of norms on territories in a state and give the characteristic of the corresponding constitutional norms. Given the authors ' comprehensive approach to the definition of the territory of the state declared constitutional norms were assessed from the perspective of the fundamental principles and constituent elements of the territory. Considering the specifics of the constitutional types of state territories authors suggest typical and variative models and determine the constitutions of unitary states, distinguished by their originality in the declared group of legal relations. The original constitutional language areas associated with the introduction at the state level, these types of areas that are not typical for other countries.

  19. Constitutionalism and Democracy in Contemporary International Community

    OpenAIRE

    Padjen, Ivan

    1992-01-01

    Starting from the insight that jurisprudence of legal theory should be concerned primarily with,on the one hand, international law, and, on the other, constitutional developments, the paper; analyzes some prominent conceptions of constitutionalism and democracy in international community and municipal legal orders; formulates a new set of criteria for the analysis of constitutionalism and democracy in international law; and argues that Laswell and McDougal's policy oriented jurisprudence offe...

  20. On the constitutionality of dose limiting values

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goetz, V.

    1976-01-01

    The fundamental right according to Art. 2 par. 2 sentence 1 of the German Constitution is relevant for the set-up and application of radiation protection law. Resulting from Art. 2 par. 2 sentence 1 of the Constitution it is a general obligation of the state to protect life (Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of 25th Feb., 1975, BVerfGE 39.1) and physical soundness. The subjective basic right of everybody to defend against official encroachments his personal integrity corresponds to the right of the individual within the framework of the official obligation for protection from the state (to ward off danger). The term of danger, as to the degree of its determination, corresponds to that of the encroachment. To speak of danger in a legal sense, the causal connection between a certain source of danger and certain damage must be ascertained and proved. Topical controversies as to the admissibility of activity discharges of low doses range in the field of risk reduction and thus in the field of the duty of the state to take precautionary steps against risks (Art. 2 par. 2 sentence 1 of the Constitution). The constitution, however, does not contain any basic right that every risk has to be avoided. On the other hand, the necessity of cautions valuation of radiation risks can be derived from the Constitution. The fixation of dose limits and their application in connection with general radiation protection principles (paragraph 28 E of the Radiation Protection Ordinance) do not contain any 'interference' with the basic right in the sense of Art. 2 par. 2 sentence 3 of the Constitution. Neither from aspects of the principle of the legal state nor from Art. 80 par. 1 of the Constitution can the use of the legal form of the Ordinance be doubted. (orig./HP) [de

  1. The DOF transcription factor Dof5.1 influences leaf axial patterning by promoting Revoluta transcription in Arabidopsis

    KAUST Repository

    Kim, Hyungsae

    2010-10-05

    Dof proteins are transcription factors that have a conserved single zinc finger DNA-binding domain. In this study, we isolated an activation tagging mutant Dof5.1-D exhibiting an upward-curling leaf phenotype due to enhanced expression of the REV gene that is required for establishing adaxialabaxial polarity. Dof5.1-D plants also had reduced transcript levels for IAA6 and IAA19 genes, indicating an altered auxin biosynthesis in Dof5.1-D. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay using the Dof5.1 DNA-binding motif and the REV promoter region indicated that the DNA-binding domain of Dof5.1 binds to a TAAAGT motif located in the 5′-distal promoter region of the REV promoter. Further, transient and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays verified binding activity of the Dof5.1 DNA-binding motif with the REV promoter. Consistent with binding assays, constitutive over-expression of the Dof5.1 DNA-binding domain in wild-type plants caused a downward-curling phenotype, whereas crossing Dof5.1-D to a rev mutant reverted the upward-curling phenotype of the Dof5.1-D mutant leaf to the wild-type. These results suggest that the Dof5.1 protein directly binds to the REV promoter and thereby regulates adaxialabaxial polarity. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  2. The DOF transcription factor Dof5.1 influences leaf axial patterning by promoting Revoluta transcription in Arabidopsis

    KAUST Repository

    Kim, Hyungsae; Kim, Sungjin; Abbasi, Nazia; Bressan, Ray Anthony; Yun, Daejin; Yoo, Sangdong; Kwon, SukYun; Choi, Sangbong

    2010-01-01

    Dof proteins are transcription factors that have a conserved single zinc finger DNA-binding domain. In this study, we isolated an activation tagging mutant Dof5.1-D exhibiting an upward-curling leaf phenotype due to enhanced expression of the REV gene that is required for establishing adaxialabaxial polarity. Dof5.1-D plants also had reduced transcript levels for IAA6 and IAA19 genes, indicating an altered auxin biosynthesis in Dof5.1-D. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay using the Dof5.1 DNA-binding motif and the REV promoter region indicated that the DNA-binding domain of Dof5.1 binds to a TAAAGT motif located in the 5′-distal promoter region of the REV promoter. Further, transient and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays verified binding activity of the Dof5.1 DNA-binding motif with the REV promoter. Consistent with binding assays, constitutive over-expression of the Dof5.1 DNA-binding domain in wild-type plants caused a downward-curling phenotype, whereas crossing Dof5.1-D to a rev mutant reverted the upward-curling phenotype of the Dof5.1-D mutant leaf to the wild-type. These results suggest that the Dof5.1 protein directly binds to the REV promoter and thereby regulates adaxialabaxial polarity. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  3. Time and constitution of sense

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Gerardo Acosta

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available This article proposes a reflection over our time-consciousness under the Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl. The idea is make a release the key role of the sense constitution like the fundament and development of the ongoing intentionality, a shape that make the possibility to catch sight of the sense of every life situation like conscience experience that displays itself over the time, and open the world of the Phenomenon World, constituted in the flux and flow of our live experience. The immanent time in which the things served in a lived-present inevitably displays to its own immediate-past of retentions, then of commemorations, constituting and enabling, not just the sense of ever present, but the sense of our own past like memory and our future like expectative. This reflection is based and supporter over the text “Phenomenology Lesson of the Internal Time-Consiusness” (Husserl, 2002.

  4. Constitutive Model for Hot Deformation of the Cu-Zr-Ce Alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yi; Sun, Huili; Volinsky, Alex A.; Wang, Bingjie; Tian, Baohong; Liu, Yong; Song, Kexing

    2018-02-01

    Hot compressive deformation behavior of the Cu-Zr-Ce alloy has been investigated according to the hot deformation tests in the 550-900 °C temperature range and 0.001-10 s-1 strain rate range. Based on the true stress-true strain curves, the flow stress behavior of the Cu-Zr-Ce alloy was investigated. Microstructure evolution was observed by optical microscopy. Based on the experimental results, a constitutive equation, which reflects the relationships between the stress, strain, strain rate and temperature, has been established. Material constants n, α, Q and ln A were calculated as functions of strain. The equation predicting the flow stress combined with these materials constants has been proposed. The predicted stress is consistent with experimental stress, indicating that developed constitutive equation can adequately predict the flow stress of the Cu-Zr-Ce alloy. Dynamic recrystallization critical strain was determined using the work hardening rate method. According to the dynamic material model, the processing maps for the Cu-Zr and Cu-Zr-Ce alloy were obtained at 0.4 and 0.5 strain. Based on the processing maps and microstructure observations, the optimal processing parameters for the two alloys were determined, and it was found that the addition of Ce can promote the hot workability of the Cu-Zr alloy.

  5. Health promotion viewed as processes of subjectification in the education of Danish social and health care workers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lehn-Christiansen, Sine

    2011-01-01

    problems of both a social and moral character. It is shown how health promotion has a thorough impact on the students’ possibilities of coming into being as (professional) subjects. The article points to the conclusion that in this particular educational setting, health promotion constitutes...

  6. Stability of non-linear constitutive formulations for viscoelastic fluids

    CERN Document Server

    Siginer, Dennis A

    2014-01-01

    Stability of Non-linear Constitutive Formulations for Viscoelastic Fluids provides a complete and up-to-date view of the field of constitutive equations for flowing viscoelastic fluids, in particular on their non-linear behavior, the stability of these constitutive equations that is their predictive power, and the impact of these constitutive equations on the dynamics of viscoelastic fluid flow in tubes. This book gives an overall view of the theories and attendant methodologies developed independently of thermodynamic considerations as well as those set within a thermodynamic framework to derive non-linear rheological constitutive equations for viscoelastic fluids. Developments in formulating Maxwell-like constitutive differential equations as well as single integral constitutive formulations are discussed in the light of Hadamard and dissipative type of instabilities.

  7. Evaluation of potential crushed-salt constitutive models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callahan, G.D.; Loken, M.C.; Sambeek, L.L. Van; Chen, R.; Pfeifle, T.W.; Nieland, J.D.; Hansen, F.D.

    1995-12-01

    Constitutive models describing the deformation of crushed salt are presented in this report. Ten constitutive models with potential to describe the phenomenological and micromechanical processes for crushed salt were selected from a literature search. Three of these ten constitutive models, termed Sjaardema-Krieg, Zeuch, and Spiers models, were adopted as candidate constitutive models. The candidate constitutive models were generalized in a consistent manner to three-dimensional states of stress and modified to include the effects of temperature, grain size, and moisture content. A database including hydrostatic consolidation and shear consolidation tests conducted on Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and southeastern New Mexico salt was used to determine material parameters for the candidate constitutive models. Nonlinear least-squares model fitting to data from the hydrostatic consolidation tests, the shear consolidation tests, and a combination of the shear and hydrostatic tests produces three sets of material parameter values for the candidate models. The change in material parameter values from test group to test group indicates the empirical nature of the models. To evaluate the predictive capability of the candidate models, each parameter value set was used to predict each of the tests in the database. Based on the fitting statistics and the ability of the models to predict the test data, the Spiers model appeared to perform slightly better than the other two candidate models. The work reported here is a first-of-its kind evaluation of constitutive models for reconsolidation of crushed salt. Questions remain to be answered. Deficiencies in models and databases are identified and recommendations for future work are made. 85 refs

  8. Crushed-salt constitutive model update

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callahan, G.D.; Loken, M.C.; Mellegard, K.D.; Hansen, F.D.

    1998-01-01

    Modifications to the constitutive model used to describe the deformation of crushed salt are presented in this report. Two mechanisms--dislocation creep and grain boundary diffusional pressure solutioning--defined previously but used separately are combined to form the basis for the constitutive model governing the deformation of crushed salt. The constitutive model is generalized to represent three-dimensional states of stress. New creep consolidation tests are combined with an existing database that includes hydrostatic consolidation and shear consolidation tests conducted on Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and southeastern New Mexico salt to determine material parameters for the constitutive model. Nonlinear least-squares model fitting to data from the shear consolidation tests and a combination of the shear and hydrostatic consolidation tests produced two sets of material parameter values for the model. The change in material parameter values from test group to test group indicates the empirical nature of the model but demonstrates improvement over earlier work with the previous models. Key improvements are the ability to capture lateral strain reversal and better resolve parameter values. To demonstrate the predictive capability of the model, each parameter value set was used to predict each of the tests in the database. Based on the fitting statistics and the ability of the model to predict the test data, the model appears to capture the creep consolidation behavior of crushed salt quite well

  9. Crushed-salt constitutive model update

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Callahan, G.D.; Loken, M.C.; Mellegard, K.D. [RE/SPEC Inc., Rapid City, SD (United States); Hansen, F.D. [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    1998-01-01

    Modifications to the constitutive model used to describe the deformation of crushed salt are presented in this report. Two mechanisms--dislocation creep and grain boundary diffusional pressure solutioning--defined previously but used separately are combined to form the basis for the constitutive model governing the deformation of crushed salt. The constitutive model is generalized to represent three-dimensional states of stress. New creep consolidation tests are combined with an existing database that includes hydrostatic consolidation and shear consolidation tests conducted on Waste Isolation Pilot Plant and southeastern New Mexico salt to determine material parameters for the constitutive model. Nonlinear least-squares model fitting to data from the shear consolidation tests and a combination of the shear and hydrostatic consolidation tests produced two sets of material parameter values for the model. The change in material parameter values from test group to test group indicates the empirical nature of the model but demonstrates improvement over earlier work with the previous models. Key improvements are the ability to capture lateral strain reversal and better resolve parameter values. To demonstrate the predictive capability of the model, each parameter value set was used to predict each of the tests in the database. Based on the fitting statistics and the ability of the model to predict the test data, the model appears to capture the creep consolidation behavior of crushed salt quite well.

  10. Human Rights under the Ethiopian Constitution: A Descriptive ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This article summarizes human rights under the Ethiopian Constitution (mainly surrounding Chapter 3 of Constitution and related constitutional provisions on human and democratic rights), and forwards some insights. It, inter alia, covers various aspects of the application and interpretation of human rights provisions, ...

  11. The Role of Rumination and Stressful Life Events in the Relationship between the Qi Stagnation Constitution and Depression in Women: A Moderated Mediation Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Qiaosheng

    2017-01-01

    The qi stagnation constitution is associated with depression in traditional Chinese medicine. It is unclear how rumination and stressful life events affect the relationship between the qi stagnation constitution and depression. The Qi Stagnation Constitution Scale, Ruminative Response Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist were used to assess this association in 1200 female college students. The results revealed that the qi stagnation constitution was positively associated with depression. Furthermore, rumination was a partial mediator of the relationship between the qi stagnation constitution and depression. In addition, stressful life events moderated the direct effect and mediating effect of the qi stagnation constitution on depression. These findings indicate that rumination and stressful life events may affect the relationship between the qi stagnation constitution and depression in women. PMID:28757889

  12. In what direction should we go to promote health in mental health care?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petra Svedberg

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available There is a growing recognition of the need for health promotion interventions in all health care today. In spite of this, health promotion interventions among patients with mental illnesses have been scarce in research, practice, and policies. There is also an ambiguous interpretation of the definition of health promotion in the literature. The emphasis in this paper is thus to (1 discuss why we should pay attention to the interpretations of the concept of health promotion and (2 present a possible model for what nurses do when they intend to promote health in mental health care. This paper was presented at the Nordic Conference of Mental Health Nursing in Helsinki, Finland in 2010.

  13. Work Towards a (New) Definition of Peace Constitution

    OpenAIRE

    Gilliam, Jay R.; Jay R., Gilliam

    2011-01-01

    Current research on peace constitutions generally centers on Japan’s post-World War II pacifist constitution, specifically Article 9 where Japan renounces war, dissolves its military, and vows to work towards peace in the world. In fact, researching peace constitution (or 平和憲法 in Japanese) in books, academic journals, or on the Internet routinely returns only results about Japan and its Article 9. While a substantial body of work exists about Japan’s peace constitution, too often that body of...

  14. Applying Theoretical Components to the Implementation of Health-Promoting Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    McIsaac, Jessie-Lee; Storey, Kate; Veugelers, Paul J.; Kirk, Sara F. L.

    2015-01-01

    Objective: Health-promoting schools (HPS) constitute an internationally recognised approach that connects health and education in a planned, integrated and holistic way. There is considerable variability, however, in how HPS is implemented and recent research has attempted to clarify the key functions of implementation. A provincial HPS strategy…

  15. Sonora Legislators and their Constitution, 1857-1861

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zulema Trejo

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes the members of the Sonora constituent congress (1857-61, and analyzes the debates they held regarding the project for the state's Constitution, which would follow the lines estblished by the 1857 Federal Constitution. It also points out the relations between each legislator's trajectory and politicial affiliation (as far as available sources allow for this, and the proposals he presented during the legislative debates that gave place to the 1861 Constitution of Sonora.

  16. Competition And Antitrust Law In Ecuadorian Constitution

    OpenAIRE

    Marcelo Marín Sevilla

    2013-01-01

    This work allows us to establish the Economic Constitution and the Competition Law (C.L) in the Constitution. Additionally, the paper analyzes whether the rules outlined in the C. L. and in doctrine are consistent and appropriate with the Constitution of Ecuador. The Competition and Antitrust Laws has rules for investigating and punishing the cartels, the abuses of power market (dominant position), the rules for merger control, the behaviors of Abuse of economic dependence, and unfair competi...

  17. Complexities of Constitutional Change in the Philippines

    OpenAIRE

    Saunders, Cheryl; Yusingco, Michael Henry

    2018-01-01

    President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in July 2016, His party, PDP-Laban, had campaigned under the slogan: “No to Drugs, Yes to Federalism”. Duterte thus is committed to shepherding the Philippines towards a federal form of government; an undertaking that would require an extensive overhaul of the country’s constitution. The future of constitutional change under Duterte in any event is uncertain for a series of constitutional and political reasons. Critically, some of the most pressing of ...

  18. [Etiologic spectrum of solitary constitutional syndrome].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernández Hernández, J L; Matorras Galán, P; Riancho Moral, J A; González-Macías, J

    2002-07-01

    To know the spectrum of diseases responsible for the solitary constitutional syndrome in our setting. This syndrome was defined as a clinical picture characterized by the presence of asthenia, anorexia, and weight loss of at least 5% of body weight in the last six months, not associated with any other symptom or sign suggesting the diagnosis of an organ or system disease. All patients diagnosed of the solitary constitutional syndrome (328) in a tertiary-care level teaching hospital between January 1991 and December 1996. Fifty-two (170) percent of patients with solitary constitutional syndrome were males and 48% (158) females. The mean age was 65.4%, ranging from 15 to 97 years. The average of the monthly estimated weight loss was 3 to 4 kilograms. A total of 115 (35%) malignant neoplasms and 5 (1.5%) benign tumors were diagnosed. The most common malignant tumors corresponded to the digestive tract (51.3% of the total malignant tumors). The second cause in frequency of the solitary constitutional syndrome corresponded to psychiatric diseases, with a total of 80 patients (24.3%). A total of 116 non-neoplastic organic diseases were detected, with digestive tract diseases --mainly peptic disease-- being the most common cause in this group. After follow-up, only in twenty cases were we unable to detect the underlying disease responsible for the syndrome. In nine of these, the solitary constitutional syndrome was self-limited. Forty-four percent of patients had at least another concomitant disease and in 24% of patients more than one associated condition was found. The most common diseases responsible for the solitary constitutional syndrome were, by decreasing frequency, malignant tumors, psychiatric disorders, and non-malignant organic diseases located in the digestive tract. A better knowledge of the etiological spectrum of this syndrome might be useful for a more efficient management of these patients.

  19. Constitutional provisions regarding juristic persons | Pienaar ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The interim Constitution of 1993 and the final Constitution of 1996 contain specific provisions applicable to juristic persons. Juristic persons are also entitled to the fundamental rights contained in the Bill of Rights to the extent that these rights are applicable to them. It must be kept in mind that juristic persons have peculiar ...

  20. Reconstructing Dynamic Promoter Activity Profiles from Reporter Gene Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kannan, Soumya; Sams, Thomas; Maury, Jérôme; Workman, Christopher T

    2018-03-16

    Accurate characterization of promoter activity is important when designing expression systems for systems biology and metabolic engineering applications. Promoters that respond to changes in the environment enable the dynamic control of gene expression without the necessity of inducer compounds, for example. However, the dynamic nature of these processes poses challenges for estimating promoter activity. Most experimental approaches utilize reporter gene expression to estimate promoter activity. Typically the reporter gene encodes a fluorescent protein that is used to infer a constant promoter activity despite the fact that the observed output may be dynamic and is a number of steps away from the transcription process. In fact, some promoters that are often thought of as constitutive can show changes in activity when growth conditions change. For these reasons, we have developed a system of ordinary differential equations for estimating dynamic promoter activity for promoters that change their activity in response to the environment that is robust to noise and changes in growth rate. Our approach, inference of dynamic promoter activity (PromAct), improves on existing methods by more accurately inferring known promoter activity profiles. This method is also capable of estimating the correct scale of promoter activity and can be applied to quantitative data sets to estimate quantitative rates.

  1. The Constitutional Debate: A One Man Show? Václav Klaus and the Constitutional Discourse in the Czech Republic

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Rakušanová, Petra

    2007-01-01

    Roč. 8, č. 8 (2007), s. 342-373 ISSN 1570-5854 Grant - others:VW Stiftung(DE) 218036 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70280505 Keywords : European Constitutional Treaty * European constitutional ratification * Czech Republic Subject RIV: AO - Sociology, Demography

  2. Constitutional foundations of the property rights of citizens and organizations for real estate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zarina Kamilevna Kondratenko

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective to develop a comprehensive scientific conception of the constitutional foundations of the property rights of citizens and organizations for real estate. Methods general and specific scientific methods including formal logical methods hypothesis analysis synthesis deduction induction. The special methods included historical legaltechnical interdisciplinary comparativelegal systemic and other methods of scientific cognition. Results first the Constitution of the Russian Federation does not contain detailed regulation of property relations as they are regulated by the branches of Civil law. Therefore as certain property disputes affect substantial property interests of physical and juridical persons which are not under the protection of property rights in the traditional sense there is a need for a broad interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Russian Constitution. However the mixing of proprietary and contractual rights in this case does not occur. Second the Russian Civil Code reproducing and specifying the constitutional provisions as principles of private law form a direct normative basis of the whole civil law. However the constitutional law attributes a broader meaning to the notions of property and property right than the traditional civil law. Third the possible limitations of the Federal law of the rights of ownership use and disposition of property as well as freedom of entrepreneurship and freedom of contract must meet the requirements of justice to be adequate proportionate be of general and abstract character be not retroactive and not affect the essence of constitutional rights i.e. not limit the scope and application of the substantive content of the relevant constitutional norms.The possibility of such limitations and their nature must be determinedby the need to protect the significant values ndash the foundations of the constitutional system morality health rights and lawful interests of other persons provision

  3. Moderating Effects of Sales Promotion Types

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando de Oliveira Santini

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to analyze the influence sales promotion types have on the relationship between perception of financial risk and perception of utilitarian and hedonic value on consumer purchase intentions. To this end, an experiment was conducted involving 589 participants divided into two groups defined by distinct scenarios in which the sales promotion type (monetary vs. non-monetary was manipulated. The working hypotheses predicted a direct and positive relationship between the perception of (hedonic and utilitarian consumption value and purchase intention for a promoted product and a negative relationship between the perception of consumption value and the perception of financial risk. In addition, it was supposed that the sales promotion type would moderate these direct relationships and that a monetary promotion would have a stronger effect on the relationship between purchase intention and perceived product utility, whereas a non-monetary promotion would have a stronger effect on the other relationships (hedonic value and financial risk perceptions. Analysis of the outcomes supported the proposed hypotheses.

  4. Genesis of the constitutionality and statehood of the Republic of Srpska: Constitutional acts in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1990 and 1991

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nešković Radomir

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Constitutional (statehood or foundation acts are those on which the establishment of a state is founded. These acts determine its statehood entities (part-owners of the state in which the foundations of state organization are defined. All other authorities (legislative, executive and administrative, and judicial are extracted from constitutional acts which are synthesized in the Constitution as the highest political and legal act. Constitutional acts in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the abovementioned period influenced each other as the domino effect, since one act caused the adoption of another, thus, each state-building act had the cause and consequence feature. Constitutional act of representatives of a nation caused the adoption of a similar act among representatives of another nation, which resulted in the statehood authority losing its unique character and being 'torn apart' into three national state-building authorities. In this text we mention the basic constitutional acts preceding the establishment of the Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  5. James Madison's "Public" As Interpreter of the Constitution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dewey, Donald O.

    James Madison's thoughts on various interpretations of the Constitution maintain that public opinion is the ultimate method of legitimizing the document. The Constitution must prevail against mere public opinion, but public opinion may be used to establish the meaning of the Constitution when conflicting interpretations exist. The public good and…

  6. A Communicatively Constituted Online Crisis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Valentini, Chiara; Romenti, Stefania; Kruckeberg, Dean

    2017-01-01

    into specific public crisis perceptions. Drawing from a communicative constitution perspective, the authors argue that if crises are perceptions or experiences of difficult situations that exceed a person’s current resources and coping mechanisms, and if perceptions and experiences in social media are typically...... by offering suggestions on how to study online critical conversations through the lens of a communicative constitution perspective that could inform how critical issues eventually transform and become crises and how crisis perceptions evolve and are discursively shaped by communicative practices occurring...

  7. Data-driven non-linear elasticity: constitutive manifold construction and problem discretization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ibañez, Ruben; Borzacchiello, Domenico; Aguado, Jose Vicente; Abisset-Chavanne, Emmanuelle; Cueto, Elias; Ladeveze, Pierre; Chinesta, Francisco

    2017-11-01

    The use of constitutive equations calibrated from data has been implemented into standard numerical solvers for successfully addressing a variety problems encountered in simulation-based engineering sciences (SBES). However, the complexity remains constantly increasing due to the need of increasingly detailed models as well as the use of engineered materials. Data-Driven simulation constitutes a potential change of paradigm in SBES. Standard simulation in computational mechanics is based on the use of two very different types of equations. The first one, of axiomatic character, is related to balance laws (momentum, mass, energy,\\ldots ), whereas the second one consists of models that scientists have extracted from collected, either natural or synthetic, data. Data-driven (or data-intensive) simulation consists of directly linking experimental data to computers in order to perform numerical simulations. These simulations will employ laws, universally recognized as epistemic, while minimizing the need of explicit, often phenomenological, models. The main drawback of such an approach is the large amount of required data, some of them inaccessible from the nowadays testing facilities. Such difficulty can be circumvented in many cases, and in any case alleviated, by considering complex tests, collecting as many data as possible and then using a data-driven inverse approach in order to generate the whole constitutive manifold from few complex experimental tests, as discussed in the present work.

  8. Mouse Mammary Tumor Virus Promoter-Containing Retroviral Promoter Conversion Vectors for Gene-Directed Enzyme Prodrug Therapy are Functional in Vitro and in Vivo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reinhard Klein

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Gene directed-enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT is an approach for sensitization of tumor cells to an enzymatically activated, otherwise nontoxic, prodrug. Cytochrome P450 2B1 (CYP2B1 metabolizes the prodrugs cyclophosphamide (CPA and ifosfamide (IFA to produce the cytotoxic substances phosphoramide mustard and isophosphoramide mustard as well as the byproduct acrolein. We have constructed a retroviral promoter conversion (ProCon vector for breast cancer GDEPT. The vector allows expression of CYP2B1 from the mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV promoter known to be active in the mammary glands of transgenic animals. It is anticipated to be used for the generation of encapsulated viral vector producing cells which, when placed inside or close to a tumor, will act as suppliers of the therapeutic CYP2B1 protein as well as of the therapeutic vector itself. The generated vector was effectively packaged by virus producing cells and allowed the production of high levels of enzymatically active CYP2B1 in infected cells which sensitized them to killing upon treatment with both IFA and CPA. Determination of the respective IC50 values demonstrated that the effective IFA dose was reduced by sixteen folds. Infection efficiencies in vivo were determined using a reporter gene-bearing vector in a mammary cancer cell-derived xenograft tumor mouse model.

  9. Health care law versus constitutional law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Mark A

    2013-04-01

    National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court's ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is a landmark decision - both for constitutional law and for health care law and policy. Others will study its implications for constitutional limits on a range of federal powers beyond health care. This article considers to what extent the decision is also about health care law, properly conceived. Under one view, health care law is the subdiscipline that inquires how courts and government actors take account of the special features of medicine that make legal or policy issues especially problematic - rather than regarding health care delivery and finance more generically, like most any other economic or social enterprise. Viewed this way, the opinions from the Court's conservative justices are mainly about general constitutional law principles. In contrast, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissenting opinion for the four more liberal justices is just as much about health care law as it is about constitutional law. Her opinion gives detailed attention to the unique features of health care finance and delivery in order to inform her analysis of constitutional precedents and principles. Thus, the Court's multiple opinions give a vivid depiction of the compelling contrasts between communal versus individualistic conceptions of caring for those in need, and between health care and health insurance as ordinary commodities versus ones that merit special economic, social, and legal status.

  10. Possibilities for a constitutional embodiment of environment protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hattenberger, D.

    1991-03-01

    The main topic is the question of adequacy and desirability of a constitutional rule for the protection of the environment with regard to the specific Austrian situation and the extensive discussion about this topic in German. As variants are discussed a human right of environment, objective categories of constitutional rules (constitutional aims of state's policy) and procedural or organisational rules. It begins with an explanation of the general responsibility of states in the field of environment protection and a determination of the term 'environment '. In respect of a human right first already guaranteed rights are examined for their relevance in the field of conservation with regard to the change in the understanding of human rights. Then arguments pro and against a specific right to environment are mentioned and appraised. With regard to the counter-arguments a subjective right should not be incorporated. A revision of the present concept of human rights would be necessary. Similar arguments are mentioned against the constitution of an objective norm in respect of some judicial decisions of the Austrian Constitutional Court. The problem of the protection of the environment will not be solved with a constitutional rule. It would raise new problems, which would damage the constitution as a fundamental order of human living together. (author)

  11. Constitutional Provisions on the Press: A World View.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paraschos, Manny

    A study examined the legal treatment of the press in constitutions or other basic legal institutional documents from around the world. Sixty-three constitutions or basic documents from the Western World, the Communist Bloc, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America were analyzed. Analysis revealed that most constitutions open with…

  12. Theoretical (dis-) position and strategic leitmotivs in constitutional ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This essay takes a look at the historic restoration that bequeathed this country and its people a prototypical, justiciable Constitution. The advent of constitutional democracy in South Africa went hand in hand with an about-turn in the interpretation of enacted law-texts (including the Constitution) and a critical interrogation of ...

  13. Unconstitutional constitutional amendments in Ethiopia: the practice ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Haramaya Law Review ... The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) under Article 104 and 105 sets ... that sets procedures to be observed in the process of constitutional amendments: both initiation and approval.

  14. Direct electron transfer of glucose oxidase promoted by carbon nanotubes is without value in certain mediator-free applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Y.; Yao, Y.

    2012-01-01

    We have investigated the direct electron transfer (DET) promoted by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on an electrode containing immobilized glucose oxidase (GOx) with the aim to develop a third-generation glucose biosensor and a mediator-free glucose biofuel cell anode. GOx was immobilized via chitosan (CS) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Cyclic voltammetric revealed that the GOx on the surface of such an electrode is unable to simultaneously demonstrate DET with the electrode and to retain its catalytic activity towards glucose, although the MWCNTs alone can promote electron transfer between GOx and electrode. This is interpreted in terms of two types of GOx on the surface, the distribution and properties of which are quite different. The first type exhibits DET capability that results from the collaboration of MWCNTs and metal impurities, but is unable to catalyze the oxidation of glucose. The second type maintains its glucose-specific catalytic capability in the presence of a mediator, which can be enhanced by MWCNTs, but cannot undergo DET with the electrode. As a result, the MWCNTs are capable of promoting the electron transfer, but this is without value in some mediator-free applications such as in third-generation glucose biosensors and in mediator-free anodes for glucose biofuel cells. (author)

  15. A high constitutive catalase activity confers resistance to methyl viologen-promoted oxidative stress in a mutant of the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme ATCC 29133.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moirangthem, Lakshmipyari Devi; Bhattacharya, Sudeshna; Stensjö, Karin; Lindblad, Peter; Bhattacharya, Jyotirmoy

    2014-04-01

    A spontaneous methyl viologen (MV)-resistant mutant of the nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme ATCC 29133 was isolated and the major enzymatic antioxidants involved in combating MV-induced oxidative stress were evaluated. The mutant displayed a high constitutive catalase activity as a consequence of which, the intracellular level of reactive oxygen species in the mutant was lower than the wild type (N. punctiforme) in the presence of MV. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity that consisted of a SodA (manganese-SOD) and a SodB (iron-SOD) was not suppressed in the mutant following MV treatment. The mutant was, however, characterised by a lower peroxidase activity compared with its wild type, and its improved tolerance to externally added H₂O₂ could only be attributed to enhanced catalase activity. Furthermore, MV-induced toxic effects on the wild type such as (1) loss of photosynthetic performance assessed as maximal quantum yield of photosystem II, (2) nitrogenase inactivation, and (3) filament fragmentation and cell lysis were not observed in the mutant. These findings highlight the importance of catalase in preventing MV-promoted oxidative damage and cell death in the cyanobacterium N. punctiforme. Such oxidative stress resistant mutants of cyanobacteria are likely to be a better source of biofertilisers, as they can grow and fix nitrogen in an unhindered manner in agricultural fields that are often contaminated with the herbicide MV, also commonly known as paraquat.

  16. New Constitutionalism for Biosiversity vs. Neoconstitutionalism of Risk

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michele Carducci

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2177-7055.2016v37n73p255 Based on an “eco-systemic” democracy that seeks to preserve biodiversity through the recognition of the co-evolutionary link between nature and culture, the Andean Constitutionalism emerges as the expression of a counter-hegemonic constitutionalism committed to the construction of a new institutional framework through the inclusion of new participatory and intercultural mechanisms. Departing from western constitutional paradigms, this groundbreaking constitutionalism revisits the “Gaia hypothesis” and legitimizes a real “social contract” among the people and nature, and instead of considering it as an “object” of ownership, exploitation, or conservation, it regards nature as a legal “subject” and primary source of society itself and the Constitution as its “legal grantor and protector”.

  17. The Role of Rumination and Stressful Life Events in the Relationship between the Qi Stagnation Constitution and Depression in Women: A Moderated Mediation Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingfan Liu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The qi stagnation constitution is associated with depression in traditional Chinese medicine. It is unclear how rumination and stressful life events affect the relationship between the qi stagnation constitution and depression. The Qi Stagnation Constitution Scale, Ruminative Response Scale, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Checklist were used to assess this association in 1200 female college students. The results revealed that the qi stagnation constitution was positively associated with depression. Furthermore, rumination was a partial mediator of the relationship between the qi stagnation constitution and depression. In addition, stressful life events moderated the direct effect and mediating effect of the qi stagnation constitution on depression. These findings indicate that rumination and stressful life events may affect the relationship between the qi stagnation constitution and depression in women.

  18. [Researches on health and welfare promotion based on an approach of social medicine].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kagamimori, Sadanobu

    2004-07-01

    This article was derived from my memorial talk given when receiving the prize of the Japanese Society for Hygiene at their academic congress. The reader could review my research on health and welfare promotion made by introducing new conceptual health policy based on the approach of social medicine. Through my experience in different research work, the importance of social factors in the etiology of health during childhood, adulthood and old age was discussed. In addition, it was revealed that social factors not only influence the population's health status but also constitute the context within which organized efforts can be made to promote health. For the elderly, the annual health check, stroke patient registration, and insurance for care and spousal bereavement; for adults, the Karoshi and occupational health; and for children, air pollution-atopy predisposition and lifestyles were highlighted as social medicine-related issues. The research on mostly longitudinal population studies showed that health status, including the life expectancy and the prevalence of disability and chronic disorders, are related to one's marital status, social support, psychosocial working conditions and environmental factors as well as to lifestyles such as physical activity and hours of work and sleep at entry. More attention should be directed to independent factors' effects on health, separate from those of adverse health habits and bio-medical situations, under the health and welfare promotion strategy.

  19. Rights of Minors and Constitutional Politics in the German Länder. Legal Framework, Party Strategies, and Constitutional Amendments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lorenz Astrid

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The article analyses constitutional politics in the German Länder in the field of minors’ rights. Since this issue seems a purely legal matter dealt with at the federal, European and international level, we should expect similar, almost identically shaped policies at the Länder level. However, the analysis brings considerable variations of constitutional activities in this field to the fore: time, frequency, and contents of respective initiatives vary significantly in the period from 1999 to 2014. These variations were due to different party strategies, diverging party platforms and majority constellations in the Länder. The analysis also shows that the public arguments brought forward in favour of constitutional amendments refer only weakly and randomly to legal provisions and processes at other levels. The political debate supporting extended children's rights rather refers to general observations, to the specific regional context, and constitutional provisions in other Länder. At least with regard to this issue, the multi-level system did not systematically impact on constitutional politics in the Länder. It rather can be understood as an opportunity structure providing parties with multiple realms in which they can pursue their goals. Thus the study shows that federal and regional party strategies are key factors in explaining policy diffusion in multilevel systems.

  20. Future development, innovation and promotion of European unique food: an interdisciplinary research framework perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byrne, Derek V; Waehrens, Sandra S; O'Sullivan, Maurice G

    2013-11-01

    Unique food products constitute a very important element of European food business, culture, identity and heritage. Understanding the uniqueness of food in Europe from a research-based interdisciplinary perspective will be a critical factor in promoting the competitiveness of artisanal food industries going forward both locally and internationally. Success will support the competitiveness of the European food industry, in particular, small and medium enterprises, by enabling substantial product differentiation potential for producers and providing ample variety in food choice for the consumer. In addition, it will contribute to promotion of sustainable agriculture and development of rural areas, protecting them from depopulation. In order to meet the demands of a developing fundamental shift in European Union agricultural focus to greener, sustainable farming practices and wider rural development and to ensure success for local small-scale producers, this paper discusses the future direction of research in the field of unique European foods. The paper presents a perspective which promotes optimisation and innovation in unique food products in Europe through the integration of advanced knowledge and technologies. A framework is presented covering location, identity, perception and well-being as research areas needing synergy to bridge the research knowledge deficit in determination and specification of food identity in the European Union. The ultimate aim being promotion of sustainable agriculture and rural development, particularly in territories across the European Union where unique food is strategically and scientifically under-defined. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.

  1. Constitutional and acquired autosomal aneuploidy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jackson-Cook, Colleen

    2011-12-01

    Chromosomal imbalances can result from numerical or structural anomalies. Numerical chromosomal abnormalities are often referred to as aneuploid conditions. This article focuses on the occurrence of constitutional and acquired autosomal aneuploidy in humans. Topics covered include frequency, mosaicism, phenotypic findings, and etiology. The article concludes with a consideration of anticipated advances that might allow for the development of screening tests and/or lead to improvements in our understanding and management of the role that aneuploidy plays in the aging process and acquisition of age-related and constitutional conditions.

  2. Positive emotions: A psychological tool for promoting resilience process in childhood

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carolina Greco

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this theoretical work is to assess the relation between the capacity to experiment positive emotions and the process of resilience throughout childhood. Our interest arises from two research works being carried out in the province of Mendoza, in Argentina (INCIHUSA-CRICYT-CONICET, directed by Dr Mirta Ison. One the so called “Assessment of resilience in childhood maltreatment”, and the other “ Positive emotions as psycological tools for fostering mental health throughout childhood within vulnerable social contexts”. Resilience is always associated to risky or vulnerable social situations. Positive emotions constitute a resource favorable to the development of resilience. This working hypothesis is based on previous studies which hold that positive emotions favor creative thinking for the solution of interpersonal problems, promote cognitive flexibility, reduce risks at decision making, promote replies to generosity and altruism, increase intelectual resources and counteract depressive tendencies among others. Other authors support the fact that the features a resilient child holds are closely connected to cognitive flexibility, to creative capacity, to the capacity for solving interpersonal problems, to self esteem and attachment links among others. Thus, positive emotions are believed to be one of the psycological resources and tools needed for the development of resilience throughout childhood. 

  3. La participación directa del ciudadano en el Parlamento. Una visión desde el ordenamiento constitucional español (The Direct Participation of the Citizen in the Parliament. An Approach from the Spanish Constitutional Legal System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Enriqueta Expósito

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available La forma actual de entender el ejercicio de la representación está siendo ‘respondida’ por la institución parlamentaria; en especial, por las Asambleas de las Comunidades Autónomas. A pesar de que no es un proceso generalizado, muchas de ellas ya han aprobado importantes reformas en sus Reglamentos de organización y funcionamiento que institucionalizan canales de diálogo directo y bidireccional entre los representantes y los representados, a la vez que potencian la participación directa de los ciudadanos en el ejercicio de las funciones que constitucional o estatutariamente se les encomiendan. El aspecto positivo es que su regulación permite quebrar con la imagen de un Parlamento ‘blindado’ a las demandas sociales. Tienen como propósito regenerar el vínculo entre representantes y representados y, desde esta perspectiva, se presentan como un instrumento al servicio de la democracia representativa. The way to understand the representation is currently being contested from parliaments, especially by the Regional Assemblies. Actually, this is not a generalized dynamics, but many of them have adopted important reforms in its regulations, institutionalizing channels direct and two-way dialogue between representatives and represented. At the same time, is promoted the direct participation of citizens in the exercise of constitutional or statutory functions entrusted to them. This regulation is positive because break with the image of a Parliament armored against social demands. These measures are intended to regenerate the link between representatives and represented; as an instrument at the service of representative democracy. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3070311

  4. Direct-to-Consumer Broadcast Advertisements for Pharmaceuticals: Off-Label Promotion and Adherence to FDA Guidelines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klara, Kristina; Kim, Jeanie; Ross, Joseph S

    2018-05-01

    Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs in the United States are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Off-label promotion, or the advertisement of a drug for an indication not approved by the FDA, is prohibited. Our objective was to examine the presence of off-label promotion in broadcast DTC ads and to assess their adherence to FDA guidelines mandating fair balance in presentation of risks and benefits and prohibiting misleading advertisement claims. All English-language broadcast DTC ads for prescription drugs that aired in the United States from January 2015 to July 2016 were obtained from AdPharm, an online collection of healthcare advertisements. Ad length was measured and adherence to FDA guidelines was assessed for several categories: key regulatory items, indicators of false or misleading ads, and indicators of fair balance in presentation of risks and benefits. Our sample included 97 unique DTC ads, representing 60 unique drugs and 67 unique drug-indication combinations. No ads described drug risks quantitatively, whereas drug efficacy was presented quantitatively in 25 (26%) ads. Thirteen (13%) ads, all for diabetes medications, suggested off-label uses for weight loss and blood pressure reduction. The most commonly advertised drugs were indicated for the treatment of inflammatory conditions (n = 12; 18%), diabetes or diabetic neuropathy (n = 11; 16%), bowel or bladder dysfunction (n = 6; 9%), and infections or allergic reaction (n = 6; 9%). More than three-quarters (n = 51; 76%) advertised drugs to treat chronic conditions. Few broadcast DTC ads were fully compliant with FDA guidelines. The overall quality of information provided in ads was low, and suggestions of off-label promotion were common for diabetes medications. The impact of current DTC ads and off-label marketing on patient and prescriber decisions merits further scrutiny.

  5. The foundational tenets of Johannes Althusius' constitutionalism ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Potchefstroom Electronic Law Journal/Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad ... sovereignty, in contrast to undivided (statist) sovereignty and his views on public office provided the framework for constitutionalism and limited government which could arguably improve on that of contemporary statist constitutionalism.

  6. A constitutive theory of reacting electrolyte mixtures

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa Reis, Martina; Wang, Yongqi; Bono Maurizio Sacchi Bassi, Adalberto

    2013-11-01

    A constitutive theory of reacting electrolyte mixtures is formulated. The intermolecular interactions among the constituents of the mixture are accounted for through additional freedom degrees to each constituent of the mixture. Balance equations for polar reacting continuum mixtures are accordingly formulated and a proper set of constitutive equations is derived with basis in the Müller-Liu formulation of the second law of thermodynamics. Moreover, the non-equilibrium and equilibrium responses of the reacting mixture are investigated in detail by emphasizing the inner and reactive structures of the medium. From the balance laws and constitutive relations, the effects of molecular structure of constituents upon the fluid flow are studied. It is also demonstrated that the local thermodynamic equilibrium state can be reached without imposing that the set of independent constitutive variables is time independent, neither spatially homogeneous nor null. The resulting constitutive relations presented throughout this work are of relevance to many practical applications, such as swelling of clays, developing of bio and polymeric membranes, and use of electrorheological fluids in industrial processes. The first author acknowledges financial support from National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq) and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

  7. Nuclear phase-out a part of the German Constitution? On the political grammar of constitutional changes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaerditz, Klaus Ferdinand

    2016-01-01

    The study examines whether and to what extent the simple legal effected nuclear phase-out could be safeguarded in the Basic Law, which regulatory methods would be available, the advantages and disadvantages of these and how their effects would be assessed. In addition to political and practical consequences, this also includes considerations of democracy and constitutional theory in an overall consideration, which ultimately touches the question of the regulatory function of constitutional changes. [de

  8. Constitutive behavior of reconsolidating crushed salt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callahan, G.D.; Mellegard, K.D.; Hansen, F.D.

    1998-02-01

    The constitutive model used to describe deformation of crushed salt is presented in this paper. Two mechanisms--dislocation creep and grain boundary diffusional pressure solutioning--are combined to form the basis for the constitutive model governing deformation of crushed salt. The constitutive model is generalized to represent three-dimensional states of stress. Recently completed creep consolidation tests are combined with an existing database that includes hydrostatic consolidation and shear consolidation tests conducted on Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) and southeastern New Mexico salt to determine material parameters for the constitutive model. Nonlinear least-squares model fitting to data from shear consolidation tests and a combination of shear and hydrostatic tests produces two sets of material parameter values for the model. Changes in material parameter values from test group to test group indicate the empirical nature of the model but show significant improvement over earlier work. To demonstrate the predictive capability of the model, each parameter value set was used to predict each of the tests in the database. Based on fitting statistics and ability of the model to predict test data, the model appears to capture the creep consolidation behavior of crushed salt quite well

  9. Medicines Information and the Regulation of the Promotion of Pharmaceuticals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonardo Alves, Teresa; Lexchin, Joel; Mintzes, Barbara

    2018-05-02

    Many factors contribute to the inappropriate use of medicines, including not only a lack of information but also inaccurate and misleading promotional information. This review examines how the promotion of pharmaceuticals directly affects the prescribing and use of medicines. We define promotion broadly as all actions taken directly by pharmaceutical companies with the aim of enhancing product sales. We look in greater detail at promotion techniques aimed at prescribers, such as sales representatives, pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals and use of key opinion leaders, along with the quality of information provided and the effects thereof. We also discuss promotion to the public, through direct-to-consumer advertising, and its effects. Finally, we consider initiatives to regulate promotion that come from industry, government and nongovernmental organizations.

  10. Using M-learning as a Means to Promote Self-direction and Engagement in Apprenticeship Theoretical Lessons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan O'Donnell

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available An exploratory case study was carried out to investigate if the use of mobile phones as a tool for learning could address concerns over the current learning of the carpentry and joinery apprentices in the Dublin Institute of Technology. The concerns are regarding a lack of learner self-direction and engagement with the learning content. A high level of mobile phone usage was apparent among the apprentice cohort. It was decided to take advantage of the potential learning opportunity offered by mobile technologies to promote the learning and engagement of the apprentices. Towards this goal, a compatible resource was developed, hosting presentations, course content, videos and questions. This study explored the views of the learners in the carpentry and joinery trade apprenticeship and their attitudes towards developing an m-learning resource. The aim of the research was to explore if this m-learning resource encouraged self-direction and engagement. Further objectives of this study were to establish a start point for further research projects and resource development.

  11. Development of a stress-mode sensitive viscoelastic constitutive relationship for asphalt concrete: experimental and numerical modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karimi, Mohammad M.; Tabatabaee, Nader; Jahanbakhsh, H.; Jahangiri, Behnam

    2017-08-01

    Asphalt binder is responsible for the thermo-viscoelastic mechanical behavior of asphalt concrete. Upon application of pure compressive stress to an asphalt concrete specimen, the stress is transferred by mechanisms such as aggregate interlock and the adhesion/cohesion properties of asphalt mastic. In the pure tensile stress mode, aggregate interlock plays a limited role in stress transfer, and the mastic phase plays the dominant role through its adhesive/cohesive and viscoelastic properties. Under actual combined loading patterns, any coordinate direction may experience different stress modes; therefore, the mechanical behavior is not the same in the different directions and the asphalt specimen behaves as an anisotropic material. The present study developed an anisotropic nonlinear viscoelastic constitutive relationship that is sensitive to the tension/compression stress mode by extending Schapery's nonlinear viscoelastic model. The proposed constitutive relationship was implemented in Abaqus using a user material (UMAT) subroutine in an implicit scheme. Uniaxial compression and indirect tension (IDT) testing were used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of the bituminous materials and to calibrate and validate the proposed constitutive relationship. Compressive and tensile creep compliances were calculated using uniaxial compression, as well as IDT test results, for different creep-recovery loading patterns at intermediate temperature. The results showed that both tensile creep compliance and its rate were greater than those of compression. The calculated deflections based on these IDT test simulations were compared with experimental measurements and were deemed acceptable. This suggests that the proposed viscoelastic constitutive relationship correctly demonstrates the viscoelastic response and is more accurate for analysis of asphalt concrete in the laboratory or in situ.

  12. CINPA1 is an inhibitor of constitutive androstane receptor that does not activate pregnane X receptor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cherian, Milu T; Lin, Wenwei; Wu, Jing; Chen, Taosheng

    2015-05-01

    Constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and pregnane X receptor (PXR) are xenobiotic sensors that enhance the detoxification and elimination of xenobiotics and endobiotics by modulating the expression of genes encoding drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters. Elevated levels of drug-metabolizing enzymes and efflux transporters, resulting from CAR activation in various cancers, promote the elimination of chemotherapeutic agents, leading to reduced therapeutic effectiveness and acquired drug resistance. CAR inhibitors, in combination with existing chemotherapeutics, could therefore be used to attenuate multidrug resistance in cancers. Interestingly, all previously reported CAR inverse-agonists are also activators of PXR, rendering them mechanistically counterproductive in tissues where both these xenobiotic receptors are present and active. We used a directed high-throughput screening approach, followed by subsequent mechanistic studies, to identify novel, potent, and specific small-molecule CAR inhibitors that do not activate PXR. We describe here one such inhibitor, CINPA1 (CAR inhibitor not PXR activator 1), capable of reducing CAR-mediated transcription with an IC50 of ∼70 nM. CINPA1 1) is a specific xenobiotic receptor inhibitor and has no cytotoxic effects up to 30 µM; 2) inhibits CAR-mediated gene expression in primary human hepatocytes, where CAR is endogenously expressed; 3) does not alter the protein levels or subcellular localization of CAR; 4) increases corepressor and reduces coactivator interaction with the CAR ligand-binding domain in mammalian two-hybrid assays; and 5) disrupts CAR binding to the promoter regions of target genes in chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. CINPA1 could be used as a novel molecular tool for understanding CAR function. Copyright © 2015 by The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

  13. Microscopic molecular dynamics characterization of the second-order non-Navier-Fourier constitutive laws in the Poiseuille gas flow

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rana, A.; Ravichandran, R. [School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52828 (Korea, Republic of); Park, J. H.; Myong, R. S., E-mail: myong@gnu.ac.kr [School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52828 (Korea, Republic of); Research Center for Aircraft Parts Technology, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52828 (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-08-15

    The second-order non-Navier-Fourier constitutive laws, expressed in a compact algebraic mathematical form, were validated for the force-driven Poiseuille gas flow by the deterministic atomic-level microscopic molecular dynamics (MD). Emphasis is placed on how completely different methods (a second-order continuum macroscopic theory based on the kinetic Boltzmann equation, the probabilistic mesoscopic direct simulation Monte Carlo, and, in particular, the deterministic microscopic MD) describe the non-classical physics, and whether the second-order non-Navier-Fourier constitutive laws derived from the continuum theory can be validated using MD solutions for the viscous stress and heat flux calculated directly from the molecular data using the statistical method. Peculiar behaviors (non-uniform tangent pressure profile and exotic instantaneous heat conduction from cold to hot [R. S. Myong, “A full analytical solution for the force-driven compressible Poiseuille gas flow based on a nonlinear coupled constitutive relation,” Phys. Fluids 23(1), 012002 (2011)]) were re-examined using atomic-level MD results. It was shown that all three results were in strong qualitative agreement with each other, implying that the second-order non-Navier-Fourier laws are indeed physically legitimate in the transition regime. Furthermore, it was shown that the non-Navier-Fourier constitutive laws are essential for describing non-zero normal stress and tangential heat flux, while the classical and non-classical laws remain similar for shear stress and normal heat flux.

  14. Syndromes and constitutional chromosomal abnormalities associated with Wilms tumour

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, R H; Stiller, C A; Walker, L; Rahman, N

    2006-01-01

    Wilms tumour has been reported in association with over 50 different clinical conditions and several abnormal constitutional karyotypes. Conclusive evidence of an increased risk of Wilms tumour exists for only a minority of these conditions, including WT1 associated syndromes, familial Wilms tumour, and certain overgrowth conditions such as Beckwith‐Wiedemann syndrome. In many reported conditions the rare co‐occurrence of Wilms tumour is probably due to chance. However, for several conditions the available evidence cannot either confirm or exclude an increased risk, usually because of the rarity of the syndrome. In addition, emerging evidence suggests that an increased risk of Wilms tumour occurs only in a subset of individuals for some syndromes. The complex clinical and molecular heterogeneity of disorders associated with Wilms tumour, together with the apparent absence of functional links between most of the known predisposition genes, suggests that abrogation of a variety of pathways can promote Wilms tumorigenesis. PMID:16690728

  15. Protein Prenylation Constitutes an Endogenous Brake on Axonal Growth

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hai Li

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Suboptimal axonal regeneration contributes to the consequences of nervous system trauma and neurodegenerative disease, but the intrinsic mechanisms that regulate axon growth remain unclear. We screened 50,400 small molecules for their ability to promote axon outgrowth on inhibitory substrata. The most potent hits were the statins, which stimulated growth of all mouse- and human-patient-derived neurons tested, both in vitro and in vivo, as did combined inhibition of the protein prenylation enzymes farnesyltransferase (PFT and geranylgeranyl transferase I (PGGT-1. Compensatory sprouting of motor axons may delay clinical onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS. Accordingly, elevated levels of PGGT1B, which would be predicted to reduce sprouting, were found in motor neurons of early- versus late-onset ALS patients postmortem. The mevalonate-prenylation pathway therefore constitutes an endogenous brake on axonal growth, and its inhibition provides a potential therapeutic approach to accelerate neuronal regeneration in humans.

  16. Whole genome expression and biochemical correlates of extreme constitutional types defined in Ayurveda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prasher, Bhavana; Negi, Sapna; Aggarwal, Shilpi; Mandal, Amit K; Sethi, Tav P; Deshmukh, Shailaja R; Purohit, Sudha G; Sengupta, Shantanu; Khanna, Sangeeta; Mohammad, Farhan; Garg, Gaurav; Brahmachari, Samir K; Mukerji, Mitali

    2008-09-09

    Ayurveda is an ancient system of personalized medicine documented and practiced in India since 1500 B.C. According to this system an individual's basic constitution to a large extent determines predisposition and prognosis to diseases as well as therapy and life-style regime. Ayurveda describes seven broad constitution types (Prakritis) each with a varying degree of predisposition to different diseases. Amongst these, three most contrasting types, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, are the most vulnerable to diseases. In the realm of modern predictive medicine, efforts are being directed towards capturing disease phenotypes with greater precision for successful identification of markers for prospective disease conditions. In this study, we explore whether the different constitution types as described in Ayurveda has molecular correlates. Normal individuals of the three most contrasting constitutional types were identified following phenotyping criteria described in Ayurveda in Indian population of Indo-European origin. The peripheral blood samples of these individuals were analysed for genome wide expression levels, biochemical and hematological parameters. Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway based analysis was carried out on differentially expressed genes to explore if there were significant enrichments of functional categories among Prakriti types. Individuals from the three most contrasting constitutional types exhibit striking differences with respect to biochemical and hematological parameters and at genome wide expression levels. Biochemical profiles like liver function tests, lipid profiles, and hematological parameters like haemoglobin exhibited differences between Prakriti types. Functional categories of genes showing differential expression among Prakriti types were significantly enriched in core biological processes like transport, regulation of cyclin dependent protein kinase activity, immune response and regulation of blood coagulation. A significant enrichment of

  17. Phosphorylation of stress protein pp80 is related to promotion of transformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, B.M.; Gindhart, T.D.; Hirano, K.; Colburn, N.H.

    1986-01-01

    The JB6 mouse epidermal cell system is an in vitro model of late stage promotion, and includes cell lines sensitive (P+) or resistant (P-) to phorbol ester-induced anchorage independent transformation, and transformed (T/sub x/) lines. Certain promoter-induced changes in phosphoproteins, identified by gel electrophoresis, are unique to cells of one phenotype, and occur only with specific promoters. An 80Kd protein is inversely correlated with phenotype: P- cells have a constitutively higher level (p 35 S-methionine. pp80 shares properties with the 80Kd heat stress protein: molecular weight relative abundance, and isoelectric point (4.5). Pharmacological analogs of calcium, the lanthanides, promote transformation of JB6 cells, but have no effect on phosphorylation of the 80Kd protein. If pp80 is on the promotion pathway, it is limited to a specific subset of transformation promoters

  18. Chemical inducible promoter used to obtain transgenic plants with a silent marker

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aoyama, Takashi; Zuo, Jianru; Chua, Nam-Hai

    2004-08-31

    A chemically inducible promoter is described that may be used to transform plants, including tobacco and lettuce, with genes which are easily regulatable by adding the plants or plant cells to a medium containing an inducer of the promoter or by removing the plants or plant cells from such medium. The promoter described is one that is inducible by a glucocorticoid which is not endogenous to plants. Such promoters may be used with a variety of genes such as ipt or knotted1 to induce shoot formation in the presence of a glucocorticoid. The promoter may also be used with antibiotic or herbicide resistance genes which are then regulatable by the presence or absence of inducer rather than being constitutive. Other examples of genes which may be placed under the control of the inducible promoter are also presented.

  19. National Constitutional Avenues for Further EU Integration

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Besselink, L.F.M.; Claes, M.; Imamovic, Š.; Reestman, J.H.

    2014-01-01

    This study investigates national constitutional limits to further EU integration and explores ways to overcome them. It includes an in-depth examination of the constitutional systems of 12 Member States (Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the

  20. Constitutive properties of salt from four sites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pfeifle, T.W.; Mellegard, K.D.; Senseny, P.E.

    1983-04-01

    Results are presented from laboratory strength and creep tests performed on salt specimens from the Richton dome in Mississippi, the Vacherie dome in Louisiana, the Permian basin in Texas, and the Paradox basin in Utah. The constitutive properties obtained are the elastic moduli and the failure envelope at 24 0 C and parameter values for the baseline creep law. Some additional data are presented to indicate how the elastic moduli and strength change with temperature. The constitutive properties given in this report and subsequent numerical simulations will serve as input to the screening of site locations for a nuclear-waste repository. The matrix of tests performed is the minimum effort required to obtain these constitutive properties. Comparison of results with those obtained for sites that have been characterized in greater detail suggests that the constitutive parameter values obtained are adequate for site-screening activity

  1. Constitutive Modeling of Geomaterials Advances and New Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Zhang, Jian-Min; Zheng, Hong; Yao, Yangping

    2013-01-01

    The Second International Symposium on Constitutive Modeling of Geomaterials: Advances and New Applications (IS-Model 2012), is to be held in Beijing, China, during October 15-16, 2012. The symposium is organized by Tsinghua University, the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG), the Committee of Numerical and Physical Modeling of Rock Mass, Chinese Society for Rock Mechanics and Engineering, and the Committee of Constitutive Relations and Strength Theory, China Institution of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, China Civil Engineering Society. This Symposium follows the first successful International Workshop on Constitutive Modeling held in Hong Kong, which was organized by Prof. JH Yin in 2007.   Constitutive modeling of geomaterials has been an active research area for a long period of time. Different approaches have been used in the development of various constitutive models. A number of models have been implemented in the numerical analyses of geote...

  2. Constitutive behaviour of an as-cast AA7050 alloy in the sub-solidus temperature range

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Subroto, T A S; Miroux, A G; Eskin, D G; Katgerman, L

    2012-01-01

    Aluminum alloy 7050 is of interest for aerospace industries due to its superior mechanical properties. However, its inherent solidification behaviour may augment the accumulation of residual stresses due to uneven cooling conditions upon direct-chill (DC) casting. This can increase the propensity of cold cracking (CC), which is a potentially catastrophic phenomenon in casting ingots. To predict the outcome of the aluminum casting process, ALSIM software is utilised. This software has the capability to predict CC susceptibility during the casting process. However, at the moment, ALSIM lacks the information regarding material constitutive behaviour in the sub-solidus temperature range, which is considered important for studying CC phenomenon. At the moment, ALSIM only has a partial constitutive database for AA7050 and misses data, especially in the vicinity of non-equilibrium solidus (NES) point. The present work presents measurements of tensile constitutive parameters in the temperature range between 400 °C and NES, which is for this alloy defined as 465 °C. The mechanical behaviour is tested in a Gleeble 3800 thermo-mechanical simulator. Constitutive parameters such as stress-strain curves, strain-rate sensitivity and ductility of the alloy have been measured at different test temperatures. With these constitutive data, we expect to improve the accuracy of ALSIM simulations in terms of CC prediction, and gain more insight into the evolution of mechanical properties of AA7050 in the temperature nearby the NES.

  3. Foxl1-Expressing Mesenchymal Cells Constitute the Intestinal Stem Cell NicheSummary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reina Aoki

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Background & Aims: Intestinal epithelial stem cells that express leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5 and/or B cell specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 (Bmi1 continuously replicate and generate differentiated cells throughout life. Previously, Paneth cells were suggested to constitute an epithelium-intrinsic niche that regulates the behavior of these stem cells. However, ablating Paneth cells has no effect on the maintenance of functional stem cells. Here, we show definitively that a small subset of mesenchymal subepithelial cells expressing the winged-helix transcription factor forkhead box l1 (Foxl1 are a critical component of the intestinal stem cell niche. Methods: We genetically ablated Foxl1+ mesenchymal cells in adult mice using 2 separate models by expressing either the human or simian diphtheria toxin receptor under Foxl1 promoter control. Conclusions: Killing Foxl1+ cells by diphtheria toxin administration led to an abrupt cessation of proliferation of both epithelial stem- and transit-amplifying progenitor cell populations that was associated with a loss of active Wnt signaling to the intestinal epithelium. Therefore, Foxl1-expressing mesenchymal cells constitute the fundamental niche for intestinal stem cells. Keywords: Intestinal Stem Cell Niche, Wnt, Mesenchyme

  4. The institute of head of the state in the mechanism of strengthening state unity and the rule of law (theoretical-historical and constitutional-legal interpretation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrey V. Bezrukov

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The subject. The article investigates historical legal, theoretical-methodological and constitutional-legal problems of the formation and functioning of the institute of the head of state.The purpose of the study is to show how the constitutional functions of the head of state concretize his powers.The study is based on the use of methods of analysis and synthesis, historical legal, formal legal, comparative legal methods, scientific abstraction.The main scientific results. The authors summarize that the historical and legal analysis shows the key role of the head of state in the mechanism of ensuring state unity and law and order. Reality testifies the fact that the role of the President of the Russian Federation creates sufficient constitutional and legal grounds and conditions for the consolidated work of all state authorities, including law enforcement agencies, in the direction of ensuring the unity of state power and constitutional law and order. The indicated directions are in many ways identical, organically interrelated and interdependent, systematically define the main lines of activity of the head of state, contributing to the improvement of the constitutional and legal mechanism for ensuring the rule of law in general. Firstly, the Constitution of the Russian Federation contains only the basic powers of the President of the Russian Federation, which are substantially expanded by the legislator and presidential decrees. Secondly, the President has so-called “hidden”, discretionary powers that are not directly enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, implicit in it and stem from the sense of presidential functions that manifest themselves in unforeseen extraordinary circumstances. Thus, the constitutional design of a strong presidential power allows the President of the Russian Federation to ensure the unity of the executive power and the exercise of the powers of the federal government throughout the territory of

  5. The MTP1 promoters from Arabidopsis halleri reveal cis-regulating elements for the evolution of metal tolerance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasani, Elisa; DalCorso, Giovanni; Varotto, Claudio; Li, Mingai; Visioli, Giovanna; Mattarozzi, Monica; Furini, Antonella

    2017-06-01

    In the hyperaccumulator Arabidopsis halleri, the zinc (Zn) vacuolar transporter MTP1 is a key component of hypertolerance. Because protein sequences and functions are highly conserved between A. halleri and Arabidopsis thaliana, Zn tolerance in A. halleri may reflect the constitutively higher MTP1 expression compared with A. thaliana, based on copy number expansion and different cis regulation. Three MTP1 promoters were characterized in A. halleri ecotype I16. The comparison with the A. thaliana MTP1 promoter revealed different expression profiles correlated with specific cis-acting regulatory elements. The MTP1 5' untranslated region, highly conserved among A. thaliana, Arabidopsis lyrata and A. halleri, contains a dimer of MYB-binding motifs in the A. halleri promoters absent in the A. thaliana and A. lyrata sequences. Site-directed mutagenesis of these motifs revealed their role for expression in trichomes. A. thaliana mtp1 transgenic lines expressing AtMTP1 controlled by the native A. halleri promoter were more Zn-tolerant than lines carrying mutations on MYB-binding motifs. Differences in Zn tolerance were associated with different distribution of Zn among plant organs and in trichomes. The different cis-acting elements in the MTP1 promoters of A. halleri, particularly the MYB-binding sites, are probably involved in the evolution of Zn tolerance. © 2017 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2017 New Phytologist Trust.

  6. Competition And Antitrust Law In Ecuadorian Constitution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Marín Sevilla

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This work allows us to establish the Economic Constitution and the Competition Law (C.L in the Constitution. Additionally, the paper analyzes whether the rules outlined in the C. L. and in doctrine are consistent and appropriate with the Constitution of Ecuador. The Competition and Antitrust Laws has rules for investigating and punishing the cartels, the abuses of power market (dominant position, the rules for merger control, the behaviors of Abuse of economic dependence, and unfair competition behaviors. Always the Antitrust Authority will analyze these behaviors in terms of welfare of both: the consumer and the market.

  7. Tumour MLH1 promoter region methylation testing is an effective prescreen for Lynch Syndrome (HNPCC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newton, K; Jorgensen, N M; Wallace, A J; Buchanan, D D; Lalloo, F; McMahon, R F T; Hill, J; Evans, D G

    2014-12-01

    Lynch syndrome (LS) patients have DNA mismatch repair deficiency and up to 80% lifetime risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Screening of mutation carriers reduces CRC incidence and mortality. Selection for constitutional mutation testing relies on family history (Amsterdam and Bethesda Guidelines) and tumour-derived biomarkers. Initial biomarker analysis uses mismatch repair protein immunohistochemistry and microsatellite instability. Abnormalities in either identify mismatch repair deficiency but do not differentiate sporadic epigenetic defects, due to MLH1 promoter region methylation (13% of CRCs) from LS (4% of CRCs). A diagnostic biomarker capable of making this distinction would be valuable. This study compared two biomarkers in tumours with mismatch repair deficiency; quantification of methylation of the MLH1 promoter region using a novel assay and BRAF c.1799T>A, p.(Val600Glu) mutation status in the identification of constitutional mutations. Tumour DNA was extracted (formalin fixed, paraffin embedded, FFPE tissue) and pyrosequencing used to test for MLH1 promoter methylation and presence of the BRAF c.1799T>A, p.(Val600Glu) mutation 71 CRCs from individuals with pathogenic MLH1 mutations and 73 CRCs with sporadic MLH1 loss. Specificity and sensitivity was compared. Unmethylated MLH1 promoter: sensitivity 94.4% (95% CI 86.2% to 98.4%), specificity 87.7% (95% CI 77.9% to 94.2%), Wild-type BRAF (codon 600): sensitivity 65.8% (95% CI 53.7% to 76.5%), specificity 98.6% (95% CI 92.4% to 100.0%) for the identification of those with pathogenic MLH1 mutations. Quantitative MLH1 promoter region methylation using pyrosequencing is superior to BRAF codon 600 mutation status in identifying constitutional mutations in mismatch repair deficient tumours. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  8. The European Constitution: sovereignty, legitimacy and constituent power

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Signe Larsen

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available On the basis of Hannah Arendt’s and Carl Schmitt’s writings on the constituent power, this article sets out to develop an interpretative framework which would aid the understanding of the legitimation crisis of European integration initiated by the EU constitutional failure of 2004. The question raised in this essay is whether the successful establishment of democratic constitutional legitimacy is conditional upon the existence of a federal state. From the perspective of the constituent power, two opposing answers are given based on two rivalling notions of the ultimate meaning of constitutional politics: freedom and security. The article concludes that even though the EU as a case remains undecided, it seems likely that democracy and constitutional politics have parted ways in the EU both in the Arendtian and in the Schmittian sense. If that is the case, the constitutional crisis is a serious problem for the future of democracy in the EU.

  9. The Australian Constitution and the Aid/Watch Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    George Williams

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available The Australian Constitution played a significant role in underpinning the result in the Aid/Watch Case. It was invoked by the majority to support their conclusion that a body can be a ‘charitable institution’ despite engaging in political activities. The use of the Constitution in this way came as a surprise. The case extended an existing constitutional principle relating to freedom of political communication from its electoral base into the protection of the political activities of non-government organisations. This may have future ramifications for those organisations in other areas, as well as further implications for the development of what it means to be a charity in Australia. This article examines the use of the Australian Constitution in the Aid/Watch Case. It explains how the High Court was able to invoke the Constitution in defining what it means to be a ‘charitable institution’. It also examines the implications of that reasoning for the development of charitable law in Australia.

  10. Public and Constitutional Support for Character Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vessels, Gordon G.; Boyd, Stephen M.

    1996-01-01

    Character education thrives on an informed understanding of constitutional principles and an inclusive commitment-building process. U.S. Supreme Court opinions that clarify public school students' free speech rights have established values education as a constitutionally acceptable practice. Challenges might lie in possible violations of the First…

  11. Constitutive equations for two-phase flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boure, J.A.

    1974-12-01

    The mathematical model of a system of fluids consists of several kinds of equations complemented by boundary and initial conditions. The first kind equations result from the application to the system, of the fundamental conservation laws (mass, momentum, energy). The second kind equations characterize the fluid itself, i.e. its intrinsic properties and in particular its mechanical and thermodynamical behavior. They are the mathematical model of the particular fluid under consideration, the laws they expressed are so called the constitutive equations of the fluid. In practice the constitutive equations cannot be fully stated without reference to the conservation laws. Two classes of model have been distinguished: mixture model and two-fluid models. In mixture models, the mixture is considered as a single fluid. Besides the usual friction factor and heat transfer correlations, a single constitutive law is necessary. In diffusion models, the mixture equation of state is replaced by the phasic equations of state and by three consitutive laws, for phase change mass transfer, drift velocity and thermal non-equilibrium respectively. In the two-fluid models, the two phases are considered separately; two phasic equations of state, two friction factor correlations, two heat transfer correlations and four constitutive laws are included [fr

  12. 7 CFR 982.58 - Research, promotion, and market development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... development, and marketing promotion, including paid advertising, designed to assist, improve, or promote the... direct expenditures for such marketing promotion including paid advertising as may be authorized. The... promotion including paid advertising, that promotes the sale of hazelnuts, hazelnut products, or their uses...

  13. What constitutes information integrity?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Flowerday

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This research focused on what constitutes information integrity as this is a problem facing companies today. Moreover, information integrity is a pillar of information security and is required in order to have a sound security management programme. However, it is acknowledged that 100% information integrity is not currently achievable due to various limitations and therefore the auditing concept of reasonable assurance is adopted. This is in line with the concept that 100% information security is not achievable and the notion that adequate security is the goal, using appropriate countermeasures. The main contribution of this article is to illustrate the importance of and provide a macro view of what constitutes information integrity. The findings are in harmony with Samuel Johnson's words (1751: 'Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.'

  14. What constitutes information integrity?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Flowerday

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available This research focused on what constitutes information integrity as this is a problem facing companies today. Moreover, information integrity is a pillar of information security and is required in order to have a sound security management programme. However, it is acknowledged that 100% information integrity is not currently achievable due to various limitations and therefore the auditing concept of reasonable assurance is adopted. This is in line with the concept that 100% information security is not achievable and the notion that adequate security is the goal, using appropriate countermeasures. The main contribution of this article is to illustrate the importance of and provide a macro view of what constitutes information integrity. The findings are in harmony with Samuel Johnson's words (1751: 'Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.'

  15. Oncogenic MYC Activates a Feedforward Regulatory Loop Promoting Essential Amino Acid Metabolism and Tumorigenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Ming; Jiang, Jue; Gao, Peng; Liu, Hudan; Qing, Guoliang

    2017-12-26

    Most tumor cells exhibit obligatory demands for essential amino acids (EAAs), but the regulatory mechanisms whereby tumor cells take up EAAs and EAAs promote malignant transformation remain to be determined. Here, we show that oncogenic MYC, solute carrier family (SLC) 7 member 5 (SLC7A5), and SLC43A1 constitute a feedforward activation loop to promote EAA transport and tumorigenesis. MYC selectively activates Slc7a5 and Slc43a1 transcription through direct binding to specific E box elements within both genes, enabling effective EAA import. Elevated EAAs, in turn, stimulate Myc mRNA translation, in part through attenuation of the GCN2-eIF2α-ATF4 amino acid stress response pathway, leading to MYC-dependent transcriptional amplification. SLC7A5/SLC43A1 depletion inhibits MYC expression, metabolic reprogramming, and tumor cell growth in vitro and in vivo. These findings thus reveal a MYC-SLC7A5/SLC43A1 signaling circuit that underlies EAA metabolism, MYC deregulation, and tumorigenesis. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Constitutively internalized dopamine transporter is targeted to late endosomes and lysosomal degradation in heterologous cell lines and dopaminergic neurons

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eriksen, Jacob; Madsen, Kenneth; Vægter, Christian Bjerggaard

    and amphetamine, a substrate of the DAT. In antibody feeding experiments we observed that Tac-DAT was constitutively internalized faster than Tac alone and using an ELISA based assay we could quantify time-dependent intracellular accumulation of the transporter. Incubation with inhibitors of lysosomal degradation...... (leupeptin, chloroquine, or ammonium chloride) increased the amount of transporter accumulated intracellularly over time, suggesting that constitutively endocytosed transporter was targeted to lysosomal degradation. This was further supported by expression of Tac-DAT in the immortalized dopaminergic cell...... dopaminergic neurons and visualized the DAT directly in the neurons using the fluorescent cocaine analog JHC 1-064. These data showed pronounced colocalization upon constitutive internalization with Lysotracker, a late endosomal/lysosomal marker; however only little co-lolization was observed with Alexa488...

  17. constitutional adjudication in ethiopia

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    eliasn

    2000-01-25

    Jan 25, 2000 ... Thus the seeds of what some authors call. “federal .... Pre-WWII Europe trusted its legislature and led to .... European and Civil Law Forum v. 11 ...... on the sovereignty of nationalities and the fact that language constitutes one.

  18. Islamization in Malaysia: the constitutional and legal dimensions

    OpenAIRE

    Choo, Kah Sing

    2017-01-01

    This thesis examines the legitimacy of the Islamization of the politics, society and law in Malaysia. The Islamization plan was carried out by the federal government in the early 1980s under the Mahathir administration. The legitimacy of the Islamization plan is measured against the original intent of the Independence Constitution, with particular reference to the position of Islam in the Constitution. Those constitutional provisions which have been claimed to have granted I...

  19. Clinical study on constitutional herbal tea for treating chronic fatigue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Park, Soo-Jung; Bae, Young-Chun; Choi, Na-Rae; Ryu, Seung-Yeob; Kwon, Young-Mi; Joo, Jong-Cheon

    2014-12-01

    This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of constitutional herbal tea for treating chronic fatigue with no diagnosed cause, which is called Mibyeong in Korea. Males and females with ages between 40 and 59 years who had complained of fatigue for 1 month consistently or for 6 months intermittently without a definite cause were recruited. At the same time, a Chalder fatigue scale (CFS) score of 19 was essential for participation in this study. Sixty five subjects completed the entire process, including blood tests and tests with medical devices. Five assessments of health status were accomplished over 8 weeks by using the CFS and the visual analogue scale (VAS). To ensure that the constitutional herbal tea was being safely used, we conducted and analyzed renal function and liver function tests. For the diagnosis of the Sasang constitution, the Sasang Constitutional Analysis Tool (SCAT) was used, and a specialist in Sasang constitutional medicine made the final diagnosis based on the SCAT result. Constitutional herbal tea was served four weeks after the first visit. The subjects took the constitutional herbal tea twice a day for one month. The results are as follows: The CFS and the VAS scores were significantly improved for the subjects in the constitutional herbal tea. No abnormalities were found on the blood tests to evaluate safety after taking the constitutional herbal tea. The improvements in the CFS and the VAS scores due to the constitutional herbal tea had no significant differences according to the Sasang constitution. Constitutional herbal tea may be used to reduce fatigue and improve health and has no adverse effect on either the kidney or the liver.

  20. Constitutive relations for nuclear reactor core materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaverl, F. Jr.; Lee, D.

    1978-01-01

    A strain rate dependent constitutive equation is proposed which is capable of describing inelastic deformation behavior of anisotropic metals, such as Zircaloys, under complex loading conditions. The salient features of the constitutive equations are that they describe history dependent inelastic deformation behaviour of anisotropic metals under three-dimensional stress states in the presence of fast neutron flux. It is shown that the general form of the constitutive relations is consistent with experimental observations made under both unirradiated and irradiated conditions. The utility of the model is demonstrated by examining the analytical results obtained for a segment of tubing undergoing different loading histories in a reactor. (Auth.)

  1. Proposals for the Reform of Constitutional Regulations on Public Finances

    OpenAIRE

    Tibor András Hetei

    2011-01-01

    The main purpose of this paper is to make specific proposals in the areas of public finance and the budget process in the context of the reform of the Hungarian Constitution. In preparing the proposals the author has reviewed the prevailing constitutional regulations as well as the relevant practice of the Constitutional Court, and examined and compared the constitutional schemes of European countries. The paper finds that a number of aspects of the constitutional regulation of public finance...

  2. A Federal Constitution for the European Union

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sweeney, Richard J.

    2003-01-01

    A constitution is more likely to be accepted if it federalizes those issues that arewidely seen as needing complete harmonization. A constitution is more likely to endure if thefederal government does not have powers that are not vital to it but which may alienate somemember states to the point t...

  3. Democracy, Citizen Sovereignty and Constitutional Economics

    OpenAIRE

    Vanberg, Viktor J.

    2006-01-01

    This paper is an exercise in conceptual clarification. Its purpose is to explore the contribution that constitutional economics can make to the theory of democracy. Constitutional economics as the economics of rules is concerned with the study of how the choice of rules in the social, economic and political realm affects the nature of the processes of human interaction that evolve within these rules. The theory of democracy is concerned with institutionalorganizational problems of self-govern...

  4. Constitutive relation of concrete containing meso-structural characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Guo

    Full Text Available A constitutive model of concrete is proposed based on the mixture theory of porous media within thermodynamic framework. By treating concrete as a multi-phase multi-component mixture, we constructed the constitutive functions for elastic, interfacial, and plastic strain energy respectively. A constitutive law of concrete accommodating internal micro-cracks and interfacial boundaries was established. The peak stress predicted with the developed model depends primarily on the volume ratio of aggregate, and the results explain very well reported experimental phenomena. The strain-stress curve under uniaxial loading was found in a good agreement with experimental data for concrete with three different mixing proportions. Keywords: Constitutive model of concrete, Mixture theory of porous media, Meso-structure, Interfacial energy

  5. Pharmacological inhibition of dynamin II reduces constitutive protein secretion from primary human macrophages.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maaike Kockx

    Full Text Available Dynamins are fission proteins that mediate endocytic and exocytic membrane events and are pharmacological therapeutic targets. These studies investigate whether dynamin II regulates constitutive protein secretion and show for the first time that pharmacological inhibition of dynamin decreases secretion of apolipoprotein E (apoE and several other proteins constitutively secreted from primary human macrophages. Inhibitors that target recruitment of dynamin to membranes (MiTMABs or directly target the GTPase domain (Dyngo or Dynole series, dose- and time- dependently reduced the secretion of apoE. SiRNA oligo's targeting all isoforms of dynamin II confirmed the involvement of dynamin II in apoE secretion. Inhibition of secretion was not mediated via effects on mRNA or protein synthesis. 2D-gel electrophoresis showed that inhibition occurred after apoE was processed and glycosylated in the Golgi and live cell imaging showed that inhibited secretion was associated with reduced post-Golgi movement of apoE-GFP-containing vesicles. The effect was not restricted to macrophages, and was not mediated by the effects of the inhibitors on microtubules. Inhibition of dynamin also altered the constitutive secretion of other proteins, decreasing the secretion of fibronectin, matrix metalloproteinase 9, Chitinase-3-like protein 1 and lysozyme but unexpectedly increasing the secretion of the inflammatory mediator cyclophilin A. We conclude that pharmacological inhibitors of dynamin II modulate the constitutive secretion of macrophage apoE as a class effect, and that their capacity to modulate protein secretion may affect a range of biological processes.

  6. Communicative Constitution of Organizations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schoeneborn, Dennis; Vasquez, Consuelo

    2017-01-01

    The notion of the communicative constitution of organizations (CCO) is at the center of a growing theoretical development within organizational communication studies. CCO scholarship is based on the idea that organization emerges in and is sustained and transformed by communication. This entry...

  7. The constitutive sofa cushion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hanghøj, Sara

    2009-01-01

    personal values materialize through a hand-made everyday artefact, and how can the artefact constitute action and self-perception? The empirical research and analysis concerns how a former textile crafts teacher's subjective values and professional identity materialize through a hand-woven sofa cushion...

  8. Ret and Etv4 Promote Directed Movements of Progenitor Cells during Renal Branching Morphogenesis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul Riccio

    2016-02-01

    /Etv4 signaling promotes directed cell movements in the ureteric bud tips, and suggest a model in which these cell movements mediate branching morphogenesis.

  9. Sasang constitutional medicine as a holistic tailored medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Jong Yeol; Pham, Duong Duc

    2009-09-01

    Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM) is a unique traditional Korean therapeutic alternative form of medicine. Based on the Yin and Yang theory and on Confucianism, humans are classified into four constitutions. These differ in terms of (i) sensitivity to certain groups of herbs and medicines, (ii) equilibrium among internal organic functions, (iii) physical features and (iv) psychological characteristics. We propose that two main axes in the physiopathology of SCM (food intake/waste discharge and consuming/storing Qi and body fluids) are equivalent to the process of internal-external exchange and catabolism/anabolism in modern physiology, respectively. We then used this hypothesis to discuss the physiological and pathological principles of SCM. Constitution-based medicine is based on the theory that some medicinal herbs and remedies are only appropriate for certain constitutions and can cause adverse effects in others. The constitutional approach of SCM share the same vision as tailored medicine; an individualized therapy that can minimize the risk of adverse reaction while increasing the efficacy and an individualized self-regulation that can help prevent specific susceptible chronic disease and live healthily. There is still a long way to this goal for both SCM and tailored medicine, but we may benefit from systems approaches such as systems biology. We suggest that constitutional perspective of SCM and our hypothesis of two main processes may provide a novel insight for further studies.

  10. Sasang Constitutional Medicine as a Holistic Tailored Medicine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jong Yeol Kim

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM is a unique traditional Korean therapeutic alternative form of medicine. Based on the Yin and Yang theory and on Confucianism, humans are classified into four constitutions. These differ in terms of (i sensitivity to certain groups of herbs and medicines, (ii equilibrium among internal organic functions, (iii physical features and (iv psychological characteristics. We propose that two main axes in the physiopathology of SCM (food intake/waste discharge and consuming/storing Qi and body fluids are equivalent to the process of internal–external exchange and catabolism/anabolism in modern physiology, respectively. We then used this hypothesis to discuss the physiological and pathological principles of SCM. Constitution-based medicine is based on the theory that some medicinal herbs and remedies are only appropriate for certain constitutions and can cause adverse effects in others. The constitutional approach of SCM share the same vision as tailored medicine; an individualized therapy that can minimize the risk of adverse reaction while increasing the efficacy and an individualized self-regulation that can help prevent specific susceptible chronic disease and live healthily. There is still a long way to this goal for both SCM and tailored medicine, but we may benefit from systems approaches such as systems biology. We suggest that constitutional perspective of SCM and our hypothesis of two main processes may provide a novel insight for further studies.

  11. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONCEPTS OF THE REFORM TREATY (THE LISBON TREATY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emilian Ciongaru

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The Lisbon Treaty also known as the Reform Treaty provides only an amendment of the treaties considered as fundamental, namely the Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union and is the result of the constitutional process triggered by the Laeken Declaration adopted by the European Council. The Lisbon Treaty is still built on the content of the European Constitution from which they eliminated the most controversial provisions, first of all the title of Constitution that might produce concern and panic among the European Union population through the symbolic power it contained, and for Romania this new treaty was the first it signed in quality of a Union member state. Even if does not bear the name of European Constitution, the Lisbon Treaty is a European Constitution for the following reasons: first it is a Constitution because it gathers together most of the fundamental elements of the Constitutional Treaty, even if it does not have the structure or the name thereof, and second the treaties after the Lisbon reform have become small constitutions from the operational viewpoint, they develop the functions of a constitution, limit power and organize the operation of the organization.

  12. Realtime identification of the propagation direction of received echoes in long range ultrasonic testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Choi, Myoung Seon; Heo, Won Nyoung

    2013-01-01

    In long range ultrasonic testing, a phased array probe composed of multiple identical transducers with an uniform interval of one quarter wavelength is usually used for the transmission or reception directivity control. This paper shows that the propagation directions of individual echoes can be identified in real time by displaying the inputs of a process for summing the constitution reception signals after compensating the phase difference due to the transducer interval, together with the output of the process. A constructive interference of the constitution echoes indicates a forward direction echo propagating along an intended direction while a destructive interference implies a reverse direction echo propagating along the direction opposite to the intended one

  13. The spirit of the constitution. The institutionalized unsociability in Greece

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Savvas MAVRIDIS

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available With this article attempts a comparison of the Greek Constitution of 1975, the constitutions of Germany, USA, Switzerland, Austria, France, UK and Italy on the issue of property relations and general interest, in order to highlight those notified differences relating to these communities and resulted in specific social situations. While the constitutions of the other countries, which are among the most representative democracies of the Western world, are characterized by an increased institutionalization of sociability, the Greek constitution on the issue of general interest takes an antisocial and, at best, neutral attitude. The convergence of the Greek constitution on this issue with the other constitutions is considered a prerequisite for overcoming the crisis and, more generally, for social development. This little effort hopes to contribute to a more social future formulation of the Greek constitution and a corresponding behaviour of Greek society.

  14. European constitution and EURATOM treaty

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heller, W.

    2003-01-01

    The European Council held in Laeken in December 2001 had decided to call a convention preparing the next conference of the heads of state and government which, among other topics, was to deliberate the question of a fully formulated European constitution. Under the presidency of Giscard d'Estaing, all delegates to the European Convention on July 10, 2003 signed the draft treaty for a European constitution. This final document is the basis of the conference of the heads of state and government to begin in October 2003. On this occasion, the draft of a separate chapter on energy could well come up again for examination. This chapter had been introduced only at the end of the deliberations of the convention and adds to the competences of the EU institutions. Also the Euratom Treaty was a topic of the convention preparing the constitution. As the presidency felt that no specific issues had been raised in the Laeken declaration, it is proposed to adapt the Euratom Treaty to the new provisions of the constitution by adding a protocol. This would mean that the European Atomic Energy Community, for the time being, would retain its independent legal status. The contents would have to be examined at some later date. Consequently, the real discussion of the Euratom Treaty is yet to come. Also, the speedy completion of the single market for electricity would make it desirable for the Community to adopt a uniform, positive stance in the use of nuclear power at the best possible safety standards so as to ensure a level playing field. Current events entailing power failures in the United States and the United Kingdom have alerted the public to the problem of the continuity of power supply. This could well be the beginning of a new, unbiased, balanced energy discussion in a bigger Europe. (orig.)

  15. Federal supervisory authorities' power to issue directives in nuclear licensing procedures (Kalkar reactor)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1990-01-01

    The Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) is concerned in its judgement with the legal instrument of Federal supervisory authorities' power to issue directives in nuclear licensing procedures (Kalkar reactor). Dealt with are questions concerning material and excercising competences, the Federal Government's right to issue directives and possible violation of Laender rights, as well as the legal position between Land and Federal Government, the necessity to issue clear directives, questions concerning the competence to issue directives and the Federal Government's duty to consider the overall interests (Federal Government and Laender interests), questions concerning constitutional state principles and the limits in the relations between Federal Government - Laender concerning legal competence. (RST) [de

  16. Tumour MLH1 promoter region methylation testing is an effective pre-screen for Lynch Syndrome (HNPCC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Newton, K; Jorgensen, NM; Wallace, AJ; Buchanan, DD; Lalloo, F; McMahon, RFT; Hill, J; Evans, DG

    2016-01-01

    Background & Aims Lynch syndrome patients have DNA mismatch repair deficiency and up to 80% life-time risk of colorectal cancer. Screening of mutation carriers reduces colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Selection for constitutional mutation testing relies on family history (Amsterdam and Bethesda Guidelines) and tumour derived biomarkers. Initial biomarker analysis uses mismatch repair protein immunohistochemistry and microsatellite instability. Abnormalities in either identify mismatch repair deficiency but do not differentiate sporadic epigenetic defects, due to MLH1 promoter region methylation (13% of CRCs) from Lynch Syndrome (4% of CRCs). A diagnostic biomarker capable of making this distinction would be valuable. This study compared two biomarkers in tumours with mismatch repair deficiency; quantification of methylation of the MLH1 promoter region using a novel assay and BRAF c.1799T>A, p.(Val600Glu) mutation status in the identification of constitutional mutations. Methods Tumour DNA was extracted (FFPE tissue) and pyrosequencing used to test for MLH1 promoter methylation and presence of the BRAF c.1799T>A, p.(Val600Glu) mutation 71 CRCs from individuals with pathogenic MLH1 mutations and 73 CRCs with sporadic MLH1 loss. Specificity and sensitivity was compared. Findings Unmethylated MLH1 promoter: sensitivity 94.4% (95% CI 86.2–98.4%), specificity 87.7% (95% CI 77.9–94.2%), Wild-type BRAF (codon 600): sensitivity 65.8% (95% CI 53.7–76.5%), specificity 98.6% (95% CI 92.4–100.0%) for the identification of those with pathogenic MLH1 mutations. Conclusions Quantitative MLH1 promoter region methylation using pyrosequencing is superior to BRAF codon 600 mutation status in identifying constitutional mutations in mismatch repair deficient tumours. PMID:25280751

  17. Mathematical modeling and the two-phase constitutive equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boure, J.A.

    1975-01-01

    The problems raised by the mathematical modeling of two-phase flows are summarized. The models include several kinds of equations, which cannot be discussed independently, such as the balance equations and the constitutive equations. A review of the various two-phase one-dimensional models proposed to date, and of the constitutive equations they imply, is made. These models are either mixture models or two-fluid models. Due to their potentialities, the two-fluid models are discussed in more detail. To avoid contradictions, the form of the constitutive equations involved in two-fluid models must be sufficiently general. A special form of the two-fluid models, which has particular advantages, is proposed. It involves three mixture balance equations, three balance equations for slip and thermal non-equilibriums, and the necessary constitutive equations [fr

  18. Extended constitutive laws for lamellar phases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chi-Deuk Yoo

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Classically, stress and strain rate in linear viscoelastic materials are related by a constitutive relationship involving the viscoelastic modulus G(t. The same constitutive law, within Linear Response Theory, relates currents of conserved quantities and gradients of existing conjugate variables, and it involves the autocorrelation functions of the currents in equilibrium. We explore the consequences of the latter relationship in the case of a mesoscale model of a block copolymer, and derive the resulting relationship between viscous friction and order parameter diffusion that would result in a lamellar phase. We also explicitly consider in our derivation the fact that the dissipative part of the stress tensor must be consistent with the uniaxial symmetry of the phase. We then obtain a relationship between the stress and order parameter autocorrelation functions that can be interpreted as an extended constitutive law, one that offers a way to determine them from microscopic experiment or numerical simulation.

  19. Resolution and Letter to Congress from the Constitutional Convention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Lee Ann

    2005-01-01

    This article explores the drafting of the United States Constitution. The United States Constitution is the longest-lasting written national constitution in the world. Its four parchment pages serve as the blueprint for a government under which more than 290 million Americans live. It holds great significance for the American people and for others…

  20. Precise regulation of gene expression dynamics favors complex promoter architectures.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dirk Müller

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Promoters process signals through recruitment of transcription factors and RNA polymerase, and dynamic changes in promoter activity constitute a major noise source in gene expression. However, it is barely understood how complex promoter architectures determine key features of promoter dynamics. Here, we employ prototypical promoters of yeast ribosomal protein genes as well as simplified versions thereof to analyze the relations among promoter design, complexity, and function. These promoters combine the action of a general regulatory factor with that of specific transcription factors, a common motif of many eukaryotic promoters. By comprehensively analyzing stationary and dynamic promoter properties, this model-based approach enables us to pinpoint the structural characteristics underlying the observed behavior. Functional tradeoffs impose constraints on the promoter architecture of ribosomal protein genes. We find that a stable scaffold in the natural design results in low transcriptional noise and strong co-regulation of target genes in the presence of gene silencing. This configuration also exhibits superior shut-off properties, and it can serve as a tunable switch in living cells. Model validation with independent experimental data suggests that the models are sufficiently realistic. When combined, our results offer a mechanistic explanation for why specific factors are associated with low protein noise in vivo. Many of these findings hold for a broad range of model parameters and likely apply to other eukaryotic promoters of similar structure.

  1. Constitutional collisions of criminal law

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey M. Inshakov

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective to identify and resolve conflicts between the norms of constitutional and criminal law which regulate the issue of legal liability of senior officials of the state. Methods formallogical systematic comparativelegal. Results the article analyzes the embodiment of the principle of citizensrsquo equality under the law regarding the criminal responsibility of the President of the Russian Federation as one of the segments of the elite right other criminal and legal conflicts are considered associated with the creation of conditions for derogation from the principle of equality. Basing on this analysis the means of overcoming collisions between the norms of constitutional and criminal law are formulated. Scientific novelty in the article for the first time it has been shown that in the Russian criminal law there are exceptions to the principle of citizensrsquo equality under the law relating to the President of the Russian Federation the conflicts are identified between the norms of constitutional and criminal law regulating the issue of legal liability of senior officials of the state ways of overcoming conflicts are suggested. Practical significance the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in research and teaching in the consideration of issues of senior state officialsrsquo criminal liability.

  2. Pinning down the Constitution: Interactively Teaching Congress's Power, Federalism, and Constitutional Interpretation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emenaker, Ryan

    2014-01-01

    "Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Constitution" is an engaged-learning activity that has been conducted in 26 classes over the past four years. The activity teaches multiple themes commonly included in a variety of courses on American politics such as federalism, congressional powers, the role of the federal courts, and the relevance of the commerce…

  3. Constitutive Theories of Self-Knowledge and the Regress Problem ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... on the other hand, hold that self-knowledge is constitutive of intentional states. That is, self-ascription is a necessary condition for being in a particular mental state. Akeel Bilgrami is a defender of the constitutive model. I argue that the constitutive model gives rise to a regress problem. This paper will focus on that problem ...

  4. Organic Law Of Judicial Guarantees And Constitutional Control

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ernesto López Freire

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper demonstrates the various unconstitutional and fallacies of the Organic Law of Judicial guarantees and Constitutional Control. For that, there will be a comprehensive collation between the mentioned law and the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador and force. Through this analysis shows a lack of knowledge of Ecuadorian law or legal science by their authors. This study elucidated, inter alia, the inconsistencies in matters relating to the interpretation of constitutional provisions, full compensation, material and integral; challenge administrative acts, judicial unit.

  5. Constitutive Modelling of Resins in the Stiffness Domain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klasztorny, M.

    2004-09-01

    An analytic method for inverting the constitutive compliance equations of viscoelasticity for resins is developed. These equations describe the HWKK/H rheological model, which makes it possible to simulate, with a good accuracy, short-, medium- and long-term viscoelastic processes in epoxy and polyester resins. These processes are of first-rank reversible isothermal type. The time histories of deviatoric stresses are simulated with three independent strain history functions of fractional and normal exponential types. The stiffness equations are described by two elastic and six viscoelastic constants having a clear physic meaning (three long-term relaxation coefficients and three relaxation times). The time histories of axiatoric stresses are simulated as perfectly elastic. The inversion method utilizes approximate constitutive stiffness equations of viscoelasticity for the HWKK/H model. The constitutive compliance equations for the model are a basis for determining the exact complex shear stiffness, whereas the approximate constitutive stiffness equations are used for determining the approximate complex shear stiffness. The viscoelastic constants in the stiffness domain are derived by equating the exact and approximate complex shear stiffnesses. The viscoelastic constants are obtained for Epidian 53 epoxy and Polimal 109 polyester resins. The accuracy of the approximate constitutive stiffness equations are assessed by comparing the approximate and exact complex shear stiffnesses. The constitutive stiffness equations for the HWKK/H model are presented in uncoupled (shear/bulk) and coupled forms. Formulae for converting the constants of shear viscoelasticity into the constants of coupled viscoelasticity are given as well.

  6. Gospel and constitutional imperatives: the right to life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S.P. Giles

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Gospel and constitutional imperatives: the right to life In the Republic of South Africa, Christians are called to live out gospel imperatives within the legal framework of the Constitution. Ethical issues about the right to life are considered from the perspectives of selected gospel and constitutional imperatives. Gospel imperatives impose themselves as a consequence of Christian discipleship. These are many and diverse, both explicit and implicit. Christian vocation, discipleship, witness and perseverance, are foundational and integral to the praxis of Christian daily living. These facets of Christian life are illustrated by the selected gospel imperatives, “Follow me” (Matt. 4:19 and synoptic parallels, “Love God, and your neighbour as yourself” (Matt. 22:34-40 and synoptic parallels, and “Take up your cross” (Matt. 10:38 and synoptic parallels. The central theoretical argument of this article is driven from a reformed ethical perspective. Gospel imperatives have priority over constitutional imperatives since gospel imperatives are of divine origin and constitutional imperatives of human origin. Acknowledgement of these priorities informs the Christian ethical perspective on the right to life and on abortion.

  7. A History of constitutive modeling via molecular dynamics: Shock waves in fluids and gases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Holian B.L.

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available From its inception in the mid-Fifties, the method of molecular-dynamics (MD computer simulations has been used to probe the foundations of statistical mechanics, first for equilibrium equation-of-state averages, and then for transport properties from equilibrium fluctuations. Traditional statistical mechanical theoreticians were shocked to see that this new-fangled computational physics approach was feasible, even with incredibly tiny samples (on the order of a hundred atoms. When direct measurement of transport coefficients by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD was proposed in the early Seventies, even greater resistance was encountered from the traditionalists – though evidence for convergence with the equilibrium fluctuation method gradually accumulated. In the late Seventies and early Eighties, shock-wave simulations by NEMD made it possible to test directly the principal continuum constitutive theory for fluids, namely, Navier-Stokes viscous flow and Fourier’s Law of heat conduction. To everyone’s surprise – and the consternation of many – NEMD, once again, demonstrated that continuum theory applies at embarrassingly small (atomistic time and length scales. We pursue this early line of work into the modern era, showing how NEMD shock-wave simulations can still provide surprising insights and improvements upon our understanding of constitutive modeling.

  8. Limits of verification by the Federal Constitutional Court

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1985-01-01

    The court of administration of Baden-Wuerttemberg passed a resolution on October 27,1983 - 10 S 1102/83 - dismissing the application to revoke the immediate implementation of the first partial construction permit for the joint nuclear power plant Neckar II. As the plaintiff thereupon lodged a complaint with the Federal Constitutional Court the resolution did not become effective immediately. However, the Federal Constitutional Court on October 1, 1984 decreed unanimously in accordance with the section 93a subsection 3 of the law on the Federal Constitutional Court - 1 BvR 231/84 -: ''The constitutional complaint lodged is not taken up for decision because its chances of success are nil.'' Thus the original decision of the court of administration of Baden-Wuerttemberg passed on October 27, 1983 was confirmed by the endorsement of its immediate implementation. (orig./HSCH) [de

  9. Public health and the Australian Constitution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reynolds, C

    1995-06-01

    The powers vested in the Commonwealth Government by the Constitution contain the basis of much public health law in Australia. Yet this is not often recognised; public health law is generally, and historically, seen as the states' responsibility. This article surveys the broad range of constitutional powers that the Commonwealth Government can rely upon to make public health laws. It considers areas of power specified in the Constitution, such as those with respect to external affairs and corporations. Decisions of the High Court have interpreted the various heads of power very broadly and have significantly enhanced the potential of the Commonwealth to pass detailed and far-reaching public health law. To this fact must be added the taxation arrangements in Australia and, with these, the very extensive control that the Commonwealth can exercise through its monopoly of major taxation sources. Its power to make financial arrangements can tie dependent states into specific policies (including public health policies) as a condition of the grants made to them. However, these broad powers may be limited in some important respects: the High Court is increasingly identifying rights and freedoms in the Constitution that may increasingly bring both state and Commonwealth public health law under challenge. Despite this possibility, the Commonwealth may prove to be our most significant source of public health law, and public health policy makers should recognise the full potential of its power to make such laws.

  10. Book review: Advanced Introduction to Comparative Constitutional Law.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ainhoa Martinez

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Tushnet presents a thoughtful introduction to the field of comparative constitutional law through a review of recent literature and an analysis of the key contemporary issues in constitutional design and structure. In the following lines a review of his book is presented.Book review of Mark Tushnet. Advanced Introduction to Comparative Constitutional Law. Cheltenham; Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014. ISBN (Hb 978 1 78100 731 0 £58.50, ISBN (Pb 978 1 78347 351 9 £12.76.DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2887014

  11. Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Promotes Frontal Compensatory Mechanisms in Healthy Elderly Subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cespón, Jesús; Rodella, Claudia; Rossini, Paolo M; Miniussi, Carlo; Pellicciari, Maria C

    2017-01-01

    Recent studies have demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is potentially useful to improve working memory. In the present study, young and elderly subjects performed a working memory task ( n -back task) during an electroencephalogram recording before and after receiving anodal, cathodal, and sham tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We investigated modulations of behavioral performance and electrophysiological correlates of working memory processes (frontal and parietal P300 event-related potentials). A strong tendency to modulated working memory performance was observed after the application of tDCS. In detail, young, but not elderly, subjects benefited from additional practice in the absence of real tDCS, as indicated by their more accurate responses after sham tDCS. The cathodal tDCS had no effect in any group of participants. Importantly, anodal tDCS improved accuracy in elderly. Moreover, increased accuracy after anodal tDCS was correlated with a larger frontal P300 amplitude. These findings suggest that, in elderly subjects, improved working memory after anodal tDCS applied over the left DLPFC may be related to the promotion of frontal compensatory mechanisms, which are related to attentional processes.

  12. Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Promotes Frontal Compensatory Mechanisms in Healthy Elderly Subjects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jesús Cespón

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Recent studies have demonstrated that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS is potentially useful to improve working memory. In the present study, young and elderly subjects performed a working memory task (n-back task during an electroencephalogram recording before and after receiving anodal, cathodal, and sham tDCS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC. We investigated modulations of behavioral performance and electrophysiological correlates of working memory processes (frontal and parietal P300 event-related potentials. A strong tendency to modulated working memory performance was observed after the application of tDCS. In detail, young, but not elderly, subjects benefited from additional practice in the absence of real tDCS, as indicated by their more accurate responses after sham tDCS. The cathodal tDCS had no effect in any group of participants. Importantly, anodal tDCS improved accuracy in elderly. Moreover, increased accuracy after anodal tDCS was correlated with a larger frontal P300 amplitude. These findings suggest that, in elderly subjects, improved working memory after anodal tDCS applied over the left DLPFC may be related to the promotion of frontal compensatory mechanisms, which are related to attentional processes.

  13. 15 years of constitutional review in the Supreme Court of Estonia : systematized extracts of constitutional review judgments and rulings of the Supreme Court en banc and the Constitutional Review Chamber in 1993-2008 / Riigikohus ; toim. ja eess.: Ge

    Index Scriptorium Estoniae

    2009-01-01

    Sisaldab ka: The outset of judicial constitutional review / Rait Maruste. Judicial constitutional review at the turn of the century / Uno Lõhmus. Judicial constitutional review through the eyes of Chancellor of Justice / Eerik-Juhan Truuväli. The courts and the Supreme Court in concrete norm control / Madis Ernits

  14. A phenomenological constitutive model for low density polyurethane foams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neilsen, M.K.; Morgan, H.S.; Krieg, R.D.

    1987-04-01

    Results from a series of hydrostatic and triaxial compression tests which were performed on polyurethane foams are presented in this report. These tests indicate that the volumetric and deviatoric parts of the foam behavior are strongly coupled. This coupling behavior could not be captured with any of several commonly used plasticity models. Thus, a new constitutive model was developed. This new model was based on a decomposition of the foam response into two parts: (1) response of the polymer skeleton, and (2) response of the air inside the cells. The air contribution was completely volumetric. The new constitutive model was implemented in two finite element codes, SANCHO and PRONTO. Results from a series of analyses completed with these codes indicated that the new constitutive model captured all of the foam behaviors that had been observed in the experiments. Finally, a typical dynamic problem was analyzed using the new constitutive model and other constitutive models to demonstrate differences between the models. Results from this series of analyses indicated that the new constitutive model generated displacement and acceleration predictions that were between predictions obtained using the other models. This result was expected. 9 refs., 45 figs., 4 tabs

  15. “People”, constitutions and politics in Antioquia, 1810-1877

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Renzo Ramírez Bacca

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This article analyzes the term people which is used in the provincial constitutions of Antioquia and Colombia. The interest lies on presenting their representations and usage in different phases of the Colombian political and constitutional history. The intention is to understand its correlation with the electoral and participative citizenship practice with respect to the State, and also to point out contradictions between different discourses (the constitutional and the political party ones around the people and its actors: women, artisans and farmers. This is a hermeneutic understanding with a historicist focus which, in turn, develops a diachronic analysis based on constitutionals texts and primary sources.

  16. Constitutive equations for discrete electromagnetic problems over polyhedral grids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Codecasa, Lorenzo; Trevisan, Francesco

    2007-01-01

    In this paper a novel approach is proposed for constructing discrete counterparts of constitutive equations over polyhedral grids which ensure both consistency and stability of the algebraic equations discretizing an electromagnetic field problem. The idea is to construct discrete constitutive equations preserving the thermodynamic relations for constitutive equations. In this way, consistency and stability of the discrete equations are ensured. At the base, a purely geometric condition between the primal and the dual grids has to be satisfied for a given primal polyhedral grid, by properly choosing the dual grid. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed discrete constitutive equations lead to accurate approximations of the electromagnetic field

  17. Synthetic Promoter Library for Modulation of Actinorhodin Production in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sohoni, Sujata Vijay; Fazio, Alessandro; Workman, Christopher

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this study was the application of the synthetic promoter library (SPL) technology for modulation of actinorhodin production in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2). The SPL technology was used to optimize the expression of a pathway specific positive transcriptional regulator Actll orf4...... constitutive promoter. ScoSPL20 demonstrated exceptional productivity despite having a comparatively weak expression from the promoter. Interestingly, the ScoSPL20 promoter was activated at a much earlier stage of growth compared to the wild type, demonstrating the advantage of fine-tuning and temporal tuning......, which activates the transcription of the S. coelicolor actinorhodin biosynthetic gene cluster. The native actll orf4 promoter was replaced with synthetic promoters, generating a S. coelicolor library with a broad range of expression levels of actll orf4. The resulting library was screened based...

  18. Insulator protein Su(Hw) recruits SAGA and Brahma complexes and constitutes part of Origin Recognition Complex-binding sites in the Drosophila genome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vorobyeva, Nadezhda E.; Mazina, Marina U.; Golovnin, Anton K.; Kopytova, Daria V.; Gurskiy, Dmitriy Y.; Nabirochkina, Elena N.; Georgieva, Sofia G.; Georgiev, Pavel G.; Krasnov, Aleksey N.

    2013-01-01

    Despite increasing data on the properties of replication origins, molecular mechanisms underlying origin recognition complex (ORC) positioning in the genome are still poorly understood. The Su(Hw) protein accounts for the activity of best-studied Drosophila insulators. Here, we show that Su(Hw) recruits the histone acetyltransferase complex SAGA and chromatin remodeler Brahma to Su(Hw)-dependent insulators, which gives rise to regions with low nucleosome density and creates conditions for ORC binding. Depletion in Su(Hw) leads to a dramatic drop in the levels of SAGA, Brahma and ORC subunits and a significant increase in nucleosome density on Su(Hw)-dependent insulators, whereas artificial Su(Hw) recruitment itself is sufficient for subsequent SAGA, Brahma and ORC binding. In contrast to the majority of replication origins that associate with promoters of active genes, Su(Hw)-binding sites constitute a small proportion (6%) of ORC-binding sites that are localized preferentially in transcriptionally inactive chromatin regions termed BLACK and BLUE chromatin. We suggest that the key determinants of ORC positioning in the genome are DNA-binding proteins that constitute different DNA regulatory elements, including insulators, promoters and enhancers. Su(Hw) is the first example of such a protein. PMID:23609538

  19. A new Xist allele driven by a constitutively active promoter is dominated by Xist locus environment and exhibits the parent-of-origin effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amakawa, Yuko; Sakata, Yuka; Hoki, Yuko; Arata, Satoru; Shioda, Seiji; Fukagawa, Tatsuo; Sasaki, Hiroyuki; Sado, Takashi

    2015-12-15

    The dosage difference of X-linked genes between the sexes in mammals is compensated for by genetic inactivation of one of the X chromosomes in XX females. A noncoding RNA transcribed from the Xist gene at the onset of X chromosome inactivation coats the X chromosome in cis and induces chromosome-wide heterochromatinization. Here, we report a new Xist allele (Xist(CAG)) driven by a CAG promoter, which is known to be constitutively active in many types of cells. The paternal transmission of Xist(CAG) resulted in the preferential inactivation of the targeted paternal X (Xp) not only in the extra-embryonic but also the embryonic lineage, whereas maternal transmission ended with embryonic lethality at the early postimplantation stage with a phenotype that resembled mutant embryos carrying a maternal deficiency in Tsix, an antisense negative regulator of Xist, in both sexes. Interestingly, we found that the upregulation of Xist(CAG) in preimplantation embryos temporally differed depending on its parental origin: its expression started at the 4- to 8-cell stages when paternally inherited, and Xist(CAG) was upregulated at the blastocyst stage when maternally inherited. This might indicate that the Xist locus on Xp is permissive to transcription, but the Xist locus on the maternal X (Xm) is not. We extrapolated from these findings that the maternal Xist allele might manifest a chromatin structure inaccessible by transcription factors relative to the paternal allele. This might underlie the mechanism for the maternal repression of Xist at the early cleavage stage when Tsix expression has not yet occurred on Xm. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

  20. A constitutional economics perspective on soft paternalism

    OpenAIRE

    Schnellenbach, Jan

    2015-01-01

    Using a framework that distinguishes short-term consumer preferences, individual reflective preferences and political preferences, we discuss from a constitutional economics perspective whether individuals find it in their common constitutional interest to endow representatives and bureaucrats with the competence to impose soft paternalist policies. The focus is specifically on soft paternalist policies, because these often work with non-transparent 'nudges' that are considered as manipulativ...

  1. NF-κB RelA renders tumor-associated macrophages resistant to and capable of directly suppressing CD8+ T cells for tumor promotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Liwen; Han, Lei; Sun, Fan; Zhou, Jingjiao; Ohaegbulam, Kim C; Tang, Xudong; Zang, Xingxing; Steinbrecher, Kris A; Qu, Zhaoxia; Xiao, Gutian

    2018-01-01

    Activation of the inflammatory transcription factor NF-κB in tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) is assumed to contribute to tumor promotion. However, whether and how NF-κB drives the antitumor macrophages to become pro-tumorigenic have not been determined in any cancer type yet. Similarly, how TAMs repress CD8 + cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) remains largely unknown, although their importance in regulatory T (Treg) cell regulation and tumor promotion has been well appreciated. Here, using an endogenous lung cancer model we uncover a direct crosstalk between TAMs and CTLs. TAMs suppress CTLs through the T-cell inhibitory molecule B7x (B7-H4/B7S1) in a cell-cell contact manner, whereas CTLs kill TAMs in a tumor antigen-specific manner. Remarkably, TAMs secrete the known T-cell suppressive cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) to activate, but not to repress, CTLs. Notably, one major role of cell-intrinsic NF-κB RelA is to drive TAMs to suppress CTLs for tumor promotion. It induces B7x expression in TAMs directly, and restricts IL-10 expression indirectly by repressing expression of the NF-κB cofactor Bcl3 and subsequent Bcl3/NF-κB1-mediated transcription of IL-10. It also renders TAMs resistant to CTLs by up-regulating anti-apoptotic genes. These studies help understand how immunity is shaped in lung tumorigenesis, and suggest a RelA-targeted immunotherapy for this deadliest cancer.

  2. Searching for solutions to alcohol and other drug abuse during pregnancy: ethics, values, and constitutional principles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrews, A B; Patterson, E G

    1995-01-01

    Recent efforts to develop legal mechanisms to detect prenatal substance abuse and force pregnant women into drug-free conditions have precipitated ethical struggles for social workers. This article reviews relevant social work values and ethical issues, particularly the need to balance obligations to promote client self-determination, privacy, and access to chosen services with professional values that support coercive intervention to aid vulnerable people and to protect life. The constitutional principles that most affect coercive interventions--due process and equal protection--are reviewed. Recommendations are offered to guide ethical and legal social work for case interventions and policy development.

  3. Nuclear energy as a 'golden bridge'? Constitutional legal problems of the negotiation of the prolongation of the running time against skimming of profits

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waldhoff, Christian; Aswege, Hanka von

    2010-01-01

    The coalition agreement of Christian Demographic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 26th October, 2009 characterizes the nuclear energy as a bridge technology. The coalition parties explain to prolong the running times of German nuclear power stations up to a reliable replacement by renewable energies. The conditions for the prolongation of the running times are to be regulated in agreement with energy supply companies. In the contribution under consideration, the authors report on the fiscal legal problems of the skimming of profits. Constitutional legal problems of the earmaking of a skimming of profits as well as a consensual agreement are discussed in this contribution. In the result, a financial constitutionally reliable way for the skimming of added profits due to prolongation of the running time is not evident. The legal earmaking of the duty advent for the promotion of renewable energies increases the constitutional doubts.

  4. Initiating the judicial review in the European model of constitutional justice

    OpenAIRE

    Stojanović Dragan

    2014-01-01

    Judicial review is the core competence of the constitutional judicature in Europe, which is largely shaped by the Austrian and German models of constitutional justice. In that context, the issue of initiating the constitutional review of legislation is extremely important. Depending on the subject who is authorized to initiate this proceeding, the constitutional review may be twofold: the abstract control and the incidental control. The former type of constitutional review is generally initia...

  5. Constitutionalism and conflict in Ternate, North Maluku, Indonesia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hermkens, A.K.

    2010-01-01

    Allegedly the oldest in Indonesia, and to some even beyond, the constitution treasured in the Kedaton (traditional palace) of the Sultan of Ternate (North Maluku, Indonesia) constitutes a dividing line between North and South Ternate in terms of government, ethnicity, and, spirituality. Moreover, it

  6. Gender and the Constitution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginsburg, Ruth Bader

    1975-01-01

    In discussing the constitutional aspects of the sex-role debate in the U.S. the author traces the tradition, compares the present criterion of equal protection to the equal rights argument, and analyzes the equality principle with reference to affirmative action and to childbearing and childrearing, supporting the proposed equal rights amendment.…

  7. The Constitutional Court in light of interpretive decisions in normative control proceedings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stojanović Dragan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In a legal system based on the principle of the separation of powers, constitutional judicature is necessarily (given the nature of its social function at the intersection of law and politics. Thus, constitutional judiciary is required to preserve political neutrality, particularly in relation to political (legislative and executive authorities. The paper analyzes the principal issues pertaining to constitutional court interpretation, particularly in light of observing the principle of the separation of powers that the constitutional judiciary is bound to abide by and considering the role of the constitutional court as an institution standing at the intersection of law and politics. Every constitutional court is required to be politically neutral and independent from daily politics, which is the major factor in delineating not only the overall boundaries of the constitutional control of the normative framework but also in ensuring the independent and unbiased activity of the constitutional court in the process of interpreting the Constitution and the laws. The constitutional control function shall not be politicized, and it must be exercised only through legal reasoning. Consequently, in the process of constitutional interpretation, the Constitutional Court of Serbia has to develop and consistently pursue a doctrine of self-restraint, thus refraining from politically-driven assessment which is the exclusive duty of political authorities. A closer examination of the doctrine of self-restraint in recent constitutional practice shows that the most prominent elements of this doctrine are relatively new interpretative constructions and legal formulations of constitutional court, which reinforce not only the political neutrality of the constitutional judiciary but also its role as 'the negative legislator'. Yet, some of these constructions may be challenged because their excessive and often inadequate application has resulted in a kind of 'self

  8. Perspective of the Human Body in Sasang Constitutional Medicine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junhee Lee

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available The Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM, a medical tradition originating from Korea, is distinguished from the traditional Chinese medicine in its philosophical background, theoretical development and especially, the fundamental rationale that analyzes the structure and function of the human body within a quadrifocal scheme. In SCM, the structure of the body is comprehended within the Sasang quadrifocal scheme, and the function of the body is understood within the context of the energy-fluid metabolism and the water-food metabolism controlled by the four main organs (lung, spleen, liver and kidney. Also, the concept of Seong-Jeong is used to explain the structural and functional variations between different constitutional types that arise from the constitutional variations in organ system scheme, which are in turn caused by deviations in the constitutional Seong-Jeong. Therefore, understanding the SCM perspective of the human body is essential in order to fully appreciate the advantages of the constitutional typological system (which focuses on individual idiosyncrasies found in SCM.

  9. Constitutional reform processes and political parties: principles for practice

    OpenAIRE

    Vliet, van, M.; Wahiu, W.; Magolowondo, A.

    2012-01-01

    This publication provides a set of guiding principles for constitutional reform on the basis of practical experiences of constitutional reform processes in selected countries: Bolivia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The focus is on the role of political parties in constitution-building processes. The publication shows that although country-specific reform processes may be unique in terms of objectives, context, popular involvement, and achievements, they go ...

  10. Controversial constitutive TSHR activity: patients, physiology, and in vitro characterization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huth, S; Jaeschke, H; Schaarschmidt, J; Paschke, R

    2014-06-01

    G protein-coupled receptors constitute a large family of transmembrane receptors, which activate cellular responses by signal transmission and regulation of second messenger metabolism after ligand binding. For several of these receptors it is known that they also signal ligand-independently. The G protein-coupled thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) is characterized by a high level of constitutive activity in the wild type state. However, little is known yet concerning the physiological relevance of the constitutive wild type TSHR activity. Certainly, knowledge of the physiological relevance of constitutive wild type receptor activity is necessary to better understand thyroid physiology and it is a prerequisite for the development of better therapies for nonautoimmune hyperthyroidism and thyroid cancer. Based on a literature search regarding all published TSHR mutations, this review covers several mutations which are clearly associated with a hyperthyroidism-phenotype, but interestingly show a lack of constitutive activity determined by in vitro characterization. Possible reasons for the observed discrepancies between clinical phenotypes and in vitro characterization results for constitutive TSHR activity are reviewed. All current in vitro characterization methods for constitutive TSHR mutations are "preliminary attempts" and may well be revised by more comprehensive and even better approaches. However, a standardized approach for the determination of constitutive activity can help to identify TSHR mutations for which the investigation of additional signaling mechanisms would be most interesting to find explanations for the current clinical phenotype/in vitro discrepancies and thereby also define suitable methods to explore the physiological relevance of constitutive wild type TSHR activity. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  11. Social pacts and Constitutional Justice: A comparative approach between Korea and Colombia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodrigo González Quintero

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available During the last quarter of the twentieth century, new constitutions were adopted in South Korea and Colombia and these documents established constitutional courts. Thus, under specific circumstances of institutional crisis, two societies and their leaders embraced the task of overcoming said crisis through the enactment of a new constitution. The establishment of constitutional courts entailed the validity towards the future of the reached constitutional consensus,as the successful way to surpass the prior crisis. The new constitutions at our countries are perceived as the reformulation of the social compact, and the constitutional courts play a constant and noteworthy function as they actualize said democratic-constitutional compact.

  12. Promoters and proteins from Clostridium thermocellum and uses thereof

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, J. H. David; Newcomb, Michael

    2012-11-13

    The present invention relates to an inducible and a high expression nucleic acid promoter isolated from Clostridium thermocellum. These promoters are useful for directing expression of a protein or polypeptide encoded by a nucleic acid molecule operably associated with the nucleic acid promoters. The present invention also relates to nucleic acid constructs including the C. thermocellum promoters, and expression vectors and hosts containing such nucleic acid constructs. The present invention also relates to protein isolated from Clostridium thermocellum, including a repressor protein. The present invention also provides methods of using the isolated promoters and proteins from Clostridium thermocellum, including methods for directing inducible in vitro and in vivo expression of a protein or polypeptide in a host, and methods of producing ethanol from a cellulosic biomass.

  13. A constitutive model for the flow through an assembly of circular section rods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moeller, S.V.

    1979-08-01

    The determination of the flow through an uniform array of rod bundle is made by means of the Continuum Theories of Mixtures, which gives balance equations for the system. The hypotheses of isothermal and fully developed turbulent flow are made. Constitutive equations for the resistive force are determined from Jakob's and Rowe's correlations, and its behaviour analysed for a standard case. Comparison of these equations with Bottgenbach's experiments shows good agreement of the direction of the pressure, although direct comparison between present theory and his theory is not possible. For the confirmation of the model an experiment is performed, this consisting of measuring pressure drop (Euler's Number) in the axial and transverse direction of a random array rod bundle at various angles as functions of velocity (Reynold's Number), which has good agreement, except on axial direction. At last, a sample problem is formulated with the purpose of showing the applicability of the model, this being the determination of pressure field due to the influence of a baffle. (Author) [pt

  14. In vivo and in vitro characterization of σ70 constitutive promoters by real-time PCR and fluorescent measurements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chappell, James; Freemont, Paul

    2013-01-01

    The characterization of DNA regulatory elements such as ribosome binding sites and transcriptional promoters is a fundamental aim of synthetic biology. Characterization of such DNA regulatory elements by monitoring the synthesis of fluorescent proteins is a commonly used technique to resolve the relative or absolute strengths. These measurements can be used in combination with mathematical models and computer simulation to rapidly assess performance of DNA regulatory elements both in isolation and in combination, to assist predictable and efficient engineering of complex novel biological devices and systems. Here we describe the construction and relative characterization of Escherichia coli (E. coli) σ(70) transcriptional promoters by monitoring the synthesis of green fluorescent protein (GFP) both in vivo in E. coli and in vitro in a E. coli cell-free transcription and translation reaction.

  15. The application of section 8(3) of the constitution in the development of customary law values in South Africa's new constitutional dispensation

    OpenAIRE

    Ntlama, Nomthandazo

    2012-01-01

    The constitutional recognition of customary law alongside common law in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 is highly commendable. It also raises the question of whether or not the recognition was undertaken out of genuine respect for customary law or merely forgotten in section 8(3) of the Constitution. It is argued that the exclusion of customary law from the provision of the section is nothing more than the advancement of the dominant status enjoyed by common law, as was...

  16. Valuation In The Constitutional Era

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elmien du Plessis

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The Constitution brought about a new compensation regime for expropriations. Compensation for expropriation must now be "just and equitable". Whereas before the Constitution came into force market value played a central role in compensation for expropriation, market value is now only one factor or aspect of compensation that the court needs to take into account. Yet we find that courts tend to focus on market value and to still employ the valuation methods used to calculate market value. This article argues that the methods used to calculate the market value, once thought to be objective, are not as objective as was believed. While it is impossible to give judges specific tools for the assessment of market value, this article provides guidelines on how the calculation of compensation should be approached.

  17. A three-dimensional constitutive model for shape memory alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Bo; Yoon, Sung-Ho; Leng, Jin-Song

    2009-01-01

    Shape memory alloy (SMA) has a wide variety of practical applications due to its unique super-elasticity and shape memory effect. It is of practical interest to establish a constitutive model which predicts its phase transformation and mechanical behaviors. In this paper, a new three-dimensional phase transformation equation, which predicts the phase transformation behaviors of SMA, is developed based on the results of a differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test. It overcomes both limitations: that Zhou's phase transformation equations fail to describe the phase transformation from twinned martensite to detwinned martensite of SMA and Brinson's phase transformation equation fails to express the influences of phase transformation peak temperatures on the phase transformation behaviors of SMA. A new three-dimensional constitutive equation, which predicts the mechanical behaviors associated with the super-elasticity and shape memory effect of SMA, is developed on the basis of thermodynamics and solid mechanics. Results of numerical simulations show that the new constitutive model, which includes the new phase transformation equation and constitutive equation, can predict the phase transformation and mechanical behaviors associated with the super-elasticity and shape memory effect of SMA precisely and comprehensively. It is proved that Brinson's constitutive model of SMA can be considered as one special case of the new constitutive model

  18. Directive and Non-Directive Movement in Child Therapy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krason, Katarzyna; Szafraniec, Grazyna

    1999-01-01

    Presents a new authorship method of child therapy based on visualization through motion. Maintains that this method stimulates motor development and musical receptiveness, and promotes personality development. Suggests that improvised movement to music facilitates the projection mechanism and that directed movement starts the channeling phase.…

  19. The Application of Section 8(3 of the Constitution in the Development of Customary Law Values in South Africa's New Constitutional Dispensation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N Ntlama

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The constitutional recognition of customary law alongside common law in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 is highly commendable. It also raises the question of whether or not the recognition was undertaken out of genuine respect for customary law or merely forgotten in section 8(3 of the Constitution. It is argued that the exclusion of customary law from the provision of the section is nothing more than the advancement of the dominant status enjoyed by common law, as was the case before the dawn of democracy. This argument is limited to the application of section 8(3 and the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, without focusing on the shortcomings of the latter in relation to the remedies provided in the resolution of disputes arising from customary law.

  20. Quasi-constitutional change without intent : A response to Richard Albert

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Passchier, Reijer

    2017-01-01

    Recently, Buffalo Law Review published Richard Albert’s article on “quasi-constitutional amendments.” These are, in Albert’s words, “sub-constitutional changes that do not possess the same legal status as a constitutional amendment, that are formally susceptible to statutory repeal or revision, but

  1. THE EMERGING INTERNATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Dr Tanya du Plessis

    CFI) affirmed ... primarily include the value system of the international legal order, meaning norms of ... the existence of such a traditional constitutional demos. Europe's ..... between the African Development Bank (BAD) and one of its employees,.

  2. THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE OF EQUALITY - LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS -

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marius ANDREESCU

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The equality in human rights and obligations, the equality of citizens before the law are fundamental categories of the theories on social democracy but also conditions of the lawful state, without which constitutional democracy cannot be conceived. In Romanian Constitution, this principle is consecrated in the form of equality of the citizens before the law and public authorities. There are also particular aspects of this principle consecrated in the Constitution. The constitutional principle of equality requires that equal treatment be applied to equal situations. This social and legal reality implies numerous interferences between the principle of equality and other constitutional principles. In this study, by using theoretical and jurisprudential arguments, we intend to demonstrate that, in relation to contemporary social reality, equality, as a constitutional principle, is a particular aspect of the principle of proportionality. The latter one expresses in essence the ideas of: fairness, justice, reasonableness and fair appropriateness of state decisions to the facts and legitimate aims proposed.

  3. Constitutional obligations of a person and a citizen

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexey Yu. Ogurtsov

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The constitution of the Russian Federation does not contain the list of obligations, but theoretically each legal right is supposed to correspond to a legal obligation. Such conformity is achieved by means of attaching obligations not only by Constitution, but by the branch legislation either.

  4. Reflections on the Establishment of Constitutional Government in Eastern Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varat, Jonathan D.

    Establishing constitutional government involves not simply the creation of a written document that purports to create the political structure of a nation and guarantee rights to its people, but "constitutionalism" in the sense of meaningful and effective adherence to constitutional norms of democratic organization and the protection of…

  5. [Chinese constitution research and the practice of 4P medical model].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ji; Wang, Qi

    2012-05-01

    The aim of modern medicine is transforming from disease to health. Thus the medical model of 4P was proposed in recent years. 4P includes preventive, predictive, personalized, and participatory medical model. In constitution theory of Chinese medicine, there are three main ideas. The first one is: constitutions can be divided to nine types in the Chinese population. Prevention and treatment of disease can be divided according to the constitutional type. This reflects personalized or individualized of 4P. The second one is: certain constitution is correlated to certain disease. So constitution differentiation can be used to predict the occurrence of any kind disease. The third one is: Disease can be prevented through regulating correlated constitutions. And during the course of constitution differentiation, the object of service or patients can participate in the whole course. In summary, the research of Chinese medical constitution embodies the application and practice of 4P medical model. And it provided reference for studying and developing other subjects under the present medical model.

  6. Use of Adhesion Promoters in Asphalt Mixtures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cihlářová Denisa

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of asphalt binder as a significant binder in road constructions is to permanently bind aggregates of different compositions and grain sizes. The asphalt binder itself does not have suitable adhesiveness, so after a period of time, bare grains can appear. This results in a gradual separation of the grains from an asphalt layer and the presence of potholes in a pavement. Adhesion promoters or adhesive agents are important and proven promoters in practice. They are substances mainly based on the fatty acids of polyamides which should increase the reliability of the asphalt’s binder adhesion to the aggregates, thus increasing the lifetime period of the asphalt mixture as well as its resistance to mechanical strain. The amount of a promoter or agent added to the asphalt mixture is negligible and constitutes about 0.3% of the asphalt’s binder weight. Nevertheless, even this quantity significantly increases the adhesive qualities of an asphalt binder. The article was created in cooperatation with the Slovak University of Technology, in Bratislava, Slovakia, and focuses on proving the new AD2 adhesive additive and comparing it with the Addibit and Wetfix BE promoters used on aggregates from the Skuteč - Litická and Bystřec quarries.

  7. Constitutional Law--State Action--Hiring and Promotion Practices of Private University Receiving Public Funds Held State Action--Braden v. University of Pittsburgh.

    Science.gov (United States)

    New York University Law Review, 1977

    1977-01-01

    In Braden vs University of Pittsburgh, a female professor filed suit against the University alleging sex discrimination in employment practices. The professor alleged that the school, which received state funds, was, in effect, a state actor and subject to constitutional restraints. This case and two relevant state action cases are discussed. (JMD)

  8. Constitutional law and international law at the turn of the century

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JA Frowein

    1998-11-01

    Full Text Available Constitutional law and international law operate in simultaneous conjunction and reciprocal tension. Both fields seem to have overcome the great challenges of destruction and neglect in the course of the 20th century.Both after World War I and World War II the world experienced new waves of constitution making. In both cases the current German constitutions (the Weimar Constitution of 1919 and the Grundgesetz of 1949 were influential.Characteristic of constitution-making in this century, is the final victory of liberal constitutions based on the rule of law, the Rechtsstaat, fundamental rights, meaningful control of public powers and the establishment of constitutional courts.Following the destruction of World War II, the notion of the Sozialstaat emerged strongly in Germany. In contrast to the Constitution of the United States of America, the principle of the responsibility of the state for social justice has emerged in almost all new constitutions, including Russia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Italy and Portugal.Where courts are given the mandate to interpret bills of rights, fundamental rights have been developed into foundation stones of the legal system. The presence in a Bill of Rights of restrictive clauses, is important for its analysis. Generally restrictive clauses in new constitutions try to limit the possibilities of restriction.The importance of constitutional rules establishing and legitimizing the political organs, must not be overlooked. Of particular importance is the degree of control over the head of state, a positive attitude among political actors towards the constitution and the protection of the interests of minorities in a democratic system.In the field of Public International Law much of Kant's ideal of an international confederation of peace has been realized. Since 1990 the United Nation's Security Council has shown the potential of becoming a directorate for the community of nations.International law has also been

  9. 42 CFR 23.28 - What events constitute default?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false What events constitute default? 23.28 Section 23.28 Public Health PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PERSONNEL NATIONAL HEALTH... default? The following events will constitute defaults of the loan agreement: (a) Failure to make full...

  10. Determination of brazed joint constitutive law by inverse method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lovato, G.; Moret, F.; Gallo, P. le; Cailletaud, G.; Pilvin, P.

    1993-01-01

    An important parameter often neglected for the calculation of residual stresses in brazed ceramic/metal assemblies is the joint constitutive law. In situ camber measurements on a model system (axisymmetric TZM/InCuSil ABA/316L samples) performed using a special vertical dilatometer during the whole brazing thermal cycle are compared with results of FEM calculations based on published filler metal constitutive laws. A strong disagreement is observed. Actual constitutive law of the joint is determined from these measurements using a numerical inverse method. Calculated displacements are fully consistent with experimental ones. True solidification temperature of the joint is determined. The identified constitutive law of the joint exhibits a low flow stress from solidification temperature to 320 C. (orig.)

  11. Modernity, Rationality and Constitutional Law in Muslim-Majority Countries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Abat Ninet, Antoni

    Are Islamic law, human rights and constitutionalism compatible? In answering this question, this paper first discusses the concept of modernity (understood in terms of rationality and standardization), analysing its abrupt implementation in the MENA countries and the role that the first modern...... constitutions played in institutionalising a new sort of dominion in the newly established states. Against this background, the paper discusses the relationship between constitutionalism and Shari’a law, presenting this as a clash between two competing normative visions that are conceptually difficult...... to reconcile and which each claim exclusivity and hierarchical superiority. The paper advocates for a deconstruction of the ideas of human rights and constitutionalism in order to allow for the incorporation of elements of Muslim traditions, thus challenging the understanding of human rights...

  12. Jonathan's Constitutional Conference in Nigeria

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ian

    2013-10-01

    Oct 1, 2013 ... Adeniyi S. Basiru is an independent researcher and a PhD candidate ... constitution-making are fundamentally the exclusive reserve of the elites, ..... agenda must be situated against the background of events that heralded his.

  13. The Viability and Constitutionality of the South African National Register for Sex Offenders: A Comparative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nina Mollema

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Section 42 of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act 32 of 2007 established a National Register for Sex Offenders where the particulars of all offenders guilty of sexual transgressions against children or mentally-ill persons have to be included, regardless of whether they were found guilty before or after the coming into force of the Act. Although the purpose of the Act clearly is to protect and promote the constitutional rights of victims and society in general, it is apparent that the register may infringe on the rights of sexual offenders. The inclusion of the personal details of sex offenders in a register without their permission and sometimes without their knowledge amounts to a violation amongst other rights of the right to privacy stipulated in section 14 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. In this article the constitutionality of the South African register will be examined by means of a comparative study with the United States and United Kingdom, where similar registers are already in place. This legislative assessment will also provide answers as to the viability of the South African register. It is argued that South Africa's sex offender registration system may not fulfil the function it was designed for because of misconceptions as well as serious implementation and administrative issues; and that alternative solutions may be more suitable in this regard.

  14. Ivor Jennings's Constitutional Legacy beyond the Occidental-Oriental Divide

    OpenAIRE

    Malagodi, M.

    2015-01-01

    Sir W. Ivor Jennings (1903–1965) was one of Britain's most prominent constitutional law scholars of the twentieth century. He is mostly famed for his work in the 1930s on English Public Law. In 1941, Jennings, however, moved to Sri Lanka, progressively becoming involved in both an academic and professional capacity with constitutional processes across the decolonizing world in the early stages of the Cold War. This article provides an alternative account of Jennings's constitutional legacy to...

  15. Constitutive Equation with Varying Parameters for Superplastic Flow Behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guan, Zhiping; Ren, Mingwen; Jia, Hongjie; Zhao, Po; Ma, Pinkui

    2014-03-01

    In this study, constitutive equations for superplastic materials with an extra large elongation were investigated through mechanical analysis. From the view of phenomenology, firstly, some traditional empirical constitutive relations were standardized by restricting some strain paths and parameter conditions, and the coefficients in these relations were strictly given new mechanical definitions. Subsequently, a new, general constitutive equation with varying parameters was theoretically deduced based on the general mechanical equation of state. The superplastic tension test data of Zn-5%Al alloy at 340 °C under strain rates, velocities, and loads were employed for building a new constitutive equation and examining its validity. Analysis results indicated that the constitutive equation with varying parameters could characterize superplastic flow behavior in practical superplastic forming with high prediction accuracy and without any restriction of strain path or deformation condition, showing good industrial or scientific interest. On the contrary, those empirical equations have low prediction capabilities due to constant parameters and poor applicability because of the limit of special strain path or parameter conditions based on strict phenomenology.

  16. Italian ICF training programs: describing and promoting human functioning and research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francescutti, Carlo; Fusaro, Guido; Leonardi, Matilde; Martinuzzi, Andrea; Sala, Marina; Russo, Emanuela; Frare, Mara; Pradal, Monica; Zampogna, Daniela; Cosentino, Alessandro; Raggi, Alberto

    2009-01-01

    Purpose of the article is to report on 5 years of ICF training experiences in Italy aimed at promoting a consistent approach to ICF's field application. More than 7000 persons participated in around 150 training events: almost half were organised by political bodies, at national, regional or local level, directly linked to implementation experiences. Few training events were organised by the school sector, while training commissioned by NGOs represent a relevant area and, in our opinion, constitute the first step towards a full inclusion of persons with disabilities. Central pillars of our training modules are: the inclusion of all ICF components in the description of functional profiles, the need of providing brief theoretical background information before moving to practical aspects and the importance of providing personalised face to face training modules, in contrast to self-administered learning modules, or web-based protocols. On the basis of our experience, we can conclude that training's objectives are generally reached: trainees improved their knowledge of the ICF and its related tools, and are able to begin practical applications in their contexts.

  17. Mechanisms of constitutive and ATP-evoked ATP release in neonatal mouse olfactory epithelium

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hayoz Sébastien

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background ATP is an extracellular signaling molecule with many ascribed functions in sensory systems, including the olfactory epithelium. The mechanism(s by which ATP is released in the olfactory epithelium has not been investigated. Quantitative luciferin-luciferase assays were used to monitor ATP release, and confocal imaging of the fluorescent ATP marker quinacrine was used to monitor ATP release via exocytosis in Swiss Webster mouse neonatal olfactory epithelial slices. Results Under control conditions, constitutive release of ATP occurs via exocytosis, hemichannels and ABC transporters and is inhibited by vesicular fusion inhibitor Clostridium difficile toxin A and hemichannel and ABC transporter inhibitor probenecid. Constitutive ATP release is negatively regulated by the ATP breakdown product ADP through activation of P2Y receptors, likely via the cAMP/PKA pathway. In vivo studies indicate that constitutive ATP may play a role in neuronal homeostasis as inhibition of exocytosis inhibited normal proliferation in the OE. ATP-evoked ATP release is also present in mouse neonatal OE, triggered by several ionotropic P2X purinergic receptor agonists (ATP, αβMeATP and Bz-ATP and a G protein-coupled P2Y receptor agonist (UTP. Calcium imaging of P2X2-transfected HEK293 “biosensor” cells confirmed the presence of evoked ATP release. Following purinergic receptor stimulation, ATP is released via calcium-dependent exocytosis, activated P2X1,7 receptors, activated P2X7 receptors that form a complex with pannexin channels, or ABC transporters. The ATP-evoked ATP release is inhibited by the purinergic receptor inhibitor PPADS, Clostridium difficile toxin A and two inhibitors of pannexin channels: probenecid and carbenoxolone. Conclusions The constitutive release of ATP might be involved in normal cell turn-over or modulation of odorant sensitivity in physiological conditions. Given the growth-promoting effects of ATP, ATP-evoked ATP

  18. 1 kb of the lactase-phlorizin hydrolase promoter directs post-weaning decline and small intestinal-specific expression in transgenic mice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Troelsen, J T; Mehlum, A; Spodsberg, N

    1994-01-01

    Adult-type hypolactasia is a genetic condition making approximately one half of the human population intolerant to milk because of abdominal symptoms. The cause is a post-weaning down-regulation of the intestinal-specific enzyme lactase-phlorizin hydrolase (LPH) reducing the intestinal capacity...... to hydrolyze lactose. We here demonstrate that the stretch -17 to -994 in the pig LPH-promoter carries cis-elements which direct a small intestinal-specific expression and a post-weaning decline of a linked rabbit beta-globin gene. These data demonstrate that the post-weaning decline of LPH is mainly due...

  19. The road to democracy: The development of constitutionalism in Serbia 1869-1903

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bataković Dušan T.

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available After the swiftly abolished liberal Constitution of 1835 and the imposed 'Turkish' one of 1838 (imposed by the Russians and Ottomans, guarantors of Serbia's autonomy granted in 1830, to limit the princely power, the development of constitutionalism in modern Serbia went through several phases. As elsewhere in the Balkans, constitutions usually resulted from a compromise between the ruler and the elites rather than from the will of the people. The 1868 Constitution drew to an extent upon the early nineteenth-century German constitutional monarchies, but, under pressure from the politically mobilized population, the 1888 Constitution, proposed by the Radical Party in response to the egalitarian aspirations of the nation's agrarian majority, adopted a French constitutional model - with a unicameral system and frequent coalition governments. Shaped on the model of the Belgian Constitution of 1831, which in its turn was a modified version of the French Charte of 1830, it restored a French influence, expressed for the first time in the 1835 Constitution. The 1888 Constitution was passed by the Grand National Assembly with its five-sixth majority of Radicals, representatives of the agrarian majority. It was soon annulled by the coup d'état of 1894 and the Court-imposed Constitution of 1869 was reinstituted. The Constitution of 1901 was an attempt to introduce a bicameral system as a means of upholding the influential role of the ruler, while limiting that of the Radical Party, which had enjoyed an ample electoral support since the 1888 Constitution. After the assassination in 1903 of the last Obrenović ruler king Alexander, and his wife, queen Draga, the liberal Constitution of 1888 with minor modifications was reinstituted. Under this Constitution - which is commonly known as the 1903 Constitution and which, during the democratic reign of king Peter I Karđorđević, was no longer challenged - Serbian democracy remained fragile, because there was no

  20. RECEPTING THE PRINCIPLE OF SUPREMACY OF CONSTITUTION ON THE NEW PENAL CODE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marius ANDREESCU

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The supremacy of Constitution has as main consequence the compliance of entire law with the constitutional norms. Guaranteeing of the observance of this principle is essential for the rule of law, is primarily an attribute of the Constitutional Court, but also an obligation of the legislator to receive by texts adopted, within its content and form, the constitutional norms. Entering into force of the new criminal codes generated a significant jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court on the verification of constitutionality of some regulations in the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code. Through this study we intend to analyze the following key issues: a how were the constitutional principles and values embodied in some criminal and criminal procedural norms of the new codes; b the effects of Constitutional Court decisions in the process of constitutionalizing of the criminal law; c applying into judicial activities of the Constitutional Court decisions, particularly those through which the new Criminal Code regulations were found unconstitutional.

  1. The Constitution's Prescription for Freedom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peach, Lucinda

    1986-01-01

    Examines how the framers of the Constitution came to choose our system of government, how that system was designed to function, and how the separation of powers has served to maintain our democracy despite attempts to violate it. (JDH)

  2. Is it possible to protect constitutional rights through simple procedural law

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dolde, K.P.

    1982-01-01

    In the administration of justice and in legal literature of the Federal Republic of Germany increasingly more emphasis has been placed on the significance of procedural rights for the realization of basic civil rights, as they were defined in the constitution. Especially in the decision concerning the nuclear power plant at Muehlheim-Kaerlich, the Federal Constitutional Court has stressed the protection of constitutional rights by hearing the case in conjunction with the question of licensing of large industrial plants. Relevant to the protection of basic civil and constitutional rights are, according to the court, not only those regulations as prescribed by the constitution, but also those which, according to the will of the legislature, principally guarantee a constitutional right. The protection of basic rights is thus also guaranteed by civil rights, and not only through the constitution. In the opinion of the author, this will cause serious repercussions which should make corrections of this type of administration of justice necessary. (WBI) [de

  3. Dynamic compressive constitutive relation and shearing instability of metallic neodymium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Huanran; Cai Canyuan; Chen Danian; Ma Dongfang; Hou Yanjun; Wu Shanxing

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Dynamic constitutive relation of Nd was determined in first compression of SHPB. → Deformation of Nd in multi-compression of SHPB were recorded by high-speed camera. → Constitutive relation of Nd was adjusted in modeling large deformation of Nd. → Results of SDDM investigation of recovered Nd specimens showed shearing fracture. → Shearing instability of Nd was estimated with constitutive relation. - Abstract: Based on static tests on MTS and dynamic tests on split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) during the first loading, this study determined the dynamic compressive constitutive relation of metallic Nd. Based on large deformations of metallic Nd specimens generated by the multi-compressive loadings during SHPB tests, and recorded by a high-speed camera, the results of numerical simulations for SHPB test processes were used to extend the determined constitutive relation from small strain to large strain. The shearing instability strain in dynamic compressive deformations of metallic Nd was estimated with the extended constitutive relation according to the criterion given by Batra and Wei, and was compared with the average strain of recovered specimens.

  4. A continuum mechanics constitutive framework for transverse isotropic soft tissues

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Gonzalez, D.; Jérusalem, A.; Garzon-Hernandez, S.; Zaera, R.; Arias, A.

    2018-03-01

    In this work, a continuum constitutive framework for the mechanical modelling of soft tissues that incorporates strain rate and temperature dependencies as well as the transverse isotropy arising from fibres embedded into a soft matrix is developed. The constitutive formulation is based on a Helmholtz free energy function decoupled into the contribution of a viscous-hyperelastic matrix and the contribution of fibres introducing dispersion dependent transverse isotropy. The proposed framework considers finite deformation kinematics, is thermodynamically consistent and allows for the particularisation of the energy potentials and flow equations of each constitutive branch. In this regard, the approach developed herein provides the basis on which specific constitutive models can be potentially formulated for a wide variety of soft tissues. To illustrate this versatility, the constitutive framework is particularised here for animal and human white matter and skin, for which constitutive models are provided. In both cases, different energy functions are considered: Neo-Hookean, Gent and Ogden. Finally, the ability of the approach at capturing the experimental behaviour of the two soft tissues is confirmed.

  5. Interpretative decisions in the practice of the Constitutional Court of Serbia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajić Nataša

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The relationship between the Constitutional Court and Parliament is marked by envolving process. The desired balance between these two state bodies was gradually disturbed by the Constitutional Court. Consequently, the substrate of the constitutional function originally designed as a function of 'negative legislator' is also changed in that process. Interpretative decision is one of the model of the activity of the Constitutional Court which makes questionable the position of the Parliament as a state body which regulates social relations in original form. Interpretative decision is an specific form of rejected decisions that contains binding instruction regading the interpretation of the norm, as a condition. This interpretation is given by Constitutional Court in order to make the norm in accordance with the Constitution. By the analysis of the practice of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, the paper has a task to determine wheter, to what extend and in what form the interpretative decisions occur in the work of the Court as well as to determine is there a clear constitutional base for establishing the jurisdiction of their adoption in our legal system.

  6. The emerging international constitutional order: the implications of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This vision of an international constitutional model is inspired by the intensification in the shift of public decision-making away from the nation state towards international actors of a regional (for example EU) or functional (for example WTO, UN) nature, and its eroding impact on the notion of a “total” constitutional order, ...

  7. Insulin Resistance and Endothelial Dysfunction Constitute a Common Therapeutic Target in Cardiometabolic Disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Janus

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Insulin resistance and other risk factors for atherosclerosis, such as hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, promote endothelial dysfunction and lead to development of metabolic syndrome which constitutes an introduction to cardiovascular disease. The insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction cross talk between each other by numerous metabolic pathways. Hence, targeting one of these pathologies with pleiotropic treatment exerts beneficial effect on another one. Combined and expletive treatment of hypertension, lipid disorders, and insulin resistance with nonpharmacological interventions and conventional pharmacotherapy may inhibit the transformation of metabolic disturbances to fully developed cardiovascular disease. This paper summarises the common therapeutic targets for insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, and vascular inflammatory reaction at molecular level and analyses the potential pleiotropic effects of drugs used currently in management of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.

  8. Surgery as a Double-Edged Sword: A Clinically Feasible Approach to Overcome the Metastasis-Promoting Effects of Surgery by Blunting Stress and Prostaglandin Responses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benish, Marganit; Ben-Eliyahu, Shamgar

    2010-01-01

    Surgery remains an essential therapeutic approach for most solid malignancies, including breast cancer. However, surgery also constitutes a risk factor for promotion of pre-existing micrometastases and the initiation of new metastases through several mechanisms, including the release of prostaglandins and stress hormones (e.g., catecholamines and glucocorticoids). However, the perioperative period also presents an opportunity for cell mediated immunity (CMI) and other mechanisms to eradicate or control minimal residual disease, provided that the deleterious effects of surgery are minimized. Here, we discuss the key role of endogenous stress hormones and prostaglandins in promoting the metastatic process through their direct impact on malignant cells, and through their deleterious impact on anti-cancer CMI. We further discuss the effects of anesthetic techniques, the extent of surgery, pain alleviation, and timing within the menstrual cycle with respect to their impact on tumor recurrence and physiological stress responses. Last, we suggest an attractive perioperative drug regimen, based on a combination of a cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor and a β-adrenergic blocker, which we found effective in attenuating immune suppression and the metastasis-promoting effects of surgery in several tumor models. This regimen is clinically applicable, and could potentially promote disease free survival in patients operated for breast and other types of cancer

  9. Surgery as a Double-Edged Sword: A Clinically Feasible Approach to Overcome the Metastasis-Promoting Effects of Surgery by Blunting Stress and Prostaglandin Responses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benish, Marganit; Ben-Eliyahu, Shamgar, E-mail: shamgar@post.tau.ac.il [Neuroimmunology Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978 (Israel)

    2010-11-24

    Surgery remains an essential therapeutic approach for most solid malignancies, including breast cancer. However, surgery also constitutes a risk factor for promotion of pre-existing micrometastases and the initiation of new metastases through several mechanisms, including the release of prostaglandins and stress hormones (e.g., catecholamines and glucocorticoids). However, the perioperative period also presents an opportunity for cell mediated immunity (CMI) and other mechanisms to eradicate or control minimal residual disease, provided that the deleterious effects of surgery are minimized. Here, we discuss the key role of endogenous stress hormones and prostaglandins in promoting the metastatic process through their direct impact on malignant cells, and through their deleterious impact on anti-cancer CMI. We further discuss the effects of anesthetic techniques, the extent of surgery, pain alleviation, and timing within the menstrual cycle with respect to their impact on tumor recurrence and physiological stress responses. Last, we suggest an attractive perioperative drug regimen, based on a combination of a cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitor and a β-adrenergic blocker, which we found effective in attenuating immune suppression and the metastasis-promoting effects of surgery in several tumor models. This regimen is clinically applicable, and could potentially promote disease free survival in patients operated for breast and other types of cancer.

  10. [Constitutional syndrome: clinical entity or a mixed bag].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez-Ortega, Saturnino; Puente-Fernández, Alicia; Santana-Baez, Sergio; Godoy-Díaz, Davinia; Serrano-Fuentes, Miriam; Sanz-Peláez, Oscar

    2013-01-01

    Fatigue, anorexia and involuntary weight loss have been included under the term constitutional syndrome. These manifestations accompany many diseases in which the diagnosis is made by specific symptoms and signs. However, these events are generally the main reason for consultation and the patient does not report other specific data. This forces us to rigorously investigate the possible causes of the disorder. Usually, three manifestations coexist: asthenia, anorexia and weight loss, but sometimes the patient has only one or two of them. The causes of constitutional symptoms are varied and can be divided into three groups: psychiatric diseases, neoplasms and non-neoplastic diseases. The etiological identification is usually done with a simple protocol, which rules out malignancy; the rest of the cases of uncertain etiology are subject to evolution. The constitutional syndrome correlates well with good prognosis or medical functional processes. Although no clinical guidelines have been developed, score scales may help for the etiological assessment. Given the myriad of different causes of the constitutional syndrome, the treatment of this illness depends primarily on the etiology.

  11. Tlx3 promotes glutamatergic neuronal subtype specification through direct interactions with the chromatin modifier CBP.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Atsushi Shimomura

    Full Text Available Nervous system development relies on the generation of precise numbers of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. The homeodomain transcription factor, T-cell leukemia 3 (Tlx3, functions as the master neuronal fate regulator by instructively promoting the specification of glutamatergic excitatory neurons and suppressing the specification of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic neurons. However, how Tlx3 promotes glutamatergic neuronal subtype specification is poorly understood. In this study, we found that Tlx3 directly interacts with the epigenetic co-activator cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB-binding protein (CBP and that the Tlx3 homeodomain is essential for this interaction. The interaction between Tlx3 and CBP was enhanced by the three amino acid loop extension (TALE-class homeodomain transcription factor, pre-B-cell leukemia transcription factor 3 (Pbx3. Using mouse embryonic stem (ES cells stably expressing Tlx3, we found that the interaction between Tlx3 and CBP became detectable only after these Tlx3-expressing ES cells were committed to a neural lineage, which coincided with increased Pbx3 expression during neural differentiation from ES cells. Forced expression of mutated Tlx3 lacking the homeodomain in ES cells undergoing neural differentiation resulted in significantly reduced expression of glutamatergic neuronal subtype markers, but had little effect on the expression on pan neural markers. Collectively, our results strongly suggest that functional interplay between Tlx3 and CBP plays a critical role in neuronal subtype specification, providing novel insights into the epigenetic regulatory mechanism that modulates the transcriptional efficacy of a selective set of neuronal subtype-specific genes during differentiation.

  12. Promoting Ethical Competencies: Education for Democratic Citizenship in a Mexican Institution of Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patino-Gonzalez, Susana

    2009-01-01

    Higher education institutions have a responsibility to promote the development of students' ethical and citizenship competencies, especially in contexts of major social inequality. Graduates, who constitute a very small percentage of the population in Mxico, are the best qualified to conceive of creative alternatives to resolve its demanding…

  13. Probabilistic estimation of the constitutive parameters of polymers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Siviour C.R.

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The Mulliken-Boyce constitutive model predicts the dynamic response of crystalline polymers as a function of strain rate and temperature. This paper describes the Mulliken-Boyce model-based estimation of the constitutive parameters in a Bayesian probabilistic framework. Experimental data from dynamic mechanical analysis and dynamic compression of PVC samples over a wide range of strain rates are analyzed. Both experimental uncertainty and natural variations in the material properties are simultaneously considered as independent and joint distributions; the posterior probability distributions are shown and compared with prior estimates of the material constitutive parameters. Additionally, particular statistical distributions are shown to be effective at capturing the rate and temperature dependence of internal phase transitions in DMA data.

  14. 22 CFR 64.10 - Grant not to constitute a gift.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Grant not to constitute a gift. 64.10 Section... EMPLOYEES IN CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES § 64.10 Grant not to constitute a gift. A grant made under an approved program shall not constitute a gift for purposes of 22 CFR 10.735-203 and...

  15. Your Official U.S. Constitution Sign-On Information and Documents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    National Conference of Christians and Jews, New York, NY.

    These learning materials are centered around the idea that each individual should "sign" the U.S. Constitution. A facsimile of the U.S. Constitution is included in each learning packet for students to sign. Section 1 contains five teaching modules on the constitutional process that can be used with any subject. The first two modules,…

  16. The dimension of constitutional protection and the guarantee of citizen rights and freedoms-A comparative view of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo with the Constitutions of neighbouring countries: Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kadri Kryeziu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In different historic periods of time and in various political regimes, people felt free and enjoyed their rights in different ways, but very li$ le was said about individual freedoms, as it was said more about collective freedoms. The term freedom is an antique, historic term. The corpus of human rights and fundamental freedoms has been studied since the ancient times, including middle ages until modern times of human civilization. However, the origin for protection of these rights and freedoms was sanctioned in the constitutional aspect in Magna Charta issued on 15-th of June 1215, which comprises the milestone in the history of constitutional regimes on human rights and freedoms. The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms is admitted by everyone. That is embedded in written constitutions worldwide, as well as in the United Nations Charter, final act of the Conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSBE known as Helsinki Act. The majority of democratic constitutions adopted after the Second World War, and the latest constitutions of the countries of South-eastern Europe, give an important place to the evidencing and guaranteeing of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

  17. Modulating ectopic gene expression levels by using retroviral vectors equipped with synthetic promoters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira, Joshua P; Peacock, Ryan W S; Lawhorn, Ingrid E B; Wang, Clifford L

    2011-12-01

    The human cytomegalovirus and elongation factor 1α promoters are constitutive promoters commonly employed by mammalian expression vectors. These promoters generally produce high levels of expression in many types of cells and tissues. To generate a library of synthetic promoters capable of generating a range of low, intermediate, and high expression levels, the TATA and CAAT box elements of these promoters were mutated. Other promoter variants were also generated by random mutagenesis. Evaluation using plasmid vectors integrated at a single site in the genome revealed that these various synthetic promoters were capable of expression levels spanning a 40-fold range. Retroviral vectors were equipped with the synthetic promoters and evaluated for their ability to reproduce the graded expression demonstrated by plasmid integration. A vector with a self-inactivating long terminal repeat could neither reproduce the full range of expression levels nor produce stable expression. Using a second vector design, the different synthetic promoters enabled stable expression over a broad range of expression levels in different cell lines. The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11693-011-9089-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

  18. Current Researches on the Methods of Diagnosing Sasang Constitution: An Overview

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Si-Woo Lee

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Sasang constitution diagnosis has traditionally been conducted by a Sasang constitutional medicine (SCM doctor who examines the external appearance, temperament and various symptoms of an individual and then collectively analyzes this information to determine their own constitutions. However, because this process is subjective and not quantitative, many researchers have been attempting to develop objective and reasonable methods of determining constitutions. In Korea, even though a wide range of research regarding SCM has been conducted, most of the work has not been revealed internationally. So in this review, the authors have searched the Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine, as well as other Korean domestic journal databases and Pubmed for research regarding modernized constitution diagnosis methods so to provide the understanding of current research state and outlook for future research.

  19. Photovoltaic module with adhesion promoter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xavier, Grace

    2013-10-08

    Photovoltaic modules with adhesion promoters and methods for fabricating photovoltaic modules with adhesion promoters are described. A photovoltaic module includes a solar cell including a first surface and a second surface, the second surface including a plurality of interspaced back-side contacts. A first glass layer is coupled to the first surface by a first encapsulating layer. A second glass layer is coupled to the second surface by a second encapsulating layer. At least a portion of the second encapsulating layer is bonded directly to the plurality of interspaced back-side contacts by an adhesion promoter.

  20. Material constitutive model for jointed rock mass behavior

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thomas, R.K.

    1980-11-01

    A material constitutive model is presented for jointed rock masses which exhibit preferred planes of weakness. This model is intended for use in finite element computations. The immediate application is the thermomechanical modelling of a nuclear waste repository in hard rock, but the model seems appropriate for a variety of other static and dynamic geotechnical problems as well. Starting with the finite element representations of a two-dimensional elastic body, joint planes are introduced in an explicit manner by direct modification of the material stiffness matrix. A novel feature of this approach is that joint set orientations, lengths and spacings are readily assigned through the sampling of a population distribution statistically determined from field measurement data. The result is that the fracture characteristics of the formations have the same statistical distribution in the model as is observed in the field. As a demonstration of the jointed rock mass model, numerical results are presented for the example problem of stress concentration at an underground opening

  1. Prospects of the Constitutional State of Indonesia: Ideas and Reality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamdan Zoelva

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Indonesia since its inception has asserted itself as a constitutional state. It may be inferred through the clear regulation related to powers and functions of each state institution in the form of checks and balances system, the protection of human rights, the clarity of the principles of democratic mechanism, as well as the guarantee of an independent judiciary. Although the constitution has been set in such a way, efforts to achieve a constitutional state is not an easy road. Nowadays, it seems that the trip of the Indonesian as a constitutional state was still hobbled. A variety of legal issues that disturb the sense of justice continues to emerge one after another. The outcomes of the research indicate that over the last decade, Indonesia has made many changes to realize the ideal of a constitutional state. As it turns out in practice, however, legal development was still far short from the expectations. The success of building a constitutional state can not be measured by the ability to produce legislation and to create or revitalize legal institutions. Moreover, the success of a constitutional state must also be measured by the implementation and law enforcement which able to create justice for all people. Therefore, the main focus of various studies of law and legal policy, must be oriented in the judicial institutions and law enforcement.

  2. Constitutional principle of equality of citizens before the law in the Montenegrin tax system: The assessment of constitutionality of the Law on fees (taxes on services of public interest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilija Vukčević

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper elaborates the application of general constitutional principle of equality before the law in the area of taxation. The issue of the constitutionality of the Law on fees on access to certain services of public interest and on consumption of tobacco products and acoustic and electro acoustic devices represents the most comprehensive analysis of the subject matter. In this case, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, among other awkward conclusions, has ruled that there is no constitutional basis for the application of the principle of ability-to-pay and the principle of proportionality in the area of taxation. This strange reasoning is the resemblance of the settled case practice of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro of evading the interference in issues related to constitutionality in tax matters. According to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro, such standing is the consequence of scarce constitutional provisions relating to taxation (e.g. there is no ex lege principle of ability-to-pay in the Constitution of Montenegro. In this way, Constitutional Court of Montenegro, intentionally or by accident, has placed this part of Montenegrin legal system out of its jurisdiction. This reasoning is unacceptable since, to certain extent, it undermines the whole legal system. By doing so, the Constitutional Court of Montenegro puts the Parliament of Montenegro out of the constitutional boundaries of Montenegrin legal system regarding the area of taxation, and gives the legislator the possibility to act without any constitutional control. This reluctance of the Constitutional Court of Montenegro can be attributed to the insufficient understanding of this sophisticated area of the legal system and the fear of delivering wrong decisions, or it can be interpreted as a deliberate retreat in front of the demand for unlimited powers exercised by the legislator in tax matters.

  3. Estimating material parameters of a structurally based constitutive relation for skin mechanics

    KAUST Repository

    Jor, Jessica W. Y.

    2010-11-25

    This paper presents a structurally based modeling framework to characterize the structure-function relation in skin tissues, based upon biaxial tensile experiments performed in vitro on porcine skin. Equi-axial deformations were imposed by stretching circular skin specimens uniformly along twelve directions, and the resultant loads at the membrane attachment points were measured. Displacement fields at each deformation step were tracked using an image 2D cross-correlation technique. A modeling framework was developed to simulate the experiments, whereby measured forces were applied to finite element models that were created to represent the geometry and structure of the tissue samples. Parameters of a structurally based constitutive relation were then identified using nonlinear optimization. Results showed that the ground matrix stiffness ranged from 5 to 32 kPa, fiber orientation mean from 2 to 13. from the torso midline, fiber undulation mean from 1.04 to 1.34 and collagen fiber stiffness from 48 to 366 MPa. It was concluded that the objective function was highly sensitive to the mean orientation and that a priori information about fiber orientation mean was important for the reliable identification of constitutive parameters. © Springer-Verlag 2010.

  4. Genome-wide association study of the four-constitution medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yin, Chang Shik; Park, Hi Joon; Chung, Joo-Ho; Lee, Hye-Jung; Lee, Byung-Cheol

    2009-12-01

    Four-constitution medicine (FCM), also known as Sasang constitutional medicine, and the heritage of the long history of individualized acupuncture medicine tradition, is one of the holistic and traditional systems of constitution to appraise and categorize individual differences into four major types. This study first reports a genome-wide association study on FCM, to explore the genetic basis of FCM and facilitate the integration of FCM with conventional individual differences research. Healthy individuals of the Korean population were classified into the four constitutional types (FCTs). A total of 353,202 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were typed using whole genome amplified samples, and six-way comparison of FCM types provided lists of significantly differential SNPs. In one-to-one FCT comparisons, 15,944 SNPs were significantly differential, and 5 SNPs were commonly significant in all of the three comparisons. In one-to-two FCT comparisons, 22,616 SNPs were significantly differential, and 20 SNPs were commonly significant in all of the three comparison groups. This study presents the association between genome-wide SNP profiles and the categorization of the FCM, and it could further provide a starting point of genome-based identification and research of the constitutions of FCM.

  5. Promoter Engineering Reveals the Importance of Heptameric Direct Repeats for DNA Binding by Streptomyces Antibiotic Regulatory Protein-Large ATP-Binding Regulator of the LuxR Family (SARP-LAL) Regulators in Streptomyces natalensis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barreales, Eva G; Vicente, Cláudia M; de Pedro, Antonio; Santos-Aberturas, Javier; Aparicio, Jesús F

    2018-05-15

    The biosynthesis of small-size polyene macrolides is ultimately controlled by a couple of transcriptional regulators that act in a hierarchical way. A Streptomyces antibiotic regulatory protein-large ATP-binding regulator of the LuxR family (SARP-LAL) regulator binds the promoter of a PAS-LuxR regulator-encoding gene and activates its transcription, and in turn, the gene product of the latter activates transcription from various promoters of the polyene gene cluster directly. The primary operator of PimR, the archetype of SARP-LAL regulators, contains three heptameric direct repeats separated by four-nucleotide spacers, but the regulator can also bind a secondary operator with only two direct repeats separated by a 3-nucleotide spacer, both located in the promoter region of its unique target gene, pimM A similar arrangement of operators has been identified for PimR counterparts encoded by gene clusters for different antifungal secondary metabolites, including not only polyene macrolides but peptidyl nucleosides, phoslactomycins, or cycloheximide. Here, we used promoter engineering and quantitative transcriptional analyses to determine the contributions of the different heptameric repeats to transcriptional activation and final polyene production. Optimized promoters have thus been developed. Deletion studies and electrophoretic mobility assays were used for the definition of DNA-binding boxes formed by 22-nucleotide sequences comprising two conserved heptameric direct repeats separated by four-nucleotide less conserved spacers. The cooperative binding of PimR SARP appears to be the mechanism involved in the binding of regulator monomers to operators, and at least two protein monomers are required for efficient binding. IMPORTANCE Here, we have shown that a modulation of the production of the antifungal pimaricin in Streptomyces natalensis can be accomplished via promoter engineering of the PAS-LuxR transcriptional activator pimM The expression of this gene is

  6. A Mathematical Approach to Establishing Constitutive Models for Geomaterials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guang-hua Yang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The mathematical foundation of the traditional elastoplastic constitutive theory for geomaterials is presented from the mathematical point of view, that is, the expression of stress-strain relationship in principal stress/strain space being transformed to the expression in six-dimensional space. A new framework is then established according to the mathematical theory of vectors and tensors, which is applicable to establishing elastoplastic models both in strain space and in stress space. Traditional constitutive theories can be considered as its special cases. The framework also enables modification of traditional constitutive models.

  7. Health promotion in Family Health Strategy: the perception of the nursing staff Crato - CE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle Lopes de Alencar

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the perception of the nursing staff of the Family Health Strategy (FHS on health promotion. Methods: This was a qualitative and descriptive study, which occurred in nine FHS of the city of Crato-CE in the period October-December 2010. The subjects were nine nurses and eight of the nursing technicians with service time of three to eight years at FHS investigated. Randomly chosen and electing the criterion of saturation data, we used semi-structured interview, which was recorded. During data analysis, we opted for collective subject discourse (CSD, which emerged the central ideas that enabled the formation of CSD for each professional category. The subjects were informed about the research objectives by submitting the Term of Consent, which was signed by all. The project was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Rural University of Cariri (RUCA, with approval No. 21/2010. Results: It was observed that the conceptual and practical vision on health promotion approaches the concept of prevention, however, nurses recognize health more broadly, in the context of the social construction of individual, differing from the CSD of the nursing technicians. The actions taken in the field of health promotion are still delimited by lectures. Conclusion: Perceptions of professionals are constituted by a weakness related to CSD and the actions performed by them, constituting an obstacle to the consolidation of a new model of care that has as central to health promotion.

  8. The Constitutionality of School Choice in New Hampshire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Douglas, Charles G., III; Komer, Richard D.

    2004-01-01

    Does a "school choice" program, under which state funds are disbursed on a neutral basis to parents in the form of a voucher to defray the cost of sending their children to a school of their choice, run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or of the New Hampshire Constitution? No. A…

  9. Enacting and Re-Enacting the Constitution of Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brønnum, Louise; Clausen, Christian

    2015-01-01

    Many companies find it difficult to enable radical innovation within the organization and its structure. The problem is described by many and tried solved by proposing of new development tools and processes or applying a different organizational structure and culture. This paper presents a case...... study that will show how there in a development company exits a constitution of development. This constitution of development is perceived as a set of development rules and guidelines that are implicitly enacted by the employees and for certain development opportunities. Through the case study we...... will present different strategies for re-enactment of the constitution of development that frame for alternative development spaces with perceived different rules, and therefor make space for the development of a more radical nature....

  10. Сontemporary forms of protection of the constitution: comparative legal aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Д. П. Таран

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Systematic analysis of protection forms of the constitution allows to identify legal tools that can be applied in order to prevent encroachments on the constitutional values or in the commission of such an offense or to identify the real threat. Up to now there is no a single approach to understanding of protection of the constitution, its relationship with the protection, system of its forms and so on. There remain unclear regularities that have their influence on different protection forms of the constitution in foreign countries as well as the consistency and adequacy of the use of such forms in Ukraine. Recent research and publications analysis. Scientists name various forms of protection of the constitution. Approaches of scientists that give their lists differ very much. Hence there is no necessity in talking about some constant regarding this matter. Some aspects of the issue that is related to the system of protection forms of the constitution found their reflection in the works of local and foreign scientists such as Y.G. Barabash, M.V. Vitruk, I.V. Koreyba, K.O. Pavshuk, P.B. Stetsyuk, K. Hesse, T. Y. Habriyeva, V.E. Chyrkin and others. Paper objective. The objectives of the paper are: clarification of the nature of the protection of the constitution and what means or what forms and what subjects it should be implemented by; the comparison of the experience of foreign countries regarding the issue and determination of the reasons for which different countries use different protection forms of the constitutions; expression of suggestions regarding legislation improvement in regards to specific protection forms of the Constitution of Ukraine. Paper main body. Countries with established democracy traditionally use a smaller set of protection forms of the constitution and the concept of "protection of the constitution" itself is almost not applied. The opposite approach is inherent to countries emerging from totalitarian and authoritarian

  11. [Taxing unhealthy foods. A measure to promote public health in Germany?].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehnert, T; Riedel-Heller, S; König, H-H

    2013-04-01

    Due to the substantial health burden and costs caused by malnutrition in Germany, for instance as a result of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, the taxation of unhealthy foods/nutrients has been proposed as a possible health promoting measure. In order to evaluate whether such a fiscal intervention constitutes an effective and suitable measure to promote population health in Germany, the article outlines central empirical findings regarding malnutrition in Germany. Subsequently, the economic background (price elasticity of demand) is explained, and empirical evidence on the influence of changes in price on changes in consumption and health is presented. As a result of findings from the international literature being heterogeneous, and because very little research has been conducted in Germany on this matter until now, the taxation/subsidization of foods in order to promote population health is difficult to justify at this point.

  12. The dime nsion of constitutional protection and the guarantee of citizen rights and freedoms-A comparative view of the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo with the Constitutions of neighbouring countries: Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kadri Kryeziu

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available In different historic periods of time and in various political regimes, people felt free and enjoyed their rights in different ways, but very little was said about individual freedoms, as it was said more about collective freedoms. The term freedom is an antique, historic term. The corpus of human rights and fundamental freedoms has been studied since the ancient times, including middle ages until modern times of human civilization. However, the origin for protection of these rights and freedoms was sanctioned in the constitutional aspect in Magna Charta issued on 15-th of June 1215, which comprises the milestone in the history of constitutional regimes on human rights and freedoms. The protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms is admitted by everyone. That is embedded in written constitutions worldwide, as well as in the United Nations Charter, final act of the Conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSBE known as Helsinki Act. The majority of democratic constitutions adopted after the Second World War, and the latest constitutions of the countries of Southeastern Europe, give an important place to the evidencing and guaranteeing of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

  13. Duality of Health Promotion and Sustainable Development

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Kirsten Bransholm; Land, Birgit; Kjærgård, Bente

    2015-01-01

    reduction and how these strategies affect the prospects for promoting health and sustainable food production and consumption. Danish food waste reduction strategies are used as examples with references to selected policy documents on food waste reduction strategies launched by international organisations...... sustainability and, vice versa, sustainability conditions health. Thus, to avoid unintended, negative effects the strategies directed towards sustainable development must be correlated with strategies for health promotion. The conceptual model is used to take a closer look at the complexities of food waste...... of food as food waste is reduced. The lack of attention given to reducing the oversupply of food calls for governance initiatives directed towards reducing the overproduction of primary food produce in order to reap the environmental benefits and the health promotion benefits of reducing food waste...

  14. Europe-building through private law : Lessons from constitutional theory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mak, C.

    2012-01-01

    Questioning the link between private law and the nation-state that is implied by nationalist perceptions of the law, this paper seeks to find support for a transnational (Europeanist,constitutional-patriotist or cosmopolitan) view on private law in constitutional theory. Normative theories of

  15. Program of complex rehabilitation of pregnant with alimentary-constitutional obesity in the third trimester.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kovalenko T.N.

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available In the article is presented the complex rehabilitation program for pregnant with alimentary-constitutional obesity in the third trimester. The program is directed on the decline of bodyweight, with the purpose of increase of scray-protective reactions of organism of pregnant and to the decline of obstetric traumatism in births. In an experiment took part 90 pregnant of the third trimester with obesity of I-III degree, middle genesial age. The developed and inculcated program foresaw the use of physical, psychological and medical rehabilitation.

  16. Values-Based Self-Reflective Action Research for Promoting Gender Equality: Some Unexpected Lessons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wood, Lesley

    2014-01-01

    The idea of using values as a means of guiding our research decisions and judging the validity of our claims of knowledge is well established in literature on the self-reflective genre of action research. Values in action research should always result in virtuous behaviour--to promote the general social good. However, ideas of what constitutes the…

  17. The Theory of EU Constitutional Pluralism: A Crisis in a Crisis?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierdominici Leonardo

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The paper deals with the validity of constitutional pluralism as a constitutional theory for the European Union and a paradigm for the understanding of EU law in the current times of crisis. It reconstructs the way in which constitutional pluralism came to the fore, the different ways in which the theory was presented, and considers historical criticism it has faced. It then looks at the anomalies that, allegedly, cannot be explained today by constitutional pluralism as a paradigm, linked to the current economic and political crises in the Union. The reconstruction of the debate is complemented with reflections on both the descriptive and normative validity of EU constitutional pluralism’s claims.

  18. [Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Jongmans, M.C.J.; Gidding, C.E.M.; Loeffen, J.; Wesseling, P.; Mensenkamp, A.; Hoogerbrugge, N.

    2015-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency (CMMR-D) syndrome is characterised by a significantly increased risk for developing cancer in childhood. It arises when both parents have a mutation in the same mismatch repair gene and pass it on to their child. CASE DESCRIPTION: An 8-year-old

  19. European Crises of Legally-constituted Public Power

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kjær, Poul F.

    2017-01-01

    . The dual (trans-)national re-constitution of Western Europe in the years immediately after the Second World War, which the European integration process was an integrated part of, successfully remedied this development. However, over the last decades, Europe has experienced a ‘turn to governance’, which......The ‘turn to corporatism’ in the interwar period implied an erosion of the fragile institutionalisation of legally-constituted public power due to its suspension of the legal infrastructure of society and the concomitant breakdown of the distinction between the public and private realms of society...

  20. The Constitutive Power of Twitter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Albu, Oana Brindusa; Etter, Michael Andreas

    Twitter is an increasingly used new information and communication technology (ICT) in organizational settings. Predominant research, however, tends to adopt functionalist standpoints and investigates new ICTs as platforms of information transmission through which organizations interact with their......Twitter is an increasingly used new information and communication technology (ICT) in organizational settings. Predominant research, however, tends to adopt functionalist standpoints and investigates new ICTs as platforms of information transmission through which organizations interact...... with their constituents. Such focus leaves little knowledge concerning the tensions new ICTs bring to organizational life. For a more nuanced understanding of the constitutive role of new ICTs in organizing, this paper unfolds a communication centered perspective and examines the strategic Twitter use in two...... organizations. The analysis illustrates how specific Twitter interactions, i.e., hashtags, become hypertexts—a type of authoritative texts—which simultaneously constitute an organizational actor or act as a pastiche of it. The study contributes to extant research by illustrating how hypertextuality...

  1. Essence and constitution in Zubiri

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alfonso Gómez Fernández

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to expound Zubiri’s concept of essence and to begin a critical discussion and evaluation of his proposal. Before explaining what essence is, it is necessary to observe that, for our author, not all things have an essence: only «reality-things» but not «meaning-things» form part of the «essentiable domain». This distinction between «reality-things» and «meaning-things» supposes a new conception of nature. (Nature is not the opposite of the artificial, as the Greek term physis is.«Reality-things» form a constitutional and «closed» system of non-causal and non-«external» characteristics or traits. These «foundational characteristics» of constitution, then, are precisely the essence. The article discusses critically the assumptions of this doctrine (reality, ontological pluralism, foundation and its possible limits in the light of contemporary science. It can be a useful theory for the philosophy of language.

  2. Global Survey of National Constitutions : Mapping Constitutional Commitments to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Berro Pizzarossa, Lucia; Perehudoff, Katrina

    2017-01-01

    General Comment No. 22, issued in 2016 by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), clarifies states' legal duties to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Our study analyzes domestic constitutions around the world to investigate

  3. Constitutional Justice Procedure in Lithuania: a Search for Optimal Model

    OpenAIRE

    Pūraitė-Andrikienė, Dovilė

    2017-01-01

    The dissertation systematically analyzes the preconditions for optimising the existing constitutional justice model, i.e. whether the current model meets the expectations of Lithuanian society and the legal community, corresponds to the capabilities of the legal system, and is in line with the tendencies of constitutional justice in European states, identifies the problematic aspects of the existing constitutional justice model and brings forward proposals regarding how the legal regulation c...

  4. Why it's time to recognise Indigenous peoples in the Constitution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, George

    2015-06-01

    This article provides an overview of why it is proposed that the Australian Constitution be changed to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It then establishes what changes are needed to the Constitution. The Australian Constitution fails to recognise Indigenous peoples, and still enables discrimination against them. This provides a sound case for changing the document. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2015.

  5. Legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine: main signs and definition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romana Reva

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available The practice of a single body of constitutional jurisdiction indicates on the necessity of a certain number of amendments to the current Law of Ukraine “On the Constitutional Court of Ukraine”. It is impossible to achieve the quality regulation of these issues without a thorough scientific analysis of basic features of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to analyze the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and scientific views on their signs, to identify and describe the main features of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. There are the conclusions made that an important step in any legal position research is the establishment of the legal nature. The article discusses different scientific views on the basic features of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. On the basis of the analysis of acts of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine and scientific works, there are defined, in particular, the following main features of the legal positions of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine: they are the result of interpretation and represent the most generalized, concentrated expression of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine understanding of the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, laws and/ or other regulations, which are carried out within the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine; they are the basis for the final decision, which is set in the act of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine; they appear in the reasoning and/ or the operative parts of the decisions and conclusions and some rulings; they have a special legal force; they are obligatory, that are binding throughout the territory of Ukraine for all public authorities, local governments, enterprises, institutions and organizations, officials, citizens and their associations; suitable for further repeated use in solving similar cases; as opposed to the decisions of

  6. Constitutional reform processes and political parties : principles for practice

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Vliet, van M.; Wahiu, W.; Magolowondo, A.

    2012-01-01

    This publication provides a set of guiding principles for constitutional reform on the basis of practical experiences of constitutional reform processes in selected countries: Bolivia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The focus is on the role of political parties in

  7. The constitutional systems of those countries having no constitutions (reflexions made upon the state, society and political culture of those countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Óscar Mago Bendahán

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Traditionally, the idea of a Constitution has been associated with the separation of powers and the guarantee of the rights, duties and the freedom of the citizens within the area of a state. However, reality permits us to confirm that the mea- ning of «Constitution» does not always mean that it is synonymous of a unique text. On the other hand, where it exists it does not always absolutely reflect the political and social reality of the country in question. The diversity of circumstances and situations allows us to detect a number of suppositions about those countries without constitutions, either because historically they have not found it necessary due to the dynamics of the state which does not con- sider it necessary to have one. Thus, inevitably springs the intellectual necessity of imagining a new concept of a Constitucional Law that would extend beyond the strict schemes of the positivists’ minds. As a result, the labor to be done would be a product of that common concern which would become a starting point of future researchs for the authors. Key words: State, Constitution, Citizenship, Interpretation of Law, Education. 

  8. The enrichment of TATA box and the scarcity of depleted proximal nucleosome in the promoters of duplicated yeast genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yuseob; Lee, Jang H; Babbitt, Gregory A

    2010-01-01

    Population genetic theory of gene duplication suggests that the preservation of duplicate copies requires functional divergence upon duplication. Genes that can be readily modified to produce new gene expression patterns may thus be duplicated often. In yeast, genes exhibit dichotomous expression patterns based on their promoter architectures. The expression of genes that contain TATA box or occupied proximal nucleosome (OPN) tends to be variable and respond to external signals. On the other hand, genes without TATA box or with depleted proximal nucleosome (DPN) are expressed constitutively. We find that recent duplicates in the yeast genome are heavily biased to be TATA box containing genes and not to be DPN genes. This suggests that variably expressed genes, due to the functional organization in their promoters, have higher duplicability than constitutively expressed genes.

  9. Constitutional Provisions And Administrative Disciplinary Powers ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Constitutional Provisions And Administrative Disciplinary Powers: The Medical ... and Dental Practitioners Act. This process of administrative adjudication is ... the rights guaranteed to the professionals when they appear before the Tribunal.

  10. FINALITY OF INDONESIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECISION IN REGARD TO JUDICIAL REVIEW

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suwarno Abadi

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available This article examines the constitutional status of Constitutional Court’s decisions constitutionally guaranteed as final. This status very critical because it could lead Constitutional Court to the judicial supremacy position. This article argues against this possibility. The status of Constitutional Court’s decisions should be critized on the basis that its finality is prima facie, not absolute. As a solution, this article takes a position called departmentalism which means that court and legislature are not supreme in their authority to interpret the constitution. Artikel ini membahas tentang status konstitusional putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi yang dijamin konstitusi bersifat final. Status tersebut sangat kritikal karena dapat mengarahkan Mahkamah Konstitusi ke posisi supremasi yudisial. Artikel ini berargumen tidak setuju atas kemungkinan tersebut. Oleh karena itu, status putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi perlu dikritisi dengan dasar bahwa finalitasnya tersebut bersifat “prima facie”, tidak absolut. Sebagai solusinya, artikel ini mengambil posisi departementalisme yang memiliki pengertian bahwa pengadilan dan legislator tidak memiliki supremasi atas kewenangan untuk melakukan interpretasi konstitusi.

  11. Constitutional Principles of State Control in the Republic of Armenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriel K. Balayan

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available In the present article some of the provision of the RA Constitution’s basic principles of state control, which, in my opinion, should be guided by regulatory authorities during the inspection are discussed. These principles are considered by the author as the basis of the constitutionality of state control. Some of the control principles are divided by the author into positive and negative. Positive defines the principles that provide the freedom of action of man and citizen. Negative same principles are for government agencies, since they restrict their activities. A separate analysis is subject to the presidency on the basis of the principle of separation and balance of powers. In conclusion, author concludes that, based on the interpretation of the constitutional principles discussed, the term "law" applies only to natural and legal persons on the other hand can not be used as an analogue of the terms "authority" and "authority." According to the author, the fundamental constitutional principles of state control are expressed formally in a single system as defined in the first chapter of the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia. Compliance and reform of constitutional principles provide the synergy and the constitutionality of the process of governance.

  12. A Nano-indentation Identification Technique for Viscoelastic Constitutive Characteristics of Periodontal Ligaments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashrafi H.

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Nano-indentation has recently been employed as a powerful tool for determining the mechanical properties of biological tissues on nano and micro scales. A majority of soft biological tissues such as ligaments and tendons exhibit viscoelastic or time-dependent behaviors. The constitutive characterization of soft tissues is among very important subjects in clinical medicine and especially, biomechanics fields. Periodontal ligament plays an important role in initiating tooth movement when loads are applied to teeth with orthodontic appliances. It is also the most accessible ligament in human body as it can be directly manipulated without any surgical intervention. From a mechanical point of view, this ligament can be considered as a thin interface made by a solid phase, consisting mainly of collagen fibers, which is immersed into a so-called ground substance. However, the viscoelastic constitutive effects of biological tissues are seldom considered rigorous during Nano-indentation tests. Methods: In the present paper, a mathematical contact approach is developed to enable determining creep compliance and relaxation modulus of distinct periodontal ligaments, using constant–rate indentation and loading time histories, respectively. An adequate curve-fitting method is presented to determine these characteristics based on the Nano-indentation of rigid Berkovich tips. Generalized Voigt-Kelvin and Wiechert models are used to model constitutive equations of periodontal ligaments, in which the relaxation and creep functions are represented by series of decaying exponential functions of time. Results: Time-dependent creep compliance and relaxation function have been obtained for tissue specimens of periodontal ligaments. Conclusion: To improve accuracy, relaxation and creep moduli are measured from two tests separately. Stress relaxation effects appear more rapidly than creep in the periodontal ligaments.

  13. A novel process for textured thick film YBa2Cu3Oy coated conductors based on a constitutional gradients principle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reddy, E Sudhakar; Tarka, M; Noudem, J G; Goodilin, E A; Schmitz, G J

    2005-01-01

    A new method for the processing of textured YBa 2 Cu 3 O y (Y 123) thick film stripes on metallic tapes is discussed. The process involves the texturing of Y123 grains by a localized directional solidification method by creating constitutional gradients along the width of the precursor Y 2 BaCuO 5 (Y 211) stripe during an infiltration and growth process. The differences in the solidification temperatures of different rare earth 123 compounds were utilized to generate the constitutional gradients. The sample configuration involves printed lines of light (Nd) and heavy (Yb) rare earth compounds on either side of an airbrushed Y211 stripe underneath a liquid phase (barium cuprates) layer. The higher peritectic temperature (T p ) Nd regions serve as nucleating sites for Y123 grains nucleated in the adjacent Y211 stripes and the constitutional gradients produced due to the diffusion of respective rare earth ions between the Nd and Yb regions, typically of 200 K cm -1 in the region, induce a driving force for the directional growth of the nucleated grains. The solidification is analogous to that in a typical Bridgman furnace in applied high temperature gradients. The process, being independent of growth rate parameter and texture of the underlying substrate, is suitable for the fabrication of long length thick film conductors by a wind and react process in simple box type furnaces

  14. The Iranian Old Regime against the New Constitutional Order:The Case of Fourth Elections in Zanjân

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tooran Toolabi

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Iranian Constitutional movement led to the formation of a new and unprecedented political order. The National Consultative Assembly was the main and most visible result of this fundamental change. However, from a historical point of view it was a turning point in political culture of Iranian people and requires special attention. This paper, based mostly on documentary sources, attempts to shed lights on a less studied aspect of this subject. Its main focus is on the political behavior of a certain Jahanshâh Amir Afshâr, the then governor of Zanjân and a member of the traditional political elite. Posing the question on its historical context, it tries to show that how and to what extent, a local governor could make challenges to divert the direction of elections to maintain his pre-constitutional privileges. The results show that despite overseeing the process by Dehkhodâ, an exceptionally staunch constitutionalist, Amir Afshar succeed to hold his privileges under new conditions and this, by its turn, eclipsed the constitutional nature of New Order.

  15. Constitutional developments in Latin American abortion law.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergallo, Paola; Ramón Michel, Agustina

    2016-11-01

    For most of the 20th Century, restrictive abortion laws were in place in continental Latin America. In recent years, reforms have caused a liberalizing shift, supported by constitutional decisions of the countries' high courts. The present article offers an overview of the turn toward more liberal rules and the resolution of abortion disputes by reference to national constitutions. For such purpose, the main legal changes of abortion laws in the last decade are first surveyed. Landmark decisions of the high courts of Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Mexico are then analyzed. It is shown that courts have accepted the need to balance interests and competing rights to ground less restrictive laws. In doing so, they have articulated limits to protection of fetal interests, and basic ideas of women's dignity, autonomy, and equality. The process of constitutionalization has only just begun. Constitutional judgments are not the last word, but they are important contributions in reinforcing the legality of abortion. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A constitutive law for degrading bioresorbable polymers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Samami, Hassan; Pan, Jingzhe

    2016-06-01

    This paper presents a constitutive law that predicts the changes in elastic moduli, Poisson's ratio and ultimate tensile strength of bioresorbable polymers due to biodegradation. During biodegradation, long polymer chains are cleaved by hydrolysis reaction. For semi-crystalline polymers, the chain scissions also lead to crystallisation. Treating each scission as a cavity and each new crystal as a solid inclusion, a degrading semi-crystalline polymer can be modelled as a continuum solid containing randomly distributed cavities and crystal inclusions. The effective elastic properties of a degrading polymer are calculated using existing theories for such solid and the tensile strength of the degrading polymer is predicted using scaling relations that were developed for porous materials. The theoretical model for elastic properties and the scaling law for strength form a complete constitutive relation for the degrading polymers. It is shown that the constitutive law can capture the trend of the experimental data in the literature for a range of biodegradable polymers fairly well. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Classifying Body Constitution Based on Face Image.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huan, Er-Yang; Wen, Gui-Hua; Zhang, Shi-Jun; Li, Dan-Yang; Hu, Yang; Chang, Tian-Yuan; Wang, Qing; Huang, Bing-Lin

    2017-01-01

    Body constitution classification is the basis and core content of traditional Chinese medicine constitution research. It is to extract the relevant laws from the complex constitution phenomenon and finally build the constitution classification system. Traditional identification methods have the disadvantages of inefficiency and low accuracy, for instance, questionnaires. This paper proposed a body constitution recognition algorithm based on deep convolutional neural network, which can classify individual constitution types according to face images. The proposed model first uses the convolutional neural network to extract the features of face image and then combines the extracted features with the color features. Finally, the fusion features are input to the Softmax classifier to get the classification result. Different comparison experiments show that the algorithm proposed in this paper can achieve the accuracy of 65.29% about the constitution classification. And its performance was accepted by Chinese medicine practitioners.

  18. Analysis of the flexible support mechanisms in the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. Final report 8th January 2010

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ruokonen, J.; Sinnemaa, M.A.; Magnusson, R.; Gautesen, K.; Seppaenen, S.; Opsal, O.

    2010-07-01

    The Nordic countries have a long history in co-operation and a common electricity market. The long-term objective of Nordic countries is to promote an efficient, competitive, secure and sustainable energy supply. The EU countries have set a binding target to increase the share of renewable energy to 20% by 2020. The European Parliament approved a legislative resolution on December 17th 2008 on the proposal for a Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable source ('The Directive'). This Directive become part of the European Community legislation in 2009. The Directive sets national targets for renewable energy, but it also provides various flexibility mechanisms that enable co-operation between countries in reaching the national targets. It is however still not clear how these flexible mechanisms should be used, nor the consequences on the electricity market and renewable energy sources. The objective of this project is to evaluate the usefulness and consequences of utilising the Flexible Mechanisms described in the Articles 6-11 ('Flex-Mex') of the Directive in Nordic Countries. Moreover, the objective is to provide basis for conclusions and political recommendations on whether and how to cooperate and move forward in this area. In addition to basic principles of the flexible mechanisms, the project concentrates on analysing the arrangements needed between the Nordic Countries to utilise the flexible mechanisms and analysis of benefits and problems of using Mechanisms. The report is divided five sections. Chapter 2 introduced the RES directive and Flexible Mechanisms. In chapter 3, lesson learnt from other markets are used as starting point in drawing possible frameworks for Nordic countries. Chapter 4 summarizes presents outcome of various co-operation scenarios and their benefits. In Chapter 5 some selected topics are discussed from RES Flex-Mex point of view. Chapter 6 provides conclusions and recommendations. (Author)

  19. Modeling of rock friction 1. Experimental results and constitutive equations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dieterich, J.H.

    1979-01-01

    Direct shear experiments on ground surfaces of a granodiorite from Raymond, California, at normal stresses of approx.6 MPa demonstrate that competing time, displacement, and velocity, effects control rock friction. It is proposed that the strength of the population of points of contacts between sliding surfaces determines frictional strength and that the population of contacts changes continuously with displacements. Previous experiments demonstrate that the strength of the contacts increases with the age of the contacts. The present experiments establish that a characteristic displacement, proportional to surface roughness, is required to change the population of contacts. Hence during slip the average age of the points of contact and therefore frictional strength decrease as slip velocity increases. Displacement weakening and consequently the potential for unstable slip occur whenever displacement reduces the average age of the contacts. In addition to this velocity dependency, which arises from displacement dependency and time dependency, the experiments also show a competing but transient increase in friction whenever slip velocity increases. Creep of the sliding surface at stresses below that for steady state slip also observed. Constitutive relationships are developed that permit quantitative simulation of the friction versus displacement data as a function of surface roughness and for different time and velocity histories. Unstable slip in experiments is controlled by these constitutive effects and by the stiffness of the experimental system. It is argued that analogous properties control earthquake instability

  20. Triclocarban mediates induction of xenobiotic metabolism through activation of the constitutive androstane receptor and the estrogen receptor alpha.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mei-Fei Yueh

    Full Text Available Triclocarban (3,4,4'-trichlorocarbanilide, TCC is used as a broad-based antimicrobial agent that is commonly added to personal hygiene products. Because of its extensive use in the health care industry and resistance to degradation in sewage treatment processes, TCC has become a significant waste product that is found in numerous environmental compartments where humans and wildlife can be exposed. While TCC has been linked to a range of health and environmental effects, few studies have been conducted linking exposure to TCC and induction of xenobiotic metabolism through regulation by environmental sensors such as the nuclear xenobiotic receptors (XenoRs. To identify the ability of TCC to activate xenobiotic sensors, we monitored XenoR activities in response to TCC treatment using luciferase-based reporter assays. Among the XenoRs in the reporter screening assay, TCC promotes both constitutive androstane receptor (CAR and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα activities. TCC treatment to hUGT1 mice resulted in induction of the UGT1A genes in liver. This induction was dependent upon the constitutive active/androstane receptor (CAR because no induction occurred in hUGT1Car(-/- mice. Induction of the UGT1A genes by TCC corresponded with induction of Cyp2b10, another CAR target gene. TCC was demonstrated to be a phenobarbital-like activator of CAR in receptor-based assays. While it has been suggested that TCC be classified as an endocrine disruptor, it activates ERα leading to induction of Cyp1b1 in female ovaries as well as in promoter activity. Activation of ERα by TCC in receptor-based assays also promotes induction of human CYP2B6. These observations demonstrate that TCC activates nuclear xenobiotic receptors CAR and ERα both in vivo and in vitro and might have the potential to alter normal physiological homeostasis. Activation of these xenobiotic-sensing receptors amplifies gene expression profiles that might represent a mechanistic base for

  1. The limits of authority of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the procedure for the assessment of compliance of laws with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simović Miodrag N.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the pillars of rule of law and legal security as well as guarantee for preservation and development of democratic order in the constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is not legislative, neither executive nor classical court authority, but a special kind of sui generis authority, acting as corrective factor for all three authority branches. In such a situation, the relationship between the Constitutional Court and legislative authority has a special significance, having in mind that legislative authority regulates, primarily through the law, legal order and, thereby, also defines social and political system of one state and that, on the other side, the Constitutional Court ensures that those laws are in accordance with the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that, if it finds such a law has gone out of the framework of the Constitution, it may intervene by declaring the whole law or parts of it unconstitutional and put them out of force. Does the Constitutional Court in such a situation takes the role of legislator and what kind of legislator? What if the legislative authority does not comply with the decision of the Constitutional Court? Should Constitutional Court take the role of positive legislator? It is less problematic activity of the Constitutional Court as negative legislator in theory and practice. In such legal situation, the Constitutional Court in its decision finds unconstitutionality of a law provision (or the whole law and eliminates it from legal system generally after expiration of certain period of time when such provisions cease to be valid and the legislator replaces unconstitutional provisions with new ones within set time limit. However, we have a much more problematic situation when the Constitutional Court acts as positive legislation, i.e. when it makes a decision declaring validity of certain provisions of the law or instructing the

  2. VICE PRESIDENT TASKS AND AUTHORITIES IN THE CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA UNDER 1945 CONSTITUTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Melan Yusuf Nomleni

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The amendment of Constitution has not met the the life of the nation’s demand, one of which is the  of the tasks and authorities of the Vice President. This sparks multiple interpretations on the role and its legal implications toward the responsibility over the Vice President tasks and. The results show several reasons underlying obscurity of the tasks and authorities regulation of the Indonesian Vice President stated in 1945 Constitution, among which is the Indonesian governance. The obscure regulation of the Vice President tasks and authorities affects on his/her responsibility. Hence, the clear regulation related to the tasks and authorities of the Vice President as President Assistant in performing state governance is required. Keywords : Regulation, Vice President, Authorities

  3. A PLEADING IN FAVOUR OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina BĂRBĂŢEANU

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Most of the European countries have chosen the centralized system of constitutional review, performed by a unique authority empowered with the competence of removing from the normative ensemble those legal provisions that do not comply with the principles and rules comprised in the Basic Law. This „European model” has proved to be more appropriate than the so-called „American model” in what concerns the compatibility with the European jurisdictional mechanism. Romania has adopted the same European trend and the Constitutional Court has become a very important actor in the Romanian legal landscape. From the very beginning of its activity, it has influenced in a great measure the national normative system. It has been sometimes criticized and accused that it interferes in an excessive way in the legislative process. Due to its competence to regulate the juridical conflicts between the public authorities and its possibility to repeal laws before their promulgation, it has been many times in the centre of heavy attacks, mostly from different political forces, often driven through mass media. Nevertheless, despite of its detractors, the Constitutional Court has proven, over the years, its ability to develop the Romanian normative system. The present paper intends to display the most significant contribution of the Romanian Constitutional Court in improving various legal regulations. In the same time and much more important, using concrete examples from the Court’s case-law, the paper also intends to demonstrate that the Constitutional Court of Romania has been a major factor of improving peoples’ life, removing unconstitutional obstacles set in front of the unimpeded exercise of their fundamental rights and freedoms.

  4. 3 CFR 8418 - Proclamation 8418 of September 16, 2009. Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, Constitution Week...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... as “Constitution Week.” NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America... beacon of hope for Americans and those who seek new lives in the United States. Every day, we welcome new....BARACK OBAMA ...

  5. Association between iris constitution and apolipoprotein e gene polymorphism in hypertensives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Um, Jae-Young; Hwang, Chung-Yeon; Hwang, Woo-Jun; Kang, Sung-Do; Do, Keum-Rok; Cho, Ju-Jang; Cho, Jae-Woon; Kim, Sung-Hoon; Shin, Tae-Yong; Kim, Yun-Kyung; Kim, Hyung-Min; Hong, Seung-Heon

    2004-12-01

    Iridology is a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that involves the diagnosis of medical conditions by noting irregularities of the pigmentation in the iris. Iris constitution has a strong familial aggregation and heredity is implicated. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene polymorphism is one of the most well-studied genetic markers for vascular diseases, including hypertension. In this study, we investigated the relationship between iris constitution and apoE polymorphism in hypertensives. We classified 87 hypertensives and 79 controls according to iris constitution and determined the apoE genotype of each individual. A significantly higher percentage of individuals with neurogenic constitutions was found in the hypertensive group when compared with the control group (chi(2) = 40.244, p < 0.001). In addition, a neurogenic constitution increased the relative risk for hypertension for subjects with an apo epsilon2 or an epsilon4 allele (chi(2) = 4.086, p = 0.049, odds ratio = 2.633, confidence interval = 1.004-6.905). Our results imply that a neurogenic iris constitution enhances the relative risk for hypertension in subjects with the apo epsilon2 or epsilon4 allele. Furthermore, we attempted to evaluate the efficacy of iris constitutional medicine and to find an association with hypertension.

  6. The Application of Section 8(3) of the Constitution in the ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The constitutional recognition of customary law alongside common law in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 is highly commendable. It also raises the question of whether or not the recognition was undertaken out of genuine respect for customary law or merely forgotten in section 8(3) of the Constitution.

  7. The Theory of Global Governance, Constitutionalization and Comparative Constitutional Law

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Blahož, Josef

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 3, č. 3 (2013), s. 195-207 ISSN 1805-8396 Institutional support: RVO:68378122 Keywords : globalization of political culture * global constitutionalism * comparative constitutional law Subject RIV: AG - Legal Sciences

  8. Traditional Chinese Medicine and Constitutional Medicine in China, Japan and Korea: A Comparative Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Wenjun; Ma, Mingyue; Chen, Xuemei; Min, Jiayu; Li, Lingru; Zheng, Yanfei; Li, Yingshuai; Wang, Ji; Wang, Qi

    2017-01-01

    Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Japanese-Chinese medicine, and Korean Sasang constitutional medicine have common origins. However, the constitutional medicines of China, Japan, and Korea differ because of the influence of geographical culture, social environment, national practices, and other factors. This paper aimed to compare the constitutional medicines of China, Japan, and Korea in terms of theoretical origin, constitutional classification, constitution and pathogenesis, clinical applications and basic studies that were conducted. The constitutional theories of the three countries are all derived from the Canon of Internal Medicine or Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases of Ancient China. However, the three countries have different constitutional classifications and criteria. Medical sciences in the three countries focus on the clinical applications of constitutional theory. They all agree that different pathogenic laws that guide the treatment of diseases govern different constitutions; thus, patients with different constitutions are treated differently. The three countries also differ in terms of drug formulations and medication. Japanese medicine is prescribed only based on constitution. Korean medicine is based on treatment, in which drugs cannot be mixed. TCM synthesize the treatment model of constitution differentiation, disease differentiation and syndrome differentiation with the treatment thought of treating disease according to three categories of etiologic factors, which reflect the constitution as the characteristic of individual precision treatment. In conclusion, constitutional medicines of China, Japan, and Korea have the same theoretical origin, but differ in constitutional classification, clinical application of constitutional theory on the treatment of diseases, drug formulations and medication.

  9. Multistate and phase change selection in constitutional multivalent systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barboiu, Mihail

    2012-01-01

    Molecular architectures and materials can be constitutionally self-sorted in the presence of different biomolecular targets or external physical stimuli or chemical effectors, thus responding to an external selection pressure. The high selectivity and specificity of different bioreceptors or self-correlated internal interactions may be used to describe the complex constitutional behaviors through multistate component selection from a dynamic library. The self-selection may result in the dynamic amplification of self-optimized architectures during the phase change process. The sol-gel resolution of dynamic molecular/supramolecular libraries leads to higher self-organized constitutional hybrid materials, in which organic (supramolecular)/inorganic domains are reversibily connected.

  10. T-bet- and STAT4-dependent IL-33 receptor expression directly promotes antiviral Th1 cell responses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumann, Claudia; Bonilla, Weldy V; Fröhlich, Anja; Helmstetter, Caroline; Peine, Michael; Hegazy, Ahmed N; Pinschewer, Daniel D; Löhning, Max

    2015-03-31

    During infection, the release of damage-associated molecular patterns, so-called "alarmins," orchestrates the immune response. The alarmin IL-33 plays a role in a wide range of pathologies. Upon release, IL-33 signals through its receptor ST2, which reportedly is expressed only on CD4(+) T cells of the Th2 and regulatory subsets. Here we show that Th1 effector cells also express ST2 upon differentiation in vitro and in vivo during lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) infection. The expression of ST2 on Th1 cells was transient, in contrast to constitutive ST2 expression on Th2 cells, and marked highly activated effector cells. ST2 expression on virus-specific Th1 cells depended on the Th1-associated transcription factors T-bet and STAT4. ST2 deficiency resulted in a T-cell-intrinsic impairment of LCMV-specific Th1 effector responses in both mixed bone marrow-chimeric mice and adoptive cell transfer experiments. ST2-deficient virus-specific CD4(+) T cells showed impaired expansion, Th1 effector differentiation, and antiviral cytokine production. Consequently, these cells mediated little virus-induced immunopathology. Thus, IL-33 acts as a critical and direct cofactor to drive antiviral Th1 effector cell activation, with implications for vaccination strategies and immunotherapeutic approaches.

  11. Stohastic Properties of Plasticity Based Constitutive Law for Concrete

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frier, Christian; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    1998-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to obtain a stochastic model for the parameters in a constitutive model for concrete based on associated plasticity theory and with emphasis placed on the pre-failure range. The constitutive model is based on a Drucker Prager yield surface augmented by a Rankine cut-o...

  12. Stochastic Properties of Plasticity Based Constitutive Law for Concrete

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frier, Christian; Sørensen, John Dalsgaard

    The purpose of this paper is to obtain a stochastic model for the parameters in a constitutive model for concrete based on associated plasticity theory and with emphasis placed on the pre-failure range. The constitutive model is based on a Drucker Prager yield surface augmented by a Rankine cut-o...

  13. Legal Pluralism, Sharia Courts and Constitutional Issues in Ethiopia ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    ... identity groups as long as they are in conformity with constitutional and human rights standards. Another option is to adopt a hands-off approach whereby the norms and practices of cultural and/or religious groups are permitted to operate and are not necessarily required to meet constitutional and human rights standards.

  14. Electrical Stimulation of Schwann Cells Promotes Sustained Increases in Neurite Outgrowth

    OpenAIRE

    Koppes, Abigail N.; Nordberg, Andrea L.; Paolillo, Gina M.; Goodsell, Nicole M.; Darwish, Haley A.; Zhang, Linxia; Thompson, Deanna M.

    2013-01-01

    Endogenous electric fields are instructive during embryogenesis by acting to direct cell migration, and postnatally, they can promote axonal growth after injury (McCaig 1991, Al-Majed 2000). However, the mechanisms for these changes are not well understood. Application of an appropriate electrical stimulus may increase the rate and success of nerve repair by directly promoting axonal growth. Previously, DC electrical stimulation at 50 mV/mm (1 mA, 8 h duration) was shown to promote neurite ou...

  15. Development of chimeric gene promoters responsive to hypoxia and ionizing radiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng Aiqing; Yu Jinming

    2004-01-01

    The authors describe two systems that make use of gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy, regulated by radiation or hypoxic-responsive promoters. The use of treatment-, condition- or tumor-specific promoters to control gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy is one such method for targeting gene expression to the tumor. The development of such strategies that achieve tumor targeted expression of genes via selective promoters will enable improved specificity and targeting thereby addressing one of the major limitations of cancer gene therapy

  16. Constitution of traditional chinese medicine and related factors in women of childbearing age

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiao-Yu Jiang

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: This study investigates the constitution of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM among women who want to be pregnant in one year and explores factors related to TCM constitution. Methods: This study was conducted on women who participated in free preconception check-ups provided by the Zhabei District Maternity and Child Care Center in Shanghai, China. The information regarding the female demographic characteristics, physical condition, history of pregnancy and childbearing, diet and behavior, and social psychological factors was collected, and TCM constitution assessment was performed. The Chi-square test, t-test, logistic regression analysis, and multinomial logistic regression analysis were used to explore the related factors of TCM constitution. Results: The participants in this study were aged 28.3 ± 3.0 years. Approximately fifty-five women in this study had Unbalanced Constitution. Logistic regression analysis showed that Shanghai residence, dysmenorrhea, gum bleeding, aversion to vegetables, preference for raw meat, job stress, and economic stress were significantly and negatively associated with Balanced Constitution. Multinomial logistic analysis showed that Shanghai residence was significantly associated with Yang-deficiency, Yin-deficiency, and Stagnant Qi Constitutions; gum bleeding was significantly associated with Yin-deficiency, Stagnant Blood, Stagnant Qi, and Inherited Special Constitutions; aversion to vegetables was significantly associated with Damp-heat Constitution; job stress was significantly associated with Yang-deficiency, Phlegm-dampness, Damp-heat, Stagnant Blood, and Stagnant Qi Constitutions; and economic stress was significantly associated with Yang-deficiency, and Stagnant Qi Constitutions. Conclusion: The application of TCM constitution to preconception care would be beneficial for early identification of potential TCM constitution risks and be beneficial for early intervention (e.g., health

  17. ALS-linked mutant SOD1 proteins promote Aβ aggregates in ALS through direct interaction with Aβ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jang, Ja-Young; Cho, Hyungmin; Park, Hye-Yoon; Rhim, Hyangshuk; Kang, Seongman

    2017-11-04

    Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive degeneration of motor neurons. Aggregation of ALS-linked mutant Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is a hallmark of a subset of familial ALS (fALS). Recently, intracellular amyloid-β (Aβ) is detected in motor neurons of both sporadic and familial ALS. We have previously shown that intracellular Aβ specifically interacts with G93A, an ALS-linked SOD1 mutant. However, little is known about the pathological and biological effect of this interaction in neurons. In this study, we have demonstrated that the Aβ-binding region is exposed on the SOD1 surface through the conformational changes due to misfolding of SOD1. Interestingly, we found that the intracellular aggregation of Aβ is enhanced through the direct interaction of Aβ with the Aβ-binding region exposed to misfolded SOD1. Ultimately, increased Aβ aggregation by this interaction promotes neuronal cell death. Consistent with this result, Aβ aggregates was three-fold higher in the brains of G93A transgenic mice than those of non Tg. Our study provides the first direct evidence that Aβ, an AD-linked factor, is associated to the pathogenesis of ALS and provides molecular clues to understand common aggregation mechanisms in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Furthermore, it will provide new insights into the development of therapeutic approaches for ALS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Enhanced constitutive invasion activity in human nontumorigenic keratinocytes exposed to a low level of barium for a long time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thang, Nguyen D; Yajima, Ichiro; Ohnuma, Shoko; Ohgami, Nobutaka; Kumasaka, Mayuko Y; Ichihara, Gaku; Kato, Masashi

    2015-02-01

    We have recently demonstrated that exposure to barium for a short time (≤4 days) and at a low level (5 µM = 687 µg/L) promotes invasion of human nontumorigenic HaCaT cells, which have characteristics similar to those of normal keratinocytes, suggesting that exposure to barium for a short time enhances malignant characteristics. Here we examined the effect of exposure to low level of barium for a long time, a condition mimicking the exposure to barium through well water, on malignant characteristics of HaCaT keratinocytes. Constitutive invasion activity, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) protein expression and activity, and matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14) protein expression in primary cultured normal human epidermal keratinocytes, HaCaT keratinocytes, and HSC5 and A431 human squamous cell carcinoma cells were augmented following an increase in malignancy grade of the cells. Constitutive invasion activity, FAK phosphorylation, and MMP14 expression levels of HaCaT keratinocytes after treatment with 5 µM barium for 4 months were significantly higher than those of control untreated HaCaT keratinocytes. Taken together, our results suggest that exposure to a low level of barium for a long time enhances constitutive malignant characteristics of HaCaT keratinocytes via regulatory molecules (FAK and MMP14) for invasion. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. MicroRNA-24 promotes 3T3-L1 adipocyte differentiation by directly targeting the MAPK7 signaling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jin, Min, E-mail: min_jin@zju.edu.cn [Division of Reproductive Medicine & Infertility, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 88#, Jiefang Rd., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009 (China); Wu, Yutao; Wang, Jing [School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 288# Yuhangtang Rd, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310003 (China); Chen, Jian; Huang, Yiting; Rao, Jinpeng; Feng, Chun [Division of Reproductive Medicine & Infertility, The Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 88#, Jiefang Rd., Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310009 (China)

    2016-05-20

    Over the past years, MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as a vital role in harmony with gene regulation and maintaining cellular homeostasis. It is well testified that miRNAshave been involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes, including embryogenesis, cell fate decision, and cellular differentiation. Adipogenesis is an organized process of cellular differentiation by which pre-adipocytes differentiate towards mature adipocytes, and it is tightly modulated by a series of transcription factors such as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ) and sterol regulatory-element binding proteins 1 (SREBP1). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the connection between miRNAs and adipogenesis-related transcription factors remain obscure. In this study, we unveiled that miR- 24 was remarkably upregulated during 3T3-L1 adipogenesis. Overexpression of miR-24 significantly promoted 3T3-L1 adipogenesis, as evidenced by its ability to increase the expression of PPAR-γ and SREBP1, lipid droplet formation and triglyceride (TG) accumulation. Furthermore, we found that neither ectopic expression of miR-24nor miR-24 inhibitor affect cell proliferation and cell cycle progression. Finally, we demonstrated that miR-24 plays the modulational role by directly repressing MAPK7, a key number in the MAPK signaling pathway. These data indicate that miR-24 is a novel positive regulator of adipocyte differentiation by targeting MAPK7, which provides new insights into the molecular mechanism of miRNA-mediated cellular differentiation. -- Highlights: •We firstly found miR-24 was upregulated in 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes differentiation. •miR-24 promoted 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes differentiation while silencing the expression of miR-24 had an opposite function. •miR-24 regulated 3T3-L1 differentiation by directly targeting MAPK7 signaling pathway. •miR-24did not affect 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes cellular proliferation.

  20. Direct inhibition of TNF-α promoter activity by Fanconi anemia protein FANCD2.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nobuko Matsushita

    Full Text Available Fanconi anemia (FA, an inherited disease, is associated with progressive bone marrow failure, predisposition to cancer, and genomic instability. Genes corresponding to 15 identified FA complementation groups have been cloned, and each gene product functions in the response to DNA damage induced by cross-linking agents and/or in protection against genome instability. Interestingly, overproduction of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α and aberrant activation of NF-κB-dependent transcriptional activity have been observed in FA cells. Here we demonstrated that FANCD2 protein inhibits NF-κB activity in its monoubiquitination-dependent manner. Furthermore, we detected a specific association between FANCD2 and an NF-κB consensus element in the TNF-α promoter by electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP assay. Therefore, we propose FANCD2 deficiency promotes transcriptional activity of the TNF-α promoter and induces overproduction of TNF-which then sustains prolonged inflammatory responses. These results also suggest that artificial modulation of TNFα production could be a promising therapeutic approach to FA.