The importance of glutamate, glycine, and γ-aminobutyric acid transport and regulation in manganese, mercury and lead neurotoxicity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitsanakis, Vanessa A.; Aschner, Michael

2005-01-01

Historically, amino acids were studied in the context of their importance in protein synthesis. In the 1950s, the focus of research shifted as amino acids were recognized as putative neurotransmitters. Today, many amino acids are considered important neurochemicals. Although many amino acids play a role in neurotransmission, glutamate (Glu), glycine (Gly), and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are among the more prevalent and better understood. Glu, the major excitatory neurotransmitter, and Gly and GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitters, in the central nervous system, are known to be tightly regulated. Prolonged exposure to environmental toxicants, such as manganese (Mn), mercury (Hg), or lead (Pb), however, can lead to dysregulation of these neurochemicals and subsequent neurotoxicity. While the ability of these metals to disrupt the regulation of Glu, Gly and GABA have been studied, few articles have examined the collective role of these amino acids in the respective metal's mechanism of toxicity. For each of the neurotransmitters above, we will provide a brief synopsis of their regulatory function, including the importance of transport and re-uptake in maintaining their optimal function. Additionally, the review will address the hypothesis that aberrant homeostasis of any of these amino acids, or a combination of the three, plays a role in the neurotoxicity of Mn, Hg, or Pb

Physical protection of export/import and transportation of nuclear material in the Slovak Republic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaclav, J

2002-01-01

Full text: The paper contains short overview about average amount of nuclear materials transported on the territory of the Slovak Republic in a year, and the physical protection of these nuclear materials. There are several types of transportation and export/import of nuclear materials in the SR: fresh fuel import; import of other unirradiated nuclear materials (e.g. depleted uranium, natural uranium); export of unirradiated nuclear materials (e.g. natural uranium); internal transportation of fresh fuel; internal transportation of other unirradiated nuclear materials; internal transportation of spent fuel. The main objective of the nuclear regulatory authority SR is to supervise observation of the national legislation as follows: the act no. 130 / 1998 on peaceful use of nuclear energy; UJD SR's regulation no. 186/1999 which details the physical protection of the nuclear facilities, nuclear materials, and radioactive waste (following requirements of INFCIRC 225 / Rev. 4); UJD SR's regulation no. 284 / 1999 which details conditions of nuclear material and radioactive wastes transportation. (author)

On helicon wave induced radial plasma transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petrzilka, V.

1993-04-01

Estimates of helicon wave induced radial plasma transport are presented. The wave induced transport grows or decreases in dependence on the sign of the azimuthal wave number; these changes in transport may play an important role in helicon wave plasma sources. (author) 5 figs., 18 refs

Importance of the High-Expression of Proline Transporter PutP to the Adaptation of Escherichia coli to High Salinity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Hideaki; Sato, Daichi; Oshima, Akinobu

2017-01-01

　The effect of the amount of the proline transporter PutP expression on the mechanism of adaptation of E. coli cells to high salinity was analyzed. The PutP gene derived from the E. coli expression plasmid was introduced into the E. coli cell, and a high PutP expression strain was developed. At 1.2 M NaCl culture condition, the growth of normal E. coli cells was inhibited, whereas high ProP expression cells showed growth under 2.5 M NaCl conditions. The uptake of proline by E. coli as a compatible solute and substrate for metabolization was in good accordance with those seen in cell growth. These data suggested that the amount of the proline transporter PutP expression played an important role in the adaptation of E. coli cells to high saline conditions.

The potential importance of water pathways for spent fuel transportation accident risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ostmeyer, R.M.

1986-01-01

This paper analyzes the potential importance of water pathway contamination for spent fuel transportation accident risk using a ''worst-case'' water contamination scenario. The scenario used for the analysis involves an accident release that occurs near a reservoir. Water pathway doses are compared to doses for accident releases in urban or agricultural areas. The results of the analysis indicate that water pathways are not important for assessing the risk of transporting spent reactor fuel by truck or by rail

On play and playing.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudan, Dusko

2013-12-01

The paper offers a review of the development of the concept of play and playing. The true beginnings of the development of the theories of play are set as late as in the 19th century. It is difficult to define play as such; it may much more easily be defined through its antipode--work. In the beginning, play used to be connected with education; it was not before Freud's theory of psychoanalysis and Piaget's developmental psychology that the importance of play in a child's development began to be explained in more detail. The paper further tackles the role of play in the adult age. Detailed attention is paid to psychodynamic and psychoanalytic authors, in particular D. W. Winnicott and his understanding of playing in the intermediary (transitional) empirical or experiential space. In other words, playing occupies a space and time of its own. The neuroscientific concept of playing is also tackled, in the connection with development as well.

78 FR 77771 - Culturally Significant Object Imported for Exhibition Determinations: “Love and Play: A Pair of...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-12-24

... DEPARTMENT OF STATE [Public Notice 8571] Culturally Significant Object Imported for Exhibition Determinations: ``Love and Play: A Pair of Paintings by Fragonard-- Toledo Museum of Art and Thyssen-Bornemisza... the exhibition ``Love and Play: A Pair of Paintings by Fragonard--Toledo Museum of Art and Thyssen...

Designing Out the Play: Accessibility and Playfulness in Inclusive Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, Raymond; Beckett, Angharad

2017-01-01

Play is an important part of child development, yet disabled children are often excluded from the opportunity to play, either due to lack of accessible toys and games, or social pressures. This paper presents a case study reflecting on the development of Button Bash: a switch accessible game intended to encourage inclusive play between disabled and non-disabled children. In particular, the paper focuses on how changes intended to make the game more accessible tended to make it less playful, and reflects on the relationship between playfulness and accessibility.

Setting a good example: Regenerative energies play an important role in Schleswig-Holstein

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rave, K.

1995-01-01

In Schleswig-Holstein the use of regenerative energies is supported more than in any other Land of Germany. Due to the fact that large regions of the Land are situated in strong breeze zones, wind power plays the most important role. Almost 50% of the overall German wind current is gained in Schleswig-Holstein. Furthermore solar energy and water power are also used directly. (orig.) [de

Adaptively Learning an Importance Function Using Transport Constrained Monte Carlo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Booth, T.E.

1998-01-01

It is well known that a Monte Carlo estimate can be obtained with zero-variance if an exact importance function for the estimate is known. There are many ways that one might iteratively seek to obtain an ever more exact importance function. This paper describes a method that has obtained ever more exact importance functions that empirically produce an error that is dropping exponentially with computer time. The method described herein constrains the importance function to satisfy the (adjoint) Boltzmann transport equation. This constraint is provided by using the known form of the solution, usually referred to as the Case eigenfunction solution

Pre-transport factors affecting the welfare of cattle during road transport for slaughter – a review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veronika Šímová

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In terms of animal welfare, transport per se is very important in the course of the transportation process and transport duration is considered as one of the determining factors, however, the phase that precedes the actual transport is also of great importance (and often even more important as to stress induction. This pre-transport phase includes many aspects, such as on-farm handling, rearing conditions, assembly of animals, classifying, weighing, repenning in a new environment, re-grouping, mixing with unfamiliar animals, and handling at loading, which is regarded as the most significant factor affecting animal welfare. Therefore, the present work focuses on the factors that play a role during this phase. Those factors are naturally interconnected and their adverse consecutive effects on animal welfare can hardly be separated.

Did large animals play an important role in global biogeochemical cycling in the past?

Science.gov (United States)

Doughty, C.

2014-12-01

In the late Pleistocene (~50-10,000 years ago), ninety-seven genera of large animals (>44kg) (megafauna) went extinct, concentrated in the Americas and Australia. The loss of megafauna had major effects on ecosystem structure, seed dispersal and land surface albedo. However, the impact of this dramatic extinction on ecosystem nutrient biogeochemistry, through the lateral transport of dung and bodies, has never been explored. Here we explore these nutrient impacts using a novel mathematical framework that analyses this lateral transport as a diffusion-like process and demonstrates that large animals play a disproportionately large role in the horizontal transfer of nutrients across landscapes. For example, we estimate that the extinction of the Amazonian megafauna led to a >98% reduction in the lateral transfer flux of the limiting nutrient phosphorus (P) with similar, though less extreme, decreases in all continents outside of Africa. This resulted in strong decreases in phosphorus availability in Eastern Amazonia away from fertile floodplains, a decline which may still be ongoing, and current P limitation in the Amazon basin may be partially a relic of an ecosystem without the functional connectedness it once had. More broadly, the Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions resulted in major and ongoing disruptions to terrestrial biogeochemical cycling at continental scales and increased nutrient heterogeneity globally.

Importance of Night Dreams in Ibsen's Plays A Psychoanalytic study of The Vikings of Helgeland and Little Eyolf

OpenAIRE

Bardzimashvili, Nino

2014-01-01

The topic for my thesis is the importance of night dreams in Henrik Ibsen's plays. My study of the subject is based on two plays, The Vikings of Helgeland and Little Eyolf. The first one is a historical play written in 1857 and is usually discussed in relationship with nationalism and the political events in 19th century Norway. The second one is known as a "family romance" and was written in 1894. These two plays represent different periods of Henrik Ibsen's writing and hence it is...

Upregulation of PDZK1 by Calculus Bovis Sativus May Play an Important Role in Restoring Biliary Transport Function in Intrahepatic Cholestasis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dong Xiang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Intrahepatic cholestasis is a main cause of hepatic accumulation of bile acids leading to liver injury, fibrosis, and liver failure. Our previous studies proved that Calculus Bovis Sativus (CBS can restore biliary transport function through upregulating the multidrug resistance-associated protein 2 (MRP2 and breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP in 17α-ethynylestradiol- (EE- induced intrahepatic cholestasis rats. The regulation mechanism of CBS on these transporters, however, remains unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the possible relationship between the effect of CBS on transport activities and the regulation of CBS on the expression of PDZK1, a mainly scaffold protein which can regulate MRP2 and BCRP. Intrahepatic cholestasis model was induced in rats with injection of EE for five consecutive days and then the biliary excretion rates and cumulative biliary excretions were measured. The mRNA and protein expression levels of PDZK1 were detected by reverse transcription-quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and immunohistochemical analysis. When treated with CBS, cumulative biliary excretions and mRNA and protein expressions of PDZK1 were significantly increased in intrahepatic cholestasis rats. This study demonstrated that CBS exerted a beneficial effect on EE-induced intrahepatic cholestasis rats by restoring biliary transport function, which may result from the upregulation of PDZK1 expression.

Fission product transport in the primary system, important phenomena, and code status

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gieseke, J.A.; Jordan, H.; Kuhlman, M.R.

1990-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to identify important issues concerning the transport and deposition of radionuclides in the reactor coolant system (RCS) under accident conditions and to examine how such issues are being treated or should be treated by the various available computer codes. In general, the RCS is a very important section of the transport pathway along which radionuclides move and by which they are attenuated as they travel after being released from the fuel. The RCS can serve as a sink for radionuclides that may deposit from the gas and react with surfaces, or can serve as a repository for materials deposited from the gas which are then available for later release into the transporting gas stream. The RCS may also have thermal hydraulic conditions that foster aerosol growth by condensation or agglomeration, and may provide an environment in which gas phase or heterogeneous chemical reactions may occur

The Importance of Free Play in the Early Childhood Classroom: Perspectives from a Teacher

Science.gov (United States)

Engel, Maria

2015-01-01

Teaching is hard. It's the most rewarding, fulfilling job in the world, but it's also frustrating, infuriating, and really, really hard. In this article, the author reflects on the importance of free play in early childhood classrooms. If teachers want to create happy children who love learning, forcing them to sit at desks or tables through early…

Level playing field for biomass. Government interventions with regard to fuels and energy carriers for mobility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoogma, R.; Te Buck, S.

2010-09-01

A healthy development of the BioBased Economy (BBE) requires government support to one application to not complicate the development of another application. It is important to have a level playing field. This report takes a closer look at the level playing field for biomass in transport. [nl

Research on the Importance of Language Culture for Transport Experts

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angelika Petrėtienė

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The article analyses the importance of language culture for transport experts. The analysis has been conducted on a questionnaire basis. Pursuant to the questionnaire, the obtained data were aimed at establishing if the use of a correct language might increase employment possibilities, if service suppliers talking correctly were stronger preferred, what sources designated for language culture were used in order to revise the accuracy of the employed terminol- ogy (or word, etc. The questionnaire also presents terms more relevant to transport staff and investigates the frequency of the used terminology both correct and incorrect. The researched data have been systemized and presented in the form of charts.

Transport of biologically important nutrients by wind in an eroding cold desert

Science.gov (United States)

Sankey, Joel B.; Germino, Matthew J.; Benner, Shawn G.; Glenn, Nancy F.; Hoover, Amber N.

2012-01-01

Wind erosion following fire is an important landscape process that can result in the redistribution of ecologically important soil resources. In this study we evaluated the potential for a fire patch in a desert shrubland to serve as a source of biologically important nutrients to the adjacent, downwind, unburned ecosystem. We analyzed nutrient concentrations (P, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn, Al) in wind-transported sediments, and soils from burned and adjacent unburned surfaces, collected during the first to second growing seasons after a wildfire that burned in 2007 in Idaho, USA in sagebrush steppe; a type of cold desert shrubland. We also evaluated the timing of potential wind erosion events and weather conditions that might have contributed to nutrient availability in downwind shrubland. Findings indicated that post-fire wind erosion resulted in an important, but transient, addition of nutrients on the downwind shrubland. Aeolian sediments from the burned area were enriched relative to both the up- and down-wind soil and indicated the potential for a fertilization effect through the deposition of the nutrient-enriched sediment during the first, but not second, summer after wildfire. Weather conditions that could have produced nutrient transport events might have provided increased soil moisture necessary to make nutrients accessible for plants in the desert environment. Wind transport of nutrients following fire is likely important in the sagebrush steppe as it could contribute to pulses of resource availability that might, for example, affect plant species differently depending on their phenology, and nutrient- and water-use requirements.

Strategic Spatial Planning's Role in Legitimizing Investments in Transport Infrastructure

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Olesen, Kristian

This paper discusses to what extent spatial visions might play an important role in not only supporting, but also legitimizing the need for investments in transport infrastructures. Drawing on discussion of an ‘infrastructure turn’ in strategic spatial planning (Dodson 2009), this paper explores...... how the recently proposed vision of a Loop City for the Danish/Swedish Øresund Region has played an important role in legitimizing and building political support for a light railway connecting the outer suburbs of Copenhagen. It is not unusual for large investments in new transport infrastructures...

Proteomics of Fusarium oxysporum race 1 and race 4 reveals enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and ion transport that might play important roles in banana Fusarium wilt.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yong; Yi, Xiaoping; Peng, Ming; Zeng, Huicai; Wang, Dan; Li, Bo; Tong, Zheng; Chang, Lili; Jin, Xiang; Wang, Xuchu

2014-01-01

Banana Fusarium wilt is a soil-spread fungal disease caused by Fusarium oxysporum. In China, the main virulence fungi in banana are F. oxysporum race 1 (F1, weak virulence) and race 4 (F4, strong virulence). To date, no proteomic analyses have compared the two races, but the difference in virulence between F1 and F4 might result from their differentially expressed proteins. Here we report the first comparative proteomics of F1 and F4 cultured under various conditions, and finally identify 99 protein species, which represent 59 unique proteins. These proteins are mainly involved in carbohydrate metabolism, post-translational modification, energy production, and inorganic ion transport. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that among the 46 proteins identified from F4 were several enzymes that might be important for virulence. Reverse transcription PCR analysis of the genes for 15 of the 56 proteins revealed that their transcriptional patterns were similar to their protein expression patterns. Taken together, these data suggest that proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism and ion transport may be important in the pathogenesis of banana Fusarium wilt. Some enzymes such as catalase-peroxidase, galactosidase and chitinase might contribute to the strong virulence of F4. Overexpression or knockout of the genes for the F4-specific proteins will help us to further understand the molecular mechanism of Fusarium-induced banana wilt.

40 CFR 80.350 - What alternative sulfur standards and requirements apply to importers who transport gasoline by...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... requirements apply to importers who transport gasoline by truck? 80.350 Section 80.350 Protection of... ADDITIVES Gasoline Sulfur Sampling, Testing and Retention Requirements for Refiners and Importers § 80.350 What alternative sulfur standards and requirements apply to importers who transport gasoline by truck...

Potassium transport of Salmonella is important for type III secretion and pathogenesis

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yehao; Ho, Katharina Kim; Su, Jing; Gong, Hao; Chang, Alexander C.

2013-01-01

Intracellular cations are essential for the physiology of all living organisms including bacteria. Cations such as potassium ion (K+), sodium ion (Na+) and proton (H+) are involved in nearly all aspects of bacterial growth and survival. K+ is the most abundant cation and its homeostasis in Escherichia coli and Salmonella is regulated by three major K+ transporters: high affinity transporter Kdp and low affinity transporters Kup and Trk. Previous studies have demonstrated the roles of cations and cation transport in the physiology of Escherichia coli; their roles in the virulence and physiology of pathogenic bacteria are not well characterized. We have previously reported that the Salmonella K+ transporter Trk is important for the secretion of effector proteins of the type III secretion system (TTSS) of Salmonella pathogenicity island 1 (SPI-1). Here we further explore the role of Salmonella cation transport in virulence in vitro and pathogenesis in animal models. Impairment of K+ transport through deletion of K+ transporters or exposure to the chemical modulators of cation transport, gramicidin and valinomycin, results in a severe defect in the TTSS of SPI-1, and this defect in the TTSS was not due to a failure to regulate intrabacterial pH or ATP. Our results also show that K+ transporters are critical to the pathogenesis of Salmonella in mice and chicks and are involved in multiple growth and virulence characteristics in vitro, including protein secretion, motility and invasion of epithelial cells. These results suggest that cation transport of the pathogenic bacterium Salmonella, especially K+ transport, contributes to its virulence in addition to previously characterized roles in maintaining homeostasis of bacteria. PMID:23728623

Technology Roadmaps: Biofuels for Transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2011-07-01

Biofuels could provide up to 27% of total transport fuel worldwide by 2050. The use of transport fuels from biomass, when produced sustainably, can help cut petroleum use and reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector, especially in heavy transport. Sustainable biofuel technologies, in particular advanced biofuels, will play an important role in achieving this roadmap vision. The roadmap describes the steps necessary to realise this ambitious biofuels target; identifies key actions by different stakeholders, and the role for government policy to adopt measures needed to ensure the sustainable expansion of both conventional and advanced biofuel production.

Word Play: Scaffolding Language Development through Child-Directed Play

Science.gov (United States)

Wasik, Barbara A.; Jacobi-Vessels, Jill L.

2017-01-01

Play is an important activity in young children's lives. It is how children explore their world and build knowledge. Although free play, which is play that is totally child directed, contributes to children's learning, self-regulation and motivation, adults' participation in children's play is critical in their development, especially their…

Playing in childhood: importance and singularities for children with visual impairment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tania Mara Zancanaro Pieczkowski

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated what kind of playing and how visually impaired children play in the family and educational contexts, aiming at understanding playing and the role of toys in these children‟s development. The study was based on the historical-cultural perspective, mainly considering Vygotsky‟s studies. Empirical material was collected from five families with blind or short-sighted children and from the specialized institution these children attend. We adopted semi-structured interviews with parents and educators and observation of the relevant contexts. The data collected was categorized and theorized through content analysis. We concluded that the mediation of another person during playing enables the visually impaired child to develop confidence to explore the physical space, objects and to elaborate concepts.

Interdependence between iron ore production and maritime transport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. V. Todorut

2016-10-01

Full Text Available The maritime industry plays an important role in international trade, transporting a total of 10,1 billion tons of merchandise in 2015, representing over 80% of all global trade, with dry cargo estimated to account for over two thirds of the total seaborne trade. Bulk carriers supply the raw materials needed by the steel industry and container ships transport the steel products. Demand and supply for seaborne transport is influenced by trends in global economy and worldwide demand for commodities. The paper analyzes the most important economic determinants in the supply of metallurgical raw materials, highlighting the importance of the shipping sector.

The role of play

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schouten, B.A.M.

2011-01-01

Play is seen as an activity that is fun, voluntary, offers escape, and is fundamentally exciting. Play is however, more than that; it is a working model of flexibility! There is a vital link between play, psychological development and learning. Moreover, the importance of play has gained importance

Classification of transportation packaging and dry spent fuel storage system components according to importance to safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tyacke, M.J.; McConnell, J.W. Jr.; Ayers, A.L. Jr.; O'Connor, S.C.; Jankovich, J.P.

1996-01-01

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory prepared a technical report for the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, entitled Classification of Transportation Packaging and Dry Spent Fuel Storage System Components According to Importance to Safety, NUREG/CR-6407. This paper provides the results of that report. It also presents the graded approach for classification of components used in transportation packagings and dry spent fuel storage systems. This approach provides a method for identifying the classification of components according to importance to safety within transportation packagings and dry spent fuel storage systems. Record retention requirements are discussed to identify the documentation necessary to validate that the individual components were fabricated in accordance with their assigned classification. A review of the existing regulations pertaining to transportation packagings and dry storage systems was performed to identify current requirements. The general types of transportation packagings and dry storage systems are identified. The methodology used in this paper is based on Regulatory Guide 7.10, Establishing Quality Assurance Programs for Packaging Used in the Transport of Radioactive Material. This paper also includes a list of generic components for each of the general types of transportation packagings and spent fuel storage systems, with a classification category assigned to each component. Several examples concerning the safety importance of components are presented

The solute carrier 6 family of transporters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bröer, Stefan; Gether, Ulrik

2012-01-01

of these transporters is associated with a variety of diseases. Pharmacological inhibition of the neurotransmitter transporters in this family is an important strategy in the management of neurological and psychiatric disorders. This review provides an overview of the biochemical and pharmacological properties......The solute carrier 6 (SLC6) family of the human genome comprises transporters for neurotransmitters, amino acids, osmolytes and energy metabolites. Members of this family play critical roles in neurotransmission, cellular and whole body homeostasis. Malfunction or altered expression...... of the SLC6 family transporters....

Improving transport service delivery in the Capricorn district municipality by strengthening ITS transport function

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Mashiri, M

2010-08-01

Full Text Available , transport authority, functions, capacity building, funding, institutional strengthening, legislative mandates, South Africa 224 1 INTRODUCTION Since the advent of the democratic political dispensation in South Africa in 1994, the nature and functions... in that it influences the quality and style of life, the range and location of productive and leisure activities, and the goods and services which will be available for consumption (Morlok, 1978; Fuller, 2004). Given that transport plays this important triple role...

Greenhouse gas emissions from the international maritime transport of New Zealand's imports and exports

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fitzgerald, Warren B.; Howitt, Oliver J.A.; Smith, Inga J.

2011-01-01

Greenhouse gas emissions from international maritime transport are exempt from liabilities under the Kyoto Protocol. Research into quantifying these emissions is ongoing, and influences policy proposals to reduce emissions. This paper presents a cargo-based analysis of fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand's international maritime transport of goods. Maritime transport moves 99.5% (by mass) of New Zealand's internationally traded products. It is estimated that 73% of visiting vessels' activity can be directly attributed to the movement of goods in and out of New Zealand. A cargo-based methodology was used to estimate that the international maritime transport of New Zealand's imports and exports consumed 2.5 million tonnes (Mt; 2.6 billion litres) of fuel during the year 2007, which generated 7.7 Mt of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. Double-counting of emissions would occur if a similar method was applied to all New Zealand's trading partners. In contrast, since few large vessels refuel in New Zealand, the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory listed 2007 international maritime transportation emissions as 0.98 Mt of CO 2 , calculated from fuel bunkered for international transport. The results, therefore, show a significant difference between activity-based and bunker-fuel methodologies in quantifying New Zealand's emissions. International policy implications are discussed. - Research highlights: → Cargo-based analysis of GHG emissions from New Zealand's international maritime transport of goods. → 7.7 Mt of CO 2 estimated from international maritime transport of NZ's 2007 imports and exports. → 73% of visiting vessels' 2007 activity attributed to the movement of goods in and out of NZ. → The results were significantly different from NZ's GHG Inventory bunker-fuel derived emissions figure. → Detailed approach for international transport emissions regional/national assessments described.

Chiral transport of neutrinos in supernovae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yamamoto Naoki

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The conventional neutrino transport theory for core-collapse supernovae misses one key property of neutrinos: the left-handedness. The chirality of neutrinos modifies the hydrodynamic behavior at the macroscopic scale and leads to topological transport phenomena. We argue that such transport phenomena should play important roles in the evolution of core-collapse supernovae, and, in particular, lead to a tendency toward the inverse energy cascade from small to larger scales, which may be relevant to the origin of the supernova explosion.

Transport infrastructure costs in low-carbon pathways

OpenAIRE

Ó BROIN , Eoin; Guivarch , Céline

2016-01-01

International audience; The rate and manner in which transport infrastructure (e.g. roads, railway tracks, airports) is deployed, will play an important role in determining energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions and the economic impact of the transport sector. This paper describes an exercise where the costs of infrastructure deployment for the transport sector have been incorporated into the IMACLIM-R Global E3 IAM. In addition to adding these costs, the modelling of the criteria for the de...

Transporter-mediated biofuel secretion.

Science.gov (United States)

Doshi, Rupak; Nguyen, Tuan; Chang, Geoffrey

2013-05-07

Engineering microorganisms to produce biofuels is currently among the most promising strategies in renewable energy. However, harvesting these organisms for extracting biofuels is energy- and cost-intensive, limiting the commercial feasibility of large-scale production. Here, we demonstrate the use of a class of transport proteins of pharmacological interest to circumvent the need to harvest biomass during biofuel production. We show that membrane-embedded transporters, better known to efflux lipids and drugs, can be used to mediate the secretion of intracellularly synthesized model isoprenoid biofuel compounds to the extracellular milieu. Transporter-mediated biofuel secretion sustainably maintained an approximate three- to fivefold boost in biofuel production in our Escherichia coli test system. Because the transporters used in this study belong to the ubiquitous ATP-binding cassette protein family, we propose their use as "plug-and-play" biofuel-secreting systems in a variety of bacteria, cyanobacteria, diatoms, yeast, and algae used for biofuel production. This investigation showcases the potential of expressing desired membrane transport proteins in cell factories to achieve the export or import of substances of economic, environmental, or therapeutic importance.

40 CFR 80.583 - What alternative sampling and testing requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle diesel fuel, NRLM diesel fuel, or ECA marine fuel... (CONTINUED) AIR PROGRAMS (CONTINUED) REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Motor Vehicle Diesel Fuel... alternative sampling and testing requirements apply to importers who transport motor vehicle diesel fuel, NRLM...

Problems relating to international transport of nuclear fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Timm, U.E.

1985-01-01

Owing to the tremendous geographic distances between uranium deposits of interest, to the various degrees of sophistication of nuclear industry in industrialized countries and to the close international cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, safe international transports, physical protection and transport handling play an important role. It is suggested to better coordinate the activities of nuclear power plant operators, the nuclear industry and specialized transport companies with respect to all national and international issues of nuclear fuel transports. (DG) [de

The molecular mechanism for overcoming the rate-limiting step in monoamine neurotransmitter transport

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sinning, Steffen; Said, Saida; Malinauskaite, Lina

The monoamine transporter family consists of dopamine (DAT), norepinephrine (NET) and serotonin transporters (SERT) that mediate the reuptake of the monoamine neurotransmitters after their release during neurotransmission. These transporters play prominent roles in psychiatric disorders and are t......The monoamine transporter family consists of dopamine (DAT), norepinephrine (NET) and serotonin transporters (SERT) that mediate the reuptake of the monoamine neurotransmitters after their release during neurotransmission. These transporters play prominent roles in psychiatric disorders...... membrane. The rate-limiting step in monoamine reuptake is the return of the empty transporter from an inward-facing to an outward-facing conformation without neurotransmitter and sodium bound. The molecular mechanism underlying this important conformational transition has not been described. Crystal...

[Important application of intestinal transporters and metabolism enzymes on gastrointestinal disposal of active ingredients of Chinese materia medica].

Science.gov (United States)

Bi, Xiaolin; Du, Qiu; Di, Liuqing

2010-02-01

Oral drug bioavailability depends on gastrointestinal absorption, intestinal transporters and metabolism enzymes are the important factors in drug gastrointestinal absorption and they can also be induced or inhibited by the active ingredients of Chinese materia medica. This article presents important application of intestinal transporters and metabolism enzymes on gastrointestinal disposal of the active ingredients of Chinese materia medica, and points out the importance of research on transport and metabolism of the active ingredients of Chinese materia medica in Chinese extract and Chinese medicinal formulae.

Molecular properties of bacterial multidrug transporters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Putman, M; van Veen, HW; Konings, WN

2000-01-01

One of the mechanisms that bacteria utilize to evade the toxic effects of antibiotics is the active extrusion of structurally unrelated drugs from the cell. Both intrinsic and acquired multidrug transporters play an important role in antibiotic resistance of several pathogens, including Neisseria

Classification of transportation packaging and dry spent fuel storage system components according to importance to safety

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McConnell, J.W., Jr; Ayers, A.L. Jr; Tyacke, M.J.

1996-02-01

This report provides a graded approach for classification of components used in transportation packaging and dry spent fuel storage systems. This approach provides a method for identifying, the classification of components according to importance to safety within transportation packagings and dry spent fuel storage systems. Record retention requirements are discussed to identify the documentation necessary to validate that the individual components were fabricated in accordance with their assigned classification. A review of the existing regulations pertaining to transportation packagings and dry storage systems was performed to identify current requirements The general types of transportation packagings and dry storage systems were identified. Discussions were held with suppliers and fabricators of packagings and storage systems to determine current practices. The methodology used in this report is based on Regulatory Guide 7.10, Establishing Quality Assurance Programs for Packaging Used in the Transport of Radioactive Material. This report also includes a list of generic components for each of the general types of transportation packagings and spent fuel storage systems. The safety importance of each component is discussed, and a classification category is assigned

How Important is the Integration of Public Passenger Transport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mrníková Michaela

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The significance of the issue of an effective mode of passenger transport is currently increasing. On the one hand, there is the increasing economic demand of public passenger transport, on the other hand, there is the growing traffic share of individual automobile transport. The objective of the paper is to analyze public passenger transport without mutual integration of individual transport systems resulting in the fact that it is not sufficiently able to compete with individual automobile transport. It is proposed the integration of different modes of public passenger transport as a way to increase the competitiveness of public passenger transport. Aim of this paper is to analyze the individual elements of integration systems and describe why integration of public passenger transport systems is needed.

The ABC transporter Rv1272c of Mycobacterium tuberculosis enhances the import of long-chain fatty acids in Escherichia coli.

Science.gov (United States)

Martin, Audrey; Daniel, Jaiyanth

2018-02-05

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which causes tuberculosis, is capable of accumulating triacylglycerol (TAG) by utilizing fatty acids from host cells. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are involved in transport processes in all organisms. Among the classical ABC transporters in Mtb none have been implicated in fatty acid import. Since the transport of fatty acids from the host cell is important for dormancy-associated TAG synthesis in the pathogen, mycobacterial ABC transporter(s) could potentially be involved in this process. Based on sequence identities with a bacterial ABC transporter that mediates fatty acid import for TAG synthesis, we identified Rv1272c, a hitherto uncharacterized ABC-transporter in Mtb that also shows sequence identities with a plant ABC transporter involved in fatty acid transport. We expressed Rv1272c in E. coli and show that it enhances the import of radiolabeled fatty acids. We also show that Rv1272c causes a significant increase in the metabolic incorporation of radiolabeled long-chain fatty acids into cardiolipin, a tetra-acylated phospholipid, and phosphatidylglycerol in E. coli. This is the first report on the function of Rv1272c showing that it displays a long-chain fatty acid transport function. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Structured Parent-Child Observations Predict Development of Conduct Problems: the Importance of Parental Negative Attention in Child-Directed Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Fleming, Andrew P; McMahon, Robert J; King, Kevin M

2017-04-01

Structured observations of parent-child interactions are commonly used in research and clinical settings, but require additional empirical support. The current study examined the capacity of child-directed play, parent-directed play, and parent-directed chore interaction analogs to uniquely predict the development of conduct problems across a 6-year follow-up period. Parent-child observations were collected from 338 families from high-risk neighborhoods during the summer following the child's first-grade year. Participating children were 49.2 % female, 54.4 % white, and 45.6 % black, and had an average age of 7.52 years at the first assessment. Conduct problems were assessed via parent report and teacher report at five assessment points between first grade and seventh grade. Latent growth curve modeling was used to analyze predictors of conduct problem trajectory across this 6-year follow-up period. When race, sex, socioeconomic status, and maternal depressive symptoms were controlled, parental negative attention during child-directed play predicted higher levels of parent-reported conduct problems concurrently and after a 6-year follow-up period. Parental negative attention during child-directed play also predicted higher teacher-reported conduct problems 6 years later. Findings support the use of child-directed play and parent-directed chore analogs in predicting longitudinal development of conduct problems. The presence of parental negative attention during child-directed play appears to be an especially important predictor of greater conduct problems over time and across multiple domains. Additionally, the potential importance of task-incongruent behavior is proposed for further study.

Monte Carlo method in radiation transport problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dejonghe, G.; Nimal, J.C.; Vergnaud, T.

1986-11-01

In neutral radiation transport problems (neutrons, photons), two values are important: the flux in the phase space and the density of particles. To solve the problem with Monte Carlo method leads to, among other things, build a statistical process (called the play) and to provide a numerical value to a variable x (this attribution is called score). Sampling techniques are presented. Play biasing necessity is proved. A biased simulation is made. At last, the current developments (rewriting of programs for instance) are presented due to several reasons: two of them are the vectorial calculation apparition and the photon and neutron transport in vacancy media [fr

Using the GTFS format to improve public transport data accessibility in Gauteng

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Koetsier, Sumarie

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Public transport plays an important role in cities. It is a less expensive option than private transport and could reduce congestion and improve accessibility to jobs. However, ridership could be hampered when information regarding an operator’s...

The European Commission: nuclear power has an important role to play

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2008-01-01

The European Commission (E.C.) thinks that nuclear power has an important role to play: first to reduce CO 2 emissions and secondly to reinforce energy self-reliance of the member states. The decision to introduce nuclear power in their energy mix belongs to every state but the E.C. has also highlighted that if adequate investment are quickly made 2 thirds of the electricity produced in the European Union in 2010 could by from low-carbon-emitting sources. Today with 148 reactors operating in 15 member countries nuclear power contributes to 1 third of the electricity produced. Another issue that is looming is the security of electricity supplying. A study has shown that the security level is worsening (particularly in winter) because of the greater part of wind energy in the energy mix as wind energy is not necessarily available when energy demand is peaking. The E.C. has proposed a new directive drawing a common standard frame for nuclear safety requirements concerning design, site selection, maintenance, operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Each member state will have the choice to implement stiffer regulations. The European Union must reduce its dependency on Russian gas by increasing its storing capacities, by easing gas exchanges between member states and by importing more liquefied natural gas. European member states will have to invert 1000*10 9 euros in gas and electrical power infrastructures in the next 25 years. (A.C.)

Ultrafast Thermal Transport at Interfaces

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cahill, David [Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, IL (United States); Murphy, Catherine [Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, IL (United States); Martin, Lane [Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, IL (United States)

2014-10-21

Our research program on Ultrafast Thermal Transport at Interfaces advanced understanding of the mesoscale science of heat conduction. At the length and time scales of atoms and atomic motions, energy is transported by interactions between single-particle and collective excitations. At macroscopic scales, entropy, temperature, and heat are the governing concepts. Key gaps in fundamental knowledge appear at the transitions between these two regimes. The transport of thermal energy at interfaces plays a pivotal role in these scientific issues. Measurements of heat transport with ultrafast time resolution are needed because picoseconds are the fundamental scales where the lack of equilibrium between various thermal excitations becomes a important factor in the transport physics. A critical aspect of our work has been the development of experimental methods and model systems that enabled more precise and sensitive investigations of nanoscale thermal transport.

Starch Binding Domain-containing Protein 1 Plays a Dominant Role in Glycogen Transport to Lysosomes in Liver.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Tao; Yi, Haiqing; Yang, Chunyu; Kishnani, Priya S; Sun, Baodong

2016-08-05

A small portion of cellular glycogen is transported to and degraded in lysosomes by acid α-glucosidase (GAA) in mammals, but it is unclear why and how glycogen is transported to the lysosomes. Stbd1 has recently been proposed to participate in glycogen trafficking to lysosomes. However, our previous study demonstrated that knockdown of Stbd1 in GAA knock-out mice did not alter lysosomal glycogen storage in skeletal muscles. To further determine whether Stbd1 participates in glycogen transport to lysosomes, we generated GAA/Stbd1 double knock-out mice. In fasted double knock-out mice, glycogen accumulation in skeletal and cardiac muscles was not affected, but glycogen content in liver was reduced by nearly 73% at 3 months of age and by 60% at 13 months as compared with GAA knock-out mice, indicating that the transport of glycogen to lysosomes was suppressed in liver by the loss of Stbd1. Exogenous expression of human Stbd1 in double knock-out mice restored the liver lysosomal glycogen content to the level of GAA knock-out mice, as did a mutant lacking the Atg8 family interacting motif (AIM) and another mutant that contains only the N-terminal 24 hydrophobic segment and the C-terminal starch binding domain (CBM20) interlinked by an HA tag. Our results demonstrate that Stbd1 plays a dominant role in glycogen transport to lysosomes in liver and that the N-terminal transmembrane region and the C-terminal CBM20 domain are critical for this function. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Coach terminal as important element of transport infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Gromule

2007-10-01

Full Text Available The determination of the coach terminal as passenger logistics hub is described. The factors responsible for successful functioning of this hub are discussed. The location of the coach terminal is one of the important factors. The present coach terminal is located in the heart of the city where land availability is critical. The simulation model of the terminal was developed to complement the design and construction of a new one. The used simulation package VISSIM has visual reference to assist in explaining the complexity of transport node’s job and analysis of possible congestions. During the development of the modelling the critical bottlenecks are identified and decisions are taken to reduce the risk of their occurrence, the solution being immediately incorporated into the final design of the coach terminal under development.

Intelligent transportation systems data compression using wavelet decomposition technique.

Science.gov (United States)

2009-12-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) generates massive amounts of traffic data, which posts : challenges for data storage, transmission and retrieval. Data compression and reconstruction technique plays an : important role in ITS data procession....

LKR/SDH plays important roles throughout the tick life cycle including a long starvation period.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Banzragch Battur

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Lysine-ketoglutarate reductase/saccharopine dehydrogenase (LKR/SDH is a bifunctional enzyme catalyzing the first two steps of lysine catabolism in plants and mammals. However, to date, the properties of the lysine degradation pathway and biological functions of LKR/SDH have been very little described in arthropods such as ticks. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We isolated and characterized the gene encoding lysine-ketoglutarate reductase (LKR, EC 1.5.1.8 and saccharopine dehydrogenase (SDH, EC 1.5.1.9 from a tick, Haemaphysalis longicornis, cDNA library that encodes a bifunctional polypeptide bearing domains similar to the plant and mammalian LKR/SDH enzymes. Expression of LKR/SDH was detected in all developmental stages, indicating an important role throughout the tick life cycle, including a long period of starvation after detachment from the host. The LKR/SDH mRNA transcripts were more abundant in unfed and starved ticks than in fed and engorged ticks, suggesting that tick LKR/SDH are important for the starved tick. Gene silencing of LKR/SDH by RNAi indicated that the tick LKR/SDH plays an integral role in the osmotic regulation of water balance and development of eggs in ovary of engorged females. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Transcription analysis and gene silencing of LKR/SDH indicated that tick LKR/SDH enzyme plays not only important roles in egg production, reproduction and development of the tick, but also in carbon, nitrogen and water balance, crucial physiological processes for the survival of ticks. This is the first report on the role of LKR/SDH in osmotic regulation in animals including vertebrate and arthropods.

Chirality plays important roles in radiopharmaceuticals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen Yumei

2006-01-01

The paper introduces the basic concept of chirality, target specific selectivity and their relationship in radiopharmaceuticals. If the ligands labeled by radionuclides have chiral center, the enantiomers must be separated, or the target specific selectivity will not be good. Chirality is one of the most important factors which must be considered in the study of the structure-activity relationship of radiopharmaceuticals. (authors)

Autophagy plays an important role in protecting Pacific oysters from OsHV-1 and Vibrio aestuarianus infections.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreau, Pierrick; Moreau, Kevin; Segarra, Amélie; Tourbiez, Delphine; Travers, Marie-Agnès; Rubinsztein, David C; Renault, Tristan

2015-01-01

Recent mass mortality outbreaks around the world in Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, have seriously affected the aquaculture economy. Although the causes for these mortality outbreaks appear complex, infectious agents are involved. Two pathogens are associated with mass mortality outbreaks, the virus ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) and the bacterium Vibrio aestuarianus. Here we describe the interactions between these 2 pathogens and autophagy, a conserved intracellular pathway playing a key role in innate immunity. We show for the first time that autophagy pathway is present and functional in Pacific oysters and plays an important role to protect animals from infections. This study contributes to better understand the innate immune system of Pacific oysters.

Research on the Logistics Supply Chain in Port Logistics Transportation

OpenAIRE

Wang Yan-liang

2013-01-01

The aim of this study is to improve and increase the logistics system effectiveness and to solve the problem of optimal movement of different flows. Logistics transport carrying the world on material resources transfer exchange important mission and economic development and our lives are closely linked, logistics chain logistics transport occupies an important position and in the e logistics chain in port logistics has play a decisive role. For many coastal countries port logistics is the eco...

Strategies for a road transport system based on renewable resources - The case of an import-independent Sweden in 2025

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindfeldt, Erik G.; Saxe, Maria; Magnusson, Mimmi; Mohseni, Farzad

2010-01-01

When discussing how society can decrease greenhouse gas emissions, the transport sector is often seen as posing one of the most difficult problems. In addition, the transport sector faces problems related to security of supply. The aim of this paper is to present possible strategies for a road transport system based on renewable energy sources and to illustrate how such a system could be designed to avoid dependency on imports, using Sweden as an example. The demand-side strategies considered include measures for decreasing the demand for transport, as well as various technical and non-technical means of improving vehicle fuel economy. On the supply side, biofuels and synthetic fuels produced from renewable electricity are discussed. Calculations are performed to ascertain the possible impact of these measures on the future Swedish road transport sector. The results underline the importance of powerful demand-side measures and show that although biofuels can certainly contribute significantly to an import-independent road transport sector, they are far from enough even in a biomass-rich country like Sweden. Instead, according to this study, fuels based on renewable electricity will have to cover more than half of the road transport sector's energy demand.

Importance estimation in Monte Carlo modelling of neutron and photon transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mickael, M.W.

1992-01-01

The estimation of neutron and photon importance in a three-dimensional geometry is achieved using a coupled Monte Carlo and diffusion theory calculation. The parameters required for the solution of the multigroup adjoint diffusion equation are estimated from an analog Monte Carlo simulation of the system under investigation. The solution of the adjoint diffusion equation is then used as an estimate of the particle importance in the actual simulation. This approach provides an automated and efficient variance reduction method for Monte Carlo simulations. The technique has been successfully applied to Monte Carlo simulation of neutron and coupled neutron-photon transport in the nuclear well-logging field. The results show that the importance maps obtained in a few minutes of computer time using this technique are in good agreement with Monte Carlo generated importance maps that require prohibitive computing times. The application of this method to Monte Carlo modelling of the response of neutron porosity and pulsed neutron instruments has resulted in major reductions in computation time. (Author)

Assessment of CO 2 emission level in urban transport of Mekelle ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Transport plays a crucial role in accelerating development and improving quality of life by allowing ease transfer of people, goods and services. It is also one of the important preconditions for achieving developmental goals. This study therefore intends to assess the level of CO2 emissions in urban transport of Mekelle city.

Electric-Field Control of Interfering Transport Pathways in a Single-Molecule Anthraquinone Transistor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koole, Max; Thijssen, Jos M.; Valkenier, Hennie; Hummelen, Jan C.; van der Zant, Herre S. J.

It is understood that molecular conjugation plays an important role in charge transport through single-molecule junctions. Here, we investigate electron transport through an anthraquinone based single-molecule three-terminal device. With the use of an electric-field induced by a gate electrode, the

WELFARE ASPECTS OF THE LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORTATION OF CATTLE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

EVANGELIA N. SOSSIDOU

2009-10-01

Full Text Available This paper sets out to examine the facts behind the trade of long distance transportation of cattle. In particular it looks at the various welfare implications during handling and transport with examples from research work on cattle. The role of the science is explained and the methodology for assessing the welfare of animals is then presented. Finally, public concerns and legal position are presented as they play an important role to promote farm animal welfare principles during transportation.

Transport of anchovy and sardine eggs and larvae from The western ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

the frontal jet plays an important role in the transport of the early life history stages of anchovy and sardine, but that the position of such transport can vary between the 200 and 500-m isobaths. During October 1994, November 1994 and February 1995, the greatest concentrations of eggs corresponded with areas of strong ...

Pipelines, inexpensive and safe mode of transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grover, D D

1979-01-01

Pipelines are the leading bulk commodity transporter and should play an even more important role in the future of energy transportation and distribution. As fossil fuel and low-cost uranium resources become depleted, it will be economical to produce hydrogen by electrolysis and transport it through underground pipelines to points of consumption. The cost would be only two to three times that of transporting natural gas per unit of heat energy and substantially less than the cost of transporting electric energy in overhead, extra-high-voltage transmission lines. Pipeline design, including economic pipe diameter; pipe material; operation by remote control and automation; cathodic protection; pipeline construction; and pipeline maintenance, particularly as regards the 1157 km long Oil India Pipeline, are discussed.

Pretend Play and Creative Processes

Science.gov (United States)

Russ, Sandra W.; Wallace, Claire E.

2013-01-01

The authors contend that many cognitive abilities and affective processes important in creativity also occur in pretend play and that pretend play in childhood affects the development of creativity in adulthood. They discuss a variety of theories and observations that attempt to explain the importance of pretend play to creativity. They argue that…

Structure of a Bacterial ABC Transporter Involved in the Import of an Acidic Polysaccharide Alginate.

Science.gov (United States)

Maruyama, Yukie; Itoh, Takafumi; Kaneko, Ai; Nishitani, Yu; Mikami, Bunzo; Hashimoto, Wataru; Murata, Kousaku

2015-09-01

The acidic polysaccharide alginate represents a promising marine biomass for the microbial production of biofuels, although the molecular and structural characteristics of alginate transporters remain to be clarified. In Sphingomonas sp. A1, the ATP-binding cassette transporter AlgM1M2SS is responsible for the import of alginate across the cytoplasmic membrane. Here, we present the substrate-transport characteristics and quaternary structure of AlgM1M2SS. The addition of poly- or oligoalginate enhanced the ATPase activity of reconstituted AlgM1M2SS coupled with one of the periplasmic solute-binding proteins, AlgQ1 or AlgQ2. External fluorescence-labeled oligoalginates were specifically imported into AlgM1M2SS-containing proteoliposomes in the presence of AlgQ2, ATP, and Mg(2+). The crystal structure of AlgQ2-bound AlgM1M2SS adopts an inward-facing conformation. The interaction between AlgQ2 and AlgM1M2SS induces the formation of an alginate-binding tunnel-like structure accessible to the solvent. The translocation route inside the transmembrane domains contains charged residues suitable for the import of acidic saccharides. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physics of turbulence control and transport barrier formation in DIII-D

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doyle, E.J.; Burrell, K.H.; Carlstrom, T.N.

1996-10-01

This paper describes the physical mechanisms responsible for turbulence control and transport barrier formation on DIII-D as determined from a synthesis of results from different enhanced confinement regimes, including quantitative and qualitative comparisons to theory. A wide range of DIII-D data support the hypothesis that a single underlying physical mechanism, turbulence suppression via E x B shear flow is playing an essential, though not necessarily unique, role in reducing turbulence and transport in all of the following improved confinement regimes: H-mode, VH-mode, high-ell i modes, improved performance counter-injection L-mode discharges and high performance negative central shear (NCS) discharges. DIII-D data also indicate that synergistic effects are important in some cases, as in NCS discharges where negative magnetic shear also plays a role in transport barrier formation. This work indicates that in order to control turbulence and transport it is important to focus on understanding physical mechanisms, such as E x B shear, which can regulate and control entire classes of turbulent modes, and thus control transport. In the highest performance DIII-D discharges, NCS plasmas with a VH-mode like edge, turbulence is suppressed at all radii, resulting in neoclassical levels of ion transport over most of the plasma volume

The role of play themes in non-directive play therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Virginia; Edge, Andrew

2012-07-01

Describing the processes underlying play therapy is important for evidence based practice in child therapy. Employing play themes to describe children's play session contents is in widespread use by practitioners, but an adequate classification of these themes for non-directive play therapy practice has not yet been established. This article sets out to fill this gap by first describing how themes can be distinguished and distilled from the contents of play therapy contents. Second, a classification of main themes and sub-themes with exemplars to illustrate these concepts which is compatible with non-directive play therapy practice is set out. Finally a pilot project with experienced play therapists to test this classification in practice is suggested, along with the research questions that will need to be investigated in the shorter and longer terms.

Characterization of juvenile play in rats: importance of sex of self and sex of partner.

Science.gov (United States)

Argue, Kathryn J; McCarthy, Margaret M

2015-01-01

Juvenile social play is observed in many mammalian species, and its disruption in several neuropsychiatric disorders has greatly increased interest in understanding the origins and sources of variability in this behavior. We quantified social play behavior in juvenile rats and investigated the impact of sex and familiarity of the play partner. Sex differences in play behavior were investigated by comparing males and females from either same- or mixed-sex pairs with data pooled over 12 days of analysis. Whether play was altered based on the sex of the play partner was assessed using a paired analysis to compare play with a same- or opposite-sex play partner for both males and females. Additionally, a repeated measures design was utilized to determine whether play changed with increasing age. On postnatal day 33, a novel play partner was introduced. We used a repeated measures analysis to compare postnatal day 33 with the previous day. These approaches were used to assess the effects of age, sex, sex of partner, and familiarity of partner on total social play behavior as well as how play was broken down into components, such as pouncing, pinning, chasing, and boxing. There were sex differences in total frequency of play, and specific parameters of play behavior, such as chasing, pouncing, pinning, and boxing. Additionally, males significantly altered their play behavior in response to the sex of their play partner, whereas females were more sensitive to the familiarity of the play partner. This study provides critical groundwork for uncovering factors that regulate social play behavior and can be used to guide future mechanistic based work.

Molecular transport behaviour of organic solvents through halloysite ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Micro and Nano Materials Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Institute of Technical ... The transport behaviour of three organic solvents (benzene, toluene and xylene) through halloysite nan- ... ena play important roles in different areas of engineering and ... their blends by an equilibrium swelling method has been.

Near field transport processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neretnieks, I.

1991-01-01

In repositories for nuclear waste there are many processes which will be instrumental in corroding the canisters and releasing the nuclides. Based on experiences from studies on the performance of repositories and on an actual design the major mechanisms influencing the integrity and performance of a repository are described and discussed. The paper addresses only conditions in crystalline rock repositories. The low water flow rate in fractures and channels plays a dominant role in limiting the interaction between water and waste. Molecular diffusion in the backfill and rock matrix as well as in the mobile water is an important transport process but actually limits the exchange rate because diffusive transport is slow. Solubility limits of both waste matrix and of individual nuclides are also important. Complicating processes include gas generation by iron corrosion and alpha-radiolysis. (au) (19 refs., 2 figs.)

The Power of Outdoor Play and Play in Natural Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Kemple, Kristen M.; Oh, JiHyun; Kenney, Elizabeth; Smith-Bonahue, Tina

2016-01-01

Young children's outdoor play serves important and diverse purposes, including physical exercise and opportunities for growth in all developmental areas. Unfortunately, the amount of time that children spend engaged in unstructured, child-directed outdoor play has diminished significantly in the past generation. In this article, the authors…

International Perspectives and Implementation of Sustainability Criteria in the Development of Biofuels for Transport

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Meza, Maria Josefina Figueroa; Gudmundsson, Henrik

Establishing sustainability criteria for the development of biofuels is an important step for the consolidation of an international market on biofuels for transport for several reasons: Biofuels are expected to play a significant role in a transition to low carbon future in transport in particular...

The importance of OH − transport through anion exchange membrane in microbial electrolysis cells

KAUST Repository

Ye, Yaoli

2018-01-11

In two-chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) with anion exchange membranes (AEMs), a phosphate buffer solution (PBS) is typically used to avoid increases in catholyte pH as Nernst equation calculations indicate that high pHs adversely impact electrochemical performance. However, ion transport between the chambers will also impact performance, which is a factor not included in those calculations. To separate the impacts of pH and ion transport on MEC performance, a high molecular weight polymer buffer (PoB), which was retained in the catholyte due to its low AEM transport and cationic charge, was compared to PBS in MECs and abiotic electrochemical half cells (EHCs). In MECs, catholyte pH control was less important than ion transport. MEC tests using the PoB catholyte, which had a higher buffer capacity and thus maintained a lower catholye pH (<8), resulted in a 50% lower hydrogen production rate (HPR) than that obtained using PBS (HPR = 0.7 m3-H2 m−3 d−1) where the catholyte rapidly increased to pH = 12. The main reason for the decreased performance using PoB was a lack of hydroxide ion transfer into the anolyte to balance pH. The anolyte pH in MECs rapidly decreased to 5.8 due to a lack of hydroxide ion transport, which inhibited current generation by the anode, whereas the pH was maintained at 6.8 using PBS. In abiotic tests in ECHs, where the cathode potential was set at −1.2 V, the HPR was 133% higher using PoB than PBS due to catholyte pH control, as the anolyte pH was not a factor in the performance. These results show that maintaining charge transfer to control anolyte pH is more important than obtaining a more neutral pH catholyte.

Gas transport into a cavitation bubble during the explosion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oldenziel, D.M.

1976-01-01

When considering cavitation bubbles exploding from small stream nuclei the surface tension plays an important role, and mostly negative pressures exist in the surroundings of such a bubble. During the short explosion time, the gas and vapor pressure in the bubble plays no important role in the dynamic process. The high radial velocity of the bubble wall introduces a steep gradient in the concentration of dissolved air near it, which results in some enforced gas transport into the bubble. During the bubble implosion it is necessary to take into account the amount of gas in the bubble, as it certainly plays an important role in exploring the cavitation erosion. In this survey the solution of a mathematical model for the gas diffusion process is compared with some experimental results

Investigating anomalous transport of electrolytes in charged porous media

Science.gov (United States)

Skjøde Bolet, Asger Johannes; Mathiesen, Joachim

2017-04-01

Surface charge is know to play an important role in microfluidics devices when dealing with electrolytes and their transport properties. Similarly, surface charge could play a role for transport in porous rock with submicron pore sizes. Estimates of the streaming potentials and electro osmotic are mostly considered in simple geometries both using analytic and numerical tools, however it is unclear at present how realistic complex geometries will modify the dynamics. Our work have focused on doing numerical studies of the full three-dimensional Stokes-Poisson-Nernst-Planck problem for electrolyte transport in porous rock. As the numerical implementation, we have used a finite element solver made using the FEniCS project code base, which can both solve for a steady state configuration and the full transient. In the presentation, we will show our results on anomalous transport due to electro kinetic effects such as the streaming potential or the electro osmotic effect.

Water vapor and Gas Transport through Polymeric Membranes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Metz, S.J.

2003-01-01

Water vapor transport through polymeric materials plays an important role in a large number of applications such as: food packaging, breathable clothing, roofing membranes, diapers, and the removal of water vapor from gas streams (e.g. dehydration of natural gas or the drying of compressed air).

To Play or Not to Play: Diverse Motives for Latino and Euro-American Parent-Child Play in a Children's Museum

Science.gov (United States)

DiBianca Fasoli, Allison

2014-01-01

A popular social discourse in the United States is that play is important for children's learning and that parental involvement maximizes play's learning potential. Past research has concluded that parents who hold this view of play are more likely to play with their children than those who do not. This study investigated the prevalence…

[Transport characteristics of air pollutants over the Yangtze Delta].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yan; Chai, Fa-He; Wang, Yong-Hong; Liu, Ming

2008-05-01

Meteorological field of January, April, July and October in 2004 was obtained by running MM5 with NCEP datasets. Then we used HYSPLIT 4.8 model to calculate the backward and forward trajectories of representative cities. Distributions of trajectories and the affected areas vary with seasons. Transport current affecting Yangtze River Delta is mainly from Mongolia, North China or Northeast region, via Yellow Sea area, Shandong, Jiangsu province or Shanghai. Another important transport path is current from southwest because of the Southwest monsoon. A movement of East Asia monsoon plays an important part in the mesoscale transport of pollutants in Yangtze Delta. Winter monsoon is a main mechanism which moves the air pollutants in Yangtze Delta to South China and West Pacific ocean. Another important transport system is the subtropical anticyclone over the western Pacific Ocean which controls the east coast of our country in spring and summer. This circulation system mainly affects the inland area of our country.

Electrolyte solution transport in electropolar nanotubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao Jianbing; Culligan, Patricia J; Chen Xi; Qiao Yu; Zhou Qulan; Li Yibing; Tak, Moonho; Park, Taehyo

2010-01-01

Electrolyte transport in nanochannels plays an important role in a number of emerging areas. Using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations, the fundamental transport behavior of an electrolyte/water solution in a confined model nanoenvironment is systematically investigated by varying the nanochannel dimension, solid phase, electrolyte phase, ion concentration and transport rate. It is found that the shear resistance encountered by the nanofluid strongly depends on these material/system parameters; furthermore, several effects are coupled. The mechanisms of the nanofluidic transport characteristics are explained by considering the unique molecular/ion structure formed inside the nanochannel. The lower shear resistance observed in some of the systems studies could be beneficial for nanoconductors, while the higher shear resistance (or higher effective viscosity) observed in other systems might enhance the performance of energy dissipation devices.

The Importance of Transport for Social Inclusion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janet Stanley

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Links between mobility, social exclusion and well being, and matters related thereto, have been an important focus of research, planning and policy thinking in the land use transport field for about the past two decades, in places such as the UK, Australia, South Africa, North America and parts of South America. This introductory paper to the journal volume on Regional and Urban Mobility: Contribution to Social Inclusion summarizes some of the key literature in the field during that period, illustrating how research sometimes takes a place-based approach and at other times focuses on groups of people likely to be at risk of mobility-related social exclusion. The ten articles in this journal volume explore aspects of these relationships, mainly through the lens of at risk groups, across a number of social-spatial settings. Articles draw on case studies from the Philippines, UK/Germany, UK/Colombia, Lisbon, Gilgat-Baltistan, Turkey and Japan, providing a broad set of contexts. The different language and frameworks used by researchers from different professional backgrounds, as illustrated in this volume, highlights some of the barriers that need to be confronted in progressing policy to improve the lot of people experiencing mobility-related social exclusion.

The importance of play in promoting healthy child development and maintaining strong parent-child bond: focus on children in poverty.

Science.gov (United States)

Milteer, Regina M; Ginsburg, Kenneth R

2012-01-01

Play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being of children beginning in early childhood. It is a natural tool for children to develop resiliency as they learn to cooperate, overcome challenges, and negotiate with others. Play also allows children to be creative. It provides time for parents to be fully engaged with their children, to bond with their children, and to see the world from the perspective of their child. However, children who live in poverty often face socioeconomic obstacles that impede their rights to have playtime, thus affecting their healthy social-emotional development. For children who are underresourced to reach their highest potential, it is essential that parents, educators, and pediatricians recognize the importance of lifelong benefits that children gain from play.

The Pedagogy of Play

Science.gov (United States)

Giesbrecht, Sheila

2012-01-01

Play is important. Environmental educators Sobel and Louv write about the relationship between children and outside play and suggest that early transcendental experiences within nature allow children to develop empathetic orientations towards the natural world. Children who play out-of-doors develop an appreciation for the environment and…

Coupling effect on the electronic transport through dimolecular junctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Long, Meng-Qiu; Wang, Lingling; Chen, Ke-Qiu; Li, Xiao-Fei; Zou, B.S.; Shuai, Z.

2007-01-01

Using nonequilibrium Green's function and first-principle calculations, we investigate the transport behaviors of a dimolecule device with two 1,4-Dithiolbenzenes (DTB) sandwiched between two gold electrodes. The results show that the intermolecular coupling effect plays an important role in the conducting behavior of the system. By changing the dihedral angles between the two DTB molecules, namely changing the magnitude of the intermolecular interaction, a different transport behavior can be observed in the system

Perturbation theory and importance functions in integral transport formulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenspan, E.

1976-01-01

Perturbation theory expressions for the static reactivity derived from the flux, collision density, birth-rate density, and fission-neutron density formulations of integral transport theory, and from the integro-differential formulation, are intercompared. The physical meaning and relation of the adjoint functions corresponding to each of the five formulations are established. It is found that the first-order approximation of the perturbation expressions depends on the transport theory formulation and on the adjoint function used. The approximations of the integro-differential formulation corresponding to different first-order approximations of the integral transport theory formulations are identified. It is found that the accuracy of all first-order approximations of the integral transport formulations examined is superior to the accuracy of first-order integro-differential perturbation theory

POWER MANAGEMENT SAFETY IN EU AND THE ENERGY POLICY IN TRANSPORTATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ryszard Rolbiecki

2015-06-01

Full Text Available EU countries face a serious problem of being too much dependent on the crude oil import. Transportation sector is especially dependent on import of fuels. Therefore The White Paper of 2011 outlines the need for more effective energy supplies management as one of the main European transportation policy objectives. Technical innovations, featuring a wider use of alternative fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, liquefied natural gas (LNG and biofuels play a great role in the process of ensuring energy safety.

Copy number variation plays an important role in clinical epilepsy

Science.gov (United States)

Olson, Heather; Shen, Yiping; Avallone, Jennifer; Sheidley, Beth R.; Pinsky, Rebecca; Bergin, Ann M.; Berry, Gerard T.; Duffy, Frank H.; Eksioglu, Yaman; Harris, David J.; Hisama, Fuki M.; Ho, Eugenia; Irons, Mira; Jacobsen, Christina M.; James, Philip; Kothare, Sanjeev; Khwaja, Omar; Lipton, Jonathan; Loddenkemper, Tobias; Markowitz, Jennifer; Maski, Kiran; Megerian, J. Thomas; Neilan, Edward; Raffalli, Peter C.; Robbins, Michael; Roberts, Amy; Roe, Eugene; Rollins, Caitlin; Sahin, Mustafa; Sarco, Dean; Schonwald, Alison; Smith, Sharon E.; Soul, Janet; Stoler, Joan M.; Takeoka, Masanori; Tan, Wen-Han; Torres, Alcy R.; Tsai, Peter; Urion, David K.; Weissman, Laura; Wolff, Robert; Wu, Bai-Lin; Miller, David T.; Poduri, Annapurna

2015-01-01

Objective To evaluate the role of copy number abnormalities detectable by chromosomal microarray (CMA) testing in patients with epilepsy at a tertiary care center. Methods We identified patients with ICD-9 codes for epilepsy or seizures and clinical CMA testing performed between October 2006 and February 2011 at Boston Children’s Hospital. We reviewed medical records and included patients meeting criteria for epilepsy. We phenotypically characterized patients with epilepsy-associated abnormalities on CMA. Results Of 973 patients who had CMA and ICD-9 codes for epilepsy or seizures, 805 patients satisfied criteria for epilepsy. We observed 437 copy number variants (CNVs) in 323 patients (1–4 per patient), including 185 (42%) deletions and 252 (58%) duplications. Forty (9%) were confirmed de novo, 186 (43%) were inherited, and parental data were unavailable for 211 (48%). Excluding full chromosome trisomies, CNV size ranged from 18 kb to 142 Mb, and 34% were over 500 kb. In at least 40 cases (5%), the epilepsy phenotype was explained by a CNV, including 29 patients with epilepsy-associated syndromes and 11 with likely disease-associated CNVs involving epilepsy genes or “hotspots.” We observed numerous recurrent CNVs including 10 involving loss or gain of Xp22.31, a region described in patients with and without epilepsy. Interpretation Copy number abnormalities play an important role in patients with epilepsy. Given that the diagnostic yield of CMA for epilepsy patients is similar to the yield in autism spectrum disorders and in prenatal diagnosis, for which published guidelines recommend testing with CMA, we recommend the implementation of CMA in the evaluation of unexplained epilepsy. PMID:24811917

Regulation of Epithelial Sodium Transport via Epithelial Na+ Channel

Science.gov (United States)

Marunaka, Yoshinori; Niisato, Naomi; Taruno, Akiyuki; Ohta, Mariko; Miyazaki, Hiroaki; Hosogi, Shigekuni; Nakajima, Ken-ichi; Kusuzaki, Katsuyuki; Ashihara, Eishi; Nishio, Kyosuke; Iwasaki, Yoshinobu; Nakahari, Takashi; Kubota, Takahiro

2011-01-01

Renal epithelial Na+ transport plays an important role in homeostasis of our body fluid content and blood pressure. Further, the Na+ transport in alveolar epithelial cells essentially controls the amount of alveolar fluid that should be kept at an appropriate level for normal gas exchange. The epithelial Na+ transport is generally mediated through two steps: (1) the entry step of Na+ via epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) at the apical membrane and (2) the extrusion step of Na+ via the Na+, K+-ATPase at the basolateral membrane. In general, the Na+ entry via ENaC is the rate-limiting step. Therefore, the regulation of ENaC plays an essential role in control of blood pressure and normal gas exchange. In this paper, we discuss two major factors in ENaC regulation: (1) activity of individual ENaC and (2) number of ENaC located at the apical membrane. PMID:22028593

THE PERSPECTIVES OF MARITIME TRANSPORT IN EU AND ITS INTEGRATION IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Voicu-Dorobantu Roxana

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In a globalised economy transport is one of the most important factors linking the national economies and maritime transport is the main way to deliver goods in international trade. For any international company, choosing the appropriate transportation as part of the logistic solution is vital for its competitiveness. In the context of the economic crisis, CEE strategic location factors play an important role for regional companies which adapt and change their logistic services by developing new scenarios for the shipping industry in order to obtain a better position on the global market. In addition to a favourable geographical location CEE has several other important arguments, like sufficient harbours for developing container terminals to launch extensive container transport transit. The most important recent trends in logistics are shown, as well as the framework of the EU maritime transport.

Suprathermal-electron generation, transport, and deposition in CO2-laser-irradiated targets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hauer, A.; Goldman, R.; Kristal, R.

1982-01-01

Experiments on both axial and lateral energy transport and deposition in spherical targets are described. A variety of diagnostics have been used to measure hot-electron transport and deposition including bremsstrahlung and inner-shell radiation and soft x-ray temperature measurements. Self-generated electric and magnetic fields play an important role in the transport and deposition of the hot electrons. In some cases distinct patterns of surface deposition consistent with magnetic-field configurations have been observed

Rapid transport of CCL11 across the blood-brain barrier: regional variation and importance of blood cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, Michelle A; Morofuji, Yoichi; Owen, Joshua B; Banks, William A

2014-06-01

Increased blood levels of the eotaxin chemokine C-C motif ligand 11 (CCL11) in aging were recently shown to negatively regulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis. How circulating CCL11 could affect the central nervous system (CNS) is not clear, but one possibility is that it can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Here, we show that CCL11 undergoes bidirectional transport across the BBB. Transport of CCL11 from blood into whole brain (influx) showed biphasic kinetics, with a slow phase preceding a rapid phase of uptake. We found that the slow phase was explained by binding of CCL11 to cellular components in blood, whereas the rapid uptake phase was mediated by direct interactions with the BBB. CCL11, even at high doses, did not cause BBB disruption. All brain regions except striatum showed a delayed rapid-uptake phase. Striatum had only an early rapid-uptake phase, which was the fastest of any brain region. We also observed a slow but saturable transport system for CCL11 from brain to blood. C-C motif ligand 3 (CCR3), an important receptor for CCL11, did not facilitate CCL11 transport across the BBB, although high concentrations of a CCR3 inhibitor increased brain uptake without causing BBB disruption. Our results indicate that CCL11 in the circulation can access many regions of the brain outside of the neurogenic niche via transport across the BBB. This suggests that blood-borne CCL11 may have important physiologic functions in the CNS and implicates the BBB as an important regulator of physiologic versus pathologic effects of this chemokine.

Taking Play Seriously: Children and Play in Early Childhood Education--An Exciting Challenge

Science.gov (United States)

Lillemyr, Ole Fredrik

2009-01-01

In the book the author presents from different perspectives what is understood by the phenomenon of children's play, why it is important, and how children's play challenge and stimulate the educator or caregiver in regard of educational values and practice, with the conclusion: play has to be taken seriously. A selection of theories is introduced…

Linear stochastic neutron transport theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewins, J.

1978-01-01

A new and direct derivation of the Bell-Pal fundamental equation for (low power) neutron stochastic behaviour in the Boltzmann continuum model is given. The development includes correlation of particle emission direction in induced and spontaneous fission. This leads to generalizations of the backward and forward equations for the mean and variance of neutron behaviour. The stochastic importance for neutron transport theory is introduced and related to the conventional deterministic importance. Defining equations and moment equations are derived and shown to be related to the backward fundamental equation with the detector distribution of the operational definition of stochastic importance playing the role of an adjoint source. (author)

Soil water content plays an important role in soil-atmosphere exchange of carbonyl sulfide (OCS)

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Yi, Zhigang; Behrendt, Thomas; Bunk, Rüdiger; Wu, Dianming; Kesselmeier, Jürgen

2016-04-01

Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is a quite stable gas in the troposphere and is transported up to the stratosphere, where it contributes to the sulfate aerosol layer (Crutzen 1976). The tropospheric concentration seems to be quite constant, indicating a balance between sinks and sources. Recent work by Sandoval-Soto et al. (2005) demonstrated the enormous strength of the vegetation sink and the urgent needs to understand the sinks and sources. The role of soils is a matter of discussion (Kesselmeier et al., 1999; Van Diest and Kesselmeier, 2008; Maseyk et al., 2014; Whelan et al., 2015). To better understand the influence of soil water content and OCS mixing ratio on OCS fluxes, we used an OCS analyzer (LGR COS/CO Analyzer 907-0028, Los Gatos, CA, USA) coupled with automated soil chamber system (Behrendt et al., 2014) to measure the OCS fluxes with a slow drying of four different types of soil (arable wheat soil in Mainz, blueberry soil in Waldstein, spruce soil in Waldstein and needle forest soil in Finland). Results showed that OCS fluxes as well as the optimum soil water content for OCS uptake varied significantly for different soils. The net production rates changed significantly with the soil drying out from 100% to about 5% water holding capacity (WHC), implying that soil water content play an important role in the uptake processes. The production and uptake processes were distinguished by the regression of OCS fluxes under different OCS mixing ratios. OCS compensation points (CP) were found to differ significantly for different soil types and water content, with the lowest CP at about 20% WHC, implying that when estimating the global budgets of OCS, especially for soils fluxes, soil water content should be taken into serious consideration. References Crutzen, P. J. 1976, Geophys. Res. Lett., 3, 73-76. Sandoval-Soto, L. et al., 2005, Biogeosciences, 2, 125-132. Kesselmeier, J. et al., 1999, J. Geophys. Res., 104, 11577-11584. Van Diest, H. and Kesselmeier, J. 2008

Mechanism of realization economic strategy of transport organization

Science.gov (United States)

Palkina, E. S.

2017-10-01

In modern conditions of economic globalization, high dynamism of external environment, economic strategy of transport organization plays an important role in maintaining its competitive advantages, long-term development. For effective achievement of set strategic goals it is necessary to use an adequate mechanism based on completeness and interrelation of its constituent instruments. The main objective of the study presented in this paper is to develop methodological provisions on formation the mechanism of realization economic strategy for transport organizations. The principles of its construction have been proposed, the key components have been defined. Finally, an attempt to implementation this mechanism into the transport organization management system has been realized.

Importance of 3D Processes Near the Ocean's Surface for Material Transport

Science.gov (United States)

Ozgokmen, T. M.

2014-12-01

There are a number of practical problems that demand an accurate knowledge of ocean currents near the surface of the ocean. It is known that oceanic coherent features transport heat and carry out vertical exchange of biogeochemical tracers. Ocean currents can affect biological primary production, air-sea gas exchanges and global tracer budgets. Ocean currents are also important for the dispersion of substances that pose a danger to society, economy and human health. Examples of such events include algal blooms, the Fukushima nuclear plant incident in the Pacific Ocean in 2011, and repeated large oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico, namely the IXTOC in 1978 and the Deepwater Horizon event in 2010. Such incidents demand accurate answers to questions such as ``where will the pollutant go?", ``how fast will it get there?" and ``how much pollutant will arrive there?", and in some instances ``where did the pollutant come from?". The answers to these questions are critical to the allocation of limited response resources, and in determining the overall impact of the events. We will summarize the efforts by the Consortium for Advanced Research on Transport of Hydrocarbon in the Environment (CARTHE). One of the primary objectives of CARTHE is to improve predictive modeling capability for flows near the air-sea interface. In particular, two large experiments, Grand Lagrangian Deployment (GLAD) and Surf-zone and Coastal Oil Pathways Experiment (SCOPE), coordinated with real-time modeling were instructive on processes influencing near-surface material transport. Findings on submesoscale flows as well as model deficiencies to capture processes relevant to transport will be discussed. Insight into future modeling and observational plans will be provided.

Chamber transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olson, Craig L.

2001-01-01

Heavy ion beam transport through the containment chamber plays a crucial role in all heavy ion fusion (HIF) scenarios. Here, several parameters are used to characterize the operating space for HIF beams; transport modes are assessed in relation to evolving target/accelerator requirements; results of recent relevant experiments and simulations of HIF transport are summarized; and relevant instabilities are reviewed. All transport options still exist, including (1) vacuum ballistic transport, (2) neutralized ballistic transport, and (3) channel-like transport. Presently, the European HIF program favors vacuum ballistic transport, while the US HIF program favors neutralized ballistic transport with channel-like transport as an alternate approach. Further transport research is needed to clearly guide selection of the most attractive, integrated HIF system

Intracellular loop 5 is important for the transport mechanism and molecular pharmacology of the human serotonin transporter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Said, Saida; Neubauer, Henrik Amtoft; Müller, Heidi Kaastrup

2015-01-01

The serotonin transporter (SERT) belongs to a family of transport proteins called the neurotransmitter:sodium symporters. The specialized members of this family transport different neurotransmitters across the cell membrane, thereby regulating signaling between neurons. Most of these transporters...

The effects of magnetic perturbations on plasma transport or is magnetic turbulence important in tokamaks?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wootton, A.J.

1993-01-01

A test particle model is verified and then used to interpret estimates of fast electron diffusivities in terms of magnetic fluctuation levels. The implied fluctuation levels are themselves interpreted with another verified model to predict electron thermal diffusivities. If the fast electron diffusivities represent local values, then the implied associated thermal transport is too small to explain experimental values. That is, magnetic fluctuations are not important. However, if the fast electron diffusivities represent effective values across mixed good (i.e. with no magnetic fluctuations) and bad (with magnetic fluctuations) surfaces then the implied magnetic fluctuation levels can influence electron thermal transport. (author)

In Defense of Play: Beginning the Dialog about the Power of Play

Science.gov (United States)

Myck-Wayne, Janice

2010-01-01

This article provides early childhood practitioners a way to develop a common understanding of the importance of play in the early learning experience of young children. Meaningful discussion among teachers, parents, administrators, and teacher candidates regarding play in early childhood education programs is critical to ensure the growth and…

Why do Dolphins Play?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stan A. Kuczaj

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Play is an important aspect of dolphin life, perhaps even an essential one. Play provides opportunities for dolphin calves to practice and perfect locomotor skills, including those involved in foraging and mating strategies and behaviors. Play also allows dolphin calves to learn important social skills and acquire information about the characteristics and predispositions of members of their social group, particularly their peers. In addition to helping dolphin calves learn how to behave, play also provides valuable opportunities for them to learn how to think. The ability to create and control play contexts enables dolphins to create novel experiences for themselves and their playmates under relatively safe conditions. The behavioral variability and individual creativity that characterize dolphin play yield ample opportunities for individual cognitive development as well as social learning, and sometimes result in innovations that are reproduced by other members of the group. Although adults sometimes produce innovative play, calves are the primary source of such innovations. Calves are also more likely to imitate novel play behaviors than are adults, and so calves contribute significantly to both the creation and transmission of novel play behaviors within a group. Not unexpectedly, then, the complexity of dolphin play increases with the involvement of peers. As a result, the opportunity to observe and/or interact with other dolphin calves enhances the effects of play on the acquisition and maintenance of flexible problem solving skills, the emergence and strengthening of social and communicative competencies, and the establishment of social relationships. It seems that play may have evolved to help young dolphins learn to adapt to novel situations in both their physical and social worlds, the beneficial result being a set of abilities that increases the likelihood that an individual survives and reproduces.

IRBIT plays an important role in NHE3-mediated pHi regulation in HSG cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Tien Manh; Park, Moon-Yong; Lee, Jiyeon; Bae, Jun-Seok; Hwang, Sung-Min; Choi, Se-Young; Mikoshiba, Katsuhiko; Park, Kyungpyo

2013-07-19

Expression of inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) receptor-binding protein (IRBIT) has been reported in epithelial cells. However, its role in pHi regulation is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the role of IRBIT in pHi regulation, mediated by Na(+)/H(+) exchangers (NHEs), in salivary glands. We measured pHi recovery from cell acidification in BCECF-loaded salivary HSG cells. Western blot and co-immunoprecipitation (CO-IP) assays were also performed, showing that NHE1, 2 and 3 are expressed, and IRBIT binds to NHE3. HOE642, a specific NHE1 blocker, inhibited pHi recovery, but 40% pH(i) recovery was still observed even at the highest concentration of HOE642. Furthermore, pretreatment of the cells with siIRBIT significantly inhibited pHi recovery, indicating that NHE3 potentially plays a role in pHi recovery as well. The amount of membrane-localized NHE3 and its interaction with IRBIT are also significantly increased by cell acidification. In addition, we found that Ste20p-related proline alanine-rich kinase (SPAK) reverses the effect of IRBIT on membrane NHE3 translocation. Taken together, we conclude that IRBIT plays an important role in pHi regulation, mediated by NHE3, and further regulated by SPAK. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Choline transporter mutations in severe congenital myasthenic syndrome disrupt transporter localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Haicui; Salter, Claire G; Refai, Osama; Hardy, Holly; Barwick, Katy E S; Akpulat, Ugur; Kvarnung, Malin; Chioza, Barry A; Harlalka, Gaurav; Taylan, Fulya; Sejersen, Thomas; Wright, Jane; Zimmerman, Holly H; Karakaya, Mert; Stüve, Burkhardt; Weis, Joachim; Schara, Ulrike; Russell, Mark A; Abdul-Rahman, Omar A; Chilton, John; Blakely, Randy D; Baple, Emma L; Cirak, Sebahattin; Crosby, Andrew H

2017-11-01

The presynaptic, high-affinity choline transporter is a critical determinant of signalling by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine at both central and peripheral cholinergic synapses, including the neuromuscular junction. Here we describe an autosomal recessive presynaptic congenital myasthenic syndrome presenting with a broad clinical phenotype due to homozygous choline transporter missense mutations. The clinical phenotype ranges from the classical presentation of a congenital myasthenic syndrome in one patient (p.Pro210Leu), to severe neurodevelopmental delay with brain atrophy (p.Ser94Arg) and extend the clinical outcomes to a more severe spectrum with infantile lethality (p.Val112Glu). Cells transfected with mutant transporter construct revealed a virtually complete loss of transport activity that was paralleled by a reduction in transporter cell surface expression. Consistent with these findings, studies to determine the impact of gene mutations on the trafficking of the Caenorhabditis elegans choline transporter orthologue revealed deficits in transporter export to axons and nerve terminals. These findings contrast with our previous findings in autosomal dominant distal hereditary motor neuropathy of a dominant-negative frameshift mutation at the C-terminus of choline transporter that was associated with significantly reduced, but not completely abrogated choline transporter function. Together our findings define divergent neuropathological outcomes arising from different classes of choline transporter mutation with distinct disease processes and modes of inheritance. These findings underscore the essential role played by the choline transporter in sustaining acetylcholine neurotransmission at both central and neuromuscular synapses, with important implications for treatment and drug selection. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Molecular cloning, functional characterization and expression analysis of a novel monosaccharide transporter gene OsMST6 from rice (Oryza sativa L.)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wang, Y.; Xiao, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Chai, C.; Wei, G.; Wei, X.; Xu, H.; Wang, M.; Ouwerkerk, P.B.F.; Zhu, Z.

2008-01-01

Monosaccharides transporters play important roles in assimilate supply for sink tissue development. In this study, a new monosaccharide transporter gene OsMST6 was identified from rice (Oryza sativa L.). The predicted OsMST6 protein shows typical features of sugar transporters and shares 79.6%

Effects of pricing policy in traffic and transport. Overview of knowledge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geilenkirchen, G.P.; Geurs, K.; Van Essen, H.P.; Schroten, A.; Boon, B.

2010-05-01

Pricing policies play an important role in transport policy making. The results of pricing policy studies, however, are often debated. This report presents a literature overview of the price sensitivities of transport demand and the effects of transport pricing policies in passenger transport, freight transport and aviation. The study concludes that the demand for passenger and freight transport is typically inelastic; the relative price change is greater than the resulting change in transport demand. Fuel demand for cars, public transport demand and air travel demand are, however, relatively sensitive to price changes. Car use is relatively insensitive to price changes. The demand for road freight is, in contrast to what is often assumed, relatively sensitive to changes in total transport costs. Relatively little empirical evidence is available on the impacts of pricing policies on rail freight transport, shipping and aviation. [nl

Identification of rare high-risk copy number variants affecting the dopamine transporter gene in mental disorders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoeffding, Louise Kristine Enggaard; Duong, Linh T T; Ingason, Andres

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: The dopamine transporter, also known as solute carrier 6A3 (SLC6A3), plays an important role in synaptic transmission by regulating the reuptake of dopamine in the synapses. In line with this, variations in the gene encoding this transporter have been linked to both schizophrenia and ...

Dimer monomer transition and dimer re-formation play important role for ATM cellular function during DNA repair

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du, Fengxia; Zhang, Minjie; Li, Xiaohua; Yang, Caiyun; Meng, Hao; Wang, Dong; Chang, Shuang; Xu, Ye; Price, Brendan; Sun, Yingli

2014-01-01

Highlights: • ATM phosphorylates the opposite strand of the dimer in response to DNA damage. • The PETPVFRLT box of ATM plays a key role in its dimer dissociation in DNA repair. • The dephosphorylation of ATM is critical for dimer re-formation after DNA repair. - Abstract: The ATM protein kinase, is a serine/threonine protein kinase that is recruited and activated by DNA double-strand breaks, mediates responses to ionizing radiation in mammalian cells. Here we show that ATM is held inactive in unirradiated cells as a dimer and phosphorylates the opposite strand of the dimer in response to DNA damage. Cellular irradiation induces rapid intermolecular autophosphorylation of serine 1981 that causes dimer dissociation and initiates cellular ATM kinase activity. ATM cannot phosphorylate the substrates when it could not undergo dimer monomer transition. After DNA repair, the active monomer will undergo dephosphorylation to form dimer again and dephosphorylation is critical for dimer re-formation. Our work reveals novel function of ATM dimer monomer transition and explains why ATM dimer monomer transition plays such important role for ATM cellular activity during DNA repair

Microbial functional diversity plays an important role in the degradation of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) in soil.

Science.gov (United States)

Dey, Samrat; Tribedi, Prosun

2018-03-01

Towards bioremediation of recalcitrant materials like synthetic polymer, soil has been recognized as a traditional site for disposal and subsequent degradation as some microorganisms in soil can degrade the polymer in a non-toxic, cost-effective, and environment friendly way. Microbial functional diversity is a constituent of biodiversity that includes wide range of metabolic activities that can influence numerous aspects of ecosystem functioning like ecosystem stability, nutrient availability, ecosystem dynamics, etc. Thus, in the current study, we assumed that microbial functional diversity could play an important role in polymer degradation in soil. To verify this hypothesis, we isolated soil from five different sites of landfill and examined several microbiological parameters wherein we observed a significant variation in heterotrophic microbial count as well as microbial activities among the soil microcosms tested. Multivariate analysis (principle component analysis) based on the carbon sources utilization pattern revealed that soil microcosms showed different metabolic patterns suggesting the variable distribution of microorganisms among the soil microcosms tested. Since microbial functional diversity depends on both microbial richness and evenness, Shannon diversity index was determined to measure microbial richness and Gini coefficient was determined to measure microbial evenness. The tested soil microcosms exhibited variation in both microbial richness and evenness suggesting the considerable difference in microbial functional diversity among the tested microcosms. We then measured polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) degradation in soil microcosms after desired period of incubation of PHB in soil wherein we found that soil microcosms having higher functional diversity showed enhanced PHB degradation and soil microcosms having lower functional diversity showed reduced PHB degradation. We also noticed that all the tested soil microcosms showed similar pattern in both

Electric-Field Control of Interfering Transport Pathways in a Single-Molecule Anthraquinone Transistor

Science.gov (United States)

Koole, Max; Thijssen, Jos M.; Valkenier, Hennie; Hummelen, Jan C.; Zant, Herre S. J. van der

2015-08-01

It is understood that molecular conjugation plays an important role in charge transport through single-molecule junctions. Here, we investigate electron transport through an anthraquinone based single-molecule three-terminal device. With the use of an electric-field induced by a gate electrode, the molecule is reduced resulting into a ten-fold increase in the off-resonant differential conductance. Theoretical calculations link the change in differential conductance to a reduction-induced change in conjugation, thereby lifting destructive interference of transport pathways.

Overview of Play: Its Uses and Importance in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education

Science.gov (United States)

Lifter, Karin; Foster-Sanda, Suzanne; Arzamarski, Caley; Briesch, Jacquelyn; McClure, Ellen

2011-01-01

Play is a natural activity of early childhood, which has great relevance to the fields of early intervention, early childhood special education, and early childhood education. Within these fields, ongoing tensions persist in how play is described and used. These tensions compromise activities of assessment, intervention, and curriculum development…

Sulfate Transporters in Dissimilatory Sulfate Reducing Microorganisms: A Comparative Genomics Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angeliki Marietou

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The first step in the sulfate reduction pathway is the transport of sulfate across the cell membrane. This uptake has a major effect on sulfate reduction rates. Much of the information available on sulfate transport was obtained by studies on assimilatory sulfate reduction, where sulfate transporters were identified among several types of protein families. Despite our growing knowledge on the physiology of dissimilatory sulfate-reducing microorganisms (SRM there are no studies identifying the proteins involved in sulfate uptake in members of this ecologically important group of anaerobes. We surveyed the complete genomes of 44 sulfate-reducing bacteria and archaea across six phyla and identified putative sulfate transporter encoding genes from four out of the five surveyed protein families based on homology. We did not find evidence that ABC-type transporters (SulT are involved in the uptake of sulfate in SRM. We speculate that members of the CysP sulfate transporters could play a key role in the uptake of sulfate in thermophilic SRM. Putative CysZ-type sulfate transporters were present in all genomes examined suggesting that this overlooked group of sulfate transporters might play a role in sulfate transport in dissimilatory sulfate reducers alongside SulP. Our in silico analysis highlights several targets for further molecular studies in order to understand this key step in the metabolism of SRMs.

Plant Transporter Identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Bo

Membrane transport proteins (transporters) play a critical role for numerous biological processes, by controlling the movements of ions and molecules in and out of cells. In plants, transporters thus function as gatekeepers between the plant and its surrounding environment and between organs......, tissues, cells and intracellular compartments. Since plants are highly compartmentalized organisms with complex transportation infrastructures, they consequently have many transporters. However, the vast majority of predicted transporters have not yet been experimentally verified to have transport...... activity. This project contains a review of the implemented methods, which have led to plant transporter identification, and present our progress on creating a high-throughput functional genomics transporter identification platform....

Genetic factors may play a prominent role in the development of coronary heart disease dependent on important environmental factors

Science.gov (United States)

Song, C; Chang, Z; Magnusson, P K E; Ingelsson, E; Pedersen, N L

2014-01-01

Astract Song C, Chang Z, Magnusson PKE, Ingelsson E, Pedersen NL (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; Uppsala University, Uppsala; Sweden). Genetic factors may play a prominent role in the developmentofcoronary heart diseasedependenton important environmental factors. J InternMed2014; 275: 631–639. Objective The aim of the study was to examine whether various lifestyle factors modify genetic influences on coronary heart disease (CHD). Design The effect of lifestyle factors [including smoking, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol intake and body mass index (BMI)] on risk of CHD was evaluated via Cox regression models in a twin study of gene–environment interaction. Using structure equation modelling, we estimated genetic variance of CHD dependent on lifestyle factors. Subjects In total, 51 065 same-sex twins from 25 715 twin pairs born before 1958 and registered in the Swedish Twin Registry were eligible for this study. During the 40-year follow-up, 7264 incident CHD events were recorded. Results Smoking, sedentary lifestyle and above average BMI were significantly associated with increased CHD incidence. The heritability of CHD decreased with increasing age, as well as with increasing levels of BMI, in both men and women. Conclusions The difference in the genetic component of CHD as a function of BMI suggests that genetic factors may play a more prominent role for disease development in the absence of important environmental factors. Increased knowledge of gene–environment interactions will be important for a full understanding of the aetiology of CHD. PMID:24330166

Teachers and Parents Play to Learn: Play-Based Instruction in Computer Technology

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Denise

2010-01-01

Play is so important that it is declared as one of the human rights by the United Nations. Although it is focused on children, play does "not" stop there. In the 1990s the author designed and facilitated a blended curriculum for a Head Start Program. The instructional goal was to introduce and get the children to effectively and…

Transport and fluctuation studies on RFX

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martini, S.; Martines, E.; Carraro, L.

2003-01-01

The paper highlights the progress made in the modelling and understanding of the mechanisms underlying particle and energy transport in the RFP. A transport analysis has been performed on the perturbed transport coefficients for pellets of different characteristics launched both in standard RFP plasmas and in combination with pulsed poloidal current drive, this latter scenario potentially allowing an efficient fuelling and a good energy confinement. The study has confirmed the importance of large-scale MHD modes in determining the transport properties in the RFP core. As far as confinement in the edge is concerned, the analysis has been focussed on the role played by burst events on the electrostatic particle flux and to the 'intermittent events'. The intermittent events cluster during relaxation processes and such behaviour is more evident close to the magnetic reversal surface. This result confirms an interplay between the small scale edge turbulence and the large scale relaxation events driven by core-resonant tearing modes. (author)

Hydrogen transport behavior of beryllium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anderl, R.A.; Hankins, M.R.; Longhurst, G.R.; Pawelko, R.J. (Idaho National Engineering Lab., EG and G Idaho, Inc., Idaho Falls, ID (United States)); Macaulay-Newcombe, R.G. (Dept. of Engineering Physics, Univ. Hamilton, ON (Canada))

1992-12-01

Beryllium is being evaluated for use as a plasma-facing material in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). One concern in the evaluation is the retention and permeation of tritium implanted into the plasma-facing surface. We performed laboratory-scale studies to investigate mechanisms that influence hydrogen transport and retention in beryllium foil specimens of rolled powder metallurgy product and rolled ingot cast beryllium. Specimen characterization was accomplished using scanning electron microscopy. Auger electron spectroscopy, and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) techniques. Hydrogen transport was investigated using ion-beam permeation experiments and nuclear reaction analysis (NRA). Results indicate that trapping plays a significant role in permeation, re-emission, and retention, and that surface processes at both upstream and downstream surfaces are also important. (orig.).

Late Modern Play Culture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karoff, Helle Skovbjerg

2008-01-01

and the Danish University of Education (among others) have been working with different kind of products, all referred to as PlAYWARE. Playware combines modern technology and knowledge about play culture in order to produce playful experiences for its players. This paper will exemplify how the concept of play can...... from one generation to the next. Because older children are no longer present as younger children grow up, the traditional "cultural leaders" are gone. They have taken with them much of the inspiration for play as well as important knowledge about how to organise a game. In that sense we can say...

THE MAGIC OF PLAY: LOW-INCOME MOTHERS' AND FATHERS' PLAYFULNESS AND CHILDREN'S EMOTION REGULATION AND VOCABULARY SKILLS.

Science.gov (United States)

Cabrera, Natasha J; Karberg, Elizabeth; Malin, Jenessa L; Aldoney, Daniela

2017-11-01

Using data from a diverse sample of low-income families who participated in the Early Head Start Research Evaluation Project (n = 73), we explored the association between mothers' and fathers' playfulness with toddlers, toddler's affect during play, and children's language and emotion regulation at prekindergarten. There were two main findings. First, fathers' playfulness in toddlerhood was associated with children's vocabulary skills in prekindergarten whereas mothers' playfulness was related to children's emotion regulation. Cross-parental effects were found only for mothers. The association between mothers' playfulness and children's vocabulary and emotion regulation was strengthened when fathers engaged in more pretend play and when children were affectively positive during the play. These findings show that playfulness is an important source of variation in the vocabulary and emotion regulation of children growing up in low-income families. They also point to domain-specific ways that mothers and fathers promote children's regulatory and vocabulary skills, and highlight the importance of children's positive engagement in play. © 2017 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Case Study 1: Playful Team Reflection Using LEGO® Serious Play®

Science.gov (United States)

Seidl, Tobias

2017-01-01

Teamwork and cooperation are important 21st century skills and therefore important parts of the higher education curriculum. Following Kolb's "experiential learning cycle" model a combination of project work and moderated reflection can help students to acquire these skills. This article elaborates how LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP) can be…

Subcellular localization of ammonium transporters in Dictyostelium discoideum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Davis Carter T

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background With the exception of vertebrates, most organisms have plasma membrane associated ammonium transporters which primarily serve to import a source of nitrogen for nutritional purposes. Dictyostelium discoideum has three ammonium transporters, Amts A, B and C. Our present work used fluorescent fusion proteins to determine the cellular localization of the Amts and tested the hypothesis that the transporters mediate removal of ammonia generated endogenously from the elevated protein catabolism common to many protists. Results Using RFP and YFP fusion constructs driven by the actin 15 promoter, we found that the three ammonium transporters were localized on the plasma membrane and on the membranes of subcellular organelles. AmtA and AmtB were localized on the membranes of endolysosomes and phagosomes, with AmtB further localized on the membranes of contractile vacuoles. AmtC also was localized on subcellular organelles when it was stabilized by coexpression with either the AmtA or AmtB fusion transporter. The three ammonium transporters exported ammonia linearly with regard to time during the first 18 hours of the developmental program as revealed by reduced export in the null strains. The fluorescently tagged transporters rescued export when expressed in the null strains, and thus they were functional transporters. Conclusion Unlike ammonium transporters in most organisms, which import NH3/NH4+ as a nitrogen source, those of Dictyostelium export ammonia/ammonium as a waste product from extensive catabolism of exogenously derived and endogenous proteins. Localization on proteolytic organelles and on the neutral contractile vacuole suggests that Dictyostelium ammonium transporters may have unique subcellular functions and play a role in the maintenance of intracellular ammonium distribution. A lack of correlation between the null strain phenotypes and ammonia excretion properties of the ammonium transporters suggests that it is not

Electron transport and improved confinement on Tore Supra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hoang, G.T.; Bourdelle, C.; Garbet, X.; Aniel, T.; Giruzzi, G.; Ottaviani, M.; Horton, W.; Zhu, P.; Budny, R.V.

2001-01-01

Magnetic shear is found to play an important role for triggering various improved confinement regimes through the electron channel. A wide database of hot electron plasmas (T e >2T i ) heated by fast wave electron heating (FWEH) is analyzed for electron thermal transport. A critical gradient is clearly observed. It is found that the critical gradient linearly increases with the ratio between local magnetic shear (s) and safety factor (q). The Horton model, based on the electromagnetic turbulence driven by the electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode, is found to be a good candidate for electron transport modeling. (author)

Contracting Parties in the International Successive Transport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ion IORGA

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Sometimes, the carrier, in order to accomplish the task of moving goods to its destination, he appeals to other carriers, for various reasons, concluding another contract of carriage, whichcircumscribes the initial contract and it entrusts the achievement of the entire transportation or only a part of it. Sometimes, there are precise stipulations in the main contract of carriage concerning thisissue. Besides the movement of goods, which we may call traditional, defined as using means of transportation of the same kind, lately we can observe the proliferation of more complex operations, which have the generic name of successive transportation. In such shipments, the multimodal transport plays an important role. Thus, the present approach focuses on some features of the legal relationships which may arise between the contracting carrier, surrogate carrier, consignor and consignee, and also on the results from the analysis of the concerned international conventions.

The European Commission: nuclear power has an important role to play; Commission Europeenne: le nucleaire a un role important a jouer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon

2008-11-15

The European Commission (E.C.) thinks that nuclear power has an important role to play: first to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions and secondly to reinforce energy self-reliance of the member states. The decision to introduce nuclear power in their energy mix belongs to every state but the E.C. has also highlighted that if adequate investment are quickly made 2 thirds of the electricity produced in the European Union in 2010 could by from low-carbon-emitting sources. Today with 148 reactors operating in 15 member countries nuclear power contributes to 1 third of the electricity produced. Another issue that is looming is the security of electricity supplying. A study has shown that the security level is worsening (particularly in winter) because of the greater part of wind energy in the energy mix as wind energy is not necessarily available when energy demand is peaking. The E.C. has proposed a new directive drawing a common standard frame for nuclear safety requirements concerning design, site selection, maintenance, operation and decommissioning of nuclear facilities. Each member state will have the choice to implement stiffer regulations. The European Union must reduce its dependency on Russian gas by increasing its storing capacities, by easing gas exchanges between member states and by importing more liquefied natural gas. European member states will have to invert 1000*10{sup 9} euros in gas and electrical power infrastructures in the next 25 years. (A.C.)

Immunocytochemical localization of the glutamate transporter GLT-1 in goldfish (Carassius auratus) retina

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vandenbranden, C. A.; Yazulla, S.; Studholme, K. M.; Kamphuis, W.; Kamermans, M.

2000-01-01

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the retina of vertebrates. Electrophysiological experiments in goldfish and salamander have shown that neuronal glutamate transporters play an important role in the clearance of glutamate from cone synaptic clefts. In this study, the localization

Play Therapy: Practice, Issues, and Trends

Science.gov (United States)

Homeyer, Linda E.; Morrison, Mary O.

2008-01-01

Play therapy is an effective means of responding to the mental health needs of young children and is widely accepted as a valuable and developmentally appropriate intervention. The authors discuss the importance of play in development, the therapeutic benefits of play, the rich history of play therapy, and recent research and current issues and…

Biogeochemical consequences of vertical and lateral transport of particulate organic matter in the southern North Sea: A multiproxy approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

le Guitton, M.; Soetaert, K.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Middelburg, J.J.

2015-01-01

Vertical and lateral transports are of importance in continental shelf systems such as the North Sea and play a major role in the processing of organic matter. We investigated the biogeochemical consequences of these transports on particulate organic matter at the molecular level in the southern

Influence of multidrug resistance and drug transport proteins on chemotherapy drug metabolism.

Science.gov (United States)

Joyce, Helena; McCann, Andrew; Clynes, Martin; Larkin, Annemarie

2015-05-01

Chemotherapy involving the use of anticancer drugs remains an important strategy in the overall management of patients with metastatic cancer. Acquisition of multidrug resistance remains a major impediment to successful chemotherapy. Drug transporters in cell membranes and intracellular drug metabolizing enzymes contribute to the resistance phenotype and determine the pharmacokinetics of anticancer drugs in the body. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters mediate the transport of endogenous metabolites and xenobiotics including cytotoxic drugs out of cells. Solute carrier (SLC) transporters mediate the influx of cytotoxic drugs into cells. This review focuses on the substrate interaction of these transporters, on their biology and what role they play together with drug metabolizing enzymes in eliminating therapeutic drugs from cells. The majority of anticancer drugs are substrates for the ABC transporter and SLC transporter families. Together, these proteins have the ability to control the influx and the efflux of structurally unrelated chemotherapeutic drugs, thereby modulating the intracellular drug concentration. These interactions have important clinical implications for chemotherapy because ultimately they determine therapeutic efficacy, disease progression/relapse and the success or failure of patient treatment.

The role of Rashba spin-orbit coupling in valley-dependent transport of Dirac fermions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hasanirok, Kobra; Mohammadpour, Hakimeh

2017-01-01

At this work, spin- and valley-dependent electron transport through graphene and silicene layers are studied in the presence of Rashba spin- orbit coupling. We find that the transport properties of the related ferromagnetic/normal/ferromagnetic structure depend on the relevant parameters. A fully valley- and spin- polarized current is obtained. As another result, Rashba spin-orbit interaction plays important role in controlling the transmission characteristics.

Safety And Reduce In Pollution Issues For Inland Waterway Transportation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Van Huong Dong

2017-04-01

Full Text Available According to the Ministry of Transport inland water transport is one of the five modes of transport in our country play a very important role. Inland waterway transport not only plays a major role in transporting large volumes of goods and passengers but also creates millions of jobs contributing to ensuring social security and national defense and security. However there are still many inadequacies in waterway transportation such as unequal waterway traffic The phenomenon of exploitation of river resources as planned or Process technology is not as planned exploitation of sand gravel etc. are common in most rivers and canals in the country. The signaling system is not synchronized between the signal of the inland waterway management unit and the signal of the owner The handling of domestic goods transportation and inland port management is inadequate The force of the means of development is fast uneven but concentrated in some urban areas and industrial parks. Therefore the Ministry of Transport has proposed a scheme to facilitate the development of a synchronized inland waterway infrastructure linking with other modes of transport To improve the capacity of the crew and the inland waterway transport crews. To create favorable conditions for inland waterway transportation business with reasonable transportation costs Improve the quality of water transport services Ensure safety and environmental friendliness Make a distinct advantage over other modes of transport. Specifically will develop promulgate mechanisms The policy is to facilitate the development of inland waterway infrastructure Build and promulgate mechanism The policy of supporting the development of the fleet has a reasonable structure with a fleet of about 30 self-propelled ships accounting for about 70 of the total number of inland waterway vessels To prioritize the development of the container fleet Inland waterway transportation and training retraining of human resources for

Guidelines for social support to child play

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mitranić Nevena N.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Play is a precious aspect of living and irreplaceable importance for not only child well-being and development but for adults and communities, too. Complex current living conditions often minimize the importance of child play and it becomes even more necessary that educational policies support it. The subject of the research is based on the role child play has in educational policy and the aim is formulation of measures and actions which can support child play in educational policy. We examined measures and actions of official educational policies and non government organizations of the United Kingdom of England and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Republic of Serbia. The results show that the problem is deeper than current nonexistence of systemic support to play in Serbia and open the question on which paradigm official educational policy in Serbia approaches to education, and the question of how to bring to awareness the importance of play in order to support it. Relaying on the frameworks of play support policy in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland we suggest some guidelines for social support of child play which might prove sensible and feasible in Serbia.

Finite beta effects on turbulent transport in tokamak plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hein, Tobias

2011-01-01

The research on the transport properties of magnetically confined plasmas plays an essential role towards the achievement of practical nuclear fusion energy. An economically viable fusion reactor is expected to operate at high plasma pressure. This implies that the detailed study of the impact of electromagnetic effects, whose strength increases with increasing pressure, is of critical importance. In the present work, the electromagnetic effects on the particle, momentum and heat transport channels have been investigated, with both analytical and numerical calculations. Transport processes due to a finite plasma pressure have been identified, their physical mechanisms have been explained, and their contributions have been quantified, showing that they can be significant under experimentally relevant conditions.

Active transport among Czech school-aged children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan Pavelka

2012-09-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Active transport is a very important factor for increasing the level of physical activity in children, which is significant for both their health and positive physical behaviour in adult age. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to establish the proportion of Czech children aged 11 to 15 who select active transport to and from school and, at the same time, describe socio-economic and socio-demographic factors influencing active transport to and from school among children. METHODS: To establish the socio-demographic factors affecting active transport, data of a national representative sample of 11 to 15 year-old elementary school children in the Czech Republic (n = 4,425. Research data collection was performed within an international research study called Health Behaviour in School Aged Children in June 2010. Statistical processing of the results was made using a logistic regression analysis in the statistical programme IBM SPSS v 20. RESULTS: Active transport to and from school is opted for in the Czech Republic by approximately 2/3 of children aged 11 to 15. Differences between genders are not statistically significant; most children opting for active transport are aged 11 (69%. An important factor increasing the probability of active transport as much as 16 times is whether a child's place of residence is in the same municipality as the school. Other factors influencing this choice include BMI, time spent using a computer or a privateroom in a family. A significant factor determining active transport by children is safety; safe road crossing, opportunity to leave a bicycle safely at school, no fear of being assaulted on the way or provision of school lockers where children can leave their items. CONCLUSIONS: Active transport plays an important role in increasing the overall level of physical activity in children. Promotion of active transport should focus on children who spend more time using a computer; attention should also be

Can Brazil play a more important role in global tuberculosis drug production? An assessment of current capacity and challenges.

Science.gov (United States)

Gemal, Andre; Keravec, Joel; Menezes, Alexandre; Trajman, Anete

2013-03-27

Despite the existence of effective treatment, tuberculosis is still a global public health issue. The World Health Organization recommends a six-month four-drug regimen in fixed-dose combination formulation to treat drug sensitive tuberculosis, and long course regimens with several second-line drugs to treat multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. To achieve the projected tuberculosis elimination goal by 2050, it will be essential to ensure a non-interrupted supply of quality-assured tuberculosis drugs. However, quality and affordable tuberculosis drug supply is still a significant challenge for National Tuberculosis Programs. Quality drug production requires a combination of complex steps. The first challenge is to guarantee the quality of tuberculosis active pharmaceutical ingredients, then ensure an adequate manufacturing process, according to international standards, to guarantee final product's safety, efficacy and quality. Good practices for storage, transport, distribution and quality control procedures must follow. In contrast to other high-burden countries, Brazil produces tuberculosis drugs through a strong network of public sector drug manufacturers regulated by a World Health Organization-certified national sanitary authority. The installed capacity for production surpasses the 71,000 needed treatments in the country. However, in order to be prepared to act as a global supplier, important bottlenecks are to be overcome. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the current status of production of tuberculosis drugs in Brazil and the bottlenecks and opportunities for the country to sustain national demand and play a role as a potential global supplier. Raw material and drug production, quality control, international certification and pre-qualification, political commitment and regulatory aspects are discussed, as well recommendations for tackling these bottlenecks. This discussion becomes more important as new drugs and regimens to treat tuberculosis are

Level playing field with political tact

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Onderstal, S.; Appelman, M.

2004-01-01

Businesses, interest groups and policy administrators plead for a level playing field. However, those administrators interpret the level playing field notion in different ways and thus create confusion. In this article the level playing field is explained and a framework discussed by means of which the government can study policy problems in which the level playing field is of importance [nl

Light duty vehicle transportation and global climate policy: The importance of electric drive vehicles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bosetti, Valentina; Longden, Thomas

2013-01-01

With a focus on the interaction between long-term climate targets and personal transport we review the electrification of light duty vehicles (LDVs) within a model that utilizes a learning-by-researching structure. By modeling the demand of vehicles, the use of fuels and emissions implied, the model solves for the optimum RD and D investments that decrease the cost of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles. A range of technology and climate policy scenarios provide long term projections of vehicle use that highlight the potential synergies between innovation in the transportation sector and the energy sector. We find that even when the capital cost of electric drive vehicles (EDVs) remains higher than that of traditional combustion engine alternatives, EDVs are likely to play a key role in the decarbonisation implied by stringent climate policy. Limited innovation in batteries results in notable increases in policy costs consistent with a two degree climate policy target. - Highlights: • Significant increase in vehicles across regions in the medium to long term future. • Climate policy costs are sensitive to a lack of electric drive vehicles (EDVs). • Achieving 450ppm with no change in battery costs has a policy cost that is 2.86 percentage points higher than the base 450ppm scenario. • Climate policy hastens the introduction of electrified vehicles, however EDVs do not become the dominant vehicle of choice before the middle of the century

N-MYC DOWN-REGULATED-LIKE Proteins Regulate Meristem Initiation by Modulating Auxin Transport and MAX2 Expression

OpenAIRE

Mudgil, Yashwanti; Ghawana, Sanjay; Jones, Alan M.

2013-01-01

Background N-MYC DOWN-REGULATED-LIKE (NDL) proteins interact with the G? subunit (AGB1) of the heterotrimeric G protein complex and play an important role in AGB1-dependent regulation of lateral root formation by affecting root auxin transport, auxin gradients and the steady-state levels of mRNA encoding the PIN-FORMED 2 and AUXIN 1 auxin transport facilitators. Auxin transport in aerial tissue follows different paths and utilizes different transporters than in roots; therefore, in the presen...

The importance and possibilities of role playing on children surgery classes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goremykin I.V.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the first experience in the implementation into the pedagogical process of one of the methods of active training — role playing. The need for intensification of medical education process is linked primarily to the rapid increase in the volume required to provide students with information and the lack of training time. The analysis showed that the game significantly increases the level of students' knowledge, but require substantial modernization of the educational process.

Molybdate transporter ModABC is important for Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronic lung infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Périnet, Simone; Jeukens, Julie; Kukavica-Ibrulj, Irena; Ouellet, Myriam M; Charette, Steve J; Levesque, Roger C

2016-01-12

Mechanisms underlying the success of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in chronic lung infection among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are poorly defined. The modA gene was previously linked to in vivo competitiveness of P. aeruginosa by a genetic screening in the rat lung. This gene encodes a subunit of transporter ModABC, which is responsible for extracellular uptake of molybdate. This compound is essential for molybdoenzymes, including nitrate reductases. Since anaerobic growth conditions are known to occur during CF chronic lung infection, inactivation of a molybdate transporter could inhibit proliferation through the inactivation of denitrification enzymes. Hence, we performed phenotypic characterization of a modA mutant strain obtained by signature-tagged mutagenesis (STM_modA) and assessed its virulence in vivo with two host models. The STM_modA mutant was in fact defective for anaerobic growth and unable to use nitrates in the growth medium for anaerobic respiration. Bacterial growth and nitrate usage were restored when the medium was supplemented with molybdate. Most significantly, the mutant strain showed reduced virulence compared to wild-type strain PAO1 according to a competitive index in the rat model of chronic lung infection and a predation assay with Dictyostelium discoideum amoebae. As the latter took place in aerobic conditions, the in vivo impact of the mutation in modA appears to extend beyond its effect on anaerobic growth. These results support the modABC-encoded transporter as important for the pathogenesis of P. aeruginosa, and suggest that enzymatic machinery implicated in anaerobic growth during chronic lung infection in CF merits further investigation as a potential target for therapeutic intervention.

Playful Collaboration (Or Not)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bogers, Marcel; Sproedt, Henrik

2012-01-01

This article explores how playing games can be used to teach intangible social interaction across boundaries, in particular within open collaborative innovation. We present an exploratory case study of how students learned from playing a board game in a graduate course of the international...... and interdisciplinary Innovation and Business master's program in Denmark. We identify several important themes related to the process of learning through playing and the social dynamics of open collaborative innovation, while we also highlight possible caveats of “playing” and practicing open innovation. Our findings...

MiR-378 Plays an Important Role in the Differentiation of Bovine Preadipocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Si-Yuan; Zhang, Yang-Yang; Gao, Yan; Zhang, Lian-Jiang; Chen, Hong-Yan; Zhou, Qian; Chai, Meng-Long; Li, Qing-Ying; Jiang, Hao; Yuan, Bao; Dai, Li-Sheng; Zhang, Jia-Bao

2015-01-01

Adipocyte, the main cellular component of white adipose tissue, plays a vital role in energy balance in higher eukaryotes. In recent years, adipocytes have also been identified as a major endocrine organ involved in immunological responses, vascular diseases, and appetite regulation. In farm animals, fat content and categories are closely correlated with meat quality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a class of endogenous single-stranded non-coding RNA molecules, participate in the regulation of adipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis through regulating the transcription or translation of target mRNAs. MiR-378 plays an important role in a number of biological processes, including cell growth, cell differentiation, tumor cell survival and angiogenesis. In the present study, bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay were used to identify and validate the target genes of miR-378. In vitro cell transfection, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blot analysis, Oil Red O staining, and triglyceride content measurement were conducted to analyze the effects of miR-378 on bovine preadipocyte differentiation. MiR-378 was induced during adipocyte differentiation. In the differentiated adipocytes overexpressing miR- 378, the volume of lipid droplets was enlarged, and the triglyceride content was increased. Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of the adipocyte differentiation marker genes, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP), were significantly elevated in the differentiated, mature adipocytes. In contrast, the mRNA expression level of preadipocyte factor 1 (Pref-1) was markedly reduced. E2F transcription factor 2 (E2F2) and Ras-related nuclear (RAN)-binding protein 10 (RANBP10) were the two target genes of miR-378. The mRNA expression levels of E2F2 and RANBP10 did not significantly change in bovine preadipocytes overexpressing miR-378. However, the

MiR-378 Plays an Important Role in the Differentiation of Bovine Preadipocytes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Si-Yuan Liu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Background: Adipocyte, the main cellular component of white adipose tissue, plays a vital role in energy balance in higher eukaryotes. In recent years, adipocytes have also been identified as a major endocrine organ involved in immunological responses, vascular diseases, and appetite regulation. In farm animals, fat content and categories are closely correlated with meat quality. MicroRNAs (miRNAs, a class of endogenous single-stranded non-coding RNA molecules, participate in the regulation of adipocyte differentiation and adipogenesis through regulating the transcription or translation of target mRNAs. MiR-378 plays an important role in a number of biological processes, including cell growth, cell differentiation, tumor cell survival and angiogenesis. Methods: In the present study, bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay were used to identify and validate the target genes of miR-378. In vitro cell transfection, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR, western blot analysis, Oil Red O staining, and triglyceride content measurement were conducted to analyze the effects of miR-378 on bovine preadipocyte differentiation. Results: MiR-378 was induced during adipocyte differentiation. In the differentiated adipocytes overexpressing miR-378, the volume of lipid droplets was enlarged, and the triglyceride content was increased. Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of the adipocyte differentiation marker genes, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ and sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP, were significantly elevated in the differentiated, mature adipocytes. In contrast, the mRNA expression level of preadipocyte factor 1 (Pref-1 was markedly reduced. E2F transcription factor 2 (E2F2 and Ras-related nuclear (RAN-binding protein 10 (RANBP10 were the two target genes of miR-378. The mRNA expression levels of E2F2 and RANBP10 did not significantly change in bovine preadipocytes

Strong drifts effects on neoclassical transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tessarotto, M.; Gregoratto, D.; White, R.B.

1996-01-01

It is well known that strong drifts play an important role in plasma equilibrium, stability and confinement A significant example concerns, in particular for tokamak plasmas, the case of strong toroidal differential rotation produced by E x B drift which is currently regarded as potentially important for its influence in equilibrium, stability and transport. In fact, theoretically, it has been found that shear flow can substantially affect the stability of microinstabilities as well modify substantially transport. Recent experimental observations of enhanced confinement and transport regimes in Tokamaks, show, however, evidence of the existence of strong drifts in the plasma core. These are produced not only by the radial electric field [which gives rise to the E x B drift], but also by density [N s ], temperature [T s ] and mass flow [V = ωRe var-phi , with e var-phi the toroidal unit vector, R the distance for the symmetry axis of the torus and ω being the toroidal angular rotation velocity] profiles which are suitably steep. This implies that, in a significant part of the plasma core, the relevant scale lengths of the gradients [of N s , T s , ω], i.e., respectively L N , L T and L ω can be as large as the radial scale length characterizing the banana orbits, L b . Interestingly enough, the transport estimates obtained appear close or even lower than the predictions based on the simplest neoclassical model. However, as is well known, the latter applies, in a strict sense only in the case of weak drifts and also ignoring even the contribution of shear flow related to strong E x B drift. Thus a fundamental problem appears the extension of neoclassical transport theory to include the effect of strong drifts in Tokamak confinement systems. The goal of this investigation is to develop a general formulation of neoclassical transport embodying such important feature

Play and optimal welfare: Does play indicate the presence of positive affective states?

Science.gov (United States)

Ahloy-Dallaire, Jamie; Espinosa, Julia; Mason, Georgia

2017-11-16

Play is commonly used to assess affective states in both humans and non-human animals. Play appears to be most common when animals are well-fed and not under any direct threats to fitness. Could play and playfulness therefore indicate pre-existing positive emotions, and thence optimal animal welfare? We examine this question by surveying the internal and external conditions that promote or suppress play in a variety of species, starting with humans. We find that negative affective states and poor welfare usually do suppress play (although there are notable exceptions where the opposite occurs). Furthermore, research in children suggests that beyond the frequency or total duration of play, poor welfare may additionally be reflected in qualitative aspects of this heterogeneous behaviour (e.g. display of solitary over social play; and the 'fragmentation' of play bouts) that are often overlooked in animals. There are surprisingly few studies of play in subjects with pre-existing optimal welfare or in unambiguously highly positive affective states, making it currently impossible to determine whether play can distinguish optimal or good welfare from merely neutral welfare. This therefore represents an important and exciting area for future research. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Distribution of glucose transporters in renal diseases

OpenAIRE

Szablewski, Leszek

2017-01-01

Kidneys play an important role in glucose homeostasis. Renal gluconeogenesis prevents hypoglycemia by releasing glucose into the blood stream. Glucose homeostasis is also due, in part, to reabsorption and excretion of hexose in the kidney. Lipid bilayer of plasma membrane is impermeable for glucose, which is hydrophilic and soluble in water. Therefore, transport of glucose across the plasma membrane depends on carrier proteins expressed in the plasma membrane. In humans, there are three famil...

Research on risk assessment for maritime transport of radioactive materials. Preparation of maritime accident data for risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Odano, Naoteru; Sawada, Ken-ichi; Mochiduki, Hiromitsu; Hirao, Yoshihiro; Asami, Mitsufumi

2010-01-01

Maritime transport of radioactive materials has been playing an important role in the nuclear fuel cycle in Japan. Due to recent increase of transported radioactive materials and diversification of transport packages with enlargement of nuclear research, development and utilization, safety securement for maritime transport of radioactive materials is one of important issues in the nuclear fuel cycle. Based squarely on the current circumstances, this paper summarizes discussion on importance of utilization of results of risk assessment for maritime transport of radioactive materials. A plan for development of comprehensive methodology to assess risks in maritime transport of radioactive materials is also described. Preparations of database of maritime accident to be necessary for risk assessment are also summarized. The prepared data could be utilized for future quantitative risk assessment, such as the event trees and fault trees analyses, for maritime transport of radioactive materials. The frequency of severe accident that the package might be damaged is also estimated using prepared data. (author)

Thermodynamic theory of transport in magnetized plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Misguich, J.H.

1990-10-01

Transport laws relating thermodynamic flows to forces by means of transport coefficients in a magnetized plasma are derived here from basic plasmadynamics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Macroscopic balance equations are derived in the first part, taking into account the energy of relative diffusion between species in an exact way. The resulting plasmadynamical equations appear to be more general than the usual ones. In the second part, the particular features of a two-temperature diffusing plasma are taken into account in deriving the balance equation for the entropy density, the differences with thermodynamics of neutral fluid mixtures or metals are explained. The general expressions obtained for the entropy production rate are used in part III to derive transport laws. Onsager symmetry relations are applied to interrelate crossed transport coefficients. Basic transport coefficients are the electrical conductivity, the thermo-electric coefficient, along with the thermal conductivities and the viscosities for each species. The slight difference between thermo-electric effect and thermo-diffusion is explained. An important resistive thermo-electric effect appears which describes crossed transport coefficients between thermal and electric flows. Because of the anisotropy introduced by the magnetic field, the transport coefficients are tensors, with non diagonal elements associated with the Hall, Nernst and Ettinghausen effects in the plasma. The field geometry and applications to several particular cases are treated explicitly in part IV, namely the neo-classical transport laws. The Ettinghausen effect appears to play an important role in the transport laws for radial electron heat flow and particle flow in confined plasmas. Practical prescriptions are given to apply the Onsager symmetry relations in a correct way

Lagrangian neoclassical transport theory applied to the region near the magnetic axis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satake, Shinsuke; Okamoto, Masao; Sugama, Hideo

2002-01-01

Neoclassical transport theory around the magnetic axis of a tokamak is studied, in which relatively wide 'potato' orbits play an important role in transport. Lagrangian formulation of transport theory, which has been investigated to reflect finiteness of guiding-center orbit widths to transport equations, is developed in order to analyze neoclassical transport near the axis for a low-collisionality plasma. The treatment of self-collision term in Lagrangian formulation is revised to retain momentum conservation property of it. By directly reflecting the orbital properties of all the types of orbits in calculation, the ion thermal conductivity around the axis is found to decrease from that predicted by conventional neoclassical theory. This result supports recent numerical simulations which show the reduction of thermal conductivity near the magnetic axis

Pathogenesis of Congenital Rubella Virus Infection in Human Fetuses: Viral Infection in the Ciliary Body Could Play an Important Role in Cataractogenesis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thong Van Nguyen

2015-01-01

Interpretation: Our study based on the pathological examination demonstrated that the rubella virus infection occurred via systemic organs of human fetuses. This fact was confirmed by immunohistochemistry and direct detection of viral RNA in multiple organs. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first report demonstrating that the rubella virus infection occurred via systemic organs of the human body. Importantly, virus infection of the ciliary body could play an important role in cataractogenesis.

Fluid simulation of beryllium transport in the ITER gaseous divertor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knoll, D.A.; Campbell, R.B.; McHugh, P.R.

1994-01-01

The transport of either intrinsic or injected impurities will play a crucial role in the energy loss mechanisms in the ITER gaseous/cold plasma target divertor. Both 1-D and 2-D multi-charge state fluid codes are used to model the transport of beryllium in the ITER SOL. Our major conclusion is that in order to model the containment of impurities, the background flow field must be known in detail. Comparing 1-D and 2-D solutions, hydrogen flow reversal plays an important role in the entrainment process. Further, the flow of particles from the core plasma also has a strong impact on the resultant entrainment of the impurities in both 1-D and 2-D. It is imperative that those components of poloidal velocity due to E x B and diamagnetic drifts be included in the models. (orig.)

ASPECTS REGARDING ORGANIC CATTLE BEEF TRANSPORTATION AND SLAUTHERING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandrescu Daniela Cristiana

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Many factors should be considered when selecting the mode of transport. Cost is always important, but must bemeasured against the quality of, and potential losses incurred in, transport. Quality assurance during transportationalso plays a critical role in the health and welfare of beef cattle, as proper handling and transport of cattle can reducesickness in calves, prevent bruises, and improve the quality of the meat from these animals. Provide transportation thatavoids undue stress as appropriate to each species. Transportation, as a whole, is a stress factor that generatesnervousness and anxiety. Any animal reacts with alarm before a new situation such as transportation and this isaggravated when the loading and unloading conditions are not the most favourable. We must always prevent the animalfrom suffering unnecessarily. Once some of the animals from the fattening lot have reached a considerable size and inline with market demand for this type of meat, slaughtering beings. They are slaughtered according to consumer ortrade demand. Animal slaughtering consists of two phases: stunning and bleeding.

Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Bateson

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Play, as defined by biologists and psychologists, is probably heterogeneous. On the other hand, playfulness may be a unitary motivational state. Playful play as opposed to activities that merge into aggression is characterized by positive mood, intrinsic motivation, occurring in a protected context and easily disrupted by stress. Playful play is a good measure of positive welfare. It can occupy a substantial part of the waking-life of a young mammal or bird. Numerous functions for play have been proposed and they are by no means mutually exclusive, but some evidence indicates that those individual animals that play most are most likely to survive and reproduce. The link of playful play to creativity and hence to innovation in humans is strong. Considerable evidence suggests that coming up with new ideas requires a different mindset from usefully implementing a new idea.

To play is necessary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Angela Vargas

2008-05-01

Full Text Available This work tries to contemplate on playing, leaving of the observations on the children's games accomplished during the apprenticeship and the articulation of those with some theoretical ones that have been dedicating if to the study of the game, of the childhood and of the Infantile Education. It was possible, through the apprenticeship registrations and of the observations to live many moments in that the two groups, 3A and 3B, they played incorporating objects and creating characters in your games. He/she gave way, we sought focar the game of the do-of-bill, contemplating on your importance for the children in the first childhood, and that possibilities she brings us in the amplification of the infantile experiences. Another important aspect in this article is to contemplate on the teacher's practice in the Infantile Education, and, through our observations on playing of the children noticed the teachers' involvement in the children's games.

Liquid water transport mechanism in the gas diffusion layer

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhou, P.; Wu, C.W. [State Key Laboratory of Structure Analysis for Industrial Equipment, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Faculty of Vehicle Engineering and Mechanics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024 (China)

2010-03-01

We developed an equivalent capillary model of a microscale fiber-fence structure to study the microscale evolution and transport of liquid in a porous media and to reveal the basic principles of water transport in gas diffusion layer (GDL). Analytical solutions using the model show that a positive hydraulic pressure is needed to drive the liquid water to penetrate through the porous GDL even consisting of the hydrophilic fibers. Several possible contributions for the water configuration, such as capillary pressure, gravity, vapor condensation, wettability and microstructures of the GDL, are discussed using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). It is found that the distribution manners of the fibers and the spatial mixed-wettability in the GDL also play an important role in the transport of liquid water. (author)

Aging alters mRNA expression of amyloid transporter genes at the blood-brain barrier.

Science.gov (United States)

Osgood, Doreen; Miller, Miles C; Messier, Arthur A; Gonzalez, Liliana; Silverberg, Gerald D

2017-09-01

Decreased clearance of potentially toxic metabolites, due to aging changes, likely plays a significant role in the accumulation of amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptides and other macromolecules in the brain of the elderly and in the patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aging is the single most important risk factor for AD development. Aβ transport receptor proteins expressed at the blood-brain barrier are significantly altered with age: the efflux transporters lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 and P-glycoprotein are reduced, whereas the influx transporter receptor for advanced glycation end products is increased. These receptors play an important role in maintaining brain biochemical homeostasis. We now report that, in a rat model of aging, gene transcription is altered in aging, as measured by Aβ receptor gene messenger RNA (mRNA) at 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 20, 30, and 36 months. Gene mRNA expression from isolated cerebral microvessels was measured by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 and P-glycoprotein mRNA were significantly reduced in aging, and receptor for advanced glycation end products was increased, in parallel with the changes seen in receptor protein expression. Transcriptional changes appear to play a role in aging alterations in blood-brain barrier receptor expression and Aβ accumulation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Pretend Play in the Early Childhood Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

McEntire, Nancy

2009-01-01

This article presents and summarizes recent resources related to pretend play in the early childhood classroom. These include "Contemporary Perspectives on Play in Early Childhood Education" by Olivia N. Sarachoe and Bernard Spodek; "Dramatic Play: Bring It Back" by Tammy Benson; and "The Importance of Being Playful" by Elena Bodrova and Deborah…

Energy efficiency in buildings, industry and transportation

Science.gov (United States)

Milovanovic, Dobrica; Babic, Milun; Jovicic, Nebojsa; Gordic, Dusan

2012-11-01

This paper reviews the literature concerning the energy saving and outlines the importance of energy efficiency, particularly in three the most important areas: buildings, industry and transportation. Improving energy efficiency plays a crucial role in minimizing the societal and environmental impacts of economic growth and offers a powerful tool for achieving sustainable development by reducing the need for investment in new infrastructure, by cutting fuel costs, and by increasing competitiveness for businesses and welfare for consumers. It creates environmental benefits through reduced emissions of greenhouse gases and local air pollutants. It can offer social benefits in the form of increased energy security (through reduced dependence on fossil fuels, particularly when imported) and better energy services.

Cross-field blob transport in tokamak scrape-off-layer plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

D'Ippolito, D.A.; Myra, J.R.; Krasheninnikov, S.I.

2002-01-01

Recent measurements show that nondiffusive, intermittent transport of particles can play a major role in the scrape-off-layer (SOL) of fusion experiments. A possible mechanism for fast convective plasma transport is related to the plasma filaments or 'blobs' observed in the SOL with fast cameras and probes. In this paper, physical arguments suggesting the importance of blob transport [S. I. Krasheninnikov, Phys. Lett. A 283, 368 (2001)] have been extended by calculations using a three-field fluid model, treating the blobs as coherent propagating structures. The properties of density, temperature and vorticity blobs, and methods of averaging over ensembles of blobs to get the average SOL profiles, are illustrated. The role of ionization of background neutrals in sustaining the density blob transport is also discussed. Many qualitative features of the experiments, such as relatively flat density profiles and transport coefficients increasing toward the wall, are shown to emerge naturally from the blob transport paradigm

Classical convective energy transport in large gradient regions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hinton, F.L.

1996-01-01

Large gradients in density and temperature occur near the edge in H-mode plasmas and in the core of tokamak plasmas with negative central shear. Transport in these regions may be comparable to neoclassical. Standard neoclassical theory does not apply when the gradient lengths are comparable to an ion orbit excursion, or banana width. A basic question for neoclassical transport in large gradient regions is: do ion-ion collisions drive particle transport? Near the plasma edge in H-mode, where ion orbit loss requires that the ion energy transport be convective, neoclassical particle transport due to ion-ion collisions may play an important role. In negative central shear plasmas, where transport is inferred to be near neoclassical, it is important to have accurate predictions for the neoclassical rate of energy and particle transport. A simple 2-D slab model has been used, with a momentum-conserving collision operator, to show that ion-ion collisions do drive particle transport. When the gradients are large, the open-quotes field particleclose quotes contribution to the particle flux is non-local, and does not cancel the open-quotes test particleclose quotes contribution, which is local. Solutions of the kinetic equation are found which show that the steepness of the density profile, for increasing particle flux, is limited by orbit averaging. The gradient length is limited by the thermal gyroradius, and the convective energy flux is independent of ion temperature. This will allow an ion thermal runaway to occur, if there are no other ion energy loss mechanisms

Best practices in road transport: An exploratory study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mar Fernández Vázquez-Noguerol

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose: Road transport aspects are becoming increasingly important due to their high impact on economic, environmental and social sustainability. Considering the triple bottom line approach, best practices play a fundamental role within organisations. The purpose of this paper is to analyse several sustainable initiatives in road transport adopted by companies. Design/methodology/approach: The findings were developed and evaluated based on empirical data captured through a survey of 98 professionals involved in logistics and transport activities. Additionally, key literature on transport initiatives was reviewed to supplement the framework for the implementation of best practices in road transport. Findings: The exploratory study shows the importance of each best practice and determines the level of implementation of each initiative, comparing the results among different dealers (retailers, wholesalers, carriers and manufacturers, type of transport fleet and companies’ revenues. Research limitations/implications: The sample of 98 companies was based on simple search filters and the group is not wholly representative of all sectors. Respondents were mainly managers from Spain involved in logistics and transport activities. Surveyed companies included manufacturing, retailers, wholesalers and third-party logistics providers. Practical implications: The most common best practices in road transport are identified, including initiatives related to: efficiency, reusability, safety, optimization, emissions, waste and recycling. Initiatives that influence road transport are ranked by their degree of implementation in the companies analysed.  Social implications: Implementation of some of these best practices may help lessen negative impacts of road transport on society and the environment. Originality/value: The study results indicate which practices are most frequently used and their level of implementation depending on companies’ roles in the

Quality Assurance in the removal and transport of the TMI-2 core

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayes, G.R.; Marsden, J.F.

1988-01-01

EG ampersand G Idaho, acting on behalf of the US Department of Energy (DOE), is cooperating with the owner of the TMI-2 plant, General Public Utilities Nuclear (GPUN), in the removal and transport of the damaged TMI-2 core to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) near Idaho Falls, Idaho. Quality Assurance (QA) played an important role in the removal and transport of the damaged TMI-2 core. To illustrate, the authors have chosen to discuss some of the important quality assurance techniques utilized in the design, fabrication, acceptance, and use of the three different types of equipment; the core boring machine, the core debris canisters, and the transport casks. Rather than a thorough discussion of the QA aspects of each task, the authors have purposely chosen to present only the key applications of quality assurance principles and methodology unique to each piece of equipment. The intent of this approach is to effectively communicate the importance of ''task teamwork'' in QA

The Role of ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters in Neuro-Inflammation: Relevance for Bioactive Lipids

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kooij, G.; van Horssen, J.; Bandaru, V.V.R.; Haughey, N.J.; de Vries, H.E.

2012-01-01

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are highly expressed by brain endothelial cells that form the blood-brain barrier (BBB). These efflux pumps play an important role in maintaining brain homeostasis as they actively hinder the entry of unwanted blood-derived compounds into the central nervous

Role of transporters in placental transfer of drugs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ganapathy, Vadivel; Prasad, Puttur D.

2005-01-01

Human placenta functions as an important transport organ that mediates the exchange of nutrients and metabolites between maternal and fetal circulations. This function is made possible because of the expression of a multitude of transport proteins in the placental syncytiotrophoblast with differential localization in the maternal-facing brush border membrane versus the fetal-facing basal membrane. Even though the physiological role of most of these transport proteins is to handle nutrients, many of them interact with xenobiotics and pharmacological agents. These transport proteins therefore play a critical role in the disposition of drugs across the maternal-fetal interface, with some transporters facilitating the entry of drugs from maternal circulation into fetal circulation whereas others preventing such entry by actively eliminating drugs from the placenta back into maternal circulation. The net result as to whether the placenta enhances the exposure of the developing fetus to drugs and xenobiotics or functions as a barrier to protect the fetus from such agents depends on the types of transporters expressed in the brush border membrane and basal membrane of the syncytiotrophoblast and on the functional mode of these transporters (influx versus efflux)

Transport sector strategies and their impact on the air quality and on greenhouse gasses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crespo Garcia, L.; Portillo Jimenez-Landi, A.

2009-01-01

The transport sector plays on essential role in our society, but generates non desired effects on the air quality as well on climate change. This is the reason why the transport and the environment governmental actions are crucial to mitigate them. In this article we introduced the most important resources and regulations to control and to evaluate the air quality and emissions, and also the most relevant objectives in transport actions to reduce them, not only in Spain but also in the European Union. We discuss herein their compliance degree and their effectiveness in relation with the transport emissions evolution during 1990-2006 in spain. (Author) 11 refs

Lagrangian neoclassical transport theory applied to the region near the magnetic axis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Satake, Shinsuke [The Graduate Univ. for Advanced Studies, Dept. of Fusion Science, Toki, Gifu (Japan); Okamoto, Masao; Sugama, Hideo [National Inst. for Fusion Science, Toki, Gifu (Japan)

2002-06-01

Neoclassical transport theory around the magnetic axis of a tokamak is studied, in which relatively wide ''potato'' orbits play an important role in transport. Lagrangian formulation of transport theory, which has been investigated to reflect finiteness of guiding-center orbit widths to transport equations, is developed in order to analyze neoclassical transport near the axis for a low-collisionality plasma. The treatment of self-collision term in Lagrangian formulation is revised to retain momentum conservation property of it. With directly reflecting the orbital properties of all the types of orbits in calculation, the ion thermal conductivity around the axis is found to decrease than from that predicted by conventional neoclassical theory. This result supports recent numerical simulations which show the reduction of thermal conductivity near the magnetic axis. (author)

Lagrangian neoclassical transport theory applied to the region near the magnetic axis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Satake, Shinsuke; Okamoto, Masao; Sugama, Hideo

2002-06-01

Neoclassical transport theory around the magnetic axis of a tokamak is studied, in which relatively wide ''potato'' orbits play an important role in transport. Lagrangian formulation of transport theory, which has been investigated to reflect finiteness of guiding-center orbit widths to transport equations, is developed in order to analyze neoclassical transport near the axis for a low-collisionality plasma. The treatment of self-collision term in Lagrangian formulation is revised to retain momentum conservation property of it. With directly reflecting the orbital properties of all the types of orbits in calculation, the ion thermal conductivity around the axis is found to decrease than from that predicted by conventional neoclassical theory. This result supports recent numerical simulations which show the reduction of thermal conductivity near the magnetic axis. (author)

The N terminus of monoamine transporters is a lever required for the action of amphetamines

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sucic, Sonja; Dallinger, Stefan; Zdrazil, Barbara

2010-01-01

The serotonin transporter (SERT) terminates neurotransmission by removing serotonin from the synaptic cleft. In addition, it is the site of action of antidepressants (which block the transporter) and of amphetamines (which induce substrate efflux). We explored the functional importance of the N......(+) entry and accumulation of SERT(T81A) in the inward facing conformation ought to favor amphetamine-induced efflux. Thus, we surmised that the N terminus must play a direct role in driving the transporter into a state that supports amphetamine-induced efflux. This hypothesis was verified by truncating...

Thermal transport contributed by the torsional phonons in cylindrical nanowires: Role of evanescent modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie, Zhong-Xiang; Zhang, Yong; Zhang, Li-Fu; Fan, Dian-Yuan

2017-01-01

Thermal transport contributed by the torsional phonons in cylindrical nanowires is investigated by using the isotropic elastic continuum theory. The numerical calculations for both the concavity-shaped and convexity-shaped cylindrical structures are made to reveal the role of the evanescent modes. Results show that the evanescent modes play an important role in influencing the thermal transport in such structures. For the concavity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, the evanescent modes can enhance the thermal conductance by about 20 percent, while for the convexity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, the evanescent modes can suppress the thermal conductance by 6 percent. It is also shown that the influence of the evanescent modes on the thermal conductance is strongly related to the attenuation length of the evanescent modes. A brief analysis of these results is given. - Highlights: • The evanescent modes play an important role in influencing thermal transport contributed by torsional phonons in cylindrical nanowires. • For the concavity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, the evanescent modes can enhance the thermal conductance by about 20 percent, while for the convexity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, they can suppress the thermal conductance by 6 percent.

Thermal transport contributed by the torsional phonons in cylindrical nanowires: Role of evanescent modes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xie, Zhong-Xiang [SZU-NUS Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Science Technology, International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronic Science & Technology, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Department of Mathematics and Physics, Hunan Institute of Technology, Hengyang 421002 (China); Zhang, Yong [Department of Mathematics and Physics, Hunan Institute of Technology, Hengyang 421002 (China); Zhang, Li-Fu, E-mail: zhanglifu68@hotmail.com [SZU-NUS Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Science Technology, International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronic Science & Technology, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060 (China); Fan, Dian-Yuan [SZU-NUS Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Science Technology, International Collaborative Laboratory of 2D Materials for Optoelectronic Science & Technology, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060 (China)

2017-05-03

Thermal transport contributed by the torsional phonons in cylindrical nanowires is investigated by using the isotropic elastic continuum theory. The numerical calculations for both the concavity-shaped and convexity-shaped cylindrical structures are made to reveal the role of the evanescent modes. Results show that the evanescent modes play an important role in influencing the thermal transport in such structures. For the concavity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, the evanescent modes can enhance the thermal conductance by about 20 percent, while for the convexity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, the evanescent modes can suppress the thermal conductance by 6 percent. It is also shown that the influence of the evanescent modes on the thermal conductance is strongly related to the attenuation length of the evanescent modes. A brief analysis of these results is given. - Highlights: • The evanescent modes play an important role in influencing thermal transport contributed by torsional phonons in cylindrical nanowires. • For the concavity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, the evanescent modes can enhance the thermal conductance by about 20 percent, while for the convexity-shaped cylindrical nanowire, they can suppress the thermal conductance by 6 percent.

First impression at stroke onset plays an important role in early hospital arrival.

Science.gov (United States)

Iguchi, Yasuyuki; Wada, Kuniyasu; Shibazaki, Kensaku; Inoue, Takeshi; Ueno, Yuji; Yamashita, Shinji; Kimura, Kazumi

2006-01-01

Treatment for acute ischemic stroke should be administered as soon as possible after symptom onset. The aim of this study was to investigate whether or not the patient's and bystander's first impression at stroke onset was associated with hospital arrival time. To investigate the factors influencing the prehospital delay, we prospectively interviewed consecutive stroke patients and bystanders about their first impression at the stroke onset and assessed the methods of transportation, and clinical characteristics. Early arrival was defined as a hospital arrival of within 2 h from stroke onset. One hundred thirty patients were enrolled: 82% were ischemic stroke and 18% were cerebral hemorrhage. The median interval between symptom onset and the hospital arrival was 7.5 h and 30% of patients presented within 2 h of stroke onset. First impression of stroke (odds ratios [OR] 4.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.54-13.5, p=0.006), presence of consciousness disturbance (OR 4.29, CI 1.39-13.3, p=0.011), arrival through other facilities (OR 0.25, CI 0.08-0.76, p=0.015), a history of diabetes (OR 0.23, CI 0.06-0.80, p=0.028) and nocturnal onset (OR 0.19, CI 0.04-0.88, p=0.042) independently contributed to the early arrival. The first impression of patients and bystanders at stroke onset is important in order to reach hospital earlier in Japan. Public educational systems such as those, which advertise stroke warning signs, are necessary.

Playing and gaming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karoff, Helle Skovbjerg; Ejsing-Duun, Stine; Hanghøj, Thorkild

2013-01-01

The paper develops an approach of playing and gaming activities through the perspective of both activities as mood activities . The point of departure is that a game - is a tool with which we, through our practices, achieve different moods. This based on an empirical study of children's everyday...... lives, where the differences emerge through actual practices, i.e. through the creation of meaning in the specific situations. The overall argument is that it is not that important whether it is a playing or a gaming activity - it is however crucial to be aware of how moods occur and what their optimal...... dimensions: practices and moods. Practice is the concept of all the doing in the activities. Moods are the particular concept of sense and feeling of being, which is what we are drawn to when we are playing or gaming....

Facilitating play through communication: significance of teeth exposure in the gorilla play face.

Science.gov (United States)

Waller, Bridget M; Cherry, Lyndsay

2012-02-01

Primate facial expressions (FEs) likely play an important role in primate society: through facial signals, individuals can potentially send and receive information and may benefit from coordinating their behavior accordingly. Many primates use a relaxed open mouth (ROM) facial display or “play face” (PF) during play behavior, where the mouth is open but teeth are covered. In addition to this conventional PF, however, Western Lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) also use a full PF where the upper teeth are exposed. As the teeth are similarly exposed in the bared-teeth expression (which is a signal of appeasement, submission and/or affiliation), the full PF may be a blend of the PF and bared-teeth face, and have a different signal function to the PF alone. Focal animal sampling of captive Western Lowland gorillas (N=10) showed that the full PF was more often observed in intense rather than gentle play, and intense play bouts that featured the full PF were longer than those that featured only the PF. Both expressions were associated with an increase in affinitive behavior between sender and receiver postplay, but only the full PF was associated with an increase higher than that of play alone. Overall, the findings suggest that the full PF has an additional role in coordinating and maintaining play, possibly though reducing uncertainty in the receiver and confirming that play is only play.

Anomalous transport in tokamaks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wootton, A.J.

1989-01-01

A review is presented of what is known about anomalous transport in tokamaks. It is generally thought that this anomalous transport is the result of fluctuations in various plasma parameters. In the plasma edge detailed measurements of the quantities required to directly determine the fluctuation driven fluxes are available. The total flux of particles is well explained by the measured electrostatic fluctuation driven flux. However, a satisfactory model to explain the origin of the fluctuations has not been identified. The processes responsible for determining the edge energy flux are less clear, but electrostatic convection plays an important part. In the confinement region experimental observations are presently restricted to measurements of density and potential fluctuations and their correlations. The characteristics of the measured fluctuations are discussed and compared with the predictions of various models. Comparisons between measured particle, electron heat and ion heat fluxes, and those fluxes predicted to result from the measured fluctuations, are made. Magnetic fluctuations is discussed

Investigating transport pathways in the ocean

Science.gov (United States)

Griffa, Annalisa; Haza, Angelique; Özgökmen, Tamay M.; Molcard, Anne; Taillandier, Vincent; Schroeder, Katrin; Chang, Yeon; Poulain, P.-M.

2013-01-01

The ocean is a very complex medium with scales of motion that range from thousands of kilometers to the dissipation scales. Transport by ocean currents plays an important role in many practical applications ranging from climatic problems to coastal management and accident mitigation at sea. Understanding transport is challenging because of the chaotic nature of particle motion. In the last decade, new methods have been put forth to improve our understanding of transport. Powerful tools are provided by dynamical system theory, that allow the identification of the barriers to transport and their time variability for a given flow. A shortcoming of this approach, though, is that it is based on the assumption that the velocity field is known with good accuracy, which is not always the case in practical applications. Improving model performance in terms of transport can be addressed using another important methodology that has been recently developed, namely the assimilation of Lagrangian data provided by floating buoys. The two methodologies are technically different but in many ways complementary. In this paper, we review examples of applications of both methodologies performed by the authors in the last few years, considering flows at different scales and in various ocean basins. The results are among the very first examples of applications of the methodologies to the real ocean including testing with Lagrangian in-situ data. The results are discussed in the general framework of the extended fields related to these methodologies, pointing out to open questions and potential for improvements, with an outlook toward future strategies.

The ABC transporters in Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wenlin; Cong, Qian; Pei, Jimin; Kinch, Lisa N; Grishin, Nick V

2012-11-01

Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (Ca. L. asiaticus) is a Gram-negative bacterium and the pathogen of Citrus Greening disease (Huanglongbing, HLB). As a parasitic bacterium, Ca. L. asiaticus harbors ABC transporters that play important roles in exchanging chemical compounds between Ca. L. asiaticus and its host. Here, we analyzed all the ABC transporter-related proteins in Ca. L. asiaticus. We identified 14 ABC transporter systems and predicted their structures and substrate specificities. In-depth sequence and structure analysis including multiple sequence alignment, phylogenetic tree reconstruction, and structure comparison further support their function predictions. Our study shows that this bacterium could use these ABC transporters to import metabolites (amino acids and phosphates) and enzyme cofactors (choline, thiamine, iron, manganese, and zinc), resist to organic solvent, heavy metal, and lipid-like drugs, maintain the composition of the outer membrane (OM), and secrete virulence factors. Although the features of most ABC systems could be deduced from the abundant experimental data on their orthologs, we reported several novel observations within ABC system proteins. Moreover, we identified seven nontransport ABC systems that are likely involved in virulence gene expression regulation, transposon excision regulation, and DNA repair. Our analysis reveals several candidates for further studies to understand and control the disease, including the type I virulence factor secretion system and its substrate that are likely related to Ca. L. asiaticus pathogenicity and the ABC transporter systems responsible for bacterial OM biosynthesis that are good drug targets. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Transport sector strategies and their impact on the air quality and on greenhouse gasses; Estrategias del sector del transporte y su impacto en la calidad del aire y en los gases de efecto invernadero

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crespo Garcia, L.; Portillo Jimenez-Landi, A.

2009-07-01

The transport sector plays on essential role in our society, but generates non desired effects on the air quality as well on climate change. This is the reason why the transport and the environment governmental actions are crucial to mitigate them. In this article we introduced the most important resources and regulations to control and to evaluate the air quality and emissions, and also the most relevant objectives in transport actions to reduce them, not only in Spain but also in the European Union. We discuss herein their compliance degree and their effectiveness in relation with the transport emissions evolution during 1990-2006 in spain. (Author) 11 refs.

A Petunia Homeodomain-Leucine Zipper Protein, PhHD-Zip, Plays an Important Role in Flower Senescence

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Xiaoxiao; Donnelly, Linda; Sun, Daoyang; Rao, Jingping; Reid, Michael S.; Jiang, Cai-Zhong

2014-01-01

Flower senescence is initiated by developmental and environmental signals, and regulated by gene transcription. A homeodomain-leucine zipper transcription factor, PhHD-Zip, is up-regulated during petunia flower senescence. Virus-induced gene silencing of PhHD-Zip extended flower life by 20% both in unpollinated and pollinated flowers. Silencing PhHD-Zip also dramatically reduced ethylene production and the abundance of transcripts of genes involved in ethylene (ACS, ACO), and ABA (NCED) biosynthesis. Abundance of transcripts of senescence-related genes (SAG12, SAG29) was also dramatically reduced in the silenced flowers. Over-expression of PhHD-Zip accelerated petunia flower senescence. Furthermore, PhHD-Zip transcript abundance in petunia flowers was increased by application of hormones (ethylene, ABA) and abiotic stresses (dehydration, NaCl and cold). Our results suggest that PhHD-Zip plays an important role in regulating petunia flower senescence. PMID:24551088

A Petunia homeodomain-leucine zipper protein, PhHD-Zip, plays an important role in flower senescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Xiaoxiao; Donnelly, Linda; Sun, Daoyang; Rao, Jingping; Reid, Michael S; Jiang, Cai-Zhong

2014-01-01

Flower senescence is initiated by developmental and environmental signals, and regulated by gene transcription. A homeodomain-leucine zipper transcription factor, PhHD-Zip, is up-regulated during petunia flower senescence. Virus-induced gene silencing of PhHD-Zip extended flower life by 20% both in unpollinated and pollinated flowers. Silencing PhHD-Zip also dramatically reduced ethylene production and the abundance of transcripts of genes involved in ethylene (ACS, ACO), and ABA (NCED) biosynthesis. Abundance of transcripts of senescence-related genes (SAG12, SAG29) was also dramatically reduced in the silenced flowers. Over-expression of PhHD-Zip accelerated petunia flower senescence. Furthermore, PhHD-Zip transcript abundance in petunia flowers was increased by application of hormones (ethylene, ABA) and abiotic stresses (dehydration, NaCl and cold). Our results suggest that PhHD-Zip plays an important role in regulating petunia flower senescence.

A Petunia homeodomain-leucine zipper protein, PhHD-Zip, plays an important role in flower senescence.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoxiao Chang

Full Text Available Flower senescence is initiated by developmental and environmental signals, and regulated by gene transcription. A homeodomain-leucine zipper transcription factor, PhHD-Zip, is up-regulated during petunia flower senescence. Virus-induced gene silencing of PhHD-Zip extended flower life by 20% both in unpollinated and pollinated flowers. Silencing PhHD-Zip also dramatically reduced ethylene production and the abundance of transcripts of genes involved in ethylene (ACS, ACO, and ABA (NCED biosynthesis. Abundance of transcripts of senescence-related genes (SAG12, SAG29 was also dramatically reduced in the silenced flowers. Over-expression of PhHD-Zip accelerated petunia flower senescence. Furthermore, PhHD-Zip transcript abundance in petunia flowers was increased by application of hormones (ethylene, ABA and abiotic stresses (dehydration, NaCl and cold. Our results suggest that PhHD-Zip plays an important role in regulating petunia flower senescence.

Constraining the relative importance of raindrop- and flow-driven sediment transport mechanisms in postwildfire environments and implications for recovery time scales

Science.gov (United States)

McGuire, Luke; Kean, Jason W.; Staley, Dennis M.; Rengers, Francis K.; Wasklewicz, Thad A.

2016-01-01

Mountain watersheds recently burned by wildfire often experience greater amounts of runoff and increased rates of sediment transport relative to similar unburned areas. Given the sedimentation and debris flow threats caused by increases in erosion, more work is needed to better understand the physical mechanisms responsible for the observed increase in sediment transport in burned environments and the time scale over which a heightened geomorphic response can be expected. In this study, we quantified the relative importance of different hillslope erosion mechanisms during two postwildfire rainstorms at a drainage basin in Southern California by combining terrestrial laser scanner-derived maps of topographic change, field measurements, and numerical modeling of overland flow and sediment transport. Numerous debris flows were initiated by runoff at our study area during a long-duration storm of relatively modest intensity. Despite the presence of a well-developed rill network, numerical model results suggest that the majority of eroded hillslope sediment during this long-duration rainstorm was transported by raindrop-induced sediment transport processes, highlighting the importance of raindrop-driven processes in supplying channels with potential debris flow material. We also used the numerical model to explore relationships between postwildfire storm characteristics, vegetation cover, soil infiltration capacity, and the total volume of eroded sediment from a synthetic hillslope for different end-member erosion regimes. This study adds to our understanding of sediment transport in steep, postwildfire landscapes and shows how data from field monitoring can be combined with numerical modeling of sediment transport to isolate the processes leading to increased erosion in burned areas.

Escapist Motives for Playing On-Line Games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sudzina, Frantisek; Razmerita, Liana

2012-01-01

Social games have become popular along with the tremendous growth of social networking sites, esp. Facebook. There is a gap in literature on what motivates people to play Facebook games. This paper studies social games usage behavior of students. We focus on escapist reasons, based on Warmelink...... of escapist motives for playing Facebook and other on-line games, we investigate how they are linked to demographic data such as: age, gender, place of origin, along with other social interactions patterns and social network usage behavior, current gaming status and an estimate of gaming time. According...... to our study, only 10% of respondents, who have started to play Facebook games, continued to play them. The most important motives for playing games is mundane breaking, the second reason is pleasure seeking, the third is stress relieving, and the least important is imagination conjuring....

Drivers of South African transport and transport infrastructure

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Rust, FC

2009-01-01

Full Text Available There is no doubt that infrastructure in general and specifically transport infrastructure plays a major role in economic development (Weisbrod G 1997, Chapman P et al 2002) as well as in social development (UNCDF 2007). In addition, construction...

Model for cadmium transport and distribution in CHO cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hayden, T.L.; Turner, J.E.; Williams, M.W.; Cook, J.S.; Hsie, A.W.

1982-01-01

A compartmental model is developed to study the transport and distribution of cadmium in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Of central importance to the model is the role played by sequestering components which bind free Cd/sup 2 +/ ions. The most important of these is a low-molecular-weight protein, metallothionein, which is produced by the cells in response to an increase in the cellular concentration of Cd/sup 2 +/. Monte Carlo techniques are used to generate a stochastic model based on existing experimental data describing the intracellular transport of cadmium between different compartments. This approach provides an alternative to the usual numerical solution of differential-delay equations that arise in deterministic models. Our model suggests subcellular structures which may be responsible for the accumulation of cadmium and, hence, could account for cadmium detoxification. 4 figures, 1 table.

Play and play occupation: a survey of paediatric occupational therapy practice in Ireland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alice Moore

2017-04-01

particular play-centred practice in the paediatric context. Originality/value - Play has been described as an important occupation in childhood, and consequently, it features in paediatric occupational therapy. However, little is known about the current place of play in occupational therapy practice. This study addresses this gap by considering the current place of play in occupational therapy practice in Ireland.

Transport Time and Preoperating Room Hemostatic Interventions Are Important: Improving Outcomes After Severe Truncal Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Holcomb, John B

2018-03-01

Experience in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan confirm that faster transport combined with effective prehospital interventions improves the outcomes of patients suffering hemorrhagic shock. Outcomes of patients with hemorrhagic shock and extremity bleeding have improved with widespread use of tourniquets and early balanced transfusion therapy. Conversely, civilian patients suffering truncal bleeding and shock have the same mortality (46%) over the last 20 years. To understand how to decrease this substantial mortality, one must first critically evaluate all phases of care from point of injury to definitive hemorrhage control in the operating room. Limited literature review. The peak time to death after severe truncal injury is within 30 minutes of injury. However, when adding prehospital transport time, time spent in the emergency department, followed by the time in the operating room, it currently takes 2.1 hours to achieve definitive truncal hemorrhage control. This disparity in uncontrolled truncal bleeding and time to hemorrhage control needs to be reconciled. Prehospital and emergency department whole blood transfusion and temporary truncal hemorrhage control are now possible. The importance of rapid transport, early truncal hemorrhage control and whole blood transfusion is now widely recognized. Prehospital temporary truncal hemorrhage control and whole blood transfusion should offer the best possibility of improving patient outcomes after severe truncal injury.

Dynamics of miRNA biogenesis and nuclear transport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kotipalli Aneesh

2016-12-01

Full Text Available MicroRNAs (miRNAs are short noncoding RNA sequences ~22 nucleotides in length that play an important role in gene regulation-transcription and translation. The processing of these miRNAs takes place in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm while the final maturation occurs in the cytoplasm. Some mature miRNAs with nuclear localisation signals (NLS are transported back to the nucleus and some remain in the cytoplasm. The functional roles of these miRNAs are seen in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. In the nucleus, miRNAs regulate gene expression by binding to the targeted promoter sequences and affect either the transcriptional gene silencing (TGS or transcriptional gene activation (TGA. In the cytoplasm, targeted mRNAs are translationally repressed or cleaved based on the complementarity between the two sequences at the seed region of miRNA and mRNA. The selective transport of mature miRNAs to the nucleus follows the classical nuclear import mechanism. The classical nuclear import mechanism is a highly regulated process, involving exportins and importins. The nuclear pore complex (NPC regulates all these transport events like a gate keeper. The half-life of miRNAs is rather low, so within a short time miRNAs perform their function. Temporal studies of miRNA biogenesis are, therefore, useful. We have carried out simulation studies for important miRNA biogenesis steps and also classical nuclear import mechanism using ordinary differential equation (ODE solver in the Octave software.

Phosphorylation of CaMKII in the rat dorsal raphe nucleus plays an important role in sleep-wake regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Su-Ying; Li, Sheng-Jie; Cui, Xiang-Yu; Zhang, Xue-Qiong; Yu, Bin; Sheng, Zhao-Fu; Huang, Yuan-Li; Cao, Qing; Xu, Ya-Ping; Lin, Zhi-Ge; Yang, Guang; Song, Jin-Zhi; Ding, Hui; Wang, Zi-Jun; Zhang, Yong-He

2016-02-01

The Ca(2+) modulation in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) plays an important role in sleep-wake regulation. Calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) is an important signal-transducing molecule that is activated by Ca(2+) . This study investigated the effects of intracellular Ca(2+) /CaMKII signaling in the DRN on sleep-wake states in rats. Maximum and minimum CaMKII phosphorylation was detected at Zeitgeber time 21 (ZT 21; wakefulness state) and ZT 3 (sleep state), respectively, across the light-dark rhythm in the DRN in rats. Six-hour sleep deprivation significantly reduced CaMKII phosphorylation in the DRN. Microinjection of the CAMKII activation inhibitor KN-93 (5 or 10 nmol) into the DRN suppressed wakefulness and enhanced rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) and non-REM sleep (NREMS). Application of a high dose of KN-93 (10 nmol) increased slow-wave sleep (SWS) time, SWS bouts, the mean duration of SWS, the percentage of SWS relative to total sleep, and delta power density during NREMS. Microinjection of CaCl2 (50 nmol) in the DRN increased CaMKII phosphorylation and decreased NREMS, SWS, and REMS. KN-93 abolished the inhibitory effects of CaCl2 on NREMS, SWS, and REMS. These data indicate a novel wake-promoting and sleep-suppressing role for the Ca(2+) /CaMKII signaling pathway in DRN neurons. We propose that the intracellular Ca(2+) /CaMKII signaling in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) plays wake-promoting and sleep-suppressing role in rats. Intra-DRN application of KN-93 (CaMKII activation inhibitor) suppressed wakefulness and enhanced rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) and non-REMS (NREMS). Intra-DRN application of CaCl2 attenuated REMS and NREMS. We think these findings should provide a novel cellular and molecular mechanism of sleep-wake regulation. © 2015 International Society for Neurochemistry.

What Play Means to Us: Exploring Children's Perspectives on Play in an English Year 1 Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Sally

2016-01-01

Opportunities for play and self-initiated activity, considered to be an important part of children's learning in early childhood settings, diminish as children progress into school. Previous studies suggest that losing time for play/self-initiated activity can impact negatively on children's attitudes to school learning. This article discusses the…

Peristaltic transport and mixing of cytosol through the whole body of Physarum plasmodium.

Science.gov (United States)

Iima, Makoto; Nakagaki, Toshiyuki

2012-09-01

We study how the net transport and mixing of chemicals occur in a relatively large amoeba, the true slime mold Physarum polycephalum. The shuttle streaming of the amoeba is characterized by a rhythmic flow of the order of 1 μm/s in which the protoplasm streams back and forth. To explain the experimentally observed transport of chemicals, we formulate a simplified model to consider the mechanism by which net transport can be induced by shuttle (or periodic) motion inside the amoeba. This model is independent from the details of fluid property as it is based on the mass conservation law only. Even in such a simplified model, we demonstrate that sectional oscillations play an important role in net transport and discuss the effects of the sectional boundary motion on net transport in the microorganism.

Informal public transport modes in India: A case study of five city regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megha Kumar

2016-03-01

The paper highlights that these systems bridge a large transport supply gap and play an important role in Indian cities. The modes may follow some illegitimate practices, but they do it to become profitable, which in turn helps them provide the much-needed mobility services. The study also shows that these systems are not as unsafe and polluting as people often perceive them to be. However, there is significant room for improvements in terms of vehicle efficiency and compliance with regulatory provisions related to public transport.

Play Practices and Play Moods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karoff, Helle Skovbjerg

2013-01-01

The aim of this article is to develop a view of play as a relation between play practices and play moods based on an empirical study of children's everyday life and by using Bateson's term of ‘framing’ [(1955/2001). In Steps to an ecology of mind (pp. 75–80). Chicago: University of Chicago Press......], Schmidt's notion of ‘commonness’ [(2005). Om respekten. København: Danmarks Pædagogiske Universitets Forlag; (2011). On respect. Copenhagen: Danish School of Education University Press] and Heidegger's term ‘mood’ [(1938/1996). Time and being. Cornwall: Wiley-Blackwell.]. Play mood is a state of being...... in which we are open and ready, both to others and their production of meaning and to new opportunities for producing meaning. This play mood is created when we engage with the world during play practices. The article points out four types of play moods – devotion, intensity, tension and euphorica – which...

Formation and transport of radioactive colloids in porous media

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chung, J.Y.; Lee, K.J.

1993-01-01

This paper deals with the effect of the presence of colloids in natural groundwater on radionuclide transport. The system considered here treats groundwater as a dispersing medium and colloid or finely divided solid material resulting from several different repository sources as a dispersed phase. Evaluation of the radionuclides adsorption on colloid, concepts of effective transport velocity and migration distance, and mathematical formulation of the filtration equation were driven, along with the case studies using typical parameter values of a conceptual radioactive waste repository and concentration on the effect of poly dispersed colloid on radionuclide transport. This paper also introduces the three phase analysis to treat the radionuclide transport more practically. When compared with the previously published experimental data, the modified filtration equation gives a satisfactory result. Results of the case studies show that the reduction of colloidal size enhances the corresponding colloid concentration when colloidal transport is only affected by diffusion phenomena. However, the three phase analysis shows that this trend can be reversed if the colloidal filtration becomes a dominant mechanism in the colloidal transport. Consequently, these results show that colloid could play a very important role in radionuclide transport under a repository environment

Ion and metabolite transport in the chloroplast of algae: lessons from land plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Marchand, Justine; Heydarizadeh, Parisa; Schoefs, Benoît; Spetea, Cornelia

2018-06-01

Chloroplasts are endosymbiotic organelles and play crucial roles in energy supply and metabolism of eukaryotic photosynthetic organisms (algae and land plants). They harbor channels and transporters in the envelope and thylakoid membranes, mediating the exchange of ions and metabolites with the cytosol and the chloroplast stroma and between the different chloroplast subcompartments. In secondarily evolved algae, three or four envelope membranes surround the chloroplast, making more complex the exchange of ions and metabolites. Despite the importance of transport proteins for the optimal functioning of the chloroplast in algae, and that many land plant homologues have been predicted, experimental evidence and molecular characterization are missing in most cases. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge about ion and metabolite transport in the chloroplast from algae. The main aspects reviewed are localization and activity of the transport proteins from algae and/or of homologues from other organisms including land plants. Most chloroplast transporters were identified in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, reside in the envelope and participate in carbon acquisition and metabolism. Only a few identified algal transporters are located in the thylakoid membrane and play role in ion transport. The presence of genes for putative transporters in green algae, red algae, diatoms, glaucophytes and cryptophytes is discussed, and roles in the chloroplast are suggested. A deep knowledge in this field is required because algae represent a potential source of biomass and valuable metabolites for industry, medicine and agriculture.

Steady State Turbulent Transport in Magnetic Fusion Plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.W.; Ethier, S.; Kolesnikov, R.; Wang, W.X.; Tang, W.M.

2007-01-01

For more than a decade, the study of microturbulence, driven by ion temperature gradient (ITG) drift instabilities in tokamak devices, has been an active area of research in magnetic fusion science for both experimentalists and theorists alike. One of the important impetus for this avenue of research was the discovery of the radial streamers associated the ITG modes in the early nineties using a Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code. Since then, ITG simulations based on the codes with increasing realism have become possible with the dramatic increase in computing power. The notable examples were the demonstration of the importance of nonlinearly generated zonal flows in regulating ion thermal transport and the transition from Bohm to GyroBoham scaling with increased device size. In this paper, we will describe another interesting nonlinear physical process associated with the parallel acceleration of the ions, that is found to play an important role for the steady state turbulent transport. Its discovery is again through the use of the modern massively parallel supercomputers

Modelling the transport of optical photons in scintillation detectors for diagnostic and radiotherapy imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Roncali, Emilie; Mosleh-Shirazi, Mohammad Amin; Badano, Aldo

2017-10-01

Computational modelling of radiation transport can enhance the understanding of the relative importance of individual processes involved in imaging systems. Modelling is a powerful tool for improving detector designs in ways that are impractical or impossible to achieve through experimental measurements. Modelling of light transport in scintillation detectors used in radiology and radiotherapy imaging that rely on the detection of visible light plays an increasingly important role in detector design. Historically, researchers have invested heavily in modelling the transport of ionizing radiation while light transport is often ignored or coarsely modelled. Due to the complexity of existing light transport simulation tools and the breadth of custom codes developed by users, light transport studies are seldom fully exploited and have not reached their full potential. This topical review aims at providing an overview of the methods employed in freely available and other described optical Monte Carlo packages and analytical models and discussing their respective advantages and limitations. In particular, applications of optical transport modelling in nuclear medicine, diagnostic and radiotherapy imaging are described. A discussion on the evolution of these modelling tools into future developments and applications is presented. The authors declare equal leadership and contribution regarding this review.

"Everything's Upside Down. We'll Call It Upside Down Valley!": Siblings' Creative Play Themes, Object Use, and Language during Pretend Play

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Nina; Abuhatoum, Shireen; Chang-Kredl, Sandra

2014-01-01

Research Findings: Pretend play is an important context that supports young children's developing social-cognitive and creative abilities. The play behaviors of 70 sibling dyads in early and middle childhood were examined for the following indices of creativity in play: (a) play themes (set-up/organization, expected, creative), (b) object use…

Children's Gendered Drawings of Play Behaviours

Science.gov (United States)

Akseer, Tabasum; Lao, Mary Grace; Bosacki, Sandra

2012-01-01

According to child psychologists, vital links exist between children's drawings and their emotional, social, and cognitive development. Previous research has explored the important relations between drawings and play in educational settings. Given the vast research that explores the ambiguous topic of children's play, according to Richer (1990),…

Solute carrier transporters: potential targets for digestive system neoplasms.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Jing; Zhu, Xiao Yan; Liu, Lu Ming; Meng, Zhi Qiang

2018-01-01

Digestive system neoplasms are the leading causes of cancer-related death all over the world. Solute carrier (SLC) superfamily is composed of a series of transporters that are ubiquitously expressed in organs and tissues of digestive systems and mediate specific uptake of small molecule substrates in facilitative manner. Given the important role of SLC proteins in maintaining normal functions of digestive system, dysregulation of these protein in digestive system neoplasms may deliver biological and clinical significance that deserves systemic studies. In this review, we critically summarized the recent advances in understanding the role of SLC proteins in digestive system neoplasms. We highlighted that several SLC subfamilies, including metal ion transporters, transporters of glucose and other sugars, transporters of urea, neurotransmitters and biogenic amines, ammonium and choline, inorganic cation/anion transporters, transporters of nucleotide, amino acid and oligopeptide organic anion transporters, transporters of vitamins and cofactors and mitochondrial carrier, may play important roles in mediating the initiation, progression, metastasis, and chemoresistance of digestive system neoplasms. Proteins in these SLC subfamilies may also have diagnostic and prognostic values to particular cancer types. Differential expression of SLC proteins in tumors of digestive system was analyzed by extracting data from human cancer database, which revealed that the roles of SLC proteins may either be dependent on the substrates they transport or be tissue specific. In addition, small molecule modulators that pharmacologically regulate the functions of SLC proteins were discussed for their possible application in the treatment of digestive system neoplasms. This review highlighted the potential of SLC family proteins as drug target for the treatment of digestive system neoplasms.

Children Learning to Use Technologies through Play: A Digital Play Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Bird, Jo; Edwards, Susan

2015-01-01

Digital technologies are increasingly acknowledged as an important aspect of early childhood education. A significant problem for early childhood education has been how to understand the pedagogical use of technologies in a sector that values play-based learning. This paper presents a new framework to understand how children learn to use…

Playing at School: An Inquiry Approach to Using an Experiential Play Lab in an Early Childhood Teacher Education Course

Science.gov (United States)

Kemple, Kristen M.; Oh, Ji Hyun; Porter, Daniella

2015-01-01

Play is considered an important activity of the early childhood years. Research supports the contribution of play to children's development, learning, and well-being. In spite of this, time for play is being pushed out in many early childhood programs by greater time allotted to formal instruction in narrow academic skills to be tested eventually…

Glutamate Transporters in the Blood-Brain Barrier

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Helms, Hans Christian Cederberg; Nielsen, Carsten Uhd; Waagepetersen, Helle S

2017-01-01

concentration of L-glutamate causes excitotoxicity. A tight control of the brain interstitial fluid L-glutamate levels is therefore imperative, in order to maintain optimal neurotransmission and to avoid such excitotoxicity. The blood-brain barrier, i.e., the endothelial lining of the brain capillaries...... cells. The mechanisms underlying transendothelial L-glutamate transport are however still not well understood. The present chapter summarizes the current knowledge on blood-brain barrier L-glutamate transporters and the suggested pathways for the brain-to-blood L-glutamate efflux......., regulates the exchange of nutrients, gases, and metabolic waste products between plasma and brain interstitial fluid. It has been suggested that brain capillary endothelial cells could play an important role in L-glutamate homeostasis by mediating brain-to-blood L-glutamate efflux. Both in vitro and in vivo...

Bioturbation as a mechanism for radionuclide transport in soil: relevance of earthworms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller-Lemans, H.; Dorp, F. van

1996-01-01

In the context of safety analyses performed for radioactive waste repositories, one important group of scenarios assumes that radionuclides escaping from a repository will reach the biosphere via groundwater. Consequently, when calculating radionuclide migration in the biosphere, most of the models used to date concentrate on transport in the liquid phase. In the soil, however, transport in the solid phase can also be important, particularly when burrowing animals displace the soil together with sorbed and low-solubility radionuclides. Given the conditions prevailing in agricultural areas of central Europe, it is mainly earthworms which play a significant role in material displacement and these will be the subject of this report. A numerical example is used to present the equations which, for given distribution coefficients, can be applied to calculate the portions of the transfer coefficient which can be attributed to transport in the liquid and solid phases. The results demonstrate that material transport by soil fauna, and particularly by earthworms, is a relevant mechanism in many cases, especially for the upward transport of strongly sorbing radionuclides. It should therefore be considered in biosphere models. (Author)

No difference in striatal dopamine transporter availability between active smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers using [I-123]FP-CIT (DaTSCAN) and SPECT

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thomsen, Gerda; Knudsen, Gitte Moos; Jensen, Peter S.; Ziebell, Morten; Holst, Klaus K.; Asenbaum, Susanne; Booij, Jan; Darcourt, Jacques; Dickson, John C.; Kapucu, Ozlem L.; Nobili, Flavio; Sabri, Osama; Sera, Terez; Tatsch, Klaus; Tossici-Bolt, Livia; van Laere, Koen; Borght, Thierry Vander; Varrone, Andrea; Pagani, Marco; Pinborg, Lars Hageman

2013-01-01

Background: Mesolimbic and nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathways play important roles in both the rewarding and conditioning effects of drugs. The dopamine transporter (DAT) is of central importance in regulating dopaminergic neurotransmission and in particular in activating the striatal D-2-like

Biotransformation effect of Bombyx Mori L. may play an important role in treating diabetic nephropathy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lei; Zhang, La; Li, Yin; Guo, Xin-Feng; Liu, Xu-Sheng

2016-11-01

Compared with herbal drugs, medicine processed from animals (animal medicine) was thought to have more bioactive substances and higher activities. Biotransformation effect often plays an important role in their effect. However, researches about effect of animal medicine on diabetic nephropathy and applying animal medicine as natural bio-transformer were seldom reported. The purpose of this paper was to reveal the use of Bombyx Mori L. on diabetic nephropathy from ancient to modern times. The classical literature indicated that Saosi Decoction (), which contains Bombyx Mori L. or silkworm cocoon, was applied to treat disorders congruent with modern disease diabetic nephropathy from the Ming to Qing Dynasty in ancient China. Modern studies showed that Bombyx Mori L. contains four main active constituents. Among these, 1-deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) and quercetin showed promising potential to be new agents in diabetic nephropathy treatment. The concentrations of 1-DNJ and the activities of quercetin in Bombyx Mori L. are higher than in mulberry leaves, because of the biotransformation in the Bombyx Mori L. body. However, these specifific components need further human and mechanistic studies to determine their therapeutic potential for this challenging condition.

Effect of continuous eigenvalue spectrum on plasma transport in toroidal systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamagishi, Tomejiro

1993-03-01

The effect of the continuous eigenvalue of the Vlasov equation on the cross field ion thermal flux is investigated. The continuum contribution due to the toroidal drift resonance is found to play an important role in ion transport particularly near the edge, which may apply to the interpretation of the sharp increase of ion heat conductivity near the periphery observed in large tokamaks. (author)

The popularity of toys and play of pre-school children

OpenAIRE

Kump, Janja

2016-01-01

This thesis presents popularity of play and toys in pre-school period, influence of important factors on a play and selection of toys and differences in duration of the play, depending on children's age and gender. In the theoretical part we defined children's play and its importance, also we detaily described development of children's play and presented the meaning of toys. We classified toys according to the basic function and according to adequacy of toys for certain age group. We focu...

Membrane Transporters: Structure, Function and Targets for Drug Design

Science.gov (United States)

Ravna, Aina W.; Sager, Georg; Dahl, Svein G.; Sylte, Ingebrigt

Current therapeutic drugs act on four main types of molecular targets: enzymes, receptors, ion channels and transporters, among which a major part (60-70%) are membrane proteins. This review discusses the molecular structures and potential impact of membrane transporter proteins on new drug discovery. The three-dimensional (3D) molecular structure of a protein contains information about the active site and possible ligand binding, and about evolutionary relationships within the protein family. Transporters have a recognition site for a particular substrate, which may be used as a target for drugs inhibiting the transporter or acting as a false substrate. Three groups of transporters have particular interest as drug targets: the major facilitator superfamily, which includes almost 4000 different proteins transporting sugars, polyols, drugs, neurotransmitters, metabolites, amino acids, peptides, organic and inorganic anions and many other substrates; the ATP-binding cassette superfamily, which plays an important role in multidrug resistance in cancer chemotherapy; and the neurotransmitter:sodium symporter family, which includes the molecular targets for some of the most widely used psychotropic drugs. Recent technical advances have increased the number of known 3D structures of membrane transporters, and demonstrated that they form a divergent group of proteins with large conformational flexibility which facilitates transport of the substrate.

Role-playing for more realistic technical skills training.

Science.gov (United States)

Nikendei, C; Zeuch, A; Dieckmann, P; Roth, C; Schäfer, S; Völkl, M; Schellberg, D; Herzog, W; Jünger, J

2005-03-01

Clinical skills are an important and necessary part of clinical competence. Simulation plays an important role in many fields of medical education. Although role-playing is common in communication training, there are no reports about the use of student role-plays in the training of technical clinical skills. This article describes an educational intervention with analysis of pre- and post-intervention self-selected student survey evaluations. After one term of skills training, a thorough evaluation showed that the skills-lab training did not seem very realistic nor was it very demanding for trainees. To create a more realistic training situation and to enhance students' involvement, case studies and role-plays with defined roles for students (i.e. intern, senior consultant) were introduced into half of the sessions. Results of the evaluation in the second term showed that sessions with role-playing were rated significantly higher than sessions without role-playing.

NMR studies of transmembrane electron transport in human erythrocytes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennett, E.C.; Bubb, W.A.; Kuchel, P.W.

2002-01-01

Full text: Electron transport systems exist in the plasma membranes of all cells. These systems appear to play a role in cell growth and proliferation, intracellular signalling, hormone responses, apoptotic events, cell defence and perhaps most importantly they enable the cell to respond to changes in the redox state of both the intra- and extracellular environments. Previously, 13 C NMR has been used to study transmembrane electron transport in human erythrocytes, specifically the reduction of extracellular 13 C-ferricyanide. NMR is a particularly useful tool for studying such systems as changes in the metabolic state of the cell can be observed concomitantly with extracellular reductase activity. We investigated the oxidation of extracellular NADH by human erythrocytes using 1 H and 31 P NMR spectroscopy. Recent results for glucose-starved human erythrocytes indicate that, under these conditions, extracellular NADH can be oxidised at the plasma membrane with the electron transfer across the membrane resulting in reduction of intracellular NAD + . The activity is inhibited by known trans-plasma membrane electron transport inhibitors (capsaicin and atebrin) and is unaffected by inhibition of the erythrocyte Band 3 anion transporter. These results suggest that electron import from extracellular NADH allows the cell to re-establish a reducing environment after the normal redox balance is disturbed

Coupled transport phenomena in a clay from a Callovo-Oxfordian formation; Phenomenes de transport couples dans les argiles du Callovo-Oxfordien

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paszkuta, M

2005-06-15

Low permeability materials containing clay play an important role in practical life and natural environment. Indeed, the ability of clay soils to act as semi permeable membranes, that inhibit the passage of electrolytes, is of great interest. The major objective of this thesis is to evaluate the transport properties of natural clays and in particular coupled transports when a pressure gradient, an electrical field, a concentration gradient and a temperature gradient interact. The material is a compact argillite extracted in East France from a Callovo-Oxfordian formation which was supplied to us by ANDRA. NaCl was used as the main solute. Two series of experiments were performed to measure permeability, diffusion, conductivity, the electro-osmotic coefficient and the Soret coefficient. (author)

Preface: Nonclassical Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bolshov, L.; Kondratenko, P.; Pruess, K.

2008-01-01

Transport phenomena in highly heterogeneous media can be dramatically different from those in homogeneous media and therefore are of great fundamental and practical interest. Anomalous transport occurs in semiconductor physics, plasma physics, astrophysics, biology, and other areas. It plays an especially important role in hydrogeology because it may govern the rate of migration and degree of dispersion of groundwater contaminants from hazardous waste sites. The series of four articles in this special section of Vadose Zone Journal is devoted to transport phenomena in heterogeneous media in the context of geologic disposal of radioactive waste. It contains the results of joint investigations performed at the Nuclear Safety Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. The work was supported by the U.S. DOE (under Contract No. DEAC02-05CH11231). The problems addressed in this research involve a broad range of space and time scales and were approached using modern methods of theoretical and computational physics, such as scaling analysis and diagrammatic techniques used before in critical phenomena theory. Special attention is paid to the asymptotics of concentration behavior (concentration tails). This issue is exceptionally important for the reliability assessments of radioactive waste disposal because, depending on the structure of the tails, concentrations at large distances from the source can differ by many orders of magnitude. In the first paper of this special section, Bolshov et al. (2008b) present an overview of field and laboratory observations that demonstrate nonclassical flow and transport behavior in geologic media. It is recognized that natural fracture networks as a rule have fractal geometry and can be classified as percolation systems. This is one of the main factors giving rise to anomalous transport in geologic media. Another important factor is the presence of contaminant traps provided by

Economic and Environmental Effects of Public Transport Subsidy Policies: a Spatial CGE Model of Beijing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ping Xu

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Public transport plays an important role in the environment. This study established a Spatial Computable General Equilibrium (SCGE model to examine the economic and environmental effects of public transport subsidy policies. The model includes firms, consumers, and traffic modules in one framework. Statistical data from Beijing were used in calibration to obtain benchmark equilibrium. Based on the equilibrium, simulations compared citywide social welfare, jobs-housing spatial population distribution, and environmental outputs under four subsidy policies: fare subsidy, cash grants, road expansion, and public transport speedup. Based on the results regarding the effects of public transport policies, conclusions can be drawn about which policies will have greater overall social influence and should therefore be used.

Young Children's Development of Scientific Knowledge Through the Combination of Teacher-Guided Play and Child-Guided Play

Science.gov (United States)

Sliogeris, Marija; Almeida, Sylvia Christine

2017-09-01

Play-based approaches to science learning allow children to meaningfully draw on their everyday experiences and activities as they explore science concepts in context. Acknowledging the crucial role of the teacher in facilitating science learning through play, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how teacher-guided play, in conjunction with child-guided play, supports children's development of science concepts. While previous research on play-based science learning has mainly focused on preschool settings, this study explores the possibilities of play-based approaches to science in primary school contexts. Using a qualitative methodology grounded in the cultural-historical theoretical perspective, children's learning was examined during a science learning sequence that combined teacher-guided and child-guided play. This study revealed that the teacher-guided play explicitly introduced science concepts which children then used and explored in subsequent child-guided play. However, intentional teaching during the child-guided play continued to be important. Play-based approaches to science allowed children to make sense of the science concepts using familiar, everyday knowledge and activities. It became evident that the expectations and values communicated through classroom practices influenced children's learning through play.

Effect of torsion angle on electronic transport through different anchoring groups in molecular junction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xia Caijuan; Fang Changfeng; Zhao Peng; Xie Shijie; Liu Desheng

2009-01-01

By applying nonequilibrium Green's function formalism combined with first-principles density functional theory, we investigate effect of torsion angle on electronic transport properties of 4,4 ' -biphenyl molecule connected with different anchoring groups (dithiocarboxylate and thiol group) to Au(111) electrodes. The influence of the HOMO-LUMO gaps and the spatial distributions of molecular orbitals on the quantum transport through the molecular device are discussed. Theoretical results show that the torsion angle plays important role in conducting behavior of molecular devices. By changing the torsion angle between two phenyl rings, namely changing the magnitude of the intermolecular coupling effect, a different transport behavior can be observed in these two systems.

Factors influencing the transport accessibility level - seniors point of view

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zakowska, L.; Pulawska-Obiedowska, S.

2016-07-01

The growing group of European older inhabitants, namely senior citizens (aged + 65) belong to the most vulnerable group to social exclusion. Transport accessibility is a concept, that can lead to enhancing life quality of seniors, which is shown based on the case study of Cracow, Poland as a European city. 100 seniors, that are living in different areas (urban, suburban), were asked for define different aspects that may influence their travel behaviour. Respondents were indicating their individual concerns connected with travelling, the existing barriers and expected solutions.The goal of the paper is to present the main outcomes of the conducted surveys, in order to present the concept of transport accessibility in the context of the most important factors influencing seniors life quality. The accessibility conditions and barriers, which can affect mobility possibilities and different activities of senior citizens in urban areas, are indicated in the paper. The identification of the crucial aspects of accessibility play an important role in development of sustainable transport system together with sustainable urban design, that will be friendly for all citizens in aging society. (Author)

Play Initiating Behaviors and Responses in Red Colobus Monkeys

Science.gov (United States)

Worch, Eric A.

2012-01-01

Red colobus monkeys are playful primates, making them an important species in which to study animal play. The author examines play behaviors and responses in the species for its play initiation events, age differences in initiating frequency and initiating behavior, and the types of social play that result from specific initiating behaviors. Out…

Leveling the playing field of transportation fuels: Accounting for indirect emissions of natural gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sexton, Steven; Eyer, Jonathan

2016-01-01

Natural gas transportation fuels are credited in prior studies with greenhouse gas emissions savings relative to petroleum-based fuels and relative to the total emissions of biofuels. These analyses, however, overlook a source of potentially large indirect emissions from natural gas transportation fuels, namely the emissions from incremental coal-fired generation caused by price-induced substitutions away from natural-gas-fired electricity generation. Because coal-fired generation emits substantially more greenhouse gases and criteria air pollutants than natural-gas-fired generation, this indirect coal-use change effect diminishes potential emissions savings from natural gas transportation fuels. Estimates from a parameterized multi-market model suggest the indirect coal-use change effect rivals in magnitude the indirect land-use change effect of biofuels and renders natural gas fuels as carbon intensive as petroleum fuels. - Highlights: •Natural gas used in transport causes indirect emissions in the electricity sector. •These emissions result from increased coal use in electricity generation. •They rival in magnitude indirect land use change (ILUC) emissions of biofuels. •Natural gas fuels are estimated to be as carbon intensive as the petroleum fuels. •Policy ignores indirect emissions from natural gas.

Exercise-induced expression of monocarboxylate transporter 2 in the cerebellum and its contribution to motor performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoshino, Daisuke; Setogawa, Susumu; Kitaoka, Yu; Masuda, Hiroyuki; Tamura, Yuki; Hatta, Hideo; Yanagihara, Dai

2016-10-28

Monocarboxylate transporter 2 (MCT2) is an important component of the lactate transport system in neurons of the adult brain. Purkinje cells in the cerebellum have been shown to have high levels of MCT2, suggesting that this protein has a key function in energy metabolism and neuronal activities in these cells. However, it is not known whether inhibition of lactate transport via MCT2 in the cerebellum affects motor performance. To address this question, we examined motor performance in mice following the inhibition of lactate transport via MCT2 in the cerebellum using α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamate (4-CIN). 4-CIN or saline was injected into the subarachnoidal space of the cerebellum of mice and motor performance was analyzed by a rotarod test both before and after injection. 4-CIN injection reduced retention time in the rotarod test by approximately 80% at 1h post-injection compared with pre-injection. No effect was observed at 2h post-injection or in mice treated with the vehicle control. Because we observed that MCT2 plays an important role in motor performance, we next investigated the effects of acute exercise on MCT2 transcription and protein levels in mice sampled pre-exercise and at 0 and 5h after 2h of treadmill running. We found a significant increase in MCT2 mRNA levels, but not of protein levels, in the cerebellum at 5h after exercise. Our results indicate that lactate transport via MCT2 in the cerebellum may play an important role in motor performance and that exercise can increase MCT2 expression at the transcriptional level. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Review of biokinetic and biological transport of transuranic radionuclides in the marine environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beasley, T.M.; Cross, F.A.

1980-01-01

Present understanding of the uptake, retention, and loss of transuranic radionuclides by marine biota is limited. Laboratory experiments have demonstrated that for certain species assimilation of plutonium and americium from labeled food is an efficient process and that direct uptake from seawater is important in the bioaccumulation of all transuranic radionuclides studied to date. Organisms appear to play an important role in the vertical transport of these radioelements from the surface layers of the ocean to greater depths

Identification and Functional Characterization of a Tonoplast Dicarboxylate Transporter in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

OpenAIRE

Liu, Ruiling; Li, Boqiang; Qin, Guozheng; Zhang, Zhanquan; Tian, Shiping

2017-01-01

Acidity plays an important role in flavor and overall organoleptic quality of fruit and is mainly due to the presence of organic acids. Understanding the molecular basis of organic acid metabolism is thus of primary importance for fruit quality improvement. Here, we cloned a putative tonoplast dicarboxylate transporter gene (SlTDT) from tomato, and submitted it to the NCBI database (GenBank accession number: KC733165). SlTDT protein contained 13 putative transmembrane domains in silico analys...

Cats and Portals: Video Games, Learning, and Play

Science.gov (United States)

Gee, James Paul

2008-01-01

The author builds on arguments he has made elsewhere that good commercial video games foster deep learning and problem solving and that such games in fact promote mastery as a form of play. Here he maintains that some good video games engage players with an important type of play, namely of play as discovery, of play as surmising new possibilities…

Varicellovirus UL49.5 proteins differentially affect the function of the transporter associated with antigen processing, TAP

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Koppers-Lalic, D.; Verweij, M.C.; Lipinska, A.D.; Wang, Y.; Quinten, E.; Reits, E.A.; Koch, J.; Loch, S.; Rezende, M.M.; Daus, F.J.; Bienkowska-Szewczyk, K.; Osterrieder, N.; Mettenleiter, T.C.; Heemskerk, M.H.M.; Tampe, R.; Neefjes, J.J.; Chowdhury, S.I.; Ressing, M.E.; Rijsewijk, F.A.M.; Wiertz, E.J.H.J.

2008-01-01

Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes play an important role in the protection against viral infections, which they detect through the recognition of virus-derived peptides, presented in the context of MHC class I molecules at the surface of the infected cell. The transporter associated with antigen processing

Connections between transport in events and transport at landscape-structuring timescales

Science.gov (United States)

Harman, C. J.; Lohse, K. A.; Troch, P. A.; Sivapalan, M.

2012-12-01

the population of runoff events and processes that generate them. The results suggest that over the long term, slope-dependent transport processes (such as rainsplash, bioturbation and trampling) seem to play an important role in these steeper hillslopes in inverting the flow of resources. Over many storm and inter-storm periods, soil organic matter is transported downslope in plumes extending at least two canopy radii downslope from below woody-shrub canopies into the inter-space. This pattern was particularly evident where microtopography and soil properties create micro-sites protected from fluvial transport. While many of the patterns observed are similar to those from more stable geomorphic surfaces, the results suggest that long-term downslope transport processes in sloping terrain can disrupt the autogenic processes that reinforce the redistribution of resources under shrubs. This result has important implications for our understanding of the relationship between ecosystem function and landscape-scale transport in these environments.

Performance measurement in transport sector analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Išoraitė

2004-06-01

Full Text Available The article analyses the following issues: 1. Performance measurement in literature. The performance measurement has an important role to play in the efficient and effective management of organizations. Kaplan and Johnson highlighted the failure of the financial measures to reflect changes in the competitive circumstances and strategies of modern organizations. Many authors have focused attention on how organizations can design more appropriate measurement systems. Based on literature, consultancy experience and action research, numerous processes have been developed that organizations can follow in order to design and implement systems. Many frameworks have been proposed that support these processes. The objective of such frameworks is to help organizations define a set of measures that reflect their objectives and assess their performance appropriately. 2. Transport sector performance and its impacts measuring. The purpose of transport measurement is to identify opportunities enhancing transport performance. Successful transport sector management requires a system to analyze its efficiency and effectiveness as well as plan interventions if transport sector performance needs improvement. Transport impacts must be measurable and monitorable so that the person responsible for the project intervention can decide when and how to influence them. Performance indicators provide a means to measure and monitor impacts. These indicators essentially reflect quantitative and qualitative aspects of impacts at given time and places. 3. Transport sector output and input. Transport sector inputs are the resources required to deliver transport sector outputs. Transport sector inputs are typically: human resources, particularly skilled resources (including specialists consulting inputs; technology processes such as equipment and work; and finance, both public and private. 4. Transport sector policy and institutional framework; 5. Cause – effect linkages; 6

Y2K and International Agricultural Transportation: Analysis of Export Markets, Import Suppliers, and Major Food Aid Recipient Countries

Science.gov (United States)

1999-09-01

USDA Y2K information assessment of international food transportation modes in : selected foreign countries. The assessment targeted 9 of the top 10 markets for : U.S. Agricultural exports and 7 of the top 8 suppliers of imported food products : to th...

Pediatric Hospital: The Paradigms of Play in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

de Macedo, Lino; da Silva, Gláucia Faria; Setúbal, Sandra Mutarelli

2015-01-29

The role of play in Brazilian children's hospitals is highlighted, as well as the perspective of humanization in Brazil. Some aspects of our culture are crucial to understanding the importance of play considering our society. Sabara Children's Hospital ("Hospital Infantil Sabará") in Brazil is used particularly to discuss humanization. To understand the issue of play in Brazil, it is important to discuss hospitals in their social context, their history, current roles in children's care, humanization history and child development, according to the approaches of Piaget and Winnicott that are used in our culture.

A New Measure for Transported Suspended Sediment

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Q.

2017-12-01

Non-uniform suspended sediment plays an important role in many geographical and biological processes. Despite extensive study, understanding to it seems to stagnate when times to consider non-uniformity and non-equilibrium scenarios comes. Due to unsatisfactory reproducibility, large-scaled flume seems to be incompetent to conduct more fundamental research in this area. To push the realm a step further, experiment to find how suspended sediment exchanges is conducted in a new validated equipment, in which turbulence is motivated by oscillating grids. Analysis shows that 1) suspended sediment exchange is constrained by ωS invariance, 2) ωS of the suspended sediment that certain flow regime could support is unique regardless of the sediment gradation and 3) the more turbulent the flow, the higher ωS of the suspension the flow could achieve. A new measure for suspended sediment ωS, the work required to sustain sediment in suspension transport mode if multiplied by gravitational acceleration, is thus proposed to better describe the dynamics of transported suspended sediment. Except for the further understanding towards suspended sediment transportation mechanics, with this energy measure, a strategy to distribute total transport capacity to different fractions could be derived and rational calculation of non-uniform sediment transport capacity under non-equilibrium conditions be possible.

Hereditary tubular transport disorders: implications for renal handling of Ca2+ and Mg2+.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dimke, H.; Hoenderop, J.G.J.; Bindels, R.J.M.

2010-01-01

The kidney plays an important role in maintaining the systemic Ca2+ and Mg2+ balance. Thus the renal reabsorptive capacity of these cations can be amended to adapt to disturbances in plasma Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations. The reabsorption of Ca2+ and Mg2+ is driven by transport of other electrolytes,

Iron is a substrate of the Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance transporter PfCRT in Xenopus oocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Bakouh, Naziha; Bellanca, Sebastiano; Nyboer, Britta; Moliner Cubel, Sonia; Karim, Zoubida; Sanchez, Cecilia P; Stein, Wilfred D; Planelles, Gabrielle; Lanzer, Michael

2017-09-29

The chloroquine resistance transporter of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum , PfCRT, is an important determinant of resistance to several quinoline and quinoline-like antimalarial drugs. PfCRT also plays an essential role in the physiology of the parasite during development inside erythrocytes. However, the function of this transporter besides its role in drug resistance is still unclear. Using electrophysiological and flux experiments conducted on PfCRT-expressing Xenopus laevis oocytes, we show here that both wild-type PfCRT and a PfCRT variant associated with chloroquine resistance transport both ferrous and ferric iron, albeit with different kinetics. In particular, we found that the ability to transport ferrous iron is reduced by the specific polymorphisms acquired by the PfCRT variant as a result of chloroquine selection. We further show that iron and chloroquine transport via PfCRT is electrogenic. If these findings in the Xenopus model extend to P. falciparum in vivo , our data suggest that PfCRT might play a role in iron homeostasis, which is essential for the parasite's development in erythrocytes. © 2017 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Importance of space-time fluctuations and non-linearities for the transport inside insulating glasses; Importance des fluctuations spatio-temporelles et des non linearites pour le transport dans les verres isolants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ladieu, F

2003-07-01

This work deals with transport in insulating glasses. In such solids, the discrete translational symmetry is lost, which means that the plane wave analysis is not a priori the right 'starting point'. As a result, the transport is more difficult to handle, and a huge amount of works have been devoted to many aspects of transport in disordered systems, especially since the seventies. Here we focus on three specific questions: (i) the heat transport in glasses submitted to micro-beams and the associated irreversible vaporization; (ii) the electronic d.c. transport, below 1 Kelvin, in Mott-Anderson insulators, i.e. in 'electron glasses' where both disorder and electron-electron interactions are relevant; (iii) the low frequency dielectric constant in 'structural glasses' (i.e. 'ordinary glasses') which, below 1 Kelvin, is both universal (i.e. independent on the chemical composition) and very different of that of crystals. For each topic, we present both original experiments and the new theoretical concepts that we have elaborated so as to understand the main experimental features. Eventually, it appears that, in any case, transport in insulating glasses is strongly dominated by quite a small part of the 'glass-applied field' ensemble and that the nonlinear response is a relevant tool to get informations on this 'sub-part' which dominates the transport in the whole system. (author)

Energy system aspects of hydrogen as an alternative fuel in transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramesohl, Stephan; Merten, Frank

2006-01-01

Considering the enormous ecological and economic importance of the transport sector the introduction of alternative fuels-together with drastic energy efficiency gains-will be a key to sustainable mobility, nationally as well as globally. However, the future role of alternative fuels cannot be examined from the isolated perspective of the transport sector. Interactions with the energy system as a whole have to be taken into account. This holds both for the issue of availability of energy sources as well as for allocation effects, resulting from the shift of renewable energy from the stationary sector to mobile applications. With emphasis on hydrogen as a transport fuel for private passenger cars, this paper discusses the energy systems impacts of various scenarios introducing hydrogen fueled vehicles in Germany. It identifies clear restrictions to an enhanced growth of clean hydrogen production from renewable energy sources (RES). Furthermore, it points at systems interdependencies that call for a priority use of RES electricity in stationary applications. Whereas hydrogen can play an increasing role in transport after 2030 the most important challenge is to exploit short-mid-term potentials of boosting car efficiency

Radiation transport effects in divertor plasmas generated during a tokamak reactor disruption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peterson, R.R.; MacFarlane, J.J.; Wang, P.

1994-01-01

Vaporization of material from tokamak divertors during disruptions is a critical issue for tokamak reactors from ITER to commercial power plants. Radiation transport from the vaporized material onto the remaining divertor surface plays an important role in the total mass loss to the divertor. Radiation transport in such a vapor is very difficult to calculate in full detail, and this paper quantifies the sensitivity of the divertor mass loss to uncertainties in the radiation transport. Specifically, the paper presents the results of computer simulations of the vaporization of a graphite coated divertor during a tokamak disruption with ITER CDA parameters. The results show that a factor of 100 change in the radiation conductivity changes the mass loss by more than a factor of two

High-throughput deep sequencing reveals that microRNAs play important roles in salt tolerance of euhalophyte Salicornia europaea.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Juanjuan; Wang, Jinhui; Fan, Pengxiang; Jia, Weitao; Nie, Lingling; Jiang, Ping; Chen, Xianyang; Lv, Sulian; Wan, Lichuan; Chang, Sandra; Li, Shizhong; Li, Yinxin

2015-02-26

microRNAs (miRNAs) are implicated in plant development processes and play pivotal roles in plant adaptation to environmental stresses. Salicornia europaea, a salt mash euhalophyte, is a suitable model plant to study salt adaptation mechanisms. S. europaea is also a vegetable, forage, and oilseed that can be used for saline land reclamation and biofuel precursor production on marginal lands. Despite its importance, no miRNA has been identified from S. europaea thus far. Deep sequencing was performed to investigate small RNA transcriptome of S. europaea. Two hundred and ten conserved miRNAs comprising 51 families and 31 novel miRNAs (including seven miRNA star sequences) belonging to 30 families were identified. About half (13 out of 31) of the novel miRNAs were only detected in salt-treated samples. The expression of 43 conserved and 13 novel miRNAs significantly changed in response to salinity. In addition, 53 conserved and 13 novel miRNAs were differentially expressed between the shoots and roots. Furthermore, 306 and 195 S. europaea unigenes were predicted to be targets of 41 conserved and 29 novel miRNA families, respectively. These targets encoded a wide range of proteins, and genes involved in transcription regulation constituted the largest category. Four of these genes encoding laccase, F-box family protein, SAC3/GANP family protein, and NADPH cytochrome P-450 reductase were validated using 5'-RACE. Our results indicate that specific miRNAs are tightly regulated by salinity in the shoots and/or roots of S. europaea, which may play important roles in salt tolerance of this euhalophyte. The S. europaea salt-responsive miRNAs and miRNAs that target transcription factors, nucleotide binding site-leucine-rich repeat proteins and enzymes involved in lignin biosynthesis as well as carbon and nitrogen metabolism may be applied in genetic engineering of crops with high stress tolerance, and genetic modification of biofuel crops with high biomass and regulatable

Why do adult dogs 'play'?

Science.gov (United States)

Bradshaw, John W S; Pullen, Anne J; Rooney, Nicola J

2015-01-01

Among the Carnivora, play behaviour is usually made up of motor patterns characteristic of predatory, agonistic and courtship behaviour. Domestic dogs are unusual in that play is routinely performed by adults, both socially, with conspecifics and with humans, and also asocially, with objects. This enhanced playfulness is commonly thought to be a side effect of paedomorphosis, the perpetuation of juvenile traits into adulthood, but here we suggest that the functions of the different types of play are sufficiently distinct that they are unlikely to have arisen through a single evolutionary mechanism. Solitary play with objects appears to be derived from predatory behaviour: preferred toys are those that can be dismembered, and a complex habituation-like feedback system inhibits play with objects that are resistant to alteration. Intraspecific social play is structurally different from interspecific play and may therefore be motivationally distinct and serve different goals; for example, dogs often compete over objects when playing with other dogs, but are usually more cooperative when the play partner is human. The majority of dogs do not seem to regard competitive games played with a human partner as "dominance" contests: rather, winning possession of objects during games appears to be simply rewarding. Play may be an important factor in sociality, since dogs are capable of extracting social information not only from games in which they participate, but also from games that they observe between third parties. We suggest that the domestic dog's characteristic playfulness in social contexts is an adaptive trait, selected during domestication to facilitate both training for specific purposes, and the formation of emotionally-based bonds between dog and owner. Play frequency and form may therefore be an indicator of the quality of dog-owner relationships. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Play therapy--psychotherapy with play as the medium: I. General introduction, psychoanalytic and client-centered approaches].

Science.gov (United States)

von Gontard, Alexander; Lehmkuhl, Gerd

2003-01-01

Play therapies are psychotherapies with the medium of play primarily for children under 12 years of age, which can be differentiated according to their theoretical constructs and actual practice. Play therapies have gained importance and relevance in the 1990's, reflected in a wide range of publications. Following trends can be discerned: narrow concepts defined by individual schools of psychotherapy have been left. Different forms of play therapy, as well as behavioural and family therapy have been integrated. Focussed short-term and therapies for specific disorders have been developed. The aim of the first part of this paper is to present an overview of traditional forms of playtherapy, with a focus on the Individual Therapy of A. Adler, the Analytic Psychotherapy of C. G. Jung, Sandplay Therapy of D. Kalff and child-centered (non-directive) play therapy.

Tool for assessment of process importance at the groundwater/surface water interface.

Science.gov (United States)

Palakodeti, Ravi C; LeBoeuf, Eugene J; Clarke, James H

2009-10-01

The groundwater/surface water interface (GWSWI) represents an important transition zone between groundwater and surface water environments that potentially changes the nature and flux of contaminants exchanged between the two systems. Identifying dominant and rate-limiting contaminant transformation processes is critically important for estimating contaminant fluxes and compositional changes across the GWSWI. A new, user-friendly, spreadsheet- and Visual Basic-based analytical screening tool that assists in evaluating the dominance of controlling kinetic processes across the GWSWI is presented. Based on contaminant properties, first-order processes that may play a significant role in solute transport/transformation are evaluated in terms of a ratio of process importance (P(i)) that relates the process rate to the rate of fluid transfer. Besides possessing several useful compilations of contaminant and process data, the screening tool also includes 1-D analytical models that assist users in evaluating contaminant transport across the GWSWI. The tool currently applies to 29 organics and 10 inorganics of interest within the context of the GWSWI. Application of the new screening tool is demonstrated through an evaluation of natural attenuation at a site with trichloroethylene and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane contaminated groundwater discharging into wetlands.

Structural basis of transport of lysophospholipids by human serum albumin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guo, Shihui; Shi, Xiaoli; Yang, Feng; Chen, Liqing; Meehan, Edward J.; Bian, Chuanbing; Huang, Mingdong; (UAH); (Chinese Aca. Sci.)

2010-10-08

Lysophospholipids play important roles in cellular signal transduction and are implicated in many biological processes, including tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, immunity, atherosclerosis, arteriosclerosis, cancer and neuronal survival. The intracellular transport of lysophospholipids is through FA (fatty acid)-binding protein. Lysophospholipids are also found in the extracellular space. However, the transport mechanism of lysophospholipids in the extracellular space is unknown. HSA (human serum albumin) is the most abundant carrier protein in blood plasma and plays an important role in determining the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of drugs. In the present study, LPE (lysophosphatidylethanolamine) was used as the ligand to analyse the interaction of lysophospholipids with HSA by fluorescence quenching and crystallography. Fluorescence measurement showed that LPE binds to HSA with a K{sub d} (dissociation constant) of 5.6 {micro}M. The presence of FA (myristate) decreases this binding affinity (K{sub d} of 12.9 {micro}M). Moreover, we determined the crystal structure of HSA in complex with both myristate and LPE and showed that LPE binds at Sudlow site I located in subdomain IIA. LPE occupies two of the three subsites in Sudlow site I, with the LPE acyl chain occupying the hydrophobic bottom of Sudlow site I and the polar head group located at Sudlow site I entrance region pointing to the solvent. This orientation of LPE in HSA suggests that HSA is capable of accommodating other lysophospholipids and phospholipids. The study provides structural information on HSA-lysophospholipid interaction and may facilitate our understanding of the transport and distribution of lysophospholipids.

Theoretical and Numerical Properties of a Gyrokinetic Plasma: Issues Related to Transport Time Scale Simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, W.W.

2003-01-01

Particle simulation has played an important role for the recent investigations on turbulence in magnetically confined plasmas. In this paper, theoretical and numerical properties of a gyrokinetic plasma as well as its relationship with magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) are discussed with the ultimate aim of simulating microturbulence in transport time scale using massively parallel computers

Skill-Based and Planned Active Play Versus Free-Play Effects on Fundamental Movement Skills in Preschoolers.

Science.gov (United States)

Roach, Lindsay; Keats, Melanie

2018-01-01

Fundamental movement skill interventions are important for promoting physical activity, but the optimal intervention model for preschool children remains unclear. We compared two 8-week interventions, a structured skill-station and a planned active play approach, to a free-play control condition on pre- and postintervention fundamental movement skills. We also collected data regarding program attendance and perceived enjoyment. We found a significant interaction effect between intervention type and time. A Tukey honest significant difference analysis supported a positive intervention effect showing a significant difference between both interventions and the free-play control condition. There was a significant between-group difference in group attendance such that mean attendance was higher for both the free-play and planned active play groups relative to the structured skill-based approach. There were no differences in attendance between free-play and planned active play groups, and there were no differences in enjoyment ratings between the two intervention groups. In sum, while both interventions led to improved fundamental movement skills, the active play approach offered several logistical advantages. Although these findings should be replicated, they can guide feasible and sustainable fundamental movement skill programs within day care settings.

Importance économique du transport dans les contraintes énergétiques internationales. Le cas des hydrocarbures Economic Importance of Transportation in International Energy Constraints. the Case of Hydrocarbons

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Masseron J.

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Les nombreuses prévisions publiées pour tenter d'estimer l'offre et la demande d'énergie d'ici la fin du XX' siècle montrent qu'il est nécessaire d'examiner les conditions de transport à grande distance de l'ensemble des ressources énergétiques. Le présent article tente, à partir des scenarios des besoins énergétiques mondiaux, d'analyser à quelles conditions pratiques seront soumis les échanges. L'auteur passe successivement en revue les différents moyens de transport pour chaque type d'énergie et les problèmes qui s'y rattachent. En particulier, il montre l'interdépendance des diverses formes de transport et souligne l'absence d'une véritable coopération dans les échanges internationaux d'énergie. The numerous published forecosts attempting to estimate the supply and demand for energy between now and the end of the 20th century show that an examination must be made of long-distance transportation conditions thot will govern exchanges. The present article is based on scenarios for worldwide energy needs and attempts to onalyze the practical conditions that will govern exchanges. A review is made of different means of transportation for each type of energy and the problems they entail. In porticular, the article shows the interdependence of different forms of transportation and emphasizes the absence of any veritable coopération in international energy exchanges.

Parent participation plays an important part in promoting physical activity

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Anna-Karin Lindqvist

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Although physical activity (PA is an important and modifiable determinant of health, in Sweden only 15% of boys and 10% of girls aged 15 years old achieve the recommended levels of PA 7 days per week. Adolescents’ PA levels are associated with social influence exerted by parents, friends, and teachers. The purpose of this study was to describe parents’ experiences of being a part of their adolescents’ empowerment-inspired PA intervention. A qualitative interview study was performed at a school in the northern part of Sweden. A total of 10 parents were interviewed, and the collected data were analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Three subthemes were combined into one main theme, demonstrating that parents are one important part of a successful PA intervention. The life of an adolescent has many options and demands that make it difficult to prioritize PA. Although parents felt that they were important in supporting their adolescent, a successful PA intervention must have multiple components. Moreover, the parents noted that the intervention had a positive effect upon not only their adolescents’, but also their own PA. Interventions aimed at promoting PA among adolescents should include measures to stimulate parent participation, have an empowerment approach, and preferably be school-based.

Robust transport by multiple motors with nonlinear force–velocity relations and stochastic load sharing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kunwar, Ambarish; Mogilner, Alexander

2010-01-01

Transport by processive molecular motors plays an important role in many cell biological phenomena. In many cases, motors work together to transport cargos in the cell, so it is important to understand the mechanics of the multiple motors. Based on earlier modeling efforts, here we study effects of nonlinear force–velocity relations and stochastic load sharing on multiple motor transport. We find that when two or three motors transport the cargo, then the nonlinear and stochastic effects compensate so that the mechanical properties of the transport are robust. Similarly, the transport is insensitive to compliance of the cargo-motor links. Furthermore, the rate of movement against moderate loads is not improved by increasing the small number of motors. When the motor number is greater than 4, correlations between the motors become negligible, and the earlier analytical mean-field theory of the multiple motor transport holds. We predict that the effective diffusion of the cargo driven by the multiple motors under load increases by an order of magnitude compared to that for the single motor. Finally, our simulations predict that the stochastic effects are responsible for a significant dispersion of velocities generated by the 'tug-of-war' of the multiple opposing motors

Teaching Play Skills to Young Children with Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Sunhwa; Sainato, Diane M.

2013-01-01

Background: Play is critical for the development of young children and is an important part of their daily routine. However, children with autism often exhibit deficits in play skills and engage in stereotypic behaviour. We reviewed studies to identify effective instructional strategies for teaching play skills to young children with autism.…

Pediatric Hospital: The Paradigms of Play in Brazil

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Lino de Macedo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The role of play in Brazilian children’s hospitals is highlighted, as well as the perspective of humanization in Brazil. Some aspects of our culture are crucial to understanding the importance of play considering our society. Sabara Children’s Hospital (“Hospital Infantil Sabará” in Brazil is used particularly to discuss humanization. To understand the issue of play in Brazil, it is important to discuss hospitals in their social context, their history, current roles in children’s care, humanization history and child development, according to the approaches of Piaget and Winnicott that are used in our culture.

Instabilities, turbulence and transport in a magnetized plasma; Instabilites, turbulence et transport dans un plasma magnetise

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garbet, X

2001-06-01

The purpose of this work is to introduce the main processes that occur in a magnetized plasma. During the last 2 decades, the understanding of turbulence has made great progress but analytical formulas and simulations are far to produce reliable predictions. The values of transport coefficients in a tokamak plasma exceed by far those predicted by the theory of collisional transport. This phenomenon is called abnormal transport and might be due to plasma fluctuations. An estimation of turbulent fluxes derived from the levels of fluctuations, is proposed. A flow description of plasma allows the understanding of most micro-instabilities. The ballooning representation deals with instabilities in a toric geometry. 3 factors play an important role to stabilize plasmas: density pinch, magnetic shear and speed shear. The flow model of plasma gives an erroneous value for the stability threshold, this is due to a bad description of the resonant interaction between wave and particle. As for dynamics, flow models can be improved by adding dissipative terms so that the linear response nears the kinetic response. The kinetic approach is more accurate but is complex because of the great number of dimensions involved. (A.C.)

Characterization of vacuolar amino acid transporter from Fusarium oxysporum in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Science.gov (United States)

Lunprom, Siriporn; Pongcharoen, Pongsanat; Sekito, Takayuki; Kawano-Kawada, Miyuki; Kakinuma, Yoshimi; Akiyama, Koichi

2015-01-01

Fusarium oxysporum causes wilt disease in many plant families, and many genes are involved in its development or growth in host plants. A recent study revealed that vacuolar amino acid transporters play an important role in spore formation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To investigate the role of vacuolar amino acid transporters of this phytopathogenic fungus, the FOXG_11334 (FoAVT3) gene from F. oxysporum was isolated and its function was characterized. Transcription of FoAVT3 was upregulated after rapamycin treatment. A green fluorescent protein fusion of FoAvt3p was localized to vacuolar membranes in both S. cerevisiae and F. oxysporum. Analysis of the amino acid content of the vacuolar fraction and amino acid transport activities using vacuolar membrane vesicles from S. cerevisiae cells heterologously expressing FoAVT3 revealed that FoAvt3p functions as a vacuolar amino acid transporter, exporting neutral amino acids. We conclude that the FoAVT3 gene encodes a vacuolar neutral amino acid transporter.

Not planning a sustainable transport system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finnveden, Göran; Åkerman, Jonas

2014-01-01

The overall objective of the Swedish transport policy is to ensure the economically efficient and sustainable provision of transport services for people and business throughout the country. More specifically, the transport sector shall, among other things, contribute to the achievement of environmental quality objectives in which the development of the transport system plays an important role in the achievement of the objectives. The aim of this study is to analyse if current transport planning supports this policy. This is done by analysing two recent cases: the National Infrastructure Plan 2010–2021, and the planning of Bypass Stockholm, a major road investment. Our results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. Another interesting aspect of the planning processes is that the long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes, neither as a clear goal nor as factor that will influence future transport systems. In this way, the long-term sustainability aspects are not present in the planning. We conclude that the two cases do not contribute to a sustainable transport system. Thus, several changes must be made in the processes, including putting up clear targets for emissions. Also, the methodology for the environmental assessments needs to be further developed and discussed. - Highlights: • Two cases are studied to analyse if current planning supports a sustainable transport system. • Results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. • Long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes. • Current practices do not contribute to a sustainable planning processes. • Methodology and process for environmental assessments must be further developed and discussed

Not planning a sustainable transport system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Finnveden, Göran, E-mail: goran.finnveden@abe.kth.se; Åkerman, Jonas

2014-04-01

The overall objective of the Swedish transport policy is to ensure the economically efficient and sustainable provision of transport services for people and business throughout the country. More specifically, the transport sector shall, among other things, contribute to the achievement of environmental quality objectives in which the development of the transport system plays an important role in the achievement of the objectives. The aim of this study is to analyse if current transport planning supports this policy. This is done by analysing two recent cases: the National Infrastructure Plan 2010–2021, and the planning of Bypass Stockholm, a major road investment. Our results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. Another interesting aspect of the planning processes is that the long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes, neither as a clear goal nor as factor that will influence future transport systems. In this way, the long-term sustainability aspects are not present in the planning. We conclude that the two cases do not contribute to a sustainable transport system. Thus, several changes must be made in the processes, including putting up clear targets for emissions. Also, the methodology for the environmental assessments needs to be further developed and discussed. - Highlights: • Two cases are studied to analyse if current planning supports a sustainable transport system. • Results show that the plans are in conflict with several of the environmental quality objectives. • Long-term climate goals are not included in the planning processes. • Current practices do not contribute to a sustainable planning processes. • Methodology and process for environmental assessments must be further developed and discussed.

Anxiety and perceived psychological stress play an important role in the immune response after exercise.

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Jason P; Walsh, Neil P; Diment, Philip C; Roberts, Ross

2018-01-01

There are common pathways by which psychological stress and exercise stress alter immunity. However, it remains unknown whether psychological stress plays a role in the in vivo immune response to exercise. We examined the relationship between anxiety and perceived psychological stress reported before exercise and in vivo immunity after exercise using skin sensitisation with Diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP). In a randomised design, sixty four, thoroughly familiarised, males completed widely used psychological instruments to assess state-anxiety and perceived psychological stress before exercise, and ran either 30 minutes at 60% (30MI) or 80% (30HI) V . O2peak, 120 minutes at 60% (120MI) V . O2peak or rested (CON) before DPCP sensitisation. Cutaneous recall to DPCP was measured as the dermal thickening response to a low-dose series DPCP challenge 4-weeks after sensitisation. After accounting for exercise (R2 = 0.20; P stress (ΔR2 = 0.13; P stress on in vivo immunity after exercise. Moreover, correlations were of comparable strength for the relationship between physiological stress (heart rate training impulse) and the summed dermal response to DPCP (r = -0.37; 95% CI: -0.05 to -0.62; P = 0.01), and state-anxiety and the summed dermal response to DPCP (r = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.63; P stress levels before exercise play animportant role in determining the strength of the in vivo immune response after exercise. These findings indicate a similar strength relationship for the level of state-anxiety prior to exercise and the level of physiological stress during exercise with the in vivo immune response after exercise. Future research is required to investigate exercise-immune responses in athletes, military personnel and others in physically demanding occupations experiencing higher levels of psychological stress than those reported in this study e.g. related to important competition, military operations and major life events. Nevertheless, the present findings support the

Transport on prescription: How can GPs contribute to the promotion of active transport?

Science.gov (United States)

Pistoll, Chance; Furler, John

2017-10-01

Active transport (ie walking, cycling, using public transport) can play a part in reducing non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Very little is known about how general practitioners (GPs) can contribute to promoting active transport. We explored GPs' ideas around active transport, and potential barriers and facilitators to its promotion in the clinical setting. Using a maximal variation sample, we conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with GPs in Victoria, Australia. The socioecological model informed data collection and analysis. The idea of active transport resonated with GPs. Limited awareness around active transport and safety concerns regarding commuter cycling were barriers to clinical promotion. GPs believed patients' health, cultural norms, socioeconomic position and access to supportive environments could facilitate participation. Future efforts should prioritise awareness of active transport among GPs. The perspectives of GPs would be valuable to policymakers, particularly in designing programs to mitigate inequalities around active transport access and use.

CONSUMERS SATISFACTION OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT MONORAIL USER IN KUALA LUMPUR

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AMSORI MUHAMMAD DAS

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Public transport which also called public transit includes various services using shared vehicles to provide mobility to the public. Public transport is important for the societal mobility and can knowingly play a role in reducing the problems related to several transport externalities such as accidents and traffic congestion. Kuala Lumpur City has experienced growth significantly better in the field of economic, social, and other, which resulted in more intensively urban activity that boosts the demand for public transport facilities will need sufficient city. Urban public transport facilities are secure, fast, comfortable and effective environment-friendly society in terms of operating or service will encourage residents and fluency activities into one of the indicators effective and successful cities. This research seeks to identify and explore the community and user satisfaction of the effectiveness of the public transportation system monorail service, which is a modern public transport in Kuala Lumpur, and to learn and take decisions that need to maintain service facilities or obtain performance improvements and development priorities. From studies that have been conducted show that the KL monorail public transport system has the potential and growing. The average number of passengers in 2012 was 66,765 passengers per day and 3,709 passengers per hour, the percentage increase in the average number of passengers between the years 2003-2012 amounted to 11.04%. From the analysis of the method Importance Performance Analysis of factors important facilities and services according to the respondents to maintain satisfactory work performance, namely: Environmental and cleanliness in station, ticket counter, board information, punctuality of train arrival, cleanliness in the trains, security and installation of CCTV, reduce traffic congestion and environmental friendly. Factor facilities and services do not satisfy on the need to increase work

Price and income elasticities of demand for passenger transport fuels in Spain. Implications for public policies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romero-Jordan, Desiderio; Del Rio, Pablo; Jorge-Garcia, Marta; Burguillo, Mercedes

2010-01-01

The significant increase in passenger transport activity (cars) experienced by Spain and its associated increase in energy consumption have several associated negative aspects, including a greater dependence on foreign energy sources and higher GHG emissions. Therefore, reducing the level of transport activity would bring important socioeconomic and environmental benefits. The aim of this paper, which focuses on energy consumption in the passenger transport, is fourfold: (1) to provide a diagnostic of energy consumption in the Spanish passenger transport system and the related problems; (2) to develop a model to calculate price and income elasticities of demand for transport fuel; (3) to apply this model to the Spanish passenger transport sector; (4) to infer policy recommendations derived from the results of the diagnostic and the model. It is claimed that, in view of those low price elasticities and high income elasticities and if a reduction in the scale of transport activity is deemed socially desirable, a combination of instruments is necessary. Fuel taxes play an important role within this combination. Apart from their long-term effects, the low price elasticity of demand for transport fuel would allow the collection of a significant amount of revenues, which could eventually be earmarked to encourage reductions in private transport demand and modal shifts with other instruments. (author)

Price and income elasticities of demand for passenger transport fuels in Spain. Implications for public policies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romero-Jordan, Desiderio [Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid (Spain); Del Rio, Pablo [Institute for Public Goods and Policies (IPP), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), C/Albasanz, 26-28, Madrid 28037 (Spain); Jorge-Garcia, Marta [Universidad de Leon (Spain); Burguillo, Mercedes [Universidad de Alcala (Spain)

2010-08-15

The significant increase in passenger transport activity (cars) experienced by Spain and its associated increase in energy consumption have several associated negative aspects, including a greater dependence on foreign energy sources and higher GHG emissions. Therefore, reducing the level of transport activity would bring important socioeconomic and environmental benefits. The aim of this paper, which focuses on energy consumption in the passenger transport, is fourfold: (1) to provide a diagnostic of energy consumption in the Spanish passenger transport system and the related problems; (2) to develop a model to calculate price and income elasticities of demand for transport fuel; (3) to apply this model to the Spanish passenger transport sector; (4) to infer policy recommendations derived from the results of the diagnostic and the model. It is claimed that, in view of those low price elasticities and high income elasticities and if a reduction in the scale of transport activity is deemed socially desirable, a combination of instruments is necessary. Fuel taxes play an important role within this combination. Apart from their long-term effects, the low price elasticity of demand for transport fuel would allow the collection of a significant amount of revenues, which could eventually be earmarked to encourage reductions in private transport demand and modal shifts with other instruments. (author)

Importance of administration and entrepreneurship in the development of Ukrainian sea transport

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas Primachev

2013-06-01

Full Text Available The shipping industry is subject to a number of regulations, which in the area of safety and the environment are motivated by the scale of external costs and imperfections in information. There is a clear rationale for governments to establish and maintain adequate standards for maritime safety, as well as protection of the marine environment, which represents a valuable public good. However, certain maritime transport operations are substantially affected by a number of regulations that restrict competition. Because of that, reforms are required to correct mistakes of the government. It is particularly important to strive for reforms that can be effective in providing unrestricted market access for vessels of all flags. Due to the international character of the industry, regulations are reliant on a consensus between nations, without which any regulation would be of limited use. Most of the existing international regulations have been developed by international, intergovernmental organizations.

Non-Digital Game Playing by Older Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Mortenson, W Ben; Sixsmith, Andrew; Kaufman, David

2017-09-01

Research on video games' effect on cognition and behaviour has been extensive, yet little research has explored non-digital forms of game playing, especially among older adults. As part of a larger survey on game playing, 886 respondents (≥ age 55) filled out questionnaires about non-digital game play. The study aims were to determine perceived benefits of non-digital game play and to determine socio-demographic factors that might predict perceived benefits. Survey results indicate that non-digital game playing is social in nature and common (73% of respondents) among older adults. Older adults play for fun, but also to help maintain their cognition. Regression analyses indicated various socio-demographic factors - age, education, gender, and race - were independently associated with perceived benefits from game playing. The results thus emphasize the importance of non-digital game playing in this population and suggest that efforts to facilitate game playing may improve social interactions and quality of life.

Play Matters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sicart (Vila), Miguel Angel

? In Play Matters, Miguel Sicart argues that to play is to be in the world; playing is a form of understanding what surrounds us and a way of engaging with others. Play goes beyond games; it is a mode of being human. We play games, but we also play with toys, on playgrounds, with technologies and design......, but not necessarily fun. Play can be dangerous, addictive, and destructive. Along the way, Sicart considers playfulness, the capacity to use play outside the context of play; toys, the materialization of play--instruments but also play pals; playgrounds, play spaces that enable all kinds of play; beauty...

Drosophila divalent metal ion transporter Malvolio is required in dopaminergic neurons for feeding decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Søvik, E; LaMora, A; Seehra, G; Barron, A B; Duncan, J G; Ben-Shahar, Y

2017-06-01

Members of the natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (NRAMP) family are evolutionarily conserved metal ion transporters that play an essential role in regulating intracellular divalent cation homeostasis in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Malvolio (Mvl), the sole NRAMP family member in insects, plays a role in food choice behaviors in Drosophila and other species. However, the specific physiological and cellular processes that require the action of Mvl for appropriate feeding decisions remain elusive. Here, we show that normal food choice requires Mvl function specifically in the dopaminergic system, and can be rescued by supplementing food with manganese. Collectively, our data indicate that the action of the Mvl transporter affects food choice behavior via the regulation of dopaminergic innervation of the mushroom bodies, a principle brain region associated with decision-making in insects. Our studies suggest that the homeostatic regulation of the intraneuronal levels of divalent cations plays an important role in the development and function of the dopaminergic system and associated behaviors. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

Creativity and Playfulness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ejsing-Duun, Stine; Skovbjerg, Helle Marie

2015-01-01

Abstract: This article explores how student behavior and interactions change when teachers use “producing games” as a primary pedagogical strategy (Papert, 1980; Ejsing-Duun and Karoff, 2014). Based on student and teacher actions and responses, as well as on students' production—observed during f...... fieldwork—this paper emphasizes the importance of understanding how students explore creativity and playfulness while producing in learning situations....

Creation of the Project of a Logistic System for Transportation of Minerals - Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Marasova

2017-05-01

Full Text Available One of the possibilities how to maintain the competitiveness of mining and processing undertakings on the minerals market is to increase the efficiency of the minerals recovery and processing process with the focus on the operating costs reduction. Intra-plant transportation plays an important role in this process. Optimization of minerals transportation and implementation of the logistic approach can result in significant saving of operating costs pertaining to the recovered number of valuable mineral. The article presents a logistic approach to the belt conveyor system designing, proposes possible modifications of selected parameters of belt conveyors in a particular processing plant, and monitors their impact on the improvement of operating, but mainly economic parameters of transportation of clay and limestone, while maintaining the required transportation capacity.

The importance of disaggregated freight flow forecasts to inform transport infrastructure investments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jan H. Havenga

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This article presents the results of a comprehensive disaggregated commodity flow model for South Africa. The wealth of data available enables a segmented analysis of future freight transportation demand in order to assist with the prioritisation of transportation investments, the development of transport policy and the growth of the logistics service provider industry. In 2011, economic demand for commodities in South Africa’s competitive surface-freight transport market amounted to 622 million tons and is predicted to increase to 1834m tons by 2041, which is a compound annual growth rate of 3.67%. Fifty percent of corridor freight constitutes break bulk; intermodal solutions are therefore critical in South Africa. Scenario analysis indicates that 80%of corridor break-bulk tons can by serviced by four intermodal facilities – in Gauteng, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. This would allow for the development of an investment planning hierarchy, enable industry targeting (through commodity visibility, ensure capacity development ahead of demand and lower the cost of logistics in South Africa.

Multimodal Play and Adolescents: Notes on Noticing Laughter

Science.gov (United States)

Vasudevan, Lalitha

2015-01-01

In this article, I explore laughter as a form of multimodal play in which adolescents' engage across contexts and in various configurations. With a few recent exceptions, a focus on unscripted play is largely missing from ongoing research and discussion about the education of adolescents. Whereas the space to play has been vitally important to the…

Evaluation of transporters in drug development: Current status and contemporary issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sue-Chih; Arya, Vikram; Yang, Xinning; Volpe, Donna A; Zhang, Lei

2017-07-01

Transporters govern the access of molecules to cells or their exit from cells, thereby controlling the overall distribution of drugs to their intracellular site of action. Clinically relevant drug-drug interactions mediated by transporters are of increasing interest in drug development. Drug transporters, acting alone or in concert with drug metabolizing enzymes, can play an important role in modulating drug absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, thus affecting the pharmacokinetics and/or pharmacodynamics of a drug. The drug interaction guidance documents from regulatory agencies include various decision criteria that may be used to predict the need for in vivo assessment of transporter-mediated drug-drug interactions. Regulatory science research continues to assess the prediction performances of various criteria as well as to examine the strength and limitations of each prediction criterion to foster discussions related to harmonized decision criteria that may be used to facilitate global drug development. This review discusses the role of transporters in drug development with a focus on methodologies in assessing transporter-mediated drug-drug interactions, challenges in both in vitro and in vivo assessments of transporters, and emerging transporter research areas including biomarkers, assessment of tissue concentrations, and effect of diseases on transporters. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Preschoolers' Free Play--Connections with Emotional and Social Functioning

Science.gov (United States)

Veiga, Guida; Neto, Carlos; Rieffe, Carolien

2016-01-01

Play has an important role in various aspects of children's development. However, time for free play has declined substantially over the last decades. To date, few studies have focused on the relationship between opportunities for free play and children's social functioning. The aims of this study are to examine whether children´s free play is…

Global sensitivity analysis for identifying important parameters of nitrogen nitrification and denitrification under model uncertainty and scenario uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Zhuowei; Shi, Liangsheng; Ye, Ming; Zhu, Yan; Yang, Jinzhong

2018-06-01

Nitrogen reactive transport modeling is subject to uncertainty in model parameters, structures, and scenarios. By using a new variance-based global sensitivity analysis method, this paper identifies important parameters for nitrogen reactive transport with simultaneous consideration of these three uncertainties. A combination of three scenarios of soil temperature and two scenarios of soil moisture creates a total of six scenarios. Four alternative models describing the effect of soil temperature and moisture content are used to evaluate the reduction functions used for calculating actual reaction rates. The results show that for nitrogen reactive transport problem, parameter importance varies substantially among different models and scenarios. Denitrification and nitrification process is sensitive to soil moisture content status rather than to the moisture function parameter. Nitrification process becomes more important at low moisture content and low temperature. However, the changing importance of nitrification activity with respect to temperature change highly relies on the selected model. Model-averaging is suggested to assess the nitrification (or denitrification) contribution by reducing the possible model error. Despite the introduction of biochemical heterogeneity or not, fairly consistent parameter importance rank is obtained in this study: optimal denitrification rate (Kden) is the most important parameter; reference temperature (Tr) is more important than temperature coefficient (Q10); empirical constant in moisture response function (m) is the least important one. Vertical distribution of soil moisture but not temperature plays predominant role controlling nitrogen reaction. This study provides insight into the nitrogen reactive transport modeling and demonstrates an effective strategy of selecting the important parameters when future temperature and soil moisture carry uncertainties or when modelers face with multiple ways of establishing nitrogen

Mass transport modelling for the electroreduction of CO2 on Cu nanowires

Science.gov (United States)

Raciti, David; Mao, Mark; Wang, Chao

2018-01-01

Mass transport plays an important role in CO2 reduction electrocatalysis. Albeit being more pronounced on nanostructured electrodes, the studies of mass transport for CO2 reduction have yet been limited to planar electrodes. We report here the development of a mass transport model for the electroreduction of CO2 on Cu nanowire electrodes. Fed with the experimental data from electrocatalytic studies, the local concentrations of CO2, {{{{HCO}}}3}-,{{{{CO}}}3}2- and OH- on the nanostructured electrodes are calculated by solving the diffusion equations with spatially distributed electrochemical reaction terms incorporated. The mass transport effects on the catalytic activity and selectivity of the Cu nanowire electrocatalysts are thus discussed by using the local pH as the descriptor. The established correlations between the electrocatalytic performance and the local pH shows that, the latter does not only determine the acid-base reaction equilibrium, but also regulates the mass transport and reaction kinetics. Based on these findings, the optimal range of local pH for CO2 reduction is discussed in terms of a fine balance among the suppression of hydrogen evolution, improvement of C2 product selectivity and limitation of CO2 supply. Our work highlights the importance of understanding the mass transport effects in interpretation of CO2 reduction electrocatalysis on high-surface-area catalysts.

Carbon dioxide emissions reduction in China's transport sector: A dynamic VAR (vector autoregression) approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Bin; Lin, Boqiang

2015-01-01

Energy saving and carbon dioxide emission reduction in China is attracting increasing attention worldwide. At present, China is in the phase of rapid urbanization and industrialization, which is characterized by rapid growth of energy consumption. China's transport sector is highly energy-consuming and pollution-intensive. Between 1980 and 2012, the carbon dioxide emissions in China's transport sector increased approximately 9.7 times, with an average annual growth rate of 7.4%. Identifying the driving forces of the increase in carbon dioxide emissions in the transport sector is vital to developing effective environmental policies. This study uses Vector Autoregressive model to analyze the influencing factors of the changes in carbon dioxide emissions in the sector. The results show that energy efficiency plays a dominant role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Private vehicles have more impact on emission reduction than cargo turnover due to the surge in private car population and its low energy efficiency. Urbanization also has significant effect on carbon dioxide emissions because of large-scale population movements and the transformation of the industrial structure. These findings are important for the relevant authorities in China in developing appropriate energy policy and planning for the transport sector. - Highlights: • The driving forces of CO 2 emissions in China's transport sector were investigated. • Energy efficiency plays a dominant role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. • Urbanization has significant effect on CO 2 emissions due to large-scale migration. • The role of private cars in reducing emissions is more important than cargo turnover

The effects of gender, motor skills and play area on the free play activities of 8-11 year old school children.

Science.gov (United States)

Harten, Nathan; Olds, Tim; Dollman, Jim

2008-09-01

Two studies were conducted to examine the interactions between gender, play area, motor skills and free play activity in 8-11 year old school children. In both studies, boys were more active than girls. In boys, but not in girls, energy expenditure was greater for high-skill than for low-skill children (p = 0.0002), and increased as play area increased (p = 0.01). These results suggest that motor skills and play space are important variables in determining the free play activity of boys, but not of girls. This may be related to widely different play styles among boys and girls.

Narrative increases step counts during active video game play among children

Science.gov (United States)

Active video games (AVGs) capable of inducing physical activity (PA) level offer a novel alternative to child obesity. Unfortunately, children's motivation to play AVG decreases quickly, underscoring the need to find new methods to maintain their engagement. According to narrative transportation th...

Nonvesicular inhibitory neurotransmission via reversal of the GABA transporter GAT-1

OpenAIRE

Wu, Yuanming; Wang, Wengang; Díez-Sampedro, Ana; Richerson, George B.

2007-01-01

GABA transporters play an important but poorly understood role in neuronal inhibition. They can reverse, but this is widely thought to occur only under pathological conditions. Here we use a heterologous expression system to show that the reversal potential of GAT-1 under physiologically relevant conditions is near the normal resting potential of neurons, and that reversal can occur rapidly enough to release GABA during simulated action potentials. We then use paired recordings from cultured ...

The Glutamine Transporters and Their Role in the Glutamate/GABA-Glutamine Cycle

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leke, Renata; Schousboe, Arne

2016-01-01

in this neural communication, i.e., the transporters responsible for glutamine efflux from astrocytes and influx into the neurons, such as the members of the SNAT, LAT, y(+)LAT, and ASC families of transporters. The SNAT family consists of the transporter isoforms SNAT3 and SNAT5 that are related to efflux from......Glutamine is a key amino acid in the CNS, playing an important role in the glutamate/GABA-glutamine cycle (GGC). In the GGC, glutamine is transferred from astrocytes to neurons, where it will replenish the inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitter pools. Different transporters participate...... the astrocytic compartment, and SNAT1 and SNAT2 that are associated with glutamine uptake into the neuronal compartment. The isoforms SNAT7 and SNAT8 do not have their role completely understood, but they likely also participate in the GGC. The isoforms LAT2 and y(+)LAT2 facilitate the exchange of neutral amino...

Statistical analyses of local transport coefficients in Ohmic ASDEX discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Simmet, E.; Stroth, U.; Wagner, F.; Fahrbach, H.U.; Herrmann, W.; Kardaun, O.J.W.F.; Mayer, H.M.

1991-01-01

Tokamak energy transport is still an unsolved problem. Many theoretical models have been developed, which try to explain the anomalous high energy-transport coefficients. Up to now these models have been applied to global plasma parameters. A comparison of transport coefficients with global confinement time is only conclusive if the transport is dominated by one process across the plasma diameter. This, however, is not the case in most Ohmic confinement regimes, where at least three different transport mechanisms play an important role. Sawtooth activity leads to an increase in energy transport in the plasma centre. In the intermediate region turbulent transport is expected. Candidates here are drift waves and resistive fluid turbulences. At the edge, ballooning modes or rippling modes could dominate the transport. For the intermediate region, one can deduce theoretical scaling laws for τ E from turbulent theories. Predicted scalings reproduce the experimentally found density dependence of τ E in the linear Ohmic confinement regime (LOC) and the saturated regime (SOC), but they do not show the correct dependence on the isotope mass. The relevance of these transport theories can only be tested in comparing them to experimental local transport coefficients. To this purpose we have performed transport calculations on more than a hundred Ohmic ASDEX discharges. By Principal Component Analysis we determine the dimensionless components which dominate the transport coefficients and we compare the results to the predictions of various theories. (author) 6 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab

Dynamic model of ion and water transport in ionic polymer-metal composites

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zicai Zhu

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In the process of electro-mechanical transduction of ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs, the transport of ion and water molecule plays an important role. In this paper, the theoretical transport models of IPMCs are critically reviewed, with particular emphasis on the recent developments in the latest decade. The models can be divided into three classes, thermodynamics of irreversible process model, frictional model and Nernst-Planck (NP equation model. To some extent the three models can be transformed into each other, but their differences are also obvious arising from the various mechanisms that considered in different models. The transport of ion and water molecule in IPMCs is compared with that in membrane electrode assembly and electrodialysis membrane to identify and clarify the fundamental transport mechanisms in IPMCs. And an improved transport model is proposed and simplified for numerical analysis. The model considers the convection effect rather than the diffusion as the major transport mechanism, and both the self-diffusion and the electroosmosis drag are accounted for in the water flux equation.

Coupled Transport Phenomena in the Opalinus Clay: Implications for Radionuclide Transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soler, J.M.

1999-09-01

Coupled phenomena (thermal and chemical osmosis, hyperfiltration, coupled diffusion, thermal diffusion, thermal filtration, Dufour effect) may play an important role in fluid, solute and heat transport in clay-rich formations, such as the Opalinus Clay (OPA), which are being considered as potential hosts for radioactive waste repositories. In this study, the potential effects of coupled phenomena on radionuclide transport in the vicinity of a repository for vitrified high-level radioactive waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SF) hosted by the Opalinus Clay, at times equal to or greater than the expected lifetime of the waste canisters (about 1000 years), have been addressed. Firstly, estimates of the solute fluxes associated with chemical osmosis, hyperfiltration, thermal diffusion and thermal osmosis have been calculated. Available experimental data concerning coupled transport phenomena in compacted clays, and the hydrogeological and geochemical conditions to which the Opalinus Clay is subject, have been used for these estimates. These estimates suggest that thermal osmosis is the only coupled transport mechanism that could have a strong impact on solute and fluid transport in the vicinity of the repository. Secondly, estimates of the heat fluxes associated with thermal filtration and the Dufour effect in the vicinity of the repository have been calculated. The calculated heat fluxes are absolutely negligible compared to the heat flux caused by thermal conduction. As a further step to obtain additional insight into the effects of coupled phenomena on solute transport, the solute fluxes associated with advection, chemical diffusion, thermal and chemical osmosis, hyperfiltration and thermal diffusion have been incorporated into a simple one-dimensional transport equation. The analytical solution of this equation, with appropriate parameters, shows again that thermal osmosis is the only coupled transport mechanism that could have a strong effect on repository

Coupled Transport Phenomena in the Opalinus Clay: Implications for Radionuclide Transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soler, J.M.

1999-09-01

Coupled phenomena (thermal and chemical osmosis, hyperfiltration, coupled diffusion, thermal diffusion, thermal filtration, Dufour effect) may play an important role in fluid, solute and heat transport in clay-rich formations, such as the Opalinus Clay (OPA), which are being considered as potential hosts for radioactive waste repositories. In this study, the potential effects of coupled phenomena on radionuclide transport in the vicinity of a repository for vitrified high-level radioactive waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SF) hosted by the Opalinus Clay, at times equal to or greater than the expected lifetime of the waste canisters (about 1000 years), have been addressed. Firstly, estimates of the solute fluxes associated with chemical osmosis, hyperfiltration, thermal diffusion and thermal osmosis have been calculated. Available experimental data concerning coupled transport phenomena in compacted clays, and the hydrogeological and geochemical conditions to which the Opalinus Clay is subject, have been used for these estimates. These estimates suggest that thermal osmosis is the only coupled transport mechanism that could have a strong impact on solute and fluid transport in the vicinity of the repository. Secondly, estimates of the heat fluxes associated with thermal filtration and the Dufour effect in the vicinity of the repository have been calculated. The calculated heat fluxes are absolutely negligible compared to the heat flux caused by thermal conduction. As a further step to obtain additional insight into the effects of coupled phenomena on solute transport, the solute fluxes associated with advection, chemical diffusion, thermal and chemical osmosis, hyperfiltration and thermal diffusion have been incorporated into a simple one-dimensional transport equation. The analytical solution of this equation, with appropriate parameters, shows again that thermal osmosis is the only coupled transport mechanism that could have a strong effect on repository

From online to offline game/play

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Thea Juhl Roloff

2015-01-01

and teachers face. It can be a challenge for the digital immigrants to see the meanings of digital games, and why children (digital natives) should be introduced to digital games in such a young age. However, it is a fact that digital games are a part of children's everyday lives. If Digital Immigrants must......Children love to play digital games. But how should we relate to children's use of digital games. When children play they use signs from online games into offline games. There will in the paper be pointed out, media pedagogy weaknesses and strengths. And the media didactic challenges that pedagogs...... be able to motivate digital natives for play and learning, it is important to know the rules of the game/play...

Training of personnel in the field of radioactive materials transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fasten, Ch.

1997-01-01

Training of personnel in the whole nuclear fuel cycle and also in the other fields of the use of radioactivity is one of the essentials with respect to compliance assurance. The transport of radioactive material is the only activity that takes place outside a facility: on roads, on railways, on the sea or in the air. A high level of safety is therefore an absolute requirement for all transport operations. To ensure this high level the training of the personnel involved in these activities plays an important role. Many studies show that most of the incidents in radioactive materials transport are caused by man-made errors: even so there have been no events with serious radiological consequences anywhere worldwide. There are many requirements in the various national and international regulations for the safe transport of radioactive material with regard to training. An overview is given of the special regulations, e.g. for road transport drivers, for safety advisers in the whole field of the transport of dangerous goods, for specially educated personnel in sea and air transports. In addition, the newest developments in the European Community in this field are discussed. An evaluation of the present regulations and proposals for further rules are also given. (Author)

Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Mertens, Lieze; Van Cauwenberg, Jelle; Ghekiere, Ariane; De Bourdeaudhuij, Ilse; Deforche, Benedicte; Van de Weghe, Nico; Van Dyck, Delfien

2016-08-12

Increasing cycling for transport can contribute to improve public health among adults. Micro-environmental factors (i.e. small-scaled street-setting features) may play an important role in affecting the street's appeal to cycle for transport. Understanding about the interplay between individuals and their physical environment is important to establish tailored environmental interventions. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine whether specific subgroups exist based on similarities in micro-environmental preferences to cycle for transport. Responses of 1950 middle-aged adults (45-65 years) on a series of choice tasks depicting potential cycling routes with manipulated photographs yielded three subgroups with different micro-environmental preferences using latent class analysis. Although latent class analysis revealed three different subgroups in the middle-aged adult population based on their environmental preferences, results indicated that cycle path type (i.e. a good separated cycle path) is the most important environmental factor for all participants and certainly for individuals who did not cycle for transport. Furthermore, only negligible differences were found between the importances of the other micro-environmental factors (i.e. traffic density, evenness of the cycle path, maintenance, vegetation and speed limits) regarding the two at risk subgroups and that providing a speed bump obviously has the least impact on the street's appeal to cycle for transport. Results from the current study indicate that only negligible differences were found between the three subgroups. Therefore, it might be suggested that tailored environmental interventions are not required in this research context.

Transport modelling and gyrokinetic analysis of advanced high performance discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinsey, J.E.; Imbeaux, F.; Staebler, G.M.; Budny, R.; Bourdelle, C.; Fukuyama, A.; Garbet, X.; Tala, T.; Parail, V.

2005-01-01

Predictive transport modelling and gyrokinetic stability analyses of demonstration hybrid (HYBRID) and advanced tokamak (AT) discharges from the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) profile database are presented. Both regimes have exhibited enhanced core confinement (above the conventional ITER reference H-mode scenario) but differ in their current density profiles. Recent contributions to the ITPA database have facilitated an effort to study the underlying physics governing confinement in these advanced scenarios. In this paper, we assess the level of commonality of the turbulent transport physics and the relative roles of the transport suppression mechanisms (i.e. E x B shear and Shafranov shift (α) stabilization) using data for select HYBRID and AT discharges from the DIII-D, JET and AUG tokamaks. GLF23 transport modelling and gyrokinetic stability analysis indicate that E x B shear and Shafranov shift stabilization play essential roles in producing the improved core confinement in both HYBRID and AT discharges. Shafranov shift stabilization is found to be more important in AT discharges than in HYBRID discharges. We have also examined the competition between the stabilizing effects of E x B shear and Shafranov shift stabilization and the destabilizing effects of higher safety factors and parallel velocity shear. Linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of idealized low and high safety factor cases reveal some interesting consequences. A low safety factor (i.e. HYBRID relevant) is directly beneficial in reducing the transport, and E x B shear stabilization can dominate parallel velocity shear destabilization allowing the turbulence to be quenched. However, at low-q/high current, Shafranov shift stabilization plays less of a role. Higher safety factors (as found in AT discharges), on the other hand, have larger amounts of Shafranov shift stabilization, but parallel velocity shear destabilization can prevent E x B shear quenching of the turbulent

Transport modeling and gyrokinetic analysis of advanced high performance discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinsey, J.; Imbeaux, F.; Bourdelle, C.; Garbet, X.; Staebler, G.; Budny, R.; Fukuyama, A.; Tala, T.; Parail, V.

2005-01-01

Predictive transport modeling and gyrokinetic stability analyses of demonstration hybrid (HYBRID) and Advanced Tokamak (AT) discharges from the International Tokamak Physics Activity (ITPA) profile database are presented. Both regimes have exhibited enhanced core confinement (above the conventional ITER reference H-mode scenario) but differ in their current density profiles. Recent contributions to the ITPA database have facilitated an effort to study the underlying physics governing confinement in these advanced scenarios. In this paper, we assess the level of commonality of the turbulent transport physics and the relative roles of the transport suppression mechanisms (i.e. ExB shear and Shafranov shift (α) stabilization) using data for select HYBRID and AT discharges from the DIII-D, JET, and AUG tokamaks. GLF23 transport modeling and gyrokinetic stability analysis indicates that ExB shear and Shafranov shift stabilization play essential roles in producing the improved core confinement in both HYBRID and AT discharges. Shafranov shift stabilization is found to be more important in AT discharges than in HYBRID discharges. We have also examined the competition between the stabilizing effects of ExB shear and Shafranov shift stabilization and the destabilizing effects of higher safety factors and parallel velocity shear. Linear and nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of idealized low and high safety factor cases reveals some interesting consequences. A low safety factor (i.e. HYBRID relevant) is directly beneficial in reducing the transport, and ExB shear stabilization can win out over parallel velocity shear destabilization allowing the turbulence to be quenched. However, at low-q/high current, Shafranov shift stabilization plays less of a role. Higher safety factors (as found in AT discharges), on the other hand, have larger amounts of Shafranov shift stabilization, but parallel velocity shear destabilization can prevent ExB shear quenching of the turbulent

Surface Effect on Oil Transportation in Nanochannel: a Molecular Dynamics Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Haixia; Du, Yonggang; Xue, Qingzhong; Zhu, Lei; Li, Xiaofang; Lu, Shuangfang; Jin, Yakang

2017-12-01

In this work, we investigate the dynamics mechanism of oil transportation in nanochannel using molecular dynamics simulations. It is demonstrated that the interaction between oil molecules and nanochannel has a great effect on the transportation properties of oil in nanochannel. Because of different interactions between oil molecules and channel, the center of mass (COM) displacement of oil in a 6-nm channel is over 30 times larger than that in a 2-nm channel, and the diffusion coefficient of oil molecules at the center of a 6-nm channel is almost two times more than that near the channel surface. Besides, it is found that polarity of oil molecules has the effect on impeding oil transportation, because the electrostatic interaction between polar oil molecules and channel is far larger than that between nonpolar oil molecules and channel. In addition, channel component is found to play an important role in oil transportation in nanochannel, for example, the COM displacement of oil in gold channel is very few due to great interaction between oil and gold substrate. It is also found that nano-sized roughness of channel surface greatly influences the speed and flow pattern of oil. Our findings would contribute to revealing the mechanism of oil transportation in nanochannels and therefore are very important for design of oil extraction in nanochannels.

DNA mismatch repair proteins MLH1 and PMS2 can be imported to the nucleus by a classical nuclear import pathway.

Science.gov (United States)

de Barros, Andrea C; Takeda, Agnes A S; Dreyer, Thiago R; Velazquez-Campoy, Adrian; Kobe, Boštjan; Fontes, Marcos R M

2018-03-01

MLH1 and PMS2 proteins form the MutLα heterodimer, which plays a major role in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) in humans. Mutations in MMR-related proteins are associated with cancer, especially with colon cancer. The N-terminal region of MutLα comprises the N-termini of PMS2 and MLH1 and, similarly, the C-terminal region of MutLα is composed by the C-termini of PMS2 and MLH1, and the two are connected by linker region. The nuclear localization sequences (NLSs) necessary for the nuclear transport of the two proteins are found in this linker region. However, the exact NLS sequences have been controversial, with different sequences reported, particularly for MLH1. The individual components are not imported efficiently, presumably due to their C-termini masking their NLSs. In order to gain insights into the nuclear transport of these proteins, we solved the crystal structures of importin-α bound to peptides corresponding to the supposed NLSs of MLH1 and PMS2 and performed isothermal titration calorimetry to study their binding affinities. Both putative MLH1 and PMS2 NLSs can bind to importin-α as monopartite NLSs, which is in agreement with some previous studies. However, MLH1-NLS has the highest affinity measured by a natural NLS peptide, suggesting a major role of MLH1 protein in nuclear import compared to PMS2. Finally, the role of MLH1 and PMS2 in the nuclear transport of the MutLα heterodimer is discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and Société Française de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire (SFBBM). All rights reserved.

Atmospheric Transport and Mixing linked to Rossby Wave Breaking in GFDL Dynamical Core

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, C.; Barnes, E. A.

2015-12-01

Atmospheric transport and mixing plays an important role in the global energy balance and the distribution of health-related chemical constituents. Previous studies suggest a close linkage between large-scale transport and Rossby wave breaking (RWB). In this work, we use the GFDL spectral dynamical core to investigate this relationship and study the response of RWB-related transport in different climate scenarios. In a standard control run, we quantify the contribution of RWB to the total transport and mixing of an idealized tracer. In addition, we divide the contribution further into the two types of RWB - anticyclonic wave breaking (AWB) and cyclonic wave breaking (CWB) -- and contrast their efficiency at transport and mixing. Our results are compared to a previous study in which the transport ability of the two types of RWB is studied for individual baroclinic wave life-cycles. In a series of sensitivity runs, we study the response of RWB-related transport and mixing to various states of the jet streams. The responses of the mean strength, frequency, and the efficiency of RWB-related transport are documented and the implications for the transport and mixing in a warmer climate are discussed.

[Establishment of regional active neonatal transport network].

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Xiang-yong; Gao, Xin; Yin, Xiao-juan; Hong, Xiao-yang; Fang, Huan-sheng; Wang, Zi-zhen; Li, Ai-hua; Luo, Fen-ping; Feng, Zhi-chun

2010-01-01

To evaluate the clinical function and significance of establishing a regional active neonatal transport network (ANTN) in Beijing. The authors retrospectively studied intensive care and the role of ANTN system in management of critically ill neonates and compared the outcome of newborn infants transported to our NICU before and after we established standardized NICU and ANTN system (phase 1: July 2004 to June 2006 vs phase 2: July 2006 to May 2008). The number of neonatal transport significantly increased from 587 during phase 1 to 2797 during phase 2. Success rate of transport and the total cure rate in phase 2 were 97.85% and 91.99% respectively, which were significantly higher than those in phase 1 (94.36% and 88.69%, respectively, P capacity of our NICU was enlarged following the development of ANTN. There are 200 beds for level 3 infants in phase 2, but there were only 20 beds in phase 1. Significantly less patients in the phase 2 had hypothermia, acidosis and the blood glucose instability than those in phase 1 (P transported to our NICU were higher in phase 2 compared with that in phase 1, especially infants whose gestational age was below 32 weeks. The proportions of asphyxia and respiratory distress syndrome were lower in phase 2 than that in phase 1, but the total cure rates of these two diseases had no significant changes between the two phases. The most important finding was that the improvement of outcome of premature infants and those with asphyxia and aspiration syndrome was noted following the development of ANTN. Establishing regional ANTN for a tertiary hospital is very important to elevate the total level in management of critically ill newborn infants. It plays a very important role in reducing mortality and improving total outcomes of newborn infants. There are still some problems remained to solve after four years practice in order to optimize the ANTN to meet needs of the development of neonatology.

A thioredoxin-dependent peroxiredoxin Q from Corynebacterium glutamicum plays an important role in defense against oxidative stress.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tao Su

Full Text Available Peroxiredoxin Q (PrxQ that belonged to the cysteine-based peroxidases has long been identified in numerous bacteria, but the information on the physiological and biochemical functions of PrxQ remain largely lacking in Corynebacterium glutamicum. To better systematically understand PrxQ, we reported that PrxQ from model and important industrial organism C. glutamicum, encoded by the gene ncgl2403 annotated as a putative PrxQ, played important roles in adverse stress resistance. The lack of C. glutamicum prxQ gene resulted in enhanced cell sensitivity, increased ROS accumulation, and elevated protein carbonylation levels under adverse stress conditions. Accordingly, PrxQ-mediated resistance to adverse stresses mainly relied on the degradation of ROS. The physiological roles of PrxQ in resistance to adverse stresses were corroborated by its induced expression under adverse stresses, regulated directly by the stress-responsive ECF-sigma factor SigH. Through catalytical kinetic activity, heterodimer formation, and bacterial two-hybrid analysis, we proved that C. glutamicum PrxQ catalytically eliminated peroxides by exclusively receiving electrons from thioredoxin (Trx/thioredoxin reductase (TrxR system and had a broad range of oxidizing substrates, but a better efficiency for peroxynitrite and cumene hydroperoxide (CHP. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed that the conserved Cys49 and Cys54 are the peroxide oxidation site and the resolving Cys residue, respectively. It was also discovered that C. glutamicum PrxQ mainly existed in monomer whether under its native state or functional state. Based on these results, a catalytic model of PrxQ is being proposed. Moreover, our result that C. glutamicum PrxQ can prevent the damaging effects of adverse stresses by acting as thioredoxin-dependent monomeric peroxidase could be further applied to improve the survival ability and robustness of the important bacterium during fermentation process.

Nutrition metabolism plays an important role in the alternate bearing of the olive tree (Olea europaea L..

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mine Turktas

Full Text Available The olive tree (Olea europaea L. is widely known for its strong tendency for alternate bearing, which severely affects the fruit yield from year to year. Microarray based gene expression analysis using RNA from olive samples (on-off years leaves and ripe-unripe fruits are particularly useful to understand the molecular mechanisms influencing the periodicity in the olive tree. Thus, we carried out genome wide transcriptome analyses involving different organs and temporal stages of the olive tree using the NimbleGen Array containing 136,628 oligonucleotide probe sets. Cluster analyses of the genes showed that cDNAs originated from different organs could be sorted into separate groups. The nutritional control had a particularly remarkable impact on the alternate bearing of olive, as shown by the differential expression of transcripts under different temporal phases and organs. Additionally, hormonal control and flowering processes also played important roles in this phenomenon. Our analyses provide further insights into the transcript changes between "on year" and "off year" leaves along with the changes from unrpipe to ripe fruits, which shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the olive tree alternate bearing. These findings have important implications for the breeding and agriculture of the olive tree and other crops showing periodicity. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the development and use of an olive array to document the gene expression profiling associated with the alternate bearing in olive tree.

Nutrition Metabolism Plays an Important Role in the Alternate Bearing of the Olive Tree (Olea europaea L.)

Science.gov (United States)

Turktas, Mine; Inal, Behcet; Okay, Sezer; Erkilic, Emine Gulden; Dundar, Ekrem; Hernandez, Pilar; Dorado, Gabriel; Unver, Turgay

2013-01-01

The olive tree (Olea europaea L.) is widely known for its strong tendency for alternate bearing, which severely affects the fruit yield from year to year. Microarray based gene expression analysis using RNA from olive samples (on-off years leaves and ripe-unripe fruits) are particularly useful to understand the molecular mechanisms influencing the periodicity in the olive tree. Thus, we carried out genome wide transcriptome analyses involving different organs and temporal stages of the olive tree using the NimbleGen Array containing 136,628 oligonucleotide probe sets. Cluster analyses of the genes showed that cDNAs originated from different organs could be sorted into separate groups. The nutritional control had a particularly remarkable impact on the alternate bearing of olive, as shown by the differential expression of transcripts under different temporal phases and organs. Additionally, hormonal control and flowering processes also played important roles in this phenomenon. Our analyses provide further insights into the transcript changes between ”on year” and “off year” leaves along with the changes from unrpipe to ripe fruits, which shed light on the molecular mechanisms underlying the olive tree alternate bearing. These findings have important implications for the breeding and agriculture of the olive tree and other crops showing periodicity. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the development and use of an olive array to document the gene expression profiling associated with the alternate bearing in olive tree. PMID:23555820

Problematic Game Play: The Diagnostic Value of Playing Motives, Passion, and Playing Time in Men

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Kneer

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Internet gaming disorder is currently listed in the DSM—not in order to diagnose such a disorder but to encourage research to investigate this phenomenon. Even whether it is still questionable if Internet Gaming Disorder exists and can be judged as a form of addiction, problematic game play is already very well researched to cause problems in daily life. Approaches trying to predict problematic tendencies in digital game play have mainly focused on playing time as a diagnostic criterion. However, motives to engage in digital game play and obsessive passion for game play have also been found to predict problematic game play but have not yet been investigated together. The present study aims at (1 analyzing if obsessive passion can be distinguished from problematic game play as separate concepts, and (2 testing motives of game play, passion, and playing time for their predictive values for problematic tendencies. We found (N = 99 males, Age: M = 22.80, SD = 3.81 that obsessive passion can be conceptually separated from problematic game play. In addition, the results suggest that compared to solely playing time immersion as playing motive and obsessive passion have added predictive value for problematic game play. The implications focus on broadening the criteria in order to diagnose problematic playing.

Problematic game play: the diagnostic value of playing motives, passion, and playing time in men.

Science.gov (United States)

Kneer, Julia; Rieger, Diana

2015-04-30

Internet gaming disorder is currently listed in the DSM-not in order to diagnose such a disorder but to encourage research to investigate this phenomenon. Even whether it is still questionable if Internet Gaming Disorder exists and can be judged as a form of addiction, problematic game play is already very well researched to cause problems in daily life. Approaches trying to predict problematic tendencies in digital game play have mainly focused on playing time as a diagnostic criterion. However, motives to engage in digital game play and obsessive passion for game play have also been found to predict problematic game play but have not yet been investigated together. The present study aims at (1) analyzing if obsessive passion can be distinguished from problematic game play as separate concepts, and (2) testing motives of game play, passion, and playing time for their predictive values for problematic tendencies. We found (N = 99 males, Age: M = 22.80, SD = 3.81) that obsessive passion can be conceptually separated from problematic game play. In addition, the results suggest that compared to solely playing time immersion as playing motive and obsessive passion have added predictive value for problematic game play. The implications focus on broadening the criteria in order to diagnose problematic playing.

The importance of γ-linolenic acid in the prevention and treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Małgorzata Białek

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The etiology of diet-related disorders is closely associated with dietary factors. A special role is attributed to intake of fat and fatty acid profile, both quantitative and qualitative. For prevention and treatment of the abovementioned diseases a proper supply of unsaturated fatty acids plays a significant role, because of their particular importance to health. γ-Linolenic acid (GLA, with three double bonds in the carbon chain, also known as all-cis 6,9,12-octadecatrienoic acid, belongs to the n-6 family of fatty acids. It plays biologically important functions in the human body, such as being a substrate for eicosanoids synthesis, involvement in the transport and oxidation of cholesterol, and being one of the components of lipid membrane. Its inadequate dietary intake or impaired formation is the cause of many inflammatory and degenerative diseases. A rich source of this fatty acid is vegetable oils, until recently used mainly in folk medicine. Nowadays, studies conducted both in animal models and in humans suggest its health-promoting properties in the prevention and treatment of atopic dermatitis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and rheumatoid arthritis.

Environmentally sustainable transport in the CEI countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thaler, R.; Wiederkehr, P.

2004-01-01

Moving people and freight in an environmentally sustainable manner that reduces environmental pollution and health hazards is a key challenge for transport and environment policies in Europe. Present mobility patterns of passenger and freight transport in Central and Eastern Europe do not correspond to the objectives of sustainable development. This paper presents the results of a transport futures study for the CEI region as a whole using backcasting methodology with long-term sustainability criteria to be met by 2030. Achieving environmentally sustainable transport (EST) doesn't mean less transport and mobility than we have today, but it means primarily maintaining a balanced modal split that results in less environmental and health impacts than it would be under projected future trends. Rail, trams, busses and new forms of flexible inter-modal public transport mobility would have to take a large share and rail transport for passenger and freight as well as inland shipping would have to be nearly doubled by 2030 while road freight could still increase if it is based on alternative fuels reducing its impacts. Technological advancements for passenger cars and lorries, fuels and infrastructure will play an important part to achieve EST, but also ''smart'' mobility management (e.g. transport avoidance, increasing load factors and modal shift), innovative mobility services and freight logistics would be critical. The implementation of these policies and strategies will require coherent and comprehensive packages of instruments and measures, including: economic instruments, regulatory instruments, changes in infrastructure investment, mobility management, information and education programmes as well as better integration of land use, transport and environment policies. Realising EST will provide new opportunities for businesses to develop and invest in innovative solutions for passenger and freight transport. Overall, achieving EST would constitute a net benefit for

Quantum Transport in Strongly Correlated Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bohr, Dan

2007-01-01

the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) method. We present two DMRG setups for calculating the linear conductance of strongly correlated nanostructures in the infinitesimal source-drain voltage regime. The first setup describes the leads by modified real-space tight-binding chains, whereas the second....... Thus both coherence and correlation effects are important in this model, and the methods applied should be able to handle both these effects rigorously. We present the DMRG setup for this model and benchmark against existing Greens function results for the model. Then we present initial DMRG results...... screening plays a much less significant role than in bulk systems due to the reduced size of the objects, therefore making it necessary to consider the importance of correlations between electrons. The work presented in this thesis deals with quantum transport through strongly correlated systems using...

The role of ATP-binding cassette transporters in neuro-inflammation: relevance for bioactive lipids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gijs eKooij

2012-04-01

Full Text Available ATP-binding cassette (ABC transporters are highly expressed by brain endothelial cells that form the blood-brain barrier (BBB. These efflux pumps play an important role in maintaining brain homeostasis as they actively hinder the entry of unwanted blood-derived compounds into the central nervous system (CNS. Consequently, their high activity at the BBB has been a major hurdle for the treatment of several brain diseases, as they prevent numerous drugs to reach their site of action within the brain. Importantly, recent data indicate that endogenous substrates for ABC transporters may include inflammatory mediators, such as prostaglandins, leukotrienes, cytokines, chemokines and bioactive lipids, suggesting a potential role for ABC transporters in immunological responses, and more specifically in inflammatory brain disorders, such as multiple sclerosis (MS. In this review, we will give a comprehensive overview of recent findings that illustrate this novel role for ABC transporters in neuro-inflammatory processes. Moreover, we will provide first insights into underlying mechanisms and focus on the importance for bioactive lipids, in particular platelet-activating factor (PAF, herein. A thorough understanding of these events may form the basis for the development for selective treatment modalities to dampen the neuro-inflammatory attack in MS and thereby reducing tissue damage.

[Play therapy in social work with children].

Science.gov (United States)

Dvarionas, Dziugas

2002-01-01

This article introduces the results of scientific research performed in 1995-1997 in Kaunas primary school with 1st and 2nd grade children exhibiting behavioral disorders. Play therapy, a quite novel method in the country, seeks better improvement and an achievement of a better relationship for disadvantaged children in educational process. Play group counseling, or play media counseling, is shown as an important method in working with early primary grade children, especially those who present behavioral problems in the classroom. Another important aspect of group play therapy is the concentrated relationship with the counselor. Primary school children, especially those who are disadvantaged respond more to warmth than to praise for being right and doing well. Data analysis allow us to assume that behavioral difficulties of primary school children are connected with a low rate of self-esteem and dissatisfaction with their vital activities. Main conclusions to correspond with hypothesis held for the research are: a) children exhibiting behavioral problems are less active in educational process; b) by means of systematic use of play group counseling method in school, problematic children are able to solve their difficulties and to optimize their academic improvement; c) there is a complementary relationship between child's self-esteem and his/her satisfaction with his/her vital activity.

Kinetic transport in a magnetically confined and flux-constrained fusion plasma; Transport cinetique dans un plasma de fusion magnetique a flux force

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Darmet, G

2007-11-15

This work deals with the kinetic transport in a fusion plasma magnetically confined and flux-constrained. The author proposes a new interpretation of the dynamics of zonal flows. The model that has been studied is a gyrokinetic model reduced to the transport of trapped ions. The inter-change stability that is generated allows the study of the kinetic transport of trapped ions. This model has a threshold instability and can be simulated over a few tens confining time for either thermal bath constraint or flux constraint. For thermal baths constraint, the simulation shows a metastable state where zonal flows are prevailing while turbulence is non-existent. In the case of a flux-constraint, zonal flows appear and relax by exchanging energy with system's kinetic energy and turbulence energy. The competition between zonal flows and turbulence can be then simulated by a predator-prey model. 2 regimes can be featured out: an improved confining regime where zonal flows dominate transport and a turbulent regime where zonal flows and turbulent transport are of the same magnitude order. We show that flux as well as the Reynolds tensor play an important role in the dynamics of the zonal flows and that the gyrokinetic description is relevant for all plasma regions. (A.C.)

Concussions and Risk Within Cultural Contexts of Play.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres Colón, Gabriel Alejandro; Smith, Sharia; Fucillo, Jenny

2017-06-01

Concussions are a type of traumatic injury caused by a jolting of the brain that disrupts normal brain function, and multiple concussions can lead to serious long-term health consequences. In this article, we examine the relationship between college students' understanding of concussions and their willingness to continue playing despite the possibility of sustaining multiple head injuries. We use a mixed-methods approach that includes participant observation, cultural domain analysis, and structured interviews. Our research finds that students hold a robust cognitive understanding of concussion yet discursively frame concussions as skeletomuscular injuries. More importantly, students affirm the importance of playing sports for themselves and others, so their decisions to risk multiple concussions must be understood within cultural and biocultural contexts of meaningful social play. We suggest that peoples' decision to risk multiple head injuries should be understood as a desire for meaningful social play rather than an uninformed health risk.

The importance of parameter variances, correlations lengths, and cross-correlations in reactive transport models: key considerations for assessing the need for microscale information

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reimus, Paul W [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2010-12-08

A process-oriented modeling approach is implemented to examine the importance of parameter variances, correlation lengths, and especially cross-correlations in contaminant transport predictions over large scales. It is shown that the most important consideration is the correlation between flow rates and retardation processes (e.g., sorption, matrix diffusion) in the system. lf flow rates are negatively correlated with retardation factors in systems containing multiple flow pathways, then characterizing these negative correlation(s) may have more impact on reactive transport modeling than microscale information. Such negative correlations are expected in porous-media systems where permeability is negatively correlated with clay content and rock alteration (which are usually associated with increased sorption). Likewise, negative correlations are expected in fractured rocks where permeability is positively correlated with fracture apertures, which in turn are negatively correlated with sorption and matrix diffusion. Parameter variances and correlation lengths are also shown to have important effects on reactive transport predictions, but they are less important than parameter cross-correlations. Microscale information pertaining to contaminant transport has become more readily available as characterization methods and spectroscopic instrumentation have achieved lower detection limits, greater resolution, and better precision. Obtaining detailed mechanistic insights into contaminant-rock-water interactions is becoming a routine practice in characterizing reactive transport processes in groundwater systems (almost necessary for high-profile publications). Unfortunately, a quantitative link between microscale information and flow and transport parameter distributions or cross-correlations has not yet been established. One reason for this is that quantitative microscale information is difficult to obtain in complex, heterogeneous systems. So simple systems that lack the

Study on the Relationship between Land Transport and Economic Growth in Xinjiang

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jingxin Sun

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Xinjiang’s land transport network is mainly comprised of highways and railways. Using statistical data from 1985 to 2015, this study applies the Lotka-Volterra model to investigate the competitive interactions among highway transport, railway transport, and the regional economy of Xinjiang. We can draw the following conclusions: First, highway mileage, highway passenger transportation, and railway freight transportation have played a significant role in promoting the development of the national economy in Xinjiang, while the latter has weakened highway passenger transportation and promoted the growth of the added value of transportation industry (AVTI, railway mileage, and railway passenger transportation. Second, highway passenger transportation enhances the development of railway passenger transportation, while railway freight transportation has played the same role in the development of highway freight transportation. Third, the increase in AVTI will increase total population, but both may have a negative impact on the national economy in the short term. Fourth, there is no significant relationship between the economy and transportation investment.

Simulation of organ patterning on the floral meristem using a polar auxin transport model.

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Simon van Mourik

Full Text Available An intriguing phenomenon in plant development is the timing and positioning of lateral organ initiation, which is a fundamental aspect of plant architecture. Although important progress has been made in elucidating the role of auxin transport in the vegetative shoot to explain the phyllotaxis of leaf formation in a spiral fashion, a model study of the role of auxin transport in whorled organ patterning in the expanding floral meristem is not available yet. We present an initial simulation approach to study the mechanisms that are expected to play an important role. Starting point is a confocal imaging study of Arabidopsis floral meristems at consecutive time points during flower development. These images reveal auxin accumulation patterns at the positions of the organs, which strongly suggests that the role of auxin in the floral meristem is similar to the role it plays in the shoot apical meristem. This is the basis for a simulation study of auxin transport through a growing floral meristem, which may answer the question whether auxin transport can in itself be responsible for the typical whorled floral pattern. We combined a cellular growth model for the meristem with a polar auxin transport model. The model predicts that sepals are initiated by auxin maxima arising early during meristem outgrowth. These form a pre-pattern relative to which a series of smaller auxin maxima are positioned, which partially overlap with the anlagen of petals, stamens, and carpels. We adjusted the model parameters corresponding to properties of floral mutants and found that the model predictions agree with the observed mutant patterns. The predicted timing of the primordia outgrowth and the timing and positioning of the sepal primordia show remarkable similarities with a developing flower in nature.

The importance of long range atmospheric transport in probabilistic accident consequence assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ApSimon, H.M.; Goddard, A.J.H.; Wilson, J.J.N.

1988-01-01

The disaster at the Chernobyl-4 reactor has demonstrated that severe nuclear accidents can give rise to significant radiological consequences several thousand kilometres from the source. The subsequent dispersion of the release over much of Western Europe further demonstrated the importance of synoptic scale weather patterns in determining the magnitude of the consequences of such accidents. A version of the MESOS-II European scale trajectory model, which is able to simulate large scale variations in weather conditions through the use of spatially and temporally variable meteorological input data, has been used to simulate the pattern of dispersion from Chernobyl with some success. This paper presents the results of probabilistic consequence assessments for a number of West European sites, made using the MESOS-II model. The results illustrate the effects, on probabilistic assessments, of using a more realistic treatment of long range atmospheric transport than the Gaussian plume model and also the spatial variation in the distributions of consequences arising from the variation in synoptic scale weather conditions across Western Europe

Transporting US oil imports: The impact of oil spill legislation on the tanker market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rowland, P.J.

1992-05-01

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (''OPA'') and an even more problematic array of State pollution laws have raised the cost, and risk, of carrying oil into and out of the US. This report, prepared under contract to the US Department of energy's Office of Domestic and International Policy, examines the impact of Federal and State oil spill legislation on the tanker market. It reviews the role of marine transportation in US oil supply, explores the OPA and State oil spill laws, studies reactions to OPA in the tanker and tank barge industries and in related industries such as insurance and ship finance, and finally, discusses the likely developments in the years ahead. US waterborne oil imports amounted to 6.5 million B/D in 1991, three-quarters of which was crude oil. Imports will rise by almost 3 million B/D by 2000 according to US Department of energy forecasts, with most of the crude oil growth after 1995. Tanker demand will grow even faster: most of the US imports and the increased traffic to other world consuming regions will be on long-haul trades. Both the number of US port calls by tankers and the volume of offshore lightering will grow. Every aspect of the tanker industry's behavior is affected by OPA and a variety of State pollution laws

Transporting US oil imports: The impact of oil spill legislation on the tanker market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rowland, P.J. (Rowland (P.) Associates (United States))

1992-05-01

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ( OPA'') and an even more problematic array of State pollution laws have raised the cost, and risk, of carrying oil into and out of the US. This report, prepared under contract to the US Department of energy's Office of Domestic and International Policy, examines the impact of Federal and State oil spill legislation on the tanker market. It reviews the role of marine transportation in US oil supply, explores the OPA and State oil spill laws, studies reactions to OPA in the tanker and tank barge industries and in related industries such as insurance and ship finance, and finally, discusses the likely developments in the years ahead. US waterborne oil imports amounted to 6.5 million B/D in 1991, three-quarters of which was crude oil. Imports will rise by almost 3 million B/D by 2000 according to US Department of energy forecasts, with most of the crude oil growth after 1995. Tanker demand will grow even faster: most of the US imports and the increased traffic to other world consuming regions will be on long-haul trades. Both the number of US port calls by tankers and the volume of offshore lightering will grow. Every aspect of the tanker industry's behavior is affected by OPA and a variety of State pollution laws.

Playful Postmodernism: Building with Diversity in the Postmodern Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Feldman, Nancy; Barron, Mary; Holliman, Diane Carol; Karliner, Shelley; Walker, Uta M.

2009-01-01

The critical examination of language and the deconstruction of truth claims play an important role in how we build with diversity in our classrooms. We, as social work educators involved with playful postmodernism, recognize the significance of improvisation and playfulness in engaging the question: how is this examination and deconstruction done?…

The right thalamus may play an important role in anesthesia-awakening regulation in frogs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanzhu Fan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Background Previous studies have shown that the mammalian thalamus is a key structure for anesthesia-induced unconsciousness and anesthesia-awakening regulation. However, both the dynamic characteristics and probable lateralization of thalamic functioning during anesthesia-awakening regulation are not fully understood, and little is known of the evolutionary basis of the role of the thalamus in anesthesia-awakening regulation. Methods An amphibian species, the South African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis was used in the present study. The frogs were immersed in triciane methanesulfonate (MS-222 for general anesthesia. Electroencephalogram (EEG signals were recorded continuously from both sides of the telencephalon, diencephalon (thalamus and mesencephalon during the pre-anesthesia stage, administration stage, recovery stage and post-anesthesia stage. EEG data was analyzed including calculation of approximate entropy (ApEn and permutation entropy (PE. Results Both ApEn and PE values differed significantly between anesthesia stages, with the highest values occurring during the awakening period and the lowest values during the anesthesia period. There was a significant correlation between the stage durations and ApEn or PE values during anesthesia-awakening cycle primarily for the right diencephalon (right thalamus. ApEn and PE values for females were significantly higher than those for males. Discussion ApEn and PE measurements are suitable for estimating depth of anesthesia and complexity of amphibian brain activity. The right thalamus appears physiologically positioned to play an important role in anesthesia-awakening regulation in frogs indicating an early evolutionary origin of the role of the thalamus in arousal and consciousness in land vertebrates. Sex differences exist in the neural regulation of general anesthesia in frogs.

Anomalous solute transport in saturated porous media: Relating transport model parameters to electrical and nuclear magnetic resonance properties

Science.gov (United States)

Swanson, Ryan D; Binley, Andrew; Keating, Kristina; France, Samantha; Osterman, Gordon; Day-Lewis, Frederick D.; Singha, Kamini

2015-01-01

The advection-dispersion equation (ADE) fails to describe commonly observed non-Fickian solute transport in saturated porous media, necessitating the use of other models such as the dual-domain mass-transfer (DDMT) model. DDMT model parameters are commonly calibrated via curve fitting, providing little insight into the relation between effective parameters and physical properties of the medium. There is a clear need for material characterization techniques that can provide insight into the geometry and connectedness of pore spaces related to transport model parameters. Here, we consider proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), direct-current (DC) resistivity, and complex conductivity (CC) measurements for this purpose, and assess these methods using glass beads as a control and two different samples of the zeolite clinoptilolite, a material that demonstrates non-Fickian transport due to intragranular porosity. We estimate DDMT parameters via calibration of a transport model to column-scale solute tracer tests, and compare NMR, DC resistivity, CC results, which reveal that grain size alone does not control transport properties and measured geophysical parameters; rather, volume and arrangement of the pore space play important roles. NMR cannot provide estimates of more-mobile and less-mobile pore volumes in the absence of tracer tests because these estimates depend critically on the selection of a material-dependent and flow-dependent cutoff time. Increased electrical connectedness from DC resistivity measurements are associated with greater mobile pore space determined from transport model calibration. CC was hypothesized to be related to length scales of mass transfer, but the CC response is unrelated to DDMT.

The influence of territory planning and social development on strategic decisions in passenger transport development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Griškevičienė

2004-10-01

Full Text Available The main factors of space planning and social development which play an important role in making strategic decisions in passenger transportation have been analysed. A number of strategic aims based on major principles of territory transport planning have been formulated. The investigation made has shown that the operation of public transport is not closely connected with the main carcass of urban territories. This decreases the efficiency of public transport, making it less popular and competitive compared to automobiles. The creation of the strategy of public transport development for the period of its integration into the EU system requires the use of methods taking into account territory planning and social and economic development of the country. The integration of new territories into the existing transportation system, optimization of routes and the increase of transport service quality are aimed to provide higher living standards and better social and economic conditions for the inhabitants. The appropriate tactical decisions in planning the development of modern passenger transport may be made only if the harmonized and well-grounded strategic aims are defined.

Working across Disciplines to Understand Playful Learning in Educational Settings

Science.gov (United States)

van der Aalsvoort, Geerdina; Broadhead, Pat

2016-01-01

Educators stress the importance of play for children's cognitive, social, physical, and emotional development. In order to effectively advocate for the inclusion of play in education settings, it is important to fully understand it. Two researchers, one from England and one from the Netherlands, sought common ground for understanding what children…

Ichthyoplankton transport from the African coast to the Canary Islands

Science.gov (United States)

Brochier, Timothée; Mason, Evan; Moyano, Marta; Berraho, Amina; Colas, Francois; Sangrà, Pablo; Hernández-León, Santiago; Ettahiri, Omar; Lett, Christophe

2011-08-01

The Canary Upwelling System (CUS), a major eastern boundary upwelling system, sustains large cross-border fisheries of small pelagic fish, which poses the question of stock connectivity. Studies suggest that ichthyoplankton transport from the northwest African coast to the Canary Islands (CI) is facilitated by coastal-upwelling associated filaments. Here we analyze connections between larval supply to the CI and sardine and anchovy populations that spawn over the continental shelf. For both species, ichthyoplankton observations (1) at the shelf and (2) near the island of Gran Canaria (GC) are used. Predictions of ichthyoplankton transport to GC are obtained from the Ichthyop Lagrangian transport model, which is forced by a high-resolution hydrodynamic model (ROMS) that reproduces the regional circulation. Results show that upwelling filaments play an important role in the transport of larvae to GC. However, (1) filaments are not the only mechanism, and (2) filament presence does not necessarily imply larval transport. Anchovy and sardine larval presence at GC appears to be independent of the respective adult spawning seasonality. Combining of observed and modeled data does not succeed in reproducing the observed larval patterns at GC. Various hypotheses are proposed to explain this discrepancy in larval transport to GC.

School Bus Transportation of Children With Special Health Care Needs.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Neil, Joseph; Hoffman, Benjamin D

2018-05-01

School systems are responsible for ensuring that children with special needs are safely transported on all forms of federally approved transportation provided by the school system. A plan to provide the most current and proper support to children with special transportation needs should be developed by the Individualized Education Program team, including the parent, school transportation director, and school nurse, in conjunction with physician orders and recommendations. With this statement, we provide current guidance for the protection of child passengers with specific health care needs. Guidance that applies to general school transportation should be followed, inclusive of staff training, provision of nurses or aides if needed, and establishment of a written emergency evacuation plan as well as a comprehensive infection control program. Researchers provide the basis for recommendations concerning occupant securement for children in wheelchairs and children with other special needs who are transported on a school bus. Pediatricians can help their patients by being aware of guidance for restraint systems for children with special needs and by remaining informed of new resources. Pediatricians can also play an important role at the state and local level in the development of school bus specifications. Copyright © 2018 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Importance of space-time fluctuations and non-linearities for the transport inside insulating glasses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ladieu, F.

2003-07-01

This work deals with transport in insulating glasses. In such solids, the discrete translational symmetry is lost, which means that the plane wave analysis is not a priori the right 'starting point'. As a result, the transport is more difficult to handle, and a huge amount of works have been devoted to many aspects of transport in disordered systems, especially since the seventies. Here we focus on three specific questions: (i) the heat transport in glasses submitted to micro-beams and the associated irreversible vaporization; (ii) the electronic d.c. transport, below 1 Kelvin, in Mott-Anderson insulators, i.e. in 'electron glasses' where both disorder and electron-electron interactions are relevant; (iii) the low frequency dielectric constant in 'structural glasses' (i.e. 'ordinary glasses') which, below 1 Kelvin, is both universal (i.e. independent on the chemical composition) and very different of that of crystals. For each topic, we present both original experiments and the new theoretical concepts that we have elaborated so as to understand the main experimental features. Eventually, it appears that, in any case, transport in insulating glasses is strongly dominated by quite a small part of the 'glass-applied field' ensemble and that the nonlinear response is a relevant tool to get informations on this 'sub-part' which dominates the transport in the whole system. (author)

The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education: A Critical Perspective on Current Policies and Practices in Germany and Hong Kong

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Faas

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In order to reflect international reform movements in a system- and culture-comparative perspective, the following article investigates the early childhood education systems in Germany and in Hong Kong, with reference to the respective social and educational roots, pedagogical development lines, and basic educational approaches. In addition, current developments, policies, and practices are described. The basic structural requirements of the respective systems will be presented, and the different reviews and implementation of international developments in Germany and Hong Kong will be explained. Special emphasis is placed on the importance of play in early childhood education. In this context, a current qualitative study of the authors is presented, which examines different perspectives on learning at play. The results of this exploratory study show that the interpretations and discussions of international reform approaches in different cultural settings are sometimes very different. The statements of the German and Chinese participants indicate that international developments are assessed primarily in the context of national educational traditions and structures. Against this backdrop, it is assumed that international reform movements—despite some assimilations—will have different effects in national education systems.

The importance of anisotropic scattering in high energy neutron transport problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prillinger, G.; Mattes, M.

1984-01-01

To describe the highly anisotropic scattering of very fast neutrons adequately the transport code ANISN has been improved. Fokker-Planck terms have been introduced into the transport equation which accurately describe the small changes in energy and angle. The new code has been tested for a d(50)-Be neutron source in a deep penetration iron problem. The influence of the forward peaked elastic scattering on the fast neutron spectrum is shown to be significant and can be handled efficiently in the new ANISN version. Since common cross-section libraries are limited by Legendre expansion, or by their upper energy boundary, or exclude elastic scattering above 20 MeV a special library has been created. (Auth.)

Imagination and Emotion in Children's Play: A Cultural-Historical Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Hedegaard, Mariane

2016-01-01

Interpretations of Vygotsky's texts have generally focused on the intellectual aspects of children's development, including his theory of play. This article presents a reinterpretation of Vygotsky's theory of play and draws on this theory of art to include emotions as an important part of children's play. I will argue that in play, children's…

Switch loop flexibility affects substrate transport of the AcrB efflux pump

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muller, Reinke T.; Travers, Timothy; Cha, Hi-jea; Phillips, Joshua L.

2017-01-01

The functionally important switch-loop of the trimeric multidrug transporter AcrB separates the access and deep drug binding pockets in every protomer. This loop, comprising 11 amino acid residues, has been shown to be crucial for substrate transport, as drugs have to travel past the loop to reach the deep binding pocket and from there are transported outside the cell via the connected AcrA and TolC channels. It contains four symmetrically arranged glycine residues suggesting that flexibility is a key feature for pump activity. Upon combinatorial substitution of these glycine residues to proline, functional and structural asymmetry was observed. Proline substitutions on the PC1 proximal side completely abolished transport and reduced backbone flexibility of the switch loop, which adopted a conformation restricting the pathway towards the deep binding pocket. Here, two phenylalanine residues located adjacent to the substitution sensitive glycine residues play a role in blocking the pathway upon rigidification of the loop, since the removal of the phenyl rings from the rigid loop restores drug transport activity.

Transport parameter estimation from lymph measurements and the Patlak equation.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, P D; Wolf, M B

1992-01-01

Two methods of estimating protein transport parameters for plasma-to-lymph transport data are presented. Both use IBM-compatible computers to obtain least-squares parameters for the solvent drag reflection coefficient and the permeability-surface area product using the Patlak equation. A matrix search approach is described, and the speed and convenience of this are compared with a commercially available gradient method. The results from both of these methods were different from those of a method reported by Reed, Townsley, and Taylor [Am. J. Physiol. 257 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 26): H1037-H1041, 1989]. It is shown that the Reed et al. method contains a systematic error. It is also shown that diffusion always plays an important role for transmembrane transport at the exit end of a membrane channel under all conditions of lymph flow rate and that the statement that diffusion becomes zero at high lymph flow rate depends on a mathematical definition of diffusion.

The emerging physiological roles of the SLC14A family of urea transporters

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Gavin

2011-01-01

In mammals, urea is the main nitrogenous breakdown product of protein catabolism and is produced in the liver. In certain tissues, the movement of urea across cell membranes is specifically mediated by a group of proteins known as the SLC14A family of facilitative urea transporters. These proteins are derived from two distinct genes, UT-A (SLC14A2) and UT-B (SLC14A1). Facilitative urea transporters play an important role in two major physiological processes – urinary concentration and urea nitrogen salvaging. Although UT-A and UT-B transporters both have a similar basic structure and mediate the transport of urea in a facilitative manner, there are a number of significant differences between them. UT-A transporters are mainly found in the kidney, are highly specific for urea, have relatively lower transport rates and are highly regulated at both gene expression and cellular localization levels. In contrast, UT-B transporters are more widespread in their tissue location, transport both urea and water, have a relatively high transport rate, are inhibited by mercurial compounds and currently appear to be less acutely regulated. This review details the fundamental research that has so far been performed to investigate the function and physiological significance of these two types of urea transporters. PMID:21449978

Recent Advances in Understanding of Kinetic Interplay Between Phase II Metabolism and Efflux Transport.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shuai; Xing, Huijie; Zhao, Mengjing; Lu, Danyi; Li, Zhijie; Dong, Dong; Wu, Baojian

2016-01-01

Mechanistic understanding of the metabolism-transport interplay assumes great importance in pharmaceutical fields because the knowledge can help to interpret drug/xenobiotic metabolism and disposition studies as well as the drug-drug interactions in vivo. About 10 years ago, it started to recognize that cellular phase II metabolism is strongly influenced by the excretion (efflux transport) of generated metabolites, a kinetic phenomenon termed "phase II metabolism-transport interplay". This interplay is believed to have significant effects on the pharmacokinetics (bioavailability) of drugs/chemicals undergoing phase II metabolism. In this article, we review the studies investigating the phase II metabolism-transport interplay using cell models, perfused rat intestine, and intact rats. The potential confounding factors in exploring such interplay is also summarized. Moreover, the mechanism underlying the phase II metabolism-transport interplay is discussed. Various studies with engineered cells and rodents have demonstrated that there is an interaction (interplay) between phase II enzymes and efflux transporters. This type of interplay mainly refers to the dependence of phase II (conjugative) metabolism on the activities of efflux transporters. In general, inhibiting efflux transporters or decreasing their expression causes the reductions in metabolite excretion, apparent excretion clearance (CLapp) and total metabolism (fmet), as well as an increase in the intracellular level of metabolite (Ci). The deconjugation mediated by hydrolase (acting as a "bridge") is essential for the interplay to play out based on pharmacokinetic modeling/simulations, cell and animal studies. The hydrolases bridge the two processes (i.e., metabolite formation and excretion) and enable the interplay thereof (a bridging effect). Without the bridge, metabolite formation is independent on its downstream process excretion, thus impact of metabolite excretion on its formation is impossible

On the importance of effective convergence velocity of synthetic acceleration methods in neutron transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coppa, G.G.M.; Ravetto, P.; Colombo, V.

1996-01-01

The present work concerns some aspects of the optimization of the synthesis acceleration techniques in neutron transport. The importance of non-asymptotic convergence velocity as a theoretical means to characterize and optimize acceleration methods is discussed in detail for isotropic as well as highly anisotropic scattering cases; this shows the innacuracy of results based only on the usual asyptotic analysis. A detailed study of convergence velocity behaviour for space discretized schemes and multidimensional problems is also presented. Finally, various kinds of theoretical-evaluated convergence velocities are reported to study the effective behaviour of some modifications of the classic DSA technique recently proposed to face its loss of effectiveness and optimize performances when dealing with highly anisotropic scattering; comparisons with results of already assessed DSA modification techniques are reported for various scattering cross-section configurations. (Author)

Urease plays an important role in the chemotactic motility of Helicobacter pylori in a viscous environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakamura, H; Yoshiyama, H; Takeuchi, H; Mizote, T; Okita, K; Nakazawa, T

1998-10-01

Helicobacter pylori exhibits chemotactic responses to urea, flurofamide, acetohydroxamic acid, and sodium bicarbonate. In buffer, the chemotactic activities of a urease-positive strain were higher than those of the isogenic urease-negative strain. Moreover, the chemotactic activities of the urease-positive strain were increased in a viscous solution containing 3% polyvinylpyrrolidone, whereas those of the urease-negative mutant were not. These results are in accordance with the fact that the mutant strain did not show swarming in motility agar regardless of having flagella. Incubation of the wild-type strain with flurofamide resulted in partial inhibition of the chemotactic activities in the viscous solution. In addition, incubation with acetohydroxamic acid, a low-molecular-weight, diffusible urease inhibitor, resulted in complete loss of chemotactic activity in the viscous solution. The inhibition of the chemotactic activity by urease inhibitors paralleled the inhibition of urease. The chemotactic activity of H. pylori was also inhibited by the proton carrier carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone, showing that H. pylori utilizes proton motive force for motility. These results indicate that cytoplasmic urease plays an important role in the chemotactic motility of H. pylori under a condition that mimics the ecological niche of the bacterium, the gastric mucous layer.

Doing what comes naturally: a special workforce plays an important role in a new on-site remediation technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marsters, S.

1999-01-01

A bioremediation system developed by Calgary-based Unique Oilfield Technology Services (UNOTEC) that uses naturally occurring bacteria and fungi to decompose oilfield waste is described. In essence, UNOTEC creates a suitable work environment for microorganisms by mixing drilling residue with organic oil absorbent and bulking agent, and the micro-organisms do the rest. The key ingredient in the mix is canola meal which has been shown to have the ability to immobilize oil and prevent leaching in the containment mixtures following land treatment, due to its oleophilic qualities, which are a function of its origin as an oil seed. Canola meal contains large amounts of protein, hence it is an important source of nitrogen. Since nitrogen is considered essential for stimulating growth in microorganisms, the meal plays a critical role as a catalyst for microbial activity in the containment mix. Details of applying the technology, and on-going experiments demonstrating its efficiency are described. 10 photos

Improving free play skills of severely retarded children.

Science.gov (United States)

Wehman, P; Marchant, J A

1978-02-01

Severely and profoundly retarded children are usually deficient in play skills. Since play facilitates socialization, language, and motor development, it is a vitally improtant skill to acquire. This pilot study examined the effects of a behavioral training program on the autistic, independent, and social types of play of four severely and profoundly retarded children. The training program involved the use of instructions, modeling, physical guidance, and verbal reinforcement. Results indicated that a marked increase in independent and social play occurred with the introduction of the training program with all four children. Occupational therapists can play an increasingly important role in helping educators formulate relevant educational programs for severely retarded children, particularly in the areas of play and motor skill development.

Investigation of Nuclide Importance to Functional Requirements Related to Transport and Long-Term Storage of LWR Spent Fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Broadhead, B.L.

1995-01-01

The radionuclide characteristics of light-water-reactor (LWR) spent fuel play key roles in the design and licensing activities for radioactive waste transportation systems, interim storage facilities, and the final repository site. Several areas of analysis require detailed information concerning the time-dependent behavior of radioactive nuclides including (1) neutron/gamma-ray sources for shielding studies, (2) fissile/absorber concentrations for criticality safety determinations, (3) residual decay heat predictions for thermal considerations, and (4) curie and/or radiological toxicity levels for materials assumed to be released into the ground/environment after long periods of time. The crucial nature of the radionuclide predictions over both short and long periods of time has resulted in an increased emphasis on thorough validation for radionuclide generation/depletion codes. Current radionuclide generation/depletion codes have the capability to follow the evolution of some 1600 isotopes during both irradiation and decay time periods. Of these, typically only 10 to 20 nuclides dominate contributions to each analysis area. Thus a quantitative ranking of nuclides over various time periods is desired for each of the analysis areas of shielding, criticality, heat transfer, and environmental dose (radiological toxicity). These rankings should allow for validation and data improvement efforts to be focused only on the most important nuclides. This study investigates the relative importances of the various actinide, fission-product, and light-element isotopes associated with LWR spent fuel with respect to five analysis areas: criticality safety (absorption fractions), shielding (dose rate fractions), curies (fractional curies levels), decay heat (fraction of total watts), and radiological toxicity (fraction of potential committed effective dose equivalent). These rankings are presented for up to six different burnup/enrichment scenarios and at decay times from 2 to

Mind the Gap: Transportation Challenges for Individuals Living with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolyn Dudley

2016-01-01

Full Text Available WHY IS THIS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE? An estimated 1 in 86 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD1 making it the most commonly diagnosed childhood neurological condition in Canada.2 Transportation challenges for those with ASD are a growing issue in Canada. People living with ASD3 and others who live with neurodevelopmental disability (NDD4 rely almost exclusively on public transit and caregivers for transportation. The current transportation options are insufcient in meeting the needs of this population. WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH TELL US? Transportation is essential to promoting quality of life The transit system plays an essential role in improving quality of life for individuals with ASD and for their caregivers. However, problems with cognition, perception and communication are barriers to independence in transportation. Availability of transportation is critical to enable high levels of physical activity among those with intellectual disabilities.5 Safe and reliable transportation improves one’s ability to participate in programs that support quality of life and impacts employment, volunteering, religious participation, exercise, self-advocacy and health care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.6 Caregivers for those with ASD emphasize that transportation is critical to enable meaningful opportunity and community engagement in employment, education, healthcare and social pursuits.

Molecular Determinants for Substrate Interactions with the Glycine Transporter GlyT2.

Science.gov (United States)

Carland, Jane E; Thomas, Michael; Mostyn, Shannon N; Subramanian, Nandhitha; O'Mara, Megan L; Ryan, Renae M; Vandenberg, Robert J

2018-03-21

Transporters in the SLC6 family play key roles in regulating neurotransmission and are the targets for a wide range of therapeutics. Important insights into the transport mechanisms and the specificity of drug interactions of SLC6 transporters have been obtained from the crystal structures of a bacterial homologue of the family, LeuT Aa , and more recently the Drosophila dopamine transporter and the human serotonin transporter. However, there is disputed evidence that the bacterial leucine transporter, LeuT Aa , contains two substrate binding sites that work cooperatively in the mechanism of transport, with the binding of a second substrate being required for the release of the substrate from the primary site. An alternate proposal is that there may be low affinity binding sites that serve to direct the flow of substrates to the primary site. We have used a combination of molecular dynamics simulations of substrate interactions with a homology model of GlyT2, together with radiolabeled amino acid uptake assays and electrophysiological analysis of wild-type and mutant transporters, to provide evidence that substrate selectivity of GlyT2 is determined entirely by the primary substrate binding site and, furthermore, if a secondary site exists then it is a low affinity nonselective amino acid binding site.

The Power of Play: Fostering Creativity and Innovation in Libraries

OpenAIRE

Ann Medaille; Will Kurt; Lisa Kurt

2010-01-01

Play is a powerful method of fostering creativity and innovation in organizations. As libraries confront a rapidly changing information landscape, the need for innovation in meeting user needs is paramount. Libraries can embrace organizational play as a means of stimulating employee creativity and developing innovative products and services. This article discusses the work-play dichotomy, the definition of play, and the Millennial generation’s attitude toward play. Several important character...

Differences in environmental preferences towards cycling for transport among adults: a latent class analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lieze Mertens

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Increasing cycling for transport can contribute to improve public health among adults. Micro-environmental factors (i.e. small-scaled street-setting features may play an important role in affecting the street’s appeal to cycle for transport. Understanding about the interplay between individuals and their physical environment is important to establish tailored environmental interventions. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine whether specific subgroups exist based on similarities in micro-environmental preferences to cycle for transport. Methods Responses of 1950 middle-aged adults (45–65 years on a series of choice tasks depicting potential cycling routes with manipulated photographs yielded three subgroups with different micro-environmental preferences using latent class analysis. Results Although latent class analysis revealed three different subgroups in the middle-aged adult population based on their environmental preferences, results indicated that cycle path type (i.e. a good separated cycle path is the most important environmental factor for all participants and certainly for individuals who did not cycle for transport. Furthermore, only negligible differences were found between the importances of the other micro-environmental factors (i.e. traffic density, evenness of the cycle path, maintenance, vegetation and speed limits regarding the two at risk subgroups and that providing a speed bump obviously has the least impact on the street’s appeal to cycle for transport. Conclusions Results from the current study indicate that only negligible differences were found between the three subgroups. Therefore, it might be suggested that tailored environmental interventions are not required in this research context.

Coal still plays an important role in Europe's energy business

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janoska, J.; Beer, G.

2004-01-01

European energy mix would be unimaginable without the coal as it is used to produce about 25 percent of the EU electricity and its importance will even increase after the enlargement. In many of the accession countries coal represents the main source of electricity. Reviews of electricity production in dependence of source, coal mining and share of brown coal on electricity production in European Union are presented

Leisure, Recreation, and Play from a Developmental Context

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, Linda L.; Witt, Peter A.

2011-01-01

The terms "play, recreation, and leisure" can evoke thoughts of frivolity, fun, sociability, competition, slothfulness, or idleness. However, there is substantial evidence that what people do in their discretionary or free time has important developmental and health implications. In this article, the authors examine how play, recreation, and…

Parents' Perceptions of Preschool Activities: Exploring Outdoor Play

Science.gov (United States)

Jayasuriya, Avanthi; Williams, Marcia; Edwards, Todd; Tandon, Pooja

2016-01-01

Research Findings: Outdoor play is important for children's health and development, yet many preschool-age children in child care settings do not receive the recommended 60 min/day of outdoor play. Child care providers have previously described parent-related barriers to increasing outdoor playtime, including parents not providing appropriate…

Coupled transport phenomena in a clay from a Callovo-Oxfordian formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Paszkuta, M.

2005-06-01

Low permeability materials containing clay play an important role in practical life and natural environment. Indeed, the ability of clay soils to act as semi permeable membranes, that inhibit the passage of electrolytes, is of great interest. The major objective of this thesis is to evaluate the transport properties of natural clays and in particular coupled transports when a pressure gradient, an electrical field, a concentration gradient and a temperature gradient interact. The material is a compact argillite extracted in East France from a Callovo-Oxfordian formation which was supplied to us by ANDRA. NaCl was used as the main solute. Two series of experiments were performed to measure permeability, diffusion, conductivity, the electro-osmotic coefficient and the Soret coefficient. (author)

Radiological research more important than ever

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustonen, R.

1996-01-01

Ten years ago, the Finnish radiation monitoring and radiation protection systems were shown to be among the most efficient in Europe. The first overall picture of the radiation situation in Finland was published a little more than a week after the event in Chernobyl. Radioactivity in the environment and in people has been monitored in Finland since the early 1960s. Radioactive materials are, in fact, the best known substances that pose a hazard to the environment. Studies of the environment have perhaps played the most important role in the development of models describing the transportation of radioactive materials. These models are needed to form a basis for preparedness plans. Even though Finland is situated far from Chernobyl, the effects of the event here, too, were so strong that explicit instructions were needed for the population. If the accident had taken place, say, in Sosnovy Bor, some actual protective measures would have been needed in southern and south-eastern Finland. (orig.) (4 figs.)

Optimal-mass-transfer-based estimation of glymphatic transport in living brain

OpenAIRE

Ratner, Vadim; Zhu, Liangjia; Kolesov, Ivan; Nedergaard, Maiken; Benveniste, Helene; Tannenbaum, Allen

2015-01-01

It was recently shown that the brain-wide cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and interstitial fluid exchange system designated the ‘glymphatic pathway’ plays a key role in removing waste products from the brain, similarly to the lymphatic system in other body organs1,2. It is therefore important to study the flow patterns of glymphatic transport through the live brain in order to better understand its functionality in normal and pathological states. Unlike blood, the CSF does not flow rapidly through ...

The neurobiology of social play and its rewarding value in rats

Science.gov (United States)

Vanderschuren, Louk J.M.J.; Achterberg, E.J. Marijke; Trezza, Viviana

2016-01-01

In the young of many mammalian species, including humans, a vigorous and highly rewarding social activity is abundantly expressed, known as social play behaviour. Social play is thought to be important for the development of social, cognitive and emotional processes and their neural underpinnings, and it is disrupted in pediatric psychiatric disorders. Here, we summarize recent progress in our understanding of the brain mechanisms of social play behaviour, with a focus on its rewarding properties. Opioid, endocannabinoid, dopamine and noradrenaline systems play a prominent role in the modulation of social play. Of these, dopamine is particularly important for the motivational properties of social play. The nucleus accumbens has been identified as a key site for opioid and dopamine modulation of social play. Endocannabinoid influences on social play rely on the basolateral amygdala, whereas noradrenaline modulates social play through the basolateral amygdala, habenula and prefrontal cortex. In sum, social play behaviour is the result of coordinated activity in a network of corticolimbic structures, and its monoamine, opioid and endocannabinoid innervation. PMID:27587003

Deep Learning for Video Game Playing

OpenAIRE

Justesen, Niels; Bontrager, Philip; Togelius, Julian; Risi, Sebastian

2017-01-01

In this article, we review recent Deep Learning advances in the context of how they have been applied to play different types of video games such as first-person shooters, arcade games, and real-time strategy games. We analyze the unique requirements that different game genres pose to a deep learning system and highlight important open challenges in the context of applying these machine learning methods to video games, such as general game playing, dealing with extremely large decision spaces...

N-MYC down-regulated-like proteins regulate meristem initiation by modulating auxin transport and MAX2 expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Mudgil, Yashwanti; Ghawana, Sanjay; Jones, Alan M

2013-01-01

N-MYC down-regulated-like (NDL) proteins interact with the Gβ subunit (AGB1) of the heterotrimeric G protein complex and play an important role in AGB1-dependent regulation of lateral root formation by affecting root auxin transport, auxin gradients and the steady-state levels of mRNA encoding the PIN-FORMED 2 and AUXIN 1 auxin transport facilitators. Auxin transport in aerial tissue follows different paths and utilizes different transporters than in roots; therefore, in the present study, we analyzed whether NDL proteins play an important role in AGB1-dependent, auxin-mediated meristem development. Expression levels of NDL gene family members need to be tightly regulated, and altered expression (both over-expression and down-regulation) confers ectopic growth. Over-expression of NDL1 disrupts vegetative and reproductive organ development. Reduced expression of the NDL gene family members results in asymmetric leaf emergence, twinning of rosette leaves, defects in leaf formation, and abnormal silique distribution. Reduced expression of the NDL genes in the agb1-2 (null allele) mutant rescues some of the abnormal phenotypes, such as silique morphology, silique distribution, and peduncle angle, suggesting that proper levels of NDL proteins are maintained by AGB1. We found that all of these abnormal aerial phenotypes due to altered NDL expression were associated with increases in basipetal auxin transport, altered auxin maxima and altered MAX2 expression within the inflorescence stem. NDL proteins, together with AGB1, act as positive regulators of meristem initiation and branching. AGB1 and NDL1 positively regulate basipetal inflorescence auxin transport and modulate MAX2 expression in shoots, which in turn regulates organ and lateral meristem formation by the establishment and maintenance of auxin gradients.

N-MYC down-regulated-like proteins regulate meristem initiation by modulating auxin transport and MAX2 expression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yashwanti Mudgil

Full Text Available N-MYC down-regulated-like (NDL proteins interact with the Gβ subunit (AGB1 of the heterotrimeric G protein complex and play an important role in AGB1-dependent regulation of lateral root formation by affecting root auxin transport, auxin gradients and the steady-state levels of mRNA encoding the PIN-FORMED 2 and AUXIN 1 auxin transport facilitators. Auxin transport in aerial tissue follows different paths and utilizes different transporters than in roots; therefore, in the present study, we analyzed whether NDL proteins play an important role in AGB1-dependent, auxin-mediated meristem development.Expression levels of NDL gene family members need to be tightly regulated, and altered expression (both over-expression and down-regulation confers ectopic growth. Over-expression of NDL1 disrupts vegetative and reproductive organ development. Reduced expression of the NDL gene family members results in asymmetric leaf emergence, twinning of rosette leaves, defects in leaf formation, and abnormal silique distribution. Reduced expression of the NDL genes in the agb1-2 (null allele mutant rescues some of the abnormal phenotypes, such as silique morphology, silique distribution, and peduncle angle, suggesting that proper levels of NDL proteins are maintained by AGB1. We found that all of these abnormal aerial phenotypes due to altered NDL expression were associated with increases in basipetal auxin transport, altered auxin maxima and altered MAX2 expression within the inflorescence stem.NDL proteins, together with AGB1, act as positive regulators of meristem initiation and branching. AGB1 and NDL1 positively regulate basipetal inflorescence auxin transport and modulate MAX2 expression in shoots, which in turn regulates organ and lateral meristem formation by the establishment and maintenance of auxin gradients.

Crime and public transport: designing a safer journey

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Kruger, Tinus

2007-07-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses issues related to transport and security with a particular focus on the role that the physical environment plays in increasing or reducing opportunities for crime. The focus is on crime problems on public transport and the use...

Gene expression of membrane transporters: Importance for prognosis and progression of ovarian carcinoma

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Elsnerová, K.; Mohelniková; Duchonová, B.; Čeřovská, E.; Ehrlichová, M.; Gut, I.; Rob, L.; Skapa, P.; Hruda, M.; Bartáková, A.; Bouda, J.; Vodička, Pavel; Souček, P.; Václavíková, R.

2016-01-01

Roč. 35, č. 4 (2016), s. 2159-2170 ISSN 1021-335X R&D Projects: GA MZd(CZ) NT14056; GA MŠk(CZ) LD14050 Institutional support: RVO:68378041 Keywords : epithelial ovarian cancer * ABC transporters * SLC transporters * gene expression * prognosis Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 2.662, year: 2016

Sustainable transport strategy for promoting zero-emission electric scooters in Taiwan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hwang, Jenn Jiang [Department of Greenergy, National University of Tainan, Tainan 700 (China)

2010-06-15

In Taiwan, the government considers the zero-emission scooters to be a sustainable form of transport like walking, cycling and public transport, which play a vital role to support sustainable urban mobility. Therefore, the development of zero-emission scooters is an important strategy in constructing the sustainable transport network of Taiwan. It is also the government's priorities about the policy of emission-reduction and energy-conservation in the transportation sector. Recently, Taiwan launched a new program for subsidy of purchasing zero-emission scooters, which aimed to shift the petroleum-powered scooters to the electric scooters. The present paper is providing an update review of the promotional programs in developing zero-emission scooters in Taiwan. It introduces the status of the establishment and progress of policy, standards, subsidies to users and manufacturers, practice infrastructure, and technology development. Moreover, the contribution of replacing petrol scooters by zero-emission scooters such as battery-powered electric scooters and fuel cell scooters to reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission and improvement in energy efficiency is evaluated. (author)

Longshore sediment transport rate-measurement and estimation, central west coast of India

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

SanilKumar, V.; Anand, N.M.; Chandramohan, P.; Naik, G.N.

rate—measurement and estimation, central west coast of India V. Sanil Kumar * , N.M. Anand, P. Chandramohan, G.N. Naik Ocean Engineering Division, National Institute of Oceanography, Donapaula, Goa 403 004, India Received 26 October 2001; received... engineering designs. The longshore current generated by obliquely incident breaking waves plays an important role in transporting sediment in the surf zone. The longshore current velocity varies across the surf zone, reaching a maximum value close to the wave...

The role of transition metal transporters for iron, zinc, manganese, and copper in the pathogenesis of Yersinia pestis.

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Robert D; Bobrov, Alexander G; Fetherston, Jacqueline D

2015-06-01

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic plague, encodes a multitude of Fe transport systems. Some of these are defective due to frameshift or IS element insertions, while others are functional in vitro but have no established role in causing infections. Indeed only 3 Fe transporters (Ybt, Yfe and Feo) have been shown to be important in at least one form of plague. The yersiniabactin (Ybt) system is essential in the early dermal/lymphatic stages of bubonic plague, irrelevant in the septicemic stage, and critical in pneumonic plague. Two Mn transporters have been characterized (Yfe and MntH). These two systems play a role in bubonic plague but the double yfe mntH mutant is fully virulent in a mouse model of pneumonic plague. The same in vivo phenotype occurs with a mutant lacking two (Yfe and Feo) of four ferrous transporters. A role for the Ybt siderophore in Zn acquisition has been revealed. Ybt-dependent Zn acquisition uses a transport system completely independent of the Fe-Ybt uptake system. Together Ybt components and ZnuABC play a critical role in Zn acquisition in vivo. Single mutants in either system retain high virulence in a mouse model of septicemic plague while the double mutant is completely avirulent.

Play and playfulness, basic features of early childhood education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Singer, E.

2013-01-01

This article argues that play and playfulness are basic features in early childhood education, but that play curricula can have serious drawbacks. The starting point is the play theory of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, a radical critic of the focus on the educational benefits of play. According

Play and playfulness in early childhood education and care.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Singer E.

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Play and playfulness are basic features in early childhood education. The elements of play are pleasure, a sense of freedom, and the co-construction of shared meaning through the use of rules or rhythms. Play and learning are closely related in early childhood. But when the focus on the educational benefits of play becomes too strong, the most essential feature of play is lost: children’s pleasure. Young children in group settings often have to adapt to the teachers’ demands related to security, hygiene, and social norms and values. But the playfulness of the teachers helps to overcome differences in power in the caregiver-child relationship and prevents young children from becoming overburdened with strict rules and group discipline. Play and playfulness are a resource of shared pleasure and creativity in learning processes.

Hepcidin is directly regulated by insulin and plays an important role in iron overload in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Heyang; Li, Hongxia; Jiang, Xin; Shi, Wencai; Shen, Zhilei; Li, Min

2014-05-01

Iron overload is frequently observed in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We hypothesize that hepcidin may be directly regulated by insulin and play an important role in iron overload in DM2. We therefore examined the hepatic iron content, serum iron parameters, intestinal iron absorption, and liver hepcidin expression in rats treated with streptozotocin (STZ), which was given alone or after insulin resistance induced by a high-fat diet. The direct effect of insulin on hepcidin and its molecular mechanisms were furthermore determined in vitro in HepG2 cells. STZ administration caused a significant reduction in liver hepcidin level and a marked increase in intestinal iron absorption and serum and hepatic iron content. Insulin obviously upregulated hepcidin expression in HepG2 cells and enhanced signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 protein synthesis and DNA binding activity. The effect of insulin on hepcidin disappeared when the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 pathway was blocked and could be partially inhibited by U0126. In conclusion, the current study suggests that hepcidin can be directly regulated by insulin, and the suppressed liver hepcidin synthesis may be an important reason for the iron overload in DM2.

Kinesin-1 plays a role in transport of SNAP-25 to the plasma membrane

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morton, April M.; Cunningham, Anthony L. [Centre for Virus Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, The University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW 2145 (Australia); Diefenbach, Russell J., E-mail: russell_diefenbach@wmi.usyd.edu.au [Centre for Virus Research, Westmead Millennium Institute, The University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW 2145 (Australia)

2010-01-01

The cellular molecular motor kinesin-1 mediates the microtubule-dependent transport of a range of cargo. We have previously identified an interaction between the cargo-binding domain of kinesin-1 heavy chain KIF5B and the membrane-associated SNARE proteins SNAP-25 and SNAP-23. In this study we further defined the minimal SNAP-25 binding domain in KIF5B to residues 874-894. Overexpression of a fragment of KIF5B (residues 594-910) resulted in significant colocalization with SNAP-25 with resulting blockage of the trafficking of SNAP-25 to the periphery of cells. This indicates that kinesin-1 facilitates the transport of SNAP-25 containing vesicles as a prerequisite to SNAP-25 driven membrane fusion events.

Quality assurance in the removal and transport of the TMI-2 [Three Mile Island Unit 2] core

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hayes, G.R.; Marsden, J.F.

1988-01-01

The March 1979 accident at Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) damaged the core of the reactor. One of the major cleanup activities involves removal of the damaged core from the reactor and transporting it from the TMI-2 site near Middletown, Pennsylvania, to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) near Idaho Falls, Idaho. Removal and transport of the damaged core necessitated the development of much specialized equipment. This paper focuses on the role quality assurance (QA) played in the design, fabrication, acceptance, and use of three important pieces of core debris removal and transportation equipment: (1) the core boring machine, (2) the fuel debris canisters, (3) the NuPac 125-B rail cask and handling equipment

Development and governance of renewable methane use in transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lampinen, Ari

2013-10-15

Renewable methane is promoted in many countries as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels in all types of transport applications. This article examines development, governance and motives for the use of biogas, synthetic biogas, wind methane and other types of renewable methane in transport. Fossil methane fuels, such as natural gas, shale gas and synthetic natural gas, are included as a comparison. Compressed town gas played an important role in the adoption of methane for traffic use, so its history is also examined. Three waves of development in the use of traffic biogas are identified: the Second World War, the 1970s oil crises, and the present day quest for sustainability. While biogas has been used in transport since the 1930s, the other renewable methane fuels are now emerging in the commercial market with only a few years of history. The article looks at the use of renewable methane in a global perspective, although most of the examples are from Europe, as the majority of the technological and political advances have been European.

Physics of transport in tokamaks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garbet, X [Assoc. EURATOM-CEA, CEA/DSM/DRFC CEA-Cadarache, 13108 Saint Paul lez Durance (France); Mantica, P [Istituto di Fisica del Plasma EURATOM-ENEA/CNR, via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milan (Italy); Angioni, C [MPI fuer Plasmaphysik, EURATOM-Assoz., D-8046 Garching (Germany)] [and others

2004-12-01

This paper is an overview of recent results relating to turbulent particle and heat transport, and to the triggering of internal transport barriers (ITBs). The dependence of the turbulent particle pinch velocity on plasma parameters has been clarified and compared with experiment. Magnetic shear and collisionality are found to play a central role. Analysis of heat transport has made progress along two directions: dimensionless scaling laws, which are found to agree with the prediction for electrostatic turbulence, and analysis of modulation experiments, which provide a stringent test of transport models. Finally the formation of ITBs has been addressed by analysing electron transport barriers. It is confirmed that negative magnetic shear, combined with the Shafranov shift, is a robust stabilizing mechanism. However, some well established features of internal barriers are not explained by theory.

Playful Membership

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Åkerstrøm Andersen, Niels; Pors, Justine Grønbæk

2014-01-01

This article studies the implications of current attempts by organizations to adapt to a world of constant change by introducing the notion of playful organizational membership. To this end we conduct a brief semantic history of organizational play and argue that when organizations play, employees...... are expected to engage in playful exploration of alternative selves. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann's theory of time and decision-making and Gregory Bateson's theory of play, the article analyses three empirical examples of how games play with conceptions of time. We explore how games represent an organizational...

Transport statistics 1995

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

De Haan, ML

1996-04-01

Full Text Available This publication contains information on all major modes of transport in South Africa. The transport sector is placed in perspective relative to the macro economy and a number of important transport indicators are given. The document also contains...

Getting Bicycles on Trains - Inter-modal Transport Developments in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Ulrik; Pedersen, Bjørn Brix

2001-01-01

The combined use of bicycles and trains has been favored in contemporary public transport policies in Denmark. Although bicycling has played a major role in Danish personal transportation in more than hundred years, the attitude from public transport authorities towards supporting bicyclists has ...... varied quite a lot....

Functional characterisation of three zinc transporters in Thlaspi caerulescens

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Talukdar, S.

2007-01-01

Heavy metal hyperaccumulation in plants is a poorly understood phenomenon. Transmembrane metal transporters are assumed to play a key role in this process. In the research described in this thesis, genes encoding Zn transporters of Thlaspi

Visualizing Mobility of Public Transportation System.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Wei; Fu, Chi-Wing; Arisona, Stefan Müller; Erath, Alexander; Qu, Huamin

2014-12-01

Public transportation systems (PTSs) play an important role in modern cities, providing shared/massive transportation services that are essential for the general public. However, due to their increasing complexity, designing effective methods to visualize and explore PTS is highly challenging. Most existing techniques employ network visualization methods and focus on showing the network topology across stops while ignoring various mobility-related factors such as riding time, transfer time, waiting time, and round-the-clock patterns. This work aims to visualize and explore passenger mobility in a PTS with a family of analytical tasks based on inputs from transportation researchers. After exploring different design alternatives, we come up with an integrated solution with three visualization modules: isochrone map view for geographical information, isotime flow map view for effective temporal information comparison and manipulation, and OD-pair journey view for detailed visual analysis of mobility factors along routes between specific origin-destination pairs. The isotime flow map linearizes a flow map into a parallel isoline representation, maximizing the visualization of mobility information along the horizontal time axis while presenting clear and smooth pathways from origin to destinations. Moreover, we devise several interactive visual query methods for users to easily explore the dynamics of PTS mobility over space and time. Lastly, we also construct a PTS mobility model from millions of real passenger trajectories, and evaluate our visualization techniques with assorted case studies with the transportation researchers.

Role of malate transporter in lipid accumulation of oleaginous fungus Mucor circinelloides.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Lina; Cánovas-Márquez, José T; Tang, Xin; Chen, Haiqin; Chen, Yong Q; Chen, Wei; Garre, Victoriano; Song, Yuanda; Ratledge, Colin

2016-02-01

Fatty acid biosynthesis in oleaginous fungi requires the supply of reducing power, NADPH, and the precursor of fatty acids, acetyl-CoA, which is generated in the cytosol being produced by ATP: citrate lyase which requires citrate to be, transported from the mitochondrion by the citrate/malate/pyruvate transporter. This transporter, which is within the mitochondrial membrane, transports cytosolic malate into the mitochondrion in exchange for mitochondrial citrate moving into the cytosol (Fig. 1). The role of malate transporter in lipid accumulation in oleaginous fungi is not fully understood, however. Therefore, the expression level of the mt gene, coding for a malate transporter, was manipulated in the oleaginous fungus Mucor circinelloides to analyze its effect on lipid accumulation. The results showed that mt overexpression increased the lipid content for about 70 % (from 13 to 22 % dry cell weight, CDW), whereas the lipid content in mt knockout mutant decreased about 27 % (from 13 to 9.5 % CDW) compared with the control strain. Furthermore, the extracellular malate concentration was decreased in the mt overexpressing strain and increased in the mt knockout strain compared with the wild-type strain. This work suggests that the malate transporter plays an important role in regulating lipid accumulation in oleaginous fungus M. circinelloides.

Metal ion transporters and homeostasis.

OpenAIRE

Nelson, N

1999-01-01

Transition metals are essential for many metabolic processes and their homeostasis is crucial for life. Aberrations in the cellular metal ion concentrations may lead to cell death and severe diseases. Metal ion transporters play a major role in maintaining the correct concentrations of the various metal ions in the different cellular compartments. Recent studies of yeast mutants revealed key elements in metal ion homeostasis, including novel transport systems. Several of the proteins discover...

The incorporation of boron in fissile transport packages for the transport and interim storage of irradiated light water reactor fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunter, I.J.

1998-01-01

Boron is widely used in the nuclear industry for capturing neutrons and it is particularly useful in the criticality control of packages for the transport and interim storage of irradiated light water reactor fuels. Such fuels are typically located in an internal frame of stainless steel or aluminium, referred to as a basket, which locates the fuel assemblies in channels. Transnucleaire has designed and supplied more than 100 baskets of varying types during the past 30 years. Boron has been incorporated in many forms. Early designs of baskets used boron in specific zones to contribute to the control of criticality. Later developments in new materials dispersed boron throughout the basket and gave designers more options for the basic forms which make up the channels. New basket concepts have been developed by Transnucleaire to meet the changing market needs for transport and interim storage and boron continues to play an important role as an efficient thermal neutron absorber. (author)

Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play

Science.gov (United States)

... Español Text Size Email Print Share Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play Page Content ​What are the 2 most important things to remember about safe sleep practices? Healthy babies are safest when sleeping on ...

The Place of Railway Transport in Romania’s Transport System

OpenAIRE

Dãneci-Pãtrãu Daniel; Coca Carmen Elena

2012-01-01

The transport activity in all its forms represents one of the most complex sections of an economy, but also an important factor of influence over the quality of life, that is why current preoccupations of international organisms are oriented towards measures meant to develop performing transport systems and compatible with the environment. In the article the main activities and resources of Romania’s railway transport system are presented , the place of the railway transport in the transport ...

Mass Transport within Soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McKone, Thomas E.

2009-03-01

Contaminants in soil can impact human health and the environment through a complex web of interactions. Soils exist where the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere converge. Soil is the thin outer zone of the earth's crust that supports rooted plants and is the product of climate and living organisms acting on rock. A true soil is a mixture of air, water, mineral, and organic components. The relative proportions of these components determine the value of the soil for agricultural and for other human uses. These proportions also determine, to a large extent, how a substance added to soil is transported and/or transformed within the soil (Spositio, 2004). In mass-balance models, soil compartments play a major role, functioning both as reservoirs and as the principal media for transport among air, vegetation, surface water, deeper soil, and ground water (Mackay, 2001). Quantifying the mass transport of chemicals within soil and between soil and atmosphere is important for understanding the role soil plays in controlling fate, transport, and exposure to multimedia pollutants. Soils are characteristically heterogeneous. A trench dug into soil typically reveals several horizontal layers having different colors and textures. As illustrated in Figure 1, these multiple layers are often divided into three major horizons: (1) the A horizon, which encompasses the root zone and contains a high concentration of organic matter; (2) the B horizon, which is unsaturated, lies below the roots of most plants, and contains a much lower organic carbon content; and (3) the C horizon, which is the unsaturated zone of weathered parent rock consisting of bedrock, alluvial material, glacial material, and/or soil of an earlier geological period. Below these three horizons lies the saturated zone - a zone that encompasses the area below ground surface in which all interconnected openings within the geologic media are completely filled with water. Similarly to the unsaturated

Interaction of Drug or Food with Drug Transporters in Intestine and Liver.

Science.gov (United States)

Nakanishi, Takeo; Tamai, Ikumi

2015-01-01

Oral bioavailability (F) is determined as fraction of the drug dose absorbed through the gastrointestinal membranes (Fa), the unmetabolized fraction of the absorbed dose that passes through the gut into the portal blood (Fg), and the hepatic first pass availability (Fh), namely F is expressed as the product of Fa, Fg and Fh (F = Fa.Fg.Fh). Current evidence suggests that transporter proteins play a role in intestinal absorption and hepatobiliary clearance of drugs. Among those transporters, this review will focus on PEPT1 and OATP2B1 as influx transporter and p-glycoprotein (P-gp) and BCRP as efflux transporter in intestinal epithelial cells, and on OATP1B1 and 1B3 as influx transporter and MRP2 as efflux transporter in hepatocytes, respectively, because drug-drug (DDI) and -food (DFI) interactions on these transporter are considered to affect bioavailability of their substrate drugs. DDI and DFI may reduce systemic exposure to drug by blocking influx transporters in intestine, but increase it by modulating influx and efflux transporters in liver and efflux transporters in intestines. Namely, drug disposition and efficacy are likely affected by DDI and DFI, resulting in treatment failures or increase in adverse effect. Therefore, it is of significantly importance to understand precise mechanism of DDI and DFI. This review will present information about transporter-based DDI and DFI in the processes of intestinal absorption and hepatic clearance of drugs, and discuss about their clinical implication.

Transport of copper as affected by titania nanoparticles in soil columns

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fang Jing [School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310012 (China); Shan Xiaoquan, E-mail: xiaoquan@rcees.ac.cn [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085 (China); Wen Bei [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085 (China); Lin Jinming [Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Owens, Gary [Centre for Environmental Risk Assessment and Remediation, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095 (Australia); Zhou Shuairen [State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085 (China)

2011-05-15

The effects of TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles on the transport of Cu through four different soil columns were studied. For two soils (HB and DX), TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles acted as a Cu carrier and facilitated the transport of Cu. For a third soil (BJ) TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles also facilitated Cu transport but to a much lesser degree, but for a fourth soil (HLJ) TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles retarded the transport of Cu. Linear correlation analysis indicated that soil properties rather than sorption capacities for Cu primary governed whether TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles-facilitated Cu transport. The TiO{sub 2}-associated Cu of outflow in the Cu-contaminated soil columns was significantly positively correlated with soil pH and negatively correlated with CEC and DOC. During passage through the soil columns 46.6-99.9% of Cu initially adsorbed onto TiO{sub 2} could be 'stripped' from nanoparticles depending on soil, where Cu desorption from TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles increased with decreasing flow velocity and soil pH. - Highlights: > TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles could facilitate or retard the transport of Cu in soils. > Soil properties primarily governed TiO{sub 2}-facilitated Cu transport. > Cu initially adsorbed onto TiO{sub 2} could be 'stripped' duing transport. - TiO{sub 2} nanoparticles play an important role in mediating and transporting Cu in soil columns.

Why do People Stop Playing On-Line Games?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sudzina, Frantisek; Razmerita, Liana

2012-01-01

The recent initial public offering of shares of Zynga, probably the most important on-line game provider, drew interest of potential investors but also of general public to their business model. What the most interested people learned so far is that if Zynga had not changed their accounting...... practice, they would be in red numbers for several months already. This is most likely caused by people stopping to play their games. This paper provides an estimate of what proportion of people, who played on-line games, already stopped playing them. Additionally, it analyzed the reasons why people...... stopped playing on-line games. It also compares Facebook and other on-line games....

Perspectives of transport logistics in the railway transport enterprises

OpenAIRE

Elagin, Yu; Obruch, A.

2014-01-01

In this paper, the authors study the main directions of development of transport logistics. Identified as the main types of general transport logistics, as well as the rail sector, in which logistics acquires a dominant role in terms of reform. Also highlights the main features of transport logistics for railway transport enterprises and proved the importance of integrating function in modern conditions of development. The authors noted that to ensure the effective development of railway tran...

Key factors of low carbon development strategy for sustainable transport

Science.gov (United States)

Thaveewatanaseth, K.; Limjirakan, S.

2018-02-01

Cities become more vulnerable to climate change impacts causing by urbanization, economic growth, increasing of energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. People who live in the cities have already been affected from the impacts in terms of socioeconomic and environmental aspects. Sustainable transport plays the key role in CO2 mitigation and contributes positive impacts on sustainable development for the cities. Several studies in megacities both in developed and developing countries support that mass transit system is an important transportation mode in CO2 mitigation and sustainable transport development. This paper aims to study key factors of low carbon development strategy for sustainable transport. The Bangkok Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT) located in Bangkok was the study area. Data collection was using semi-structured in-depth interview protocol with thirty respondents consisting of six groups i.e. governmental agencies, the MRT operators, consulting companies, international organizations, non-profit organizations, and experts. The research findings highlighted the major factors and supplemental elements composing of institution and technical capacity, institutional framework, policy setting and process, and plan of implementation that would support more effective strategic process for low carbon development strategy (LCDS) for sustainable transport. The study would highly recommend on readiness of institution and technical capacities, stakeholder mapping, high-level decision- makers participation, and a clear direction of the governmental policies that are strongly needed in achieving the sustainable transport.

Mass Transport Modeling for The Electroreduction of CO2 on Cu Nanowires.

Science.gov (United States)

Raciti, David; Mao, Mark; Wang, Chao

2017-11-20

Mass transport plays an important role in the CO₂ reduction electrocatalysis. Albeit being more pronounced on nanostructured electrodes, the studies of mass transport for CO₂ reduction have yet been limited to planar electrodes. We report here the development of a mass transport model for the electroreduction of CO₂ on Cu nanowire electrodes. Fed with the experimental data from electrocatalytic studies, the local concentrations of CO₂, HCO₃^-, CO₃^2- and OH^- on the nanostructured electrodes are calculated by solving the diffusion equations with spatially distributed electrochemical reaction terms incorporated. The mass transport effects on the catalytic activity and selectivity of the Cu nanowire electrocatalysts are thus discussed by using the local pH as the descriptor. The established correlations between the electrocatalytic performance and the local pH shows that, the latter does not only determine the acid-base reaction equilibrium, but also regulates the mass transport and reaction kinetics. Based on these findings, the optimal range of local pH for the CO₂ reduction is discussed in terms of a fine balance of the suppression of hydrogen evolution, improvement of C₂ product selectivity and limitation of CO₂ supply. Our work highlights the importance of understanding the mass transport effects in interpretation of the CO₂ reduction electrocatalysis on high-surface-area catalysts. © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Urban mobility, socioeconomic and urban transport variables in metropolitan areas in three continents

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carvalho da Costa, F.B. de; Nassi, C.D.

2016-07-01

Transportation is the soul of urban cities. Find sustainable ways to keep people moving in our cities is more important than ever. Historically, cities have developed in different ways. Each has its own personality and complexity. But in all cases, transport and mobility have played a key role in city life. Due to the relevance of mobility this article tries to establish the relationship between some variables. The method was developed by collecting, analyzing and comparing data on metropolitan regions in North America, South America, Europe and Oceania through a mathematical model. From each selected location the following data were gathered: population, area (km²), demographic density (inhab/km²), socio-economic aspects (annual GDP per capita), transport system (subway extension), number of trips per person per day and modal split (% non-motorized, % public transport and % private transport). In this study we analyze some variables that influence the number of trips per person per day. Understanding the associations between all the variables that influence the number of trips per person per day contributes the planners to determine whether changes are needed to improve in the transport system in the metropolitan region. (Author)

Neurotransmitter transporters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gether, Ulrik; Andersen, Peter H; Larsson, Orla M

2006-01-01

The concentration of neurotransmitters in the extracellular space is tightly controlled by distinct classes of membrane transport proteins. This review focuses on the molecular function of two major classes of neurotransmitter transporter that are present in the cell membrane of neurons and....... Recent research has provided substantial insight into the structure and function of these transporters. In particular, the recent crystallizations of bacterial homologs are of the utmost importance, enabling the first reliable structural models of the mammalian neurotransmitter transporters...

Conceptual Play and Science Inquiry: Using the 5E Instructional Model

Science.gov (United States)

Desouza, Josephine M. Shireen

2017-01-01

Play has been synonymous with early childhood education and is an important aspect of child development. Researchers have characterized and defined play from different perspectives. If play is an integral part of the early years what is its relationship to learning? This paper describes the development of conceptual play by using the pedagogy of…

Multi-machine transport analysis of hybrid discharges from the ITPA Profile Database

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Imbreaux, F.; Fujita, T.; Isayama, A.; Joffrin, E.; Kinsey, J.; Litaudon, X.; Luce, T.; Murakami, M.; Na, Y. S.; Sakamoto, Y.; Slips, A. C. C. C.; Wade, M.; Artaud, J. F.; Basiuk, V.

2005-01-01

The so-called Hybrid regime is a promising candidate scenario for ITER with a potential for longer inductive pulse at high fusion gain. Hybrid discharges are operated at higher q95 than the conventional H modes, which increases the non-inductive current fraction and the duration of the discharge. Another important characteristics of this regime is the absence of large sawteeth owing toa q-profile generally just above one in the plasma core. This property allows to reach high values of the normalised kinetic to magnetic pressure ratio β N =βaB T /I p of the order of 3, without triggering deleterious Neoclassical Tearing Modes. This work presents results of transport modelling of hybrid discharges from various tokamaks (Asdes Upgrade, DIII-D, JET, JT-60U) which have been submitted recently to the ITPA database. The objective is to assess the commonality of the transport physics in the hybrid regimes obtained by the various machines. The study focuses on the dependence of the transport properties as a function of important parameters like the density and the normalised Larmor radios ρ. Induced, those parameters play a critical role in the extrapolation of the transport characteristics of present day experiments to ITER. Various transport models are used in order to test their capability to reproduce the experimental parametric dependences on density and ρ. The extrapolability of the hybrid regime to ITER is checked using integrated modeling. (Author)

Instabilities, turbulence and transport in a magnetized plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garbet, X.

2001-06-01

The purpose of this work is to introduce the main processes that occur in a magnetized plasma. During the last 2 decades, the understanding of turbulence has made great progress but analytical formulas and simulations are far to produce reliable predictions. The values of transport coefficients in a tokamak plasma exceed by far those predicted by the theory of collisional transport. This phenomenon is called abnormal transport and might be due to plasma fluctuations. An estimation of turbulent fluxes derived from the levels of fluctuations, is proposed. A flow description of plasma allows the understanding of most micro-instabilities. The ballooning representation deals with instabilities in a toric geometry. 3 factors play an important role to stabilize plasmas: density pinch, magnetic shear and speed shear. The flow model of plasma gives an erroneous value for the stability threshold, this is due to a bad description of the resonant interaction between wave and particle. As for dynamics, flow models can be improved by adding dissipative terms so that the linear response nears the kinetic response. The kinetic approach is more accurate but is complex because of the great number of dimensions involved. (A.C.)

A review on the importance of metals and metalloids in atmospheric dust and aerosol from mining operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Csavina, Janae; Field, Jason; Taylor, Mark P; Gao, Song; Landázuri, Andrea; Betterton, Eric A; Sáez, A Eduardo

2012-09-01

Contaminants can be transported rapidly and over relatively long distances by atmospheric dust and aerosol relative to other media such as water, soil and biota; yet few studies have explicitly evaluated the environmental implications of this pathway, making it a fundamental but understudied transport mechanism. Although there are numerous natural and anthropogenic activities that can increase dust and aerosol emissions and contaminant levels in the environment, mining operations are notable with respect to the quantity of particulates generated, the global extent of area impacted, and the toxicity of contaminants associated with the emissions. Here we review (i) the environmental fate and transport of metals and metalloids in dust and aerosol from mining operations, (ii) current methodologies used to assess contaminant concentrations and particulate emissions, and (iii) the potential health and environmental risks associated with airborne contaminants from mining operations. The review evaluates future research priorities based on the available literature and suggest that there is a particular need to measure and understand the generation, fate and transport of airborne particulates from mining operations, specifically the finer particle fraction. More generally, our findings suggest that mining operations play an important but underappreciated role in the generation of contaminated atmospheric dust and aerosol and the transport of metal and metalloid contaminants, and highlight the need for further research in this area. The role of mining activities in the fate and transport of environmental contaminants may become increasingly important in the coming decades, as climate change and land use are projected to intensify, both of which can substantially increase the potential for dust emissions and transport. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Review on the Importance of Metals and Metalloids in Atmospheric Dust and Aerosol from Mining Operations

Science.gov (United States)

Csavina, Janae; Field, Jason; Taylor, Mark P.; Gao, Song; Landázuri, Andrea; Betterton, Eric A.; Sáez, A. Eduardo

2012-01-01

Contaminants can be transported rapidly and over relatively long distances by atmospheric dust and aerosol relative to other media such as water, soil and biota; yet few studies have explicitly evaluated the environmental implications of this pathway, making it a fundamental but understudied transport mechanism. Although there are numerous natural and anthropogenic activities that can increase dust and aerosol emissions and contaminant levels in the environment, mining operations are notable with respect to the quantity of particulates generated, the global extent of area impacted, and the toxicity of contaminants associated with the emissions. Here we review (i) the environmental fate and transport of metals and metalloids in dust and aerosol from mining operations, (ii) current methodologies used to assess contaminant concentrations and particulate emissions, and (iii) the potential health and environmental risks associated with airborne contaminants from mining operations. The review evaluates future research priorities based on the available literature and suggest that there is a particular need to measure and understand the generation, fate and transport of airborne particulates from mining operations, specifically the finer particle fraction. More generally, our findings suggest that mining operations play an important but underappreciated role in the generation of contaminated atmospheric dust and aerosol and the transport of metal and metalloid contaminants, and highlight the need for further research in this area. The role of mining activities in the fate and transport of environmental contaminants may become increasingly important in the coming decades, as climate change and land use are projected to intensify, both of which can substantially increase the potential for dust emissions and transport. PMID:22766428

From diffusive to ballistic transport in etched graphene constrictions and nanoribbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Somanchi, Sowmya; Peiro, Julian; Staggenborg, Maximilian; Beschoten, Bernd [JARA-FIT and 2nd Institute of Physics, RWTH Aachen University (Germany); Terres, Bernat; Stampfer, Christoph [JARA-FIT and 2nd Institute of Physics, RWTH Aachen University (Germany); Peter Gruenberg Institute (PGI-9), Forschungszentrum Juelich (Germany); Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi [National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba (Japan)

2017-11-15

Graphene nanoribbons and constrictions are envisaged as fundamental components of future carbon-based nanoelectronic and spintronic devices. At nanoscale, electronic effects in these devices depend heavily on the dimensions of the active channel and the nature of edges. Hence, controlling both these parameters is crucial to understand the physics in such systems. This review is about the recent progress in the fabrication of graphene nanoribbons and constrictions in terms of low temperature quantum transport. In particular, recent advancements using encapsulated graphene allowing for quantized conductance and future experiments towards exploring spin effects in these devices are presented. The influence of charge carrier inhomogeneity and the important length scales which play a crucial role for transport in high quality samples are also discussed. (copyright 2017 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Converged wireline and wireless signal transport over optical fibre access links

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tafur Monroy, Idelfonso; Prince, Kamau; Osadchiy, Alexey Vladimirovich

2009-01-01

This article reviews emerging trends in converged optical-wireless communication systems and outline the role that photonic technologies are playing in making the vision of a wireline-wireless converged signal transport network a reality.......This article reviews emerging trends in converged optical-wireless communication systems and outline the role that photonic technologies are playing in making the vision of a wireline-wireless converged signal transport network a reality....

Pharmacogenetics of taxanes: impact of gene polymorphisms of drug transporters on pharmacokinetics and toxicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Jabir, Rafid Salim; Naidu, Rakesh; Annuar, Muhammad Azrif Bin Ahmad; Ho, Gwo Fuang; Munisamy, Murali; Stanslas, Johnson

2012-12-01

Interindividual variability in drug response and the emergence of adverse drug effects are the main causes of treatment failure in cancer therapy. Functional membrane drug transporters play important roles in altering pharmacokinetic profile, resistance to treatment, toxicity and patient survival. Pharmacogenetic studies of these transporters are expected to provide new approaches for optimizing therapy. Taxanes are approved for the treatment of various cancers. Circulating taxanes are taken up by SLCO1B3 into hepatocytes. The CYP450 enzymes CYP3A4, CYP3A5 and CYP2C8 are responsible for the conversion of taxanes into their metabolites. Ultimately, ABCB1 and ABCC2 will dispose the metabolites into bile canaliculi. Polymorphisms of genes encoding for proteins involved in the transport and clearance of taxanes reduce excretion of the drugs, leading to development of toxicity in patients. This review addresses current knowledge on genetic variations of transporters affecting taxanes pharmacokinetics and toxicity, and provides insights into future direction for personalized medicine.

Expression and Regulation of Drug Transporters and Metabolizing Enzymes in the Human Gastrointestinal Tract.

Science.gov (United States)

Drozdzik, M; Oswald, S

2016-01-01

Orally administered drugs must pass through the intestinal wall and then through the liver before reaching systemic circulation. During this process drugs are subjected to different processes that may determine the therapeutic value. The intestinal barrier with active drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters in enterocytes plays an important role in the determination of drug bioavailability. Accumulating information demonstrates variable distribution of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters along the human gastrointestinal tract (GI), that creates specific barrier characteristics in different segments of the GI. In this review, expression of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters in the healthy and diseased human GI as well as their regulatory aspects: genetic, miRNA, DNA methylation are outlined. The knowledge of unique interplay between drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters in specific segments of the GI tract allows more precise definition of drug release sites within the GI in order to assure more complete bioavailability and prediction of drug interactions.

Important roles of Fischer-Tropsch synfuels in the global energy future

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takeshita, Takayuki; Yamaji, Kenji

2008-01-01

This paper examines the potential roles of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synfuels in the 21st century with a global energy model treating the entire fuel supply chain in detail. The major conclusions are the following. First, FT synfuels become a major alternative fuel regardless of CO 2 policy due to their low transportation costs and compatibility with existing petroleum infrastructure and vehicles. Secondly, the FT process brings stranded gas to world markets until around 2050. In a 550 ppm CO 2 stabilization case thereafter, producing FT synfuels from biomass, whose competitiveness is robust against its capital costs, and their interregional trade enable a worldwide diffusion of carbon-neutral fuels. This provides a significant source of income for developing regions, such as Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Thirdly, FT synfuels play a crucial role in meeting the growing transportation energy demand and assuring diversified supplies of transportation fuels. Increasing portions of FT liquids are refined to FT-kerosene to be provided for the rapidly growing aviation sector in the second half of the century. Furthermore, upgrading FT-naphtha into FT-gasoline proves to be critically important. FT synfuels' participation could help the development in Africa through technological contributions of the South African leading companies in the world synfuel industry

5-D simulation study of suprathermal electron transport in non-axisymmetric plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, S.; Idei, H.; Kubo, S.; Nakajima, N.; Okamoto, M.; Gasparino, U.; Maassberg, H.; Rome, M.; Marushchenko, N.

2000-01-01

ECRH driven transport of suprathermal electrons is studied in non-axisymmetric plasmas using a new Monte Carlo simulation technique in 5-D phase space. Two different phases of the ECRH driven transport of suprathermal electrons can be seen. The first is a rapid convective phase due to the direct radial motion of trapped electrons and the second is a slower phase due to the collisional transport. The important role of the radial transport of suprathermal electrons in the broadening of the ECRH deposition profile in W7-AS is clarified. The ECRH driven flux is also evaluated and considered in relation to the 'electron root' feature recently observed in W7-AS. It is found that, at low collisionalities, the ECRH driven flux due to the suprathermal electrons can play a dominant role in the condition of ambipolarity, and thus the observed electron root feature in W7-AS is thought to be driven by the radial (convective) flux of ECRH generated suprathermal electrons. A possible scenario for this type of electron root is considered for the LHD plasma. (author)

5D simulation study of suprathermal electron transport in non-axisymmetric plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, S.; Idei, H.; Kubo, S.; Nakajima, N.; Okamoto, M.; Gasparino, U.; Maassberg, H.; Rome, M.; Marushchenko, N.

1999-01-01

ECRH-driven transport of suprathermal electrons is studied in non-axisymmetric plasmas using a new Monte Carlo simulation technique in 5D phase space. Two different phases of the ECRH-driven transport of suprathermal electrons can be seen; one is a rapid convective phase due to the direct radial motion of trapped electrons and the other is a slower phase due to the collisional transport. The important role of the radial transport of suprathermal electrons in the broadening of the ECRH deposition profile is clarified in W7-AS. The ECRH driven flux is also evaluated and put in relation with the 'electron root' feature recently observed in W7-AS. It is found that, at low collisionalities, the ECRH driven flux due to the suprathermal electrons can play a dominant role in the condition of ambipolarity and, thus, the observed 'electron root' feature in W7-AS is thought to be driven by the radial (convective) flux of ECRH generated suprathermal electrons. The possible scenario of this 'ECRH-driven electron root' is considered in the LHD plasma. (author)

5D simulation study of suprathermal electron transport in non-axisymmetric plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Murakami, S.; Idei, H.; Kubo, S.; Nakajima, N.; Okamoto, M.; Gasparino, U.; Maassberg, H.; Rome, M.; Marushchenko, N.

2001-01-01

ECRH-driven transport of is studied in using a new Monte Carlo simulation technique in 5D phase space. Two different phases of the ECRH-driven transport of suprathermal electrons can be seen; one is a rapid convective phase due to the direct radial motion of trapped electrons and the other is a slower phase due to the collisional transport. The important role of the radial transport of suprathermal electrons in the broadening of the ECRH deposition profile is clarified in W7-AS. The ECRH driven flux is also evaluated and put in relation with the ''electron root'' feature recently observed in W7-AS. It is found that, at low collisionalities, the ECRH driven flux due to the suprathermal electrons can play a dominant role in the condition of ambipolarity and, thus, the observed ''electron root'' feature in W7-AS is thought to be driven by the radial (convective) flux of ECRH generated suprathermal electrons. The possible scenario of this ''ECRH-driven electron root'' is considered in the LHD plasma. (author)

Prediction of membrane transport proteins and their substrate specificities using primary sequence information.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nitish K Mishra

Full Text Available Membrane transport proteins (transporters move hydrophilic substrates across hydrophobic membranes and play vital roles in most cellular functions. Transporters represent a diverse group of proteins that differ in topology, energy coupling mechanism, and substrate specificity as well as sequence similarity. Among the functional annotations of transporters, information about their transporting substrates is especially important. The experimental identification and characterization of transporters is currently costly and time-consuming. The development of robust bioinformatics-based methods for the prediction of membrane transport proteins and their substrate specificities is therefore an important and urgent task.Support vector machine (SVM-based computational models, which comprehensively utilize integrative protein sequence features such as amino acid composition, dipeptide composition, physico-chemical composition, biochemical composition, and position-specific scoring matrices (PSSM, were developed to predict the substrate specificity of seven transporter classes: amino acid, anion, cation, electron, protein/mRNA, sugar, and other transporters. An additional model to differentiate transporters from non-transporters was also developed. Among the developed models, the biochemical composition and PSSM hybrid model outperformed other models and achieved an overall average prediction accuracy of 76.69% with a Mathews correlation coefficient (MCC of 0.49 and a receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC of 0.833 on our main dataset. This model also achieved an overall average prediction accuracy of 78.88% and MCC of 0.41 on an independent dataset.Our analyses suggest that evolutionary information (i.e., the PSSM and the AAIndex are key features for the substrate specificity prediction of transport proteins. In comparison, similarity-based methods such as BLAST, PSI-BLAST, and hidden Markov models do not provide accurate predictions

Playful Learning Culture in the Museum

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Marchetti, Emanuela

2013-01-01

not undergone much investigation. This study was conducted in cooperation with two historical museums, these being the Transport Museum in Coventry, England and The Viking Museum in Ribe, Denmark. A new learning platform called MicroCulture has been created, aimed at eliciting a sociocultural understanding......Museum learning culture is going through a paradigmatic change. Two main positions are dominant: the modernist, emphasizing the need for assessment and uniform learning outcomes, and the postmodern, encouraging dialogue and multiple learning outcomes. A critical factor is the potential contribution...... of history in young visitors. This study indicates that museum learning culture could be enriched by the introduction of mediated play as a resource for conceptual thinking and social interaction....

Leptin regulates glutamate and glucose transporters in hypothalamic astrocytes

Science.gov (United States)

Fuente-Martín, Esther; García-Cáceres, Cristina; Granado, Miriam; de Ceballos, María L.; Sánchez-Garrido, Miguel Ángel; Sarman, Beatrix; Liu, Zhong-Wu; Dietrich, Marcelo O.; Tena-Sempere, Manuel; Argente-Arizón, Pilar; Díaz, Francisca; Argente, Jesús; Horvath, Tamas L.; Chowen, Julie A.

2012-01-01

Glial cells perform critical functions that alter the metabolism and activity of neurons, and there is increasing interest in their role in appetite and energy balance. Leptin, a key regulator of appetite and metabolism, has previously been reported to influence glial structural proteins and morphology. Here, we demonstrate that metabolic status and leptin also modify astrocyte-specific glutamate and glucose transporters, indicating that metabolic signals influence synaptic efficacy and glucose uptake and, ultimately, neuronal function. We found that basal and glucose-stimulated electrical activity of hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons in mice were altered in the offspring of mothers fed a high-fat diet. In adulthood, increased body weight and fasting also altered the expression of glucose and glutamate transporters. These results demonstrate that whole-organism metabolism alters hypothalamic glial cell activity and suggest that these cells play an important role in the pathology of obesity. PMID:23064363

An energy-optimal solution for transportation control of cranes with double pendulum dynamics: Design and experiments

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Ning; Wu, Yiming; Chen, He; Fang, Yongchun

2018-03-01

Underactuated cranes play an important role in modern industry. Specifically, in most situations of practical applications, crane systems exhibit significant double pendulum characteristics, which makes the control problem quite challenging. Moreover, most existing planners/controllers obtained with standard methods/techniques for double pendulum cranes cannot minimize the energy consumption when fulfilling the transportation tasks. Therefore, from a practical perspective, this paper proposes an energy-optimal solution for transportation control of double pendulum cranes. By applying the presented approach, the transportation objective, including fast trolley positioning and swing elimination, is achieved with minimized energy consumption, and the residual oscillations are suppressed effectively with all the state constrains being satisfied during the entire transportation process. As far as we know, this is the first energy-optimal solution for transportation control of underactuated double pendulum cranes with various state and control constraints. Hardware experimental results are included to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, whose superior performance is reflected by being experimentally compared with some comparative controllers.

Transport properties in a monolayer graphene modulated by the realistic magnetic field and the Schottky metal stripe

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jian-Duo; Li, Yun-Bao; Liu, Hong-Yu; Peng, Shun-Jin; Zhao, Fei-Xiang

2016-09-01

Based on the transfer-matrix method, a systematic investigation of electron transport properties is done in a monolayer graphene modulated by the realistic magnetic field and the Schottky metal stripe. The strong dependence of the electron transmission and the conductance on the incident angle of carriers is clearly seen. The height, position as well as width of the barrier also play an important role on the electron transport properties. These interesting results are very useful for understanding the tunneling mechanism in the monolayer graphene and helpful for designing the graphene-based electrical device modulated by the realistic magnetic field and the electrical barrier.

UFD Storage and Transportation - Transportation Working Group Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maheras, Steven J.; Ross, Steven B.

2011-01-01

The Used Fuel Disposition (UFD) Transportation Task commenced in October 2010. As its first task, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) compiled a list of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) of transportation systems and their possible degradation mechanisms during extended storage. The list of SSCs and the associated degradation mechanisms (known as features, events, and processes (FEPs)) were based on the list of used nuclear fuel (UNF) storage system SSCs and degradation mechanisms developed by the UFD Storage Task (Hanson et al. 2011). Other sources of information surveyed to develop the list of SSCs and their degradation mechanisms included references such as Evaluation of the Technical Basis for Extended Dry Storage and Transportation of Used Nuclear Fuel (NWTRB 2010), Transportation, Aging and Disposal Canister System Performance Specification, Revision 1 (OCRWM 2008), Data Needs for Long-Term Storage of LWR Fuel (EPRI 1998), Technical Bases for Extended Dry Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel (EPRI 2002), Used Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Extended Storage Collaboration Program (EPRI 2010a), Industry Spent Fuel Storage Handbook (EPRI 2010b), and Transportation of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel, Issues Resolution (EPRI 2010c). SSCs include items such as the fuel, cladding, fuel baskets, neutron poisons, metal canisters, etc. Potential degradation mechanisms (FEPs) included mechanical, thermal, radiation and chemical stressors, such as fuel fragmentation, embrittlement of cladding by hydrogen, oxidation of cladding, metal fatigue, corrosion, etc. These degradation mechanisms are discussed in Section 2 of this report. The degradation mechanisms have been evaluated to determine if they would be influenced by extended storage or high burnup, the need for additional data, and their importance to transportation. These categories were used to identify the most significant transportation degradation mechanisms. As expected, for the most part, the

Multi-scale modelling and numerical simulation of electronic kinetic transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duclous, R.

2009-11-01

This research thesis which is at the interface between numerical analysis, plasma physics and applied mathematics, deals with the kinetic modelling and numerical simulations of the electron energy transport and deposition in laser-produced plasmas, having in view the processes of fuel assembly to temperature and density conditions necessary to ignite fusion reactions. After a brief review of the processes at play in the collisional kinetic theory of plasmas, with a focus on basic models and methods to implement, couple and validate them, the author focuses on the collective aspect related to the free-streaming electron transport equation in the non-relativistic limit as well as in the relativistic regime. He discusses the numerical development and analysis of the scheme for the Vlasov-Maxwell system, and the selection of a validation procedure and numerical tests. Then, he investigates more specific aspects of the collective transport: the multi-specie transport, submitted to phase-space discontinuities. Dealing with the multi-scale physics of electron transport with collision source terms, he validates the accuracy of a fast Monte Carlo multi-grid solver for the Fokker-Planck-Landau electron-electron collision operator. He reports realistic simulations for the kinetic electron transport in the frame of the shock ignition scheme, the development and validation of a reduced electron transport angular model. He finally explores the relative importance of the processes involving electron-electron collisions at high energy by means a multi-scale reduced model with relativistic Boltzmann terms

Ruminal Prevotella spp. may play an important role in the conversion of plant lignans into human health beneficial antioxidants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana L B Schogor

Full Text Available Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG, the most abundant lignan in flaxseed, is metabolized by the ruminal microbiota into enterolignans, which are strong antioxidants. Enterolactone (EL, the main mammalian enterolignan produced in the rumen, is transferred into physiological fluids, with potentially human health benefits with respect to menopausal symptoms, hormone-dependent cancers, cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis and diabetes. However, no information exists to our knowledge on bacterial taxa that play a role in converting plant lignans into EL in ruminants. In order to investigate this, eight rumen cannulated cows were used in a double 4 × 4 Latin square design and fed with four treatments: control with no flax meal (FM, or 5%, 10% and 15% FM (on a dry matter basis. Concentration of EL in the rumen increased linearly with increasing FM inclusion. Total rumen bacterial 16S rRNA concentration obtained using Q-PCR did not differ among treatments. PCR-T-RFLP based dendrograms revealed no global clustering based on diet indicating between animal variation. PCR-DGGE showed a clustering by diet effect within four cows that had similar basal ruminal microbiota. DNA extracted from bands present following feeding 15% FM and absent with no FM supplementation were sequenced and it showed that many genera, in particular Prevotella spp., contributed to the metabolism of lignans. A subsequent in vitro study using selected pure cultures of ruminal bacteria incubated with SDG indicated that 11 ruminal bacteria were able to convert SDG into secoisolariciresinol (SECO, with Prevotella spp. being the main converters. These data suggest that Prevotella spp. is one genus playing an important role in the conversion of plant lignans to human health beneficial antioxidants in the rumen.

The differences in physical activity levels in preschool children during free play recess and structured play recess

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan L. Frank

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background/Objective: Physical activity (PA is important in reducing childhood obesity, yet a majority of children are not meeting PA guidelines. Schools have been identified as a place to promote childhood PA. The purpose of this study was to determine the best type of physically active recess period to increase preschool-aged children's PA. Methods: PA was measured via accelerometers in preschool-aged children (n = 29 during three, 30-min recess conditions (control; structured play; free play on separate school days. Tertile splits were performed based on PA during the free play condition and children were divided into three groups: highly, moderately and least active. Results: For the aggregated sample, children were more (p ≤ 0.001 active during the free play (1282 ± 662 counts. min−1 and structured play (1416 ± 448 counts. min−1 recess versus the control condition (570 ± 460 counts. min−1 and activity was not different between the free play and structured conditions. However, children who were the most active during free play (1970 ± 647 counts·min−1 decreased (p ≤ 0.05 activity during structured play (1462 ± 535 counts·min−1, whereas children who were moderately active (1031 ± 112 counts·min−1 or the least (530 ± 239 counts·min−1 active during free play increased activity during structured play (1383 ± 345 counts·min−1 moderately active, 1313 ± 413 counts·min−1 least active. Conclusion: Providing a physically-active recess period will contribute to preschool-aged children meeting the recommended PA guidelines; however, different children may respond in a different way based upon the structure of the recess period.

Playful Literacy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Froes, Isabel

these practices, which compose the taxonomy of tablet play. My contribution lies in identifying and proposing a series of theoretical concepts that complement recent theories related to play and digital literacy studies. The data collected through observations informed some noteworthy aspects, including how...... with tablets’ physical and digital affordances shape children’s digital play. This thesis presents how young children’s current practices when playing with tablets inform digital experiences in Denmark and Japan. Through an interdisciplinary lens and a grounded theory approach, I have identified and mapped...... vocabulary in children’s digital play experiences. These early digital experiences set the rules for the playgrounds and assert digital tablets as twenty-first-century toys, shaping young children’s playful literacy....

Circumpolar Deep Water transport and current structure at the Amundsen Sea shelf break

Science.gov (United States)

Assmann, Karen M.; Wåhlin, Anna K.; Heywood, Karen J.; Jenkins, Adrian; Kim, Tae Wan; Lee, Sang Hoon

2017-04-01

The West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been losing mass at an increasing rate over the past decades. Ocean heat transport to the ice-ocean interface has been identified as an important contributor to this mass loss and the role it plays in ice sheet stability makes it crucial to understand its drivers in order to make accurate future projections of global sea level. While processes closer to the ice-ocean interface modulate this heat transport, its ultimate source is located in the deep basin off the continental shelf as a core of relatively warm, salty water underlying a colder, fresher shallow surface layer. To reach the marine terminating glaciers and the base of floating ice shelves, this warm, salty water mass must cross the bathymetric obstacle of the shelf break. Glacial troughs that intersect the Amundsen shelf break and deepen southwards towards the ice shelf fronts have been shown to play an important role in transporting warm, salty Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) towards the ice shelves. North of the shelf break, circulation in the Amundsen Sea occupies an intermediate regime between the eastward Antarctic Circumpolar Current that impinges on the shelf break in the Bellingshausen Sea and the westward southern limb of the Ross Gyre that follows the shelf break in the Ross Sea. Hydrographic and mooring observations and numerical model results at the mouth of the central shelf break trough leading to Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers show a westward wind-driven shelf break current overlying an eastward undercurrent that turns onto the shelf in the trough. It is thought that the existence of the latter feature facilitates the on-shelf transport of CDW. A less clearly defined shelf break depression further west acts as the main pathway for CDW to Dotson and eastern Getz Ice shelves. Model results indicate that a similar eastward undercurrent exists here driving the on-shelf transport of CDW. Two moorings on the upper slope east of the trough entrance show a

Preprotein import into chloroplasts via the Toc and Tic complexes is regulated by redox signals in Pisum sativum.

Science.gov (United States)

Stengel, Anna; Benz, J Philipp; Buchanan, Bob B; Soll, Jürgen; Bölter, Bettina

2009-11-01

The import of nuclear-encoded preproteins is necessary to maintain chloroplast function. The recognition and transfer of most precursor proteins across the chloroplast envelopes are facilitated by two membrane-inserted protein complexes, the translocons of the chloroplast outer and inner envelope (Toc and Tic complexes, respectively). Several signals have been invoked to regulate the import of preproteins. In our study, we were interested in redox-based import regulation mediated by two signals: regulation based on thiols and on the metabolic NADP+/NADPH ratio. We sought to identify the proteins participating in the regulation of these transport pathways and to characterize the preprotein subgroups whose import is redox-dependent. Our results provide evidence that the formation and reduction of disulfide bridges in the Toc receptors and Toc translocation channel have a strong influence on import yield of all tested preproteins that depend on the Toc complex for translocation. Furthermore, the metabolic NADP+/NADPH ratio influences not only the composition of the Tic complex, but also the import efficiency of most, but not all, preproteins tested. Thus, several Tic subcomplexes appear to participate in the translocation of different preprotein subgroups, and the redox-active components of these complexes likely play a role in regulating transport.

Play Therapy

Science.gov (United States)

Lawver, Timothy; Blankenship, Kelly

2008-01-01

Play therapy is a treatment modality in which the therapist engages in play with the child. Its use has been documented in a variety of settings and with a variety of diagnoses. Treating within the context of play brings the therapist and the therapy to the level of the child. By way of an introduction to this approach, a case is presented of a six-year-old boy with oppositional defiant disorder. The presentation focuses on the events and interactions of a typical session with an established patient. The primary issues of the session are aggression, self worth, and self efficacy. These themes manifest themselves through the content of the child’s play and narration of his actions. The therapist then reflects these back to the child while gently encouraging the child toward more positive play. Though the example is one of nondirective play therapy, a wide range of variation exists under the heading of play therapy. PMID:19724720

Sediment Transport

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Zhou

Flow and sediment transport are important in relation to several engineering topics, e.g. erosion around structures, backfilling of dredged channels and nearshore morphological change. The purpose of the present book is to describe both the basic hydrodynamics and the basic sediment transport...... mechanics. Chapter 1 deals with fundamentals in fluid mechanics with emphasis on bed shear stress by currents, while chapter 3 discusses wave boundary layer theory. They are both written with a view to sediment transport. Sediment transport in rivers, cross-shore and longshore are dealt with in chapters 2......, 4 and 5, respectively. It is not the intention of the book to give a broad review of the literature on this very wide topic. The book tries to pick up information which is of engineering importance. An obstacle to the study of sedimentation is the scale effect in model tests. Whenever small...

Planning of the amount of trains needed for transportation by rail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Jonaitis

2007-06-01

Full Text Available The article analyses the importance of planning process of rail transportation. Railway planning problems are presented in this paper. Planning the railways for years, months, weeks or days ahead leads to substantially different problems; in this regard railway planning problems can be strategic, tactical, operational and short-term. Another way to classify railway planning problems is based on their target: they concern the timetable, the rolling stock and the crew. Planning the structure and volume of the rolling stock is a key factor in achieving maximum efficiency of transportation by rail as well as forecasting the demand for these transport facilities. The demand for trains is a time-dependant variable which in each case should be determined by two main approaches. The first method allows us to determine quantitative parameters of rolling stock (i.e. kilometers logged, efficiency, turnover, etc.. The second is based on specially developed mathematical models relying on qualitative characteristics such as relative expenses, efficiency of the particular train, relative expenditure of resources, cost of the trains, etc. Planning the volume of the rolling stock the determination of optimal service life of the trains plays an important role. The calculations involve repair costs, number of overhauls, current expenses and operational characteristics.

The Impact of Transport on International Trade Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pavlović Duško

2016-09-01

Full Text Available International trade implies transport of specific quantity of goods to (frequently large distances, the success of which depends on the safety and speed of delivery. These are greatly conditioned by the quality of means of transport and infrastructure. This is why international trade development is affected by transport, and the development of means of transport and infrastructure is, to a great extent, influenced by demand for international delivery of various commodities. This paper looks at the interdependence of international trade and transport, showing how transport played a very significant role in international trade development in the past as it does today, commensurate to the role of international trade in the development of carriers and transport infrastructure.

Dual and Direction-Selective Mechanisms of Phosphate Transport by the Vesicular Glutamate Transporter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Preobraschenski

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Summary: Vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs fill synaptic vesicles with glutamate and are thus essential for glutamatergic neurotransmission. However, VGLUTs were originally discovered as members of a transporter subfamily specific for inorganic phosphate (Pi. It is still unclear how VGLUTs accommodate glutamate transport coupled to an electrochemical proton gradient ΔμH+ with inversely directed Pi transport coupled to the Na+ gradient and the membrane potential. Using both functional reconstitution and heterologous expression, we show that VGLUT transports glutamate and Pi using a single substrate binding site but different coupling to cation gradients. When facing the cytoplasm, both ions are transported into synaptic vesicles in a ΔμH+-dependent fashion, with glutamate preferred over Pi. When facing the extracellular space, Pi is transported in a Na+-coupled manner, with glutamate competing for binding but at lower affinity. We conclude that VGLUTs have dual functions in both vesicle transmitter loading and Pi homeostasis within glutamatergic neurons. : Preobraschenski et al. show that the vesicular glutamate transporter functions as a bi-directional phosphate transporter that is coupled with different cations in each direction and hence may play a key role in neuronal phosphate homeostasis. Keywords: VGLUT, SLC17 family, type I Na+-dependent inorganic phosphate transporter, ATPase, proteoliposomes, hybrid vesicles, anti-VGLUT1 nanobody

Study on flow and mass transport through fractured soft sedimentary rocks (Contact research)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimo, Michito; Kumamoto, Sou; Maekawa, Keisuke

2007-03-01

It is important for safety assessment of HLW geological disposal to evaluate groundwater flow and mass transport in deep underground accurately. Though it is considered that the mass transport in sedimentary rock occurs in pores between grains mainly, fractures of sedimentary rock can be main paths. The objective of this study is to establish a conceptual model for flow and mass transport in fractured soft sedimentary rock. In previous study, a series of laboratory hydraulic and tracer tests and numerical analyses were carried out using sedimentary rock specimens obtained from Koetoi and Wakkanai formation. Single natural fractured cores and rock block specimen were used for the tests and analyses. The results indicated that the matrix diffusion played an important role for mass transport in the fractured soft sedimentary rocks. In this study, the following two tasks were carried out: (1) laboratory hydraulic and tracer experiments of rock cores of Koetoi and Wakkanai formation obtained at HDB-9, HDB-10 and HDB-11 boreholes and a rock block specimen, Wakkanai formation, obtained at an outcrop in the Horonobe area, (2) a numerical study on the conceptual model of flow and mass transport through fractured soft sedimentary rocks. Non-sorbing tracer experiments using naturally fractured cores and rock block specimens were carried out. Pottasium iodide was used as a tracer. The obtained breakthrough curves were interpreted and fitted by using a numerical simulator, and mass transport parameters, such as longitudinal dispersivity, matrix diffusion coefficient, transport aperture, were obtained. Mass transport simulations using a fracture network model, a continuum model and a double porosity model were performed to study the applicability of continuum model and double porosity model for transport in fractured sedimentary rock. (author)

Young Children Experiencing Homelessness: The Overlooked Medium of Play

Science.gov (United States)

Schlembach, Sue

2017-01-01

The number of mothers with young children experiencing homelessness and seeking shelter has increased in the USA over the past decade. Shelters are often characterized as environments offering few opportunities for appropriate play experiences. This article delineates the important role of play for young children experiencing homelessness and…

Abnormal expression of Nrf2 may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of adenomyosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ning; Du, Baoying; Zhou, Hao; Shen, Fengxian; Li, Juan; Xie, Zhenwei

2017-01-01

To explore the expression level of Nrf2 in adenomyosis and study the mechanism of abnormal expression of Nrf2 in the pathogenesis of adenomyosis. Western blot, immunohistochemistry(IHC) and real time PCR were used to measure Nrf2 expression levels in tissue and cell samples. Knockdown and overexpression of Nrf2 were used to investigate the variation of migration ability of endometrial glandular cells as well as the regulatory mechanism. Nrf2 protein levels were significantly higher in the eutopic and ectopic endometrial glands when compared with control cases using IHC and western blot methods. (pendometrial glandular cells. With increased expression of Nrf2, cell scratch assay showed that the agonist-treated group migrated significantly faster than the control group, with MMP9 protein level markedly elevated. In contrast, Nrf2 siRNA-treated group migrated slower than the control group, with decreased expression of MMP9 protein. All of the scratching healing spaces and protein levels between the treated and control groups were statistically significant (p< 0.05). Abnormal expression of Nrf2 may play an important role in the pathogenesis and development of adenomyosis. Specified reduction of Nrf2 expression could prove to be a new therapeutic target in the clinical treatment of adenomyosis.

Crystal structure of the potassium-importing KdpFABC membrane complex

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Ching-Shin; Pedersen, Bjørn Panyella; Stokes, David L.

2017-06-21

Cellular potassium import systems play a fundamental role in osmoregulation, pH homeostasis and membrane potential in all domains of life. In bacteria, the kdp operon encodes a four-subunit potassium pump that maintains intracellular homeostasis, cell shape and turgor under conditions in which potassium is limiting1. This membrane complex, called KdpFABC, has one channel-like subunit (KdpA) belonging to the superfamily of potassium transporters and another pump-like subunit (KdpB) belonging to the superfamily of P-type ATPases. Although there is considerable structural and functional information about members of both superfamilies, the mechanism by which uphill potassium transport through KdpA is coupled with ATP hydrolysis by KdpB remains poorly understood. Here we report the 2.9 Å X-ray structure of the complete Escherichia coli KdpFABC complex with a potassium ion within the selectivity filter of KdpA and a water molecule at a canonical cation site in the transmembrane domain of KdpB. The structure also reveals two structural elements that appear to mediate the coupling between these two subunits. Specifically, a protein-embedded tunnel runs between these potassium and water sites and a helix controlling the cytoplasmic gate of KdpA is linked to the phosphorylation domain of KdpB. On the basis of these observations, we propose a mechanism that repurposes protein channel architecture for active transport across biomembranes.

Atmospheric transport and deposition of pesticides: An assessment of current knowledge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pul, W.A.J. van; Bidleman, T.F.; Brorström-Lunden, E.

1999-01-01

The current knowledge on atmospheric transport and deposition of pesticides is reviewed and discussed by a working group of experts during the Workshop on Fate of pesticides in the atmosphere; implications for risk assessment, held in Driebergen, the Netherlands, 22-24 April, 1998. In general...... in the exchange processes at the interface between air and soil/water/vegetation. In all process descriptions the uncertainty in the physicochemical properties play an important role. Particularly those in the vapour pressure, Henry's law constant and its temperature dependency. More accurate data...

Distribution and transport of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a river-influenced continental margin: the northern Gulf of Mexico

Science.gov (United States)

Adhikari, P. L.; Maiti, K.

2017-12-01

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are particle-reactive and get preferentially sorbed on particulate organic carbon (POC), thus, the transport and fate of POC in aquatic systems plays an important role in biogeochemical cycling of PAHs. In this study, we examine POC and PAHs in finer suspended particulate matter collected from the Louisiana coast, shelf and slope - progressively south-west transect along the direction of the Mississippi River plume, and also from a transect of Atchafalaya River. The concentrations of total particulate PAHs (ΣPAH43) varied between 0.92 to 7.04 ng/L, while POC varied between 4 to 131 µg/L. The concentrations of total particulate ΣPAH43 as well as individual PAH analytes were significantly positively correlated to the concentrations of POC which indicates that the concentrations and transport of POC plays an important role in distribution of PAHs in marine systems. The river influence, characterized by the change in salinity, had significant negative correlation with both the concentrations of particulate PAHs and POC. These results show that the Mississippi River derived particle influx can be an important vector in delivering particle-reactive hydrophobic organic pollutants such as PAHs into the river dominated continental ecosystems in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The underlying seafloor sediment PAHs' concentration and accumulation rates were not correlated to the water column particulate PAH and POC concentrations, which is attributed to re-mineralization during vertical transport, sediment resuspension/redistribution and different timescales of comparison.

Preliminary evaluation of the importance of existing hydraulic-head observation locations to advective-transport predictions, Death Valley regional flow system, California and Nevada

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, M.C.; Ely, D.M.; Tiedeman, C.R.; O'Brien, G.M.; D'Agnese, F.A.; Faunt, C.C.

2001-01-01

When a model is calibrated by nonlinear regression, calculated diagnostic statistics and measures of uncertainty provide a wealth of information about many aspects of the system. This report presents a method of ranking the likely importance of existing observation locations using measures of prediction uncertainty. It is suggested that continued monitoring is warranted at more important locations, and unwarranted or less warranted at less important locations. The report develops the methodology and then demonstrates it using the hydraulic-head observation locations of a three-layer model of the Death Valley regional flow system (DVRFS). The predictions of interest are subsurface transport from beneath Yucca Mountain and 14 underground Test Area (UGTA) sites. The advective component of transport is considered because it is the component most affected by the system dynamics represented by the regional-scale model being used. The problem is addressed using the capabilities of the U.S. Geological Survey computer program MODFLOW-2000, with its ADVective-Travel Observation (ADV) Package, and an additional computer program developed for this work

The Structure of a Sugar Transporter of the Glucose EIIC Superfamily Provides Insight into the Elevator Mechanism of Membrane Transport.

Science.gov (United States)

McCoy, Jason G; Ren, Zhenning; Stanevich, Vitali; Lee, Jumin; Mitra, Sharmistha; Levin, Elena J; Poget, Sebastien; Quick, Matthias; Im, Wonpil; Zhou, Ming

2016-06-07

The phosphoenolpyruvate:carbohydrate phosphotransferase systems are found in bacteria, where they play central roles in sugar uptake and regulation of cellular uptake processes. Little is known about how the membrane-embedded components (EIICs) selectively mediate the passage of carbohydrates across the membrane. Here we report the functional characterization and 2.55-Å resolution structure of a maltose transporter, bcMalT, belonging to the glucose superfamily of EIIC transporters. bcMalT crystallized in an outward-facing occluded conformation, in contrast to the structure of another glucose superfamily EIIC, bcChbC, which crystallized in an inward-facing occluded conformation. The structures differ in the position of a structurally conserved substrate-binding domain that is suggested to play a central role in sugar transport. In addition, molecular dynamics simulations suggest a potential pathway for substrate entry from the periplasm into the bcMalT substrate-binding site. These results provide a mechanistic framework for understanding substrate recognition and translocation for the glucose superfamily EIIC transporters. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The high affinity K+ transporter AtHAK5 plays a physiological role in planta at very low K+ concentrations and provides a caesium uptake pathway in Arabidopsis.

Science.gov (United States)

Qi, Zhi; Hampton, Corrina R; Shin, Ryoung; Barkla, Bronwyn J; White, Philip J; Schachtman, Daniel P

2008-01-01

Caesium (Cs(+)) is a potentially toxic mineral element that is released into the environment and taken up by plants. Although Cs(+) is chemically similar to potassium (K(+)), and much is known about K(+) transport mechanisms, it is not clear through which K(+) transport mechanisms Cs(+) is taken up by plant roots. In this study, the role of AtHAK5 in high affinity K(+) and Cs(+) uptake was characterized. It is demonstrated that AtHAK5 is localized to the plasma membrane under conditions of K(+) deprivation, when it is expressed. Growth analysis showed that AtHAK5 plays a role during severe K(+) deprivation. Under K(+)-deficient conditions in the presence of Cs(+), Arabidopsis seedlings lacking AtHAK5 had increased inhibition of root growth and lower Cs(+) accumulation, and significantly higher leaf chlorophyll concentrations than wild type. These data indicate that, in addition to transporting K(+) in planta, AtHAK5 also transports Cs(+). Further experiments showed that AtHAK5 mediated Cs(+) uptake into yeast cells and that, although the K(+) deficiency-induced expression of AtHAK5 was inhibited by low concentrations of NH(4)(+) in planta, Cs(+) uptake by yeast was stimulated by low concentrations of NH(4)(+). Interestingly, the growth of the Arabidopsis atakt1-1 mutant was more sensitive to Cs(+) than the wild type. This may be explained, in part, by increased expression of AtHAK5 in the atakt1-1 mutant. It is concluded that AtHAK5 is a root plasma membrane uptake mechanism for K(+) and Cs(+) under conditions of low K(+) availability.

Design for Play

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Feder, Karen

2017-01-01

Abstract The purpose of the new Design for Play initiative is to inspire and educate designers to design for the future of play. To create “play ambassadors” equipped with excellent tools, methods, approaches and mind-sets to design for the playful human being in an ever-changing world. To teach...... and inspire children to grow up to be creative designers of their own life and the world around them. The Design for Play research team will study the interplay between people, processes and products in design for play and support the development of playful designers, playful solutions and playful experiences...

Advanced transport modeling of toroidal plasmas with transport barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukuyama, A.; Murakami, S.; Honda, M.; Izumi, Y.; Yagi, M.; Nakajima, N.; Nakamura, Y.; Ozeki, T.

2005-01-01

Transport modeling of toroidal plasmas is one of the most important issue to predict time evolution of burning plasmas and to develop control schemes in reactor plasmas. In order to describe the plasma rotation and rapid transition self-consistently, we have developed an advanced scheme of transport modeling based on dynamical transport equation and applied it to the analysis of transport barrier formation. First we propose a new transport model and examine its behavior by the use of conventional diffusive transport equation. This model includes the electrostatic toroidal ITG mode and the electromagnetic ballooning mode and successfully describes the formation of internal transport barriers. Then the dynamical transport equation is introduced to describe the plasma rotation and the radial electric field self-consistently. The formation of edge transport barriers is systematically studied and compared with experimental observations. The possibility of kinetic transport modeling in velocity space is also examined. Finally the modular structure of integrated modeling code for tokamaks and helical systems is discussed. (author)

Considering play : From method to analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Vught, J.F.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/413532682; Glas, M.A.J.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/330981447

2017-01-01

This paper deals with play as an important methodological issue when studying games as texts and is intended as a practical methodological guide. After considering text as both the structuring object as well as its plural processual activations, we argue that different methodological considerations

Molecular cloning and expression analysis of turnip (Brassica rapa var. rapa sucrose transporter gene family

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuanyuan Liu

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In higher plants, sugars (mainly sucrose are produced by photosynthetically assimilated carbon in mesophyll cells of leaves and translocated to heterotrophic organs to ensure plant growth and development. Sucrose transporters, or sucrose carriers (SUCs, play an important role in the long-distance transportation of sucrose from source organs to sink organs, thereby affecting crop yield and quality. The identification, characterization, and molecular function analysis of sucrose transporter genes have been reported for monocot and dicot plants. However, no relevant study has been reported on sucrose transporter genes in Brassica rapa var. rapa, a cruciferous root crop used mainly as vegetables and fodder. We identified and cloned 12 sucrose transporter genes from turnips, named BrrSUC1.1 to BrrSUC6.2 according to the SUC gene sequences of B. rapa pekinensis. We constructed a phylogenetic tree and analyzed conserved motifs for all 12 sucrose transporter genes identified. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was conducted to understand the expression levels of SUC genes in different tissues and developmental phases of the turnip. These findings add to our understanding of the genetics and physiology of sugar transport during taproot formation in turnips.

Molecular cloning and characterization of glucose transporter 1 ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Glucose transporter type-1 (glut1) and citrate synthase plays crucial role in glucose transport and regulation of tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) cycle in mammalian energy metabolism. The present study was aimed to clone and characterize glut1 and citrate synthase cDNA in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). Total of 90 ...

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