A SERINE KINASE REGULATES INTRACELLULAR-LOCALIZATION OF SPLICING FACTORS IN THE CELL CYCLE

Small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles (snRNPs) and non-snRNP splicing factors containing a serine/arginine-rich domain (SR proteins) concentrate in 'speckles' in the nucleus of interphase cells(1). It is believed that nuclear speckles act as storage sites for splicing factors while splicing occurs on nascent transcripts(2). Splicing factors redistribute in response to transcription inhibition(3,4) or viral infection(5), and nuclear speckles break down and reform as cells progress through mitosis(6). We have now identified and cloned a kinase, SRPK1, which is regulated by the cell cycle and is specific for SR proteins; this kinase is related to a Caenorhabditis elegans kinase and to the fission yeast kinase Dsk1 (ref. 7). SRPK1 specifically induces the disassembly of nuclear speckles, and a high level of SRPK1 inhibits splicing in vitro. Our results indicate that SRPK1 mag have a central role in the regulatory network for splicing, controlling the intranuclear distribution of splicing factors in interphase cells, and the reorganization of nuclear speckles during mitosis.

An Automatic Classification Method of Metabolic Cycle Based on Biomimetic Pattern Recognition

Correct classification of different metabolic cycle stages to identification cell cycle is significant in both human development and clinical diagnostics. However, it has no perfect method has been reached in classification of metabolic cycle yet. This paper exploringly puts forward an automatic classification method of metabolic cycle based on Biomimetic pattern recognition (BPR). As to the three phases of yeast metabolic cycle, the correct classification rate reaches 90%, 100% and 100% respectively.

High-duty-cycle operation of GaAs/AlGaAs quantum cascade laser above liquid nitrogen temperature

We present a detailed study of lambda similar to 9.75 mu m GaAs/AIGaAs quantum cascade lasers. For a coated 2-mm-long and 40-mu m-wide laser, an optical power of 85 mu W is observed 95% duty cycle at 80 K. At a moderate driving pulse (1 kHz and 1% duty cycle), the device presents a peak power more than 20 mW even at 120 K. At 80 K, the fitted result of threshold current densities shows evidence of potential cw operation.

Design and Operation of A 5.5 MWe Biomass Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Demonstration Plant

The design and operation of a 5.5 MWe biomass integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) demonstration plant, which is located in Xinghua, Jiangsu Province of China, are introduced. It is the largest complete biomass gasification power plant that uses rice husk and other agricultural wastes as fuel in Asia. It mainly consists of a 20 MWt atmospheric circulating fluidized-bed gasifier, a gas-purifying system, 10 sets of 450 kW(e) gas engines, a waste heat boiler, a 1.5 MWe steam turbine, a wastewater treatment system, etc. The demonstration plant has been operating since the end of 2005, and its overall efficiency reaches 26-28%. Its capital cost is less than 1200 USD/kW, and its running cost is about 0.079 USD/kWh based on the biomass price of 35.7 USD/ton. There is a 20% increment on capital cost and 35% decrease on the fuel consumption compared to that of a 1 MW system without a combined cycle. Because only part of the project has been performed, many of the tests still remain and, accordingly, must be reported at a later opportunity.

Description of a radially polarized Laguerre-Gauss beam beyond the paraxial approximation

Fifth-order corrected expressions for the fields of a radially polarized Laguerre-Gauss (R-TEMn1) laser beams are derived based on perturbative Lax series expansion. When the order of Laguerre polynomial is equal to zero, the corresponding beam reduces to the lowest-order radially polarized beam (R-TEM01). Simulation results show that the accuracy of the fifth-order correction for R-TEMn1 depends not only on the diffraction angle of the beam as R-TEM01 does, but also on the order of the beam. (c) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Exact description of a cylindrically symmetrical complex-argument Laguerre-Gauss beam

Based on the perturbative series representation of a complex-source-point spherical wave an expression for cylindrically symmetrical complex-argument Laguerre-Gauss beams of radial order n is derived. This description acquires the accuracy up to any order of diffraction angle, and its first three corrected terms are in accordance with those given by Seshadri [Opt. Lett. 27, 1872 (2002)] based on the virtual source method. Numerical results show that on the beam axis the number of orders of nonvanishing nonparaxial corrections is equal to n. Meanwhile a higher radial mode number n leads to a smaller convergent domain of radius. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.

Accurate description of a radially polarized Gaussian beam

An accurate description of a radially polarized fundamental Gaussian beam is presented on the basis of complex-source-point spherical waves (CSPSWs). In contrast to other descriptions based on the perturbative Lax series, the expressions for the electromagnetic field components of this description have explicit and simple mathematical forms. Numerical calculations show that both paraxial and fifth-order corrected beam descriptions have large relative error when the diffraction angle is large, while the accurate description based on the CSPSW approach proposed here can give field expressions which satisfy Maxwell's equations with great accuracy.