How small and medium enterprises can begin their implementation of ITIL?

Sequencing of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes related to their order of implementation is one of the pending issues in the ITIL handbooks. Other frameworks and process models related to service management (e.g., COBIT, COSO and CMMI-SVC) are quite well described in the literature and their handbooks. However, the identifi cation of the fi rst process to be implemented has not been deeply analysed in the previous frameworks and models, and it is also a complex question to answer for organizations, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, SMEs are the organizations that have the largest presence in the world economy; offi cial data of General Business Directory, show that their range of presence in different countries around the world is between 93% and 99%, and the average of employment contribution is around 60%. Consequently, the improvement of information technology service management is of vital importance to accomplish in this type of enterprises. This research has focused on two surveys that aim at helping SMEs to select the ITIL process by which starting the implementation of ITIL. In the fi rst survey, data were gathered through a questionnaire to SMEs registered in the region of Madrid. The second survey obtained data from experts and enterprises in countries as Spain, Ecuador, Chile, Luxembourg, Colombia, Norway, El Salvador, and Venezuela. Finally, the results of both surveys show that the tendency for starting an ITIL implementation in SMEs points to one of the processes included in the Service Operation.

MOB1, an Essential Yeast Gene Required for Completion of Mitosis and Maintenance of Ploidy

Mob1p is an essential Saccharomyces cerevisiae protein, identified from a two-hybrid screen, that binds Mps1p, a protein kinase essential for spindle pole body duplication and mitotic checkpoint regulation. Mob1p contains no known structural motifs; however MOB1 is a member of a conserved gene family and shares sequence similarity with a nonessential yeast gene, MOB2. Mob1p is a phosphoprotein in vivo and a substrate for the Mps1p kinase in vitro. Conditional alleles of MOB1 cause a late nuclear division arrest at restrictive temperature. MOB1 exhibits genetic interaction with three other yeast genes required for the completion of mitosis, LTE1, CDC5, and CDC15 (the latter two encode essential protein kinases). Most haploid mutant mob1 strains also display a complete increase in ploidy at permissive temperature. The mechanism for the increase in ploidy may occur through MPS1 function. One mob1 strain, which maintains stable haploidy at both permissive and restrictive temperature, diploidizes at permissive temperature when combined with the mps1–1 mutation. Strains containing mob2Δ also display a complete increase in ploidy when combined with the mps1-1 mutation. Perhaps in addition to, or as part of, its essential function in late mitosis, MOB1 is required for a cell cycle reset function necessary for the initiation of the spindle pole body duplication.

Membrane Tubule-mediated Reassembly and Maintenance of the Golgi Complex Is Disrupted by Phospholipase A2 Antagonists

Although membrane tubules can be found extending from, and associated with, the Golgi complex of eukaryotic cells, their physiological function has remained unclear. To gain insight into the biological significance of membrane tubules, we have developed methods for selectively preventing their formation. We show here that a broad range of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) antagonists not only arrest membrane tubule–mediated events that occur late in the assembly of the Golgi complex but also perturb its normal steady-state tubulovesicular architecture by inducing a reversible fragmentation into separate “mini-stacks.” In addition, we show that these same compounds prevent the formation of membrane tubules from Golgi stacks in an in vitro reconstitution system. This in vitro assay was further used to demonstrate that the relevant PLA2 activity originates from the cytoplasm. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Golgi membrane tubules, sensitive to potent and selective PLA2 antagonists, mediate both late events in the reassembly of the Golgi complex and the dynamic maintenance of its steady-state architecture. In addition, they implicate a role for cytoplasmic PLA2 enzymes in mediating these membrane trafficking events.

Escherichia coli strains that allow antibiotic-free plasmid selection and maintenance by repressor titration

We report the construction of two novel Escherichia coli strains (DH1lacdapD and DH1lacP2dapD) that facilitate the antibiotic-free selection and stable maintenance of recombinant plasmids in complex media. They contain the essential chromosomal gene, dapD, under the control of the lac operator/promoter. Unless supplemented with IPTG (which induces expression of dapD) or DAP, these cells lyse. However, when the strains are transformed with a multicopy plasmid containing the lac operator, the operator competitively titrates the LacI repressor and allows expression of dapD from the lac promoter. Thus transformants can be isolated and propagated simply by their ability to grow on any medium by repressor titration selection. No antibiotic resistance genes or other protein expressing sequences are required on the plasmid, and antibiotics are not necessary for plasmid selection, making these strains a valuable tool for therapeutic DNA and recombinant protein production. We describe the construction of these strains and demonstrate plasmid selection and maintenance by repressor titration, using the new pORT plasmid vectors designed to facilitate recombinant DNA exploitation.

Regulation of Initiation of S Phase, Replication Checkpoint Signaling, and Maintenance of Mitotic Chromosome Structures during S Phase by Hsk1 Kinase in the Fission Yeast

Hsk1, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Cdc7-related kinase in Shizosaccharomyces pombe, is required for G1/S transition and its kinase activity is controlled by the regulatory subunit Dfp1/Him1. Analyses of a newly isolated temperature-sensitive mutant, hsk1-89, reveal that Hsk1 plays crucial roles in DNA replication checkpoint signaling and maintenance of proper chromatin structures during mitotic S phase through regulating the functions of Rad3 (ATM)-Cds1 and Rad21 (cohesin), respectively, in addition to expected essential roles for initiation of mitotic DNA replication through phosphorylating Cdc19 (Mcm2). Checkpoint defect in hsk1-89 is indicated by accumulation of cut cells at 30°C. hsk1-89 displays synthetic lethality in combination with rad3 deletion, indicating that survival of hsk1-89 depends on Rad3-dependent checkpoint pathway. Cds1 kinase activation, which normally occurs in response to early S phase arrest by nucleotide deprivation, is largely impaired in hsk1-89. Furthermore, Cds1-dependent hyperphosphorylation of Dfp1 in response to hydroxyurea arrest is eliminated in hsk1-89, suggesting that sufficient activation of Hsk1-Dfp1 kinase is required for S phase entry and replication checkpoint signaling. hsk1-89 displays apparent defect in mitosis at 37°C leading to accumulation of cells with near 2C DNA content and with aberrant nuclear structures. These phenotypes are similar to those of rad21-K1 and are significantly enhanced in a hsk1-89 rad21-K1 double mutant. Consistent with essential roles of Rad21 as a component for the cohesin complex, sister chromatid cohesion is partially impaired in hsk1-89, suggesting a possibility that infrequent origin firing of the mutant may affect the cohesin functions during S phase.

Negative-strand RNA viruses: genetic engineering and applications.

The negative-strand RNA viruses are a broad group of animal viruses that comprise several important human pathogens, including influenza, measles, mumps, rabies, respiratory syncytial, Ebola, and hantaviruses. The development of new strategies to genetically manipulate the genomes of negative-strand RNA viruses has provided us with new tools to study the structure-function relationships of the viral components and their contributions to the pathogenicity of these viruses. It is also now possible to envision rational approaches--based on genetic engineering techniques--to design live attenuated vaccines against some of these viral agents. In addition, the use of different negative-strand RNA viruses as vectors to efficiently express foreign polypeptides has also become feasible, and these novel vectors have potential applications in disease prevention as well as in gene therapy.

Complete replication of an animal virus and maintenance of expression vectors derived from it in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Here we describe the first instances to our knowledge of animal virus genome replication, and of de novo synthesis of infectious virions by a nonendogenous virus, in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, whose versatile genetics offers significant advantages for studying viral replication and virus-host interactions. Flock house virus (FHV) is the most extensively studied member of the Nodaviridae family of (+) strand RNA animal viruses. Transfection of yeast with FHV genomic RNA induced viral RNA replication, transcription, and assembly of infectious virions. Genome replication and virus synthesis were robust: all replicating FHV RNA species were readily detected in yeast by Northern blot analysis and yields of virions per cell were similar to those from Drosophila cells. We also describe in vivo expression and maintenance of a selectable yeast marker gene from an engineered FHV RNA derivative dependent on FHV-directed RNA replication. Use of these approaches with FHV and their possible extension to other viruses should facilitate identification and characterization of host factors required for genomic replication, gene expression, and virion assembly.

Suppression of synapsin II inhibits the formation and maintenance of synapses in hippocampal culture.

Numerous synaptic proteins, including several integral membrane proteins, have been assigned roles in synaptic vesicle fusion with or retrieval from the presynaptic plasma membrane. In contrast, the synapsins, neuron-specific phosphoproteins associated with the cytoplasmic surface of synaptic vesicles, appear to play a much broader role, being involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter release and in the organization of the nerve terminal. Here we have administered antisense synapsin II oligonucleotides to dissociated hippocampal neurons, either before the onset of synaptogenesis or 1 week after the onset of synaptogenesis. In both cases, synapsin II was no longer detectable within 24-48 h of treatment. After 5 days of treatment, cultures were analyzed for the presence of synapses by synapsin I and synaptophysin antibody labeling and by electron microscopy. Cultures in which synapsin II was suppressed after axon elongation, but before synapse formation, did not develop synapses. Cultures in which synapsin II was suppressed after the development of synapses lost most of their synapses. Remarkably, with the removal of the antisense oligonucleotides, neurons and their synaptic connections recovered. These studies lead us to conclude that synapsin II is involved in the formation and maintenance of synapses in hippocampal neurons.

An approach to the application of shift-and-add algorithms on engineering and industrial processes

Different kinds of algorithms can be chosen so as to compute elementary functions. Among all of them, it is worthwhile mentioning the shift-and-add algorithms due to the fact that they have been specifically designed to be very simple and to save computer resources. In fact, almost the only operations usually involved with these methods are additions and shifts, which can be easily and efficiently performed by a digital processor. Shift-and-add algorithms allow fairly good precision with low cost iterations. The most famous algorithm belonging to this type is CORDIC. CORDIC has the capability of approximating a wide variety of functions with only the help of a slight change in their iterations. In this paper, we will analyze the requirements of some engineering and industrial problems in terms of type of operands and functions to approximate. Then, we will propose the application of shift-and-add algorithms based on CORDIC to these problems. We will make a comparison between the different methods applied in terms of the precision of the results and the number of iterations required.

Evaluation of operation and maintenance factors limiting municipal wastewater treatment plant performance /

Mode of access: Internet.

Managing asbestos in place : a building owner's guide to operations and maintenance programs for asbestos-containing materials.

"July 1990"--Cover.