空值环境下关系数据库的更新 Ⅰ：扩展关系模型及基本运算

本文从空值语义及更新操作的关系出发，提出了一种新的扩展关系模型，用以组织更新操作下的含有空值的关系数据库中的信息．同时，定义了这种模型下的基本关系代数运算．为实现空值环境下关系数据库的数据更新奠定了基础。

贵州瓮安陡山沱组剖面碳同位素生物地球化学研究

在对扬子地台贵州瓮安陡山沱组剖面干酪根碳同住素组成进行分析后发现其变化显示了一定的规律性。碳同住素规律变化反映了最初的沉积信息，特别是有机质埋藏量的变化。获得的陡山沱期沉积岩中碳同位素组成研究结果初步反映了震旦一寒武交变期沉积环境的面貌；碳同位素组成变化规律可以用于反映扬子地台沉积层序和世界同期地层全球碳循环的对比和参考。为扬子区陡山沱期环境变化和生物演化提供了证据。δ^13Cker值在-32．3‰和-24．5‰(PDB)间漂移与δ^13Ccarb值在-4．9‰和3．6‰(PDB)间的变化，反映了当时海水的碳同位素组成。无机和有机碳同位素组成之差的△δorg-carb值沿剖面不断变化，是由于沉积有机质中有促进发酵功能的细菌数量比例变化所致。

赣中周潭群石榴石、斜长石和黑云母微区化学成分特征及其地球动力学意义

周潭群变质岩中石榴石、斜长石和黑云母微区化学成分变化明显,石榴石变斑晶具典型的生长环带,由晶体中心向两侧边缘XMg 、XFe值以光滑曲线递增,XCu 、XMn值以光滑曲线递减,反映其增温过程;晶体最边缘的化学成分反映变质峰期的温度条件。通过石榴石变斑晶生长环带剖面分析,应用Grt-Bi 温度计和GASP 压力计,确定本区变质作用p T 轨迹为顺时针形式,发生于大陆碰撞造山带环境。

The Three-Dimensional Interpretation of a Class of Simple Line-Drawings

We provide a theory of the three-dimensional interpretation of a class of line-drawings called p-images, which are interpreted by the human vision system as parallelepipeds ("boxes"). Despite their simplicity, p-images raise a number of interesting vision questions: *Why are p-images seen as three-dimensional objects? Why not just as flatimages? *What are the dimensions and pose of the perceived objects? *Why are some p-images interpreted as rectangular boxes, while others are seen as skewed, even though there is no obvious distinction between the images? *When p-images are rotated in three dimensions, why are the image-sequences perceived as distorting objects---even though structure-from-motion would predict that rigid objects would be seen? *Why are some three-dimensional parallelepipeds seen as radically different when viewed from different viewpoints? We show that these and related questions can be answered with the help of a single mathematical result and an associated perceptual principle. An interesting special case arises when there are right angles in the p-image. This case represents a singularity in the equations and is mystifying from the vision point of view. It would seem that (at least in this case) the vision system does not follow the ordinary rules of geometry but operates in accordance with other (and as yet unknown) principles.

Brachypodium distachyon. A new model system for functional genomics in grasses

John Draper, Luis A.J. Mur, Glyn Jenkins, Gadab C. Ghosh-Biswas, Pauline Bablak, Robert Hasterok,and Andrew P.M. Routledge (2001). Brachypodium distachyon. A new model system for functional genomics in grasses. Plant Physiology, 127 (4), 1539-1555. Sponsorship: BBSRC / Gatsby Foundation RAE2008

Gry fabularne jako technika autonomizująca studenta

Publikacja (…) jest zbiorem tekstów poświęconych zagadnieniu autonomii w dydaktyce języków obcych. Teksty te – w obecnej postaci artykułów – stanowią zapis referatów wygłoszonych na konferencji poświęconej temu właśnie, niezwykle istotnemu dla nowoczesnej dydaktyki zagadnieniu. Konferencje tego typu nigdy dotąd w Polsce się nie odbywały. Jest to więc novum na naszym terenie i wielki tytuł do chwały dla uczelni, która podjęła się organizacji takiego wydarzenia i publikacji artykułów opracowanych na podstawie wygłoszonych tam referatów. Dlatego publikację uważam za niezwykle ważną i potrzebną. (z recenzji wydawniczej Prof. dr hab. Hanny Komorowskiej)

M^2RC: Multiplicative-increase/additive-decrease Multipath Routing Control for Wireless Sensor Networks

Routing protocols in wireless sensor networks (WSN) face two main challenges: first, the challenging environments in which WSNs are deployed negatively affect the quality of the routing process. Therefore, routing protocols for WSNs should recognize and react to node failures and packet losses. Second, sensor nodes are battery-powered, which makes power a scarce resource. Routing protocols should optimize power consumption to prolong the lifetime of the WSN. In this paper, we present a new adaptive routing protocol for WSNs, we call it M^2RC. M^2RC has two phases: mesh establishment phase and data forwarding phase. In the first phase, M^2RC establishes the routing state to enable multipath data forwarding. In the second phase, M^2RC forwards data packets from the source to the sink. Targeting hop-by-hop reliability, an M^2RC forwarding node waits for an acknowledgement (ACK) that its packets were correctly received at the next neighbor. Based on this feedback, an M^2RC node applies multiplicative-increase/additive-decrease (MIAD) to control the number of neighbors targeted by its packet broadcast. We simulated M^2RC in the ns-2 simulator and compared it to GRAB, Max-power, and Min-power routing schemes. Our simulations show that M^2RC achieves the highest throughput with at least 10-30% less consumed power per delivered report in scenarios where a certain number of nodes unexpectedly fail.

Color Region Grouping and Shape Recognition with Deformable Models

A new deformable shape-based method for color region segmentation is described. The method includes two stages: over-segmentation using a traditional color region segmentation algorithm, followed by deformable model-based region merging via grouping and hypothesis selection. During the second stage, region merging and object identification are executed simultaneously. A statistical shape model is used to estimate the likelihood of region groupings and model hypotheses. The prior distribution on deformation parameters is precomputed using principal component analysis over a training set of region groupings. Once trained, the system autonomously segments deformed shapes from the background, while not merging them with similarly colored adjacent objects. Furthermore, the recovered parametric shape model can be used directly in object recognition and comparison. Experiments in segmentation and image retrieval are reported.

Investigation of p75 neurotrophin receptor and the role of its post-translational modifications in tumour cell motility and invasiveness

The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR) is a member of the tumour necrosis factor superfamily, which relies on the recruitment of cytosolic protein partners - including the TNF receptor associated factor 6 (TRAF6) E3 ubiquitin ligase - to produce cellular responses such as apoptosis, survival, and inhibition of neurite outgrowth. Recently,p75NTR was also shown to undergo γ-secretase-mediated regulated intramembrane proteolysis, and the receptor ICD was found to migrate to the nucleus where it regulates gene transcription. Moreover, γ-secretase-mediated proteolysis was shown to be involved in glioblastoma cell migration and invasion. In this study we report that TRAF6-mediated K63-linked polyubiquitination at multiple or alternative lysine residues influences p75NTR-ICD stability in vitro. In addition, we found that TRAF6-mediated ubiquitination of p75NTR is not influenced by inhibition of dynamin. Moreover, we report beta-transducin repeats-containing protein (β-TrCP) as a novel E3- ligase that ubiquitinates p75NTR, which is independent of serine phosphorylation of the p75NTR destruction motif. In contrast to its influence on other substrates, co-expression of β-TrCP did not reduce p75NTR stability. We created U87-MG glioblastoma cell lines stably expressing wild type, γ-secretaseresistant and constitutively cleaved receptor, as well as the ICD-stabilized mutant K301R. Interestingly, only wild-type p75NTR induces increased glioblastoma cell migration, which could be reversed by application of γ-secretase inhibitor. Microarray and qRT-PCR analysis of mRNA transcripts in these cell lines yielded several promising genes that might be involved in glioblastoma cell migration and invasion, such as cadherin 11 and matrix metalloproteinase 12. Analysis of potential transcription factor binding sites revealed that transcription of these genes might be regulated by well known p75NTR signalling cascades such as NF-κB or JNK signalling, which are independent of γ-secretase-mediated cleavage of the receptor. In contrast, while p75NTR overexpression was confirmed in melanoma cell lines and a patient sample of melanoma metastasis to the brain, inhibition of γ-secretase did not influence melanoma cell migration. Collectively, this study provides several avenues to better understand the physiological importance of posttranslational modifications of p75NTR and the significance of the receptor in glioblastoma cell migration and invasion.

Adjuvant therapy in elderly patients with breast cancer.

The elderly population has been neglected by the traditional approach to clinical breast cancer research. Elderly women have been underrepresented in breast cancer clinical trials, with the majority of studies being restricted to patients aged < 70 years. Elderly patients frequently have comorbidities and/or impaired organ function. These facts may often lead to death from causes other than cancer, thus nullifying any possible benefit of adjuvant treatment; furthermore, they render extrapolation of standard treatment recommendations to the elderly potentially hazardous, particularly with respect to chemotherapy. Therefore, specific clinical trials are needed to investigate adjuvant treatments tailored for the heterogeneous older population.

Ligation of cell surface GRP78 with antibody directed against the COOH-terminal domain of GRP78 suppresses Ras/MAPK and PI 3-kinase/AKT signaling while promoting caspase activation in human prostate cancer cells.

We have previously shown that treatment of prostate cancer and melanoma cells expressing GRP78 on their cell surface with antibody directed against the COOH-terminal domain of GRP78 upregulates and activates p53 causing decreased cell proliferation and upregulated apoptosis. In this report, we demonstrate that treatment of 1-LN prostate cancer cells with this antibody decreases cell surface expression of GRP78, Akt(Thr308) and Akt(Ser473) kinase activities and reduces phosphorylation of FOXO, and GSK3beta. This treatment also suppresses activation of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK and MKK3/6; however, it upregulates MKK4 activity. JNK, as determined by its phosphorylation state, is subsequently activated, triggering apoptosis. Incubation of cells with antibody reduced levels of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, while elevating pro-apoptotic BAD, BAX and BAK expression as well as cleaved caspases-3, -7, -8 and -9. Silencing GRP78 or p53 gene expression by RNAi prior to antibody treatment abrogated these effects. We conclude that antibody directed against the COOH-terminal domain of GRP78 may prove useful as a pan suppressor of proliferative/survival signaling in cancer cells expressing GRP78 on their cell surface.

Alternative splicing in multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases.

Alternative splicing is a general mechanism for regulating gene expression that affects the RNA products of more than 90% of human genes. Not surprisingly, alternative splicing is observed among gene products of metazoan immune systems, which have evolved to efficiently recognize pathogens and discriminate between "self" and "non-self", and thus need to be both diverse and flexible. In this review we focus on the specific interface between alternative splicing and autoimmune diseases, which result from a malfunctioning of the immune system and are characterized by the inappropriate reaction to self-antigens. Despite the widespread recognition of alternative splicing as one of the major regulators of gene expression, the connections between alternative splicing and autoimmunity have not been apparent. We summarize recent findings connecting splicing and autoimmune disease, and attempt to find common patterns of splicing regulation that may advance our understanding of autoimmune diseases and open new avenues for therapy.

Utility of telomerase-pot1 fusion protein in vascular tissue engineering.

While advances in regenerative medicine and vascular tissue engineering have been substantial in recent years, important stumbling blocks remain. In particular, the limited life span of differentiated cells that are harvested from elderly human donors is an important limitation in many areas of regenerative medicine. Recently, a mutant of the human telomerase reverse transcriptase enzyme (TERT) was described, which is highly processive and elongates telomeres more rapidly than conventional telomerase. This mutant, called pot1-TERT, is a chimeric fusion between the DNA binding protein pot1 and TERT. Because pot1-TERT is highly processive, it is possible that transient delivery of this transgene to cells that are utilized in regenerative medicine applications may elongate telomeres and extend cellular life span while avoiding risks that are associated with retroviral or lentiviral vectors. In the present study, adenoviral delivery of pot1-TERT resulted in transient reconstitution of telomerase activity in human smooth muscle cells, as demonstrated by telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP). In addition, human engineered vessels that were cultured using pot1-TERT-expressing cells had greater collagen content and somewhat better performance in vivo than control grafts. Hence, transient delivery of pot1-TERT to elderly human cells may be useful for increasing cellular life span and improving the functional characteristics of resultant tissue-engineered constructs.

Indication of electron neutrino appearance from an accelerator-produced off-axis muon neutrino beam.

The T2K experiment observes indications of ν(μ) → ν(e) appearance in data accumulated with 1.43×10(20) protons on target. Six events pass all selection criteria at the far detector. In a three-flavor neutrino oscillation scenario with |Δm(23)(2)| = 2.4×10(-3)  eV(2), sin(2)2θ(23) = 1 and sin(2)2θ(13) = 0, the expected number of such events is 1.5±0.3(syst). Under this hypothesis, the probability to observe six or more candidate events is 7×10(-3), equivalent to 2.5σ significance. At 90% C.L., the data are consistent with 0.03(0.04) < sin(2)2θ(13) < 0.28(0.34) for δ(CP) = 0 and a normal (inverted) hierarchy.

Efectos de la fecha de siembra sobre el rendimiento y calidad comercial del maíz dulce (Zea Mays L., var. saccharata körn)

El efecto de la fecha de siembra sobre la producción y calidad del cultivo de maíz dulce en el norte de la provincia de Buenos Aires no ha sido estudiado y su conocimiento resulta de suma importancia para la planificación y obtención de resultados óptimos y viabilidad comercial para los productores de dicha zona. En base a esta problemática se estudió el efecto de tres fechas de siembra: 28 de octubre, 9 de noviembre y 5 de diciembre 2009 (fecha 1, 2 y 3, respectivamente) sobre el rendimiento y calidad comercial de Maíz Dulce (Zea Mays L., var. saccharata körn). La hipótesis principal que guió este trabajo fue que el atraso de la fecha de siembra reduciría el tamaño y peso de la espiga de maíz dulce afectando sus parámetros comerciales. Para poner a prueba esta hipótesis, se realizó un ensayo a campo en la localidad de Capilla del Señor, provincia de Buenos Aires. En las tres fechas mencionadas se sembró el híbrido Cahill (P) de un ciclo en fecha de siembra óptima de 75 días. El manejo de los cultivos respondió a un manejo convencional de la zona. Durante el ciclo del cultivo se llevaron a cabo determinaciones densidad y área foliar por planta. El momento de la cosecha se determinó por el método de apreciación visual del grano lechoso. Se tomaron muestras de espigas para la determinación de rendimiento y calidad comercial. El área foliar por planta no presentó diferencias significativas entre la fecha 2 y3, sin embargo hubo una tendencia hacia una mayor área foliar en la fecha 2 (2826 cm2 ± 256) que en la fecha 3 (2596 cm2 ± 256). Además, fue la fecha en la que la radiación acumulada incidente fue mayor (1605 mj/m2) en el ciclo de cultivo, ya que ésta fue en aumento desde principios de octubre hasta fines de enero; a partir de ese momento la radiación cayó marcadamente, coincidiendo con el ciclo del cultivo de la fecha 3 (1555 mj/m2). La mayor radiación incidente y la mayor capacidad de captura de la misma (Área Foliar) se tradujo en un mayor peso de la espiga (270 ± 58 gr) para los cultivos sembrados en la fecha 2 respecto de los de la fecha 3 (204 ± 58) y la fecha 1 (190 ± 58). Por otro lado, los cultivos en la fecha 2 presentaron mejor relación grano/marlo (2,57 ± 0,29) y mayor cantidad de granos comerciales (446 ± 45 granos/espiga) diferenciándose significativamente de los cultivos sembrados en la fecha 3 (1,97 ± 0,29) y la fecha 1 (0,92 ± 0,29) para la relación grano/marlo y también para los granos comerciales, 384 ± 45 y 394 ± 45 en los cultivos de la fecha 3 y 1, respectivamente. En vista de los resultados obtenidos se recomienda la fecha de principios de noviembre como fecha óptima de siembra ya que fue en la que se obtuvo el mayor rendimiento y mejor calidad de producto.