Cup products for groups and commutators

We give it description, modulo torsion, of the cup product on the first cohomology group in terms of the descriptions of the second homology group due to Hopf and Miller.

Development of cup shaped microneedle array for transdermal drug delivery

Microneedle technology is one of the attractive methods in transdermal drug delivery. However, the clinical applications of this method are limited owing to: complexity in the preparation of multiple coating solutions, drug leakage while inserting the microneedles into the skin and the outer walls of the solid microneedle can hold limited quantity of drug. Here, the authors present the fabrication of an array of rectangular cup shaped silicon microneedles, which provide for reduced drug leakage resulting in improvement of efficiency of drug delivery and possibility of introducing multiple drugs. The fabricated solid microneedles with rectangular cup shaped tip have a total height of 200 mu m. These cup shaped tips have dimensions: 60 x 60 mu m (length x breadth) with a depth of 60 mu m. The cups are filled with drug using a novel in-house built drop coating system. Successful drug dissolution was observed when the coated microneedle was used on mice. Also, using the above method, it is possible to fill the cups selectively with different drugs, which enables simultaneous multiple drug delivery. (C) 2015 American Vacuum Society.

Algoritmo de Gale-Shapley. Variaciones y alternativas

En esta memoria se trata el problema de encontrar un algoritmo que construya un emparejamiento entre dos grupos, entendiendo por emparejamiento la asignacion a cada individuo, de cada grupo, otro individuo. La situaci on inicial de la que parte el problema es la siguiente: Dos grupos, los proponentes y los propuestos, que est an formados por n individuos cada uno, siendo n la dimensi on del problema. El grupo de los proponentes es el encargado de hacer las propuestas a la hora de construir el emparejamiento. El grupo de los propuestos es el encargado de recibir y gestionar las propuestas a la hora de construir el emparejamiento. Cada individuo de cada grupo ordena en una lista, de manera decreciente, a individuos del otro grupo atendiendo a su preferencia a la hora de ser emparejado, a esta lista la llamaremos lista de preferencia del individuo, considerando el quedarse solo la opci on menos preferida de entre las aceptables. El objetivo del problema es crear un emparejamiento en el que cada pareja sea satisfactoria para los individuos que la crean en base a las preferencias de cada uno.

Application of Suction-cup-attached VHF Transmitters to the Study of Beluga, Delphinapterus leucas, Surfacing Behavior in Cook Inlet, Alaska

Suction-cup-attached VHF radio transmittes were deployed on belugas, Delphinapterus leucas, in Cook Inlet, Alaska, in 1994 and 1995 to characterize the whales' surfacing behavior. Data from video recordings were also used to characterize behavior of undisturbed whales and whales actively pursued for tagging. Statistics for dive intervals (time between the midpoints of contiguous surfacings) and surfacing intevals (time at the surface per surfacing) were estimated. Operations took place on the tidal delta of the Susitna and Little Susitna Rivers. During the 2-yr study, eight whales were successfully tagged, five tags remained attached for >60 min, and data from these were used in the analyses. Mean dive interval was 24.1 sec (interwhale SD=6.4 sec, n=5). The mean surfacing interval, as determined from the duration of signals received from the radio transmitters, was 1.8 sec (SD=0.3 sec, n=125) for one of the whales. Videotaped behaviors were categorized as "head-lifts" or "slow-rolls." Belugas were more likely to head-lift than to slow-roll during vessel approaches and tagging attempts when compared to undisturbed whales. In undisturbed groups, surfacing intervals determined from video records were significantly different between head-lifting (average = 1.02 sect, SD=0.38 sed, n=28) and slow-rolling whales (average = 2.45 sec, SD=0.37 sec, n=106). Undisturbed juveniles exhibited shorter slow-roll surfacing intervals (average = 2.25 sec, SD=0.32 sec, n=36) than adults (average = 2.55 sec, SD=0.36 sec, n=70). We did not observe strong reactions by the belugas to the suction-cup tags. This tagging method shows promise for obtaining surfacing data for durations of several days.

Fedex Cup y Campeonato Mundial de Motociclismo: dos formas de elaborar el ranking anual

De acuerdo a la normativa de TFEs el repositorio no puede dar acceso a este trabajo. Para consultarlo póngase en contacto con el tutor del trabajo. Puede acceder al resumen del mismo pinchando en el pdf adjunto

Dispossessing bare life: Towards a theoretical framework for examining power relations through economic development at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

In the past twenty years an increasing number of Global South nations have vied for the rights to host prestigious and expensive sport mega events. This trend requires significant reflection given the enormous economic costs of these events, which often produce little capital gain for the host nation (Whitson & Horne, 2006). Furthermore, sport mega events are often utilized for their symbolic capital (Belanger, 2009), which sometimes manifests through forcing people from their land for the sake of “beautification” (Davis, 2006). In this project, then, I asked how technologies of power were utilized by FIFA, corporate stakeholders, and the South African government to control people who were marginal to, or impeded the success of, the World Cup in Nelspruit, South Africa. This project consisted of two parts: the first involved constructing a theoretical framework for better understanding power as it operates through sport mega events in general. To this end I employed Marxian notions of the ordering of physical space, Foucauldian conceptions of sovereignty and governmentality, and Agamben’s (1998) state of exception to determine how particular bodies are constituted and controlled through sport mega events. In the second part, I applied this theoretical framework to the events in South Africa to better elucidate how people became displaced and killed because of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I used South African popular news and documentaries as empirical evidence and conducted a discursive analysis of said news media. Through this coverage it became apparent that the mega event created the conditions in which new forms of rogue sovereign partnerships could arise through a historically and spatially contingent process of capitalism. The rogue sovereigns’ para-juridico-political orders, the discourses and practices of accumulation by dispossession as a tactic and effect of govermentality, and other historical non-capital subjectivities such as racial identity, all contributed to constituting Agamben’s state of exception in which people could be displaced, killed or left to die in the events surrounding the World Cup.

UDP-galactose 4-epimerase (GALE)

UDP-galactose 4-epimerase (GALE; EC 5.1.3.2; UniProt: Q14376) catalyses the interconversion of UDP-galactose and UDP-glucose (figure 1a). In the majority of eukaryotes studied to date, the enzyme is also able to interconvert UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine (UDP-GalNAc) and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) (figure 1b). The first of these reactions occurs as part of the Leloir pathway, which converts galactose into the glycolytic intermediate glucose 6-phosphate. Both reactions are important in the maintenance of UDP-monosaccharide pools and, consequently, in supplying raw materials for the glycosylation of proteins and lipids. The enzyme has attracted considerable research interest because mutations in the corresponding gene are associated with the genetic disease type III galactosemia (OMIN #230350). There is also some interest in using the enzyme as a biocatalyst to interconvert its substrates and related UDP-monosaccharides.

The metastability of human UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (GALE) is increased by variants associated with type III galactosemia but decreased by substrate and cofactor binding

Type III galactosemia is an inherited disease caused by mutations which affect the activity of UDP-galactose 4'-epimerase (GALE). We evaluated the impact of four disease-associated variants (p.N34S, p.G90E, p.V94M and p.K161N) on the conformational stability and dynamics of GALE. Thermal denaturation studies showed that wild-type GALE denatures at temperatures close to physiological, and disease-associated mutations often reduce GALE's thermal stability. This denaturation is under kinetic control and results partly from dimer dissociation. The natural ligands, NAD(+) and UDP-glucose, stabilize GALE. Proteolysis studies showed that the natural ligands and disease-associated variations affect local dynamics in the N-terminal region of GALE. Proteolysis kinetics followed a two-step irreversible model in which the intact protein is cleaved at Ala38 forming a long-lived intermediate in the first step. NAD(+) reduces the rate of the first step, increasing the amount of undigested protein whereas UDP-glucose reduces the rate of the second step, increasing accumulation of the intermediate. Disease-associated variants affect these rates and the amounts of protein in each state. Our results also suggest communication between domains in GALE. We hypothesize that, in vivo, concentrations of natural ligands modulate GALE stability and that it should be possible to discover compounds which mimic the stabilising effects of the natural ligands overcoming mutation-induced destabilization.

Determinants and heritability of intraocular pressure and cup-to-disc ratio in a defined older population.

PURPOSE:

To investigate the heritability of intraocular pressure (IOP) and cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) in an older well-defined population.

DESIGN:

Family-based cohort study.

PARTICIPANTS:

Through the population-based Salisbury Eye Evaluation study, we recruited 726 siblings (mean age, 74.7 years) in 284 sibships.

METHODS:

Intraocular pressure and CDR were measured bilaterally for all participants. The presence or absence of glaucoma was determined by a glaucoma specialist for all probands on the basis of visual field, optic nerve appearance, and history. The heritability of IOP was calculated as twice the residual between-sibling correlation of IOP using linear regression and generalized estimating equations after adjusting for age, gender, mean arterial pressure, race, self-reported diabetes status, and history of systemic steroid use. The heritability of CDR was calculated using the same model and adjustments as above, while also adjusting for IOP.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Heritability and determinants of IOP and CDR, and impact of siblings' glaucoma status on IOP and CDR.

RESULTS:

We estimated the heritability to be 0.29 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.12-0.46) for IOP and 0.56 (95% CI, 0.35-0.76) for CDR in this population. Mean IOP in siblings of glaucomatous probands was statistically significantly higher than in siblings of normal probands (mean difference, 1.02 mmHg; P = 0.017). The mean CDR in siblings of glaucomatous probands was 0.07 (or 19%) larger than in siblings of glaucoma suspect referrals (P = 0.045) and siblings of normal probands (P = 0.004).

CONCLUSIONS:

In this elderly population, we found CDR to be highly heritable and IOP to be moderately heritable. On average, siblings of glaucoma patients had higher IOPs and larger CDRs than siblings of nonglaucomatous probands.