Coupling the folding of homologous proteins

The empirical observation that homologous proteins fold to similar structures is used to enhance the capabilities of an ab initio algorithm to predict protein conformations. A penalty function that forces homologous proteins to look alike is added to the potential and is employed in the coupled energy optimization of several homologous proteins. Significant improvement in the quality of the computed structures (as compared with the computational folding of a single protein) is demonstrated and discussed.

Prediction of the stability of DNA triplexes.

We present rules that allow one to predict the stability of DNA pyrimidine.purine.pyrimidine (Y.R.Y) triple helices on the basis of the sequence. The rules were derived from van't Hoff analysis of 23 oligonucleotide triplexes tested at a variety of pH values. To predict the enthalpy of triplex formation (delta H degrees), a simple nearest-neighbor model was found to be sufficient. However, to accurately predict the free energy of the triplex (delta G degrees), a combination model consisting of five parameters was needed. These parameters were (i) the delta G degrees for helix initiation, (ii) the delta G degrees for adding a T-A.T triple, (iii) the delta G degrees for adding a C(+)-G.C triple, (iv) the penalty for adjacent C bases, and (v) the pH dependence of the C(+)-G.C triple's stability. The fitted parameters are highly consistent with thermodynamic data from the basis set, generally predicting both delta H degrees and delta G degrees to within the experimental error. Examination of the parameters points out several interesting features. The combination model predicts that C(+) -G.C. triples are much more stabilizing than T-A.T triples below pH 7.0 and that the stability of the former increases approximately equal to 1 kcal/mol per pH unit as the pH is decreased. Surprisingly though, the most stable sequence is predicted to be a CT repeat, as adjacent C bases partially cancel the stability of one another. The parameters successfully predict tm values from other laboratories, with some interesting exceptions.

Relações espaço-temporais como restrições de tomadas de decisões na grande área no futebol

Este estudo investigou as tomadas de decisões de jogadores dentro da grande área do futebol com base em variáveis espaciais e espaço-temporais de coordenações interpessoal e extrapessoal. Participaram do estudo 150 jogadores do sexo masculino, com idade entre 18 e 38 anos, e experiência de prática neste esporte de, no mínimo, 7 anos. Foram filmados 12 jogos de futebol de um campeonato amador na Colômbia. As imagens capturadas foram analisadas através do software TACTO, e as variáveis consideradas para análise foram as seguintes: i) ângulo de chute, formado por vetores ligando o jogador com posse de bola a dois componentes do jogo que geravam uma lacuna no gol; ii) ângulo A de passe, composto por vetores conectando o portador da bola ao seu marcador mais próximo e ao seu companheiro de equipe; iii) ângulo B de passe, formado por vetores ligando o portador da bola ao seu companheiro de equipe e ao marcador mais próximo dele; iv) distância interpessoal, caracterizada pela distância entre o jogador com posse de bola e seu defensor mais próximo; v) velocidade e variabilidade relacionadas às mudanças em cada uma dessas medidas. Essas variáveis foram comparadas em relação a situações de chute, passe e drible. Os resultados revelaram que, em relação à decisão de chutar, o ângulo de chute representando a interação entre as possibilidades de completá-lo e de o mesmo ser interceptado, diferiu do mesmo ângulo em que as decisões de passe e drible foram tomadas; e, na decisão de driblar, a distância interpessoal apresentou diferenças com as situações em que o passe foi executado. Concluiu-se que, no caso do chute ao gol e o drible, os ângulos de chute e distâncias interpessoais, respectivamente, funcionaram como variáveis informacionais de coordenações interpessoal e extrapessoal importantes para as tomadas de decisão

Particle Swarm Optimization Based Reactive Power Dispatch for Power Networks with Distributed Generation

Reactive power is critical to the operation of the power networks on both safety aspects and economic aspects. Unreasonable distribution of the reactive power would severely affect the power quality of the power networks and increases the transmission loss. Currently, the most economical and practical approach to minimizing the real power loss remains using reactive power dispatch method. Reactive power dispatch problem is nonlinear and has both equality constraints and inequality constraints. In this thesis, PSO algorithm and MATPOWER 5.1 toolbox are applied to solve the reactive power dispatch problem. PSO is a global optimization technique that is equipped with excellent searching capability. The biggest advantage of PSO is that the efficiency of PSO is less sensitive to the complexity of the objective function. MATPOWER 5.1 is an open source MATLAB toolbox focusing on solving the power flow problems. The benefit of MATPOWER is that its code can be easily used and modified. The proposed method in this thesis minimizes the real power loss in a practical power system and determines the optimal placement of a new installed DG. IEEE 14 bus system is used to evaluate the performance. Test results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Remember Not to Forget Furman: A Response to Professor Smith

Professor Robert J. Smith encourages readers, lawyers, and courts to forget Furman v. Georgia and to focus instead on death penalty challenges grounded in the diminished culpability of nearly all capital defendants. We applaud Professor Smith’s call to focus on the mental and emotional characteristics that reduce the blameworthiness of so many of those charged with capital crimes; recognizing diminished culpability as the rule rather than the exception among capital defendants conveys a reality that rarely finds its way into reported cases. We are troubled, however, by Professor Smith’s call to “forget Furman.” We believe the title and the article’s efforts to undermine Furman-based challenges disserve Professor Smith’s principal goal — addressing the United States’ broken death penalty system.

Incorporating global positioning data in real time P2P audio/video streams for mobile devices

We propose an original method to geoposition an audio/video stream with multiple emitters that are at the same time receivers of the mixed signal. The achieved method is suitable for those comes where a list of positions within a designated area is encoded with a degree of precision adjusted to the visualization capabilities; and is also easily extensible to support new requirements. This method extends a previously proposed protocol, without incurring in any performance penalty.

P2P audio/video protocol with global positioning data in real time for mobile devices

In this paper, we propose an original method to geoposition an audio/video stream with multiple emitters that are at the same time receivers of the mixed signal. The obtained method is suitable when a list of positions within a known area is encoded with precision tailored to the visualization capabilities of the target device. Nevertheless, it is easily adaptable to new precision requirements, as well as parameterized data precision. This method extends a previously proposed protocol, without incurring in any performance penalty.

Análisis del saque en jugadoras femeninas profesionales de vóley playa

El objetivo de estudio es conocer los tipos de saques utilizados, dependiendo el momento del set en el que se producen. Este estudio ha sido desarrollado durante el torneo Nestea Spanish Master de Vóley Playa disputado en Valencia en el año 2006. La muestra de estudio la componen 10 jugadoras que conforman 5 equipos con un total de 4 encuentros analizados que suman 331 saques analizados. El análisis de las videograbaciones se llevó a cabo con el software SportCode Pro v.8.5.2. Los saques se clasificaron dependiendo del momento en el que se produjeron, siendo la franja 1 (del punto 1 al 7), franja 2 (del punto 8 al 14) y franja 3 (del punto 15 al 21). El análisis de datos se llevo a cabo con el software SPSS v.19. La prueba Chi-cuadrado, estableció diferencias significativas entre los diferentes tipos de saques para la franja 1 y 3 (p<.05), pero no se establecieron diferencias significativas en la franja 2 para los tres tipos de saque utilizado (p>.05). Se experimenta una disminución en el uso del saque en potencia (SP) de la franja 1 (84.1%) con respecto al de la franja 3 (4.8%), mientras que el saque flotante (SF) aumenta de la franja 1 (13.5%) a la franja 3 (81%). Finalmente el saque flotante (SF) en salto aumentan de la franja 1 (2.4%) a la franja 2 (28%) y decrece de esta última a la franja 3 (14.3%).

Comparative study of RPSALG algorithm for convex semi-infinite programming

The Remez penalty and smoothing algorithm (RPSALG) is a unified framework for penalty and smoothing methods for solving min-max convex semi-infinite programing problems, whose convergence was analyzed in a previous paper of three of the authors. In this paper we consider a partial implementation of RPSALG for solving ordinary convex semi-infinite programming problems. Each iteration of RPSALG involves two types of auxiliary optimization problems: the first one consists of obtaining an approximate solution of some discretized convex problem, while the second one requires to solve a non-convex optimization problem involving the parametric constraints as objective function with the parameter as variable. In this paper we tackle the latter problem with a variant of the cutting angle method called ECAM, a global optimization procedure for solving Lipschitz programming problems. We implement different variants of RPSALG which are compared with the unique publicly available SIP solver, NSIPS, on a battery of test problems.

Urban environmental degradation and the standard of living: the case of the Spanish mining industry (1870–1930)

This paper analyses the consequences of urban environmental degradation on the well-being of Spanish miners. It is based on analyses of differences in mortality and height. The first part of the paper examines new hypotheses regarding the urban penalty. We take into consideration existing works in economic theory that address market failures when analysing the higher urban death rate. We explain the reduction in height using the model recently created by Floud, Fogel, Harris and Hong for British cities. The second part of the paper presents information demonstrating that the urban areas in the two largest mining areas in Spain (Bilbao and the Cartagena-La Unión mountain range) experienced a higher death rate relative to rural areas as a consequence of market failures derived from what we term an ‘anarchic urbanisation’.

Deterioro medioambiental urbano y mortalidad: el caso de Alcoi (1860-1910)

Para la realización de este trabajo, Antonio Escudero y Salvador Salort se han beneficiado del proyecto de investigación del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad HAR 2010-21941-C03-01.

Notification from William Cutler to the selectmen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, that Dr. Philip Brukowitz and wife were inhabiting his father's house in Cambridge, 1758 April 25

Single page notification addressed to the selectmen of Cambridge, Massachusetts, dated 25 April 1758, in which William Cutler writes that he took into his father’s Cambridge house as tenants Dr. George Philip Brukowitz and his wife, from Woburn, Massachusetts. After the Boston smallpox epidemic of 1721, the town of Cambridge enacted a requirement in 1723 that no resident would receive or admit any non-resident family into their homes for the space of a month without informing the town selectmen. The penalty for failing to do so was twenty shillings.

The Opportunity Costs of STEM Degrees and the Unmet Needs of the Low-Skilled: Two labour market problems explained. CEPS Policy Brief No. 295, 26 June 2013

There is general consensus that to achieve employment growth, especially for vulnerable groups, it is not sufficient to simply kick-start economic growth: skills among both the high- and low-skilled population need to be improved. In particular, we argue that if the lack of graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a true problem, it needs to be tackled via incentives and not simply via public campaigns: students are not enrolling in ‘hard-science’ subjects because the opportunity cost is very high. As far as the low-skilled population is concerned, we encourage EU and national policy-makers to invest in a more comprehensive view of this phenomenon. The ‘low-skilled’ label can hide a number of different scenarios: labour market detachment, migration, and obsolete skills that are the result of macroeconomic structural changes. For this reason lifelong learning is necessary to keep up with new technology and to shield workers from the risk of skills obsolescence and detachment from the labour market.

Environmental judgements by the Court of Justice and their duration. Research Papers in Law, 4/2008

From the Introduction. Little attention is paid, until now, to the duration of environmental procedures under Articles 226 and 228 EC Treaty, though these procedures are the only instrument at the disposal of the European Commission to enforce the application of EC environmental law1. Indeed, the Commission itself has no possibility to impose a fine or a penalty payment against a Member State, or to withhold sums under the Structural Funds, where a Member State persistently infringes Community environmental law. Rather, the Commission is obliged to first issue a Letter of Formal Notice against a Member State which infringes Community law. Where the infringement is not repaired, the Commission may issue a Reasoned Opinion against the Member State, and if also this does not lead to the compliance with EC law, it may appeal to the Court of Justice2.

The importance of International Developments in the case-law of the European Court of Justice: Kadi and the autonomy of the EC legal order. Research Papers in Law, 1/2009

From the Introduction. In the USA, the debate is still ongoing as to whether and to what extent the Supreme Court could or should refer to foreign precedent, in particular in relation to constitutional matters such as the death penalty.1 In the EU, in particular the recent Kadi case of 20082 has triggered much controversy,3 thereby highlighting the opposite angle to a similar discussion. The focus of attention in Europe is namely to what extent the European Court of Justice (hereafter “ECJ”) could lawfully and rightfully refuse to plainly ‘surrender’ or to subordinate the EC legal system to UN law and obligations when dealing with human rights issues. This question becomes all the more pertinent in view of the fact that in the past the ECJ has been rather receptive and constructive in forging interconnectivity between the EC legal order and international law developments. A bench mark in that respect was undoubtedly the Racke case of 1998,4 where the ECJ spelled out the necessity for the EC to respect international law with direct reference to a ruling of the International Court of Justice. This judgment which was rendered 10 years earlier than Kadi equally concerned EC/EU economic sanctions taken in implementation of UN Security Council Resolutions. A major question is therefore whether it is at all possible, and if so to determine how, to reconcile those apparently conflicting judgments.