Molecular analysis of a mutant Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus (AgMNPV) shows an interruption of an inhibitor of apoptosis gene (iap-3) by a new class-II piggyBac-related insect transposon

A new piggyBac-related transposable element (TE) was found in the genome of a mutant Anticarsia gemmatalis multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus interrupting an inhibitor of apoptosis gene. This mutant virus induces apoptosis upon infection of an Anticarsia gemmatalis cell line, but not in a Trichoplusia ni cell line. The sequence of the new TE (which was named IDT for iap disruptor transposon) has 2531 bp with two DNA sequences flanking a putative Transposase (Tpase) ORF of 1719 bp coding for a protein with 572 amino acids. These structural features are similar to the piggyBac TE, also reported for the first time in the genome of a baculovirus. We have also isolated variants of this new TE from different lepidopteran insect cells and compared their Tpase sequences.

Plasmodium falciparum Accompanied the Human Expansion out of Africa

Plasmodium falciparum is distributed throughout the tropics and is responsible for an estimated 230 million cases of malaria every year, with a further 1.4 billion people at risk of infection [1-3]. Little is known about the genetic makeup of P. falciparum populations, despite variation in genetic diversity being a key factor in morbidity, mortality, and the success of malaria control initiatives. Here we analyze a worldwide sample of 519 P. falciparum isolates sequenced for two housekeeping genes (63 single nucleotide polymorphisms from around 5000 nucleotides per isolate). We observe a strong negative correlation between within-population genetic diversity and geographic distance from sub-Saharan Africa (R(2) = 0.95) over Africa, Asia, and Oceania. In contrast, regional variation in transmission intensity seems to have had a negligible impact on the distribution of genetic diversity. The striking geographic patterns of isolation by distance observed in P. falciparum mirror the ones previously documented in humans [4-7] and point to a joint sub-Saharan African origin between the parasite and its host. Age estimates for the expansion of P. falciparum further support that anatomically modern humans were infected prior to their exit out of Africa and carried the parasite along during their colonization of the world.

In Vitro Activity of the Antifungal Plant Defensin RsAFP2 against Candida Isolates and Its In Vivo Efficacy in Prophylactic Murine Models of Candidiasis

We show that RsAFP2, a plant defensin that interacts with fungal glucosylceramides, is active against Candida albicans, inhibits to a lesser extent other Candida species, and is nontoxic to mammalian cells. Moreover, glucosylceramide levels in Candida species correlate with RsAFP2 sensitivity. We found RsAFP2 prophylactically effective against murine candidiasis.

Benders, metric and cutset inequalities for multicommodity capacitated network design

Solving multicommodity capacitated network design problems is a hard task that requires the use of several strategies like relaxing some constraints and strengthening the model with valid inequalities. In this paper, we compare three sets of inequalities that have been widely used in this context: Benders, metric and cutset inequalities. We show that Benders inequalities associated to extreme rays are metric inequalities. We also show how to strengthen Benders inequalities associated to non-extreme rays to obtain metric inequalities. We show that cutset inequalities are Benders inequalities, but not necessarily metric inequalities. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a cutset inequality to be a metric inequality. Computational experiments show the effectiveness of strengthening Benders and cutset inequalities to obtain metric inequalities.

Fast heuristics for the Steiner tree problem with revenues, budget and hop constraints

This article describes and compares three heuristics for a variant of the Steiner tree problem with revenues, which includes budget and hop constraints. First, a greedy method which obtains good approximations in short computational times is proposed. This initial solution is then improved by means of a destroy-and-repair method or a tabu search algorithm. Computational results compare the three methods in terms of accuracy and speed. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

EXPLOITING A GENERIC APPROACH TO CONSTRUCT COMPONENT-BASED SYSTEMS SOFTWARE IN LINUX ENVIRONMENTS

Component-based software engineering has recently emerged as a promising solution to the development of system-level software. Unfortunately, current approaches are limited to specific platforms and domains. This lack of generality is particularly problematic as it prevents knowledge sharing and generally drives development costs up. In the past, we have developed a generic approach to component-based software engineering for system-level software called OpenCom. In this paper, we present OpenComL an instantiation of OpenCom to Linux environments and show how it can be profiled to meet a range of system-level software in Linux environments. For this, we demonstrate its application to constructing a programmable router platform and a middleware for parallel environments.

Under flow impedimetric measurements using magnetic particles for label-free detection affinity target

The necessity to adapt sensors based on electrochemical techniques for high throughput analysis control increases the interest to develop new analytical systems able to perform measurements under buffer now. In this report we explored the possibility of employing a new system to make impedimetric measurements to detect the interaction between proteins and small molecules. The well-known biotin-streptavidin interaction was adopted to evaluate the proposed assembly. This system allows us to perform experiments under flow. Magnetic beads functionalized with streptavidin were used and first characterized using AFM and FTIR. Non-faradic impedance spectroscopy allowed the detection of the biotin-streptavidin interaction. Using our new system and under a flow of PBS buffer, 5 10-5 M of biotin was detected with a stable signal. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Cassava wastewater as a substrate for the simultaneous production of rhamnolipids and polyhydroxyalkanoates by Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Glycerol, cassava wastewater (CW), waste cooking oil and CW with waste frying oils were evaluated as alternative low-cost carbon substrates for the production of rhamnolipids and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) by various Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains. The polymers and surfactants produced were characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (MS) and by high-performance liquid chromatography-MS, and their composition was found to vary with the carbon source and the strain used in the fermentation. The best overall production of rhamnolipids and PHAs was obtained with CW with frying oil as the carbon source, with PHA production corresponding to 39% of the cell dry weight and rhamnolipid production being 660 mg l(-1). Under these conditions, the surface tension of the culture decreased to 30 mN m(-1), and the critical micelle concentration was 26.5 mg l(-1). It would appear that CW with frying oil has the highest potential as an alternative substrate, and its use may contribute to a reduction in the overall environmental impact generated by discarding such residues.

Utveckling av en datamodell för lagring av meddelandedefinitioner på ett pappersbruk

Uppsatsen redovisar resultatet av en kartläggning och datamodellering av definitioner för de meddelanden som sänds mellan olika stödjande informationssystem på Kvarnsvedens pappersbruk. Därtill redovisas även en analys av systemarkitekturens påverkan på problem vid felsökning av meddelandetrafiken mellan olika system. Målet var att ta fram en datamodell för en metadatabas innehållande definitioner för samtliga meddelanden som sänds mellan informationssystemen på Kvarnsveden. Tanken med databasen är att den ska kunna kopplas till ett system för felsökning av meddelandetrafiken mellan informationssystemen. För att nå målet samlades dokumentation om meddelanden in och en datamodellering med stöd av tredje normalformen genomfördes. Syftet med arbetet var huvudsakligen att förändra hanteringen av meddelandedefinitioner, för att möjliggöra ändrade rutiner vid felsökning i meddelandetrafiken mellan informationssystem på Kvarnsvedens pappersbruk. Syftet bestod också i att studera hur val av systemarkitekturen kan vara avgörande vid problem som uppstår vid felsökning av meddelanden som sänds mellan de olika systemen. Resultatet visar att en gemensam datamodell för definitioner över olika typer av meddelanden är svår att åstadkomma. Meddelanden som är uppbyggda av fält med fasta längder kan inte beskrivas i samma datamodell som meddelanden med segment och dataelement avgränsade med en segmentstagg. Istället får man använda två modeller. Resultatet från analysen av systemarkitekturens påverkan av problem vid felsökning visar, att det går att identifiera några problem där det finns ett samband. Problemen rör främst områden så som ansvar, dokumentation och systemarkitekturens uppbyggnad.

Historiografisk metafiktion och faktion : Romantikens berättelse om den förstenade gruvdrängen Fet-Mats i två postmoderna versioner

Fet-Mats är den gruvdräng som omkom och försvann i en rasolycka i Falu koppargruva under 1670-talet och vars kropp upptäcktes välbevarad, med fortfarande ungdomligt utseende, mer än fyra årtionden senare 1719. Han igenkändes då av sin trolovade - nu en gammal gumma. På grund av den märkligt bibehållna kroppen och det hisnande ögonblick då den åldrade kvinnan återsåg sin ungdoms kärlek, blev Fet-Mats och hans historia snabbt känd, även internationellt. Den spreds under 1800- och 1900-talen i Europa som novell och poesi, dramatik och opera. Även idag berättas historien om Fet-Mats både utomlands och i Sverige. Intresset för historien är rentav i växande. Orsaken härtill är omdaningen under senare år av Falu gruva från storindustri till musealt världsarv, från malmbrytning till turistorienterad upplevelseindustri. Fet-Mats-berättelsen bildar centrum i denna upplevelseindustri. I mitt paper diskuteras detta förhållande samt den nutida Fet-Mats-epikens karakteristika i ett semiotiskt, narratologiskt och tematiskt perspektiv. Jag finner bl.a. att Fet-Mats-berättandet idag, på ett annat sätt än tidigare, äger en flermedial karaktär och formulerar det postmoderna tillståndets centrala tematik: representationens kris. Jag fokuserar särskilt på två berättelser med anknytning till Fet-Mats-motivet: Julian Barnes historiografiska metafiktion The Story of Mats Israelson (2004) och det dramadokumentära seriealbumet Fet-Mats: en gruvdrängs hemska öde (2005).

Svensklärares arbete : om villkor för gymnasieskolans svenskämne

The aim of this didactic study is to understand the terms of work, education and teaching of Swedish in a period round 2000. The research questions focus on how teachers at upper secondary school in conversations describe and construct their work, values in society and school, structures of power and relation to time. With the help of tools related to story and storytelling, and by connecting the empirical material to a late modern society, I caninterpret and understand the description of their work. With the help of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory I can see how values, power and relation to time are expressed in different ways when teachers of Swedish talk about their work and education.The results show that when teacher talk about work in school is it related to ideals in a global economy. Decentralization and individualization get new meanings when those words are placed in school environment and activity. Effectiveness, flexibility and individualization are words related to economy and they seem to have an effect on education and subjects of Swedish. I can also understand teachers’ work when it is related to power and values on the educational field. I can see how a diffuse power acts on the field and how harmony is a dominant value and a term that influences teachers’ work. New terms also form new identities related to teaching. New terms form new subjects of Swedish that in time and practice will form newhabitus connected to subjects. I call it ämneskonceptionella habitus.

Videography as production nexus : digital film cameras, media mangement and the distribution of creativity

This thesis is about new digital moving image recording technologies and how they augment the distribution of creativity and the flexibility in moving image production systems, but also impose constraints on how images flow through the production system. The central concept developed in this thesis is ‘creative space’ which links quality and efficiency in moving image production to time for creative work, capacity of digital tools, user skills and the constitution of digital moving image material. The empirical evidence of this thesis is primarily based on semi-structured interviews conducted with Swedish film and TV production representatives.This thesis highlights the importance of pre-production technical planning and proposes a design management support tool (MI-FLOW) as a way to leverage functional workflows that is a prerequisite for efficient and cost effective moving image production.

Skrivande : en lärandepotential på yrkesinriktade gymnasieprogram

Yrkesförberedande gymnasieprogram bär en dubbel roll i och med att de ska förbereda både för ett specifikt yrkesområde och samtidigt ge eleven tillgång till högre studier. Men eleverna och även lärarna på yrkesprogrammen ser sig själva främst som praktiker. Varför ska man då behöva skriva på ett yrkesförberedande program? Men yrken som normalt inte betraktas som skriftyrken läser och skriver allt mer idag. Därmed är det naturligtvis viktigt att alla får tillgång till kunskaper i och förmågor att uttrycka sig med hjälp av tal och skrift. Här vill jag lyfta fram tre områden som jag menar kan hjälpa till att utveckla skriftbruk och skrivandet inom yrkesutbildningar. Det första utvecklingsområdet är synen på skriftkultur och skriftbruk inom karaktärsämnen mer generellt. Det andra är synen på skriftbruk och skrivande i skolans allmänna ämnen. Här fokuseras på förutsättningar att utnyttja fler så kallade skrivkompetenser (Berge 2005), alltså olika sätt att skapa mening med skrift och skrivande, samt visa på olika möjligheter att vidga hur dessa skrivkompetenser används. Slutligen vill jag som tredje utvecklingsområdet lyfta fram förhållningssätt och metoder lärare kan ha användning för i ett skrivutvecklingsperspektiv och även lyfta fram vilka konsekvenser det kan få för skrivandet.